Dec 9, 2011

Sword of the Stars II: Lords of Winter Update Released

Sword of the Stars II: Enhanced Edition - Valve

r18454b
------

- Fixed crash when launching drones in weapon test screen, backing to design screen, and then switching mission sections
- Fixed crash caused by opening battle manager at a system where platforms are available for placement.
- Fixed crash that could occur when destroying weapons in combat.
- Fixed crash at end of turn when offering treaty
- Fixed occasional crash due to Main Menu combat
- Enemy AI will prioritize faction opponents over random encounters when choosing stance
- Strat AI will now prefer to enter conquering stance over expansion when past the war threshold.
- Modified the calculation for AI expansion factor, it will no longer take into account unexplored systems.
- Various adjustments to enemy AI's decision-making process
- Various adjustments to enemy AI to properly utilized specialized weapons
- Added combat UI for clicking on target locations for relevant weapons (Siege Driver, Detonating Torpedoes and COL).

- Fixed bug where platforms weren't showing up in defense manager
- Fixed bug where ships built with new Gate designs would not be available for the Gate mission.
- Fixed a bug where dissolving a fleet would lead to empty fleets.
- Seige Drivers working for all factions
- Fixed known issues with mine laying in combat.
- Fixed missing repair capacity on relevant ship sections.
- Minelayer sections working for all factions
- Fixed mine behaviour (depending on mine - tracking, etc.)
- Fixed various Torpedo sections that weren't firing
- Fixed arc of movement on all Zuul free-beam turrets
- COL weapons added.
- PD weapons now only engage PD targets
- Targets engaged per turret, not per bank (allowing PD, Torps, etc. engage multiple targets)
- Fixes for various weapon icons/names
- Fixed handful of missing tech descriptions
- Salvage missions are now properly being generated
- Fixed prototype modifiers for Human faction
- Fixed salvage profits
- Fixed weapon cost calculation in designs
- Ship option savings cost multipliers are now applied per section instead of per ship.
- Fixed various diplomatic messages that weren't displaying
- Fixed incorrect calculation of turret efficiency based on power and crew.
- Technical knowledge now gathered during combat
- Research progress now displayed in Research screen
- Completed technologies now clearly marked in green
- Fixed bug where players were unable to build habitations for their own race
- Fixed bug where Zuul players could build alien habitations
- Allowable distance between systems in a province has been increased to 8-ly.
- Fixed various turrets with odd parameters and placement
- Fixed various weapons with odd parameters
- Fixed Morrigi BR AM engine label (not a streak engine)
- Added ability to set initial fire mode and target filter when creating a ship design
- Any ships left in a removed fleet are now properly cleared
- Introduced new Scan Satellites and Torpedo Satellites
- Any remaining ships in a removed fleet will now be deleted
- Fix to a constraint violation between diplomacy and turn events
- Combat ready ships will increase the calculate strength of an empire more than utility ships
- Fixed defense platforms not showing up in Combat
- Fixed known issues with tracking speed on turrets
- Introduced initial pass diplomacy requests and demands
- Fixed a sound bug when constructing stations (event played when ordered, not completed)
- Fix potential issue where system/planet killer would not avoid a station in its path
- Added weapon panel configuration to design screen
- Fixed known issues with direct-fire torpedoes behaving incorrectly
- Fixed known issues where boarding pods and assault shuttles were not able to connect to ships
- Fixed rider patrol paths around a star

Known Issues
*** This update breaks old save games. ***
- Human faction unable to select typo of COL for COL section ships.
- Slaves and system information are not yet hooked up to diplomacy.

