L3DT release 2.4b

Released on the 18th of October, 2006 (see announcement)

• High-res attributes map.
• High-res normals maps, with pre-baked bump-maps.

• Added export button to toolbar.
• Added link to users' forum in help menu.
• Improved the speed of the 2D-rendering code.
• Improved the image overlay rendering speed.
• Replace mouse centre mode with drag/pan mode.
• Added warning to light mapping wizard to prevent bump-mapping on both TN and LM.
• Added warning to texture wizard when light map doesn't exist.
• Added warning to light mapping wizard when water map doesn't exist (re: water effects).
• Added warning to light mapping wizard whe attributes map doesn't exist (re: bump mapping).
• Added warning to normal mapping wizard whe attributes map doesn't exist (re: bump mapping).
• Left-align text in open wizards (inc. import).
• Made 'apply to all' in DM pencil work with selected area.
• Removed 'apply to all' from edit DM pixel box, which duplicates option in DM pencil.

• Enabled file load/save via plugins (inc. mosaics)
• Build plugins for:
  • HFF.
  • DMF.
  • HTF.
  • X.
  • PGM.
  • BMP/JPEG/PNG (via FreeImage).
• Added extension manager.

• Reduced RAM usage during water map flooding by making aux water map always a mosaic (saves up to 8 bytes / map pixel).
• Reduced HDD usage by writing temp maps to a shared temp folder.

• Fixed the mouse-drag bug.
• Fixed the crazy rendering problem.
• Fixed region refresh after manual flood.
• Fixed bug in non-erosion design/inflate routune (produced 2x larger heghtfield).
• Fixed bug in automation wizard for generating blank design maps.
• Fixed clearing of display when map is closed.
• Fixed these bugs.
• Fixed initialisation of walkthrough for new users of L3DT Pro.
• Fixed mysterious un-checking of items in the automation wizard (no items selected by default).
• Fixed calc wizard options when importing HF from file.
• Fixed climate handling in AM wizard (as reported here.)
• Make combo boxes in DM pencil drop-lists.
• Fixed crash on import HF.
• Made climate editor assume path and extension when not given by user.
• Fixed behaviour of renderer on large buffer sizes.
• Prevent crash when no climates are present.
• Fixed file overlay.
• Fixed alpha map generation when climates / attributes map are changed.
• Fixed AM DoneFlag in calc wizard.
• Fixed duplicate panes in calc wizard (when options are selected & de-selected out of order).
• Fixed 'dou…' typo in some wizard warnings.
• Added startup warning when plugins are disabled.
• Ensure file format 'active' flags aren't changed on DM/HF import.
• Fixed AM coordinate bounds for non-square mosaics.
• Set horiz scale for alpha maps.
• Allowed AM/HF < TX/HF in texture gen (using GenMapPro).
• Catch OnOK/OnCancel in CommonCtrl_dlg when a child window.
• Fixed enable/disable of climate combo in AM wizard for imported DM projects.
• Fixed selection of climate in DM edit pixel (wrong index).
• Made rand offset different for different temperate climates.
• Fixed handling of global mosaic scales in load routine.
• Added hack for map types in mosaics, for legacy L3DTVi2 support (in 'local.file.legacy.mosaictypehack').
• Made HF scale validation nicer in DM size wizard.
• Fixed handling of mosaic scales in HFF plugin when a tile was legitimately empty (happened with delta map).
• Fixed detection of application path (checks cmdline, then cwd).
• Fixed command-line parsing (loading projects, loading mosaics, import heightfields, or running batches, depending on file exension).
• Re-enable texture/light map export.
• Expanded the error message when running a batch file from the command line in Standard (it said “sorry” in previous versions.)
• Made format list in alpha maps export work with all formats in list (so as to support Atlas when ready).

• Updated the userguide.
• Completed the basic climate tutorial.

• Expanded event logging in log.txt file.
• Added uninstaller link in Windows Add/Remove programs.
• Added option in installer to associate L3DT with PROJ, MMF, HFF, BT and TER files.
• Disabled main window menus until activation is OK and plugins are loaded.
• Determine application session ID.
• Add restart function.
• Improvements to the activation system, including server authentication option for GarageGames.

I would like to thank the following users for their dilligent bug finding and reporting, and for having patience with me while I fixed those bugs (and occasionally made new ones):

• trollfiddler
• mauronen
• DeathTwister
• Ch3rokee
• dennis
• Jeff W.
• (in no particular order)

Without their help this version would be a steaming pile of … ahh … malfunctioning code. Many thanks!