Tag: steam

Significant performance improvements with A-Spec First Assault Update 0.22.0

Posted on by Dan Woods in Video Games

Welcome, pilot! With this latest update it is no exaggeration to say there are have some huge performance improvements with less frame rate drops, and more increases. This has been a huge undertaking and took precedence over the Chapter 6 update, which not a decision taken lightly. While there is no new content, I believe these performance gains and other general improvements, make the game experience much better.

With how much of the backend was changed to eke out improved performance there may be bugs. If you notice anything out of place and behaving different, bizarrely or just plain acting outright annoying, let me know and I will investigate it. I have been through the campaign several times and caught some soft-locks, broken AI behaviour, etc, etc. But alas, I am just the one dev. While I catch many bugs, there’s always more lurking in the shadows, seemingly hidden, until someone brings it to my attention. So if you find one please report it, and big thanks to all the players who have!

With all that being said and done. Thanks for the continuing support and patience. This was meant to be a 1-year project, extended into a 2 year project, and became a unintended 5 year (and ongoing) project. All being well, A-Spec First Assault the release goal line is now firmly in sight. The focus is on completing the campaign, adding more content, improving existing features along with balancing. I’m aiming to be a full release this year. There, I said it, just don’t try and pin me down with an exact date. It will be in the fullness of time.

And without further ado, here are the patch notes for A-Spec First Assault Update 0.22.0

Patch Notes 0.22.0
Overview

  • This update provides significant performance improvements, along with general bug fixes and improvements and fixed the accuracy of the players primary guns when enabling the “Homing Projectiles” option

Added

  • AI manager to handle management of AI Actor logic updates for improved performance
  • Combat AI Actors now perform a threat assessment against nearby hostiles to determine the best target to engage (closest comparable to itself)
  • Combat AI Actors are capable of making attempts at reducing the likeliness of getting stuck against other ships/structures in the world

Changed

  • Gimball Gun tracking and movement logic updates are now processed with ECS Jobs for improved performance
  • Turret tracking and movement logic updates are now processed with ECS Jobs for improved performance
  • Ship exhaust lens flare logic updates are now processed with ECS Jobs for improved performance
  • Ship exhaust lens flare quad texture visuals are now rendered more efficiently for improved performance
  • Projectile logic updates are now processed with ECS Jobs for improved performance
  • Projectile quad texture visuals are now rendered more efficiently for improved performance
  • Stellar dust logic updates are now processed with ECS Jobs for improved performance
  • Gun Muzzle Flare quad texture visuals are now rendered more efficiently for improved performance
  • Radar contacts logic updates are now processed with ECS Jobs for improved performance
  • Improved the logic used for stretching projectile tails for better visual appearance
  • Removed the in-game FPS montor and associated key binding

Fixed

  • The players main gun projectiles are now 100% accurate against targets when “Homing Projectiles” have been enabled in the game options
  • Campaign soft lock in Chapter 5 Mission 3 as no random side missions are generated preventing progression towards unlocking this main mission
  • Refactored hazard field processes (asteroid and nebula fields) for performance improvements
  • Projectile Stats from installed modules are not applied to the guns when in a mission (Muzzle Speed, Max Range, Rate of Fire, Explosive Radius)
  • Ship Fitting: Launcher Subsystem Damage display values are being calculated incorrectly
  • AI Actors now correctly calculate stopping times, preventing the fast overshoot/fly-bys when using the afterburner

A-Spec First Assault: Patch 0.20.1 is live

Posted on by Dan Woods in Uncategorized

There is no significant evidence of spontaneously combusting turrets which may or may not be linked to…

Patch Notes 0.20.1

Note: This update will reset all existing bindings to default values to avoid conflicts with new generic HOTAS and generic flight pedal default bindings

Overview

  • Added an overview screen as a place to easily reference control bindings
  • Artillery and Autocannon weaponry adjusted to provide more distinct differences and use
  • Improvements to Torpedo Launchers (installation costs, flight specs, damage)
  • Kherson turrets significantly less likely to spontaneously combust when firing a launcher salvo

Added

  • Default bindings for generic HOTAS controllers
  • Default bindings for generic flight pedal controllers
  • Controller Bindings Overview screen (For a quick glance reminder of controller bindings accessible from the pause menu during mission flights)

