- Over a thousand changes have been applied to the game to bring its underlying engine code up to the latest version.

- The updater will now properly stop and launch the game when an update is required.
- After installation, the game will now be launched when you have the launch game checkbox ticked.
- Fixed a login problem that caused the client to erroneously report “Error -2: Authentication failed.” for some user accounts.

- The chat server is generally more stable.
- Fixed an issue where most clients would not be able to log in.
- If the connection to the chat server is dropped for whatever reason, it will be re-established within a few minutes.
- Chat error messages no longer cause pop-up windows to interrupt the game play.
- Added the option for admin broadcast messages.

- Modified the deployment process to avoid a problem that is too embarrassing to mention.

This version is very much stripped down. It too has a number of bugs most likely, but the following are what you should report this time:

- Your AntiVirus program triggers an alert for any of the Xenocell files
- You can not install the game or installation does not succeed
- The game is not launched at the end of the installation
- You can not start the game at all and it is or is not in the process / task list
- The game crashes or hangs at any time, or stops loading a zone
- You can not log in or otherwise enter the first zone
- You fall through the terrain
- You experience problems when entering or exploring a base
- When loading, the “Downloading…” part takes over 30 seconds – it usually takes 1-5 seconds

In the past months we have had a gazillion changes both on the server and on the client side. With this version we enter our public beta phase.

The first few days the download link will only be available in our testers’ group on Facebook. Within a few days we’ll be sharing it with our website visitors – once the game proves to be stable enough for testing.

You will see that this version is lacking features. Most of these missing features are turned off for one reason or another. During the following days they will be turned back on day by day, so be sure to check on the game at all times.

We have 12 zones in this initial stability test phase, but you won’t be able to see all zones – only the ones that you have access to.

Bug reports are now discussed in our forum. Hopefully this will bring us better results and less duplicate reports.

Thank you for your help in getting Xenocell off the ground!

- Fixed a bug that would prevent the game from connecting to the game servers and leave the loading bar stay at 0% (many thanks to Paul Symeou)

- Fixed a bug where -Downloading files…- would stay on eternally and loading would not progress further
- Fixed a problem that reported that the user had the wrong version of Xenocell and a terrain missing – erroneously.

- Adjusted internal library dependencies

- Fixed a bug that would surface when the game was started from under a non-administrator Windows account
- Fixed a bug where the camera would cut into the base entrance walls
- Partially enabled the tactical map – it is now possible to travel to another zone via the warp gate
- A new ecosystem is now unlocked: desert.
- Fixed a bug where the player or the vehicle would cut into the terrain or sink (and/or fall)
- The application title bar now shows the actual version of the game
- An external library was removed as it was causing instability
- SSAO is now disabled by default. This solves the 5sec freeze at level startup and should also improve performance at the cost of losing some eyecandy
- The base entrance model received a face lift. Its performance should be significantly better.
- The player now receives better feedback about the login process
- Map name and description at level load time have been disabled
- The authentication system was made more secure
- The latest news about the game is now available in the main menu
- The avatar screenshot that is taken when the user exits the game now reminds the player better where the game was left off when choosing an avatar
- User screenshots (CTRL-P) are now saved in the user’s AppData[/Roaming]/Xenocell/screenshots directory. (Eventually, these will be saved in the My Pictures folder.)
- Mission load for a consecutive zone should now be faster than the initial load
- Fixed an issue with music and ambient where multiple instances could be played
- The automatic screenshot taken when leaving the game now removes all user interface elements before taking the shot
- Improved data fetching and reliability
- Avatar names should now appear above the avatar model
- The arctic zone’s performance was slightly increased
- Crazy water ripples are gone
- Fixed an issue with "stuck" right mouse button control
- Fixed a crash that would happen when the game was closed if any vehicles were damaged during the play session

KNOWN BUGS:
- Trees and rocks can not be collided with, cast flickering shadows and sometimes disappear
- The top dunes are traversable and you can eventually fall off the world;

- A critical update to the login server

- Improved the login server to provide more information about the servers being updated
- Terrains are now smaller but stretched resulting in a smaller memory footprint and a still decent, large terrain
- Zone creation now happens faster (will matter only when discovering new zones on the world map is enabled)
- Some doors can now be destroyed as an alternative to hacking (focus 1 does not have these exposed yet)
- Vehicles do not fall through the teleport gate anymore
- The teleport gate now has a warp animation and a sound effect
- Vehicles collide with vehicles from now on
- The test vehicle, the Viper now has 5 times the hit points
- The Viper’s camera has been moved slightly away from the vehicle
- Rocks should now have snow on them
- Water now has an effect on vehicle steering
- Zone downloads should be more reliable
- Structures of importance should now be placed with a healthy distance from the level’s cliff boundaries
- Increased visibility at night
- Shadows are no longer visible at night
- Added some tweaks to internal data fetching to make it more reliable

- Improved performance for the test level
- Improved the reliability of data transfers between our servers
- Turned the vehicle health bar back on to provide a visual feedback on the vehicle’s damage status
- Changed the bug report button to open the bug report form in an external browser window
- Fixed a bug that fired off player movement and other commands while typing
- Fixed a bug that would report a failed login when pressing enter on the avatar selection screen
- Fixed a bug where the player’s name would read "Avatar N" N being a number.
- Fixed a bug where a zone file would not be downloaded and / or extracted if the required directories were missing
- Fixed a bug where vehicle lights would not turn on at night right away