Update 324 - CATALYST - Natural Selection 2

SystemSystem Join Date: 2013-01-29 Member: 182599Members, Super Administrators, Reinforced - Diamond
edited September 2018 in NS2 General Discussion

imageUpdate 324 - CATALYST - Natural Selection 2

Update 324 is the start of something exciting! It’s the catalyst to our new development cycle! Over the last few years we have made changes and fixes to further develop...

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  • WasabiOneWasabiOne Co-Lead NS2 CDT Join Date: 2011-06-15 Member: 104623Members, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Gold, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Gold, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow, Subnautica Playtester, Pistachionauts
    bump! enjoy ;)
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  • NintendowsNintendows Join Date: 2016-11-07 Member: 223716Members, Squad Five Blue
    Cool.
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  • pSyk0mAnpSyk0mAn Nerdish by Nature Germany Join Date: 2003-08-07 Member: 19166Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Silver, NS2 Community Developer
    Lol nice! Clog-tac-toe anyone ? :D
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  • ArchieArchie Antarctica Join Date: 2006-09-19 Member: 58028Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Supporter, WC 2013 - Supporter
    Thanks for the cool new skins, Sylvi and I are enjoying them, that frog skulk is pretty toxic looking! :> keep up the nice artwork.

    Also my only criticism of this patch so far is the loud idle sound that tunnels have, sounds like a bloody vacuum.
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  • WasabiOneWasabiOne Co-Lead NS2 CDT Join Date: 2011-06-15 Member: 104623Members, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Gold, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Gold, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow, Subnautica Playtester, Pistachionauts
    Archie wrote: »
    Thanks for the cool new skins, Sylvi and I are enjoying them, that frog skulk is pretty toxic looking! :> keep up the nice artwork.

    Also my only criticism of this patch so far is the loud idle sound that tunnels have, sounds like a bloody vacuum.

    Curious, do you use surround sound headset? they worked a lot on the idle sound and last I heard it was pretty quiet, but sometimes I know the surround sound mechanism in the headphones can do weird stuff with ns2.
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  • IronHorseIronHorse Developer, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributor Join Date: 2010-05-08 Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
    On that note : there's currently an issue within our version of fmod that we're aware of and looking into, where if your ingame sound setting is not set to max volume "1", you can experience different audio results.

    My recommendation is to set that ingame volume to the highest always and then adjust your OS, headset /speaker volume as needed.

    Also, that sound should only be loud if your essentially directly on top of it. Just outside of bite range it should be almost inaudible while walking.
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  • VetinariVetinari Join Date: 2013-07-23 Member: 186325Members, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Silver
    Sweet! Congrats, Samus!

    How long is the dlc going to be available? I don't have my wallet ready
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  • skav2skav2 Join Date: 2007-05-28 Member: 61037Members, Reinforced - Gold
    Heck yes!

    Love everything about this! Buying this later today just for the toxic skins! The rest is just a bonus XD
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  • SquishpokePOOPFACESquishpokePOOPFACE -21,248 posts (ignore below) Join Date: 2012-10-31 Member: 165262Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    it also includes future custom skins and items as a thank you for purchasing the DLC now

    It is my hope and dream to have an exclusive taunt pack from this
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  • WasabiOneWasabiOne Co-Lead NS2 CDT Join Date: 2011-06-15 Member: 104623Members, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Gold, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Gold, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow, Subnautica Playtester, Pistachionauts
    SquishpokePOOPFACE wrote: »
    it also includes future custom skins and items as a thank you for purchasing the DLC now

    It is my hope and dream to have an exclusive taunt pack from this

    we've talked about it, so who knows ;)
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  • d0ped0gd0ped0g Join Date: 2003-05-25 Member: 16679Members
    edited September 2018
    Will all of the individual skins in the cat-pack be available at a later date, unbundled? (e.g. in separate, cheaper, toxin & sandstorm packs that don't include future stuff) Are the skins in the bundle, strictly limited to the bundle? (i.e. get them now or you can't get them later) Or is the thing that is limited- the offer of getting them bundled together at a cheap price?

