So here's what the patch looks like right now.
Disclaimer
While we don't expect any problems, please note that all patch contents are not final, and are subject to change until the patch has been approved by Microsoft and Sony.
Non-gameplay changes:
- Unlock colors 11-13 for all characters. Enjoy your freebies!
- Improvements to online play:
= GGPO now rolls back properly instead of slowing down at moderate or high pings, increases playable ping range by quite a bit.
= Reduce the number of tiers for PS3 matchmaking from 9 to 3, and lower the acceptable match threshold so more matches will be found for a given number of players online.
= Ranked matches online are now blind-pick, meaning you cannot see your opponents character choice until after choosing a stage.
= Add screen flash and notification sound when you find a match.
= Display opponents gamertag during a match.
= Display opponents chosen assist types on character select.
= Addressed the sound issues. Not all problems are fixed but overall should be much better, especially on item drops.
- Improve loading times on 360. Reorganized the entire filesystem. Hopefully its enough!
- Add In-Game Move Lists, now you can ignore them instead of just wishing they were there to be ignored.
- Rebalanced AI Difficulty.
- Added Nightmare difficulty level.
- Added Tournament Mode:
= Disables granting of in-match Achievements/Trophies to prevent gameplay hiccups.
= Forces menu flow of controller select -> button config -> choose characters -> play.
= Uses default rounds and time settings regardless of current choices in the options menu.
= Disables Sparring Mode toggle.
= Allows all non-DLC colors to be used regardless of in-game unlock status.
= Returns to the controller select screen if 1p or 2p controller is unplugged at the post-match menu. (Does not do this if a controller is unplugged mid-match.)
= Forces button config whenever both players choose to return to character select.
= Is part of this complete breakfast.
- Added more Training Mode options:
= The Select/Back button can be set to either save/load state, record/playback dummy actions, or do both at once. Easily test any setup with precise positioning every time, at the touch of a button! (Hold the button down to clear the saved state or actions.)
= The dummy recording can be set to play back as a reversal. This has endless uses...figure out what is safe against Showstopper, learn to deal with reversal Napalm Pillars or opponents mashing LP or throw, etc.
= Input Display (List / Realtime Stick / Both)
= Dummy Action (Manual / Crouch / Jump)
= Blocking (Never / After First Hit / Always / First Hit Only / Random)
= Block Type (High / Low / All)
= Pushblock (Never / After Anywhere From 1 to 10 Blocked Hits)
= Throw Tech (Never / Always / After First Hit / Random)
= Ground Tech (Never / Forward / Backward / Random)
= Escape Infinite Combos (Never / After Anywhere From 1 to 10 Burstable Hits)
= Dummy Playback (Once / Repeat / As Reversal)
= Dummy Playback Side Correction: Choose whether the dummy recording is treated as relative directions (D,DB,B) or absolute directions (Down,Down-Left,Left) when the dummy changes sides. Useful for testing tech punishes or how to deal with crossups.
- Added Character Tutorials: Each character now has simple tutorials in place to teach the beginning players how to perform all of their Special and Blockbuster attacks, with some helpful tips on their use. (Note: Completing these tutorials is now a requirement for the Sküllgirls trophy/achievement.)
- Hitboxes displaying when switching characters is replaced by temporarily displaying 8-bit versions of the art, which is much less disruptive to gameplay.
- PAL-50 support with correct frameskip on both consoles.
- Logos at startup are now skippable on both consoles.
- Sparring Mode now saves game state when turned on, and loads it when turned off. Stop the match to check something and resume exactly where you left off! If a new match is started with Sparring Mode already on, the behavior is the same as before.
- Black-and-white super background now fades out in 8f instead of 15f, hopefully helps with determining when DHCs are allowed.
- Only the player in charge of the menu can press the Cancel button to leave the Controller Select screen for Versus and Tournament mode.
- Button config screen now counts mapping the same button or moving the cursor as an action that will keep a players screen open when the other player dismisses their screen.
- Button config no longer ignores button presses when another button is held. You can go as fast as you want!
- Main Menu and Training Mode now have 2-player button config, rather than just first player.
- Display chosen assist-type names on character select screen.
- In the Tutorials, move inputs are now described with button icons instead of text.
Infinite Prevention System (IPS) changes:
- IPS now counts stand and crouch moves as the same thing.
- IPS now counts all strengths of a given special move as the same thing, meaning anything with the same motion but a different strength button. Cerebellas DP+P and run followups are also counted as the same thing.
- IPS burst-allowed hitsparks no longer show up on anything except the point character.
- Tag-in attacks are now covered by IPS.
- All tags and DHCs now start you at the correct IPS stage when comboed into.
- IPS correctly handles 1-frame links, for example in Parasouls {s.LK->s.HP xx LP Tear Shot, s.LK->s.HP, tear explosion, s.LK}, the last s.LK is now correctly flagged by IPS every time.
- IPS state no longer continues across zero-frame resets. Each new combo should be completely separate.
- Without a jump-in attack, your first ground combo no longer erroneously counts as your jump-in chain. Previously, at the start of a combo the exact same ground chain could be repeated three times, but only twice if preceded by a jump-in. Now, the same chain may only be repeated twice regardless of whether you started with a jump-in.
