Hello, fellow zombie scientist!

We’ve just released an update to Black Mesa. Our goal was to improve performance, improve controller support, and fix a number of issues, without breaking your save files.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/362890/Black_Mesa/

Here are the patch notes!

• Improved performance of the game (Vulkan, UI optimization, New Renderer/New Post Post Process Optimization)
  
• Fixed cases where game would crash on startup
  
• Fixed UI flickering and artifacting
  
• Fixed crash in the first map of Interloper that players were experiencing
  
• Improved controller support using Steam Input
  
• -Click here for detailed notes on adjusting controller support
  
• Fixed hitch when weapon decals are first applied to gun
  
• Re-enabled weapon decals by default

• Ported the game to DXVK 2.3.1 (first launch option)
  
• Performance enhancements have been implemented for the New Renderer and New Post-Process systems, particularly noticeable in scenes featuring water
  
• Fixed moss shaders and direction control for both vertex lit shader and skin shader (for props with/without phong)
  
• Fixed halflambert/warp/specwarp related problems across all the shaders
  
• Unlocked the even higher graphics setting in options menu
  
• The lighting quality settings in the New UI have been updated to reflect recent changes.
  
• Monitors and refract views can now leverage the New Renderer features
  
• God Rays support has been added for the sun and local lights
  
• -Note: God Rays are intentionally turned off for monitors and reflection views
  
• Improved the blending quality of normal maps within 4-way blending
  
• SpotLight cookies should now work on any orientation. Cookie sprite sheet no longer needs to be square.
  
• Black Mesa now requests high-performance power management on Windows, which should reduce power throttling impacting performance
  
• Implemented the ability to dump environment variables (-dumpenvironment launch option), assisting in resolving potential issues
  
• Lots of misc graphics fixes
  
• Disabled CPU-based backface culling for Func_Brush models
  
• Disabled CSM for viewmodels for secondary cameras
  
• Fixed flicker near Light Volume edges
  
• Fixed Xog artifacts with cheaper water

Controller support for Black Mesa has now been given the love and attention it has been seeking. Black Mesa now fully supports and integrates with Steam Input, allowing both us as developers and you as the community to create your own custom controller bindings and share them!

With Steam Input now implemented, we now have partial support the following devices:

• Xbox Controllers
  
• Playstation Controllers
  
• Nintendo Switch Pro Controllers
  
• We have also implemented proper Gyro support for Steam Deck!

To get started, simply navigate to the Steam Controller Layout configurator and select one of our official layouts and hit 'Apply Layout'.

Details on how to use it here.

• Modified the Game/UI rendering synchronization, aiming for stable UI presentation across all three available modes
  
• Updated the UI frame limiter logic to enhance the smoothness of frame pacing, which was particularly noticeable when vertical synchronization was active
  
• Improved performance by optimizing the texture lock implementation within the UI
  
• Resolved the issue where the UI occasionally failed to render at full size after resolution adjustments
  
• Fixed alpha blending of UI with background map
  
• Added a number of missing translators, including the 2012 mod translators (need to track down a list of who did what language)

• Interloper A crash fix
  
• Resolved the issue where the Tau Canon would crash upon the owner's demise
  
• Addressed a potential hang issue upon exiting the game
  
• A reflection bug involving Xen fog at extreme angles has been fixed
  
• Transparency issues in fake water have been resolved, and it now supports New Renderer, New Post-Process, and CSM
  
• Resolved outline artifacts present in alpha-tested materials
  
• Resolved an issue where view models were improperly identified within one shader, leading to lighting and shadow inconsistencies
  
• Fixed a bug related to the Diffuse Warp when using more than eight slots in the atlas
  
• Fixed a Workshop Client issue related to double initialization, which had the potential to cause crashes

• Alt-Tabbing while using Vulkan can sometimes crash the game
  
• Anti-virus can sometimes flag the game as malicious even though it is not (we’ll see what we can do about this)
  
• Minor UI overlap errors on some ultra wide monitors
  
• Some UI elements need localization

Next, we may look into more robust fixes that might break saves and switching over Linux support to Proton, but we don’t have a timeline for that.

Also, here is a sneak peak at what the HECU Collective has been up to with Black Mesa: Blue Shift. Check out their ModDB page and Discord for the latest news on their amazing work!





