• Fix replacement texture issues
• Restore missing PNG support in Windows
• Don't play "Play Ball" for games that are already running
• Differentiate between running and open games in .games

Notes:
* The classic Mac OS version does not support mp3 or Ogg/Vorbis
music playback, or net games

* This release is network incompatible with all older releases of
Aleph One

* A new theme format will be introduced in a future version of Aleph
One; the current theme format is now deprecated.

Changes:
Features:

• Many metaserver improvements:

* Support for registered logins (enter your login and password in
the Player section of Environment Prefs)

* Continue to update game displayed on metaserver while in game

* Display players as white when available, and gray when AFK or in
game, like Myth does

* Show open games in white, running games in gray, and incompatible
games in red, also like Myth

* Sort players by admin, status, then ID, not name; again, like Myth

* Add an .available command, to list only available players

* Add a .games command, to list games

* Clicking on games in progress displays approximate time remaining,
for timed games

* Display the current number of players / max number of players on
the right hand side of the games list

* Remove the "in game" and "p host" hacks, now that they are unnecessary

• Support for reading embedded shapes out of netmaps. You can use
  JUICE (http://juiceforge.sourceforge.net/) to embed Anvil 1.0.3
  shapes patches directly into net maps. Embedded shapes will be
  transferred automatically along with the map in net games.

Note: Only standard collection (non-custom CLUT) shapes patches will
be used

• Compression of map/physics/net scripts before sending to other
  players in net games, to reduce transfer time

• Make SMPEG, Speex, and ALSA optional in Makefile-built systems
  (./configure --help)

• Add resolutions 2560×1600, 1280×768, and 1280×960 (they are at the
  bottom of the list, due to stupid hard-coded resolution
  restrictions)

• Use a separate thread to connect to net games, which allows
  canceling the join when gatherers have a firewall up. Unfortunately,
  this means the firewall warning message will no longer appear.

Bug Fixes:

• Fix various freezes when gathering large games

• Fix a hang loading Wavefront models in Linux

• Fix display of untimed games on the Mariusnet web site

• Fix an assertion failure when trying to reconnect to the metaserver

• Send a proper logout message when disconnecting from the metaserver

• Only print the OpenGL info to stderr once

• fixed a crash that happened when the metaserver was in a bad state
• moved macros under the <console> tag
• added support for MML-specified carnage messages in net games
• fixed custom physics in net games
• updated to new version of SDL and SDL_image; this may fix some Vista issues, as well as possible Mac OS X mouse
  jitteriness

Highlights for this release include support for transparent liquids in the software renderer, higher quality sound and music playback, net game lag/OOS improvements, support for multiple texture sets without MML or physics hacks, considerable improvements to the network microphone (including team net mic support), configurable volume/inventory/map zoom/fps toggle/chat keys, an automatic check for updates when finding Internet games, as well as minor feature additions and bug fixes.

Changes since 0.17.2:

+ Updated in-game messages to work with both flavors of metaserver
+ Fixed a Lua crash vulnerability
+ Fixed crash when switching modes during OpenGL loading progress dialog
+ (NIBs) Make the end screen pause indefinitely

Notes:
+ There is no classic Mac OS build of 0.17.3, since no fixes were applicable
+ This release is network compatible with 0.17.x stable releases, as
well as the 3/14 preview build.
+ The 0.18pre1 features are not in this release!

Please upgrade to 0.17.3 so that people can determine your in-game
status if we need to continue to use the temporary metaserver

+ fixed a divide by zero error (found in Erodrome)
+ fix an assertion error when joining net games with a dual processor system
+ enable bandwidth reduction only after the pre-game period has passed
(this should help with start lag if you have enough bandwidth, but might
make it worse if you don't)
+ fix replacement shapes with alpha channels in SDL builds (PNG-32 works now)
+ add an option for outlining colored labels in themes
+ make anti-lag setting persistent

This is a bug fix release. Please see the 0.17 release notes for more details:
http://marathon.sourceforge.net/release-notes/20061202.html