Chris

This update is also only accessible by switching to our Experimental branches (instructions on how to do so here) - although please be aware they have slower load times and worse performance than normal builds due to the extra logging they contain! Balance Changes: Xenonaut Shields now only offer 100% protection in the frontal 90-degree arc. Their protection linearly drops off from 100% down to a minimum of 20% as the angle approaches the edges of the frontal 180-degree arc. Changes: Various visual updates to the new ARES model to reintroduce the engine glow and heat haze etc. Soviet Town terror sites now have Alenium Bombs like the Western Town maps do. Updated the "wingover" icon in the air combat interface. Bugfixes: Fixed a crash that could occur at end of turn in the tactical combat on the Soviet Town biome. Fixed a crash clicking the supporter regions / supporter icons on the Geoscape if you loaded an old save from 6.10.0. Fixed a crash during the tutorial. Fixed the Cleaners getting stuck while moving into position in the tutorial. Fixed the ARES weapons being invisible. Fixed the MARS tracks flickering during the fire animation, and if the vehicle moved more than one tile. Fixed fire / smoke effects sometimes spawning in the very corner of the map, rather than their intended tile. Another attempted fix for the camera sometimes incorrectly snapping to a moving unit after you've manually taken control of the camera (which should stop any attempted camera tracking).

Thanks for the feedback. To answer a few of the points: You make a good point about the lack of hardness on vehicle armour, that's just an oversight on our part. I'll get that fixed in the next update. The Vanguard TU modifiers issue is a known problem and is on our fix list, we've just not got round to it yet. I hadn't realised it affected the MARS too though. Maybe I'll bump the priority up a bit. Yeah, the suppression values don't scale at all. However, nor does the alien Bravery. So I'm surprised that it becomes harder to suppress enemies as the game goes on - the fundamental calculation should stay the same (other than enemies like Sebillians are harder to suppress than say Sectons, but that's true right from the early stages of the game). I can't actually remember if I buffed Androns in M6 or not, actually. I'll keep an eye on it. Yeah, this is sort of the bonus of taking the HEVY (or grenades). They make Cyberdrones much easier to deal with. Perhaps the armour destruction values are a bit too high on the fusion explosives though.

Hello everyone - we're now into October, so here's our monthly development update covering everything we worked on over the past month. Milestone 6: After releasing Milestone 6 onto the Experimental branches last month, we continued to release updates for it this month. Having completed all three of the remaining gameplay tasks on our Early Access roadmap, we're now focused on stability and bugfixes. We're still aiming to have the full release for Milestone 6 in the next two to three weeks - although estimating how many bugs our testers will find (and how long it'll take us to fix them) is tricky, so that date may move if we encounter a lot of problems! Ending Cinematic: The first completed item on our roadmap was the ending cinematic, which is a short epilogue cutscene in the same style as the opening cutscene. This has now been fully implemented in the game and plays after completion of the final mission. There's not really much more to say here, but I hope players feel it's a fitting way to close out a successful campaign. Air Combat Tutorial & Gemini: Next was the "Air Combat Update" roadmap item, which contains all our previous work on the air combat interface refresh (plus the new side-on art for all the aircraft weapons) and now also contains the air combat tutorial. This has been integrated into the existing tutorial, and is aimed to be a brief explanation of the key interception combat mechanics, giving the player just enough information that they can figure out the rest by themselves. The Gemini interceptor has also had a bit of a refresh over the past couple of months, having morphed from a fighter that simply had better stats than its predecessors to a craft capable of performing some unique combat maneuvers. We recently added the "wingover" manevuer for that aircraft, which flips the plane through 180-degrees and can be rather helpful in a dogfight. This should help keep the tech progression interesting. We'll continue to tweak and refine the gameplay and balance of the air combat in Milestone 7, but we're now relatively happy with the overall state of the air combat. Soviet Town Biome: The final completed item on our roadmap was the Soviet Town biome - an alternate biome for terror missions that is used in certain parts of the world. Adding a new "town" biome always takes a long time, but I'm pleased with the way it has come out. There's a nice contrast between the Western Town, which is mostly commercial buildings, and the Soviet Town being a mixture of residential, government and industrial buildings. That should help keep Terror missions feeling fresh. At present we've only added the five small Terror maps to the game, but the remaining three medium Terror maps are mostly complete and should be fully finished in the next week or so. Miscellaneous: We've also added a few other smaller pieces of content this month. There's three extra strategy and three extra tactical music tracks (which almost doubles the amount of music in the game), plus updated models for the MARS and ARES vehicles, and some Xenopedia rewrites to reflect the new mechanics and gameplay changes added recently. And, as always, there's a long list of minor improvements that are too small to be worth mentioning. I think that's everything. Thanks for reading, and I'll be writing another post in a month's time - hopefully talking about the successful release of Milestone 6!

