Update 43: Swarm Rework, Level Editor Folders/Prefabs, and New York Winter map

This update adds a new holiday-themed version of the "New York" map, with snow-covered streets, new ambient lighting, and three secret holiday-related tasks that players can complete. Players who manage to complete all three of them are rewarded with a new achievement, and a new "Pine Tree" weapon pattern!

The "Swarm" cop class also received a full rework: The idea was to create a gadget-focused cop that could pro-actively set up defenses against the robbers, but the drone-based approach forced robbers into attacking him early instead of focusing on a stealthy approach, while his remote-controlled drones allowed him to be at multiple places at once. The old Swarm is now officially removed from the game, but can still be played by selecting the new "Removed" characters pack.

The new, reworked Swarm still focuses on gadgets, but can no longer remotely control them, and doesn't spawn with them anymore, instead, he places them into the world like most other classes. He can place an unlimited amount of gadgets, only being limited by his "Idea Sparks" resource which can be increased by reading Secret Files. His gadgets include a new "GrumpyBOT" motion detector, which automatically fires on characters that cross its laser detector, dealing around 20 damage. His Spark-O-Tron is a small robot that drives around aimlessly, bouncing off walls and stunning any characters that come too close, while his modified "Sweep-O" cleaning robot drives to nearby fires to automatically extinguish them.

The class selection screen also received some changes, robbers can now select their spawn by pressing directly on it, instead of having to cycle through all available spawns. Players can now also cycle through the different floors of the bank to make planning the perfect heist easier.

The level editor also got upgraded, map creators will now find a new "Create Folder" button, which will create a new folder that includes all selected items, making the object list more concise and allowing players to convert the new folder into a "Prefab". Created Prefabs can be used like any other existing object in the level editor, allowing creators to quickly place them inside their maps. Prefabs can also be uploaded and downloaded through the Steam Workshop, which makes sharing your favorite custom objects, logic setups, and setpieces.

A new "Multi-Purpose Zone" has also been added to the level editor, which allows map creators to quickly apply one or more of the following effects on players inside the zone:

change player class

prevent weapon usage

prevent punching

sprint speed modifier

jump height modifier

no fall damage

heal per second

damage per second

Full changelog:

New:

added new "New York (Winter)" map, players who complete all 3 holiday-themed hidden tasks on the map are rewarded with an achievement and the new "Pine Tree" weapon pattern (backend name for dedicated server owners: "NewYorkCity_Snow")

reworked Voice Chat system

added scoreboard functionality to change players mic volume/mute them, this is saved across sessions

added class icons to teammate widgets in the class selection menu

added interaction object highlighter outline (can be disabled in Settings->Graphics)

players can now press on spawns inside the map to choose them

removed spawn selection buttons to increase the size of the map by 25%

added option to view ground level/upper floor instead of just showing the roof perspective

added "Ground Floor Z" and "First Floor Z" variables to the "Birdseye Map View" level editor object, to allow map creators to change the ground level/upper floor map view cuttoffs, defaults to 300 and 600 respectively, which should work fine for most maps

the in-game menu "Server Options" tab now show read-only server settings for all players (only hosts/admins can edit them)

added new "Run Server Diagnostics" button inside the "Server Options" menu for owners of dedicated servers, runs memory and CPU profiling for a few seconds to debug performance issues

dedicated server admins can now remotely restart a round

Changes: Swarm (Old):

reduced drone noise when flying

Firefighter can no longer place his ladder right next to other characters to prevent NPC checks

added new "Removed" class pack which only contains Swarm (Old) for now

Swarm (Rework):

available in the "Experimental" character category

original concept was a setup/gadget focused cop that can preemptively build defenses similar to Inventor & FBI, but drone-based implementation was too clunky and complicated for most players, forced robbers into early-round aggression and was very difficult to balance

Swarm rework is called "Swarm 2" for testing purposes for now

now has Pistol & Wrench has weapons

has a new "Idea Spark" resource cost for gadgets instead of cooldown/placement limits

gains new "Idea Sparks" for picking up his broken gadgets and reading Secret Files

can choose from 3 gadgets, currently all cost 2 "Idea Sparks":

