Hey there AFF Community!
A new version of AFF is on the test branch, in response to the very in-depth feedback we've received from you in the last couple of weeks. It should resolve a lot of the bugs introduced by the transition to the new UI, as well as some long-standing annoyances (ship drift exploit, begone!)
It's fairly likely we'll still release another version on the test branch in a week or so, to wrap some details up. And if that proves to be stable and doesn't cause any major functionality issues, the new UI will finally make its premiere on the public branch.
Changelog:
- Fixed a myriad of issues with the settings menu - dysfunctional keybinding, settings changing by themselves, audio options not sticking, not being able to disable ship windows completely etc.
- Fixed an issue where multiple instances of a menu could be displayed on top of each other
- Fixed issues with accepting ship offers via broadcast menu while alive
- Fixed some superfluous updates and flickering happening in several menus in response to clicks and reloading the underlying data
- Blocked being able to re-accept a vehicle drop offer during an already ongoing drop animation
- Fixed dropships requesting warp point selection when parent ship's already jumped in
- Fixed deploy button not showing cooldown state correctly on open
- Fixed vehicle turrets' target command addressing
- Holo sight should be more visible, less blurry and red now
- Fixed new loadout preset creation
- Corrected naming of vehicle chassis mod slots
- Squadmember selection for ordering on click rather than on wave in the commrose now
- Fixed a few tagging (HUD bracket) issues, tag will try to re-find the target if it becomes visible again
- Smoke grenades now properly affect enemy tagging/spotting
- Tagged target will now display a health bar under the bracket
- Commander's and squadmembers' beacons (HUD icons) no longer occluded by level geometry
- The locator function of the TacMap can now display squads, teammates and primary objectives on demand
- Fixed TacMap breaking when trying to go to a fighter launch menu with an ignored vehicle drop offer
- Decreased UI z-depth for less distortion on the tilted parts
- Fixed vehicle railgun loadout stats display
- Tweaked how weapon damage-at-range stats are displayed in the loadout menu
- Fixed vehicle weapon aimpoints not aligning with the crosshair in the new UI in many cases
- Nudged lead indicator opacity up a bit when near the crosshair
- Added missing medal icons up to rank 25
- Player names in chat now clamped to 18 instead of 15 characters
- Boarding pod objectives should show up according to viewed location again
- Game mode in the Operations menu now property defaults to offline instead of hosting a listen server and will remember your choice in subsequent sessions
- Tweaked radar icon scaling to improve depth perception a bit
- Added some basic confirmation pop-up and a bit of VO back in when issuing orders
- Rewritten infantry and vehicle identification decals (name, squad, rank) as simple texture draws - should fix mystery endgame performance drops
- Fixed the ship drift exploit, where you could propel ships up to ridiculous speeds by drifting sideways in no-grav flight mode. Flying diagonally also won't let you exceed the top forward thrust limit anymore.
- After declining a vehicle drop you won't be offered the same vehicle for 5 minutes after that
- Added missing victory/loss music triggers
- Fixed menu music not looping
- Knife lunge no longer triggered on friendlies
- Knife no longer charges practically instantly and lunge only available on full charge
- Removed erroneous inaccuracy off sniperrifles, increased recoil on pistols, tweaked the damage falloff curve marginally to make the pistols less useful for sniping
- Widened capital ships' point defense area of effect so it's a bit more effective
- Significantly reduced RID's lock/charge times
- Renamed APC to LAV
- Friendly spawns should now heal in addition to resupply
- First-person (nose) camera rotation speed now constrained by ship's turning ability for less jitter and more direct control
- Fixed a few issues in AI pathfinding on attack, notably they'll approach Igneous' final objective more cleverly now
- Increased AI re-task rate, MILNET commander should be slightly more snappy now
- Adjusted the Fortress Territories' TacMap mesh to be less horribly performance-intensive
- Fixed lighting on the infantry dotted around the AIA briefing room
- Removed some inconsistent and annoying camera shake usage on vehicle muzzleflashes
- Fixed broken droppod pathing in Fortress
- Shutting vehicles down with EMP bullets slightly more achievable now
- Flares should be more effective now and affect all the missiles in an incoming bunch, not only a single one
- Disabled the music track embedded in Territories briefing music
- Removed the outdated whiteboards from the briefingrooms for now
- Pistols can now be equipped in all three weapon slots in the loadout, for maximum gunslinger fun
- Adjusted how some weapons are attached on the player's body when holstered
- Adjusted the music track selection algorithm to ensure bigger variety of tracks throughout the game
- Made a few very-low-level optimizations in the engine to speed a lot of common text operations up in the new UI
- Hold-fire order should potentially work more reliably now
- Fixed clearing of turret AI orders (freelance option)
- Fixed the fail in turning burn/corrosion effects off - would last until the garbage collector decided to kill them
- Burning/corrosion effects now properly clamped to 8 and 10 seconds respectively
- Getting healed by repairgun or medkit shortens duration of burn/corrosion effects
- Now it takes 8 incendiary detpacks, not 2, to kill a droppod
- Fixed passenger LSP weapon typo leading to 10x damage
- Fixed missing collision and stairs in Errah Territories
- Fixed more collision holes in Irega and Plains
- Fixed lock-on weapon mods sometimes resulting in unpredictable lock-on timing online
Just a reminder how to switch to the test branch, if you fancy taking a look at this version:
In your Steam library, right click on AFF, pick Properties and then on the tab called “Betas” change the dropdown to “Test”. A server running the Test build will be up shortly as well.
If you have more feedback regarding the new UI or the game in general, post on AFF's Steam forums or contact us directly through our Discord!
Onwards and upwards!