Mana Games

[manutoo]

Hello,

after nearly 6 years of development, we finally reached the version 1.0 of Tennis Elbow 4 !

It's still not the end of the road and I'll still improve the game, but once I'm done with the new movement animations (either it's a success or a failure ), I won't work full time on TE4 anymore.

Ordering TE4 & getting your download link

You can order the game to get your License Key & your download link now : https://www.managames.com/buy.php?g=TE4 (Alternate way with additional payment methods : https://www.managames.com/buy.php?g=TE4&Alt=1 )
With your License Key for the ManaGames.com version, you'll also get a free Steam key.

If you have bought TE2013, you can get a 15% discount from here :
- English : https://www.managames.com/tennis/promoTE3_en/
- French : https://www.managames.com/tennis/promoTE3_fr/



Free Demo

Windows : https://www.managames.com/download.php? ... w_v1-0.exe (~25MB Web Installer ; ~4GB installed)
Mac : https://www.managames.com/download.php? ... c_v1-0.exe (~25MB Web Installer ; ~4GB installed)


Requirements

- OS: 64-bit Windows 7/8/10, macOS 10.12+, Linux Ubuntu 16.04 or 18.04 (works on other Linux distros as well)
- 6GB of RAM
- For the 3D courts with high quality, a 3D card with about 5000 points here https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html (to play with 60fps @ 1080p), and DirectX 11 support (on Windows) ; for ~100 fps @ 1440p, you'll need 10'000 points
- For the 2D courts, an IGP or a 3D card with about 1000 points here https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/mid_range_gpus.html , and DirectX 11 support (on Windows)


Comments about the updates

Comments go there so the changelog will be easier to follow : topic15-36311.php
Suggestions for TE4 : create a new topic in the forum
Early version Changelog : topic15-33239.php

For clarity, the latest additions to the game are listed in the next post.

[manutoo]

Version 1.0 - Build 137 ; SubBuild 2025.3.4:

New Features :
- Animation : experimental new movement animations ! I used the animation set bundled with the Motion Matching plug-in I bought, which direly misses sidesteps and small footwork ; you can activate it in Settings -> 3D Match (Give your impressions => topic7-36310.php ) ; note : this system requires some extra memory and will lead to crash on consoles if you have Mods installed (especially when playing doubles)
- Settings : added a Tennis.ini editor ; click on the little white icon on the bottom right of Settings -> Misc Options to access it (if you have the XKT Mod, wait for an update)
- World Tour : rankings updated to 2024, and new players added if you start a new career (if you have a Mod for the World Tour, you won't see these additions)
- Localization : Japanese translation, thanks to Tam ! (please report any typo)

Changes :
- Strike : halved the loss of power when getting tired, which should shorten rallies by making it easier to hit winners when both players are tired
- Strike : boosted the short strike speed by up to 4km/h, to help doing passing shots with it (it was too curvy and slow before, allowing too many easy volleys)
- Service : raised the Aiming Zone on Service Preview so the ball should almost never land outside of it
- AI : lowered the jump at the net of the CPU for the Club-10 and Junior-10 so their rally & net performances are more balanced (this will have some diminished effect till Pro-9)
- Physics : now, hitting the ball with the frame of the racket will make the normal & long strikes end too long instead of in the net

Bug Fixes :
- Animation : the player could bend too harshly in some situations (usually when sliding)
- Animation : animation loading was randomly failing, leading to a crash (and online desyncs) ; tried a fix, but I'm not 100% sure it'll work in all cases (it's a Unity bug )
- 3D Match : after having played for a while (ie: more than 30 minutes), the hair, hat, and possibly the eyes were moved over the head
- Physics : some topspin balls had a too low chance to end in the net (ie: banana shots and strikes hit on the run)
- Commentary : fixed a few lines played in the wrong situation
- World Tour & Camera : (consoles only) since the last update, it was not possible to export your player to the Training Club nor save a Camera in Settings -> Camera
- World Tour : the Experience points were capped at 200 when starting a 3D match
- Modding : modifying the RankPerYear in the Player bases wasn't seen right away in your saved career

[manutoo]

SubBuild 2025.3.5:

Bug Fixes :
- World Tour : the "new" player bases were actually the old ones with the added rankings ; now, it's the correct ones, allowing to start your career in 2024 & 2025
- Animation : the experimental movement animations were disabled for CPU vs CPU match (and likely when watching a match replay as well)
- Modding : since last update, Auto Player Photo wasn't working anymore

[manutoo]

Build 138 ; SubBuild 2025.3.15:

New Features :
- Controls : it's now possible to navigate the menus with the Directional Buttons or the Right stick ; you can configure it in Settings -> Controls -> Players 1 -> Controller 1 -> Menu

Changes :
- Strikes : lowered a bit the Defense & Attack lob speed when standing far from the baseline
- Replay : the replay menu is now usable with the new menu navigation controls ; to advance/rewind by 1 frame, use "Menu - Previous Tab" & "Menu - Next Tab" instead of "Menu - Lower" & "Menu - Action"

Bug Fixes :
- Strikes : in some cases, the human player could switch several times between his forehand & backhand
- AI : while standing near the baseline, the CPU could miss the ball if it were too high (eg: against a lob)
- Controls : if several users were using the same controller, their different configs were applied at the same time to control the menus

[manutoo]

Build 139 ; SubBuild 2025.4.11:

New Features :
- Modding : the game will now reload the Mods after their installation/removal, activation/deactivation, and optionally when changing the Profile ; it may still have some issue, so I still didn't remove the message recommending to restart the game to apply the modifications

