Dear Community,
(Original Post: http://forums.fredaikis.com/index.php?/topic/7821-patch-10/)
Welcome to the first Nether: The Untold Chapter patch notes ever! These patch notes are our initial notes and pretty much sum up many of the things that we have done with the game before releasing it to the public.
Please note that these patch notes are a brief summary of the stuff we've been working on in the past months. We will not address each individual fix or change specifically as it would be too much to mention and explain. However, in future patch notes we will of course address each fix and change individually on patch notes.
Between the information we will vary with some in-game screenshots to get into the mood for the release!
Nether: The Untold Chapter will be released on its original launch date TONIGHT (May 15) at 22:00 CEST (1:00 PM PDT) on Steam!
During this initial period we will discount the game heavily as a gesture to those who committed to earlier titles.
As this is the first time we are opening up the servers for a wide audience there's always a risk of issues and we kindly ask for your patience in case of any unexpected events.
A new chapter in Nether's history is starting tonight. A lot has been changed and more is to come in the future with continuous development!
An announcement with patch notes will follow soon with a summary of major changes in the current game and upcoming plans for it in the near future.
We're here with much enthusiasm to show everyone what's been occupying our days (and many nights) for the last months.
Now without further ado, let's jump into Nether TUC's first patch notes!
Just some extra information about the release and how the servers will work. In Nether: The Untold Chapter there are 3 ways of playing the game:
- Single-Player - Speaks for itself. You'll play alone, offline.
- Multi-Player: Official Servers - These are the main servers of the game. We expect the majority of players to play here as these servers are officially controlled by us. We also recommend players to stick to these servers especially in the beginning of the release.
- Multi-Player: Community Servers - These are private servers that are hosted by the community. Players have the ability to host their own servers for their own community as they like.
You will be able to see your ping to a server in the servers list. We highly recommend to play in your own region or in a region that you have the best connection to. For now, Fredaikis official servers for Nether will launch in the following regions:
North America, South America, Europe and Asia. (See the picture below)
Note: HK = Hong Kong = Asia, EU = Europe, NA = North America, SA = South America.
PERFORMANCE
- For some reason there was a frame-rate limit in the original Nether. We have completely removed this and added an option for players to change this limit or unlock it completely. Our goal with frame-rate and performance is to optimize the game as much as possible without damaging the experience and the look of the game.
- A LOT of performance optimizations have been done to improve the overall frame-rate of clients and loading times. This is something that will vary between different computers with different specs and this is also totally something we'll be keep working on on-the-go. As mentioned above we think that every player should have a non-crashing and playable game available. We will do our best to keep improving this.
- Loading in a game is NOT as fast as it used to be in the original game. However overall performance should be significantly better in Nether: The Untold Chapter. We'd like to address this as it's definitively something players will notice so that is why.
- Numerous client and server crashes have been fixed. Also, for those who might host their own servers in the near future; Servers will now automatically restart in case they crash.
- Fixed some issues related to the water. Although the water/sea was not (as far as we know) causing performance issues there were some weird bugs related to physics which has been worked on and improved. We will keep working on this as it isn't completely fixed yet.
- LODs have been created for models that were very/too high poly. We started prioritizing those as those fixes make the most impact on performance. This is still work-in-progress and is definitively something you'll see a lot of in future patches.
UI
- The entire UI such as in-game HUD, server browsing screen and pretty much every UI used anywhere else in the game has been completely reworked and improved. Other than that the original UI in Nether (especially the in-game HUD) looked old and weren't very user-friendly. There is a lot of other, also technical reasons the UI had to be completely redone. A good thing to know about the new UI and the systems behind it is that it's all made with an aim towards the future. We are able to add new features, systems or content into it using this new UI with much more ease than we would have been able to with the old original Nether UI. Note: There is a lot more reworked in the UI that's not shown in the pictures below. For further previews we recommend you to just check it out yourself in game.
