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The Riftbreaker News

Hotfix, December 14th, 2022

Hello Riftbreakers!

We have just released a small patch addressing some of the issues that you have reported with the latest update. Thank you for pointing out the issues and providing us with valuable feedback. The changelog today is not that long, so let’s get right to it.

[h2]The Riftbreaker Hotfix Changelog, December 14th, 2022. EXE: 646 DATA: 271[/h2]
  • Gamepad icons should now change properly according to the hardware you have plugged into your PC.
  • Fixed the look of some debris particles that appeared black on one side.
  • Fixed a crash that occurred if the MinimapSystem failed to initialize on time
  • Fixed a crash that could prevent players from loading into other maps they visited before in Campaign Mode.
  • Fixed a crash in PipesSystem.


EXOR Studios

Mod.io and Survival Improvements update!

Hello Riftbreakers!

After a period of intense testing on the experimental branch, the latest update for the Riftbreaker is now live!

This update is very important for modders, as it adds support for Mod.io - a 3rd party mod hosting service. Mod.io is integrated in the same way as Steam Workshop - you can access it in-game through the Mods menu. Once Mod.io is populated with user-generated content you will start seeing mods from that site on the available mods list. The Riftbreaker World Editor Suite is getting an update that will allow mod creators to upload their mods to both Steam and Mod.io.

Adding mod.io support is an important step, as it will allow non-Steam users to participate in the modding scene. We strongly encourage you to experiment with this platform and upload your mods there. All feedback when it comes to this integration is crucial to us.

The changes that are likely to have the most significant impact on your gameplay experience are the additional hard and brutal difficulty waves that were added to the Desert, Acid, and Magma biomes in Survival Mode. The two higher difficulty modes for these biomes were not quite on par with Jungle and Metallic Valley regarding the power level. With the addition of the new waves, all biomes should now be challenging on the hard difficulty and really demanding on brutal.

This patch also fixes several crash bugs and other errors that you pointed us toward in your reports. Thank you for that.

[h2]The Riftbreaker Update, December 13th 2022. EXE: 644, DATA: 269. Changelog:[/h2]
[h3]Changes[/h3]
  • Mod.io modding integration added. This service allows you to upload and install mods using the mod.io website and through the in-game interface in the Mods menu. This service is implemented in a similar way as Steam Workshop. This will enable users from platforms other than Steam to access mods.
  • HBAO improvements incoming! Our old SSAO was running at 720p res, which didn't yield great results. The new HBAO utilizes adaptive resolution (and a few tweaks), resulting in a much greater quality-to-performance ratio. If you don't use raytracing, you should see a noticeable difference in the ambient occlusion quality after this patch.
  • New Hard and Brutal difficulty balancing in Survival Mode on the Acidic Plains, Radioactive Desert, and Volcanic Area biomes. They are much more difficult now. You have been warned! (Feedback will be much appreciated)
  • Added Acidic Plains biome alpha and ultra attack waves for survival mode.
  • Added Radioactive Desert biome alpha and ultra attack waves for survival mode.
  • Added Volcanic Area survival mode alpha and ultra waves.
  • Enabled difficulty-specific final attack waves in the survival game mode in the Acid, Magma, and Desert biomes.
  • Enabled difficulty-specific regular attack waves in the survival game mode in the Acid, Magma, and Desert biomes.
  • Added wave spawn markers in multiple desert biome attack waves, which were previously missing.
  • Added some acid biome attack wave spawn markers, which were previously missing.
  • Added additional safe mode localization strings.
  • Reduced sound volume for some buildings in 'working' state.
  • Added a popup informing players about the modding feature's Terms of Service.
  • Enabled wave spawn markers in all jungle biome attack waves.
  • Added IsHardcoreModeEnabled() for modding purposes.
  • Text search in the mods menu is will now work with partial inputs, e.g. typing in 'rocks' will make the 'Destructible Rocks' mod show up. The end results still depend on the Steam Workshop/Mod.io backend, so your mileage may vary.


