We’re happy to report the first major patch for Civilization: Beyond Earth is now available. This patch, a collaborative effort between Firaxis Games and all of you who took the time to provide feedback since launch, will automatically download the next time you start up your Steam client. If the patch is not downloading, try restarting Steam.

Players affected by the 144hz monitor issue should find that is no longer the case. Another issue preventing achievements from unlocking has also been fixed. And, in addition to fixing these and other issues, Firaxis has also addressed a number of gameplay balance requests from the community – like optimizing trade route yields and doing away with one particular Covert Ops exploit. This is a substantial update, so please take a few moments to pore over the full patch notes below before you jump back into Beyond Earth for one ... more ... turn ...

Unfortunately, the max character limit on Steam prevents us from posting the full patch notes here. For the full patch notes, please visit the Civilization blog: http://www.civilization.com/en/news/2014-12--civilization-beyond-earth-fall-update-now-live/

We’re happy to report the first major patch for Civilization: Beyond Earth is now available. This patch, a collaborative effort between Firaxis Games and all of you who took the time to provide feedback since launch, will automatically download the next time you start up your Steam client. If the patch is not downloading, try restarting Steam.

Players affected by the 144hz monitor issue should find that is no longer the case. Another issue preventing achievements from unlocking has also been fixed. And, in addition to fixing these and other issues, Firaxis has also addressed a number of gameplay balance requests from the community – like optimizing trade route yields and doing away with one particular Covert Ops exploit. This is a substantial update, so please take a few moments to pore over the full patch notes below before you jump back into Beyond Earth for one ... more ... turn ...

Unfortunately, the max character limit on Steam prevents us from posting the full patch notes here. For the full patch notes, please visit the Civilization blog: http://www.civilization.com/en/news/2014-12--civilization-beyond-earth-fall-update-now-live/

We’d like to thank all our fans for the feedback and reports they have been posting and sending in. The team has been working hard on bug fixing and balancing, and as you’ll see in the change list below, we’re close to locking down this patch. We’ll share more specifics for the gameplay changes shortly while the build is making its way through the approval process.

-Firaxis Games


[GAMEPLAY]
• Implementing additional bug fixes for quests.
• Implementing modified quest rewards based on game speed and which turn they were received in.
• Revisiting difficulty level scaling. Increasing difficulty when playing on Apollo.
• Implementing balance pass on Health system (penalties, bonuses).
• Adjusting certain Virtues for balance.
• Implementing overall unit balance pass (strength, production and strategic resource cost, affinity level requirements, location on tech web).
• Implementing leader/sponsor trait balance pass (Kozlov, Barre, Rejinaldo, and Elodie), as well as some seeded start option adjustments.
• Implementing Covert Ops updates and exploit fixes.
• Implementing Trade Route balance and adjustments, including simpler UI.
• Implementing gameplay bug fixes as reported in the community (Quests, etc.).
• Implementing general AI improvements.
• Adjusting Affinity reward ramping when earning Affinity from Quests.
• Adjusting Station distribution, and arrival timing.
• Improving AI, including energy management, tactical management, tech and victory approaches, etc.

[ENGINE]
• Fixing a memory leak that could potentially crash the game (mostly affected MP)
• Correcting screen resolution problems, particularly related to the 144hz refresh rate full-screen (or lack of full-screen) issue.
• Investigating a start-up problem where the game shuts down with an error immediately following the opening movie.
• Investigating crash issues submitted by users, and through Steam crash reporting.
• Adding an in-game option to disable depth of field effect for players that prefer the game without this.

[UI]
• Ongoing updates to in-game text, tool-tips, etc.
• Correcting an issue where actions could be missing from embarked workers (like repairing a pillaged water improvement)
• Adding "Completed" section to city production menu so players know what they just finished.
• Adding advanced touch controls, gesture support, pen support.
• Adding color icons to the tech web (categorized) with an option to disable.
• Better inform players of approaching AI victory, and updated victory/defeat screen with additional information.

[ACHIEVEMENTS]
• Achievements not firing if Max Turns was set in previous games. Also investigating some other possible causes.

