tacc/tdraw.txt

WHAT IS THIS

tdraw.dll is an upgrade for Total Annihilation.  It patches the game to fix many bugs and add many features.
It is an integral component of the TA Community Patch, the other parts being tplayx.dll (the recorder) and server.exe (the replayer).

tdraw.dll has a long provenance dating back to the work of SY_Yeha, who introduced whiteboard markers and the TA Hook and new hotkeys to TA.
Later work by Xpoy extended hotkey support, added new shortcut commands, uni-code font support, megamap, weapon-id crack (not present in current release) and porting music patch from GOG version,
and later support was provided by Rime.

The present release includes contributions from Axle and FunkyFresh, and owes a debt to TAG_Venom for extensive testing and critical feeback, and to Gamma and Wotan for further testing and feature suggestions.


CONFIGURATIONS

The release .zip files are annotated with a build configuration tag: "tdraw-<config>.zip".  The various configurations are:
  * tdraw-full.zip: all features enabled
  * tdraw-escalation.zip: built for TA:Escalation.  disables the following features
    - mex snap
    - that is all
  * tdraw-minimal.zip: disables the following features
    - mex/wreck snap
    - options for construction units to stay put when guarding
    - options for construction units to only reclaim or onlt assist while patrolling
    - auto kickout construction units that are blocking another builder
    - weather report at top of screen
    - sync wind speed between players
    - map DT's always visible.


INSTALLATION

Drop tdraw.dll into your TA directory.
Ensure the following files are also present in your TA directory:
- ddraw.dll (available from https://github.com/FunkyFr3sh/cnc-ddraw)
- totala.ini

You may need to rename totala.ini and tdraw.dll to whatever your mod is using.  See below for reference.  For other mods, please consult with the mod maintainers.

                        ini file        dll file
Beta patch 3.9.02       TA.ini          tdraw.dll
Escalation 9.9.6        TAESC.ini       taesc.dll
Mayhem 10.9.2           Settings.ini    mdraw.dll
ProTA 4.6               ProTA.ini       tdraw.dll
Zero Alpha5-060322      tazero.ini      zdraw.dll


NEW FEATURES IN BRIEF:

*2026.02.17 - Fix false trigger on version check
*2026.02.10 - Minor adjustment to diagnostic crash detection ("ERROR: dstRect out of bounds", allow CopyScreenContext all the way to the edge of destination context)
*2026.02.07 - Disable AUTOTEAM, RANDOMTEAM and CRCREPORT buttons for non-host players
*2026.02.05 - Add support for AUTOTEAM, RANDOMTEAM and CRCREPORT buttons in battleroom (guis/lounge2.gui)
*2026.02.02 - Custom ctrl-f2 menu skin for escalation
*2026.01.29 - Create seperate builds for full-featured (tdraw-full.zip), escalation (tdraw-escalation.zip), and minimal (tdraw-minimal.zip) feature sets.
*2025.12.13 - Add diagnostics for crash at 004cbed5
*2025.12.6  - Fix crash when game installed in a long path (eg C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Total Annihilation\PROTA)
*2025.11.26 - New keys for unit definitions (units/*.fbi) to customise per-unit veterancy
*2025.08.29 - Bugfix for multithreaded version/cheat check
*2025.08.19 - Auto kickout of units under build order is now strictly only for own units (previously allowed kickout anyone's units if cheats enabled)
*2025.08.01 - Set build square preview to yellow if user can build there but it contains a unit that will be kicked out

*2025.07.12
- Allow user to queue build orders underneath their own mobile units; and auto kickout of units that are under a build order
- Mod developers can opt-in to "Improved behaviour of con units".
  Modifies what construction units that are guarding factories do after completing each unit: either stay put; cavedog; or scatter.
  Set byte at TotalA.exe:0x101f1f to 0x00 to disable the feature (default) or 0x01 to enable the feature.
  Note that if one player's 0x101f1f setting doesn't match that of other players, an in-game cheat warning will be triggered.
  Once enabled, see ctrl-f2 menu for related user configurable options.
- Fix bug with erroneous game results reported to TAF when using in-game +autoteam
- With fixed position, start positions are assigned in order given by TAF auto balance
  so that players are positioned opposite an opponent of similar skill
- Fixed bugs with player placement in 2v2+ games on maps with neutral units
- Push anticheat hashing functions into background threads so as to reduce in-game slowdown experienced by some users

*v2025.05.18
- Improved behaviour of con units when guarding a factory - they stay put after finishing a build

*v2025.04.24
- Fix crash on parsing spawned unit initial commands - its now possible to copy-paste mission scripts from campaign
- Log cheat warnings to tdrawlog.txt for offline analysis
- Fix for non functional perm-los sonar patch (which otherwise requires watcher's com to be in top-left of map to work)

*v2024.12.05
- Fix crash on print-screen (and presumably many other related crashes)

*v2024.12.03
- Fix crash on +logo
- Fix rare intermitent crash on adding / moving / deleting whiteboard markers

