Cloudbuilt News

No major announcement this time—just a couple of quick fixes and tweaks following our recent larger update ːdeheadː:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/262390/announcements/detail/546722128842458766

(EDIT: Did a minor addition fix and added it to this patch note as to not spam the news feed with minor stuff)

[h2]Ending Cutscene Desync[/h2]
We sadly had a miss here where the cutscene animation for the endings played with game-speed-modified delta time, leading the non-competitive mode to play the animations slightly slower and thus de-syncing the sound effects and music. This ruined the experience of the endings. (It’s very unfortunate that we didn’t catch this before now... and it was big enough that I couldn’t just leave it and had to do this small hot fix patch.)

[h2]Window Positioning[/h2]
The game window will no longer re-center itself every time settings are applied. Now it only does so when changing the window mode or size, which should make multi-window setups much easier—especially for those who stream or record gameplay.

[h2]Shield Gates[/h2]
Fixed so shield gates are not allowed to close when their collision overlaps the players, to avoid unfortunate timings getting players stuck. (If you get stuck by a gate, you can of course shoot it to get free as well).

[h2]Assisted Gamepad Camera[/h2]
Did a minor adjustment to how the assisted camera behaves when performing vertical wallruns, aiming to make it less intrusive when doing finer precision movement.

[h2]Drop Mines Physics State[/h2]
To address a rare bug with these mines and to improve their performance while running physics simulation in parallel with the game update, we previously added a method to schedule physics state changes (activating and deactivating mines) until after the simulation was done, as an asynchronous step.
Sadly, this introduced another bug we didn’t detect until now. If you place a checkpoint in range of a drop mine and restart while it’s falling or exploding, it can lead to delayed events from the frame before the checkpoint reload firing on the frame after the load, which can cause strange effects.
We’ve now mitigated this by ensuring the delayed event queue is fully processed before the checkpoint is loaded. Since this is a relatively new bug and hasn’t been exploited in speedruns, we see no harm in patching it out.



As always, thank you for playing, and please let us know if you notice any other issues! ːdeboostː

In addition to new language support, we’ve also added two significant improvements for those who continue playing beyond simply beating the game once.
[h2]New Language Support[/h2]
We’re excited to announce that Cloudbuilt now offers full support for Simplified Chinese, thanks to the incredible help of JACKIEXIA! This update makes the game more accessible to Chinese-speaking players, providing a smoother and more inclusive experience. The new language option applies to menus, interfaces, and story text, making the game easier to navigate and enjoy.

[h3]How to Select Your Language[/h3]

• Automatic for New Players
  On first launch, Cloudbuilt will automatically use your Steam language settings, including Simplified Chinese if that’s your chosen Steam language.
  
• Changing Languages Later
  If you want to switch languages after your first launch, just go to Options > Game and use the spinner at the bottom of the window to pick your preferred language.
  

[h3]A Call Out to the Community[/h3]
A huge thank you to JACKIEXIA for making this possible. We’re incredibly grateful for his dedication and time.
If you’d like to help translate Cloudbuilt into other languages or refine existing translations, please reach out! Your contributions make the game better for players worldwide, and we truly appreciate your support.
[h2]Profiles[/h2]
You can now have three simultaneous profiles, allowing you to start a new run from the beginning without losing progress on your previous ones. This is especially handy if you’re aiming for additional skins or achievements. Since the game wasn’t originally designed for multiple profiles, it took some workarounds to implement, but in our tests everything appears stable. If you encounter issues, let us know!


[h2]Level Select Details View[/h2]
We’ve revamped the level select overview feature in Competitive Mode:

• Expanded Information
  Besides your overall best ranking like you could see before, you can now also see the ranking you achieved on your current profile.
  
• Life Tracking
  A new view mode also shows how many lives you’ve earned on each level (per mode/profile), making it easier to track progress for raising the life cap or collecting pickups.
  
• Available In Any View
  These additional details can be enabled at any time while navigating the level select menu, not just in the fully zoomed-out view.
  

