The Beta 4 Comment Thread

[rad4Christ]

Below is the Changelog reposted, and altered to place the changes in the respective categories.

Beta 4 changelog
--------------------
General Changes/Fixes

O Phase 1 of the Big Unannounced System (BUS)
O Fixed bug where joysticks weren't able to rotate the player view (thanks XP-Cagey!)
O Fixed voice comm labels so they can be read more easily (always black text).
O Changed commander voice comm label to white to differentiate him (soldiers are blue).
O No longer play client-side sparks or bullet impact particles on client when shotgun pellets hit a player or water (graphical bug only)
O Removed unneeded HL commands (third-person camera exploit, timerefresh, gl_monolights, gl_overbright, gl_clear, cl_nosmooth, cl_smoothtime). Bug #101.
O Fixed bug where player angles weren't set properly on spawn (bug # 559, thanks XP-Cagey!)
O Removed energy cost for lerk flight (to encourage flight while using abilities)
O New welder, machine gun, pistol, hmg, metabolize and shotty sounds from MadMaxx
- Tweak welder ROF for variety
- Hand grenade sounds
O Improved HLTV support. Blips still aren't drawing on the overview map, and some of the UI controls don't work very well, but it should be useable. More to come.

Combat Changes/Fixes

O Removed wave spawn to shorten game length (only one person spawning at a time).
O Increased unlock hive ability 3 cost from 1 to 2
O Aliens now gain experience slowly over time
O Fixed bug where lone marines tended to spawn at some spawns more then others (Combat)


NS Classic Changes/Fixes

O Fixed bug where pop-up menu costs weren't visible for alien players (NS mode, bug #471)
O Fixed bug where marines could phase to a recycling phase gate (bug #554)
O Lerk gestation time lowered from 28 to 20 seconds
O Lag no longer allows exploit where research is done on wrong building / current comm chair can no longer be recycled (bug# 199)
O Upgrading a turret factory no longer restores all its hit points (bug #539)
O Items no longer sink through the world when placed against slopes, items can now be placed at up to 45 degrees, on stairs, etc. (bug #291, bug #527)

Map Changes

O NS-Tanith
*Reduced number of entities in ns_tanith from 394 to 264 for improved server performance (thanks tommyd!)

O NS_Bast
*Bast is back!! Completely-remade ns_bast, with much better server performance/pings (thanks Mendasp and the entire crew!)

O NS_Metal update from Quazilin (update 10)
* New "Supply way"
* Smaller "Storage D"
* New res
* More infestation/Tweaks
* Added steam bursts with sfx

O NS_Agora - Final version (thanks Kawak!)
* Added more covers in Tunnel and Cargo
* Added new vents
* New Sewer Hive and New "Main Generator" (so there is some changes in the layout for this side of the map)
* Added a ladder near "Freight Elevator Access" , but Marines need to weld a door to acces it.
* The vent leading to "The Wedge" from tunnel is now weldable.
* Fixed "Onos getting stuck" in "The Pit"
* Added/modified lots of little things here and there..

O NS_Eclipse (thanks KungFuSquirrel!)
* New vent added between South Loop/Maintenance Vent and Keyhole
* New vent added between South Loop and Computer Core
* New weldable added on South Loop/Computer Core vent
* Old Triad pits/effects restored
* Old skylights near marine spawn restored
* Restored ns_eclipse.wad
* Various texture usage optimizations
* Adjusted Triad layout to allow better res defense (experimental)
* Restored doors in marine spawn
* restructured active side of Marine Spawn
* Moved Marine spawns closer to CC
* CC moved out of alcove
* Atmospheric adjustments to hives

O NS_Veil (thanks KungFuSquirrel!)
* Expanded Marine Spawn
* Lowered "Pink Monster" in Marine Spawn
* Fixed embarrassing "Eclipse Logo Backwards in my Own Map" problem... Doh.
* Removed North Loop
* Texture usage optimizations
* Repaired remaining Onos stick points (I hope!)
* Removed all chairs in front of computer panels
* New vents (find/learn them yourselves  )
* Some added infestation in hive areas
* Layout/architecture tweaks near Pipeline
* Weldables added to Nanogrid Status

O NS_Nothing (thanks KungFuSquirrel!)
* Elevators changed to func_doors

O NS_Nancy
* You should no longer be able to siege Port/Subspace without spotting it.
* In an attempt to add a little more balance to the map the vent outside of Port has been turned into a hallway and the stairs to Mother Interface from Messhall were removed.
* Added a couple crates in the Mother Interface area for cover.
* Removed unnecessary side room in the Marine Start area. All it did was add a chance of the commander spawning way too far from the CC and had no game purpose.
* Other smaller changes...

[rad4Christ]

Now, my impressions. I'll only speak for NS...

O Fixed voice comm labels so they can be read more easily (always black text).
O Changed commander voice comm label to white to differentiate him (soldiers are blue).

I like this. It's easier to read, and gives notice to comm.

O Removed energy cost for lerk flight (to encourage flight while using abilities)

This one doesn't bother me that much, except the insane "pancake lerk". I'm actually more willing to try lerks now.

