Overly Chatty Penguins

The Ready Room => General => Topic started by: rad4Christ on September 03, 2004, 10:04:17 AM

Title: New Changelog, Release Immenent
Post by: rad4Christ on September 03, 2004, 10:04:17 AM

From:http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/in...showtopic=79481 (http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=79481)



Unknown Worlds (http://www.unknownworlds.com/) and the Natural Selection (http://www.natural-selection.org) team are pleased to announce the imminent release of Natural Selection 3.0 Beta Version 5 (full version name: 3.0b5). We are anticipating the release to occur this coming weekend (Sept. 3rd through 5th). Please check http://www.natural-selection.org/downloads (http://www.natural-selection.org/downloads) for download instructions/mirror locations.

Beta 5 has many important bug fixes which will help facilitate new features coming in future builds. This build marks the correction of some long-standing bugs as well as some bugs which were reported by the community. There are also some significant balance changes in regards to combat

Beta 5 Changelog:

Gameplay changes:

O Players who issue the 'kill' command in console cannot restart the timer by issuing 'kill' again
O Commander can now click on switches to activate a door or elevator.
O "slowresearch" cheat now slows down recycling of buildings.
O Alien attacks apply a reduced knock-back effect. If a player is in the air and receives knockback damage the effect is 50% of what it was in beta 4a, if the player is in Heavy Armor (HA) the knockback is reduced an additional 50%.
O Changed knockback of Skulk Bite from 300 to 225.
O Increased jetpack maneuverability, jetpackers are now immune to stomp, and carried items/ammo affect lift less
O Knockback never affects friendly players.
O Parasite and Xenocide now get damage boosts from primal scream.
O Weapons reload exploit fixed.
O Marines are prevented from putting anything but Resource Towers on Resource nozzles.
O Reduced time it takes to throw hand-grenades (thanks BrigadierWolf!)
O Changed hand grenade so it is thrown gently when crouched.
O Movement chamber range increased from 400 to 500.
O Alien resource nodes don't play gurgling sounds until a minute into the game. (prevents commander from listening for starting hive)
O Movement chamber energy bonus increased from 10% to 25%.
O Changed healing spray effectiveness vs. players: changed from 16 to 13 + 4% of target max health. (both for healing friendly players and attacking enemy players)
O Increased Gorge armor from 40 to 50.
O Increased Onos carapace armor bonus from 150 to 350. (makes it closer 50% like all the other aliens)
O Changed hand grenade physics to make them more effective at attacking indirectly.
O Increased redemption chance from 35% per second to 45% per second. (still happens when at or below 40% health)
O Increased spit damage from 25 to 30.
O Grenade launcher cost lowered from 20 to 15.
O Ammo packs now drop when a weapons is dropped (intentionally or upon death)

Combat Specific Gameplay changes:

O Aliens always respawn as skulk, even if they were previously a higher lifeform.
O Dying with a larger lifeform gives you back the points spent on it.
O Unchained alien lifeforms, like regular NS:
- Gorge costs 1 level
- Lerk costs 2 levels
- Fade costs 3 levels
- Onos costs 4 levels
O Lifeform evolution times set to a smaller percentage of those in regular NS.
O Aliens can now only choose a lifeform once per life in Combat.
O Players spawn in waves, with a maximum wave size of 5 players
O A wave starts when there is no wave in progress and a player dies
O The wave finishes when 5 seconds + (number of dead players - 1)*4.5 seconds have elapsed.


Game mechanics changes:

O In NS:Combat, all weapon and armor upgrades will now be correctly assigned to the user who upgraded for them.
O When devolving from a higher alien lifeform to a lower lifeform it was possible to have 0 health but still be "alive". This has been corrected so you start with the correct health/armor for that class .
O Aliens no longer take negative damage (gain the damage back as health) when they have 4 or more hives.
O Parasite flag is now removed from players when they die instead of when they spawn.
O Aliens who are healing while evolving will emerge healed to the correct percentage. (Also goes for damage while evolving)
O Fixed flashlight so it’s no longer possible to run out of energy.
O Players can no longer enter a Comm Chair while it's recycling.
O Aliens can now evolve on slopes without having to jump.
O Fixed problem with alien regeneration, where aliens could sometimes get more health than they were supposed to.
O Alien players should now be able to always evolve provided there is enough room.
O Blast effect from Onos gore and Xenocide no longer affect teammates.
O Build circle restrictions no longer remain for mapper placed buildings that are destroyed.
O Fixed the bug with the ‘startbuilt’ flag for mapper placed offense chambers, they will now be fully functional when the round starts.
O Motion tracking blips no longer show on minimap when there are no more observatories.
O Fixed bug where players dropping straight into water are invulnerable.
O Turrets now track and fire at underwater aliens.
O OCs will no longer fire at digesting players.
O Walking aliens no longer uncloak while strafing or if they have upgraded to celerity.
O Resolved issues with the Phase Gate headroom checking routine.
O Multiple buildings can no longer be placed on the same physical ground-level location.
O All non-standard weapons (including LMG) dropped upon death.
O Tweaked the way gestation space checking works.
O Improved the way deployment of Phase Gates is handled (code-side).
O Issue with grenades being selected when you drop your other weapons resolved.

Cosmetic changes:

O The sound when an alien building is placed only plays if the building is successfully placed.
O Visual reference of a parasite will now be removed when a mapper placed building is destroyed.
O Known issue resolved where 'needs health' message was being spammed due to variable inconsistencies.
O Added new shotshell.mdl for shotgun ejection
O Aliens will no longer show up on motion tracking if they are dead.
O Use key has been disabled for commanders. (prevents phantom use sounds playing)
o Added new jetpack sounds
O Fixed bug where the hive take-damage animation interrupted itself
O Added new NSGuide icon (from amarc)
O lastinv no longer plays sound when used.
O Welder redone, its now possible to tell when you're not welding, welding or finished welding, just by listening to the sound.
O Alerts now play when a 'friendly' gorge attacks a building with FF on.
O Silence upgrade now prevents the primal scream response from players if they have silence.
O Added an offset shotgun crosshair, which correctly represents the center of the damage field for the current shotgun.
O Digesting sounds are now affected by the silence upgrades.
O It is no longer possible to place/keep a waypoint on a cloaked alien.
O Fixed a bug that stopped the sound that normally plays when an aliens spends points from playing.
O Hand Grenade no longer plays the same sound for different actions.
O Tweaked hand grenade sounds from MaDMaXX.
O New hand grenade model from BrigadierWolf.
O Motion tracking blips no longer appear on aliens that you can directly see.
O Digesting players no longer show up on SoF or Parasite.
O Digesting a jetpacker removes their ability to “fly” so trails won’t be seen.
O Phantom Phase Gate sounds will no longer play.
O Long server names will be truncated gracefully as opposed to abruptly on the scoreboard.
O Correct arm models will now be displayed when exiting the command chair as HA.
O Improved animation for hand grenade, including synching up grenade creation with throw.
O Aliens now display the correct amount of res they actually have. It was being shown (24/99) even though you had 25/100.
O Score is now calculated correctly for weighted kills.
O Lowered chat text visually on-screen.
O New ammo pack models

Server Changes:

O Game directory changed from "nsp" back to "ns", now that nearly everyone has moved to the beta
O STEAMIDs now appear on all applicable log messages.
O Updated method of locking cvars to be more efficient.
O Added missing newline character in log message.
O Fixed log messages for "Game reset started" and "Game reset complete" from sometimes having weird characters.
O Locked r_detailedtextures to 0 to prevent exploits.
O Changed mp_limitteams default from 2 to 1 (in server.cfg and listenserver.cfg)
O Added some sprites to mp_consistency precache.
O Numents and entityinfo commands now work with sv_cheats set to 1.
o Changed Linux development platform to gcc-3.2.

Client Changes (non-gameplay related):

O Removed ex_interp from cvar locks.
O Added lightgamma to locked cvars. Value cannot be set below 2.0.

Changes for those who Mod NS:

O Code for Chat box now sends strings as a single argument rather than multiple arguments.

Spectator changes:

O Spectators should be able to see cloaked alien buildings when spectating in first person.


