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BallisticNG 1.4.1 Dev 3 is now availableJul 1, 2025 - Community AnnouncementsWe've reached a major milestone with BallisticNG's multiplayer update! We still have some work to do, mostly in the quality of life department, but we're currently in a good place for a new development branch release.If you haven't seen the other multiplayer changes we've made recently, be sure to also check out the previous announcement:Remember to check out our roadmap for a look at what we're working on for 1.4.1. Playing on development buildsRight click BallisticNG in your steam library and go to PropertiesGo to the betas tab on the window that opensFrom the dropdown select development. If the update doesn't automatically queue for download, restart SteamOnce you have opened the game, the version at the bottom right of the menu for this release will read 1.4.1-d9 MultiplayerMultiple GamemodesMultiplayer now supports Knockout, Rush Hour, Upsurge and Eliminator! Bots can also join in and play these gamemodes if you enable them!Dedicated Servers now also have a gamemode vote, and the random lobby example lua script has been updated to change the gamemode from time to time.Some notes:When playing Eliminator, bots will combat spin to maintain proximity to the player who has the lowest race position. If there aren't any players (everybody leaves on a dedicated server), then the bots will keep proximity amongst themselves to ensure that the event can end in a somewhat reasonable time.The placement of barriers in Upsurge are handled client-side. The tradesoffs with this was accurate positions but barriers could pop out of nowhere, or inaccurate positions but you get a chance to react, and we think it's better if you don't have to deal with barriers spawning out of nowhere.Bot VariantsBots will now be given random ship variants when the server is deciding which ship to give them. These are always random and are currently not configurable on dedicated servers.Beforehand, bots always used the default (2159) variant of ships.More synchronizationMany more game events are now correctly synchronised, such as ships being eliminated, ships respawning, ships passing the mid and start line, etc.These used to be handled client side as they aren't essential to accurately synchronize for just racing. The other gamemodes however have progress and win conditions that are bound to these events, so it was vital that the server is aware of when these events happen instead of just guessing based on the latest information it has on everybody.This should also fix the long standing bug where some ships can stay on fire after being eliminated.Controllable Spectator CameraThe spector camera, previously only used if you died in a race with spawns disabled, is now user controlled! You can now switch between ships and the track cameras / orbit camera modes for yourself, the game will no longer do it automatically.We'd like to potentially include this in the post race cameras for singleplayer too. Full ChangelogShipsThe eliminated fire sound is now stopped when entering a specta...BallisticNG 1.4.1 Dev 2 is now availableJun 19, 2025 - Community AnnouncementsWe've started work on a major update to BallisticNGs multiplayer! We're working towards multiple gamemodes being available for multiplayer, but before that we're making some smaller changes to the core multiplayer systems.Remember to check out our roadmap for a look at what we're working on for 1.4.1. Playing on development builds Right click BallisticNG in your steam library and go to Properties Go to the betas tab on the window that opens From the dropdown select development. If the update doesn't automatically queue for download, restart Steam Once you have opened the game, the version at the bottom right of the menu for this release will read 1.4.1-d6 MultiplayerImproved CollisionsWhile we still recommended keeping collisions disabled, we've made some changes which improves them. Whether people can collider with each other (both have each others ships installed) is now also synced. If collisions are enabled and somebody is in the null ship, you'll no longer collide with that particular person and vice versa.Combat Stat SyncShip combat stats are now synced at the start of every race. If you're using a ship that others don't have installed, your weapons will now deal the damage they're supposed to.Rollback NetcodeRockets, missiles, cannon and plasma hits are now synced using rollback on the server. This is actually customizable where the host can switch between three hit detection modes: Server Authoritative (default)The server performs rollback to determine if it was possible for a client to have hit another client. Receiver Trusted (pre 1.4.1-d6 behaviour)Clients will decide if another client hit them.Sender TrustedClients will decide if they hit another client.Behind the scenes we've been refactoring the code for projectile weapons to cleanly implement rollback, and as a result of this there are some other general projectile changes. See the full changelog below for more details.Full ChangelogShipsFixed AI trails not being reset when teleportingFixed airbrake animations with a steer response not working on AIMultiplayerDedicated server example CFG updated with NetHitDetectMode settingAdded auto-synced network time for event trackingAdded hit detection mode option:Server Authoritative (default) : The server performs rollback to determine if a ship has been hit by a projectileReceiver Trusted : The client being hit decides if it was hit by a projectile (pre 1.4.1-d6 behavior)Sender Trusted : The client firing a projectile decides if it hit somebody elseShip combat stats are now synced between peersPeers now share whether they can collide with other peers (ships not installed)Improved quaternion compression (7 bytes to 4)Peer ship transforms are now synced with extrapolation and faster interpolation (more accurate player positions with prediction and less jitter)Peer ship tilt is now interpolatedShip teleportation events are now syncedAirbrake animations are now syncedImproved accuracy of predicted spawn transform for projectiles (uses predicte...BallisticNG 1.4.1 Dev 1 is now availableMay 20, 2025 - Community AnnouncementsDevelopment of 1.4.1 is underway, and to kick things off we're starting with a major update to the layout creator! Remember to check out our roadmap for a look at what we're working on for 1.4.1. Playing on development builds Right click BallisticNG in your steam library and go to Properties Go to the betas tab on the window that opens From the dropdown select development. If the update doesn't automatically queue for download, restart Steam Once you have opened the game, the version at the bottom right of the menu for this release will read 1.4.1-d3 Layout Creator 3.0 Version 3 of the layout creator makes many changes that have facilitated the introduction of customizable hotkeys, controller support and many improvements across the board. The layout creator was previously a mess of hard coded inputs among a sea of spaghetti code, so the first thing that needed changing was that. We now have a tools system which has allowed us to make the editor much more modular and remove a lot of jank that came with the introduction of new features over the years. Note that documentation on our readthedocs hasn't been updated yet. We'll be doing that closer to the release of 1.4.1. Hotkey Editor Now that everything is modular and has a structure, the layout creator finally has a hotkey editor! