OUTBRK News

Players will now keep their points from offline chases
10% points bonus when playing a multiplayer game


Fixed lag when entering/exiting vehicle causing audio issues
Removed F9 prompt when not usable
Disabled text chat at game end
Fixed account sync problem


Changed settings in clouds light scattering to improve structure visibility
Set probe pickup time to the same as deploy time
First pass wheel controller support
Added headlight control in radial menu
First pass fix for better headlight visual impact
Reduced ground check rate on tornadoes to avoid floating tornadoes in certain situations
Removed ability to tow vehicle while getting picked up by a tornado
Added message at game start to display "press enter to use chat"
Opening pause menu or text chat doesn't slam the vehicle's handbrake anymore


Fixed not all players showing up in pause menu
Sorted player list
Fixed player list not scrollable

Hello chasers! OUTBRK RELEASED ! Huge newsletter to come, tighten your seatbelt, we're dropping a lot of infos about what we did to prepare the launch, how the launch went, and how we reacted to the feedback and issues.



During June alone, we:

• Integrated 8 new weather scenarios.
  
• Rigged all commercial buildings and small props for destruction.
  
• Created a massive technical optimisation solution of map assets management to increase performance when driving.
  
• Massive town polish pass on all southern cities (Saint John, Fort City, Bridgetown, Southbay, Eagle Cliff)
  
• Updated world map and minimap assets.
  
• Added tornado sirens in all towns.
  
• Fixed an issue on lower end PCs with terrains sometimes not loading correctly and leaving big holes in the map.
  
• Fixed an issue requiring players to restart their game client between matches to join another match.
  
• Integrated a system to prevent players not getting the same scenario too often in a row.
  
• Integrated new loading screen digital art.
  
• HUUUUUGE Day 1 patch following Closed Beta Testing https://steamcommunity.com/app/1107320/eventcomments/4411920671410569399/

It’s 2am on June 28, we’re fixing critical bugs that were found during closed beta, we’re moving servers from the testing environment to the live environment and realized our servers still had a hard limit on them that would have prevented MOST players to connect and we sent our request to increase that limit just in time, we’re rendering the final version of the gameplay trailer, we’re all super tired of the crazy last few weeks of pre-release crunch to get everything sorted to be ready to press the big LAUNCH button on steam at 10am EDT.

We released the gameplay trailer ! Watch it here :
https://youtu.be/VG1Lh6HJqi8?si=dfIbD13DloEJ5Tn7


Then we pressed launch, and then… SERVER ISSUES! YIKES. FPS ISSUES! YIKES.
We posted this announcement as fast as possible https://steamcommunity.com/app/1107320/eventcomments/4411920671412424104/

Here is what happened:

[h3]SERVER STUFF[/h3]

• Servers took some time to warm up and scale so it took time to identify the real issues that were preventing the players from joining.
  
• We had different issues on NA and EU, further complicating our investigating process.
  
• Once we identified the actual issues with matchmaking we got to work on hotfixes.
  

[h3]FPS STUFF[/h3]

• We are well aware about the fps issues with our new cloud technology and we are working on it, that being said, we released the game with the “fantastic” graphic preset by default for everybody so that really hurts the player’s experience with the game when they first launched it.
  
• We failed to explain what we’re trying to do with our cloud technology to the average gamer, people see the average look of the game, which is very indie we know, and compare the performance with AAA titles. All our weather is a completely unique technology made for OUTBRK and it’s something that has never been done before. We’re rendering real weather data accurately, this is absolutely out of scope for any video game usually. The technology is brand new, we made it work for OUTBRK at the very end of the development cycle, right before we launched Early Access, there is a lot of work remaining still, for the people that follow our Trello work board, it’s everything under the Backlog - Catalyst section.
  
• Part of this same point, we have some settings to mitigate some of the cloud fps issues in the graphical settings, such as Cloud Downsampling, but this is not really understood by players since it’s not a setting usually found in games. People think they have to play on low with a high end computer to run the game, when in fact they just have to up their Cloud Downsampling a tiny bit.
  

The game launched to MOSTLY NEGATIVE (aouch) reviews on steam, understandably so, we got to work non stop all day to get hotfixes ready as fast as possible.

It’s now June 28 at 23h45, we’re absolutely dead tired, we just want to catch some sleep and get back to work, but we forced ourselves to celebrate the launch of OUTBRK on release day even if it didn’t feel like a victory lap, otherwise we would never have.

• Let’s not kid ourselves, launching a multiplayer game is hard as hell. If AAA games have server issues at launch, we expected something would go wrong too, no matter how much we would prepare to some extent. However, being in the driver seat is another experience entirely. Having to work on critical bug fixes at the same time as we have to answer to the community is an incredible amount of pressure. Huuuuge shout out to our moderation team on Discord and Steam and our lead tester WalkOverYou that handled the bug reports coming in MASS, gave swift answers to the people getting stuck, and gave workarounds to players. Really an incredible support team that did a fantastic job under the huge amount of pressure that is release day.
  
• We did our best to keep our cool and focus on what we do best, fix bugs. We went in “war room mode” tackled urgent issues, got a first patch out addressing critical issues, and behold, it worked! We released PATCH 0.1.571 and servers stabilized dramatically and new players now have much better FPS getting in the game.
  

Full patch notes here : https://steamcommunity.com/app/1107320/eventcomments/4411920838128198787/


We’re currently actively working on a new series of bug fixes and improvements for a new hotfix patch that should release shortly. We have a LOT of work ahead of us, but we already started working on important post launch features such as the party system, more weather scenarios, and critical continuous FPS improvements.

