Door Kickers 2 News

Winter Solstice time is here, the longest night of the year - a perfect occasion to sit down and reflect on how best to approach Tactical Operations during hours of darkness - cause Night Ops arrive to Door Kickers 2!



There's a couple new Night Ops oriented missions for you to try, but we've also updated some of the old missions to better reflect that they were, actually, taking place in the dark.



What's different? Darkness now conceals you, while lights reveal you. Enemies will spot you only at close range when you're hidden in the dark, and will engage you with less precise and effective fire even when you're spotted. Well, enemies with no Night Vision of their own,



This works both ways, so make sure to equip Night Vision Goggles to see without being seen - or both you and the enemy will stumble in the dark, unsure of what's out there.



Muzzle flashes break concealment and reveal positions, so equip suppressors when possible. They don't hide you completely, but they help to keep the enemy guessing.

Speaking of guess work, select maps now feature the promised - "cut off the lights" option, so do try to use that to your advantage.

Most importantly, hide until its time to strike, and strike decisively - don't give the enemy any chance to react.

So get playing, and let us know what you think!

This is most likely the final update for 2021. A fun but challenging ride, one we couldn't weather without you fine folks. But there's much more to come :)

Your Devs @ KHG, signing off.

changelist v0.25

- added night mission mechanics
- added helmet customization (with NVGs as attachments)
- two completely new maps
- eight existing maps converted to night missions
- grenade/rpg explosions will now block line-of-sight for a fraction of a second.
- changed shortcut for the click-to-stop action to SHIFT+click-to-stop
- fixed several bugs/issues related to replays
- fixed workshop maps not being sorted correctly
- hostages and ambassadors can no longer open locked doors
- rocket launcher + gocode: now equips RL, then waits for gocode
- CIA Undercover can now equip 1x Grenade Packs, for more concealment
- fixed 'go silent' global setting not being saved on restart
- fixed a bug where hostages would not go to evac zones when ordered
- fixed timebombs not always doing kill damage around them
- fixed/improved bullet spread and accuracy up-close
- fixed blindfiring enemies being very accurate
- fixed borderless mode flickering screen when alt-tabbing
- fixed windowed mode flickering when alt-tabbing in HDR mode
- fixed not being able to select path endpoint when overlapping with set waypoints
- fixed wait-here gocode subtracting explosives when used near a wall
- fixed not being able to use breaching charges on a wall near an opened door
- fix for replays in cinematic mode showing edge-of-screen portraits
- fov camera is not editable
- fixed a bug in Linux + Proton
- the CIA vanilla G19 now has a threaded barrel and can be suppressed
- many other fixes and improvements, but in a hurry to catch Christmas

Hotfix patch, changelist for 0.23:
- fixed spycam no longer working as intended
- fixed being able to equip suppressor by selecting Empty
- fixed comparing stats being broken for suppressed weapons
- fixed per-class colored paths not working as intended
- fixed inventory subtracting explosives when using gocodes near a wall
- fixed hostages not going through destroyed walls (again)
- fixed bug where lights would sometimes glitch
- various map fixes
- editor: fixed alt spawns for objects no longer working
- editor: fixed one of the tutorial links not working
- editor: fixed not being able to rotate waypoints entities
- editor: fixed a bug with Undo not working properly
- modding: re-enabled loading mods from game's root folder

Later edit: added changelist for 0.24:
- large performance improvement for low-spec GPUs, especially for integrated Intel HD
- editor: fixed FOV not working properly while editing
- various other small tweaks and fixes
- modding: added reference 3dsmax source files for weapons

Ok, fine, we've added suppressors, so stop bugging us about them.



As we've said before, suppressors in Door Kickers 2 don't make guns magically silent, unless there's also a subsonic ammo option that you equip. They do help to create confusion, and they do reduce sound report a bit, Most importantly, they'll help when hiding in the dark - when we implement night missions, that is.



