No installer fixed, Next Alpha & Stats modding

"No Installer" package fixed
The "no installer" package was not working properly, sorry about that.
Get the new one.
Should work, right? 8-]

Next Alpha
4.2 if really annoying stuff to fix, otherwise straight to 5.0

Stats Modding
5.0 will allow stats modding.
Some of the game models data (actors and items) will be read from text files, so you guys can toy with them.
Only stats will be moddable, abilities will not (because they are tied to AI and other hard-coded stuff).
Some stuff will still be hard-coded sorry.

Stats Modding : What File Format?
Should be human readable, light-weight, easily editable with a text editor.
CSV fits the bill.
No need for XML, since there is a constant number of fields with simple integer values.
Proprietary format (some fancy .dat or whatever) is a big no-no for me.

Sample data file : Actors models in 4.11
I have written a simple CSV exporter for the game actors in 4.11, and this is how the resulting file looks like in Open Office.
Some stats like Fov and Smell were hidden till now ;)
Remember these are raw stats without the effects of skills!

*** ACTORS STATS SPOILERS **

*** END OF SPOILERS ***

Some stats are not used at all by the game (eg: STA for undeads) because of lacking abilities in the model definition and the values are just for show.
 
Hey! Wait! What about the poll about spoilers?
The player maintened wiki should be enough?

End of post.

Alpha 4.11 release!

Fix the freezing bug and a couple of stuff.
The standard installer package and a simple zip package.
Changelog.- includes Alpha 4.1.

ALPHA 4.11 CHANGES
------------------
Bug fix with AI improvements.

FIXED BUGS
- Stopped NPCs equip-unequip obsessive behavior that froze the game.
- Can change Cautious directive again.
- Beds don't block stairs exit anymore.
- Tracker targets won't show when sleeping anymore.

GAMEPLAY
- New Item: Kolt Revolver, K for Kolt.
 
AI
Slightly more CPU spent on AI, but hopefully worth it.
- Improved CivilianAI scavanging behavior : consider all items stacks rather than just the nearest one.
- Improved fortification building logic : less spam in stupid places.
- Improved eat logic : less waste, consider perishable vs non perishable.


ALPHA 4.1 CHANGES
-----------------
Overview:
- Intel fix.
- Ingame help for new players (advisor, item ui help)
- The Hospital (building, map).
- Grenades (action, item).
- Canned Food (item).
- Civilians tips (AI).
- Hardy (skill).
- Late game ally (actor).
- Order to: build fortifications, report events (follower).
- Initiate trade (action).
- Share flashlight FoV bonus (rules).
- Various AI improvements.
- Redone difficulty computation (options).
- Log file to help bugs fixing.


FIXED BUGS
- Fixed crash and missing minimap on Intel video cards! Hurray!
- Fixed crash when attempting to build fortifications on walls.
- Gangstas raid was never triggered.
- Quit quits.
- Day 28 is Day 28.
- Modified starved zombification chance option appears in post mortem.
- Resized skill table so it always fits the screen.
- Jumpables objects do not block exits for actor who can jump.
- Fixed UI glitch where you could look at your inventory when pointing the mouse out of the map.
- Police Station TPWSNB won't trigger if he/she is sleeping.
- Crossbows won't jam anymore.
- Various bugs related to loading a game within a game (achievements, ghost characters...)
- When you die, doesn't wait for the turn to end to go back to the main menu.

PERFORMANCE
- Reduced average save and load time by 20% to 30%.
  Remember that pushing the options too far, especially city and district size, has a significant impact on performance.

GAMEPLAY
Map
- New Unique Maps & building : Hospital.
- Some civilians have stored weapons in their basements (rare).
Actor
- New Unique enemy.
- New recruitable late game ally.
- 2 new factions for the new actors.
Action
- New Action : throw grenades - blow up people and objects. Watch out for chain reactions.
- New Action : initiate trade - offer an item to trade.
Items
- New Item : Grenade.
- New Item : Canned Food.
- New Item : Combat Knife.
- New Unique Item.
- Some rare items are unbreakable and never get destroyed.
- Unique items are never destroyed.
- Wooden planks stacking limit up to 4 (was 3).
Sleeping
- Increased chances to heal when on sleeping a couch (5% vs 3%).
Skill
- New Skill : Hardy - Sleep can heal anywhere (no bed needed), more chances to heal when sleeping (1% per level).
Followers
- New Order : build small/large fortification.
- New Order : report events - which is equivalent to forcing them to tell you their tips.
- New Directive : throw/don't throw grenades - AIs is very cautious when throwing grenades, but you might want another fail-safe :p
FoV
- Standing next to someone with a flashlight on gives the same bonus has having one - you "share" the light.
Difficulty
- More complex calculation, with some parameters effects depending on other parameters (eg: nb of civilians vs zombification % and starving).
  Hard to predict the % effect of changing an option, but the basic effects make sense.
  As reference, min difficulty is 0% (!) and max difficulty 519%.

..And various minor tweaks.

INTERFACE & MANUAL
- In game advisor gives hints to help new players learn the basics - it's on by default.
- Bunch of advisor hints.
- Dying by ranged weapons says "shot" instead of "hit".
- Ranged weapons short description tells how many ammo left (eg: in other people inventory and on the ground).
- Shotgun "shells" not "cartridges".
- Items description in player inventory reminds of special keys or actions (fire, give...).
- Shows a "healing" icon when an actor is healing while sleeping (helpful for new players).
- Updated manual.
- Updated readme to mention the logfile.

GRAPHICS & MUSIC
- New gfx for new stuff.
- New activity icon for NPCs fleeing from explosives (see AI section).
- 3 new musics (total 15 musics).

OPTIONS
- New : Show Minimap on/off - special old school 4.0 emulation mode for hardcore Intel people :p
- City Size min:3 max:6.
- Enabled/Disable Advisor.

AI
- Civilians give tips about enemies, items, soldiers or raids they recently saw/heard. Keep your ears open!
- Followers told to not fire weapons will switch to melee weapons (or barehands) - so you can easily set them to melee or ranged fighter role.
- NPCs raising the alarm say which enemy they sighted.
- Leaders can switch place with their Followers - followers AI won't block leaders AI anymore.
- GangAI and CivilianAI followers stay closer to their Leaders.
- Trading AI refuse deals that makes no sense (eg: "my baseball bat for your baseball bat", "my pistol for your pistol ammo").
  You'll get a "has no interesting deal to offer." message.
- AI use blue pills more often.
- AI sleep more often.
- Improved sleep behavior for GangAI and SoldierAI.
- SoldierAI use medecines.
- Improved AI inventory management logic with weapons.
- Civilians make room for food items by dropping stuff when needed.
- Improved AI gear preference (doesn't affect trade)
  - equip best armor.
  - equip ranged weapons over melee weapons.
  - melee weapons preference : most damage first, then least STA penalty.
- CivilianAI and SoldierAI run away from primed explosives (eg: grenades).
- CivilianAI and SoldierAI *cautiously* throw grenades when appropriate : hurt group of ennemies, don't hurt friends.
- "CUF" map : once you visit the map, AIs will be able to use the exit/entry stairs - carefully choose when to open the pandora box ;)

KNOWN BUGS AND GLITCHES
- If you have a bug, mail the logfile.
- FoV is asymetric along walls.
- Rare crash at map generation complains about a missing CHAR Office.
- When changing some options the difficulty will go up, then slightly down, then resume up again.
- Long messages can be hard to read, use the Message Log command to read them in fullscreen (default Shift-M).


Have fun!
And remember, die with a smile!

End of post.