Vendetta Online 1.8.361

VO 1.8.361 includes:- Oculus Rift "Beta Test" VR support updated to the 0.8 SDK. As always, the presence of a Rift is auto-detected on runtime, and prompts for the option of starting the game in VR mode. - New "VR Welcome" panel on startup, lists the currently known issues and workarounds.- New "VR Options" added to Options area, when a VR headset is detected.- VR game startup environment, for initial orientation and controller settings.- Improved Windows gamepad support for Xbox One, 360, PS4 and Logitech F710.- If you have a Rift, please consider posting feedback on the Windows forum of our site, vendetta-online.com!- Temporarily disabled default anti-aliasing (in non-VR, 2D mode) for new installs with AMD GPUs, due to a crash with their most recent drivers. It will be re-enabled when the issue is resolved.Our Oculus Rift VR headset support has been updated! We were widely reported as the first MMO to launch support for the Rift, back in July of 2013, and we're happy to now bring it up to the latest 0.8 SDK support, along with adding many new VR-specific features and improvements.This is also concurrent with the launch of our recently-updated DirectX 11 rendering engine, adding a lot of new visual effects and image quality, with more yet to come.This is still considered a Beta Test of our VR-headset implementation, and will undergo considerable change between now and when the Rift headset finally launches to retail in Q1 of 2016. For the moment, we'd appreciate feedback (on our Windows forum) from any early adopters of the Rift DK2 development device. We still consider our VR support to be "rough", it's lacking some of the more VR-specific interface solutions we intend to add, and the tutorials and mission system need improvement. But re-working our DX11 engine over the last year, getting the right performance and image quality has been the top priority. Once that is proven stable, it's easier for us to add in newer features (which may make a lot of non-VR players happy as well, since they've often requested "cockpit" interfaces and the like).We've also spent some time improving PC integration of gamepad controllers, specifically targeting the Xbox One controller (Oculus's recommended default), as well as 360, PS4 and Logitech F710 controllers. Some aspects of controller integration are also still a bit rough, particularly navigation in the UI, but this will be improved. The benefits of this work go well beyond the Rift implementation, to help all gamepad users, across PC, mobile, AndroidTV, Steam "big picture" mode, etc.

Vendetta Online 1.8.360

VO 1.8.360 includes:- Improved quality and efficiency of the glow effect.- Windows version now requires SSE2 support. It should be faster as a result.- Removed the loading progress bar under the Guild logo on startup- Fixed ice crystal rendering error when changing resolutions in DirectX 11 mode.One important change here is that the Windows/PC version of the game now requires support for the SSE2 instruction set. This has been a feature of all new computers for over a decade, so we don't expect it to be a problem for anyone. Still, if you have a particularly old machine and still want to run the game, we recommend installing Linux, and running the 32-bit Linux version of Vendetta Online. You can also read more about this change, and comment, on the related General Forum thread.This system requirement has NO impact on any other platform. It is purely a PC-Windows specific change.We have been doing a lot of work on an update of our beta Oculus Rift support, which also mandates some graphical and performance optimizations, to try and yield the best possible framerate.However, the Oculus development is still in testing, and we wanted to get some of these other changes out more quickly, so we rolled a separate release. Aside from the speed increase from SSE2, we've changed from our own modified-Gaussian filter to a Kawase filter for glow, with the overall effect of better fidelity at a higher framerate.If anyone has any issues, please post to the Bugs Forum and let us know. Thanks!

Vendetta Online 1.8.359

VO 1.8.359 includes:- Modifications to Livery system to allow more dynamic addition of new ship skins.- Mitigated issue related to Hive Queens disappearing from the game universe.- Key IDs are now shown in key lists.- Key lists are now sorted by Key ID.- User keys now default to IFF and can-dock access.- F2P specific: Crystal limit on bot-kills is doubled to 20 crystal per day.- F2P specific: Some Hive bots now give increased crystal rewards, from 2 crystal for Assault-class bots, up to 5 crystal for Hive Queens.- F2P specific: All ship addons/weapons at or above level 3, in any license, now cost 1 crystal each.Several changes for Free To Play users, allowing them to gain more Crystal through daily bot kills, while also adding long-planned Crystal costs for addons and weapons. The Free To Play game balance will be changing over the coming months, including potential improvements to level limits and the like.The "Key" changes, for keys related to capship and station ownership, were suggested by the player base easier this week, and integrated to help lower the hassle-factor in key management. As always, we'd appreciate continued feedback on how this is working.Beyond that, we intended this release to also debut the next-generation beta of our Oculus Rift support, but after some testing we chose to defer a little longer and make sure things are solid (probably until next week). We initially only expected the Rift to be disabled for a week or so, but Oculus also released their 0.8 SDK in the same timeframe, so we chose to update and optimize for that, in addition. The upcoming release will still be very "beta" for Rift support, the game needs quite a few improvements to help polish the VR experience, but we think early Rift adopters will still enjoy it in its interim state.As always, thanks for your patience and support!