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/25217624/8fb06844382a1aa4c29e6c4e8bbf35bcc7d4be80.png Controller Support https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O8_N3yWI9s With the tools system implemented, it became much more trivial for controller support to be implemented. With exception to the perspective orbit camera, the layout creator is fully functional when using a controller! You'll need a controller that's supported by Rewired's gamepad template for this. If your controller works out of the box with the game then you have a controller that's supported. You can also refer to this table, where anything with the gamepad icon on the left hand side is supported: https://guavaman.com/projects/rewired/docs/SupportedControllers.html Analog Stick Ease Power Similar to the steer curve option for gameplay, the layout creator has an easing curve for analog inputs to help you stay precise near the resting position of the analog sticks. By default this is set to use a power of 3 which we felt works for Dualshock 4, Dualsense and Xbox controllers, but you can customize this: Open the menu (X for Sony controllers, A on Xbox) Navigate down to Set Ship Navigate right until you reach Set Analog Stick Ease Power 1 is linear, above 1 reduces sensitivty near the center of the stick, below 1 increases it. Selection Spread Crosshair {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/25217624/67025841071592134554ca7d1bd434ccf4198600.png As it's harder to be as accurate with an analog stick then it is a mouse, whenever you're selecting nodes the crosshair is turned into a circle where anything that's within its radius will be considered for selection. If there's multiple nodes within the circle, the node closest to the center dot takes priority. Templa...Wipeout-like anti-grav racer BallisticNG v1.4 out now bringing lots of new content and Steam Deck VerifiedMay 7, 2025 - GamingOnLinuxEven though it was Steam Deck Verified back in February, that was Valve testing against an opt-in Beta (which is a bit weird) but now the big release is here for the anti-gravity racer BallisticNG. Read the full article here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2025/05/wipeout-like-anti-grav-racer-ballisticng-v1-4-out-now-bringing-lots-of-new-content-and-steam-deck-verified/ BallisticNG 1.4 is now available!May 1, 2025 - Community Announcements{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/25217624/91cb9ae5b4761fcd64173d8e0b035381199ce81c.png https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx7ruNdS100 Almost a year and a half in development, we're excited to bring you the BallisticNG 1.4 update! 1.4 is all about 2280, redesigned menus, quality of life improvements, more modding tools, and many significant under the hood changes to enable it all. Oh, and the game is now also Steam Deck verified! A huge thanks to the internal testing group and community who've played the builds and provided feedback throughout the course of this updates development! 1.4 is so big that we can't fit the full changelog into a Steam announcement, so if you'd like to see every little change then you can read that on our website here: https://neognosis.games/2025/05/01/ballisticng-1-4-is-now-released/ We are now entering the 1.4 support cycle, where we will continue to expand on the 1.4 update with smaller additions and fix any remaining issues that crop up along the way. To see what's coming for 1.4.1 and 1.4.2, check out our roadmap. Notices New Inputs New input binds for variant selection and opening the advanced content selectors have been added in 1.4. If you're using an officially supported controller then these binds will be added automatically, otherwise you'll need to add them manually in the input options menu. Keyboard controls also have these binds added automatically. Barrel Roll Inputs The steer wiggle inputs for barrel rolls have been changed to releasing and then quickly re-pressing the thrust input. This can be changed in the Input Options menu, but we've changed the default to thrust tap for ergonomic purposes. Leaderboards Reset As we've made category balancing changes for 1.4, the leaderboards have been reset to give everybody a clean slate to work with. Legacy Layout Creator Depreciated The legacy layout creator has been depreciated with 1.4. It's still in the game for compatibility but now needs to be accessed through the mod_legacylayoutcreator console command. Camera Option Changes Camera settings have been split out so each camera view has it's own unique set of options. Your camera settings will be reset in 1.4 because of these changes. Moved Preset Locations Ui preset locations have been changed and the game won't automatically migrate them. If you've been using custom AI rosters then you'll want to move the following: User > Config > Ini > Ai Presets, to User > Config > Presets > Ai Rosters With the fundamental changes to multiplayer settings in 1.4, old lobby presets are no longer compatible. Dedicated Server Changes There have been a lot of backend changes to multiplayer to prepare it for future updates and the configuration for dedicated servers has changed. See the updated example CFG, random lobby lua example script and LUA documentation txt for more details. BNGL Bundled BallisticNG now ships with a sample of Radracers BallisticNG legacy project. This contains a large snapshot of tracks and ships from various points in ...BallisticNG 1.4 Release DateApr 11, 2025 - Community AnnouncementsComing close to a year and a half in the making, 1.4s release on the default branch is rapidly approaching. As our final major update, 1.4 is focused on reworking 2280, reworking the menus, making a magnitude of QOL changes and implementing long standing community requests. We'll still be working on minor additions, fixing bugs and working on DLCs, but the focus after our support cycle for 1.4 has concluded will be on a new