With the new year upon us, it’s time to release a new update to Blade Symphony. Exciting news as the Blade Symphony Stats system is back online, recording data, and re-integrated with the game. You’ll see your global rank and league in-game, in some new areas!

The other major update is that Blade Symphony’s Steam Workshop support is back! The majority of old items should once again work in-game and be visible to other players. We’re still working to clear up any issues that may arise from old, outdated workshop items.

If you're looking for players to duel against, why not try out our new automated Pick-up Duel functionality on our Discord Server[discord.gg]!?

Changes

• Restored support for using items from the Steam Workshop.
  
  • Added an option to automatically delete unsubscribed workshop content from disk.
    
  • Added support for previewing local workshop items in-game before they are published (other players see default items).
    
  • Masks no longer require the head bone to be their root bone, allowing for cosmetics attached to the neck and shoulders.
    
  • Updated to latest SteamUGC implementation.
    
• Re-integrated global leaderboard stats tracking.
  
  • Updated the duel intro box to display the player’s global rank and a nice shiny league icon.
    
  • Updated the scoreboard to show the player’s avatar more predominantly and to display their global rank.
• Changed the duel intro box to display the sword type rather than the sword name.
  
• Updated engine interfaces for improved SourceMod compatibility.
  
• Changed server queries to use Steam standards.
  
• Re-added the backdrop behind the loading screen logo.
  
• Added server-side console variables controlling whether duel replays and slow motion occur.
  
• Removed GSLT requirement on dedicated servers.
  
• Added support for binary PCF particle files.

Optimizations

• Fixed some unused internal texture system functionality eating video memory.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a crash that would sometimes occur when scanning for voice chat devices.
  
• Fixed a rare crash that would occur when entering a duel.
  
• Fixed SourceMod HUD menu not receiving input.
  
• Fixed several warnings and notifications that would appear in the developer console.
  
• Fixed several bugs with multi-threaded model loading.
  
• Fixed the published workshop items page showing subscribed items too.
  
• Fixed the game entering an invalid state after editing a workshop item.
  
• Fixed text clipping with buttons on the character customization page.
  
• Updated SFML.

Since the last update, our focus has been to get SourceMod working with the game again. Unfortunately, SourceMod support for 64-bit operating systems is still underdeveloped, which is what the Windows and Linux dedicated servers use.

Until the wonderful SourceMod team are able to improve 64-bit support, we decided to switch gears and fix crashes and bugs that we've noticed new players are encountering. After this update, we want to pivot to working on workshop support for older items.

Thanks to the wonderful continued support from our community[punyhuman.com] we will be working to add workshop support for older items, re-implement the statistics system, and begin working on gameplay changes again!

Join our Discord[discord.gg] and be sure to check out our Bug Tracker[tracker.punyhuman.com], if you would like to assist with development!

Changes

• End of duel slow-motion now properly accounts for player animation speed.
  
• Added mouse-over effects to the web links in the menu.
  
• Hid the redundant “Harmonious Prelude” text at the bottom left of the main menu.

Optimizations

• Optimized a lot of cases where memory would be copied where it was unnecessary to do so.
  
• Solved a lot of warnings that would be constantly logged to the developer console, which could cause mid-game stutters.
  
• Optimized console variable management in the engine, providing a minor speed-up across the board.

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed many bugs where memory owned by another part of the game would be written over. Causing crashes that wouldn’t manifest until the affected memory was accessed again, typically when changing maps or closing the game.
  
• Fixed a crash when building lightmaps.
  
• Fixed a crash related to Discord rich presence integration.
  
• Fixed many instances of memory being used after it had been deallocated.
  
• Fixed a crash caused by the customization menu writing to memory used by other parts of the game.
  
• Fixed a crash related to BBTV playback.
  
• Fixed a crash when sending client info to a server.
  
• Fixed an oversight where players would move at their normal speed during the end of duel slow-motion.
  
• Fixed a bug where players could kick themselves from the game by scrolling the mouse wheel too fast over menu spinwheels.
  
• Fixed a bug where GUI spinwheel controls would randomly not scroll back to the beginning properly.
  
• Fixed a broken material on duel_winter.

Over the last few weeks, we have been internally testing a number of methods to better optimize Blade Symphony. After all, having fluid swordplay is important.

