Dystopia: May 2010 Update - 1.30 Released to Supporters! news

It has been another drudging, long and painful couple of years again for Team Dystopia. Once again, everyone has contributed more than just their spare time in order to continue supporting Dystopia, and it has paid off significantly!

Today we are releasing our latest version, 1.30 to those who have donated to us. We hope that during this period, the Supporters will be able to assist us with larger game balance, additional bug hunting and give a lot of constructive feedback for future releases. If you're not a Supporter, become one now in order to get in on the 1.30 beta release.

1.30 is a new chapter in the life of Dystopia development for this team. Not only has Dystopia been moved over to a new engine, but it has also makes Dystopia releases much more sustainable for us in the future. Dystopia running on the Orange Box engine allows us to do many great things, like visual and gameplay improvements, but it allows us to utilize the Steamworks platform in a much more efficient way. We hope to be making much more frequent and smaller releases in the future!

In the mean time, it's worth mentioning a short video that we put up on our Facebook page not too long ago. This video shows off the new Mediplant particle that players will be able to experience in 1.30.

This, however, is not the final chapter for new particle effects in 1.30. Besides a new Tesla secondary fire, Cyber bubbles, Mediplant beam and the numerous usages throughout our maps, we have one new particle we would like to show everyone. A few months ago, we showed an earlier version of the decking particle effect that has since been replaced with something much more slick.

1.30 Decking Particle video - Dystopia Mod for Half-Life 2 - Mod DB
1.30 may not seem like a huge change for some, because moving engines is mostly under the hood. However, to put the monumental work that has been done for 1.3 into perspective, below are the changes to Dystopia since 1.2.

"Dystopia wrote:
General:
- Added separate server say messages for forced team changes that were caused by mp_autoteambalance or balanceteam callvotes.
- Added images to support server map images within the server list.
- Added cyberspace.cfg and meatspace.cfg to account for any desired HUD changes between the two.
- Added an "anti-idle" system. Players who have not moved or changed their view angle will be kicked. Convars added to set maximum idle time and what to do when it's time to kick a player.
- Changed server say messages to announce that a player has used Auto-Assign, instead of it saying that a player has joined a team.
- Changed cyberspace bloom to be disabled if bloom is disabled in graphic options. (Issue #2394)
- Changed Spectator view to be able to see players through walls with certain rules, and will also see much more information about the players.
- Fix for being put on the wrong team after an autobalance occurs. (Issue #1982, #2488)
- Fix for exploit in which the player could join a team with more players on it, when they should not be able to. (Issue #1972)
- Fix for damage to turrets being sent to the stats system (Issue #1571)
- Fix for teamkill bans occurring inconsistently, instead of at 5 teamkills.

Console:
- Added ability to vote kick, vote ban and swap_teams to call voting system.
- Added callvote kickid and callvote banid for players that have non-ascii or empty names.
- Added cheat convar sv_nodrain. sv_nodrain 1 will not drain any energy from running programs. sv_nodrain 2 will not drain any energy from cyber combat.
- Added convar cl_spawneffect (default:1,enabled) to make it possible to disable screen spawn-effects.
- Added concommand timetobeat and callvote timetobeat, for setting final objective capture times in competitive matches.
- Added convar mp_player_votedelay (default:120) to specify the minimum time delay between 2 votes by a single player. (Issue #2592)
- Added convar dys_stats_retries_allowed (default:5) the amount of times a server will attempt to connect to the stats server, before it stops trying until the next map change.
- Added convar sv_idlekick_timer (default:300) the amount of seconds that it takes to deem a player as idle.
- Added convar sv_idlekick (default:1) the actions for what to do to an idle player. 0 = do not kick, 1 = kick if not a supporter, 2 = kick even if a supporter.
- Added mp_votedelay_start to control how long a player must wait at the beginning of a map start before voting.
- Removed match_restart.
- Changed dys_draw_team_iff_colors to dys_draw_relative_iff_colors.
- Changed cl_showpos 1 to show horizontal velocity.
- Changed mp_player_votedelay to mp_votedelay_player.
- Fixed dumpshock kills showing 'player killed player'. (Issue #1710)
- Fixed callvote balanceteams not having a cooldown between votes by having a 180 second delay. (Issue #690)