This update is also only accessible by switching to our Experimental branches (instructions on how to do so here) - although please be aware they have slower load times and worse performance than normal builds due to the extra logging they contain! We decided not to release 6.11.0 last night due to discovering another serious bug during our testing, so we fixed that and skipped straight to 6.12.0. Changes: Added a new combat maneuver for the Gemini interceptor: the wingover (which is effectively an instant 180-degree spin). Gemini now plays a little "teleport" visual effect when it performs any combat maneuver, as it performs them all instantly. Added updated 3d visuals for the advanced MARS weapons. The upgraded rocket pods now have unique visuals that reflect the upgraded rockets too. Slightly updated the air combat UI so it's more obvious which of the aircraft infopanels on the right is currently selected. Added some new sound effects to the air combat cannon weapons. Balance Changes: Upgraded vehicle armour now has scaling Hardness values in the same way infantry armour does, which should make vehicles much more resilient in the mid / late game. Melee units are now more aggressive. This should make Reapers more likely to aggressively close, rather than passively milling around. Improved the way that the AI handles burst fire weapons, which fixes various instances where Sebillians and enemy Sentry Guns would not fire their weapons despite having a relatively good shot available. Bugfixes: Fixed a crash that would occur at the end of a combat mission if you loaded a save during that mission. Fixed a crash that could occur if a terror site spawned in certain locations on the Geoscape. Fixed a bug where killing Infiltrators would not reduce the daily Doomsday gain. Fixed an issue where if a unit was given an attack order when moving, it would sometimes run back to the start of their move instead of attacking. Fixed an issue where Psyons would sometimes shoot Xenonauts dead immediately after Mind Controlling them. Fixed the aircraft weapon tooltip incorrectly displaying a "0" value for all missile Turn Rates. Fixed a small timing issue at the end of the ending cinematic. Fixed the MARS / ARES and the Mentarch movement animations sometimes taking too long to finish playing the movement sound and begin the next action. Fixed some mis-set translation strings for the Chinese translations.

Ugh, yeah, that's a big bug. Thanks. We'll get that fixed tomorrow.

