Darkest greetings Underlord,

Patch 1.5 draws ever closer but there’s still more to share before it goes
live. Come take your metaphorical seat and let us regale you with a deeper look into the mechanics of Mendechaus’ vicious Crucible.

But first, if you missed last week’s pair of updates be sure to read up on the fundamentals of the Crucible mode, as well as the insight we gave into the new community translation tools which are on their way.



Looking at all the horrors that are set to beset you in the Crucible you might think that we’re throwing you in with nothing but a prayer. Well that’s certainly true, but at least we’re throwing you in with a prayer that can be answered – three in fact!



Apocalypse will obliterate enemies that come within a hair’s breadth of your Dungeon Core!


Lifelines are a new mechanic that we developed especially for Crucible mode. Each of these three incredibly powerful spells will no doubt be pivotal in saving your bacon from that other, angry bacon that will soon be rampaging through your dungeon. You see, each Lifeline has the power to destroy or delay your enemy, giving you more breathing room.



Goldstones taking a pummelling? Safeguard will make them immortal for a short while.


However, powerful as these spells may be we can’t just let you use them without a care in the world. Each time you unleash one of these devastating abilities you’ll find the gold cost to unleash it again has increased. Use one without forethought and you’ll find yourself paying through the nose to unleash it again.



It’s difficult to capture the fact that Respite delays the next wave, so here’s a picture of our art director, Pat, and a clock instead.


Lifelines ultimately won’t save you from a fate worse than death, but at least they’ll delay the inevitable long enough for you to get a new high score! Speaking of which…



Ever since the original Survival Prototype made its way into the game we’ve seen regular requests for a leaderboard to be added so that the most competitive Underlords can compare their scores.

Well at long last we’re pleased to announce that the Crucible will include fully-functional leaderboards in the Steam version of the game!



There’s some serious board leading occurring here.


What else is there to say on the topic of leaderboards that you don’t already know we wonder. Well at the very least we can say that each map and challenge combination has its own leaderboard, so if you’re not so savvy in one combination then perhaps another will see you rising through the ranks.



But what are these challenges we mentioned? Well to put it simply they are collections of changes and mutators that adjust your experience in Crucible mode. This could be anything from making gold incredibly scarce, to making it so that every enemy you see is a Chunder!

Although we’ll only be launching Crucible mode with two challenges – the standard mode and a “master” mode – you can rest assured that there are plenty more in the works.



So you think yourself a master? Mendechaus would like to put that theory to the test.



What do we have here? Some of Kasita’s pet treasures gone wandering? I suppose nobody told them that gold isn’t the strongest metal in Kairos, and rather unfit for combat.



Golden soldiers – be bewitched at your peril.


That about wraps us up for this preview, but we’ve still got one more on the way this Friday. Mendechaus is almost ready to put you through his Crucible. Are you ready for your impending trial?

Click here to discuss this update on our forums
Click here to chat about this update on our Discord

Never miss an update! Sign up to our newsletter!

Darkest greetings Underlord,

Patch 1.5 draws ever closer but there’s still more to share before it goes
live. Come take your metaphorical seat and let us regale you with a deeper look into the mechanics of Mendechaus’ vicious Crucible.

But first, if you missed last week’s pair of updates be sure to read up on the fundamentals of the Crucible mode, as well as the insight we gave into the new community translation tools which are on their way.



Looking at all the horrors that are set to beset you in the Crucible you might think that we’re throwing you in with nothing but a prayer. Well that’s certainly true, but at least we’re throwing you in with a prayer that can be answered – three in fact!



Apocalypse will obliterate enemies that come within a hair’s breadth of your Dungeon Core!


Lifelines are a new mechanic that we developed especially for Crucible mode. Each of these three incredibly powerful spells will no doubt be pivotal in saving your bacon from that other, angry bacon that will soon be rampaging through your dungeon. You see, each Lifeline has the power to destroy or delay your enemy, giving you more breathing room.



Goldstones taking a pummelling? Safeguard will make them immortal for a short while.


