Game Patches

## 1.3.6 - Playing with friends

**Find Your Friends on Home Screen**

This new feature allows you to see, on the game home screen, which of your friends are playing Ballistic Overkill, allowing you to immediately join to the same server that they are playing. This feature will be the foundation of the clan system, that will be available in the future. In order to make this system the best possible, we rewrote a considerable part of the code that connects players into matches, you can learn more about these changes below.

**New Queue System**

It is now possible to enter in any server you want, even if that server is full. Doing so will make you a spectator in your friend’s match until a vacant position on your team becomes available. This way, newcomers will enter in a queue, joining the match in an organized way. It will be much easier to organize teams then.

Game lobby screen and private matches no longer exist, players can now organize their teams from inside a match. We still offer the ability to create password-protected servers for those who want to play with big groups of friends.

**Team Selection**

Players are asked to choose a team before their first spawn instead of being automatically placed in the team with less members. We still enforce a minimal difference in team sizes to avoid unbalanced teams. When this happens, you have to wait in the queue until the teams are balanced again. Different from what happened before, however, you will never be blocked from changing teams (with the only excepting of when the match is nearing its end). This change is crucial for the new game modes that are coming.

**Spectator Mode Changes**

Spectator Mode was remade to let both players and spectators join matches by the same method. Spectator mode is more accessible from the respawn screen, behaving as if it were a soldier class. You can join a match as a spectator at any time, but if you want to join a team to play you’ll be placed in a queue just the same.

**Teammate Outlines**

We changed characters outlines to allow players to see their teammates through walls, encouraging even better teamplay.

**Gold Badges**

All classes with level 100 or more will have a golden badge instead of a silver one. Be extra careful when finding one of these in the enemy team!

**New Weapon: Sledgehammer**

The tank can now unlock a brand new weapon, one that greatly helps him in close quarters combat.The Sledgehammer is a melee weapon with a slow fire-rate, but massive damage. Unaware Shadows may have an unpleasant surprise when getting close to a Tank.

**New Melee Animations**

Melee weapons received new animations for sequential attacks.

**New Weapon Stats Screen**

The weapon Information Screen on the Soldiers Tab was redesigned to make it easier to find your available skins to equip.

**New Antialiasing Modes**

We’re aiming to give more flexibility on game graphics configuration options. Advanced users who want to can now access them through a text file in the Ballistic Overkill installation folder. On top of an improved version for the standard FXAA, we added the possibility of switching to MSAA, of 2x, 4x or 8x. It's possible to combine both modes, for those who want to take the game graphics to the next level:

- FXAA
- MSAA2X
- MSAA4X
- MSAA8X
- MSAA2X + FXAA
- MSAA4X + FXAA
- MSAA8X + FXAA

See the comparison:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/ballistic-marketing/ballistic-patch-notes/136/antialiasing\_comparison.jpg

**Custom Server Commands**

We added a few commands to help those who create their own servers manage them with ease. If you are a server host you can type these in the chat anytime during a match.

* **./list**
Lists in numeric order, all players in the match.
* **./kick [player number from the list]**
Kicks the player identified by that number.
* **./blacklist [player number from the list]**
Permanently kick and ban the player identified by that number in this server.
* **./prioritylist [player number from the list]**
Includes the player in the priority list. This will give him priority in any future queue in this server.

To manage banned and priorized players in your servers, you can always manually edit the file BallisticConfiguration.serverdata in the custom server folder.

**Vulkan and Metal Support**

Linux and MacOS users can celebrate! It is now possible to choose the Ballistic Overkill graphic API through a launch command in Steam properties. Vulkan API is relatively new and may have some bugs. The available APIs are:

-force-d3d9
-force-d3d11
-force-vulkan
-force-metal
-force-glcore

You can check out which graphic API is running by looking at the bottom left corner in the home screen, next to the game’s version.

