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Release August 29, 2012

Code named Titanium

Blog Post

Features[]

  • Added new marine Exosuit! Purchase at the Prototype Lab (requires 2 Command Stations). Comes with a Claw and Minigun. Dual Miniguns|Dual miniguns researchable.
  • Added new map: ns2_veil (thanks FMPONE!)
  • Added Alien "Pheromones".
  • Added ambient occlusion option.
  • Added an effect showing the Marine commander that an area is powered.
  • Added new Hive Sight for Aliens.
  • Added dynamic music when attacking Hives and Command Stations. Also added round start music.
  • Added "pick up game" feature to the Join game menu (an simple "gather" system, more to come)
  • Cleaned up general UI by adding new "nametags" that show you what all structures are and their health.
  • Added "show hints" option to the UI so red objective markers and informative text won't display.
  • Added glow effect for Commander for all commander structures, tech points and resource nozzles (so they "pop" from environment).

Balance[]

  • Nano shield now requires 2 Command Stations.
  • Aliens with regeneration get 3x passive/innate regeneration also (thanks Bitey!).
  • Building a Robotics Factory now grants you a free MAC (to preserve the apparent size/cost of structure while incentivizing its use early-game).
  • Changed Hydra spikes to Normal damage (from Light damage) so they will remain effective throughout the game (esp. vs late game high-armor JP marines). Effectiveness vs. early marines is unchanged.
  • Decreased Cyst build time from 5 to 1.
  • Decreased Harvester build time from 60 to 45.
  • Increased Drifter health to 300 (from 100).
  • Increased Drifter turn speed.
  • Increased Extractor build time from 10 to 12.
  • Increased jetpack fuel use amount by 25%.
  • Lowered Skulk (Natural Selection 2) Carapace from 50 to 30.
  • Reduced Spike and Spore energy costs somewhat (thanks Saba!).
  • Rupture reduced from 2 to 1 resources (more to come).
  • Shifted more of ARC hp into armor (which goes away when deployed).
  • When Armory is used a lot, it takes longer for it to recover it's maximum resupply rate.

Changes[]

  • Smoothed out blink movement.
  • Builder can now repair power nodes (half of the rate of welder).
  • Changed commander ping to use Alt+click (was previously shift+click which will interfere with selection).
  • Clicking on the ground will now clear the commanders selection.
  • Commander ping can now be triggered with middle mouse button.
  • Commanders no longer earn personal resources.
  • Gorge (Natural Selection 2) structures are now permanent again (they won't die if their owner is no longer a gorge).
  • Made health bar smaller and moved more down. it displays the same info as the crosshair text did, shows also gestate %.
  • Only mature Whips are able to whack grenades away.
  • Pre-evolving eggs and dropping equipment cost now team resources.
  • Removed "+1 resource" displayed for extractors and harvesters (interfering with hint-nametags and shouldn't need any more).
  • Removed crosshair text.
  • Removed health circles.
  • Removed hive info display.
  • Rupture no longer destroys the Cyst, instead it will blow up the top part of the Cyst and reset the maturity. Once re-matured rupture can be triggered again.
  • Scan is no longer destroyed when an Ink is nearby, it's now simply non functional.

Fixes[]

