Hey folks!
This update brings several improvements, features and bugfixes ported from Intravenous 2. While working on Intravenous 2 I couldn't help but think to myself "this is such a good improvement, I should backport it to the first game" - which is exactly the point of this update. Most of the new things in this update are things that I believe don't affect the gameplay design of Intravenous 1 that much, which is why they've been added.
Without further ados, here are the changes!
New gadget - Medkit
This something I talked about in one of the "What's next?" community posts here on Steam. However I completely forgot to implement it into the game, since life got really busy. Now that it's implemented in Intravenous 2, I thought it's only natural I backport it to the first game, especially since I announced that it would be added to the game a year ago.
Because this gadget doesn't contribute to the bandage use limit, map makers can easily use this to add as many healing items to levels as they want... if that's what their levels are all about!
New gadget - PKC-EMP
A new toy for stealth lovers - a portable EMP device which knocks out electrical devices in a radius around the player. It's drawbacks are the fact that it charges quickly only when moving, and it's high weight which directly penalizes your movement noise and speed.
New graphics setting - High-contrast rendering
Enabling this will switch the lighting blending to a different algorithm, one that tries to preserve details while altering the colors. The result is a vastly different picture that brings out more details out of every pixel which some might call "atmospheric" or "moody". This setting also responds much better to the in-game brightness setting. This is kept as a separate setting instead of replacing the old one since I am sure there are people that prefer the old mode over the new one. :)
Improved light level calculation
The formula responsible for calculating how lit any given object is has been improved - areas that are dark to the human eye now light the player up less, meanwhile bright areas remain just as bright. This change makes stealth easier in a way that makes sense.
Improved armor protection
Yet another improvement backport. Previously, when you'd get shot, but the armor was able to withstand the bullet and prevented penetration, you'd receive a flat reduction in damage as per the armor vest's stats. Now, in addition to the flat protecion, you also receive additional damage dampening the further away said bullet is from penetrating the armor vest. For example, the Ceramic Plate, when hit by a weapon using 9x19MM, will provide even greater protection than before. Combat will now be a tad easier, but don't expect miracles!
Visual recoil
Among many improvements in Intravenous 2 is the addition of visual recoil (or camera shake) when firing weapons. Firing the first game up, I couldn't help but feel like something's missing when firing. So, with this feature backport you'll notice guns feel more satisfying to fire. However this effect is kept light, since vision is a very important aspect of combat in Intravenous, and having exaggerated camera shake would make combat more difficult.
Improved fake shadows effect
This is yet another improvement backport from Intravenous 2. I didn't like how fake shadows were incapable of stacking, and you could not have object A that's placed on top of object B cast it's fake shadow onto object B. The improved fake shadows give a better feel of depth, and scenes look better overall. Oh, and did I mention that these improved fake shadows also use fewer CPU and GPU resources? What's not to like!
Improved grenade explosion & HSR-EMP visuals
Grenades now create a visible blast wave when they explode to make them feel a bit more powerful. The HSR-EMP creates a small wave effect around the object it disrupted.
Improved flashlight, security camera, and player view cone effect
Yet another improvement backport. Now the cones fade in a much more softer manner. This is one aspect of the first game's visuals that I didn't like that much, so after improving it in the second game I figured I'd backport it here. :)
Improved night-vision goggles effect
When using NVGs, the colors are sharper, and the overall color palette is more neutral, rather than giving off a strong green tint that might be a bit uncomfortable.
Fixed weapon spread increase rates
The weapons in Intravenous have a highly dynamic spread system, which is influenced by many things - continuous fire, movement speed, mouse movement. One of the factors that affects the spread increase from your next shot is by how much spread has increased already, in other words how long you've been firing for. During the development of Intravenous 2 I noticed something bizarre - it worked in reverse. The lower the spread, the more spread is increased per each shot. This is an important bug that directly (and negatively) influenced the gunplay of Intravenous since version 1.0. Going into the game starting with version 1.4.0 you'll notice weapon handling is drastically different. This makes the game easier, but also more difficult at the same time, since NPCs also use the exact same weapon spread system.
These are the main changes in version 1.4.0. Several previous patches in the past have implemented various improvements/fixes backported from Intravenous 2, but this time I decided to pack several improvements I consider sizeable into one update. Hope you like them!
Version 1.4.0:
Additions
- new gadget - Medkit:
* it can heal a total of 40 health points
* does not contribute to bandage use limit
- new gadget - PKC-EMP:
* disrupts eletrical devices in a radius around the player
* recharges quickly only when moving
- new graphical setting - High-contrast rendering:
* enabling this will switch to a different light-blending algorithm, one that will make details pop more
* it should have no performance difference compared to when disabled
Visual improvements
- added visual recoil from firing weapons
- added blast effects for grenades and when using the HSR-EMP
- improved night-vision goggles effect
- improved fake shadows to be able to cast shadows on top of each other, while using fewer CPU and GPU resources
- shader and lighting system optimizations; in GPU-bottlenecked scenarios testing showed an average improvement of 23%, owing largely to the lighting system optimizations, with the lowest and highest improvements ranging from 14% to 38.8% better performance - the boost in performance you'll see will largely depend on your graphics card!
- improved menu blur - looks better and uses fewer GPU resources
- added a background panel to the loadout menu, so that it doesn't look like it's "floating"
Gameplay tweaks
- improved light level calculation by evaluating the grayscale value of the light, rather than the sum average - dark areas are now darker, while bright areas remain just as bright, if not brighter
- increased armor protection in the event of the projectile failing to penetrate the armor vest - the further the bullet is from penetrating the vest, the greater the damage dampening
Fixes
- fixed incorrect shot spread increase calculation
- fixed being able to go prone while cooking or throwing grenades
- fixed a crash that occured during cutscenes with the "Exploding Enemies" mutator enabled
- fixed some minor UI issues in the loadout menu
Don't forget to report any issues you encounter in this thread!
You can also join the official Discord server!
Thanks for reading, hope you're enjoying the game!