project. Without further delay: 1.4 will be releasing on May 2nd, 2025 But also: 1.4-d69 is now available {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/25217624/0358593722c6a57a3587bcf686667338cf17a745.png We had planned for our Dev 7 release (d62) to be the final development branch release for 1.4, but we really had an opportunity with this build number and we're taking it. 1.4 is now feature complete so we'll be spending the next 3 weeks on our final round of bug hunting. If you run into any issues or have feedback, please let us know! Playing on development builds Right click BallisticNG in your steam library and go to Properties Go to the betas tab on the window that opens From the dropdown select development. If the update doesn't automatically queue for download, restart Steam Once you have opened the game, the version at the bottom right of the menu will read 1.4-d69 Unity Tools Update The Unity Tools package has been updated with this release. If you're making mods, you can view the changelog and download the package update here: https://github.com/Neognosis-Workflow/BallisticNG-Unity-Tools/releases/tag/1.4 AGL 2280 A common request we've received over the years has been for an official 2280 campaign. With 1.4 being heavily focused on 2280, it wouldn't be right if we didn't have a campaign for it. AGL 2280 is a DLC sized campaign that covers the base game tracks in 2280 and is setup as a remix of the base game AGL campaign. We've also added a 2280 practice / tutorial event with it's own pause menu guide, which you can find under the expansions header. With this, we've also updated the guide in the 2159 practice / tutorial event with new videos and a new page that explains wall collisions. Categories Editor Manually installing mods provides the luxury of using folders to categorize installed content in the menu. If you're using the Steam workshop however, you haven't had this ability... until now. On the menu, navigate to Modding -> Categories Editor. In this menu you can create categories for ships and tracks separately and then assign any custom content you want into them. Any changes you make will be applied immediately while the game's running. Content will be moved out of its original category and into any categories that you've assigned it to. Note that this tool can only be used for custom ships and tracks. The game's internal content can't be re-organised. Horizontal HUD Margin Scaling Game Options -> Interface -> Hud -> HUD Horizontal Margins This option lets you control the horizontal margins of HUDs to center them more. This is particu...1.4 Dev 7 Now AvailableMar 21, 2025 - Community AnnouncementsIt's been more then a year since we started work on 1.4. To allow us to focus on releasing the most important aspects of the update, we're splitting out a few planned features into smaller releases that'll come after 1.4. Dev 7 is the final development build for 1.4 and our next announcement will be a release date! Check out our roadmap for more details on what we'll be working on between now and 1.4s release, and throughout 1.4s support cycle (1.4.1 and 1.4.2). Playing on development builds Right click BallisticNG in your steam library and go to Properties Go to the betas tab on the window that opens From the dropdown select development. If the update doesn't automatically queue for download, restart Steam Once you have opened the game, the version at the bottom right of the menu will read 1.4-d62 Overview Gullfoss Run Gullfoss Run is the first of three 2280 tracks coming to the game. Although it's designed for 2280, you can also play it in 2159 and floorhugger! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymO62XJxsek 2280 Leaderboards & Leaderboard Reset Leaderboards are now available for 2280! The physics mode is also no longer considered a cheat, so you can now also set local 2280 records. We've also updated the API naming scheme for leaderboards, resetting them from 1.4-d62 onwards. As Steam has a limit to how many leaderboards we can have, we'll be removing leaderboards for 1.3 and versions before it once 1.4 has released. As we had mentioned with the release of a previous development build, we've moved the NX2000 into the high-end ships category so the standard category has a much more balanced range of ships. As 1.4 is our last major update, we've decided this is the right time to clear out scores and start fresh. Rich Presence We previously had support for DIscord rich presence, and we've now extended it to Steam and GOG Galaxy! We've also made some improvements to rich presence by allowing it to display the ship variant you're using, present campaign event information and let others know when you're in a lobby. Steam and GOG Galaxy rich presence is enabled by default and can be disabled in the options menu (Game Options > General > Integrations) if you'd like to keep your in-game activity private. Changelog Gamemodes 2280 is no longer a cheat and can now be used to set local records Integrations Added 2280 leaderboards Added support for Steam and GOG Galaxy rich presence (enabled by default) Rich presence now shows the ship variant being used, campaign events being played and when you're in a multiplayer lobby Reset leaderboards for 1.4-d62 onwards. Older builds will have their leaderboards removed when 1.4 releases to ensure there's plenty of space available on Steams backend. Fixed Discord rich presence not reporting menu activity User Interface Settings that have disabled saving are now shown on the pause menu instead of logged to the console Merged 2159 and floorhugger records into a single physics mode option in the local records menu (not poss...The Wipeout-like racer BallisticNG gets Steam Deck VerifiedFeb 26, 2025 - GamingOnLinuxThat's another game with the green tick that you might want to pick up. BallisticNG is a Wipeout, Rollcage and Jet Moto inspired racer that's genuinely good. With the still in-development updates, it's now Steam Deck Verified. Read the full article here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2025/02/the-wipeout-like-racer-ballisticng-gets-steam-deck-verified/ 1.4 Dev 6 Now Available - Steam Deck Verified!Feb 25, 2025 - Community AnnouncementsThe past two months have been a busy few. We've added cockpits for all of the 2280 ships, continued to work on the new UI and along the way have had the game Steam Deck verified. If you're playing on a Steam Deck, make sure you hop into the development branch for the best experience! Playing on development builds Right click BallisticNG in your steam library and go to Properties Go to the betas tab on the window that opens From the dropdown select development. If the update doesn't automatically queue for download, restart Steam Once you have opened the game, the version at the bottom right of the menu will read 1.4-d60 Overview 2280 Cockpits Finishing off development of the 2280 ships, every 2280 ship now has a cockpit and are ready for VR. Thanks to community member Kabelsalat who helped design the majority of these! