What's New

Version 1.8.1 released

• Updated newDiceMarker directive in the [GAME] section: you can now specify the offset for each new dice (to avoid the dice overlapping when multiple dices are created)
• New split_decks directive in the [DECK] section allow the creation of multiple sub-decks from a single one.
• You can now create up to 300 markers on the game (regardless of the owner)
• ShowHidden,TakeCard parameters added to the show_hand effect
• Updated: links and cardsets page.

BUG fixing

• Transparent color for markers not preserved when loading them if using the new R:G:B syntax.
• Unable to draw a card from a deck that include the ON_HAND effect.
• SHOW_HAND effect wrongly display the cards if multiple decks with different card sizes are used.

Version 1.8.0 released

• Cards can now use a transparent color so that is possible to create non rectangular shapes.
• The cards can now be freely rotated (no only in 89 degrees increments).
• Added the support for CYAN and MAGENTA color: all the color references now support both a default name and the R:G:B notation
• Added the displayMarkerTooltips directve in the [GAME] section to add a tooltip to the markers.
• New drawToHand directive in the [DECK] section: if this directive is TRUE for games without the external hand the card is automatically put on the hand zone.
• New drawToTable directive in the [DECK] section: if this directive is TRUE for games with the external hand the cards on this deck are automatically drawn on the table
• New cardOffset directive in the [DECK] section: you can specify where the card offset for the draw purposes.
• New directive noReshuffle in the [DECK] section allow a deck to be left on the same sequence of definition (no reshuflle is possible).
• The chooseCardFromDrawDeck directive now works also for games without the external hand.
• Marker rotation is now preserved when flipping unless the new property FIXED_BACK is specified: flipped markers can be rotated unless the property FIXED_BACK is specified
• You can now organize the markers marker groups: see the realtive manual entry for the details about it.
• New directive markerList in the [GAME] section controls if the markers are displayed as text, picture or both.
• New special property $OWNER: can be used on a common deck to specify that a card with the ON_HAND effect must be given to a specific player.
• Default graphical dices added: the dice formula $D6 can noe be used to create a standard dice.
• You can use the \n sequence to add a newline in the table items text.
• Card with an explicit back image will have the back image zoomed: the standard back image is NOT zoomed.
• If you specify rotate=0 for a card the rotate menu item is not displayed.

BUG fixing

• Card action "Give to" can cause an "invalid array index" error when the card is moved directly to the player's hand.
• Markers moved on top of a card randomly cause a fatal error.
• A lot of other minor bug.

Version 1.7.6 released

• On the external hand you can press the CTRL-A key to autoarrange your cards
• New directive newDiceMarker=top offset,left offset in the [GAME] section
• Cards can now be rotated to 270 degrees (using the standard rotate=<angle list> directive in the DECK sections)
• New directive shuffleAndRotate in the DECK sections: if this directive is TRUE then each card newly drawn will be rotated in one of the possible rotation angles (as specified in the rotate directive). This feature is only avalable for games that are not using the external hand.
• Directive cards_can_be_given in the GAME section updated to allow a quicker "move-to-hand of player X" functionality (only for PBEM games with external hand)
• New directive handSize in the GAME section to set the max number of cards in hand.
• Minor update of the REPORT section

BUG fixing

• cardTooltipFormat not working on splitted common decks
• draw deck with no cards at the game start doesn't display the discard image
• Fixed the reshuffle of the discard pile on a game with a split deck and external hand
• Rotated markers can't be flipped: the rotation menu items are not displayed wheh the marker is flipped.
• Autoflip not working after moving a different marker.
• ON_HAND effect for a not-splitted common deck cause a crash; cards with this effect on a common deck are evenly distributed between players.

Version 1.7.5 released

• Max number of cards increased to 500
• New section [CHAT]: you can define up to 8 messages that are automatically loaded in the chat message window when you press the CTRL-F1 to CTRL-F8 keys.
• The cards can now be rotated upside-down (inverted).
• New directive rotate in the [DECK] sections: you can now specify the available rotations (0, 90, 180)
• New directive cardTooltipFormat in the [DECK] sections: you can use this directive to create a more customized tooltip for each card, adding for example the card info.
• The card tooltips delay can be controlled with the card_tooltip_delay directive in the Thoth.ini file
• You can specify the port for the DirectPlay connection (default: 188) in the direct.ini file.
• Improved randomizer.
• Card rotation is now saved in Design Mode (for cards with the ON_HAND flag).
• A new cardset for Ring War(Lloyd Krassner's) is available on the card sets page.
• Geo has created a very good tutorian on how to convert your games intto a Thoth module: get it at his site.

BUG fixing

• Flip All/Discard All actions incorrectly display the card image name for facedown cards
• Cards with ON_HAND effect are incorrectly positionned when playing without the external hand
• Info about a card should not be available for a face down card of your adversary.
• Discard Image not found on a saved PBEM game.
• Markers with AUTOFLIP flag are flipped when are moved.
• Markers with AUTOFLIP can be flipped even if the RESTRICTED_FLIP is set
• F2 sometimes doesn't work on W2000 or XP (thanks again Mr Gates).

