Highlights:
- New AI (Details Below)
- Ruins has been remade from the ground up
- Reworked Explosion System
- Explosions are now blocked by objects & the environment
- Explosions create shrapnel that fly out at random rotations & velocities
- Explosive damage is now calculated based on the distance from the explosion's center, rather than fixed values
- Added supply crates that drop every 10 waves in the Wave Defense gamemode (Paddies). It has random gear, ranging from ammo crates to RPGs
- AI take cover
- AI move & coordinate more dynamically (flanking, encirclement, swarming, hit & runs...)
- AI have better and more realistic detection
- AI's accuracy has been made more realistic & fair
- Major performance boost
- AI now communicate & work with nearby allies
- AI damage system is more realistic & consistent. It's now based on hitboxes with slightly randomized damage modifiers & takes advantage of PunjiVR's ballistic system
- AI models no longer despawn after death on non-wave gamemodes(their collision does, but the visible model does not)
- The melee system has been made more straightforward and less buggy (stab anywhere to kill, a hard hit to the head knocks them out)
- AI audio improvements: -Audible AI communication is now reflective of the individual's current or future state (take cover, getting shot at, requesting backup...) rather than just playing random audio -Vietnamese AI now say new English voice lines in addition to their regular Vietnamese lines (New American voice lines are planned for a future update!) -Audio systems have been redesigned and are now a lot more performant and less prone to potential issues (for both voices & gunfire audio)
- Temporarily removed allied AI
- Complete rewrite to Wave Defense gamemode
- AI have been replaced on all maps
- Lowered tall grass on Bridge
- Removed Island Camp from Operation: X-Ray due to it being too unpolished and an unnecessary addition to the campaign
- Added exterior staircase to right-side building on Streets to create a new path to the upstairs section
- Decreased normal player health from 500 to 285
- Shotgun pumps lock forward when a live round is chambered (pulling the trigger when grabbing the pump releases it)
- Gun's grab triggers are now much larger & easier to grab when the weapon isn't socketed (on the ground, laying on the table...)
- Made standing mode default
- Fixed errors associated with magazine sockets when they're inactive
- Allied AI now wear slightly different uniform colors from enemy AI
- Lowered green tracer opacity
- Changed tracer material
- Fixed grenade explosion effect not playing in world space
- Fixed issue where shotguns and mosins wouldn't fire sometimes
- Fixed scaling issue with the K50m's stock
- Added more props and environmental assets to Paddies
- Added mines to Paddies
- Updated explosion effect of toe popper mines
- Adjusted ballistic properties on multiple calibers
- Replaced kill triggers that stopped player from falling thru map with a script
- XM21 now has a much smaller alert radius when firing
- Increased all grenade blast radii to 15m (shrapnel is deadly up to ~30m)
- Fixed navmesh and pathfinding issues on Bridge, Elephant Grass, Streets, Paddies
- Made path clearer on Bridge
- Removed old missions from build to organize and save space
- Removed remaining traces of outdated difficulty settings
- Decreased fog intensity on Elephant Grass and Paddies
- Remade foliage on Elephant Grass
- Minor optimizations to Streets
- Fixed issue with the CAR15 not spawning with a magazine loaded
- Lowered impact sound priorities
- Increased maximum enemies to 20 on Paddies
- Increased time between waves to 30 seconds on Paddies
- Decreased spawn rate on Paddies to 2 enemies per wave
- Fixed hut collision issue on Paddies
- Made terrain smoother on Paddies
- Fixed optimization issues on Highlands
- Organized editor for Highlands, Evac
- Fixed multiple holes & other environment errors on Highlands
- Fixed multiple collision issues on Highlands
- Changed health can trigger
- Lowered spawn rate increase & raised wave duration decrease that applies every 5 waves on Paddies
- Weapon foreguard grabbing is no longer available until the main grab point is held
- Added additional enemy spawn points to Paddies
- Fixed issue where mega health can wouldn't always spawn on Combat Base
- Health cans work properly again
- Magazine/Helmet tapping works properly again
- Increased RPG & 40mm blast radius to 15m
- Minor model optimizations to temple & Ruins props
- Fixed issue where some huts would disappear on Paddies
- Decreased force required to resupply at ammo crates
- Fixed issue with Type 56 bayonet not initializing