More to come. Thanks to our community for all the help testing and bug reporting! This went very smoothly thanks to your work.

Hope everyone is having a great spring!

Discord

This is a small update to try to address some of the bugs reported with the last release. Thanks to every one for the reports.
- Change how the Armory flow is implemented, to try to prevent locked mods from sometimes being selectable. This should hopefully have also fixed some crashes that were occurring when opening the Armory.
- Add some safety checks to Spiralius to try to prevent a crash that could occur while fighting him.
- Change how Timers are used across the codebase, to hopefully prevent an Error message that was sometimes being emitted.
- Fix an error message that was being emitted when using the Knife and fighting bats in the Underground.
- Fix an error message that was sometimes being emitted when applying conditions to enemies.
- Change Javelin Shrapnel mod behavior to prevent it from instantly killing large groups of low health enemies.
- Fix the behavior of the Sudden Death mod with the Parasite mod, for Poison. This was dealing thousands of damage by mistake.
- Update the Extra Schrap mod for Slingshot to be more descriptive.
- Fix a bug where Poison and Bleed could be applied multiple times to the same enemy, when it shouldn't have been possible.
- Fix the damage reporting for Poison and Fan of Knives. This same bug may have also been affecting other weapons.

Thank you!
TitanCrestGames

Empire Chronicles (Version 1.5.12) - Hotfix

• Removed an invalid refrence to map22 in Ashlan Castle.

FIXES

• Hero trinket goals to kill the lair bosses in the Foetor and the Shroud will no longer appear while playing through Denial
  
• Fixes heroes going missing in the inn when opening the character sheet while the Wainwright is open
  
• Fixed an issue when quickly equipped combat items with gamepad can turn them into white squares
  
• Fixed an issue where a user returned to the stagecoach after combat only to see a black screen with music
  
• Fixed an issue with how DLC addressable groups were being handled that may have caused some errors with loading the DLC for some users
  
• Updated Crusader quest loot window with a scrollbar that catches gamepad navigation
  
• Fixed an issue where an uninitialized tooltip can be seen at mastery trainer with gamepad
  
• Fix to inventory not clearing properly when legacy save is attempting to start a new run and stuck at loading screen

racehistory will display a single page until page is full (200 entries), then will roll that page to a new file and restart page 1.

new billboards to hoppers.

experimental tunnel section to hoppers, including spin-grav hoppers.

fixed spin-grav OGH, TGH item not selecting from f3 menu.

when switching to back from spaysmode, ship will attempt to match appropriate velocity to reacquire gravity without requiring the resetlocation.

Greetings, leaders! Today, we delve into the lifeblood of any Civilization: the budget view. Here, you'll wield the tools to manage your income, expenses, and ultimately, the fate of your Civilization.

The budget view provides a clear picture of your civilization's financial health. It displays your income, expenses, and current balance, allowing you to make informed decisions regarding resource allocation.



Taxation is a vital source of income, but striking the right balance is crucial. You can adjust tax levels in three tiers:

Low Taxation: This reduces unrest and fosters research, but generates minimal income.


Default Taxation: The standard setting, balancing income generation.
Severe Taxation: This approach significantly boosts your coffers, but at the cost of higher unrest, decreasing research and Legacy Point generation.
Choose wisely! A happy populace is a productive one, while an overly-taxed society could rebel.



Maintaining a strong military is vital, but comes with a price. You can adjust army maintenance spending in three ways:

Decreased Pay: This lowers costs but negatively impacts troop morale, leadin decreased effectiveness in battle.
Default Spending: This maintains a healthy balance between cost and morale.
Increased Pay: This boosts morale and improves troop performance, but significantly increases your financial burden.
A well-funded army is a powerful tool, but ensure you can afford to maintain its edge.



Research is the key to advancement, and the budget view allows you to control your research spending:

Decreased Funding: This cuts costs but significantly slows research progress.
Default Funding: This maintains a steady pace of research.
Increased Funding: This significantly boosts research speed, but demands a hefty financial commitment.
Invest wisely in research to unlock new technologies!



In times of need, the budget view allows you to take out loans. However, remember – loans are not free money! They come with interest and a limited number can be taken. Use them strategically only during emergencies or to seize critical opportunities.




