[Archived] Mac/Linux Release Notes - (Updated February 1st 2018)

[Feral Interactive]

This thread is now locked, please see the link below for future patch note changes to this game:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/268500/discussions/0/3104640984520412238/

If you have any issues, please contact [e-mail]



We’re happy to report that the latest update for XCOM 2 (Mac/Linux) is now available. This update will automatically install when starting the Steam client. If it doesn’t automatically, restart Steam. Details of all the fixes since release are listed below in chronological order by patch.

Required User Action: If you have mods enabled after installing the patch, launch it once, close the game, and launch it again. Players will only have to do this once. After the restart, the game will have initialized the patch to work with mods. While the majority of mods will operate in harmony with the patch, some mods may conflict with patch updates and will need to be updated to take advantage of the patch improvements.

General note
Sometimes a Steam update doesn't apply properly. If you get strange behaviour after the update, especially startup problems (but other stuff is covered to), verify files as a first step.

It is pretty common in moddable games that updates to the game break mods. Strange behaviour may be related to mods, though do remember that you need to open the game, exit and open it again before playing if you're using mods.

Particularly, missing gear when you buy a new tier of a weapon/armour/etc is related to mods, information on which as been gathered here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/268500/discussions/0/412449508277149106/

If you are experiencing problems after the patch, especially new problems or problems that the notes claim were fixed, and they persist after verifying files in the Steam client and disabling mods, please contact Feral Interactive Support http://support.feralinteractive.com/

Mac / Linux 1.3.2 Release Notes (October 10th 2018)

• Tactical Legacy DLC released for Mac and Linux. (free for WotC customers until Dec 3rd 2018).

Mac / Linux 1.3.1 Release Notes (February 1st 2018)

• Update for War of the Chosen DLC only.
  
• Adds Fall 2017 update.
  
• Adds December update.

Mac / Linux 1.2.3 Release Notes (August 31st 2017)

• War of the Chosen DLC released for Mac and Linux.

Mac / Linux 1.2.3 Release Notes (February 7th 2017)

• Adds support for Long War 2, a total conversion mod.

Mac / Linux 1.2.2 Release Notes (December 21st)

• Added support for gamepads.
  
• Fixed mod support for mods that required the latest patch to work.
  
• Linux only: Added official support for AMD GPUs (R9 270 or better) using Mesa 13.0.1

Linux 1.2 Release Notes (August 30th)

• Minor update (15MB), no change to version information in launcher.
  
• Update is only for Linux.
  
• Fixes issue with modding on Linux.

Mac 1.2 Release Notes (July 29th)

• Update is only for OS X.
  
• Adds Mac support for Shen's Last Gift DLC.
  
• Contains all fixes from the Windows June 30th update.

Linux 1.2 Release Notes (July 13th)

• Update is only for LINUX - OS X update coming soon.
  
• Adds Linux support for Shen's Last Gift DLC.
  
• Contains all fixes from the Windows June 30th update.

Mac / Linux 1.1.1 Release Notes (May 31st)

Adds support for Alien Hunter DLC

Gameplay

• Fixed an issue where the doom countdown timer was refilling after the Avatar bar filled up
  
• Repeater no longer triggers after Stock damage or damage done over time
  
• Mimic Beacons can no longer be reanimated
  
• Mimic Beacons can no longer be targeted by Aid Protocol
  
• Zombie Soldiers count towards “Soldiers Dead” counter
  
• Evac zones can no longer be placed on a soldier
  
• Fixed an issue where XCOM units were hitching after pod reveals
  
• Fixed an issue where armor was not resetting properly after restarting the Avenger Defense mission
  
• Fixed a crash that would occur after opening an ADVENT garage door
  Soldiers equipped with the Hazmat Vest will no longer be affected by Acid Burn when pathing over Acid
  
• Fixed an issue where loot was not being given to the player after killing an enemy next to a soldier with a hacked turret
  
• Fixed multiple issues that would occur when a Gatekeeper is killed while affected by Chryssalid poison
  
• Specialists can no longer receive the Phantom ability through the Advanced Warfare Center
  
• Fixed an issue where certain AOE attacks could be used when selected while the unit was in movement

Multiplayer

• MP balance changes
  
• ADVENT and Alien units with weapons have been given range bonuses/penalties
  
• Fixed an issue where squads would be deleted when saving and editing Loadouts
  
• Fixed an issue where new squads were not being created upon selecting “Save As New
• Loadout” in the Edit Loadouts Menu
  
• Fixed an issue where weapon customizations were not saved when created in the Squad Loadout
  
• Fixed an issue where the Stun Lancer’s charge attack was causing players to desync

