Ubuntu makes a long term support release every two years. Xubuntu is my preferred development environment so I try to stay in sync with the LTS releases. The most recent LTS release was 4/2018. The server version was not ready for installation right away so I waited to do the upgrades, until now.

Upgrading always takes a lot of work and the best ending is to have everything working again when it's over. It is best done when other tasks are not demanding attention. This week has been spent doing that work.

Qt Libraries on Linux
SoH distributions for Linux no longer contain any Qt libraries. This should result in better compatibility. It also makes the SoH distribution for Linux a bit smaller.

The launcher now consists of just three files: the executable, an icon, and a tiny data file. You should remove all lib files from the Shores of Hazeron/Launcher folder or unpack the new launcher into a new folder.

Similarly, the Shores of Hazeron/Programs folder may contain old Qt libraries. They all begin with libQt; remove them. The only lib files remaining in the Programs folder should begin with libAu; those belong to SoH.

UPDATE: Be sure to delete the qt.conf file from the Launcher and Programs folders.

Ubuntu 18
The current Ubuntu LTS release is 18.0.4. The Qt5 package available is 5.9.5 LTS. The apt package name is qt5-default.

Hazeron Commander also requires the qtmultimedia5 package. One of its objects is used to make sounds.

Mint 19
The current Mint release is 19.1. The Qt5 package available is 5.9.5 LTS. The apt package name is qt5-default.

Hazeron Commander also requires the qtmultimedia5 package. One of its objects is used to make sounds.

Debian 9
The current Debian release is 9.6.0. The Qt5 package available is 5.7.1. The apt package name is qt5-default.

Hazeron Commander also requires the libqt5multimedia5 package. One of its objects is used to make sounds.

Manjaro 18
The current Manjaro release is 18.0.2. Qt 5.12.0 LTS is installed with the base system, a pleasant surprise.

This is the first Arch Linux distro for SoH. I found it to be very nice.

openSUSE Tumbleweed
The rolling release version of openSUSE is Tumbleweed. It offers no Qt5 binary package.

If you have Qt5 setup on openSUSE, I will configure my openSUSE with the same Qt version and build SoH for you. Just ask.

Fedora 29
The current Fedora release is 29. The vintage Qt package available is 4.8.7, released December 2011. I will stop building SoH for Fedora, unless someone asks.

Other Linux Distros
For now, our front line support for Linux will rest on those distros that bundle a usable version of Qt5. If your distro is not represented here and it has a Qt5 package, let me know. I will gladly add it to the build list.

To find out what version of Qt you have, enter 'qmake -v' at a command prompt.

If a binary Qt5 package is not available for your Linux distribution, SoH can be built for you, as long as I can set up a virtual machine with that distro. Then you would have to build your own Qt libraries. The process of building Qt is moderately difficult, not always easy. The Qt source code is free for all Linux distros, I think. Let me know if you want to do this.

Windows 64 bits
Windows 64 bit build of SoH will now be built using Qt 5.9.5 LTS. Qt libraries (DLLs) are distributed with SoH. The Qt libraries are the ones distributed by The Qt Company.

Windows 32 bits
Windows 32 bit build of SoH will continue to be built using Qt 5.8.0 for a little longer. Qt libraries (DLLs) are distributed with SoH. The Qt libraries are the ones distributed by The Qt Company.

MacOS
MacOS build of SoH will continue to be built using Qt 5.8.0 for a little longer. It requires an OS upgrade on our Mac Pro, planned for later today.

The Qt package available is Qt 5.12.0 LTS. The app store package install downloads the Qt source code and builds it. The build failed on my Mac Pro because the OS version is too old.

I plan to have the MacOS build of SoH updated next week.

UPDATE

The macOS build is updated and ready to go. SoH for macOS includes the Qt 5.12.0 libraries. They are the ones from the app store package, the same ones SoH is built against. After upgrading my macOS, I don't think the package installer had to build the Qt libraries. They may be pre-built binaries, which would be nice.

I am still building an SoH that supports OpenGL 3.2 and one that supports OpenGL 4.1. You have to pick which one you want in the launcher settings. The way OpenGL is handled on the Mac, an app has to target a specific OpenGL standard when it is built and the programmer must not stray a step from the gl functions available under the targeted OpenGL standard. I suppose that is why stuff on the Mac tends to work so well.

Server Upgrades
The game servers run Ubuntu Server operating systems. They will be upgraded to 18.0.4 LTS starting Monday.

After going through the process on the debug servers, I think I can get all of the game servers done in one day. I'll keep the server status page updated as it goes.

The game universe will not be available for game play for parts of the day Monday, possibly most of the day.

One of the servers is currently dead in its rack. I will upgrade the OS on the other servers before going to Denver to revive it, in case more than one of them needs reviving.

I don't know if we need more morale bonuses, since more bonuses mean we can avoid more morale penalties. But putting that to the side for another day.

Currently there is no real benefits to having large homes at all. They take twice as much volume as a medium home, yet a medium home takes twice the volume of a small home. This means that the keeping the "Small homes <= Medium homes + (Large homes × 2)" ratio is not really an issue and using large homes is simply a waste.

