2017-04-21

**Developer Patch 2017/04/21**

*We're finally done and ready to release a brand new patch! This patch contains a lot of promised features that we made in past developer blogs and we are very excited to finally release everything.*

### GENERAL UPDATES

* Fixed missing physics of general objects in the entire game.
* Fixed the restuarant models where players could get stuck in the windows.
* Fixed some loading screens that were displaying incorrect links (urls) / text.
* Fixed texture bugs related to the antenna model (used on top of the control tower at the airport in Colorado v2).
* Fixed an issue related to the windows of the restaurant buildings where players could get stuck sometimes.
* Fixed a crash that would kick you if you died in warmup just as you reloaded. (At the same time)
* Fixed a bug where clan tags broke the minimap in-game. (Clan tags wouldn't show on the minimap)
* Fixed an anticheat kick when sending screenshots. Players shouldn't be affected by this much anymore.
* Fixed many server kicks, specially for lag issues. Improved server stability.
* Fixed a server crash on the Lounge. (Related to players accessing their global inventory)
* Fixed a Battle Royale Server Crash. (A bug where players could somehow disconnect from the same session twice)
* Fixed a Private Server Crash. (Was related to private servers spawning too much loot) (Increased / Improved this)
* Added a new loading screen and fixed some older ones. Deleted loading screens that are unused.
* The Brotherhood has been removed from the daily reward system. (Based on feedback from the community)
* Any action that makes you lose spawnprotection will make you lose zombie repellent.
* Removed the randomised join for Solo Servers. Players are now able to pick the server they want instead of joining a random one. We hope more players will start playing Solo Servers.
* Stamina will no longer freeze when driving a car.
* When opening a Skinbox/Crate you will no longer lose the item is your backpack if full/too much weight. It will instead drop to the ground.
* NewZ will now force using the best GPU, if available in laptops with dual graphic cards.
* Globally tweaked the main menu style. Added some new text, some buttons are more clear.
* Updated the in-game main menu background.
* Implemented a ranked system, reworked the main menu and improved the Battle Royale game mode overall with a lot of changes. Read further patch notes for more info.
* Players can now get an epic skinbox from opening a tactical weapon crate. The skinbox is rare though.

### UI/MENU UPDATES

*As you might have read a while ago in a developer blog about upcoming changes for the game is that we've reworked the way the main menu of the game works. This doesn't mean that the menu is different, but from now on it will just work in a more logical way.*
*You might now be like "what the hell are you talking about?" and therefor we recommend you to read the developer blog about it first before going into the patch notes. You can read the blog here:* http://playnewz.com/getpost.php?id=60469
*The most simple and easiest way to explain the changes to the menu is that basically the game is now split in 4 different parts. Every game mode has it's own menu, own characters, own buttons, own layout etc. With this change there will be no more confusion and mixing up of different game modes.*
*For example: before, it was hard for new players to understand how the Battle Royale game mode worked combined with the characters. Also because no statistics saved but also because the same character from open world needed to be used to play Battle Royale.*
*With this change everything is more clear and logical, easier for new players to understand but also creates a solid fundament for our new 2 upcoming game modes. To make everything even more clear here is a list of the exact changes we have done:*

* There's now 4 tabs added at the top of the screen in the main menu. The tabs are as following: "Open World - Battle Royale - Survival (Legacy) - Competitive". 2 of the tabs are still disabled since those game modes aren't released yet.﻿
* The open world tab remains the same. Everything in this tab will still work the same way.﻿
* The Battle Royale tab is now adapted for that game mode. It doesn't have a global inventory button since global inventory is not used in the Battle Royale game mode.﻿
* The Battle Royale game mode now has it's own unique character.﻿
* Marketplace and Community->Clans are only for Open World. These menu features don't work for the other game modes.﻿

### RANKING SYSTEM UPDATES

*For players wondering about this, we've published a developer blog about this a week ago. You can read it here:* http://playnewz.com/getpost.php?id=60469
*Ranked has been something "Coming Soon" for a long time in the game and we felt very forced and needed to finally finish this! Also this is a perfect example of the mindset we like to follow listed earlier: "this creates much more reason to play".*
*Ranked will work independently for every game mode. This means that for every game mode players will be able to have different ranks. There is however some similarities for example:*

* There will be 6 tiers that each have 3 divisions (levels) so in total there are 18 ranks different ranks a player can be in.
* Progress between the ranks is the same for every game mode.
* There will not be 'promotions' to rank up (like League of Legends for example) so ranking up will always be instant.
* For more details and pictures about the ranks etc. we recommend you to read the following post: http://playnewz.com/getpost.php?id=60469
*As already explained earlier is that ranked will work for every game mode (Survival, Open World, Battle Royale & Competitive) independently. For now (as the other 2 game modes are not released yet) ranked will only be available for Open World and Battle Royale. Open World ranked will work as following:** **Ranked in Open World**
+ Ranked in open world is relatively simple. This ranking system is not session based so that means that your rank can change all the time. (dynamically) Your rank will be set based on your ELO. ELO is an amount in our database that defines every player's skill. We can not release exactly where this is set on and what values are used but based on a lot of testing we can conclude that the ELO system is really accurate. (We don't want people to boost or whatsoever so that's why) Things ELO is based on for example are: kills, death, headshot ratio, etc.. (A lot more)
+ ELO defines a players skill and based on ELO the player's rank will be set. This means that ranked is very dynamically meaning playing bad for a couple of hours is going to lower a player's ELO and then lower his rank. Playing good works the same way. You don't have to be playing 1000's of hours to have a high ELO, you just need to be good.
+ We are very happy to be able to make this skill based since that's very important. We rather focus on the actual skill of a player than amounts (of players killed or something) because that doesn't really say everything as we all know.
+ Right now ranks just display in the menu. We are planning to do way more with it in the future. Right now we just have the 'basis'. Expect MORE to come!