The budget view also introduces the Prosperity Tier. This metric reflects the average economic health of your provinces, taking into account population and development. A higher Prosperity Tier translates to a stronger national economy, generating more income from your various sources.




Mastering your budget is a vital skill. By carefully balancing income, expenses, and strategic investments, you can ensure your Civilization's prosperity and pave the way for its dominance.

Until then, remember – a wise leader knows that true power lies not on the battlefield alone, but in the ability to manage a thriving and stable economy.

Hello again starchasers! I hope you've been enjoying space. What's that? You fell in love with a microbe? Well don't do that. She views you more as a friend. She just won't love you the way Lady Mimosa here loves plastic bottles.



Anyway, a bit of news: The demo will be coming back to Steam! We were waiting for a few hotfixes and were patching stuff up, but expect it to be back up this week. The 10% off sale will also end this week, so if you want to save a whole TWO (2) dollars, get it while you can.

Anyway, onto the patch. This is a big one with a lot of bugfixes, plus some small requested features. As a reminder, we do NOT do wipes on saves and make a point to try and make previous save versions always compatible with the latest version of the game.

• The abyssdrive, when unusable, now gives more accurate information as to why you cannot use them (comms, storms, etc).
  
• Completing Baton, Broken will allow you to mention it to Hat when it becomes relevant.
  
• Pard-130 now has a connecting jumphole to Shipstar.
  
• Canceling a mission that involves unique cargo will now remove that cargo from your inventory.
  
• Added new options to the options menu to control text scrolls speed and a multiplier for how long text stays on the screen. This can be found under the audio tab in the options menu.
  
• Cloud saves are now enabled and working!

• Radios can now play on stations. The radio will use the ambient folder for this, if you’re using specific folders in that way.
  
• The escaped ship in Great Rescape is now recovered after you find it out in the minefield.
  
• Adjusted the distances of several hazards so that they can’t catch you quite as much by surprise.
  
• Adjusted the spawning areas of storm rifts inside several nebulas such as Thoroughfare.
  
• Added higher tiers of radiation hazards as storm hazards.
  
• Added many many more stupid names to the Ballden’s name generation.
  
• You can now craft higher tier repair items from lower tier repair items (Such as shrunken battleships from unstable refabricators), provided you can find them!.
  
• Crafting recipes now show the stats and description of the crafted item.
  
• Ammo now displays in ship descriptions.
  
• Turn rate now displays in ship descriptions.
  
• Forgiveness isn’t considered a virtue in the Union, but they’re still willing to forget. Attacking a neutral or friendly station, jumpgate, or laneline will gradually cause it to stop being hostile, provided you’re far enough away. By default, if you’re more than 35k away from a base for around a minute, it will stop being so damn angry at you.
  
• Extreme collision damage now only occurs while using the abyssdrive.
  
• Gone Adrift will no longer show scannables for the ships you’ve already found.
  
• The Gate and the Code has more hints on how to figure out the Code for the Gate.
  
• Shooting missiles at a station doesn’t instantly incur a hostile wrath. They know you didn’t mean it. Right? RIGHT??
  
• Taking a further look at Us Missions, we’ve decided to make them award a VERY meager amount of reputation, to prevent softlocks. The Us are slow to trust unless you like, blow up an ancient jumpgate to stop a racist guy from attacking them or something. That gets them a bit happier.
  
• We’ve adjusted how the leading pip works with projectiles. Should be more accurate.
  
• Increased the target framerate option to go up to 300.

• Mod support has been restored to the game.
  
• Fixed some typos in dialogue.
  
• Fixed some quests that were displayed as being available when the requirements for them were not met.
  
• Many quests have had their objective text adjusted to make the actions that need to be taken more obvious.
  
• Hardpoints on Ballden ships now have proper rotational values.
  
• Hypercharged webbing now works and the Curshian Death Cube can be overcome. Have fun in Curshia Prime!
  
• Unpausing from the save menu no longer locks the controls.
  
• Abyssdrive colors now save.
  
• You can now set waypoints to locations outside of your star system (though you’ll need to know the path) and set waypoints while on stations.
  
