Holy crap, what an update! Lots of great new things!

Remember you can enable speedrun mode with F1! Top 5 uploaded speedruns will get their spot on the main menu!

Additions

• Added local multiplayer support! It's rather rudimentary, so here's the parameters, for now:
  • Either all players must use game pads, or one player uses a keyboard and the rest game pads (PlayStation/Xbox controllers)
  • Does not work in multiplayer contexts (e.g: two local players cannot play with an online player) (yet?)
• Added Wii remote support, check the guide on how to use one
  • Also allows the use of a nunchuk
  • Not the most stable, so please report Wiimote bugs in my server
• Made the game take advantage of multiple threads! If your CPU has multiple threads (hopefully it does), the game should now run better under higher workloads, and just overall better
• Added slight randomized pitch shifting in many game-related sound effects
• Added a ton of new options in the settings menu
• The "Start Over" button now actually works
• Added a new mods menu!
  • It appears in the top right of the main menu
  • It allows you to quickly load/unload/reload mods instead of having to use debug functions or restart the game
• Added a new dev console which is accessible from the tilde key (~)
• Player bullet count UI is now shown for all players (including in online contexts)
• Way more localization where previously missing
• Even more localization!
  • Translators are still welcome to correct any faulty translations- some translations were done via machine translation
• Added a new animation/text popup when a mission attempt is over
• Added an entirely new OPTIONAL lighting system that can be accessed via the graphics settings
  • Shadows, lights, and time of day all are settings you can change
  • You can simply choose to not enable this if you either don't want it on or your computer cannot handle it
• Added a second hand to the clock (thank you BigKitty)
• Added heaps more graphics settings for regular gameplay, including Anti-Aliasing, FPS limit, and more!
• New setting which allows the display of team colors on tanks
  • I'd suggest only using this in non-standard campaigns (e.g: campaigns where it's only players vs AI tanks, 2 teams)
• Added a rudimentary message depending on the result of the current mission
• Added a new audio spatialization system
• Added some new stuff to the cosmetics menu (still coming soon!)
• Added new modifier: Mission Flip!
• Added specular lighting to the player tank from the original game

Changes

• The level editor has gotten a number of various improvements
• Missions and campaigns are now stored in a smaller (and better) format, gzipped JSON
  • Around 40-50% smaller than before
  • No forwards compatibility. Don't go back to older versions and load these files, they won't work
• Debug tools are now locked behind debug builds of the game
• Increased the maximum tank count to 60
• Made mines not destroy everything instantly, but rather grow, similar to the original
• "Difficulties" now changed to "Modifiers"
• Severely overhauled the chat box
• MASSIVE revamps to the game stats menu, multiplayer menu, and the chat window
• Hit/hurtboxes now occur on 3 dimensions instead of previously 2, to allow for modders to do potentially cool things, and also makes debugging much easier
• Bullet count UI for players has been slightly revamped
• The "Shotguns" modifier has been improved and changed
  • Tanks now have recoil when firing
  • Shot spread is much tighter
• Pings now grow and shrink quicker
• Rocket trails are now MUCH better looking
• Completely overhauled the Settings UI (which will be the standard for future UI updates!)
  • I caved into using AI to assist me with the programming (but I did design), since UI frontend is not my strong suit in the slightest
• Completely overhauled the Modifiers UI!
• Lantern mode will now look entirely different if using the new lighting system, read the description
• Bindings in the Controls menu can now use mouse buttons!
• Tweaked a lot of particles to look largely improved
• A few minor changes to the Campaign Results UI. More changes in a future update!
• The save file format is now much different but more modular. Backporting save files will no longer be possible to updates before this
• Made the cursor trail a bit better looking
• The christmas theme no longer prevents music from playing

Changes Important for Modders

• If you wish to take advantage of the new dynamic lighting system...

  • Anything drawn with their own effects needs to go through LightingSystem.Submit.
  • Models that are imported using ImportAsset<Model> are instrumented automatically, so that is done for you

• Don't create, modify, or generate textures in AI-related tank logic code now! It will throw an exception as it won't be the main thread

  • You can enqueue to TankGame.MainThreadTasks for actions to be performed on the main thread

• There is now a much higher limit on pitch-shifting (of specifically OggAudio. Change OggAudio.Pitch directly)

• Added mod_info.json to the mod template. If your mod does not have it, you can download the default mod_info.json here

• Difficulties is now Modifiers in source

  • Types now renamed to just Map
  • Each default modifier identifier now has a constant string associated with it, which makes things much less of a headache
    • The constants have simplified names for lesser code cram. The names should be good enough to decipher

