### Changes made to Meridian 59 (27 Nov 1996 - 17 Jan 1997)

To make changes to this document, check the file out in sourcesafe, and make your changes in whatever webpage-editing program you prefer (Netscape Gold has a reasonable one built in). Place all changes in chronological order, so that testers don't have to hunt to find new stuff. Only the development team should make changes to this document. Click here to know the easiest way to use this system.

See changes made after 17 Jan 1997

#### Server and server-related kod changes

20 Dec | CKirmse | Changed the server socket writes to only call the winsock send() API once for most packets. | Low confidence
20 Dec | CKirmse | Changed rooms to store users' sessions, and use SendCopyPacket() to send movement and turn packets to clients, rather than sending each user object a Blakod message. | Low confidence
16 Dec | CKirmse | Added an additional listening port (default is 9998) for maintenance and statistics gathering. A subset of admin mode is supported, in this mode called maintenance mode. The only command so far that is allowed is `show usage`. | Low confidence
2 Jan | CKirmse | Changed admin command `delete account` to work on accounts that are logged in, and made it accessible in maintenance mode. | Low confidence
2 Jan | CKirmse | Made admin commands `create automated` and `set account password` accessible from maintenance mode. | High confidence
9 Jan | CKirmse | All player suicides are logged with their account number, previous name, and new name in the debug.txt log. | High confidence
17 Jan | CKirmse | All player logins and logouts are logged by account number, not account name | High Confidence
17 Jan | CKirmse | In game mode, players are now hung up after no messages are received for 20 seconds. Players should still be ok after a long game save or reload sys. | Low confidence
17 Jan | CKirmse | Passwords are only changed if the old password is typed correctly. | High confidence

