MAIN CHANGES
There is a game-breaking bug in v55.1 in which keys, food, and other items do not drop from enemies. Make sure you download the v55.2 patch from here: ⬇ Download CIU
Although it’s been a long while since v.54, this release is not focused on new features, or even bug fixes. Rather, this version serves as a testing bed for several significant technical changes under the hood:
- DirectX 9 is out, DirectX 11 is in: New pixel shaders should improve performance (particularly during large explosions or other intense particle effects).
- Sadly, as a result of this change, Windows XP is no longer supported. Windows Vista support is also probably broken – please report experiences here.
- In my VM tests, I’ve noticed a 10-second delay when game is first starting up. You can hear the music, but the screen is black. Not sure if this is VM-related – please report experiences here.
- Reworked audio engine: Fixes some long-standing bugs (in particular, related to the game losing/gaining focus).
- Reworked input engine: Fixes some long-standing mouse-jumping issues.
There is significant probability of something going horribly wrong. In fact, I’d be very surprised if I don’t have to release an emergency patch within the first hour
COMPATIBILITY
You will lose:
- any in-mission progress
- all game preferences
- any graphics options you have configured (under particular circumstances, all menu options could be lost)
CHANGELOG
New features – Tweaks – Bug fixes – Internal changes
- Deleted users that haven’t logged in in the past 4 weeks and have less than an hour of playtime.
- “Feather Brain” boss: Fixed weakness against fire/metal (@Sammarald Bug)
- Changed store phrasing of “Maneuvering Jets” (@BoggY Idea)
- Fixed missing tooltips for hot/electric/massive/singularity/frozen bodies (@minasam123 Bug)
- Fixed incorrect “diameter” text alignment (@SA-GoldenBoss128 Bug)
- Proper fix from v.54. Fixed keys not being dropped even though key glow is visible (@MoonKnight Bug)
- Proper fix from v.54. ICBMs can now destroy feathers (@Tempest_ORM Bug)
- Competitive missions: Pointless enemies no longer drop keys.
- Fixed menu integers/sliders responding (beep) when clicked in the area between the arrows and the central field (@trueuser Bug)
- Removed alternate “Wake up!” title from CI1 Anniversary mission (@MoonKnight Idea)
- Feather Brain: raised pitch of death sound (@Fractorial Idea)
- “Over the Rainbow” wave: reversed order of colors (@trueuser Bug)
- Added medal glints.
- “Corridor Shooter” wave: Prevented Cowards from spawning (@SA-GoldenBoss128 Idea)
- Retro missions: Fixed wave ordering (@SA-GoldenBoss128 Bug)
- RuntimeClassManager: Building of class tree now uses hashes (reduces startup time)
- NavGotoLeaveScreen: fixed infinite recursion when serializing (benign unless user connects mid-wave)
- “Egg Cyclone/Enemy Hurricane” wave: Enemies now stop further away from screen border (to hide any key glow). Slowed down enemies (5s → 6s) to account for increased distance travelled (@SA-GoldenBoss128 Bug)
- Weekly mission: “Droid Raid” waves now also have a chance of appearing (weight=0.5) (@SA-GoldenBoss128 Idea)
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Replaced DirectX 9 with DirectX 11. Removed support for Windows XP. (Probably) corrects this bug:
- Game starts in a very small (postage stamp-sized) window.
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Reworked audio engine (unified sound/music handling, better channel management, added capability to freeze and restore sounds/music, supports multiple audio layers). Resultant improvements: improved music preview in Store/Mission Config screens; game audio now stops when in-game pause menu appears; (probably) also corrects these bugs:
- Mission music will keep playing if you’re disconnected while Alt-Tabbed away.
- Looped sounds stop playing after Alt-Tabbing away.
- Both quiet and intense CIU themes play simultaneously.
- Galaxy: Fixed bug whereby cloud textures were incorrectly precached as heightmaps (due to a fortuitous bug, they were not precached at all rather than corrupt memory)
- Multi-kill bonus is no longer interrupted by the in-game pause menu (@harakat @SA-GoldenBoss128 Bug)
- In-game pause key is now customizable.
- Game now prefers discrete GPU over built-in GPU.
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Corrected spacecraft jumping/warping when in-game pause menu appears/disappears (caused by bad SetCursorPos behaviour). (Probably) corrects this bug too: (@Alucard Bug)
- Sometimes mouse warps to the center of the screen when you close the in-game pause menu.
- Hybrid missions (weekly challenge): Stages that are replaced by other mission types are now random; up to 3 stages can be replaced. (@SA-GoldenBoss128 Idea)
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Due to change above, random wave generation has changed for all missions. - Added “precision movement” keyboard key (@OneWingLunarian Idea)
- Reworked input engine (largely untested).
- Compiled with VS2017 15.9.25
- Weapon virtuosity bonus for Moron-only usage (+25%) removed from competitive missions (@VerMishelb Idea)
- Meteor Storm missions: Grazing bonus is now disabled while spacecraft is invulnerable (@Recruit_75 Idea)
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“Asteroids / No, really!” wave: asteroids are now lava on hot environments (
@SA-GoldenBoss128 Idea) - “Clean sweep” bonus is now calculated precisely from actual wave start. Cut-off increased to 2s (was 5s, but including 4s transition time from previous wave). It’s now possible to earn the bonus on waves where enemies delay entering the screen (e.g., Binary Stream, The Invasion Begins) (@SA-GoldenBoss128 Idea)
- Fixed “Early Bird” bonus not being awarded on the first wave of each stage (@SA-GoldenBoss128 Bug)
- Interchanged quips for “Attack of the Giant Crab” and “The King of Crabs” waves (@SA-GoldenBoss128 Bug)
- “Marching on” wave: Added mirrorred variation (@ScarletCuboids Idea)
- Fixed font digit width equalization information (bEqualizeDigitWidths) getting lost each time UVE mode changed.
- Updated DPI-aware manifest to use “true/pm” instead of “true” (fixes window being resized/blurred when moved between different-DPI displays).
- Stricter anti-cheating checks.
- Mouse wheel: Each notch now counts as 1 Z-unit (instead of 120).
- Input engine now correctly handles case of mouse wheel scrolling through multiple notches per frame (results in more responsive list scrolling/zooming).
- Added tutorial mission.
- Reworked tutorial/help system (incomplete).
- Updated Laser Cannon description in store (@OneWingLunarian Bug )
- Lightning/Plasma: Camera zoom is now factored out for when thickening long beams (@RainbowBoyVN @AmirMohammad.as Idea)
- Updated Corn Shotgun description in store (@ScarletCuboids Bug)
- Weekly missions: Alien Container now appears during Supernova stages (@SA-GoldenBoss128 Bug)
- “Awarded for not collecting any power-ups in a single stage” medal now worth 50,000 points (was 30,000) (@SA-GoldenBoss128 @Boggy Idea)
v55.2 patch
- Fixed drops not… well… dropping (@Alucard medal_sports: Bug)
BACKUPS
You are reminded that during Early Access you are responsible for backing up your own progress. Make a copy of everything under C:\ProgramData\InterAction studios\CIU
(including all sub-folders). Never rename files or move them from one version folder to another. Simply make a copy and then later put it back exactly where you found it.