**Balance Changes**

**Melee Weapon Changes**

*One thing that made melee weapons tough to get right was their ability to kill anyone instantly with a backstab. This was done automatically, regardless of the weapon damage or the target’s health.*

We’re changing this system to allows us to balance the backstab itself via a multiplier so we can have more variance to it. On top of that, we changed the valid angle of attack of melee weapons by reducing it across the board to avoid situations where hits seemed unfair or too easy to aim.

* **Backstab Multiplier added**

	+ Melee weapons won’t kill instantly on backstabs. Backstabs are now considered critical hits (similar to a headshot from a regular weapon). This means that each weapon has it’s own multiplier, allowing for extra variety in that weapon class.
	+ You can check the actual values of Backstab Multipliers in the character sections below.

* **Melee Strike angle reduced slightly on all melee weapons**

**Tank**

*We felt that Tank needed an extra option of “fast moving sidearm”. The current only weapon that fits this description is the Blackhawk. We hope that Tanks who want to be a swifter than normal will find the Sledgehammer as a suitable choice. It allows the Tank to serve Shadow some of that sweet melee action he seems to love.*

* **Weapons**

	+ Sledgehammer added

* **Unlocks**

	+ Sledgehammer added as the new level 2 unlock

		- All other weapons pushed up in the progression

* + Rampart and Brigand unlock position switched
	+ Raging Bull and Last Stand unlock position switched

* **Skills**

	+ Raging Bull damage reduction increased from 30% to 50%

**Shadow**

*Shadow has been very dominant in the current meta. More specifically, a certain kind of Shadow... We hope some of the changes introduced will help players counter this strategy, while still keeping it a viable choice.*

* **Weapons**

	+ Xian

		- 150% Backstab Damage Multiplier added instead of an instakill.

* + Ninjaken

		- Attack Speed increased from 100 to 120
		- 200% Backstab Multiplier added instead of an instakill.

* + Shinobi

		- Movement speed reduced
		- 50% Backstab Multiplier added instead of an instakill.

* + **Unlocks**

		- Vampire and Shadow Walker unlock position switched

**Marksman**

*Marksman received the current version of Awareness as an extra trait while the skill itself was buffed. We hope this helps differentiate the class from others, while also making the skill itself more reliable.*

* **Skills**

	+ Trait buffed

		- All enemies are revealed on the map for 1 second every 5 seconds. This ability reveals even invisible opponents.

* + Awareness

		- Time to activate reduced from 5 to 2 seconds.

**Bug Fixes and Improvements**

* Fixed a bug that eventually freezes the free camera from the Spectator Mode.
* Fixed a series of validation errors on weapons skins.
* Reduced the overall memory usage.
* Hungarian language added.
* Fixed a bug that made the camera shake in a wrong intensity when the player gets hit by certain weapons.
* Fixed an audio bug that tied voice commands volume to general sound effects volume
* Fixed a problem that makes the Reset Statistics Button reset achievements too.
* Fixed a bug that makes the glass breaking noises too loud.
* Fixed a bug on Lone Wolf skill (Wraith) that allows allies positions to interfere with the skill’s effect.

## 1.3.5 - Official Release

**First Blood Season**

The very first season of Ballistic Overkill. It features more than 180 weapon skins, now divided in 5 rarity tiers: common, advanced, special, elite and legendary. Remember, from now on each new season brings entirely new drops and replaces the previous season ones, know the value of the skins in your inventory as they won't be dropping again in future seasons.

Players will also be rewarded with 4 new accessories based on their weapon skin collection. By the way, it is now possible to inspect unlocked accessories in your inventory screen. This will help you to decide which ones you want to pursue.

**Shadow Female Skin**

You are wrong if you think first person shooters are only for dudes. The girls on our community will have nice female characters to play as well, starting with the shadow class. Skins for other classes will come in the future.

**Costume Skins as DLCs**

8 more exclusive character costumes are now available to purchase as DLCs. They don't just alter character models as some of them also change the entire voice pack. Time to show off to your friends!

