Release Notes


v0.2.2.46a - March 7, 2011


February was short, but our feature list this time even shorter. However, the two March 2011 updates to Synekism are anything but minor.


We re-made our camera controls as well as added extra uses. You can now navigate the entire city lot quickly and using only the mouse.


We also went back to the old horror which is the Lot Tool. While being even more complex and convoluted on the inside, it lets you zone huge areas while filling the new zone full of lots AND roads. There should no longer be any stupid empty patches of land when zoning large areas.


This release also contains significant "under-the-hood" changes and general cleanup which, dare I say it again, will help with future releases.


TIP: If you already have a previous version of the game and are essentially upgrading you can just press cancel on the DirectX installer. This redundancy will be fixed soon.


Minimum Requirements:


  • Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7
  • 1 GHz processor
  • 1 GB of system memory
  • Hard drive with at least 50 MB of available space*
  • Support for DirectX 9.0c, Shader Model 2 and 128 MB of graphics memory

* Does not include space requirements of DirectX and Visual C++ Redistributable which may be anywhere from 20kb to 500 MB depending on what has been already installed.


What we install:


  • Synekism v0.2.2.46a
  • DirectX Redistributable
  • Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable
  • GPU-Z.0.5.1.exe (to check DirectX support - removed after installation is finished/aborted)

NEW FEATURES:


Core:


  • city saving/loading will now indicates success/failure instead of silently dieing
  • new camera system now means rotation is done with right-click-and-drag, while walking can be done with left-click-and-drag (in addition to ASDW)
  • new overview mode (use Spacebar to activate) which will act as our mini-map; while in overview mode double-click anywhere to zoom in on that spot, while pressing Spacebar again will bring you back to your original focus
  • you can also move the camera while using the toolset, using the same controls, keeping in mind that a single click will give the toolset the click command, while a click-and-drag will apply only to the camera and not the toolset
  • added a money cheat (press F3 and M to get 100,000)
  • not really a feature but we cleaned up our installed files (textures and such)

Tools:


  • all-new zoning tool implemented: the zoning area will now be filled with lots (and roads) and there will no longer be empty spaces
  • due to the "full" nature of the new lot tool a size limit has been imposed (1.5km squared)
  • you can no longer create lots below a certain size, sorry

Engine:


  • we could not get to DX9 fullscreen support...still stuck on that one, as well as the custom map textures in DX9

BUGS FIXED:


Core:


  • camera no longer goes crazy if the mouse is dragged off the left or top sides of the window

BUGS NOT FIXED:


Engine:


  • it seems more noticeable now but in DX9, after some play time, roads seem to develop memory and are not cleared as one drags them about; this will be investigated/fixed in the next release


PATCHES:


  • Mar 1, 2011 - v0.2.2.46: initial release
  • Mar 7, 2011 - v0.2.2.46a:
    • the Dezone and Dozer tools are no longer overwritten by the camera controls
    • the uninstaller will no longer forget to remove the desktop icon