Killing Floor 3: Text Chat Update

New Additions & Highlights

Welcome to the Text Chat update. This update introduces the Text Chat feature for all platforms and is a full cross platform feature allowing you to communicate with Nightfall operatives on the fly to expand communication and strategy within Killing Floor 3. This update also includes some pointed fixes around various Crashes, the Medic Pistol Dart rechargerate, and a handful of other targeted bugs.

Text Chat

A full text chat system has rolled out across the game! Features include:

• In-match text chat with team and public channels, configurable opacity, and fade-out for inactive messages

• Text chat in the Stronghold, Pre-Match (Ready Up) lobby and the After Action Report, in addition to gameplay

• Spectator text chat so spectators can communicate

• Command Wheel to chat integration: command-wheel selections (callouts, requests for healing, etc.) post as messages in chat

• Channel switching with Tab; Party / Public / Team channel separation

• Controller support: open chat from the gamepad, right-stick to scroll, virtual keyboard on Xbox & PS5

• Mute and unmute controls in the Social Menu now also apply to Text Chat

• Customizable keybinds: remappable Open Chat / Team / Public / Command Wheel switch keys on both keyboard and gamepad

• New Game Settings:

  • Text Chat on/off

  • Background opacity slider

  • CosmeticProfanity filtering settings (PC Only/Console players can adjust this via their console settings)

Performance Optimizations

These performance improvements primarily target the CPU, specifically focusing on optimizing the game thread to ensure smoother execution. Key updates include refined multi-pass LOD bone-pruning for Zed models and more efficient handling of audio component ticking and occlusion services. Additionally, adjustments to VFX spawn counts and UI tick rates further reduce the processing load, minimizing CPU idle time. This should translate into up to a 14% improvement in base frame time (measured on a mid spec machine) in certain scenarios.

Skeletal/LODs

• Multi-pass LOD bone-pruning and refinement across all Zeds

• Fixed Siren inner-neck and Fleshpound pounder-tube meshes stretching at distance via Enforce Bone Boundaries

Audio

• Audio component occlusion services sharing a refresh rate no longer all tick on the same frame

• Batch Tick Subsystem register-order fix when changing tick intervals

• Turrets and similar stationary actors disable Audio component tick where occlusion isn't needed

• Migrated destructible destroy SFX and limb SFX to a different event to reduce spawning audio components per tick

VFX/GPU

• Lowered toxic affliction VFX spawn count

• Corrosion VFX budget tuning

• Shockwave VFX budget tuning

• Cleaned up several unused child-actor components

Engine/CPU

• UI tick updated to reduce CPU idle time

• Added1P camera updateNew master camera-bob settings for smoother start/stop motion blending, resulting in a feel closer to Killing Floor 2

Bug Fixes, Polish & System Improvements

Crashes and Stability

• Fixed crash when loading into R&D Labs solo on a new account with newly rebuilt shaders

Online

• Fixed Xbox Unicode gamertags showing garbled — names are now properly UTF-8 decoded

• Fixed a case where muted players would be unmuted after map travel

• Fixed a case where a user losing connection would break the start-up timer

• Fixed a case where a user using the armory during matchmaking could get stuck in a failed state

• Reduced timeouts to prevent unresponsive cases while the game was still downloading in the background

Gameplay

• Fixed medic darts failing to recharge when two updates happened on the same frame

• Fixed Zed Time bonuses (Sharpshooter, Engineer) persisting past Zed Time

• Fixed Specialist being able to walk freely while executing a Zed from a crouch

• Fixed Zeds becoming unkillable in certain edge