BlastZone 2 News

Two small hotfix updates have been released for the PC/Steam version of BlastZone 2. The first one fixes a startup crash issue when attempting to use the “Very High” or “Extreme” detail terrain without downloading the free DLC first.

The second hotfix update makes a few changes. This includes an improvement to framepacing when framerate caps are used. This fixes frame hitches when there are quick changes in the rendering workload, such as when many enemies explode at once.

Also, a new useGameUpdateMultithreading option has been exposed but is only accessible by manually editing the config file. This option is enabled by default to maximize performance, but can be disabled to reduce latency at a performance cost. Also, this update is built using the new Visual Studio 2019, bringing with it various optimizations and improvements, but doesn’t require any new runtime installs to work correctly.

Enjoy the new updates!

A new update has been released for BlastZone 2! The primary purpose of this release is to fix an occasional crash that would occur when closing the game. This was a multithreading issue, the chances of it occurring being higher for higher core/thread count CPUs, and more rare for 1 or 2 core CPUs.

This update also includes an improved startup loader. It now adapts better to system performance, loading faster on higher end CPUs, and better preserving system responsiveness for slower/older CPUs. The bar filling animation is smoother now as well, making it easier to observe progress. Memory usage has been reduced during the loading screen as well.

Several areas of code have been refactored in this update as well, making the game more robust in general and quicker to develop for.

Here are the full release notes for v1.29.4.2:

• Fixed a crash bug that would occasionally occur when closing the game
  -This was a multithreading-related bug that would occur more often on higher core count machines
  
• Improved the startup loader
  -Reduced loading time when starting the game
  -Reduced memory usage during the loading screen
  -Smoothed out the loading bar fill animation to make it easier to follow
  -Improved system responsiveness for slower or low core count CPUs
  
• Refactored several areas of code to prevent bugs and speed up development time in the future
  
• Slightly reduced VRAM usage
  
• HotFix* Fixed a game startup crash when attempting to use the "VeryHigh" or "Extreme" detail terrain packs without downloading the DLC
  

As usual, to make sure you have the latest update, launch the game and check the lower left corner of the title screen for “v1.29.4.2” or above. Enjoy!

A new update has been released for BlastZone 2! This update fixes a bug that would start the game with sound and music volume at 0. The workaround for this was to manually raise the sound and music volume after starting the game each time, but this was not ideal. I apologize for the inconvenience, this has now been fixed. The sound code has also been optimized and reduces frame hitching.

Also for this update, the development environment migrated from Visual Studio 2010 up to Visual Studio 2017. This brings all the latest optimizations, fixes, and security improvements from compiler advancements over the years. Also, the configuration program has migrated from .NET 3.5 up to 4.5, bringing a similar advancement there as well and eliminating the need for an older .NET runtime install.

With the above two migrations and following Steam’s recent changes, this version eliminates Windows XP support. All users with Windows XP no longer have access to BlastZone 2 on Steam anyway, so this was done to better target modern hardware.

The above changes have increased the minimum and recommended system requirements, but they are still very low for modern standards. Here they are:

Minimum requirements:
OS: Windows 7, 8.1, 10 32bit or 64bit
CPU: Any SSE2 CPU (Pentium 4 or Athlon 64 or higher)
Graphics: Radeon HD 2400 128mb, Geforce 8400 128mb, Intel HD 2000 or higher supporting atleast OpenGL 1.5

Recommended for running at high detail:
OS: Windows 7, 8.1, 10 32bit or 64bit
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo, AMD Athlon X2 at 2.4ghz, or Intel Core 2 Quad, AMD Athlon X4 at 1.8ghz or higher (can utilize >4 cores if available)
Graphics: Radeon R7 250 1gb, Geforce 750 1gb, Intel HD graphics 4600 or above supporting OpenGL 3.0 or higher

Here are the full release notes for v1.29.4.1:

• The BlastZone 2 executable is now built using Visual Studio 2017
  -Takes advantage of the latest compiler optimizations and improvements
  -Eliminates support for Windows XP
  
• Migrated the Configuration program to Visual Studio 2017 and .NET Framework 4.5
  
• Fixed a bug that would save out the Sound and Music volume as 0 when closing the game
  
• Greatly improved music processing distribution over time
  -Would previously have a 3-4ms processing spike every second or two
  -This would cause hitches on some systems
  -Now uses a consistent 0.2-0.3ms processing time every frame without spikes
  -Significantly improves frame pacing
  
• Turning off music now completely eliminates music processing
  -Improves performance for low end systems when music is disabled
  
• Fixed enemy bullets appearing the incorrect color when only tracking the player in Z space
  

As usual, to make sure you have the latest update, launch the game and check the lower left corner of the title screen for “v1.29.4.1” or above. Enjoy!

