This is just a small update that works around a crash bug in some recent Linux distributions. Confirmed affected were Manjaro users. Very likely, Arch and current Debian users were affected as well. Also very likely affected were users of all distributions who did not have the library SDL1.2 installed on their system, or who opted in to the "Steam Linux Runtime".

A fix to the library bug is underway, but may take a while to arrive for everyone, so a quick fix here was in order.

And, to be frank, also the old, regular widescreen overlords. All this time, the game had been optimized for 4:3 or 5:4 screens, with menu text and HUD elements getting stretched to the side for widescreen users. No more of that! The changes also benefit splitscreen users; for a horizontal split, the HUD will now no longer cover half the (split) screen.
And while we were at fixing fonts, the default console rendering now tries to display the bitmap font precisely as it is designed, pixel by pixel; that should make the console more readable and sharper looking for everyone.

Playing back debug recordings has been made simpler and more robust; the --playback command line switch is no longer required and the network code should no longer give up when the recorded server response does not match what the playback code expects. Especially, this version should have no problems playing back tournament recordings made with version 0.2.8.

• Use after free in nNetObject::ClearKnows (#34[gitlab.com])
• Missing null check for master server info (#58[gitlab.com])
• Basic screen aspect ratio failures: Text (#59[gitlab.com])
• Center message issues (#62[gitlab.com])
• AppImage library content still lacking (#63[gitlab.com])
• Crash in menu key repeat handling (#66[gitlab.com])

• Make AppImage builds fit for registration at AppImageHub (#17[gitlab.com])
• Make SIZE_ and SPEED_FACTOR floating point instead of integer (#20[gitlab.com])
• Do not show a player's own IP on the client (#27[gitlab.com])
• Make --playback optional so recordings can be more easily played back (#37[gitlab.com])
• Steam on Windows: Add playback registry keys so .aarec files automatically playback with a doubleclick (#38[gitlab.com])
• Make clientside playback more robust (#56[gitlab.com])
• user.cfg fine grained upgrade system (#61[gitlab.com])

• Make custom camera the default for new players (#35[gitlab.com])
• Turn down tutorial tooltip spam (#36[gitlab.com])
• Onboarding game improvements (#39[gitlab.com])
• ROUND_CENTER_MESSAGEs are still displayed in nCLIENT state (#49[gitlab.com])
• Make Full HD players see the small font as little as possible (#60[gitlab.com])

Armanelgtron, Manuel Moos, SwagTron

Hello Grid People,

Users coming from Armagetron Advanced 0.2.8 and new users were unhappy about the addition of the tutorial-like 'press X to turn' messages. And they were right, they were quite obnoxious. We toned them down now, made them repeat less often if you choose to follow them, and they all go away at once if you enter the keyboard layout menu. Almost all. The one pointing to the ingame menu is unaffected.

Also, the opening game against a single AI has been modified a bit with a smaller arena and finite trails, that should make it less frustrating; you no longer end up separated from the AI, waiting who will survive longer.

Because those changes affect new users and we expect their influx to reduce in the coming weeks, these changes are now published a bit early so as many as possible can benefit from them. Full patch notes below:

• Make SIZE_ and SPEED_FACTOR floating point instead of integer (#20[gitlab.com])
• Do not show a player’s own IP on the client (#27[gitlab.com])
• Make –playback optional so recordings can be more easily played back (#37[gitlab.com])
• Steam on Windows: Add playback registry keys so .aarec files automatically playback with a doubleclick (#38[gitlab.com])

• Turn down tutorial tooltip spam (#36[gitlab.com])
• Onboarding game improvements (#39[gitlab.com])

Armanelgtron, Manuel Moos, SwagTron

Compared to what was available here in Steam before, the only change was the version number. You have technically been on only a release candidate the whole time.