[h3]Fixes[/h3]
  • Fixed a crash that occurred when performing a Power Jump skill.
  • Removed unnecessary button from the Tower Ammo Factory action menu.
  • Fixed a crash that occurred when building the Planetary Scanner before researching it (through cheats).
  • Mini Miners no longer keep working indefinitely after leaving them behind on an Outpost.
  • Fixed a missing header on the Sentry Turret entity.
  • Prevent building overlap by making sure that the grid culler nodes are populated after building spawn.
  • Research Screen: fixed a research tooltip when the subspecies field is empty.
  • Buildings should now connect to pipes in a proper way.
  • Safe Mode now ignores any startup commands and launches the game in an intended way, with the safest values possible.
  • Fixed random crashes that occurred during loading
  • Increased the limit of world entities from 300.000 to 1.000.000.
  • Fixed a crash in the InventorySystem.
  • Fixed Day Only/Night Only time of day modes in Custom Difficulties.
  • Fixed the appearance of the seasonal event popup.
  • Fixed a crash when stereo files were used for spatial sound on multichannel (e.g., 5.1/7.1) systems.
  • Fixed FSR 2.1 ghosting effect on DirectX 11.
  • Fixed a bug that caused players not to get AI cores back after selling a damaged defensive tower.
  • Fixed building selector size bug that occurred after jumping to another biome through the Orbital Scanner action menu.
  • Fixed a crash in DiscoverableSystem.
  • Fixed unsynchronized access to audio sources that caused crashes.
  • Fixed a bug that caused players not to get AI cores back after selling a damaged defensive tower.
  • Fixed multiple issues with multiple mod providers support.
  • Fixed errors and glitches in the Mods menu related to disabling and enabling mods.
  • Fixes multiple crash bugs and other minor errors.


EXOR Studios

Experimental Brutal Survival Challenge!

Hello Riftbreakers!


Earlier this week, we published an experimental update for The Riftbreaker that added support for Mod.io alongside Steam Workshop. Additionally, that update featured balancing changes for Hard and Brutal difficulty levels of the survival mode in the form of improved Alpha and Ultra creature attack waves in the later stages of the game on the Desert, Acid, and Volcanic biomes.

The latter change has significantly increased the expected power level of the waves that you are going to encounter in those biomes. Previously, the difficulty level only affected timers, damage, and resource multipliers. It didn’t really change the quality of the creatures that you had to face. With the addition of the improved waves, we are about to witness a new chapter in the survival metagame.

While the number of creatures in each wave did not change, you are much less likely to encounter regular strains of enemies, while Alpha and Ultra variants are going to be a common occurrence. Those aliens do not only pack a punch but can take one on the chin as well. You are going to need significantly more firepower to deal with the new attack waves. That means you will need more ammo and power, which means you will need a better economy. You can see what kind of trouble is waiting for you at the end of a Brutal survival run in this video, taken from our stream (Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3 PM CET, https://www.twitch.tv/exorstudios):

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
What a chump, right?

Before we decide whether to push the reworked Hard and Brutal survival structure to the default branch, we would like to issue a challenge to all of you.

Get on the experimental branch (be careful though, back up your saves), and record your successful playthrough of a Brutal survival run on Acid, Desert or Volcanic biome. Post it anywhere you like and send the video to voidreaver (via DM) on our Discord - https://www.discord.gg/exorstudios.

[h3]The first three people to complete this challenge without the use of any cheats are going to receive a limited Mr. Riggs plushie![/h3]

Phone, hands and wall not included.

We will announce it on Discord when we receive 3 qualifying, winning entries. One entry per person. We ship worldwide! NO MODS, PLEASE.

Try it if you dare!
EXOR Studios

Experimental Update, December 9th, 2022

Hello Riftbreakers!

We have just published a patch to the experimental branch of the game that addresses some of the most common issues reported by the community. Thank you for the reports and apologies for all the issues you have experienced. If you have run into any of the following problems, you can try downloading the experimental version and seeing if the issue has been fixed.

Since we haven’t fully finished testing this update yet. We strongly recommend you to back up your save files before moving onto the experimental branch.

How to join the experimental branch:
  1. create a backup copy of your save folder (Documents/The Riftbreaker)
  2. disable Steam Cloud save backup
  3. go to your Steam Library
  4. right-click on The Riftbreaker
  5. select 'Properties,’ then 'Betas,’ and use the following password: IknowWhatImDoing


After that, you will be able to choose 'experimental' from the drop-down menu. Download the update, play the game and let us know if you encounter any issues. We also have a channel on our Discord: #rb-experimental-feedback - we highly encourage you to join in and share your feedback.

[h2]The Riftbreaker Experimental Update, December 9th, 2022. EXE: 588, DATA: 334. Changelog:[/h2]
  • Enabled wave spawn markers in all jungle biome attack waves.
  • Fixed building selector size bug that occurred after jumping to another biome through the Orbital Scanner action menu.
  • Fixed a crash in DiscoverableSystem.
  • Fixed unsynchronized access to audio sources that caused crashes.
  • Fixed a bug that caused players not to get AI cores back after selling a damaged defensive tower.
  • Fixed multiple obscure crash bugs and minor glitches.


EXOR Studios

Experimental Update: Mod.io support and gameplay tweaks

Hello Riftbreakers!


We have just released a new experimental build of the game, featuring many changes that we would like to try out before they go out to the public.

