Ho-ho-ho Wreckers,

As you know, it's that time of the year again that the magical white powdery stuff covers everything and Santa comes tumbling down the chimney (in selected parts of the world, you know). Since it also pretty much means we're merely a stone throw away from the end of the year, we thought this would be a perfect opportunity to fill you in with the recent developments here at the Bugbear HQ, and who knows, maybe we even have a small gift for you, so please read on!

As you know, for the last half of a year or so we've been hammering away and working like Santa's busy little helpers with the console versions of the game. And sure enough, our efforts are starting to pay off and the game is shaping up nicely with all the major obstacles now out of the way. Actually, just the other day we did have a very special guest to try out the PS4 version of the game to make sure we can meet the high expectations, knowing that this guy has really high standards – and while he was concentrating on wrecking, we managed to grab some sneaky footage:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1597122844
Just check out that pad work, he's like a robot!

While there has been a lot of work done on console-specific tasks, many of the improved and added features will also benefit the PC crowd. For example, the improved single-player and multiplayer performance is something that many of you folks will surely welcome warmly, not to mention new and exciting content. We've also used the opportunity to fine-tune many aspects of the game and fix some nagging issues based on the feedback we've received since the PC launch. While we're not quite ready to unleash the improved PC version of the game just yet due to many things being still worked on, we just couldn't leave you out all cold so yes, we have little something for you!

While we're no match for the real Santa, he gave us an idea. Time and time again, we've been asked whether there could be snow in the game, and being as bright (or gung-ho, depending on your viewpoint) as we are, we thought this would be a great chance to bring some of that magic into the game. So, as a token of our gratitude towards the best community we could have ever wished for, we prepared a little surprise for you that will instantly transform the game into a winter wonderland, or should we say, winter wreckland!

No winter would be complete without glistening snow, slippery surfaces and of course Santa – and since we're talking about Wreckfest Santa, instead of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer he will be ripping along with a Christmas Harvester! Bad, bad Santa. Here's what you can expect:







It's not like we worked with this thing for weeks so it's pretty simple but we thought it would be still cool to somehow show our appreciation for all the support we've received over the years and we hope you enjoy it.

To claim your gift and start ploughing in the snow, simply make sure the game is updated to the latest version via Steam, head to the Misc tab of the main menu and click on the "Mods" button...



...then activate a new mod called "Bugbear's Holiday Gift" that has magically appeared after updating the game, restart the game when asked and then just enjoy the winter wonderland!





Our whole team wishes you all the very best holiday!

Heya Wreckers,

As you might have already heard, we have some thrilling news to share with you!

Earlier this week, THQ Nordic announced that it had acquired Bugbear Entertainment, a game developer best known for FlatOut games, Ridge Racer Unbounded and of course Wreckfest. What that means is that our beloved studio is now owned by THQ Nordic, also the publisher of Wreckfest. While we will continue operating normally under our own name even after the acquisition, we thought this would be a good opportunity to explain the situation and give you a bit of insight info, so please read on.

All the way since THQ Nordic jumped in as a publisher for Wreckfest, we’ve had a marvellous and mutually beneficial relationship with them. We’ve also seen what they’re doing with their other studios and franchises, and we loved how much they clearly care about their games. We could easily see how Bugbear as a studio as well as our games such as Wreckfest would fit right in, so in many ways becoming part of the THQ Nordic’s stable of incredibly talented teams felt like a natural move for us.

Basically, what it boils down to is that as an indie developer with limited resources there’s only so much that you can do. We’re very proud of what we have achieved with Wreckfest so far and judging by the feedback we've been receiving you folks seem to agree, but in the future, we want to make even better and bigger games, not to mention reach larger audiences, and we believe being part of the THQ Nordic family will enable us to do just that. Yes, that's right:


As a player, you will be the one reaping the benefits of our bigger muscles. THQ Nordic shares the same vision as we do on how to create unique action racing games, and needless to say our games will continue to have that special edgy nature that we’ve become known for.

Also, the development of Wreckfest will be accelerated on both PC and consoles, with new features and more content coming. Speaking of which, we have already dialled in some much-anticipated improvements – optimized multiplayer and single-player performance, new Quick Play functionality to join an online game with a single button press, Screen-Space Ambient Occlusion effect for improved visuals, new unique paint jobs, bonus targets not resetting when restarting a career event + much more, and that’s without even making a mention of the stream of new content that we have lined up for you: we have a number (you read that right, not just measly one or two) brand new vehicles in production as well as a number of new tracks, with a surprise or two thrown in for a good measure.

