Beta update – 18 May, 2022 @ 02:05 UTC

Posted on
The beta has been updated with the additional changes:

Misc
  • Fixed unintended interaction between first person spectating and freecam.
  • Changed how uninstalled missions look when using the change mission option while connected to a game.
  • Added a scrollbar and some background shading to the mission chooser.
  • Fixed having a large number of campaigns installed causing failure to connect.
  • Removed per-difficulty leaderboards for challenges that only allow one difficulty.

Mapping

Note: this system overhaul is still being developed; details may change before release.

  • CustomCreditsFile will now be used from mission overview files if no campaign is active. This value is the name of a file containing credits keyvalues data, without the .txt suffix. It defaults to scripts/asw_credits, which is the Valve credits file for Alien Swarm. As always, make sure the credits filename is unique as the game will load the file from any addon that contains a file with that name.
  • Campaigns and mission overviews can now be tagged by adding a “tag” keyvalue to their file. To add multiple tags, simply add another line with “tag” and then a different tag name. Tags are case-insensitive, but it is recommended to write them in lower case for consistency. Mappers should avoid adding tags that aren’t understood by the game as they may do unexpected things in the future. No tags are currently understood by the game for campaigns, but for missions the following tags are supported:
    • deathmatch – this mission will be listed under the Deathmatch tag on the workshop and be visible in the mission chooser under the Deathmatch tab. Deathmatch maps should contain an asw_deathmatch_mode entity.
    • endless – lists the mission as Endless on the workshop and in the mission chooser. Endless maps are new in this update, and intended to be used with the points tag. Missions with this tag should either be impossible to complete successfully (“survive as long as you can”) or have an optional method of succeeding the mission (“press this button if you can’t fight anymore”).
    • bonus – lists the mission as Bonus on the workshop and in the mission chooser. Bonus maps are a replacement for single-mission campaigns (which will still work, but are discouraged) and can be used for standalone missions, survival or holdout maps with an objective, and so on. If your map fits into additional community-defined categories such as survival, holdout, or training, manually adding tags when uploading the addon is recommended. We are considering making some of these tags clickable on the workshop sidebar for added visibilty.
    • points – marks your mission as a “points mission” (rather than a “time mission”). When the mission starts, the score will be 0, and you can award points at your disgression using the AddPoints input on asw_gamerules. The score for a mission is limited to 2^31-1, or 2147483647, but there are currently no other restrictions or guidelines on how points should be used. The meaning of points is specific to each map. Use the TotalPoints output from asw_gamerules if you want to display the points in your map.
    • upload_on_failure – allow leaderboard uploads even on mission failure. Recommended for use with points, but can be used without if you’re doing something unusual. If your mission can be successfully completed, it is recommended to award bonus points on mission completion.
  • The new mission chooser prominently features campaign maps and campaign and mission descriptions. Mappers who have previously published their maps should check how they look in the new UI and consider publishing an update if it can be improved.
  • The method the stats website uses to determine preview images has been updated to support multiple mission types per addon. If you have the same number of preview images on the workshop for each mission in your addon (1 is recommended), the first image from each set will be shown for campaign missions, bonus missions, endless missions, and deathmatch missions, in that order. (Deathmatch missions are not currently shown on the stats website, but may be in the future.) For example, if your addon is a 5 mission campaign with 1 bonus mission, you should have 6 preview images, one for each map in that order.