However, powerful as these spells may be we can’t just let you use them without a care in the world. Each time you unleash one of these devastating abilities you’ll find the gold cost to unleash it again has increased. Use one without forethought and you’ll find yourself paying through the nose to unleash it again.



It’s difficult to capture the fact that Respite delays the next wave, so here’s a picture of our art director, Pat, and a clock instead.


Lifelines ultimately won’t save you from a fate worse than death, but at least they’ll delay the inevitable long enough for you to get a new high score! Speaking of which…



Ever since the original Survival Prototype made its way into the game we’ve seen regular requests for a leaderboard to be added so that the most competitive Underlords can compare their scores.

Well at long last we’re pleased to announce that the Crucible will include fully-functional leaderboards in the Steam version of the game!



There’s some serious board leading occurring here.


What else is there to say on the topic of leaderboards that you don’t already know we wonder. Well at the very least we can say that each map and challenge combination has its own leaderboard, so if you’re not so savvy in one combination then perhaps another will see you rising through the ranks.



But what are these challenges we mentioned? Well to put it simply they are collections of changes and mutators that adjust your experience in Crucible mode. This could be anything from making gold incredibly scarce, to making it so that every enemy you see is a Chunder!

Although we’ll only be launching Crucible mode with two challenges – the standard mode and a “master” mode – you can rest assured that there are plenty more in the works.



So you think yourself a master? Mendechaus would like to put that theory to the test.



What do we have here? Some of Kasita’s pet treasures gone wandering? I suppose nobody told them that gold isn’t the strongest metal in Kairos, and rather unfit for combat.



Golden soldiers – be bewitched at your peril.


That about wraps us up for this preview, but we’ve still got one more on the way this Friday. Mendechaus is almost ready to put you through his Crucible. Are you ready for your impending trial?

Click here to discuss this update on our forums
Click here to chat about this update on our Discord

Never miss an update! Sign up to our newsletter!

Learn to play 4 hits from 4 decades spanning glam rock, rockabilly, math rock, and alternative rock! “Suffragette City" by David Bowie, “Stray Cat Strut” by Brian Setzer, “F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X.” by The Fall Of Troy, and “Hey Jealousy” by Gin Blossoms will be available today on Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and Steam. The songs may be posted later for players in territories served by the EU PlayStation Store due to differences in publishing times. See the tunings and arrangements below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZEuVSYXRuM
“Suffragette City" by David Bowie – E Standard - Lead/Rhythm/Bass
“Stray Cat Strut" by Brian Setzer – E Standard - Lead/Rhythm/Bass
“F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X." by The Fall Of Troy – E Standard - Lead/Rhythm/Bass
“Hey Jealousy" by Gin Blossoms – E Standard - Lead/Rhythm/Bass


Click here for a direct link to Variety Pack VI with all four songs. For individual songs from the pack, click the song name above.

For more information visit http://www.rocksmith.com

Learn to play 4 hits from 4 decades spanning glam rock, rockabilly, math rock, and alternative rock! “Suffragette City" by David Bowie, “Stray Cat Strut” by Brian Setzer, “F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X.” by The Fall Of Troy, and “Hey Jealousy” by Gin Blossoms will be available today on Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and Steam. The songs may be posted later for players in territories served by the EU PlayStation Store due to differences in publishing times. See the tunings and arrangements below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZEuVSYXRuM
“Suffragette City" by David Bowie – E Standard - Lead/Rhythm/Bass
“Stray Cat Strut" by Brian Setzer – E Standard - Lead/Rhythm/Bass
“F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X." by The Fall Of Troy – E Standard - Lead/Rhythm/Bass
“Hey Jealousy" by Gin Blossoms – E Standard - Lead/Rhythm/Bass


Click here for a direct link to Variety Pack VI with all four songs. For individual songs from the pack, click the song name above.

For more information visit http://www.rocksmith.com

We have made some adjustments to the matchmaking and ranking systems in Operation Red Crow. We saw that this led to questions from the community, and we have worked with the various teams involved to provide you with some insight. This blog will cover both the matchmaking and rank changes that you have seen come into play following the release of Operation Red Crow.

WHAT IS SKILL?

