Hotfix for July 2, 2024 v. 1.10.0.17090

Updates:

• Tweak netcode for rubberbanding fix
  
• Dynamic Crosshair can now be disabled correctly
  
• Fixed rank icon on main menu

Known issues:

• Crosshair preview will not update initially until being toggled on/off.

TLDR:

• We have a new Custom Lobby + Codes system to try out. It uses a new server provider and works differently from server list servers
  
• You now have the ability to freely move HUD elements and to make custom crosshairs
  
• Testing new movement: WASD+Skate Ground Control

The Long Part:

This update features the first version and test of how players interact with game servers. We are beginning to roll out the Custom Lobby feature. It is important, and we would love your help in making sure that it accomplishes its goals. It’s a simple feature with a lot of intent.

We would like to provide a new home for Pick-Up Games and other non-public play which is:

• More Secure - only the people with the code can join
  
• Better net routing and potentially lower pings for far-flung players
  
• “Fresh” performance every time, since the server resets for every new match

It should take no longer than 2 minutes to spin up a custom lobby as the maximum. Typically - it should start under one minute.

The first version only has simple controls: Map Selection, Mode, Region, and POG Mode (Tournament Rules). In the future, Custom Lobbies will have many more parameters to choose from.

If you’re loading into a game: the leader of your match should spin up an instance, and share the code to everyone else who is joining. From there - it’s the same as any other match you’ve played in Midair 2.
 
Our intention is that Custom Lobbies will be a place where:

• Pre-Organized Games happen (those which are typically organized outside of the Midair 2 official Discord)
  
• Servers can be located closer to where you are on-demand (maybe you’re in Singapore and want people to join on you?)
  
• Mentoring new players can happen in a private environment
  
• Less-frequently played modes can be enjoyed which don’t have a permanent server browser home (League/Skyball and TDM for now)
  
• Anyone at all can host a custom game with their friends just by exchanging codes

We can see a lot of benefits for expanded functionality as well. 

Because it is our first time using this new provider, some new issues may be encountered. We are looking forward to your feedback so that we can make the necessary changes and improvements.

If this feature works well and the servers function as advertised and suits the competitive needs, we can look to move all Pre-Organized play to these servers and remove the current always-on ones.

The Custom Lobby servers will be used for future matchmade games, so it is crucial to make sure that they work well.


The HUD Mover is a super exciting feature as well. Advanced players have been using configs to change up their UI for quite some time. Similarly to the FOV slider, we wanted everyone to have this feature - so here it is!

Now you can hop into the HUD Mover feature from the Escape menu in-game, it should be pretty self-explanatory from there! Move, resize, and remove whatever elements you’d like!

And another nice QOL is the tool for switching up your crosshair, in case you would like that additional level of customization!

Lastly also for QOL - we have a first version of ground control implemented in the game. This means when you hold Skate ‘and’ a directional key like WASD, or WASD+Skate+Turn into a particular direction, you will be able to alter your trajectory on the ground. This feature seems to be subtle enough not to change longstanding route-running, and also very intuitive. We are also considering making this feature a little bit stronger than what you’ll see in the Playtest.

We thank our long-running community, our moderators, developers, and the generous support of our past, current, and future Patrons ([/spoiler] to join). Your financial support directly impacts the game’s development.


If you have missed it - a note on items!
If you had items in previous versions of the game or via Patreon, those items have now been moved to Playtest. The caveat is that they have only been moved to playtest if you have logged into Playtest since May 15th. 

We will periodically check if those with items in the old version have logged in or not and will keep working to migrate them. You can greatly speed this up by letting us know in this [url]Google Form[www.patreon.com]

Summed-up notes below.


Game Features

Implemented the first version of the Custom Lobby feature

• Click “Custom Lobby”, select your map, server location, and mode. Optionally - select POG Mode, which is a tournament-style rule-set
  
• The spinner indicates that the Custom Lobby server is being started. When it is active - you will see a code at the bottom.
  
