MK.XI Changes:

If you find that your save files have disappeared after this update it's possible that the save directory has moved from the old file name to the new file name in "C:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Local" and requires you to copy and paste the contents of the "FreeFireProject" folder in the "Project Ballistic" Folder.

I would recommend starting a new save but it is not required.

Main Changes Summary:

• Changed the project name from "freefireproject" to "Project Ballistic". - PLEASE READ TEXT ABOVE IF YOUR SAVE FILES ARE MISSING.
• Gunplay rework: Recoil was once again changed: Recoil now affects the gun's deviation, effects Hip-firing again as well as ADSing.
  • Hip-firing won't be as effected by recoil as much as ADSing, The idea is to have both Hip-fire & ADS as viable options with a trade-off between the two forms of shooting.
  • As a result of this change most of the guns have had their Ergonomics Adjusted, Recoil Adjusted & Accuracy Buffed to accommodate this change.
  • Horizontal Recoil currently is scaled by up to 50% of the gun's overall recoil
• Guns firing sounds have been changed to sound punchier.
• Added an option for hit markers to be follow the dynamic crosshair and by extension the gun's front sight/holographic reticle.
• Changes how items drop and so they are no longer physics active and freeze location when they land on a floor.
• Changed attachments so now attachments with no gimmicks can still give stats.
• The "Continue" button in the main menu now actually works and will display and load the last used save when clicked, if one is present.
• Status Effect Framework has been added along with the first status effect: Suppressed.
• Added blood decals & new impact effects when hitting enemies.

List of guns that have had their sounds changed: (I recommend changing your audio settings to accommodate these new sounds, they're quite loud.)

• M4
• AK-47
• M1911
• M11/9
• G18c
• MP7
• P90
• Plus Suppressed version of all the guns mentioned above.
• My gun

• New 12g. Muzzle devices:   
  • 12g. Half Choke - Gives 50 accuracy.
  • 12g. Full Choke - Gives 100 accuracy.
• Status Effects Framework + "Suppressed" Status effect.
  • "Suppressed" Status effects halve accuracy. (changes to this status effect are definitely going to happen, this is mostly temporary.)
  • Only Suppressor muzzle devices can apply the "Suppressed" status effect.
  • The player cannot currently be effected by status effects. (So you're safe, for now.)
  • More status effects are planned to be added but currently experimenting with a simple one first before adding more ambitious effects.
• New effects when attacking enemies:
  • When an enemy is attacked their blood will now paint the level. Not every instance of bleeding will paint the level though, like the player's blood or when an enemy loses a limb. This is due to how the decal is being placed, plus I'm still adjusting how often drops of blood will leave splatter.
  • New impact effects for hitting weak-points and deliver fatal blows to weak-points.

Balance Changes:

Weapon Changes:

Weapons not mentioned in this list have remained unchanged.

• M4A1:
  • Nerfed Damage (21 > 20 - 315 > 300 DPS)
  • Buffed Accuracy (Vertical & Horizontal: 150 > 125, Smaller value means less projectile deviation.)
• AK-47:
  • Buffed Damage (24 > 30 - 240 > 300 DPS)
  • Buffed Accuracy (Vertical & Horizontal: 125 > 75)
  • Nerfed Ergo Scale (2.0 > 1.25)
• M11/9:
  • Buffed Accuracy (Vertical & Horizontal: 85 > 70)
  • Buffed Ergo Scale (3.5 > 2.5)
  • Nerfed Recoil (200 > 225)
• FDC-9:
  • Buffed Accuracy (Vertical & Horizontal: 100 > 85)
  • Nerfed Ergo Scale (5.0 > 2.5)
• G18c:
  • Buffed Accuracy (Vertical & Horizontal: 130 > 100)
  • Nerfed Ergo Scale (4.0 > 2.0)
• Desert Eagle .44:
  • Buffed Accuracy (Vertical & Horizontal: 75 > 50)
  • Nerfed Ergo Scale (0.75 > 0.65)
  • Nerfed Recoil (300 > 400)
• R870:
  • Buffed Accuracy (Vertical & Horizontal: 250 > 200)
  • Buffed Ergo Scale (0.8 > 1.2)
  • Nerfed Recoil (400 > 600) - Note: Performance of the gun has not been negatively effected with this particular change when I tried out these changes on an unmodified R870 as by the time the next shot can be fired accuracy has already returned to normal.
• SPAS-12:
  • Buffed Accuracy (Vertical & Horizontal: 350 > 250)
  • Nerfed Ergo Scale (2.5 > 1.5)
  • Buffed Recoil (500 > 250)
• AA-12:
  • Fixed Fire rate being too high. (450 > 300 rpm) - This was a left over change when I was testing stuff.
  • Buffed Accuracy (Vertical & Horizontal: 375 > 275)
  • Nerfed Ergo Scale (2.0 > 0.75)
  • Buffed Recoil (300 > 150)

Mod Changes:

TL;DR: I didn't like how pretty much every gun could be pin-point accurate with zero recoil, so I changed most mods to not have gimmicks and just give either accuracy, recoil or ergonomics. They are straight upgrades but you do have to choose and can't have all of them.

