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New Rock Band 4 Update Now Out!

Hey gang!

Remember that release we talked about a few weeks ago? Well, now it’s here!

Before we dig into the details, I’d like to take a minute to thank you (yes, you!) for all your support. We’ve now been supporting Rock Band 4 with updates and new content for over THREE YEARS. That’s the longest any Rock Band has been supported to date. Thank you from myself, the team, and the rest of Harmonix for your time and interest. We couldn’t have done it without you.

Now then, on to the update! We’re adding great stuff to help you personalize your experience and we’re making good on some promised quality of life improvements. No matter who you are or how you play, this update has something for you.

  • Selectable Track Skins
    • Customize your note highway with new (and old!) visuals to spice up your play sessions.
  • Scoring issues for vocalists fixed
    • Overdrive earning fixed
    • Multiplier building fixed
    • Final phrase not adding points fixed
  • 'Challenge Songs' preference in Green Rooms now forces song selection to Challenge songs only
  • Reorganized Main Menu
  • More background music added to game menus
  • Song length now visible in song library
  • Drummer issues fixed
    • Snare/crash combo no longer breaks combo for Lefty Pro Drums
    • Drum track rails now glow during drum solos
  • Game performance improved
    • Crashes fixed
    • Menus and other selections react faster

Let’s start with Track Skins! A cool, new customization option to let you spice up your playing. Take that black note highway from drab to fab (or stick with it because black is an enduring classic) with options galore for new visuals. Whether you’re looking for goofy or throwback or edgy or just something cool-looking, you’ll find it. They’ve all been carefully worked to give the impression that the visuals are ‘under’ the highway, like looking through glass, to prevent them from impacting your playing ability. And there’s more to come to expand your collection.
 

 





Selecting ‘Challenge Songs’ as your online preference now only lets Challenge songs be chosen. That’s great, now you won’t have to worry about inefficient XP gains and Social Bonuses when your Crew is not online. Hop on and anyone can be as helpful as you would like them to be!

Song length is now visible right on the song library. No more will you need to make a single-song setlist to remember how long “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” is (it’s really long), you can see it as part of the song data shown to you on the song’s listing. Convenient!

We’ve also cleaned up a handful of instrument-specific issues. Recent vocal issues such as Overdrive earning, multiplier building, and final phrase scoring are all fixed up now. We’ve also solved the ‘Lefty Pro drums issue’, which didn’t correctly factor in inputs with green snare and red crash at the same time. We also caught that Drum Solos didn’t properly make the sides of the track glow, while Guitar and Bass Solos did, so now everyone is looking just as cool in a solo.

On top of that, we’ve improved performance throughout the game. We sat down with a lot of the older code and refactored it, resulting in a bunch of memory saving. What’s that mean? Selections are now faster and menus are snappier all-around. Speaking of menus, we reshuffled the Main Menu and the options within. We’ve added a bunch since the last time, and reorganized it based on usage. There’s even new menu music to help it feel fresh.

This update should greatly refine the play experience for everyone, with the menu refresh allowing for better travel through the game, Track Skins making playing more unique, and all the little changes from your feedback helping Rock Band 4 be what you want it to be. Thanks for playing, and we’ll see you next time!

-Derek