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BallisticNG News

BallisticNG 1.4.1 Dev 1 is now available

Development of 1.4.1 is underway, and to kick things off we're starting with a major update to the layout creator!

Remember to check out our roadmap for a look at what we're working on for 1.4.1.


[h2]Playing on development builds[/h2]
  • Right click BallisticNG in your steam library and go to Properties
  • Go to the betas tab on the window that opens
  • From the dropdown select development. If the update doesn't automatically queue for download, restart Steam
  • Once you have opened the game, the version at the bottom right of the menu for this release will read 1.4.1-d3


Layout Creator 3.0


Version 3 of the layout creator makes many changes that have facilitated the introduction of customizable hotkeys, controller support and many improvements across the board.

The layout creator was previously a mess of hard coded inputs among a sea of spaghetti code, so the first thing that needed changing was that.

We now have a tools system which has allowed us to make the editor much more modular and remove a lot of jank that came with the introduction of new features over the years.

Note that documentation on our readthedocs hasn't been updated yet. We'll be doing that closer to the release of 1.4.1.

[h2]Hotkey Editor[/h2]
Now that everything is modular and has a structure, the layout creator finally has a hotkey editor!




[h2]Controller Support[/h2]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O8_N3yWI9s

With the tools system implemented, it became much more trivial for controller support to be implemented. With exception to the perspective orbit camera, the layout creator is fully functional when using a controller!

You'll need a controller that's supported by Rewired's gamepad template for this. If your controller works out of the box with the game then you have a controller that's supported. You can also refer to this table, where anything with the gamepad icon on the left hand side is supported:
https://guavaman.com/projects/rewired/docs/SupportedControllers.html


[h3]Analog Stick Ease Power[/h3]
Similar to the steer curve option for gameplay, the layout creator has an easing curve for analog inputs to help you stay precise near the resting position of the analog sticks. By default this is set to use a power of 3 which we felt works for Dualshock 4, Dualsense and Xbox controllers, but you can customize this:

  • Open the menu (X for Sony controllers, A on Xbox)
  • Navigate down to Set Ship
  • Navigate right until you reach Set Analog Stick Ease Power
  • 1 is linear, above 1 reduces sensitivty near the center of the stick, below 1 increases it.


[h3]Selection Spread Crosshair[/h3]


As it's harder to be as accurate with an analog stick then it is a mouse, whenever you're selecting nodes the crosshair is turned into a circle where anything that's within its radius will be considered for selection. If there's multiple nodes within the circle, the node closest to the center dot takes priority.

[h2]Templates[/h2]


The layout creator now has templates! When you first load into it, or when you start a new file, you'll be given an option to select one of four starting templates depending on the kind of track you want to make.

These templates provide an appropriate track width and play mode setting configs for each track type.

You can also create your own templates by saving a CTL file into the User/Config/Presets/Layout Creator/Templates folder.

[h2]The Sidebar[/h2]
Additional tools were previously hidden away in windows that were accessed through the menu bar.

These have been moved into two tabs that are more immediately accessible on the right side of the screen. The options have also seen a layout update to make the interface much cleaner.



Full Changelog


[h3]Engine[/h3]
  • Corrupt controller sava data files are now detected and deleted instead of breaking the game on launch. A message will be shown on screen to inform of this happening.


[h3]Options[/h3]
  • Fixed CRT Brightness being labeled as CRT Resolution


[h3]Modding[/h3]
  • Moved the small vehicles template CTL in the modding folder to User/Config/Presets/Layout Creator/Templates


[h3]Layout Creator 3.0[/h3]
Tools System
All hard coded inputs calling functions in spaghetti have been replaced with a modular context, tools and action system:
  • A context provides a set of tools and are selected with the edit mode dropdown at the top of the editor,
  • A tool provides a way to interface with the editor. These are inspired by Blender and can be passive (camera movement, selection) or modal (adjusting spline nodes, transforming physic zones, etc),
  • Actions provide per-context access to tools through hotkeys, which can now be customized.
  • Modal tools can provide their own inputs to expand their feature set. Actions are disabled when using a modal tool so hotkeys don't conflict


UI
  • Added Hotkey Editor (Edit -> Hotkeys). Inputs are saved in User/Config/Layout Creator,
  • Added properties side bar. The node and route tools windows have been moved here,
  • Inputs for modal tools are shown at the bottom of the screen while the tool is being used,
  • The physics mod zones settings list has been moved to an invisible tab in the side bar which activates when a physics zone is selected,
  • Updated text to TextMeshPro


Hotkeys
  • Added New File (Ctrl + N),
  • Added Open (Ctrl + O),
  • Added Save (CTRL + S),
  • Added Save As (Ctrl + Shift + S),
  • Added Export TRM (Ctrl + Shift + Alt + S),
  • Added Export OBJ (SHift + Alt + S),
  • Added Copy and Paste Track Shape (Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V),
  • Added Copy and Paste Physics Mod Zone Settings (Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V),
  • Added Select Next Node (Right Arrow),
  • Added Add Next Node To Selection (Shift + Right Arrow),
  • Added Remove Next Node From Selection (Ctrl + Right Arrow),
  • Added Active Selection To Next Selected Node (Alt + Right Arrow),
  • Added Select Previous Node (Left Arrow),
  • Added Add Previous Node To Selection (Shift + Left Arrow),
  • Added Remove Previous Node From Selection (Ctrl + Left Arrow),
  • Added Active Selection to Previous Selected Node (Alt + Left Arrow),
  • Added Add Route To Selection (Shift + Up Arrow),
  • Added Select Route (Up Arrow),
  • Added Deselect Route (Down Arrow),
  • Orbit camera changed from middle click to shift + right click,
  • Orbit camera distance changed from W/S to scroll wheel (sensitivity is now dynamically adjusted based on distance to target instead of the FPS camera speed),
  • Clear selection changed from backspace to escape


