Today's update is all about how the game feels online. Welcome to B1235.

We've reworked how objects travel across the network, so input feels tighter, connections hold up better when they get messy, and it all uses less bandwidth. There's a new Network Buffering setting to tune it to your connection, plus much smoother replays.

Networking

• Network smoothing for every client with no additional latency.

• Improved handling of unstable connections (network jitter, packet loss, packet reordering).

• 50% reduction in network bandwidth between the server and clients.

• 10ms reduction in perceived input latency.

Network Buffering

A new in-game setting with four options that trade input latency against simulation accuracy:

• PREDICTIVE - Least input latency, least accurate. -15ms input latency; realistically only for ideal conditions (1Gbps ethernet, minimal jitter).

• RESPONSIVE (default) - Minimal input latency, less accurate. -10ms vs. the live version with little to none of the downsides.

• BALANCED - Normal input latency, accurate. Adds a 5ms buffer for network jitter, stalls and similar.

• SMOOTH - Most input latency, very accurate. Adds a 10ms buffer for more anomalies. Best bet on a 4G mobile router.

Replays

• Smooth replay playback for clients, with much less server load while a replay is running.

• Fixed jittery replay playback when self-hosting, most noticeable during slow-motion goal replays.

Matchmaking

• You can now queue for 3v3 and 5v5 at the same time.

• 3v3 and 5v5 are toggles now - tick the ones you want and hit START MATCHMAKING.

Abandon Cooldowns

• Every 10 matches you finish takes one cooldown level off, on top of the weekly decay. Both count, and they stack.

• Matches are counted between cooldowns, so leftovers don't carry across an abandon.

• Durations slightly re-balanced:

Visuals

• Fixed the goalie stick being affected by depth of field in the lobby.

See you on the ice!