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.

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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

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