Map Changes:

O Added ns_altair by KungFuDiscoMonkey

O Added co_sava by Mendasp

O Updated ns_nancy from Lazer
- New route to Mother Interface. It's experimental right now and will probably changed around later.
- Some corridor spacing issues resolved (example: Onos can not leave Mother without ducking)
- Double door bug FIXED

O Updated ns_metal
- More infestation/Tweaks
- Optimized surface access
- Fixed 3 build exploits
- Removed weldable pipe (shortcut)
- Added bulges in vents to allow passing
- Lowered cieling in MS
- Ladder weldable moved to Storage D promenade
- Added resource node to Surface Access
- Moved heating room resource to north end of room

O Updated ns_agora
- Added two missing sounds

O Updated ns_bast
- Reduced size of the vent on top of feedwater so marines have to crouch
- Fixed button on the Engine Door
- Fixed a lot of areas where the comm shouldn't build (this includes all the weird feedwater spots)
- Raised Feedwater hive to avoid exploits and making the access to the vent easier
- Moved the Feedwater resource a bit so you can get behind it
- Moved engine and added a second exit to the hive
- Moved the res outside of Refinery to Water treatment
- Made the revolving door unusable (like the one on the other side)
- Lowered Marine Spawn closer to the cargo level and removed the elevator
- Added new area between the Marine Spawn and the Engine corridor
- Moved the new res on the bottom of the main aft lift closer to Tram Tunnel.
- Reduced excessive brightness in some areas (lights over the nodes, feedwater, marine spawn)
- Added vent between Feedwater and Tram Tunnel
- Tweaked the Tram so the Onos can fit without crouching
- Fixed strange clipping holes and errors (this includes some stuck issues too)
- Added lights to the underwater tunnel
- Added vent in Refinery

O Updated ns_hera
- Added missing titles
- Added a resource node in north-west corner of the map, by the weld to the rock cavity.
- Removed a node from Holoroom
- Removed ground path from Cargo to Holoroom
- Added in a balcony overlooking the Holoroom, accessible from the upper level of Cargo.
- Moved the node in Cargo back to it's original place - down in the pit beneath the door.
- Re-routed Maintenance Access' Cargo exit to beside the cargo life next to MS. (Just so the exit doesn't come out at the resource node)
- Enlarged the general area around the CC, as well as fixed the getting stuck problem around it.
- Fixed being able to see into the vent hive as commander with no marines around.
- Added a vent between Archiving hive and North Corridor (heralocation_ncorridor).
- Added a vent from broken security door to Cargo lift.

O Updated co_core
- Enlarged marine start
- Fixed small clipping\clipnode errors
- Decreased water in hive room
- Reduced overall elevation changes
- Broke up line of sight in south hive exit
- Enlarged hive room slightly
- Decreased line-of-sight to hive from northeast hallway
- Several minor geometry changes and fixes

O Updated co_ulysses
- Fixed bug in Hive ramp
- Changed and added detail at Cargo Bay, Marine Spawn and Hive.
- Added a new window to space at Cargo Hive.
- Modified some lights along the map to make it more atmospheric

O Updated co_daimos
- fixed stuck issue in Lower Sewer (bug #0000590)
- grates can now be shot through (bug #0000692)
- added a vent from Hive Area to Upper Tram to allow Alien to fall into the Marines' back there.
- added a vent from Hive Area to Exactly above the PG welding point.

O Updated ns_lost
- Fixed crashing problems
- Marine start redesigned to eliminate the CC pit
- "Closet" resource node removed
- Several weldable vents added
- Window to siege room in Equilibrium now breakable
- Los Paranoias resource node removed
- Added a resource node on Beta Deck
- Reworked weldable into Alpha Continuum hive
- Fixed anomalous flooring outside Eternal Requiem
- Fixed several exploit build areas

As always, please remember that this is a beta version of Natural Selection. Things are subject to revision at the development team's discretion.

Title: New Changelog, Release Immenent
Post by: X-S-Z on September 03, 2004, 10:35:53 AM

Oh yea baby! now that's a changelog! I can't wait to see how reduced knockback will affect gameplay. And no res tower noise on start! That'll change the early-game a bit.  

