This update includes massive improvements to network prediction for sprinting, walking, ladders, sliding, jumping, vehicle movement, and vehicle boosting.
Networking & Prediction Improvements
Networking has been a longstanding complaint, and it’s a complicated issue that has been a huge challenge in development. Networking affects how you and others experience actions in any online game, such as the visual smoothness of movement, viewing other players playing games, or general connection issues.
This update includes massive improvements to network prediction for sprinting, walking, ladders, sliding, jumping, vehicle movement, and vehicle boosting. This means you will be much less likely to see jerky movements or “rubber banding” while playing or watching others play.
These changes affect different areas all throughout the game, whether you’re in the Game Worlds, Plaza, or Condos. Game Worlds also got an overhaul with their movement such as SDNL sliding, LC dragon jumping, LC knight sprinting, and ZM power ups.
Accelerate Network Overhauled
With the improved networking, Accelerate feels and plays better in multiplayer. This has required us to rework the internals, but now there are no more network desyncs that would disrupt your racing!
Accelerate certainly got some love from the networking fixes, but there were other quality of life changes included in this update as well. We’ve adjusted the lap amounts for each map, improved handling and turning, and changed the speed of certain actions and power ups.
Ball Race
We’ve made improvements to the visual and audio experience of playing Ball Race. Additions include more visual/audio feedback for areas that have boosts, sound effects for more interactions, and better contrast of colors for boosts and buttons on some maps.
Plaza
We’ve further optimized the Plaza with improvements to LODs, light/shadows, rendering, and item collision. We also fixed a large loading start-up hitch.
Jetpacks
With our networking changes, expect smoother jetpack movement! We’ve also made improvements to the lighting of jetpacks.
Singapore and AUS Plaza Servers
We addressed the connection issues with our APAC and AUS region Plaza servers and they are now back online.
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Networking Changes/Bug Fixes
- Added better network prediction for sprinting, walking, ladders, vehicle boosting
- Fixed sprinting being horribly desynced and causing network lag when toggling it (effects Plaza, Condos, and Game Worlds)
- Fixed walking being horribly desynced and causing network lag when toggling it (effects Plaza, Condos)
- Fixed vehicle boosting being horribly desynced and causing network lag when boosting (effects Plaza, Condos)
- Fixed ladders being horribly desynced and causing network lag when using them (effects Plaza, Condos, and Game Worlds)
- Fixed jetpacks having lots of desyncs when using them
- Fixed network desync when moving around crouched
- Fixed network desync when equipping potions
- Fixed various pool tube related desyncs
- Accelerate: Completely eliminated all network related lag with boosts, powerups, dirt, and walls
- SDNL: Fixed sliding being desynced and causing network lag when sliding
- LC: Fixed all network desyncs with sprinting as a Knight
- LC: Fixed all network desyncs with jumping and flying as a Dragon
- ZM: Fixed network desync with using the survivor shield powerup
- Added better network prediction for jetpacks
- Improved jetpack dynamic lights
Changes
- Plaza: Art pass on stair steps throughout Plaza area
- Condo: Save button has been updated to directly go to the snapshots list
- Condo: When resetting your condo, it'll ask you one more time before clearing it
- Condo: When loading a snapshot, it'll now ask you to save your current condo as another snapshot before loading the snapshot
- Condo: Improved look of snapshot menu
- Condo: Added description of what snapshots are to the snapshot menu
- Condo: Snapshot date is now shown on the tooltip, so it's easier to find when a snapshot was made from the list
- Condo IO: Added video feed support to Camera IO items (connects to TVs) and added "Play" and "Stop" IO inputs to control its movement without having to enter the camera
- Condo: Media players now show "Play" when they have a playlist, otherwise it shows Turn On
- Condo: Added media player prompt override setting
- Trivia: Added new payout for getting a correct answer (single player or multiplayer supported) which will give you 100 units for each correct answer
- Workshop SDK: Added "skip updating description" option when uploading workshop player models/items
Game World Changes
- Accelerate - Bedzoom: Reduced Laps from 4 to 3
- Accelerate - Wishy Washy Waterfall: Reduced Laps from 4 to 3
- Accelerate - Pine Valley: Reduced Laps from 4 to 3
- Accelerate - Holly Jolly Highway: Reduced Laps from 5 to 3
- Accelerate - Sunrise Isles: Reduced Laps from 5 to 3
- Accelerate: Improved handling/turning
- Accelerate: Added controller DPad turning support
- Accelerate: Reduced respawn/fallout respawn delay (2s > 1s) to keep players in the race faster
- Accelerate: Reduced speed of Moon Power powerup
- Accelerate: Reduced slowdown of water
- Accelerate: Adjusted boost priority so that boosting is preferred even when powered up because boosts are faster
- Accelerate: Dirt slows you down more
- Minigolf: Added voice volume setting to Minigolf scoreboard
- Ball Race: Improved customize menu
- Ball Race: Booster pads now have sound and visual effects
- Ball Race: Boost pipes and boost fans now have visual and audio wind effects
- Ball Race: Added various ambient audio effects throughout the maps
- Ball Race: Slightly shrunk the kill volumes on the toxic sludge in Woodlands so that slightly touching/getting near the edges is a bit more forgiving
- Ball Race: Increased the amount of melons in Oasis's bonus level
- Ball Race: Improved button's glow effects to better indicate when a button is turned on.
