Alpine Faction Release Highlights: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 19:14, 5 December 2025

Below are the most important highlights from each major Alpine Faction release. This page assumes you are already familiar with Red Faction, and prior versions of Alpine Faction, and is intended just as a "quick start guide" to summarize key features for each release.

IMPORTANT: This is not an exhaustive changelog!

This page only has what I feel are the most important aspects of each release. For a full changelog at any given time, visit CHANGELOG.md on the Alpine Faction repository.

Alpine Faction 1.2

Released TBD

General

Suppress autoswitch bind, cl_autoswitchfirewait, and cl_autoswitchempty can be used to customize autoswitch behaviour
sp_exposuredamage or the associated option in the advanced options menu can be used to turn off the "take damage when outside" mechanic in single player
-afs FILENAME can be used on the command line to specify a particular ini file to use instead of alpine_settings.ini. Allows players to manage multiple config files launched via different shortcuts
You can now use the scroll wheel to scroll through lists in the menus

Multiplayer

New gametypes
- King of the Hill (KOTH)
- Damage Control (DC)
- Revolt (REV)
- Escalation (ESC)
- Run (RUN)
Servers can now configure gametype and most other server settings on a per-level basis. Servers can run multiple gametypes in the same rotation seamlessly.
Votes to start a match and change the level can now name rule presets (if configured by the server). This means players can vote for the ruleset they want when voting for a match/level.
First-person spectate view now shows the spectated player's name with their team colour
Chat menus now scale appropriately when bighud is enabled
The "Remote Server Config" bind can be used to display the server's current ruleset and map rotation
mp_handicap can be used to impose a damage reduction handicap on yourself
You can now call gametype votes using vote gametype TYPE MAP or vote gt TYPE MAP, where TYPE is a gametype abbreviation (i.e. CTF, KOTH, etc.) and MAP is a level filename.
"One minute remaining" and other countdown sounds will now play a second time if the time is extended after they play (like due to overtime)
"Winner" and "Game Over" at the end of the map fixed
Scoreboard now identifies players as alive, dead, idle, bot, spectator, browser

Graphics

Direct3D 11 Renderer improvements
- Colorblind mode rendering filter (r_colorblind)
- Improved skybox rendering
- Picmip (r_picmip)
- Vertex lighting for meshes
- Dynamic lighting for meshes and movers
- Support r_fullbright, r_lightmaps, r_nearest

Dedicated Servers

Dedicated servers should now be configured using one or more TOML files - web-based config builder is available here
Framerates are now far more consistent, improving the overall play experience
You can now configure gameplay rules (including gametype) on a per-level basis
You can use the sv_gametype TYPE MAP command to change the gametype on your server at any time. TYPE is a gametype abbreviation (i.e. CTF, KOTH, etc.) and MAP is a level filename.
Much more useful information is now displayed when new players join your server, and when you run the info command
You can now use the sv_restrict_status command to display the current client restriction status on the current level, with the current ruleset
Clients are now restricted from voting if they are not able to play in your server.
Server console now displays attempted joins that were rejected, and the reason for the rejection (e.g. "between levels", "data incompatible", etc.)
Server console now alerts on failed rcon_request attempts
Vote config now supports "Ignore nonvoters" as an option
sv_loadconfig can be used to reload your server config (after you made changes to the files) without needing a server restart
sv_printconfig and sv_printrules can be used to display server information at any time
-min can be used on the command line to have your server console display only the minimum amount of information required
-log can be used to log all server console output to a log file in RedFaction/logs
If you run bots in your server, you can use bot_shared_secret to ensure your bots are properly handled by your server (no spawning after ideal player count reached, exclude from votes, etc.)

Mod / Map Development

You can now make maps for all of the new gametypes. For info on how to create control points (for KOTH, DC, REV, and ESC), see Mapping with Control Points
"Play in multi (camera)" added to top toolbar
F9 (Play in multi) and F10 (Play in multi (camera)) hotkeys added
Playing in multi from RED will now launch on the correct gametype (based on map filename prefix)
You can now link to multiple objects at once. When you select multiple objects and press "K", the first object you selected will be linked to all other object you have selected.
Respawn points can now be toggled on/off with the Respawn_Point_State event, and the associated team changed with the Modify_Respawn_Point event
New settings in Level Properties
- "Legacy Cyclic_Timers" - If false, Cyclic_Timer events no longer double trigger on their first activation
- "Legacy movers" - If false, use new Alpine Faction mover functionality: fixed low velocity movers not working, fixed travel and ramp time calculations, fixed "Force Orient", fixed "Lift" movement type, fixed "Ping Pong Infinite"/"Loop Once"/"Loop Infinite" movement types for rotating movers
- "Player starts with headlamp" - If false, do not allow the player to use the headlamp (until allowed via Set_Gameplay_Rule event)
- "Override static mesh ambient light scale" - If true, use the specified scale value. If false, use stock game behaviour (2.0 for SP, 3.2 for MP).
New events
- Capture_Point_Handler
- Respawn_Point_State
- Modify_Respawn_Point
- When_Captured
- Set_Capture_Point_Owner
- Owner_Gate
- Set_Gameplay_Rule

Alpine Faction 1.1

Released 19 Apr 2025

Alpine Faction 1.0

Released 25 Jan 2025

Additional Resources

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 * <code>sp_exposuredamage</code> or the associated option in the advanced options menu can be used to turn off the "take damage when outside" mechanic in single player
 * <code>-afs FILENAME</code> can be used on the command line to specify a particular ini file to use instead of alpine_settings.ini. Allows players to manage multiple config files launched via different shortcuts
+* You can now use the scroll wheel to scroll through lists in the menus
 ===Multiplayer===
 * New gametypes
@@ Line 35: / Line 36: @@
 * "One minute remaining" and other countdown sounds will now play a second time if the time is extended after they play (like due to overtime)
 * "Winner" and "Game Over" at the end of the map fixed
+* Scoreboard now identifies players as alive, dead, idle, bot, spectator, browser
 ===Graphics===
 * Direct3D 11 Renderer improvements
@@ Line 40: / Line 42: @@
 ** Improved skybox rendering
 ** Picmip (<code>r_picmip</code>)
-** Vertex lighting for static meshes
+** Vertex lighting for meshes
-** Dynamic lighting for static meshes and movers
+** Dynamic lighting for meshes and movers
 ** Support <code>r_fullbright</code>, <code>r_lightmaps</code>, <code>r_nearest</code>
 ===Dedicated Servers===
@@ Line 58: / Line 60: @@
 * <code>-min</code> can be used on the command line to have your server console display only the minimum amount of information required
 * <code>-log</code> can be used to log all server console output to a log file in <code>RedFaction/logs</code>
+* If you run bots in your server, you can use <code>bot_shared_secret</code> to ensure your bots are properly handled by your server (no spawning after ideal player count reached, exclude from votes, etc.)
 ===Mod / Map Development===
 * You can now make maps for all of the new gametypes. For info on how to create control points (for KOTH, DC, REV, and ESC), see [[Mapping with Control Points]]