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80_kBnr0tVc UI Updates We've continued to work on the UI, addressing feedback from both the community and Valve through the Steam Deck verification process. Standardized Input Prompt Positions Input prompts now have a standardized position along the underside of the menus bottom bar. This frees up space in the menu which has allowed us to better balance UI layouts. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/25217624/8cc7d8e6a36224390f4f113c6cc07700e5fc4a50.png Campaign Info Tabs The campaign info pages are now presented as tabs, making it much easier to keep track of what you're looking at. These are also intractable with a mouse, allowing for much faster switching if you're clicking around at a desktop. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/25217624/2f17e9cc1e9fcef24466874a5809fd18e9082a0c.png Controller Events The game now reports controller events! Tying into the Input Improvements mentioned below, the following events are now reported to you at the top of the screen: Controller connected Controller disconnected Controller assigned to a player The player navigating the menu has changed {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/25217624/775ffaba5f762db0c7ccea2e4e75f835c86cde89.png Input Improvements Controller Assignment Two controllers can now be automatically assigned to players by default. This fixes a conflict issue on the Steam Deck between the built-in controller and any external controllers. Unassigned controllers will now be automatically assigned to a player when pressing a button on them (this can be disabled in the Input Options menu). Controllers are assigned to the player who currently has menu navigation control. Finally, splitscreen is now inaccessible until Player Two has a controller assigned. The game will let you pick a controller in the menu before navigating forward, using the same selection interface as the Input Options menu. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/25217624/4afad9ded3b8b11b831e6f1dc1e24e36364825df.png Note: enabling debug mode bypasses the player two controller check. Improved Controller Saves Controller data is now saved by device ID instead of a hardware ID. The device ID is a way to uniquely identify a specific controller instead of just bun...1.4 Dev 5 Now AvailableDec 30, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsThe past few months of development have been spent almost exclusively on the game's UI. We've been pushing out builds along the way, so most of what's listed here has already been available for a while. If you're not in our Discord server, this will bring you up to date with all of the changes since Dev 4. Playing on development builds Right click BallisticNG in your steam library and go to Properties Go to the betas tab on the window that opens From the dropdown select development. If the update doesn't automatically queue for download, restart Steam Once you have opened the game, the version at the bottom right of the menu will read 1.4-d51 Notices Dedicated Server Changes There have been a lot of backend changes for multiplayer in this release which changes variable names used in dedicated server CFG files and changes how the LUA API is used for for changing lobby data. See the updated example CFG, random lobby lua example script and LUA documentation txt for more details. Menu Background Animation Options Two options have been added to customize the background animations on the menu. Some people don't like the new flying ship animation or find the particles in particular are too distracting, so we've added options to customise this. You can turn the particles off, or swap back to always using the old turntable animation. Options -> Game Options -> Interface -> Always Use Turntable Options -> Game Options -> Interface -> Flying Ship Particles BNGL Bundled To coincide with the gallery update in this build, we've worked with Radracer to officially distribute a portion of their BallisticNG legacy project with the game! We've taken the mods which are relevant to the game's development history and packed them in a ZIP which you can find in the Additional Content folder where the game's installed. A readme is included with installation instructions. If you're a GOG user, we're currently working with them to have the ZIP added as a goodie. When uncompressed, the ZIP provides just over 700mb worth of old ships and tracks from the game's past for you to play around with! The UI Overhaul Dev 5 finishes up the majority of work on interfaces that we had started on with Dev 4. The changes here span across the entire game and a detailed breakdown about all of them would take a long time, so we'll touch upon the most significant changes since Dev 4. Scaling & Padding UI scaling and list padding can now be customized! The game starts at 100% scaling (the maximum) and 72% padding to make sure everybody can see the UI regardless of the screen they're playing on. Here's the custom race settings list at 60% scaling: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/25217624/f5e04731de345e83a0c366826f4b12548285b671.png Multiplayer Lobby The multiplayer lobby screen has seen a major layout change to accommodate for vertical navigation and to maintain more consistent scaling with other UIs. Information is now split into three tabs: players, config and chat. The player tab shows the player list wi...1.4 Dev 4 is now availableOct 8, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsWith 1.4 being our last major feature update, we want to make sure that we're leaving the game in the best possible state that it can be in. The user interface is an area of the game that's needed some love for a very long time, and we're now giving it the attention it needs. We haven't finished every interface yet and will be completing them in a future development build. The interfaces we still need to update are: Campaign, campaign editor and precision runs. Multiplayer lobby. Multiplayer connecting popups. Options. Records, stats, achievements. Result screens. Code mods management. Gallery. HUDS (text rendering update, minor aesthetic tweaks). Probably some other Uis somewhere (we have a lot). Playing on development builds Right click BallisticNG in your steam library and go to Properties Go to the betas tab on the window that opens From the dropdown select development. If the update doesn't automatically queue for