Dec 9, 2011

Nuclear Dawn Update Released

Nuclear Dawn - Valve

Additions
• Players will be awarded double XP throughout the free weekend (15th - 19th December).
• P-900 sidearm unlock added (automatically awarded to all players who purchase during the free weekend, as well as those who have already purchased Nuclear Dawn prior.)
• Added Santa hats which will run though the holidays - starting 19th December. Server admins can control the behavior with the following CVar:
o nd_xmas - 0 = Hats disabled - 1 = Hats only for commanders - 2 = Hats for EVERYONE!
• Added squad bonuses for healing, capturing resources, and kill assists.
• Saboteur Stealth class introduced. Use Remote Explosive Devices and machine pistols, in conjunction with your Stealth Cloak teach your enemies fear of the dark.
• Four interactive FPS training courses that cover aspects of class warfare and basic gameplay mechanics
• Three interactive RTS training courses that cover the basic Commander functions (minus tactical excellence - you add that yourselves)
• Commander Graduate achievement - a special achievement earned by completing all of the interactive RTS training. In live games, players who have this achievement will have priority over candidates who did not complete training.
• Added a “Career” page to the main menu for viewing your player stats, including upcoming general and class-specific unlocks.
• Added an “Extras” tab (found via the new “Career” page) that allows players to enable/disable bonuses, such as the pre-order Veteran Medal and free-weekend P-900 sidearm unlock.
• Added bots. These should be considered BETA as most functionality is still in development. For this version, the bots will behave similarly to regular players, rather than purchased units as in other RTS titles (they will do their own thing, other than when a commander order is given to them). Below are some console variables you can use to add bots to your server:
o bot_quota = Number of bots
o bot_quota_mode [ normal | fill | match ] = If 'fill', the server will adjust bots to keep N players in the game, where N is bot_quota. If 'match', the server will maintain a 1:N ratio of humans to bots. If ‘normal’ there will be N bots in the game. Where N is bot_quota.
o bot_add_ct = Add a bot to the Consortium team
o bot_add_emp = Add a bot to the Empire team
General Issues
• Secondary Resource Point resource production has been increased to balance the dominance of the Primary. While Secondary points still remain vastly inferior to the Primary, now a commander that manages to hold both at the same time will actually be able to remain competitive against the one holding the primary.
• Fixed an issue where turrets would sometimes continue to target Stealth players even after they have activated cloak.
• Fixed an issue where Transport Gates were sometimes visible on the spawn location map, even when out of power, or EMP’d.
• Fixed not being able to perform any commander actions when running a listen server on MacOS.
• Fixed RTS camera rotation issues on MacOS
• Fixed issue where empty commander orders were being left around the map
• Fixed fog of war problem that would cause some players and structures to be invisible in commander mode, even when they are in line of sight of your units.
• Improved and re-added idle fidget animations with leg movement.
• Improved knife/blade hit detection in both regular stab and backstab modes.
• Fixed multiple instances of first person animation glitches when returning to idle from sprint.
• A number of various stability fixes.
User Interface
• The Steam server browser will now correctly display Nuclear Dawn servers.
• Improved some UI mouse-over effects.
• Improved class selection images.
• Added icons for each class on the squad menu.
• Fixed some cases where text would have incorrect spacing on MacOS.
• Added a chat message when a player is awarded an achievement.
• Added new kit selection icons for Stealth Assassin, Support Engineer and Support Medic.
Weapons/Balance
• Increased Repair Tool’s effectiveness against enemy structures by 20%
Levels
• Clocktower
o Added a extra route to deploy relay towers by scaling up the tunnel at EMP base
o Fixed a few small issues throughout the level
• Downtown
o Relocated EMP command bunker to make it less exposed
o Removed floating displacement
o Fixed bushes not solid in multiple locations
o Fixed wireless repeater floating in the alley at the primary area
o Fixed CT wincam pointing at wrong location
o Removed ropes from the City State building
o Added multiple no-build areas throughout the level

• Hydro
o No longer possible to build behind the Empire Bunker
• Metro
o Fixed getting stuck in the primary bunker in some situations.
o Fixed a few floating bushes
• Oasis
o Fixed able to capture Primary from outside the building in a certain spot
o Extended capture area
o Added extra cover around the EMP base and throughout the level for relay towers

Dec 9, 2011

PAYDAY: The Heist Updated

PAYDAY™ The Heist - Valve

The PAYDAY Xmas update!

Thanks to all you players who have robbed countless banks, snuck off with thousands of diamonds and scooped up gold bars by the tonnes!
OVERKILL Software has monitored you closely through the security cameras and here are our counter measures:

PAYDAY Xmas achievement!
Find a Christmas present on any of the levels in multiplayer - take it and you will be given a Santa mask! Plus you will get the chance to be surprised later on...

