Hey Agents!
We’re happy to announce that we’re ready to open up beta testing for the community servers update to the broader public!
I want to kick this off with a very important notice: While you are on the beta, do not buy Bonds
The beta is our new backend we’re moving to and when we do a final migration from live, the data/progression accrued there will be overwritten during that last data transfer.
On the topic of account data, please note that our beta snapshot is from August 22nd. So if you've played live very recently, you may notice a small delta in your account stats or any unlocks you did in that time.
So with that out of the way, let’s get down to the details of the beta and associated update!
Starting and Managing Your Server
At the time of this posting, the Deceive Inc. Dedicated Server Tools app should already be in your Steam library now. Searching for Deceive in the library search bar should find it, or you can use the Games and Software dropdown and checkbox “Tools.”
Note: You may need to restart your Steam Client if you haven't done so lately.
Additionally, you’ll need to opt into the beta build for the game client itself. You can do this by right clicking Deceive in your Steam Library, selecting “Properties,”going over to the “Game Versions and Betas” tab, and opting into the dedicatedserverpreview beta.
When you first open your server, you’ll be greeted with the main configuration options. Here, you can select things like your mode, player count, map selection, set a password, and so on.
The keen-eyed among you may also see a special button called “Open Balancing” that we’ll get to a bit later!
Once you’re done editing your settings, you’ll hit Save and be brought to the general server status window. If you’ve changed settings, be sure to hit the “Restart” button so they take effect!
From there, you’re good to start the main game client and get connected to your server.
Linux Servers
They exist! If you open up Steam on a Linux machine, you should be able to grab the Linux version of the server from there.
Please note that Deceive was primarily created to run on the Windows servers and we don’t have a reliable way to test Linux in-depth. Thankfully, the closed testers have been able to verify that things are in general working order with them.
If you run into any issues with them, we strongly recommend you join the Discord and field issues or questions there.
Common Connection Issues
Most common connection issues, be it someone connecting to your server or getting connected to someone else’s, tend to stem from improper port forwarding, OS firewall settings, or other router settings/firewalls.
By default, we use UDP 7777 and 7778, but the config will accept a custom port. Usually a misconfigured port will result in a server that appears to have 9999 ping in the server browser.
Known Issues
There are some known issues I need to be upfront about, namely around Bots.
For all intents and purposes, revival will not work with Bots in Duos or Trios. There are ways to revive them, but after revival they will break and cease to function for the remainder of the match.
Bots will not attempt to revive players or fellow Bots on their team.
Post-defeat spectating of other teams will not function if a bot was on your team.
These issues stem from the fact that Bots were never intended to be used outside of Solos. Nonetheless, we wanted to provide the option to use them in Duos/Trios for those who just wanted to generally fill out those game modes.
Community Balance Configuration
This is something I think a lot of you will love!
In the original announcement, we committed to helping open up configurations and doors to modding as best we could. To that end, we’re providing a system that will let users alter many of the Agent, gadgets, and general gameplay settings in Deceive.
Within \\DeceiveInc\\ of your server installation folder, you’ll find a CommunityBalanceProfile JSON file. This contains editable values for a variety of overrides. Want Agents to have a higher health pool? Go for it. Red should have 70 ammo clip machine-shotgun? You got it.
These values will sync to any player connecting to your server, allowing you to create servers with your own balance in mind.
Now, I do need to mention a few caveats and quirks about the system.
For full transparency, this system was adapted from what the Sweet Bandits would use to do live balance updates. There are likely a good handful of overrides that are mislabeled, attached to mechanics/features that were cut or redesigned, or just simply don’t work.
We do have to provide this system and the adjustable overrides as-is.
I want to take a moment to highlight one of our community members, Riclamin, who put together a beautiful tool that presents the JSON into a much more readily readable and editable format.
You can find that tool over on Github.
Additionally, Riclamin, our closed testers, and the community over at Spire Scrims have graciously put a lot of time and effort into verifying many of these overrides ahead of time.
I really hope you all enjoy tinkering with Deceive at this level and can use this system -even with its quirks- to create fresh experiences for you and your friends.
So What’s Next?
While you all get familiar with the Beta and send back any issues with the new systems that we missed, we have a few last things to wrap up before we’re fully ready to transition the live version of the game to these new systems.
Once we’re confident that we haven’t let any major issues through and those last bits are sorted, we’ll announce a date and time for the proper update to live. In order to safely migrate data to the new backend, we will need to take Deceive offline for a bit on the day of the update.
Also, we will likely not have the "official" servers up for this beta test, as we're organizing some hardware needs there. Come full launch, we will upkeep some official Tripwire servers, as promised.
I want to reiterate that the development bandwidth for this update is still very restricted. Absolutely report issues and feedback here on Steam or in our Discord; we look at and consider it all. Having said that, we have to be extremely picky about what we go after fixing and need to focus on critical issues with the new systems themselves.
Closing Thoughts
The support and love shown on the original announcement was truly awe-inspiring. The immense love for the Sweet Bandits and Deceive Inc. was felt and resounded with all of us.
I know that this update may not address every loose end and it likely has some blemishes where we bent existing systems to fit this new structure, but we strongly believe that this is the right approach to take so that you all can keep enjoying Deceive whenever you want to.
Thank you all for the continued support and patience as we work on all these changes!
With much love,
[TW] DVa and the rest of the Tripwire Presents team