We're starting off by introducing global Steam Leaderboards. This is launching as an experiment, so we've only added a handful of things to track, but more are coming in the future! Right now they include total score earned, number of bombs planted, number of players revived and number of clues delivered. These leaderboards can be tracked in multiple time ranges, too: today, this week, this month, this year and lifetime (since this update!)
Next up, we did a major overhaul to abilities. Many of you asked us for a way to re-arrange your abilities, and we heard you! We have added an entirely new loadout section when you join a game, where you can re-arrange your abilities however you like (except the first ability for Innocents and Traitors, it's still locked to your class ability.) But that's not all! We have also added a lot of brand new abilities, suited for different playstyles: whether you wanna make a lot of noise as a Traitor, or blend with the crowd, we have covered you!
But even that's not all, either! We are also introducing a brand new Gadget system. With many of the abilities we've added, we realized that you can very clearly divide all abilities into two categories: something physical (such as the Bomb as Traitor) and something abstract, like a skill that you can learn (such as Doctor Resuscitate, because we imagine it as CPR.) So with the new Gadget system, we have divided the abilities into those two categories. Abilities are now things that you can do however many times you want (minus the cooldown) and that don't depend on any external device, basically like your skills. Gadgets on the other hand, are tools with limited quantity, that can be used whenever you want and however many times you want with no cooldown. There's many to choose from, so we hope you enjoy them!
One more thing we have added with the new loadout system melee selection. You can now select between either a Bat or a brand new Stiletto for your loadout.
We have took our time (quite a lot of it actually) making characters feel a tiny bit more alive. We have added facial flexes to all our characters with the help of a 3D modeller RIVEN_LLOYD, meaning players' lips sync to the lines they say and they can express various emotions (which is not in-game yet, sadly, but they could do it if we wanted to!) and with the recent-ish addition of Treason mounting support to Garry's Mod, this is a very welcome addition for many of you poster-movie-makers out there (including for SFM, too!)
We have added a way for you to spend time while you are bored after dying. A new Spectator Ghost match! When you are spectating, press your ability 1 key to enter a Spectator Ghost mode, where you can throw hats at other Spectator Ghosts, score hits and earn a new achievement! The best Spectator Ghost receives a praise in server chat when the round ends.
We've made some major changes to how Karma works. Previously, it worked exactly the same as score: despite it's name, it did not actually show how good of a player you were, you would get points for just doing random things, exactly the same as score, except capped in the range of 30 to 100. We have changed that to try to represent actually good actions from players. In detail, we:
- removed any Karma points for winning a round
- added Karma penalty for damaing confirmed teammates (when you shoot a Traitor as a Traitor, for example)
- added separate Karma penalty for killing confirmed and unconfirmed teammates (so you would get less Karma punishment for killing an Innocent as Innocent without knowing their role, than if you killed a Traitor as Traitor)
- added Karma for killing confirmed enemies as Innocents (so you would get Karma for killing a revealed Traitor or a Zombie Traitor as Innocent)
- added Karma for damaging confirmed enemies as Innocent
- added Karma for healing players as Doctor
- added Karma for resuscitating players
- added Karma for scanning Gadgets as Detective
- added Karma for revealing roles of dead people
- added Karma for turning on the Power Supply
- added Karma for defusing a bomb.
With that, we've also lowered lots of Karma numbers, so it's not as easy to gain or lose Karma as before. And to reflect on those changes, we have increased default Low Karma threshold (t_teamkill_karma_threshold) from 50 to 70 karma.
Last but not least of the major changes, we have slightly changed pacing of the game with this update. Previously, all clues would spawn at a time, so in a high-skilled server, Traitors would have very little time until all clues get delivered all at once by multiple players, and a Traitor gets revealed. This was what we called Clues 2.0 and we are now introducing Clues 3.0! Clues 3.0 is similar to 2.0, but the clues spawn one at a time, and the clue spawn sound is now directed towards the clue location. This showed potential in increasing Traitor survival rates for high-skilled lobbies in our testing, but you can always revert to Clues 2.0, or even Clues 1.0 if you want, by using t_dev_clues_objective_version command or your lobby settings.
For anyone wondering, Clues 1.0 is when all Traitors are revealed at once instead of one Traitor at a time, and all clues spawn at once.