#### Client Changes

4 Dec | CKirmse | Changed all DM commands to use the DM prefix instead of the 'Say' prefix. I.e. 'DM get all reagents' instead of 'say get all reagents'. | High confidence
4 Dec | AKirmse | Added client support for guest accounts. This is a bit too complicated to explain here. | Low confidence
9 Dec | AKirmse | Added scrolling textures on walls and floors. | Medium confidence
9 Dec | AKirmse | Fixed stray pixels on a few walls, such as the arch over the river just outside Cor Noth. | Medium confidence
9 Dec | DSchubert | Changed some DM commands. For example: 'DM good', 'DM evil' and 'DM neutral', 'DM item <item name>', 'DM monster <monster name>', and 'DM get <itemtype' (example: DM get reagents). | mid confidence
10 Dec | AKirmse | Changed the bar graphs to show the actual number, even when it's below the minimum or above the maximum bar value (example: > 100 mana points). | High confidence
10 Dec | AKirmse | Added animated spell enchantment icons; for example, truce has a waving flag. | High confidence
11 Dec | AKirmse | Added the ability to change textures dynamically (such as the faerie forest walls). | High confidence
11 Dec | AKirmse | Added flickering lights. | High confidence
11 Dec | AKirmse | Added directional lighting (light that appears to come from the sun). | High confidence
11 Dec | EHalley | Changed package download dialog to resemble Win95 Explorer file copy with animation. Artwork not final. Artwork does not yet match non-gray dialog colors. | High confidence
11 Dec | EHalley | Changed text input box into a dropdown combo box, which records twenty recent commands. Commands that are invalid are not remembered, and two identical commands in a row are only remembered once. Commands generated by alias keys are not remembered. Should still be able to use edit box as usual. | Medium confidence
12 Dec | AKirmse | Added "tellguild" or "tguild" command--sends text to all members of your guild. Gives appropriate messages if you're not in a guild, or if you're the only one from your guild logged on. | High confidence
16 Dec | AKirmse | Added palette translations, which make objects appear in different colors. Probably the pants and the character faces will be the only things that use this feature in this release. The color of palette translated objects needs to be tested on the ground, in the inventory, while worn by players, as players move, etc. | Medium confidence
17 Dec | AKirmse | Fixed the mail and news dialogs so that you can click anywhere on a row to select a message. | High confidence
19 Dec | AKirmse | Changed object drawing routines and added darkness effect for the shadowform Riija spell. Need to verify that darkness, invisibility, and palette translation effects all work for objects on the ground, objects in the inventory, objects in dialogs, players standing, players walking, and players attacking. Further, check that your self-view head and 1st person overlays (sword, shield) turn invisible and dark when you cast those spells, and that palette translations work on those graphics too. | Medium confidence
19 Dec | AKirmse | Players' names should now become darker as you move away from them, just as the player graphics themselves do. | Medium confidence
20 Dec | AKirmse | Altered lag death check: a lag of 4-9 seconds at the time of death should register as a "lag death", in which case you don't lose your inventory or your spell or skill %s. This needs to be thoroughly tested to see if we have picked good numbers for lag detection. | Low confidence
23 Dec | AKirmse | Don't show invisible players in the guild invitation list. | High confidence
23 Dec | AKirmse | Display advertisement AVI files in the character selection dialog. Clicking on one of the animating bitmaps brings up the Web browser on an associated URL. If the client does a download consisting only of advertisements, a different download dialog is displayed, showing the message "Performing routine maintenance". | Medium confidence
23 Dec | AKirmse | Changed wading a little--you should be able to enter or leave an area with wading even if the wall around the wading area would normally be too high, as long as the step up you're making isn't too large. | Medium confidence
23 Dec | AKirmse | When you cast illusionary form and change into a non-human, the self-view face area shows your new form. | High confidence
6 Jan | AKirmse | The map shows dots only for objects that would be visible in the normal view, as well as objects within a certain distance of the player. | High confidence
8 Jan | EHalley | Added a spinning cube latency indicator. It spins fast and is red when your latency is low, and slower and orange/yellow/green/blue when your latency is high. Right clicking on it brings up a description box. It should size itself correctly when the toolbar is added or removed. | High confidence
8 Jan | AKirmse | Changed palette. Be on the lookout for missing or unpalettized artwork anywhere in the game. | Low confidence
9 Jan | AKirmse | Changed the map to always draw dots for players, regardless of distance. | High confidence
10 Jan | EHalley | Added a DM ECHO command for Actors. 'ECHO You sense an evil omen.' will show the message to everyone in the room. This is different from emote since it doesn't show who sends it. Useful mostly during roleplay events. Only those DMs with the Actor flag will be able to use the command. | High confidence
10 Jan | AKirmse | Don't show invisible objects in look dialog boxes. | Medium confidence
15 Jan | EHalley | Package download dialogs should have correct transparent look, even if user specifies puke green for their Win95 button colors. Should not appear as a big gray rectangle on non-standard colored dialogs. | High confidence
15 Jan | EHalley | Changed latency meter colors from "spectral order" to "stoplight order". So a very good connection is green, medium ones go through yellow and gold, then bad ones are red and purple. Color changes should be very smooth, using a new dithering feature to draw in-between colors. | High confidence
15 Jan | EHalley | Added DM PLAIN (normal), DM BLANK (completely invisible), DM ANONYMOUS (no name), and DM SHADOW (silhouette effect) for Actors. Note that some messages will be missing the person's name when they are anonymous: those will not be fixed. Other messages say 'Someone' if you're anonymous, such as when you talk or broadcast. | High confidence