- Fixed minor code error on Elephant Grass
- Fixed issue with flashlight on Tunnel Rats
- Removed collision on ladder that caused issues on Tunnel Rats
- Added check to AI Manager to prevent possible future crashes
- Added invisible walls to tunnel sections to prevent AI from seeing or shooting thru it
- Added additional flashlight to Tunnel Rats just in case the first one is missed
- Decreased health to 150 on Tunnel Rats
- Fixed collision obstacles on Tunnel Rats
- Fixed smoke parenting issue on Evac
- Fixed erroneous physics layers on Evac
- Rebuilt navmesh on Evac
- Fixed collision issue on Camp section of Beach missions
- Removed bugged button on Beach Siege
- Decreased starting enemy count to from 5 to 3 on Combat Base
- Multiplied all helicopter health by 2 to account for damage system changes
- Removed sandbags from camp area on Beach Siege
- Fixed player start rotation on Combat base
- Simplified collision on multiple objects on Beach Cobra to reduce performance issues
- Major optimizations to Gun Run Huey
- Replaced M1 Carbine with M2 Carbine in Ruins
- Removed buggy clouds on Streets
- Bayonet not unfolding on Type 56
- Lighting too dark on Ruins
- Stock unfolds too easily on VZ 61
- Can't grab Type 56 magazines out of rucksack
- AI animations sometimes play a few frames longer than their movement
- AI pathfinding may still be poor in a few areas (please let me know if you find a place!)
- Hand goes invisible after opening M79 while grabbing the front end
- An enemy on Bridge can see you across the river when they're not supposed to
- Right-Click on "PunjiVR" in your Steam library
- Select "Properties"
- In the properties tab, select "Betas"
- Click on the dropdown box, then select the option for last_stable_build
Major AI Improvements:
Major Changes/Fixes:
Minor Changes/Fixes:
Conclusion:
Update 13 has been the most time consuming release for PunjiVR to date and I'm really glad that I'm finally able to release it to you all. Like I mentioned in the previous post, this is the first iteration of the new AI, so there will likely be issues that I couldn't catch/replicate during testing. If you find any and/or have suggestions for how to make the new AI better, please let me know in the comments of this post or thru one of the links below.
Next up, I'm planning on steering away from the technical aspects of development to finally focus on PunjiVR's visuals. I don't anticipate making any super major changes for this graphics update, but I will work towards making everything look nice to look at, at the very least. I'm still going to keep the low poly look as it's still the easiest and fastest style for making progress development-wise, but I'll try to add in some lighting, shadows, mess with the colors a bit, and update a lot of existing models to hopefully get a more refined and consistent look. I also would love to get the chance to remake/overhaul PunjiVR's inventory system with this update, but we'll see how the timeframe looks.
After the graphics update, I plan on making one last non-content update which will mainly focus on audio. When making the new AI for U13, I implemented a new audio workflow for their shouts and gunshots which saves performance and is cleaner all around, so I'd like to change the rest of the game's audio to work on this same system. Besides that, I also would like to replace the gunshot sounds with new ones that are from real gun recordings rather than digitized creations, update and add new voice lines for AI, and create a much more authentic and immersive audible experience in general. The audio is decent right now, but a tactical shooter (especially one in VR) deserves a lot better.
Once all of the necessary polishing updates are complete, I'll finally get to jump back to adding in more content. I don't want to make any promises right now, but I want to use this future update to take the gameplay to the next level, away from the smaller scale missions currently in game to a larger and more varied experience. There's still a lot to do before then, but I'm excited to see it on the horizon.
Anywho, the update cycles should go back to the normal rate now considering that the AI are mostly taken care of, so hopefully Update 14 isn't too far out. Make sure to check out the links below to join in on PunjiVR's awesome community and, as always, don't forget to check for leeches!
As you were
Known Major Issues (will be fixed shortly):
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How to Revert to the Last Stable Update:
If you want to go back to the most recent update, follow the same process but click on "None" in the dropdown box.