Stay tuned for more news about upcoming content and features, PC updates and of course an exciting first look into console gameplay soon. Godspeed everyone!

Howdy folks,

We just pushed out a new hotfix, addressing a number of critical issues such as the game crashing in certain circuimstances when entering the Settings menu as well as the random crash related to the ragdoll system. In addition that, Realistic Damage now really works in multiplayer, and it's possible to sort the server list based on the server ping. Additionally, the hotfix contains a number of minor improvements and tweaks, with the full changelist below:

• The game no longer crashes in specific cases when entering the Settings menu.
  
• The game no longer sporadically crashes when using a vehicle with ragdoll driver.
  
• The lawnmower and harvester no longer occasionally glitch when customizing paint.
  
• Realistic Damage now works correctly in multiplayer.
  
• Added "Server Not Empty" filter to Server Browser.
  
• Added sorting as per ping to Server Browser.
  
• In Lobby, it's now possible to scroll the player list with a gamepad.
  
• Reverted AI aggression back to what it was before the June update so AI is again more prone to do kamikaze attacks against the player especially on Expert difficulty.
  
• Increased Player Rank level cap to 100.
  
• In Career, V8 Thunder series now has 6 laps instead of 3.
  
• In Career, adjusted series order of National Amateurs to hopefully prevent the users from getting stuck.
  
• A number of environment art improvements and fixes.

As you probably know, we're currently hard at work on the console versions of the game but we know that everyone who already has the game is looking forward to new content. And yes, we're indeed working on new cars and tracks too. It will be still some time before we're ready to show anything, but rest assured, there's a lot of exciting new stuff in the pipeline. Stay tuned for more news soon!

Thanks for all your support and happy racing, everyone!

Howdy friends,

Another week of mad bug fixing and polishing is behind us, and that can only mean one thing – the latest update is out! In addition to all sorts of neatness we also have a small surprise for you, so read on.

The summer is in full bloom here in the northern hemisphere, and to celebrate it as well as the release of the game we're about to take a short break, but before doing so, we’ve been working on to address the most critical issues we're aware of and to improve the game based on the feedback we've received on our community forums and Discord.

The absolute best news is that the update contains a number of fixes to various hard crashes and other showstopper nasties that a number of you have been experiencing. With those pesky issues now out of the way, we expect that finally everyone can enjoy the game in its full glory. In addition to that, the update also contains a number of fixes to more minor issues as well as a host of nice improvements and tweaks; for instance, there's a refreshed lobby interface, AI aggression tweaks, more consistent mechanical damage across all cars, wheels that get detached easier when using realistic damage, and so forth. You can read the full changelog below but instead of that we suggest updating the game and checking it out yourself!

Now then, no doubt the most exciting piece of news to everyone – like mentioned we're going to take a short summer break, and as a token of our appreciation for the great community (yes, you lot) we have a special surprise for you: a new track! Yes, you read that right. The track is ominously enough called Bonebreaker Valley and true to its name, it's really like an evil big brother of Crash Canyon complete with banked corners, high-speed two-way section and multiple jumps, ensuring frantic races and brutal crashes – the kind of full-contact racing we've all come to love and expect. Enjoy!



That's all for now, folks. Thanks for all the support and godspeed everyone!

Full changelog of the update:

• Added a new track: Bonebreaker Valley.

• Fixed a case in which the game might have crashed when entering Market.
  
• Fixed another case in which the game might have crashed when entering My Cars.
  
• Entering the Settings menu no longer causes the game to crash when more than four input devices are connected.
  
• Changing the Graphics Quality preset in the Settings menu now works properly.
  
• Implemented new Lobby user interface.
  
• Removed dark background from player tags to make them less intrusive.
  
• HUD is now correctly removed after a forced exit from the Spectate mode.
  
• A number of other user interface improvements.
  
• Added Mixed Class AI Set that contains a mix of cars from every class.
  
• Mechanical damage is now more consistent across different cars.
  
• With Realistic Damage, mechanical damage now kicks in earlier.
  
• With Realistic Damage, wheels now get detached easier (remember two wheels lost mean an instant wreck).
  
• AI fine-tuning: On Easy and Medium AI difficulties, AI is now more aggressive towards other AI players; AI now avoids ramming in slow corners; AI slows down less after hitting the player from behind; AI tries to overtake more aggressively.
  
• Minor AI raceline improvements for specific corners.
  
• Elimination races now yield more credits and experience.
  
• In Career, tweaked Lords of Chaos series bonus targets to be more easier to meet.
  
• In Career, lowered the "Cause Damage" bonus target to 600 in Midsize Massacre's 2nd event.
  
