EV Nova CE Read Me.txt

EV Nova Community Edition r4


Patch Notes

• Registration requirement has been removed.
• Game resolution can be set in the ddraw.ini file. By default it will match your desktop
  resolution.
• Experimental UI scaling can be set in the ddraw.ini file.
• Image blitting has been reimplemented using GDI+, resolving performance issues on Apple Silicon
  as well as providing improved scaling quality and 16-bit dithering.*
• Map borders draw in a much larger area, supporting fullscreen map sizes up to 1920x1080.
  Additionally, the drawing has been tweaked to ensure borders remain visible when zoomed out.
• Nebula image selection prefers larger images over smaller ones, for improved display quality.
• Radar interference works again and also supports lower depth ppats as used in the.
• Asteroids will always work regardless of the resolution. No extra plug-ins required.
• Opening a pilot no longer switches to windowed mode temporarily.
• Windows keys are no longer disabled while playing.
• Forced font substitution has been disabled, allowing original Mac fonts such as Geneva and
  Charcoal to work when installed.
• Certain non-ascii characters are now displayed correctly (e.g. in The Frozen Heart plug-in).
• The "Run in a window" setting will immediately switch mode, functioning the same as alt-F.
• Odd width resolutions are now supported.
• Dialogs are no longer forced to even dimensions.
• Mission title in the BBS no longer renders poorly when running in Wine.
• Particle cap has been increased from 1,024 to 100,000.
• Additional keyboard shortcuts from Mac Nova 1.1 have been added:
    - Spacebar to open (and close) ship info in the shipyard
    - B to show/hide borders in the map
    - C to clear route in the map (previously centered map, but Spacebar still does this)
• The hotkey for "x2" mode can be overridden in the ddraw.ini file.
• The app path is written to the registry, allowing scripts etc to locate the exe.
• The game supports loading data files from alternative locations (see details below).
• Hyperspace Effects preference is now visible and will disable the white flash when turned off.
• Pilot files are no longer encrypted.
• Game icon has been replaced with the higher-quality version from Mac Nova.
• Debug mode can be enabled by pressing Alt+Home (see details below).

* Note: wine users should install gdiplus from winetricks for best results.


Playing Total Converversions (TCs)

EV Nova CE will load Files, Plug-ins & Pilots from the "current directory". This is normally the
"EV Nova" folder but to facilitate playing TCs and other major plug-ins, the game provides a couple
of mechanisms for explicitly changing this:
• Passing the target folder path as the first argument to EV Nova.exe.
• Creating a ".nplay" file in the target folder which can be double-clicked to launch EV Nova.

Additional notes:
• If "Nova Files" is not found in the target folder, it will fallback to the default copy. This
  allows plug-ins that aren't strictly "total conversions" to also use this mechanism.
• If "Nova Plug-ins" is not found in the target folder, it will try to use "Plug-ins" instead.
  This improves compatibility with plug-ins created for Mac Nova that use this folder name.


Debug Mode Effects

• Show ids/raw values in various dialogs
• Always have afterburner
• 50x faster armor regen
• Ignore capture odds (for both player and AI)
• Skip combat rating requirement for domination


Debug Mode Hotkeys

Alt+Home:          Enable debug mode
Hold Ctrl:         Show target debug info
Shift+4:           +50k credits
Alt+Shift+4:       -10k credits
Insert / KpdEnter: Spawn ship
Alt+Insert:        Spawn fleet 129 (Federation)
Alt+Ctrl+Insert:   Spawn fleet 135 (Pirates)
Alt+Shift+Insert:  Spawn fleet 149 (Rebels)
Ctrl+Ins:          Spawn pers 641 (Hannah Chick)
Delete:            Delete target
PageUp:            Cycle ship type forwards
PageDn:            Cycle ship type backwards
F6:                Restore stats and ammo, activate rank 147 (Hypergate Access)
Alt+F6:            Same as above, but empty fuel
F7:                Make target hostile
Alt+F7:            Make target neutral and leave system
F8:                Disable target
Alt+F8:            Assign target as hired escort
F9:                Destroy target
Shift+F9:          Destroy target as player (bear the consequences)
Alt+F9:            Disable player
F10:               Explore map
Alt+F10:           Unexplore map
Backspace:         Complete jump instantly
Alt+9:             Evaluate NCB test expression*
Alt+0:             Execute NCB set expression*
Home:              Instantly restart after loss of ship (this works even when not in debug mode)
End:               Exit debug mode

* Custom additions for EV Nova CE