Nexus has set up a Quantum Design forum for me, so now there'll be a central place where you can make your thoughts on the future of TA:M heard.  It's still pretty empty, so I'm counting on you guys to start up some wild discussions and make it feel cozy.

  First off, please bear with me - I'm sure the site will be full of broken links for some time to come.  I only had a partial backup and I've got a lot of other things (including TA:M2 development) that I would rather spend my free time on than fixing broken links.

  After having my university-hosted site closed down some time after I graduated QD has been quietly resting in a dark corner of my hard drive awaiting the day when it would again have a chance to share it's fruits with the world.  That day is today.  I would like to thank the many kind people who offered to host me, but in the end I chose to go with TA Universe for the simple reason that it was one of my favorite TA sites when I dropped out of the TA community last year.

  Now on to the reason I decided to resurrect QD - I've decided to rebuild TA: Mutation from scratch.  The original TA:M started life as a minimalist unit manager with poorly designed code, and then just kept growing until it finally reached the point that re-working the existing code to allow a new feature to be added generally took far more time than writing the feature itself. The new code will be far better deigned so that it will be more reliable, more flexible, and hopefully a lot more fun to expand on.

  In addition to a completely new code base I'll be completely discarding backward-compatibility in favor of a new file organization scheme that will make mods a lot easier to install and manage, and (almost) completely remove the difficulties related to partially installed mods and the like.  Some advantages of the new scheme will be:

For users:
* creation of a monolithic data file will NOT be required (though it would still be recommended for performance reasons)
* almost all mods would consist of only one file
* installing new mods will simply be a matter of dumping them into the TA folder

For mod makers
* most mods won't require configuration files (f.ex. a TC that simply replaces rev31.gp3 will only need to rename it's file to be minimally TA:M2 compatible)
* configuration files for all mods will be consistent, intuitive, and much more powerful
* soft mutators can be attached to any mod (i.e. a unit could include a soft mutator that alters the damage it takes from existing weapons)

I do plan on making a program to convert TA:M mods to TA::M2 format though, so you'll be bale to convert your existing mods to the new format without much trouble.  And some time after that I'll probably expand it to a general-purpose TA:M2-mod creation wizard, so hopefully it will be even easier for mod makers to fully support TA:M2.

  Don't anyone get their hopes up too high though - I've got a lot of other things going on in my life and TA:M2 will be a fairly low priority, it may never make it past the initial prototyping phase.  But just to wet your appetite, here's a concept-shot of the new interface.

And yes, I plan to let all mods display a picture, units will just use their TA pic by default.

Anyone wishing to discuss TA:M2, or make suggestions for basic functionality that was "missing" from the original, can join in on this thread.

  Ok, a couple of bugs have come up in version 1.0.1 so this version fixes them.  Namely the page-changing buttons on resized build menus are now visible and the local IP selection when hosting a TA:M gameroom is working again.  I've also added the ability to manually specify an IP for gameroom hosting, which will hopefully let people connect to gamerooms created on systems using proxy servers.

That's right, TA:M finally crossed the 1.0 barrier, you can get it in the TA:M section

The big change in this version is that the weapon ID resolver synchronizes IDs between machines in the gameroom, so there's no longer any reason not to use it.  In order to get this working though I made some serious changes under the hood so the multiplayer gameroom is not compatible with older versions. It also involved some serious changes in the control  flow so it's quite possible that there are nasty new bugs in this version, though I think I've fixed most of them.  

One slight caveat - currently the weapon conflict resolver will always be used in multiplayer games. Eventually I'll add  something so that all the computers will follow the hosts lead, but for now it's just hard-wired.  Hopefully it won't be an issue though, the conflict resolver seems to be working perfectly, and if I did my job right no conflicts will exist between machines.

Other changes include the ability for mutators to have accompanying text files, and an altered layout for resized build menus that should make it easier to get different sizes working in multiplayer, at least in theory (visually the only difference is that the page-changing buttons are now at the top of the menu). Personally I find the new layout more convenient, especially on large menus, since all the page-related buttons are grouped at the top, though it does take a little while to get used to.

