We have now introduced a new rune drawing recognition system in Arx Libertatis as an alternative to the original one. Drawing runes should now be easier and not prone to wrong runes being recognized, as well as framerate and resolution independent.

As it is a new feature, it needs more testing to ensure it works well for everyone. Feel free to leave feedback and report issues here or in the Arx Libertatis Bug Tracker.

You can find the new system in development build 2016-12-19. This is the newest build of Arx Libertatis, but please note that dev snapshots are not considered stable and you might run into a bug not present in older versions.

arx-libertatis.org/files/snapshots/arx-libertatis-1.2-dev-2016-12-19/

To activate the new recognition, simply head to Control Settings and check Alternative rune recognition.

That's pretty neat. Congrats!

Can you expand more upon what has been changed? It feels the same as it used to, but in saying that I've never had any problems with rune casting using the normal system.

If you got used to the specifics of the old system, then the new one may not add much for you. But it should help people who have a hard time drawing them (the faster your system is the less room for error you have) or get wrong recognitions. And the old system is, to put it simply, a mess. The new recognition has better input filtering and mostly relies on that, but it also compares patterns differently so the code doesn't have to list all possible combinations (including those with slight mistakes), as those are filtered out.

In short, the function wasn't changed, but it shouldn't have the quirks of the old system and is much cleaner internally.

Cool. The magic system had always been causing me much grief. Hopefully it's better now.

I still hope someone creates a rune system like in Ultima Underworld, though. Just put some runes in a slot and click on that to cast the spell. No fumbling with mouse gestures.

I just started playing the game, and I'm a few hours in (just got to the human city). The drawing of runes fails 50% of the time for me, but I'm using 1.1.2 which is the stable release. I wasn't aware of this experimental release. My question is, will updating to this release break the saves? I love the game so far, but the rune drawing is driving me nuts, so I'd love to test it out if it doesn't outright break my saves.

No, saves from AL 1.1.2 will work in any later version and vice versa. You can also extract the snapshot into a different directory and it should find necessary files itself, but it will share saves with your current install.

There is also arx-portable EXE in the snapshots which runs independently from your current saves but also needs AF's *.pak files in its directory.

I've just downloaded arx-libertatis-1.2-dev-2016-12-19-windows.zip and extracted. It ran perfectly, and rune casting is now so much easier. I only have access to 2 spells so far (ignite and magic missile), but it was ALWAYS a problem with casting them in 1.1.2, but after testing a while with this new version, there are zero problems anymore. That's just amazing. You guys are fucking great <3

Ok I've beaten the game now, and did most of the sidequests (didn't rob the bank for whatever that's worth). The game ran perfectly except for the very final fight. Some slight spoilers ahead for those who haven't played the game: When the boss cast his mass lightning spell and you were in melee range, the game would consistently crash. This happened 4 times before I just decided to stay away and cheese it with fireballs in order to complete the game.

Other than that though, it was perfect. Rune casting was so much better than the stable release.