Matched Play v1.0 Released!

Matched Play v1.0 is officially released! We have made several changes and fixes to the system over the last few months, but our official release includes improved regional servers with more dedicated power for a better performing experience. 

Our programmers have been hard at work behind the scenes working on new and improved bots. Bots have been reworked from the ground up to provide a much more intuitive and similar gameplay mechanics of a real player. All life forms and commanders have had changes and improvements added so that you can play a game by yourself or with a small group of friends and not need to wait or fill a lobby. All of the official maps have been updated in one form or another to add better bot functionality and additional player gameplay experiences.

We would also like to thank psyk for all of their hard work to bring us our newest official map AYUMI. Inspired by the NS1 map of the same name, this five techpoint map feels like a blend of Jambi and Tram and is sure to lead to some fun and exciting rounds.

Changelog

Optimizations

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  Significantly improved listen server (localhost) performance by making server updates asynchronous
  
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  Updated LuaJIT and re-enabled trace stitching to increase the amount of code JIT’ed 
  
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  Improved player bot performance by increasing JIT coverage of bot code and optimizing the frequency of bot updates
  

Tweaks / Improvements

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  Reduced default match concede timer from 7 minutes to 3 minutes
  
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  Reduced Alien tunnel re-drop cooldown timer from 6 seconds to 3 seconds
  
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  The default AFK timer implementation now correctly handles spectating / respawning / dead players, and provides a warning to players who are in danger of being AFK kicked.
  
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  Matched Play server performance has been greatly improved to reduce network related issues and spin up time.
  
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  Servers will default to ranked status if they:
  
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    Utilize the default consistency config file;
    
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    Set between a minimum of 12 and a maximum of 20 player slots;
    
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    Use a maximum of 5 spectator slots;
    
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    Use only whitelisted mods. The list can be found in our discord server, or on our wiki. You can apply for a mod to be whitelisted in our #modding discord channel.
    

Matched Play Changes

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  Added several quality of life features to the Matched Play interface:
  
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    Players in the same group will be color-coded in the lobby menu.
    
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    A sound will be played to wake you up once the lobby enters the Waiting for Commanders stage. This only works if the “Mute on Minimized” game setting is disabled.
    
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    The map vote status of each player is displayed with a checkmark on their avatar during the Map Vote phase - now you can know for sure who’s AFK during the map vote!
    
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    You can see the opposing team’s roster during the Planning Phase in case you forgot who you were playing with.
    
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    The system displays the number of users waiting in lobbies and playing a game on the lobby search screen.
    
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  Added vote kicking functionality to Matched Play Lobbies. During the Waiting for Players phase, any user can initiate a vote kick against any other player in the lobby. If 60% of the lobby members vote yes, the vote passes and the kicked player is removed from the lobby and cannot rejoin.
  
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  Added kicking functionality to Matched Play Groups. The group owner can kick any player they elect to from their group, and the kicked player is removed from the group and cannot rejoin. If you miss-clicked and invited someone you didn’t intend to, now you can un-invite them too! This functionality is unavailable once the group has joined a Lobby.
  
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  The Matched Play core system now runs in a sandboxed execution environment to ensure the quality and integrity of the Matched Play system. The Matched Play user interface may still be modded though!
  
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  Re-enabled Matched Play Penalties. Unlike the first iteration, the Penalty system has been polished and refined to ensure that users will only receive penalties for taking direct malicious action, and will not receive penalties for failure-states in the Matched Play system itself.
  
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  Added a “vote to draw” feature if a Matched Play round starts with one missing player; players can elect to call the match a draw and re-queue, or keep playing with a bot instead of their missing teammate.
  
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  Added/improved the automatic forfeit functionality for imbalanced matches; if either team has 2+ missing players the match will be automatically forfeited after 60s. Forfeited rounds will not affect either teams’ player skill, but will grant Matched Play Rewards as normal.
  
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  Players may now vote to skip the Intermission phase between Matched Play rounds. This vote requires unanimous assent to be successful.
  

Matched Play Fixes

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  Fixed several bugs with Matched Play Rewards that could cause players to receive incorrect playtime or win rewards
  
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  Fixed missing localization for the build ARC tooltip in Thunderdome servers
  
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  Fixed lobbies that failed to spin up a server would be stuck in an indefinite “waiting” state. If no server is created after 300s, all users will be safely removed from the lobby.
  