All Buttstocks, Foregrips, Handguards, Muzzle devices and shotgun Loading Gates were changed as I was not happy with how they functioned before. As for what they are changing too; all of the mods in these categories have been changed to not have a gimmick and will just effect the stat on it's own, this does not mean these mod categories will not have gimmicks at all, they will have a select few but for right now I do not have the gimmicks I have in mind implemented yet. I know I said in the description of the game that there were would no straight upgrades and while the new selection do include direct upgrades to your guns, you can't have all the upgrades at once. Just one mod per mod type. The intention was to give player's a choice for each gun to be specced into better accuracy, recoil, ergonomics or fire rate (which was not a stat that could be effected until now) between several attachments instead of only picking the objectively best gimmick for each stat. The reason behind such big changes was because the mods would only benefit the gun and shooter under a circumstance that did not make any physical sense and would also make every gun pin-point accurate with barely any work (especially shotguns) and instead of just nerfing them into the ground I wanted to change them with the intent of still being useful, if not better, but also making them make sense and giving the player more control over how they want their guns to feel. However, I can always revert these changes if they are not well received. NOTE: Removed mods that were bought are still saved and if I decide to bring back specific mods players have already bought despite being removed, do not have to buy them again. I may bring them back with a different gimmick.

Buttstocks & Grips

• Pistol Stock:
• Instead of -10 Recoil per bullet fired, No longer has a gimmick and now gives -100 Recoil.
• R870 Combo Stock (renamed to "Traditional/Gunslinging Stock"):
• Instead of 5 Accuracy per combo multi, No longer has a gimmick and now gives 20 Fire rate (RPM).
• R870 Depleting Stock (renamed to "Sawed-Off Stock"):
• Instead of 2.5 Accuracy per shot fired, No longer has a gimmick and now gives -30 Recoil.
• R870 Efficient Stock (renamed to "Pistol Grip"):
• Instead of 7.5 Accuracy per successive hit, No longer has a gimmick and now gives 0.5 Ergo.
• R870 Slipstream Stock (renamed to "Accuracy Stock"):
• Instead of 100 Accuracy while airborne, No longer has a gimmick and now gives 10 Accuracy.
• Removed Buffer Tube Combo Stock:
• Gave 5 Accuracy per combo multi.
• Buffer Tube Depleting Stock (renamed to "Buffer Tube Marksman Stock"):
• Instead of 3 Accuracy per shot fired, No longer has a gimmick and now gives 30 Accuracy.
• Buffer Tube Efficient Stock (renamed to "Buffer Tube Recoil-Dampening Stock"):
• Instead of 10 Accuracy per successive hit, No longer has a gimmick and now gives -25 Recoil.
• Buffer Tube Slipstream Stock (renamed to "Buffer Tube Ergonomic Stock"):
• Instead of 75 Accuracy while airborne, No longer has a gimmick and now gives 0.25 Ergo.
• Removed AK Combo Stock:
• Gave 5 Accuracy per combo multi.
• AK Depleting Stock (renamed to "AK Family Marksman Stock"):
• Instead of 2 Accuracy per shot fired, No longer has a gimmick and now gives 5 Accuracy.
• AK Efficient Stock (renamed to "AK Family Recoil-Dampening Stock"):
• Instead of 15 Accuracy per successive hit, No longer has a gimmick and now gives -55 Recoil.
• AK Slipstream Stock (renamed to "AK Family Ergonomic Stock"):
• Instead of 100 Accuracy while airborne, No longer has a gimmick and now gives 0.5 Ergo.
• Removed SPAS-12 Combo Stock :
• Gave 5 Accuracy per combo multi.
• SPAS-12 Depleting Stock (renamed to "SPAS-12 Full Stock"):
• Instead of 2.5 Accuracy per shot fired, No longer has a gimmick and now gives 10 Accuracy.
• SPAS-12 Efficient Stock (renamed to "SPAS-12 Unfolded Stock"):
• Instead of 7.5 Accuracy per successive hit, No longer has a gimmick and now gives -35 Recoil.
• SPAS-12 Slipstream Stock (renamed to "SPAS-12 Folded Stock"):
• Instead of 100 Accuracy while airborne, No longer has a gimmick and now gives 0.5 Ergo.
• Removed M1911 Combo Grip:
• Gave 5 Accuracy per combo multi.
• M1911 Depleting Grip (renamed to "M1911 Marksman Grip"):
• Instead of 2.5 Accuracy per shot fired, No longer has a gimmick and now gives 5 Accuracy.
• M1911 Efficient Grip (renamed to "M1911 Recoil-Dampening Grip"):
• Instead of 25 Accuracy per successive hit, No longer has a gimmick and now gives -25 Recoil.
• M1911 Slipstream Grip (renamed to "M1911 Ergonomic Grip"):
• Instead of 75 Accuracy while airborne, No longer has a gimmick and now gives 0.5 Ergo.