O Fixed bug where pop-up menu costs weren't visible for alien players (NS mode, bug #471)
O Fixed bug where marines could phase to a recycling phase gate (bug #554)
O Lerk gestation time lowered from 28 to 20 seconds
O Lag no longer allows exploit where research is done on wrong building / current comm chair can no longer be recycled (bug# 199)
O Upgrading a turret factory no longer restores all its hit points (bug #539)
O Items no longer sink through the world when placed against slopes, items can now be placed at up to 45 degrees, on stairs, etc. (bug #291, bug #527)

Actually, I have no problems with any of these, and in fact, I luv the last one!

Overall I don't see a significant difference from Beta3.

[SaltzBad]

Beta 4 = the worst install file ever. Notice just how much is missing? Theres no ns_nancy in the beta 4 install, lots of missing texture file, ns_ayumi has 2 broken nodes (Cold Turn and Gorges Hideout) and lets not even talk about the balance changes :p

[Torque2k7]

ns_ayumi has 2 broken nodes (Cold Turn and Gorges Hideout)

yeah, that was reaaaly annoying the first time i found that out... <_<

[-Lancer-]

I cant say its too different from beta3, i know the lerk never bothered me b4. the stamina meter never posed a problem for me when i was lerk. when your gliding it came back, nothing serious.

Other than that, i think a few more points couldve been improved upon.

[Plaguebearer]

The missing textures are driving me up the wall.

[fatty]

we relocated to cold turn, and THEN found out the node was borked. yet we still won that game.  B)

[Diablus]

All this time just to end up having fixed hitboxes for even more early game skulk ownage for marines, slightly changed weapon sounds, missing textures, and less alien teamwork for even more marine wins. oh wait no, i forgot about the whiners complaiing about lerk adren cost flight.

this big 4-6 month hype or whatever for this beta 4 is a waste. Bast is still unbalanced and still sucks. Now for B5 which will be released within another 7-8 months im pretty sure lerk adren flight cost will come back, map tweaks and fill in textures. Thats why i really dont give 2 ****'s about NS "changes" anymore because there all dissapointing. NS is going downhill gameplay wise each build, attracting more lamers who think its CS and more whiners. Thats why im starting to cut back on the gaming

[Mr.Ben]

90% of the change log is KFS breaking eclipse and veil :|

[BobTheJanitor]

Ain't that the truth!

Although the changes to metal and agora were welcome. Too bad parts of their textures relied on the ns_eclipse.wad that kfs borked! But yeah, it was primarily a mapping beta, a lot like b3 come to think of it... Of course they couldn't even manage to do the updated version of ns_nancy right. =\

[Fewlio]

90% of the change log is KFS breaking eclipse and veil :|

Well... he does that a lot .



With creation comes destruction!

[SaltzBad]

I doubt KFS is to blame for the textures - seeing as whole maps in the install are missing. Somebody just seems to have packed all the wrong stuff into the install file, and god knows why this is taking more than a day to fix.

[Plaguebearer]

Flay is lining up a beta 4A for us PTs.

[Dark]

thank god at least it may get fixed

anyways the new voice com system i like a lot as a rine

[BobTheJanitor]

I doubt KFS is to blame for the textures - seeing as whole maps in the install are missing. Somebody just seems to have packed all the wrong stuff into the install file, and god knows why this is taking more than a day to fix.

Nah well KFS isn't exactly responsible. He changed some stuff in eclipse.wad without thinking that eclipse.wad isn't just used by ns_eclipse and ns_veil! Ooops... So he's going to be putting back in the missing textures so that it doesn't break other map's dependancies.

Really it's just the fact that this beta seems to have gotten no testing before being rushed out the door. I'm not sure if that's a good thing, as it means they're trusting us as beta testers, or a bad thing, as it means they're not caring about quality control at all.

[-Lancer-]

Really it's just the fact that this beta seems to have gotten no testing before being rushed out the door. I'm not sure if that's a good thing, as it means they're trusting us as beta testers, or a bad thing, as it means they're not caring about quality control at all.

I hope flayra didnt resort to tossing quality control out the window, or we're gonna lose one of the best games ive played in years

[Fewlio]

Really it's just the fact that this beta seems to have gotten no testing before being rushed out the door. I'm not sure if that's a good thing, as it means they're trusting us as beta testers, or a bad thing, as it means they're not caring about quality control at all.

I hope flayra didnt resort to tossing quality control out the window, or we're gonna lose one of the best games ive played in years

Doesnt anyone remember when he has done this before? I mean plenty of times he creates something, gets it tested, balanced, then gets an idea and adds it 2 hours before release and it either gets only tested one time or not at all, which is why he is famous for x.x1 in a few days! then x.x2 another week away...

[Sydney Carton]

Well, also, we would've caught stuff on Veil and Eclipse if we were allowed to PT classic NS, but we were restricted to CO. And honestly, you can't really test much in a few scarce hours right before it comes out (and you can't really push out code changes in that much time without some testing unless you like living dangerously).

But anyway, much love for the Flay. Despite the fact a lot of us have coughed up some money, it's still a free mod and I've gotten much more for my 20 than most $40+ games. Also, I got to take screenies of me getting killed by various personalities who have made themselves scarce