Update 0.5

August 5, 2022

By hitscan

v0.5

Campaign

New Level: Oterion Guardian Sanctum
- Unearth the ancient mystery buried beneath the Ruined Sanctum
- Face off against a massive threat protecting this realm
- Discover the key to the forgotten history of Nova Genesis

The Vault

New Vault system available through the Flyout Menu (appears on the far right tab with the backpack icon)
To add a weapon to the Vault the player must stand over it and press D-Pad Right (Controller) or the B key (Keyboard)
Pull and equip weapons from your Vault while in specified “Safe Zones,” including the Space Station and Holochamber Starting Zone (New Safe Zones will be added throughout the game as needed)

Unreal Engine Upgrade

The game is now running on the latest and last version of Unreal Engine 4, which should improve performance on many players’ machines
Lots of systems have been tweaked, modified on completely changed in order to get the game running on this latest version
Please report any bugs you find at discord.gg/solarpurge or through the game’s main menu or pause menu

Weapons

AzTek
- Updated the weapon naming text to the correct ‘AzTek’ case usage (this was not possible in the earlier engine)
- Made minor art updates to the company logo for better size scalability

General Updates and Fixes

Engine
- Reduced the game’s install size by nearly 50%

Gameplay
- New reload animation for Minigun
- Fixed an error when talking to stationary NPCs without behavior trees
- Fixed NPCs snapping while turning
- Fixed a long-standing issue with NPCs bobbing up and down when blending between movement and idle animations
- Fixed AOE strobe bug
- Updated majority of old AOE materials to match the newer “exploding barrel” style
- Fixed player interactions for computer consoles and misc interactables
- Updated stone doors to use the intended sound effects for opening and closing

UI
- New graphical options have been added including:
  - View distance quality
  - Shadow quality
  - Post processing quality
  - Texture quality
  - Effects quality
  - Foliage quality
  - Resolution scale
  - Anti-aliasing quality
  - Frame rate options
  - Motion blur options
  - Chromatic aberration (fringe)
- Updated logic and buttons for Skill Upgrade Menu
- Incorporated a new game font to add more sci-fi style
- Added new menu button textures
- Updated keyboard input icons
- Included new Xbox controller input icons
- Improved the character selection screen
- New dialogue box animations
- Updated loading screens
- Expanded the size of the dialogue text box
- Renamed the ‘Emergency Bulwark’ Perk to ‘Palisade’ to fit within the UI
- Renamed the ‘Efficient Fuel Intake’ Perk to ‘Fixed Position’ to fit within the UI
- Fixed the “Press A to Play” bug
- Solved an issue causing trigger volumes to not display input correctly
- Fixed a bug causing enemy health bars to not update after being healed
- Fixed navigation logic for graphics options

Holochamber
- Updated the Manufacturer Function kiosks to use the associated weapon manufacturer logos

Main Menu
- Improved lighting and reflection captures
- Added character animations and updated lighting for the character selection screen

Genesis II Station
- Improved the materials used on Titus as seen from space
- Updated the planetary data in the System Map
- Changed the enemy data language for clarity
- Fixed the logic for unlocking Oterion in the System Map once Titus has been completed
- Fixed an issue causing save files to become corrupt when loading into the Training Room from the Space Station and back
- Corrected an error causing players to return to the Hangar rather than the Archives after exiting the Training Room
- Fixed a navigation issue blocking players and NPCs in the Command Core
- Updated the character icons for the Aesrenan Elite Guards
- Updated Trooper Uthste into his officer’s armor
- Moved some NPCs in the Command Center and adjusted some animations accordingly

Training Room
- The Training Room now loads as a separate level, which may slightly increase loading time but solves multiple critical bugs related to the saving and Vault systems
- Updated the Target Dummy to face the player
- Made major changes to the Armory weapon spawners:
  - Fixed a long-standing bug where the Armory spawners were pulling from the old, soon-to-be-deprecated weapon spawn system and naming pool
  - Currently these spawners are hard-locked to a single manufacturer, but this will be updated as more manufacturers and weapon types are released
  - Temporarily disabled the burst grenade launcher spawners while we redesign their projectile logic and role in combat
- Solved several art-related bugs causing floor patterns to break
- Disabled Vault connectivity inside of the Training Room

