A huge update for the PC version of PAYDAY: The Heist has been released via Steam.
The update adds, among a long list of things (below), the new ability to join a game that's already in progress. It also has a new Christmas Achievement which is unlocked by finding a Christmas present hidden in any of the levels.
Here's the full change log: PAYDAY Xmas achievement! Find a Christmas present on any of the levels in multiplayer - take it and you will be given a Santa mask! Plus you will get the chance to be surprised later on... Big features: Player drop-in ability in load-out and in-game! You can now join an ongoing game! You will no longer be locked out of games just because they have already started or because you dropped out during play. Just rejoin and continue collecting those precious dollars and gems! These are the rules: Players who are downed or in custody and drop out only to rejoin the same game will respawn in custody. Drop-in is disabled during the "point of no return" phase of the heist, as well as on the end screen. Heavily improved fighting and acting by team AI and enemies New features and fixes include: - New events and enemy tactics on all levels - Team and enemies now pick better cover and firing positions, and use more intelligent firing lanes for suppression and sniping - Enemies now master additional acrobatic moves (such as dashes and slides) and they can fire at you while doing them! - More cover moves for team AI and enemies - Enemy AI move in tighter formations and coordinate better - Team AI now keeps up with human players much better - Smoother turn and aim on team AI, and reduced animation glitches on movements - Better looking weapon recoils on team and enemies - AI teammates now pick weapons that better suit the current combat situation - Combat will now be more mid ranged and not run-in gun battles - Team AI no longer has "ants in the pants" (they don't move around so much) when there are no enemies around Advanced GFX settings menu (AG menu) Custom visual settings and optimizations, including: - Texture resolution setting "low" to "high" - Texture filtering "off" and up to x16 - V-synch on/off - AA on/off - Light streaks on/off - Animation level-of-detail setting for better performance - More suitable default resolutions to fit laptops etc. - AlienwareFX on/off (for Alienware computers) - Added eight color grade filters (inspired by a range of heist and action movies) "Payday +" "Dinero" "In Traffic" "Bastard" "BHD" "Xgen Brown" "Future of Gaming" "The Matrices" New masks: To celebrate that yet another bunch of military shooters was released recently, we've added four new masks to Payday! Improved network code" Disclaimer: We did not fix the Internet. Please talk to Al Gore about that. We've added a red toothbrush to Panic Room, and we've made sure this one's worth the hullabaloo! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT1HS...ature=youtu.be Additional features and fixes: Slaughterhouse and Diamond Heist are now available in the Normal difficulty setting Single Player has improved scenario and difficulty balancing Added more money bundles to First World Bank The legendary über killer sniper removed from Heat Street Teammate "mugshot" icons (lower left corner of the screen) now flash to indicate who is talking over VOIP You can now see the cash value of the "near completion challenges" in the TAB menu Fix to better hear team AI voices Fixes for random crashes Fixed the drill that kept resetting to full time for some people Fixes for fake lobby appearing Changed [Enter] to $Continue; to fix binding of enter to block the final stats screen. More camera impacts on explosions All weapons now have alert ranges, unique for each weapon Chains is no longer replaced by Wolf on rare trade occasions Bain will now correctly call the equipment "saws" (not "drills") in Panic Room