Full list of changes
Tools
- $selfillummask parameter can now be used with $bumpmap on VertexLitGeneric shader
- Selfillum can now be used with $blendtindbybasealpha on VertexLitGeneric shader
- Material proxies now work more reliably and no longer give "material proxy not found" errors for proxies that definitely always existed in Source
- Added a new SineEntIndex material proxy: same as Sine, but offset based on index of whatever entity it's applied to, so all entities have a unique result
Gameplay
- Implemented Steam Leaderboard (see above)
- Added a loadout system with many new abilities, a new Gadget system and a new melee selection (see above)
- Added Clues v3.0 (see above)
- Fixed water splah effect spawning in incorrect position when you hit water by penetrating another object
- Slightly lowered position requirements to register a back hit with a Bat, and exposed it into a console command: t_weapon_bat_back_damage_margin (default: 0.7)
- Players can no longer use abilities after the round is done or before the investigation starts
- Increased default player speed when charging a heavy Bat hit
- Gameplay hints will now only appear when entities related to them are actually usable (i.e. bombsite hints will no longer appear for Innocents)
- Added an option to toggle pseudonames on and off on your server (will use Steam names when toggled off)
- Slightly increased fidelity of player lag compensation
- Added radio voice chat for Traitor communication and 2-way Detective-to-Doctor communication (old players need to bind a key in controls settings, or reset their controls settings to defaults)
- The game will no longer enter pre-game state if it's duration is set to zero
- Added distance readings to Info Room dummies
- Added "Prevent consecutive Annihilation rounds" option to lobby settings (t_carnage_prevent_consecutive)
- Potentially fixed a bug with double clues spawning when two players interact with the Don
- Fixed dropped clues not disappearing on round end
- Players can now push each other by pressing secondary attack on Finger Gun
- Added first and third person animations for sprinting with Finger Gun out
- Renamed t_dev_body_detective_radar_duration command to t_dev_detective_call_radar_duration
- Fixed an issue with player legs being stuck in wrong direction if players stay still after spawning
- Stats and achievements will no longer be recorded in Info Room
- Fixed a bug where Resuscitating as Doctor would give score for reviving a Zombie and vice versa (the values were the same, so it did not affect the game by default, unless you changed them on your server)
- Added t_force_detective and t_force_doctor commands to force Detective and Doctor to be a player under specified index respectively
- Fixed missing attack delay on Finger Gun
- Increased overall accuracy and fire rate for MP40
- Decreased damage, increased fire rate, decreased damage falloff and increased standing accuracy for Remington
- Decreased damage falloff, decreased spread and increased standing accuracy for Revolver
- Decreased damage falloff, decreased spread and increased firing accuracy for Sawed-Off
- Decreased damage fallof for Springfield
- Increased damage, decreased fire rate, decreased damage falloff, decreased spread, increased standing and crouched accuracy, decreased firing and movemeng accuracy for Sturmgewehr 44
- Increased fire rate, decreased damage falloff, increased standing and firing accuracy for Thompson
- Increased spread and decreased standing accuracy for Colt
- Fixed a bug where Zombie Don syringe would spawn by round ending if it was already spawned by last innocent alert
- Updated Thompson shooting sound
- Fixed some instances of players being revived outside of the map if their ragdoll was moved out of map boundaries
- Changed default clue glow start delay (t_dev_clue_glow_start_delay) from 20 to 30 seconds
- Changed default clue glow loop time (t_dev_clue_glow_loop_time) from 25 to 35 seconds
- Added separate headshot damage multipliers for weapons: Sturmgewehr 44 is x1.78, Remington 81 is x1.7, Thompson is x1.7, the rest is x1.6
- First person arm models now follow weapon models lighting, instead of their own
- Increased max number of voting options from 5 to 8 (used for map votes at the end of the game)
- Added an option to re-vote once a second after casting a vote
- Game icon will now flash on taskbar when you spawn in-game
- Fixed an issue with threaded bone setup causing mayhem with player models
- Fixed an occasional very long delay when switching maps after game ends
- Added missing clue spark particle to dropped clues
- Renamed t_post_roundtime_innocents_win_time command to mp_roundtime_postround_innocents and changed it from 30s to 45s
- Players can now shoot each other's glasses off, just like hats
- Players can no longer be revived/resuscitated by multiple people at once
- Fixed incorrect "not allowed to attack" message for Zombies when they respawn and have spawn protection
- Changed default tracer speed (t_tracer_speed) and light (t_muzzle_light) values
- Fixed a bug when you could keep using hold-to-use abilities or using hold-to-use items (such as defusing a Bomb or toggling Power Supply) after dying
- Fixed a bug that caused multiple tracers to spawn for each penetrated object during your shot
- Fixed an issue with grenades deploy animation not playing when you cannot attack before investigation starts
- Fixed an issue with third person addon models (weapons that appear on players' backs) being visible in first person
- Re-added player disconnect messages back
- Added missing Remington lowered player animations (when you cannot attack before investigation starts)
- Added distant versions of player death sounds
- Increased default Bomb range (t_pseudobomb_range) from 1320 to 1500 units