download, restart Steam Once you have opened the game, the version at the bottom right of the menu will read 1.4-d35 Notices UI preset locations have been changed and the game won't automatically move them. If you've been using presets for custom AI rosters or multiplayer lobbies, you'll want to move the following folders: User > Config > Ini > Ai Presets, to User > Config > Presets > Ai Rosters User > Confg > Ini > Lobby Presets to User > Config > Presets > Lobby Settings Unity Tools The Unity Tools have been updated with this release. Click here to view the changelog and download the latest package. The New Menu The UI element style that we debuted with the content selectors in 1.4 Dev 3 is now being rolled out across the entire game. The main menu has been reorganized with fewer options being displayed immediately. What we consider important options are at the forefront of this new menu, then everything else that was previously available on the start page can be found a layer deeper. We've also introduced a new style to the menus 3d rendering. When you're not in the track selector, ship selector or in a multiplayer lobby, you'll now be looking at this animation inspired by the game's cover art: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVJjsFEUmAc Navigation through all currently updated menus is now vertical only. Horizontal inputs are reserved for changing options. Combined with menus now resetting their selection to the first option when you navigate forward into them, we hope this will help with forming more consistent muscle memory for quickly breezing through interfaces to get into the game. Signed Distance Field Text Every text element in the game is being updated to Unity's TextMeshPro component, which uses SDF rendering to keep fonts sharp at any resolution. This not only has a benefit for people playing at higher resolutions like 4k, but it also improves readability at really low resolutions too. Here's a look at what this actually means. The top is using the old text renderer, the bottom is using the new text renderer. {STEAM_C...1.4 Dev 3 is now available!Sep 1, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsIt's been half a year since our last development branch update. We've been busy, let's get into what's we've been working on. Our previous build focused on setting the foundations for the rewritten 2280 physics mode. In this build we've not only continued to polish it, but have broken its mechanics out into general options that can be used anywhere. On top of this, we're also introducing 2280 variants for almost every ship in the game! Playing on development builds Right click BallisticNG in your steam library and go to Properties Go to the betas tab on the window that opens From the dropdown select development. If the update doesn't automatically queue for download, restart Steam Once you have opened the game, the version at the bottom right of the menu will read 1.4-d28 Notices How you barrel roll has changed in this update to tapping the thrust button. We had previously implemented the Roll On Thrust Tap option which was disabled by default, but have now expanded it into a general Barrel Roll Input option, with thrust tap as the default value. If you prefer the original way of barrel rolling or want both methods active, you can do so with this option in the controls menu. The new selector menus make use of new input bindings. If you're using a supported controller (you didn't have to bind inputs after installing the game) then these new bindings will be setup automatically, otherwise you'll need to head to the inputs menu to bind them. 2280 Ships https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H70c0Hk-VTQ The biggest addition coming with this update are the 2280 ships. Several months in the making, these are variants of a majority of the game's ships with the full suite of liveries. They currently don't have cockpits and we'll be adding these in future updates. A huge thanks to community members Brobama, Kabelsalat, MrX, Nathancubed and Vista for their hard work in helping design and develop these ships! A new section has been added to the game's credits which lists all of the contributions to this project. The 2280 ships are statistically identical to their 2159 counterparts and can be used anywhere. Yes, this includes being able to use them in the campaign! Although designed to best fit with 2280, they can be used in any physics mode. 2280 ships use a newly added variant system, which allows you to select the ship through the menu entries for the 2159 ships. More information about both the variant system and the new selection menus are below. Ship And Track Variants The new variant system reduces a lot of clutter that has started to build over the years. Also available to modders, variants allow us to combine multiple options into one entry in the menus. For ships this means allowing the selection of multiple prefabs from a single menu entry, and for tracks this is forward/reverse and course selections. Our internal use of this system is a bit more strict then what modders can use it for. The system allows you to pull in any installed content (except built ...What we've been cooking for 1.4 Dev 3Jun 23, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsHey everyone! It's been a while since our last update on the development branch, and it's still going to be a while longer, so we want to give everybody an update on what we've been working on. Please note that we currently don't have an ETA on when we'll be dropping 1.4 Dev 3, there's still plenty of work to be done. 2280 Ships The majority of work these past few months has been on a roster of 2280 ships. With the help of community members Brobama, Kabelsalat, MrX, Nathancubed and Vista, we've been hard at work giving each team a new ship that better suites the 2280 physics mode! These ships are only cosmetic changes and do not alter physics stats. We're also not limiting where they can be used. Not only can they be used in 2159 and floorhugger, but you'll also be able to select them in the campaign! Each ship will have the full livery set, including expansion DLCs and Bling Pack liveries. We'll also be working on new cockpits, although these will be made for an update beyond 1.4 Dev 3. Livery templates will also be made available for modders. The goal with these ships is to evolve their design and give them a cleaner aethestic, which will be tying into the design of 2280 track environments. We already have a 2280 track in development for release with 1.4, but we'll be showing that off at a later date. Here's a look at the new ships. We're still in the initial development stages for the Barracuda Model A, B and C, so you'll get to see those once 1.4 Dev 3 is out. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/25217624/238584ace4c6427bafae86080d591cb43ad96d55.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/25217624/e89e4a4f7b5d284f494b5efe0b1eaed9641aa0ce.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/25217624/9f2e1e16c0f5d933423ae8186f72beb448babe7b.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/25217624/e638d967469114b56fc48973a119d14397f26dc2.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/25217624/2d3a80c940ff5f41995f5d4f249d91c9235e9606.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/25217624/933682cdb25b8878cc57ef3d9fcf97c598e153e9.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/25217624/c889582b187bb2d39ddbc2e3e305747703b91c2e.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/25217624/fbf1c3d309b7937af77a144ebc6c85bf1d96d65e.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/25217624/f33e9182ee5f78b079cda59ebd78809c4bc37088.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/25217624/798690afb82b873274fc814de81b31604f2c8463.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/25217624/a6538b3ebdad6197d8258c8449c7eab31f7a1302.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/25217624/fe595c71e3086d42f916bbe2b6e5b14d7a716837.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/25217624/7d9fbe698c14fe75a26e051aca116a6ce456a163.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/25217624/d1bc6bb16cb763ab4c5a7bba0bd5a0a37b34c664.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/25217624/48f27a17246a21f40b1e1971b5d622100b02a21e.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/25217624/5ea0c541d46186aee8753b13b73a255706870139.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/25217624/b3ddcf44368c1663d08d9b71ded87f9c377a2b7f.png New Content Selector Menus With the new ships added, we needed a way to select them. The easiest option would have been to register them as new ships and display them in an ever growing flat list, but there's issues with the existing content selector menus we want to ad...1.4 Dev 2 now availableFeb 23, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsThe major update to 2280 has begun and we're now ready to push out the first part of the changes. 2280 was originally implemented as a cheat mode for fun which has fallen very far behind in quality compared to the rest of the game, so with 1.4 being our last major feature update we're spending the time to re-implement it. In a future content update we'll start to introduce dedicated content for the mode too. The physics mode selector is now in the custom race menu. And yes, it'll save your selection between game sessions! Playing development builds Right click BallisticNG in your steam library and go to Properties Go to the betas tab on the window that opens From the dropdown select development. If the update doesn't automatically queue for download, restart Steam Once you have opened the game, the version at the bottom right of the menu will read 1.4-d7 Notices Camera option changes We've recently updated the camera options to be per camera mode, instead of the previous physics mode based FOVs and global settings with random specific mode settings sprinkled in. Every camera mode now has it's own FOV and offsets, and any mode specific options are now organised with the respective modes section in the menu. Because of these changes, the names of old camera settings in the ini file have been updated so everything will be reset to their defaults. The 2280 Update Part 1 Part 1, this release, is the initial set of changes to the mode. We've laid the groundwork and have begun setting up ship stats. Let us know what you think! 2280s physics are now mostly separated from 2159, which has given us the opportunity to implement everything in a much cleaner and more modern way. Some parts of the physics like the ships thrust and various track bound related behaviours are still running on the 2159 code to keep that consistent, but pretty much everything else is new. Part 2 Part 2 will be focused on exposing the new ship stats to the modding tools and separating out game mechanics like weapon absorption to be available everywhere. The goal is for 2280 to become just a physics mode, with the game mechanics becoming options which let you mix and match whatever you like. This includes being able to do things like have weapon absorption and pitlanes enabled at the same time in any of the three physics modes/ We'll also be working towards 2280 having leaderboards, and for this we'll be setting up 2280 to use the afterburner and pitlanes as the default configuration, like with 2159. Changelog (since 1.4-d4) 2280 2280 is now mostly separated from 2159, and everything that has been separated has been rewritten from scratch Hovering is now handled with 4 hover points which apply torque for track alignment Full physics zone support (Kuiper Overturn fixed) The chase camera has been rewritten and now has several options to customize it Collisions have been rewritten and now include visual / audio feedback when hitting the track floor Added 2280 specific stats for various p...1.4 Dev 1 is now availableJan 6, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsWe've kicked off development of 1.4 and to get things started, we've been working on some modding features alongside some general features and improvements! Playing development builds Right click BallisticNG in your steam library and go to Properties Go to the betas tab on the window that opens From the dropdown select development. If the update doesn't automatically queue for download, restart Steam Once you have opened the game, the version at the bottom right of the menu will read 1.4-d4 Notices Legacy Layout Creator Depreciated 1.4 is depreciating the legacy layout creator. It's still in the game and can still be used to create tracks, but has been tucked away so layout creator 2.0 is the focus. The legacy layout creator can now be accessed by using the mod_legacylayoutcreator console command. Note that it isn't being removed entirely as this is a feature that's important for backwards compatibility. Unity Tools Update If you're making mods, you can now download unity packages for development builds of the game: https://github.com/Neognosis-Workflow/BallisticNG-Unity-Tools/releases/tag/1.4 All changes to releases towards the current major version will be documented on this release page. Overview Ship Lua Scripting The game's Lua implementation has been extended to ships! These enable you to do anything you can imagine, from setting up additional cosmetics to adding new mechanics and physics! Like with custom track lua scripts, these are sandboxed so they're confined to only doing stuff inside the game. Download the