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  Fixed several bugs within the Matched Play system that could cause the lobby state to become corrupted.
  
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  Fixed several bugs that could cause individual users to be removed from the lobby after joining a Matched Play server.
  
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  Fixed players with extremely high hiveskill (4500+) being unable to join a lobby with lower skilled T5 / T6 players. This does not change the skill values used by the team shuffle.
  
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  Fixed player name changes not being visible to other users in the lobby. Want to troll your friends and pretend to be someone else? Well now you can. Note: user avatars will not be updated.
  
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  Fixed that sometimes TD servers did not shut down properly after the match ended. They’re quite prompt about it now, and may slam the door on you if you’re too slow to leave!
  

Bot Improvements / Fixes

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  Completely refactored the Player Bot and Commander Bot internal architecture to ensure correct and consistent behavior in a wide variety of situations.
  
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  Added a Gorge Bot! (Finally!) This bot will help build structures for the team, and can spit at players and bile down the enemy’s structures. Unfortunately, they aren’t smart enough to use their other toys.
  
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  Added a large number of new capabilities to Commander Bots for both teams:
  
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    Alien Khamm can now place Tunnels somewhat intelligently;
    
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    Alien Khamm has a much better research tree and will drop new hives as needed to continue research / upgrades;
    
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    Alien Khamm reacts to hives / upgrades / tunnels / cysts being damaged with appropriate use of Bone Wall and Rupture;
    
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    Alien Khamm can use Ink to defend a hive against ARCs;
    
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    Alien Khamm can use Contaminate to win the game, if you let it go on long enough;
    
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    Marine Comm can now place Phase Gates and other structures to defend forward Tech Points;
    
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    Marine Comm will research the entire tech tree in a reasonably correct order;
    
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    Marine Comm is better about med pack / ammo pack drops and can now use catpacks and nanoshield on Marines in the field;
    
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    Marine Comm can use Power Surge to defend an unpowered phase gate;
    
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    Marine Comm will drop advanced weapons and jetpacks if it has enough surplus res.
    
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  Completely overhauled “teamwork” behaviors for all field player bots for both teams:
  
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    All bots will spread out and attempt to cover different areas on the map;
    
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    All bots can now react to their command structure or valuable structures being damaged (upgrades, Arms Lab, natural RTs);
    
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    All Alien bots will now respond to Pheromones and commander pings;
    
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    All Marine bots will now follow commander orders and respond to pings (when not in direct combat);
    
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    Lone Skulks and Marines will attempt to push forward into the enemy’s natural RT rooms to res-bite and pressure the back line;
    
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    Marine bots will now buy and place mines around important structures.
    
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  Improved individual field bot capabilities:
  
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    Skulk bots can leap, parasite, use xenocide, and now can actually miss their bites (sometimes…) if you dodge well enough;
    
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    Lerk bots can now spore hostiles and umbra friendly players much more consistently and effectively;
    
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    Lerk bots know to spike shotgunners at range, and can be more aggressive with non shotgunners or smaller groups of Marines.
    
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    Fade bots received a significant overhaul and are much better at blinking around and conserving their energy. They also know when to leave the room based on energy, HP and number of Marines in the area.
    
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    Onos can now consistently Boneshield and Stomp players (it’s so good even the bots are getting in on it!);
    
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    Marine bots are significantly better at handling short-term priorities like welding a nearby player while still carrying out a long-term task like going to build a structure in another room;
    
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    Marine bots buy and use advanced weapons reliably and consistently;
    
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    Marine bots can buy and use Railgun and Minigun Exos, and will claim unowned Exos if available;
    
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    Marine bots can buy and use Jetpacks now.
    
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    Bot Exos will retreat from combat if there are no friendly players nearby;
    
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    Railgun Exos use half-power shots and are much more deadly in close combat now.
    
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    Marine bots who are following you can assist you with boosting into a vent if you crouch and hold still for 2 seconds.
    
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    Marine bots will mimic your behavior when it comes to sneaky behavior.
    
