Happy 3rd Anniversary, everyone! 🎂
Three years ago today, we first released Railroads Online and the game has evolved quite a lot since then! It is so exciting to see how far we’ve come with the development and with you as a community, supporting us on every step of the way! Soon, we will even leave Early Access and finally release the full version of Railroads Online, for which we are beyond happy and thankful.
As already announced last week, we have worked for this special day on some very exciting additions and improvements that are now finally on the Beta Branch for all of you to try and review!
Making it official: The Anniversary Update is now uploaded on the Beta Branch!
You want to know what this update is all about? Stick with us to find out!
The UI has been completely redesigned!
The User Interface has gotten a whole new design that now matches effortlessly with the games' aesthetics for a smoothed out in-game look! The redesign also includes feature changes regarding several parts of the various game menus to improve their quality-of-use and broaden their potential.
Just to mention only a few examples: The new main menu – shown above – received cool, changing wallpapers, while the construction menu – shown below – is now divided into four sections and displays many more details to provide you with a better overview of everything available!
We have even added a new feature that can be used to undo and redo an unlimited amount of steps, while you are building or demolishing, as long as the menus are open!
Hurray! Multiplayer has an In-game Chat!🎉
It is finally here: The In-game Chat has been added to the game! Are you ready for some life-changing conversations in Railroads Online?
Loading and Unloading right from the car!
Loading and unloading has become much easier: You can now use this feature while remaining in the driving mode and switching effortlessly between the different cars!
Let’s get a headstart!
From now on, you can select the option to get a Prelaid Map when starting a new game! That will not only be very useful when you want to start over and don’t want to begin at zero amount of progress, but also when you are new to the game and need ideas on how to start. You will enter a map with a basic build fitted to the map that you’re choosing and even receive a couple of engines, a string of logging cars and your first money for the perfect headstart!
And so much more!🪶
The Flight Mode can now conveniently be accessed via the radial menu, the permissions systems has been reworked and Dynamic Weather is back and improved for more control and customizations!
Of course, we have also targeted several issues that were reported in the last weeks and integrated a bunch of Bug Fixes! 🫶 Check out the changelog down below to get a detailed list of everything new and adjusted!⬇️
The complete changelog - Build 0.10.0.0.0. / 50996:
Main Menu Overhaul:
- Updated the start screen menu
- Includes options for Single Player, Multiplayer, Tutorials and Options
- The main menu will scroll through some cool screenshots
- All menus can be closed with ESC key
Multiplayer Menu Overhaul:
- Multiplayer menu has been overhauled
- Finding servers has been cleaned up
- Menu is no longer bunched up, server information no longer overlaps making it much easier to read server names, player count, and what map players are on.
- Starting servers have been reworked, if you want to start a multiplayer session simply click on the multiplayer button on the main menu and you will be able to create your new save or load a previous save for a multiplayer session
Buy Menu Overhaul:
- The buy menu has been completely reworked, there are now two tabs, one for rolling stock and one for locomotives
- The buy menu can now be accessed by pressing the B key
- Buy menu also includes buttons for customization, this will open a new window to allow you to put custom text and numbers on your desired car or locomotive
- Buy menu now shows what cargo cars can hold
- Buy menu shows what fuel type engines have
- Buy menu will show locks for things that you are not the proper level for, each item will also have a level ID on them to indicate what levels they are unlocked at.
Construction Menu Overhaul:
- Construction menu has been reworked it can now be open with the G key
- Has tabs for:
- Rails
- Facilities
- Industries- Hosts only
- Props
- Some items have a sub menu that will pop up by left clicking on the four colored boxes in the top left of the item.
- This will give you the ability to see alternate options for some items, weather it be colors or different rail types
- You now have the ability to Undo/Redo while demolishing and building. You can undo and redo as many steps as you want as long as the menus are open.
- Can be used in build and demolish modes
Added in game chat:
- Can be opened by using the “CTRL right” key
- Added a chat filter to prevent inappropriate language
- Hosts can clear the chat history by typing “/clear” and hitting enter
- We also added the chat permission which can be set by the host in the player list (TAB)
Added new loading/unloading feature:
- Loading and Unloading has now become easier for players
- While in the driving UI use the up and down arrow keys to cycle between cars
- Driving UI stays up so you can spot cars
- Press enter to begin the unloading process
- Press space bar to begin the loading process
- Camera must be facing the side you want to load/unload. Make sure your car is aligned with the platform, crane, chute, spout or conveyor
- Loading works on industries, water tower, coal tower and sandhouse
Added fly mode to radial menu:
- Fly mode toggle has been added to the radial menu
- Hold down middle mouse button to open the radial menu and select the icon for the fly mode to activate and deactivate it
- Press space bar to switch between height stability and free fly mode
Dynamic weather is back and reworked:
- Dynamic weather can be found by pressing Escape - Options - Gameplay
- From there you can customize your weather options and time of day
- There is an option for dynamic weather and custom weather
- Dynamic weather can now be timer set to change every X minute
- Added slider for time of day
- You can pause time of day to freeze the day/night cycle
- You can set time of day to run on X minutes
- Only hosts can change weather and day/night cycles
Reworked permissions:
- Permissions can now be accessed by pressing TAB
- Tab for Player list and banned players
- You can set individual player permissions here
- Pressing F will pull up the steam friends list to allow you to invite players to your session
Added Pre-Laid maps options:
- Added the ability to start a pre-laid map when starting a new game
- When starting a new game there is a check box to get the pre-laid map
- Each map starts you off with 2,000$ and 0XP
- You are given a couple engines and a string of logging cars to get you started.
- Maps can be edited if you want to make any changes
- Maps have vanilla industries
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed an issue where clients would crash saves when joining servers
- Fixed an issue where splines would snap in the wrong direction
- Fixed an issue where there was a hole in the Aurora Falls map that caused players to fall out of the playable bounds of the world
- Fixed an issue where windows would have a mirror like reflection
- Fixed an issue where the Class 47’s audio was too quiet
- Fixed an issue with multiplayer
- The issue known as “Desync” is now gone. Trains should now be properly in sync for the host and clients
- The severe issue with rubber banding when running trains as a client and host (single player) are cleaned up.
- We added a new option when creating servers: Hosts can set a server refresh rate. We recommend setting this value just under your average frame rate for the smoothest gameplay experience.
Check out the DevVlog for all the details!
We are so excited to hear back from you and receive your feedback on all these changes! If you spot any bugs or other issue, be sure to let us know under this post or via our social accounts 😊 See you soon!
Your Railroads Online Team!💜
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1696810/Railroads_Online/