Big features
Player drop-in ability in load-out and in-game!
You can now join an ongoing game! You will no longer be locked out of games just because they have already started or because you dropped out during play. Just rejoin and continue collecting those precious dollars and gems!
These are the rules: Players who are downed or in custody and drop out only to rejoin the same game will respawn in custody. Drop-in is disabled during the "point of no return" phase of the heist, as well as on the end screen.

Heavily improved fighting and acting by team AI and enemies
New features and fixes include:
• New events and enemy tactics on all levels
• Team and enemies now pick better cover and firing positions, and use more intelligent firing lanes for suppression and sniping
• Enemies now master additional acrobatic moves (such as dashes and slides) and they can fire at you while doing them!
• More cover moves for team AI and enemies
• Enemy AI move in tighter formations and coordinate better
• Team AI now keeps up with human players much better
• Smoother turn and aim on team AI, and reduced animation glitches on movements
• Better looking weapon recoils on team and enemies
• AI teammates now pick weapons that better suit the current combat situation
• Combat will now be more mid ranged and not run-in gun battles
• Team AI no longer has "ants in the pants" (they don't move around so much) when there are no enemies around

Advanced GFX settings menu (AG menu)
Custom visual settings and optimizations, including:
• Texture resolution setting "low" to "high"
• Texture filtering "off" and up to x16
• V-synch on/off
• AA on/off
• Light streaks on/off
• Animation level-of-detail setting for better performance
• More suitable default resolutions to fit laptops etc.
• AlienwareFX on/off (for Alienware computers)
• Added eight color grade filters (inspired by a range of heist and action movies)
"Payday +"
"Dinero"
"In Traffic"
"Bastard"
"BHD"
"Xgen Brown"
"Future of Gaming"
"The Matrices"

New masks
To celebrate that yet another bunch of military shooters was released recently, we've added four new masks to Payday!

Improved network code
Disclaimer: We did not fix the Internet. Please talk to Al Gore about that.

We've added a red toothbrush to Panic Room, and we've made sure this one's worth the hullabaloo!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT1HShMInUs&feature=youtu.be

Additional features and fixes
Slaughterhouse and Diamond Heist are now available in the Normal difficulty setting
Single Player has improved scenario and difficulty balancing
Added more money bundles to First World Bank
The legendary über killer sniper removed from Heat Street
Teammate "mugshot" icons (lower left corner of the screen) now flash to indicate who is talking over VOIP
You can now see the cash value of the "near completion challenges" in the TAB menu
Fix to better hear team AI voices
Fixes for random crashes
Fixed the drill that kept resetting to full time for some people
Fixes for fake lobby appearing
Changed [Enter] to $Continue; to fix binding of enter to block the final stats screen.
More camera impacts on explosions
All weapons now have alert ranges, unique for each weapon
Chains is no longer replaced by Wolf on rare trade occasions
Bain will now correctly call the equipment "saws" (not "drills") in Panic Room

Now have fun, fellow heisters! DLC is of course in the works, as well as Patch 4! :-)
/The OVERKILL Crew and Sony Online Entertainment

Dec 8, 2011

CrimeCraft Gangwars Updated

Product Update - Valve

CrimeCraft GangWars Expansion Released

GangWars is a massive expansion for the Free-to-Play Online Shooter CrimeCraft. GangWars revamps the experience for new users while also adding exciting end game content for veteran players.

Play before December 16th and receive a special GangWars Launch Gift! This includes a powerful custom gear set, 40 gold bars, and much more…

UPDATE NOTES:

CLASSES
* Players can now select a Preset Class to use for combat.
* Choose from 24 different class profiles, such as Soldier, Sniper, Snadow Spy, and Kamikaze. Each class has its’ own unique advantages and disadvantages.
* Classes contains the full set of equipment and abilities that don’t require repair and don’t expire.
* Players can also create their own Custom Profiles, allowing the player to choose every aspect of their character including weapons, gear, boosts, and abilities.

