A precious but lost TSF resource once again comes into play, returning to TANITH! We are thrilled and excited to release this updated vision of the classic map from Natural Selection. Special thanks to Zavaro and the mapping team on this awesome addition to the map pool.

With the release of TANITH we are also providing the next phase of the Match Play, Beta v2, in which we have made some bug fixes and added the ability to invite steam friends to the lobby you are in. A new Matched Play progression system has been added, allowing you to unlock all sorts of assets and customization to your Marine and Alien. We are still actively working on Private Lobbies and Group Queuing, which we know are our biggest requests for Matched Play. There is also a list of quality of life changes we hope to have in our 1.0 release of Match Played (planned release in early 2022).

This update includes changes to our MOD system as we move to supporting Steam UGC. Optimizations and bug fixes abound through the change log, so be sure to read all the way through.

Lastly, we will be releasing a new flurry of balance changes next week separate from the patch via our extension mod. Stay tuned in our Discord server for more details!

Remember all sales of NS2 and DLC directly affect our development budget and allow our team to continue work on NS2.

From all of us at Unknown Worlds, Merry Gorgemas and Happy Holidays!

Changelog

Optimizations

• Improved how the server calculates physics collisions by reducing the overzealous distance it checks. This should be a general improvement to server performance. (Thanks Steelcap!)
• Improved client loading routines when connecting to servers, so it is a smoother transition and a tiny bit faster.

Tweaks / Improvements
New map, Tanith!
[previewyoutube=0Ue--1lPSm0;full][/previewyoutube]

• Tanith is an off-world chemical plant that has since been abandoned from the events of Natural Selection. Flora and natural shifts in fault lines have started to reclaim what remains of the facility. But an old threat still looms within these walls. Will the TSF take back what is rightfully theirs?
• Pictures: https://zavaro.artstation.com/projects/18JbQZ
• New Tanith skulk skin! Acquired by winning 30 rounds on Tanith.

Matched Play Beta v2 Update

• Added a ton of new items which can be earned from playing rounds in Matched Play. These include both Field Player and Commander rewards for both time played and wins. Commanders earn everything Field Players do, but not vice versa. You can track your progress by opening the new Matched Play Rewards menu on the right side of the screen at any time, in game or not.
• We now require completion of all 4 tutorials (Commander ones included) and the Skulk Challenge mode in order to begin unlocking any rewards, and the Matched Play Rewards menu will state as such.
• Added “Calling Cards” that are unlocked through Matched Play, and selected in the Player Profile / Customization menu. They allow you to show an image on screen of your choice to any player whom you kill, utilizing our revamped death screen notification. Once the feature is unlocked, players can choose any of their currently owned Shoulder Patches as a Card or earn new Calling Cards as rewards.
• You can now send invitations to your Steam Friends from within Lobbies using the new button or through Steam Friends.
• You can no longer be in a lobby while in a community server.
• Rounds now have a maximum time limit of 60 minutes. Afterwards, the round will result in a Draw game. There is a 2 minute warning in the game. This number can be adjusted if deemed necessary by the community.
• Lowered the time it takes for the match to start once all players have joined the server. (countdown begins immediately).
• Capped the time it takes for a match to start to 10 seconds, so that 11 players are not waiting on that one slow loading player.
• Matches will now automatically forfeit when the opposing team leaves the game. The remaining team will be counted as winning.
• Concede is available at a round time of 1 minute and 30 seconds to accommodate any unforeseen scenarios.
• Added support for reconnecting to an active match when recovering from a crash.
• Added support for reconnecting to an active match when kicked for being AFK only if the user has responded to the popup prompt at the main menu within 20 seconds, otherwise they will be penalized and not able to rejoin.
• Main menu is no longer non-interactable while utilizing Matched Play. However some menu items will be disabled while in a Lobby (i.e. cannot change menu background, mods, or language).
• If you are in another menu while waiting in a lobby, you may have the lobby screen forcefully show up when two different steps in the process are reached: Waiting For Commanders, and the Map Vote.
• Fixed multiple “dead-lock” scenarios which would prevent a Match from progressing.
• Fixed late joining players not being placed onto teams or being stuck in spectate
• Fixed several bugs for Matched Play servers which would prevent the match from completing.
• Numerous small bug fixes and features based on community feedback, in order to smooth over the entire system.
• New Steam UGC Mod system implementation. See the relevant section below for more details.
• All cosmetic options can now be set individually. They’re no longer bound by sets. This means if you want your Babbler skin to be different from your Hydra skin, you can.
• Added new Commander related cosmetics such as Arcs, Macs, Drifters and even Cysts.
• Improved compatibility with Steam’s new authentication method to prevent players from occasionally being unable to join a server.
• Improved how Locations in maps respect the power state with regards to lighting. This should make it so when the power goes out, there should never be ceiling lights that remain on.
• New death screen to accommodate the new Calling Cards rewards as well as to bring up the fidelity of the mechanic to modern standards and expectations.
• Main menu Wiki button now directs to the new wiki (Thanks Kopunga!)
• Crashed players can now reconnect after 15 seconds, instead of the prior 5 minutes, due to fixing prior timeout related issues.
• Map loading screens once again show in between map changes on a server.
• Proton [Linux] players are now able to start listen servers and play the tutorials. (Thanks Axtel!)