And ... we've also made it that you can click on troopers to HOLD them in place, so stop bugging us about that too!

Click to hold, click again to release. And you can even click on a path to add a simple "hold here until released" waypoint if you don't have time to create a more thorough plan sync.


New edge-of-screen unit markers have been added. Both for friends and enemies, should help with coordination and orientation on larger maps.

And ... there's a new (and very basic) option to change your key bindings between two presets. Basically its a choice to Pan the camera with Arrow Keys or WSAD.



[h3]Coop improvements[/h3]
We haven't changed many things for coop lately, so a few improvements were in order.
First of all, when playing full-sync mode, opening the waypoints menu will no longer pause the entire game, allowing you to continue playing immediately after choosing an action, without blocking all the other players as well. You can still pause the entire game though, via the pause button (or Space key).
In the future we'll probably improve upon this again, by only pausing the specific trooper you're right-clicking on, instead of the entire team. As always, let us know what you think about these changes.

We've also done a bunch of work on the stability/performance side of things. The required bandwidth has been decreased a bunch, making the game more reliable on slower connections and no longer requiring to have a very good connection in order to host a 4-player game.
We also fixed some cases where the game would crash when playing over a faulty connection due to some packets being fragmented and/or mangled.


[h3]Price increase incoming in January 2022[/h3]
As stated in the Early Access description, the base price of the game will increase once the game releases (targeting the $25 price point).
We decided to do it gradually, increasing the price in two steps: one price increase starting next year, then another one before the game is fully released. A year has passed since the game was released in Early Access, in which time the game has grown immensely in terms of available content, so we feel a price increase at this point is well deserved.
So this year is your last chance to get the game at the current price point. The game will also be participating in the Steam autumn/winter sales, with 10% off.


[h3]Modding support[/h3]
We're committed on making DK2 more moddable than DK1 ever was, via better/smarter tools and more openness towards sharing source assets and code.
As you know, for the moment we only added support for maps on Steam Workshop, and not other kinds of mods, due to the game engine suffering massive changes while in Early Access.
Full mod support will be added before release, but to prepare things ahead of time, we're starting to release source assets for 3dStudioMax, which you can use as reference to make your own. For this update we've added the source file for our animated human characters, as well as 3dstudiomax integrated exporters for our own file format. The tool we use is not that accessible though, so we're looking to make the transition towards Blender, which is a free-to-use 3D modelling software.
By the way, if you know anyone that can help us with programming a custom Blender exporter for our assets, give us a shout :)

[h3]Replay compatibility[/h3]
This update invalidates existing replays again, but we're taking measures to avoid breaking replays ever so often.
What we're currently working on is a way to keep old game versions as well (since replays are tied to the data in those versions). To keep the size of those old version very small, we're doing this in a smart way, where we only keep files that are different from the current version.
Therefore, when trying to play an older replay, the game will jump into the required game version and still be able to run the replay. It's not ready yet, but we know how much it sucks to lose those cool plays, so just wanted to let you know we're working on it.



Your Devs @ KHG

(P.S. Just kidding about the "bugging", mates. We love feedback, on forums and via emails or elsewhere. Our ears are always open - bug us as much as you want. And to the "suppressors mafia", thanks for your patience! )
______________
Full changelist v0.22:

- suppressors added as an optional muzzle attachment to select weapons.
- 2 new maps
- added option to 'wait in place' when clicking on troopers/path
- added hotkey templates (you can currently choose from a couple of templates, with dedication to the WASD folks)
- added UI indicators for troops/enemies which are off-screen
- jumping/vaulting speed is now adjusted with the mobility factor
- last selected mission bundle is now remembered between runs
- can now assign gocodes to waypoints without closing the radial menu by using the keyboard shortcuts (and W or ` for WaitForClear)
- new hotkey: delete waypoints with DEL key
- concealed troops no longer stop when they are compromised
- civilians try to pick the shortest route to an escape area, ignoring inaccessible ones
- grenades/launcher actions no longer start when pressing Space (before the user has finished setting up the target)
- updated the team colors to be more colorblind friendly
- this update invalidates existing replays, but took some measures to avoid making replays incompatible with each update, for future versions
- game should run much better on low-spec CPUs
- many other tweaks, fixes and improvements to maps/UI/gameplay
- coop: opening the waypoints menu in coop+sync will not pause the entire game anymore, only when using the Pause function directly
- coop: less bandwidth usage, increased reliability, fixed several bugs

