BlastZone 2 News

A new update has been released for BlastZone 2! (v1.34.0.2) The primary updates in this release are improvements to the ship selection menu. Now, the next and previous ships are displayed at the top of the screen in a muted form with their shortened names. This visualizes the full roster of ships to choose from, while keeping the currently highlighted ship more prominent. The color of the currently selected ship and arrow selectors has been changed to yellow as well to maintain a consistent color scheme across all menus. The local multiplayer ship selection screen has been updated as well with similar updates to color and ship list.

This update also makes a few changes to BlastZone 1, upgrading it to v1.4. This includes a fix for a rapid fire laser exploit and slightly reduced enemy speed.

This update includes a few smaller updates as well. Here are the full release notes for v1.34.0.2:

• Improved ship selection screens for single player and local multiplayer games
  -Changed the currently selected ship name and selector arrows to yellow to match the color scheme of other menus
  -Added grayed out short names of the other ships to show all the ships there are to choose from
  -Also shows which ship is next/previous on the list
  -Updated selector arrow positioning for multiplayer ship selection to match how the single player screen is done
  
• Updated BlastZone 1 to v1.4
  -Fixed an exploit that would slow down enemy movement while rapidly pressing the laser fire button
  -Reduced enemy movement speed by 5% to account for enemies moving while firing the laser
  
• Screen shakes no longer affect screen wipes
  
• Updated Spanish translation for the ship selection title text
  
• Trimmed down the localization data file size by eliminating unused data
  

As usual, to make sure you have the latest update, launch the game and check the lower left corner for “v1.34.0.2” or higher. Enjoy!

A new update has been released for BlastZone 2! (v1.34.0.1) This is a maintenance release, focused on bug fixes and optimizations. The biggest fix addresses player bullets being invisible for Radeon graphics cards using drivers 22.7.1 or later. This is because 22.7.1 and later use a brand new, rewritten OpenGL driver, which greatly improves performance, but also has a few bugs. Thankfully, some bugs were addressable on the game engine side.

This update also includes a few small optimizations for player and enemy bullets, resulting in up to a 1% boost in performance. Player and enemy bullets are now layered on top of all particles and other effects as well, making them more prominent than before.

There is also an antialiasing bug causing graphic corruption in this game when using Radeon drivers 22.7.1 and later. More information and workarounds are listed below. Nvidia/Geforce graphics cards and drivers are not affected by this issue.

**UPDATE** The latest Radeon driver 22.11.1 fixes the antialiasing graphic corruption bug! Anyone using Radeon drivers 22.7.1 or later should update to 22.11.1 or later to fix this issue.

Here are the full release notes for v1.34.0.1:

• Fixed broken player bullet and charge sprite rendering for newer Radeon drivers (22.7.1 and later)
  
• Player and enemy bullets are now layered on top of all particles and other effects to prevent them from getting obscured
  
• Player bullet particle trails now more closely follow the main bullet sprite
  
• Fixed broken weapon charge animations when turning off particles, doing a weapon charge, then enabling particles again
  
• A few optimizations to player and enemy bullets
  -All optimizations combined improve performance by up to 1%
  
  
• NOTE: Using AntiAliasing with Radeon graphics cards and drivers 22.7.1 or later causes graphics corruption
  
• *This bug has been fixed as of Radeon driver 22.11.1! Anyone using drivers 22.7.1 or later should update to 22.11.1 to fix this antialiasing issue
  -One workaround is to use Radeon drivers 22.6.1 or earlier
  -Another workaround is to disable AntiAliasing
  -This is a driver bug and cannot be fixed on the game engine side without severely hindering performance
  -22.7.1 introduced an entirely rewritten OpenGL driver, which greatly improves performance, but unfortunately introduced bugs as well
  

As usual, to make sure you have the latest update, launch the game and check the lower left corner for “v1.34.0.1” or higher. Enjoy!

A big new update has been released for BlastZone 2! (v1.34.0.0) This update adds public lobby support for Steamworks multiplayer games via Steam Matchmaking. Now, anyone can create a lobby and any player can join it. Lobbies are restricted to 2 players each, and players must be within the same region. This was all built using the Steam backbone and server infrastructure, so it is pretty robust. This has been a hotly requested feature, so I hope everyone enjoys it! Inviting players through the Steam friends list is still available for those to wish to use it.

Also, this update migrates to the new SteamNetworking API for Steamworks online multiplayer games. The previously used Steam Networking communication is deprecated, so migrating to the new version ensures no interruption in Steamworks multiplayer game access. There are also upgrades with the new network communication API that improves responsiveness and consistency of gameplay.

There are a few Steam Friends bug fixes as well. Here are the full release notes for v1.34.0.0:

• Added support for public Steamworks Lobbies for online multiplayer
  -This opens up online multiplayer and discovery between all players on Steam
  -This uses the Steam Matchmaking system
  -Steamworks multiplayer games used to only be available by inviting players from the friends list
  --This is still available for those who want to use it
  -Anyone can now create a lobby for other players to join
  -Added a lobby browser to search for games to join
  --This browser will find lobbies in your region
  --Displays the user name and game options for each lobby
  -Lobbies are limited to 2 players each
  
• Replaced all Steam Networking code with a new Steam API for online multiplayer
  -The previous Steam Networking API used by BlastZone 2 was deprecated some time ago
  -The new API may improve responsiveness and consistency of Steamworks multiplayer games
  -Using the new API ensures there will be no online multiplayer service interruptions if the old API is removed
  
• Fixed incorrect Steam friends list display while fading in the menu for it
  
• Added Steam name displays for the client and server for all Steamworks multiplayer games
  
• Sending online multiplayer chat messages now always uses each player's Steam username if they are connected to Steam
  -When not connected to Steam, it falls back to using each player's current world leaderboard name
  
