Xenonauts
V1.58 Rolled Back to V1.56
This should not affect save games etc, but if it does or if you are playing V1.58 with no problems at all and want to continue using it, it is available on our Experimental Steam branch (under the Betas tab of the Steam game options). Just switch over to that and you can keep playing.
For everyone else, we're planning on investigating the reported bug in more detail over the next few days and will put out an updated version once we fully understand the situation.
Xenonauts V1.58 Released!
Changelog:
- Another fix to an AI hang with the Reapers
- Alien base missions should now always load correctly on the Linux version of the game
- Fixed an occasional crash related to the Fury interceptor destroying a UFO with escorts
This will be available on the Windows / Linux branch for a few days, and if there are no new bugs introduced we'll roll it out to Mac and our other distribution services (likely by the end of the working week).
Xenonauts V1.56 / V1.57 Stable Released!
V1.56 Changelog:
- Fixed an issue with the mod manager deleting the entire mod directory when you tried to delete a mod
- Fixed an issue where the mod manager did not correctly save the priority order for deactive mods
V1.57 Changelog:
- We've created an experimental patch for the shooting code that should verify miss shots are actually able to hit the tile they scatter to. We hope this will correct the issue where shots are sometimes noclipping through walls or otherwise behaving incorrectly.
If the fix in V1.57 does its job, that will be the last update we make to Xenonauts. The problem is that the shooting code was pretty complex even before we spliced some of the Community Coder additions into it when we made V1.5, so we're really not sure if it will fully address the issue (or if it may cause any additional problems).
V1.57 is therefore only available on the Steam Experiment branch - the old Experimental branch stopped working for some reason, so we've deleted it and created a new "Experiment" branch to do the same thing. We'll give this at least a week to see if it causes any major issues and if it fixed the issue as intended.
Regarding the Mac / Linux builds and updates to the non-Steam distributors - this is a lengthy process (it literally takes me most of the day) so I'm going to wait until Monday to see if there are any issues with V1.56 before I roll it out, as if there's a bug in it I'll have wasted all that time and the distributors will be annoyed at me. And if V1.57 proves stable a week after that, I'll do it all again one final time.
Xenonauts V1.55 Stable Released!
- Fixed a second AI hang that was locking the game up during the alien turn
- Updated the Carrier UFO maps to remove more areas where Harridans could fly inside the UFO walls and then snipe down at you
- A fix to the mod manager not remembering changes made to mod list priority if you exited the launcher without loading up the game
This is currently only available on Windows and on Steam; we're planning to wait 24-48 hours to check there are no major bugs caused by the hotfix (although there shouldn't be) before we start the laborious porting / upload process to bring the update to Mac / Linux / other distribution sites.
We've also temporarily reverted the Steam Mac version back to V1.09 as it seems people were having some issues with the V1.5 series builds crashing (they're still available on the Experimental branch if you want them). We'll give the Mac versions a more thorough test and re-release them with the next bunch of updates.
There's a couple more issues still on our bugfix radar so we're hoping a V1.56 will be along later this week / early next week to conclude the post-update bugfix support process.
Xenonauts V1.54 Stable Released!
<*>Fixed a crash linked to corpse duplication when you stunned a mind controlled Xenonauts
<*>Units that are stunned now take 1HP damage, which allows you to use a medikit on them to revive them
<*>The Singularity Cannon now has a sell value, so should correctly appear in the base stores
V1.53 Hotfix Released!
- A fix to the reaction fire / teleporter hang
- A fix to an AI turn hang caused by Reapers getting in an animation loop
We're also aware there's some unusual behaviour going on V1.5, firstly something a little fishy going on with "miss" shots occasionally passing through solid walls / otherwise misbehaving and secondly a bug where autoresolving air combat can sometimes lead to your interceptors being turned into UFOs and being rendered unusable.
We're looking into both of those issues as neither is much fun for any players affected. V1.5 was tested for a couple of months before release but it seems we weren't able to catch everything, so we'll do our best to correct the issues as soon as possible (remember you can always revert to V1.09 any time you want using the legacy branch).
Unfortunately for some reason we've lost the use of our Experimental branch (it's not registering new updates any more) and thus we're now pushing updates directly to our Stable branch. These hotfixes shouldn't break anything new, but if they do then we'll roll back to the previous version as soon as we have confirmation of it happening.
Thanks.
Xenonauts V1.51 Released!
Changelog:
- Fixed a bug with the game crashing if you opened your soldier inventory while standing over the corpse of an alien with a grenade
- Check the previous announcement for the massive V1.5 changelist!
We have also revised our Steam branches somewhat, adding the Compatibility branch which may be useful for people on low-end machines who suffer performance issues as it does not use tile atlases / archiving. This causes slower load times but uses less video memory.
Also be aware that you can easily revert to V1.09 (the pre-V1.5 version of the game) by changing to the Legacy branch if you want to continue your campaign under the old rules, or are suffering crashes / import issues with an old campaign brought forwards into V1.5.