That's all for this development update ! Thanks for all your support, consider leaving a review on the steam store to reach more potential future chasers ! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1107320/OUTBRK/

Till next time,
-The OUTBRK Team

Fixed "Press f9 to report feedback" not hidden when using F1 to hide UI
Fixed "Press f9 to report feedback" not hidden when game ends and the feature can't be used, making it misleading
Fixed positioning of end screen elements on ultrawide screens
Fixed players dying on weird collisions with the world
Fixed localization visual issues when game is in french
Added experimental mention in graphics settings
Added double layer of security before purchasing an item to avoid exploits
Removed unused car radio from keybinds list
Changed default quality to medium
Changed FSR and DLSS Logic to disable the RendererFeature when not used, avoiding render features to both be on, potentially causing the screen freeze issue.



Tentative fix for infinite "connecting to server" issue
Tentative fix for timer resetting when it shouldn't when matchmaking
Fix to prevent auto-disconnect when joining a match
Added more info on screen when waiting for other players



Added ability to mute or set volume of players in pause menu

Happy Chasing!
- The OUTBRK Team

Hello everyone ! We would like to give some visibility on the most important known issues so far.


We’re having a lot of different matchmaking issues currently preventing players from getting into online games. The connectivity is improving since the game launched, but the remaining issues seem to be very different from one another, keep reporting them as you encounter them in our dedicated forum section here : https://steamcommunity.com/app/1107320/discussions/1/

• Our clouds are a completely new technology uniquely crafted for OUTBRK and require more optimization that is planned in high priority. They are the culprit of the performance issues.
  
• The primary issue users are encountering is that the game launching at “Fantastic” setting for everybody, we’re deploying a hotfix to set the default to medium.
  
• We recommend users to increase their cloud downsampling, that will increase their FPS a lot (at the cost of showing blue pixels around small objects like tree leaves).
  
• This issue seems to cause some users having problems getting into games as wells, especially getting stuck at initializing atmosphere.
  

• We seem to have linked that issue with DLSS. If you have the issue, you can either disable DLSS, or exit and enter your car.
  

Note about the Online Coop tag on Steam

• There is no way for us to only put "multiplayer" in the tags. Although the party matchmaking is not in this Early Access build yet, it is our top feature development priority currently. If we don't put this tag, the game shows as Single Player game and that is simply not accurate.
  

Continue reporting any new issues in our dedicated forum section here https://steamcommunity.com/app/1107320/discussions/1/ for now as we get things sorted out, thanks for your patience and understanding.

- David and Marc

Added world satellite map and updated road network to map and minimap screens.
Added new world streaming logic to improve world loading and reduce FPS drops.
Added a new radial radar shader to make the radar more realistic.
Added tornado sirens in all labeled towns on the map.
Added a new re-balanced photo point system to improve accuracy and predictability of photo grades, and increased the max amount of photo points possible by 50 per type.
Added info and active package validation in the redeem menu
Added new branding to app icon



Removed all hidden debugs and their appropriate binds from the game.
Removed the ability to get first report point bonus when alone.
Removed doppler on audio sources.
Changed report logic to be handled by the server to ensure tool stability.
Increased visibility of the in-game bug and feedback tool “F9”.
Changed offline mode screens to include disclaimer that no game progression can be made as it's intended for practice when no internet connection is present.
Changed key bind menu to no longer display truncated radio functions.
Changed billboard logic to make them randomized.
Changed wind textures not being at the correct resolutions.
Changed temperature and dewpoint colors to match legend.
Added missing undetected wall clouds to scenarios.



Optimized terrain performances.
Fixed the first batch of several floating roads causing players to get stuck when driving.
Fixed houses floating in various towns across the map
Fixed the first batch of locations where terrain clips through the road.
Fixed an issue causing the terrain to unload and players fall through the map when driving.



Fixed an issue causing frequent uncontrolled lag spikes while moving around the map.
Fixed an issue with Kickstarter not awarding all the proper items and saving in the players inventory.
Fixed several issues with the probe causing the game to break when opening the menu on probe deploy and when entering a vehicle.
Fixed an issue where you could buy a cosmetic that wasn't intended.
Fixed an exploit allowing players to spam report the same element for extra points.
Fixed an exploit allowing you to walk while deploying a probe with the camera or phone active.
Fixed an exploit causing you to buy items you don't have the balance for on a controller.
Fixed an issue causing the dominator to slide down the hill while deployed and being able to move when deploying.
Fixed Anti-Aliasing setting not properly changing the actual MSAA.
Fixed an issue causing objects picked up by the tornado to get stuck in the air.
Fixed an issue allowing players to be charged extra money for gas after reaching 100%.
Fixed an issue causing damage to be out of sync with the tornado in some scenarios.
Fixes an issue causing the tow feature to throw you under map when towing past boundary.
Fixed an issue causing the UI to become stuck when opening the menu while taking a photo.
Fixed an issue causing you to die when jumping on an umbrella.
Fixed an issue causing money to not be given correctly at end of games.
Fixed an issue causing the touch grass achievement impossible to earn.
Fixed an issue causing game chat not to clear between games.
Fixed a few interaction issues.



Fixed an issue causing matchmaking to get stuck on “Connecting to Server.”
Fixed an issue with matchmaking not working the first time causing it to time out.
Fixed an issue causing matchmaking to deploy players in the wrong server region causing increased latency.
Removed volume and mute toggles temporarily until a fix can be deployed.

Happy Chasing!
- The OUTBRK Team