First to mention is Vector 36 now supports TrackIR!
https://www.naturalpoint.com/trackir/
If you have a TrackIR, turn it on, center it in your runtime, then behold the magic when sitting in the cockpit. It supports all 6 degrees of freedom. Pretty cool gadget if you don't have VR.
Next to mention is there are a few more tracks, and a few rebuilt ones.
Noctis Chasma and Lana's Run are now completely rebuilt with some nicer meshes and textures. 2 new tracks include Noctis Loop Reversed, and Taenarius Reversed.
The next major change is the way the Lift Vectors perform.
Story time! So, I updated Unity to 5.5, which has done remarkable things to performance and VR. It also upgraded PhysX to 3.3.3 which has done remarkable things to physics accuracy and optimizations. So much so, that it has completely changed the flight characteristics of Skimmers. Modding a skimmer in the garage has resulted in overly sensitive outputs, and in some cases, unmanageable flight. It is now overly easy to go completely airborne and bypass all the terrain as you collect gates.
Veteran Vector36 engineers have known for a while that they can simply raise the main thruster up a few degrees to float in older builds, but now it is even easier, if not unavoidable.
This has never been the point of Vector 36, so I have spent some time on retooling the way the skimmers perform on the ground. Normally, the lift vectors work through a sort of repulsion to the ground. As you lift off the ground, the weaker they get.
The new model acts as an electro-magnetic "pocket" that keeps your lift thrusters at a nominal height based on their power output. Wtf does this mean? Each lift vector will push away from the ground if it is too low, but draw back to the ground if it is too high. This keeps all the vectors closer to the ground at all times and acts like floating rails. HOWEVER, if you exceed this magnetic pocket and launch too high, the vectors turn off completely, as they have no ground to attach to. This happens frequently with high speed jumps.
You can technically still float high above the terrain and collect gates, but 2 things:
1) I have made the gates half the height now.
2) You now only have your main thruster to steer when floating, which is not as nimble.
I am hoping this encourages more skimming and less ICBMing, but if your tactic involves going airborne, you can still do that. As a precaution, "Jump" still functions as it always has.
If you already have some finely tuned craft, the bad news is that you might have to change a few characteristics, mostly in the angle of the main vector. It will also take a bit of time to get used to the new flight dynamic. As always, give it a shot and let me know what you think. I will be constantly refining it in the days to come as there are still some kinks here and there.
Those of you that participated in the final release megathread; Thanks very much. Your feedback has been received and taken into consideration.
Max and Linux releases will come in a couple days, after some more testing.
Thanks again and remember to give the game some tasty tasty feedback if you want to see more.
-Ryan