Cant wait to play!  :D

Title: New Changelog, Release Immenent
Post by: Doobie Dan on September 03, 2004, 10:46:05 AM

omgomgomgomgomgomgomgomg UPDATE!  :D

O Updated ns_bast
- Reduced size of the vent on top of feedwater so marines have to crouch
- Fixed button on the Engine Door
- Fixed a lot of areas where the comm shouldn't build (this includes all the weird feedwater spots)
- Raised Feedwater hive to avoid exploits and making the access to the vent easier
- Moved the Feedwater resource a bit so you can get behind it
- Moved engine and added a second exit to the hive
- Moved the res outside of Refinery to Water treatment
- Made the revolving door unusable (like the one on the other side)
- Lowered Marine Spawn closer to the cargo level and removed the elevator
- Added new area between the Marine Spawn and the Engine corridor
- Moved the new res on the bottom of the main aft lift closer to Tram Tunnel.
- Reduced excessive brightness in some areas (lights over the nodes, feedwater, marine spawn)
- Added vent between Feedwater and Tram Tunnel
- Tweaked the Tram so the Onos can fit without crouching
- Fixed strange clipping holes and errors (this includes some stuck issues too)
- Added lights to the underwater tunnel
- Added vent in Refinery


Wow... wow.

Title: New Changelog, Release Immenent
Post by: holy_devil on September 03, 2004, 11:48:28 AM

at least a lot of good things were changed, hoping to have more fun with this version ;p no real balance changes though =/ the no friendly knockback is really nice though :D mostly map and prettyness changes, aside the gestation fix. that should make it more important to hide your egg, since you'll die no matter what if you're being shot at as an egg now =/

Title: New Changelog, Release Immenent
Post by: confused! on September 03, 2004, 12:02:57 PM

what a time not to have a main board/cpu and a distinct lack of intarweb.

i look forward to monday when i will get my stuff. ole!

Title: New Changelog, Release Immenent
Post by: That Annoying Kid on September 03, 2004, 12:10:08 PM

old news :p

I look forward to the release!

Title: New Changelog, Release Immenent
Post by: Necrosis on September 03, 2004, 12:19:47 PM

Lets pick out the perks and cons.

Cons number 1, every rslotter will be swarming the server to try the new version out. Thusly, I'll see you all through the week, I'm going to go to a house party most of the weekend.

Parasite and Xenocide now get damage boosts from primal scream.

Oh yes oh yes ohyesohyesohyes.

O Movement chamber range increased from 400 to 500.
O Movement chamber energy bonus increased from 10% to 25%.

yesyesyesyesyes.

O Increased Onos carapace armor bonus from 150 to 350. (makes it closer 50% like all the other aliens)

*joygasm*

O Increased redemption chance from 35% per second to 45% per second. (still happens when at or below 40% health)
O Increased spit damage from 25 to 30.
O Changed healing spray effectiveness vs. players: changed from 16 to 13 + 4% of target max health. (both for healing friendly players and attacking enemy players)
O Increased Gorge armor from 40 to 50.

ALL HAIL THE COMBAT GORGE.

Map Changes:

O Updated ns_bast
- Reduced size of the vent on top of feedwater so marines have to crouch
- Made the revolving door unusable (like the one on the other side)
- Lowered Marine Spawn closer to the cargo level and removed the elevator
- Added lights to the underwater tunnel

O Updated ns_hera
- Removed a node from Holoroom
- Removed ground path from Cargo to Holoroom
- Added in a balcony overlooking the Holoroom, accessible from the upper level of Cargo.
- Enlarged the general area around the CC, as well as fixed the getting stuck problem around it.

O Updated ns_lost
- Marine start redesigned to eliminate the CC pit
- "Closet" resource node removed
- Window to siege room in Equilibrium now breakable
- Los Paranoias resource node removed
- Reworked weldable into Alpha Continuum hive



Those are the map changes I'm not happy with.


I like the sound of the new beta, I shall be looking forward to playing it when the server quiets, and I have sobered up.

Title: New Changelog, Release Immenent
Post by: Legionnaired on September 03, 2004, 12:25:48 PM

Jetpackers immune to Onos? Guns dropped with full ammo?

Onos are going to be even more useless. GG aliens.

