Greetings, Warriors!
We hope your gaming adventures have been most pleasant!
We know that waiting for updates can be tough, and we truly appreciate your patience. This update has been in the works for a while, and we’re excited to finally roll it out. Update 1.59 is more than just a routine release — it’s a crucial step forward for the game’s future development. Think of it as laying the groundwork for bigger, better things to come.
🌩️ • Steam Cloud
One of the more requested features, Steam Cloud, is finally here! No more worrying about losing your progress when switching devices—your game is safe and sound in the cloud.
Now, your save games, custom maps, user profiles, and even your control settings will be safely stored in the Steam Cloud. This means you can pick up right where you left off, no matter which device you're playing on.
🤫 Psst... here's a little secret: add -skipsplash as a command line parameter to skip the BR intros!
Getting started is simple — just activate Steam Cloud in the game’s properties via the Steam Client.
Here’s how:
- Go to your Library in Steam.
- Right-click on BR:ZE.
- Select Properties.
- Look for the Steam Cloud option.
- Make sure the option is enabled.
Once you’ve done that, all your game data will be synced and ready to go!
Steam Support - What is Steam Cloud?
🛠️ • DAT to XLSX Port
The game’s database (Battle Realms.dat) has been ported from the proprietary .dat format to the modern Excel (.xlsx) format. While this may seem like a small change, it’s a game-changer for our development process, allowing for easier updates, more content, and a cleaner data environment.
However, this update comes with some unfortunate news: any mods created using the old .dat format, such as those made with the Battle Realms Data Editor by SituVN, are no longer compatible. We understand this is disappointing, but as the game evolves during Early Access, these changes are sometimes necessary.
Smaller mods, like adding Kenji to Dragon Keep in Skirmish, should be easy to recreate in Excel. However, larger mods will need to be rebuilt from scratch. BR Data Editor allows exporting .dat tables, and, theoretically, that can be imported into .xlsx, but we can't vouch and are not responsible for that functionality.
While the port is still a bit raw, it keeps the game running smoothly, and we plan to improve it further, also making modding easier in the future. For now, you can tweak the game data by using any software that works with .xlsx file format (Excel, LibreOffice, Google Sheets).
As a small test, we’ve added 3 new Team Colors: Light Blue, Light Green, and Light Brown. Enjoy trying them out!
✂️ • More Restored Cut Content
Due to the extensive work done on Update 1.58 and the exhaustion we felt by the time of its release, some of the more intriguing work we did slipped under the radar, receiving only brief mentions in the lengthy changelog lists.
Today, we have a great reason to bring it back into the spotlight—because we've finally tackled the final piece: Mistress Yvaine herself.
So, what is this all about? To cut it short (pun intended), we’ve restored around 18 previously unseen animations that were supposed to play but never did. Six units in the game were affected: Leaf Disciple, Warlock, Master Warlock, Dragon Hero Kazan, Battle Maiden, and the Witch.
Long-time players might already know that these units were missing their READY UP animations—the animations that play when a unit is selected by the player to indicate it’s ready for battle. In the legacy game, selecting these units would only trigger their idle animations, unlike other units.
However, there was a seventh one with some particularly tricky Lotus magic that initially prevented us from fixing it. Lotus Hero Yvaine somehow managed to crash the official tools and stubbornly resisted our attempts to restore her three missing animations.
After extensive research, we were finally able to fix Yvaine’s model and restore those three animations. In total, that brings us to around 21 animations restored, marking the completion of this part of our cut content restoration.
⚔️ • Bug Fixes & Technical Tweaks
We’ve also been hard at work squashing the bugs. A number of critical crashes during AI games has been solved. Here’s a rundown of what’s been addressed:
- Fixed a nasty bug that would sometimes occur during a switch from campaign to Multiplayer. We are not sure how that could ever be a thing, but what's important is that it is fixed for good. This might've been a trigger for some MP desyncs and crashes. 😅
- Added Windowed Mode to Game Options in the Main Menu.
- Fixed AI related crashes during counterpick logic.
- Resolved multiple game crashes occurring when loading specific savegames.
- Resolved a UI bug where BG appeared disabled during stun state.
- Added three new team colors to choose from: light blue, light green and light brown.
- Healthbars will now display above visual effects for better visibility.
- Fixed certain BGs' visual effects being applied twice (e.g., Maiden BG VFX).
- Updated Steam SDK to version 1.60.