  • 3203 Onos sliding (increase velocity prec, increase min velocity).
  • AI units (MAC, Drifter, etc) now respect line of sight/fog of war when they are assigned an attack order (Thanks McGlaspie!).
  • Adjusted on damage knockback force to consider slow down effects (jump spam as marine), and reduced maximum possible knockback force by 30%.
  • Also report penetration normal for sphere vs tri mesh.
  • Another attempt to prevent prop penetration.
  • Definitely the last fix for prop penetration ever.
  • Don't allow player to easily penetrate props. Make the movement not work in subtly different ways.
  • Enabled doublesided tris for collision meshes (fixes many stuck issues).
  • Evolving Eggs are now facing the same direction that the player was previously facing (Thanks McGlaspie!).
  • Fix for failing unit test (depenetration from box primitive).
  • Fixed "Error: Couldn't open file " log message when alt-tabbing.
  • Fixed Alien commander eject voting (Thanks Dragon).
  • Fixed a bug where vertical friction was not applied properly when wall walking as a skulk.
  • Fixed ammo request / health request not reaching the commander most of the time.
  • Fixed animation hitches when jump as skulk.
  • Fixed blink 2d sound continues playing after blink is over.
  • Fixed bug allowing some structures to be stacked.
  • Fixed bug causing 3rd person weapon muzzle flashes to not be attached to the gun.
  • Fixed bug causing the "Hive Death Imminent" message to sometimes not appear before the Hive was killed.
  • Fixed bug causing the camera to go into the ground when an Alien begins gestating when the player was using the inverted mouse option.
  • Fixed bug causing the end game message to display incorrectly for players waiting to spawn.
  • Fixed bug sometimes causing the "Commander Needed" banner message to appear too soon.
  • Fixed bug that prevented upgrading of multiple structures at once.
  • Fixed bug where particle systems would not animate smoothly in spectator mode.
  • Fixed bug where scoreboard seemed to always rounds up pres.
  • Fixed bug where server -game command line is parsed incorrectly if it is a quoted string and ends with a backslash.
  • Fixed bug where setting an invalid key name to a key in the options file would cause a crash.
  • Fixed bug where the camera would be behind the player in some cases.
  • Fixed bug where the game would freeze when loading an incorreclty formatted language translation file.
  • Fixed bug where vents would not be properly colored on the minimap if any layers had been deleted from the file.
  • Fixed construction percentage not being shown in the selection panel.
  • Fixed crash when transitioning from in-game to the menu while music was playing.
  • Fixed death message icon for welders.
  • Fixed flame thrower energy penalty (should have been -20% regeneration instead of -80%).
  • Fixed graphical corruption error.
  • Fixed inaccuracy in lighting and shadow calculations.
  • Fixed issue where the dedicated server would exit if an invalid command line was specified (now it reports an error message and continues).
  • Fixed problem with blink where you could avoid the min blink delay by switching abilities.
  • Fixed recycling a command station did not update the tech tree properly.
  • Fixed script error caused by attempting to kick an invalid player from the server.
  • Fixed unit status not updating properly (wrench icon on moving targets).
  • Fixed unlocked ability notifications not showing the correct icons.
  • For 218: Draw non-command structures and tech points a bit smaller on the marine minimap.
  • Hotloading works again!.
  • MAC welder effects will no longer continue to play after it is killed.
  • PhysX tweak - return the penetration normal for convex mesh vs capsule/tri mesh tests (fixes Lerks / Skulks getting stuck in convex meshes).
  • Proper fix of insight overhead minimap script errors.
  • Props such as the Generator will no longer display the "E" key when you are nearby.
  • Re-enabled double sided triangles, fixed commander selection to work with it. This should significantly reduce chances of getting stuck in geometry.
  • Script can now specify which collision rep to use for triggers/triggering objects (fixes triggers).
  • Sentries will target Fades again.
  • Separated the sweeping of object vs triggers from sweeping vs collision. It was unnecessary work and in some edge cases it did the wrong thing.
  • Skulks are allowed to depenetrate again.
  • Spectator mode will no longer cycle through players in the ready room (Thanks McGlaspie!).
  • Stop stepAmount spamming.
  • Super cheesy workaround for the environment stuck issues.
  • The "Commander Needed" banner message will no longer appear after the last Hive/CC has been destroyed.
  • The "Go To Ready Room" button (F4) now works in Commander and overhead spectator mode.
  • The "Hive Death Imminent" message will no longer display after a Hive is killed in some cases.
  • The "X Hive Grown" banner message will no longer display right before a game starts.
  • Triangle winding fixed when baking convex mesh as a trimesh. (Fixes issue 3198).
  • Update physics bounding box properly.
  • Voice commands are disabled when the player is dead (Thanks McGlaspie!).
  • When sliding, add a little bit of normal to the slide direction to help prevent penetration.

Improvements[]

  • Switched player movement from Havok to PhysX (performance improvement, less memory usage, less bugs)
  • Switched player movement from cylinders to capsules for less "snagging" (more rounded, less catchy)
  • Changed player movement logic to make stepping up and over things more predictable and reliable
  • ARC hit registration is now more reliable.
  • Added 3D arrows that draw around a Command Station/Hive if there is no Commander logged in after some time.
  • Added Alien vision mode help widget.
  • Added Buy Shotgun help widget.
  • Added Flashlight help widget for new players.
  • Added Gorge Belly Slide help widget for new players.
  • Added Gorge Heal Spray help widget for new players.
  • Added Jetpack help widget for new players.
  • Added NS2 YouTube video links to the tutorial menu.
  • Added Skulk Parasite help widget for new players.
  • Added Welder help widget for new players.
  • Added field-profiling to the plog data, updated the PerfAnalyser.
  • Added health bars above structures (health circles have been removed).
  • Added help widget for requesting medpack when hurt.
  • Added inventory display for aliens (same as on marine side, icons are displayed at the bottom center of the screen).
  • Added inventory key binds.
  • Added short hints to unit name plates.
  • Allow experienced users to turn off hints: red objective markers, help widgets (default-on).
  • Better field stats collection (+-1 delta bit effect shown).
  • Enabled auto-weld orders for Marines with a Welder.
  • Gorges lean left/right/up/down when drifting.
  • Harvesters and hives start glowing once they are fully build.
  • Hive / command station health has no distance limit anymore for their own team.
  • Improved cloak effect.
  • Improved close up melee hit registration.
  • Improved model turn smoothing for players.
  • Initially socketed power nodes use now the ghost structure effect.
  • Lerk model turns now in a more natural way when flying.
  • Marine commander can now drop jetpacks and exosuits.
  • Monkey now randomize moves to better mimic actual players.
  • Most weapon attack effects are now triggered client side only to reduce traffic.
  • Moved the indicator of the # of aliens on your team down in the alien buy menu to make more clear.
  • Pickupable equipment is now outlined for marines.
  • Power status is now visible to the marine commander.
  • Refactored common code from ClientModelMixin and ModelMixin into BaseModelMixin.
  • Refactored to support Time using delta compression.
  • Removed unnecessary construct icons on structures.
  • The game now ends immediately upon the last Hive/CC being killed (instead of waiting until the structure has disappeared).
  • Updated gorge build menu design.
  • Vectors now allow delta compression parameters.
  • Zoomed out marine minimap a bit more to reduce big map usage. Shrunk other icons a bit to fit new zoom level. Made zooming arrow representing yourself on map more obvious.