**Balance Changes**

**Grenadier**

*Grenadier's GL's have a mechanic that makes projectiles consider your movement direction to influence their trajectory. While some players use this to their advantage to hit targets, we’re experimenting turning it off to check how it affects players overall experience, if it improves or not. We’ll keep a close look on this change. We also increased the number of bullets per shot on all shotguns to make their damage feel more consistent, while maintaining their original DPS almost the same.*

* **Grenade Launchers**

	+ Removed character movement influence on projectile direction

* **Shotguns**

	+ Increased number of bullets per shot
	+ Reduced damage per bullet (max damage per shot either remains the same or is slightly higher)

**Vanguard**

*The last patch reduced the clip size of all Vanguard’s ARs to balance out his power, but we feel Executioner was hurt too much from that nerf, so we’re reverting it.*

* **Executioner**

	+ Clip size increased from 25 to 30

**Wraith**

*This patch, Lone Hunter is seeing a reload speed buff to match with the other skills’ power. His pistols are also getting quality of life buffs to become more viable.*

* **Skill - Lone Hunter buffed**

	+ Reload speed increased from 20% to 30%

* **Weapon - Persuader and Machete are now automatic**

	+ Recoil reduced slightly
	+ This is a quality of life change. Overall balance remains the same

**Shadow**

*Assassin and Fast as Lightning were modified so Shadow’s skills feel they have more specific purposes. Shinobi is getting a small nerf that highlights its purpose as a slow, but very powerful sword.*

* **Skill - Assassin modified**

	+ While moving, Shadow gains +50% accuracy and +50% recoil reduction.

* **Skill - Fast as Lightning modified**

	+ Shadow gains +10% rate of fire and +25% reload speed.

* **Weapon - Shinobi**

	+ Attack speed (rate of fire) decreased slightly

**Tank**

*A vast part of the community agrees Tank’s close range LMGs are weaker than they should be, so we’re tunning them up.*

* **Weapon - Brute**

	+ Accuracy, damage and reload speed increased
	+ Range increased slightly

* **Weapon - Chainsaw**

	+ Damage increased
	+ Range increased slightly

**Bug Fixes**

* Silenced and unsilenced weapon tags revised.
* Fixed an issue with not being able to disassemble some weapon skins.
* In-game chat improvements.
* Fixed melee attacks ignoring damage reduction.
* Fixed camouflage bugs when changing the game quality during a match.
* Fixed "This is Ballistic" achievement award detection.

## 1.3.4 - Hotfix

**Move while using the Voice Wheel**

You can now walk, run, jump and use the voice command wheel at the same time.

**Voice Volume Slider**

Instead of just turn voices on or off, now you can adjust their volume.

**Exclusive Fullscreen**

This was requested mostly by streamers to facilitate their transmissions. Ballistic Overkill used to run fullscreen in a mode called "borderless window". In "exclusive mode" the framebuffer is sent directly to the display and may decrease the input lag. It also allows better syncronization options like G-sync and Freesync.

**End Match Music**

The classic Ballistic F2P music was added to end match screens.

**Bug Fixes**

* Fixed Shadow smoke and sound remaining after his death.
* Fixed Berserker's Bloodlust UI feedback stacking above limits.
* Revised some automatic voice probabilities to play less often.
* Fixed "Use Mouse Wheel" option to save consistently.
* Fixed a bug that caused end match screens to not show up sometimes.

==

1.3.4 - Voice Commands ==

**Voice Commands**

More than 1400 voice recordings were added to the game. Divided in 6 specific commands, and other automatic messages triggered in many situations. All unique to each character. If you still prefer muted soldiers, you can turn the voice commands Off in the settings menu.

**Skills Feedback**

Now you will be able to tell when a skill becomes active with visual feedback on your HUD. Some skills also have a stacked effect, or timed buffs. All that will be visible in real time. Making skill mechanics much clearer to everyone.

**Mouse Sensitivity**

Responding to some feedback, we divided mouse sensitivity setup in 3 different sliders, completely independent from each other. One for default sensitivity, another only for aiming, and the third one only for telescopic sights. This will help players comming from other games keep the same feel they are already used to.

