Aliens vs. Predator/Changelog

Back to: Aliens vs. Predator.

Steam: 2010-07-08

Updates to Aliens vs Predator have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted.

New Features

    Predator Focus Attack now knocks you down between 9-12m
    Alien Focus Attack damage has been returned to it’s correct values
    The chance to spawn on occupied/blocked friendly spawn points and consequentially knock players out of world is reduced
    Joining a Dedicated server which is running on non-standard ports, leaving and then hosting a player match, will now no longer cause any clients who join the hosted match to lose connection upon starting the game

Steam: 2010-06-28

Updates to Aliens vs Predator have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted.

New Features

    Enabled XP gain, leaderboard updates and associated achievements and skin unlocks for non-ranked games as well as Ranked Matches. Now the differences between ranked and unranked games is that in Ranked Matches, skill-based matchmaking, team balancing and other Ranked Match associated rules are enforced and in Player matches they are not. You are now unable to have a game that does not update the leaderboards, or award XP.
    Major overhaul of low-level networking code for player-hosted (i.e. not Dedicated Server) games in order to improve connection stability and pings.


Bug Fixes

    Prevented runaway memory consumption under D3D11 if an FMV is playing when you lock (ctrl-alt-del - "lock computer") your machine with an NVIDIA card.
    Several "groups" issues have been fixed, including a reported issue with Group leaders causing group members to disconnect from Games if they leave and then join another Server.
    The spawning system has been tweaked, so that players will have a reduced chance of spawning very close to other (enemy) players.
    Server start up crash which occurred on Win 7 32bit Home Premium has been fixed.
    Several Server stability (crash) issues have been fixed


Balance Changes

    Flamethrower primary fire now ignites target if 25% of health has been depleted. Flames will now continue to burn until target is dead, or target extinguishes flames. Base damage is unchanged.
    Alien leap attack now causes the knockdown flinch on all targets from the "long distance" range. Damage is unchanged.
    Alien tail attack now causes the light attack flinch, which does not "root" the target. Damage is unchanged.
    You are now not able to jump and start a melee move in the air/until the jump has completed, or initiate a melee move and then jump until the melee animation has finished. Affects all species.
    Stealth attack has had some tweaks to reduce the potential for an initiation to occur from outside the allowed "angle" and range has been reduced from 8m to 6m
    The Predator flinch ranges have been equalised with the Aliens, and as a result can now be knocked down by a counter (from any species), or an Alien leap attack that successfully lands.
    Knockdown leap distance is now between 9-12m instead of 6-12m. Affects Aliens and Predators.
    Predator maximum leap distance is now capped at 12m (in line with Alien) and is not modified by vision mode.
    The Marine block will now only block 50% of an incoming light attack damage value instead of 100%.

Steam: 2010-05-04

Updates to Aliens vs Predator have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted.

Client

    Fix for a Skybox rendering problem in D3D11 build on Nvidia Fermi cards
    Various small D3D11 optimisations
    Fixed rare bug where clients would get stuck on the loading screen.
    Fix clients not seeing the 'custom match' flag updating in the 'Browse' screen when the dedicated server was changing settings after initially hosting a match without changing any variables
    Use an [R] prefix for rcon command output text upon successful receipt of a rcon command
    Prevent windows cursor being stolen when starting in windowed mode but then doing ALT-TAB immediately.
    Show (and sort) dedicated server search results as they come in instead of waiting for search to complete before displaying anything.
    Fix extraneous [Team] appended to MOTD text when joining game in progress
    Invitations to dedicated server games now work.
    Fixed all dedicated server games showing as "at lobby" in the server browser, regardless of being at lobby or in progress.


Dedicated server

    Fixed "Ghost players" being created on a server if the Steam backend could not be reached for authentication when someone connected. These appeared in the player counts when browsing servers, and in the server details player list when viewing servers in the Steam client server list.
    Added more info to server console when players connect/disconnect, and print out the player list in the command window (including scoreboard) at the end of each game.
    Use an [R] prefix for rcon commands and echo command output to server console as well as sending it to rcon client.
    Enabled logfiles (writes out console output and some command line errors only to files in logfiles_dedicatedserver). You can still override the logfile directory by specifying -logdir on the command line and if you do so any logfiles from a previous session will be archived in a directory called logfile_backups.
    Small performance optimisations
    Dedicated server species ratios' commands check for unset values and report the default values instead of the invalid value (-1). The dedicated server was correctly setup in this case, but the command feedback text was inaccurate

Steam: 2010-03-22

Updates to Aliens vs. Predator have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

Game Client

New Features:

    In multiplayer damage from the Predator's Smart Disc has been reduced, unless it's a headshot.
    In multiplayer minor hits from the Predator's Plasma Caster bolts will no longer knock down enemies.
    When joining a dedicated server on which a round is in-progress you now have a limited time to choose your species/team and skin before entering the game, if the game mode and server settings allow this.