Gameplay changes:
- 3% game speed increase (frameskip interval changed). DOES NOT AFFECT FRAME DATA / RELATIVE MOVEMENT SPEEDS / ANYTHING ELSE RELATIVE TO OTHER CHARACTERS, only player-experienced game speed.
- Increase frames-per-timer-second to offset frameskip change, time-outs still take roughly the same amount of real time.
Command normals count as the same also, so s.F+HK = cr.HK = s.HK and j.B+LK = j.LK.
- Throw tech window increased from 6f -> 10f. Grab Bag tech window is still 4f.
- All assist knockdowns that would be red bounces are now green bounces: still completely vulnerable, techable 9f after hitting the floor, vulnerable as normal if not teched. Requires much better timing to OTG off random assist hits now - see MvC2.
- Add LK+HP as an additional command for Assist 1. Should help pad players.
- Add right-stick assist calls, up for Assist 1, down for Assist 2. More pad-player help. Can be disabled from Button Config screen.
- Specifically disallow same-frame throw plus assist-call inputs like LP+LK+MK or LP+LK+MK+HP to prevent 1-button throw+assist macro abuse.
- Assist calls are now valid for 5f after the input is entered, similar to MvC2.
- Assist character damage taken when hit changed from 6% extra -> 20% extra.
- Assist characters are now always shown behind point characters except when grabbing someone, meaning no more invisible mixups behind large assist moves.
- Changes to prevent dead body abuse: stop time when the point character is dead; attacker gains zero meter from the act of hitting a dead point character, but dead character still gains meter by being hit; dead point characters become invincible as soon as IPS triggers on them.
- 5f input leniency added to chained normals, as well as normals and airdashes from jump/superjump/doublejump startup. You can now hit the next button 5f before your attack connects and it will come out, and you can now press buttons or input an airdash during jump startup and they will come out as if they were input on the first frame of the jump. Does not apply to throws!
- Fix assist call priority to prevent lots of weird cases of getting the wrong assist. Simultaneous inputs always win, so HK ~ LK+MP will be A1 and LK ~ HK+MP will be A2. For karad inputs, the input performed later will always win if they completed on the same frame, so HK~LK~MP is A1 but LK~HK~MP is A2. And lastly, calls for both are resolved for A2 (LK+MP+HK and LK+HK ~ MP) because they used to be random...but dont do those. :^P
- Correct neutral-to-blocking transitions: changing block directions on the frame you are touched no longer results in blocking a low attack with stand stance / blocking a high attack with crouch stance.
- All characters except Double can now cancel forward dash directly into backdash and backdash directly into forward dash. (Valentine will still get an airdash out of her ground backdash.)
- Allow PP backdashing from preblock animation. Previously when the opponent was attacking at close range B,B would backdash but B+PP would result in a normal attack. Now both will correctly backdash.
- Bug-to-feature conversion: Bursts now scale damage to 50%, plus count as one hit. ...why might this be necessary? (^.^)
Overall bugfixes:
- Player 2 DHCing at the same time as any superflash or DHC from P1 no longer freezes the game.
- Allow negative-edge DHCs.
- Snapbacks work properly vs. Cerebellas Battle Butt.
- Fortunes head will no longer float offscreen when she dies.
- Fix unnecessary checking for achievements after they are already granted, preventing a once-per-boot hiccup.
- Unranked Online: Player 2 picking Change Stage should no longer freeze on Stage Select.
- R1 no longer acts as an OK button on menus, hopefully allowing some nonstandard controllers to work properly.
- Pressing up-back while airborne near an attacking enemy if you have a doublejump remaining will no longer cancel doublejump startup into preblock and cause the character to wrongly fall straight to the ground.
- Forward/back jumps no longer override each other, UF~UB will now jump forward and UB~UF will jump backward. Either direction will still override a neutral jump.
- Stunt Double (alpha counter) action can no longer be overridden by pressing a button on the frame the character lands. [Whoops.]
- Floating 15 will no longer randomly appear after Unranked matches online.
- DHCing on the frame before a hit would have made contact will no longer allow the hit to connect after the DHC. (
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm17841164 is now not possible.)
- Ground techs now use newest input if both inputs are entered during the tech window. Tweaked the early/late tech windows to make more sense, previously it was possible to input a tech *very* early and have it count as tech for the 2nd bounce but not for the 1st bounce.
- Fixed a bug where the next character could come in attacking backward after death! Conditions - opponent crosses over the corpse and is facing the wrong way, like during a jump, and the character coming in does a reversal attack on the frame they appear. Well...it's fixed! (
http://www.twitch.tv/leveluplive/b/319893925?t=2h13m40s )
- Fix bug when airblocking an attack right at ground level which caused the character to land and be vulnerable during hit-stop. Removes possible corner unblockable with Death Crawl.
- Assists whiffing through the opponent (for example, an attack during a point character throw, or a throw assist during point-character-induced hitstun) no longer use up your assist call for that combo.
- Bursting correctly resets your OTG and stagger status. Previously, baiting and punishing a burst would not grant you a new OTG or allow the opponent to be staggered again if they had been staggered before.
- Everyones throws now face the opponent properly.
- Everyones airthrow now faces the opponent properly during a superjump.
