Descent: Underground - Mercury-Update mit VR-Support und besserer Bot-KI

Das Mercury-Update für Descent: Underground steht ab sofort zum Download bereit.

Der Entwickler Descendent Studios hat ein weiteres Update für die Early-Access-Version von Descent: Underground veröffentlicht. Der umfangreiche Patch hebt das Spiel auf die Build-Version 1500 an und steht ab sofort zum kostenlosen Download bereit. Die Aktualisierungen werden unter dem Codenamen »Mercury« zusammengefasst.

Das Mercury-Update bringt unter anderem erstmals einen Support für Virtual-Reality-Headsets mit sich. Getestet wurde dieses Pre-Alpha-Feature bisher jedoch nur mit dem Oculus Rift DK2 - es ist also noch unklar, ob die Funktion auch zu anderen Geräten kompatibel ist.

Darüber hinaus gibt es nun eine Team-Auswahl-Möglichkeit in Mehrspieler-Partien, einen Text-Chat und eine verbesserte Bot-KI für die nun auf vier Karten möglichen Solo-Matches. Außerdem hat das Schiff Auger seinen Weg in das Spiel gefunden und Modder können nun auch eigene Karten erstellen.

Die Patchnotes zum Mercury-Update:

MODDERS & Map Makers your time has begun!
- Fire up your Unreal Engine 4 and grab our "whitebox" Map Kit here.
- Share your map ideas and files in our Maps & Environments forum. We would love to see your designs!
- This is not the final version of our map editor. Submit your own pieces and assets in our forum!
NEW SHIP - the AUGER - our best mining ship is now ready to fly! Dominate "Capture the Core" maps & earn those mining achievements faster!
VR IS ON! (Pre-Alpha)
- Well, technically, it's off... by default. Enable it in your graphics options menu. VR will only activate when you're in a match.
- We have tested this with the Oculus Rift DK2. Other HMDs may or may not work out-of-the-box.
- We recommend a gamepad controller for VR use, though a mouse is needed for most menus.
- Please be aware that VR requires a beefier video card to perform well because it's double-rendering.
- The Respawn Menu will automatically select your last-used ship after 2 second unless you change (currently requires use of the mouse).
- Some menus are not fully compatible with VR and gamepads because of an issue in Unreal Engine 4. This is especially apparent with the "pause" menu and options in-flight. Try to avoid that if possible.
Text chat has been added to the Drone Bay, Match Lobby, and In-Match UI.
- and are the default key mappings to start chat in-game. If you've customized your controls, these will have been automatically added to your bindings list. Please make sure this doesn't result in double-mapping.
- Once in chat, these commands can specify destinations:
- /g or /general sends the message to General (Drone Bay) chat from either the Drone Bay or a Lobby.
- /a or /all sends the message to everyone in your Lobby or Match.
- /t or /team sends the message only to your team in the Lobby or in a Match.
- Note: due to various outstanding issues with code dependencies for the Linux build in regards to XMPP, chat is not yet available on Linux. Stormwind is particularly bummed about this.

Team Assignment - The match originator can assign teams in Private match lobbies. In Public lobbies teams are still assigned as normal. However, you can start a match as Private and then switch to Public once your team is set up.
SINGLE PLAYER BEEFED UP - The infestation of bots has spread to the other maps! There are now 4 maps with bots. Jump into Vs. Bots mode and kill them all!
The visual effect that indicates the borders of the capture zone in Capture the Core has been updated to change colors to reflect the owning team. In addition, the glowing effect on the core itself has been spread to cover the whole sphere.
Laser Grids dropped by teammates will now appear green and can safely be crossed, however doing so will kill the grid.
Laser Grids have become somewhat more forgiving in their deployment tests. For example, you can now drop grids in the grated tunnels in Rama.
The ghost that was possessing the Shield Bar has been exorcised and overcharged shields are now more visible.
Default mappings and sensitivities for the Logitech Extreme 3D Pro joystick have been restored to match the game manual. They were accidentally nuked at some point.
The dome in Rama should be a lot less sticky now.
Small tweaks & bug neuterings.

Known Issues

Private matches can launch even if some players are marked "not ready".
Users who typed in chat and have since logged out before you log in may appear as "Unknown User".
Chat is not reliably working in Linux clients.
Objects near the corners of the screen can experience "barrel distortion" because of the way that 3D objects are mapped to a 2D screen. Using the Field-of-View slider can help with this in some cases.
Sometimes buttons in the user interface still appear clickable even though they've been clicked and the system is thinking.
Linux appears to not be detecting joysticks in many cases.
Many joysticks do not yet have a default mapping and need to be configured manually.
Our guard bots in "Vs. Bots" mode did not pass the Drone Efficiency Recruitment Protocol and need more education.
A mysterious "Powerup Yet To Be Named" occasionally appears to slay unsuspecting powerups.
Installer & Launcher need to be run as administrator on Windows.
- Streaming software may need to run as administrator to capture video.

Standalone (non-Steam) launcher not correctly self-updating on Linux and Macintosh.
If you are having mouse issues, please make sure that your Mouse axes and sensitivities are NOT inverted and reversed at the same time.
Uninstalling & reinstalling the launcher may not properly clear settings.
Laser levels 1 & 4 have art, levels 2 & 3 do not have their own bolts yet.
Some placeholder sound effects were accidentally replaced with a different set of placeholder sounds.
Matchmaking sometimes puts players into matches that are about to end.
The axis configuration menu is somewhat clunky and uses too-technical language (power changes the curvature of the sensitivity curve, factor scales the sensitivity curve)
All servers are currently in the U.S., other locations are planned.
There may be a wait for matches at times. While our all-backer player base is much larger than the beta pool, player play times can vary. Matches won't begin until they have at least 2 players, and will not add players if there are 8 players.
Collisions are more sticky than they are supposed to be, sometimes causing ships to catch on smooth surfaces.
The Drone Bay has too many lights and so some people are getting poor performance while admiring their ships.
Multiple joysticks of the same model cannot currently be distinguished by the game.
Steam Overlay doesn't work on Mac and Linux.
The game is not launching correctly on Steamboxes.
Auto-start timer in the match lobby doesn't yet display. Keep an eye on the status shown above for an indication as to how soon your match will start.
When switching active chat windows (esp. entering a lobby from the default drone bay interface), messages sent to the previous window do not currently carry over to the new one.