There will be a "Rally" style racing event held in Grayspace on Saturday (see the event schedule in-game for more information). Unlike the last race event, this will compete for the minimum total time from start to finish, eliminating client load-times as a factor.

VO 1.8.294 includes:

- Improved shaders for PC platforms. The secondary lightsource now uses the object's bump map.
- Hangar tab was still visible in the Tactical tab in ships with turrets but no hangar.
- Repair and Reload buttons were the wrong color.
- If a player attempts to lay a mine and the mine limit has been reached, the client no longer thinks the mine was layed.
- The password field no longer allows the text to be copied from it with CTRL-c. "************" is now copied into the clipboard.
- Dueling players are now notified if the duel will not count towards their duel ratings. For example, if one of the players license level is too low.
- When autodocking is enabled, the text on the HUD now says "Docking..." instead of "Press the Activate key to dock."
- Fixed occasional clipping of the speed and energy indicators on the HUD.
- Fixed various lua errors.

Lots of little fixes, plus some meaningful graphical updates on the PC. One more step along the road. We have some additional utilities coming soon, like tools to show player latency and packet-loss issues, to help people determine whether their internet connection is a problem (resulting in issues often blamed on the game itself). Those tools were slated for release this evening, but need a little more time for testing.

Have a great weekend, everyone!