We want to thank all of you for your patience over the last few months. Our last update was last year. We did not think it would take this long, and we are grateful for all of you that are still here.
VAIL is now officially upgraded to Unreal Engine 5, bringing new features and rendering technology to elevate the game to a new level. While the fanciest features, such as nanite and lumen, don't work for VR yet; there's still a plethora of features and rendering technology that will elevate VAIL to a whole new level.
- New tools ensure a faster workflow, allowing us to make new content, such as maps, much more quickly. In addition to the newest map added in this update (more on that below), expect many new maps and game modes in the near future.
- Physics and player interactions are crucial in virtual worlds, and with the switch to Unreal Engine 5, we are now using the CHAOS engine, which is more performant and capable than the previous PhysX engine.
- Unreal Engine's next-generation VFX system, Niagara, has been greatly improved for Unreal Engine 5, allowing us to create more complex and visually stunning effects, even for standalone VR.
- VAIL now uses OpenXR, the standard for VR hardware and software interaction. This means VAIL will be more compatible with new VR headsets far into the future.
- And much more technical stuff that we don't want to bore you with...
We are among the first VR developers to use unreal engine 5, which means many of the bugs and quirks had to be fixed manually by our engineers to ensure the engine could even be used for VR.
In addition, many of the game's systems had to be completely remade from scratch. However, we took this opportunity to not just recreate them, but to make them better than ever before.
VAIL now looks better, feels better, and will soon be running on standalone hardware thanks to the significant performance gains from switching to the newest engine.
In addition to porting the game to the newest engine, we've been hard at work on many new features and content. This update includes only a fraction of the new features we've been working on, so expect much more to come in future updates.
Cliffside
Hidden deep within a network of caves and tunnels, the Cliffside Bazaar is a thriving black market hub that boasted a wide array of weapons and illegal tech and is operated by the neutral Amani Forum. Normally mercs from all sides come here to upgrade their equipment, but a fight broke out between REYAB and Colonists, beginning in the lounge and then spreading throughout the entire bazaar. Nobody knows who started it, but the Amani, wishing to remain neutral, evacuated the area; leaving the REYAB and Colonists to raid the abandoned wares.
Cliffside is the first of many new maps we plan on introducing over the next few months. It's designed as a casual TDM map, but other game modes such as Capture the Orb and Artifact are also available for this map.
Snipe other players from across the map, relax in the lounge, hide behind crates as they move in and out of the market on the conveyor belt, and maybe browse the market stalls for new equipment.
Hardpoint
Fight to control rotating objective areas on the map. Teams earn points for each second one of their players occupies a Hardpoint uncontested. After 60 seconds, the Hardpoint relocates to a new location on the map. The winner of Hardpoint is the first team to score 250 points, or the team with the most points when the timer runs out.
For now, Hardpoint is only available on Cliffside, but it will soon come to more maps.
New Firearms
- MR96 is a bolt-action sniper rifle. Magazines have to be removed with your off-hand and remember to rack the bolt between each shot.
- G28Z is a semi-auto DMR. While not as powerful as a bolt-action sniper, the G28Z fills the gap between a true sniper and a service rifle.
- GrotB is a bullpup rifle, with the action and magazine behind the trigger. This allows the gun to be much smaller and more versatile while keeping the barrel length, and therefore the accuracy and power, the same as a standard rifle.
Armory Simulations
Now included standard in every armory are various simulations for training and leisure. Expect improvements to these existing simulations and many more to come in the future!
- Aim Trainer allows you to practice your aim against moving targets. Leaderboard coming soon.
- Grenade Toss to practice your throw with the impact grenade. Leaderboard coming soon.
- Basketball and Hockey
Misc. Changes
Get a glimpse of the void, the game intro sequence, the next time you launch the game.
We recreated the entire HUD to improve performance. Fixed a bug where server messages (player joined the game for example) show in white text in the middle of the screen. Now all player messages are shown in the kill feed.
The kill feed is color-coded to show enemies as RED and friendlies as BLUE. More work will be done on the kill feed, the current design is a placeholder.
Carl, the friendly turtle on Miru, has more animations and will react to gunshots!
We made major adjustments to weapon damage, movement stability, and recoil to improve the balance and make the game more welcoming to new players. Nobody likes joining a match and immediately getting one-shotted by a skilled player, but we also want to keep what makes VAIL unique and competitive. Bear with us as we test out these changes, and remember to send us your feedback!
Map Changes
- Lighting was reworked on every map due to the UE5 transition.
- Many existing UE4 map bugs have been squashed.
- Maar now has a different layout that's simpler and with less dead space. Looking forward to further feedback on how it plays!
- Este has had a major visual pass with many new props added.
- Extremely Fine details on map materials and textures were re-added and are now supported on multiple platforms.
- Every map was adjusted for vaulting and jumping.
- Almost every map has had an angle/gameplay adjustment by one of our newest level designers, Tarmac.
- Maps are now much more performant, using less complex shaders and taking up much less memory.
- Maps have received passes for shimmering and other immersion-breaking visual bugs. More passes are pending.
Bug fixes
Switching over to Unreal Engine 5 introduced countless bugs, and the majority of our time porting to the new engine was spent fixing these bugs. Our goal was to ensure that VAIL in Unreal Engine 5 felt just as good, if not better than the Unreal Engine 4.27 experience.
We appreciate everyone that points out new bugs to us, and we will continue to be hard at work updating the game as frequently as possible to get rid of any new bugs introduced with this update. Please, let us know on Discord about any new bugs you find!
Again, thank you all for your patience as we finished this update.
See you all in game!
Love you all, AEXLAB