Onslaught CE 0.1.7 (preview)

A newer version is out: the current release is always at releases/latest. 0.1.7 cannot update itself, so download the current release once by hand (the steps are at the top of its page); from 0.1.8 on, Onslaught CE updates itself.

Important: install 0.1.7 by hand, into a new empty folder

Do not start any Onslaught CE 0.1.0–0.1.6 launcher again, not even to check its version, update it or with
update checks disabled. Their startup cleanup can delete a neighbouring file or folder whose name starts with the CE
program folder's name followed by .old- (for example Onslaught CE.old-backup beside Onslaught CE). The shipped
0.1.6 Linux launcher did this in a sandbox test, and followed a matching directory symlink into its target. The same
name-based cleanup is in the Windows source.

0.1.7 fixes this: its launcher never removes neighbouring paths, and automatic update checking and installation are
suspended. There is no update feed in this release, so older launchers cannot offer it as an automatic update.

Before you install 0.1.7:

1. Close CE. Leave the old program folder and every neighbouring .old-*, .download-* and .unpack-* path
   untouched; they may hold unrelated files or the only copy of your data.
2. Back up your CE user folder first, without starting the old launcher. By default it is
   ~/.local/share/onslaught-ce on Linux and %APPDATA%\Onslaught CE on Windows; a BEA_USER_DIR setting takes
   priority, and a relative one can put launcher files and game data in different places. Copy each whole folder to a
   separate place and check the copy.
3. Download the 0.1.7 package for your system and ASSETS.txt from this page, and
   verify the package.
4. Extract it into a new, empty folder, separate from the original game and every old CE folder. Do not install
   over an old folder or copy old executables or DLLs into the new one.
5. Run only the new onslaught-ce (Linux) or onslaught-ce.exe (Windows). Check Onslaught CE > About, your
   careers and settings, then update your shortcut. Keep your backups and the old folders.

The full steps, including separate launcher and game data folders and BEA_USER_DIR, are in the README's
manual migration.
No administrator access or disabled UAC is needed.

Onslaught CE 0.1.7 is a corrective release of 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.

Changes

• The launcher no longer removes any path beside its program folder, on any start.
• Automatic update checking and installation are suspended. The Manual updates menu and --update-only give the
  manual steps instead (--update-only exits with status 2 without starting the game); the old --apply command is
  refused before it touches any installation, user or update path.
• In the game, Onslaught CE > Check for updates is now Manual updates and shows the same steps. Gameplay is
  unchanged from 0.1.6.

Downloads

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

Linux needs the documented 32-bit Vulkan driver and system libraries; the Windows executable is unsigned, so SmartScreen may warn you.

Validation and limits

Two clean builds produced byte-identical Linux and Windows packages (the attached report records them), and a
separate clean build from the public v0.1.7 tag reproduced both packages byte for byte; that third build is a
maintainer check whose record is not part of the attached report. The attached release-candidate report
and asset hashes describe the
bounded replay checks against the original game and their known exclusions. No GitHub Actions or hosted CI was used.

On these exact packages:

• Linux, in a sandbox with a private home folder: --version, --update-only (exit 2, guidance), --apply
  (refused, nothing touched) and a normal start to the menu and quit. Disposable .old-* neighbours, including a
  directory symlink and its target, were unchanged afterwards.
• Windows 11 virtual machine (offline, Microsoft's software renderer, no graphics card), as an ordinary user: the same
  four checks, films through the title and main menu to Quit, and disposable neighbours (an .old-* folder, file,
  directory symlink and junction, plus a near-miss name) unchanged with their contents and link targets, 17 checked
  entries in all. No network request was made.

Not tested: physical AMD, NVIDIA or Intel graphics on Windows, game controllers, other Linux distributions with these
packages, and audible sound on a real device. Automatic updating stays off until a separate design is validated.

If a problem occurs, choose Onslaught CE > Report a problem (or open an issue on the
Issues page), say what happened and roughly when, and attach
onslaught-ce.log from your CE user folder (details).
Look the log over before sharing it; it is never uploaded automatically.

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.