Rufus Arena Course Renewal and Power Bar

Hello Everyone!

During the upcoming maintenance, Rufus Arena course will be receiving a pretty serious facelift. Most of the changes are graphic or design-oriented, and things look absolutely spectacular from our testing so far. That said, there are some holes that will be changing quite a bit although most of the course is only getting the graphics update. The new hole layouts for those that will be changed are very well done though, and although still challenging definitely help add some variety to the approach and greens areas. The EXP table for the course is also being adjusted, and the output for Rufus Arena will now be more appropriate for it's difficulty and better reward players who have the skills to shoot well there. 

During maintenance we will also be adding a new, larger Power Gauge Bar for our players with visual impairment or those who play on very large monitors/DTVs. The feature can be activated through the Setup Options panel in game, so you can choose to enable or disable it as needed. To go along with this update we are also adding several new resolutions to the list to better accomodate those players who use very large screens to play on. The ones you can see will vary depending on your graphics card, but rest assured that the great majority of folks will now be able to play on their display of choice with a resolution that will suit their needs as well. 

Now, onto some screenshots from Rufus and information about the new Power Bar!

Rufus Arena Course Renewal

To start here, we'll list a breakdown of the changes:

1) EXP Table Adjustment
     - Semi-Pro Titles will gain 1.5x more for birdies, 1.65x more for Eagles, and 3.3x more for Albatross/HIO
     - Tour-Pro Titles will gain 1.7x more for birdies, 2.25x more for Eagles, and 3.3x more for Albatross/HIO
     - Master Pro Titles will gain 1.8x more for birdies, 2.25x more for Eagles, and 3x more for Albatross/HIO
     - Royal Pro Titles will gain 1.88x more for birdies, 2.27x more for Eagles, and 2.7x more for Albatross/HIO
   *Tour Pro and higher titles will be penalized on Bogey or higher score*
*Due to the EXP changes, Rufus Arena will not included in Happy Courses list!*

2) Graphical Improvements/Adjustments
     - Waiting Room Background Updated


     -Trees Updated
        a) All trees/plants have been updated graphically. Sizes, species, density are all updated
        b) Many trees/plants locations have been changed
        c) All shadows for trees/plants have been normalized
        d) All borders and shading for trees/plants have been updated

     -Buildings/Terrain Updated
        a) The textures and colors of buildings/structures have been updated
        b) Shadowing and detail have been updated for all buildings/structures
     
     -Minimaps Updated
       a) All minimaps have been updated and renewed. Contents changed for the holes with layout changes

     -Modify Hole Layouts
        a) Holes 6, 7, 8, and 16 all have updated hole layouts (screenshots of old/new below)
        b) Terrain, shape of green hole length, etc have been changed 

The following graphical adjustments have been applied:
-Terrain Textures
-Limelight
-Overlay Textures
-Lightmap Modifications
-Shadow mapping
-Billboards updated/adjusted

Holes that are being adjusted

Hole 6

The green area for this hole has been moved, and modified to the "target" green that you see below. This green, although a tad bit smaller in diameter, is quite a bit less undulating than the current one which allows players who approach properly a birdie or even eagle chance here.

New Layout:


Old Layout


Hole 7

The green area for this hole has been modified quite a bit, although at first glance it doesn't appear too different. Trees/plants have been placed in a semi-circle around the back and sides of the green as well, making wide slices harder to manage.

New Layout


Old Layout


Hole 8

The green area for this hole has been split, and now has dual elongated kidney-shaped greens. Depending on pin number, each green area is used. The billboards here have also been adjusted quite a bit, and moved to the sides instead of directly behind the green.

New Layout


Old Layout


Hole 16

This hole has been dramatically altered, and now consists of two different choices of direction depending on pin location for the hole. As you can see below, an accurate tee shot is extremely important here as the fairways are narrow and long, and the greens are not large. Lower level players would do well to consider laying up on the first section of fairway where there is more area to work with. Setting up the approach from there should be much easier than trying for the long drive.

New Layout



Old Layout


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Large Power Bar Option

In addition to the changes in the Rufus Arena course, we also will be adding a new larger Power Gauge Bar option so you can choose to make the Power Bar much bigger. This should help those of you who have visual imparements as well as those of you who play on large displays. You can see the new power bar area and option in the Setup Options Menu below:

Normal Power Bar 


Large Power Bar


So there you have it! We hope that everyone is excited for the Rufus Arena Renewal and the new addition of the bigger Power Bar and more resolutions!

Let us know if you have any questions or concerns via the DQA board.

Thanks,
Shot Online