Foregrips

• Combo Grip (renamed to "Hollow Vert. Grip"):
• For Automatically cycled guns; Instead of 5 Accuracy per combo multi, No longer has a gimmick and now gives 30 Accuracy.
• For manually cycled guns (For now just the R870) gives 10 Fire Rate (RPM).
• Depleting Grip (renamed to "Vertical Grip"):
• Instead of 2.5 Accuracy per bullet fired, No longer has a gimmick and now gives -30 Recoil.
• Slipstream Grip (renamed to "Angled Grip"):
• Instead of 60 Accuracy while mid-air, No longer has a gimmick and now gives 0.5 Ergo.

Handguards

• Removed M4 Combo Handguard:
• Gave 1.0 Ergo per combo multi.
• M4 Depleting Handguard (renamed to "AR Marksman Handguard"):
• Instead of 1.0 Ergo per shot fired, No longer has a gimmick and now gives 15 Accuracy.
• M4 Efficient Handguard (renamed to "AR Recoil-Dampening Handguard"):
• Instead of .5 Ergo per successive hit, No longer has a gimmick and now gives -10 Recoil.
• M4 Slipstream Handguard (renamed to "AR Ergonomic Handguard"):
• Instead of 5.0 Ergo while airborne, No longer has a gimmick and now gives 0.15 Ergo.
• Removed AK-47 Combo Handguard:
• Gave 0.15 Ergo per combo multi.
• AK-47 Depleting Handguard (renamed to "AK Marksman Handguard"):
• Instead of 0.75 Ergo per shot fired, No longer has a gimmick and now gives 5 Accuracy.
• AK-47 Efficient Handguard (renamed to "AK Recoil-Dampening Handguard"):
• Instead of 0.3 Ergo per successive hit, No longer has a gimmick and now gives -20 Recoil.
• AK-47 Slipstream Handguard (renamed to "AK Ergonomic Handguard"):
• Instead of 10.0 Ergo while airborne, No longer has a gimmick and now gives 0.2 Ergo.

Muzzles Devices

• 12ga. Suppressor:
• Instead of -25 Recoil per combo multi, Now applies "Suppressed" Status Effect to hit enemies.
• 12ga. Compensator:
• Instead of -15 Recoil per shot fired, No longer has a gimmick and now gives -20 Recoil.
• .45ACP Suppressor:
• Instead of -5 Recoil per combo multi, Now applies "Suppressed" Status Effect to hit enemies.
• .45ACP Compensator:
• Instead of -15 Recoil per shot fired, No longer has a gimmick and now gives -15 Recoil.
• 9mm Suppressor:
• Instead of -5 Recoil per combo multi, Now applies "Suppressed" Status Effect to hit enemies.
• 9mm Compensator:
• Instead of -25 Recoil per shot fired, No longer has a gimmick and now gives -30 Recoil.
• 4.6x40mm Suppressor:
• Instead of -1 Recoil per combo multi, Now applies "Suppressed" Status Effect to hit enemies.
• 4.6x40mm Compensator:
• Instead of -5 Recoil per shot fired, No longer has a gimmick and now gives -5 Recoil.
• 5.7x28mm Suppressor:
• Instead of -5 Recoil per combo multi, Now applies "Suppressed" Status Effect to hit enemies.
• 5.7x28mm Compensator:
• Instead of -25 Recoil per shot fired, No longer has a gimmick and now gives -25 Recoil.
• 5.56x45mm Suppressor:
• Instead of -10 Recoil per combo multi, Now applies "Suppressed" Status Effect to hit enemies.
• 5.56x45mm Compensator:
• Instead of -10 Recoil per shot fired, No longer has a gimmick and now gives -10 Recoil.
• 7.62x39mm Suppressor:
• Instead of -7.5 Recoil per combo multi, Now applies "Suppressed" Status Effect to hit enemies.
• 7.62x39mm Compensator:
• Instead of -10 Recoil per shot fired, No longer has a gimmick and now gives -10 Recoil.