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  Optimized the field bot architecture to reduce their runtime cost and improve compatibility with LuaJIT performance improvements.
  
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  Fixed many bugs that could lead to bots becoming “deadlocked” and non-responsive.
  
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  Fixed several behavioral issues that could arise from players joining a team and displacing a field bot.
  
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  Fixed a huge number of minor bugs related to bots.
  

Mod System Changes

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  Fixed the mod backup web server sometimes not creating mod zips
  
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  The mod backup server now logs if client requests a mod zip that does not exist and if -verbose is set it will log all requests made to the mod backup server
  
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  Fixed downloaded mod backup zips not being deleted by client after extracting them
  

Fixes

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  Fixed some issues with Hive skill being increased or decreased incorrectly under certain circumstances
  
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  Fixed MACs returning to previous position after a move order (thanks Katz)
  
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  Fixed crashing from using the exit console command in a number of scenarios, to include loading into a listen server.
  
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  Fixed a server crash if another script error is encountered while generating the callstack for a script error.
  
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  Fixed changes to the mapcycle.json file taking two map changes to take effect, its now reloaded when a map change is triggered
  
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  Fixed Alien tunnel build menu not correctly updating when one entrance of a tunnel is destroyed
  
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  Fixed the “danger music” getting stuck constantly playing in some cases
  
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  Fixed ambient occlusion option sometimes not staying turned off
  
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  Fixed several grammatical errors and incorrect localization strings
  
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  Fixed server error when hitting another exo as a railgun exo
  
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  Fixed server errors when ejecting from an egg in the ready room. Enjoy the fireworks if you can time it correctly.
  
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  Fixed dying as an egg could prevent you from leaving the team or respawning
  
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  Fixed custom Alien Vision mods sometimes being disabled when joining a server
  
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  Fixed maps with 6+ techpoints causing Alien UI script errors
  
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  Fixed main menu causing errors and becoming unresponsive when subscribed to too many mods
  
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  Fixed an issue where generating nav mesh could cause the server to deadlock and keep the client stuck in an authentication step.
  
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  Fixed Windows servers were not launching properly when using the server.exe binary from the root folder. That binary has been removed and server operators should now run the x64\server.exe binary instead
  

Maps

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  New Map: Ayumi (Thanks psyk)
  
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    Remake roughly based on NS1’s “ns_ayumi”
    
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    5 Tech Points, 10 Resource Points
    
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    Layout fusion of Jambi and Tram
    
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    Asset contributions by Zavaro, Kash and IronHorse
    

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  All Maps -
  
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    Pathing improvements (Thanks Kash)
    
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    Power/Location tweaks and improvements (Thanks TheSaltySeaCaptain)
    

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  Metro (Thanks Meph)
  
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    Holograms on the tollgates on both exits of Derelict Station are now double sided
    
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    Redone the minimal lights
    
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    Arcs can not hide inside the scaffolding in Slums anymore
    
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    All vent entrances have orange lights now
    
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    Remade the skybox almost completely to improve performance
    
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    Removed all blinking christmas lights (except the ones at the food stalls)
    
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    Added routing elements (pipes/cables leading into the vents, Orange arrows pointing towards vent entrances etc.)
    
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    Changed the lighting color in Club Kash
    
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    Removed some tarps in Atrium
    
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    Added vent opening in Lane - Underpass vent (on Underpass side)
    
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    Opened a line of sight from Atrium to Slum/Ticketbooth vent entrance
    
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    Added some extra scaffolding to ceiling area in Midtown (near RT, check if you can go above the pipe)
    
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    Station entrance gates (Derelict Station, Facade, Atrium and Ticketbooth) do not allow bullets to pass through anymore
    
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    Removed quite a bit of holograms that were not used for player routing (reduction of clutter)
    
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    Removed some floating clutter in commander view
    
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    Reduced fog intensity in Midtown
    

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  Origin (Thanks psyk)
  
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    Fixed exterior rock sticking into the map
    

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  Summit (Thanks psyk)
  
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    Fixed hole in the map
    

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  Tanith (Thanks Zavaro)
  
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    Redesigned area between Fusion and Access to prevent people getting stuck on things
    
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    Moved vent between Access and Acidic Processing to prevent marines from easily jumping in
    