- You are now able to change your FOV in the options menu. A lot of other options have been added as well such as: hide the hit marker, hide the cross hair, show FPS and others. Some of these settings weren't even working properly so those have been fixed. Also more options in the main server browser have been added.
- New languages have been added such as German & Portuguese. English, Russian and French are still available and have been updated to match newer content and features. We are aiming to release even more languages for the game in the near future.
- The splash screen for the client has been updated and reworked. This one just fits the game better and looks better.
- The in-game hit marker and crosshair have been reworked and updated. Also shotguns now have their own unique crosshair. We have also made it so that when using snipers or any other rifle with a scope, the crosshair is disabled. Keep in mind that you can still disable crosshairs and hit markers completely if you'd like.
- We have added Safezone icons to each point of interest in the Safezone. A big problem was that it wasn't really clear where what was inside the Safezones and (as you can see in the picture below) that's why we have added these indications. Note: They only show when being inside and when entering a safe zone and dissapear as soon as you leave it.
- A lot of spelling mistakes and initial item names and descriptions for items and in-game features have been reworked.
- Updated UI font. Updated logo and texts everywhere.
- Fixed a blur bug when respawning in-game. Sometimes the UI wouldn't reset properly.
- The in-game map has been slightly reworked. You can now hover over the overtake Tribe Points and overall the map is a lot cleaner, making it easier to navigate and see where you actually are on the map.
- We have also added a compass to the in-game HUD to help players making callouts for their friends. Also, when placing a marker on the map these markers will also show on the in-game compass.
- The crafting (also known as trading) UI has been reworked to make items in the list more visible.
- Chat has been reworked. It also now works with commands. Server owners or players in single player can use this now to execute commands. We plan on releasing a list of available commands in the near future.
GAMEPLAY
- A LOT of work has been done around the player and camera movement in the game. I know we have mentioned the words "a lot" many times already but this one is definitely one of the major improvements when you compare Nether: The Untold Chapter to the original one. We have made so many changes here that we'd like to leave this here and just sum it up as a major improvement.
- Various game-breaking dupes and exploits have been fixed. Thanks to the old Nether community we have pretty much fixed all of these issues. Since there is an in-game economy and rarity in loot it is extremely important that any exploits here are never possible. This is also why we will monitor situations around these exploits very closely. Also fixed a very messed up glitch that allowed players to have infinite ammo.
- Players now have the option to switch between first and third person. Original Nether has always been first person, however we thought it would be cool for players to have the option to view the game from a different perspective. FPS/TPS can be enabled or disabled per server and server owners are able to turn the third-person feature on or off as they wish. Single player will have the option permanently enabled so it's the players' own choice to use it or not. By adding the third-person option a lot of new bugs occurred, these are all fixed.
- Jumping, switching weapons, crouching and many other animations have been reworked and improved. Most of these felt very buggy and caused overall gameplay to not be as smooth as it is right now. Also a simple throwing animation has been added when the player is throwing any throwable item. This is still work in progress and will most likely be improved even further in the near future.
- The buggy (vehicle) is still in the game and still works the same way as in original Nether: when players take over a certain Safezone it will spawn for them. We have done some minor changes to the vehicle but overall not much. However we'd still like to address that this is definitively something we'd like to improve and work on in the future.
- The tutorial has been reworked a bit. Now, players don't have to actually leave the safe zone to deliver the tutorial package. Based on reports from the community from the original Nether we have decided to do this. We have also made it a bit more intuitive and easy to understand what to do to finish the tutorial.
- Swimming has been reworked. A lot of issues related to swimming and the animations for swimming have been changed. There was also a lot of sound bugs when swimming/jumping into the water that we have fixed. Note: Players now get forced out of a vehicle when driving into the water.
- Movement over stairs and edges on the ground has been smoothened for both the camera and player animations.
- Fixed issues related to the audio engine. New sounds for, for example, the new creatures have been made in a different system.
- The original Nether did not have a working voice chat system. We have reworked this, fixed where needed and the voice chat system should now work properly in any server.