Compared to what was the last proper release, 0.2.8.3.5, quite a bit has changed.
Major changes since 0.2.8.3.5 (available elsewhere) on the game client are better readability for the console output, text input and ingame menu, better initial configuration, keyboard layout reminders and an initial, slightly easier match against an AI.

Major addition on the server are external scripts; they get fed the ladderlog output and their output is parsed as console input. The ladderlog output has been expandedto make that feature more useful. Since these scripts are launched as external processes, they can be written in any language.

• Windows: DPI scaling behavior wrong (#33[gitlab.com])
• Debian builds: Documentation html files have empty last change (#9[gitlab.com])
• Socket and unclean exit trouble due to fork(), execve() and exit() interaction (#13[gitlab.com])
• Ubuntu PPA release candidate builds would overwrite previous stable releases (#15[gitlab.com])
• Language string identifier silence_player_text used twice (#22[gitlab.com])
• Bad video mode error recovery (#23[gitlab.com])
• AppRun script does not work if call path contains spaces (#24[gitlab.com])
• Included forum links outdated (#25[gitlab.com])
• Client segfaults on OpenBSD (#26[gitlab.com])
• Client compiled with clang 10.0 (optimized) sefgaults on logout (#28[gitlab.com])
• Valgrind reports uses of unitialized, freed or invalid memory (#29[gitlab.com])

• 
  Update German translation (#2[gitlab.com])
• 
  Adapt ChangeLog and fingerprint generation to git (#11[gitlab.com])
• 
  Integrated build system (#14[gitlab.com])
• 
  Make playback time display optional (#16[gitlab.com])
• 
  Deploy to itch.io (#19[gitlab.com])
• 
  Credit contributors in patch notes (#21[gitlab.com])
• 
  Added detection and reaction code for timing assist bots
• 
  /shuffle now works before you actually join a team
• 
  Implemented /shout command and associated settings
• 
  Fixed suspension and silenced status not being re-applied after a playerdisconnects and rejoins a server.
• 
  Tweaks to enemy influence system.
• 
  Ingame menu and console now are drawn on top of a semi-transparent,darkened area for increased readability.
• 
  New first start menu with clearer language selection and initial setup.
• 
  Tutorial match against one AI at slower speed.
• 
  Tutorial tooltips for the most important keybindings.
• 
  ADD_MASTER_SERVER command to announce a server to a new master server.Simplifies the process to list your server on a subculture.
• 
  Team launch positions logged to ladderlog with POSITIONS event. Disabled bydefault.
• 
  New command-line option “–input” added to poll for input from a fileinstead of stdin.
• 
  Added WHITELIST_ENEMIES_[IP/USERNAME] to allow players to be enemies, evenif they come from the same IP address and ALLOW_ENEMIES_SAME_IP isdisabled (which is its default setting).
• 
  GAME_END, NEW_MATCH, and NEW_ROUND ladderlog events include date and time.
• 
  Added ENCODING ladderlog event, which specifies the encoding for data inladderlog.txt.
• 
  “–input” now can be used more than once to read from multiple files or pipes.
• 
  new team management ladderlog messages:
  
  <code> TEAM_CREATED <team name> TEAM_DESTROYED <team name> TEAM_RENAMED <old team name> <new team name> TEAM_PLAYER_ADDED <team name> <player> TEAM_PLAYER_REMOVED <team name> <player></code>
• 
  Manage external scripts on Unix dedicated servers. New commands:SPAWN_SCRIPT, RESPAWN_SCRIPT, FORCE_RESPAWN_SCRIPT, KILL_SCRIPT,LIST_SCRIPTS, SCRIPT_ENV.
• 
  New setting ACCESS_LEVEL_ANNOUNCE_LOGIN that determines if a player’slogin/logout message can be announced.
• 
  Authentication is now enabled by default.

• Make custom camera the default for new players (#35[gitlab.com])

Daniel Harple, Hugh McMaster, Luke-Jr, Manuel Moos, Uzix, fman23, zolk3ri