*v2024.10.27
- Ability to create multiplayer/skirmish maps with neutral units and/or additional per-player spawn units
- Add a controls to hide/minimise the allies resource bar
- Make the allies resource bar actually work with ctrl-f2 setting "background=None"
- Fix incorrect player logo colour for "new marker added" messages
- Player the "Mission Complete" sound upon winning a multiplayer/skirmish game
- Fix bug causing "unit limit reached" in between single player missions
- Remove shared metal/energy from player "totals"
- Get TAHook to use the click-snapped start position
- Increase size capacity of whiteboard marker messages
- Fix for 10 player (and other) VerCheck false positives
- Support for watching all 10 players in 10 player replays (pending a corresponding TAF update to activate it)


*v2024.3.31 and prior
- Set start positions based on battleroom teams (or alliances)
- Repair battleroom teams icons so they can be used to create teams before to launching
- Add +autoteam battleroom and in-game commands to automatically assign teams
- Add +randomteam battleroom command to automatically assign random teams
- Add .exereport battleroom command to report CRC32 of each player's totala.exe
- Add .tdreport battleroom command to report CRC32 of each player's tdraw.dll (may be a different filename depending on mod)
- Add .tpreport battleroom command to report CRC32 of each player's tplayx.dll (may be a different filename depending on mod)
- Add .gp3report battleroom command to report CRC32 of each player's rev31.gp3 (may be a different filename depending on mod)
- Add .crcreport battleroom command to report fingerprints of each player's totala.exe, tdraw.dll, tplayx.dll and rev31.gp3 file all at once
- ClickSnap to snap to nearest mex, geo or reclaimable feature
- Add ability to drag queued orders around the map
- Con units patrol behaviour - hold position: reclaim only
- Fix the "ghost com" bug (remote commanders appear in top left of map during first 50sec of game)
- Fix the "units exploding in factories" bug by holding back recycling of deceased units' IDs for 5 seconds
- Option to render DTs and fortwalls that belong to the map (not built by a player)
- Supress "qqqqqq" whiteboard marker lables when "q" is used as the whiteboard key
- Show clock and weather report (wind and tidal strength) on top resource panel
- Sync wind speed across all players
- Set default resolution on new installs to 1024x768 (.ini setting "DisplayModeMinHeight768 = TRUE/FALSE")
- Disable relay of F11 chatmacro text to other players
- Enable start button in multiplayer lobby if only one player + AI are present
- Add +noshake and .ready buttons to sharing menu
- Add .autopause button to battleroom screen
- Change whiteboard, mappos and resource indicator colours in response to +logo commands
- Prevent +logo commands from affecting other players
- Ctrl-B doesn't select aircraft carriers
- Ctrl-F centres view on selected factory
- Ctrl-S works correctly with mobile-units-can-build-mobile-units hack
- Set +lostype as a cheatcode (not available unless cheats enabled)
- Look for ddraw.dll in current working directory as backend, or failing that use system ddraw.dll
- Use the same .ini file as TotalA.exe
- Use the same registry path as TotalA.exe
- Add FPS counter to megamap, increase megamap FPS
- Fix blue background on scoreboard
- Grey background on mega map to distinguish from unmapped area
- Prevent Ctrl-F2 dialog and allies resource bar from moving off screen
- Improve responsiveness of whiteboard marker movements sent to remote players
- Render cursor while in megamap
- Fix crash when removing markers
- Fix crash on simultaneous whiteboard marker move and delete
- Fix rare crash on TA Hook line drawing
- Radar and sonar jammers no longer jam your own radar and sonar in >3 player multiplayer
- Use CTRL_F and CTRL_B unit category tags for ctrl+f and ctrl+b hotkeys in preference to heuristics
- Change ctrl+s to use CTRL_W and NOTAIR/NAIR categories so as not to select jammers etc

NEW FEATURES IN DETAIL:

- Start positions

  Start positions are now assigned based on battleroom teams/alliances.
  With fixed positions, host and their team are assigned the odd positions in the order that they joined the lobby.
  With random positions, host and their team are randomly assigned the even or odd positions, and they are assigned in random order.

  The Teams icons now function correctly, so they can be used to arrange teams in the battleroom if desired.
  This is optional, it is perfectly fine to arrange teams by creating alliances too.

- Autoteam

  In the battleroom, host can type "+autoteam" to have teams assigned automatically.
  These teams will then determine the start positions as described above.

  If launched from TAF, the battleroom +autoteam will assign autobalanced teams based on the player rating.
  Otherwise teams are assigned randomly.
  The +randomteam command is available to use should you prefer random teams over autobalanced teams.

  Alternatively, if host types "+autoteam" in-game, alliances are created based on actual start positions.
  
  For more than 2 teams, host can type eg "+autoteam 3" to create the desired number of teams.

- MexSnap and WreckSnap

  This patch includes ability to snap mexes and geos to the nearest metal or geo patch (MexSnap),
  and to snap reclaim commands to the nearest reclaim (WreckSnap).

  While holding down shift, press q and e alternately to switch between building mexes and reclaiming features.

  If Mex/WreckSnap is temporarily interfering with your wishes,
  you can hold down alt to override it.
  The override key can be configured in the ctrl-f2 options menu.

