This update introduces some fairly major under-the-hood changes to Classic Lobbies which will improve stability. It was some of the oldest code in the game and we've been going back to clean it up.
Notice: For the time being, "Winner Stays" mode has been temporarily disabled while we continue to modernize Classic Lobbies.
Next: we're changing the way fullscreen works. Non-exclusive or "borderless" fullscreen is now the default fullscreen display option. The old fullscreen option has been hidden. If players need that exclusive fullscreen option back for whatever reason, you can set "-allow-exclusive-fullscreen" as a launch option, but we don't recommended it unless it's very specifically needed.
The short(ish) explanation for the fullscreen thing is: we've seen that exclusive fullscreen mode in TFH creates some significant issues. Since it grabs your entire screen, alt+tabbing has the potential to create stability problems like crashes, online disconnect issues and controllers not working anymore, among other things. In some games exclusive fullscreen can increase performance by a small amount, but for TFH, in the vast majority of cases (even on mid-low end PCs), there does not seem to be any benefit at all. So, we're pushing players towards "borderless".
Now then, onto the patch notes!
Improved Fullscreen
- Renamed "borderless fullscreen" to just "fullscreen" since it's the default now.
- Added "-allow-exclusive-fullscreen" launch flag which unhides the "exclusive" fullscreen option, if desired.
- Fullscreen is now better able to find your monitor's best target resolution on 16:9 aspect ratios at 60 hz
- While in fullscreen, the game now automatically hides your mouse cursor as long as the game is in focus and the mouse is not moving.
Classic Lobby
- Classic Lobby connection code has been refactored to make use of newer tech we already use in the Pixel Lobby, which will improve stability.
- Classic Lobbies now display a player's jitter as well as their ping. We plan to introduce this to the Pixel Lobby as well in a future update.
- "All Play" mode (which allowed for multiple simultaneous matches to occur in the same lobby) has been removed from Classic Lobbies. It has been replaced with "Free Play" mode, which is basically "Whoever Readies First".
- "Winner Stays" mode has been TEMPORARILY removed from Classic Lobbies while we continue to debug it. It will return in a future update.
Pixel Lobby
- The max player cap on official Pixel Lobby servers has been raised to 26 (from 25). Everyone gets a partner. No more third wheels!
- Players who are on the "match ready" ready screen in the Pixel Lobby now display a signifying gist (with a distinction between fighters and spectators), intended to make it easier for TOs to tell when a match is about to begin.
- You can now queue to spectate players through the player list.
- You can now back out of salt chest acquisition in the overworld, both while you're waiting for another player to challenge you and from the match ready screen. This is only on the overworld. We have no plans to introduce this feature in the Salt Mines.
- Removed the vestigial "host" and "skill" columns on the Pixel Lobby server browser list.
- Admins and mods of private Pixel Lobby servers can now join their server even if it's at max player capacity.
- Mane6 staff members and private server admins/mods now have special colored text in chat for better identification.
- The text chat now has a drop shadow effect for better readability.
- Fixed some minor collision issues in the Salt Mines and in Velvet's lobby.
- Some visual glitches with the new fight clouds should be fixed.
- Fixed a bug that was causing a black flicker at the end of matches as players returned to the overworld.
- Fixed some issues with the game's support of non-english characters.
Gameplay
- Fixed a bug where the % symbol would not appear with individual volume settings in the main menu.
- Fixed a few small typos in the tutorial.
- Fixed a bug in the tutorial where sections would not be checked off if you skipped freeplay from the pause menu.
- Fixed an unintended issue with Oleander's stage where multiple background characters would show up simultaneously. It's now either one at a time or none.