1.3 Beta 7 is now available! This is going to be our last beta build for a while. A lot of work now is content related, so we're going to get cracking on that and drop it all with the final 1.3 release. Stay tuned for content teasers!
Joining the beta
- Right click BallisticNG in your steam library and go to Properties
- Go to the betas tab on the window that opens
- From the dropdown select Beta. If the update doesn't automatically queue for download, restart Steam
What is the beta?
For 1.3 we're developing and implementing new modding tools and features, some of which will be part of the upcoming Switch version of the game. We're releasing beta builds for each new feature we add so the community gets to play around with them early.
Unity Tools Notice
While these beta builds ship with Unity 2020.3.5 ready builds of the Unity Tools, they are intended for our internal testing group only. If you want to import the Unity Tools, please make sure you're using Unity 2018.3.8 and import them from the public branch running version 1.2.5 of the game.
Mods built with the 1.3 Beta Unity Tools are not compatible with previous versions of the game and documentation will not be available until the final release of 1.3.
What's New?
Forgotten Coast
Forgotten Coast is a small vehicle track weaving through a mangrove swamp in New Caledonia, made by Brobama. The entire track is off-road, with most of it having you flying over the ocean.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do2_lTH4iz8
Maria Tide
Maria Tide is set in Port Maria, Jamaica and is mostly off-road, with a small asphalt start grid going through the locations town.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJn3O-wDoSg
Animated Characters
To complete the Aster LB221, BallisticNG now supports animated characters! This feature will be available to custom ships for the final 1.3 release.
This is making use of Unity's state machine system, meaning mods will get a whole lot of control using a node graph to drive their animations.
Model B and C updates
The Model B and Model C has been flattened down into a single ship with liveries. Not only does this allow custom liveries, but we can now add more internal liveries too!
With the drag and drift categories now only having a single ship, we can potentially look at adding more drag and drift ships in the future and really start fleshing out the content for these modes.
We've also reduced how much the Model B bounces, meaning much less micro-pitching will be required to keep it vertically stable.
These changes also mean the leaderboards are no longer populated with different names for each Model B/C livery, and will now show up as just Barracuda Model B and Barracuda Model C
To celebrate the change, we've added the very original Model B livery to the ship! If you've been playing since the early access days, you might remember this as the original survival ship ;)
New Ships
5 new ships have been added! These are fun extras which are unlocked using the new nanomachines and spacerace cheats, which are typed on the menu. You can also now type funallowed for the game to remember any ships you have unlocked via a cheat.
Changelog
Tracks
- Added Forgotten Coast
- Added Maria Tide
- Restored the world hologram on Omega Harbour
Engine
- Implemented support for animated ship characters which can respond to steering, pitching, speed and engine power. This will be available to mods in a future Unity Tools update.
Multiplayer
- Steer and pitch inputs are now sent to apply character animations. With a full 16 player lobby, this adds an additional 960 bytes per second to the required bandwidth.
Commands
- Added debug_logcheats to print all typed cheats and a description of what they do into the console.
Cheats
- Added nanomachines cheat. This unlocks the Scorplet, Omnicom CD-AG32 and M-Tech RD-1
- Added spacerace cheat. THis unlocks the Barracuda MT Mini and Wyvern SCC Ares Mk I
- Added funallowed cheat. When activated, the state of ship unlocking cheats will be remrembered across game session. Typing again will disable it.
User Interface
- The name of cheats typed on the menu is now briefly displayed for visual feedback
Ships
- Added Aster LB221 livery template PSD and XCF
- The Model B and C ships have been merged into a single ship with liveries. Custom liveries will now work for these.
- The original Survival Model B livery is now available (named Stealth)
- Decreased Model B hover rot power from 25 to 20
- Aster LB221 now has pilot animations
- Moved Aster LB221s camera slightly closer
- Increased Aster LB221s hover damping from 4 to 5.5
- Decreased Aster LB221s camera sensitivity from 1 to 0.85
Stats
- Usage stats for the Aster LB221, Barracuda Model B and Barracuda Model C are now tracked.