The latest Bitfighter releases are listed here. All releases and change history can be viewed on the releases page.

Although the game will compile for Linux, we are unable to release packages for any Linux distros. If you want to help compile and package Bitfighter for Linux, please visit our Help Wanted page.

An OS X release will be available here very soon.

Latest Release

Upgrade notes:

• Some of the standard levels have been renamed or removed. If you already have Bitfighter installed, either delete your existing INI file, or edit or delete the [Levels] section. If you have a customized level list, note that the "football" level files have been renamed "zonecontrol".
• This version is incompatible with previous versions, so if you are using this version, you will not be able to play with anyone who has not yet upgraded.

Release notes

Known bugs

• There is one confirmed major bug in this version: Running a Hunters game with a Nexus near (0,0) will cause the game to crash on OS X. Therefore, the level Colosseum has been removed from the default level lineup. Levels where the Nexus is not near (0,0) appear unaffected.
• There is also a reported (but unconfirmed) bug that lets players see enemy spy bugs on OS X.

Major upgrades

• Revamped team v. individual game infrastructure. As a result...
• Mines and SpyBugs now show correct (i.e lesser) visibility to "teammates" on inherently individual games (such as Rabbit)
• No longer see "teammates" on individual games on commander's map
• Spy bug data is properly shared only in team games, and not shared on individual games5
• Scoring now handled consistently for all games, team or individual. Any improper scoring will be treated as a bug.
• Determining friendly fire now better, more consistently handled.
• Most games are inherently team-based (Capture the flag) or individual based (Rabbit), but some can be either (Zapmatch) depending on whether there is 1 or more teams defined (1 = individual, more = team)
• Included twoplayers.bat file to show how to configure game for multiple players on a single computer

Minor upgrades

• Increased number of chat messages on screen to 6, and made them linger a wee bit longer
• Changed message when a player kills himself
• Added info about current input mode (joystick/keyboard) to diagnostics screen
• Added help message if players try to move with keyboard while in joystick mode
• Enhanced joystick/keyboard interaction when entering quick chat message
• Max forcefield length increased from 500 to 2500, a value I believe is similar to what is in the commercial version of Zap!
• Global chat ([F5]) messages are now limited to what can fit on an actual display width, rather than a hard 100 characters as before. This means you can have much longer messages if you use "short" letters like "i" and "l". In practice, it means that the chat is a bit less limiting to use.
• All standard level files (i.e. those that ship with Bitfighter) have been upgraded to have the third team be green
• Fixed Windows installer so that only "clean" levels are packaged up
• Added new levels to default level lineup (thanks, Qui -- you're in the credits!)
• When an unknown controller is encountered, game will default to keyboard mode rather than joystick mode.
• If user is changing teams, and there are only two teams, user will bypass the team selection menu and just swap teams
• Infrastructure now in place for game specific admin menu options. First implementation is to hide admin change teams menu when it makes no sense (i.e. individual game, or only one team). Could be used to designate a new rabbit, for example.
• Can now press Enter or Escape during opening Bitfighter animation to abort it without quitting game or activating first menu item. Pressing other keys still terminates animation and does appropriate action.
• Reduced font size of chat messages to 14px, which approximately matches that used in the commercial version of Zap!
• If you hit enter without specifying a name on the name entry screen, you'll be assigned the name defined in the INI with the DefaultName setting.
• Improved rendering of the experimental aim mode vector
• Scores on scoreboard sorted within teams, highest on top (but teams are shown in a fixed order)
• Score required to win level now displayed along with other level info when [F2] is held down
• Many minor interface tweaks (text colors, column widths, line spacing, font size, etc.)
• It is now possible for multiple people to play on a single computer using joysticks, but this is undocumented and unsupported (known to work on Windows, untested, but should work on OS X)
• Game no longer crashes when some (or all) specified levels are missing (this was a "feature" of the original Zap)
• Improved QueryServer screen when no ongoing games, or unable to connect to master
• Made default module buttons on joystick a little more logical
• Made burst explosions a little "sparkier"
• Added message when users enter incorrect admin password
• Added color to enhance readability of diagnostics [F7] screen
• Fixed server passwords -- you won't be asked for password when hosting own game (with H from main menu), password related crashes resolved
• Added brief help text to loadout menu, and increased loadout menu timeout period from 6s to 8s.
• Changed keybindings: Out-of-game chat from [F9] to [F5], Display FPS from [F10] to [F6], and Dignostics from [F11] to [F7] so as to not conflict with default bindings for Expose and other OS X functions.
• Disabled teleport zoom effect implemented in an earlier release
• Players lose ownership of and no longer remember location of mines and spybugs when they change teams
• Mines can damage anyone

Command line parameters

• Added command line option -alllevels that will direct Bitfighter to ignore levels settings in the INI file and load all levels it can find in the levels folder [[ if not, delete Wiki comment ]]
• Added -leveldir command-line option that lets you load all levels in a specified subfolder of your levels dir
• Added -help command line option that prints a quick reference to the wiki page on cmd line params
• Added -winpos and -winwidth parameters to let users control location and size of window (see twoplayers.bat for a use-case)
• Added slightly useful messages for users who misspecify certain command line params
• Removed the mysterious and useless -server cmd line option, replaced it with -hostaddr cmd line option and hostaddr INI setting

Soccer

• Soccer ball always visible on commander's map, and it's location is always known to the players (via objective arrows). Previously, when it was outside your range of vision, it was hidden.
• Neutral (and hostile) goals now work -- anyone can score on them, hostile goal gives negative points

Hunters

• Cleaned up messages, messages now report score for flags returned to Nexus
• Brighted up the nexus colors a bit
• If ship is sitting on the nexus when it opens, it scores immediately without having to leave and re-enter the zone
• Added new visual effect when someone returns flags to the Nexus

Editor

• Enabled + and - keys as alternates for Ins and Del on team definition menus, because Macs don't generally have Ins keys.
• Added error checking to look for missing nexus in Hunters level (game crashes without a nexus!)
• Added missing item to editor help menu
• Ctrl-left click now works like right-click. This is maininly to enhance usability by OS X users.
• Added a UI message when Ctrl-A is clicked, to help users better understand what is happening.
• Some effort has been made towards making only current-game specific items appear on dock. Needs to be made more systematic, but it's a start.

Bug fixes

• Fixed minor bug when entering quick chat messages in controller mode
• Fixed bug reading INI settings
• Teleport zoom effect now only seen by player who is teleporting
• Fixed cursor placement issue on global chat (only apparent on goofball messages like "iiiiiiii")
• Bullets are now rendered correctly on commander's map (when you have sensor, they are visible)
• Fixed crash when testing Hunters level with no Nexus in editor
• Killing self in solo games no longer scores a point
• Experimental aim mode bug fixed: you can no longer see aim vector for other players
• Join game screen now shows correct number of players on game servers
• Fixed problem with stars disappearing in distant reaches of large levels
• Zap! style Nexus definition now properly imported by editor
• Message displayed when you change loadout now gives correct instructions for activating changes based on game-specific mechanics, as well as presence of loadout zones
• Fixed problem with remote admins not seeing list of players they could kick or switch teams for
• Can no longer create "hostile-to-all" soccer goals in the editor
• Fixed bug in instructions (F1) that caused blank pages and missing items

Source Code

All project source and relevant support files can be found on the project's SVN server.

https://zap.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/zap