Mod System Changes

• Switched over to the Steam UGC backend that will allow for mods larger than 100MB and enable background updating of subscribed mods by steam while the game is not running. UGC can also reduce the amount of data needed to download updates for large mods. Existing legacy mods can still be downloaded and mounted but will switch over to the UGC backend the next time they are updated by mod authors.
• Mod dependencies set on the steam workshop are now automatically downloaded on the client and server. The server will also auto mount the dependencies if they are not already specified with something like the map cycle.
• Mod authors can now add a change log when pushing an update to a mod that can be viewed on the mods steam workshop page.
• Server mods specified on the commands line now stay mounted after a map change.
• Mods in the mapcycle.json are updated and mounted on server start without having to be specified on the command line, per map mods are only mounted if the matching map is being loaded.
• Mod IDs can now be specified as decimal numbers instead of hex in the map cycle if they are *not* in quoted strings, they can also be passed as plain numbers on the command line using -mods2 option.
• The webadmin mod search page now uses Steam UGC API to search for mods instead of a custom web api that is no longer running.
• New mods can now be downloaded and installed on the server while it is running and mounted after a map change if they are added to the mapcycle’s mod list.
• Added a built-in mod backup web server to the dedicated server that allows connecting clients to download mods from the server if the current version of a mod on steam is newer than the servers or the client failed to download the mod from steam. This fixes the old “Missing required mod” error. The web server can be enabled with the -startmodserver command line option. The default port it binds to is serverport + 2 this can be changed with -modserverport. You can also optionally specify the address or ip the mod server uses with -modserveraddress otherwise its defaults to -ip option.

Fixes

• Fixed numerous Matched Play issues.
• Fixed cosmetics selection ordered inconsistently
• Fixed Customize player screen not working in resolutions outside of 16:9 aspect ratio.
• Fixed “Welcome to the ready room” message that appeared in tutorials
• Fixed minimap assets missing in tutorials
• Fixed Evolve Menu lifeform counters breaking when using non-English translations, potentially never showing how many lifeforms were on the team. (Thanks Axtel!)
• Fixed Tunnels not being able to grow off receded infestation with a Drifter, like Gorges can.
• Fixed bound keys assigning a hotkey value to the first letter of the symbol name. This meant that if you bound Right Bracket to “Taunt” the in-game radial menu would show the hotkey for Taunt as being “R” erroneously.
• Fixed Status Effect Icons showing incorrectly sometimes due to damage over time map entities.
• Updated credits and bot names to include newer contributions and testers.
• Fixed many inaccurate tooltips in the game, as well as typos and grammatical errors. No excuses now, rookie.
• Fixed 5 official maps not having their tech point entities set correctly, which would cause the Matched Play map overview colors to lie about who could start where. (Thanks Salty!)
• The map command on a client will error instantly instead of trying to load a non-existent map now.
• Fix the map cycle getting stuck if a map is missing or fails to mount.
• Fixed a common case where the client was failing steam authentication when connecting to a server.
• Fix the client sometimes freezing for a few seconds when connecting to a server.
• Changed Ambient Occlusion graphics option into a checkbox instead of a pull down menu. Make sure it's actually enabled.
• Fixed Alien Commander Tutorial soft lock from occurring due to harvester placement. (Thanks Axtel!)
• Fixed Fog from interfering with certain skybox fx. Silly fog trying to block out my shiny things I spend too much time on. That’ll teach you.
• Fixed server AFK kicking, which defaults to 30 seconds and only takes effect once the round is in progress, not warm up mode.

Maps

• Descent (Thanks Salty!)
• Collision Pass
• Occlusion Improvements and fixes
• Railgun exploit fixes in Drafting - Fabrication and Crew Quarters - Launch Control
• Moved some props in Plaza

• Refinery (Thanks Salty!)
• Made Lava falls basemist cinematic commander invisible
• Fixed stuck spot in turbine
• Slight Collision adjustments in Heat Sink
• Adjusted minimap location names
• Improved Commander invisible layer

Tools

• Corrected size of time settings box in Cinematic Editor and implemented looping playback feature with a new button! (Thanks Steelcap!)
• Gobo light support is now in the Cinematic editor for a performant light option. (Thanks Steelcap!)
• Cinematic Editor now has robust default keyboard shortcuts and a few new features like orbiting! These greatly improve the workflow. (Thanks Axtel!)
• R - record
• Q and E - frame 0 and last frame
• Right and Left Arrows - next and previous frame
• Shift + (X or Y or Z) - orientate camera to that axis perfectly
• F - focus camera on selected object
• Shift + F - focus camera on selected object’s origin point
• Shift + MMB - orbit the camera around the focus point (default or object) This one is huge for workflow!
• C - expand all curve lists of selected object
• Double clicking curve category automatically views all child curves
• O - focus view on origin (0,0,0)
• Ctrl + C or V - Copy and pasta is in!
• Del - delete the object
• Shift key makes the camera move fast
• Increased maximum distance of mapper placed Cysts from starting hive to allow for greater flexibility to the starting Harvester. (Thanks Axtel!)
• Pre-set special groups in Map Editor for new map projects. You no longer need to type in all the special group names needed for a map.

SDK

• Structure Stats were improved to include data to track lifecycle in a robust way for 3rd party visualizations, and now include structure location updates when using Shift. (Thanks Axtel!)
• Per team skill offset value as well as commander skill and skill offset are now in the server stat file (Thanks Axtel!)
• Added a shared ModServices API usable on both the server and client, that includes support for searching for files in unmounted mods, querying mod dependencies.

Known Issues

• Sometimes your teammates’ names may not show in the Planning Phase step of lobbies. If the chat window does not show them leaving, then they have not left, and it's just this existing UI bug at work.
• Ambient occlusion will be turned off for all existing players unfortunately, due to being changed to a checkbox option. You can safely re-enable it and apply it and it will work as expected going forward.