General
  • The orbit camera can now focus on objects in the reference image and physics mod zone edit modes,
  • The track refresh rate now defaults to the monitors refresh rate,
  • Track nodes are now smaller and always render on top,
  • Sliders in the route tools UI have been replaced with input fields, allowing for any values to be entered,
  • Entering the layout creator and creating a new file now opens a templates list. A few templates are provided with the game and you can add more by saving CTL files in User/Config/Presets/Layout Creator/Templates. Loading a template doesn't set it as the active file so you can't unintentionally save over it
  • Fixed holding speed up not increasing the speed of the FPS camera raise/lower movement


Spline Tools
  • Added Transfer Routes tool, available in the route tools tab:
    • Select, in order, the nodes you'd like to move to another route,
    • Select the node in the destination route you'd like to move the nodes to. The nodes will be logically placed AFTER the destination node.,
    • Run the route transfer tool,
    • This tool can also be used to move the order of nodes within the same route
  • Added extract route tool, available in the route tools tab:
    • Select two nodes in the same route,
    • Run the extract route tool. The nodes between, and including, the selected nodes will be moved into a new route
  • Track shape copy and paste can now handle sequences of shapes in the order of selection. The sequence is repeated if there's more nodes selected when pasting then there was when copying,
  • Creating a new route now selects the last node in the route to enable immediate editing of the route,
  • Scaling and rotating nodes now uses the mouse cursors position as the origin point. Using the previous average position method can be accessed by pressing the hotkey again when using the tool (by default),
  • The insert tool is now an interactive modal tool where you can click the node position onto the spline. Holding shift snaps the position to thirds, and holding CTRL allows continuous insertion of nodes,
  • Nodes can now be click dragged on XZ without needing to use the move tool. Vertical dragging can be performed with the side or front camera views,
  • Nodes can now be created with grid snapping and straight locking at the mouse cursor by double clicking. The grid plane is used for this, so use the bottom of the node height lines to align your mouse.,
  • Nodes can now be now grid snapped when scaling and rotating,
  • Move To Cursor in the move tool now works when adjusting node heights,
  • The distance that nodes have been moved during move and scale operations are now shown,
  • The angle that nodes have been rotated and tilted are now shown,
  • Adjusting track shapes is now handled per node instead of copying the first selections shape to others. Press space when using the track shape tool to toggle between per-node and first selection copy modes.,
  • Pressing R when adjusting track shapes now toggles between the default shape and the adjusted shape,
  • Pressing F when adjusting node tangents now toggles between the default values and the adjusted values,
  • Activating the scale and rotate tools with only a single node selected now switches to the tangent distance and tangent rotation modes respectively,
  • Jumps and teleporter node types are now rendered with a line and label,
  • Route labels now signify which route is the active route,
  • Optimized track node rendering,
  • Fixed resistive behavior when tilting nodes,
  • Fixed tangents not being refreshed when toggling route close,
  • Fixed tangents not being refreshed when appending nodes,
  • Fixed tangents not being refreshed when inserting nodes,
  • Fixed tangents not being refreshed when deleting nodes,
  • Fixed Allow Out Of Bounds not being restored when undoing/redoing,
  • Fixed route labels not rendering if the route only has a single node


Physics Mod Zone Tools
  • Added undo/redo support to physics mod zones add, delete and transformation changes,
  • Added copy and paste actions for physics mod zone settings,
  • Physics zones can now be scaled along axis planes using Shift + X,Y,Z inputs in the scale tool,
  • Physics zone scales can now be reset by pressing S while using the scale tool.,
  • Physics zones can now be rotated along the X and Z axes.,
  • Physics zone rotations can now be reset by pressing R while using the rotate tool,


Reference Image Tools
  • Added undo/redo support to transforming the image plane and changing the reference image,
  • Editing the reference image is now its own edit mode, instead of being hacked into the spline tools edit mode,
  • Removed reference plane locking (not unnecessary with these changes)

Wipeout-like anti-grav racer BallisticNG v1.4 out now bringing lots of new content and Steam Deck Verified

Even though it was Steam Deck Verified back in February, that was Valve testing against an opt-in Beta (which is a bit weird) but now the big release is here for the anti-gravity racer BallisticNG.

Read the full article here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2025/05/wipeout-like-anti-grav-racer-ballisticng-v1-4-out-now-bringing-lots-of-new-content-and-steam-deck-verified/

BallisticNG 1.4 is now available!



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx7ruNdS100

Almost a year and a half in development, we're excited to bring you the BallisticNG 1.4 update!

1.4 is all about 2280, redesigned menus, quality of life improvements, more modding tools, and many significant under the hood changes to enable it all. Oh, and the game is now also Steam Deck verified!

A huge thanks to the internal testing group and community who've played the builds and provided feedback throughout the course of this updates development!

1.4 is so big that we can't fit the full changelog into a Steam announcement, so if you'd like to see every little change then you can read that on our website here:

https://neognosis.games/2025/05/01/ballisticng-1-4-is-now-released/


We are now entering the 1.4 support cycle, where we will continue to expand on the 1.4 update with smaller additions and fix any remaining issues that crop up along the way. To see what's coming for 1.4.1 and 1.4.2, check out our roadmap.

Notices

[h3]New Inputs[/h3]
New input binds for variant selection and opening the advanced content selectors have been added in 1.4. If you're using an officially supported controller then these binds will be added automatically, otherwise you'll need to add them manually in the input options menu. Keyboard controls also have these binds added automatically.

