BallisticNG News

We're excited to announce that BallisticNG's 2nd expansion is now in development!

With G-Tek's latest improvements to AG technology, the AGL is now geared up to take the races to the solar system and let the most daring of pilots race in the harshest conditions the sport has seen yet.

Outer Reaches will be available for $2.99 or your regional equivalent. As with Neon Nights there isn't a release target at this time and we'll be releasing it when it's ready.


We're going to be revealing the tracks as they come. We've got 6 in the lineup and are showing you one of them today! Each track in Outer Reaches will bring a twist to ship handling, ranging from a bit more gravity to... well, it's a secret for now ;)

Like with Neon Nights there will also be a new set of liveries and a campaign included! All 6 tracks will be playable in both forward and reverse.

Caldera
Location: Mars

The plans to make mars habitable are well underway with the martian habitat project. This giant biodome offers a breathable living space and sets the standard for the first generation of extraterrestrial colonization.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geZVw0Oj7LI

We've just released 1.1.5!

With this update we bring you Steam multiplayer, the C.Y.G.O.N Tempest from GRIP and brand new engine customization options for custom ships!


Steam multiplayer has been long coming and with recent changes to our multiplayer backend it's now been possible. You'll find two new options in the online menu for hosting and joining games via Steam. Support for public, friends only and private (invite only) lobbies are implemented, which of course also means Steam friend invites and a lobby browser!

For those who might be concerned, this does not replace Direct IP and is only an alternative option to it. If you run the game without Steam you'll only have the option to host and join via Direct IP available.

Notes

• The game still uses peer to peer when using Steam networking, making whoever starts the lobby the host of the game. When this person quits, the lobby will be closed and you'll be booted back to the menu
  
• Because the game has to relay data through Steam, increased network lag in comparison to direct IP should be expected
  

With great help of community member Kabelsalat and in collaboration with GRIP we are excited to bring you the C.Y.G.O.N Tempest to BNG! We had shown you screenshots on Monday's announcement, so here's some gameplay:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lgftpzj-Y_U

If you haven't already, be sure to check out the BallisticNG skin community member Meg.A.Byte made for GRIP's Mirage!


With the latest version of the Unity Tools we have added in a lot of options that you can now play about with to customize your ships engine effects. For more details on this see the changelog below.

We've also changed how custom tracks are loaded so settings from the custom track scenes are now retained. This allows track creators to now make use of Unity's baked occlusion culling!

Engine

• Missing types in assemblies can now be handled, allowing code mods that are dependant on other code mods to be loaded and used
  
• Added the option to turn off environment reflections
  
• The default floor hugger camera view and field of view are now their own options
  
• Custom tracks are now loaded as the main scene. This allows custom track creators to now make use of specific Unity features like baked occlusion culling.
  
• Custom tracks are now loaded asynchronously and report the loading progress.
  

User Interface

• The kick menu navigation is now manually assigned when the UI is generated, preventing you from selecting other UI elements outside of it while it's open
  
• Fixed not having any sound packs installed softlocking the audio options menu when attempting to save settings
  

Multiplayer

• Implemented Steamworks networking
  
• [Config] is now shown next to players in the lobby that are selecting ships or in the options menu.
  
• The lobby menu now only reloads ships for players that have changed instead of reloading every ship.
  
• Fixed various soft locks caused by the ship selection overlay and options menu
  
• The lobby countdown is now cancelled when leaving a lobby
  
• Collisions are now disabled by default
  
• The donator liveries now display for people who don't have them
  

Weapons

• Remade the autopilot disengage from scratch. The autopilot will now continue to run and fade out the AI steering, giving you time to gradually adjust steering as it hands control back over to you.
  

Ships

• Added the C.Y.G.O.N Tempest
  
• Updated all drag ships with new engine effects
  
• Added 2 internal custom ship modules (these can be assigned using the Custom Ship Module setting in custom ships):
  
  • INTERNAL_DRAG
    
    • Manages the engine colors (orange when no power, white when at max power, blue when boosting). This is designed for use with a pre-colored texture such as the Tempest flame texture
      
    • Manages mini turbo exhausts for any engine with a reference name of turbo
  • INTERNAL_TEMPEST
    
    • Same as INTERNAL_DRAG but plays the new flameboost sound when hitting speed pads in 2159/floor hugger
      

Unity Tools

• Added the assets used for the Tempest engines (BallisticNGTools/BallisticNG Assets/Ships/Default Effects)
• Added engine sounds for the Tempest and Barracuda Model 0 (BallisticNGTools/BallisticNG Assets/Ships/Default Engine Sounds)
• Added new engine customization options (see the wiki linked below for more details):
  
  • Reference Name
    
  • Always Use Player Trail
    
  • Ai Trail Width Curve
    
  • Use Engine Colors
    
  • Afterburner Boosts Intensity
    
  • Turbo Boosts Itensity
    
  • Pads Boost Intensity
    
  • Flare and Trail Alpha Ranges
    
  • Scale Fluttering (with engine power amount of speed curves)
    
  • Scale with speed
    
  • Scale with engine power
    
  • UV Scroll Speeds
    

More details at: https://ballisticng.gamepedia.com/Import_Ship_Tutorial#engines_setup

BallisticNG 1.1.5 is coming this Friday on the 20th!