* **Ranked in Battle Royale**
+ Ranked in Battle Royale will work in an entire different way. Again also this ranking system will be very skill based meaning you have to play good to rank up but you don't always have to be the best.
+ We have started to log every Battle Royale game played and from now on player's positions save. (As you can also see in the video: Players can even see in the menu what their last placements were of their latest played Battle Royales) All these games a player play will be summed up and a number between 1-100 will be chosen (averagely). Players will have an average position of where they finish in Battle Royale games and that will be linked to a rank.
+ Your rank will only start counting after you played a set amount of Battle Royale games so you won't have a rank instantly after playing 1 Battle Royale game only. If you manage to play around 20 Battle Royale games and finish first place on every single one of them your rank will obviously be the highest: Elite 1. (Because your average position will be #1)

### BATTLE ROYALE UPDATES

*Based on the developer blog we've published about a week ago we have now done the following changes to Battle Royale:* (Original post can be read here: http://playnewz.com/getpost.php?id=60469)
*We highly recommend you to read the "Main Menu Rework" notes first before going through these updates since they are related.*

* Battle Royale now has it's own unique character + menu. Battle Royale is not more an game mode on itself and more stats will count. (We are planning on adding unique Battle Royale leaderboards later)
* Battle Royale now has a ranking system implemented. Players are now able to play Battle Royale's on a more competitive level.
* Battle Royale games are now logged. Players are able to see their last played Battle Royale's in the main menu including the place they finished that Battle Royale in.
* Added Extra Screen FX to being in a radiation Area for Battle Royale. The longer a player is in the radiation the more blurry the screen gets.
* Battle Royale Radiation damage increased as the safe zone gets smaller. (Against players that camp outside of the safe zone area for a ridiculous long time)
* The skill tree in Battle Royale is currently disabled. Every player automatically has a full skill tree (from open world) for now except for the 'epic' skills. We are planning on making a separate skill tree for Battle Royale but for now all players will have the full old open world skill tree.
* Removed Grouping in Battle Royale. Grouping will be added back when matchmaking is implemented, this way if you group you will play vs other groups, only. This is also done to give solo players a more fair chance of winning and make the overall Battle Royale games more interesting.

*We mentioned earlier that a new Battle Royale map is coming soon. The map is unfortunately at this moment not finished yet. We are very close to finishing it though. Wondering what the new map is going to be / look like? Check out this developer blog:* http://playnewz.com/getpost.php?id=60513

### MARKETPLACE UPDATES

* Decreased prices of clan slots (upgrades) with 90%. Clan slots shouldn't be expensive and from now on they won't be.

### SKIN UPDATES

* Fixed / Updated the Desert Eagle Gold skin icon.
* Fixed / Updated the Light Saber Purple. The skin looks more purple now.
* Fixed / Updated the texture of the M4 Revall.
* M107 Red Death has been added to the premium skinbox.
* M4 Dragon King has been added to the premium skinbox.
* Added some new skins for testing purposes. We're considering releasing the new "Red Strike" skins soon, stay tuned for that!

### ITEM UPDATES

* Fixed / Updated the name and description of the Riot Shield FistyCuffs29.
* Fixed the damage of some skinned katana's that would have the wrong damage amounts.
* Updated the description of the Famas. (Also for skinned versions of the gun)
* Updated the item name of the 'Tactical Knife' to 'M9 Bayonet'. Also all skinned item names / recipes / descriptions are fixed and updated.
* Updated the icon of the ASVAL. Adjusted the icon and changed some colors.
* Updated the texture of the Riot Shield Mysta.
* Added a new media Riot Shield: Riot Shield Official\_Alec12.
* Increased the speed of the Golf Club. Lowered the damage so it's the same as a baseball bat. (Melee)
* Increased the damage of the M9 Baynote. (Melee)
* Increased the damage of the Hatchet. (Melee)
* Increased the damage of the Jokoto Katana. (Melee)
* Increased the damage of the Wakizashi. (Melee)
* Increased the damage of the Machete. (Melee)
* Increased the damage of the Pickaxe but decreased the speed. (Melee)
* Decreased the damage of the Shovel. (Melee)
* Decreased the damage of the Garden Shears. (Melee)
* Decreased the damage of the Metal Bat with a tiny bit. (Melee)
* Decreased the fire rate of the M4 Semi. (Assault Rifle)
* Decreased the spread of the AKS-74U. (Assault Rifle)
* Decreased the recoil of the AKS-74U. (Assault Rifle)
* Decreased the damage of the B93R. This pistol has been way too overpowered compared to other pistols & guns. (Pistol)
* The AK47 can no longer use attachments due a bug / glitch. The AK47 will be able to use attachments again when we've found a way to fix the issues.
* Skinned lockers (Personal Neon Dragon / Red Dragon / E-Unit / Hynx Lockbox) now are Global Inventory Acces lockers meaning player's global inventory can be accesed through these lockers.
*Based on feedback from our community about a "too much variaty of different items" leading to a confusion sometimes we've came up with a process we will follow in the upcoming patches. We also feel very limited when deciding to add new content since we don't want to "flood" the game.*
*With the process of simplification we want to rework certain items / ammo and try to group them up in a way they make more sense. The upcoming patches we will do some changes to certain items. Here's what we've done for this update:** Medium Armor Desert & Forest are now skins. They will be available through the premium skinbox & findable in-game. All current Medium Armor Desert & Forest have been 'unskinned' to normal Medium Armors.
* Light Gear Forest & Urban are now skins. A new Light Gear basic armor is added.

