New Features:
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🔹A new system has been implemented to help reduce the performance impact of having many creatures spawned around a map. The stasis system. When creatures are not within visible range of the player they get converted into a "stasis creature" which does not have all of the regular creature code and components so its very lightweight and isn't a performance reducer. This system allows for many more creatures to be spawned around your map but it also depends on your computer system as to just how many creatures you can have spawned at once. This is the first step to having maps full of creatures. Further optimizations will be done in the future to get even more creatures spawning within view-range of the player.
🔹A new feature is being used, it is called the Spine Animator. This makes creature models bend when they are turning. Spinosaurus, Tyrannosaurus Rex, and Titanoboa are now using the spine animator. Other creatures will have it added in future updates.
Core:
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🔹Multiplayer mode is undergoing maintenance due to major code changes with the new stasis system. During this time it will be unavailable.
🔹Updated the Unity Engine to a new major version. Version 2021.3.0f1.
User Interface:
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🔹The gameplay HUD has been recreated by Maki, our new UI designer!
World:
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🔹Some terrain textures have been changed.
Stats:
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🔹Bonus speed from bonus stat points has been reduced by 80% because creatures were just getting too quick compared to their base speed.
🔹Bonus speed from items has been reduced.
🔹Bonus speed points cap has changed from 30 to 25.
🔹Now if your bonus stat points exceeds your bonus stat point cap, the bonus stat point cap value will be used instead.
Species:
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🔹Opthalmosaurus now actually has a diet of fish instead of it just showing it has a diet of fish on the creature details panel.
🔹In addition to being able to eat ground plants during their hatchling stage, the brachiosaurus and argentinosaurus now eat ground plants during their juvenile stage as well.
🔹Creature "Difficulty" is now shown instead of creature "Weight" on the details of the creature select and creature creation screens. This shows an estimate of the difficulty involved in playing this creature.
NPCs:
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🔹Improved creature AI spawning.
🔹Trilobite AI now spawn.
🔹Meganuera AI now spawn.
🔹Freshwater aquatic and amphibious creatures are now spawning in lakes.
🔹Now randomly spawned nest hatchlings and juveniles (mostly a source of young carnivore food at the nest) are selected depending on the biome that the nest is in.
🔹NPC creatures are now using a new pathfinding system! I stopped using the Unity Navmesh pathfinding system and starting using A* Pathfinding.
Edible Objects:
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🔹Edible objects now have a random chance to spawn in close proximity to a nest.
Sounds:
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🔹The player's footsteps now play 100% of the time.
🔹Changed the way creature sounds play so they can not be interrupted by another sound being played by the creature.
🔹Some adjustments have been made to NPC sound distance, volume, and play chance.
QoL Changes:
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🔹The max zoomed-in camera position is now closer to the Elasmosaurus' neck.
🔹Now when nightvision is activated a light source is enabled at the center of your creature and illuminates the area. Illumination range is determined by your creature's nightvision rank.
🔹Due to using the Spine Animator, pressing the "S" key no longer makes your creature move backwards. It instead makes your creature turn around and start moving away from where the camera is looking.
Performance:
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🔹The Creatures View Distance gameplay option slider's maximum value has changed from 4,000 to 800 because 4000 was extremely high and was unplayable. 800 view distance is still far away from the player but doesn't affect FPS nearly as much.
🔹The Edible Plants View Distance gameplay option slider's maximum value has changed from 4,000 to 1600.
🔹The default value for the creature spawning sliders in the gameplay options has changed because more creatures can be spawned around the map with not as big of a performance impact as there was previously.
Settings:
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🔹Creatures View Distance gameplay option slider has been renamed to "Creatures" instead of "Dinosaurs", in the options.ini file.
🔹The Edible Plants View Distance gameplay option slider has been renamed to "Edible Objects", in the options.ini file, because it also includes things like starfish and anemones for aquatic creatures.
🔹The default values for the audio volume levels have been reset and changed to different values.
Fixes:
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🔹Fixed a glitch where old edible objects would not clear when joining a multiplayer map that was the same map as the one you already had loaded.
🔹Fixed a glitch where edible objects were not becoming visible for the connecting player if in the area of the edible object when joining a server on the same map that they were already on.
🔹Fixed a glitch where you couldn't hear elder creature calls.