The big thing to note is that BZFlag 2.4.x is not compatible with BZFlag 2.0.x. You cannot use a BZFlag 2.4 client on a 2.0 server, nor can you use a 2.0 client on a 2.4 server. Servers will slowly upgrade to the new version, and some may run both versions of their maps for a while. There will be a transition period of several months. Windows and OSX users will be able to easily keep both versions of the game installed and in use. Linux users will have to do a bit more work for that, but it's still possible.
Server owners will have to make some minor changes to their configuration files for BZFlag 2.4. They will also have to update any of their third-party plugins to the new BZFS API format. We have documented the upgrade procedures here:
http://my.bzflag.org/w/BZFS_2.4_Upgrade
http://my.bzflag.org/w/BZFS_API_2.4_Upgrade
Some of the major features include:
- The ability to turn off teamkilling on the server
- The OpenFFA game mode which is a teamless FFA, meaning you can shoot anyone regardless of color
- Per-object ricochet, which lets map authors selectively enable ricochet for individual objects
- Removal of local authentication
- Ability for the server to force flags to be hidden on the radar
- Fog can not be turned off
- The screenshot code does not lag the client badly anymore
- The ID flag identification was moved to the server
- Public servers must have a -publickey
- Polls only count users that are able to vote
Here are the downloads:
BZFlag 2.4.0 for 32-bit Windows (Also works on 64-bit Windows)
BZFlag 2.4.0 for 64-bit Windows (Only works on 64-bit Windows)
BZFlag 2.4.0 Universal Binary for Mac OS X
BZFlag 2.4.0 source code
BZFlag may be updated to 2.4 on Fedora Linux with this command:
su -c 'yum update bzflag'