- fixed sus-areas going through closed doors
- fixed increased game loading time when having a shitton of workshop maps
- fixed several crashes
- fixed mission list forgetting scroll position when deleting replays/missions
- fixed customization list up/down buttons not working
- fixed shadows sometimes breaking when tilting camera
- fixed 'reset progress' option not working sometimes because Steam Cloud would put back the missing files
- fixed a bug where you were able to get stuck in objects
- fixed some weapons dropping incorrect mags when reloading

- editor: fixed lights with flicker anim being broken for the first few frames
- editor: lights now animate even when game is paused
- editor: added 'random start time' lights param
- editor: added a new tutorial link to the help section (thanks to DHR_000x)
- editor: fixed a bug with scaling a group not working properly sometimes
- editor: increased max zoomout because ash_kay said so
- editor: human FOV cones are now visible when you select someone, because Ganjirah said so
- modding: moved gameplay_settings.xml to a separate folder and split content into separate files because panguino said so
- modding: added 3dsmax source file to server as reference for human models and animations
- modding: added khm exporter for all 3dsmax versions

PS: this is what's called a Friday YOLO update. What could go wrong?

Hey everyone! Remember when we launched the Workshop and announced a Level Design Contest? No? Well, neither did we. Anyway, it's finally the end of June (please don't argue, it's June, OK!) and the people have spoken!

The winner of the Level Design Contest, with the most player upvotes is...... drum roll please...... SasquatchOnUranus with the level "Compound Raid". Congratulations Sasquatch! We'll be getting in touch with you shortly so keep an eye on your inbox!

It's *actually* been 6 months since we launched the Workshop and there are now over 2000 entries! That's nuts! We've been looking at the amazing levels you've been making and, to be honest, they're blowing us away with the creativity and ingenuity on display! Some of the ways you lot use assets are just bonkers!

We love it! And since its also 1 Year of Door Kickers 2 Early Access, we thought its fitting to celebrate by looking at some of our favorite community-made maps. Enjoy!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

We love seeing what you all come up with! Thanks for sharing your creations with us!

And for those of you who skipped through the video (you know who you are) here's our list - and a convenient collection: Top Picks from KHG

[h3]Top Creators:[/h3]
Ash with the map Jungle Ops - M4
Pif35 with the map Oil Rigged
DrSqua with the map ARC-20 Isolated Extraction
Panguino with the map Sinful Paradise
Dirk Diggler with the map Redacted I - Rules of Commerce
Void with the map Canyon Capers
AdmiralDuckSauce with the map Way of the Gun
Airman with the map MicroOp 6
CEO of The Internet with the map Who Goes There

Thank YOU,

The Devs @ KillHouse Games

- suspicion areas (auto-generated when doing suspicious activities) are now displayed
- suspicion areas no longer go through walls
- improved AI target prioritization: now takes into account whether the target is stunned (lower prio) or the type of gun he has
- increased max length of a trooper's path
- fixed HVT/hostages refusing to walk through breached walls
- fixed troopers not starting in silent mode when using silenced secondary weapons
- fixed Steam Workshop maps having their description trimmed to 255 characters (instead of the actual 8000 max)
- fixed breaching charge preview covering a different area on walls than the actual effect
- fixed several issues related to explosives preview
- fixed right-click no longer opening customization while in main menu
- fixed various issues/bugs on multiple maps
- fixed several bugs related to changing gear on a pre-saved plan
- fixed synesthesia bug in game options