Lockjaw Mining Zone
- Updated lighting to match the style of Cell Blocks (should also grant a slight performance boost)
- Fixed some navigation errors

Lockjaw Cell Blocks
- Updated art on the surface level to be more in line with the floors below
- Adjusted the final hangar hallway to be centered against the door
- Fixed a bug causing the game to crash when entering a level streaming volume near the Fan Control Room
- Fixed a missing art issue in the Fan Control’s back corner
- Corrected a level lighting bug causing many art assets to appear very dark in-game
- Fixed a missing material on Prison doors
- Fixed an art clipping issue on a diagonal wall in the Tram Station
- Fixed a similar clipping issue in the Oxygen Generation room where water planes were overlapping
- Closed a gap in the Elevator Shaft wall visible from the south end of top of the Elevator Shaft
- Updated the dialogue for the Skorlac Pirate in the Fan Control room

Titus
- Improved frame rate performance across the planet
- Updated all human characters’ icons to match their in-game models
- Greatly expanded on the art in the Crystal Gorge
- Moved the water tank engineer to be more visible
- Fixed navigation issues in the Underground Caverns
- Fixed drill progress radius decal overlap
- Disabled shadows on stalactites in sinkhole
- Fixed crane, ship landing and HQ door audio sound classes

Oterion Jungle
- Fixed some level streaming bugs causing visual glitches when players looked at the AzTek Facility from the Boomtown side of the broken vehicle bridge
- Altered the AzTek Facility checkpoint pylon to not interrupt players while exploring the upper levels
- Reduced the number of Data Modules required to finish the quests in the Wetlands and Forward Operating Base
- Expanded dialogue from Dr. Hadley to better explain the Data Module questline
- Improved the logic for detecting and counting the collected Data Modules
- Updated the character icons on all survivors in the Boomtown
- Added a “character” icon for the AzTek decoder terminals
- Updated the character icon for B3-L1-4L and updated the quest requirements for the weapon drop for completionists only!
- Updated player navigation to prevent clipping into the walls near the exit of the level
- Included art updates in the Forward Operating Base to match the dialogue
  (this is not yet an official pickup and is not required to progress in the level)
- Fixed a problem with floor panels clipping into the rock at the end of the level
- Solved a serious bug preventing some players from successfully opening the door to the Lost City
- Fixed an issue causing players to fail to spawn sometimes in Boom Town
- Fixed issue causing Jungle maps to crash on load

Oterion Lost City
- Updated artwork at the level start to better match the ending of the previous level and to prevent players from seeing out of the level bounds
- Fixed a persistent navigation bug allowing players to clip into certain walls in the Sunken Corridor
- Slightly raised the water level in the Waterworks to prevent some clipping errors
- Improved player and enemy navigation around several piles of rubble and debris
- Adjusted art in and around the Sunken Corridor to prevent players from seeing outside of the level bounds
- Fixed Lost City waterfall material

Oterion Ruined Sanctum
- New area – the Infested Corridor combat encounter section has been added after opening the Inner Sanctum doorway
- Updated art around the Sanctum Door to give players more room to maneuver in the Corridor
- Finalized the art for the Ancients’ thrones
- Fixed an issue where some waterfall sources were visible to the camera at high elevations
- Improved player and enemy navigation around rubble piles throughout the level
- Expanded the “guideline” art from the early parts of the level into the Inner Court, which should help improve player navigation on the Combat Trial Path
- Slightly altered some art in the Puzzle Path to accommodate the new “guideline” art
- Changed the locked doors in the Combat Trial Path for consistency – now all use a switch to both unlock and open
- Added individual health bars for Infected Toads