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Flashing Lights News

Update Out Now - Bug Fixes and Optimisation

Hello all,

We've just launched an update which fixes a handful of bugs and continues to improve multiplayer optimisation. This is part of our continued efforts to improve the core game quality and experience. As always, your feedback and bug reports are very helpful, so keep them coming!

Patch Notes


Fixes
- Multiplayer optimizations
- NPC speeding vehicles increased and fixed sandbox menu speeding option
- For some save configurations random vehicles could get stuck loading
- Tow truck stuck in vehicle menu
- Ban data adjustments for additional filter
- Microphone selection added to Audio Settings menu in game
- When using the vehicle menu, the player vehicle will now spawn at the nearest supported station

What's Next?




Late 2023
Mission Editor
Bug fixes and improvements

Early 2024
K9 for Police and Fire Departments
AI Backup

We look forward to continuing to enhance Flashing Lights and add new content and hope you're looking forward to it too! Thanks for your continued support!

The Flashing Lights Team

Bug Fix Update Arrives Next Week!

Hello all,

We wanted to offer you a quick update and let you know that we'll be launching a bug fix and optimisation update next week! This is part of our continued efforts to enhance the core game quality. Thanks as always for all of your feedback and bug reports.



Unstable Version


While the final version of the patch won't be ready until next week, we do have an unstable version live now that you can play if you want to jump in and offer any feedback.

Please join the Discord and read the latest announcement for info on how to access the unstable branch!

Fixes - Build 270923-2 [UNSTABLE]
- Multiplayer optimizations
- NPC speeding vehicles increased and fixed sandbox menu speeding option
- For some save configurations random vehicles could get stuck loading
- Tow truck stuck in vehicle menu
- Ban data adjustments for additional filter
- Microphone selection added to Audio Settings menu in game
- When using the vehicle menu, the player vehicle will spawn at the nearest supported station

UPDATE NOW LIVE | Optimisation and Bug Fix Update + Updated Roadmap

Hey all,

We have just pushed our latest update, featuring bug fixes, improvements and optimisation to the public branch. Thanks to everyone who helped test the update and offered feedback!

This update, now available for all players, focuses on improving the multiplayer experience. We have seen improvements in frame rate in multiplayer, especially in lobbies with larger player counts and especially for mid to high end PCs.

This update is part of a continued focus on improving the core game experience, and we welcome your ongoing feedback and bug reports. Do let us know how you get on with the update!

Full Patch Notes


Fixes
- Multiplayer player character, vehicle and NPC position and rotation optimizations
- Multiplayer client vehicles optimized
- Multiplayer player vehicles and characters could be randomly controlled by wrong clients
- Infinite loading at menus
- Name change in multiplayer fixed
- Corrupt save files giving unexpected results or freezing the game
- Added auto-backup for save "Stats" files, if save file gets corrupted game will check backup
- Sandbox mode "Host Only" updated to allow clients to use the menu to accept civilian invite
- Other player vehicle doors could be open while closed on their screen
- Other player vehicle wheels merging up in car body
- Various optimizations for singleplayer
- Anisotropic level adjustments for all textures to improve texture quality, especially for different view angles
- Removed radio chatter for pickup trucks except the police
- Leaving a game could hangup if the player pressed Yes/No multiple times

Updated Roadmap


We're happy to announce our updated post-launch content roadmap. Take a look:



September 2023
Bug fixes and improvements

Late 2023
Mission Editor
Bug fixes and improvements

Early 2024
K9 for Police and Fire Departments
AI Backup

That's all for now! We hope you enjoy today's update.

Thanks,
The Flashing Lights Team

Optimisation and Bug Fix Update Now Available for Community Testing

Hello all,

Nils has been hard at work improving optimisation and performance (especially in multiplayer) and fixing bugs. The update is now available on the unstable branch, and we want as many of you as possible to play it and let us know how you get on!

With this update we have seen improvements in frame rate in multiplayer, especially in lobbies with larger player counts and especially for mid to high end PCs. Please do jump in and play the new update and let us know how your performance is! As always, we will be reading all of your comments on this announcement, on the Steam forums, our Discord, social media etc.

How to access the unstable branch and play the new update:
- Load up Steam and head to your library
- Right click on Flashing Lights and then select "Properties"
- Head to the Beta tab and in the drop down select "unstable_test_branch" (no password needed)
- This will then download the new update for you



Full Patch Notes


Fixes
- Multiplayer player character, vehicle and NPC position and rotation optimizations
- Multiplayer client vehicles optimized
- Other player vehicle doors could be open while closed on their screen
- Other player vehicle wheels merging up in car body
- Various optimizations for single player
- Anisotropic level adjustments for all textures to improve texture quality, specially for different view angles
- Removed radio chatter for pickup trucks except the police

What's Next?

While adding new content is of course important, it's vital that we continue to improve the quality of the game as is. With this in mind, we have put all content updates on hold temporarily. We will be getting feedback from you on today's optimisation and bug fixing update and continuing to work on improving the game for the coming weeks.

We are still fully committed to adding the new content which was previously announced (Mission editor, K9 for police and rescue and NPC backup for singleplayer), it'll just be at a later date. Watch out for news soon on an updated roadmap where we'll let you know when we expect these updates to be released!

Thanks,
The Flashing Lights Team

Steam Achievements Now Live!

Hello all,

We are excited to announce that Steam achievements are now live for Flashing Lights! Jump back into the game to take on 69 achievements, designed to encourage you to explore many aspects of the experience.

We have four reputation-point-based achievements for each department, rewarding you for protecting the city.



Other achievements are a little more unusual, such as Window Smasher and Door Breaker. The achievement tracking will allow you to see your progress towards unlock as you go, for instance telling you how many windows you have smashed.



And of course we couldn't resist having a bit of fun with some puns and references...



You can see the full list of achievements here.

We hope you enjoy achievement hunting as much as we enjoyed coming up with them!

Now, we're focusing on further bug fixes and game improvements. Watch out for news!

Full Patch Notes


New
- Steam Achievements

Fixes
- Startup getting stuck on "Loading Languages"
- Player name change input for Singleplayer
- Fixed an issue with player tow truck not being able to tow NPC traffic cars
- F600 trunk interaction tag adjusted - the trunk was not reachable when standing on sidewalks
- Optimized props spawner for street signs, fuse and mail boxes etc.
- Chat censoring adjusted
- Steamworks .net updated to v20.2.0

Thanks,
The Flashing Lights Team