Hello everyone and welcome to the 1.17 release of APB!

For this release series we've been focusing on often-requested bug fixes as well as implementing a new district rule set to help us gather data on our matchmaking system, so that we can make informed decisions on how we can improve the overall experience - not just for existing players but for new players too. We're calling this new rule set "Open Conflict". In Open Conflict we've changed the matchmaking rules so that missions will start based on available players - skill is not considered at all. As matches will not be created based on skill level (threat), no changes to your threat level will occur in these districts - your threat and rating will also be hidden from other players. Be aware that we do expect these districts to provide a slightly uneven experience for players but we hope you at least have fun in these districts while we gather our data.

In this release we've also changed the way we store your account and machine settings, we've enhanced video display options, improved the client and server parity to alleviate the "ghost shot" issue, and we've fixed issues like car surfer causing vehicles to explode - you can find more details on all this and more below!

We hope you enjoy this release and we'll hopefully have more details of upcoming changes soon ™, as we know you are eager to hear more about upcoming contacts, weapon balance changes, Overkill in the EU and a progress update on the Unreal Engine (all of which are still happening, honest!).

See you on the Streets of San Paro,

- The Reloaded Team

We're aiming at releasing a client update on Wednesday. Maintenance should be approximately 2 - 3 hours and will start at 9 AM UTC.


CHANGE AND ADDITIONS:




NEW MODE - OPEN CONFLICT: The gloves come off in this special Financial district that uses the "Open Conflict" matchmaking rules. In Open Conflict, opponents will be selected purely based on who is available - the system won't take into account player skill, instead it looks to match the first eight available (four per faction) players against each other. If you have the courage to take on anyone, regardless of skill, then this mode is for you. When you are in these districts, there will be no visual representation of other player's skill or rating.

PLEASE NOTE: Open Conflict uses a special set of match making rules that we are using to gather live data to help us improve the matchmaking system and player experience. We are aware that Open Conflict will be an uneven experience for players but we hope you still have fun in these districts while we gather our data.

GAME SETTINGS: We moved character settings to be account, cloud-saved settings and we made general audio settings (volume / subtitles) machine bound. This will mean that if you move to another PC your account settings will move with you. It also means the game's volume will now be universally the same as your game settings (so no more super loud volume before login).

PLEASE NOTE: The account settings will be pulled from the last character you saved the options for (including playing with a character for the first time). This will also reset everyone's subtitle and audio volume options. You should also be able to change all settings in character select.



VIDEO OPTIONS:



•Added support for Fullscreen Windowed mode.



VIDEO OPTIONS (MULTI-MONITOR):



•We now re-evaluate the sizes of the movie players after we switch video settings (Resolution / Full-screen) so that multi-monitor support keeps working.



MODS (BLOWTORCH):



•You can now activate the blowtorch mod while in a vehicle and you can now target the vehicle you are in when using the blowtorch.



WEAPON SKINS:



•Agrotech DMR-AV PR1 / PR2 now have an "Alternative" skin option.



OPTIONS:



•Added a "Custom" video quality setting, for when players manually alter the various video settings.



UI (SCOREBOARD):



•Premium cash bonuses have been separated out from the "Bonus" section, so it is now easier to tell what your premium bonus actually is.



UI (KILL FEED):



•If a player is now killed by a vehicle, an vehicle kill icon will be shown in the activity feed (previously a vehicle kill was shown as a skull icon).



UI (OPTIONS):



•Added a video volume slider. Videos now use a combination of the master volume and video volume, rather than the default volume.

•Drop-down menus have been altered so they now use more of the actual space available to them.

•Now greying out options that are overridden by hardware constraints.

•Pressing OK on the options screen now accepts all changes rather than just the ones of the tab you were using.



UI (ESCAPE MENU):


•Selecting the "Knowledge Base" entry from the Escape menu will now open the Knowledge Base display in the Tutorial UI.


UI (DISTRICT SELECT):



•Changed the advanced district selection tab from a graphical icon to the text "Advanced".


UI (LOGIN INTEGRATION):



•Added new explanatory text to the 'First Time Setup' dialog seen when associating an account.


BUG FIXES:


GHOST SHOTS:



•We've made changes to improve client and server parity, in order to address the issue commonly referred to as "Ghost Shots". It should be noted that it does not completely resolve the issue - but extensive testing has shown that it substantially reduces the likelihood of it occurring.



*Ghost Shot(s): A visual feedback issue that can occur when a player fires a weapon, is seen to do so on their client, but the server considers it invalid, fractions of a second later. This leads to confusion between what a player has seen and what has been validated and allowed by the server.



CAR SURFER:



•Fixed an issue that would case impact damage to be applied continuously to a vehicle in motion, if the user was standing on the vehicle with Car Surfer equipped.



AUDIO (Thigh High Boots):



•Thigh High Boots are now using the correct high heel sound effects.



TAGGERS (EVENTS):



•Fixed an issue where taggers would not work on players taking part in an event, if those players had previously been in a group together.



EXPLOIT - MODS (BLOWTORCH):



•Fixed an exploit with the blowtorch modification that would allow you to use a heavy weapon while hanging out a vehicle.



EXPLOIT - USEABLES (EPINEPHRINE):



•Fixed an exploit where using Epinephrine would not cause damage to the player, if they used it during the re-spawn invulnerability.



EXPLOIT - ITEMS:



•Fixed an issue where off-mission items could be counted towards a mission's objective items.



WEAPON SKINS (ROLES):



•The PSR Chrome skin is now hooked up to be unlocked from the correct sniper role.



WEAPON SKINS:



•The Future Tech skin for the PSR Osprey now displays properly.



UI:



•Fixed an issue where advanced video options would not be saved properly when changing the basic video quality



TEXT:



•Fixed a typo and improved the confusing wording of the tutorial dialog box that appears when you create a new character for the first time.


CLIENT CRASH:



•Fixed a rare startup crash, which could happen if the game could not restore / maximise the game window.

•Fixed a client crash that could happen when a player attempted to change their music library.

Patch 1.17.0 (573) - GamersFirst Forums