• Copy this code and Paste it to anyone you’d like to join you in the game. You can also grab this code from the Escape (Esc) screen when in the game
  
• If you or anyone playing in the game accidentally exit, you will have a chance to rejoin

• WASD+Ground Control has been implemented and is ready to check out
  
  
• Loadouts have been moved to the new back-end system and should persist between game launches

Servers

• Custom Lobbies run on Hathora servers
  
  • Servers available in: Los Angeles, Seattle, Dallas, Chicago, Washington DC, Sao Paolo, London, Frankfurt, Mumbai, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo
  
  
• Existing Server Browser servers now restart at 8am UTC every day
  
  • This is the historically slowest playtime, but can be adjusted on feedback. During this time, Server Browser servers may be intermittently unavailable. (1am US-Pacific, 4am US-Eastern, 6pm Brisbane - Australia, 10am Paris)
  
  
• Public TDMs have been removed, along with The Learning Space server (Custom Lobby is the best place for this now.
  
  
• Numerous bug/performance fixes have taken place in the server code which will hopefully yield higher performance.

UI

• Implemented the new HUD Mover feature - which does exactly what it sounds like. You can resize, remove, and shift most any HUD element
  
  NOTE: Changes made in the Hud Mover, including “Reset All” override any existing config.cfg.txt commands.
  
  
• Custom Crosshairs are in as well! You will find them in Settings -> Game -> Use Dynamic Crosshair checkbox. This will open up a host of new options.

Maps

• CTF-Relay
  • Fixed spawns
• CTF-Nightflare
  • Fixed poor skybox performance
• CTF-Outpost
  • Raised terrain to fully connect to the large trees behind each base outside of the red out-of-bounds
• League-Dune
  • Removed invisible wall from flag stand

VFX

• Skate trails now fade out more smoothly
  
• Tempest projectile trail is shorter and leaves behind sparks
  
• The flag trail will persist when dropped to make its trajectory more readable
  
• The flag now has a pulsing glow to make it easier to spot (carrying the flag disables the glow)

Audio

• Added sounds for player death
  
• Increased the audible distance of the flag out of bounds alarm
  
• Fixed health kits repeatedly triggering the low health alarm
  
• Fixed blaster and plasma firing sounds not being replicated across the network correctly
  
• Added additional music to the main menu lobby queue: In Paradisum, Saana, and Singing Sands

Additional Updates

• League is called Skyball in Custom Lobby, and this transition will take soon in other mentions
  
• Fixed League Skyball bug where flag slap would become stuck if you died while holding flag toss[
  
• Chat spam protection will no longer trigger in Practice Mode
  
• Removed flag grab speed notification from chat window and added it to the “Flag Taken” message

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1469060/view/4216006291770097029


Welcome to Update 1.10.16802 for May 9th, 2024! This update includes one of the biggest changes to the in-game UI yet - the minimap.

Players will be able to have a glanceable as well as expandable view of teammate, enemy, and objective locations - enabling a whole new level of situational awareness.

On top of that - players will find a whole host of updates, tweaks, and fixes for their game experience. (More FOV, anyone?)

Important Note: With this update we are moving to a new back-end system for item management. While we get it fully operational, you will not see your customization items. We will be migrating the items to the new system over the next 24-48 hours. After that point if you continue not to see your earned customization items, please reach out to us on Discord or info@vectorzstudios.com

• Minimap: Overlays player, enemy (if detected by IFF), objective positions on the HUD.
  
  • Customizable features are: minimap on/off, rotation with player or static, minimap compass enable/disable.
  • Additionally - you can set a keybind to toggle minimap or cycle map zoom.

• Full Map Display: In addition to the minimap, players also open a larger map to display a wider gamespace.
  
  • Needs to be set with a keybind.

• Radial HP / Health Bars: Health Points and the Energy Bar are now visible in the center of the HUD. They provide a quick view of your player state and energy.
  
  • Each can be enabled or disabled independently in the Settings menu.

• Practice Menu: Several updates to the usability and functionality of the CTRL+P menu.
  
  • Slight visual update
  • Fixed various refresh issues
  • Fixed blurring issue
  • Fixed titles wrapping on multiple lines
  • Prevent left click/mousewheel issues
  • Escape key now closes the menu, but only when the mouse cursor is over the widget
  • Fixed duplicate Bot/Location/Drill when saving under a new name
  • Added buttons to load Pub Starter data, and generic Pub Starter data to edit/save
  • Updated Save Practice Data filename to include the mapname ( {map}-{date}.txt)
  • Added help tab
  • Added buttons to spawn bots directly from the route list

• Other Updates:
  
  • Added a basic movement video tutorial after the welcome message
  • Added a players online counter to main menu
  • Added a list of spectators to the scoreboard overlay

• CTF-Nightflare:
  
