====== L3DT release 2.4 beta1 ======

Released on the 14th of April, 2006 ([[http://www.bundysoft.com/news/doku.php?id=l3dt:ann:v2.4beta1|see announcement]])

===== Changes =====

  * **User interface**
    * Dialogs:
      * Added [[l3dt:userguide:climates#the_climate_manager|climate manager]] and [[l3dt:userguide:climates#the_climate_editor|climate editor]] dialogs.
      * Revised [[l3dt:userguide:io:preferences|file preferences]] dialog (better-looking, new options button, etc...).
    * Wizards:
      * Added a [[l3dt:userguide:ops:wm#flooding_the_water-map|water-mapping]] wizard, to consolidate water-plane, sea, lakes, and water-table operations. 
      * Simplifed [[l3dt:userguide:io:import:dm|import design map]] wizard.
      * Revised the [[l3dt:userguide:ops:wm#flooding_the_water-table|water table modelling]] wizard (now list-based).
      * Added 'file options' buttons to [[l3dt:userguide:io:export:active|export]] and [[l3dt:userguide:wizards#mosaic_map_settings|mosaic]] wizards.
    * Add in-application walkthrough-guide for new users.
    * Report error when off-line docs aren't found, and prompt user to fix the file path entry.
    * Enabled user-defined standard fonts for many dialogs.
  * **File I/O**
    * Made XML reader/writer.
    * Replaced messy text files with nice, strict XML:
      * Map group files (.mgf), now '.proj'.
      * Map definition files (.def), now '.def.xml'.
      * Water body list (_WBL.txt), now '_WBL.xml'.
      * Application settings files (.ini), now '.ini.xml' (mostly).
      * Climate files (.cli), now '.cli.xml' (with auto-converter).
    * Added [[l3dt:formats:specs:raw|RAW]] heightfield import (with several different modes).
    * Added option to invert RAW, BMP, JPEG, PNG, for export/import.
    * Added colour-mapped PNG option for attributes map (can be edited in image software).
    * Added support for lat/lon coordinates in BT loader/saver.
    * Updated map project summary to XHTML 1.0 strict (was HTML 4.01 strict), and enabled in //Standard Edition//.
    * Removed FileVersionNo from [[l3dt:formats:specs:mmf|mosaic master file]] (.mmf).
  * **Settings**
    * Added user preferences (in 'local.ini.xml').
    * Made users' file preferences persistent for non-default formats.
    * Enabled settings dialogs for L3DT //Standard Edition// (except for 'presets', which aren't included in L3DT SE).
  * **Bug fixes**
    * Fixed support for 120DPI (and other, unknown DPIs).
    * Fixed installer behaviour (allow multiple L3DT installations).
    * Disabled I/O buffer-flushing during ini file-loading.
    * Fixed coordinate mapping in LinInterp (was doing bad things for resampling HF, high-res mosaic, etc).
  * **Structural**
    * Upgrade compiler to VC7.
    * Switch to FreeImage from CxImage and libpng.