Hi Agents!
We have now concluded maintenance and patch rollout of the Dedicated Servers Update to the live environment. We will be monitoring for issues over the next few days to ensure data migrated appropriately and there are no lasting critical issues from the new systems or backend.
As a reminder, this was not a gameplay update, but one very focused on making sure that Deceive Inc. could sustainably keep operating well into the future. As such, gameplay or general bugs that existed prior to this update will almost certainly continue to persist.
We will be on the lookout in the Steam forums and in our Discord for new issues that might arise from this.
With all of that said, let's do a recap of all of the new features and flows with this update!
Matchmaking is now retired. In its stead, a server browser has been implemented to facilitate finding and joining matches.
Current matchmade servers are also retired, being replaced by...
Those that tried out the beta are likely already familiar, but to anyone tuning in you should have a Dedicated Server app in your Steam library.
Additionally, this tool is able to pulled using SteamCMD (no ownership of the game on Steam is required) and also has a Linux version!
You can find SteamCMD instructions on our wiki page.
Using this application will launch the Dedicated Server configuration window where you can fully configure your very own Deceive server!
These servers behave just like the previous matchmade servers, as opposed to the old custom servers. This means that there is no exp penalty, there will be finable Bonds/credits/EXP cassettes, and achievements will trigger in these servers.
Tripwire will also be hosting a small collection of "Official" servers, noted by a Deceive icon in the browser, so that players on all platforms always have a place to play, even if they don't directly start up a server themselves.
Below is a previously posted overview of a custom balance system available to server hosts. This system, while having some quirks, is intended to provide you all with a surface area to configure game balance to your desires. We look forward to seeing all of the crazy changes and rulesets you all come up with!
Within the \\DeceiveInc\[/c] of your server installation folder, you’ll find a CommunityBalanceProfile JSON file. This contains editable values for a variety of overrides.
Want Agents to have a higher health pool? Go for it. Red should have 70 ammo clip machine-shotgun? You got it. These values will sync to any player connecting to your server, allowing you to create servers with your own balance in mind.
Now, I do need to mention a few caveats and quirks about the system.
For full transparency, this system was adapted from what the Sweet Bandits would use to do live balance updates. There are likely a good handful of overrides that are mislabeled, attached to mechanics/features that were cut or redesigned, or just simply don’t work.
We do have to provide this system and the adjustable overrides as-is.
I want to take a moment to highlight one of our community members, Riclamin, who put together a beautiful tool that presents the JSON into a much more readily readable and editable format.
You can find that tool over on Github.
Additionally, Riclamin, the beta testers, and the community over at Spire Scrims have graciously put a lot of time and effort into verifying many of these overrides ahead of time.
I really hope you all enjoy tinkering with Deceive at this level and can use this system -even with its quirks- to create fresh experiences for you and your friends.
Make sure you restart your server to apply any changes made!
Most common connection issues, be it someone connecting to your server or getting connected to someone else’s, tend to stem from improper port forwarding, OS firewall settings, or other router settings/firewalls.
By default, we use UDP 7777 and 7778, but the config will accept a custom port. Usually, a misconfigured port will result in a server that appears to have 9999 ping in the server browser.
There are some known issues I need to be upfront about, namely around Bots.
For all intents and purposes, revival will not work with Bots in Duos or Trios. There are ways to revive them, but after revival they will break and cease to function for the remainder of the match.
Bots will not attempt to revive players or fellow Bots on their team.
Post-defeat spectating of other teams will not function if a bot was on your team.
These issues stem from the fact that Bots were never intended to be used outside of Solos. Nonetheless, we wanted to provide the option to use them in Duos/Trios for those who just wanted to generally fill out those game modes.
As mentioned at the beginning of this post, we'll be monitoring for any issues or critical blockers within the new systems/backend. We will organize a patch, as needed, for any of these issues.
Definitely send us a post in the Steam forums or in our Discord!
In the background, we're currently testing non-EAC (Easy Anti-Cheat) server/client builds! Per usual, there will be some caveats with these builds that I'll detail at a later time. We're hoping this option will really unlock the freedom for you all to deeply mod Deceive!
Thank you all, again, for the love and support throughout this work. We recognize that some of these changes and flows may not be ideal compared to the full live service structure you're used to in Deceive. We hope what we've been able to provide at least provides assurance to you all that Deceive will be playable and enjoyable on your own terms well into the future.
While we may not be able to address non-critical bugs and feedback, we will continue to look for more opportunities to support Deceive.