Shotgun Loading Gates

I would have left shotgun loading gates as they were but there was an issue regarding how shotguns reloaded with the new animations that allowed them to overflow their magazine capacity if the reload speed was fast enough, talking way too fast.

• R870's Combo Shell Door (renamed to "Polished Loading Ramp"):
• Instead of -0.025s reload time (per shell) per combo multi, No longer has a gimmick now gives 0.2s Reload Time (per shell).
• R870's Depleting Shell Door (renamed to "Strong Ramp Spring"):
• Instead of -0.015s reload time (per shell) per shot fired, No longer has a gimmick now gives 15 Fire Rate (RPM).
• Removed R870's Efficient Shell Door
• Gave -0.015s reload time (per shell) per hit shot.
• Removed R870's Slipstream Shell Door:
• Gave -0.075s reload time (per shell) while airborne.
• Removed SPAS-12's Combo Shell Door:
• Gave -0.02s reload time (per shell) per shot fired.
• Removed SPAS-12's Depleting Shell Door:
• Gave -0.025s reload time (per shell) per shot fired.
• Removed SPAS-12's Efficient Shell Door:
• Gave -0.01s reload time (per shell) per hit shot..
• Removed SPAS-12's Slipstream Shell Door:
• Gave -0.05s reload time (per shell) while airborne.

Lemme explain why I'm removing SPAS-12 shell doors but not R870 shell doors: I want to give the player a choice of either more fire-rate or more reload time but because the SPAS-12 fires pretty quick already I found it would make the gun way too superior when comparing it to the R870 and I didn't want that, I want each gun to have it's own place. I initially wanted to give the SPAS-12 the new Polished Loading Ramp but since there was no other option and it's just an upgrade I decided against it. I will add another shell door (or what it actually is called "loading ramp") for the SPAS-12 when I've thought of another loading ramp to give as an option for a choice. Again, they're not gone forever and must be bought again once re-introduced, they're still referenced in saves just the references doesn't have an item to relate to it, plus I can always revert these changes if they are not welcomed.

Enemy Changes:

I found when playing the game; enemies would moved too fast and unpredictably. While making them unpredictable was by design, the goal was not to make them so eratic it would lead to as many missed shots. Now they will take just a little longer to change directions because of reduced friction, most enemies will move at half their original speeds and will wait just a little longer before moving to a new spot. This will make the enemies a little easier to hit and hopefully a little less frustrating to track. Again original values have been preserved in case these changes are not fully welcome. Enemies are still far from perfect, for example they don't actively seek out the player in endless. Next update I will change this.

• All enemy types:
• Ground Friction Reduced (8.0 > 0.5)
• Rifleman:
• Reduced Movement Speed: 300 > 75.
• Decreased Accuracy - I unfortunately don't have a metric of what the original or new values are due to relying on an old, kind of rugged, system that had both an actual accuracy value and a multiplier on top.
• Shotgunner:
• Reduced Movement Speed: 250 > 50.
• Veteran Rifleman:
• Reduced Movement Speed: 500 > 100.
• Veteran Shotgunner:
• Reduced Movement Speed: 300 > 75.
• Veteran Fanatics, Bigs & Giant:
• Remain Unchanged.
• All enemies excluding Fanatics:
• Upon reaching their desired destination they should now wait a little longer before changing positions. (3.0+-1.0 secs > 5.0+-2.5 secs)

Gameplay Changes:

• Enemies killed with melee now drop ammo for the gun you're currently holding if they drop that ammo.
• Items are no longer physics active and will freeze upon hitting the floor.
• Items will now disappear after 120 seconds.
• Explosive Barrels will now explode immediately after being shot 5 times regardless of damage.
• Increased damage explosive barrels deal (250 > 500)
• Attempting to fire while unarmed will now act like the melee attack and can used be twice as fast compared to using melee while holding a gun.

