patch notes
0.54.0

Gameplay:

New Implementation:

• Implement new Free Kick system.
• Implemented new acceleration-based movement behaviour.
• Implemented input-based receiver behaviour to give more movement when receiving the ball.
• Implemented power penalty to shots when taken with the weak foot, which depends on the weak foot attribute value.

Adjustments & Improvements:

• Sprint touch cooldowns now depend on player speed at the point of execution
• Improve blocking by stopping lock on for high speed balls, and instead use the bespoke blocking logic to handle blocks.
• Improvements to triggered run responsiveness by allowing more frequent changes of runner
• Removed "positional tracking" in some situations where it was causing heavy speed ups and sliding.
• Improved stumble behaviour when players are tackled.
• Improved crowd reaction when goals are scored.
• Improved goalkeeper strafing and save movement.
• Improvements to balance of manual shielding by implementing a progressive stop, and protecting the ball from the closest opponent only, and we no longer allow more touches while shielding.
• Improved Stand Tackle behaviour when taking possession by introducing a natural sweep which matches the tackle lunge.
• Disabled the curved through pass types.
• Improved movement behaviour for when the goalkeeper is getting up.
• Improved penalty behaviour by giving the keeper more time to save the shot.
• Improved throw in rotation behaviour.
• Removed acceleration modifiers which were applied when trapping the ball.
• Improvements to short range throw in behaviour.
• Improvements to touch planning to stop the ball being "left behind" when dribbling.
• Increased capsule radius size to 40cm from 30cm when intercepting passes before the reaction time is served.
• Re-enabled the global collision system when making stand tackles.
  Design Adjustments:
• Added contextual logic to ground passes where passes can now be played in front of a moving receiver if there is open space in front.
• Added the ability to affect the receive location for passes by moving along the passing lane when locked-on.
• Sprint dribbling cooldowns are now tied to the movement speed of the player, resulting in shorter touches at lower speed. This also helps to mitigate excessive first touches when trapping/intercepting a pass when holding the sprint button.
• Reworked movement to remove cases where players could make too sharp turns at high speeds.
• Reworked triggered runs logic, where targeting the same player with several presses will no longer cancel their run.
• Improved manual shielding.
• Added a first version of the close-range free kick system.
• Improvements to AI Goalkeeper, Offensive AI, and Defensive AI.
• Weak foot attribute now also affects shot power and curve when shooting with the weak foot.
• Added a speed penalty to high-angle through passes.
• Increased min. speed for contextual ground passes.
• Increased the lock-on angle threshold for rotation-based reaction time multiplier to 90 degrees. This means that only players facing more than 90 degrees away from the ball will have an increased reaction time to lock on.
• Improved through pass logic.
• Disabled curved through passes.
• Increased shot power penalty for high-angle shots (>90 degrees).
• Increased stand tackle HP reduction multiplier from high angles (behind ball holder).

Animations:

• Throw-ins improved dramatically to cover direction more accurately, and added a long throw-in
• Improved fake shots.
• Improved ball roll-back.
• Improved more forward and 45° shots and chip shots.
• Improved standing tackles for the tackle-er and tackle-ee.
• Improved signalling animations (calling fir a pass, etc.)
• Improved cross passes to include recovery time, and continued momentum after the pass.
• Fixed issue with pass selection angles being input-based, causing sometimes to select animations that pointed far off from the actually selected receiver.
• Fixed issue with dribbling rotation matching getting wrong targets from AI controlled players.

UI/UX/Audio & Quality of Life:

New Implementation:

• Added Substitutions. Players can now sub out up to 3 players each match.
• Introduced Colorblind Accessibility Settings.
• Implemented UI feedback to inform users when they are removed due to inactivity.
  
  Improvements:
• Improved Store flow to better handle scenarios where users lack sufficient currency or when packs are unavailable.
• Refined controller navigation for smoother and more intuitive user interaction.