Changed

  • Adjustments to all Artillery and Autocannon variants towards defining distinct useage of these weapons and to Artillery:
    • Artillery are long range weapons (range increases, while muzzle velocities decrease, as slot sizes go up)
    • Burst and Standard Autocannons are medium range weapons (range increases, while muzzle velocities decrease, as slot sizes go up)
    • All Autocannons have a slightly faster muzzle velocity than the equivalent it’s Burst Autocannons
    • Adjusted maximum projectile range and muzzle velocities to move autocannon use from long range to medium ranged
  • Torpedo Launcher (Medium):
    • Fitting Points cost changed to 61 (from 169)
    • Prestige Points cost changed to 1464 (from 1624)
    • Adjusted lock range and flight time and flight velocities
  • Torpedo Launcher (Large):
    • Fitting Points cost changed to 243 (from 675)
    • Prestige Points cost changed to 5832 (from 5400)
    • Adjusted lock range and flight time and flight velocities
    • Adjusted Explosive damage values
  • Torpedo Launcher (Extra Large):
    • Fitting Points cost changed to 648 (from 2250)
    • Prestige Points cost changed to 15552 (from 18000)
    • Adjusted lock range and flight time and flight velocities
    • Adjusted Explosive damage values
  • The launcher status bar in the flight HUD weapons panel will no longer play out the reloading UI animation when the launcher ammo is 0, instead it will remain as an empty bar
  • The Save/Load window in the Equipment Loadout Screen:
    • Window real-a-state has been increased and equipped items are listed with consolidated totals to ensure specification text is fully displayed
    • Players can now select Save/Load Slots 6-8 when using controller navigation
  • Controller axis binding for roll is now inverted by default

Fixed

  • Hard at work Akkadian Technicians have corrected a minor fault with the Kherson’s new forward positioned keel turret mounts. In completely unrelated news, the Kherson’s launchers have been repositioned further forward allowing missiles to reach their intended target that little bit quicker, oh, and-any-keel-mounted-turrets-will-no-longer-spontaneously-combust-when-firing-said-launchers
  • Several side missions were not using overrides to spawn vessels and instead used the data in the mission file (therefore no random spawns!)
  • Firing a secondary launcher with multiple salvo’s and then immediately switching to another secondary launcher will pause the firing of the previous launcher
  • Projectiles were applying the shooters velocity to position offsetting the spawn location from the muzzle (which is no longer needed due to a script execution order change in a 0.19.x change)
  • Explosive Damage Enhancer Passive Module is not being applied to equipped launcher missile explosion damage
  • Equipment Loadout Screen now highlights locations (Primary, Secondary, Turrets) and equipped weaponry (primary guns and Turret models) on the vessel when hovering or selecting the relevant equipment slot
  • Vessel Selection Screen: Vessel loadout specification text for assigned wignmen is not updated when navigating the UI with the directional keys/buttons
  • Adjusted Turret Hierarchy Order so that turrets listed in the fitting screen in a standard convention
  • Muzzle Velocity and Max Range stats for projectiles do not display correct adjusted values with the Frictionless Coils Passive Module equipped
  • Rate of Fire stat for projectiles do not display correct adjusted values with the Magnetic Callibration Passive Module equipped
  • Using a Controller with a Throttle Axis binding assigned will set the throttle value to 0 while a Flight Group (1,2,3) button binding is held
  • Help Glyphs are not using a fallback for generic controllers without glyphs, which would instead use the element descriptive name of the controller for the bound action

A-Spec First assault – the drums of war update

Posted on by Dan Woods in Uncategorized

The Drums of War update (Early Access version 0.12.3) for A-Spec First Assault brings huge enhancements to sound effects, removing harsh sounds and improving the quality of frequently played sound effects like gunshots and explosions.

AI behavior has been improved and they will now change their targets based on the biggest threat to them along with improvements to how they decide who to target next.

Help glyphs used in the tutorials and prologue missions for controller commands that don’t have a defined icon (there are so many types of flight devices out there) will now display the relevant control element name instead.

Check out this latest trailer showing off the gameplay you will experience in A-Spec First Assault prologue missions.