TERRITORY WARS
* Players in gangs can fight for the control of territory in Sunrise City.
* Gangs controlling a zone will receive various bonuses such as increased cash gain or experience yield.
* Players have increased max hp when fighting in zones their gang controls.
* All players will pay a percent of their cash yield as a tax to the gang who controls the territory.
* Ruling Gang's logos will now appear around territories that belongs to them.

QUICKPLAY
* Access CrimeCraft's combat, character customization, equipment shops and social features from the Quickplay Interface,
* New Players joining the game no longer start at the lobby tutorial, which now has an option to be skipped.
* Any player can freely switch between lobbies and Quickplay by pressing a button on the interface.

TOURNAMENT SYSTEM REVAMPED
* Players earn bronze, silver, and gold coins as a reward tournament instead of cash and random items.
* These coins can be exchanged for powerful items of their choice from the Operator NPC.

BALANCE CHANGES
* Adjusted stats for items to make low-level players more competitive.
* Shock Grenade, C4 Rocket Turret, Enhanced Metabolism, Improved Detection, Liquid Armor and Blast Helmet rebalanced.
* Run speed increased for pistols. Range of all pistols increased.
* Sniper rifle accuracy significantly decreased when shooting without aiming.
* R-Sys Sabretooth, Hargan Bulldog, Valley Forge, Exeter Arret, Jericho Ragnarok, Cabrese Fucilere weapons stats rebalanced.
* Boost quality feature removed from the game. Now all boosts have maximum quality.
* Indura Liquidstone, Chemtech Supermax, Zymek Lifeline boost effects reduced.
* All unpopular boosts were rebalanced.
* Now character performs the standard jump-knife attacked when armed with a pistol.

MAPS AND GAME TYPES
* New game type – Core Annihilation added in the game. This is primary a PvP game type with an additional twist – each team consists of both players and AI bots. The goal is to destroy your opponent’s core while protecting your own core from opponent’s attacks.
* New combat location – La Famiglia Compound added in the game.
* PvP game types added on Chemtech Processing Plant map.
* Capture the Zone (3 points) game rules updated.

MATCHMAKING UPDATE
* A player can subscribe simultaneously to any number of map / game type combinations now.
* Matches launch much faster for players.

NEW BLACK MARKET ITEMS
* Change Gender Charter – this item allows changing your character gender.
* Small and Large Contract Page – this will increase the maximum allowed number of jobs.
* Custom hats added: The Spartan Helmet, Viking Crusader Helmet, The Nautilus, Spot Welder Mask, Mr. Hideous, Spec Ops Helmet and Riot Guard Helmet.
* Clan hall visual upgrades added for ceiling, walls, floor and furniture.
* Scavenger tools added that allow players to get containers for the profession of their choice from PvE matches.

OTHER
* Now players can spend gold bars or in-game cash to purchase abilities.
* Bronze coins can be exchanged for the following items when visiting Coin Operator NPC in any lobby: Weekly Tournament Passes; Ingredient Packs; Experience, Cash and Loot boosts; Bleedout episode tickets.
* A number of other major and minor improvements and bug fixes.

See the full list of new features, improvements and bug fixes on the http://www.crimecraft.com/forums/Patch-Notes/topics/GangWars-expansion-patch-notes

Dec 8, 2011

CrimeCraft GangWars Expansion Released

Product Update - Valve

GangWars is a massive expansion for the Free-to-Play Online Shooter CrimeCraft. GangWars revamps the experience for new users while also adding exciting end game content for veteran players.

Play before December 16th and receive a special GangWars Launch Gift! This includes a powerful custom gear set, 40 gold bars, and much more…

UPDATE NOTES:

CLASSES
* Players can now select a Preset Class to use for combat.
* Choose from 24 different class profiles, such as Soldier, Sniper, Snadow Spy, and Kamikaze. Each class has its’ own unique advantages and disadvantages.
* Classes contains the full set of equipment and abilities that don’t require repair and don’t expire.
* Players can also create their own Custom Profiles, allowing the player to choose every aspect of their character including weapons, gear, boosts, and abilities.

TERRITORY WARS
* Players in gangs can fight for the control of territory in Sunrise City.
* Gangs controlling a zone will receive various bonuses such as increased cash gain or experience yield.
* Players have increased max hp when fighting in zones their gang controls.
* All players will pay a percent of their cash yield as a tax to the gang who controls the territory.
* Ruling Gang's logos will now appear around territories that belongs to them.

