Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop News

An update to Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop has been released. The update will be applied automatically when you restart Steam. The major changes include:

• Difficulty no longer increases for 5+ marines. Thanks to everyone who left their feedback regarding this feature.
  
• Voice mute buttons. Players are now able to mute separate players using the Player List window(F9)
  
• To improve user experience when browsing for public games players with in-game level below 30 and no promotions will not see games with a challenge enabled or difficulty harder than Hard.
  
• [Modding]VScript access to info_node positions, new cvars
  
• Miscellaneous fixes
  

• Added rm_prespawn_num_biomass cvar. It can be used in user challenges to randomly create biomass around a map. Requires rd_prespawn_scale to be set to 1 or higher.
  
• Updated description of rm_prespawn_num_* cvars
  
• Set rd_increase_difficulty_by_number_of_marines to be 0 by default. Game difficulty will not be increased for 5+ players
  
• Add mute button to player list window(F9). Thanks to element109 for the initial pull request.
  
• Added VScript Functions to Get info_node Data.
  
  • InfoNodes.GetNumNodes() //Returns the amount of info_nodes in the network array
    
  • InfoNodes.GetNodeOrigin( int nodeID ) //Returns the origin of the node
    
  • InfoNodes.GetNodePosition( int nodeID, int hull ) //Returns the hull specific origin of the node
    
  • InfoNodes.GetNodeType( int nodeID ) //Returns the type of node
    
• Add rd_drone_uber_knockdown cvar. Set to 1 to make uber drones knock down marines like shieldbugs do. Also added related cvars rd_drone_uber_knockdown_force and rd_drone_uber_knockdown_lift
  
• Make asw_trigger_fall, trigger_hurt and env_laser kill marines even if reviving is enabled
  
• Display number of incapacitations in player list window. If reviving is enabled F9 window(player list) will now display the number of times marine was incapacitated during current mission.
  
• Fix marine is deleted after asw_suicide. This bugged out challenges with reviving enabled
  
• Grey out difficulties above Hard and challenges for players below 30 level in Find Public Games window
  
• Disable blinking light on area9800PP1 map to improve frame rate
  
• Fix help hint is displayed permanently during bonus mission 1
  
• Fix aliens getting stuck in huge yellow door on lan3_maintenance
  
• Fix alien getting stuck inside wall on LandingBay_01
  
• Fix uber drones getting stuck in door frames and windows
  
• Add rd_auto_kick_low_level_player. Server auto kick players below level 30 from challenges which have this cvar set to 1. This cvar is meant for players who use dedicated server browser to join games, since Public Games window already restricts filters to max Hard difficulty and challenge being disabled
  

This update brings support for rich presence in both Steam and Discord.

If you participate in Steam Beta you will now see more information in your Friend List window. What map is your friend playing, difficulty, number of slots taken and number of maximum slots available on server, as well as the active Challenge name.



Discord users will see similar information.



Also in Discord players are able to post invites in chats to invite players to join their lobby. As well as using the "Ask to Join" button when clicking on player's nickname.



Feel free to join our Discord community to chat and invite people to play with you.

If you are working on a map you may want to check out the community Source Engine Discord server to gather feedback, share screenshots or invite for playtests. Feel free to share your favorite Discord servers in comments section.

Another major change is we've fixed a bug reported by NoName which was causing game difficulty to become lower after a mission restart. Now mission restart will not lower difficulty. 8-player games on Brutal will become harder. 4-player games are slightly affected too. As this issue was present since Alien Swarm's release we want to hear your feedback to decide whether we keep the change or revert it to how it was before. Please use this discussion to leave your feedback on this issue or create a new discussion if necessary.

• Added rich presence for Steam and Discord. You need to have Steam Beta installed to see the new features in your friend list window. If you have Discord desktop app installed RD will send an extended status in it. You can also invite people to your lobby using Discord.
  