- Fixed some issues related to the weather/time system. This is now properly synced between the server and the client.
ANTI-CHEAT
The "Fredaikis Anti-Cheat" has been fully integrated into Nether: The Untold Chapter. This is a major change compared to the old Nether where it wasn't even possible to ban a player properly from a server for example. In the end we wouldn't like to go deep into details around the Anti-Cheat but just make sure you know that Fredaikis is doing everything to give you all a cheater-free experience in best ways possible.
Just know that it was a huge task to port the anti-cheat into current Nether and that it definitively can not go unmentioned. Big props to Fred for doing all this heavy lifting.
For further information regarding the Anti-Cheat we'd recommend you to check out the website here:
https://fac.fredaikis.com/
OVERALL
- The icon loading system has been completely reworked. Icons in original Nether weren't loaded dynamically and there was a lot of unnecessary tasks that had to be done in order for an icon to be changed or added. Reworking this system gave the game overall better performance but mostly for us as developer a better workflow to add new items and update current ones.
- Icons for the weapons, some of the melees, and some other items have been reworked. Overall quality of the old icons was relatively low and most of them didn't even match the actual model/mesh in the game. The plan is to rework all the icons (starting with the incorrect ones first) over time. This is something you can expect to see in future patches.
- Melee damage range has been increased as in a lot of cases melees would fail to do damage to a creature or player that's right in front of the player. This is more a quality of life fix but could be very frustrating in some cases.
FIXES & CHANGES
- Melee damages have been updated. According to this also the store selling and buying prices have been adjusted and rebalanced. We do plan on adding more and new melees in the near future!
- Weapons damage (some of them) have been updated. We have also significantly increased the selling prices of weapons. Before players were forced to sell a weapon for around 20$ which would be 1/20th of a doctor's bag (healing item).
- Keys are no longer stacking in 10. This has been reduced to 1. When buying or selling a key you will do that with 1 instead of 10. Also, keys now drop upon death so be careful with them! Keys are no longer a starting item either. Keys also have a low chance of dropping from Demons and Reapers. Players now also have the ability to sell keys in the Safezone. (For those who don't know but almost every item in the game can be sold for in-game currency in the Safezones.)
- The Glider has been completely reworked. You no longer have to use the mouse to fly. Also this item does not have to be in your actual quick slot to be used. Players now just have to have it in their inventory and when pressing the space bar twice, they will automatically be gliding. The glider is a very useful item in this game and therefore we have also updated its sell and buy prices in the safe zones. Also fixed and improved some animations related to the glider where the hands weren't properly aligned in the model. (just an example) Also fixed an issue related to the glider that it would not always show the model when gliding.
- Fixed an issue with the CRU rifle when scoping in there would be a weird transparent border around the scope.
- Improved the Pipe Sniper scope in zooming. The FOV is now higher so the camera is even more zoomed in.
- Fixed the third person model (when you drop the item on the ground), for example, the pipe sniper and the heart burner. These had no texture for some reason.
We will keep working closely with the community and monitoring feedback regarding the buying and selling prices of items. Based on that we plan to make further adjustments in the near future.
ADDITIONS
- The SVD (rifle) is now available. At first we weren't sure to release this new weapon but after reworking the textures it fits pretty well into the game. The SVD uses 7.62 ammo and has 10 bullets in a chamber. It shoots relatively fast but also does not have the highest damage compared to other rifles. The SVD is relatively rare. The only way to get one is by crafting it at the Gun Smith. You'll need some common crafting items + a SVD frame. This SVD frame is rare and can only be crafted at the Cull using certain Nether body parts. (body parts the Nethers drop when killing them.)
- The Small Shield (melee) is now available. Some of you might know that this item was already in the original Nether however it was never released. The main purpose of this item is that it gives the player the ability to block incoming damage. Yes, there is a skill that allows players to use any melee to block damage, however with this item you can do it without that skill. You can either block damage or use it as a normal melee and hit enemies.