In 1.1.5 we're introducing three new major additions:

The option to host and join games through Steam is being added! The options will be available alongside the Direct IP hosting and joining a game through Steam is done through a lobby browser. Steam invites are also implemented so you can invite your friends or have them join you at the click of a button.

On top of these updates we also have various improvements coming!


In collaboration with GRIP we've added the airblade version of the C.Y.G.O.N Tempest! The Tempest is a combat orientated ship with a lot of firepower, good shielding and high acceleration. A little while back GRIP also added a BallisticNG skin to the Mirage, so be sure to check that out if you haven't!










To support the Tempest the backend for the ship engine effects has been rewritten from scratch and designed to allow a lot of customization. Ship creators will have control over existing effects and brand new settings, some of which include:

• Addition of two internal custom ship modules (more information on these will be available on Friday)
  
• Setting whether the players trail is always used
  
• Controlling the width of AI trails
  
• Controlling what boosts the engine colors intensity
  
• Various settings for controlling the scale of trails
  
• Controlling UV scrolling for trails
  

1.1.4 focuses on introducing new mechanics for modders and implements our own frame limiter to work around how imprecise Unity's internal one is.

Soundtrack

• Added Vonsnake - Challenge Every Extreme
  

Engine

• Replaced Unity's frame limiter with a our own to eliminate micro stuttering caused by Unity's
  
• Added no tilt lock flag to sections (see below for more details)
  
• Fixed weather vortex particles not emitting
  
• Section data can now be interpolated which allows for smoother rotations when ships are airbourne
  
• Implemented physics modification zones (see below for more details)
  

Gamemodes

• Fixed invalidated speed laps still being eligible for leaderboard uploads
  

VR

• Moved the main menu further away to a more comfortable viewing distance
  

Multiplayer

• Fixed client lobby's not refreshing when a peer disconnects
  
• Fixed the spawn rotation being tilted with the track in 2159
  
• Fixed the server not sending weapon pad deactivation triggers to clients
  

Weapons

• Potentially fixed steering exploding occasionally when the autopilot disengages. This has been a tough one to find the exact cause for and in our testing the issue hasn't returned yet.
  

User Interfaces

• Fixed the tournament eliminated screen not showing platinum medals when they're awarded in campaign events
  

Ships

• Fixed 2280 sideshifts being reversed when using mirror mode
  
• Revamped how the track chase/2159 rear chase track height offset is calculated to improve how it reacts on maglocks, in floor hugger and to improve it's feel on jumps
  

Tracks

• The water caustic animations on Hydrome Bed are no longer framerate dependant
  

Layout Creator 2.0

• Added a toggle for no tilt lock (press o to toggle)
  
• Added a toggle for allow out of bounds (press / to toggle)
  
• Added a toggle for the track floor. This allows you to disable it for use with zero gravity with no track floor.
  
• Added a physics mod zone editor
  
• Added an option to export physics mod zones to an XML
  
• The open file dialogue window can now open physics mod zone XML files
  

Unity Tools

• Added survival ignores track option to the scene references object. This currently does not do anything and is just a preemptive implementation for later.
  
• Added Europa's tile set to the tiles folder and tile database
  
• Added the Europa terrain shader [BallisticNG/Terrain/Terrain (4 Blend)]
  
• Added physics modification zones. These can be added from the add component menu [ BallisticNG -> Triggers -> Physics Mod Zone ] or imported from an XML using [ BallisticNG -> Track Configuration -> Import Mod Zones From XML]
  
• Added no tilt lock section flags. The option can be found in the track editor's section metadata tab.
  
• Added select all sections button under the metadata tab
  
• Added a vertex editing mode to the TRM editor
  
• Section metadata changes are now undoable
  
• Tweaked the track editor section rendering:
  
  • Selected and highlighted sections now have a slightly larger and solid position cube
    
  • Tile overlays are now drawn for every selected section
    
  • Section tag labels are now much easier to see and scale/fade over distances.
    
  • Section tag labels are now drawn for the following:
    
    • Rotation multiplier when it's not set to 1
      
    • No tilt lock flag
      
    • Junction and pitlane entrances
      
  • Route start, route end and junction labels now display section indicies. Start/end show their end, junctions show the route start section index
    

Physics Modification Zones
Physics modification zones are a new modding feature that allow you to manipulate the physics of any ship inside of them. These support:

• Changing gravity or disabling it with the zero gravity mode
  
• Zero gravity mode which completely removes gravity and disables some other ship behaviours that react to gravity
  
• Control over grip and drag
  
• Track spring mode, a highly configurable spring mechanic that is designed to be used in conjunction with zero gravity mode
  

In this update we've made some tweaks to vanilla campaign time trial targets and made some improvements to the layout creator.

Vanilla Campaign

• The separation between bronze, silver and gold medals has been increased to 6 seconds from 4 seconds. This means silver medals are now awarded for being 6 seconds slower then gold and bronze medals are awarded for being 12 seconds slower.
  
  We hope this helps with some of the difficulty problems people have been reporting. We'll be keeping an eye on the threads to continue making any tweaks to these times if needed.
  

Layout Creator 2.0

• Added the reference image plane feature from the legacy creator. You can find more information about this feature on the wiki:
  https://ballisticng.gamepedia.com/Layout_Creator_2.0#Reference_Image_Plane
  
• Added tangent pitching (Ctrl + F)
  
• Added UI controls for manipulating tangents in the node tools window
  
• The speed class and physics mode options are now remembered when loading a CTL file