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    Added additional route between Fusion and Sewer to help rotations for alien players
    
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    Added additional vent around the edges of the resource room in The WAC
    
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    Added some more pillars to move around with in Fusion and Reactor Room
    
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    Modified salt ramp in Chemical Transport to force players to commit to attacking the resource node
    
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    Additional ladder was added on west side of Chemical Transport
    
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    Redesigned Western Entrance to shorten Reactor trip and give more options to flank
    
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    Fixed tons of holes and several stuck spots
    

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  Unearthed (Thanks Kash) -
  
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    Moved Toxic Pool RT into Transfer
    
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    Moved some crates throughout the map to provide better ambush/cover spots.
    
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    Slightly relocated the tree in Exposure to move the protruding branch mostly out of gameplay space
    
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    Added line of sight blocker between Crevice and Newall to help with performance in that area
    
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    Removed support beam in Exposure - Crevice to prevent lifeforms getting stuck when retreating
    
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    Changed the grating in the Filtration - Exposure vent, no longer allows bullets through and now also has a hole in one section of grating
    
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    Removed ladders in Briefing
    
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    Added jump up in the south of Briefing to prevent the ceiling ambush spot becoming an invulnerability spot.
    
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    Removed ladder in Newall
    
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    Changed Purification to be less marine favored
    
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    You can no longer get under the staircase in Filtration
    
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    Removed Toxic Pool to Extraction vent
    
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    Added new Extraction to Junction Vent
    
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    Replaced or removed ALL “railing props” on the map to make the map feel more visually consistent
    
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    Have made sure that all stair props and grating props are using the same assets, rather than a mish-mash of different assets that don't quite look right together
    
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    Added little bits of extra cover in Exposure and Cavity
    
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    Added in a rock to allow marines the ability to access the upper rock arch in Crevice
    
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    Extension added to the vent from Cavity to Furnace, it now continues through to Newall
    
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    Added back an old exit to the Harvesting to Access vent, coming out underneath the platform in Passage
    
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    Edited the entrances to the Harvesting vents, to make them easier to access and more visible in general
    
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    Completely overhauled lighting from scratch
    
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    Fixed a few minor pathing issues
    
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    Map wide performance improvements
    
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    Altered the Toxic Pool to Exposure vent to make it less marine friendly
    
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    Edited the Junction to Toxic pool entrance, making it half the old width, to prevent marines sniping the Toxic Pool to Exposure vent entrance from extreme distance.
    
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    Added a new mini-route in Exposure to make it possible to go from Access into the middle of Exposure while avoiding line of sight to the bottom of the stairs in Filtration
    
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    Changed Passage platform to add extra cover and make the room generally less marine favored
    
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    Added a mini-route from Harvesting into Passage
    

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  Veil (Thanks psyk)
  
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    Added half open door to entrance from Sub Access to Overlook.
    
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    Added crates in Sub Access, Overlook and East/Topo to make Marine positioning and Phase Gate locations weaker. The crates in Sub can also be used to slightly shoot into the Sub vent when boosting a Marine.
    
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    Moved Pipeline Res Node so it can't be hit with ARCs or easily pushed and de-cysted.
    
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    Added and re-arranged obstacles in the corridor between Cargo and Dome as LOS blockers, which also provide an easier way up into the ceiling vent as Skulk.
    
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    Made it more difficult to shoot Cargo Harvester from outside.
    
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    Changed corridor between Topo and East to East power.
    
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    Changed the Dome doorway into a double doorway.
    
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    Added some crates between Pipe and Dome and cleared some ceiling stuff so Skulks have more options coming into Dome from Pipeline.
    
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    Removed the ARC spot in Overlook, where you could barely hit Sub Access Harvester.
    

Tools

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  Fixed incorrect spelling of the special CommanderInvisibleVents default group in the Map Editor
  

SDK

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  Removed some of the Lua debug lib APIs
  
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  GetEntitiesInRange\GetEntitiesWithTagInRange now ignores target entities bone offset when checking if they’re in range
  

Known Issues

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  Occasionally a bot may attempt to defend you too vigorously, seemingly attempting to become one with your body at the start of a round. After your death or theirs, it will self correct.