ZeroK: Engine Testing – Beta Branch Edition

The issues with the AI from the last engine update attempt have been resolved. This time, instead of applying the latest update, we’re asking players to test the beta branch. Be sure to report any issues and post if you test so we can judge the effectiveness of the beta branch approach.

In other news, @_Shaman is coordinating players to nominate Zero-K for the “Most Fun with a Machine” Steam award and nominations close in two days. See this thread for more information: http://zero-k.info/Forum/Thread/27434

ZeroK: Engine Update

An update from Spring 104.0.1-287-gf7b0fcc to Spring 104.0.1-901-g89b4773 is now live. Benchmarks sent in by users indicate that the framerate of the new engine is slightly more stable, and that performance is overall quite similar. The main advantages of the updated are the new features and fixes, with the possibility of more fixes to come.

The engine and AI devs have put in quite a bit of work into fixing the bugs found in local and multiplayer testing. However, we don’t have the testing volume to find all the issues so please be patient and report any issues.

ZeroK: Zero-K v1.6.11.3

The bulk of this update consists of technical changes required to make Zero-K compatible with the latest engine version. We aim to update the engine version shortly, if everything goes to plan.

The benchmarking from last week successfully found an effect and we’d like to thank everyone (around 100 people) who submitted a benchmark. The one-click benchmark has been changed to compare the old and new engine versions.

Balance and Behaviour

  • Lobster now adjusts its trajectory against particularly high or low targets for more consistent lobbing.
  • Commander heatray no longer fails to gain damage with range modules.
  • Bandit unit AI now skirmishes against more targets.
  • Artemis missiles now cost 80 metal each (up from being free).
  • Widow no longer fires at radar dots by default.

Fixes

  • Fixed small hovercraft sometimes failing to leave their factory automatically.
  • Blocked gunship direct control exploit.
  • Fixed dive bomber performance impact when diving many shields.
  • Fixed Mearth.
  • Fixed occasional random reordering of matchmaker queues.

ZeroK: Client/server maintenance update 10 Oct 2018

We’ve applied some updates to the client and server software. This included an update to the Steamworks libraries, which may be followed by the Steam Overlay being restored in the near future.

Other fixes and new features:

  • Players can receive more than one extra commander if team player counts are sufficiently lopsided
  • Allow restricting rooms by rank
  • Unlocks page properly displays remaining donation (“kudos”) points
  • Fixed donor badges showing for some non-donors
  • Fixed campaign commander losing levels
  • Fixed Steam popup for non-Steam players sometimes being partly offscreen
  • Added/updated some help menu links
  • Don’t prompt for crash report after killing game’s process