Patch notes — stability & audio fixes — December 12, 2025

Update Summary

• Subtitle System: Fixed bugs that prevented subtitles from triggering correctly in the last level.
• Sound priority & mix: Corrected issues where certain sounds lowered player immersion or masked important cues.
• AI audio concurrency: Resolved the issue where AI could play multiple audio clips simultaneously.
• Performance: Improved FPS by optimizing audio tasks and refining visual effects.

Technical notes

1. Subtitle Manager — root cause & fix

Several audio sources were not registering with the Subtitle Manager, and one AI conversation line was unable to trigger subtitles at all.

• Added reliable audio-source registration during Awake.
• Fixed missing reference paths causing subtitle events to fail.
• Added protection against null clips and race conditions.
• Corrected the specific AI conversation line that previously could not display subtitles.

2. Sound mix improvements

Addressed audio masking, ducking and cue clarity issues.

• Rebalanced ambient vs. narrative sound priorities.
• Fixed ducking behaviors during scripted moments.
• Improved clarity by spacing non-critical ambient sounds.

3. AI voice concurrency

AI could previously trigger two audio clips at the same time.

• Added cooldown gating for AI audio playback.
• Fixed the core issue where the AI could execute two audio events simultaneously.
• Layered whispers now handled through deliberate mixer design rather than accidental overlap.

4. FPS & runtime performance

Performance work focused on stability and visual clarity.

• Optimized audio operations and reduced garbage allocation.
• Improved culling behavior in corridor-heavy scenes.
• Enhanced smoke effect and its rendering method, improving both FPS and visual quality.

Testing & feedback

After this update, please verify the following:

• Subtitles appear correctly for every line in the final level.
• No AI character plays more than one audio clip at once.
• No abrupt volume drops or masking of major narrative sounds.
• FPS remains stable during chase sequences and heavier visual events.

If you still believe the game has performance issues, contact me so I can review your performance data.

Thank you for testing NOCERE and reporting issues.