[h3]Barrel Roll Inputs[/h3]
The steer wiggle inputs for barrel rolls have been changed to releasing and then quickly re-pressing the thrust input. This can be changed in the Input Options menu, but we've changed the default to thrust tap for ergonomic purposes.

[h3]Leaderboards Reset[/h3]
As we've made category balancing changes for 1.4, the leaderboards have been reset to give everybody a clean slate to work with.

[h3]Legacy Layout Creator Depreciated[/h3]
The legacy layout creator has been depreciated with 1.4. It's still in the game for compatibility but now needs to be accessed through the mod_legacylayoutcreator console command.

[h3]Camera Option Changes[/h3]
Camera settings have been split out so each camera view has it's own unique set of options. Your camera settings will be reset in 1.4 because of these changes.

[h3]Moved Preset Locations[/h3]
Ui preset locations have been changed and the game won't automatically migrate them. If you've been using custom AI rosters then you'll want to move the following:
  • User > Config > Ini > Ai Presets, to User > Config > Presets > Ai Rosters

With the fundamental changes to multiplayer settings in 1.4, old lobby presets are no longer compatible.

[h3]Dedicated Server Changes[/h3]
There have been a lot of backend changes to multiplayer to prepare it for future updates and the configuration for dedicated servers has changed.

See the updated example CFG, random lobby lua example script and LUA documentation txt for more details.

[h3]BNGL Bundled[/h3]
BallisticNG now ships with a sample of Radracers BallisticNG legacy project. This contains a large snapshot of tracks and ships from various points in the games development, ported as mods.

These mods need to be installed manually and can be found in the Additional Content folder where the game is installed.

For GOG users, these files can be found in your library on the GOG website as a goodie.

If you already have the full BNGL directly from Radracer or have downloaded BNGL content from the workshop, you already have everything this bundle includes.

[hr][/hr]
Unity Tools

If you're making mods, you can find the changelog and download for the latest Unity Tools here:
https://github.com/Neognosis-Workflow/BallisticNG-Unity-Tools/releases/tag/1.4


The NeoTilemap and NeoModeling Blender addons have also been updated to support the Blender 4 releases.


[hr][/hr]
2280

Let's start with the big one: The 2280 Update.



2280 was originally a port of the physics from one of BallisticNG's predecessor projects; AGR2280. The mode was added as a cheat but gained popularity throughout Early Access and has seen many tweaks over the years. We were even planning on creating dedicated content for it around version 0.8.

It was ultimately left on the backburner so we could focus on 2159 physics and content for it, but with the game now reaching the end of major development, we felt it was time to strip 2280 out and then re-implement it from scratch to meet the original vision of the AGR2280 project. Basically, we've come full circle :)

The core changes:
  • 2280 physics and camera has been rewritten from scratch, with only the ships thrust physics being shared with 2159 for speed consistency.
  • 2280 now has its own set of ship stats which allow for indepth control of how each ship handles in the mode. If ships aren't given unique 2280 stats, 2159 stats will be interpreted like before.
  • 2280 is now a physics mode only. The built in game rule modifiers have been split out and can be toggled for any physics mode.
  • 2280 leaderboards have been added and you can now also set local records with it, as it's no longer considered a cheat.
  • 3d track pads are no longer used. They'll however still be used if present in custom tracks.


[h2]2280 Ships[/h2]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H70c0Hk-VTQ

Created in collaboration with several community members, the majority of ships in the game now have 2280 versions! These are selected by using the new the variant select inputs in the ship selector (bumper buttons on a controller by default).

These are purely cosmetic changes and don't impact stats. They do however have different tilt angles and camera positions then the 2159 versions so both variants of a ship have a different feel whilst still performing exactly the same.

Note: 2280 ships do not enable 2280 physics and can be used in any physics mode.

[h2]2159 Track Compatibility[/h2]
The existing tracks are not designed with 2280 in mind, however we wanted to make sure that you still get a decent experience with them when using 2280. We've combed through every track in the game and updated them with 2280 exclusive physics zones to take out the rough edges when playing in 2280.

These physics zones increase gravity and orientate the ship to the track below them as ships are lighter in 2280 and need some assistance. 2280 tracks will be designed around the lighter aspect of the ships.

[h2]AGL2280[/h2]
AGL2280 is a new DLC sized campaign, introducing you to 2280 in a remix of the base games AGL campaign.

We've included a new tutorial / practice event with it's own guide specifically for 2280 to get you up to speed with how the mode works and the mechanics you'll be using throughout the campaign.

[h2]Gullfoss Run[/h2]

The first of several to come, Gullfoss Run is a track that's playable in all physics modes but designed for 2280 first and foremost. A few people might recognize this tracks layout ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymO62XJxsek

[hr][/hr]
User Interface

[h2]Redesigned Menus[/h2]


Every menu in the game has been redesigned both visually and in layout. Everything is now consistent, cleaner and requires less effort to navigate through.

This is an update that has been long coming for one of the game's weakest areas, and we've incorporated a lot of feedback into these menus to make sure it's easier for everybody to get into the game.

The New Layout
Everything is now vertically laid out. The landing screen, the pause menus, content selection... everything.

Horizontal inputs are now reserved for changing options or switching tabs.

Keyboard / Mouse Interactions
The new menus are controller centric in design, but considerations for desktop use are still in place with new ways to access and enter data in a way that's keyboard and mouse friendly.

Hover a mouse over any option value and you'll see a little blip under the first character to signify you can click it for a keyboard/mouse interaction, such as typing in values for a slider or bringing up a fullscreen list for selectors.