Your skill represents your ability to win a game. Comparing two teams' skill gives you the probability that one team will win against the other. The higher the difference, the more likely a given team is going to win. When two teams with the same skill levels are matched up with each other, they both have an equal shot at winning. The algorithm used in Rainbow Six Siege assigns two values to each player: an estimation of their skill (μ) and the uncertainty of this estimation (σ). The players’ skills are distributed along a Bell curve, centered around 25 (High Silver – Low Gold).

WHAT IS UNCERTAINTY?

The estimation of your skill is probabilistic. In general, the more games you play, the more information we have about you, and the more confident we are about this estimation. This confidence is represented by the uncertainty value sigma (σ). The lower the uncertainty, the higher the confidence.

WHAT IS THE LINK BETWEEN SKILL AND MMR?

In Season 4, your MMR (Matchmaking Rating) is proportional to your skill (MMR = 100*μ). In the past, we incorporated a progression system that would take your engagement into account when determining your rank. In other words, you needed to lower your uncertainty to achieve higher ranks. That led to a wide distribution of skill within the same rank. For example, a player whose skill we estimate to be Silver but played a lot of games was able to grind ranks as high as Platinum. This created confusion, as facing players of a given rank would lead to very different experiences. Furthermore, by matching players of similar ranks together, there was no guarantee that they would have similar skill levels. Compared to data from previous Seasons, the average disparity in skill level between opposing teams has been cut in half with the new system.
With Rainbow Six Siege being a competitive game, we decided that the MMR should only take your skill into account. The MMR is not a reward system, and any progression you make after a certain point should reflect your improvement in terms of skill.

HOW IS THE MMR UPDATED AFTER A GAME?

The MMR is updated solely on the outcome of your match. If this outcome is unexpected (for example, you lost against players with a lower skill than your team), the skill updates will be more substantial, and vice-versa. In addition to that, the more confident we are about your skill (i.e., if your σ is low), the smaller the updates will be.
Let’s take a simple example with only two players, Craig and Justin. The values in this example do not reflect the actual updates that would happen with our system but it should give you an understanding of the situation. Justin is a Gold player (μ ≈ 29), and has been playing at that level for quite some time. Justin’s rank has a low uncertainty value attached to it, so σ ≈ 3. Justin faces Craig (a Copper ranked player, but he has a lot of heart), and loses. Due to the low uncertainty value, it is likely that Justin just had a bad game, so his skill level would decrease, resulting in μ ≈ 28. This is due to the system taking into account the rank of the enemy you have lost to. If Justin lost to someone that was Gold, the adjustment would be closer to μ ≈ 28.5. Losing to a Diamond would have resulted in a change to μ ≈ 28.9.
That being said, Craig is still relatively new to the game, and our system is attempting to determine where he should be placed (μ ≈ 17 and σ ≈ 6). By Tachanka’s grace, Craig won the match, so we would increase his skill level to 20. His victory against Justin has helped us to determine that he may be a better player, so his uncertainly has dropped a small amount (σ ≈ 5.5). The large increase in skill level rating for is a result of Craig being a fairly unknown player, and our confidence in Justin’s placement.

ARE MATCHES MORE OR LESS BALANCED NOW?

We are seeing an increase in balanced matches following the release of the new system. We measure match balance through two methods. One way to gauge balance is to measure the average skill (μ) level of teams that are playing against each other. While the numerical threshold for different ranks has changed, the overall skill of the community has not. Because of this, comparisons with prior Seasons are still both valid and meaningful. As depicted, we are seeing a positive trend in this regard following the release of Operation Red Crow.



An alternate method for determining balance is by match results. Operation Red Crow is seeing an increase in the number of matches that end with a result of 4-2 and closer. The most notable result is the 2.3% reduction in the number of matches that end in a shutout. This is further evidence that, while the threshold to obtain a certain rank has been adjusted, players are being matched with others much closer to their own ability than in previous Seasons.



HOW DOES MY PERSONAL PERFORMANCE IMPACT THE NUMBER OF POINTS I GET?

