Features
- Added "Mods" to the Main Menu used to view the status of Steam Workshop mods.
- Added "Play Now" button to the main menu to automatically find a server to play on.
- Carapace changed so it gives more armor, but slows down aliens a little (it's more of a tradeoff and changes how you play, instead of simply making you better in all circumstances).
- Added MAC EMP blast (research at the Robotics Factory). Gives MACs the ability to trigger an EMP blast, draining half of nearby alien energy.
- Lerk spikes changed to more of a shotgun type spread.
- Added physically simulated particles.
- New Server Admin system. Go here for documentation. (thanks Lance and PTs!)
- Health/armor bars are now always visible to the Commander.
- Changed Celerity to be more like NS1 (constant speed increase)
- Shade Cloak hides players again and Camouflage lets you move more while active
- Added new alien commander ability: Infestation Spike.
- Marine Commanders can now drop welders and mines.
Balance
- ARCs no longer do full damage at the edge of their splash radius (it falls off normally).
- Bumped MAC armor to make that little guy able to survive occasionally.
- Cysts are now flammable (take extra damage from flamethrower).
- Grenades now take 2.5 seconds to explode (same as NS1).
- Increased lerk umbra druration to 5 seconds (up from 3).
- Increased max size of alien spawn wave from 3 to 4 to try to lessen waiting in bigger games.
- Infestation spike cooldown now 5 seconds (was 3).
- Ink, Heal and Hatch costs are now 3 tres (were 5). Echo is cheaper too.
- Rebalancing alien upgrades to reflect that they are not all equally powerful for all lifeforms and at all stages of the game.
- Reduced Shade and Shift cost from 15 to 10 to encourage more use of them.
- Slowed resource flow a bit - resource interval now up to 7 from 5 seconds (~8.5 tres/min, ~1 pres/min).
- Starting pres now set to 20 instead of 25 (to slow down the early game a bit).
- Welding rate slowed 25% to prevent insta-recovery.
- Removed small swipe delay after Fade blinks in.
Changes
- ARCs don't target eggs anymore (but splash damage still deals damage to them).
- Are splash damage can now hit friendly structures and ARCs.
- Changed marine buy menu to be 1-click purchase.
- Command Stations can no longer be vortexed to prevent unintended strategies (multiple Fades could vortex a whole room and take down the command station).
- Cysts don't take damage from ARCs anymore.
- Recycling a "ghost" structure no longer gives back all resources and takes some time.
- Changing sentries to be more powerful when marines are nearby and less when they aren't, to address the "feels like we're playing tower defense" problem. Lots of changes to their targeting also.
- Reduced sentry build time to 6 seconds (down from 10). Reduced sentry health/armor to 325/100 and made them easier to repair with welders.
- Server mapcycle.txt file moved into the
p;pdata%/Natural Selection 2/config directory (next to other admin configuration files).
Fixes
- Fixed "Couldn't load shaders/EditorMaterial.fx" message in the Editor.
- Fixed < > and " not being properly translated in the Twitter feed display.
- Fixed bug were hyper mutation was not working correctly after entering a hive.
- Fixed bug where players would sometimes hear the commander "menu change" sound when they were not commanding.
- Fixed bug where regeneration sound effect was constantly played at full health.
- Fixed bug where sometimes the Commander button menu would change on it's own.
- Fixed bug where unresearched abilities can be used for a short moment after gestation is done.
- Fixed bug where vortexed arms labs were not updating the tech tree properly.
- Fixed bug where vortexed marines can be affected by poison bite.
- Fixed bug where vortexed structures could be constructed.
- Fixed bug where weapons laying on ground where invisible to marine commander.
- Fixed crash related to ambient lights in the Editor.
- Fixed exploit regarding hypermutation.
- Fixed onos camera hitches.
- Fixed problem with heal spray ignoring LOS.
- Fixed r_cull console command (enables/disables occlusion culling for debugging).
- Fixed rare script error caused by an Alien ability finishing researching while an Alien player is dead.
- Fixed script error caused by trying to pickup a weapon while dead as a Marine.
- Fixed script error related to commander selections.
- It is no longer possible to change spectator modes while waiting to spawn (Thanks Hampton).
- Using "kill" in the console while spectating will no longer do anything.
Improvements
- Added ability icons and description to unlocked abilities in alien buy menu.
- Added minimap icon for the Arms Lab.
- Added upgrade and commander action notifications to alien HUD.
- Armor/weapon upgrade icons in marine hud appear now red in case the arms lab is destroyed.
- Once a hydra gets killed the build slot for the gorge will get immediately updated.