Gameplay/Visualization

• Fixed an issue where Skulljacked units floated too high in the air
  
• Fixed an issue where weapons inappropriately remained in the hands of soldiers
  
• Fixed an issue where grenades were causing environmental damage on their way to the target
  
• Fixed an issue where XCOM soldiers and Psi-Zombies were able to share the same tile
  
• Fixed multiple animation issues caused when carrying an unconscious unit
  
• Fixed an issue where a soldier remained bound by a Viper’s Bind and Crush ability after killing it
  
• Fixed an issue where explosions would occur early

Performance

• Removed a hitch that would occur when building visibility is disabled/enabled
  
• Fixed an issue causing lighting to appear dark when launching the title on specific AMD setups

Systems

• Fixed an issue where the default setting for the Anarchy’s Children slider in the options menu was inconsistent between platforms
  
• Fixed an issue where enemy weapons would continuously ragdoll after a unit was killed
  
• Fixed an issue where the Loadout screen music plays after loading a Strategy save mid-mission
  
• Fixed a crash that would occur when accessing the ADVENT Broadcast Network mission while mods were active on the Geoscape

UI

• Implemented a ‘Select All Mods’ button
  
• Extended the character length for bios
  
• Adjusted some prewritten soldier bios
  
• Fixed an issue where users could access locked customization options
  
• Fixed an issue where the wrong options were sometimes appearing in the Gameplay tab in the Options menu
  
• Fixed an issue where tooltips would not show when viewing the Options menu

Modding/SDK

• Game state classes can now be overridden
  
• The ‘static’ scope keyword now works with override classes, allowing static functions to be overridden
  
• The X2DownloadableContentInfo class has been extended to provide many new hooks for events such as mission start/end
  
• The X2DownloadableContent class can now route ‘exec’ functions (console commands) allowing mods to implement their own cheats

Mac/Linux Fixes

• Fixed issues reported with some Audio mods not playing back sounds correctly.
  
• Minor improvements to various modding installation issues reported on specific setups.

Mac / Linux 1.1 Release Notes (March 22nd)

Adds support for Anarchy’s Children DLC

Performance

• Added Zip Mode gameplay option. While Zip Mode is enabled animation (like step outs & gremlin movements) speeds are significantly increased. Normal movement animations are moderately increased
  
• Adds “Zip Mode” description text
  
• Fixed an issue where shadow rendering during glam cam shot transitions was slowing down performance
  
• Reworked Light Clipping Manager
  
• Particle Vertex Buffer Reallocation
  
• Optimization to shadows in the Avenger
  
• Enable triple buffering to fix VSync performance
  
• Shadowed light fade out within Avenger; Disabled Post & Pre Mission cinematic lights not being used
  
• Disabled shadow casting from character lights w/in Avenger
  
• Reduced High Shadow Resolution - Reduce shadow resolution when set to HIGH to 1536, instead of 2048
  
• Reduces the impact count of the Avatar Rifle
  
• Removed a hitch that occurs when the camera enables/disables building visualizer
  
• Deferred profile saves to next tick. This prevents multiple calls within the same frame from creating multiple requests to save the profile
  
• After changing graphics settings, based on the selected preset, extra crew will be capped
  
• Character head mesh optimized

Balance

• Mimic beacon rebalance: Price increased to 75
  
• Mimic beacons can no longer take cover, and are guaranteed to be hit by enemy shots
  
• Wet Work is no longer retroactive
  
• Graze is no longer a chance for 100% shots.
  
• Targets being shot by a concealed attacker cannot dodge

Gameplay

• Players will now be able to press “Load Anyways” when loading a save when the mods used are not present
  
• Fixed the sort order of available targets in shot HUD
  
• Corrected an issue causing Grenadier’s demolition to fail to update the target’s cover status
  
• Added a new recommended Steam Controller configuration with support for additional actions
  
• Fixed an issue where VIP units would take damage when their origin location was damaged
  
• Fixed an issue where Promotion Earned text appeared before action is seen on screen
  
• Fixed an issue where civilians pathed to the base of ladders and blocked XCOM units
  
• Fixed an issue where Character Pool choices like Class, Attitude, and props did not save
  
• Fixed an issue where weapons did not keep names and customizations upon tier bump
  
• Fixed an issue causing some scan timers to go into negative time
  
• Engineering items that are full squad upgrades are now designated in the UI
  
• Fixed an issue where strategy project timers reset if players started building a radio relay immediately after making contact with a region
  
• Fixed an issue with POIs not spawning when first visiting the Geoscape if Beginner VO is turned off
  
