Early Access Update 8

**Early Access Update #8** is the eighth major update for *The Blackout Club (game)* in Early Access. It was released on *April 4th, 2019.*

## Hotfix 8.2

* Fixed a pathfinding issue for AIs when searching
* Fix for unequipping everything after a grapple
* Possible fix for crashes when you are running on Ultra graphics settings (running out of VRAM)
* Hiding the drone and player outlines when you are hiding the UI in screenshot mode
* Fix for being unable to use a tranquilizer dart when grappling an enemy from the front
* Fix for Crossbow accuracy when crouched and moving forward with a drone on back (how specific!)
* Fix for pressing R activating Unbreakable power while kicking in doors
* Drone Strike power now has cooldown UI so you know when the stungun has recharged
* Stungun was unreliable during situations with a lot of lag

## Hotfix 8.1

* Fixed visual issue with foamed speedtraps
* Fixed one particular case where grapple hook failed where it wasn't supposed to
* More reliable connection (less rampant disconnects)
* Fixed a missing texture
* Fixes in presentation of expiring foam effect on security drones and cameras

## Early Access Update #8

### Gameplay Changes

* Added a Text Chat Profanity Filter - (on by default; can be disabled in Options)
* New Screenshot Mode - press Ctrl+V to toggle the UI. Useful for taking immersive screenshots or just being immersed.
* New "Club Handbook" in the Hideout - A simple UI-based tutorial user guide to make our new user experience cleaner. (Let us know what else you wish you knew when starting the game, so we can improve the experience for future new players!)
* Added the "Whisper Twins": to the hideout, a pair of random NPC kid buddies who occasionally discuss the latest rumors and events in Redacre after players complete missions.
* Added Discord link to options screen (more friends! Join the Discord server, find groups to play with, share gameplay tips, speculate on what's going on in Redacre!)
* Options Menu now lets you switch between XB/DS styled gamepad glyphs.
* New Ritual Menu screen! We have also moved the Sacrifice feature to this Ritual Menu.
* New Icons for Lucids and Sleepers
* Added an icon for the Prologue keycard item
* New Keyboard/PC default controls diagram art
* New Cryptogram Art assets to replace originals
* Reintroduced Pink Hair Color as an option, by popular request
* New audio for "Clean up the Evidence" mission, now in 3D!
* New Journal Notes available to unlock, as the club finds more evidence... what else could be out there?
* FIRST NIGHT MISSION: New context-based help to learn how to record evidence in the house for players who skip the Prologue.

#### Subtitles

* We have full English subtitles now for all VO content (other than Enhanced Horror content).
* You can now disable subtitles for the player character kids in the Options menu, if you just want subtitles for enemies.

### Balance Changes

* PRANK CALL SKILL TREE: Powers allowing you to hack electronic devices, such as "Off the Grid" and "Remote Disarm" will no longer work indefinitely. You can upgrade the duration by purchasing new powers. You can still only hack one target at a time.
* PRANK CALL: The timeout for this ability now ends sooner. You can upgrade the duration by purchasing new powers.
* DRONE - The Drone Strike stungun fires on contact with enemies.
* LUCKY LOOT - This power now works for all field items from chests, not just ammo types.
* Made it easier to lockpick trap doors
* Better AI pathfinding and support for being able to crouch in certain areas, meaning certain level "safe areas" may not be as safe now.
* Walking through pools of blood will make noise that AI can hear
* Refinements to the "Clean up the Evidence" mission and rebalanced the XP rewards
* Updates to patrol and enemy locations, new item pickup locations

### Fixes

* Other NPC kids you rescue in the maze will now be different instead of the same kid every time.
* Fixed a bug where the stealth indicator failed sometimes on clients.
* Various performance improvements to shave a bit of loading time off map changes and address a few other bugs related to map loads.
* Other improvements/fixes that should result in faster load times
* Fixed audio volume settings not being saved when turned down to zero.
* You can now un-ban friends from your current session when sending them an invite, since the only other way to manage this is by closing the session.
* Fixed the Drone stungun not respecting cooldown.
* Possible fix for rare user-reported crash related to overlay UI FX. (it was rare so was difficult to repro!)
* Fixing choppy animation on other players when hosting a game.
* Possible fix for sometimes not being able to start a mission because it says there's a missing player.
* Various typos fixed.
* Adjusted kerning for PC and console glyphs
* Updated block/knife icon used in dove mission to reflect new model
* Fixed a bug where Lucids were invisible
* Possible fix for a situation where a user could get permanently in a grapple state with an enemy (hard to repro this one, as well)
* Fixed a bug that made AIs walk backwards upon reaching the noisemaker that attracted them
* Fixed a bug where players can trigger Speed Traps and not get stunned
* Fixed a bug that lots of people reported to us about accidentally recording when trying to grab an AI
* Fixed a physics bug where if a drag starts with a player through a wall, they get stretched out instead of snapping to their intended position.
* Fix for hero items sometimes not existing upon travel into a mission
* You can no longer see chat text from muted players
* Based on community feedback, we've tightened up the rear grapple angle if victim is in combat
* Gamepad users can now bring up text chat from the emotes menu
* Fix for getting stuck in a vibrating grab state
* The game should detect disconnections more quickly.
* Security Camera timers should now work again!
* Timers for the Acoustic Mines should work again!
* Support for bandana accessory hero customizations. Coming soon! In the meantime, check them out on the Whisper Twins.
* Fix to UI screens where some screens would overlap others or interfere with presentation of other screens.
* UI Polish to all modal dialogues
* Fix to HUD for the item line (on PC) showing up when you have no items
* Removed unnecessary info from Friends List UI and Options Menus
* Memory Optimization work - fixed several textures eating too much memory
* Fixed several poster locations which had been displaced by changes to level geometry
* Fix to UI presentation on Character Creation screen; making sure certain buttons only appear when necessary
* Fix for UI layout of hotkeys and player HUD to respect the safe area
* Fix to Sessions Menu and Friends List to make sure you can't continue input when already joining a session
* Fix for Prologue Mission where a user pointed out they could escape the house area in part 1.
* Fix to prevent seeing "Stalker Captured" in team panel before capturing stalker
* Fix to prevent two first fires being placed in receptacle
* AI pathing fixes to give them access to more areas players go
* Adjustments to replication to improve performance on hosts
* Level geometry fixes