Change

Reduced extractor death and Spikes tracer effect intensity.
Distress beacon sound has no longer a distance restriction.

Feature

Added capturing of dump information from the TechSupport.exe tool if NS2.exe is running.
Clicking an already selected hot group will cause the view to jump to the units position.

Fix

Fixed “runtime error” that occurred sometimes on map change.
Fixed bug where AI units could push each other off of pathable ground.
Fixed a bug where the microphone is muted until you enter sound options menu.
Reload sounds stop playing when a player drops a weapon or dies.
Fixed medpacks being created under tech points.
Fixed Commander double clicks preventing single click actions from being performed.
Fixed bug where vortexed Marines / Exos take damage inside Gorge tunnels.
Fixed bug where distress beacon could teleport Marines back to an already destroyed Command Station.
Commanders are no longer able to see projectiles from units which are not sighted.
Fixed bug where vortexed Exosuit can smash eggs.
Fixed bug where Commanders select/deselect units unintentionally the moment they perform an action (cast enzyme, drop medpack)
Fixed rookie status drawn in red in the scoreboard.
Fixed bug where you could switch weapons during building.
The camera will no longer jitter while waiting to spawn at an Infantry Portal due to players running over the IP.
Fixed bug where dead players could trigger taunt voice over.
Fixed resource towers / command structures being slightly offset on the minimap.

Balance

Increased Infantry Portal cost to 20 (up from 15)
Reduced nano shield duration to 3 seconds (down from 8)
Increased nano shield effectiveness to 75% (up from 50%)
Increased arms lab upgrade costs to 20/30/40 (was 15/25/35)
Reduced gorge tunnel research cost to 10 (was 30)
Reduced gorge tunnel cost to 5 (was 10)
Increased gorge tunnel armor by 100

Improvement

Added “fps” console command to toggle displaying the framerate on the top left of the screen.
Improved precision of marquee and Ctrl-Click selection.
Improved med/ammo pack drop precision.
Its now easier to give attack / defend orders on moving targets.
Changed the default player limit on the server if no parameter is specified to 16.
Steam Ids are now also displayed in the traditional format in the Server console (STEAM_0:1:XXXXXXX)
Changed the scoreboard font to match the other in-game fonts.
Added numbers in front of player names on scoreboard to facilitate communication.
Its now easier to hit with parasite (thanks Matso!)

Optimization

Low-level shader optimizations.
Disabled compiler generated buffer security checks.
Effects inherit now the relevancy from their triggering entities.

Editor

Fixed bad texture scales when creating faces; texture scale behavior changed: larger scale values mean texture is stretched – should not affect existing maps;
Added “spawn_selection_override” entity to more directly control how initial spawns are selected.

SDK

Added Class_Reload(className, networkVars) for easier overriding classes.
Added loading of entry points for multiple mods (see lua/entry/readme.txt for more info)
Created simplified sound system that allows sound files to be played without using FMOD projects.
Client.PlayMusic now requires a the FEV project name as part of the cue name (e.g. “sound/NS2.fev/Main Menu” instead of “Main Menu”)
ClientUI.lua is now more moddable with exposed functions to add more UI scripts.
Removed support for TTF fonts (bitmap fonts should be used instead)

Refinery

Moved Containment hive to a less snipeable position.
Adjusted cover in Containment in aliens’ favour.
Added vent from Containment to Containment/Chasm Entrance, and vent from Chasm to Chasm/Turbine entrance to provide more flanking opportunity in the area.
Added cover at exit of vent over the chasm in Chasm.
Adjusted Turbine cover to prevent sniping from Conduit entrance.
Added random spawns for both teams in Flow Control, Smelting, Turbine and Containment, with close spawning prohibited.

Mineshaft

Rotated Deposit tech point around so it is no longer able to be arced from central drilling
Modified Repair tech point with better cover and fewer LOS issues
Modified Cave tech point with more cover for the hive, as well as made the middle path leading into crusher cystable for easier expansion to the resource node.
Modified Operations tech point for better cover also moved the resource node away from the wall so aliens can move behind it
Modified Sorting tech point for better cover, also added a stairway on the north side, to make cysting into north tunnels much simpler
Moved cavern resource node to be centered between the repair and cave tech points
Moved pilot drill resource node to be centered between repair and operations
Modified central drilling to have better cover for aliens, moved the southern resource node to the north, on the upper platform, also added a stairway on the southwest side for better accessibility to the gap
Modified and extended the vent leading from cave to north tunnels
Added a vent from Deposit to the Gap
Added more cover for aliens in Crusher
Modified the minimap to be easier to navigate in places that overlapped or were unclear

Descent

Temporarily disabled the music in Club due to a bug(should be fixed for the next patch)