• Removed start-of-turn hang during certain missions where enemy units had fallen out of the world. Auto-saves (and ironman saves) made in these situations should now be playable
  
• Minimized action camera obstructions
  
• Minimized camera look-at hopping during AI abilities
  
• Fixed an issue where Psi abilities did not trigger death cams
  
• Kill Zone now respects concealment status
  
• Fixed an issue where the Ever Vigilant AWC perk did not work for Sharpshooters
  
• Buildings don't cut down when tabbing through units
  
• Fixed an exploit that skips the AI turn by spamming the END/BACKSPACE button while the Player's last action is being visualized
  
• Rapid Fire and Chain Shot visualization optimized to get the second shot to fire faster
  
• Fixed an issue where shot HUD wings would fail to re-open after taking an action that required the wings to close
  
• Fixed an issue where crit chance would be negatively affected by shots with a success chance greater than 100
  
• Optimized Return Fire hits causing long delays
  
• Optimized AI reveals causing long hangs
  
• Optimized Wait actions causing long timeouts
  
• Optimized falling unit visualization to timeout faster
  
• Updated the Geoscape save description to use the localized HQ time, instead of previously used GMT game time
  
• Fixed an issue with an invalid spawn point on a specific Retaliation mission plot
  
• Destroyed cover does not take reduce % to-hit on enemies

Systems

• Anarchy’s Children compatibility changes
  
• New option to only use Character Pool creations until the pool is exhausted
  
• Bulletproofing bad saves from causing main menu crashes
  
• Fixed an issue causing hitches in strategy
  
• Fixed an issue where armor customizations did not save

Graphics

• Unit Highlighting Flash when targeting units

Multiplayer

• Fixes slow communications with internet players resulting in delays between actions, turns, and end-of-game screen.
  
• Added camera rotation to MP

Mac / Linux 1.0.1 Release Notes (26th February)

We’re happy to report that the 1.0.1 hot fix update for XCOM 2 (Mac/Linux) is now available. This update will automatically install when starting the Steam client. If it doesn’t automatically, restart Steam. This update includes all the fixes contained in the Windows hotfix released last week. Details of all the fixes are listed below.

Mac/Linux Fixes

• Player is unable to progress to scan in the Geoscape after completing the Resistance Communications research via Tutorial – This will fix previously affected saves.
  
• Unable to load saves with a Chryssalid Cocoon – This will fix the issue, and for previously affected saves.
  
• Using the preview voice button for a modded voice pack will no longer crash the game when in the armoury.
  
• Improvements to frame rate and in level hitching.
  
• Fixed issues with Mods not enabling on some machines
  
• Improved “Refresh” button behaviour in modding panel
  
• Fixed issue with Shen’s leg flickering
  
• Fixed issue when switching from Japanese to other languages.
  
• Various minor improvements.

Linux Specific Fixes

• Fixed rare corruption caused by LC_ALL flag in users .bashrc file
  
• Fixed discoloured pink/blue smoke on some Nvidia hardware
  
• Updated warnings for users using unsupported Nvidia drivers
  
• Fixed Red Lights above units in level on some Nvidia hardware
  
• Fixed conflict between depth of field and bloom on some Nvidia hardware
  
• Fixed crash on launch when VPN or other virtual networks are enabled.
  
• Fixed Fountains out of game area not correctly fogged

[Ripper]

WOOHOO!

[76561198140997333]

Originally posted by 8Kuula:

Nvidia 980 GTX (361.28) not supported, whaat?

Those drivers are not supported as they have known issues, the message recommends you downgrade to more stable ones until the issues are fixed. That's all.

[DarkeoX]

At long last! Thanks!

Originally posted by 8Kuula:

Nvidia 980 GTX (361.28) not supported, whaat?

Yeah, it's been noted that the game runs much better on 355.xx and 355.63 is actually the recommended driver version. Though I also expected 361.28 to be further supported since it's the new long lived branch driver.

I guess/hope Feral wanted Firaxis to fix things on their end before starting working on 361.28 support.

[76561198140997333]

Originally posted by 8Kuula:

Originally posted by FERAL Edwin:

Those drivers are not supported as they have known issues, the message recommends you downgrade to more stable ones until the issues are fixed. That's all.

I see, ok :)

The 361.x drivers are slower in most games (including XCOM 2) compared to the previous 358.x drivers. As such we recommend sticking to the more stable drivers and hold off updating to 361 until these glitches are ironed out.

The best drivers for performance on Linux Nvidia right now is 358.16

[76561198140997333]

Originally posted by DarkeoX:

At long last! Thanks!

