SourceMod 1.1.0 Release Notes

TODO

• Update structs.inc link on release.
• Write client prefs api link.
• Write gamedata updating link.

Map Management Changes

SourceMod's map management plugins have gone through huge overhauls to address many community requested features and bugs.

The new "mapchooser" plugin provides a central system for other map-related plugins. In addition:

• nominations adds nominations into map votes.
• rockthevote lets users start early map votes.
• nextmap automatically selects the next map and provides a "nextmap" chat trigger.
• randomcycle randomly selects the next map.

To learn more about the new map management system, see Map Management.

Gamedata Updater

One major support problem with SourceMod is that when a mod updates, it is quite easy to break SourceMod's SDKTools. SDKTools provides "hacky" scripting functionality for internal game features, like slaying players or creating entities.

To fix this we now have a gamedata auto-updating feature in SourceMod (for gamedata files only). When your server starts, SourceMod will contact AlliedModders to check for gamedata file updates. AlliedModders will send back new files if they are available.

As part of this effort, if your server crashes on load, gamedata files will become locked, and no "hacky" functionality will be available. The motivation behind this is to give your server time to update safely in case plugins are trying to run functions that are doomed to crash.

Only official gamedata files are updated. All gamedata updating functionality can be disabled if you deem it a security risk. For more information, see Gamedata Updating.

Client Prefs

SourceMod 1.1 comes with a new "client preferences" extension. This extension lets plugins configure properties on clients which are preserved across connections, server restarts, and even across multiple servers. Properties are created and maintained by plugins in an API similar to ConVars (cvars).

The Client Prefs extension can be configured to use SQLite (default) or MySQL. All operations are threaded in order to not interrupt gameplay performance.

To read more, see Client Preferences API.

Structs Extension

A new extension called "Structs" is now available. This extension is designed to abstract native data structures for plugins to easily modify. For example, it is now possible to modify weapon information structures that were previously internal to the HL2SDK.

For more information, see structs.inc.

JIT Changes

User Changes

The concept of "debug mode" has been removed. Debug mode is now always on. The runtime has been reworked so this is no longer a performance loss. This decision was made partially to clean up some very inefficient code, but it's also for support. Users no longer have to manually toggle or reconfigure plugins before reporting errors.

The JIT (just-in-time compiler) is responsible for converting plugins to machine code for speed. Previously, plugins were translated to machine code all at once on load. In SourceMod 1.1 this has changed. Plugins are now incrementally compiled as functions get called for the first time. This might help load time, but was actually done to improve internal logic.

Developer Changes

Dependence on private or internal structures has been eliminated. Plugins are now represented by IPluginRuntime structures, and contexts are now solely represented by an IPluginContext. The sp_plugin_t and sp_context_t structures have been removed.

A huge number of functions in IPluginContext have been deprecated and moved to IPluginRuntime as part of this effort. Contexts are now intended only to represent a thread of execution. Similarly, function invocation is now defined as being invocation of a particular IPluginFunction combined with an IPluginContext (a default contexts exists for compatibility).

The ISourcePawnEngine API has been deprecated in favor of ISourcePawnEngine2. The new API reflects the restructuring. For example, it provides a single entry point for creating an IPluginRuntime from a file.

Lastly, the SourcePawn runtime (sourcepawn.jit.x86) is now entirely separated from SourceMod. It can be embedded into other GPL3 applications, for better or worse. The API is separate and stable enough such that you can take the JIT library from SourceMod 1.1 and use it right in your own app. Documentation on doing this can be written upon request.