Thankfully, since the last update, there have been very few crashes. The team thought it was important to spend some time reducing the amount of times players will receive "hitches" in-game, or finding ways to reduce filesize.

The result is Free To Play Patch 5! This should allow us to keep going with more patches, and more changes soon. Keep an eye out, and thanks for supporting continued Blade Symphony development[punyhuman.com]!

Join our Discord[discord.gg] and be sure to check out our Bug Tracker[tracker.punyhuman.com], if you would like to assist with development!

Changes

• Disabled vscript, which should fix certain instabilities and provide a small performance boost.
  
• The Hammer editor no longer plays a MIDI tune every time it is started.
  
• Various under the hood changes.

Optimizations

• Fixed numerous material problems that created a lot of unnecessary warnings in the game console.
  
• Fixed textures and materials being completely reloaded upon map change, which should improve load times.
  
• Fixed several slow debugging features being enabled for release builds.
  
• Enabled general optimizations for several modules that previously had them disabled.
  
• Enabled an optimization to reduce the size of game binaries.
  
• Dedicated servers now use a multi-threaded logging system.

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed character inverse-kinematics (IK) not being reset when changing stances.
  
• Fixed player avatars displaying white in the duel scoreboard.
  
• Fixed the courtyard center in Monastery using the wrong texture.
  
• Fixed a crash caused by vscript when unloading a map.
  
• Fixed a minor technical oversight in the physically-based rendering shader.

Since November of last year, the team took a careful and extensive look at Blade Symphony's codebase to fix lots of difficult bugs, but most importantly, fix EVERY crash we could find!

Many of the crashes you may have been experiencing were due to memory issues in the game. So, our awesome new programmer Josh "Slartibarty" Dowell was able to refactor a big portion of the code to be more efficient. It's quite the difference!

In addition, we're replacing our custom asset streaming with the CS:GO asset streaming, which we're very confident with so far. If you don't see it working, it's because it's off by default (for now.) You can change the setting in your graphics options.

We're hot on the tail of LOTS more changes. As long as the community is continuing to crowdfund our efforts[punyhuman.com] to provide a free, and fun tactical sword fighting experience, we'll keep updating. Look for our next update in just a few weeks!

Join our Discord[discord.gg] and be sure to check out our Bug Tracker[tracker.punyhuman.com], if you would like to assist with development!

Changes

• Enabled texture streaming for Windows, Mac and Linux from the Graphics Menu. This texture streaming, pulled from CS:GO, replaces our custom texture-streaming implementation.
  
• Added support for running multiple instances of the game on a single machine via the “-multirun” parameter.

Optimizations

• Updated the Steam Networking implementation, resulting in better network performance and security.

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed a large number of crashes due to memory corruption.
  
• Fixed a crash that occurred when the training menu was opened.
  
• Fixed a crash caused by building hash tables for VPK files that have no data.
  
• Fixed a crash due to not finding a valid animation model sequence.
  
• Fixed a crash caused by accessing out-of-bounds model data.
  
• Fixed the player’s volume setting for background music not persisting after game exit. (#7195[tracker.punyhuman.com])
  
• Fixed a camera flicker occurring for dead players that are viewing through a ragdoll body. (#7248[tracker.punyhuman.com])
  
• Fixed a massive amount of console warning messages due to missing impact particles.
  
• Fixed a localization error that was displayed during the Katana portion of the Tutorial (#7251[tracker.punyhuman.com])

We need your help to put the upcoming patch for Blade Symphony through its paces. Today, we will be reproducing known bugs, looking for new bugs, and testing the stability of the current development version of Blade Symphony.

Free To Play Patch 4 is set to release this week. While it may not appear to be very bug, it contains over 200 memory fixes to Blade Symphony and the Source Engine. This should swat pretty much any crash that has occurred over the last 10 months!

Come and join us on our Discord[discord.gg], and help the developers playtest the development version of the game on the Steam release_candidate branch!

To access this special branch, right-click on Blade Symphony from Steam, go to the "BETAS" section, and select release_candidate from the dropdown:

• Enabled texture streaming for Windows, Mac, and Linux from the Graphics Menu. This texture streaming pulled from CS:GO, replaces our custom texture-streaming implementation.
  