The input glyphs you see at the bottom of the screen can also be clicked on to perform the action that input glyph is for.

You can right click to go back in menus, which the game has always had, but we've made sure it's now in every menu and not randomly omitted for any reason!

[h2]Option Menus[/h2]


The option menus have seen a significant overhaul to better organize their contents and make it much simpler to tweak settings and get out. BallisticNG has a lot of options, so we've also added a search function!

Instead of having two separate back and save buttons, you now just back out of the menu and you'll be prompted to save any changes that you had made. The prompt also gives you an option to review every change that you've made.

It's also useful to know what options do, so the right side of the interface is dedicated to an explanation of what the highlighted setting does. We've spent some time writing detailed explanations and suggestions for each option to help you get the game setup the way you'd like.

[h2]Steam Deck / Big Picture Keyboard Overlays[/h2]

When playing on the Steam Deck or in Big Picture with Steam running and the in-game overlay enabled. the game will now use Steam's keyboard instead of the game's internal keyboard when entering text with a controller.

[h2]Ui Scaling[/h2]
Menus and HUDs can now be scaled! This also includes padding adjustments for the menu and horizontal margin scaling for HUDs, allowing you to fine tune how compact everything is on top of its scale.



[h2]Hud Design Tweaks[/h2]
HUDs have seen some design tweaks to bring them in line with the new menu design and to make some elements less intrusive.

Lists of information (scores, campaign awards, etc) are now styled like tables in the new result screens, giving them a clean look with background which help them stand out against bright scenes.


Name tags and shield energy bars have seen a large update, stripping out all unncessary elements and making them much more compact.


There are of course more changes then this, but these are the two largest and most notable changes. The rest are minor aesthetic tweaks to touch things up.

[h2]Signed Distance Field Text Rendering[/h2]


When updating all UIs and HUDs, we also replaced all text components with Unity's TextMeshPro component, which uses SDF rendering to maintain font sharpness regardless of the resolution.

This works well for 4k, but also helps with text legibility if you're playing at low resolutions as well!

The top half of the image above shows the original text component. The bottom half shows TextMeshPro at the same scale.

[hr][/hr]
Content

[h2]Ship and Track Variants[/h2]

Coinciding with the 2280 ships, it's now possible for ships to have multiple prefabs for more customization of a ship beyond just its liveries. Internally we're using this system for model swaps and cosmetic stat changes with the 2280 ships, but mods can do whatever they like with variants.

Tracks not only have variants, but also additional courses. A track variant is treated as the forward/reverse version of a course, and an additional course allows you to select the route to play. This allows us to significantly tidy up the user interface to make it easier to find and select what you want to play. Like with ships we have our own specific use for this system, but mods are free to do whatever they feel like with this!

Mods work with this system by choosing a track or ship to be the main selection, marking variants as hidden on the menu and then referencing those variants in the main ship / track. if the main ship / track is not available then any content marked as hidden will be shown to make sure you can always access it, making sure there aren't any hard dependency requirements.

[h2]Reworked Reverse Track Pad Layouts & Maglocks[/h2]


Starting with Freyr Falls in the Maceno Island DLC, we had started paying more attention to the layout of track pads on reverse tracks to make sure they're in appropriate places and are fun to hit.

Almost every reverse track in the game and its DLCs have received a pad layout update. Note that the number of speed and weapon pads are the same, we've only moved them around.

We've also updated the pad layout for Thunderhead forward as it was a bit chaotic.

While making these changes, we've also replaced the Atlantica Reverse and Luna Reverse maglifts with maglocks. The maglifts were a solution back before maglock physics were properly implemented and we didn't feel like light bridges fit. These were always a bit janky, but had become much more of a problem with the new 2280. These maglocks make these two sections much more playable.

[h2]More Modular Custom Race / Multiplayer[/h2]


Multiplayer settings have been merged into custom race settings to maintain parity between singleplayer and multiplayer automatically. Anything that you set in custom races can now be set in multiplayer, and the interfaces also remain consistent.

Custom race has seen a handful of settings being added. Some come from the split of 2280 mechanics, others are just cool things that have been requested or we think you'll find fun to mess around with.

Added options:
  • Track Recovery (rescue droid or instant)
  • Shield Recovery Mechanic (none, pitlane, weapon absorb or mixed)
  • Weapon Damage Multiplier
  • Collision Damage Multiplier
  • AI Speed Multiplier
  • Speed Pads Toggle
  • Weapon Pad Disable Time Multiplier
  • Force Weapons Toggle


Changed options:
  • Customize Weapons renamed to Custom Weapon Pool
  • The boost mechanic option now supports none (parity with multiplayer)
  • Difficulty renamed to AI Difficulty


There's now a lot of options and you might have a specific setup that you want to recall at a later date, so:

Presets:
  • Save custom weapon pools as a preset
  • Save every option in the custom race menu as presets (including custom weapon pools)
  • Save tournament track lists as a preset


Additionally, the game now also remembers the tracks you had selected in the previous ran tournament when returning to the tournament menu.

[h2]Improved AI Flare Rendering[/h2]

Ai ship flares have always clipped with ships, which has been mostly okay since the ship designs don't make it completely egregious, but some of the new 2280 ships started to show the cracks in the previous setup.

We've updated the AI flare shader so flares stay on top correctly, and it now provides some additional functionality which has allowed us to setup flares on ships with flame engines too. The AI flare can now also be overridden, which gives custom ship authors some new toys to play with!

[h2]Model B Content Updates[/h2]


We've made some tweaks to the Model B content to further refine it and make it more fun.