(As part of this update, we also tweaked some instructions text at the bottom of the Level Select screen to be more useful and less distracting. Additionally we managed to remove a 1 frame lag we had on some UI elements when the camera moves, making the menu feel more responsive.)

[h2]Asynchronous Texture Loading[/h2]
We fixed a bug where the asynchronous texture loader sometimes failed to generate a new texture handle when creating texture resources to swap between levels or after certain setting changes. This could lead to reusing an existing handle and overwriting its contents, causing unexpected visuals in various places. Like in UI elements, shadow hatching textures, and similar. We’ve checked the rest of the texture loading code as well for similar issues and everything else looks fine. Apologies to anyone who experienced odd UI or shading since we introduced asynchronous loading a few patches ago.

[h2]PhysX Memory Usage[/h2]
We’ve tweaked PhysX settings to make memory usage more efficient, because we've become aware that most reported crashes occur in PhysX memory allocation spikes. As a 32-bit Windows application, Cloudbuilt (like any 32-bit program) can only use up to about 4 GB of RAM, so sudden, unpredictable allocation spikes in PhysX can push the total over that limit. We suspect it may briefly duplicate internal data while reorganizing memory, but we’re not certain. Sadly PhysX’s exact internal working is a bit out of our control.
The new settings should reduce memory usage and spikes, but at a slight performance cost. The performance impact of the changes should however be mostly negligible. We’ve also verified that Cloudbuilt still reliably runs at 60 FPS on a Steam Deck, even in the most heavy physics scenarios.

[h2]Leaderboards and Rankings[/h2]

• Reduced Save Data Bloat
  • To minimize how much runtime memory is used for the save data, we have introduced some changes to the local leader board data.
    
  • Local Leaderboard Entry Limits
    We now limit how many entries are stored in your local leaderboards (this doesn’t affect online leaderboards).
    If you exceed the entry limit, some older entries are removed from the middle of the list, letting you still keep a record of your best and worst runs.
    
    • Regular levels: 50 entries
      
    • Custom levels: 30 entries
      
  • Reduced Extra Data
    Previously, extra data (like checkpoint/restart timings) was stored for all entries but never really used. Now, we only keep that extra data for your top times; other entries have it removed.
    
• Steam Name
  If you’re connected to Steam, your local leaderboard entries now store your actual Steam name instead of just “Player.”
  
• Result Screen Time Accuracy
  Fixed a discrepancy where the results screen time could be one frame slower than the leaderboard-recorded time, causing slight inconsistencies.
  
• Non-Competitive Mode Rankings
  Locally stored times for Default Mode now correctly use that mode’s rank times (which differ from Competitive Mode) when displayed in the Leaderboard. We mark the Non-Competitive/Default mode ranks with a bracket and the text scaled to 75% size for clarity.
  

• Options Menu
  • Rearranged some settings so related options are more logically grouped.
    
  • Adjusted UI elements to shift horizontal alignment depending on the selected language.
    
  • Increased text size in spinner-based settings (e.g., resolution, texture quality, language) for better readability.
• Logging
  Improved the log output to avoid false error messages and provide more useful data.
  
• English Text Fixes
  Corrected some spelling issues in English. If you notice more, please let us know!
  
• Competitive-Mode Hotkey
  The toggle for competitive mode in the Level Select screen no longer affects your ranking settings.
  
• Achievement Descriptions
  Added localized achievement descriptions for Japanese and Chinese, and also refined the English descriptions a bit.
  
• Skin Selection Menu
  Fixed a minor bug where the default skin’s description wouldn’t always appear.
  
• Save File Migration
  We streamlined how save files migrate from the old directory (still used when not running Steam). The new system:
  
  • Keeps one local save for non-Steam play, and a cloud save for Steam
    
  • Avoids repeated migration prompts
    
  • Supports the new multi-profile setup
    

There may be some other small improvements, but this list covers the main changes.

As always, we hope you enjoy the patch, and please report any issues or bugs you find.
Thanks for your support as always!

This update brings improvements to the game's reliability and user interface clarity.