Bug Fixes:
Fixed clients not always being correctly notified that the game had ended.
Improvements to the networking code used in dedicated server games to increase stability and reduce pings.
DX11 optimisation when using tessellation
Fixed DX11 gamma controls on NVIDIA boards
Return to the server browsing screen instead of top-level menu when you fail to join a server
Fixed the lobby timer not always displaying correctly on clients.
Improved 'SayTeam' console command
Improvements to ranked matchmaking
Fixed occasional problems with peer-to-peer games after playing on a dedicated server
Fixed rare multiplayer bug where all players would be disconnected during level load if just one of them had a network problem during the load.
Fixed a cause of clients sometimes getting disconnected when pressing ALT+TAB or ALT+ENTER on the end-game scoreboard.
Fixed predators being able to cancel other players& Plasma Caster Lock-on.

Dedicated server

New Features:

    Dedicated server no longer needs the Steam client to be running.
    Dedicated server can use DLC maps.
    New console/config file commands for dedicated server for friendly fire, team balancing and species balancing options.
    New console command to set a Message of the Day
    When joining a dedicated server on which a round is in-progress you now have a limited time to choose your species/team and skin before entering the game, if the game mode and server settings allow this.
    The dedicated server now installs to a standalone directory, and the install size is now ~2.2GB instead of 15GB
    Improved feedback and output for various console commands
    Improved server console output when players disconnect
    Improved server console output when there are problems starting the server
    Additional server console output about the Steam connection
    The dedicated server will now also be available via the HLDSupdate tool. Please note that while we believe there should be no problems as both the Steam Client version and the HLDSupdate version are identical, we cannot test the HLDSupdate version without making it available to everybody. Server administrators are advised to install and use the HLDSupdate version using their discretion.


Bug Fixes:

    Prevent "Adding Master Server" console output looking corrupted.
    Fixed team selection not working for the first map hosted on a dedicated server
    Made the ban list file have the servers port number appended so multiple instances on the same hardware are independent
    Improvements to the networking code used in dedicated server games to increase stability and reduce pings.
    Fixed cause of clients thinking the host had disconnected at the end of a game which actually ended normally.
    Fixed predators being able to cancel other players Plasma Caster Lock-on.
    Fixed an issue where dedicated servers left idle for an extended period of time would result in the first match played having the clients "running around without their bodies attached".
    Setting the Autostarttime to "0" now correctly turns this feature off, rather than attempting to instantly start the match upon players returning to the lobby and kicking all the clients.


Additional note:
Due to some improvements to the networking code, the new server and client are not compatible with the old versions. Clients who have not yet restarted and updated their game will not see updated servers in the in-game browser and conversely, any servers that have not been updated will no longer be visible in the in-game list for clients who have applied the update. Both new and old servers will be visible in the Steam Client server list but players will see an "Incompatible Version" error message if they attempt to connect to server which has not been updated. 

Steam: 2010-03-03

Updates to Aliens vs Predator Dedicated Server have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted.

New features

    Added new console commands "maxplayers" and "ip"
    Improved "listplayers" console command
    Server info view inside Steam client includes player details


Bugs fixed

    Fix crash that happened if connection to Steam was lost
    Removed some unused console commands from server console
    Command-line arguments are now checked case-insensitively

Steam: 2010-03-01

Updates to Aliens vs Predator have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted.

General

    Stability improvements to address rare and infrequent hangs
    Implemented a workaround for missing audio issues with certain hardware (SoundBlaster X-Fi, Realtek onboard, etc.)
    Fixed save games being lost or corrupted if connection to Steam is lost or if user switches to offline play


Multiplayer

    Added client-side support for dedicated servers
    Ranked match lobbies will no longer end after every match
    Fixed XP being incorrectly affected by offline play (though only in the local stats; this will be corrected next time you connect to multiplayer)
    Fixed other players sometimes appearing to have the wrong weapon or continuing to fire indefinitely after dying
    Fixed rare issue where players would be temporarily invisible
    Fixed some selection of servers and players in menus sometimes being incorrect

Steam: 2010-02-16

Updates to Aliens vs Predator have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted.

General

    Optimized load times, particularly under DX11
    Fixed some mouse lag issues and improved range of sensitivity slider
    Fixed look input adjustments being incorrectly applied when a pad was connected but unused
    Fixed soundtrack synchronization in certain cutscenes
    Improved handling of non-English keyboard input languages
    Fixed some rare crashes
    Various other minor bug fixes


Multiplayer

    Added support for password-protecting lobbies
    Improved text chat functionality
    Voice chat is now PTT by default in lobbies; improved muting and voice chat volume options
    Fixes to stat and XP tracking
    Fixed the flamethrower in multiplayer
    Updated to latest Steamworks libraries
    Various other matchmaking, leaderboard, lobby, lobby migration, and group bug fixes


Rendering

    Added support for ATI Eyefinity cards
    Added DX11 tessellation and anti-aliasing support
    Various DX11 bug fixes and optimizations
    Greatly reduced system memory usage under DX9 when using lower texture detail settings
    Fixed various DX9 compatibility issues
    Added option for disabling motion blur