We're still working hard on the two tracks for 1.3.2, but in the meantime we have some new features that we'd like to get in your hands while we're working on those tracks!

Playing the preview

• 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 development. If the update doesn't automatically queue for download, restart Steam
• Once you have opened the game, the version at the bottom right of the menu should read 1.3.2-d2

Public development builds are considered stable and all game features, including online components such as leaderboards, are available.

New Features

Playlist Editor

The playlist editor is a new audio options sub-menu which replaces the custom music options previously found in the Audio -> Mods menu.

With 1.3 we had introduced a new music backend which allows us to combine internal and external music into the same playlists, so this new feature builds upon that by exposing the system fully to you.

Internal music has been split into playlists by the expansion / update that introduced them and you can now pick and choose any external music folders you want to play.

We've also included a quick setup feature, which mimics the old Audio -> Mods menu if you prefer to continue using custom music in that way, or to quickly setup playlists to further tweak.

Dedicated Servers

You can now host dedicated multiplayer servers. Use the Launch Dedicated Server.bat (Windows) / Launch Dedicated Server.sh (Linux) to start a server using the DedicatedServerExample.cfg file!

For this preview we're not officially supporting dedicated servers on Mac so we can focus on the two major operating systems people are most likely to be running a server from first. Terminal behaviour on Mac is untested and may not be correct, but the server should still run. You'll want to create your own shell script to launch it for the time being.

Everything you need to know can be found documented in the DedicatedServerExample.cfg file, however here's a quick rundown:

• The server is a headless instance of the game with no ship. It runs the game, but does not participate in it.
• The server will wait for players to connect before starting a countdown to begin the race, or if the timer is set below 0, until enough players have voted to start the game.
• While connected to a dedicated server, players can vote kick, vote tracks and vote start / end races. By default each vote type has a success threshold of 50%, which can be adjusted in the server config and on the fly.
• Many new console commands have been added for servers. These are all documented in the example cfg file.
• Server hosts can set an admin password and then login and execute commands using the in-game console, instead of needing to use the operating systems console / terminal.
• Custom content and code mods are supported as with usual multiplayer.
• Hardware requirements are about the same to run the game normally, minus rendering overhead on the CPU and the need for a GPU.

Please let us know what you think! Your feedback will help us improve and expand what can be done with dedicated servers.

Changelog

Music

• Internal songs are now split into separate playlists, categorized by the expansion they were introduced in.
• The music list is now populated using all enabled playlists. New playlists are enabled by default and can be disabled in the playlist editor.
• Removed the expansion name prefix from internal music.

Options

• Added a playlist editor to the Audio menu (Audio -> Playlists). Playlist states are stored as a colon separated blacklist in config.ini and config_vr.ini
• Removed the Custom Music options from the Audio menu (replaced by playlist editor)

Multiplayer

• Adding a forward slash (/) before text in the chat box now interprets the message as a console command
• Added a vote menu to the lobby menu
• Ship update ticks are now decoupled from the players ship and run as part of the global tick manager.
• The lobby start countdown text and sounds are now controlled by the server.
• The races progress is now sent to players sat in the lobby every 5 seconds, using the lobby start countdown text.
• Launching the game with the -batchmode -nographics -logfile "User/Logs/server.log" -svrcfg arguments will now run the game as a headless dedicated server with a local log output. The server does not have its own ship in this mode and runs in an automated mode. A .bat file has been included with the game to launch the game as a dedicated server, pointing to the provided DedicatedServerExample.cfg file.

Commands
All of these commands and what they do are documented in DedicatedServerExample.cfg

• Added svrset , svrget and svrgetall commands.
• Added svrlogin and svrexec commands. Passwords are hashed on both ends to obfuscate the original inputs.
• Added svrquit command.
• Added svrlobby and svrstart commands.
• Added svrcon command. Use before using svrkick and svrban
• Added svrkick and svrban commands. These can be used mid-race.
• Added svrsay command.
• Added svrtrack command.
• Added votestart command.
• Added voteend command.
• Added votekick command.
• Added votestart command. This can be used with a negative lobby countdown time to use a client driven vote to start setup.
• Added voteskip command.
• Added votetrack command.
• Added vote command.

Weapons

• Fixed random mines not rotating after the first race.

Engine

• Fixed duplicate music player instances being created every race when continuous music is enabled

Track Preview

Here's some work in progress shots of the new track!

1.3 Support Cycle

BallisticNG 1.3.2 is the 2nd out of three post-1.3 updates where we're focusing on additional content and fleshing out the game's features further.

1.3.1 introduced an updated Harpstone and Vespera Heights, a prototype for the game's 4th expansion, more liveries and a few updates to multiplayer and Stunt improvements.

1.3.2 is introducing an updated Nova Split, a prototype for the game's 5th expansion, the improved playlist editor and dedicated multiplayer servers.

1.3.3 is introducing an updated Aciknovae and another free track.

Once these updates have been released we'll begin work on 1.4, which is also where we'll be working full time on the game's Switch port.