Dropship Update (263) Released
Natural Selection 2 Build 263 has been released, and we're calling it Dropship. This update adds a feature that Natural Selection 2 has deserved for a long time: Organised play. It also fixes a host of annoying issues, adds World Championship emblems, and includes lots of new small features that make play more enjoyable for all. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTtr1fpDLb8& The update is the culmination of a collaboration between community volunteers, the World Championship organisers, and us here at Unknown Worlds. It is a big one!
Since the dawn of time, the only way to join a game in Natural Selection 2 was via the server browser. Outside the game, there were some options: Steam friends, or ENSL.org's 'gather system.' That was fine - But it was not what a tight, tactical team based shooter cried out for. What if starting a 6v6 game was as easy as punching a few buttons?
Taking inspiration from community efforts, we have added the Organised Play system. Inspired primarily by ENSL.org's 'gathers' - The system draws on a dedicated server pool provided by Unknown Worlds. All major regions, including North America, Europe, South East Asia and Oceania have servers available.
Dropship also adds NS2World Championship Emblems. Each finalist team has a Steam Store page dedicated to their emblems: Titus Gaming, Saunamen, Legendary Snails, and Godar. You can support your chosen team, or all of them with the Championship Pack. 50% of all proceeds after Steam's cut go to the Championship teams as part of the prize pool.
Further, every kill you make while wearing a Championship Emblem is tracked - Come finals night, we will all find out which team had the most support out there on the battlefield. Will it be the North American upstarts? The towel-clad Finns? The ferocious French or the veteran Europeans?
All these Championship Emblems will be available only until a short time after the Grand Final ends on February 22. Get them now, and show your support for one of these exceptional teams. Here is the monster changelog: Fixes Fixed "name" console command not working with spaces in names Fixed bug where a bad value in the options file for the player skin would cause the menu to stop functioning Fixed aliens sometimes not being able to hear distress beacon sound Fixed sounds cutting out on Skulks and Fades Fixed lifeform name being hidden behind the lifeform icon in the Alien buy menu Fixed some structures not immediately destroying collision when destroyed (most prominent with Resource Towers) Fixed power nodes not blinking red on minimap when being attacked Fixed requestweld console bind not working for Exosuits Fixed progress bar for Aliens having a tiny piece of texture being where it shouldn't in the top of the progress bar Fixed players being able to see the enemy commander on scoreboard Fixed mouse wheel events always being blocked in unpredicted code when mouse cursor is visible Fixed room name on hud not updating when the game first starts Fixed being able to use commander interface while menu is open Fixed voice chat being stuck on when entering a Command Structure Fixed alien buy menu Fade description Fixed Armories giving health while stunned Fixed main menu tip video layer being behind the tip videos content page. Fixed tip videos not hiding when you close the training page. Fixed bug in main menu with MouseIn / MouseOut events not handled properly Features Added NS2WC emblems (Available in the Steam Store) Added NS2WC emblem stat tracking Added Organised play system (Organised play in main menu) Added subtle highlight to Steam friends nameplates and minimap icons Added ammo bars for the Marine Commander to nameplates Added low light graphics quality option (Thanks to Mendasp and Dragon for helping) Added random team console bind. j3 or jointeamthree in the console Added a new vote which tries to balance teams using previous round and hive stats Added previous menu theme back into the files under "sound/NS2.fev/main_menu_old" Added option to precache extra files. Default to 'Off.' (Allows you to balance load times against your desire to avoid early game hitching) Added queuing for servers with reserved slots in server browser. You can attempt to join the server if you think you can (i.e. you have a reserved slot) Added numerical values and input for sliders in options menu Added next / previous weapon keybind to main menu options Added evolve last upgrades keybind Added ability to unbind/clear keybinds Added interface sounds Added open/close fade animation to GUI's on right side of menu (news box, logo, Reinforcement/store buttons) Added fade effect when opening credits Added line wrapping for long text chat messages Implemented option description tooltips Rearranged server browser tabs (all game modes are now grouped up on the left side) Added microphone input volume bar colours, which change based on input intensity Server list and chat font size now resizes for really small screen resolutions Optimizations Consistency checking now uses a much faster algorithm which in many cases may decrease loadtimes Drastically reduced network traffic generated by scoreboard updates Optimized cloaked effect Reduced hitching when opening pages in the menu Changes Player outlines now work in first person for neutral spectators Inactive/unbuilt structures appear now in a darker color on the minimap Observatories will now reveal nearby cysts on the minimap Rookies are now always highlighted green on the scoreboard Muting a player will now also mute voice requests (like need ammo / medpack) Removed Drifter icon from tech map Made unavailable color very slightly darker to provide better differentiation between unbuilt grey color Increased weight of exclusive Female Marine Shadow badge taunt from 3% to 8% Increased max chat length to 120 from 80 Remove skill ranking from main menu and scoreboard News ticker now opens in Steam Overlay for improved experience Smoother catpack view effect in dark areas (No more black oval when in dark places) Doors now open from further away for fast moving players to compensate for the speed of the player Moved HUD detail option to general options tab SDK Added MouseWheelUp and MouseWheelDown as separate keys to bind (note for modders: InputKey.MouseZ is no longer being used) Added InputKey.None to allow clearing of bindings Added Client.GetIsSteamFriend(steamId) Added GUIHoverTooltip for providing tooltips offset from mouse cursor when hovering over something Added mapinfo console command to print out information like light and prop count to console Added MultiCheckbox form type which allow to have more than just true/false values Added console command chattime <number> to set how long chat messages display on screen. Must be at least 3 seconds. Changed profiler to use Left and Right key since old keybinds didnt work well with other keyboard layouts Added ControllerMixin:SetIgnorePlayerCollisions(time) Added client side loadtime console output Removed Cooked Mesh console output Fixed out of memory condition on Linux Kernel 3.12 Fixed fatal error message box on Linux machines that didn't have GTK Added gather_server tag in ServerConfig.json Send Commander time to Hive Biodome Lighting optimisations, approximately 200 lights removed Removed 2 glass sections in Falls to reduce render calls Moved Condensers power node away from Filtration Improved occlusion in Falls and Alley Fixed gap in Gallery Cleaned up commander view in Falls. Repositioned Condensers and West Route power node. Eclipse Hole fixes Removed center rail on Triad stairs Pathing fixes in Maintenance Docking [Note - There is a game-critical bug in Docking, and we recommend not playing it in 263. It will be fixed in 264.] Added additional vents to Ballcourt, Maintenance and Junction Reduced clutter around Maintenance RT Enlarged the space around Departures techpoint Fixed some CommanderInvisible around Departures Fixed the train in Departures not playing Slightly increased travel time to Maintenance through Courtyard Summit Smoothed out movement in Flight Control Minor cosmetic fixes Veil Fixed bad collision in Dome Tram Removed buggy cable bundle from Logistics->South Tunnels connection. Refinery Fixed Removed some unneeded collision geometry in Conduit Fixed pathing in Extraction Fixed gaps in location entities Fixed some unconnected pipes Fixed death trigger entities in lava falls Rotated smelting RT 180 degrees Fixed some flickering textures Smoothed out stairs in Falls Approach Eclipse Expanded Core Access hallway to be larger and more favorable for aliens facing arcs from the bottom corner Expanded the archways in generator monitor for more space (replaced the doorway model with simple geometry) Removed crates in core access, south loop, generator monitors, and east foyer Adjusted the layout of crates in Comp Core Replaced false doorway in conduit, to reduce confusion