I suggest that a morale bonus gets added when you have "Large homes > Medium homes + (Small homes ÷ 2)" or some such.

Thoughts?

make the fact that ur population is missing clothing a - morale factor, pretty simple.

System Map
It would be handy to have a hot key to view the scan report of the current system.

Solar system page added to Locator window. It can also be displayed individually. The system map automatically changes to your current solar system as you move around. Does not show resource information when the current system has not been surveyed.

System scan reports can still be requested from the star map.

Place Item on Vehicle
Placing an item on static display on a vehicle or other object does not stick it to the object. The static displayed item just remains there in the air when the object moves away.

Static display items can now be placed onto an object from the outside. Items cannot be statically displayed on creatures.

World Map Update

When looking at the world map, it often blinks and jumps back to my location when anything changes, such as a building getting constructed or demolished. This is very annoying.

Fixed world map origin reset and blinking when map changes.

Rename World Officer
Rename world should update officer whose home world name is affected.

Rename of world, solar system or sector now updates all affected officers.

Passenger Give Orders
As a passenger aboard a ship, neutral to the empire owning the ship, I was able to select crew and troops and order them around.

Units no longer appear on the Unit Orders window unless you have the authority to issue orders to them. Units no longer accept orders from someone who could not have selected them.

Console Button Click
Console buttons are supposed to make some noise when clicked. This has never been completed.

Console buttons now make noise when activated.

Laser Weapon Bludgeon Damage
Reduce bludgeon damage from laser weapons by half. They are light weight plastic.

Bludgeon damage from laser rifles was reduced by half.

Surgery Station Crash
Clicking on random buttons on the surgery station caused the server to crash.

Fixed null pointer error when applying water to a patient when no condition was selected.

Survey No Sun Resources
The system survey scan does not show resources at suns.

Fixed a minor error that prevented suns from showing their table of resources in the system scan report. At present, this only lists preons.

^ title: would be good to get the first impressions down pat, and they start at the launcher and login/character screens.

Heres a mockup:


(mockup without the patch text, with patch text as either removed, or as a pop-out instead)

add a spacestation module or maybe a building where all officers from your empire meet or maybe just the galaxy or other specific ranges.

i thought about this like the shipment function where you can set spacestations to send shipments to planets, except in this case, a specific space station would receive all officers from the empire.

SQL Error
Server logs are reporting an SQL error. This is causing SQL transactions to fail.

Fixed field overflow due to integer that grew very large.

Farm Animal Swarm
Several farms have thousands of farm animals. The farm animal population continues to grow.

Fixed a bug due to ambiguity when old style farms are overlapped by new style farms.

Avatar Empire Change
An avatar who was idle for a very long time reported that their empire changed when they returned.

Removed decay code that caused avatar empire to change.

Designer and Primeval Launcher
In preparation for Steam, the Designer and Primeval World operating modes of the game program should not be selected using a command line option.

Launcher and Client reworked to accommodate this.

• Designer and Primeval world buttons removed from Launcher.
  
• Entry screen added to the client program that chooses the operating mode.
  

have channels that are long inactive close by themselves. (trade channels close automatically once their response-time has run out)
this way this channel mess can be prevented.

I figured I would post these numbers.
Arena
5000 M3 per 1
Auditorium
1132 M3 per 1
Battery
7.25 M3 per 1
Storage
0.085 M3 per 1
Generator
2265 M3 per 1
Large Home
228 M3 per 1
Medium Home
114 M3 per 1
Small Home
57 M3 per 1
Lounge
637 M3 per 1
Office
34 M3 per 1
Shop
91 M3 per 1
Store
566 M3 per 1

Field
4000 m2 per 1

Requirements for harsh enviroments. Both framework and armor counts for the % required. The number in the ( ) is what you multiply to the total volume of a building to allow it in that environment. Life support is per job or house.
 Airless
0 %
1 m3 Life support
Frigid
5 % (1.053)
3 m3 Life support
Inferno
11 % (1.124)
4 m3 Life support
Sea Bottom
15 %  (1.177)
0.5 m3 Life support
Frigid Sea
20 % (1.25)
2 m3 Life support
Gas Giant
25 % (1.334)
3.5 m3 Life support


As an example on how to use this. Say you want to have a 10 slot cantina on an inferno planet.
First you add 1 office. +34 m3 = 34 m3
Then you add 10 lounge. +6370 m3 = 6404 m3
Add some commodity storage. +100 m3 = 6504 m3
Add life support. +44 m3 = 6548 m3
Mulitply by the framework requirement and round up. 6548 * 1.124 = 7359.952 = 7360 m3

Now this does mean if you want universal buildings then its 4 m3 of life support per job/house and a multiplier of 1.334.

That list on the right, the filtered blueprint list, it would be nice if there was an all button to enable or disable from all authors. That way you can go back and forth between seeing everything that is available and seeing what one person has. The amount of authors are only going to increase with time, which will require each one to be individually unchecked.