#### Gameplay Changes (new gameplay elements or bug fixes)

4 Dec | DSchubert | Automatic unuse should now work, even for items that take more than one wear position, such as robes. Automatic unuse also works for weapons when a shield is used. | High confidence
6 Dec | DSchubert | Pressing space bar at coordinates 21,13 in the Wryn's Keep will no longer teleport you to Cor Noth. | High confidence.
6 Dec | DSchubert | You can now say the names of the new spells to the priestesses, and they will tell you how far you have to go to get them. Also, saying 'level five' to the priestesses will now mention those new spells. | High confidence
6 Dec | DSchubert | 'Abandon guild hall' button now goes away after a guildmaster abandons a guild hall. | High confidence
6 Dec | DSchubert | 'Fire' was reclassed as a Level 50 skill so that it would not mess up the learning curve of the skills that are actually in use. This makes it now possible to gain level 4 Weaponcraft. | High confidence.
6 Dec | DSchubert | DMs and Admins can no longer enter the underground lake without a key. | High confidence
6 Dec | DSchubert | Added "orc teeth" to lightning bolt's reagent description. | High confidence
9 Dec | DSchubert | You can no longer 'stack' anti-magic auras. However, if a second spell-caster comes along and casts anti-magic aura, it will replace the old one if the new one is more powerful. | Mid confidence
9 Dec | DSchubert | If you kill an outlaw (not a murderer) or an innocent person with a fireball or lightning bolt spell, it used to brand you and outlaw (not a murderer). It should now brand you a murderer if you killed an innocent, and not brand you anything if you fireball an outlaw or murderer. | Low confidence
9 Dec | DSchubert | Forgetpotions have a new graphic. | High confidence
9 Dec | DSchubert | Improved failure for shatter and swap - most notably, you get a message now if you cast shatter or swap and they are carrying nothing (or an item that is non-swappable or non-shatterable is chosen). | High confidence
23 Dec | CKirmse | Clicking on an invisible player (other than yourself) is now ignored; you no longer get the standard look dialog. | High confidence
6 Jan | DSchubert | Assassin's Game. See link for further details. While I'm a brilliant coder, this is a substantial set of changes, and should probably be tested heavier than anything else. | Test this to death
7 Jan | Dschubert | Rumors were added to Cor Noth, Marion and Jasper innkeeper, telling of the Faronath's knack for ignoring Truce spells. | Mid confidence
7 Jan | DSchubert | You may no longer use heal staffs in the arena if you are a non-combatant. You also may not use them unless the target is a combatant, and you may only use them when a match is in session. | High confidence.
7 Jan | DSchubert | Arena Tournament mode now requires DM commands instead of 'say' commands. Some commands were shortened to be easier run. Actor running the tournament can now type 'DM arena help' to see his options. | Mid to High.
7 Jan | DSchubert | Traditional arena matches extended to 5 minutes in length, other three types (last man standing, guild v guild & battle royale) extended to 9. | High confidence
7 Jan | DSchubert | Added a hellportal to the Meridian University. This portal may be toggled in and out of existence by a DM with the 'DM portal' command in the University. | High confidence.
7 Jan | DSchubert | You may no longer Suicide while Out Of Grace With the Higher Powers. | High confidence
7 Jan | DSchubert | If you die while Out Of Grace With the Higher Powers, you no longer are teleported to the underworld (only known way to die in this fashion right now is with the amulet of shadows). | High confidence.
7 Jan | DSchubert | You no longer can communicate with the outside world while in Out Of Grace, unless to a DM, and only then through tells. DMs are not affected. | High confidence.
7 Jan | DSchubert | There was a bug where anyone could say ACCEPT when the challenger challenged the champion (including the challenger!), forcing the champion to fight someone he didn't want to. Now, only a champion can accept the challenger's challenge. | Mid confidence
7 Jan | DSchubert | There was a bug where anyone could say ACCEPT during the 30 second 'join' period of last man standing, guild vs guild, and battle royale combat. This bug has been removed. | High confidence.
7 Jan | DSchubert | Monsters will now fight back in the arena. They will not attack non-combatants (although they may follow them around). | High confidence.
7 Jan | DSchubert | At the end of an arena fight, if the watcher is in a room that is supposed to be an arena (such as the Tos Arena), all monsters in the room are deleted (excluding the watcher). | High confidence
7 Jan | DSchubert | Added a DM HELP command. | High confidence
7 Jan | DSchubert | Put in a stub for old DM commands, telling them to type DM HELP to learn new DM commands. | high confidence
7 Jan | DSchubert | Umbrella no longer works on immortals, although it does work on mortal admins. | high confidence
10 Jan | CKirmse | Added a message to system to make a no-pk server. Enable by doing `send obj 0 SetNoPKServer`. | Low confidence
15 Jan | EHalley | Shopkeepers in Tos and Barloque are now under political pressure to not serve the murderers. When a murderer tries to buy or offer to a "lawful" NPC, if there are others in the room, the NPC says loudly that they won't do business with thugs. The NPC also whispers to the murderer that they can come back alone later, when they can do business without soiling the NPC's reputation. | Medium confidence
15 Jan | EHalley | Added opening and closing messages and graphics for the "book" object type. Books still do nothing, but people nearby will notice you opening and closing a book. Books are still not for sale anywhere. | Medium confidence
15 Jan | Dschubert | Added fairy forest: RIDS c1, c2, c3, a1, b1, b2, d1, d2. Connects to c4. Fairy forest tree textures range from very good to very bad, depending on # of good fairies/# of total fairies (80% = very good, 60% = good, etc). If all of the fairy forest rooms are either very good or very evil, then a mana node will appear in C2. See me for more details. | Medium confidence.
15 Jan | DSchubert | Added armageddon spell, which kills all monsters in the room (deletes them actually, and leves no corpse or treasure). DM only spell. | High confidence
15 Jan | DSchubert | Added RID_K5, connected to badlands. | High confidence
15 Jan | DSchubert | Forget potions can no longer be swapped. | High confidnce.
16 Jan | DSchubert | You no longer drop a black dagger when you die a conventional death. | High confidence
16 Jan | DSchubert | You no longer can give black daggers to NPCs as birthday gifts (for example, to Paddock). | High confidence
16 Jan | DSchubert | Made all the timer values for the Assassin's Game dynamically setable so that testing can be sped up. Times set are in milliseconds. | High Confidence
16 Jan | DSchubert | Assassin Game Deaths now generate a corpse. | High confidence
16 Jan | DSchubert | Weapons are now mendable. | High confidence
16 Jan | DSchubert | Created new monsters faeries. Added to monster templates. | High Confidence
16 Jan | DSchubert | Unlocked the locked door to the old schoolhouse in Jasper. | High Confidence
16 Jan | DSchubert | Corrected the angle at which you are placed when you leave Solomon's Edibles in Cor Noth. | High Confidence
16 Jan | DSchubert | Removed Riija spells from Char creation. | High confidence
16 Jan | DSchubert | Underworld portals no longer start all on right after a game recreate | High confidence
16 Jan | DSchubert | Locked the door tot he second Lover's Tryst in Tos. | High Confidence
17 Jan | DSchubert | No Assassin's Games during tournaments. | Mid confidence
17 Jan | DSchubert | Changed the way that damage is computed. Previously, resistance/susceptibilities were multiplied in AFTER attack modifiers such as Jewels of Froz or Bless spells were figured in. Now this multiplier happens BEFORE. Should result in most things generally doing less damage. | Mid confidence
17 Jan | DSchubert | Newbies can no longer enter guild halls. Guild halls are no longer killing zones. | Mid confidence
17 Jan | DSchubert | You now get a message if you attempt to pick something up after a kill but fail. Please test all sorts of get item possibilities to besure I didn't miss anything. | Test this to death.
17 Dec | DSchubert | Tokens and daggers are not affected by 'clear inventory' | High confidence
17 Jan | DSchubert | Rook no longer sends you to Rook. | Mid confidence
17 Jan | DSchubert | Bug in Revenants fixed. Revenants should now be extremely hard on people who kill multiple people at once. (BUg pretty much prevented them from appearing at all). | High confidence
17 Jan | DSchubert | Removing a shadow amulet will no longer set your personal light to full on for all time. | High confidence
17 Jan | DSchubert | Gave rook a function that will allow him to automatically remove guardian angels. This will only work on the beta server if we want it to. | Mid confidence.
17 Jan | DSchubert | You can no longer advance by casting weapon enchantments on weapons that already have enchantments. | High Confidence