  • Dropped the extra laps count on Model B tracks to 5 (from 10)
  • Adjusted Model B stats to make them less twitchy and smoother to handle in the higher speed
    classes
  • Removed the slow acceleration from drag mode. Hitting a wall is no longer a guaranteed loss.


[h2]Gamemode Updates[/h2]

Gamemodes have seen updates in 1.4, from tweaks to complete rewrites to eliminate as many bugs as possible.

All
  • 2280 is no longer a cheat and can now be used to set local records
  • Fixed eliminated and results screen opening when both players are eliminated in splitscreen.
Speed Lap
  • Added explanation of what ending a session does when quitting from the pause menu
  • Fixed typo in gamemode description
Survival
  • Added explanation of what ending a session does when quitting from the pause menu
  • The Survival results screen now respects the selected speed measurement option
  • The elimination sequence can now be skipped
  • Fixed custom ship selections being lost when restarting without selecting new content
  • Fixed total time being counted while the ship is eliminated
  • Fixed start boost not triggering in 2280
Rush Hour
  • Added explanation of what ending a session does when quitting from the pause menu
  • Increased global drain rate by 50% (faster pacing)
  • The drain rate is now logarithmic instead of linear to prevent clumps of eliminations
  • Fixed the mode not ending in splitscreen
  • Fixed typo in gamemode description
Knockout
  • Rewritten from scratch to fix numerous bugs
Stunt
  • Wall collisions no longer break chains
  • Increased combo chain time from 2.5 to 3 seconds
  • 2280 is now disabled
Time Trial
  • Medals are now awarded in custom races depending on the time difference when beating a previous record:
    • Setting first record: gold
    • Beating previous record by half a second: bronze
    • Beating previous record by 1 second: silver
    • Beating previous record by 2 seconds: gold
    • Bating previous record by 4 seconds: platinum
Upsurge
  • Added deploy animation to barriers
  • Added shared deployment cooldown to AI to prevent them from creating large clusters of barriers immediately in lower difficulties
  • Increased minimum speed pad zone charge amount by 100% (faster pacing).
  • Absorbing now only consumes a single zone (allow more granular recovery of health and more strategic use of shields)
  • Updated description to better explain mechanics
  • Fixed start boost not triggering in 2280


[hr][/hr]
Modding

[h2]Category Editor[/h2]
Manually installing mods provides the luxury of using folders to categorize installed content in the menu. If you're using the Steam workshop however, you haven't had this ability... until now.

On the menu, navigate to Modding -> Categories Editor. In this menu you can create categories for ships and tracks separately and then assign any custom content you want into them. Any changes you make will be applied immediately while the game's running.

Content will be moved out of its original category and into any categories that you've assigned it to.

Note that this tool can only be used for custom ships and tracks. The game's internal content can't be re-organised.
[h2]Refresh Content In-Game[/h2]
It's now possible to install mod content while the game's running!

Use the new Modding-> Refresh Content option on the menu to start the refresh. This will unload mod content that have been deleted, load mods that were added and will also handle content being moved between folders.

[h2]Campaign Editor Additions[/h2]
Campaigns, and the campaign editor, have had some additional features added to them:

  • Added support for gamemode configuration overrides
  • Added support for custom weapon pools
  • Added support for forcing AI and Player ship variants
  • Added option to change a campaigns display name
  • Added options to copy and paste campaign events


[h2]Faster custom track loading[/h2]
We've made a few optimizations to track section processing and custom track data conversion that has significantly sped up the loading of custom tracks. A typical custom track should now more or less match the load speed of internal tracks.

In our most extreme test case, a track with over 3000 sections has gone from 30+ seconds of load time to just 7, with most of that time now being Unity rendering the cubemaps for reflection probes along the track

[h2]Ship Lua Scripting[/h2]


The game's Lua implementation has been extended to ships! These enable ship creators to extend their ships functionality beyond what the game provides out of the box by adding new mechanics and physics behaviours.

Like with custom track Lua scripts, these are sandboxed and can only interact with what the game allows them to.

Documentation:

[h2]Ship Extra Renderers[/h2]
BallisticNG is setup to work with a single exterior ship mesh that uses a single material, with airbrakes which act as additional animated meshes but must also share that single material.

Extra Renderers is a new system for ship creators that enables additional meshes with any number of materials to be setup, which can be lit using the ships tile light color and be told which camera views to render in.


[h2]TRKD Files[/h2]
Trkd (Track Data) files are a new addition to custom tracks which allows menu data to be provided with the track.

Trkd files are compiled and placed next to your tracks trk file when building the track from Unity. When present next a TRK file, the game will load everything it needs from the trkd, instead of going through the lengthy caching process.

Trkd's can also be embedded into Wtrk files, and will be automatically added / updated if they're next to the Trk when creating / updating the Wtrk.

[hr][/hr]
Misc

[h2]Photomode Updates[/h2]

Photomode has seen some updates to add new features and fix issues:

  • You now quit photomode using the menu back input and a quit confirmation has been added
  • Added option to display a thirds grid
  • Effects are now automatically toggled based on their settings
  • The FOV can now be set between 1 and 179 degrees
  • Fixed 240p output resolution using the wrong width
  • Fixed CRT effect toggle desyncing when exciting move mode
  • Fixed the FOV being reset when stepping the game



[h2]Improved Input Device Handling[/h2]


Controller Events
The game now reports controller events! Tying into the Input Improvements mentioned below, the following events are now reported to you at the top of the screen:
  • Controller connected
  • Controller disconnected
  • Controller assigned to a player
  • The player navigating the menu has changed


Controller Assignment
Two controllers can now be automatically assigned to players by default. This fixes a conflict issue on the Steam Deck between the built-in controller and any external controllers.