latest Unity Tools to get started with ship lua scripts. Documentation: Creating Lua Runners Ship Functions Reference API Reference Trkd files Trkd (Track Data) files are a new addition to custom tracks which allows menu data to be provided with the track. Trkd files are compiled and placed next to your tracks trk file. When present, the game will load everything it needs from the trkd, instead of going through the lengthy caching process. Trkd's can also be embedded into Wtrk files, and will be automatically added / updated if they're next to the Trk when creating / updating the Wtrk. It's safe to distribute both Trkd and Wtrks with embedded Trkd files to the current public stable release (1.3.3). Older versions of the game will just ingore the files. Also note that while Trkd files are not required and the game will continue with the current cache process without them, we highly reccomended you start shipping them with tracks as they offer similar load performance to the old system but without the extremely long load time on the first game launch. Download the latest Unity Tools to start building Trkd files. Reload mod content in-game It's now possible to reload mod content without needing to restart the game! Use the new mod -> refresh content button on the menu to start the refresh. This will remove mods that have been deleted, register mods that were added and will also handle content being moved between folders. Steam Deck / ...BallisticNG 1.3.3.1 is now available!Dec 5, 2023 - Community AnnouncementsHey everyone, here's a small update to address some issues brought up from the GOG side of things. Your in-game profile is now decoupled from launchers and can be freely changed however you see fit using the new config -> profile button on the main menu. If launching for the first time with a launcher running, the game will still pull your name and avatar image from there. A reset button in the new profile menu will let you automatically reset it to the launchers account name, or local defaults if you're not running a launcher. Your avatar image is now cached to User -> Cache -> ProfileImage.png. You can update this image to be whatever you want, and it'll show up on the menu the next time you launch the game. If you run without a launcher, a default image will be cached. Finally, the multiplayer name text input has been moved to the new profile menu and like with your local name, can also be reset! We're going to be expanding the new menu with more functionality in the future for 1.4. We've kept the scope of it for this update fairly limited to maintain stability while we begin work on the new update. Changelog Options Added config -> profile to the main menu. This opens an overlay menu where you can configure your profile. Moved multiplayer name input field to the new config -> profile overlay. Engine The profile name is now a preference entry, which is stored in User/Config/ini/preferences.ini, and is only set from Steam / Galaxy when a profile name isn't available. The profile image is now loaded from User/Cache/ProfileImage.png. This image file will be written to using a Steam / Galaxy / default profile image if not present. Fixed issues with processing GOG Galaxy leaderboard entries if the requested entries do not exist Fixed all preference options, with exception to first startup, not being saved or loaded User Interface Tips mentioning the Game -> Assist menu now correctly mention the Game -> Access menu. BallisticNG's 2023 trailer reminds you there's a great Wipeout homage on PCNov 23, 2023 - Rock, Paper, ShotgunEvery so often a new game surfaces that aims to be a successor to classic, stylish, mid-'90s antigrav racer Wipeout. Released back in 2018, BallisticNG was among the better attempts, managing to capture the speed and a little of the style while hewing close to the chunky polgyonal style of the PlayStation 1-era original. Fast Forward five years and BallisticNG has been regularly updated since that initial launch, and a new trailer to mark its release on GOG is keen to brag about Read more BallisticNG 1.3.3 is now available!Nov 22, 2023 - Community AnnouncementsWith BallisticNG 1.3.3 out of the door, we've now wrapped up 1.3 and are ready to move onto 1.4! Originally this is where we would have moved our main focus onto the game's Switch port, but as we have had unfortunately announced in September, Unity's actions and TOS terms moving forward makes this a risk for us within the time frames that we're operating within. We're still working on the PC version of course, and we'll start rolling out development builds for various 1.4 milestones as they're reached. New Trailer We've just released on GOG! To celebrate, here's a new general trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0vWr5aBqEU Notices Unity Tools The Unity Tools package used to be shipped with the game, but due to us changing our build process to implement GOG builds, we've changed how we're distributing this. All of the links previously provided with URL files in the modding folder have been merged into a single txt file (Modding/Links.txt), including the addition of a link to the new Unity Tools Github repository. Our documentation website has also been updated to address this change. Custom Tracks 1.3.3 completely revamps the game's section tracking system to allow for much more complex layouts to be made. Over the months we've tested the vast majority of custom tracks available to make sure the new system can accommodate for various misconfigurations, but there may be a few exceptions where tracks will want to be updated. The primary issue misconfigured custom tracks will see is an inability to backtrack after a pitlane exit due to the route exit section type not being setup. As long as you're racing as normal, this isn't an issue that'll impact you. In some rare cases, alternative routes may be inaccessible. If you've made custom tracks then we advise that you check your tracks for issues. If you find an issue that you'd like to fix, documentation for route setup can be found here, and we now also have documentation for the new tracking system here. If you have long routes that span more then 20 sections that you'd like players to be able to switch between, we've also setup a new feature, which is documented here. Overview Fixed NX2000 and Hyperion collisions With 1.3.3 we've added support for custom made ship collision meshes which has allowed us to finally fix some long standing collision issues with the NX2000 and Hyperion! If you're making custom ships, documentation can be found here. We also now have the debug_drawshipconvex console command so you can see what the physics engine sees. Just note that enabling this will drop performance, Accessibility option to disable lightning flashes We've previously implemented an option to toggle weather completely, and with 1.3.3 we've added a accessibility specific option to toggle the lightning flashes. You can now turn these off using the Game -> Access -> Lightning Flashes option! Aciknovae Rework Aciknovae has been given a major facelift for this update! An important change in this version is...Coming soon in BallisticNG 1.3.3Nov 10, 2023 - Community AnnouncementsBallisticNG 1.3.3 is right around the corner and we're aiming to get it out next Friday on the 17th. We've been working with GOG and have spent some time getting everything ready for a release over there! 