UI:
- Added Steam avatars to in-game scoreboard.
- Added highlighting of Steam friends to the in-game scoreboard.
- Added ability to change your vote after already voting.
- Added obituaries for secondary fire for most weapons to differentiate how a player was killed.
- Added obituary for when a player is decked out by an EMP grenade and dumpshocked by another player.
- Added obituary for when an objective is captured.
- Added Objective Capture messages that are posted to chat, which include the time objectives werecaptured.
- Added a red X crosshair that will replace the player's current crosshair whenever a player is aiming at a teammate.
- Added "damage" to end of round scoreboard, in between "points" and "frags."
- Changed scoreboard to a more efficient layout, allowing for more information.
- Changed chat functionality to use Orange Box based chat window, that includes scrollable history and chat filters. Filter for global and Team voicecomms included.
- Changed "Thermal Turret" to "Thermoptic Turret."
- Fix for not being able to switch through weapons in Cyberspace or Meatspace using the mouse wheel while the voicecomm menu is up. (Issue #603)
- Fix for various crashes with the load out menu. (Issue #2357)
- Fix for the end round menu showing the team that had an objective captured on it, instead of showing the actual team that captured it. Common on dys_silo (Issue #883)
- Fix for the HUD cyberdeck icon sometimes telling the player they cannot jack-in, when in fact they can. (Issue #814)
- Fix for the scoreboard saying 'Dead none' for the status and class. Defaulted to say 'Dead Light' to reflect default class choice. (Issue #1873)
- Fix for IFF on turrets appearing as two-dimensional, instead of three-dimensional which would make the IFF hard to see from certain angles. (Issue #1107)
- Fix for players displayed on radar not being properly colored when dys_draw_team_iff_colors is set to 1. (Issue #2296)
- Fix for a bug that caused stealthers to sometimes not be showed in the radar upon a TAC Scan. (Issue #999)
- Fix for a crash that was caused by using the preset_load command after changing resolutions or switching between windowed and full screen. (Issue #2357)
- Fix so that empty yellow HUD boxes from HL2 do not appear upon spawning or jacking in. (#556)
- Fix for Ammo Icons sometimes not appearing for every weapon that gets refilled ammunition. (Issue #2575)
- Fix so that offline or disabled jack-in points do not show on the radar. (Issue #1176)

Meatspace:
- Added new Stealth effect.
- Added new Mediplant effect.
- Added new Green Ice effect that plays when a player is jacked out due to hitting a Green Ice.
- Added a particle-effect based trail for meat-sacks that are jacked in to cyberspace.
- Added functionality so that Invincible turrets now never draw health bars.
- Changed movement to be very similar to that of pogostick. It is now easier to bunnyhop and sustain your speed.
- Changed EMP overlay effect, updated with animated scan lines.
- Changed the Episode 1 engine based Tesla Ball effect to a particle based effect.
- Changed Grenade Launcher trails to show Red for Punks, Blue for Corps and White for Primed/Explosive.
- Changed Laser Rifle firing color to be Red for Punks, Blue for Corps.
- Changed movement so that crouching is only allowed once per jump. (Issue #2385)
- Changed fall damage to only inflict 1 hitpoint on a player who has fallen, if they have armor.
- Changed points of armor to 2 instead of 1.
- Changed Stealth effect to no longer flicker upon a player being hit.
- Changed Leg Boosters to not drain the player unless that player is holding sprint and a movement key.
- Fixed weapons that have hit-beeps that occur at the same time (Basilisk, Shotgun, Mini-gun) not stacking to make a deeper sound for higher damage that is inflicted. (Issue #2025, #988)
- Fixed Smartlocks losing their trace while ledge grabbing. (Issue #1131)
- Fixed stealther's Katana sometimes showing. (Issue #706)
- Fixed explosions with an origin submerged in water not damaging players outside of water (#1716)
- Fixed numerous problems with not being able to press button panels, especially when the player can see an arrow. (#1843)
- Fixed exploit where a player could leave the server while dead, to get lower spawn times for teammates.
- Fixed times where blood splatters caused by some weapons would show on stealthers. (Issue #2380)

Cyberspace:
- Changed the Episode 1 engine based cyber-bubble effect to a particle based effect.
- Changed the gain of energy from Cyber Shards to be over the period of one second. The pitch of the sound that plays when a player receives energy will change depending on the size of the shard received.
- Fixed numerous issues having to do with camera and player alignment in cyberspace. Players can now move properly when not paralell to X, Y or Z.
- Fix the chase camera in Cyberspace, it should no longer mess up spectators view angle. (Issue #821)
- Fix for some cases where an enemy decker would not register hits, but should of. (Issue #575)

