Salt Mines 2.0 Has Arrived to TFH!

At long last, Salt Mines 2.0 is finally here! We've also implemented fundamental changes to the pushblock system, shortened the match timer, and made throw teching a little bit harder to do. Since so many universal changes are going in all at once, we'll be keeping a close eye on how they affect each character individually.

The pixel lobby experience has been completely transformed now that the original concept for the Salt Mines has been realized. In addition: lobby controls, virtually all menus, and the text chatbox have received updates. Read on for details...

Pixel Lobby

New Feature: Salt Mines 2.0

• The Salt Mines is now a timed event.
• Players are scored and rewarded based on how much salt they have when they are defeated or time runs out.
• Players can now mine salt ore in the Salt Mines by rapidly hitting (or holding) the D button.
• Defeating predators yields salt rewards and progresses the stage of difficulty.
• The higher the difficulty, the higher the rewards gained.
• Players can purchase Health, Hats and Dynamite from chests that spawn throughout the Salt Mines.
• As the timer draws closer to the end, Hat chests (which are normally contestable) will no longer be contestable, and players spend a period of time stocking up on salt rewards to further boost their score before the tally.
• When the 'stock up' phase ends, the top salt earner is sacrificed to the elder gods and ascends. The FINAL EVENT begins, where remaining players fight for survival.
• There are a set of bonus challenges that are given out to players who complete certain feats while participating in the Salt Mines.
• Salt rewards from Salt Mines runs are banked, to then be spent at a vendor in the overworld to purchase additional hats.
• Banked salt is a temporary resource. It does not carry over to other pixel lobby servers and disappears if a player remains logged out from a server for more than 4 hours.

New Feature: Cap ’n' Cash’s Cash for Caps Lobby Shop

• Introducing Cap ‘n' Cash, hat traders from Reine City on a mission to take your hard-earned salt in exchange for fabulous hats. What are they doing with all that salt? Who knows. But you sure look great.
• Their stock rotates every Sunday at 0:01 a,m, and Wednesday at 6 p,m, PST. Numbers are subject to change based on the discretion of the shopkeepers...

General

• The fountain in A Dreary Place has collapsed… So much for that.
• The bounds of reality in the Pummeling Plains are now harder to escape from.
• The game now remembers which voice channel you have set between play sessions.
• Overworld salt chests now reward much more salt: 300 to the winner, 150 to the loser.
• We now display notifications about the salt mines and salt chest battles in the overworld! If you prefer to go radio silent, you can turn them off in lobby options.
• Predators and shadow characters in the salt mines now always appear to have 100% health when a fight begins, regardless of their actual health value.
• Predators and shadow characters in the salt mines now have low friction in the overworld and can more reliably be juked/kited especially at lower levels.

New Lobby Controls

• We’ve rearranged the controls for the Pixel Lobby. They are now:
  • A - Wardrobe Menu (in overworld), Throw Dynamite (in salt mines)
  • B - Quick Chat Menu
  • C - Cancel
  • D - Confirm/Interact
  • Utility 1 - Open/Close Text Chat
  • Utility 2 - Voice Chat (Hold)
  • Start - Options Menu
  • Select - Player List (formerly Leaderboard (formerly Chuck’s))

Improved Menus

• There is now a “Master Volume” option on the main and pixel lobby menus.
• The “Hold Magic button” menu is no longer a thing. Everything you could do in that menu is now in the pause menu. Everything that was inside the previous pause menu has been consolidated into a submenu: “Lobby Options”.
• “Music Volume” now effects all music everywhere. There is no longer a separate volume slider for lobby music.
• The “Music at Night” option has been assimilated into “Overworld Music”, which you can toggle on, off, or “Day Only”.
• There is now an on/off toggle for music in the Salt Mines.
• There is now a “Pixel Lobby Controls” display on the pause menu.
• Lobby options now update in real time. You no longer have to apply your changes before exiting the menu.
• You can now push pause or cancel to leave the lobby menu.
• “Leaderboard” has been renamed to “Player List” and displays ping, overworld chest wins, run salt, and bank salt. "Score" was a vestigial stat and has been removed.
• All lobby menus now autoscroll when you hold a direction.