• Added soundscripts required for bonus_mission2 map(thanks to Rock N Roll)
  
• Fixed medic rifle has infinite heals with rd_infinite_ammo(thanks to element109)
  
• Disabled blinking light at til1MidnightPort. Blinking light at map start was causing frame time fluctuations. Looks like lights with changed appearance are causing frame-time to increase which makes next frame time to be decreased. Such fluctuations in frame-time cause monitor to display the same frame during two monitor refreshes. This results in reduced actual framerate even if game's reported framerate is 60
  
• Added rd_suggest_difficulty cvar. If set to 0, game will not show a message suggesting player to change their difficulty(thanks to element109).
  
• Added rd_hud_minimap_drawing convar. If set to 0 the player cannot draw on the mini-map and does not receive other's drawings. This does not affect other players ability to draw and receive drawings(thanks to element109).
  
• Fixed asw_spawner Skill Level. Brutal and Insane are no longer treated as the same Skill Level.
  
• Fixed alien health is being lowered after mission restart. Difficulty modifier was not properly updating, affecting aliens' health(lowering it). Thus asw_adjust_difficulty_by_number_of_marines and rd_increase_difficulty_by_number_of_marines cvars didn't properly work.
  

Rich Presence is now in the beta branch of Reactive Drop. On the Steam client beta and Discord, more information about the map you are playing will be shown to your friends.

This update addresses the issue with player's in-game level and promotion being invisible to other players, adds several bug fixes and improvements.

• Add rd_controller_radius_adjust client convar. Convar to adjust the cursor radius when using a controller
  
• Add subtitles for Wildcat grenade chatter
  
• Fix inability to see level and promotion of players with private profiles
  
• Prevent deathcam if last marine dies
  
• Disable Steam_OnUserStatsReceived spam in console. It will only be printed if developer 1 is specified
  
• Add the requirement of rd_workshop_allow_item_creation 1 before creating a workshop item. This can save workshop from hundreds of new and empty items created every day.
  
• Fix horde sound, it is now played from swarm subfolder
  
• Fig Grenade Launchers damage for PvP game modes
  
• Remove FCVAR_NOTIFY from asw_marine_gravity cvar
  

Today marks the 1 year anniversary of Reactive Drop's release! Along with that comes an update. We've added a few new weapons, a new seventh promotion and bug fixes for you all to enjoy.

Special thanks to Sk1p for creating brand new models for Heavy Rifle and Medical SMG as well as GUI icons for them.

• Add asw_weapon_gas_grenades
  
• Add asw_weapon_heavy_rifle
  
• Add asw_weapon_medrifle
  
• Add 7th promotion
  
• Increase level cap to 34 to accomodate the 3 new weapons
  
• Fix bots getting stuck in sentries
  
• Fix alien_selection SizeScale for asw_drone_uber
  
• Add couple CHATTER_GRENADE lines for Wildcat
  
• Add new VScript functions
  
  • CBaseEntity
    
    • GetLocalOrigin() //Returns the Entity position in the world relative to the parent as a vector
      
    • SetLocalOrigin( Vector position ) //Moves the entity to this global position vector relative to the parent
      
  • CASW_Alien & CASW_Buzzer
    
    • ElectroStun( float duration ) //Stuns the alien
      
    • Freeze( float freezeTime ) //Freezes the alien
      
  • Global
    
    • DropFragGrenade( float damage, float radius, Vector position ) //Drops a frag grenade
      
    • DropGasGrenade( float damage, float dmgInterval, float duration, float fuse, Vector position ) //Drops a gas grenade
      
    • DropIncendiaryGrenade( float damage, float radius, Vector position ) //Drops an incendiary grenade
      
    • DropStunGrenade( float damage, float radius, Vector position ) //Drops a stun grenade
      
  • GameEvents
    
    • weapon_fire //Event fires when a marine fires a weapon
      
    • weapon_offhand_activate //Event fires when a marine activates offhand item
      
• Fix missing Cvar dedicated server warning - Fixes the "ConVarRef rd_weapons_regular_class_unrestricted doesn't point to an existing ConVar" warning for dedicated servers.