QUICKPLAY
* Access CrimeCraft's combat, character customization, equipment shops and social features from the Quickplay Interface,
* New Players joining the game no longer start at the lobby tutorial, which now has an option to be skipped.
* Any player can freely switch between lobbies and Quickplay by pressing a button on the interface.

TOURNAMENT SYSTEM REVAMPED
* Players earn bronze, silver, and gold coins as a reward tournament instead of cash and random items.
* These coins can be exchanged for powerful items of their choice from the Operator NPC.

BALANCE CHANGES
* Adjusted stats for items to make low-level players more competitive.
* Shock Grenade, C4 Rocket Turret, Enhanced Metabolism, Improved Detection, Liquid Armor and Blast Helmet rebalanced.
* Run speed increased for pistols. Range of all pistols increased.
* Sniper rifle accuracy significantly decreased when shooting without aiming.
* R-Sys Sabretooth, Hargan Bulldog, Valley Forge, Exeter Arret, Jericho Ragnarok, Cabrese Fucilere weapons stats rebalanced.
* Boost quality feature removed from the game. Now all boosts have maximum quality.
* Indura Liquidstone, Chemtech Supermax, Zymek Lifeline boost effects reduced.
* All unpopular boosts were rebalanced.
* Now character performs the standard jump-knife attacked when armed with a pistol.

MAPS AND GAME TYPES
* New game type – Core Annihilation added in the game. This is primary a PvP game type with an additional twist – each team consists of both players and AI bots. The goal is to destroy your opponent’s core while protecting your own core from opponent’s attacks.
* New combat location – La Famiglia Compound added in the game.
* PvP game types added on Chemtech Processing Plant map.
* Capture the Zone (3 points) game rules updated.

MATCHMAKING UPDATE
* A player can subscribe simultaneously to any number of map / game type combinations now.
* Matches launch much faster for players.

NEW BLACK MARKET ITEMS
* Change Gender Charter – this item allows changing your character gender.
* Small and Large Contract Page – this will increase the maximum allowed number of jobs.
* Custom hats added: The Spartan Helmet, Viking Crusader Helmet, The Nautilus, Spot Welder Mask, Mr. Hideous, Spec Ops Helmet and Riot Guard Helmet.
* Clan hall visual upgrades added for ceiling, walls, floor and furniture.
* Scavenger tools added that allow players to get containers for the profession of their choice from PvE matches.

OTHER
* Now players can spend gold bars or in-game cash to purchase abilities.
* Bronze coins can be exchanged for the following items when visiting Coin Operator NPC in any lobby: Weekly Tournament Passes; Ingredient Packs; Experience, Cash and Loot boosts; Bleedout episode tickets.
* A number of other major and minor improvements and bug fixes.

See the full list of new features, improvements and bug fixes on the http://www.crimecraft.com/forums/Patch-Notes/topics/GangWars-expansion-patch-notes