    The only one I'm interested in is the green gorge. I'd rather pay $6.29 NZD for a Toxin pack later than $15.49 NZD for a Catalyst Pack now.
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  • VetinariVetinari Join Date: 2013-07-23 Member: 186325Members, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Silver
    Y8vusjK.png

    Ooooh. Congrats to @Kasharic and @pSyk0mAn !
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  • The_Welsh_WizardThe_Welsh_Wizard Join Date: 2013-09-10 Member: 188101Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    d0ped0g wrote: »
    Will all of the individual skins in the cat-pack be available at a later date, unbundled? (e.g. in separate, cheaper, toxin & sandstorm packs that don't include future stuff) Are the skins in the bundle, strictly limited to the bundle? (i.e. get them now or you can't get them later) Or is the thing that is limited- the offer of getting them bundled together at a cheap price?

    The only one I'm interested in is the green gorge. I'd rather pay $6.29 NZD for a Toxin pack later than $15.49 NZD for a Catalyst Pack now.
    Aren't the skins on the market place yet?
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  • rkfgrkfg Russia Join Date: 2013-09-03 Member: 187744Members, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Gold, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow
    The skins are marked as non-tradable and non-marketable so I don't think you can buy them separately. Maybe in the future if UWE decides to make us RICH.

    I read the trello, lots of cool ideas! And most of them are like "I never thought about this because I used to what things are now but NOW I WANT IT BADLY". Thank you UWE, very cool. I also have a suggestion that instantly came into my mind when I read this: https://trello.com/c/cxRUwLPW/60-reminder-pop-up-that-you-can-purchase-a-lifeform-with-your-pres-amount — add small tokens or whatever symbols to denote how many upgrades you can buy together with that life form. I often don't buy a higher life form the moment I have the pres but wait a bit to also take an upgrade or two (if having the life forms isn't a pressing matter of course).
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  • FrozenFrozen New York, NY Join Date: 2010-07-02 Member: 72228Members, Constellation
    RedDog wrote: »
    I find it incredibly awesome that this is still being updated! Keep it up guys!

    lol yas
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  • Kouji_SanKouji_San Sr. Hινε Uρкεερεг - EUPT Deputy The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-05-13 Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    This patch sounds like an ATI/AMD patch :trollface:
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  • AeglosAeglos Join Date: 2010-04-06 Member: 71189Members
    https://unknownworlds.com/ns2/pulling-back-veil/

    :trollface:
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  • antouantou France Join Date: 2016-07-24 Member: 220615Members
    edited September 2018
    Fixed that the lua garbage collector did not run while the renderer is finalizing the frame frame but afterwards. Additionally we made sure it doesn’t run longer than absolutely necessary every frame to decrease the time spent only collecting garbage every frame. This decreases the time spent to generate each frame for at least 0.5 ms.
    I'm not sure I understand this, does it mean massive performance boosts ?

    Great update by the way, just bought the DLC :)
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  • strikerx22strikerx22 Join Date: 2013-01-17 Member: 180178Members
    Out of curiosity, will it ever be added back to the roadmap to get the dynamic infestation as beautiful as the very first teaser trailer? From what I understand, that was a procedurally generated demo from the Spark Engine itself, so the capabilities should be there, right? I am one of the minority of players that will sacrifice a little performance for more beautiful environments.
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  • KasharicKasharic Hull, England Join Date: 2013-03-27 Member: 184473Members, Forum Admins, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, NS2 Community Developer
    strikerx22 wrote: »
    Out of curiosity, will it ever be added back to the roadmap to get the dynamic infestation as beautiful as the very first teaser trailer? From what I understand, that was a procedurally generated demo from the Spark Engine itself, so the capabilities should be there, right? I am one of the minority of players that will sacrifice a little performance for more beautiful environments.

    I believe it wasn't the spark engine, I think it was the previous engine and they had to move away from that to get the functionality they wanted... but I could definitely be wrong.
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  • strikerx22strikerx22 Join Date: 2013-01-17 Member: 180178Members
    Kasharic wrote: »
    strikerx22 wrote: »
    Out of curiosity, will it ever be added back to the roadmap to get the dynamic infestation as beautiful as the very first teaser trailer? From what I understand, that was a procedurally generated demo from the Spark Engine itself, so the capabilities should be there, right? I am one of the minority of players that will sacrifice a little performance for more beautiful environments.

    I believe it wasn't the spark engine, I think it was the previous engine and they had to move away from that to get the functionality they wanted... but I could definitely be wrong.

    Actually I think you're right. I just found the video and he states that it is being generated over a standard Half Life 2 BSP level. I don't believe the Spark Engine is equipped to render those types of environments.

    So I change my question; can I formally request that this type of dynamic infestation be added?

