Patch 0.9.7 - MASSIVE update (I'm back)

General

• Upgraded to Unreal 4.21.1 - Redesigned entire HUD with customizable colors - Replaced all existing asteroids and debris with new meshes and textures (more varied and realistic) - Mission load-times reduced significantly - Added color-themes that affect the entire HUD and some menus - 4K displays are now properly supported (HUD-resolution scales up/down accordingly) - Desktop resolution is now used by default on first startup

Gameplay

• Created a new objective-system that displays major and minor objectives (and their progress) on the HUD - Relative movement is now shown in the center of the HUD with a colorized moving reticle - Added several more objectives to each mission - Rebalanced all missions and updated difficulty levels - Damaged frigates now display accurate hull-damage - Players are now warned as they near the edge of the playable area - Health-icons are now shown near hangar-bays - Squad-members now arrange in a dynamically adjusted formation behind the squad-leader - Increased squad-member spacing to greatly reduce the chance of ship-collisions

HUD

• Redesigned entire HUD for a more realistic look and greater practicality - Reticles now fade and change size to reduce on-screen clutter - Dotted lines are now drawn to leading reticles - Reticles are now shown for missiles and mines - Created a new radar-ball that shows the relative location of targets more clearly (can be zoomed in/out via CTRL+mouse wheel) - Reticles are now rendered using the custom depth buffer - Replaced existing 2D-billboards with a new 3D-billboard system (works better with VR) - Radio-icons are now colorized based on friendly/hostile origin - Opponents of different types are now displayed with different reticle-shapes - Created a new instrument-system that allows for each instrument to operate independently (significantly increases overall cockpit performance) - On-screen status messages are now more user-friendly (cryptic opponent codes no longer used) - Distance and relative motion to target are now displayed on the target-panel in a single readout

Graphics

• Tracers are now rendered using a new technique that takes into account both absolute and relative movement (much more realistic appearance) - Projectile-impact flashes and light-beacons are now rendered using a sphere instead of a 2D-billboard (improves impact visibility) - Lasers are now rendered using a 3D-mesh instead of a particle-system

Scenery

• Rearranged asteroids and debris in all missions (very tedious) - Created a new debris-system that allows for larger moveable fragments and raining debris (seen in some missions like Firefight) - Created icy asteroids and debris for "cold" levels - Created destructible, glowing embers for "fiery" levels

UI

• Added live scenery behind main-menu (dropships and fighters attack each other) - Cursor is now controllable in VR and non-VR modes by all controllers - Hardware cursor is no longer used (blue/flashy cursor now used in all modes) - Stats in various menus are now colorized to indicate "good" or "bad" numbers - Stylized AK and Doomsday logos - Mission-buttons are now disabled on locked missions (lock-icons are no longer shown) - Last played mission (or next campaign mission) is now displayed by default in the Missions menu - Updated all mission splashes and descriptions

AI

• AI is now capable of targeting frigates (if they have any weapons that can damage them) - AI now detect missiles and mines (and share the information to teammates)

Input

• Modifier keys can now be used when creating key-mappings (ctrl, alt, shift, etc.)

Audio

• Increased radius of debris-explosion sounds - Master volume is now limited to a minimum of 5% - Added new "super laser" muzzle-sound (more intimidating)

Bugs

• Fixed issue with game-over menu not displaying in rare cases (spectator-camera would become misaligned if target was destroyed) - Current resolution is now correctly shown in the Graphics menu - Fixed null-spawn warning that occurred when missiles were fired - Fixed some preset resolution-strings with incorrect characters - Eliminated invalid-object-type warning - Fixed issue with laser-beams becoming misaligned with ship