• Added support for running multiple instances of the game on a single machine via the “-multirun” parameter.

• Updated the Steam Networking implementation, resulting in better network performance and security.

• Fixed a large number of crashes due to memory corruption.
  
• Fixed a crash that occurred when the training menu was opened.
  
• Fixed a crash caused by building hash tables for VPK files that have no data.
  
• Fixed a crash due to not finding a valid animation model sequence.
  
• Fixed a crash caused by accessing out-of-bounds model data.
  
• Fixed the player’s volume setting for background music not persisting after game exit. (#7195[tracker.punyhuman.com])
  
• Fixed a camera flicker occurring for dead players that are viewing through a ragdoll body. (#7248[tracker.punyhuman.com])
  
• Fixed a massive amount of console warning messages due to missing impact particles.
  
• Fixed a localization error that was displayed during the Katana portion of the Tutorial (#7251[tracker.punyhuman.com])

Material Streaming is now available in the settings menu, and on by default for this Release Candidate build
Lots of Memory Corruption fixes

With the recent release of Free To Play Patch 3, we're seeing lots of players joining, giving us awesome feedback, helping with bug reports[tracker.punyhuman.com], and reporting crashes.

Come join the developers of Blade Symphony over a Livestream, or on our Discord[discord.gg], to better understand how to play Blade Symphony, watch enthralling duels, or enjoy our engaging community.

Yesterday, we released a small hotfix, that addressed numerous crashes we're receiving from our fantastic community. If you crash, please don't forget to leave information about what you were doing!

Our long-term support campaign for Blade Symphony is underway[punyhuman.com]. If you're enjoying the game so far and want to support further development, then spare a few dollars a month for a Discord role, direct access to the developers, and more!

More than a year ago, we released a patch for Blade Symphony’s Free To Play version, and admittedly, the reception was poor. We have been challenged ever since the initial transition, re-establishing the game’s former glory is tough work.

Today, we bring you a much needed, large update for Blade Symphony, Patch 3.

Thank you for all of the support and bug reports
We’re appreciative to the community for coming together on our Discord Server[discord.gg] and helping identify and fix issues with Blade Symphony.

A big thank-you to those who have helped test changes, give feedback and report bugs on our Bug Tracker[tracker.punyhuman.com]. We are so thankful for your time and patience, and couldn’t continue development without you!

Help Blade Symphony move forward
There’s still so much to do with Blade Symphony. We want to finish re-implementing the Steam Workshop, get the statistics server running again, and more.

We make less than $100 every 3 months on premium item sales. If you want to support further development, consider purchasing some items, contributing to our crowdfunding page[punyhuman.com], or maybe grab a copy of another one of our games[galaci.de]?

[punyhuman.com]Check out this awesome similar title, on Kickstarter!
Besides running our own campaign, a similar title, heavily inspired by Bushido Blade, is also running a campaign. Go check it out! They’re fantastic developers and reached out to us because they know our community has shown so much support in the past.

Changes

• Added support to SourceMod (https://www.sourcemod.net/) to Harmonious Prelude engine branch, huge thanks to their developers for working together on this!
  
• Added experimental Vulkan support. Can be toggled using -vulkan launch parameter
  
• Added support for new Steam Controller system
  
• Changed Classic Style to always be default
  
• Added new Round Replay that occurs after displaying the finishing blow
  
• Changed finishing blow to have a dynamic camera angle
  
• Added icons for Sword Glows in Customization Screen
  
• Improved appearance of Summary Screen
  
• Added new transition going from the end of a Match to the Summary Screen
  
• Added ticking sounds to alert players of end of round while on Summary screen
  
• Changed spectator music tracks to shuffle if the player did not click continue on the Summary Screen
  
• Improved appearance of Overgrown Mask, Skin and Attachments (Thanks Jester!)
  