• Fixed issue where chapters wouldn't acknowledge storms being killed.
  
• Fixed issue in Box of Memories that could cause softlocks.
  
• Fixed issues in the Lords of Croft and campaign mission 14 that could cause softlocks.
  
• Saves made in space during a random mission will now acknowledge that you’ve launched to space with that random mission and update accordingly.
  
• Bugfixes for the following random missions: Runaway Train, Corpse Collection, Carcass Sorting, Starchaser Teamup, Military Assistance, Washer Sacrifice.

And that's it for today! Have fun with the Death Cube. Who knows what waits beyond it?


We're aiming for another patch at the end of the week. This one will start bringing in some of the aforementioned features in our previous patch, along with new things like radial menus and unstable jumpholes getting a bit more crazy. Keep an eye out!

One more cat pic for the road? Fine.

I finally managed to add achievements. I used a new library and things seem to be fine now. There are many checks done at different moments, so if you think you already did the achievement, try to do the action again to trigger it. Long story short, all the achievements will be updated automatically as you play the game. There is an extra check added when you load the save file. The "Game Freak" achievements can only happen during that phase for example.

Now go crazy with achievements and let’s increase those empty numbers (and break the game too)!

I added bonus amounts for gold/blue stardust when you have a player level up or astral link level up. This should make progressing more enjoyable.


I am planning to finish the remaining features (Astral links + avatar skins in this month). So next month will be about testing and adding the small details here and there like Plano effects, image tutorials, etc...

Astral link level 3 should be up in a couple of days.

Localization is also one of the next steps (maybe some of it will be done in May) and the biggest feature left. I am still not sure how I will handle it. Whether I will involve the community for that, or whether I will outsource it. If you speak a language besides English and it’s included in the list (French, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese) feel free to come to Discord if you want to contribute. Obviously, I will add the main contributors in the credits. It’s usually more fun to do things with the community.

Controller input should also be added in May. I think this benefits people who use the Steam Deck (only trackpad for now).

• FEATURE: Added new Steam achievements.
  
• FEATURE: Updated all achievement icons on Steam.
  
• FEATURE: Renamed achievements.
  
• FEATURE: Added an achievement sync check when loading a save file (to trigger achievements that can't happen again).
  
• FEATURE: Steam achievements now work.
  
• GAMEPLAY: Sacrifices in battles now give an extra 30 score.
  
• GAMEPLAY: A bonus is now added to the score after each battle. 200 per astral link level.
  
• GAMEPLAY: Added extra gold stardust for each astral link level up (500 * max astral link level).
  
• GAMEPLAY: Added extra gold stardust for each player level up (100 * player level).
  
• GAMEPLAY: Added extra blue stardust for each astral link level up (250 * max astral link level).
  
• GAMEPLAY: Added extra blue stardust for each player level up (50 * player level).
  
• BALANCING: Set an EP limit to Suka Mazai effect (100k EP).
  
• FIX: Fixed an issue where shockwave didn't work when a Plano had many shields.
  
• VISUAL: Removed the achievements button from the main menu.
  
• VISUAL: Gold/Blue stardust values are now updated after closing the menu (if shop is visited).

Fix a bug where the equipped item does not appear in the character's hand.

This update fixes a critical performance issue with the new UE5 ragdolls. There should no longer be any stutter when players die whereby ragdolls fall to the ground. We've also significantly optimized when players spawn into the game, which should reduce any network spikes or stutters that take place between round resets.

There's a new weapon carry-over system that's been implemented between rounds. Now if you pick up an enemy weapon and stay alive until the end of the round, you'll keep that enemy weapon into the next round and continue to have this weapon until you either die or the map is over. We're also detecting if players haven't left the spawn yet, which allows you to change your weapon without waiting until the next round. Note that you can only change your weapon once per round and must not have moved from the spot where you spawned on the map.

Another critical issue has been addressed that prevented players from receiving credit for kills from grenades, breach points, or C-4 if the player had already died. Therefore you should now be properly credited with a kill and the associated points if your grenade kills an enemy after you die.

We've updated our anti-cheat system with some of the latest definitions, but we're not going to elaborate on this for obvious reasons. Finally some crashes have been fixed relating to when players fall out of the map or when weapons are being cleaned up by the server.