It does not. If you get 15 kills per game but lose all of them, then your ability to win a game is very low, hence you should be ranked very low too. Conversely, a player that does not land kills, but still wins often, should be ranked quite high (maybe they make excellent callouts, which is an important factor in a team’s ability to win). The idea is that if you play well, and are an asset to your team, you will naturally win more matches in the long run. This positive influence on winning matches is what we measure.

WHY DO MY FRIENDS AND I GAIN/LOSE A DIFFERENT AMOUNT OF POINTS AFTER A GAME?

If you both have the same skill, the update will depend on how confident our system is regarding where you are placed. Let’s say that you are both Gold IV but your friend has played a lot more games than you (they have a low uncertainty), you will gain/lose more points than they will.

WHY DID THE THRESHOLD CHANGE?

Due to the removal of the progression aspect of the MMR, we wanted a scale that was easier to understand, and also easier to link with your skill. The new thresholds have nothing to do with the values of Season 3. Attempting to compare the thresholds from Season 3 to those of Season 4 is similar to comparing apples to oranges.

IS THERE A SET NUMBER OF DIAMOND PLAYERS?

No, Diamond players are players with a skill higher than a threshold. They represent the tail of the skill distribution, estimated on data we got from previous Seasons. Why does it feel much faster to achieve Diamond in Season 4? Since we removed the progression system, players do not need to grind to lower their uncertainty in an effort to reach Diamond.

WHY IS IT MUCH EASIER TO ACHIEVE DIAMOND IN SEASON 4?

It is not. It’s just faster for players who deserve it. 80% of current Diamond players already achieved that level of skill in the previous season. Currently, 0.5% of Ranked players in S4 are Diamond players. The 3700 MMR threshold DOES NOT REPRESENT the same skill as the 3700 threshold in Season 3.

WHY DO YOU RESET RANKS AND HOW DOES IT IMPACT ME?

The previous system biased some of our skill estimations. The hard reset (of μ and σ to their initial values) allows us to start fresh and provide you with a more accurate and representative estimation of your skill.
Moreover, the major shift in the META introduced with each new Season justifies a reset.

DOES MY SMURF ACCOUNT RANK UP FASTER THAN MY MAIN?

Not after a hard reset, but otherwise yes. This is due to the fact that after a while, the uncertainty on your main account is low enough for us to be pretty confident about your skill. However, your smurf account’s skill should move towards your main account’s skill, assuming you play in a similar fashion.
The new MMR system should move the smurf account to their actual rank more quickly, thus minimizing the potential negative impact of smurfs in general.

DOES CASUAL TAKES YOUR RANK INTO CONSIDERATION? YOUR CLEARANCE LEVEL?

No. The casual playlist has its own MMR, based on the same system. Your clearance level has no impact on your MMR in either Ranked or Casual.

WHY DOES A 40 MINUTE RANKED MATCH GIVE ME SO FEW MMR POINTS?

The MMR is not a reward system. If we do not have more information about your skill, you won’t move much.

WHERE IS THE PEAK OF THE DISTRIBUTION? BRONZE? SILVER?

The majority of the ranks fall in high Silver and low Gold. As seen in this graph:



IF I USUALLY PLAY WITH THE SAME TEAM, HOW DO YOU DETERMINE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MY MMR AND THE MMR OF THE OTHER PLAYERS ON MY TEAM?

We don’t. If you play exclusively with that team, then we will have a fairly good estimation of the MMR of that team. If you start playing without them, then your MMR will change. It won’t represent your skill, it will represent a mixture of your ability to win by yourself and your ability to win with your team, and this mixture will represent the probability that you’ll play with your team: aggregated, it is the probability that you’ll win in general.

I ENJOYED THE SENSE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT FROM GRINDING FOR DIAMOND. WHY DID YOU TAKE THAT AWAY?

As previously stated, having a rank that is a good representation of your actual skill leads to fairer matches. Keeping a ‘’Diamond’’ player in Gold because they haven’t played enough matches is not fair for other Gold players.

I’M DIAMOND, WHY DO YOU MATCH ME WITH GOLD PLAYERS?