**Always Run**

If you like to run, you can now enable the "Always Run" option in the settings menu. This will make you run automatically by pressing forward, while holding the run key will make you walk. This can be slightly more comfortable for players who run constantly, but you will still make a lot of noise and get revealed in the radar, don't forget!

**Credits Screen**

After all these years, It's nice to present the people behind Ballistic Overkill. More importantly, we have highlighted community members that helped us make the game so far, by giving constructive feedbacks or translating the game.

**Other Fixes and Improvements**

* Added "Polish" language.
* Added a subtle feedback on the mini-map when you are revealed in the enemy radars.
* Added an error message when the game is unable to connect to Steam platform.
* Improved achievement detection for Sneaky Beaky, Force of Nature, Nostalgia and MVP.
* Fixed a bug in Soldiers screen that caused it to not update loadouts properly.
* Fixed a bug in Blackfield map that kills the player randomly.
* Fixed Last Stand not giving 10% extra life.

## 1.3.3 - Reinstate Release

**Steam Achievements**

Now Ballistic Overkill has dozens of achievements to pursue. Some of them are just easy and fun, and some were made only for pro-like players to conquer.

**Password Protected Servers**

You can now create your own password protected matches. This is great to organize parties with your friends without having to invite everybody over Steam invite.

**Enemy Area**

Staying on the "Enemy Area" now reveals you in the radar, with any class. This new feature will give a clear advantage to spawning players and help to prevent spawn camping.

**Russian Language**

Welcome russian friends, the game is available in your language now!

**New servers in China**

Our community in China is growing fast. The new servers will improve a lot the experience in many asian countries.

**Multi-Thread Improvements**

Some fundamental parts of code were reviewed to make a better use of multiple cores. We hope to see less frame drops, specially in maps such as Wonderdome. This optimization was only on the CPU side, if you are limited by the GPU, your performance should remain the same.

**Bug Fixes**

* Steam invite is working again.
* Fixed Capture Point not scoring points sometimes.
* Fixed some minor collision issues in Nox Museum.

**Balance Changes**

* **Vanguard**

	+ All Assault Rifles clip size reduced

		- Blackguard, Widower and Stalker

			* Clip size reduced by 10
		- All others

			* Clip size reduced by 5

* **Shadow**

	+ All Dual Machine Pistols clip size reduced

		- Scorpion and Typhoon

			* Clip size reduced by 10
		- All others

			* Clip size reduced by 5

* + - Typhoon

			* Increased accuracy slightly
		- Needler

			* Reload speed reduced slightly

* **Grenadier**

	+ Destructor

		- Clip size increased to 6 (was 4)
		- Rate of fire decreased slightly

## 1.3.2 - January Update

**Bug Fixes**

* Improved Free-for-All spawns to prevent players from respawn at the same point.
* Free-for-All now rewards players with Kill Assists.
* Sound effects revised to consistently respect volumes set in options screen.
* You can now disable the weapon swap with mouse wheel in the options menu.
* Added specific message when players can't enter a match because of a VAC ban.
* Improved Quick-Match algorithm.
* Sunnsquare Mall collision reworked to prevent players from getting stuck on the ceiling in some locations.
* Crouching repeatedly will not prevent players from take hazard damages anymore, e.g: Gas chambers in Blackfield.
* Fixed weapon skins not showing in third person with dual wields.

**Optimizations**

We significantly reduced some memory allocations. Which means, the game should now have less frame drops during the match. Although the average framerate should remain the same.

**New Territories**

Due some new legal conditions, Ballistic Overkill can be available in all of these countries:

Russian Federation, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Byelorussia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Luxembourg.

**Dedicated Server Banner**

If you access Library/Tools in your Steam, you will see the Ballistic Overkill Dedicated Server. It allows you to create your own server with some custom options in a fairly low bandwidth and CPU cost. Now you are also able to setup an image and a link to promote your channels.

This is part of many dedicated server customizations we plan to do in the near future.

Hope you like it. See you soon!