Anyway, try it out and let me know if you have any problems, or if you have any strong feelings about the new build-menu layout.  You can make any comments in this thread on TA Universe.  The original thread on Annihilated.com seems to have vanished.

One other thing, to really give the multiplayer weapon reslover a trial by fire have the host (nobody else) download and use this Weapon Conflictor mutator.  That'll cause all the weapon ID's to by royally scrambled on the host, and if there are any problems with the weapon resolver they should show up clearly.

As to TA Data Viewer II, I had actually added some new features and fixed a few bugs a long time ago, and then forgot to upload the new version.  Anyway it's available now in the Files section.

By popular demand I've modified the conflict resolvers to support up to 1024 construction units and 2048 weapon IDs to take advantage of Yeha's new TA patch.  HOWEVER my unit library has diminished severely, so these features haven't actually been tested yet

 I also fixed  a major bug introduced in v0.13.2 that prevented numeric soft mutators from having any effect.

Comments can be made in this thread on TA Universe.

Go to the TAM page

This is primarily a bug-fixing release

• The soft mutator file-parser has been completely rewritten to be much more robust and can now handle things like multiple tags per line and single-line sections( i.e. [SomeSection]{sometag1=value1; sometag2=value2;} ).  
  I can't remember who reported this bug, or what file it caused problems with, but rest assured that TAM should now be able to correctly process any file that TA can.
  NOTE: the new code seems to work correctly, but as with all completely new code there may be some bugs that slipped through the tests.  Please let me know if you find any. (either e-mail me or, preferably, let me know about it on the TA Universe UBB)
  
• Completely new temporary-folder deleting routine should finally delete temporary folders on NT-based systems.  Again, please let me know if this works ASAP (I don't use NT, so can't test it)

On a "future features" note (and primarily of interest to those of you who like making your own soft mutators) I've been working on some generic utility code that would provide the infrastructure for a completely new version of the soft mutator applying code which should both make it faster and MUCH more flexible, not to mention a lot easier on the eyes (not that anyone besides me cares about that last bit).  Basically it will let me add new features like the ability to  insert new keys into specific subsections (i.e. new custom weapon damages) and do equation-based mutators (i.e. RadarDistance = SightDistance + 0.25*RadarDistance;)

However there's still quite a bit of work to do to get the new mutator code up-and-running, so let me know whether you think it's worth it or not (again, this thread is the best place to respond)

Go to the TAM page

Not really all that many changes with this version, only two actually, but I think they're well worth a new release:

• The main window can be resized, allowing many more mods to be seen in the selection windows at once. 
• Temporary folders should now be deleted on NT-based systems.  I know that bug was a major annoyance for a lot of users, and I *think* I found the reason why it was happening (I hope).

No, I didn't choose the version number to match the date (or vice versa), that's just the way it worked out.  Who says number 13 is unlucky?

The big change with this version is the expansion of soft mutators so they can modify virtually any kind of file instead of only unit files.  I've also seperated the menu resizing and conflict resolving functionality so that there's no longer any reason to disable menu conflict resolution (Menu resizing caused problems with multiplyer games).

New mutators included in this release:

• Warpgate 4.0: completely rewrote the construction-limiting code so that it should now be 100% impossible to build more than one commander under any circumstances
• Warpgate 4.0, TwinComm: same as above except you can build two commanders instead of only one.  Should be really interesting if there end up being a lot of mini-races created.  
• Warpgate 4.0, Targetting: Like the normal 4.0, except instead of Normal and Easy gates you get Targetting and random.  The targetting gate lets you start  your commander anywhere on the map, and the random gate will start it at a random location.
• Warpgate 4.0, TwinTarget: a combination of the TwinComm and Targetting versions, start with two commanders at any point on the map (or at two different points), since the warpgates themselves aren't soft  mutators and so can't be automatically combined.
• Close Encounters: A mutator encouraging the strategic use of smaller groups of units (weapon range and damage decreased, unit costs increased).  Created primarily as a demonstration of the the new soft mutator abilities, but makes for an interesting game.