Unassigned controllers will now be automatically assigned to a player when pressing a button on them (this can be disabled in the Input Options menu). Controllers are assigned to the player who currently has menu navigation control.

Finally, splitscreen is now inaccessible until Player Two has a controller assigned. The game will let you pick a controller in the menu before navigating forward, using the same selection interface as the new Input Options menu. If you're working on mods and don't have a controller present, enabling debug mode will bypass this check.

Improved Controller Saves
Controller data is now saved by device ID instead of a hardware ID.

The device ID is a way to uniquely identify a specific controller instead of just bundling everything under the controllers generic hardware ID, which finally allows two controllers of the same type to have unique binds and calibrations saved for them. Note that for Xbox controllers, the XInput player is the unique identifier, so binds and calibrations are stored and recalled in the order that the controllers are plugged in.

[h2]More Camera Customization[/h2]

Every camera view now has its own set of options. This allows you to more greatly fine tune the FOV, camera position, and various other view specific options.

All of the VR cockpit options are now also available outside of VR! Additionally, we've reworked the cockpit view intertia and added a few more customization options.

[hr][/hr]
Changes from 1.4-d69

If you've been playing on the development branch, these are the changes since then:

Ships
  • Fixed 2280 wall bounces being able to trigger at incorrect angles
  • Removed old autopilot pilot behaviour which prevented the player ship from ever being under a track section (fix autopilot on Luna Reverse maglock)
User Interface
  • Updated tips on the welcome screen to reference locations in the new option menus
  • Special text inputs on the onscreen keyboard are no longer triggered when typing on a real keyboard
  • Fixed UI element focus being lost when saving presets in the custom race settings menu
Options
  • HUD Horizontal Margins can now be increased up to 105%
Modding
  • Fixed HUD horizontal margins not working on custom huds
Tracks - Base Game
  • Disabled affine mapping on virtual trees in Arrivon XI
  • Disabled affine mapping on virtual trees in Arrivon Peak
  • Disabled affine mapping on virtual trees in Arrivon Falls
  • Disabled affine mapping on virtual trees in Ribble Raceway
  • Disabled affine mapping on virtual trees in Alice Mountain
  • Disabled affine mapping on virtual trees in Forgotten Coast
  • Disabled affine mapping on virtual trees in Maria Tide
Custom Race
  • Fixed gamemode specific settings not being recalled from disk when switching between gamemodes

BallisticNG 1.4 Release Date

Coming close to a year and a half in the making, 1.4s release on the default branch is rapidly approaching.

As our final major update, 1.4 is focused on reworking 2280, reworking the menus, making a magnitude of QOL changes and implementing long standing community requests. We'll still be working on minor additions, fixing bugs and working on DLCs, but the focus after our support cycle for 1.4 has concluded will be on a new project.

[h3]Without further delay:[/h3]
1.4 will be releasing on May 2nd, 2025


[h3]But also:[/h3]
1.4-d69 is now available

We had planned for our Dev 7 release (d62) to be the final development branch release for 1.4, but we really had an opportunity with this build number and we're taking it.

1.4 is now feature complete so we'll be spending the next 3 weeks on our final round of bug hunting. If you run into any issues or have feedback, please let us know!

[h2]Playing on development builds[/h2]
  • Right click BallisticNG in your steam library and go to Properties
  • Go to the betas tab on the window that opens
  • From the dropdown select development. If the update doesn't automatically queue for download, restart Steam
  • Once you have opened the game, the version at the bottom right of the menu will read 1.4-d69


[h2]Unity Tools Update[/h2]
The Unity Tools package has been updated with this release. If you're making mods, you can view the changelog and download the package update here:
https://github.com/Neognosis-Workflow/BallisticNG-Unity-Tools/releases/tag/1.4


[h2]AGL 2280[/h2]
A common request we've received over the years has been for an official 2280 campaign. With 1.4 being heavily focused on 2280, it wouldn't be right if we didn't have a campaign for it.

AGL 2280 is a DLC sized campaign that covers the base game tracks in 2280 and is setup as a remix of the base game AGL campaign.

We've also added a 2280 practice / tutorial event with it's own pause menu guide, which you can find under the expansions header. With this, we've also updated the guide in the 2159 practice / tutorial event with new videos and a new page that explains wall collisions.

[h2]Categories Editor[/h2]
Manually installing mods provides the luxury of using folders to categorize installed content in the menu. If you're using the Steam workshop however, you haven't had this ability... until now.

On the menu, navigate to Modding -> Categories Editor. In this menu you can create categories for ships and tracks separately and then assign any custom content you want into them. Any changes you make will be applied immediately while the game's running.

Content will be moved out of its original category and into any categories that you've assigned it to.

Note that this tool can only be used for custom ships and tracks. The game's internal content can't be re-organised.

[h2]Horizontal HUD Margin Scaling[/h2]
Game Options -> Interface -> Hud -> HUD Horizontal Margins

This option lets you control the horizontal margins of HUDs to center them more. This is particularly useful ii you're on an ultrawide display.

We've left the range of this option quite large to accommodate even the most super of ultrawide displays. Just note that the game won't stop you from pushing elements in far enough that they start to overlap, and if you really want to push how centered elements are then you will probably also want to turn the HUD scaling down.

This option also works in VR!

[h2]Upsurge Updates[/h2]
The upsurge gamemode has seen QOL improvements.

Barrier deployment now has a charge animation and sound which adds a drop delay and provides a brief window to react to other ships. AI now also has a global deployment cooldown which prevents them from creating large clusters of barriers immediately in the lower difficulties.