• In Career, lowered the "Cause Damage" bonus target to 2000 in Midsize Mayhem.
  
• Rocket driver model no longer sports a pink undershirt.
  
• RoadSlayer's wheels received as rewards are now correctly marked being for "RoadSlayer" instead of "American 4".
  
• Speedemon's special parts are now correctly marked being for "Speedeamon" instead of "Dominator".
  
• Fixed MudDigger's hood camera position.
  
• Fixed Boomer's Style 2 rear wheel materials.
  
• Fixed Firefly's Style 2 & 3 front wheel tire profile.
  
• Fixed an issue with RoadSlayer GT's scoop hood.
  
• Fixed issues with Tristar's brake light and Style 5 wheels.
  
• Added rocks to the chicane on Rosenheim Raceway to prevent cutting.
  
• Fixed a floating decal at Sandstone Raceway.
  
• Fixed a floating decal at Pinehills Raceway.
  
• Fixed adboards at Small Stadium.

• Career AI names can no longer be modified to prevent fatal issues caused by having too few names.
  
• Weather list (.weli) and visual suspension settings (.vevs) do not trigger the anti-tamper protection anymore.

Howdy friends,

We hope everyone is doing great this fine evening! We're happy to let you know that the latest update for Wreckfest is now out. The update is primarily targeted to address critical stability issues found within the game but since we just couldn't resist ourselves it also contains a healthy dose of other improvements and even introduces new features.

First up, the stability issues – largely thanks to the tireless community feedback we've been able to track down and fix a number of issues that lead to the game instability especially when using game modifications. We're confident that the most critical issues are now solved but if you're still experiencing problems, please let us know via the usual means.

For multiplayer aficionados, the performance should be now smoother and we have added something that many have requested: delayed reset. It's designed to combat reset spamming, and the way it works is that the host can set a delay before the car is reset after player requests it, ranging between 0-20 seconds, and the car is only reset after the time has passed. We've also practically made a full pass on improving the track checkpoints that have caused grievance, so from now on it should be more obvious just where it's alright to cut track and where not, ensuring fairer racing.

In addition to that, the update also contains numerous other improvements and fixes to improve the quality of life, many of them based on the feedback we have received on the community forums and Discord (join here). We sincerely thank everyone who have taken the time to leave feedback – please keep it up so that we can make the game even better!

Full changelog of the update here:

• MP: Implemented delayed reset, host adjustable between 0–20 seconds.
  
• MP: Implemented further optimization to reduce warping with low ping.
  
• MP: Dedicated server now automatically uses the x64 executable.
  
• Fixed one case in which the game occasionally crashed when entering the Upgrades menu.
  
• Fixed one case in which the Market suddenly appeared empty.
  
• Game no longer crashes when entering My Cars after disabling a vehicle modification.
  
• Game no longer occasionally crashes to vertex buffer overflow on Fairfield Country Arena.
  
• In Settings, Controller menu the previously selected controller is now automatically chosen.
  
• Added a confirmation dialog if the player is entering Career with active game modifications.
  
• Damage notifications and health bar are now correctly updated after returning from Photo Mode.
  
• Improved Pause Menu user interface.
  
• A number of other user interface improvements.
  
• Longer races now yield increasingly better rewards.
  
• With Realistic Damage, mechanical damage is now slightly more severe when at maximum.
  
• In Last Man Standing, contact timer is now disabled when there are less than four players left.
  
• In team based game modes, t-bone, rear-ender and head-on now correct count as major hits.
  
• In team based game modes, team indicator is now always shown for better visibility.
  
• It's now slightly easier to spin out AI players.
  
• The steering wheel of the car no longer deforms in collisions.
  
• On Speedway 2, the wrong way indicator is no longer sporadically displayed at the race start.
  
• Improved checkpoints on many tracks to allow minor cutting or cutting in places where it doesn't matter.
  
• Added obstacles to selected places on various tracks to help the player see when no cutting is allowed.
  
• Numerous other minor improvements and fixes.

• Paint and livery modifications (including additions) do not trigger the anti-tamper protection anymore.
  
• To support large modifications the game now supports over 30,000 concurrent vehicle parts in total.
  
• The Example Car no longer crashes the game and can be used as an example once again.

That's all for now, folks. Have a great weekend and have fun racing!

Howdy everyone,

We've just pushed out another hotfix, addressing a number of issues and improving some aspects of the game:

• The game now detects more than 4 controllers for real, no joke.
  
• Car stats are now displayed correctly in the Garage, Tuning menu.
  
• Imperial units are now displayed correctly in the Garage, Upgrades menu.
  