  The Mex/WreckSnap radii can also be configured independently via the ctrl-f2 options menu.
  Press ctrl-f2, click on the "MexSnap" or "WreckSnap" field and press a number 0 to 9.
  0 disables the Mex/WreckSnap and a larger radius results in snapping to features further away.

  Note that Mex/WreckSnap is disabled by default.
  It needs to be enabled by the mod maintainer.
  If your Mex/WreckSnap radius shows as "NA" in the ctrl-f2 menu,
  it is likely that Mex/WreckSnap hasn't been enabled by your mod maintainer.

- Move Queued Orders

  After queueing a build order or a move order,
  you can later move them around by selecting the unit
  and left mouse dragging the order to a new position.

- Construction Units Patrol Behaviour

  Patrol behaviour of contructions units is modified depending on their movement orders:

    Hold Position: your construction units will only look for reclaim
    Maneuvre/roam: your construction units will both look for reclaim and for units that need repair or assist

  Mash the 'v' key to get the desired movement order and then set a patrol route.

- Neutral unit and/or per-player additional unit spawn

  To enable this feature add a "[units]" section under the "[Schema 0]" section of your map's .ota file.  eg
  
      [Schema 0]
          {
          ....
          [units]
            {
            [unit0]
                {
                Unitname=ARMHLT;
                Ident=;
                XPos=3164;
                YPos=0;
                ZPos=2250;
                Player=11;
                HealthPercentage=100;
                }
            [unit0]
                {
                Unitname=ARMPEEP;
                Ident=;
                XPos=268;
                YPos=0;
                ZPos=384;
                Player=1;
                HealthPercentage=100;
                CreationCountdown=30;
                InitialMission=p 1750 1828;
                }
            }

  These additional units will spawn in for skirmish/multiplayer.

  The "Player" key in the .ota file refers to the map position 1..10.
  Whichever player is spawned into these positions will receive ownership of the respective units.

  You can set Player=11.  If any Player=11 units are defined, then the last player (eg the 6th in a 3v3)
  receives ownership of the Player=11 units as long as they are an AI.  He does not receive ownership of any other units.

  If a player receives any units by this mechanism, they won't receive a commander.
  If you want the player to have a commander,
  then either don't define any units for that position,
  or include a commander unit in the list of units.

  The required fields for each unit are UnitName, XPos, ZPos and Player.
  YPos and HealthPercentage are ignored.
  Optional CreationCountdown is in seconds and InitialMission works.
  Optional Ident makes it possible to refer to the unit in InitialMission of another unit.
  You'll have to look at eg totala4.hpi/maps/*.OTA for examples of InitialMission scripts to copy.

- Per-Unit Veterancy Customization

  This patch introduces new optional keys for unit definition files (units/*.fbi)
  that allow you to customize veterancy behavior for individual units.
  
  Example
  
    [UNITINFO]
    {
    UnitName=ARMMART;
    ...
    VeterancyThresholds=6 12 18 24 30; // OTA default: 5 10 15 20 25
    VeterancyAccuracyBuffRate=3; // OTA default: 12
    }
  
  New Keys
  
  - VeterancyThresholds:
    Sets the number of kills required to reach each veterancy level (VetLevel).
    Example: "6 12 18 24 30" means:
    - 6 kills for VetLevel 1
    - 12 kills for VetLevel 2
    - 18 kills for VetLevel 3
    - etc.
    OTA's default thresholds are "5 10 15 20 25".
  
  - VeterancyAccuracyBuffRate:
    Controls how quickly a unit’s weapon accuracy improves with kills, independently of veterancy levels.
    - Accuracy starts at a factor of 1 with 0 kills.
    - This factor increases by +1 every VeterancyAccuracyBuffRate kills.
    - Formula: accuracyFactor = 1 + floor(kills / VeterancyAccuracyBuffRate)
    - OTA’s default rate is 12.
    - Set to zero to disable accuracy buff altogether
  
  Veterancy Effects (Unchanged)
  
  This patch does NOT change what veterancy levels do, only how they are earned.
  For reference, each VetLevel in OTA gives:
  
  - Capture cost: +10% worker time needed to capture the unit
  - Damage taken: -4% damage received
  - Damage dealt: +6% damage dealt
  - Target tracking: improved weapon target tracking (effect uncertain)
  - Reload time: -6% weapon reload time
  - Accuracy buff: improved firing accuracy (randomness reduced by an increasing factor)
  
  Note: Reload time also appears to be affected by the unit’s health.
  
  Veterancy Limits
  
  OTA limits:
  - Capture cost: no limit
  - Damage taken: up to 5 levels
  - Damage dealt: up to 5 levels
  - Target tracking: up to 1 level
  - Reload time: up to 5 levels
  - Accuracy buff: no limit
  
  With this patch:
  - Capture cost: no limit
    Beyond the last specified threshold, kill requirements are extrapolated linearly from the last two thresholds.
  - Damage taken: up to 25 levels or the number of VeterancyThresholds, whichever is lower
  - Damage dealt: up to the number of VeterancyThresholds
  - Target tracking: up to 1 level
  - Reload time: up to 16 levels or the number of VeterancyThresholds, whichever is lower
  - Accuracy buff: no limit