Month: March 2018

Far Cry 5 is finally here. And we liked it a lot. In addition to the main game and the online modes, the new Ubisoft open-world action game comes with a map editor that lets you create custom maps and gametypes for the Arcade mode.

In the video above, GameSpot’s Jake Dekker and Jean Luc-Seipke create a map from scratch on PC and provide some tips on how to make the most of the tools. As you’ll see, the map-maker is very robust and mostly easy to use. You can customise things like the the phase of the moon and the terrain, while you can also add tons of different objects to the game.

Intriguingly, the map-making tools also let you bring in objects from previous Far Cry games, as well as other Ubisoft games such as Watch Dogs. That’ll likely result in some wacky creations.

Far Cry 5 is now available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. For more, you can watch the game’s first 11 minutes or see its weirdest mission, which involves something called the Testicle Festival. Expect to hear much more in the weeks ahead–Ubisoft has extensive DLC plans that include some silly-sounding concepts. For an idea of what to expect from the base game, check out our Far Cry 5 review.

Fortnite is evolving yet again. The game’s v3.4 update has arrived on PS4, Xbox One, PC, and mobile and makes a wealth of changes and additions. It adds a new weapon–the Guided Missile–and brings back an old limited-time mode to Battle Royale, while Save the World gets a new quest line and more.

The Guided Missile was previously teased via the in-game updates screen, and it brings “remote control destruction from above.” It comes in two rarities–Epic and Legendary–with those levels doing 105 and 110 damage to players respectively. The rocket also does 1000 damage to the environment and carries 100 health.

Fans of the limited-time Sniper Shootout will be happy with this latest update, as the mode is back with a couple of tweaks. The Hunting Rifle and Crossbow have been added, while the Magnum Revolver has been removed.

Interestingly, Fortnite’s 30 FPS option has been removed. Epic states: “In v3.4 we made some significant GPU optimizations which improved visual quality, including resolution in 60 FPS mode, and we now feel there is very little reason to play at 30 FPS.” Elsewhere, the update includes improvements to crossplay, multiple bug fixes, and a new quest line for Save the World called The Three Husketeers. Take a look at the full patch notes, via Epic, at the bottom of this article.

While players’ arsenals have expanded further with the Guided Missile’s release, one thing that we still haven’t gotten yet is the Jetpack. This was intended to have launched weeks ago, only for Epic to delay it at the last minute. We unfortunately still haven’t gotten an update on where development on it stands, though this hasn’t stopped Epic from releasing more new weapons, cosmetics, and limited-time modes like the just-concluded Blitz.

Fortnite Update 4.3 Patch Notes

General

• Next Phase of Crossplay Improvements on Console
  • You can now add, remove, and manage Epic Friends from the main menu.
  • You can now send, receive, and respond to crossplay Party Invites.
  • Party Finder now includes Epic Friends on other platforms.
• Enabled toggling of full screen mode with Alt + Enter on PC, and Option + Enter on Mac.
• Increased the brightness and visibility of ammo boxes.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a rare bug where players could be launched up in the air after colliding with the world in tight spaces.
• Fixed the edit mode UI appearing over non-player built structures in some cases.
• Fixed other players not appearing to move smoothly while jumping.
• Fixed some keys on non-QWERTY keyboards becoming unbound after restarting.
• Fixed the Video Settings screen not updating properly after full screen mode is toggled.

Known Issues

• Wanting to track the top community issues? Head over to our snazzy new Fortnite | Community Issues Trello board here.

Battle Royale

Weapons And Items

• Guided Missile added.
  • Stats:
    • Damage to Players: Epic – 105; Legendary – 110
    • Damage to Environment: 1000
    • Lifetime: 18 seconds
    • Time Between Shots: 3.13 seconds
    • Rocket Speed: 1300 units/second
    • Rocket Health: 100
  • Take direct control of the missile after it’s fired.
  • Once you take on the missile’s point-of-view, you’re unable to move your character.
  • Disconnect from the missile at any time, in which the missile will continue its trajectory.
  • Moves slightly slower than a regular rocket but does the same damage.
  • Epic and Legendary rarity.
  • Uses Rocket ammo.
  • Found in Treasure Chests + Supply Drops.
• Adjusted rarity colors on Shotguns to more closely represent their effectiveness.
  NOTE: Characteristics (such as weapon damage, drop chances) are completely unchanged.
  • Tactical Shotguns are now Common/Uncommon/Rare (was Uncommon/Rare/Epic).
  • Pump Shotguns are now Uncommon/Rare (was Common/Uncommon).
• The Egg Launcher has been added as a seasonal item that replaces the Grenade Launcher (only a cosmetic change).
• Increased Launch Pad drop rate by 25%.

Bug Fixes

• Issues with the Boogie Bomb are fixed and this item is now re-enabled.
• Fixed an issue which caused spike traps to trigger when a player stands on top of the wall the trap is attached to.
• Fixed an issue which prevented players from entering ADS mode upon landing when they hold the aim button while jumping.
• Fixed an issue which caused the Hunting Rifle to fire inaccurately when crouched or at close range.
• The Remote Explosives detonator is now correctly removed from your inventory if another player destroys your placed explosives and you have no more in your inventory.
• Fixed a bug where players could remain in sprint while using the Remote Explosive detonator but not play the detonator animation.