I know I've been neglecting my news updates, and some people (*cough* Quitch *cough*) have been harping on me about it, so here it is.

TAM has reached version 0.12.2 and gained some serious power as of late.  Most significantly it now does automated weapon ID and build-menu conflict resolution so that you'll never have to worry about 3rd-party units causing incompatibilities.  I've also added the ability to create tall build menus (up to 14 rows of buttons) and condense menus so that  there's no wasted slots on the build menus.  

Having it condense the OTA menus and stretch them to 6 rows tall means that most units have only a single build menu, and even the advanced construction units only fill two menus.  Menu-switching is down and life is good.

I've got my first official affiliate site, AfterMath Design. SirAC also set me up with an alternate address that's a bit easier to remember than the current one and will redirect you here: qd.aftermathdesign.com. He's been after me for months to be hosted on his site, so this is my concession. Hopefully it'll keep him from suffering the fate of the site's I've actually been hosted on. (I don't think any of them are still around)

If you're a TA website admin and would like to become a Quantum Design affiliate then e-mail me

TAM v0.11.4 adds support for strings in the [Needs] and [Changes] sections of soft mutators. it also includes a couple new mutators that take advantage of the new abilitys:

• Maneuverable Boats - Greatly improves the path-finding for naval units by improving their ability to maneuver
• Exaggerated Sides - Arm units are faster at the expense or armor, and Core units are tougher at the expense of speed.

It also includes a new version of WarpGate, WarpGate 3.1, which makes it much easier for weapons to hit. It's not perfect yet, but it's beginning to act almost like a normal unit.

Go to the TAM page

Several new fetures and bug fixes, I think this version has finally fixed all the bugs that were introduced with the addition of soft mutators in v0.11.0.

Go to the TAM page

This release fixed a bug that caused TA to start before the soft mutators were compiled. It's also the first release to come as a self-extracting archive since I discovered that WinRAR makes very nice SEAs that are significantly smaller than an ordinary zip archive.

Go to the TAM page

...has now been released. First among it's new features is support for Soft Mutators which automatically mutate all units that are enabled according to a specified set of rules. The Soft Mutator support is designed so that it's almost impossible for two soft mutators to conflict with each other. Which means you can have dozens of differnet soft mutators enabled simultaneously to combine their effects.

Included with TAM are over a dozen soft mutators which I have created to show off their capabilites:

• WarpGate 3.0 - Finally allows you to use the Gates no matter what TC or novelty commander you want to use. You don't choose your race until after the game has already begun, and neither do the AI players. So you'll never know what mix of races you're going to be up against until you meet them in the game. It definitiely makes skirmishes a little more interesting. (This is an example of a semi-soft mutator, using both a normal mutator to get the Gates working, and a soft mutator to make sure the commanders can be teleported in correctly and the AI can choose it's race randomly)
• WG - Quickstart - A sub-mutator for WarpGate that makes the gates produce 1000 energy and 20 metal (Even more for the EASY gate)
• WG - Early Warning - another sub-mutator for Warpgate. This one gives the gates ultra-long-range radar and sonar. Jammers become much more important in the early game...
• Starcraftian Wars - An attempt to give TA a little bit of StarCraft flavor, several stats are changed to make TA into a more tactical SC-ish game. Use it to get your SC junky friends started on TA, or just because it's fun. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone if you enjoy it :-)
• ÜberComm - The commanders become faster, tougher, and have much more powerful nanolathes. They're finally more valuable alive than as bombs. (And if you use it together with something like KroggyComm then be afraid)
• Hypermobile Commanders 3x - The commanders move 3x faster
• Hypermobile Builders 3x - All construction units move 3x faster
• HyperMobility 2x - All land and sea units move 2x faster
• Jumbo Storage 2x and 4x - Increases resource storage capacities respectively
• Quick Build 2x and 4x - Factories and construction units build things respectively faster
• Subversion - All non-aircraft construction units can also capture
• They Live Again - All non-aircraft construction units can resurrect instead of reclaim
• Cost Cutter 1/2 - reduces the cost of all units by half

Go to the TAM page