So our tech director took a look at this and this was his feedback (mixed in with a few generic recommendations). Just to be sure, you previously played X2 on the same machine and didn't suffer these problems before Milestone 6? Observations: When TDR tried to recover the GPU/driver, an allocation failed (system/VRAM/pagefile resource exhaustion is a strong candidate) Disk C: Only 9.4 GB free of ~975 GB. Pagefile heavily used (25.6 GB in use). → Critically low free space + large pagefile usage = classic setup for STATUS_INSUFFICIENT_RESOURCES. HAGS (Hardware‑Accelerated GPU Scheduling): Enabled for NVIDIA; Intel reports “AlwaysOff”. → Mixed HAGS state across hybrid adapters is a known source of instability on some systems. What might be failing? Resource exhaustion during or right after a TDR attempt The consistent 0xC000009A strongly implicates insufficient system resources (pagefile/commit, kernel paged pool, or VRAM budget) while the graphics stack was trying to recover. The 9.4 GB free on C: The OS can’t grow the pagefile, write dumps, or satisfy DXGI paging pressure → recovery failure → BSOD 0x116. Hybrid graphics + HDR + mixed HAGS state = fragile path The game likely renders on the NVIDIA dGPU but presents through the Intel iGPU. With HDR enabled, composition uses expensive swapchains and sometimes Multi‑Plane Overlay paths. HAGS on NVIDIA + “AlwaysOff” on Intel can yield driver timing mismatches that surface as TDRs on some systems. VRAM pressure at 4K 6 GB VRAM + 4K + HDR + modern post‑FX can exceed budgets; when DXGI eviction/commit can’t find room (and the pagefile can’t back it), allocations fail → 0xC000009A. Overlay hooks (NVIDIA overlay, Broadcast, Discord, Steam, RivaTuner, etc.) can worsen stability on hybrid/HDR paths. Potential fixes: Increase free disk space to about 40-60gb. Try disabling HDR temporarily (Settings → System → Display → HDR → off Disable HAGS (Settings → System → Display → Graphics → Default graphics settings → toggle Hardware‑accelerated GPU scheduling Off → reboot) Apparently reported on MSHybrid laptops as a cause of bsod Force the game to run on the Nvidia dGPU Settings → System → Display → Graphics → Add Xenonauts2.exe → Options → High performance (NVIDIA GPU). In NVIDIA Control Panel → Manage 3D settings → Program Settings → add Xenonauts2 → High‑performance NVIDIA processor. Disable overlays & captures/filters. (GeForce experience game overlay off, steam overlay, discord overlay off Try forcing DirectX 11 on Unity -force-d3d11 as a commandline

Sorry, forgot to update the branch. This is fixed now!

And you're still experiencing crashes?

This update is also only accessible by switching to our Experimental branches (instructions on how to do so here) - although please be aware they have slower load times and worse performance than normal builds due to the extra logging they contain! Unfortunately this update once again breaks save game compatibility, so I've moved 6.9.1 to the Experimental Legacy branch. It's annoying we have to keep doing this, but this time it is because we needed to update the way the Infiltrators worked to properly switch from Doomsday to Panic generation in Phase 2. This fixes the issue of massive unexplained Panic gain at the end of each month (which was being caused by a bug with the Infiltrators). Changes: The ending cutscene has now been added to the game. The Soviet Town biome has been enabled. For now we've only added 5 Small Terror maps, but we'll also add three larger maps in the near future. Added a campaign option for the UFO Delegation system, so players can disable if it they want. Note that this also disables the monthly funding increase that occurs when you delegate a UFO, so you'll have lower monthly income than a normal player in exchange for the ability to run more crash site missions. Added three additional strategy layer and three more tactical mission music tracks, going from three to six tracks in each section of the game. Infiltrators now correctly display that they generate +1 Doomsday per day in Phase 1, then switch to +2 Panic per month in Phase 2. New models have been added for the MARS / ARES, and for the Mantid alien. You're now able to fire cannons and perform Evasive Roll while retreating in the air combat, and the tooltip for the Retreat button has been updated to reflect the new retreat mechanics for this Milestone. The air combat UI has been updated so that the selected aircraft now shows a selection ring at all times, as previously it was a little difficult to spot which aircraft was actually selected. The Operation Point generation UI in the bottom left now correctly shows decimals. Rewrote a number of Xenopedia entries to reflect mechanical changes made in Milestone 6 (e.g. dropship capacity, Gemini jump capability, Endgame teleporter, etc). The Gemini and Pegasus entries have been rewritten entirely. Updated the Boreal sawmill to have some additional window variants. Improved the destruction state on the ATLAS Base command room table. Balance Changes: Commander difficulty: enemies now have a 1.1x Accuracy modifier (down from 1.3x) and there are now 7 starting Infiltrators (down from 8). Although Commander is supposed to be difficult, the Accuracy bonus in particular seemed to be so high that you couldn't play the game "properly" that difficulty setting due to aliens basically being able to ignore key game mechanics like cover / smoke due to having such high hit chances. We'll think up a better way to increase difficulty instead. Mimics now grant a minor Panic decrease if shot down in Phase 2, like other UFOs. ENDGAME mission now supports 4 vehicles (previously 3). Pegasus dropship now supports 3 vehicles (previously 4). A couple of changes to make Psyon / Secton crews a bit less common in the early stages of the game - firstly, the initial Destroyer (which spawns near your base) now always contains Sebillians. Secondly, the third Abduction Site now always contains Wraiths. Bugfixes: Fixed a crash when hovering over certain tooltips in German language. Fixed a crash that would occur if you tried to remove the target soldiers from your dropship when preparing for a Rescue Soldiers mission. Fixed a crash that could occur when loading a manual save made immediately after an air combat battle. Fixed a crash that would occur at the end of the UOO Bridge mission if you loaded a save during that mission. Fixed a bug where Infiltrator Supporters were causing +4 global panic per month each, rather than +2 panic in their local region. Fixed a number of issues with the obstruction shader (shown when a unit is behind an object) not correctly drawing over the shroud. Fixed the aircraft information panel on the Launch Aircraft panel being hidden or misaligned on non-1080p resolutions. Fixed grenades and explosives applying damage through indestructible floors (such as within UFOs). Fixed an issue where it became impossible to heal an unconscious soldier, or move into their tile. Fixed a bug where completed non-repeatable research projects triggered by sellable items (mostly Autopsies and Observations) would incorrectly trigger a "new project available" pop-up when recovering more of the trigger item. Fixed Wraith units flickering during their injury / death animation if they had their cloak active. Fixed Sebillians T-posing before and after their melee anmation. Fixed a bug where units transformed into Reaper Zombies would spawn a corpse (despite the zombie being their corpse). Fixed the player not getting a "VIP spotted" toast if the VIP was spotted during the enemy turn. Fixed soldiers spawning off-center from their teleport pads on the UOO Bridge Assault mission.