Dec 8, 2011

America's Army 3 Update Released

America's Army 3 - Valve

America’s Army 3 Version 3.2
Listen up Soldiers, we have new information from HQ!
With the release of America’s Army 3.2, your soldier now has another tool in their arsenal. The development team has added the M106 smoke grenade into the game, providing players with a great new way to conceal their movements.
The release notes below highlight the use of the new tactical device, as well as all of the new features, gameplay tweaks, weapon fixes and more.
New Features
● A new inventory item! The M106 Fast Obscurant Grenade (FOG) will instantly create a cloud of smoke to cover your actions. Essentially, it works like the M83 with one important exception: a short fuse. If you try to cook the M106, it will likely blow up in your hand and cause an injury. A new “Up in Smoke” achievement has been added when a teammate is revived within the cover of an M106 smoke cloud.
● A new AA3 Loader application is provided with this release to enhance the front end of AA3. This application will start automatically when launching the game. This tool provides the ability to create or delete soldiers, view your soldier’s Personnel Jacket, view combined player stats, and launch a game server. It also offers updated news, game manual access, and links to the America’s Army website.
● Improved ladder functionality: to mount a ladder, face ladder and press the “use” key (spacebar by default). When approaching a ladder from the top, the player will automatically turn and mount the ladder upon hitting the spacebar. This eliminates players from needing to walk backwards to attempt to go down a ladder, missing it, and falling, causing leg damage. As an added benefit, a player may choose to release from the ladder by hitting the spacebar again, thus giving the player more options with dealing with enemies while using ladders.
Gameplay Changes
● Change to After Action Review (AAR) panel to better convey the player’s combat effectiveness during the previous round.
● Added display of achievements for all players on the server so they are shown in the AAR.
● Interrupting a reload (after seating magazine) now results in a chance of malfunction.
● Updates to Spacebar Context system to correct several edge cases. This only affects selection when player is within multiple volumes (Vault/Mantle, Ladder climb, healing a teammate, ES2, etc.).
● Better fix for players that are blocked while climbing ladders continuing to climb through other players, objects, the floor, or into the air on remote clients.
● Flashbangs were tweaked to make them more effective when deployed indoors.
● Improved VIP extraction ending - new sounds and proper stopping of countdown and audio when team is killed while extraction is active.
● Weather handling has been further optimized in Shanty Town to reduce network usage.
● Implemented the new AG Award when graduating BCT.
● Zip-tie roll over animation is now played when players are secured.
● Fix for 'ladder snake' bug where player is seen sliding up the ladder after grabbing onto the ladder while sprinting.
UI Change
● Fixed the scoreboard to highlight the player's name in yellow.
Bug Fixes
● A memory usage optimization pass was done to reduce our game client memory footprint.
● Another network performance pass to reduce bandwidth on glass heavy maps.
● Fixed Mr Zip Cuff and Tag and Bag localization to reflect actual 50 enemy secured/confirmed in order to earn (rules were correct already).
● Several hundred minor map related issues (on all maps) were addressed by our LDs.
● Updates to Leaderboard functionality to increase number of entries, fix to allow full use of character font for names, viewing full Leaderboard no longer overwrites the mini-board values, and adjust UI size to allow longer descriptions in mini-board.
● Cleanup of a variety of server-side log spam.
● Removed some client side log spam related to authentication.
● Cleaned up some inventory logging.
● M320 no longer miscounts rounds fired or rounds hit.
● Fixed a TS3 thread hang/deadlock that randomly occurred.
● Fix for ragdolled enemies not being confirmable. This cuts out the distance check involved for confirming a dead enemy since the ragdolled pawn can travel a considerable distance client side in some situations....such as falling down stairs.
● Fix for mission type not updating on the team select menu.
Map Fixes/Changes
● Alley: Fixed an issue where a few objects were sticking into the wall. Fixed an issue where certain trash bins were not accepting decals.
● Alley: Fixes involving an ES2 gray bin object labeled as a laptop.
● Alley - Discovered that there was a wall in buckets that had been duplicated on top of itself.
● Alley: fixed "hole in world" bug along with a few clipping meshes.
● Alley: Fixed issue where grenade goes through the fire escapes near the loading dock.
● Alley: Changed collision volume on the van to better support shooting grenades near it.
● Alley: Fixed a clipping issue with the dumpster near the hotel boiler room.
● Alley: Fixed issues that caused the carried objective to be unretrievable.
● Bridge: Rotated spawn points on the South side in the AO map type.
● Bridge: Fixed grenade over-pressure issues in the North and South towers.
● Bridge: Adjusted collision volumes and fixed several clipping issues.
● Bridge: Comm Volume updates
● Impact: Updated VIP mission to add smoke and light to the extraction flare
● Impact – Updated activated objective loading screen mission description
● Pipeline: Fixed issue where a player can access and fall into a pit at the exterior valve building
● Pipeline: Fix for unclimbable 'vine ladder'
● Ranch - Added some decals back to the main house, adjusted the v/m volumes around the windows, fixed issue where player can get stuck in the corner of the bridge, and many other minor issues.
● Ranch – Fixed issue where grenades would go through hay bales.
● Ranch – Fixed some sound volume issues in Greenhouse.
● Stronghold: Fixed several clipping issues in arches
● Stronghold – Fixed inconsistency in bullet penetration on deli walls
● Stronghold – Fix to Tower Café Patio chairs to allow bullet ricochet.
● Shantytown: Fix issue to keep players from getting stuck near the docks, and fixed an issue where a player can get stuck under a building.
● Shantytown – Camera view clipping through wall, floating table, floating grass, adjusted blocking volumes on TV set, corrected Comm volumes on North side of Central building, and many other clipping issues.
● All maps: Several ES2 object issues fixed.
● All maps: Adjusted ladder positions to make them all consistent with how the new ladder system is supposed to work.
● All maps: Variety of Physical materials on object modified/updated.
● Training: Fixed issue where carriable objective was invisible in training levels.
● CONEX-MOUT: Updated the shoot-house walls to be bulletproof. This should keep players from accidentally murdering the drill instructor.
Asset Fixes
● Changed the physical material from metal to plastic for the blue-grey bins.
● Added a phys mat to the bathroom sink material.
● Stronghold_Comm/Env: Added local materials to the package so as to be able to apply the appropriate physical material needed.
● BFT_Background - Removed extra baked lighting from the VIP mission from the map texture.
Admin Control Panel
● Added the ability for ACP admins to kick players to the Spectator Team.
● Punkbuster panel updates correctly after first use.
Punkbuster Updates
● When a player is kicked by PB (directly or via Admin PB kick) the generic PB message is now displayed and when dismissed a "PunkBuster Kick Details" message box is displayed with the detailed reason why the player was kicked.