- Publishes/updates of mods now use the maximum zip compression level instead of the default for a great reduction in size (thanks fsfod!).
- Server falls back to manual mod management if Steam is inaccessible.
- Gorge spit projectile is now more clear (plus view model effect)
ns2_docking
- Added better cover to Courtyard.
- Added better cover to Landing Pad.
- Added vent from Locker Room to Courtyard.
- Added vent from Stability to Maintenance.
- Fixed collision gap on Landing Pad that let you get out of the map.
- Fixed duplicate lights.
- Fixed duplicate props.
- Fixed duplicate RT and tech point in Locker Room.
- Fixed invisible hole you could fall through in Generator vent.
- Fixed stuck point behind pipes in Courtyard.
- Moved the terminal RT north away from the window.
- Removed the door from Courtyard to Locker Room and fixed the LOS.
ns2_tram
- Fixed occlusion issues in Ore Processing/Repair vent, and corridor connecting Logistics and Repair (caused light flickering).
- Fixed some gaps in geometry where you could see the sky.
- Fixed some stuck issues, and issues with walking up steps.
SDK
- Added (optional) help for editable properties in the editors.
- Added support for creating billboards from script and in the Editor.
- Added table.array function to construct more efficient tables for use as arrays.
- Fixed bug when using nested #if/#endifs in shaders.
- Improved handling of view models in the Cinematic Editor.
- Removed support for Flash.
Tested it out. Last buil i played was 209.
The performance has gone down. The constant freezing is not gone. Balance vise the game is still same.
And you expect summer release? I'm sorry if im doubtfull, but the game isn't even nearly in state to have a summer release.
I'm very worried if theyr gonna launch ns2 whit its pants down.
Mhm.
I agree.
2500K @ 4.5GHZ, GTX670 @ 1282mhz / 6912mhz, 8GB 1866mhz, Windows 7 64-bit, 128GB SSD.
Build 195 ran excellent. I was getting 100FPS nearly all the time with V-Sync On. YOu've added since then; of course, but performance has been more than halved and keeps going down.
Please do not release this summer. For your own sake, really, because I somehow doubt that in a month or two you could do all the performance optimization needed, plus balance and add new content.
Thing is, my system is in a very low percentage, according to Steam, and if I can get barely acceptable FPS at not that impressive settings, and the majority of users have a system much weaker than mine; how could they play?
If you turn this game down to it's lowest, it looks uglier than the HL1 version of NS1, and yet still performs very bad.
It doesn't really even affect much in my system. If im having especially medium to low doesnt change anything. I have disabled all the effects and play on low resolution still i struggle.
And as i mentioned the gamebraker for me is the constant freezing ;D
It's possible there's a unique problem with Kepler-based NVIDIA GPUs which cause the game to slow down immensely; however, if those who have what Steam would deem 'average' specs (and can run the game, of course!) are also having the same issue, then BIG TIME YES there's a problem!
Like said above I believe there's still a lot of room for improvement and some key issues still haven't really been addressed.
I don't agree with everything SeBu said but I do agree releasing this Summer is a bad idea, not saying that the game isn't great but you want the first official release to be impacting. Normal buyers won't slug it out like Beta players, who understand the situation etc.
Hmm? Maybe its playable to you who have super-highend PC. I do not.
When sh*t starts happening (multiple lerk clouds, particles, sounds, and all that heavy jazz) my fps drops somewhat below playable rate.
And what worries me, they dont do much (as summer release would need) progress on the performance side. I'm not worried about balance yet as the whole tech three has not even been implemented, but i'm certainly worried that what it would take to put this engine playable to relatively fast computers. If there is just this wizard Max working PRETTY much his own to improve the engine its not going to be enough for the summer. Btw. as i stated my, and the feedback that i heared on the pub servers also said that their performance had gone down since the 211 hit the steam.
I have also done my research as i have constant freezing in my client posted them on the forums, but nobody seems to care. I completely understand that but i bet i'm not the only one whos having problems.
So, overall summer release would be bad
REEALLLY bad.
And don't get me wrong i'm no hater and i simply love UWE<33 mainly for all the moments that ns 1 gave to us. But i'm also very worried. As you said above everyone who would hop in to the game would not be so kind and understanding. And as a small (about.) 6person studio they simply lack the resoures if the launch would bring a wawe of comlaining and whining (offc it will but we'r talking diffrent scale here).
I offcourse hope, they somehow manage to pull it off, but i also hope from the bottom of my heart i certainly hope that they would not make the same mistakes that so many gamestudios have already done and let it to the public too early.
For some reason I thought this had already been released and was on the steam Store o: dafuq?