Absorbing now only consumes a single accumulated zone, allowing for more strategic use of recovering shield energy and activating shields.

[h2]Reverse Track Pad Layout Revision[/h2]
Starting with Freyr Falls in the Maceno Island DLC, we had started paying more attention to the layout of track pads on reverse tracks to make sure they're in appropriate places and are fun to hit.

Almost every reverse track in the game and its DLCs have received a pad layout update. Note that the number of speed and weapon pads are the same, we've only moved them around.

We've also updated the pad layout for Thunderhead forward as it was a bit chaotic.

[h2]Custom Track Loading Optimizations[/h2]
We've made a few optimizations to track section processing and custom track data conversion that has significantly sped up the loading of custom tracks. A typical custom track should now more or less match the load speed of internal tracks.

In our most extreme test case, a track with over 3000 sections has gone from 30+ seconds of load time to just 7, with most of that time now being Unity rendering the cubemaps for reflection probes along the track

[h2]Full Changelog[/h2]
[h3]Gamemodes - All[/h3]
  • Added ShipsAutoBoostStart configuration setting. When enabled, all ships will automatically boost start.
  • Replaced CanShieldRegen configuration setting with ShieldEnergyRegenRate. Setting this to anything other than zero will drain or replenish all ships shield energy at the provided % rate per second.

[h3]Gamemodes - Upsurge[/h3]
  • Added deploy animation to barriers
  • Added shared deployment cooldown to AI to prevent them from creating large clusters of barriers immediately in lower difficulties
  • Absorbing now only consumes a single zone (allow more granular recovery of health and more strategic use of shields)
  • Updated description to better explain mechanics
  • Fixed start boost not triggering in 2280

[h3]Gamemodes - Survival[/h3]
  • Fixed start boost not triggering in 2280

[h3]Weapons[/h3]
  • Disabled distortion effect on plasma ball to improve visibility at a distance
  • The number of mines left to deploy is now shown below the pickup icon
  • Weapon absorb values are now shown below the pickup icon
  • Fixed the mine deploy timer being reset if the pickup is used while deploying

[h3]Ships[/h3]
  • Added reflection mask to 2280 Barracuda Model S's virtual livery
  • Made small optimizations to engine reflection rendering
  • Reduced NX2000 frontend handling stat from 8 to 3
  • Engine power is now reset to zero after the countdown if a start boost is not performed in 2280
  • The speed pad FOV animation is now triggered when start boosting in 2280
  • Fixed engine reflections not rendering in 2280
  • Fixed hover jerk after the race starts in 2280

[h3]User Interface[/h3]
  • Added back prompts to the ship and track content selectors
  • Added option to change a campaigns display name in the campaign editor
  • Added options to copy and paste campaign events in the campaign editor
  • The custom track loading screen is now updated before scene processing begins
  • The cheats disabled saving list is no longer shown in campaign events (campaigns can change config data which triggers this)
  • The entire span of input glyph elements is now intractable with a mouse
  • A notification is now shown at the top of the pause menu when code mods have disabled leaderboards
  • Fixed the next track counter element in the results screen using the current tracks index instead of the next tracks index
  • Fixed custom precision tracks being added to the track selector

[h3]Integrations[/h3]
  • Leaderboards are now disabled in campaign events if gamemode configuration values are modified

[h3]Sounds[/h3]
  • Added barriercharge.wav

[h3]Options[/h3]
  • Added HUD Horizontal Margins option (Game Options -> Interface -> Hud -> HUD Horizontal Margins). Dropping this below 100% allows you to control how centered the HUD is on the screen. This can also be used in VR!

[h3]Tracks - Base Game[/h3]
  • Updated Cassandra Reverse pad layout
  • Updated Zephyr Ridge Reverse pad layout
  • Updated Surge Reverse pad layout
  • Updated Harpstone Reverse pad layout
  • Updated Aciknovae Reverse pad layout
  • Updated Zephyr Climb Reverse pad layout
  • Updated Nova Split Reverse pad layout
  • Updated Luna Reverse pad layout
  • Updated Dover Reverse pad layout
  • Updated Ishtar Reverse pad layout
  • Updated Omega Harbour Reverse pad layout
  • Updated Utah Project Reverse pad layout
  • Updated Marina Rush Reverse pad layout
  • Updated Atlantica Reverse pad layout
  • Updated Underpass Reverse pad layout
  • Updated Luijazui Park Reverse pad layout
  • Updated Pocono Circuit Reverse pad layout
  • Updated Arrivon Falls Reverse pad layout
  • Updated Meads Pass Reverse pad layout
  • Updated Pacheon Reverse pad layout
  • Replaced mag lift on Luna Reverse with a maglock
  • Replaced mag lift on Atlantica Reverse with a maglock
  • Fixed push zone on Luna Forward jump pushing the ship slightly sideways

[h3]Tracks - Free Tracks[/h3]
  • Added intro lines to Basis Divide
  • Added intro lines to Gullfoss Run
  • Updated Yala Outpost Reverse pad layout
  • Updated Utah Dam Reverse pad layout
  • Updated Nova Park Reverse pad layout

[h3]Tracks - Neon Nights[/h3]
  • Updated Vega Square Reverse pad layout
  • Updated Route 05 Reverse pad layout
  • Updated Thunderhead & Thunderhead Reverse pad layouts
  • Updated Basin Reverse pad layout
  • Updated Metro Reverse pad layout

[h3]Tracks - Outer Reaches[/h3]
  • Updated Caldera Reverse pad layout
  • Updated Project 9 Reverse pad layout
  • Updated Haze Reverse pad layout
  • Updated Helios Ascent pad layout
  • Updated Port Ares Reverse pad layout
  • Updated Kuiper Overturn Reverse pad layout