Implants:
- Changed TAC Scan so that it no longer tracks enemies on the radar, and instead only grabs a snapshot.
- Changed heavies to have 5 global implant slots.
- Changed Mediplant to heal players faster and more efficiently, and not to heal players with an active cortex.
- Changed Wired Reflexes to not affect reload times anymore. Wired reflexes now makes swapping to non-melee weapons faster and also gives Minigun a spinning bonus. Additionally, Shotgun, Boltgun, Smartlocks and Basilisk now use the faster reload animation, while Assault Rifle, MK808, Grenade Launcher and Minigun use the slow one.
- Changed SWT to only track weapon and player sounds, NOT bullet and shell impacts.
- Changed Cortex Bomb so that it does not kill the player at the end of the countdown, if no enemies are in range.
- Changed Cortex Bomb to give a 50% speed boost while it is active.
- Fix so that SWT now tracks all weapons and bunny-hoppers properly. (Issue #596)
- Fix so that Cortex Bomb will not go off if enemies are behind walls, potentially hurting teammates that are nearby. (Issue #1617)
- Fix for an exploit that allows player to toggle certain implants faster. (Issue #2386)
- Fix for not being able to properly use leg boosters while sv_pogostick was enabled. (Issue #1569)
- Fix for ColdSuit shadows showing when Thermal Vision is being used. (Issue #348)
- Fix for issue that made sprint lose energy while jacked in and when jacked out, if the player was sprinting when they jacked in. (Issue #2274)

Weapons:
- Changed secondary Rocket Launcher functionality. Fly-by-wire rockets are very accurate for a short period, before control is taken away. Holding secondary will fire a "dumbfire rocket."
- Changed Grenade Launcher grenade and trails to be team colored. Active Grenades are gold and have a gold trail.
- Changed the Basilisk so that one of the three Basilisk shots are now 100% accurate.
- Changed Smartlock spread to be tighter.
- Changed Minigun to be more accurate while crouching and made it slow the player down slightly less while spinning.
- Changed the Laser Rifle so it only has one zoom level and doesn't steal control of the mousewheel.
- Changed Laser Rifle damage reduction to begin at 1024 units instead of 512.
- Changed Basilisk Max Spare Ammo from 64 to 72, and Dispensed Ammo from 10 to 12.
- Changed Laser Rifle Max Spare Ammo from 150 to 140, and Dispensed Ammo from 15 to 20.
- Changed Boltgun Initial Spare Ammo from 10 to 9, and Dispensed Ammo from 4 to 3.
- Changed Shotgun Dispensed Ammo from 4 to 6.
- Changed Smartlock Pistols Max Spare Ammo from 90 to 120.
- Changed Spider Grenades to start their destruction timer after they have been deployed, not thrown.
- Changed Smartlock Pistols so that a player does not have to fire to reload them, in order to get new tracers.
- Fix for rocket laser dot showing when reloading and after firing, turns back on when rocket is available. (Issue #1891)
- Fixed Tesla beams to appear out of players' guns instead of their head. (Issue #1337)
- Fixed a bug where a player could block while switching to the Katana (Issue #2561)
- Fixed Rocket Launcher, Smartlock Pistols, Shotgun, Grenade Launcher and Basilisk to properly fire under water, for both primary and secondary fire.
- Fixed some weapons not firing breaking glass. (Issue #589)

Audio:
- Added new soundscapes for Assemble (7), Broadcast (17), Silo (13) Cybernetic (13), Fortress (10), Injection (46), Detonate (4) and Exodus (4).
- Added new bullet impact sounds for the environment and player.
- Added new door and platform sounds.
- Added Cyber Jump Pad feedback sound.
- Added sound for shard, so it's easier to spot and replaced hl2 shard pickup sound.
- Added Draw sounds for all weapons.
- Added sound feedback for Rocket Launcher when not ready to fire.
- Added Medium Katana swings sounds.
- Added Underwater explosion sounds.
- Added new footsteps for Heavy.
- Added Heavy pain and hurt sounds.
- Changed Alarm, Mine and GreenIce sounds.
- Changed footsteps for Light and Medium.
- Changed sound for picking up ammo from Ammo Dispenser.
- Changed underwater ambient sound.
- Changed weapon change feedback sound.
- Changed Boltgun reload, bolt skewer, body hit and optimized fire sounds.
- Changed Basilisk secondary.
- Changed Cyber explosions, projectile fire and shaft sounds.
- Changed sound for EMP explosion.
- Changed grenade's pin pull and impact sounds.
- Changed MK808 fire sound and reloading.
- Changed timing for shotgun reload sound.
- Changed Laser Rifle's pitch to change depending on charge.
- Fixed Leg Booster's charge sound, to continue looping.

Graphics:
- Added jigglebones to the turrets and chairs.
- Changed player model skins.
- Changed cyber-avatar skins.
- Fixed smoothing groups on many models, including the ammo dispenser and various props.
- Fixed the collision mesh on some Jack-In Point models.
- Fixed lighting on Basilisk view model
- Added 1st-person weapon view models to the whitelist.

SourceTV:
- Added second spawn timer to reflect both team's spawn times.
- Added information so that spectators can properly see objectives, turrets and objective IFF.
- Changed IFF to be viewable through walls for spectators.

Subject to change until 1.30 public release!

Over the course of the next month, we will be releasing many updates to the Supporters as we address issues and make tweaks so that our final 1.30 deliverable is perfect! Be sure to get in on the action, and if you can't, look forward to a well polished 1.30 soon!