SourceMod 1.1.0 Release Notes

SourceMod 1.1 has been brewing for over ten months and is nearing release quality. Please help beta test it!

TODO

• List of blockers
• Write client prefs api link.
• Write gamedata updating link.
• Update ML docs on the new dir layout.

RELEASE CHECKLIST

• Update changelog.txt
• Send release upstream
• Update downloads.php
• Update wiki refs to latest version
• Update site compiler
• Update structs.inc link.
• Update docs.sourcemod.net/api
• Branch trunk off as sourcemod-1.1, bump central to sourcemod-1.2.
• Post news

Plugin Changes

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.
• randomcycle randomly selects the next map.

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

Reserved Slot Changes

Reserved slots has a new reserve type to stop kicking players once a certain number of admins have been reached. There is also a new kick type cvar that selects which heuristic to kick a player by. Available heuristics are ping time, connection time, and randomly.

For more information, see Reserved Slots. Sections specific to SourceMod 1.1 or higher are marked as such.

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

The concept of "debug mode" has been removed. Debug mode is now always on, and it has been reworked to not be a performance hit. In addition functions are now compiled on-demand rather than all at once on load.

The JIT has received major API changes and is now decoupled from SourceMod. For more information, see this blog post.

Changelog

• Added new client preferences extension (API in clientprefs.inc, bug 1925).
• Added new struct abstraction extension (API in structs.inc, bug 2666).
• Added new gamedata auto-update functionality (bug 2602).
• Revamped and greatly expanded map management plugins and their functionality (bug 2201).
• Debug mode is now always on; as there is no longer a performance loss, there is no non-debug mode.
• The timeleft trigger can now handle mp_winlimit, mp_fraglimit, and mp_maxrounds (bug 2344).
• Translations can now be in separate files and placed in language-unique folders.
• Added sm_revote command so clients can participate in a vote that fell off their screen (bug 2156).
• Added Core API for creating stack structures (adt_stack.inc, bug 2441).
• Added API for extending mapchooser (mapchooser.inc, bug 2201).
• Added Core API for map transition control and history (nextmap.inc).
• Added TF2 forward for overriding how critical hits are calculated.
• Added SetClientInfo() native for modifying how a server sees a client's setinfo properties.
• Added CreateDirectory() native (bug 3253).
• Added "magic" MaxClients variable to replace slower GetMaxClients() call.
• Functions to control client versus client mic listening now work as described (bug 2498).
• Fixed SDKTools not being reloadable, and fixed a related bug in Handle type removal (bug 2753).
• Rewrote internal translation handling. Extensions now have access to an ITranslator API (bug 2535).
• Rewrote internal handling of dependencies (especially relating to native providers) (bug 2466).
• Added user config hooks to IGameConfigManager, for parsing user-defined sections.
• Revamped SourcePawn API. Removed and deprecated many structures and functions accidentally exposed publicly.
• Revamped SourcePawn structure, it is now separable from SourceMod for other projects.
• Renamed basefuncommands.phrases.txt to funcommands.phrases.txt (bug 2485).
• Renamed basefunvotes.phrases.txt to funvotes.phrases.txt (bug 2485).
• Added IDBDriver API call for extensions to handle IDBDriver dependencies properly.
• Usermessage natives now validate clients to prevent crashing.
• Fixed OnConfigsExecuted not working on listen servers.
• Fixed accessing invalid Handles causing crashes (bug 3359).
• Fixed memory corruption with MySQL + FetchString (bug 3352).