• Track length and/or area is now displayed correctly when using imperial units.
  
• Bandit parts given as rewards now use the correct car name.
  
• RoadSlayer now correctly starts as a Class B car as designed.
  
• Hotshot is now correctly categorized as a Fullsize car.
  
• Boomer and Boomer RS Roll Cage 4 is now correctly named Roof Bar.
  
• A number of cars no longer have duplicate None or Stock parts.
  
• Gremlin no longer has the back exhaust installed after installing the side pipe.
  
• Bandit armor upgrades now have correct weight.
  
• Lap count (and elimination interval) is now displayed correctly in the Pre-Race screen.
  
• Tarmac 2 event in Career series Getting Smashed no longer has 12 laps, but three.
  
• Supervan Smash-Up bonus target requirement is now 500 instead of 800 damage.
  
• Last vehicles on the starting grid no longer occasionally spawn in an incorrect location.
  
• Checkpoints can no longer be skipped when on alternative route.
  
• Harvester no longer gets stuck under the bridges in Motor City.
  
• For clarity, similar controllers are now numbered in the Settings, Advanced.
  
• Various fixes and improvements of environment art.
  
• Various minor user-interface improvements.
  
• MP: The server or the client no longer crashes occasionally when a client (or a bot) quits.
  
• MP: It's now displayed in the server browser whether special vehicles are allowed or disallowed on the server.
  
• MP: Custom (mod) vehicles now work correctly in multiplayer.
  
• MP: Vehicle and vehicle class restrictions now work correctly for custom vehicles.
  
• MP: Server frequency is now correctly shown in the dedicated server console.
  
• MP: It's now possible to override server settings from the command line with the "-server_set" switch, using for example "Wreckfest.exe -s server_config=server_config.cfg -server_set server_name=myserver max_players=12 password=secret" to launch the server. Be aware that spaces are not supported so make sure not use them for example in the server name.
  
• MP: It's now possible to specify SteamIDs of users that will be automatically granted admin privileges in the server config.
  
• MP: A separate, smaller (less than 3GB) server build is now available in a public "Server" branch. It will also soon appear in the Tool library and can be downloaded anonymously.

That's all for now, folks – we have more exciting stuff lined up so expect to hear from us again soon. In the meantime, have an awesome Midsummer holiday if you celebrate that like we here in Northern Europe do, and if you don't, have an equally awesome weekend!

Howdy Wreckers,

We hope you're doing great and you've been enjoying the game! Yesterday's launch pretty much blew our socks off – the feedback was enthusiastic and it was totally great for us to see how much fun you were having with the game. Thanks to everyone who joined the party here on the Steam forum, our own forum, Twitter and Discord and of course played the game, we had a blast!

That said, a couple of nagging issues has been brought to our attention since the yesterday's launch, and since we couldn't resist picking up our debuggers once more here we go already with a hotfix containing following improvements:

• Added two new songs to the soundtrack.
  
• The game now detects more than 4 controllers correctly.
  
• Fixed an issue where the game might have crashed when entering market.
  
• Fixed an issue where the menu buttons would get stacked together.
  
• Fixed an issue with the huge ad board not collapsing properly.
  
• The game no longer crashes when installing a fully cut fender on Rammer RS or Killerbee S with a front spoiler installed.
  
• Bandit no longer has duplicate front fenders available.
  
• Reward vehicles are now received correctly in career.
  
• Reduced point requirement for unlocking events in the National Amateurs career championship.
  
• Sandpit 1 Alternative Loop now has correct minimap.
  
• Launcher now displays the correct game logo screen.
  
• Updated launcher image and game shortcut icon.
  
• AI names can be modded again.

Other than that, we have great news for the owners of the Deluxe Edition – the exclusive soundtrack and the wallpapers are now available, meaning that you can still feel like a real wrecker while you fill in your tax report, sort out your personal budget or whatever it is that you prefer to indulge yourself with in your free time. The bonus content should be downloaded automatically and placed into your game's installation folder, which you can open if you right-click the game's name in the Steam Library and then choose "Properties" menu item, then "Local Files" tab and finally "Browse Local Files..." button. Enjoy!

And let's not forget our pre-order backers, without whom we might not be here today. We apologize for the delay in sending out the keys but all our pre-order customers will start receiving their Deluxe Edition Upgrade and Team Bugbear Paint Job product keys shortly so no one is left behind! If you pre-ordered Full-Time Wrecker or higher and you're not receiving the email notification, please contact our support at support@bugbeargames.com and we'll check out what's the hold-up.

That pretty much wraps it up for now, see you on the track!