    Video for reference:
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  • OurukaiOurukai Join Date: 2018-09-09 Member: 243436Members
    Hello, does anyone know how skill tier is calculated ? I was Frontiersman (grey color) and now, I am Recruit (blue color) so I lost a rank, why is that so ? Thanks for the answer.
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  • IronHorseIronHorse Developer, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributor Join Date: 2010-05-08 Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
    @Ourukai
    * If one team smashes another, but the teams were stacked to make that outcome almost certain, nobody’s skill level changes at the end of the round. Only unexpected victories change skill levels.

    * Nothing you do during the round other than winning the game has any effect on your skill level. This means that there’s no incentive to rack up kills at the end of the game rather than finishing it, or to play skulk instead of gorge, or to go offense rather than build.

    * The effect on your score is determined by the time you spent playing the round rather than your points, with the beginning of the game weighted much higher than the end. This means that it doesn’t harm you to join a game that is already lost, because you’ll have played for a very small fraction of the weighted time spent in the game.

    * If the two teams have a different number of players, this is compensated for automatically by normalizing by the total time across both teams rather than just within a team, and the model predicts that the team with more players will win.

    * Larger games contribute less to each player’s skill level because the presumption is that each player has a smaller effect on the outcome of the game.

    * If you are a highly skilled player on a low-skill server, the best thing you can do for your skill ranking is to join the underdog team, and lead them to victory.

    In short : its a prediction, and solely based on your team winning or losing.

    Here's your stats to track
    https://observatory.morrolan.ch/player/94162
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  • MoFo1MoFo1 United States Join Date: 2014-07-25 Member: 197612Members
    edited September 2018
    ^^ A prediction which seems to cause problems if you are carried to a win every time you end up on one side.

    Because you can get 0 kills, die 50 times, have a score of only 43 (after an hour long game) and otherwise do nothing helpful at all, yet your hive score will go up if your team wins...

    Tis an extremely frustrating thing to see... Wish there was a way to "fix" it.
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  • rkfgrkfg Russia Join Date: 2013-09-03 Member: 187744Members, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Gold, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow
    It doesn't mean much if you look at the big picture. When someone inflates their elo, they'll be put in the team with less skilled players and eventually stomped back to the level they are actually at. You can't ride other people's elo infinitely because shuffle will put less and less such people to your team.
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  • HandschuhHandschuh Join Date: 2005-03-08 Member: 44338Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Community Developer
    edited September 2018
    TL;DR
    Hiveskill / Hivescore is just a number that shows how likely it is whether You can make your team win in your average environment.

    Nothing more. Nothing less.
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  • UncleCrunchUncleCrunch Mayonnaise land Join Date: 2005-02-16 Member: 41365Members, Reinforced - Onos
    rkfg wrote: »
    It doesn't mean much if you look at the big picture. When someone inflates their elo, they'll be put in the team with less skilled players and eventually stomped back to the level they are actually at. You can't ride other people's elo infinitely because shuffle will put less and less such people to your team.

    Except that in the big picture, people change team...
    They usually follow the big heads (or at least the ones they know).
    You will always find someone like that in any game.
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  • NordicNordic Long term camping in Kodiak Join Date: 2012-05-13 Member: 151995Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited September 2018
    UncleCrunch wrote: »
    rkfg wrote: »
    It doesn't mean much if you look at the big picture. When someone inflates their elo, they'll be put in the team with less skilled players and eventually stomped back to the level they are actually at. You can't ride other people's elo infinitely because shuffle will put less and less such people to your team.

    Except that in the big picture, people change team...
    They usually follow the big heads (or at least the ones they know).
    You will always find someone like that in any game.

    Did you ever see the graphs I made showing various rookies or veterans hive skill values overtime. I mention this because it shows how much each players hive skill oscillates.
    wlsNwi4.png

    Here is a collection of 20 of the graphs. These are in no way a random selection of players.
    https://imgur.com/a/R2iHz


    Ironhorse also gave a few details that explain why it is really hard to inflate your elo by switching teams, or joining the more skilled players.
    IronHorse wrote: »
    @Ourukai
    * If one team smashes another, but the teams were stacked to make that outcome almost certain, nobody’s skill level changes at the end of the round. Only unexpected victories change skill levels.

    * The effect on your score is determined by the time you spent playing the round rather than your points, with the beginning of the game weighted much higher than the end. This means that it doesn’t harm you to join a game that is already lost, because you’ll have played for a very small fraction of the weighted time spent in the game.

    * If the two teams have a different number of players, this is compensated for automatically by normalizing by the total time across both teams rather than just within a team, and the model predicts that the team with more players will win.
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