Spiral Knights is celebrating its second anniversary with a special event! Join in on the fun now through April 16, 2013!
It's a Caketastrophe!
Visit the Haven Town Square to meet the Skylark's Head Chef, Biscotti. She will inform you of a 'situation' at hand that involves hordes of monstrous cakes known as 'Creep Cakes.' Helping her solve this 'situation' will reward you with cake helms and prize boxes! Features include:
- A Prestige Mission, 'Total Caketastrophe' is available during the event
- Biscotti, Maskwell and Bulky can be found in the Haven Town Square
- Creep Cake nests can be found randomly within the Clockworks
- Participating in these events will reward you with Cake Slice tokens
- Maskwell now trades Cake Helms and Anniversary Prize Boxes in exchange for Cake Slices
- Bulky now sells confetti and Cake Slice tokens
Please note, the Frosted Helm and Foiled Frosted Helm will expire on April 30th 2013, however the Prismatic Frosted Helm lasts forever!
Anniversary Prize Boxes
Anniversary Prize Boxes can be purchased from Maskwell in exchanged for Cake Slice tokens. Anniversary Prize Box contents include:
- Handfuls of confetti (always included)
One accessory (always included):
4% Chance:
- Cool Birthday Candle
- Regal Birthday Candle
- Military Birthday Candle
- Heavy Birthday Candle
- Fancy Birthday Candle
- Dusky Birthday Candle
- Toasty Birthday Candle
- Cool Party Hat
- Regal Party Hat
- Military Party Hat
- Heavy Party Hat
- Fancy Party Hat
- Dusky Party Hat
- Toasty Party Hat
- Cool Party Blowout
- Regal Party Blowout
- Military Party Blowout
- Heavy Party Blowout
- Fancy Party Blowout
- Dusky Party Blowout
- Toasty Party Blowout
2% Chance:
- Volcanic Party Hat
- Divine Party Hat
- Prismatic Party Hat
- Volcanic Party Blowout
- Divine Party Blowout
- Prismatic Party Blowout
- Volcanic Birthday Candle
- Divine Birthday Candle
- Prismatic Birthday Candle
1% Chance:
- Shadow Party Blowout
- Shadow Party Hat
- Shadow Birthday Candle
- Sprinkle Aura
As a special bonus, each Anniversary Prize Box has a chance of containing DOUBLE PRIZES!
UI Overhaul
As part of our second anniversary celebration, we're rolling out a new UI for Spiral Knights! The new UI contains a number of improvements and an easier to understand layout. These changes include:
- A visible character portrait
- A new way of viewing health: health pips now change from red to silver and finally gold as more health is accrued. Additionally, a percentage health display is present.
- A shield power meter under health
- A weapon selection 'wheel' that allows you to see the name and icon of your weapons
- A much more detailed mini map, featuring enemy locations, NPCs and more
- A new Targeting UI that displays information about whatever you are targeting. For monsters this includes health, attack types and weaknesses. Handy!
- An Activities Panel that contains all the various activities that you can perform in a given zone
- A zoom button that allows you to zoom in when in Haven
- A general layer of shininess across all the other interfaces
Other Changes
- Monster and player damage flash effects have been revamped for better clarity in combat.
- Vials and Capsule pickups have had their icons updated.
- Art for unbreakable blocks in the Clockworks has been updated.
- A player's rank will now be shown with their name above their heads.
- Items will now show a message when they cannot be picked up.
- Player names are now white, green if a guildmate and blue if a friend. This color scheme is also used on the mini map.
- Vitapods can no longer be dropped, only replaced by superior versions.
- Devilite difficulty has been balanced, including reducing their attack range and dodge frequency.
Bugfixes
- Dusky Long Feather added to the Iron Lockbox drop table

April 3rd, 2013 Ugly Baby Update -- BROWSINGDIRTY

Howdy! PAX and GDC were fantastic and we loved the opportunity to meet with many of our beautiful fans. While the past two weeks were busy, we managed to whip up something for everyone. Dropping the deets:

* PERFORMANCE: We had a few users that needed to kick their resolution down, otherwise the game would stop generating the level at some point in the song. There have been a few important changes that should let you kick the game up a notch. If this previously affected you, please let us know how the game is playing now -- we now consistently hit 60FPS on Dave's AMD Turion II X2 M500/ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570.

* FILE BROWSER: Michael got this amazing idea: let players browse their folders on their drives to get to their music, rather than force you to copy into a folder we specify. So, that’s in.

* VISUALS: We made some visualizer updates and tweaks for PAX, you now have those in the cities.

* ANALYSIS: Andy was able to make another improvement to BeatBox, our song analysis tech. This means songs that we’ve previously cached the analysis, the game will need to re-run it. This update helps us *much* more accurately detect beats for slower/less stressful music.

* FRIENDS: We've been including music from indie studios Fire Hose Games, 82 Apps, Part 12, Hybrid Mind, and more. What do you like, and who else do you want to hear?

As always, tell us what you love, what you hate, and your favorite way to eat potatoes.