Audio:

Drumming Upgrades:

• Additional drumming layers introduced.
• New logic implemented to trigger rhythmic patterns dynamically during matches.

Improved Mixing:

• Enhanced blending of chants, crowd noise and drumming for a more immersive atmosphere.

Custom Goal Reactions:

• Unique crowd responses added for goals scored by the home team and away team, enriching match-day emotion.

Audio Modulation Tool:

• Introduced a new system for dynamic audio mixing based on gameplay context.
• Currently integrated with the "Buzzer Beater" event to enhance crowd reactions during high-intensity moments.

Core:

Low-End Device and Memory Optimizations:

• Removed in-game videos to reduce memory usage.
• Disabled unused Unreal Engine plug-ins.
• Collapsed rendering quality settings for simplified performance scaling.
• Disabled foliage rendering to improve performance on low-end hardware.
• Optimized particle simulation textures.
• Applied texture scaling for better memory efficiency.
• Implemented AMP-level performance optimizations.
• Added WindowsLowEnd-specific texture down-scaling.
• Removed Vulkan shader model to streamline graphics pipeline.

Other:

• Network warning icons
• Handling of Network disconnect reasons
• Movement cache optimization and added support for substitutions
• Lock-on Optimization
• The newly introduced pitch has been temporarily disabled on Xbox due to ongoing issues and will remain inactive until the problem is resolved.

Art:

• New lighting in the AMP.
• Improved materials & environment assets.

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed rotation issue when rotation traps would branch into a shot or pass.
• Fix issue where a goal scored in an advantage would give a goal and a foul.
• Fix rare bug where penalties were scored when they should have been saved.
• Fixed rotation issue when dribbling.
• Fix for headers flying into the ground at high speed for short range passes.
• Fixed cases of missed blocks caused when a teammate would incorrectly lock on to a shot.
• Fix for action branching causes shots to execute despite still being charged.
• Fixed a bug where selling a player would scroll the list to the top, making it frustrating to manage large collections.
• Fixed a bug where the Golden Goal display remained visible for the entire duration of Golden Goal.
• Fixed a bug where applying any filter with a controller allowed interaction with background players before completing the filter selection.
• Fixed a bug where visual glitches and artifacts appeared during gameplay on Xbox.
• Fixed a bug where a free kick was incorrectly awarded instead of a kickoff after a user scored during an advantage.
• Fixed a bug where the game would freeze just before players loaded onto the pitch.
• Fixed a bug where the "Ready" button would disappear until restart if the opponent left the lobby while the user had already marked themselves as ready.
• Fixed a bug where using filters in the Arena Menu after filtering in Collections would disable filter functionality in Collections, and vice versa.
• Fixed a bug where users could still interact with the underlying interface while the Context Wheel was open, enabling unintended actions such as switching players or changing formations.
• Fixed a bug where one remaining pack was displayed, but attempting to open it resulted in a "Something went wrong" or "Purchase failed" error.
• Fixed a bug where stamina bars were displayed on the squad screen during the match intro.
• Fixed a bug where pass accuracy was not accurately displayed in Match Facts.
• Fixed a bug where the timer on repeatable packs did not count down correctly when the animation was skipped quickly, causing an incorrect display of time remaining.
• Fixed a bug where scoring an own goal with the goalkeeper caused constant switching between the goalkeeper and a defender until kickoff.
• Fixed a bug where extreme slowdown occurred in the Arena just before reaching a loose ball.
• Fixed a bug where the reward claim animation played repeatedly with each additional click.
• Fixed a bug where text under the Arena game mode thumbnail exceeded its designated display area.
• Fixed a bug where the "opponent left" prompt could be dismissed by pressing the ESC key.
• Fixed a bug where navigation between the keep and sell list only worked when a card was present below the selected item.
• Fixed a bug where gamepad navigation between player cards in the keep/sell list was inconsistent.
• Fixed a bug where, after the last pack was opened from the "Your Packs" menu, the "Pack Information" button remained visible, allowing users to send an open request for a non-existent pack.