DS2Revival/.forgejo/release-notes.md

DS2 Revival {tag} for Dungeon Siege II (Steam v2.3) and Broken World.

Install or update: drag the contents of DS2Revival.zip into the folder with DungeonSiege2.exe and allow it to replace files. No installer, no Python. Your settings are kept: they live in DS2Revival.ini next to DungeonSiege2.exe, which the plugins create on the first start. The zip does not contain it, so an update never overwrites it. New settings are added to it with their comments; the one exception is a setting that still has an old default, see "Anti-aliasing" below. Don't own Broken World? Delete the Broken World folder from the zip. Broken World owners: put the expansion in the Broken World folder as before; only DS2Revival.asi is needed in Broken World\scripts. Linux / Steam Deck: set the Steam launch option WINEDLLOVERRIDES="version=n,b" %command%.

{tag} brings real anti-aliasing, the mouse pointer in the game's own fullscreen, and fixes for multiplayer and Broken World.

Picture and display

• Anti-aliasing: 4x multisampling plus SMAA is the new default ([Graphics] AntiAliasing=msaa4+smaa). It gives clean edges on geometry and, with SMAA on top, on the leaf cut-outs that multisampling alone leaves jagged, with text and interface left sharp. You do not need dgVoodoo for anti-aliasing any more. msaa2, msaa4, msaa8, smaa and off can be chosen too. A sample count your graphics card does not have is lowered to the best it has, and if none works the plugin uses SMAA (the log says which). We checked it on an NVIDIA RTX 4070 and an AMD RX 7900 XTX, with the native Direct3D 9 driver and with DXVK, through device resets, alt-tab and photo mode. Not checked on Linux / Steam Deck yet: if the picture looks wrong there, set AntiAliasing=smaa. Multisampling turns the experimental SSAO off.
• Smoother hero menus. The 3D scenes of hero selection and hero creation get SMAA too (MenuAntiAliasing=auto); their text stays crisp.
• One-time default switch. A DS2Revival.ini from v1.2.x that still has the old default AntiAliasing=smaa becomes msaa4+smaa once, at the first start of this version (the log says so). A value you set yourself is kept. If you prefer smaa, set it again: it stays. The file's [Settings] Version line at the end keeps count.
• The mouse pointer in the game's own exclusive fullscreen ([Display] ExclusiveCursor=1, for Mode=off or fullscreen=true). Windows 10 and 11 showed none there, though the game draws one. Dungeon Siege II and Broken World; borderless and window mode are not touched. Checked on one PC (RTX 4070) at 800x600, 1280x720 and 1920x1080, in menus and the world, with alt-tab.
• Broken World's HUD hero portrait at every resolution. On screens wider than 1280 pixels it came out dark or garbled (a speck at 1920x1080). Now it shows the face, in single player and multiplayer, at any HudScale ([Graphics] PortraitFix, which already did this for Dungeon Siege II).

Multiplayer

• A message when the game versions differ (Dungeon Siege II; Broken World later). A joiner whose DungeonSiege2.exe differs from the host's in any byte (another build, a cracked or re-packed exe) used to sit in the staging area while the host played alone. Now the joiner is told what differs (exe, game versions or game data), and OK takes them back to the game list. The game list's "Content Mismatch" box no longer claims the game "has been modified" when the cause is the host's mod or edited files. [Multiplayer] JoinVersionMessage=0 restores the old behaviour.
• Broken World: no more frozen joiner when the host presses START. A player who connected just as the host started could end up with a "not responding" window and be dropped by the host after about 25 seconds. The cause was a lock cycle in our DirectPlay replacement, fixed there (6 of 6 start-together runs pass; the same runs hung before).

Broken World

• The official editions' saves are recognised by name. Heroes made with Steam v2.3, the GOG exe, Broken World, or Broken World with the 2018 repack's Widescreen Fix are accepted in single player, multiplayer and the online vault without editing a setting, and the log names the edition ([BrokenWorld] AcceptKnownEditions=1). A hero from unknown game data is still accepted in single player only. AcceptContentCrcs is now only for ids you add yourself, so its old default is emptied. Joining a host still needs the same game exe and game data.

Website

• The roadmap has a new status, Can't reproduce, for player reports we tested in the game and could not make happen: long sessions, the Kalrathian rebellion, the Azunite Archer, unconscious heroes and the Act 1 door. "Alive but dead" is confirmed and has a planned fix (a level-up revive will cancel the defeat); it is not in this version.

Earlier notes: v1.2.2 (the settings file next to DungeonSiege2.exe, logs in scripts\logs): {repo_url}/releases/tag/v1.2.2. Everything new in v1.2.0 (no DirectPlay install, DS2Graphics, a 720p-sized interface everywhere, photo mode, one settings file, Broken World fixes and more): {repo_url}/releases/tag/v1.2.0

Roadmap: https://dsii.uk/roadmap. Questions or problems: contact@dsii.uk.