- Ball Race: Added on/off click sound effects when triggering a button
- Ball Race: Pop-up blockers now play a sound effect when they spawn and despawn.
- Ball Race: GLXY, Khromidro, and Midori's floor tiles now match the location of the booster pads, making it more clear where exactly the boosts are
- Ball Race- Paradise: Boost pipes in Paradise now play a "thunk" sucked-into-a-pipe sound effect when entering.
- Ball Race - Paradise: Paradise's boost pipes now have a wrong way indicator.
- Ball Race - Prism : Changed some of the blocks to have translucent glass in the easy/hard course in Prism so that players can better see what they are doing without having their view obstructed
- Ball Race - Midori: Midori's platforms have gotten an art pass
- Ball Race - GLXY: Reduced distance to death volumes on most levels
- Ball Race - GLXY: Added more melons to Bonus Level
- Ball Race - Midori: Added more melons to Bonus Level
Optimizations
- Plaza: Various LOD improvements throughout the Plaza
- Plaza: Reduced collision complexity of hanging signs in stores area
- Plaza: Vastly improved the way the monorail bridge is rendered for improved performance
- Plaza: Optimized and re-did the way the lazy river is rendered for performance
- Plaza: Removed an unnecessary shadow-casting spotlight from the boardwalk that was causing a 2ms FPS drop when in the area
- Plaza: Optimized store creation by a huge amount, which will help reduce the initial load in freeze
- ZM - Escape: Optimized Suburbs
Bug Fixes
- Fixed high quality shaders setting not applying
- Fixed rich presence not setting to main menu when you return to the main menu
- Fixed jetpack not turning off when you de-quip it while using it
- Fixed underwater effect happening in third person
- Fixed water splash effects being missing from the game
- Fixed multi-buy purchase options showing up in stores that have no shopping cart
- Plaza: Fixed an improper collision at one of the monorail stations that was caused by an encircling railing having a box collision
- Plaza: Fixed one of the hanging signs in the stores area incorrectly listing Vroomspeed twice
- Plaza: Fixed the spotlight models glowing in Dark Voyage
- Plaza: Fixed collisions around the lazy river
- Plaza: Fixed Dark Voyage cart looking very dark
- Condo: Fixed post process volume not working with sphere shape
- Condo: Fixed Studio Headphones items fading out
- Arcade: Tutorial will now activate when entering any entrance
- Condo: Fixed Water Volumes not working with pool tubes (now pool tubes float properly)
- Condo: Fixed clients getting kicked from a condo when editing Sky Volume color properties
- Condo IO: Fixed Player Movement Volume not unsetting its effect on a player when a player dies/respawns while inside it
- Condo IO: Fixed Damage Heal Volume applying damage twice when first overlapped with
- Libretro: Fixed Libretro not displaying properly on OEM Computer, Laptops, and 90s / 80s TVs
- Workshop SDK: Fixed mover pause button not showing up in workshop level editor mode
- Fixed media player controls menu "Stop" button (bottom left corner) not working (clients were unable to hit the "Stop" button)
Game World Bug Fixes
- Accelerate: Fixed boost desyncing players
- Accelerate: Fixed turning speed adjustments desyncing players
- Accelerate: Fixed respawn boost netlag
- Accelerate: Fixed drift boost net lag delay
- Accelerate: Fixed starting race boost having network delay
- Accelerate: Fixed dragon animations always turning left/right wrongly
- Accelerate: Fixed drift angle not networking to other players (players drifting would appear not drifting at the correct angle or at all)
- Accelerate: Fixed item cards not clearing after respawning, causing item cards that appear usable but are not
- Accelerate: Fixed Flux powerup sound/effects playing twice/at a delay for clients
- Accelerate: Fixed Moon Power powerup sound/effects playing twice/at a delay for clients
- SDNL - Container Ship: Fixed various visual issues
- SDNL - Decommission: Fixed glowing ceiling lamps
- SDNL - Frostbite: Fixed glowing floor lights
- SDNL: Fixed broken lighting in SDNL's broadcast room (intermission room)
- LC: Fixed issues where players sometimes do not spawn in
- LC: Fixed player avatar scale on scoreboards
- ZM - Escape: Fixed an issue where spawning would cause you to fall forever
- Ball Race: Fixed customize menu being under the spectating menu
- Accelerate - Bedzoom: Lighting fixes
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