1.3.3 is finishing up our support cycle of the 1.3 update with a new track, an updated Aciknovae and some other various features and improvements, so let's jump straight into what's coming: Basis Divide Basis Divide is a new track available in the extras category. It's set at the lowest level of the Aciknovae reactor, where the reactors themselves sit. This served as the starting point for the Aciknovae rework, and the spiral of Aciknovae is a direct bridge between the spaces the tracks occupy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbOmdI5VG4E {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/25217624/bd6df1e29bf960d7138003d64df953abcd86b163.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/25217624/6ec65f31ccb502aecfd3a407dcecf0f6382ec23a.png Aciknovae Update Aciknovae has been given a major facelift for this update! An important change in this version is making the reactors building feel much more like a real tangible place with a dense industry surrounding it. Aciknovaes layout has a lot of verticality to it, and the new scenery has been built to tower over you as you go through the lower levels of the circuit. With this update there's also been some tweaks to the pitlane entrances to make the pitlane less painful to manoeuvre into. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Gqg3HU5nGg {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/25217624/faf0d73d5cc4696534fd5f6558df11f5137acf17.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/25217624/45877124741ff765f9dd3cf7983d0615fec2fcd9.png Reworked section tracking and route generation system BallisticNG generates information about track routes ahead of time and uses a system that is aware of where you currently are on the track to optimise figuring out where you might be next. Previously these systems were designed in such a way that made nested routing impossible, and both have been completely rewritten with this update to open up the game for much crazier track designs. This is unlikely something we will be taking advantage of internally fully, but this will solve a lot of issue for people making their own tracks! We've tested the large majority of currently released custom tracks and built the system around misconfigurations we've seen across them, however there will be some scenarios where things might be broken. Backtracking in particular will be an issue for some tracks where route exits aren't configured, however as you want to be moving forwards and not backwards this is not a game breaking issue. Caliburn Rebalance Caliburn has been a ship we've wanted to look at rebalancing for a while. It's never been used much, not even by ourselves, and is often frowned upon for use in fair play scenarios. 1.3.3 puts the teams current lore in the past, and dials the ships grip and steering stats back to make it more reasonable to fly. With these changes, Calliburn can also be used in campaigns and will show up as a regular ship ...Moving forward after the Unity debacleSep 23, 2023 - Community AnnouncementsFirst off, let's get straight into why you're reading this: What this means for BallisticNG There's been concerns about the Unity changes killing off new and existing games, so first off: BallisticNG is not going anywhere. However, Nintendo has a rolling Unity version requirement for game releases and we're already behind the threshold by two years. 2 weeks ago this wouldn't have been an issue, no doubt there'd have be some pains in updating BallisticNG to a new version of Unity again, but it would have benefited us in the long run. By the time we'll have a Switch version of BallisticNG ready, the threshold for Unity versions will exceed the new versions that Unity are pushing their TOS changes with, and we currently have no confidence that they won't try pulling another move or pushing back to their original plans under / beyond this new TOS. The Switch port is cancelled Despite Unity's efforts to recover after their PR disaster, there just isn't any trust and security for us to continue moving forward with newer versions of their tools in the foreseeable future. It comes with much frustration and disappointment that we're announcing the cancellation of the Switch version. Several years of development has gone into preparing BallisticNG technically for the port while maintaining the usual output of updates for the PC version, so this comes as a big kick in the balls to both us and everybody else who was excited for this version of the game. We're sorry that it has turned out this way, and we'll be looking at working with the console (or the rumoured Switch 2) in a future project not bound by Unity. We'll still be moving forward with 1.3.3, 1.4 and continued content support, and we look forward to bringing in community members for content development again in the future for that. What's this about Unity? A quick rundown for the uninitiated: On September 12th Unity had announced a new business model where they were removing the Plus license, introducing always online DRM to the Unity editor, will start charging developers a per install fee (the runtime fee) based on their own black box estimates after certain thresholds were met, in some rare cases potentially bankrupting companies, and took down their public Github repository for their TOS, which allowed people to track every minute change, while forcing everybody into a new agreement that applied retroactively. They damage control a few times as developers respond extremely negatively. On September 22nd they rolled back a bit. The runtime fee no longer applied to Personal licenses, now has a 2.5% revenue cap and is self reported, the TOS has been restored to Github and the new terms are no longer applied retroactively. The plus license is still gone (it's merging with Personal, but you'll need to use the new versions not released yet), and they're still introducing always online DRM to the editor. What this means for us Many developers have made statements about the changes and more likely will....

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