Performance Overhaul • Startup Fix

This build is mostly about performance. A large optimisation pass gave back around 4 ms per frame on the main thread, and our test runs come out about a third faster on the same hardware. Startup failures are fixed as well: a graphics component shipped with the game had drifted out of sync with the engine after its last upgrade, and on some machines it stopped the game from ever reaching the menu.

Performance

• Frame Rate • A large optimisation pass gave back around 4 ms per frame on the main thread, roughly half of what it was spending there. Average frame rate is up about a third across our test runs.

• Stutter • The hitches that came with it are down by about half. Being chased was one of the heaviest cases, so that is where the difference should show the most.

Startup & Stability

• Startup Failures • The game could close during the intro sequence, or fail to open at all, on machines where a shipped graphics component no longer matched what the engine expects. It is realigned, so the game starts normally again. If you were stuck on this, it is worth another try.

• Driver Warning • The warning about an out-of-date graphics driver had never actually reached a single player: the window failed to open, and the game recorded it as seen anyway. It now displays for real, and its text, which was mistranslated in most languages, has been redone.

Run-Breaking Fixes

• Keypads Refusing Input • On Suburbs, the exit gate keypads could stop accepting anything at all, on mouse and on controller alike, with no way left to finish the run.

• Loot Dropped On Death • A body could come to rest on top of the items it had just dropped and make them impossible to pick up, which soft-locked runs when a progression item was involved. Bodies no longer block what you are aiming at, and death drops are now placed somewhere you can actually reach.

• Joining A Run In Progress • Joining a team that was already mid-round left you in the lobby with a character you could not use and no spectator view. The round state is now read from the level itself, so late joiners get the spectator view they were supposed to have.

Spectating

• Key Prompts • The spectate bar showed two unreadable diamonds where the keys you press should be. It now draws real key art, matching your keyboard or the pad you are holding, and the arrow keys replace a binding that assumed a QWERTY layout.

• Late Join • Arriving as a spectator left you watching nobody until you pressed a cycle key. A target is picked for you as soon as one is available, and the player counter no longer goes stale when someone else dies.

Frame Generation

• Frame Rate Limit Conflict • A frame rate cap throttles the base frame rate that Frame Generation multiplies, so running a cap together with the higher multipliers cost performance and added latency instead of saving it. The cap is now lifted automatically while Frame Generation is on, and your saved value comes back the moment you turn it off. The Steam Deck cap is left alone.

• Unsupported Modes • The higher multipliers were listed on hardware whose driver refuses them. The menu now only offers what your GPU actually supports.

• Latency Settings • Reflex and VSync are now handled the way NVIDIA's guidelines require while Frame Generation is running, instead of being left in combinations that quietly added latency.

• Options Menu • The Frame Generation row showed as a blank line, with no label and no description. It is labelled now, and the Framerate Limit row is greyed out while Frame Generation is active.

Creature Behaviour

• Creatures Sinking Into The Floor • The recovery move that unsticks a creature was dropping it into the ground, where it walked on the spot instead of coming back. Reported on several levels and on several creatures. The safety net that was supposed to remove a creature stuck like that never fired either, and now does.

• Partygoers Stuck Crouched • Partygoers could spend a whole level crouched, and crouching was not slowing them down at all, so they closed distance far faster than they should have. Both sides of that are fixed.

• Hounds Losing Their Speed • A Hound that caught your eye while searching stayed at its slowed-down speed for the rest of the search instead of picking its pace back up.

Interface & Quality Of Life

• Bestiary Count • The bestiary counted an entity that cannot be encountered yet, so the list read as incomplete with a slot nobody could fill. It now lists only what is live, and a separate full-dossier count spells out what the filming achievement actually asks for.

• Fog Horn Recordings • Recording your voice did not switch the horn over to it, so pressing the toggle turned your own recording back off and the whole thing read as broken. Recording now arms it directly. The toggle key also had a press window that counted as neither a tap nor a hold and did nothing at all.

• Survey Card • Pressing Start on a controller while the end-of-run survey was on screen opened the pause menu on top of it, and the two then fought over your input.

• Quit Button • The pause menu Quit button sat right next to Leave Session, with no way to tell which one closed the game. It reads Quit Game now, in every language.

• Training Is Solo • Leaving for training as a squad sent everyone into a mode that only works solo, with no equipment and no inventory. The card is now marked solo only, and joins are refused while a training run is active.

• LAB Storage • Rounded the storage panel so it sits properly inside the screen frame.

If startup was the thing keeping you out, this is the build to try again on. Most of what is above came straight from reports sent through the in-game form this week.

Mat