Author: OppressiveDuke

Greetings Commanders,

as you may know, some people have experienced graphics bugs with the newest 0.16 python client release that made the client to appear frozen.

There is now a possible fix for that.

So that we can bring a new and improved 0.16 client to all of you, testing is needed. So please update to the new client version 0.16.1-rc.1 that is now available both via the client updater as well as for direct download from Github.

If you have problems with this version, you can downgrade back to version 0.14 or 0.16.0 by downloading and running the installers.

As always, please report any issues or feedback in the Tech Support Forum!

Happy hunting,
– Duke

Greetings Commanders,

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Update: The new client version appears to be incompatible with Windows 10 “Creators Update” version 1703 for some users. There seem to be ongoing issues with Windows 10 version 1703 so for now we can only recommand that if you haven’t upgraded to the Windows Creators Update version you should be prepared to roll back.

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we have released version 0.16.0 of the FAF Python Client.

We made no changes to the last preview version 0.16.0-rc.2 as there have been no new reports of issues that we want to fix before this final release; we are simply promoting this version to final release status.

You can get the update from the client updater or directly from Github.

As always, please report any problems to the moderators or in the Tech Support Forum.

Some users have reported that Forged Alliance will fail to start if the client is run in full-screen mode. We have confirmed that this is an issue happening on some system configurations. We are working on a fix, but if you have this problem, for now you will have to run the client in windowed mode.

Happy hunting,
OppressiveDuke

Greetings Commanders!

 

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Update: Due to widespread reports of problems with 0.16, we have pulled it from the releases while we investigate. You can still download it here if you want to test it.

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After careful testing by more adventurous volunteers, we now believe that the major overhaul of the Python Lobby Client has been vetted enough to be ready for a real public test.

Please be aware that this is still a test release and breakage is expected, including of the updater. If you are not comfortable with manually updating/reinstalling your client in case of problems, do not install this update.

With that out of the way, if you have been running 0.13.2, this client release brings a huge amount of improvements and bugfixes. Here is a list of just some of them:

• Fix map names being displayed wrong in host window for a modded game (#786, #787)
• Fix and add observer in tooltip for hosted games (#711)
• Fix “in game” icons next to chatters not showing at client launch (#791, #792)
• Fix join hosted game from chat user (#796)
• Fix regression – map and mod previews not downloading correctly (#804, #805)
• Rework client updater (#671, #672)
• Fix mods selected in game host window not remembered properly (#840, #841)
• Slightly decrease dependency of tabs on client class (#644)
• Clean up theme-specific util code (#663, #664)
• Add Friend/Foe feature for IRC users (#609, #657)
• Replace game quality in the play tab (NOT in the lobby) by average rating (#687, #688)

Contributors:

• Wesmania
• muellni
• Grothe
• Duke

You can find the full changelog at the Github Release page. You can download the client installer directly from there as well.

Please note:

• FAF has not officially supported Windows XP for a while, and this client release does not work with Windows XP.
• If you took part in the earlier public testing call you need to revert your changes now and then enable downgrading in the updater settings to get to the release version.

If you have any problems, you can revert back to client version 0.13.2 by downloading and running the old installer.

Update: Due to an issue while preparing the release, you may have gotten version 0.15.1 instead of 0.16.0. In this case, please refaf and you will be prompted for another upgrade that will take you to 0.16.0.

Happy hunting,
OppressiveDuke

Greetings Commanders,

a big update of the Python Lobby Client is coming up. In addition to a multitude of bugfixes and improvements, we have made two big technical changes:

• Switching the client’s underlying framework from Python2.7/PyQT4.8 to Python3.5/PyQt5.9
• Redoing our release model and the client updater

As I wrote before, our release cycle will soon have three stages: Unstable (Beta) releases, Stable Preview releases, and Stable releases (you can find a thorough explanation in that article). To support that, the client updater had to be rewritten.

Because of the client updater rewrite, we need to be cautious and make sure there is ample testing of the updater – we’ve seen what happens when there is a bug in the updater – before releasing this update to all of FAF.

Please only apply the following instructions if you’re not scared of being a beta tester and all the potential inconveniences this brings – applying this change is not mandatory to keep playing FAF.

Therefore, here is what you should do to get the newest version of the Lobby Client:

1. Make sure FAF is closed
2. Find your “FA Lobby.ini” file – it should be in C:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Roaming\ForgedAllianceForever\FA Lobby.ini
3. Double-Click the file to edit in Notepad (or use any text editor you like)
4. Insert this into the file:

   [updater]
   gh_release_url="https://api.github.com/repos/Wesmania/client/releases?per_page=20"

5. Save and Close the File
6. Start FAF
7. You should be prompted to update – run the update and install it.

The effect of this change is that instead of using the main FAForever/client repository to update, the updater will look in Wesmania/client where Wesmania (Mazornoob) has been maintaining and releasing the Unstable branch and where he is now hosting the test releases.Please play around with the updater (there are a few versions released) and keep running this client branch until we make an announcement for the final release – there will be a few updates coming on this release branch to give you opportunities to test the new updater in action.

If you have any feedback or problems with this test release, please let me know using the forums: Feedback Thread
As always, you can also contact our moderator team with any problems you have at any time.

To revert back to the normal client version, you have to follow these steps:

1. Delete the lines you added to your “FA Lobby.ini” file
2. Reinstall the old client version from Github.

Many thanks to Mazornoob, who has done a huge amount of work on this, and Grothe, who contributed a number of improvements.

Happy Hunting,
— Duke