Originally posted by 8Kuula:

Nvidia 980 GTX (361.28) not supported, whaat?

Yeah, it's been noted that the game runs much better on 355.xx and 355.63 is actually the recommended driver version. Though I also expected 361.28 to be further supported since it's the new long lived branch driver.

I guess/hope Feral wanted Firaxis to fix things on their end before starting working on 361.28 support.

The performance issues are driver side, Nvidia are aware and are investigating for a future update but right now we recommend using 358.16.

[DarkeoX]

Originally posted by FERAL Edwin:

Originally posted by DarkeoX:

At long last! Thanks!


Yeah, it's been noted that the game runs much better on 355.xx and 355.63 is actually the recommended driver version. Though I also expected 361.28 to be further supported since it's the new long lived branch driver.

I guess/hope Feral wanted Firaxis to fix things on their end before starting working on 361.28 support.

The performance issues are driver side, Nvidia are aware and are investigating for a future update but right now we recommend using 358.16.

Alright, good to know, thanks :)

Just played a session and performance much better than at release. Still nowhere near what it should be on a system such as mine, but already more enjoyable with scenes not being slideshows anymore.

[sansword]

Using HD4000, change specifications.xml so game can launch.
I've just start a new game and test.
It took long loading time between dialog bubbles before update.
Somehow it might be faster now, but still have to wait.

When does Intel Graphic cards be supported on Mac OS?

[derram]

The red lights were driving me nuts, thanks :3

[Ars Technis]

Thanks for the patch ! I went from a 25FPS with "Min" settings to 30-40FPS with "Medium", quite a good improvment !

But since the patch, I have a problem with accentuated letters... on the main menu, the sentence below in French is totally messed up ! You can see it there.

[76561198140997333]

Originally posted by sansword:

Using HD4000, change specifications.xml so game can launch.
I've just start a new game and test.
It took long loading time between dialog bubbles before update.
Somehow it might be faster now, but still have to wait.

When does Intel Graphic cards be supported on Mac OS?

Intel Iris Pro is supported an has been since release. The HD4000 card is just too old and low performance to be supported on this game as it needs more GPU power than the HD4000 can provide.

Originally posted by derram:

The red lights were driving me nuts, thanks :3

:-) Glad that we could fix that for you.

[aq.trans]

Gah...really hating Nvidia's driver mess right now :(
If I remember correctly, wasn't 358.16 the version that caused Steam (and other applications) to segfault randomly? This[devtalk.nvidia.com] was the last I heard on the subject.
I'll see what all is required to downgrade my Arch to 358.16 just to try.

Thanks for the hotfix and detailed changelog!

[bateman]

Nice patch, the game runs a lot smoother now. But I think I'm hit by a bug with my save: when changing loadout before starting a mission, the grenade / utility slots are reset.

I can equip the soldiers in the armory and the loadout sticks, but as soon as I hit the hangar they are reset to regular grenades / empty.

When equipping soldiers before the mission starts and switching beween different units in the equipment screen they keep their inventory but as soon as I exit it and return to the hangar, the inventory is reset again.

[oohhboy]

Art assets still don't load properly. Voice packs show up in character customiseation, but preview doesn't work and the character are silent in game. Models don't load reverting back to default. However gameplay mods do load and work now.

[76561198140997333]

Originally posted by oohhboy:

Art assets still don't load properly. Voice packs show up in character customiseation, but preview doesn't work and the character are silent in game. Models don't load reverting back to default. However gameplay mods do load and work now.

That sounds like a specific mod/setup issue. Make sure you contact Feral support with exact setup details and what you are trying to do and we can investigate [e-mail]

Originally posted by bateman:

Nice patch, the game runs a lot smoother now. But I think I'm hit by a bug with my save: when changing loadout before starting a mission, the grenade / utility slots are reset.

I can equip the soldiers in the armory and the loadout sticks, but as soon as I hit the hangar they are reset to regular grenades / empty.

When equipping soldiers before the mission starts and switching beween different units in the equipment screen they keep their inventory but as soon as I exit it and return to the hangar, the inventory is reset again.

None of the logic in that area of the game was altered by Feral in the patch. I'd contact Feral support with reproduction steps and one of your save games and we can investigate.

[mr_auer]

OK great. Now my game crashes right after startup - since the hotfix. Crashes before the main menu, every time. Running the Linux version.

At least it used to run and only crashed once during playthrough, but otherwise its been really buggy. I have an 8-core FX 8350 with 16GB memory, SSD drive and Nvidia 750 GTX with 2 gb mem and I need to use all settings on lowest possible and it still runs very poorly. I still played it through.