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Everybody’s favorite rocket-powered-cars-hitting-oversized-balls-competitively game has gotten another one of its hefty updates. There’s a new space-themed arena, car and a series of new drops and features for players to enjoy.

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I’m a sucker for everything space-themed and so I’m really glad that the new arena featured in this patch is a starbase orbiting a huge planet. It looks great and even features space battles happening in the background. A few other arenas have gotten some love also in the form of variants: Wasteland (Night) and Utopia Coliseum (Snowy). As of this update players will be able to set their preferences for which stages they like and dislike, and thus increase the odds of playing matches only in stages that you enjoy.

This update also brings with it some new customization features. Steam Workshop support has been added, allowing players to come up with custom levels and share them easily. Not only that, but training mode now has an editor that allows you to set up your own custom exercises. So you can practice shots under extremely specific circumstances of your choosing. Additionally, there’s also a ‘Color Blind Mode’ in the options that adds high-contrast colors in case you’re visually impaired.

A few new items and accessories have made it into the game. A few cars have been redesigned and have gotten new decals and new community flags added. There are also end-of-year holidays themed items that have been put into the game as random drops after online matches until the beginning of January. Presents, nutcrackers, a 2017 hat are some of the things that you can collect for free.

There’s some more paid content that’s launched alongside the Starbase ARC update. The primary thing is the new premium car: a sleek space fighter-inspired car with animated wings called the Vulcan. Other than that, a new series of crates have been added, which can be unlocked with purchasable keys that go towards funding esports. These are all cosmetic items only that offer no special advantages over regular cars and a nice way to keep supporting development for the game.

You can grab Rocket League and its DLC on Steam where it’s currently on sale. You can also see all the changes in this update here. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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18 comments

Lordpkappa Dec 7, 2016
1.6 gb update, let's see if the Linux version is more stable.
pb Dec 8, 2016
I wonder how many hours of training goes into playing as shown in the update trailer. I played for 18h and still play like a total noob.
GustyGhost Dec 8, 2016
Mattel toys must be kicking themselves at the lost opportunity.
Lordpkappa Dec 8, 2016
Totaly unplayable, stutter like hell, before the new update was perfect...
pb Dec 8, 2016
I wonder how many hours of training goes into playing as shown in the update trailer. I played for 18h and still play like a total noob.
18h? That's nothing in this game ;)

I know, thus I wonder.
FredO Dec 8, 2016
From a quick test I can say that they "may" finally have fixed the random crash when entering a new offline match. Also I can use the Pillars arena for the first time ever without it crashing. Can anyone else confirm this? There's no mention of Linux specific fixes in the release notes.

Edit: No problem with performance so far.


Last edited by FredO on 8 December 2016 at 8:51 am UTC
Beamboom Dec 8, 2016
This is such a fantastic fun game.
Unfortunately it became completely overshadowed by 7 Days when I started playing it, but I really look forward to return to Rocket League once the 7Days craze amongst my friends and I are over.
AlveKatt Dec 8, 2016
There was some map in Rocket labs that always made me crash. That arena is in casual now, so I wish they would take a look at that. I don't know which arena(s?) it is, because I crash before it loads in. Random crashes stopped happening to me a long time ago though, only happened in rocket labs list.

It's just a theory that it is arena related of course, but it kinda seems like it is.
Beamboom Dec 8, 2016
These are all cosmetic items only that offer no special advantages over regular cars

It's not only cosmetic, is it? The cars have different stats/handling, so it's at least theoretically possible that these DLC cars do offer advantages.

To be honest, I purchased the Esper car and I imagine it has the edge over the included cars. At least it very fast became my favourite of them, but it might of course just be my imagination, I have no data to back my impression with.


Last edited by Beamboom on 8 December 2016 at 12:25 pm UTC
Rolz73 Dec 8, 2016
UPDATE:
I reverted UE4Engine back to 4.12 branch and it works better now. Now to figure out RL Arenas...

RL always gets me so pumped!!!

Linux version actually seems more stable for me now. Will have to try arenas that others have mentioned on here that are known for crashes.

I only ever had stuttering when loading resources. That would be at beginning of match, and a bit as I drove down field for the first time. MAYBE, if a new user joined (new car design possibly?).

It is still slow to load when I am editing a vehicle, again, resource loading.

As far as gameplay, on Exhibition anyways, rock solid on "Quality" settings (R9 390).

I was able to subscribe to some user created levels in steam workshop and see them in the menu in game, but couldn't figure out how to play on them.

That inspired me to start looking at level creation, then updated my UE4Editor src and rebuilt but alas, it crashes now when loading/creating any project. I swore it was working before...

Heard a new song in the menu, Solar Eclipses? That was pretty decent. So then I learned how to convert game music to OGG so I can listen to it outside of the game.



Did I mention that RL always gets me so pumped!?!!


Last edited by Rolz73 on 9 December 2016 at 4:34 am UTC
Mountain Man Dec 8, 2016
1.6 gb update, let's see if the Linux version is more stable.
Indeed. I haven't played since the last major update because the game would crash after every match. Hopefully that's been fixed.
numasan Dec 9, 2016
Just played a few offline matches, and the performance is as I remember, but(!) I did notice a few stutters here and there, which I don't think was there before this patch..
Lordpkappa Dec 9, 2016
I have done some tests, the problem is the monitor refresh rate.

If i set it to 30 hz in the options of the game, i have less stutter, if i set it to 60 hz or more, it's litteraly unplayable.
I have a 144 hz monitor...
lod Dec 9, 2016
I wonder how many hours of training goes into playing as shown in the update trailer. I played for 18h and still play like a total noob.

~500h to get full control of your car.


Last edited by lod on 9 December 2016 at 1:20 pm UTC
AlveKatt Dec 9, 2016
These are all cosmetic items only that offer no special advantages over regular cars

It's not only cosmetic, is it? The cars have different stats/handling, so it's at least theoretically possible that these DLC cars do offer advantages.

The only difference the cars have are the hit boxes, which actually affects gameplay pretty much. All the cars have the same speed, but the different sizes alters your perception of the speed. Don't know if size affects turning radius though.
tofuhead Dec 10, 2016
From a quick test I can say that they "may" finally have fixed the random crash when entering a new offline match. Also I can use the Pillars arena for the first time ever without it crashing. Can anyone else confirm this? There's no mention of Linux specific fixes in the release notes..

i was wondering about this too.. no crashes here either yet..

i would also like to see them fixing the bug with two player playing on one machine.. if I just plug on controller for second player, it still does not show up.. I have to run wejoy to create virtual controller before plugging in the controller for it to be seen in the game... hmm..

.b
lod Dec 11, 2016
m2mg2 Jan 17, 2017
I tried to play again recently and my steam controller doesn't work right anymore. I have all the udev rules and everything seems to be OK, but when I get in game there is no response on the analog stick. Some of the buttons work but most do not. The analog stick works in the initial menu but stops working in game.

-update- Wasn't Rocket League. After issuing steam --reset it went back to normal, also had an issue with libraries after a steam update.


Last edited by m2mg2 on 5 February 2017 at 4:52 pm UTC
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