Title: New Changelog, Release Immenent
Post by: Clashen on September 03, 2004, 12:43:24 PM

Taking out r_detailtextures makes me sad :(

and woopie for co_sava!

Title: New Changelog, Release Immenent
Post by: Dark on September 03, 2004, 12:45:15 PM

looks good and i can't wait for it B)

Title: New Changelog, Release Immenent
Post by: Isamil on September 03, 2004, 01:35:46 PM

.......
.......
JPs are more agile.  They are immune to stomp.   .................................................
THEY NEEDED TO BE NERFED NOT BEEFED UP.

Title: New Changelog, Release Immenent
Post by: Anarki3x6 on September 03, 2004, 03:34:20 PM

lol, jpers seriously immune to stomp now ? wow :o

Title: New Changelog, Release Immenent
Post by: Avs on September 03, 2004, 03:44:06 PM

Buwhahaahhaha time to initate JP strat of DEATH.

Title: New Changelog, Release Immenent
Post by: Satiagraha on September 03, 2004, 04:27:47 PM

Damn, no ns_thorstation  :(

Yeah, I'm disappointed in the JP buffing. Not only are they now immune to stomp, but they're faster and more agile? GG

But then again, OVERFLOW REGEN! (ok, so maybe that's not such a big thing, but it's been pissing me off ever since I first started using regen <_< )
Edit: And what Seth said in the next post. Yay! Fade fun! :D

Title: New Changelog, Release Immenent
Post by: Seth on September 03, 2004, 04:29:40 PM

O Walking aliens no longer uncloak while strafing or if they have upgraded to celerity.


oh dear GOD!!!!

Title: New Changelog, Release Immenent
Post by: fatty on September 03, 2004, 06:50:45 PM

*joygasms with necrosis*

ewwww


come on, how often did you get jetpacks stomped anyway? hmm??? in a tight hallway? that jetpacker would have died to jump+gore anyway.

battlegorging should be better. Woo!

most of those map changes sound pretty good to me, necro.

Title: New Changelog, Release Immenent
Post by: Malevolent on September 03, 2004, 08:20:35 PM

Yeah, I can't believe that they made it so jpers are affected by stomp. That's what really gives an onos a chance against them. Can't wait to play the new bast.

Title: New Changelog, Release Immenent
Post by: BobTheJanitor on September 04, 2004, 12:53:40 AM

Regen overflow was removed at the last minute due to whiny people who had only played a leaked old copy of the beta. GG.

Title: New Changelog, Release Immenent
Post by: Sancho on September 04, 2004, 02:09:28 AM

regen overflow?

Oh, and I like the game changes, hate the map changes...that pretty much sums it up.

Title: New Changelog, Release Immenent
Post by: Necrosis on September 04, 2004, 07:38:11 AM

Ok I'l try to clear up why I don't like those specific map changes -

O Updated ns_bast
- Reduced size of the vent on top of feedwater so marines have to crouch
- Made the revolving door unusable (like the one on the other side)
- Lowered Marine Spawn closer to the cargo level and removed the elevator
- Added lights to the underwater tunnel


Revolving door was fun, there was nothing better than hopping in and rotating round to find a wall of lame or a huge turret farm. The vent in feed was a great PG spot and really forced aliens to stay on their toes, which imho is a good thing. Its also a good spot to sit and gestate, haha. Lowering marine spawn and removing the elevator annoys me, because the elevator was fun, and it also allowed access to the extensive vent system.

And lights in the tunnel??? I thought the whole point was to keep it dark and scary. How many times have you personally poo'd yourself because 2 skulks were waiting for you down there in the dark as you tried to ninja feed/refinery??



O Updated ns_hera
- Removed a node from Holoroom
- Removed ground path from Cargo to Holoroom
- Added in a balcony overlooking the Holoroom, accessible from the upper level of Cargo.
- Enlarged the general area around the CC, as well as fixed the getting stuck problem around it.


No double node???!?? Holo was fun because marines always tried to camp it, as opposed to processing. A single node just makes it so mundane. I agree the removal of the ground path might be nice, but I sort of liked the extra mobility. The removal of the ground path is tied to the addition of the balcony, hence I'd rather both were removed and the old one back.