Yeah, it's quite possible the panic damage is overtuned and needs to be reduced. We're currently looking into it. But talking about it in the bug forums just leads to confusion and wastes developer time, as we had staff looking into your save trying to figure out what had caused the Panic to increase (because it seemed like you were trying to report a bug).

Is this a bug report? It's a bug if Panic has gone up without any obvious explanation. If you've failed a ground mission or some UFOs have caused a lot of Panic damage because you haven't shot it down, that's also fine - but you need to talk about it in the balance discussion threads instead.

Thanks. This error code appears to mean that the graphic card is timing out, which isn't an issue we've seen with other users. It might sound like a basic solution, but I'd try updating your graphics card drivers and see if that helps? Could you also load up dxdiag (just type it into the Run field in the start menu) and export your system specs?

Thanks. This isn't actually a bug - each UFO anomaly causes both a local Panic increase and a smaller global Panic increase. There's a lot more UFOs in Milestone 6 though, so this might be a bit unbalanced. Feel free to add your thoughts to one of the balance threads in General Discussion about the topic if you want, as I'll be reading through them and doing another playthrough shortly. I'm surprised Panic has got so high by only day 150.

This is more complex to fix than you'd think, as the "corpse" we have for the MARS is a big object and would look like it interferes with the gameplay when corpses actually do not. So I think we'll just leave it for now. I will increase the weight of the MARS / ARES corpse though, as they're not really meant to be something a soldier can pick up.

We fixed a bug where crouching soldiers could shoot through other crouched soldiers. You have to be standing to shoot over the heads of crouched units / the MARS.

Yes, you’re right the victory rewards are actually -30 to +30. I’ll update that. I’m guessing the reason you got +9 in your mission rather than +12 is because the aliens killed one of the freed civilians, so they don’t count as abducted or rescued (so effectively just +3 rather than +6).

You need to provide the save from the final turn for us to be able to double check the maths, really. It’s +3 for any rescued civilians, and -3 for any abducted civilians. If the aliens have killed any released civilians then you don’t get credit for them, and if you’ve blown up any abduction tubes then those civilians don’t count as abducted. Yes, if you go to an abduction site and kill all the aliens but don’t rescue any of the civilians you still win the mission and recover their equipment, but don’t get any Doomsday benefits for doing so. EDIT: the maths looks correct to me, anyway. If you free 7 civilians then you get +21 for that, but you also suffer -9 because the aliens successfully abducted 3 civilians (which totals to +12). Effectively each civilian rescued improves the situation by +6, but it starts from -30 (which is what you’d get if you didn’t do the mission at all).

