Development Update
ːws_peaceː As most of you already know, we've been promising a major content update for a while now, however, sadly this ain't it. Instead, we've been working on fixing all the event-related bugs, a performance regression introduced with the Danksgiving Update, the character controller and NPC AI issues, and finally the fucking wiggly arms.
Character Controller Improvements
ːws_peaceː After upgrading the character controller to sync values over the network we saw a huge hit in performance even when playing offline. It was one of the main reasons the Danksgiving & Kushmas Events had such abysmal FPS, even in WS3 standards ːws_damanː
ːws_peaceː Anyway, we've fixed most of the logic responsible for sudden frame drops, made the character controller move at a constant speed regardless of FPS, and added fallback movement logic to prevent slowmo locomotion at sub-30 FPS.
Performance Improvements
ːws_peaceː We've implemented additional culling logic for all the plants, pots, setups, and merch placed int the shop, and added time-slicing to the area culling logic. This should prevent sudden frame drops when running around outside and improve the average FPS when you leave your clapped-out shop.
ːws_peaceː The character controller has been, and will probably, always be the biggest CPU bottleneck in Weed Shop 3. And while there's not much we can do when 20 customers are jam-packed into your shop, we've improved their movement logic LOD to reduce the CPU load as much as possible when they're at a distance.
ːws_peaceː Having thousands of dynamic objects and hundreds of real-time lights placed in your shop will tank frames on the latest GPU/CPU rigs, not to mention all the laptops that can run GTA5 ːws_damanː So we've added the option to disable real-time lights to the Graphics Settings menu and switch to real-time dynamic Global Illumination. While this option does not provide physically based lighting or real-time shadows, it does reduce the GPU load for low-end setups while keeping everything lit and retaining the static environment shadows.
ːws_peaceː Basically, if your PC/Laptop's performance is GPU-bound, and you have a pretty crazy shop setup, toggling real-time lights off could significantly boost the overall performance. The Realtime Static Lights setting applies to all the environment lights & lights that come with the shop, while Realtime Dynamic Lights setting will toggle all the fucking lights you place yourself.
Other Improvements
ːws_peaceː Following reports of security and farmer employees not doing their jobs, we've upgraded their AI and pathing logic so they should be planting snitches and knocking out seeds like there's no tomorrow.
ːws_peaceː While these got fixed in some of the previous patches that didn't get patch notes, the missing crosshair, Steam Deck jump mapping, missing crosshair when not online, auto-ejecting wheelchair, V-Sync when doing Dxxber deliveries, and preloader crashes at 35% have all been fixed.
ːws_peaceː And finally, the bug that almost ended the development of Weed Shop 3, mother***ing wiggly arms, was just sorted out today ːws_damanː
The Final Patch
ːws_peaceː While fixing bugs and working on performance improvements is fun and all ːws_damanː it doesn't really get us any closer to the next content update, so, short of some game-breaking bug fixes, this will be our last major patch till the new content gets done. Just like the lab and the grow field, the upcoming content update has a lot of interdependent logic and can't be released in incremental updates, so starting tomorrow (or sometime next week, if there's major bugs in today's patch ːws_damanː) we'll be devoting 100% of our dev time on getting it all done.
ːws_peaceː Anyway, if you're still reading this, get a life ːws_damanː But seriously, thank you guys for sticking with us while all we did was break the game. We know it's been a while since you've seen legit new content but it's coming soon...ish, for real this time ːws_damanː, And if you'd like to help beta-test the new content once it's ready, swing by our Discord server and say High ːws_peaceː
STAY TUNED!