- Added dynamic crosshair gap (cl_crosshair_dynamic, 0 - off, 1 - affected by standing accuracy only, 2 - affected by real-time accuracy as you move around)
- Potentially fixed clues being unreachable in tight corners
- With the addition of multi-use Gadgets, you can now only plant one Bomb at a time on the same bomb site
- Viewmodel sway is now correctly mirrored when you switch from right hand to left hand
UI
- Damage received now affects damage indicator fade out time, instead of starting opacity
- Made damage indicator slightly bigger
- Re-designed scoreboard, it now scales with players (again) and does not lose fidelity depending on your resolution
- Forced Annihilation message will no longer appear on round start if Annihilation hasn't actually started (if a player left during the round start timer)
- Slightly increased fidelity of UI icons in Traitor and clue counters
- Capitalized all instances of role names being mentioned in UI
- Fixed a bug when round end panel would show that you played as Zombie if you didn't, and vice versa
- Round end panel now shows roles of players as they were when they killed you/when you killed them, as opposed to their roles at the end of the round
- Voice chat names no longer show up for proximity voice chat
- Round end panel will now only show hud_roundend_bestplayers_limit best players in Annihilation (default: 3)
- Players' skin now becomes rotten (without affecting clothers) when their bodies rot after dying, until they get revived as Zombies and their clothes become messed up as usual
- Added an option to show important game events separately at the top of the screen, to not get lost in the list of minor and uninteresting game events
- Main menu music on disconnect is now affected by music slider
- Added fade to Radar icons
- Slightly tweaked colors for some roles
- Scoreboard now shows when a player role got revealed in "Status" column
- Updated how background maps load, now they're in-line with other Source Engine games
- Updated rank icons
- Fixed a bug with revive icon not appearing when you are being revived after leaving pre-death state
- Re-colored chat to be black
Maps
- Various optimizations across all maps
New map: Arena
New main menu background maps
Castle
- Redesigned the back area of B Site
- Increased size of the 8-Ball pool area and replaced the couch with a chair for better navigation
- Moved the crates closer to the wall in the sand & garage areas and improved stairs on the second floor
- Expanded floors around bombsite D
- Expanded C.P.U. area
- Expanded the corridor between bombsites A and D
- Added breakable furniture in various areas
Church
- Removed some objects in the spawn area
- Removed collisions for the lamps in the doorways between the spawn area and middle area
- Expanded a corridor between the spawn area and kitchen
- Redesigned bombsite D
- Added a new corridor on the highest floor and redesigned the balcony
- Redesigned the Power Supply room
- Replaced a bench with a shower in jacuzzi area at bombsite A
- Added new travel options in the middle area
- Re-textured stairs from bombsites B and D
- Fixed collisions with the red chair on bombsite D
- Fixed stairs in the middle not colliding with objects
- Fixed floating knights in the spawn area
City
- Added breakable trees
- Updated layout of the outside area
- Redesigned the underground area
- Removed some of the boost spots
Classic
- Added breakable trees
- Expanded bombsite D
- Added a new path to bombsite A
- Added a new path to bombsite B with a link to a secret path to bombsite C
- Expanded the underground area below balcony
- Moved a box from bombsite A to fix clipping issues
- Made player clipping a bit less excessive to improve navigation
Clues
- Redesigned the first floor to improve navigation
- Added a new path in the middle to the C.P.U.
- Updated path from bombsite B to the first floor balcony for better navigation
- Redesigned the middle area
- Re-textured aquarium wall in kitchen
Cold
- Added a new spawning area
- Updated some areas to improve navigation and cover
- Extended tower balcony and added some cover
Dust Ode
- Added breakable trees
- Added a new path from bombsite B to bombsite A
- Expanded area around bombsite D
- Expanded the Power Supply room
- Expanded area outside bombsite C
Dust 2 Ode
- Added breakable trees
- Extended bombsite A
- Redesigned stairs from bombsite C to improve navigation
- Moved some crates closer to walls so weapons aren't easily stuck behind them
- Added a new path from bombsite A to balcony
- Redesigned the C.P.U. area to improve visibility, cover and navigation
- Expanded back area of bombsite B
- Added a path from bombsite B to catwalk
- Removed some of the boost spots
Gym
- Added a path between gym and bar
- Removed a path between bombsite C and gym
- Added various walkable planks to reach some higher spots
- Added a path between bar and tunnels
- Updated some hiding spots
Hotel
- Expanded the outside area
- Expanded bombsite C
- Added a door between bombsite D and C.P.U.
Island
- Added an arch to indicate a way between two islands
- Moved some rocks around
- Fixed an issue with players unable to pick up weapons in water/lava underground
Library
- Added more fire for bombsite A when the bomb goes off
- Expanded the Power Supply room
- Added stairs to bombsite D
- Expanded back areas of bombsites B and C
- Redesigned the bar for better navigation
Simple
- Added breakable trees
- Improved navigation around the middle
Temple
- Expanded the underground area
- Added a railing to some stairs for better navigation and visibility
Tower
- Expanded bombsite D
- Expanded the path between Power Supply and bombsite C
- Expanded towers' windows
Villa
- Expanded basement
- Added a path from basement to bombsite D
- Added doors between bombsite B and the building
We hope this update was worth the wait. Thank you for sticking with us!