- Units on guard will no longer target units stationed on watchtowers.
- Removed blood particles from "Strong Cutting" and "Strong Piercing" VFX to comply with the Mature/Non-Mature setting (VFX that play when a target weak to the mentioned damage types is attacked by that damage type).
- Fixed/Restored Yvaine's "Ready Up" animations (animations that play when the unit is selected (and idle)).
🎮 • Gameplay Adjustments
- Corrected Ronin Blood Bond BG to apply only within the intended distance and ensured Ronin now runs to the bond target (previously the range was unlimited).
- Fixed the Blade Acolyte’s innate ability to function as intended (after sharpening his blades, he will deal 60% more damage on his next attack).
- The game will now indicate which watchtower is affected when a unit performs BG on it, with the unit also rotating to point at the watchtower.
- Fixed Kabuki Warrior's Star Dust effect ending prematurely.
- Fixed Kabuki Warrior's Star Dust oversight that didn't allow him to use full range for the BG.
- Kabuki Warrior: Piercing Armor Multiplier changed from 100% to 87.5%.
- Kabuki: Line of Sight (LOS) increased from 16 to 20.
- Kabuki (Star Dust BG): Drain Rate reduced from 5 to 3.
- Dragon Warriors: Piercing Armor Multiplier changed from 87.5% to 75%.
- Shambler: Piercing Armor Multiplier changed from 50% to 100%.
- Spearman: Magic Armor Multiplier changed from 125% to 100%.
- Spearman: Piercing Armor Multiplier changed from 87.5% to 75%.
- Spearman: Damage increased from 14 to 16.
- Spearman: Max Range increased from 0.5 to 1.5.
- Issyl: Blunt Armor Multiplier changed from 200% to 150%.
- Issyl: Piercing Armor Multiplier changed from 113% to 88%.
- Utara: Piercing Armor Multiplier changed from 62.5% to 100%.
- Koril: Piercing Armor Multiplier changed from 62.5% to 100%.
- Campaign Zombie Unit: Armor corrected to match its Skirmish counterpart.
- Archer (Fire Arrows BG): The BG is no longer limited to 10 charges but now require 10 stamina per shot.
- Warlock (Soul Chill BG): BG damage type changed from Cutting to Magic.
- Musketeer (Blast Shot BG): will now drain 7 stamina per shot.
- Musketeer (Blast Shot BG): Damage increased from 18.75 to 20.
- Leaf Disciples: Range increased from 10 to 12.
- Brawler: Damage decreased from 17 to 16.
- Dragon Stable: Building time increased from 60 to 90 to match other clans.
- Lotus Tower Lightning: Changed from two damage types (Explosive and Magic) to Fire (or True Damage as per 1.58.3 rebalance).
- Lotus Tower Lightning: Damage increased from 100 to 150.
- Lotus Tower Lightning: Stamina Cost changed from 0.33 to 0.6.
👀 • More to Come...
We'll be honest, porting the database took a long time, and many plans had to be postponed as a result. The good news is that those plans are still on the table, and we'll be completing them in the upcoming updates. In this screenshot, you can already catch a glimpse of what's to come.
While there may be challenges ahead (perhaps too many for comfort), we’re committed to keeping the game growing and improving. Your support and feedback are what drive us forward, and we can’t thank you enough for being part of this journey.
🛍️ • Battle Realms Merch!
Exciting news for all Battle Realms fans!
Official Battle Realms-themed merchandise is about to hit the scene. You can now sign up for the waitlist!
We've teamed up with Fourthwall to bring these goodies to BR fans all around the world!
Gear up, support your favorite game, and look awesome doing it! Every purchase from our shop directly supports the game's development. Join us on this epic journey and show your love for Battle Realms in style.
While we’re getting everything set up, we want to hear from you. Share your dream designs and must-have items you'd like to see in the shop. Let us know in the comments below.
Let’s create the ultimate fan experience together—your wish is our command!
Battle Realms Discord:
Join the official server for the game, the universe, and the community if you haven't. Discord has proven to be a very helpful and fun program to use for us (as developers), so we're quite keen on maintaining our server.
Populated by more than 4000 warriors, it is a solid communication bridge between us and all of you.
If you're having issues, planning to report a bug, or just want to learn something new about the game and communicate with other fans or even developers -- we'd like to see you there, come around!
Battle Realms Fundraiser:
- Help Fund Battle Realms! by Ed Del Castillo.