  • Disabled collision on foliage rocks
  • Smoothed patch of rough terrain front-right of base

• CTF-Relay:
  
  • Smoothed terrain where tower was on previous map versions
  • Added new back spawn
  • Lowered some of the middle rocks and radar

• CTF-Elite:
  
  • Added cactus to help landmark back-left route
  • Prevented collision with crane vents (fixes accidental movement while walking on rim)

• CTF-Vortex (Prototype):
  
  • Protocype maps open using console commands and are not in map vote pool

• Increased FOV slider maximum to 150. Players have used configs to increase their FOV, we feel that it is only appropriate for all players to have this option via Settings
  
• Adjusted rubberbanding fix to reduce desync issues
• Players now spawn with 3 beacons instead of 1, added a UI element for beacon count
• Nuggets dropped on death have new VFX to improve visibility and understanding
• Improvement to crashes when joining servers
• Reduced AFK timeout to 30 seconds from 60

Have fun and see you in-game!

Midair 2 Playtest has been updated to address game performance issues (stuttering) and Practice menu refresh issues encountered in the last patch.

This Playtest patch features a host of map changes and updates including a brand-new CTF-Lagoon experience, just in time for the sunny weather! Players will also experience weapon, audio, UI, and other Quality of Life updates!

• New Map! CTF-Lagoon: Enjoy a bright sunny beach day and drop-in spawns!
  
• CTF-Nightflare: Skybox updated, added 2 stadium lamps per base area, fixed terrain mirroring in the back rocks.
  
• CTF-Twilight Grove: Fixed terrain near the left spawn bowl.
  
• CTF-Minora: Removed birds based on feedback as they could sometimes be misinterpreted as incoming players for spotting purposes.
  
• CTF-Ingonyama: Adjusted several spawn locations to help defending team control their base rock more easily.
  
• CTF-Silvas: The hill directly in front of each base is now a valley - enabling faster travel through the middle of the map.
  
• CTF-Brynhildr: Moved side spawns back so that they don't block routes.
  
• CTF-Relay: Removed some spawn points that were either too weak or too strong, removed tower near the base.

• Blaster: Damage increased from 35 to 39, inheritance increased from 0% to 100%. Bullet speed slowed to 10% to match Chaingun bullet speed.
  
• Plasma: Added VFX trail to projectiles. Reverted to single-shot firing style.
  
• Known Weapon Issue: when other players fire the Plasma or Blaster, you incorrectly hear the sound of the Grenade Launcher.
  
• Combo Grenade: Increased shootable hitbox size, added VFX to match. Reduced toss and fall speeds. Increased inheritance to 100%
  
• Beacon: Increased scale from 0.5 to 1.0
  
• Increased distance needed for skillshot stars with Chaingun and Blaster.

• Updated jetpack ignite sound to have slightly less bass kick, reduced "gas hiss" sound which was similar to the "out of energy" sound.
  
• Reduced volume of stadium lamp electrical buzz.

• Practice menu visuals updated in early stages of UI overhaul.
  
• Fixed toggle for damage numbers not working.
  
• Improved rubberbanding for players skiing with high ping.

Midair 2 has expanded playtest sign-ups directly to Steam, with the Steam Playtest beginning now! Players have begun to receive access to the game, with servers expected to be up 24/7.

We look forward to your participation in our ongoing tests and to your feedback in forums or in our Discord community (https://discord.gg/midair2)

Sign Up for Midair 2 Playtest:

• Go to the Midair 2 Steam Page (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1231210/Midair_2/)
  
• Click "Request Access"
  
• Steam will email or notify you with a pop-up when you have received access
  
• Download and play!

For ongoing updates - follow us on Steam:
And make sure to wishlist:
Looking forward to seeing you in the game!

Here it folks, this is the big update we’ve been working towards for several months now. We will finally open up access to Midair 2 directly on Steam, allowing users to request access and join the Playtest without needing to join discord and get a key. Additionally, we will now leave Playtest servers up 24x7 instead of just on the weekends. These are two huge changes in and of themselves, but we’ve got a patch chock-full of updates, new features, and bug fixes as well. Thank you so much to all those who’ve participated in Playtest since last October; we’re excited to share this next phase of Playtest with you all!

• Added floating damage numbers with toggle (visible in last patch but absent from notes)
  
• Demo fixes and functional again
  
• Patreon supporters will now get an (optional?) star next to their in-game name

• Updated jetpack sfx
  
• Added 2nd layer of speed-based wind

• All CTF & TDM maps: Consistency in post-processing settings for lens-flare (off), motion blur (on), and LUTs.
  