Instructions on how to access both Steam branches are here: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/12716-Xenonauts-Steam-Branches
Xenonauts V1.5 / Steam Workshop Released!
We have also started work porting V1.5 to Mac / Linux and expect them to arrive in the next few days. For anyone that likes to play across multiple platforms, we are also preparing the non-Steam versions for Desura, Humble Store and GOG and expect them to arrive in the next week.
For those unfamiliar with V1.5, it is a final free update to the game that irons out a number of issues with the usability, balance and stability of the final release game. It's not a fundamental change to the gameplay, rather it just tries to remove a lot of those annoying little moments when it feels like the game is fighting you.
The community contributed greatly during the development process and many contributed still more after release. I'd like to give specific thanks to Solver and llunak for their work as Community Coders and to Skitso, Max_Caine and Kabill for their mapping / modding. Many others also deserve a mention but I must omit them for the sake of brevity!
IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
- You can load save games from V1.09 in V1.5, so upgrading mid-campaign shouldn't be an issue.
- We've tried to avoid any broad changes to the gameplay to avoid screwing up the balance of any in-progress games, but if you want to keep playing V1.09 then you can do so on the Legacy Branch: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/7276-MY-SAVED-GAMES-DISAPPEARED%21-%28fix-in-here%29
BRIEF CHANGELOG:
- Steam Workshop & better mod support has been added
- An epilogue from the Chief Scientist has been added to the victory screen
- 70 community maps bundled with the game as an optional mod (must be activated in the launcher if you want to use them)
- Air combat now has time acceleration buttons
- Line-of-sight system for soldiers significantly improved
- Cover indicators added to the ground combat
- Late-game alien psionics / berserking now less unfair
- Units behind walls / props are easier to see
- Soldiers now get a nationality flag
- Money made less tight on easier difficulty settings
- Fixed a lot of crashes / hangs and made a lot of usability improvements
This is a much reduced changelog due to the character limit on these Announcement posts; if you want to read the full changelog (usually with some brief explanation about each change) then please follow the link here: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/12698-V1-5-Experimental-promoted-to-Steam-Stable%21
This is likely to be the end of the road for additional content and balancing in Xenonauts, although we will continue to fix major bugs in the game. However we are planning to announce a new squad-based tactics game later in the year and if you'd like to hear about it when we do, feel free to sign up to our mailing list here: http://eepurl.com/4FKe9
Thanks for helping to make Xenonauts the success it has now become, and we hope you enjoy playing with the new features in V1.5!
Xenonauts V1.5 Available for Testing!
V1.5 is a significant upgrade on V1.09 and from the testing that has been done so far we also believe it to be more stable. The only reason that we have not pushed the update out to all of our Steam customers is that several key members of the team have left for their winter holidays. If there is an unexpected issue in V1.5 we might not have the personnel to fix it, and we don't want to risk leaving the game unplayable for any length of time!
Therefore V1.5 will be arriving for everybody in January. Until then, it can be accessed by doing the following:
- Go to your Steam Library
- Right click on Xenonauts >> Properties >> "Betas" tab
- Type the password XenoExperiment into the "Enter Beta access code" box and press Check Code
- Select "Experimental - latest changes, unstable" from the drop-down box above
Please let us know if you experience any major bugs with it; the more testing it gets now the smoother the January launch will be.
V1.5 BRIEF CHANGELOG:
- You can load saves from V1.09 in V1.5 (but once saved in V1.5 they will no longer load in V1.09)
- Fixes a lot of crashes and loading issues with V1.09
- An epilogue from the Chief Scientist has been added to the victory screen
- 70 community maps bundled with the game as an optional mod
- Air combat now has time acceleration buttons
- Line-of-sight system for soldiers significantly improved
- Cover indicators added to the ground combat
- Late-game alien psionics now less unfair
- Units behind walls / props are easier to see
- Soldiers now get a nationality flag
- Money made less tight on easier difficulty settings
- LOTS of small usability and stability fixes
The full changelog is significantly longer and will be posted with the final V1.5 release.
Xenonauts V1.09 Fix & V1.5 / Steam Workshop Testing
The first thing to mention is there's been a very small patch to the current version of the game to fix a bug in the final mission where it was possible to damage the final door so badly it could not open. It is now entirely invulnerable and this can no longer happen.
Onto Xenonauts V1.5 and Steam Workshop support. Both of these are in testing mode at the moment and will hopefully arrive on the main branch in the next month or so - although anyone that wants to test them immediately can also do so!
V1.5 will not include additional content like new levels or new units, but it fixes a number of interface issues and minor issues in the game - basically it just cleans up the gameplay experience and also adds better mod support (the biggest change is an improved line-of-sight system that fixes some of the sight issues in V1.09, but there are plenty of others).
If you want to take part in testing V1.5 or Steam Workshop, please follow the links here:
Xenonauts V1.5: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/12291-Xenonauts-V1-5-Experimental-Released%21
Steam Workshop: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/12312-Steam-Workshop-Testers-Needed%21
We'll keep everyone updated as both of these things close in on being released on the official Xenonauts default branch!