Game Update 1.5.1 (82)
Here are the patch notes to the latest version 1.5.1 (82) update hot off the press.
Matchmaking Update Part 1
APB Reloaded now uses a Bayesian enhanced version of the Glicko rating system to determine the relative skill of players, based on the outcomes of opposed missions. The believed skill of the player is known as that player’s Skill Rating, which is then translated into the player’s Threat Level (shown on the UI), and also used by the matchmaking system to construct matches where the skill of each side is as evenly matched as possible.
The total number of Threat Levels per faction has been increased to 30 and spread across 3 tiers – Bronze, Silver and Gold – with each tier consisting of 10 ranks. For example, a ‘Silver Rank 5’ player is believed to be better than a ‘Bronze Rank 10’ player.
All players will start from Bronze Rank 1, as the new system has to start from scratch in order correctly calculate the Threat level.
Note that we expect players to see large fluctuations to their Threat early on, as the system narrows in on your actual Threat level over time. So don’t be surprised to jump between tiers as well as ranks for the first few matches.
Witnessing and Open World
Fixed an issue when players went out of bounds on a witness mission. The mission now ends immediately and the stash is lost.
Fixed Enforcers on opposed missions sometimes seeing the ‘witness’ icon on criminals.
Fixed Enforcers in vehicles not seeing the stash value on criminals.
Fixed the heat multiplier not updating while in a vehicle.
Fixed an exploit where players were abusing the ‘AFK’ state.
General
Updated DXT settings to match the following rules:
64-bit OS users will no longer have any character or vehicle textures compressed at any time.
32-bit OS users will not have their OWN character and vehicle textures compressed at any time, but all opponents’ character and vehicle textures will be compressed at all times due to 32-bit memory restrictions.
These are not to be confused normal ‘Level of Detail’ (LOD) shifts as well as standard texture streaming that occurs when customisations are being built – these have not changed.
Fixed a separate issue that could cause your own character symbols to have lower detail based on distance and relative screen space (affected small characters more).
Added 1280x720 as an officially supported resolution. Also resized the in-game browser to 1024x720 for all resolutions.
Updated inventory and kill icons to match the weapon’s silhouette where this wasn’t the case.
Updated Contact icons to match some updates to the Contact models.
Fixed several issues where the expiry time tooltip could display wrong values about the time remaining on leased items. Note this was an interface issue and did not affect the actual expiration of any leased items.
The ‘auto-AFK’ timer now kicks in at 2 minutes, instead of 5.
Fixed a parking symbol that was floating above the ground (diagonally opposite LeBoyce spawn point).
Fixed an out of bounds error near the Church in Financial that some used as an exploit.
Added Pallet stack to roof under Freeway in Financial to simplify an irksome route onto the freeway and to make it possible at all for those with Kevlar implants.
Added new double ramp so that the troublesome one-way jump near the ruined warehouse is now possible in both directions, no matter what the vehicle.
Added new “use at own risk” ramp behind ‘Planetaget’ building on the turnpike. Best jumped in a Cisco. Best avoided in a starter car.
Fixed wall decal bug where decal was bleeding across floor outside Stu Phoenix’s spawn zone.
Modifiers and Weapons
Modifier Changes:
Hunting Sight and Reflex Sight: Now Increase or Decrease Movement Accuracy and Marksmanship accuracy.
Slightly lowered fire rate increase on Cooling Jacket.
Decreased effective range on both SMGs and reduced their minimum damage at 100m to 0 (so the ramp off is more drastic). Also lowered their marksmanship modifiers slightly.
Upping ammo counts of Obeya CR762 and OBIR to match other weapons (5 clips rather than 4/3).
Replaced the base STAR with a new model to differentiate it from the leased STAR ‘LCR’.
Slightly increased maximum reticule bloom when firing STAR full auto.
Vehicles
Adjusting handling for Dolton Broadwing and Sungnyumun Morai.
The Broadwing has slightly improved handling, better acceleration, more health and weight and heavily increased ramming damage. It's a good car for intercepting and taking others off the road.
The Morai has been tweaked considerably. It’s now much quicker to respond, with a fairly loose rear end allowing for some advanced manoeuvres. Acceleration is up heavily, top speed is up slightly. Health and weight are reduced very slightly (though weight is not really noticeable since you have a lot more punch with the increased speed). This is more of a 4-door sports vehicle now, able to keep up with the roadster (though not quite as nimble and the larger size means it can't squeeze through the same gaps).
Known Issues
Localisation/Translation
Much of the new and edited in game text has still to be translated and entered into the game. Playing APB in languages other than English may result in English text being shown anyway in some places.[/spoiler]
