We tried to release OpenTTD 13 on April 1st, but supply chain issues are affecting new feature production and forced us to delay the release.
To compensate, we swept the factory floor for bits and pieces that where left around and could be repurposed. We found enough to be able to produce a 12.2 maintenance release for you.
More details in the changelog below.
We thought it time for a bugfix release.
We’ve addressed some of the more prominent criticisms of the 12.0 release along with a few others. Notably the scrolling titlescreen will no longer scroll when you’re interacting with the game (and fixed the occasional crash) and we’ve added a nice button to reenable the advanced signals that we’re pretty sure you don’t need to be using anyway.
More details in the changelog below.
In OpenTTD version 12, we changed rail signals building UI only shows the Path Signal types by default. It was implemented in pull request #8688, for those who want to see the development history. This is the one change in version 12 that has by far caused the most questions everywhere, so let’s talk a bit more about it, and show some examples of simple signal setups for path signals.
The reason for hiding the block signals by default is to make it easier to choose a signal. For almost all players, path signals are the easier choice, that will cause fewer issues in your network. One question would then be, if path signals are better, why are block signals then in the game? The simple answer is, because they always were there. It was the only type of signal in the original game, and if we removed them, then old saved games would stop working.
As for why path signals are generally better than block signals, the reason is that path signals don’t reserve entire blocks, but only pieces of track. When a train wants to pass a block signal, the train asks the block signal to find all other signals on the other side, and turn them to red. Nobody else can enter this area. When a train wants to pass a path signal, the path signal finds a way to where the train is going, and blocks off (reserves) just those pieces of track. Other trains can still go into the same area, as long as they won’t touch the reserved pieces of track. This means more trains can go through the same area at a time.
The time is finally here: 12.0 is officially released!
12.0 is our multiplayer update, where we made playing together as easy as possible. No more port-forwarding or other stuff: start a server and ask your friend(s) to join. We take care of the rest. For more details, please read our blog: New Multiplayer Experience
Besides this major update, 12.0 also comes with some other nice features:
To name just a few. And as always, we made sure to include tons (over 85!) of bug fixes in this release.
A special thanks goes out to our translators: they translated the game in full for 29 (!) languages.
We hope you enjoy this new version, and make sure to try it out with a friend!
With 12.0 in feature-freeze, it is time to talk about what is in 12.0, and why we release early.
In summary: 12.0 makes setting up multiplayer games painless. You no longer need to configure anything in your home network. Playing together are now just four simple steps: 1) You just start a server. 2) You set the server to invite-only or public. 3) You share your invite-code with your friend. 4) Your friend joins your server based on the invite-code.
There is no need to setup port-forwarding, or anything like that. The above will just work, for everyone, as long as you have a working Internet connection.
Depending on your connection, there are some extra infrastructure costs to us, but we hope to cover that increase with donations. Thanks to many of you, we see regular donations. This currently covers our infastructure cost, and we currently foresee no issues going forward. If this changes, we will let you know, and run some kind of fundraiser. Well, I guess in a sense this post is also a fundraiser ;)
As you might understand, this changes the multiplayer experience drastically, and we felt that waiting 6 more months to deliver that to you is not fair. As a result: we are releasing 12.0 early!
In this post, I want to explain in a bit more details how we got here and how it works.