A new update has been released for BlastZone 2! (v1.29.4.0) A big part of this update is refactoring several components of the underlying tech and engine of the game. This was done to find and fix existing bugs, reduce the likelihood of new bugs, and speed up development of new features.

There are several bug fixes and improvements in this update as well. Most notably, load times for the outer space background have been greatly improved. This makes the biggest difference when using the “VeryHigh” or “Extreme” terrain detail packs. Other environments still have the ~1-2 second load time in this case, but loading the outer space environment is nearly instantaneous.

This update also includes frame pacing improvements, netcode improvements, graphical tweaks, optimizations, bug fixes, and more.

Here are the full release notes for v1.29.4.0:

• Refactored several components of the engine, including the camera system, light system, background switching, window initialization, menu system, text system, and more
  -Makes the codebase more robust and reduces the chances of bugs occuring in the future
  
• Improved frame pacing when vSync is off or the frame rate is below the refresh rate
  
• Fixed some rare inconsistent timescale update values (improves frame pacing)
  
• Greatly improved the outer space background load time
  -This makes the biggest difference when using VeryHigh or Extreme terrain detail settings
  
• Improved netcode packet loss tolerance for the following scenarios:
  -The client pauses the game
  -The client returns to the lobby
  -Sending text messages by the client or server
  
• Renamed the in-game "Vertical Sync" option to "vSync" to maintain naming consistency with the configuration application
  
• Optimized cpu usage of all text rendering
  
• Applied a small optimization to background terrain rendering
  
• Improved multithreading concurrency for background terrain, water, and clouds
  
• Fixed brief graphical corruption when switching between the OpenGL 1.5 and 3.0 renderers
  
• Fixed the player ship aura animation playing too fast in some situations
  
• Fixed some particle effects appearing differently depending on the current frame rate
  

As usual, to make sure you have the latest update, launch the game and check the lower left corner of the title screen for “v1.29.4.0” or above. Enjoy!

A new update has been released for BlastZone 2! (v1.29.3.4) This is a smaller update that makes a few improvements to enemy bullet tails, including a more consistent animation and improved performance. Previous versions would look just fine at 60fps, but would get distorted when running a framerate above or below that. Now, they look perfectly consistent across any framerate. Also, particular care was put into how the animation works for high refresh rate displays (144+ hz) to make it look as smooth as possible. Optimizations have also been made to significantly reduce the CPU load when many enemy bullets are on screen. This was done by increasing the amount of reused data from previous frames, thus eliminating a significant amount of redundant calculations. Player bullet trails have been improved as well, but the biggest difference there is better particle distribution when running a framerate below 60fps.

Here are the full release notes for v1.29.3.4:

• Greatly improved enemy bullet trail animation consistency across all framerates
  -Used to look best at 60fps, but have distortions above and below 60fps
  
• Added 1 more enemy bullet trail shadow to improve animation smoothness for high refresh rate displays
  -Updated enemy bullet trail detail scaling to maintain the same performance of previous versions
  
• Optimized enemy bullet trail matrix calculations by reusing more temporal data from previous frames
  
• Evened out the player bullet trail particle distribution for framerates above and below 60 fps
  -Makes the biggest difference below 60fps
  -Makes player bullet trails look the same for all framerates
  

Another hotfix update was recently released to fix a few smaller bugs and issues. Here are the hotfix release notes:

• Fixed a bug that wouldn't reset the LevelSelect state when playing an online multiplayer game after previously playing a level select game
  
• Changed the default online multiplayer GameOver menu option for the client player to "Return to lobby", instead of "Disconnect"
  

As usual, to make sure you have the latest update, launch the game and check the lower left corner of the title screen for “v1.29.3.4” or above. Enjoy!