• Some fogs are now volumetric in levels where they weren’t before
  
• Relay, Forlorn, Hadrian, Octane, Silvas have received significant visual updates.
  
• Minor visual tweaks and a couple of minor bug fixes elsewhere.
  
• CTF-Kryosis and CTF-Raptor, among a few others, have been removed for the time being while reworks are considered.

• Duplicate servers should no longer appear in server browser
  
• Sorting by ping should be fixed
  
• Framerate cap should be fixed - changing requires restarting the game.
  
• Motion blur fixed - works in first person as well as third now
  

• Flag grab speed is now displayed in chat
  
• Friendly IFFs now always visible
  
• Shrunk spawn-in beam VFX; adjusted animation timing
  
• Updated all CTF loading screens and end of match screens
  
• Updated Practice Menu with latest maps and thumbnails
  
• Removed deaths from in-game scoreboard
  
• kills will soon be awarded to enemy that last shot you, if >50% dmg, when you evacuate before deat

• Bot behaviour - planning a bigger upgrade in future, but will fix the following issues soon:
  
• Issues with hit markers/hit audio
  
• Bot jetpack audio will sound buggy due to some undesirable behaviour
  
• Matchmaking has received significant simplification but is as yet non-functional, we hope to address this in an update soon.

Hello Everyone!

First of all - thank you so very much for being here and being a part of our community. To those who have joined Playtests for the past 16 weeks, those who joined more recently, and those of you who have been with this at any point since its beginnings almost four years ago! To those who have participated in lively discussions, or spent time streaming, creating videos, guides, running PUG servers - thank you as well for being pillars of this community and this corner of the games universe.

This weekend’s test marks the last of the weekend-only playtests - and is something we have been looking forward to for a long time!

Through the playtest process, we have been able to update the game’s engine, received reams of feedback, improved old maps and tested new ones, tested new features, weapons and sounds, improved server performance, and were able to locate and crush plenty of bugs too. None of this is possible without your participation! Not only that - we have made new friends along the way - which is the most rewarding part of building a game.

There is still a lot that we want to accomplish: in core CTF, in League mode, TDM, as well as the dreams of larger gameplay that we share with many in the Midair 2 community, and in the broader FPS-Z community as well.

If you’ve been around long enough you know - we are a tiny team working towards these goals.

The outcomes of what comes next will help to determine what we can achieve, and what the future scope of this project will be.

As the servers come down after this weekend’s playtest - on Monday 12th US - we will launch playtest signups directly thru Steam.

The announcement for when the new phase of server access begins will come at a later time.

When the next phase does start however, you should expect the servers to stay up 24/7 outside of maintenance and patching. At the same time - servers on the “Live” version will shut down, and everyone will finally play the same version of the game regardless of what day it is.

New players will join - some who have experience with the genre, and some without. Many of us wouldn’t be here if not for the suggestions and mentorship of other already much more skilled players, and we hope that this sort of interaction between newbies and vets will continue.

Removing the barriers to entry and keeping the game up all the time are two huge pieces of the puzzle - we know that many folks didn’t want to engage with a Discord in order to play a game, and others just preferred to wait until the game was up and running fully.

That day is coming soon!

TLDR:

• Servers for Playtest Weekend 16 are up! This is the last of the weekend-only playtests! Please hop into the game and make it our biggest one yet!
  
• Steam Playtest signup will begin on Monday 12th
  
• If you are already in the Playtest build, you don’t need to do anything to sign up.
  
• If you are live-only, you will need to click the green button on the Midair 2 Steam page starting Monday.
  
• The time for the new phase of testing will be announced later. Servers will be up 24/7 when it launches.
  
• No patch this week as we work to polish up the next phase.

We would not have been able to get here without your participation, and the financial support of the Patreon community and other amazing benefactors.

If you like what you have seen, or have been on the fence about supporting this project, we ask that you will now consider supporting Midair 2 thru Patreon (http://www.patreon.com/midair2)

Your new and continued support at any level directly affects the current and future scope of Midair 2 - especially as we expand to the most open phase of our project ever.

Thank You!

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No patch this weekend as we keep working behind-the-scenes.
Come practice your aim and movement!

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Join the Midair 2 discord for more: https://discord.gg/midair2