Escape From Mandrillia News

Little adjustment making Mandrillians appear way less on the Multitool's Motion Sensor while they're moving stealthily.

The HMG was overperforming a bit and was one of the most frustrating weapons to go against as a Mandrillian. These changes makes it a bit harder to control and more forgiving for PC players while still feeling powerful and satisfying to use for the VR player:

• Slightly decreased HMG rate of fire (from 8 shots per second -480 rpm- to 6,25 shots per seond -375 rpm-)
  
• HMG damage reduced from 50 armor piercing to 45 armor piercing (this makes 1-shot kills harder to pull off)
  
• HMG recoil substantially increased
  
• HMG magazine capacity reduced from 50 to 41, just enough to overheat as you shoot the last shot like the minigun does (overheating becoming a thing to worry about in infinite ammo modes)
  
  
• Fixed a sneaky bug in the armor code that was causing armor to not be as effective as intended against armor piercing rounds
  
  
• Fixed SMG laser sight not turning back on pickup after holsterin it with an active laser sight
  

Hello! Short PSA here. As you might have noticed, Valve is doing some Remote Play tweaking that has caused some widespread issues, both for VR and non-VR local games. If you are getting no sound on the client or are getting the "host busy" message, this should fix it.

As with everything related to Remote Play Together, remember you can check on the official Steam Discussions to see if other users also have similar problems, and of course you can send Valve a support ticket if you have an easy to reproduce bug report. I've been dealing with Remote Play being a pain in the behind for a bunch of years now, so you can also join the Escape from Mandrillia Discord and we might help you troubleshoot.

CLIENT IS GETTING NO SOUND: Fixed by host going into Steam Client Beta (Steam > Settings > Interface > Beta Client Participation). The fact that this is fixed on the beta means that this will be probably fixed for everyone soon on the main branch.

CLIENT IS GETTING "HOST IS BUSY" MESSAGE, CAN'T CONTROL THE GAME: Fixed by making sure Steam Overlay is enabled (Steam > Settings > In Game > Enable the Steam Overlay while in-game).

Finally, this is a long-running one, but I'm throwing this here just in case:

CLIENT WANTS TO USE KEYBOARD AND MOUSE: This one Valve is aware of, and seems to be caused by the fact they might be in the process of unify Big Screen, Steam Deck, and Steam VR dashboard UI. When playing with someone over Remote Play in VR, the host does not get the "assign controller" window, and remote play defaults to controller, so if the client wants to use keyboard they're out of luck. TEMPORARY FIX: activate Big Screen, then go to the "Quick Access Menu" (Ctrl + 2), and the control assign will be present there. I want to think that Valve intends to have the quick access menu be a thing inside the VR dashboard at some point in the future.

That's all for now! As a little sneak peek, here's how the new, chunky Item Spawner looks like in the upcoming Firing Range scene:

After a very annoying week, here's a little weapon-related update while I work on the firing range:

• Added a laser pointer to the SMG; activated with the front grip like with the Carbine and Plasma Rifle
  
• Both HMG and Minigun now have to be two-handed if you want to properly use them: if you shoot them one-handed they will fly out of your hand
  
• Very, very slightly increased minigun rate of fire
  
• Changed the minigun firing sound to a more BRRT-y one
  

Small, boring update here with fixes to several Mandrillian Bot issues found while testing, as well as a small reduction of speed for both the Robot's sprint and the Mandrillians' walk and sprint speedsthat should make the game feel a little bit more controllable.

• Robot's sprint speed slightly reduced (walking speed kept the same)
  Mandrillian's walking and sprinting speed slightly reduced (crouching, dazed, and vent speed kept the same)
  
• Fixed navmesh allowing Mandrillian Bots to phase through a couple barrels in some places
  
• Polished navmesh in problem zones that could lead to unnatural movement
  
• Added more aggressive failsafes to Mandrillian Bots getting stuck and/or stopping to reconsider their life choices for longer than intended
  
• Tweaked the way Mandrillian Bots decide when to attack. Until now, they will always attack at a fixed "safe" distance (roughly enough to connect 1-point attacks). Now, they can randomly decide to go for a "safe" short distance, or risk it and pounce from longer distances, even if that means they'll miss more often, similar to a real player. This should make fighting them feel more natural
  
• Added some hidden "aggression level" stats to Mandrillian Bots that can make them act a bit more desperate in high-urgency situations like the final Elevator, opting to circle around the player if out of stamina instead of running away to the vents searching for powerups
  
• Added a hidden "aggression level" to the Mandrillian Bots that, when triggered, can make them be a bit more pushy for a while instead of running away to heal/get stamina back (even when choosing that is detrimental to them)
  
• Fixed the Robot's chest gib not having the Medal cosmetic when blown up (very important!)