### MAP UPDATES

* **Caliwood**﻿
+ Reworked the entire loot system and increased the loot to 600-700%.
+ Fixed the a major issue related green-yellow appartement building where if a player would look at the building get major FPS drops. This is now fixed.
+ Fixed some buildings where players could too easily glitch inside in. This is not longer possible. If you see players abusing this, please report them immediately.﻿

* **Event Map**﻿
+ Highered the sandbags models everywhere so that players can no longer jump on top of them. This was getting abused by players a lot.
+ Added more collision walls at the warehouse so that players can't acces the roof anymore.
+ Added some collision walls at the entries of team a&b area, player were able to jump out of the area before.
+ Updated the double sandbag models to triple sandbag models.

* **SpringValley**﻿
+ Disabled some functions to increase the FPS. (Improved lighting / fog etc.)
+ Fixed some problems related to the terrain.
+ Added a second jumpup at the 3 & 4 story building.
+ Removed a decent amount of objects due community reports. By doing this we've increased FPS and performance of the map with a lot.
+ Changed / Updated some global settings to improve the FPS / Performance overall.

* **ClearSmall**﻿
+ Replaced certain buildings that accidentally got removed last patch. (Clearview)

* **Rocky Ford**﻿
+ Removed the 2 red houses (community feedback).
+ Added some new closed / open buildings.
+ Updated minimap.

* **Smallville**﻿
+ Fixed a car where players could no-clip through due missing physics. This is now fixed.

* **Colorado V1**﻿
+ Fixed some flying objects at the Airport and West Boulder.
+ Fixed / updated some player spawns at the Airport where players would spawn in the middle of zombies. This no longer happens.
+ Improved the loot at Crystal Lake Resort. Added generally more loot and improved / fixed loot de-spawn timers.

* **Colorado V2**﻿
+ Fixed some flying objects at Camp Splinter.
+ Fixed some collision walls in Norad. By improving collision walls this should also give better FPS / Performance generally.
+ Fixed a texture problem in Boulder City.
+ Fixed some misplaced objects in Death Valley.
+ Fixed some objects at the small military place infront of Clearview. Some objects were flying and some were too far in the ground. This is now fixed.
+ Fixed some loot spots in Death Valley. Some loot would spawn inside the ground or fly around. This is now fixed.
+ Increased the loot in ParkerVille. Improved loot, optimised de-spawn timers and increased general loot.
+ Added 2 more jumpup's to the firestation in Death Valley so that players can acces the area easier without having to walk all the way around all the time. This is also done to improve potential PVP experience.
+ Removed some duplicated objects around Camp Splinter and Boulder City.
+ Removed 3-Story-Buildings from Clearview and placed there a church with some small changes around. (Based on community feedback) We will see how players react to this change and work from there on further changes and improvements.
+ Removed some FPS / Performance - intensive objects from the map to improve FPS / Performance.

### LOOT UPDATES

* Random appearing airdrops now drop overall better items and have a chance of dropping GC skinboxes now. (Epic Skinbox / Destruction Skinbox / Skully Pink Skinbox)
* Police / General loot tables have been updated. Missing items have been added. (This loot category is used almost everywhere on the map)
* QBZ (Assault Rifle) spawn rates have been increased. The gun is way more common now.
* Airdrop Callers now have a chance of dropping ANY karambit. Before they would only drop certain ones, now airdrops can drop all kinds of karambits!
* Air horns have been removed from the airdrop caller loot. The airdrops don't longer drop air horns.
* Bandage DX and Stanag C-Mags have been removed from the super zombie loot tables.
* The bullet compensator (attachment) is now confirmed to be spawning.

**Servers are shutting down as we speak. Maximum downtime will be around 30 minutes max. Please keep an eye out on our Twitter where we'll do live updates.**

*Best Regard,*

*Infestation: The New Z - Staff Team*

**You can find the original Patch Notes on Steam here**