- The Large Shield (melee) is now available. Some of you might know that this item was already in the original Nether however it was never released. The main purpose of this item is that it gives the player the ability to block incoming damage. Yes, there is a skill that allows players to use any melee to block damage, however with this item you can do it without that skill. You can either block damage or use it as a normal melee and hit enemies. This is a large variant of the shield.
- The Nether Potion is now available. This item allows players to "Unlock Creature Mode" which then allows them to spawn as a Nether creature. This item can now be crafted at the Cull for various nether body parts and it also has a low drop chance from Demons and Reapers. Further ideas that we have to initially add back to the game is that you can also be other creatures than the crawler. Perhaps in some DLC or something like that we can give more purpose to this whole feature.
FIXES & CHANGES
- The Mantis (flying creature) has been improved. We have reworked on its AI and fixed some issues related to some animations that were not always playing. The creature should no longer get stuck and should perform a lot smoother now.
- Fixed bugs related to the "Being a Crawler" feature. (can be done using a "Nether Potion") Also fixed some issues here that were caused by the new TPS/FPS system we have added to the game.
- Blood particles now align properly to the terrain when killing a Nether creature.
- Improved the Nether's "get hit" animation state. It no longer looks buggy when getting hit by bullets.
ADDITIONS
As you might have seen already is that some new creatures have been added. We will go through each one of them below:
- The Arachnid
A small spider-like creature that will come up to you quietly. Aggressive in nature, will chase you for as long as it needs. Arachnids have a chance of dropping "Arachnid Eggs" upon death.
- Has unique sounds.
- Has unique animations.
- Has its own particles and AI.
- Has its own unique item, loot tables and appearances.
- The Creeper
A slow and powerful Nether. It usually resides in the subway tracks and is very dangerous in the shadows. This creature does not move fast at all yet is can do a lot of damage if you get too close. Creepers have a chance of dropping a "Creeper Tail" upon death.
- Has unique sounds.
- Has unique animations.
- Has its own particles and AI.
- Has its own unique item, loot tables and appearances.
- The Demon
A creature that ironically, among other locations, resides in churches and spits fire. Very dangerous at any distance, so tread carefully. This creature has a lot of health and is very hard to kill. Be careful! The Demon has a chance of dropping a "Demon Claw" upon death.
- Has unique sounds.
- Has unique animations.
- Has its own particles and AI.
- Has its own unique item, loot tables and appearances.
Our goal in the end is to keep adding more creatures to the game, each with its own unique abilities and characteristics.
- A LOT more items are now available for crafting or trading. Crafting can also be referred to as trading initially however let's stick to calling it crafting for now. This means the list of available items to craft at NPCs inside the Safezones is now significantly longer with more options.
- Some (but not many) items and their requirements to be crafted have been changed.
- Our plan is to, in the near future perhaps, change crafting to trading, as that's what it actually is either way and perhaps add an actual crafting feature that's not necessary inside a Safezone. Also, we figured there were some "hidden" crafting possibilities that would only show if the player had the correct items in their inventory already. Since these have been hidden for years they are no longer a secret so we have made them visible. We do plan on adding new hidden ones with new content.
- Reworked all the objects and building settings: render distances. In the old Nether pretty much everything in the game either did not have a render distance at all or had an incorrect one. We have gone through every single object in the whole world and set up the correct render distance settings. This is mostly done to improve overall performance for clients.
- Overall the atmosphere of the map has been improved. Smaller props and missing objects inside and around in the whole city have been added. Next to that, flying, clipping and other object related issues have been fixed as much as possible.
- Over the last period of time our beta testers and old nether players have helped us report further map bugs especially around the collision of objects and buildings. A lot of collision models have been reworked, updated and improved. Think about situations where players could clip through walls, fall through objects, get stuck in certain places etc. etc. This has been a huge task and is still a big work-in-progress and we expect a lot more reports after release. We will keep fixing and improving this in the near future.
