[img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/30295212/e9b2ddbc48699e18afae223bd97e98196043308d.png[/img]Dear Espire Agents! We are excited to announce our biggest update ever for Espire 1: VR Operative. This update includes everything from our 1.7, 1.8 and 1.9 updates, alongside PC-centric fixes. [h3]Key Features[/h3] [h3]5 new challenges[/h3] [list] [*] Crassipes - Sneaking [*] Cicurina - Hostage [*] Horcotes - Elimination [*] Furcata - Hostage [*] Mangua - Takedown [/list] [h3]1 new environment[/h3] [list] [*] Coober Pedy [/list] [h3]2 new weapons in the campaign[/h3] [list] [*] Spectre (Silenced SMG) [*] Sawn Off Shotgun [/list] [h3]Major UI changes[/h3] [list] [*] Main Menu redesign [*] Expenditure summary [/list] Removal of the 'flashback sequences' in the campaign Support for newer VR Headsets In particular Meta Quest touch controllers [list] [*] Fix for the game not launching on some newer PCs. [/list] [h2]Technical Improvements[/h2] [h3]Unreal Engine Upgrade[/h3] The project has been upgraded to Unreal Engine 4.25 and with it brings some minor visual & performance improvements. This also fixes a critical issue where the game fails to launch some PCs due to OpenSSL incompatibility with new Intel CPUs. See Espire 1 Steam - OpenSSL launch crash fix. [h3]More VR Headset Support[/h3] We’ve added support for newer VR headsets & controllers via Steam VR. We also fixed various binding issues with older headsets. This includes: [list] [*] Meta Quest 1, 2 and Quest Pro [*] Rift, Rift S, and Rift CV1 [*] HTC Vive [*] Valve Index [*] Windows Mixed Reality [*] HTC Cosmos [*] Pico 3 and 4 [/list] [h3]Bug Fixes and Improvements[/h3] [b]Visual Enhancements[/b] [list] [*] Major UI changes to the Main Menu and the Expenditure summary [*] Improved shaders and materials - with roughness and reflectivity added to many more surfaces in the game [*] Added higher mesh resolution for the guards and other characters [*] The game’s end-credits have been updated to credit the team members and testers who have worked on Espire 1 since its initial release. [/list] [b]AI Fixes/enhancements[/b] [list] [*] Fixed an issue where enemy Soldiers no longer reacted to the player's hands. Now, guards will correctly spot the player’s hands if you’re using the hand-cams around a corner at close range to a guard! [*] Fixed an issue where enemy guards would not update their ‘perception component’ correctly. This reduces situations where enemies may spot the player at a glancing angle when they should not have [*] Fixed an issue where Enemies would say an incorrect voice line when discovering a knocked out ally, reporting the incident to their unit commander, and then waking up the ally. [*] Fixed an issue where dead/stunned hostages would appear to stand back up again after a period of time. [*] Fixed an issue where players could fall on the Jacobson (Destroyer) drone and ‘knock’ it out! [*] AI fix in mission 1.6: Sometimes the guards on a different level of the hostage side mission will not load in. [*] Unique Bullet impact Sound Effects for each surface type that the bullets hit [*] Added ricocheting bullets for player and guards [/list] [b]Crash Fixes[/b] [list] [*] Crash Fix: Fixed an issue where the game would become unresponsive if the player possessed an Espire unit while holding a weapon in their non-dominant hand. Thanks to the users who reported this issue and allowed us to narrow down the repro-steps. [*] Crash Fix: Fixed an issue where rarely, the game would crash during a ‘loading’ sequence in an airlock. [*] Crash Fix: Fix for the game not launching on some newer PCs [/list] [b]Achievements, Espire Trials, Completion-related[/b] [list] [*] Fixed an issue where an achievement related to collecting badges and trials will not be unlocked correctly. The player would have to replay a mission a 2nd time for the badge-count/trial-count achievement unlock to be reflected. [*] Fixed an issue where if the player completes every trial, the associated achievement would not unlock correctly. [*] Increased the time limit requirement for the "Feet don't fail me now” Espire Trial in mission 1.6 to reflect recent changes to the map that made it very, very difficult to complete under the original time limit. [*] Fixed an issue in Mission 1.5 where pistols were missing in the level, making the ‘weapon procurement’ badge for that mission unobtainable. [*] Fixed an issue where rarely, In one of the takedown challenges (Cinnamon), a particular enemy would spawn inside a wall, and the player would be unable to shoot them, making the challenge impossible to complete. [*] Fixed an issue where In mission 1.5 “Ventilation System”, there was a case where a major cinematic will not play and the player would have to restart the mission. [/list] [b]General Issues[/b] [list] [*] Added plenty of ammo for the 2 secret cheat weapons "Golden gun" and "Silver Serpent", ensuring that if you use them in a campaign mission, there will be enough bullets. [*] Fixed in issue in mission 1.4 Data Centre where a weapon rack right near the start of the mission incorrectly had 3 copies of every pistol placed on it. [*] Fixed an issue in the game's first mission where, under certain circumstances, an area of the environment appeared jet black (not loading in). [*] Fixed an issue in the campaign where some weapons would sit at an incorrect orientation on the weapon racks found in airlocks [*] Fixed an issue where players would not correctly possess a new Espire unit if they happened to possess the unit while in the middle of climbing with their old Espire unit [*] Bullet logic (fired by the player and by enemies) was rewritten, improving performance [*] Enhanced Audio: When the player crouches down, the game’s soundtrack dynamically submixes the music down, and increases the sounds footsteps and voices of the guards [*] Fixes have been made to ensure all cutscenes throughout the campaign are working. [*] “Flashback sequences' have been removed in the campaign [*] Increased performance & loading times across the board [*] Fix to prevent players cheating by completing parts of a challenge before hitting 'Begin' [*] Fix to prevent players cheating by walking through walls before hitting 'Begin" [*] Fix to prevent players cheating by un-crouching through air vents and skipping parts of the level [/list] [b]Level Changes[/b] [list] [*] Fixed an issue where tripmines in the Militaris Intel challenge were not being activated correctly [*] Fixed an issue where a corpse in the Militaris environment did not render correctly [*] Fixed an issue in the Militaris challenges where a player could ‘throw themselves’ out of bounds. [*] Fixed an issue in the Militaris environment where players could climb so high that they could see’ out of world’ [*] Missing door in Mission 1.4 has been added into the environment. [*] Invisible wall removed from Mission 1.2 that was preventing players from shooting through it. [*] In Mission 1.2 a rock face the player could clip and fall through has been fixed. [*] Fixed a number of locations in the game where players could break through terrain and fall through the map. [/list]