Dec 8, 2011

Serious Sam 3 Update Released

Serious Sam 3: BFE - Valve

- Added Santa Sam and Santa Sammy models.
- Split screen game was erroneously requiring user to be online. Fixed.
- Split screen users (other than the first one) couldn't configure gamepad settings. Fixed.
- Set up dpad icons for star shaped weapon list.
- FOV slider now shows its value.
- Moved FOV menu slider to graphics options.
- Changed FOV lower bound from 75 to 60 degrees.
- FOV override now works in versus games.
- Fixed "pause" text being visible on client when game starts.
- Fixed single player loading screen sometimes being shown instead of multiplayer one when loading in multiplayer.
- Fixed an issue which prevented showing of message when a secret is found.
- Added safety to fix cases when achievements are sometimes not registered by Steam (probably if connection fails temporarily while playing). They will be stored internally and re-awarded later.
- Changed sort order of achievements in achievement menu (so related achievements are listed together). Also, unlocked achievements come before the still locked ones.
- It is now synchronized whether server is still loading so it is not allowed for (vote) force game start during that time.
- If server was still loading and one of the clients finished loading, that client would start the game although server was not ready. Fixed by switching status to "Waiting for players to load" if server is loading.
- Added safeguard against loading screen exiting before game is fully synchronized to the client.
- Fixed falling through floor if crouching while jumping on extremely low frame rates.
- Fixed player's corpse respawning at chapter after being eaten by sandwhale in Team Survival mode.
- Made player details menu title use a font which is not in uppercase, so player's name is shown in its original form.
- Fixed aux buttons in loading screen sometimes not working during multiplayer loading.
- Fixed looping fire animation remaining on player's third person model even after weapon runs out of ammo and is replaced.
- Fixed problem with player exiting the loading screen if trying to initiate a vote while another vote is already in progress.
- Reduced number of current render-target changes when rendering shadow's cascade or faces.
- Optimized collection of depth prepass, fast-lights and shadows commands.
- Fixed double creation of ingame menu when invoked via F10 from loading screen.
- Loading screen now uses a checkbox character for readyness toggle button text (should be more intuitive than "set ready"/"set not ready" texts).
- Fixed some string formatting error in Chinese locale table.
- Disabled ingame menu invocation from the loading screen if the menu button is not visible.
- Adjusted image frame in session info menu according to its image aspect ratio.
- Fixed an issue which would cause scaffolding pole to sometimes remain locked in player's hand if it is used in combination with melees.
- Fixed preview menu popup that happens when closing multichoice or string input menu.
- Fixed menu transparency issues visible in low framerate.