As there aren’t very many Diamond players, the matchmaking system can occasionally have trouble finding players of similar skill. There is a trade-off between how long you are willing to wait and how balanced the match is.

We hope that you have found this to be informative, and that we have answered most of your lingering questions regarding the recent changes. After reading, we encourage you to jump into the discussion on our Subreddit and Forums! We will be monitoring the activity regarding this topic and may update this document with more questions and answers in the future!

We have made some adjustments to the matchmaking and ranking systems in Operation Red Crow. We saw that this led to questions from the community, and we have worked with the various teams involved to provide you with some insight. This blog will cover both the matchmaking and rank changes that you have seen come into play following the release of Operation Red Crow.

WHAT IS SKILL?

Your skill represents your ability to win a game. Comparing two teams' skill gives you the probability that one team will win against the other. The higher the difference, the more likely a given team is going to win. When two teams with the same skill levels are matched up with each other, they both have an equal shot at winning. The algorithm used in Rainbow Six Siege assigns two values to each player: an estimation of their skill (μ) and the uncertainty of this estimation (σ). The players’ skills are distributed along a Bell curve, centered around 25 (High Silver – Low Gold).

WHAT IS UNCERTAINTY?

The estimation of your skill is probabilistic. In general, the more games you play, the more information we have about you, and the more confident we are about this estimation. This confidence is represented by the uncertainty value sigma (σ). The lower the uncertainty, the higher the confidence.

WHAT IS THE LINK BETWEEN SKILL AND MMR?

In Season 4, your MMR (Matchmaking Rating) is proportional to your skill (MMR = 100*μ). In the past, we incorporated a progression system that would take your engagement into account when determining your rank. In other words, you needed to lower your uncertainty to achieve higher ranks. That led to a wide distribution of skill within the same rank. For example, a player whose skill we estimate to be Silver but played a lot of games was able to grind ranks as high as Platinum. This created confusion, as facing players of a given rank would lead to very different experiences. Furthermore, by matching players of similar ranks together, there was no guarantee that they would have similar skill levels. Compared to data from previous Seasons, the average disparity in skill level between opposing teams has been cut in half with the new system.
With Rainbow Six Siege being a competitive game, we decided that the MMR should only take your skill into account. The MMR is not a reward system, and any progression you make after a certain point should reflect your improvement in terms of skill.

HOW IS THE MMR UPDATED AFTER A GAME?

The MMR is updated solely on the outcome of your match. If this outcome is unexpected (for example, you lost against players with a lower skill than your team), the skill updates will be more substantial, and vice-versa. In addition to that, the more confident we are about your skill (i.e., if your σ is low), the smaller the updates will be.
Let’s take a simple example with only two players, Craig and Justin. The values in this example do not reflect the actual updates that would happen with our system but it should give you an understanding of the situation. Justin is a Gold player (μ ≈ 29), and has been playing at that level for quite some time. Justin’s rank has a low uncertainty value attached to it, so σ ≈ 3. Justin faces Craig (a Copper ranked player, but he has a lot of heart), and loses. Due to the low uncertainty value, it is likely that Justin just had a bad game, so his skill level would decrease, resulting in μ ≈ 28. This is due to the system taking into account the rank of the enemy you have lost to. If Justin lost to someone that was Gold, the adjustment would be closer to μ ≈ 28.5. Losing to a Diamond would have resulted in a change to μ ≈ 28.9.
That being said, Craig is still relatively new to the game, and our system is attempting to determine where he should be placed (μ ≈ 17 and σ ≈ 6). By Tachanka’s grace, Craig won the match, so we would increase his skill level to 20. His victory against Justin has helped us to determine that he may be a better player, so his uncertainly has dropped a small amount (σ ≈ 5.5). The large increase in skill level rating for is a result of Craig being a fairly unknown player, and our confidence in Justin’s placement.

ARE MATCHES MORE OR LESS BALANCED NOW?

We are seeing an increase in balanced matches following the release of the new system. We measure match balance through two methods. One way to gauge balance is to measure the average skill (μ) level of teams that are playing against each other. While the numerical threshold for different ranks has changed, the overall skill of the community has not. Because of this, comparisons with prior Seasons are still both valid and meaningful. As depicted, we are seeing a positive trend in this regard following the release of Operation Red Crow.