[h3]Tracks - Maceno Island[/h3]
  • Updated Maceno Bay Reverse pad layout
  • Updated Therma Fumos Reverse pad layout
  • Updated Maceno Interchange Reverse pad layout

[h3]Campaign[/h3]
  • Added AGL 2280 campaign
  • Added 2280 practice / tutorial event under the expansions header. This contains a separate sandbox and guide to cover mechanics in the AGL 2280 campaign
  • Added page for wall collisions in practice mode guide
  • Updated all practice guide videos

[h3]Engine[/h3]
  • Hidden custom content is now shown when not referenced to as a variant or additional course (no hard dependencies)
  • Optimized track dimension discovery and made it more accurate
  • Optimized the conversion of track tile and section data when loading custom tracks
  • Empty track data is now pre-cached and loaded as part of UGC load/refresh for use when loading custom tracks, significantly decreasing custom track load time
  • Fixed track dimension discovery being less accurate through twisting track sections
  • Fixed custom track loading errors not displaying the error in the console and then returning to the menu
  • Fixed the additional laps option not being reset when launching a track through the online leaderboards menu

[h3]Commands[/h3]
  • Fixed debug_drawsections drawing section dimensions incorrectly

[h3]Modding[/h3]
  • Added category editor (Modding -> Categories Editor on the menu). This allows you to remap custom content into new categories on the fly, and is intended for use with workshop downloads.

[h3]Multiplayer[/h3]
  • The names of tracks that aren't installed are now shown in the lobby track preview
  • Fixed the tracks not installed message being sent whenever a client returns to the lobby menu from the options menu
  • Fixed the config change flash animation playing if the config tab is open when returning to the lobby menu from the options menu. It will now only flash if the server changed settings while you were in the options menu.

[h3]Music[/h3]
  • Added Vonsnake - Strike Swiftly

1.4 Dev 7 Now Available

It's been more then a year since we started work on 1.4. To allow us to focus on releasing the most important aspects of the update, we're splitting out a few planned features into smaller releases that'll come after 1.4. Dev 7 is the final development build for 1.4 and our next announcement will be a release date!

Check out our roadmap for more details on what we'll be working on between now and 1.4s release, and throughout 1.4s support cycle (1.4.1 and 1.4.2).

[h2]Playing on development builds[/h2]
  • Right click BallisticNG in your steam library and go to Properties
  • Go to the betas tab on the window that opens
  • From the dropdown select development. If the update doesn't automatically queue for download, restart Steam
  • Once you have opened the game, the version at the bottom right of the menu will read 1.4-d62


Overview

[h3]Gullfoss Run[/h3]
Gullfoss Run is the first of three 2280 tracks coming to the game. Although it's designed for 2280, you can also play it in 2159 and floorhugger!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymO62XJxsek

[h3]2280 Leaderboards & Leaderboard Reset[/h3]
Leaderboards are now available for 2280! The physics mode is also no longer considered a cheat, so you can now also set local 2280 records.

We've also updated the API naming scheme for leaderboards, resetting them from 1.4-d62 onwards. As Steam has a limit to how many leaderboards we can have, we'll be removing leaderboards for 1.3 and versions before it once 1.4 has released.

As we had mentioned with the release of a previous development build, we've moved the NX2000 into the high-end ships category so the standard category has a much more balanced range of ships. As 1.4 is our last major update, we've decided this is the right time to clear out scores and start fresh.

[h3]Rich Presence[/h3]
We previously had support for DIscord rich presence, and we've now extended it to Steam and GOG Galaxy! We've also made some improvements to rich presence by allowing it to display the ship variant you're using, present campaign event information and let others know when you're in a lobby.

Steam and GOG Galaxy rich presence is enabled by default and can be disabled in the options menu (Game Options > General > Integrations) if you'd like to keep your in-game activity private.

Changelog

[h3]Gamemodes[/h3]
  • 2280 is no longer a cheat and can now be used to set local records

[h3]Integrations[/h3]
  • Added 2280 leaderboards
  • Added support for Steam and GOG Galaxy rich presence (enabled by default)
  • Rich presence now shows the ship variant being used, campaign events being played and when you're in a multiplayer lobby
  • Reset leaderboards for 1.4-d62 onwards. Older builds will have their leaderboards removed when 1.4 releases to ensure there's plenty of space available on Steams backend.
  • Fixed Discord rich presence not reporting menu activity

[h3]User Interface[/h3]
  • Settings that have disabled saving are now shown on the pause menu instead of logged to the console
  • Merged 2159 and floorhugger records into a single physics mode option in the local records menu (not possible to set records for both so this improves UX)
  • Fixed custom ships using the .ship and .shp file formats not being selectable when the selector is in a utility context (AI presets, ship viewer)
  • Input actions being presented with button glyphs no longer trigger while the debug console is open

[h3]Tracks[/h3]
  • Added Gullfoss Run (2280 category)

[h3]Engine[/h3]
  • Fixed Practice Makes Perfect achievement triggering a lap early

[h3]Campaign[/h3]
  • Fixed Speed Freak - Luna Survival allowing a ship selection
  • Fixed Aftermath - Relay Novice Race having weapons enabled

[h3]Options[/h3]
  • Added options to toggle Steam and GOG Galaxy rich presence (Game Options > General > Integrations). These options only show when the relevant client is running.

[h3]Commands[/h3]
  • Added gm_setconfig. When in debug mode and in-game, this allows you to manually adjust configuration data for the active gamemode.