Version 1.7.4 released

• new directive "hideDiscardPile" in the DECK sections: if this directive = TRUE then the discard pile is not displayed
• new directive "enableReshuffleDrawDeck" in the DECK sections: if this directive = TRUE then a new menu item in the draw deck menu allow to reshuffle of the draw pile
• new effect: ON_PLAY; if this effect is specified for a card then it's automatically put on play at the start of each game. Such cards can be moved in design mode and their position is saved with the rest of the layout (decks, markers).
• You can now let a diceroll generate a random graphical marker: if a [TABLE] section include the directive "useMarkers=true" then the diceroll results are translated on the markers specified in the corresponding "valueX=" row. See the TABLE section in the help file for more details about it.
• New directive showAdversaryHandOnCaption in the [GAME] section: if this directive = TRUE then the number of cards on your adversary hand are shown in the Thoth window title. This directive is useful when the InfoPanel is not shown but you want to know the number of cards on your adversary hand.

BUG fixing

• number of cards in the discard deck not updated correctly
• cards discarded face down are diplayed face up after saving/loading a game
• Incorrect option to take a card in your opponent hand
• Card layout not preserved in the initial hand for games without the external hand
• First flip action not working on a saved game on the cards on hand

Version 1.7.3 released

• the directive "discard_can_moved_2_hand" is now obsolete (not working): please use the "chooseCardFromDiscardPile" directive in the relative deck.
• new directive "openDrawDeck" in the DECK sections: if this directive is = TRUE then you can right-click on a draw deck and access a new menu item that allow the inspection of the draw pile.
• new directive "chooseCardFromDrawDeck" in the DECK sections: if this directive is = TRUE then you can select the cards to move on your hand when displaying the draw deck (only working with the external hand right now).
• new directive "openDiscardPile" in the DECK sections: if this directive is = TRUE then you can right-click on a discard pile and access a new menu item that allow the inspection of the relative cards.
• new directive "enableReshuffleDrawDeck" in the DECKs section: if this directive is TRUE then you can reshuffle the draw deck by selecting the relative item in the deck menu
• new directive "minHeightForCardInfo" in the [CARD INFO] section: used to specify the minimum height of the card info area.
• new directive "CardInfoPosY" in the [CARD INFO] section: used to specify the Y position of the card info area.
• new directives "useDiscard", "useRotate" and "useEliminate" in the [CARDMENU] section: if these directives are FALSE then the relative menu items are not available.
• new directive "useMove2BottomOfDrawDeck" in the [GAME] section; if this directive is TRUE then the card menu include the item "Move to Bottom of Draw Deck"
• Added to log: cards drawn (selected) from the discard pile, cards drawn by selecting them on the draw deck (using the openDrawDeck directive), cards played directly from the discard pile
• Multistate markers: you can specify for a marker one list of back images to be used in succession; when you flip such a marker the image will cycle between the from and the back images.
• New directive count_cards_in_discard_pile in the DECK sections: when is TRUE then the tooltip of a deck (the label shown when you leave the mouse over the deck image for a few instants) include the number of cards in the discard pile
• New directive copyright in the [GAME] section; is an optional name of an image to be used as a splash screen.
• Heavy reformatting of the help file

BUG fixing

• the sequence \n in the [CARD INFO] section is used in the window opened with the Info menu item
• details on cards rotated or flipped while on hand are not logged
• incorrect ownership of a card drawn from the discard pile
• Transparent color of markers not preserved during the marker rotation.
• incorrect display of a graphical marker with transparent color and a rotation vaule.
• $BACK properties now working correctly
• player 1 password is not always saved.
• rotated markers are wrongly positionnated
• rotated markers that are flipped are not correctly displayed when flpped a second time.

Added the link to the Geo & Jimmy's sites: you can access them at the addresses: http://geoman36.tripod.com/thothgames/ and http://pages.prodigy.net/jimmyfigiel/thoth/

Version 1.7.2 released

A lot of bug have been fixed in 1.7.2 so i suggest to update the engine asap.

• When displaying the saved games the menu opened with the RMB now allow to hide/show the savegames created with a previous version of Thoth and/or delete these files.
• Infopanel active for the external hand when you move over a card
• You can double click a card in the external hand to zoom on it if the directive zoom_external_hand = TRUE.
• New option in the log_card_actions directive: DRAW. You can log the draw of a card out of any deck.
• You can use the sequence \n in the [CARD INFO] section to add a line feed.