Buy A-Spec First Assault on Steam

Patch Notes 0.12.3
Overview

  • Big improvements to all sound effects!
  • Lots of other miscellaneous improvements!
  • Bug fixes!

Known Issues

  • Autospeed match ‘close’ setting does not work as expected
  • Colliders for Fighter, Gunship, Carrier, and Large Transport are not optimized for best-fitting
  • Jump-out animations are not scaled correctly for ships bigger than a gunship
  • Guard My Target command is not implemented

Added

  • Vessel names can now be randomly generated
  • AI Actor will now change targets if another hostile is more of a threat
  • AI Actor uses a fuzzy target selection of the nearest hostile (rather than using the ‘Select closest hostile’ command)
  • Ship wings will now jump in formation to their leader
  • Flash Radar Quadrant On Hit effect attached to a toggle option in Options > Game
  • Added Autogun (XXS) as a replacement primary weapon for hostile fighters in the prologue (due to fixing AI firing weapons slowly)
  • Added UI Volume slider
  • Audio priorities adjustments for sound effects during gameplay to better manage many simultaneous playing sounds

Changed

  • Controller Glyphs now display the control element descriptor for controllers without a defined glyph icon
  • Prologue mission 1: Added Throttle Axis to help glyphs
  • Prologue mission 1: Removed diagonal help glyphs as the vertical and horizontal glyphs communicate this
  • Prologue mission 2: Updated directives text regarding waypoint references in line with Prologue mission 1
  • Prologue mission 3: Removed the distress call waypoint when in range
  • Prologue mission 7: Fixed typo during friendly spawn message near end of mission
  • Corrected spelling and grammar throughout all prologue mission briefings and debriefings
  • Navigation tutorial 2: Can now use throttle axis during throttle acceleration and deceleration section
  • Navigation tutorial 2: Allowed 8-way hat to work during diagonal thrust sections
  • Navigation tutorial 3: Disabled autopilot
  • Mining beam SFX replacement
  • Increased size of flare and muzzle VFX for mining beam
  • Removed hull Hit Effect for mineable asteroids and normal asteroids due to excessive calls from using the mining beam
  • Updated main missions and side missions to use directives and monitoring panels as needed
  • Dying throes explosions VFX/SFX improved
  • Death explosions VFX/SFX improved
  • Gun sound effects improved
  • Round robins are used for repetitive sound effects (i.e. gunshots, impacts, explosions, etc)
  • Replaced most Heads Up Display sound effects
  • Directives Panel: When directive status changes the text now flashes with an audible bleep
  • Player Received Transmission: Play audio bleep at the start of a transmission
  • Main menu: Increased vertical button spacing for easier mouse highlighting on mouse over

Fixed

  • Prevented mineable asteroids and Mining Station from being pushed around easily
  • Particle explosions from weapon damage on the player seem to jitter/skitter during player movement
  • Attempt to set pitch to infinite value from script ignored!
  • Prevented autopiloting out of Skirmish when all enemies were destroyed
  • Explosion lighting source only lights up for 1 second, where it should be limited for the particle animation time
  • Turret Railgun shell mass not scaled correctly (decreased accordingly)
  • Burst Autocannon 2/4/8 shell mass not set correctly (increased accordingly)
  • Impact Hull/Armour SFX now calculated for pooled items
  • Audio Asset pooling counts are under-calculated for guns and launchers
  • Skirmish: Player not spawning in the correct position
  • Projectile spawn location offsets more as the shooter’s velocity increases
  • Primary weapons fire faster the more the gun control subsystem is damaged
  • AI Actor would trigger pull-release for each primary weapon shot, unintentionally slowing down the fire rate of fast-firing weapons
  • Button UI audio interactions are not affected by the audio volume sliders
  • Fixed duplicate audio sources from being created for parent objects not added to the pooling system
  • Fixed issue of audio popping where played audio was stopped too early for explosions
  • AI Actor severely under-calculated the effective firing range (effectively preventing the AI Actor from using primary weapons)
  • Prologue mission 2: After mining 1st asteroid, engines should not be activated until 2nd asteroid is targeted
  • Prologue mission 4: Enemies at Navpoint 2 can no longer be goaded into attacking the player instead of transports