v1.38.6.0 - ParticleDetail/ParticleDensity options; many fixes, improvements

Another update is here for BlastZone 2! (v.1.38.6.0) This update adds New ParticleDetail/ParticleDensity detail options, along with other technical improvements to the underlying engine. Full details are below:

• Converted the existing "Particle Detail" setting to "Particle Density"
• The setting controls the same particle behavior, just under a new name

Added a new "Particle Detail" setting

• This controls the rendering detail for individual particles, instead of the number of particles spawned for each effect
• Controls how many particle effects use a 2-pass rendering approach, improving color quality of particles
• Most particle effects not using the 2-pass approach use additive blending instead
• Makes them appear washed out in some circumstances, but has better performance

The "Low" setting eliminates all 2-pass particle renders, maximizing performance

The "Normal" setting only uses 2-pass particle rendering for enemy explosions to improve color quality

The "High" setting uses 2-pass particle rendering for all applicable particle effects

• Looks and performs identically to before this update

Added a new "ParticleCycleRatio" parameter to bz2config.cfg

• Using a value higher than 1.0 dynamically throttles the particle update rate under heavy loads
• Defaults to a value of 1.0, which maintains the same behavior as previous versions
• This option is not accessible in game, only tweakable directly in the bz2config.cfg file

Added new subsystem cycle rate displays in the debug frame stats display

• Main update
• Particle System
• Sound update
• Steam update
• DirectIP update

Disabled autofire for fire1 and fire2 when using mouse controls for Classic A or Classic B game modes

Fixed crash when changing the terrain detail setting in the demo version

Migrated the OpenAL sound system from the legacy Creative Labs library to the modern OpenAL Soft library

• Eliminates the need for a discrete OpenAL installer for the game to function
• The OpenAL32.dll file now runs locally along side the game executable, not from the system directory
• Allows for more advanced audio effects in the future to run in software

Migrated all leaderboard data retrieval and submissions to use HTTPS; encrypting all communication

Migrated to cURL 8.22.0 and added HTTPS support to the cURL DLL

Reduced the Steam integration thread from 60hz to 20hz when not playing a Steam Multiplayer game

• Raises this back to 60hz when starting a Steam Multiplayer game
• Reduces CPU usage when not playing a Steam Multiplayer game while maintaining all Steam integration functionality

Added support for generated shader variants

• Reduces the number of shader files on disk
• Generates additional shaders on launch that are equivalent to the shaders that no longer need to be stored on disk

Added real alpha channel rendering to the mouse cursor, boss health meter box, and classic training laser sights; improves visibility consistency across all backgrounds from the previous additive blending approach

Adjusted coloring values of the the mouse cursor, boss health meter box, and classic training laser sights to work better with the new alpha channel

Added an alpha channel to the cursor.bzt and meterbox.bzt texture assets

Optimized the shader loading from disk operation

Fixed a few silent shader compiler errors on launch

Improved robustness of shader loading operations to prevent potential issues with some platforms

Refactored much of the Steam integration, UDP threading, TCP threading, and leaderboard threading code

Updated the external config program to support the new ParticleDetail/ParticleDensity and ParticleCycleRatio options

As usual, to make sure you have the latest update, launch the game and check the lower left corner for “v1.38.6.0” or higher. Enjoy!