[h2]Texture Loading Reliability:[/h2]

• We've enhanced both asynchronous and synchronous texture loading systems to better handle file access issues. If a texture fails to load, the game will now detect this and attempt to load it again later in the same frame. These adjustments ensure that textures load more reliably, even in cases where access might be temporarily disrupted.
  

[h2]Rank Overview Display Improvements in Level Selection:[/h2]

• The rank overview display in the level selection screen has been updated for better clarity:
  
  
  
  • Levels you've cleared but do not have a rank in for the selected challenge mode will now show a faded D rank icon, indicating they are available for that challenge mode.
    
    
  • Cleared levels that do not support the selected challenge mode will show a dark checkmark, helping you quickly identify which levels are completed and which ones are compatible with different modes.
    
    

We hope you enjoy the update!ːdeboostː

Just a very small patch. Fixing an issue where you would always get the default skin selected after restarting the game.

If you want some more details, here is an explanation:
It turns out I introduced a new bug when I optimized the load speeds in one other other patches.
The skin menu setup and initiation was big enough to be noticeable on my measures of the startup time, so I made it delay till actually needed.

However, in doing so, I made a small oversight in the skin selection loading logic which assumed that the preview model for the skin was already setup. Which it was not in this case. Leading to the loaded value being ignored. Resulting in the player always getting the default skin after restart.

That should now be fixed.

For more proper info on the other recent patch, here is a link to that one in case you missed it:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/262390/announcements/detail/4330859498482084756

We've just rolled out another update focusing on refining the gameplay experience with added features, important fixes, and some quality-of-life improvements. It was intended to just address two bugs, but as I saw some streamers playing, I noticed a few additional things I wanted to fixːdeheadː

The big thing in this patch is the option to turn on rankings in the ‘Non-Competitive Mode’. So everyone who enjoys doing time trials and just wants to find some shortcuts, get a good run, and get scored on that can do that now without worrying about leaderboards, or the other aspects of the competitive mode.

[h2]New Features:[/h2]

• Ranking Support in Non-Competitive Mode: We've introduced an optional timer in non-competitive mode. Activating it will now allow you to see your personal rankings. This is designed for players who prefer to set personal challenges and goals without engaging with the competitive leaderboards.
  
  
• Mid-Level Timer and Ranking Toggle: You can toggle this setting on or off even during a level, making it easier to evaluate and opt in/out. (Unlike the old competitive mode setting for turning off the timer, it takes effect right away.)
  

[h2]Improvements:[/h2]

• Menu Text Adjustments: The text for replaying cleared levels has been updated from "Start" to "Replay Level," making it clearer when revisiting levels. The button has also been adjusted in size and position.
  
• Shield Door and Gate Feedback: We’ve enhanced how shield doors and gates respond when shot, providing more noticeable visual feedback when damaged or turning on/off.
  

[h2]Performance Optimizations:[/h2]

• Faster Hub and Level Select Loading: Load times for the hub and level select screens have been reduced. This was achieved by skipping the initialization of enemy effect objects that are not used in these areas. As these areas are loaded often it's just nice to have them load faster.
  

[h2]Bug Fixes:[/h2]

• Mouse Cursor in Photo Mode: Fixed an issue where the mouse cursor trail would remain visible in photo mode, ensuring a cleaner capture experience.
  
• Aim Assist Camera Fix: Resolved a rare case where a mismatch between the X and Y axes in the aim assist camera could cause math errors, potential division by zero, and abrupt camera snaps in rare scenarios.
  
• Steam Leaderboard Access Issue: Corrected a problem where leaderboards would incorrectly attempt to access data when the game was run without Steam, preventing visual errors and potential crashes in offline play.
  
• Camera Issue with Zero Lives Restart: Fixed a recently introduced bug where the camera could disconnect from the player after trying to respawn with zero lives in competitive mode, which was quite strange (though rarely game-breaking).
  
• Difficulty Animation Display: Fixed an issue where the difficulty animation might not display if you selected a level at the exact moment it was hovered.
  
• Rare Effect Manager Crash: Fixed a rare effect manager crash which could happen when effects were active as a level was unloading, due to resource release order.
  

That’s it for this time. Hope you enjoy it!ːdeboostː