[MODDING]
• Fixing quest mod support.
• Fixing 2D leader fall-back image support for all graphics quality settings.

[MULTIPLAYER]
• Fixing an issue that led to disconnects in cases of content mismatch.
• Fixing an issue that was causing available/researched technologies after a re-sync.
• Correcting multiple desyncs.
• Ongoing multiplayer improvements.
• Increasing geographic range of server browser distance filter.

We’d like to thank all our fans for the feedback and reports they have been posting and sending in. The team has been working hard on bug fixing and balancing, and as you’ll see in the change list below, we’re close to locking down this patch. We’ll share more specifics for the gameplay changes shortly while the build is making its way through the approval process.

-Firaxis Games


[GAMEPLAY]
• Implementing additional bug fixes for quests.
• Implementing modified quest rewards based on game speed and which turn they were received in.
• Revisiting difficulty level scaling. Increasing difficulty when playing on Apollo.
• Implementing balance pass on Health system (penalties, bonuses).
• Adjusting certain Virtues for balance.
• Implementing overall unit balance pass (strength, production and strategic resource cost, affinity level requirements, location on tech web).
• Implementing leader/sponsor trait balance pass (Kozlov, Barre, Rejinaldo, and Elodie), as well as some seeded start option adjustments.
• Implementing Covert Ops updates and exploit fixes.
• Implementing Trade Route balance and adjustments, including simpler UI.
• Implementing gameplay bug fixes as reported in the community (Quests, etc.).
• Implementing general AI improvements.
• Adjusting Affinity reward ramping when earning Affinity from Quests.
• Adjusting Station distribution, and arrival timing.
• Improving AI, including energy management, tactical management, tech and victory approaches, etc.

[ENGINE]
• Fixing a memory leak that could potentially crash the game (mostly affected MP)
• Correcting screen resolution problems, particularly related to the 144hz refresh rate full-screen (or lack of full-screen) issue.
• Investigating a start-up problem where the game shuts down with an error immediately following the opening movie.
• Investigating crash issues submitted by users, and through Steam crash reporting.
• Adding an in-game option to disable depth of field effect for players that prefer the game without this.

[UI]
• Ongoing updates to in-game text, tool-tips, etc.
• Correcting an issue where actions could be missing from embarked workers (like repairing a pillaged water improvement)
• Adding "Completed" section to city production menu so players know what they just finished.
• Adding advanced touch controls, gesture support, pen support.
• Adding color icons to the tech web (categorized) with an option to disable.
• Better inform players of approaching AI victory, and updated victory/defeat screen with additional information.

[ACHIEVEMENTS]
• Achievements not firing if Max Turns was set in previous games. Also investigating some other possible causes.

[MODDING]
• Fixing quest mod support.
• Fixing 2D leader fall-back image support for all graphics quality settings.

[MULTIPLAYER]
• Fixing an issue that led to disconnects in cases of content mismatch.
• Fixing an issue that was causing available/researched technologies after a re-sync.
• Correcting multiple desyncs.
• Ongoing multiplayer improvements.
• Increasing geographic range of server browser distance filter.

Aspyr has announced that the Mac version of Civilization: Beyond Earth is complete and will launch tomorrow afternoon. If you pre-ordered the game through GameAgent, Aspyr's online store, then you'll receive your Steam key sometime tonight. Keep an eye on your email!

More info here: http://blog.gameagent.com/civilization-beyond-earth-mac-linux-dev-update-5

Aspyr has announced that the Mac version of Civilization: Beyond Earth is complete and will launch tomorrow afternoon. If you pre-ordered the game through GameAgent, Aspyr's online store, then you'll receive your Steam key sometime tonight. Keep an eye on your email!

More info here: http://blog.gameagent.com/civilization-beyond-earth-mac-linux-dev-update-5

Aspyr has announced that the Mac version of Civilization: Beyond Earth is complete and will launch tomorrow afternoon. If you pre-ordered the game through GameAgent, Aspyr's online store, then you'll receive your Steam key sometime tonight. Keep an eye on your email!