Fixes:

• Fixed Holographic Sight on the P90 being misaligned.
• Fixed the new melee mechanic only dealing 50 damage when it should be dealing 100.
• Fixed Rifle and SMG ammo boxes giving the wrong amounts
• SMG Ammo Boxes now give 240 SMG ammo (Used to give 180 SMG ammo)
• Rifle Ammo Boxes now give 180 rifle ammo (Used to give 240 Rifle ammo)
• Fixed Ergonomics Debug information not showing decimals.
• Fixed R870 Traditional Stock (Formerly Combo Stock) being incorrectly positioned.
• Fixed Weapon Effects from attachments with no gimmicks not giving it's effect on weapons in the secondary slot.
• Fixed an error involving the fire mode selection display.
• Further optimisation to features & objects that will be used for the campaign levels.
• Let me know if doors start misbehaving in endless, things like staying open when they shouldn't or not opening at all.
• Fixed not being able to reload incrementally reloaded guns if the player's reserve ammo is the exact same amount as the required ammo units to load one round. - For example, being unable to reload the SPAS-12 despite having 1 round left in reserve because each bullet requires 1 unit of ammo to be used from reserve.
• Fixed Master Volume not working. - It's embarrassing for how long I was not aware of this issue.
• Fixed shooting objects like doors and decorative props not technically counting as a miss and by extension not resetting "Efficient" effects.

Misc Changes:

• Adjusted H-P C9's holding position
• Optimisations involving aiming down sights
• Closing the loadout menu in the firing range & the tutorial level, will now clear all active weapon buffs
• Fixed inconsistent naming scheme of "Combo" and "Combination" across all attachments down to just "Combo"
• Fixed inconsistent ordering of "Efficient" and "Slipstream" across all attachments, "Efficient" should come first and then "Slipstream"
• Reduced Hitmarker's overall screen size by half. (30 > 15 pixels)
• Slight Optimisation to screen shaking upon taking damage: No longer calls the saved Settings.sav file after each instance of taking damage.
• Changed shell ejections so they spin the way they're supposed to.
• I must confess, this is one of the most important changes to me
• Changed the gun click sound that plays when trying to fire a gun that is out of ammo is be higher pitched.
• Changed how accuracy while aiming is calculated if the weapon fires more than 1 projectile per shot, Aiming a Shotgun will still reduce accuracy but not as much as single projectile guns.
• Optimisations to the attachment options when opening the weapon mods menu or selecting one of your equipped guns while in the weapon mods menu.
• Cleared out some rather pointless code & values involving NPCs projectile accuracy.
• Optimisation to endless enemy spawning.

Closing thoughts:

One last thing; despite not adding everything I wanted due to errors, This has probably the most ambitious update I've pushed so far and as a result took WAY longer than I initially anticipated, sorry about that by the way. It took so long due to the sheer scale of the changes I wanted to make, getting side tracked with feature creep and also motivational swings thanks to things in my personal life, to name a few: work, the world and mental health. I pushed MK.X on December 1st 2024 so this update has taken a little over 7 months (at least as of writing this, maybe more). I've started preparing to work on the campaign and as a result; the full complete version of the game on the side as well, this is where the feature creep was coming in. As for when that'll come I can't say, ideally I would like to release it "when it's done," that means all levels have been finished and the game can be played from start to finish in it's most bug-free form, at least as far as a one man dev team can do. I've still got a ways away to go though and I still have a lot to learn about level design. But until then, I have more of pretty much everything to work on (guns, mods, gun mod gimmicks, armours, armour gimmicks, enemies, their behaviours, end-game content, the list goes on.) I still have at least one more (admittedly much smaller) update planned but after that I wish to push all my focus on actually working on the game's campaign and making it finish-able, therefore possibly making the next update I push the last, but only maybe but who knows.

I appreciate the few who have shown interest in this project, even a few still feels like a lot to me. :)

What's next?

Next update I plan to focus on economy/price reworks (things like how much money is given and how much stuff cost.), weapon reload stages, expansion to armours (new standard armours and possibly gimmick armours), mod gimmicks involving armour, Music, changes to enemy behaviours in endless, additional endless mode types and MAYBE a new endless map. I must confess the prices on attachments and gun were kinda cobbled together by taking the stats and multiplying and adding by specific amounts depending on the stats. I've already made a handful of manual price changes to suppressors as I had not set up automated costs on those yet but I'm not going to because it's not optimal to keep doing that for each subsequent gimmick I add. Armour have remained mostly untouched outside of bug fixes regarding them but I wish to change that by expanding on the selection of body armours, with new standard body armours and adding a bunch of gimmick body armours, haven't gotten much to share yet but imagine armours that can compliment guns or switch up how player vitals are structured or change up play styles, things like that.

Until then...

Red, Out