• Improved appearance of waving Emblems by using specular maps and better shadows
  
• Added support for maps to have their own combat and meditation music
  
• Added jigglebones to Pure's Furious Mask
  
• Added intro cameras for duel_box and practice box
  
• Changed the reset time for combo attacks to be 2.5 seconds from 1 second
  
• Changed Pure and Vanguard's Heavy taunt to draw a heart
  
• Changed Matches with only bots to shuffle their Style if more than one player is in the server
  
• Changed Matches to use the player's Style if there is only one player in the server
  
• Increased FFA challenge timeout from 10 seconds to 5 seconds
  
• Increased chat font size and made it proportional for higher DPI displays
  
• Changed ".sw.vtx" models to be optional for workshop submission
  
• Increase maximum map file download size to 300MB from a server
  
• Removed warning message informing player of switching to Classic Style
  
• Added more language translators to credits
  
• Added exclusive capes for 2017 Autumn Winter Tournament and Patreon supporters
  
• Changed the Discord Rich Presence party size to be the size of the server, instead of 5
  
• Updated SDK to use studiomdl, vbsp, vvis and vrad from CSGO Danger Zone branch added staticpropcompile
  
• Updated SDK to include staticpropcompile
  
• Updated Hungarian translation (Thanks Tamás!)
  
• Updated French translation (Thanks Charles and Alexander!)
  
• Updated Ukranian translation (Thanks Anatolii!)
  
• Added a community FastDL host as default for common custom community maps
  
• Move Round Win/Lose panel below the combo bar
  
• Reengineered end-of-duel slowdown to slow down only the current duel rather than the entire client
  
• Add small flash feedback effect on the final blow of a match
  
• Change FFA respawn time from 8 seconds to 5 seconds
  
• Added Discord lobbies to Blade Symphony
  
• Add feedback sound for outfit color, glow type, glow color, chat color, color picker and others on customization screen
  
• Added Steam Workshop support for legacy maps and client mods
  
• Disabled texture streaming to avoid crashes until new texture streaming system is finished
  
• Added self-illumination support to PBRStandard shader for content creators, use the alpha channel of the Albedo to modulate it
  
• Made game models load asynchronously, making things load faster
  
• Fix duel slowdown camera clipping through geometry or not looking correct
  
• Fix VPK not loading old file format properly while not breaking compatibility with the new VPK formats
  
• Added Steam Workshop support for legacy maps and client mods
  
• Made game models load asynchronously, making things load faster
  
• Fix bug where generic attachments would seem still selectable on entering Misc tab on customization screen while already having maximum count of generic attachments
  
• Added self-illumination support to PBRStandard shader for content creators, use the alpha channel of the Albedo to modulate it
  
• Fix transition effect not working on generic attachments in customization screen
  
• Skip duplicate colours on customization screen
  
• Add feedback sound for outfit color, glow type, glow color, chat color, color picker and others on customization screen
  
• Fix bug where you would actually get readded to a queue if you unqueue and wait for duel timeout on summary screen
  
• Fix rare crash during duel introduction if player is not fully initialized or doesn't exist
  
• Fixed players being able to remain on duel even after summary screen timeout
  
• Change FFA respawn time from 8 seconds to 5 seconds
  
• Fixed dead players and players of other duels being layered inside player's emblem flag
  
• Make announcer sounds play at correct volume
  
• Fix server crashing when changing bb_duelbots_numbots while ingame
  
• Add small flash feedback effect on the final blow of a match
  
• Fixed sounds feeling "crackly" when slowdown effect is active
  
• Disable texture streaming to avoid crashes until new texture streaming system is finished
  
• Reengineered end-of-duel slowdown to slow down only the current duel rather than the entire client
  
• Fixed ghost hits and lag compensation issues
  
• Fix rare case where "Round win" bar would stay painted permanently
  
• Fix shurikens' tracer being blocked resulting in it shooting upwards
  
• Move Round Win/Lose panel below the combo bar
  
• Added a community FastDL host as default for common custom community maps

Optimizations

• Add engine fixes and changes from CS:GO Danger Zone update
  
• Improved network latency by not transmitting data of invisible players in the same arena
  
• Improved client FPS by reducing engine-level copy function time for various operations
  
• Improved accuracy of calculation of scoreboard ping
  
• Improved per-pixel motion blur and made it simulate HDR overexposure
  
• Improved rendering pipeline (Citation needed)
  
• Improved game initialization time
  
• Improved 'fastpath' rendering method to improve rendering of level models
  
• Improved physically based rendering (PBR) shader to appear better and render faster
  
• Improved the Horizon Based Ambient Occlusion (HBAO) shader
  
• Upgraded to new Discord SDK for Discord Rich Presence
  
• Upgraded to Steam screenshot system when taking screenshots

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed issue where all or some players would suffer decrease in frames when other players join a server.
  