An alternate method for determining balance is by match results. Operation Red Crow is seeing an increase in the number of matches that end with a result of 4-2 and closer. The most notable result is the 2.3% reduction in the number of matches that end in a shutout. This is further evidence that, while the threshold to obtain a certain rank has been adjusted, players are being matched with others much closer to their own ability than in previous Seasons.



HOW DOES MY PERSONAL PERFORMANCE IMPACT THE NUMBER OF POINTS I GET?

It does not. If you get 15 kills per game but lose all of them, then your ability to win a game is very low, hence you should be ranked very low too. Conversely, a player that does not land kills, but still wins often, should be ranked quite high (maybe they make excellent callouts, which is an important factor in a team’s ability to win). The idea is that if you play well, and are an asset to your team, you will naturally win more matches in the long run. This positive influence on winning matches is what we measure.

WHY DO MY FRIENDS AND I GAIN/LOSE A DIFFERENT AMOUNT OF POINTS AFTER A GAME?

If you both have the same skill, the update will depend on how confident our system is regarding where you are placed. Let’s say that you are both Gold IV but your friend has played a lot more games than you (they have a low uncertainty), you will gain/lose more points than they will.

WHY DID THE THRESHOLD CHANGE?

Due to the removal of the progression aspect of the MMR, we wanted a scale that was easier to understand, and also easier to link with your skill. The new thresholds have nothing to do with the values of Season 3. Attempting to compare the thresholds from Season 3 to those of Season 4 is similar to comparing apples to oranges.

IS THERE A SET NUMBER OF DIAMOND PLAYERS?

No, Diamond players are players with a skill higher than a threshold. They represent the tail of the skill distribution, estimated on data we got from previous Seasons. Why does it feel much faster to achieve Diamond in Season 4? Since we removed the progression system, players do not need to grind to lower their uncertainty in an effort to reach Diamond.

WHY IS IT MUCH EASIER TO ACHIEVE DIAMOND IN SEASON 4?

It is not. It’s just faster for players who deserve it. 80% of current Diamond players already achieved that level of skill in the previous season. Currently, 0.5% of Ranked players in S4 are Diamond players. The 3700 MMR threshold DOES NOT REPRESENT the same skill as the 3700 threshold in Season 3.

WHY DO YOU RESET RANKS AND HOW DOES IT IMPACT ME?

The previous system biased some of our skill estimations. The hard reset (of μ and σ to their initial values) allows us to start fresh and provide you with a more accurate and representative estimation of your skill.
Moreover, the major shift in the META introduced with each new Season justifies a reset.

DOES MY SMURF ACCOUNT RANK UP FASTER THAN MY MAIN?

Not after a hard reset, but otherwise yes. This is due to the fact that after a while, the uncertainty on your main account is low enough for us to be pretty confident about your skill. However, your smurf account’s skill should move towards your main account’s skill, assuming you play in a similar fashion.
The new MMR system should move the smurf account to their actual rank more quickly, thus minimizing the potential negative impact of smurfs in general.

DOES CASUAL TAKES YOUR RANK INTO CONSIDERATION? YOUR CLEARANCE LEVEL?

No. The casual playlist has its own MMR, based on the same system. Your clearance level has no impact on your MMR in either Ranked or Casual.

WHY DOES A 40 MINUTE RANKED MATCH GIVE ME SO FEW MMR POINTS?

The MMR is not a reward system. If we do not have more information about your skill, you won’t move much.

WHERE IS THE PEAK OF THE DISTRIBUTION? BRONZE? SILVER?

The majority of the ranks fall in high Silver and low Gold. As seen in this graph:



IF I USUALLY PLAY WITH THE SAME TEAM, HOW DO YOU DETERMINE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MY MMR AND THE MMR OF THE OTHER PLAYERS ON MY TEAM?

