What's this, a development update?
Due to the fact the May Update has been delayed meaning no TF2V releases have come out this month, it wouldn't be a bad idea to post an article giving rough details of where the mod is standing in development, issues, and some things confirmed.
How is the new update coming along?
The new update features less on overall scripts, assets and general bugfixing compared to previous updates but in contrast involves large changes to the binary calls of TF2V. This means this is a more "under the hood" update as of right now, and will be useful going forward to fix some apparent issues going on with the game.
What features are confirmed for the next major update?
The most notable feature right off the bat with the next major update is the reworking of the user interface with the most dramatic changes to the main menu as well as the pause menu. These menus are now reminiscent of 2007 TF2 taking influence from the Dustbowl menu. Additional menus have been reworked as well such as the class select menu and the spectator/replay UI in order to prevent a more cleaner interface, especially for watching replays.
Additionally, servers will be easier to set up than ever with the all new Special Server Edition (SSE) saving 2/3 of the size of a client TF2V install along with having more Quality of Life options for servers including community controlled parameters.
Lastly, some minor bugfixes for small issues found during playing, such as missing assets on some maps to the Kritzkrieg's beam not rendering properly. Also, every weapon no matter what has team skins available, also saving some time for weapons development.
What features might be coming for next update?
Right now the mod is focusing on weapons and implementing weapons into the game. A lot of the weapons that are requested to be implemented simply do not have the code they require in order to function properly in TF2V in the current state. This is where a lot of the development time is going to and why it seems like very little is being done at the moment.
Additional work outside of the weapons is also being done to the binaries for issues like HUD calls which should improve mod support with custom HUDs and UIs. The last non-weapon change to the binary is a entirely new section that will make it even easier to organize and play TF2V with your friends and rivals alike.