Kod architecture and infrastructure.

15 Dec | CKirmse | Added a room hash table to system.kod. All room lookups are performed using the hash table instead of a list. As of 1/7/97, the list lookup is still used to verify that the hash table is working correctly, and discrepancies are printed to debug.txt | Low confidence
18 Dec | DSchubert | Added CanEnchant routine. All three enchantment spells now check this to see if a target weapon can be enchanted. All weapons should be enchantable, unless they already have an enchantment of some form. Black Daggers may not be enchanted. | Mid confidence.
18 Dec | DSchubert | Added CanMend routine. Returns TRUE if the item can be affected by reparations (such as the mend spell). Should return true for weapons, armor, helmets (and circlets), and shields, but not the black dagger, or any other item. | Mid confidence.
18 Dec | DSchubert | Added CanShatter routine. Returns TRUE if an item can be shattered. Currently, returns true for all items except for tokens and black daggers. | Mid confidence.
18 Dec | DSchubert | Added CanSwap routine. Returns TRUE if an item can be swapped or stolen. Returns true for all items except for black daggers. | Mid confidence
18 Dec | DSchubert | Added CanWeaken routine. Returns TRUE if an item can be weakened by some artificial means (for example, a Brittle spell). Currently, only returns FALSE for black daggers, but weapons are the only thing that can be affected by brittle currently. | Mid confidence
7 Jan | DSchubert | Added minor change to communication for new Out of Grace properties to work. General communication (tell, say, broadcast) should be quickly doublechecked. | High confidence
7 Jan | DSchubert | Changed general log off procedures internally, regarding items a player is carrying. Check guild invitations, ring of fire resistance, ring of invis, torches and tokens to see if they still behave properly when their owners log off. | Mid confidence.

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### To use this system with the Netscape Editor*

--Outdated, unnecessary.--

* I use the Netscape editor instead of Frontpage because (a) it's easier to get around in than Frontpage, (b) we all can get copies easily, and (c) it's far easier to work with tables in Netscape than in frontpage.