Tennis Elbow 4 Build 167 eases modded online play and retunes serve physics

Mana Games released Build 167 for Tennis Elbow 4 on 2026.10.30, with a change that lets online matches work across different mod setups. Posted as SubBuild 2026.10.30 by ManuTOO, the update also revises serve physics, adjusts several strike types and fixes issues in World Tour and mod management.

Online matches now ignore mod differences

The most direct change in the patch is online compatibility. Mana Games said players can now connect and play with anyone “whatever your Mods and their Mods are !” That removes a common hurdle for modded players who want to jump into a match without first matching their setups.

World Tour also gets a small but useful menu update. A Back button has been added to all the New Game Creation menus, giving players an easier way to step out of the creation flow. Mana Games added one warning with that change: the new creation process may require an update from mods before it works correctly.

Serve physics and strike tuning change the feel of rallies

Several gameplay tweaks target ball flight and serve behaviour. Mana Games said it has revamped the high topspin trajectories so the ball bounces higher and farther on the service, while the side bounce has also been redone, mainly for curved slice balls.

The update also adjusts how certain strike types perform. Fast balls hit while using a high Counter skill are now a bit more difficult, and Counter skill no longer helps on the return of serve. The twister serve now lowers the precision of the returner’s strike, and very long prepared strikes now have slightly less precision. Mana Games also said the topspin server is now a tiny bit faster.

Stamina matters a little more too. The studio said it has raised “even a bit more” the effect of being out of Breath on run acceleration, so tired players will lose a touch more speed when moving to the ball.

Smash, World Tour and mod fixes

Build 167 closes out with a cluster of bug fixes across different parts of the game. Mana Games said the smash could sometimes be hit too far behind, which could lead to faults. It also fixed a separate issue where the lower precision intended for Strong and Normal serves on a second serve was not actually being applied.

Animation handling gets a correction as well. In some cases, the CPU player’s strike animation could fall out of sync. World Tour’s Olympiads have been fixed too: the game had been using the player’s usual partner instead of a partner from their country.

Mod support received attention in two places. Mana Games said it fixed bugs with mod.io and the Mod Management menu that could stop players from using their mods or updating them. It also fixed a problem where reinitialising the game after applying new mods could fail to apply changes to some animations.

With online play loosened up for mixed mod setups and a broader round of serve and strike tuning in the same build, Build 167 touches both the competitive side of Tennis Elbow 4 and the tools players use to keep custom content running.