Improved Text Chatbox

• You can now press the Utility 1 button to open and close the chatbox. You can still click it with your mouse, if you prefer the old ways.
• There are now scrollbars!
• You can now choose to anchor the chatbox to the bottom left or bottom right of your screen via the lobby options menu.
• When you press enter to send a message, the chatbox will now close.

Improved Wardrobe

• The wardrobe has been completely overhauled. You can now see many more accessories at once and tab through different slots with a single button press.

Stages

• 2D stages are now available. To turn them on, select from the “Show Backgrounds” option in the main menu. If you’re on a lower-end machine, you no longer have to fight in the void! Keep in mind they won’t be a 1:1 recreation of the full-fidelity 3D version, but we did want to offer something better than complete and total darkness.
• The cave stage featured during Salt Mines and the Arcade Mode boss fight has been redone. We would like to make this stage unlockable for versus play later on, but that is not included for this release.
• Pom’s stage has been redone, along with the nighttime variant.
• We’ve temporarily removed some NPCs from Pom’s stage for adjustments to the new setup.
• Pom’s rainy stage has been removed from the game permanently. There is no rain in Baaah’s Sheep State.
• Velvet’s stage morning and nighttime variants are back with updated versions!

Gameplay

Mechanics Changes

• Match timer seconds now count as real-world seconds instead of “Skullgirls” seconds (which are actually 1.75 real-world seconds). Take that, relativity!
  • The predator fight in Arcade Mode now has an infinite match timer, to account for the change above.

• Pushblock distance is now determined based on the button strength of the hit you pushblock. Heavier buttons push back farther.
  
• You can now effectively pushblock any individual hit of a multihit move. Before, there were certain multihits that locked you out for variable amounts of time, pushblock should now be much more responsive across the board.
  
• Throw tech window reduced from 23 frames to 15 frames.
  
• Throw startup is now considered counterhittable. This functions similarly to "Throw Reject Miss" (TRM), where if you attempt a throw tech too early (before the throw actually hits you), you are prevented from teching that throw at all. You will have to be more deliberate with your throw input timing to break free.
  
• There is now an onscreen indicator during the throw tech window, to help players see it better.
  • Green is a regular, techable throw.
  • Red is counterhit throw (TRM or otherwise), which cannot be teched.

General

• There is now a unique hitspark for throws.
• Armored hits now have a special sound effect.

Velvet

• Fixed an issue where Shatter A and C wouldn’t correctly spawn effects and hitboxes when input buffered from air blockstun.
• Velvet’s air throw now has a wind sound effect.
• Velvet’s stand throw now has an ice eruption sound effect.
• Velvet's blocks and pushblocks now have an icy sound effect.
• Velvet's supers now have new sound effects.
• Various inconsistencies created by the frost effect from Velvet’s level 2 super have been fixed. It should now work like every other slowmo effect in the game. The amount the opponent is slowed has now also increased slightly as a result.

Paprika

• Paprika’s basket explosion now has a sound effect.
• Throws now have constrict sound effect. (Still missing the pop, however).
• Paprika's arms no longer render above various other objects/pups/etc during her throws.
• Paprika's edibles now make a squish sound when hitting the floor.
• Paprika's player 2 intro now has sounds for when she is interacting with the fourth wall.
• [6]4+C (Teleport) now has a sound effect when Paprika hits the ground.
• j.C hitpause and gaps between hits increased very slightly to allow consistent pushblocks.
• [4]6+A (Cartwheel) visual swipes and screenshake now align slightly better with hits.
• [4]6+A (Cartwheel) top and forward hitboxes expanded slightly.

Oleander

• Fixed an issue where two books showed up during C, j.C, and B. There can still be only one.
• The beam effect during Study has been updated.
• Fred has a new eldritch drone.
• Fred's portals have new sounds.

Tianhuo

• Fixed an issue where an extra ear would show up during j.A. Tianhuo has been instructed to stop drinking from the water pool downstream from the Industrial District in Huoshan.
• Tian's Firecracker Flips now have a sound effect.
• Tian's air throw now properly adds a hit on the first jab.

Pom

• j.B hitpause now properly applies to Pom as well, allowing consistent pushblocking for every hit.

Predators