Gameplay

• Limited Time Mode: Sniper Shootout v2
  • Hunting Rifle and Crossbow added.
  • Revolver removed.
  • Downed state is disabled. Downed players are immediately eliminated.
  • Legendary weapons can only be found in Supply Drops.
  • Epic weapons can only be found in Treasure Chests.
  • Heavy Ammo Drop Quantities:
    • Floor: 6
    • Chest: 6
    • Ammo Box: 12
    • Supply Drop: 18
    • Llama: 90
• Rearranged the order in which pieces fall off of player built structures as they are damaged.
• Increased the number of loot spawns on the warmup island.
• Removed 30 FPS mode from Xbox One and PS4.
  • In v3.4 we made some significant GPU optimizations which improved visual quality, including resolution in 60 FPS mode, and we now feel there is very little reason to play at 30 FPS. – Developer Comment

Bug Fixes

• Fixed opened treasure chests sometimes appearing as unopened when viewed from very far distances.
• Fixed an issue which caused revived players to become stuck in an invalid state if a building piece was placed between the two players in the middle of the revive.
• Bullseyes will no longer appear after the challenge has been completed.
• Fixed an issue that caused other player’s headgear to appear to float above their heads.
• Fixed a rare issue that caused players to lose their ability to control their character after jumping from the bus.
• Fixed an issue that caused bushes and other environment objects to pop in and out of view at medium range.

Mobile

• Added ‘Unsupported Device’ message at startup for certain devices. That message is:
  “We’re sorry. Fortnite requires a device with 2GB of memory to run. Fortnite works with: iPhone SE, 6S, 6S Plus, 7, 7 Plus, 8, 8 Plus, X; iPad Mini 4, Air 2, 2017, Pro.”
• Added new game data download system, which will allow us to make much smaller updates in the future.
  • When you start up this new version of Fortnite, it will start downloading all the game data, which will be the full size (around 1.8GB).
• Antialiasing (4x MSAA) is now enabled on all supported devices.
• Whispers and Party Text Chat are now enabled on mobile.
• Added a quick tutorial for ‘Tap to Swing’ which appears upon first startup.
• Added a message informing players that jailbroken devices are not supported.
• Auto-opening of doors is now based on input instead of your player’s current speed.

Bug Fixes

• Continuously attacking with the Harvesting Tool is now more consistent when double tapping and holding the right side of screen.
• The left fire button is now more reliable and responsive.
• Opening treasure chests now feels more responsive.
• Fixed various inconsistencies with tap to shoot, making it more accurate.
• Fixed the minimap blocking movement and look input.
• Fixed an issue which caused misfiring when single tapping the screen and interacting with the HUD.
• Fixed some issues causing Tap, Tap + Hold actions to not register.
• Fixed longer than expected loading times on iPhone X.
• Fixed a crash that could occur when tapping the Epic Friends list rapidly.
• Fixed Impulse Grenade effects not being visible enough on Low settings.
• Turbo Building and Automatic Material Swapping settings now save correctly.
• Weapon and consumables dropped can no longer be auto-picked up by the dropping player.

Performance

• Major netcode optimizations to reduce lag.
  • Improved game responsiveness by updating all players on the server every frame. Previously, only 50 players could be updated each frame.
  • Reduced lag at the beginning of the match by optimizing networking to improve overall server frame rate.
• Made significant improvements to visual quality on consoles, including resolution improvements and texture sharpness improvements.
  • Improved texture filtering sharpness on PS4 and Xbox One.
  • Increased texture resolution on Xbox One.
• Improved frame rate when many other players are nearby.
• Fixed hitching that could occur in game when encountering certain cosmetic items for the first time.

UI

• Party Suggestions for your Epic Friends now appear in the lobby on consoles.
• Added a zoom feature to the map.
  • Mouse Wheel will zoom in and out.
  • Gamepad – Right trigger zooms in, left trigger zooms out.
  • Touch – Pinch to zoom, swipe to pan.
• The elimination feed now displays the distance for shots that knock down or eliminate other players beyond 50 meters for all weapons.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue which caused downed squad mates to appear eliminated on the UI.
• Fixed an issue that prevented marker placement on the map if the map was opened while transitioning from the warmup island to the Battle Bus.
• Fixed an issue that prevented players from placing minimap markers close to the edge of the island.
• Game Mode selector will no longer reset to ‘Squads’ when a new party member joins while another mode was selected.
• Fixed an issue which caused the ping value to be inaccurate when ‘Show Net Stats’ was enabled.
• When using the inverted controls option, the mouse cursor will no longer be inverted while the map is open.

Art And Animation

• Polished weapon particle effects for improved clarity:
  • Bullet smoke trails are more detailed for rifles and pistols, making it slightly easier to determine the direction of shots fired across your view.
  • Sniper rifle projectiles that hit the world have larger, more visible impact effects.
  • Shotgun pellet trails and player hit effects have been adjusted to more clearly show the spread of each shot and make it easier to see how much of it hit an enemy.
  • Suppressed weapons have a much more subtle muzzle flash and no longer show bullet smoke trails.
  • Pump Shotgun and Hand Cannon fire animations have been polished, improving readability and snappiness.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed the glow effect on some chests that were glowing white.
• Fixed an issue which caused the crossbow reload animation to play in situations where it wasn’t actually reloading.

Audio

• Removed the chirp sound from landing Supply Drops.
• Added hit notification sounds when the player you’re spectating lands a shield, body, or headshot hit.

Bug Fixes

• The tire pile bounce sound will now play while spectating players.
• Crossbow bolts no longer play valentine sound effects when hitting players.
• Search sound effects now persists for the full duration when searching Loot Llamas.
• Fixed an issue that made player landing sounds difficult to hear if footstep audio was also playing.