BUG fixing

• BUG: back and discard image pathnames are not reset when opening a saved game created by another player.
• BUG: cards played facedown when zoom_external_hand = TRUE are incorrectly resized.
• BUG: details of a card played facedown and rotated while facedown are not included in the log
• BUG: locked directive for the decks not working.
• BUG: ROTATE action not always logged.
• BUG: selection_color directive in the GAME section not working
• BUG: cards of the 2nd player (when not using the external hand) are incorrecly rotated/flipped when moved from the hand to the desktop.
• BUG: markers attached to cards moved toghether as a group are incorrectly displayed on top of the pile.
• BUG: selection not correctly working
• BUG: you can use the DiscardAll and FlipAll menu items regardless of the restricted_actions directive
• BUG: the draw_last_discard directive has been rewritten to fix 3 major problems.
• BUG: reshuffling alignement problem in DirectPlay
• FIX: the restricted_actions directive is now case_insensitive
• FIX: the PLAY option in the log_card_actions directive is now available on games not using the external hand

Version 1.7.1 released; main features added: the game log and a
better control of the actions possible on a card

• FIX: The directive draw_facedown=true is not applied when using the external hand.
• You can now define a max of 50 dices.
• BUG: the transparentColor is not used when loading a saved game.
• New directive maxHeightForCardInfo in the [INFOPANEL] section: this can be used to restrict the size of the card info area (the yellow rectangle) to a fixed value.
• New section [LOG] to abilitate the game logging: see the updated manual for the section directives syntax.
• New directive count_cards_in_draw_pile in the DECK sections: when is TRUE then the tooltip of a deck (the label shown when you leave the mouse over the deck image for a few instants) include the number of cards in the draw pile
• New card action: "Take Card"; this new action (available in the card menu) will allow a player to take ownership of a card played by another one. The "ownership" is used when creating the reports, when using the hand area in the desktop (only cards owned by yourself in your hand area are automatically kept hidden).
• New directive played_cards_can_be_taken in the all the DECK sections; can be one of the following values: NEVER, FACEUP, ALWAYS. Use this directive to restrict the possibility of taking ownership of a card played in the desktop.
• New directive restricted_actions in all the DECK sections: can be one of the following: FLIP,DISCARD,ELIMINATE.
• New directive zoom_external_hand in the [GAME] section; if this directive is TRUE then the cards in the external hand are resized when the zoom directive in the DECK section is specified.
• New directive cards_can_be_given in the [GAME] section; if this directive is TRUE then the cards can be "given" to the other players by selecting a new card menu item (effectively changing the card ownership).
  

Version 1.7.0 released

• Start game UI revised
• New directive 'background' in the [INFOPANEL] section: you can now specify a color for the background of the InfoPanel
• New directive 'fontColor' in the [INFOPANEL] section: you can now specify a color for the font used in the InfoPanel
• Revised [PLAYER X DECK Y] section: you can now define one or more "generic" decks and then use one of them on the basis of the selected options.
• Revised show_deck effect: you can now specify the deck you want to apply the effect.
• Each card can now have a different back image: you can use the special property $BACK to specify an image to be used instead of the default one.
• New directive 'locked' in all the [DECK ...] sections; if this directive=TRUE then the deck cannot be moved during a play session
• New directive 'selection_color' in the [GAME] section to define the color of the selection box.
• New directive 'show_only_to_owner' in the [DECK ...] sections to hide your decks to other players.
• New directive layout_panel=INFO in the [DECK ...] sections to display the deck in the info panel. Note: right now you cannot move a deck between panels while in design mode so you have to insert the directive manually and then setup the deck layout in design mode.
  
• New section [CARDMENU] to specify some details on the card menu items (as an example the name of the rotate process like 'tap' or 'task').
• A new cardset for Endless Patrol (Lloyd Krassner's) is available on the card sets page.

A special cardset for FlagShip is now available on a dedicated page in the Pillars of Hercules website.

And directly from the beta lab:

• I'm working on something new for Thoth, a playtester function; the idea is quite simple: give enough info to Thoth so that you can use an "eval function" to simulate a very simple adversary. You can have a look at the actual status of the project by downloading this special Gladius gamefile (you need the Gladius cardset to test it). Click on the icon on the bottom of the toolbar to open the Play Tester window: from here you can control your adversary actions (full turn, response, etc.) Let me know your comments on this feature.
  

Version 1.6.0 released:

• DirectPlay Bug: you must have thoth installed in the same folder on both computers to start a DirectPlay game.
• DirectPlay Bug: markers are not sticked correctly to the cards (when the card is moved the markers are left in the original position).
• DirectPlay Bug: markers are not rotated correctly to left
• DirectPlay Bug: if the font size in the client/server machines is different cards and markers cannot be correctly aligned on the desktop
• DirectPlay Bug: card drawn are not correctly reported to the other player
• External Hand bug: reports won't recognize a played card
• External Hand enhancement: you can now discard a card directly from the Hand form using the new "Discard" menu item.
• BUG: when a card is moved to hand the number of cards on the info panel is not refreshed.
• New Toolbar: i'm working on a new design for the toolbar - in the EaglesZoom game you can see the actual status of the toolbar (the directive showToolbar=TRUE is working on all games but is not yet released). The idea is to have the same buttons on the left part of the window, after the scrollbar, if you don't use the InfoPanel. Feel free to send to me your comments about it.

Due to internal changes in the save structure the old savefiles are NOT compatible with 1.6.0 so if you're playing a PBEM game please rename the old thoth.exe before rewriting it, otherwise you won't be able to continue the old game.