More info here: http://blog.gameagent.com/civilization-beyond-earth-mac-linux-dev-update-5/

While the soundtrack for Civilization: Beyond Earth has been located inside of the game files since launch, many players found the structure of these files, as well as the file format, to be confusing. Following this feedback, we came up with a way to deliver the soundtrack files in friendly .mp3 format, all through the Steam client. So here's how to access the soundtrack files:

1. Open Steam, go your library and right-click on Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth, then select "Properties"

2. Now select the "Betas" tab in the new window

3. Type in the password "soundtrackplease" (without quotes) into the access code field and click "Check Code"

4. Select the "soundtrack" beta from the pull-down

5. Open up your Beyond Earth directory (default location is [disk drive]:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization Beyond Earth\) and feel free to copy the .mp3 files to anywhere else on your drive

And that's it! You'll find all 42 tracks from the Beyond Earth OST inside of that Soundtracks folder. All files have been properly labeled and are in .mp3 format, so now you can savor the sounds of Beyond Earth whenever and wherever you like. Enjoy!

While the soundtrack for Civilization: Beyond Earth has been located inside of the game files since launch, many players found the structure of these files, as well as the file format, to be confusing. Following this feedback, we came up with a way to deliver the soundtrack files in friendly .mp3 format, all through the Steam client. So here's how to access the soundtrack files:

1. Open Steam, go your library and right-click on Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth, then select "Properties"

2. Now select the "Betas" tab in the new window

3. Type in the password "soundtrackplease" (without quotes) into the access code field and click "Check Code"

4. Select the "soundtrack" beta from the pull-down

5. Open up your Beyond Earth directory (default location is [disk drive]:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization Beyond Earth\) and feel free to copy the .mp3 files to anywhere else on your drive

And that's it! You'll find all 42 tracks from the Beyond Earth OST inside of that Soundtracks folder. All files have been properly labeled and are in .mp3 format, so now you can savor the sounds of Beyond Earth whenever and wherever you like. Enjoy!

Since we launched Civilization: Beyond Earth on the 24th, we've received reports that some of you are having technical issues with the game, in addition to some well thought out feedback on possible balance improvements. We thank you for your feedback and we want to let you know that the team is working on an update to address some of the issues people are experiencing in the game, as well as continuing to make improvements to gameplay and balance overall.

Here is a list of technical issues we are looking to address – (please know this list is not all inclusive and we will continue to track and research issues that are reported).

[ENGINE]
- Correcting screen resolution problems, particularly related to the 144hz refresh rate full-screen (or lack of full-screen) issue.
- Investigating a start-up problem where the game shuts down with an error immediately following the opening movie.
- Investigating crash issues submitted by users, and through Steam crash reporting.
- Adding an in-game option to disable depth of field effect for players that prefer the game without this.
[UI]
- Ongoing updates to in-game text, tool-tips, etc.
- Correcting an issue where actions could be missing from embarked workers (like repairing a pillaged water improvement)
- Adding "Completed" section to city production menu so players know what they just finished.
- Adding advanced touch controls, gesture support, pen support.
[ACHIEVEMENTS]
- Achievements not firing if Max Turns was set in previous games. Also investigating some other possible causes.
[MODDING]
- Fixing 2D leader fall-back image support for all graphics quality settings
[MULTIPLAYER]
- Investigating reports of potential multiplayer stability issues

There are also other bugs under investigation. If you’re working with 2K Support, and sending along savegames or dxdiag files, that information is coming directly to Firaxis as well and will help us out. We’ll provide additional details on bugfixes as we verify and correct them.

As you saw during the lead-up to launch, we continue to iterate on design through development (remember the station Adept Blue? It got nerfed a month before launch). As we have done in the past, we will continue to iterate and address issues after launch as well. Our players’ feedback on balance drives the design team’s goals for the game. We’ll have more information on the balance changes as the design team has a chance to evaluate and implement your feedback.

We’ll also let you know more about the timing of the upcoming patch as we assemble more information. Thanks for your patience and continuing dialog with us as we continue to support Beyond Earth.

-The Firaxis Games Beyond Earth development team