ns2_docking[]

  • Fixed glass roof bile bomb exploit in Terminal.
  • Fixed hole in Locker rooms vent.
  • Fixed siege spot in Terminal.

ns2_mineshaft[]

  • Ore Extraction & Crushing room swapped places.
  • Removed tech point from crushing room.
  • Added route from Central Drilling/Brew Room to new Crushing Machine Location with overhead access.
  • Added simple collision surfaces to problem areas.
  • Added some Reflection Points.
  • Alterations to Path Settings Node.
  • Fixed Ore Extraction Location coverage.
  • Moved Resource Point in Crushing room to make way for new route.
  • Removed machinery on top of Ore Machine at the back.
  • Added vent access from crushing room to Ore Extraction.
  • Detail & Lighting Pass on Ore Extraction.

ns2_summit[]

  • Added support for colored vents in the minimap.
  • Added support for explore mode.
  • Blocked Glass Hallway vent going into Data Core.
  • Blocked Summit Reception vent going into Crevice/Atrium.
  • Expanded Data Core.
  • Fixed Sub Access RT not being connected when aliens spawn here.
  • Fixed navigation mesh in Pipe Junction.
  • Fixed some Commander building exploits (Thanks rantology!).
  • Fixed stuck issue in Crossroads.
  • Fixed stuck issue in Sub Access.
  • Flattened and expanded Atrium. Allowed both teams to spawn here.
  • Marines can now spawn in Atrium.
  • Partially retracted the wall in the middle between Atrium and Reactor Core.
  • Reopened closed vent in Atrium.
  • Smoothed player movement for the new stairs collisions.

ns2_tram[]

  • Added cover in front of Warehouse tech point.
  • Added vent between North Tunnels and Server Room and other new vents as part of the layout rework.
  • Fixed cyst infestation bridging across Warehouse to the North Tunnels rt.
  • Fixed various issues where you could build in undesirable places.
  • Increased spacing of Repair Room and Ore Processing from rest of map.
  • Removed some of the under floor vents in North Tunnels.
  • Repair Room is no longer a starting spawn.
  • Reworked Hub and Elevator Transfer area with new layout.
  • Reworked Repair Room -> Logistics corridor.

Optimizations[]

  • Added default delta compression on all fixed fields.
  • Added the ability to customize the quality of loaded textures based on pattern matching rules.
  • Avoid detour through Lua to update the physics bounding box on Synchronized.
  • Better default delta compression for small fields, allow turning off delta compression.
  • Changed Player 'use' collision check to use simplified model geometry.
  • Don't call OnUpdatePhysics/OnSynchronized on holstered weapons.
  • Don't update bounding boxes for holstered weapons.
  • Fixed issue where decals with the same material file name were not sharing a material object.
  • Marginally faster BitReader.
  • Moved integer fields to use delta compression.
  • Only update controllers close to you during OnProcessMove.
  • Optimized GUI notifications.
  • Optimized dissolve on death effect.
  • Optimized network fields, mostly Jetpack marine.
  • Optimized updating Infestation on the client.
  • Reduced garbage generation in map blip code.
  • Reduced the overhead in accessing a network variable from script.
  • Remove ControllerMixin::OnSynchronized(), replace with radius check at start of UpdateMove.
  • Removed redundant and unnecessary operations from model updating.
  • Removed unnecessary network fields in Player.
  • Rifle attack sounds are now handled client side.
  • Server CPU now idles in select() when no work to be done.
  • Server CPU spreads out work better to increase load resistance.
  • Simplified the collision model for Players when performing ray traces against the movement representation.
  • Support zero-bit delta compression (m_angles pitch/roll for non skulk/lerks).
  • Use parent bounding box and origin if attached using an attachPoint (which are invalid anyhow).
  • Generic field configuration allowing for easy configurable delta compression.

SDK[]

  • Added error message to console when skipping a translation because we already have one for that Locale.
  • Fixed an edge case in the Pathing.FindRandomPointAroundCircle() function causing an infinite loop if there were no polygons within the area provided (Thanks Doublehex!).
  • Fixed bug where lights would be set to an invalid state in the Cinematic Editor.
  • Improved network stats collection.
  • Mark detail-windows on their parent windows.
  • PerfAnalyser now shows idle time per frame, minor bugfixes.
  • Profiling now supports > 4096 names.


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