Build 202 is now live on Steam.

Since we are preparing to show the game at PAX East next week we've been focusing on polish and stability. In this patch the HUD continues to be refined to make it more informative, beautiful, and helpful. To improve the quality of the special effects in game, we've added a new material system. Right now we are only using it for a few new effects, but expect to see a lot more from it soon.

One side effect of the new material system is that the first time a shader is needed by the game it will pause the game for a few seconds. This will only happen one time, because the shader is then cached on disk for future use. We'll be pre-caching these shaders in future builds, but hopefully it won't cause too much of a nuisance until we get that done.

Another side effect of the new material system is that the Editor has finally been updated to use the same rendering system as the game. This means that viewing the lighting in the Editor now looks exactly the same as it does in game. It also means that the Editor performs a lot better, though we still have some more work to do on that. Since so much has changed in the Editor, there are still a few issues we need to work out, so if you want to make sure it doesn't interrupt your mapping, you may want to backup your Natural Selection 2 directory.

Here is the complete change log for Build 202:

Fixes

• Fixed bug where certain models may not successfully load after a map change (caused Marines to be invisible)
• Placing hives is now more reliable
• Fixed a bug where upgrading a structure would cause any tech that depends on that structure not be available anymore (upgrading robotics factory allows now sentries)
• Fixed a bug where you could research an upgrade at the robotics factory during creating an ARC/MAC, which resulted in losing that specific upgrade
• Adjusted Catalyst tooltip to match actual duration of 5 seconds
• Fixed bug where player health would sometimes display as 0 even when the player is still alive
• Fixed a bug where players would reach insane speed when climbing up ladders
• Fixed a bug where enemy players would see the research status of structures
• The Marine will not be taken out of sprint mode as often while strafing
• Fixed bug allowing the Marine to see through the top of ceilings in some cases
• Fixed a bug where wall jumps + leap could result in insane (~24) speeds very quickly
• Fixed bug allowing the player to jump in cases where there was not enough space above
• Fixed a bug where the score popup becomes yellow for marines when fading out
• Fixed bug where umbra effect would stay forever on screen
• 100% of resource cost was being given back upon recycle instead of the intended 70%
• Fixed a bug where you lose all upgrades when de-evolving an upgrade and selecting a new one
• Fixed a bug were lerk was not automatically switching to spikes when the 2nd hive got destroyed
• Phase gates take now always damage from Bile Bomb
• Fixed bug where grenades and spit did not show a hit indication at the crosshair
• Aliens can no longer use ladders
• Marine weapon hit effects are now properly predicted on the Client
• Fixed bug where view zone particle effects would not always be visible
• Fixed bug where you could research a new MAC when the robotics factory is open, which resulted in no MAC being constructed but
• resources being taken
• The main menu will close now when you press escape and are connected to a server
• Fixed bug where prototype lab buymenu won't close when you hit escape
• Ignored geometry in the CollisionGroup for Commander selection and building
• Fixed UI layout issues in LaunchPad

Features

• Added material system
• Added improved Nanoshield effect
• Added improved structure build effect
• Added Victory/Defeat banner displayed upon game completion

Changes

• Friendly units under attack will not appear red anymore but fade in and out on the minimap
• The crosshair UI only displays when the player is playing (not before the game has started or after the game has finished)
• Removed 0.25 delay in which wall walking is disabled after a jump (not needed anymore)
• Changed wall jump timing, you get now a higher boost the faster you jump off walls

Improvements

• Power point health circles are now displayed vertically
• Adjusted chat fonts and colors
• Commander voice chat name and icon appear now in a different color
• The research bar above structures will only be visible when you aim at it
• Improved appearance of the flamethrower effect a bit

Balance

• Reduced Lerk bile bomb cost from 50 to 35 so he's not waiting so much
• Bumped up alien spawn threshold and emergency spawn timing (4+ dead players instead of 3 and 7 seconds instead of 5)
• Gore will not do puncture damage anymore, which means it does now equal damage to both structures and players
• Reduce smash damage to 100 (down from 300)
• Reduced gore stun time to 1 second (down from 2)
• Smash will now also harm players, but without the structural damage and without knockdown
• Increased stomp stun duration from 1.5 seconds to 2 seconds

SDK

• Changed the Editor to use the same rendering system as the game
• Added an option to set the far plane clipping distance for 3D viewports in the Editor