Changes in Angband 2.9.0

Changes from version 2.8.3 to the 2.8.5 beta version

Chaos resistance no longer automatically grants confusion resistance. All normal items and standard artifacts with chaos resistance now provide confusion resistance as well.
Two-handed swords appear earlier now.
Added an optional point-based character generator.
Added randomized character generation.
Moved the questions about the autoroller, maximize, and preserve mode to a new option screen.
Added an option to display piles of items with a special symbol.
Allowed secret doors to be locked or stuck.
Items with an '=g' inscription will be automatically picked up.
Added options to automatically select the direction when opening doors/chests and disarming traps.
Added an option to display piles of items on the floor as lists.
Arrows break less often now.
Refilling a latern from another latern leaves an empty latern now. Empty laterns are no longer displayed as choice for refilling.
Added random artifacts. Note that importing characters created with older versions of the random artifacts generator is not supported.
Scrolling while targeting.
Improved monster AI.
Increased the maximum number of vaults to 64.
Very high or low speed modifiers no longer cause problems.
Entry into debug, wizard, or borg mode is only confirmed once per character, not once per session.
The debug command 'e' now allows current and maximum experience to be altered.
Boldor, Gabriel, Khamul, Murazor, Tselukas, Draebor, Hoarmurath, Thuringwethil, Omarax, Qlzqqlzuup, and Feagwath can now summon similar monsters.
Master quylthulg, Emperor Quylthulg, Qlzqqlzuup, Murazor, Pazuzu, Lungorthin, Gothmog, Sauron, and Morgoth can now summon greater demons.
Ancalagon the Black can now breath fire.
Objects carried by monsters are now loaded properly.
A command to repeat the last command has been added ('n' in original, ''' in roguelike keyset).
At character creation, some extra difficulty options are available (no artifacts, no stores, no up stairs/recall).
The "special" inscriptions ("cursed", "worthless", "good", ...) are now handled outside the normal inscription system, and so neither overwrite, nor are overwritten by, normal inscriptions.
Made destroyed levels rarer.
The quest monsters (Sauron and Morgoth) are now always generated on levels 99 and 100.
Fixed a bug in the "know complete monster info" cheat option.
The spell-list now uses color.
The disarm traps spell will now work on the locks of doors, revealing secret doors and unlocking locked doors.
The 'detect doors' spell can now detect locked and jammed doors.
Monsters crushed by an earthquake spell are now killed.
Fixed a bug that could cause problems when entering illegal values while haggling with a shopkeeper.

Changes from version 2.8.5 beta to 2.9.0

Support for Adam Bolt's tiles.
Support for transparency and lighting effects.
Added class and race dependent player graphics.
Cleaned up the new code introduced in the 2.8.5 beta version.
Fixed the bug with opening a door you are standing on with the easy_open patch.
Random artifacts with chaos resist can now get confusion resist too.
Fixed a bug that added a discount to a cursed item when wielding it.
The fear resistance of level 30+ warriors is now correctly displayed.
Added a compile.txt file with compile guides for various systems and compilers.
Added a makefile for the free Borland C++ 5.5 compiler.
Removed lots of compiler warnings.
Fixed a problem when compiling Angband on newer (glibc-based) Linux systems.
Added a compile-time option to allow players to put an '.angband.prf' file in their home directory and have it read on systems where Angband is running set-[ug]id. Default is off.
Added support for compiling a Linux SVGALIB version with graphics.
Added support for the use of the 8x8 and 16x16 tiles in the X11 version.

Windows specific changes

You can select between the "old" tiles, the new tiles, and ASCII mode.
The Windows version no longer requires changes to angband.ini when installing. The angband.ini file will be created when you first start the program, so it doesn't need to be present in the binary archive. That also allows easy updates to newer versions, since the settings in the angband.ini are not overwritten when installing a new version over an old one.
The windows can be resized and the (graphical) tiles will adjust automatically to the new size.
Added the "Show scores" command to the menu.
Fixed a bug that created all files as "read-only" (causing the game to fail when saving the game).
Fixed a bug that caused all numbers to be registered twice by the game, leading to "double-steps".
Fixed a bug that didn't free the used bitmaps correctly when closing the game.

DOS-specific changes

Graphics, sounds, and music options You can switch the graphics/music/sound options from the user menu (press ! to get there). The volume of the sound and the music can be adjusted from 0 (min) to 255 (max). All changes to the screen-resolution and the selection between the old and the new graphical tiles will be active after you restart Angband.
Terminal windows The windows can be activated from the "Angband options screen" (press the '=' key to get there) in the "Window flags" menu. Just toggle the display you want for "Term-1" and "Term-2".
Added a stone-background to the terminals.
Midi jukebox DOS-Angband automatically plays midi-files from the "lib/xtra/music" folder in your Angband-directory.
Sound Events DOS-Angband will play samples from the "lib/xtra/sound" folder to the corresponding Angband-event. You can configure the available samples in the "lib/xtra/sound/sound.cfg" file. Multiple sounds per event are supported.
"Classic mode": If you want the old display, just start Angband with the '-mibm' option ('Angband.exe -mibm').