• MathUtils.Rotate -> MathUtils.RotatedBy because the new MonoGame version has Vector2.Rotate declared

• Campaign.TrackedSpawnPoints is now static instead of instanced, and is now CurrentTrackedSpawns

• Every Crate field has been properly named for C# naming conventions

• Most rendering/drawing info has been moved into a struct called DrawParamsBasic, where the field name for it is DrawParams

  • Entity-specific draw params are named DrawParamsX (i.e: DrawParamsTank)

• SwapXTexture from entity classes is now just DrawParamsX.XTexture = newTexture;

• Keyframes now are dimension-agnostic

• CameraGlobals.IsUsingFirstPresonCamera has been de-typo'd :|

• Animators have been made less archaic- instead of the final frame not needing a duration or easing function, it is now the first one

• Added a really neat camera animation system to the freecam debug menu

  • You can see controls on the left

• LocalizedString is now indexed directly instead of through the method

• Added Description to ModBlock and ModTank for use in the level editor

• Level and campaign files are now gzipped JSON (format version 7) instead of binary

  • All reading and writing goes through LevelFiles. Mission.Read(Stream) reads any format, binary or JSON
  • Mission.WriteToStream was removed. Use Mission.Save or LevelFiles.WriteMission
  • Tank, team, player and block types are saved by name, not by number. Modded tanks are saved under their English name, so changing your tank's name will break levels that use it
  • If a level uses a tank or block from a mod that isn't loaded, it logs a warning and uses a default instead of crashing
  • Binary versions 1 to 6 still load

• Added ModModifier, which handles everything automatically, including the UI element and net sync

• Some Shell and Tank properties are now bit flags

• Tanks are now drawn with a custom shader instead of BasicEffect, so if you were modifying anything related to that- it will no longer work

• PlacementSquare -> EditorTile

  • The map now uses a grid system, so you can index into it rather than using arbitrary math

• TankGame.PostDrawEverything -> TankGame.PreDrawBackBuffer

• RuntimeData.DeltaTime -> RuntimeData.DeltaFrames

  • Do NOT use the new DeltaTime, as it is actually what DeltaTime means now.
    • This means that DeltaTime is now elapsed seconds in a given frame, DeltaFrames is how many 60ths of a second passed in the past frame.

• CameraGlobals.RebirthFreecam -> CameraGlobals.PerspectiveCamera

• Sound effects now have optional spatialization parameters

• Particle.UniqueBehavior/Draw -> Particle.Update/DrawCallback

• When using a delta in tank AI related code, use AIManager.AIDeltaFrames

• Keybind now supports mouse keys

• ...and probably more things. Consult me in my discord server for any questions.

• If there is anything unclear or uncertain after reading these notes, please reach out to me

Fixes

• Fixed nametags showing for non-host clients after the game has started if the host started the game with the client being in the multiplayer menu
• Fixed smokes generated from smoke grenades being the wrong color
• Mods should load 2x quicker on average, depending on content
• Fixed some tank destruction particles having frame-dependent animation
• Fixed a bug where you would Game Over with 2 lives in single player and in some multiplayer contexts
• Fixed clock pendulum not accurately tracking seconds (there was some margin of error before)
• The mission intro sequence/fanfare is now controlled by the sound effects slider
• Fixed the room scene not being updated while in pause
• Places in the room where glass would before not render properly now renders
• Performance has been improved in various places of the game (the level editor should be much more performant even with the new changes)
• Particles are now infinitely more performant than they were before, allowing for tens to hundreds of thousands of particles to be present before noticeable framerate loss
• Tank treads now look much more proper, and there is not a performance loss to have 'Fading Tank Tracks' disabled
• Massively optimized the level editor, should run much better on all systems
• Fixed a bug where fast enough bullets could skip all ricochets when colliding with the outer border
• Fixed a lot of strange graphical bugs relating to christmas mode
• Many multiplayer bugfixes, including ghost bullets, mines, and improper points crediting

TODO

• Real-time multiplayer stats
• Make all UI look cleaner. Could rework existing UI revamps as well

Note for Everyone

Since I value transparency, I want to be upfront: I’ve recently started using AI to help program small pieces of Tanks Rebirth.

I’ve used it where I struggled the most- lighting and the UI rework.
I'm still squishing bugs, adding new features, and designing the game myself.

I review, test and rework everything I keep, and I decide what the game is and how it plays, and I remain knowledgeable of the codebase.
The game design, direction and the vast majority of the codebase are still mine, since that’s the part I love doing.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the update!

PLEASE, if you find anything wrong, go to my discord server and report bugs in the #bugs
channel, or, if you want to suggest something, suggest them in the #suggestions channel.

Happy tanking!