This update is also only accessible by switching to our Experimental branches (instructions on how to do so here) - although please be aware they have slower load times and worse performance than normal builds due to the extra logging they contain! Bugfixes: Fixed the game crashing if you tried to initiate an air combat battle with only one interceptor present (which would happen for every early-game interception).

Thanks. I'm making a patch for this crash now, it should be live in an hour or two!

This update is also only accessible by switching to our Experimental branches (instructions on how to do so here) - although please be aware they have slower load times and worse performance than normal builds due to the extra logging they contain! Unfortunately this update breaks save game compatibility - the bug where the Battleships were not spawning in Phase 5 can't be fixed in existing campaigns. I'll put 6.8.0 on the Experimental Legacy branch so people can continue playing it, but you'll need to capture the Eternal on the UOO Bridge Assault mission alive if you want to complete the game. Changes: The Air Combat section of the tutorial has now been added to the existing tutorial. Added the final side-on art for the aircraft weapons in the air combat UI. Added an explanatory popup when the first UOO mission is unlocked, explaining you need to click the new button to launch the mission (as people often don't notice it). Added a new blast door variant on the Xenonaut Base mission which can be manually opened like other types of door, and does not autoclose at end of turn. Set various glass doors to smash like windows when shot through. Balance Changes: Autopsy projects now autocomplete after Xenobiology has been researched. Colossus Power Fist now has +20 Accuracy to compensate for the Colossus Reflexes penalty. Stealthsuit heavy armour variant now reduces Accuracy by -3 (previously 0). Some changes to the UOO Sabotage mission: The enemies on the UOO Sabotage mission now all have Fusion weapons (as the player has already encountered enemies with Fusion weapons at this point). One Heavy Cyberdrone has been removed from the mission crew. The central building should now contain aliens again. Bugfixes: Fixed a crash that would occur if you used startWithCheats.bat and pressed H during a tactical mission. Fixed Battleships not appearing in phase 5. Fixed shroud and fog of war not appearing inside UFOs. Fixed being unable to heal unconscious Xenonauts in some situations. Fixed Sentry guns sometimes visually appearing to be destroyed, but still being alive. Fixed Endgame part 1 map starting with the Chinook dropship present. Fixed an AI issue where enemies were strongly discouraged from moving through closed doors. Fixed laser weapons snapping back to view the shooter when firing at targets at long range. Fixed the subtitles not appearing over the intro cinematic. Fixed a text error in the Aircraft Weapon tooltip (the Lock Time line), Fixed autoclosing blast doors in ATLAS / Cleaner Base closing even if there was an AI unit stood in the doorway. Fixed some frill offset issues in the Western Town store map.

I'm guessing you're playing a campaign you started a while ago? The Gemini seems to go 4,500KM in a fresh game. Maybe I patched that after you started that campaign. The battleship bug will be fixed for new campaigns in the next patch - but hopefully Koki can fix your current save so you don't waste this one.

Unfortunately I think this is something that must have happened to campaigns that were already in progress when we made this patch; I've tested it in a fresh game and they seem to work fine.

I'll keep an eye on it when I do my next playthrough.

Hey - the logs for this crash report are showing a crash when you're accessing the cheat panel. Are you playing the game with cheats enabled? Seems like if you press H with cheat mode enabled then the game crashes.

Whatever the eventual changes to Biters are, the reasons for this particular nerf are still valid. Soldiers are frequently hit by Biters during overwatch fire, and if that happens then if they perform any action (including moving) then they're liable to be attacked by the Biter because it spawns with enough TU to reaction attack immediately. It's silly to have a situation where the optimal course of action can be to do nothing with your remaining TU (i.e. don't try to deal with the threat) so you don't eat an extra melee attack. Plus if we're spawning a unit mid-way through a turn, I think it's only fair to give the player the rest of their turn to deal with it before it starts attacking them.