We are pleased to announce a significant update focused on enhancing the performance of our game. Taking into account the invaluable feedback provided by our players, we have meticulously reworked many core systems using Unreal Insights, Level of Detail optimizations, and C++ optimization. Our aim is to provide you with a smoother and more immersive gaming experience. We appreciate your ongoing support and invite you to explore the improvements and play today (did you know the game is FREE?). Thank you for being part of our journey towards a great small time indie gaming experience!
Optimizations
- Switched many long running functions from Blueprints to native C++.
- Batched many match start operations instead of single loops
- Switched between hard and soft reference classes where needed
- Set Unreal recommended streaming settings
- Added maps and caches in common components and libraries.
- Switched many event properties in HUD that had logic to simple data displays and moved the logic to event driven or slower timed updates.
- Added specific structs and variable caching on pure functions to cut out duplicate calls.
- Disabled tick on many things that didn't need it.
- Disabled automatic timelines on many things that didn't need it.
- Removed debugging code that was still executing in shipping builds.
- Enabled Nanite on meshes that were extremely large and didn't make sense for the standard LOD approach.
- Converted many Cascade emitters to Niagara with Niagara Effect Types
- Switched skeletal mesh actors that were used as static to use the optimizations for that.
- Rewrote action bar to centralize tick instead of each action ticking on their own.
- Reduced polygons of small meshes where you can't see the difference.
- Made use of Niagara advances for UV subsampling randomization.
- Soundscapes now only load the level that's being loaded instead of all of them.
- Many data tables were loaded every tick or every time a function was used, common ones are now fully cached and only populated when needed.
- VIP cosmetics are now only loaded if the VIP is possessing the character.
- Removed many hard references from the Inventory Component as well as blocking loads.
- Disabled emitters that were auto playing on level start
- Disabled flickering light timelines on lights that don't flicker.
- Slowed down cursor tick rate to be more performance but have same feel.
- Armor animations now only execute if they're actually awake.
- XP & Level bar is now event driven instead of ticking.
- Reworked almost every widget to use Overlays instead of Canvas as they're more performant.
- Investigator, Monster, and Spooktater HUDs are now event driven instead of ticking.
- Added caches for large data sets like achievements.
- VoIP loader doesn't block player controller anymore.
- Batched actor pool cleanup,
- Settings checks for UI are now event driven on config changes instead of ticking.
- Optimized vital bar colors to be a constant vs. calculated every tick.
- Resized all overlap components for weapon pick ups to use box extend instead of non 1 scales which is expensive mathematically.
- Attic stairs converted to montage with a slower tick rate since it animates infrequently.
- Foot and hand IK now happen only once per frame maximum and only if the character is moving/looking.
- Cloth physics suspended when an actor isn't rendered or has too low of a LOD.
- Added LOD to Third Party assets that didn't have them.
- Added LODSync on modular characters.
- Slowed tick rate of carriables like buckets!
- Optimized regeneration tick rates for vitals.
- Minion attack evaluations only occur when they have an attack target.
- Cold breath timeline now only runs when in a cold environment.
- Flashlight no longer ticks when it's turned off.
- Fixed bugs in typewriter sound lagging on first load by asynchronously loading the cues.
- Reworked Quetico snow from the ground up for performance and visuals.
- Lobby characters now have simple animation sequences instead of their full Animation Blueprint.
- Reduced size of textures that were only displayed small anyway.
- Added helper functions to one off data types to reduce references between actors.
- Reworked animal, key, and some weapons materials to share a common master with instances instead of everything have it's own material.
Additions
- Fire escape now sounds like metal instead of wood.
- Compass objectives now tell if they're above or below you for more clarity.
- Added Rusty Car to Wakefield
- Active speaker name is added on subtitles.
- Added .308 clip of 5 rounds.
Changes
- Lobby options are now localized.
Fixes
- Fixed hotkeys on car
- Fixed bug where AI Wraith could only attack if starting from idle
- Fixed animation when opening heavy doors with a pistol
- Tesla no longer zaps when broken
- Flashlight no longer "deactivates" on load as it is already deactivated
- Added a bunch of physical materials that were missing.
- Fixed bug where footstep VFX were not working.
Known Bug - Still In Progress
We know there is still a bug in the visuals on holding weapons sometimes, it's been plaguing us for some time and we're still trying to get to the bottom of it. Hopefully we figure it out soon. The good news is you can still fire and reload as if you had the weapon, it's just visuals. Thanks Astaritus!
Version: 1.3
Build: branches/Dirge_v1.3-DirgeSteam-UE_5.3-Shipping-439-8711