• Potentially fixed "ghost" hits occurring when a player would hit their opponent, but damage was not registered
  
• Potentially fixed players and bots potentially falling underneath the level
  
• Fixed instance where Texture Streaming system could freeze the game
  
• Fixed crash when game client attempts to create a physics prop without a model
  
• Fixed occasional crash due to rendering Sword Glows
  
• Fixed occasional crash when playing the Tutorial
  
• Fixed players being able to change their duel Style even after map time limit has reached.
  
• Fixed "My Hero" achievement not being given even if conditions were met
  
• Fixed players being able to suicide during opponent's death animation
  
• Fixed rounds not ending in a draw if both players die at the same time
  
• Fixed Round ending in a draw if a player died due to the environment
  
• Fixed footstep sounds not playing for Pure when walking on metal materials
  
• Fixed voice icon for local player not appearing when player is using the microphone
  
• Fixed Conical Cantata sounds being played in other arenas
  
• Fixed player being unable to upload custom spray images to server
  
• Fixed not being to able enable Cascaded Shadow Maps (CSM) from the Video menu
  
• Fixed character outlines being rendered at times when they shouldn't be
  
• Fixed issue causing Pure's Furious Sword Scabbard not to show
  
• Fixed various visual issues occuring on Style Confirmation Screen
  
• Fixed not being able to deselect an Emblem when one is equipped on Customization Screen
  
• Fixed various visual issues occuring after selecting a new Emblem on Customization Screen
  
• Fixed various visual issues showing if the Summary Screen appeared while the chat box was open
  
• Fixed Emblem's waving effect appearing distorted on character intro scenes
  
• Fixed Emblem's waving effect not appearing at all on AMD graphics cards.
  
• Fixed combo notification showing for a split-second during character intro scenes
  
• Fixed Inverse Kinematics (IK) not working when player is doing stances or sheathing
  
• Fixed black shadows on duel_box
  
• Fixed being unable to close in-game Main Menu after changing video settings
  
• Fixed being unable to go back to the previous menu on confirmation menus or the Video menu
  
• Fixed external Main Menu buttons for Discord, Forums and Steam not appearing while in-game
  
• Fixed missing lock icon texture when joining password protected servers.
  
• Fixed misaligned text in duel spectator menu if there is only one player in the duel
  
• Fixed various issues on Credits screen
  
• Fixed Discord automatically launching when client is started
  
• Fixed various issues with Discord Rich Presence
  
• Fixed the Crash Reporter's background not appearing and not wrapping text
  
• (Mac only) Fixed the need to double click on Main Menus
  
• (Mac only) Fixed disappearing cursor while using in-game or out of game menus
  
• Removed debug messages shown when sliding on walls
  
• Removed debug messages about clamping level of detail change speed
  
• Fix console input not working on Linux and macOS
  
• Fix duel slowdown camera clipping through geometry or not looking correct
  
• Fix rare case where "Round win" bar would stay painted permanently
  
• Fixed ghost hits and lag compensation issues
  
• Fixed sounds feeling "crackly" when slowdown effect is active
  
• Fix server crashing when changing bb_duelbots_numbots while ingame
  
• Fixed announcer sounds playing at incorrect volume
  
• Fixed dead players and players of other duels being layered inside player's emblem flag
  
• Fixed players being able to remain on duel even after summary screen timeout
  
• Fix rare crash during duel introduction if player is not fully initialized or doesn't exist
  
• Fix bug where you would actually get readded to a queue if you unqueue and wait for duel timeout on summary screen
  
• Fix transition effect not working on generic attachments in customization screen
  
• Fixed bug where multiple colors of the same kind could appear in customization screen
  
• Fix VPK not loading old file format properly while not breaking compatibility with the new VPK formats
  
• Fixed Lightmappedgeneric shaders rendering incorrectly in duel_temple and free_temple
  
• Fixed Water Rendering
  
• Fix bug where generic attachments would seem still selectable on entering Misc tab on customization screen while already having maximum count of generic attachments
  
• Fix shurikens' tracer being blocked resulting in it shooting upwards

Gather with members of the community on the official Puny Human Discord server to play pick-up matches of Blade Symphony!