Enlarging the CC...well its sort of nice but I much preferred the older hera with its little CC room with the door.


O Updated ns_lost
- Marine start redesigned to eliminate the CC pit
- "Closet" resource node removed
- Window to siege room in Equilibrium now breakable
- Los Paranoias resource node removed
- Reworked weldable into Alpha Continuum hive


CC pit was such fun. Hard to defend but then Lost is all about aggression. Closet resource was nice for marines because on Lost they were pretty disadvantaged against aggressive aliens, and if they couldn't expand out then the closet node gave them at least a little res. Yeah it was sort of buggy and you could hide in it, but I'm sure that could have been fixed without removing it.

I always liked the unbreakable window, forced aliens to have to pile into siege room en masse, now it'll just be people smashing the window and flitting in and out... dull.

The Alpha weldable was nice where it was, I rather liked the long haul down the corridor to get to the hive.


I'll be glad to see lost back in the cycle, but its a bit disappointing that its been changed so much. To me, at least.

Title: New Changelog, Release Immenent
Post by: Malevolent on September 04, 2004, 10:08:20 AM

Quote

Regen overflow was removed at the last minute due to whiny people who had only played a leaked old copy of the beta. GG.

[snapback]28234[/snapback]

Why oh why did they do that? :( I was looking forward to that.

Title: New Changelog, Release Immenent
Post by: sonic on September 04, 2004, 11:01:31 AM

Why was I not informed of this!?

Title: New Changelog, Release Immenent
Post by: Dirty Harry Potter on September 04, 2004, 11:28:43 AM

Because you abandoned us for some spanish chick! and a pool! and your 40year old father who's a pervert!

Title: New Changelog, Release Immenent
Post by: Sancho on September 05, 2004, 06:10:13 AM

EDIT:  Just figured out what you guys meant by regen overflow.  That pisses me off.  That was one of the things in b5 I was looking forward to the most.

Oh, and from what I've heard b5 isn't even worth playing.  Getting locked up and not being able to pick weapons?  Blocking absolutely harmless scripts?  Admin mod not working?  Giving marines x more advantage?

I'll stick with doom 3, thanks.

And to be a little bit more specific on the crappy map changes:

ns_bast, no more revolving door...no more elevator of dewm that I loved to put OCs on  :(

ns_lost, siegeroom window can be broken :(

Yeah, pretty much what necro said.

Is this the beginning of the end of NS? :(

Title: New Changelog, Release Immenent
Post by: lolfighter on September 05, 2004, 06:35:11 AM

Hasn't the end of NS been announced with every new version?

Title: New Changelog, Release Immenent
Post by: BobTheJanitor on September 05, 2004, 10:12:57 AM

It's continually on the changelog:

o NS becomes unplayable and pointless; all players go mad, return to CS.

Title: New Changelog, Release Immenent
Post by: LochNess on September 05, 2004, 11:56:17 AM

once metamod and all the old plugins get back up and running, and (hopefully), the block scripts cvar is turned off since the default is now on, i think that it will work out much nicer.

Title: New Changelog, Release Immenent
Post by: SwiftSpear on September 05, 2004, 03:07:49 PM

Quote

It's continually on the changelog:

o NS becomes unplayable and pointless; all players go mad, return to CS.

[snapback]28330[/snapback]

Well yesterday I returned to DoD...  But that is related to the fact that I'm gonna have to wait for next friday before I can download the new patch for NS...

Hopefully by then most of the major issues with the new patch are cleared up :p

Title: New Changelog, Release Immenent
Post by: Satiagraha on September 05, 2004, 05:45:51 PM

Quote

Regen overflow was removed at the last minute due to whiny people who had only played a leaked old copy of the beta. GG.

[snapback]28234[/snapback]

What the hell?

I was soo looking forward to that. It doesn't add much of an advantage, it's just a little thing that always annoys me

Title: New Changelog, Release Immenent
Post by: Sancho on September 06, 2004, 03:40:23 AM

Yes, like being electricuted by a res tower, and trying to use metabolize to keep your health up.  It doesn't help at all because it will keep healing the 5 or whatever hp and never stay full long enough to get an extra boost of armor.  If balance is an issue, increase the damage of the LMG, gg?