We don’t. If you play exclusively with that team, then we will have a fairly good estimation of the MMR of that team. If you start playing without them, then your MMR will change. It won’t represent your skill, it will represent a mixture of your ability to win by yourself and your ability to win with your team, and this mixture will represent the probability that you’ll play with your team: aggregated, it is the probability that you’ll win in general.

I ENJOYED THE SENSE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT FROM GRINDING FOR DIAMOND. WHY DID YOU TAKE THAT AWAY?

As previously stated, having a rank that is a good representation of your actual skill leads to fairer matches. Keeping a ‘’Diamond’’ player in Gold because they haven’t played enough matches is not fair for other Gold players.

I’M DIAMOND, WHY DO YOU MATCH ME WITH GOLD PLAYERS?

As there aren’t very many Diamond players, the matchmaking system can occasionally have trouble finding players of similar skill. There is a trade-off between how long you are willing to wait and how balanced the match is.

We hope that you have found this to be informative, and that we have answered most of your lingering questions regarding the recent changes. After reading, we encourage you to jump into the discussion on our Subreddit and Forums! We will be monitoring the activity regarding this topic and may update this document with more questions and answers in the future!

Today the Khronos Group announced a new open standard initiative for VR. The goal is to allow VR hardware and software to talk to each other without the need to go through anybody’s proprietary API.

As the number of competing VR systems grows, this effort will provide a stable platform for application developers to target. And as new VR headset manufacturers come online, the same standard will give them access to a broad set of applications without the need to convince anyone to port those applications to the new piece of hardware.

This new standard is the next logical step from what we’ve been working on with OpenVR. The VR team at Valve is hard at work with the rest of the VR standard group at Khronos to define these APIs. Over time we expect significant pieces of OpenVR itself to be replaced by the Khronos APIs.

If you work on VR hardware or engines, we invite you to join us and work on the standard through Khronos. You can find information about joining Khronos on the Khronos site.

Today the Khronos Group announced a new open standard initiative for VR. The goal is to allow VR hardware and software to talk to each other without the need to go through anybody’s proprietary API.

As the number of competing VR systems grows, this effort will provide a stable platform for application developers to target. And as new VR headset manufacturers come online, the same standard will give them access to a broad set of applications without the need to convince anyone to port those applications to the new piece of hardware.

This new standard is the next logical step from what we’ve been working on with OpenVR. The VR team at Valve is hard at work with the rest of the VR standard group at Khronos to define these APIs. Over time we expect significant pieces of OpenVR itself to be replaced by the Khronos APIs.

If you work on VR hardware or engines, we invite you to join us and work on the standard through Khronos. You can find information about joining Khronos on the Khronos site.

Tiny inbetween update, been pushing small updates every day for a few days now, figured I’d make a new post about it!

Main game:

• Fixed holiday hat freaking out at high speeds.
  
• Optimized networking further- this is probably going to be an ongoing thing.
  
• (hopefully) fixed the bug that made it so if you joined an in-progress game you never loaded a level or got stuck falling infinitely- it might still take a few seconds for it to start loading but it shouldn’t not-load anymore unless something’s wrong with your steam downloads.
  
• Added a spam protection that makes it impossible to add too many levels at the same time.
  
• Added a click sound to most buttons.

The bugfix for multiplayer map loading required an overhaul of the way the level playlist is synced to new coming players in in-progress games so it might still mess up sometimes, testing if multiplayer bugs are fixed is pretty hard.

Enjoy!

Tiny inbetween update, been pushing small updates every day for a few days now, figured I’d make a new post about it!

Main game:

• Fixed holiday hat freaking out at high speeds.
  
• Optimized networking further- this is probably going to be an ongoing thing.
  
• (hopefully) fixed the bug that made it so if you joined an in-progress game you never loaded a level or got stuck falling infinitely- it might still take a few seconds for it to start loading but it shouldn’t not-load anymore unless something’s wrong with your steam downloads.
  
• Added a spam protection that makes it impossible to add too many levels at the same time.
  
• Added a click sound to most buttons.

The bugfix for multiplayer map loading required an overhaul of the way the level playlist is synced to new coming players in in-progress games so it might still mess up sometimes, testing if multiplayer bugs are fixed is pretty hard.

Enjoy!