Onslaught CE V0.1.9

A newer version is out: the current release is always at releases/latest. 0.1.9 updates itself: start it and choose Update when it offers the new version. 0.1.10 fixes a way to lose a career when saving over an existing name on Linux, and a start-up crash of this version's Linux launcher when zenity is missing (see the 0.1.10 notes). Please install the current release rather than this one.

Getting 0.1.9

If you have 0.1.8: start Onslaught CE as usual. It finds this update, checks its signature and asks you; say yes and
it installs 0.1.9 inside its own folder and restarts. Your careers and settings are kept, and running the launcher with --rollback
(how) takes you back to 0.1.8 if you need it.

If you have 0.1.0 to 0.1.7: these cannot update themselves, so download 0.1.9 once by hand:

1. Close Onslaught CE.
2. Back up your careers and settings: copy the folder ~/.local/share/onslaught-ce (Linux) or %APPDATA%\Onslaught CE (Windows; paste that into the Explorer address bar) somewhere safe.
3. Download the 0.1.9 package for your system below.
4. Extract it into a new, empty folder.
5. Run onslaught-ce (Linux) or onslaught-ce.exe (Windows) from the new folder. Your careers and settings are picked up automatically. Point your shortcut at the new folder.

Never run the old launcher again (why). From then on it updates itself.

New players: download the package for your system, extract it into a new empty folder and run it. You need your own PC
copy of Battle Engine Aquila (testing uses the Steam edition); no game files are included.

A data-safety fix (Linux)

On Linux, two different career names could end up in the same save file, so saving one could empty the other: a
name with a trademark sign typed on the in-game keyboard shared a file with the same name ending in a quote, and a few names
with an accented capital A followed by a symbol shared a file with another career's. 0.1.9 gives every name its own file, still opens
every existing save under the name it shows, and lists saves copied from Windows with their proper characters. We know
of no case where this cost anyone a career. Windows was not affected.

What's new

• Gamepads and flight sticks work without setup: the menus with the D-pad or left stick (A to select, B back,
  Start to pause), and in play the left stick to move, the right stick to turn and look, triggers to fire and use the
  landing jets, A to transform. Plug a controller in while the game runs and it is picked up. A player who set up their
  own joystick controls keeps them. Controller Options now lists your controllers by name (it said "Not present" before).
• Rumble on controllers that have it, when your Battle Engine is hit or shaken by its own weapons (rumble=0 in
  ce.ini turns it off).
• The original developer console, hidden in the PC release, now available in solo play: press the grave key (left of 1), then help. It is limited to safe commands; level and win commands need the cheat switches. It replaces 0.1.8's small command panel.
• Developer statistics overlay (dev_stats=1): the original's on-screen frame and level information.
• Your own music (music_dir in ce.ini): a folder of .ogg files plays instead of the level music.
• End-of-level statistics on the victory and defeat screens: mission time, time in jet and walker mode, rounds
  fired, accuracy and damage taken, the panel the PC version left commented out (debrief_stats=0 hides it).
• Options > Cheats explains each switch; the latête cheat now works for careers named on Linux.

Gameplay is the faithful port as before: with every one of these switched on, recorded play still matches the original.

Downloads

• Linux i686 package
• Windows i686 package
• Stable latest links: Linux, Windows
• ce-update-v2.json and its .sig are the signed update feed the launcher reads; you don't need to download them.

Linux needs the documented 32-bit Vulkan driver and system libraries. The Windows executable is unsigned, so SmartScreen may warn you (More info, then Run anyway).

Validation and limits

• Both packages were built twice from the public source and are byte-identical; a clean rebuild from the public repository reproduces them byte for byte.
• Gameplay matches the original game exactly on the recorded checks for levels 100, 200, 221, 400, 512, 521, 611 and 860, and the long multi-level check reaches the same known difference point as earlier releases (reviewed independently). The Windows build was checked under Wine on level 100 (directly and through the launcher).
• With every new switch on at once (console colour, developer statistics, a music folder, end-of-level statistics, rumble, the god mode option, session recording) and a virtual controller attached, recorded play is byte-identical to 0.1.8 on every frame of those checks.
• Moving from 0.1.8 was tested on Linux and on Windows 11 (in a virtual machine, software rendering): with 0.1.8's user folder and a real career save, 0.1.9 in a new folder showed the career in Load Game and used ce.ini's settings; the save and ce.ini were byte-for-byte unchanged and the old install and the folders, links and junctions beside it untouched.
• Offline, the launcher reaches nothing and installs nothing (Windows 11 network capture). --apply is refused.
• The update from 0.1.8, tested right after publishing, on Linux and on Windows 11: the published 0.1.8 found this release's signed update, asked, and after Update downloaded it, checked it against the signed list and installed it beside 0.1.8; --version then showed 0.1.9, and --rollback returned to 0.1.8. The career save and ce.ini were unchanged throughout.
• The career-name fix is covered by tests that try every name of one or two characters the in-game keyboard can type, saves copied from Windows, and the earlier name clashes.
• The controller tests and the update test were separate runs from the release-candidate checks that RC-REPORT.txt lists.
• Controllers were tested with virtual devices in offscreen runs: menus, both sticks, transforming, a flight stick, and a pad plugged in or out while the game runs.

Not tested: physical gamepads, flight sticks and rumble motors (all controller checks used virtual devices), physical AMD, NVIDIA or Intel graphics on Windows, other Linux distributions with these packages, and audible sound on a real device.

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.

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