• Improved realtime feedback of Steam friend invitations
  -Will show a consistent "connecting..." display until the connection times out or succeeds
  
• Fixed Steam friend invitations occasionally not being sent after a connection timeout
  
• Fixed an issue that a Steam friend invitation isn't always received by the client
  
• Users running a Direct UDP or Direct TCP multiplayer game can no longer accept Steam friend invites
  -This was done to prevent bugs that would occur in these circumstances
  
• Fixed a bug that caused a broken menu state when creating a UDP Direct IP server, closing it, then accepting a Steam friend invitation
  
• Renamed the "Online (Steam)" multiplayer type option to "Steam Friends"
  
• Added a new multiplayer type option "Steam Lobbies" to access the new lobby system
  
• Renamed "Online (UDP)" and "Online (TCP)" multiplayer type options to "Direct UDP" and "Direct TCP" respectively
  
• Added localization for all Steam multiplayer connectivity messages
  
• Adjusted the blending of ship stat bars during menu transitions for all ship selection screens
  
• Fixed several elements of the online multiplayer server selection screen not fading during menu transitions
  

As usual, to make sure you have the latest update, launch the game and check the lower left corner for “v1.34.0.0” or higher. Enjoy!

A new update has been released for BlastZone 2! (v1.33.3.1) This update focuses on bug fixing for the Steam Deck, which is now a supported platform for the game. All known bugs for the Deck being fixed as of the release of this update, but any bug reports will be greatly appreciated. The list of bug fixes include muted sound, frame hitching, and graphic corruption.

With this update, BlastZone 2 works very well on the Deck at max detail. However, the game has yet to be officially verified by Valve, and submissions are not open to all Steam games yet. This game will probably be reviewed by Valve eventually, but unfortunately the timeframe for that is unknown. Until then, feel free to play the game on Deck and have fun!

Some of the bugs fixed may apply to other systems as well, as some of these issues have been reported in the past, but were never reproduced internally until having a Deck on hand to test with.

This update also fixes an occasional hang issue for background explosions, and updates the design of Mission Area 2 and 6. There are a few other smaller changes and tweaks for this release as well. Here are the full release notes for v1.33.3.1:

• Made a few Mission level design changes
  -Slowed down the 2 dueling enemies near the end of the first section of Area 2 by 50%
  -Made a few changes to a section about 1 minute in to Area 6
  --This is the section when enemies come from the front, then quickly swing behind the player to shoot
  --Lengthened this section to be about 3x as long as it used to be
  --Spread out enemy movement here to give the player more space to move
  
• Fixed muted sound issue for the Steam Deck
  -This has also been fixed for some systems that also had this issue
  
• Fixed frame pacing issues for the Steam Deck
  -This has also been fixed for some systems that also had this issue
  
• Removed 2x and 4x Antialiasing settings for the Steam Deck
  -Using these settings would introduce graphic glitches
  --Fixing bugs with these settings would reduce performance, so removing them is preferable for the best experience
  -It is recommended to use 8x Antialiasing for the Steam Deck anyway, and this setting doesn't have graphic glitches
  
• Changed the default "pause" gamepad bind from the "Y" button to the "Start" button
  -Changed this as the in-game default, and for the external config program
  
• Fixed an occasional game hang related to background explosions
  
• Removed sound muting when switching focus to another program
  
• Removed 60fps cap when switching focus to another program
  
• Removed the 16x Antialiasing option for all systems
  -No consumer grade hardware support this anyway
  -The external configuration program was also updated to remove this option
  
• Fixed a blank default "Monitor" value in the external config program
  -Now properly defaults to "Primary"
  
• Fixed sounds not playing for the online multiplayer client if the server has sound volume set to 0
  

As usual, to make sure you have the latest update, launch the game and check the lower left corner for “v1.33.3.1” or higher. Enjoy!

A new update has been released for BlastZone 2! (v1.33.3.0) This update completely reworks how enemy bullets are rendered, greatly improving performance. The most impact will be noticed for the final boss of mission mode, which has the most enemy bullets by far. The amount of performance gained has a wide range, based on CPU speed. The most performance is gained by very slow CPUs, such as dual core netbook-class CPUs, which can be up to 50% or higher for the final boss scene. Moderate to lower end quad core CPUs gain less performance, but still quite substantial, at about 20% or so. The least performance is gained by modern, higher end CPUs with more than 4 cores, which can be around 2-3%.

From these performance gains, enemy bullet trails are now always rendered at full quality, even when numerous bullets are on screen. Previous versions would significantly reduce bullet trail quality for the final mission boss.



This update also adds weapon icons for all ship selection screens, including the single player, local multiplayer, and online lobby screens. These screens have also been rearranged to make use of them better. This makes it much easier to see the kind of weapon loadouts and hyper loadouts each ship has at a glance as you scroll through.



Here are the full release notes for v1.33.3.0:

• Greatly optimized enemy bullets
  -Bullets render over 10x faster now
  -Improves overall performance by up to 50% for specific scenes and PC hardware
  --Highest gain is for the final mission boss
  --Highest gains are for very low end dual-core CPUs (~50%)
  --Good gains for moderate to low end quad-core CPUs (~20%)
  --Small gains for modern or higher core count CPUs (~2-3%)
  
• Enemy bullets now always render at full detail, even when many are on screen
  
• All ship selection screens have been improved
  -Rearranged the layouts
  -Added weapon icons for every loadout
  
• Optimized the player ship booster
  -Improves performance by up to 2-3%
  
• Fixed rendering errors with the OpenGL 1.5 renderer for clouds, water, and some text
  -These issues were introduced in the previous v1.33.2.0 update
  

As usual, to make sure you have the latest update, launch the game and check the lower left corner for “v1.33.3.0” or higher. Enjoy!