This update is very important for modders, as it adds support for Mod.io - a 3rd party mod hosting service. Mod.io is integrated in the same way as Steam Workshop - you can access it in-game through the Mods menu. Once Mod.io is populated with user-generated content you will start seeing mods from that site on the available mods list. The Riftbreaker World Editor Suite is getting an update that will allow mod creators to upload their mods to both Steam and Mod.io.

Adding mod.io support is an important step, as it will allow non-Steam users to participate in the modding scene. We strongly encourage you to experiment with this platform and upload your mods there. All feedback when it comes to this integration is crucial to us.

The changes that are likely to have the most significant impact on your gameplay experience are the additional hard and brutal difficulty waves that were added to the Desert, Acid, and Magma biomes in Survival Mode. The two higher difficulty modes for these biomes were not quite on par with Jungle and Metallic Valley regarding the power level. With the addition of the new waves, all biomes should now be challenging on the hard difficulty and really demanding on brutal.

This patch also fixes several crash bugs and other errors that you pointed us toward in your reports. Thank you for that. To test these changes thoroughly, we have included some additional debugging logs and tools in this build. It means that the experimental build is very likely to run slower than the default version of the game. Once we gather enough information and deem these changes to be safe, we will remove the extra logs, and the performance is going to go back to normal.

Since we haven’t fully finished testing this update yet. We strongly recommend you to back up your save files before moving onto the experimental branch.

How to join the experimental branch:
  1. create a backup copy of your save folder (Documents/The Riftbreaker)
  2. disable Steam Cloud save backup
  3. go to your Steam Library
  4. right-click on The Riftbreaker
  5. select 'Properties,’ then 'Betas,’ and use the following password: IknowWhatImDoing


After that, you will be able to choose 'experimental' from the drop-down menu. Download the update, play the game and let us know if you encounter any issues. We also have a channel on our Discord: #rb-experimental-feedback - we highly encourage you to join in and share your feedback.

[h2]The Riftbreaker Experimental Update: Mod.io support and gameplay tweaks. December 7th, 2022. EXE: 584 DATA: 331 Changelog:[/h2]
[h3]Changes[/h3]
  • Mod.io modding integration added. This service allows you to upload and install mods using the mod.io website and through the in-game interface in the Mods menu. This service is implemented in a similar way as Steam Workshop. This will enable users from platforms other than Steam to access mods.
  • HBAO improvements incoming! Our old SSAO was running at 720p res, which didn't yield great results. The new HBAO utilizes adaptive resolution (and a few tweaks), resulting in a much greater quality-to-performance ratio. If you don't use raytracing, you should see a noticeable difference in the ambient occlusion quality after this patch.
  • New Hard and Brutal difficulty balancing in Survival Mode on the Acidic Plains, Radioactive Desert, and Volcanic Area biomes. They are much more difficult now. You have been warned! (Feedback will be much appreciated)
  • Added Acidic Plains biome alpha and ultra attack waves for survival mode.
  • Added Radioactive Desert biome alpha and ultra attack waves for survival mode.
  • Added Volcanic Area survival mode alpha and ultra waves.
  • Enabled difficulty-specific final attack waves in the survival game mode in the Acid, Magma, and Desert biomes.
  • Enabled difficulty-specific regular attack waves in the survival game mode in the Acid, Magma, and Desert biomes.
  • Added wave spawn markers in multiple desert biome attack waves, which were previously missing.
  • Added some acid biome attack wave spawn markers, which were previously missing.
  • Added additional safe mode localization strings.
  • Reduced sound volume for some buildings in 'working' state.
  • Added a popup that informs players about the Terms of Service of the modding feature.


[h3]Fixes[/h3]
  • Fixed a crash that occurred when performing a Power Jump skill.
  • Removed unnecessary button from the Tower Ammo Factory action menu.
  • Fixed a crash that occurred when building the Planetary Scanner before researching it (through cheats).
  • Mini Miners no longer keep working indefinitely after leaving them behind on an Outpost.
  • Fixed a missing header on the Sentry Turret entity.
  • Prevent building overlap by making sure that the grid culler nodes are populated after building spawn.
  • Research Screen: fixed a research tooltip when the subspecies field is empty.
  • Buildings should now connect to pipes in a proper way.
  • Safe Mode now ignores any startup commands and launches the game in an intended way, with the safest values possible.
  • Fixed random crashes that occurred during loading.
  • Increased the limit of world entities from 300.000 to 1.000.000.
  • Fixed a crash in the inventory system.
  • Fixed Day Only/Night Only time of day modes in Custom Difficulties.
  • Fixed the appearance of the seasonal event popup.
  • Fixed a crash that occurred when stereo files were used for spacial sound on multichannel (e.g., 5.1/7.1) systems.
  • Fixed FSR 2.1 ghosting effect on DirectX 11.
  • Fixed a bug that caused players not to get AI cores back after selling a damaged defensive tower.


EXOR Studios