Onslaught CE 0.1.6 (preview)

This is an old release. The current one is always at releases/latest. Do not run this version's launcher. Back up your CE user folder, then install the current release by hand into a new empty folder, as its release notes describe. From 0.1.8 on, Onslaught CE updates itself.

Important safety notice — affected launchers

Do not start the Onslaught CE 0.1.0–0.1.6 launchers, including this release, or use their updater, even with update checks disabled. Their source contains startup cleanup that can delete neighboring files or folders whose names start with the CE program folder's name followed by .old-.

In isolated tests, the shipped 0.1.6 Linux launcher deleted a matching folder and followed a matching directory symlink. Earlier versions contain the same cleanup in source; their packaged launchers and native Windows behavior have not been similarly tested.

Keep the existing program folder, matching neighboring items and any link or junction targets in place. Preserve both launcher and game user-data folders. If BEA_USER_DIR is relative, those folders may differ; locate and back up each separately without merging them. See the current safety notice and manual migration guidance. The current release is 0.1.8.

Older instructions below to run this launcher, use automatic updates, install in place, or clean up old folders are superseded by this notice.

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Onslaught CE 0.1.6 is an early corrective release for the native Linux and Windows port of Battle Engine Aquila. You need your own supported PC game files; testing uses the Steam edition. No game files are included.

Fixes and improvements

• Honor close requests during full-screen films and credits.
• Discard mouse events left over from earlier capture or focus periods before menus can use them.
• Honor explicit windowed starts and saved display choices, and keep display modes associated with the correct graphics adapter.
• Correct music-finished detection and reused audio timers. Normal Ogg completion is no longer counted as a read failure; genuine read and close errors remain errors.
• Stop drawing terrain from invalid buffers after a failed rebuild or graphics reset, fix recycled render-batch state, and clear uncovered screen regions.
• Improve Windows handling of non-ASCII career names and file-identity checks before overwriting a save.
• Publish recordings only when the tape and its starting-file metadata are complete. Interrupted captures remain marked .incomplete rather than being presented as replayable sessions.
• Expand bounded diagnostic logs with sound, music refill, input, focus, display and rendering details. Concurrent launches use separate log slots instead of overwriting an active session's log. Logs are not uploaded automatically.
• Add Onslaught CE > Special Thanks and make the subdued version footer easier to read: Onslaught CE V0.1.6.

Downloads

• Linux i686 package
• Windows i686 package
• Stable latest links: Linux, Windows

The 0.1.6 packages remain available for reference; do not start their launcher or use its updater; use 0.1.8 and its manual migration instructions instead. Administrator execution or disabled UAC is not required. Keep recovery copies of your careers before changing save locations. Linux needs the documented 32-bit Vulkan driver and system libraries; the Windows executable remains unsigned.

Validation and limits

Two clean builds produced byte-identical Linux and Windows packages. The attached release-candidate report and asset hashes describe their bounded replay checks and known exclusions. Missing reference data and unverified pointer observations are not counted as equality. No GitHub Actions or hosted CI was used.

Fresh Windows 11 checks passed for launcher/file handling, recording and two exact replays, ordinary gameplay, menu mouse/focus handling, film shutdown, save preservation and the longer audio lifecycle. The VM uses Microsoft's software renderer. These checks do not validate physical AMD/NVIDIA/Intel GPUs, dual monitors, mixed DPI or listening quality on a physical audio device.

Ordinary Windows automatic takeover from 0.1.5 to 0.1.6 has not passed. The packaged 0.1.6 launcher succeeds under the update-helper filename with ordinary permissions; a complete automatic upgrade from 0.1.6 to a legitimate newer release still needs end-to-end validation.

The reported overlapping/stuttering music, colorful tutorial-map borders and aircraft/geometry artifacts still need reproduction and attribution. These fixes are not claimed as confirmed solutions to those reports. Full-game parity and the tutorial's complete combat route remain unfinished. Online multiplayer and campaign co-op are separate development work and are not included in 0.1.6.

If a problem occurs, send the onslaught-ce*.log files from your CE user folder, with what happened and roughly when. You can send them directly to the maintainer; a GitHub account is not required. No administrator access or automatic upload is needed.

Thanks to early Discord testers Jeppi and BermudaMaster, Stuart Gillam (desimbr) for help, insight and guidance, and everyone contributing fixes, testing and agent-assisted work.

Related work: Companion, Godot rebuild, decompilation, preservation documentation.

Safety, 2026-10-27: this release's latest.json and latest.json.sig update-feed files were removed, so no old launcher can ever be offered this or another affected version as an update. ASSETS.txt still lists their original hashes. Everything else here is unchanged.