Changes :
- Helpers : slightly raised the Aiming Zone size by adding a white zone around it, so very few balls will end outside of it
- AI : the CPU positions himself better against short strikes & short accels, and repositions himself a bit more dynamically when he's too much out of position ; this should improve his defense a bit but noticeably
- AI : the CPU player will now often make 1 or 2 steps before stopping to chase a too-far ball
- AI : the CPU player was always chasing too-far balls ending near the net when he was standing around the baseline
- Strike : now doing an Acceleration, Short Acceleration or Attack Lob when our player is doing the special stretch animation will lead to a systemic fault (this is not related to the usual strike animation reaching for the ball)

Bug Fixes :
- Animation : running in diagonal backward was leading to the running back animation instead of turning and running forward

[manutoo]

SubBuild 2025.4.26:

Bug Fixes :
- Online : playing a match while hosting a game and waiting for an opponent could lead to desync
- Commentary : fixed a few commentaries triggering at the wrong time
- Modding : fixed a couple of issues (including a crash on Windows) when reloading Mods

[manutoo]

Build 140 ; SubBuild 2025.6.17:

New Features :
- Modding : now all the textures used for the menus and the HUD are loaded and cached dynamically, allowing for a saving of almost 300MB of RAM with the latest XKT & Stef's Scoreboards Mods ; I did as well a couple of other memory optimizations so the total saving is around 300MB, which should be hopefully enough to avoid many crashes on PlayStation and Xbox One and One S (Xbox One X and Series have more memory, so they should be mostly alright).

Changes :
- Strike : tuned the Shoulder Height Acceleration so it's much less penalized when done in the Danger Zone, and even getting an accuracy bonus ; the effect is quite strong for the Acceleration and medium for the Short Acceleration ; this should allow you to attack high topspin balls on clay if you position your player well
- Strike : lowered a bit the Short Acceleration accuracy, so its aiming zone width is closer to the Acceleration's one when standing a bit after the baseline
- Strike : tuned a bit the physical imprecision so the topspin strikes have a tiny bit more chances to end long or in the net when prepared late, and the slices a bit more chances to end short when prepared late
- Strike : the drop shot is now easier to do on very falling balls, and a bit harder on raising balls
- Strike : the service strike speed now varies according to a Gaussian curve (before the extreme variations were too frequent)

Bug Fixes :
- Animation : the player could be doing strange things when lobbed on his backhand side
- Strike : when running forward, the net jump could sometimes not trigger, especially if the ball was on the backhand side
- Strike : in the doubles, the Human player was sometimes prevented from jumping to the ball at the net if he's partner wanted to play it
- Strike : the player could play a ball ending quite long if he was standing just a bit inside the baseline
- [PlayStation] Online : the Friend invite button was missing sometimes when hosting a game

[manutoo]

SubBuild 2025.6.18:

Bug Fixes :
- Menu : the 2nd time it was displayed, each country flag was replaced by a white dot
- Menu : the game could crash with some Mods (I'm not 100% sure it's fixed as I couldn't reproduce the bug on my PC )

[manutoo]

Build 141 ; SubBuild 2025.7.5:

New Features :
- Controls : added vibrations on the service

Changes :
- Strike : lowered the physical imprecision on the spin, greatly lowering the chance for the ball to end outside of the Aiming Zone (this affects especially the Accelerations and strikes done with low precision)
- Strike : raised the minimum service speed for men by 5km/h (so at 50% power, the average service speed is raised by 2.5km/h)
- AI : tuned the return position of the women
- World Tour : greatly optimized the size of the ranking database, saving ~500MB of RAM for a career of 15 years ; this should prevent the game, when Modded, from crashing on consoles after playing for a few years in the World Tour

Bug Fixes :
- Strike : the slice (and possibly some other strikes in some special situations) could be way too slow
- Animation : since the last Build, the players were rotating back in the wrong direction after having rotated through their back
- Gameplay : in some situations, the net jump wasn't triggering for the human player (usually when standing near the service line)
- AI : fixed a couple of glitches in the CPU when his doubles partner is human
- AI : when playing doubles, the CPU could get stuck in no man's land (ie: between the baseline and the service line)
- Recordings : the match replay could desync for Junior matches
- World Tour : too many players were regenerated in the fictional years (eg: in 2025 and after, in the unmodded game)
- World Tour : regenerated players' best ranking distribution wasn't respecting existing singles & doubles specialist distribution (ie: could end with too many or too few top players in singles or doubles)

[manutoo]

Build 142 ; SubBuild 2025.7.5-1:

Bug Fixes :
- Strike : since last Build, strikes prepared very early had their spin enhanced, leading to weird result or fault, especially for the slice and the drop shot

[manutoo]

Build 143 ; SubBuild 2025.8.15:

New Features :
- Outfit : added 1 male haircut created by Will

Changes :
- Strike : slice lowers more the precision of the next opponent's strike, closer to Build 141 and before (Build 142 lowered it too much by mistake)
- Animation : changed the way the animations are loaded to save a bit of memory on consoles (Modded animation loading is unchanged)

Bug Fixes :
- World Tour : having very old saved games could prevent loading recent ones in Word Tour -> Load Game
- World Tour : generated doubles specialists could get a playing style not compatible with doubles, making them too strong in singles
- Animation : the player's wrong back rotation was still occurring
- Commentary : fixed the triggering conditions for a couple of lines
- AI : your doubles partner could end up wrongly positioned if he thought he could catch the ball, but then let you play it

[manutoo]

Build 144 ; SubBuild 2025.8.15-2:

Bug Fixes :
- Strike : the service couldn't clip the net anymore, except on slice serves
- World Tour : with the previous update, it was not possible to load the Women's Tour
- Menu : with the previous update, showing the in-game help at the start of the match and clicking on "ok" with the mouse was coming back to the Main menu