- We have started to work on expanding the current world like adding more areas. However this is something we are still working on. Our priority was to get the actual playable areas in order before continuing expanding the world. Right now we are at a point that adding new areas will slowly make it into the game soon.
- We are still working on optimizing and improving the shadows. This is something we really want to get done in the near future as it's a big performance killer if not set up correctly. Stay tuned for further development around this.
- Overall lightning and the overall look of the game has not really been touched. We have fixed some settings around this but we tried to keep the overall look of the game the same.
- Grass system has been reworked. Work here is mostly done around the Wasteland area. Some of the actual terrain meshes had grass attached in the model, instead of being painted by the engine. We have removed the grass from the actual meshes and repainted with the engine. The game now loads and reacts to grass the correct way as it's no longer a static mesh. This is mostly done to improve performance.
- Numerous more LODs for meshes have been added, adjusted and fixed. It is still work in progress and will also contribute a lot in optimizing the game even further in future patches.
- Terrain blocks have been completely reworked. An issue that's been there since original Nether is that players were able to clip inside and abuse the terrain mainly in the wastelands. With this rework we have fixed that completely.
- Subway access points have been improved. In some places players would still get stuck while accessing these areas.
- Nether: The Untold Chapter is now fully integrated with Steam. Achievements are ready. Further content on Steam such as the Trading Cards system will be available shortly after release. The game has to first be released on Steam before the Trading Cards system can be reviewed and published.
- The private server management system has been improved. A lot more server options have been added including the ability for server owners to turn on and off the third-person feature. Also, there is now an option that the server owners can control the starting items for players. More improvements and options will definitively follow in the near future.
- The website has been finished and "COMING SOON" has been removed. It's a relatively simple, clean looking web page purely for information about the game. For now, we will stick to this and update later on as needed.
- The support system for players is set up. Our support will keep updating this pretty much from now on however we'd still like to mention a link to the support page: http://support.fredaikis.com/ or send an email to [email protected]
As this is the first time we are opening up the servers for a wide audience there's always a risk of issues and we kindly ask for your patience in case of any unexpected events. Especially given the fact that we pushed the release date to TONIGHT instead of in 1 week.
Want to help us out? Have any feedback? Want to share some ideas for the game? Here's what to do:
We highly recommend to join us on our forums at http://forums.fredaikis.com/. Just create an account (scroll a bit down on the home page) and you'll find the Nether: The Untold Chapter section. There is all the room for you to create threads about your ideas or to report any issues. You could also share them through social media however it's best for us if you'd use the forums for this.
Have a major issue? Have something really important to tell us? Here's what to do:
The best and fastest way to get in contact with us is through support. You can do that in 3 ways:
1. Join the Nether: The Untold Chapter Official Discord and PM the bot (see it on the right) called: "Nether Support". - We'll be in contact there.
2. Go to http://support.fredaikis.com/ and create a support ticket under the "Nether: The Untold Chapter" section.
3. You could also send us an email at: [email protected]
For now, we wish us all, players and developers, a great release. Hope to see you all in the game soon!
Note 1: Patch notes might be changed if we need to fix or add something.
Note 2: We apologize if something has been mentioned more than once. There might also be a chance we forgot to mention some of the work we did as this announcement, just like the release came quite sudden.
Once again thank you for your great support! Want to support us even more? Make sure to share these patch notes with your friends and followers!
For any feedback about the game or this patch please let us know in the comments or link us on social media!
To stay updated regarding the game please follow us on our social media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NetherTUC/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NetherTUC
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1010270/Nether_The_Untold_Chapter/
Discord: https://discordapp.com/invite/Zm3hpBB
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5HV4MZx9yq53vogFrrPQwA/
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/NetherTUC/
Website: https://nethertuc.com/
Support: http://support.fredaikis.com/
Wiki: https://nether.gamepedia.com/Nether:_The_Untold_Chapter_Wiki
Best Regards,
// Fredaikis
