Version 3.3 beta 9

Installation

Notice: This is only compatible with the Half-Life 25th Anniversary update.

• To install the full game, download ns_v33b9_full.zip and follow its instructions, then restart steam.
• To update an existing installation of NS 3.3b8 or later, download ns_v33b9_patch.zip and follow its instructions.

Release Notes

• Bot updates by @RGreenlees

  • Bots are affected by cloak, with visibility determined by size, opacity level and movement. Bot skulks will sneak when cloaked to stay hidden.
  • Bots can now hear enemies and will track enemy movement using sound.
  • Improved general bot movement, especially when jumping and blinking.
  • Improved bot lerk flight movement.
  • Alien bots now attack in waves, gathering together first before attacking outposts to increase their chance of success.
  • Fixed some stuck issues with lifts.
  • Thanks Epicopy and Francis for help testing the bots!

• Health and ammo HUD scaling

  • The health and ammo HUD elements now scale with the screen resolution. Thanks @Toodles2You for sharing his code for this.
  • Added commands for the position, scale, and minimum opacity of the heath and ammo. These all start with hud_health or hud_ammo.
  • Health and armor can now expand to 4 digit numbers (when using the xmenu server plugin for instance).
  • Fixed the sprites being blurry.
  • Fixed the health cross art being cut off at the edges.
  • Fixed other rendering and spacing issues with the health and ammo.

• Jetpack research cost decreased from 45 to 35

  • Since the cost of jetpacks was increased from 10 to 15 in v3.3b5, the cost and timing of getting the first jetpacks onto the field was slightly increased. This change will make it so the cost and timing of getting the first 2 jetpacks out are the same as NS 3.2.
  • A bit of history on this: NS 3.1 jetpack balance was 15 res per jetpack, 35 res to research, and 60 seconds to research. NS 3.2 changed this to 10res/45res/75sec, but this change was widely considered to have made jetpacks too cheaply replaceable. The research time is still 75 seconds, as the timing from NS 3.2 remains well regarded.

• Weapon animation fixes

  • Fixed numerous incorrect or broken alien weapon animations on every class.
  • Fixed animation issues with the pistol firing from the last patch.
  • Fixed reload animations not always playing.
  • Added a transitional animation for when a gorge stops building.

• Unbuilt structures on the minimap are now a darker shade than built structures, and recycling structures are now gray.

• Fixed side mouse buttons registering as left click when commanding or in the popup menu.

  • Mouse3/4/5 can now all be used as key binds when commanding, which is useful with the various impulse commands like go to med request or select all players.

• Fixed bullet spark effects happening when shooting above some marine structures.

• Spectator updates by @RGreenlees and @pierow

  • Added mp_freespectatormode, which controls when a player can enter the free spectator mode (free look / free roaming). 0 = never, 1 = only when spectator (default), 2 = Always.
  • Free look will now be part of the cycle when pressing the jump key.
  • The map overlay is now toggled with the crouch button.
  • The cursor is now enabled when in an observer mode that locks the view, and the player selection UI can now be used.
  • Strafing in free roaming no longer snaps to different players.
  • Fixed a bug that would break spectating completely if returning to the ready room while in free roam.
  • You can no longer enter free roaming using the "specmode" and "spec_mode" console commands if it's disabled by the server.
  • Fixed bugs with the cursor when spectating.
  • Fixed bugs/exploits where dead players could spectate the enemy team if all spectatable players on the team are dead.

• Waypoint updates

  • Fixed waypoints appearing again upon respawn if they were previously acknowledged
  • Waypoints on the HUD no longer blink by default.
  • Added hud_waypoint_blink to change waypoing blinking behavior. 0 = don't blink, 1 = always blink, 2 = blink on the minimap only.
  • hud_drawwaypoints has been renamed to hud_waypoint_draw.

• Crosshair updates

  • Added spectate crosshair.
  • Fixed crosshair circle rendering issues.
  • Added crosshair round dot option cl_cross_dot_round 0 = square, 1 = circle.
  • Updated the shotgun and heal spray default crosshairs.
  • Fixed readyroom crosshairs not applying.

• Fixed small gaps in the hitboxes for the skulk, gorge, and onos models. In practice, these gaps were mostly too small to be an issue given the bullet width.

• Slightly reduced the max volume of the randomized first person alien movement sounds.

• Alien idle and primal scream sounds are now frame rate independent. The alien movement sounds were made frame rate independent a while back.

• Fixed the intensity shader not working correctly on custom maps with no env_gamma entity

• Added cl_teamcfgs, which changes the auto execution of alien/marine team configs to be 0 = off, 1 = if playing only, 2 = also in spectate.

• Fixed an issue where letting go of attack with the pistol would briefly reduce the ammo count. This fix may also fix some incorrect attack behavior with grenades or welders.

• The pistol binary triggering option is now purely client side.

• Fixed typos with the video preset notifications. Thanks @lameos.