Going further into how and why we're breaking things, I'd like to take a moment to cover our protocol system.  As many of you know, we keep a huge xml file that documents the known AC protocol.  Well, in the downtime, this file has seen MASSIVE reorganization.  Ken has been kind enough to do this work almost alone.  This has included updating all of the old packets that have changed with ToD and also some much needed upgrades to the file for clarity, new features, and ease of use.  Another point in this massive upgrade, was a change in the objects plugins use to access protocol information:  IMessage[2] and IMessageMember.

NB2 is a heavy user of protocol information.  Even though it uses filters, there is still quite a bit of parsing that occurs.  The usual method for updating a plugins protocol functions tends to only involve changing the packet type or renaming a few fields.  This time around however, many, many packets were renumbered, and with Ken's hard work, probably 3/4 of the fields have been renamed.  Then comes the kicker, with the changes to IMessage the Member method no longer exists.  This means NB2 won't even compile until I replace all of the calls to the proper replacements.  Then I have to go back to changing the numbers and field names.  One last fun bit is the inclusion of many new "types" in the protocol.  This means that anyone parsing data might have to add some extra calls in their code.  That may seem annoying at first, but it makes much more sense with the changes.

Another, but slightly less annoying, change keeping it down is the removal of several methods from IPluginSite.  Any function that in the past used a memloc in PluginSite has been removed and is now only found in ACHooks.  Well, NB2 is old enough that ACHooks was still rather young, and didn't get used much.  These changes are generally not very difficult.

Next time we'll cover either the new .NET Plugin Framework or what will eventually be Decal's new rendering engine (depending on how far into it I get).