Sweep-O: Drives around and extinguishes fires

GrumpyBOT: Motion Detector that fires on threats (gun can't move/track targets, currently triggers on cops too, for testing purposes)

Stun-O-Tron: Drives around in a straight lines, bounces of walls and stuns nearby non-cop characters

Map Changes: Arcade:

fixed customer NPCs being able to walk into the employee desk near the entrance

Fixed:

fixed players joining during a ban phase not entering the ban phase widget, instead being able to run around below the map

fixed Hornet/Tech drones seeing the "Left Mouse Button" keybind hint even though they can't use it

fixed Janitor puddles blocking grenades that fly over them

fixed being able to movement check players with Janitor puddles

fixed drones getting stuck above Janitor puddles

fixed reworked Swarm's Sweep-O bot not extinguishing fires correctly

multiple potential fixes for players sometimes being able to pick other classes in a "Class Wars" round

potential fix for dedicated servers sometimes crashing without a crash report

fixed multiple grenade collision issues

fixed certain game settings not being correctly applied on dedicated server

fixed multiple UI issues introduced in previous beta versions

fixed Snipers selected ammo type not resetting correctly after a round ended

fixed a bug where clients got confused regarding the current pick phase type, resulting in issues like too many banned classes being shown for the client

reduced dedicated server log spam

Level Editor:

changed default location snap from 500 to 50

fixed being able to save/playtest a custom map while it's still loading

improved "Object List" performance

fixed selected objects "Settings" menu sometimes not appearing

object name font size now get scaled down if the objects name is too long in the object browser

added "Logic Random" object, randomly activates output channel A or output channel B if input channel is activated

replaced logic light emission to a solid, shiny color to improve performance and increase visible range

fixed "Logic Timer" not correctly resetting after a round, resulting in the output channel sometimes still being powered in the next round

fixed Folder Prefab not working correctly when combined meshes had non-default rotation and scale values

added "Master Thief's Diamond Spawn" object, Master Thief's diamonds will try to spawn at those locations before replacing jewelry

fixed object preview mesh not being visible after placing an object, forcing user to select object in the object browser again

added drag-and-drop functionality to the object browser

fixed "Bathroom Door" having its AI Blocker at the wrong location

fixed Micro being able to pickup more than 5,000$ from "Custom Stealable" objects

slightly improved level editor map loading time

destructible walls now show their red "X" marker in the level editor

added "Logic XOR" object

placed objects now instantly open their object settings menu, users are no longer required to press on the object again

added new "Custom Mesh" object, replaces now deprecated "Custom Object":

working collisions on Linux and dedicated servers

more consistent results when exporting from 3D modelling programs like Blender

greatly improved load times and FPS compared to the old "Custom Objects"

previously used "Custom Objects" will continue to work as before

added new folder system:

added new "Add Selected Objects to Folder" functionality, allowing users to create any number of custom-named folders

users can toggle the visibilty (level-editor only) of objects either individually, or for all objects in a folder

newly placed objects get added to a folder if the folder is selected

added "Insert Selected Objects to Existing Folder" and "Select All Objects in Folder" buttons to each folder

fixed deleted objects still appearing in their folder

added "Delete Folder" button

added new "Multi Purpose Zone", can toggle independently:

change player class

prevent weapon usage

prevent punching

sprint speed modifier

jump height modifier

no fall damage

heal per second

damage per second

added new "Prefab Folder" object:

added new "Create Prefab" button to the new folders, groups all objects in the folder together into a new .prefab file that can be used in any other map

placing a "Prefab Folder" object in any map will spawn all previously packaged objects in the correct position, rotation and scale relative to the "Prefab Folder" object

"Prefab Folder" objects can either be used like a singular mesh, or be unpacked to fine-tune settings of the included objects

prefab save location is inside /LevelEditor/Prefabs/

prefabs support custom mesh/money/door objects, the relevant files (.FBX/.png) are now included in the prefabs folder, and will be automatically added to the level editor project directory if the prefab is added

added "Prefab Origin" object, if it is included in a prefab, it sets that prefabs origin point to its location

optimized preview model to dramatically reduce the amount of new objects spawned by it, this should fix rare level editor crashes that were caused by hitting an object limit or memory issues

fixed certain some Extra/Props meshes not appearing correctly when using them inside prefabs