Afternoon Survivors,
In this week's Status Report, we'll have info on subjects such as the renderer, the UI, damage, and animation systems, all served by our Lead Producer Brian Hicks, Lead Designer Peter Nespesny, and Lead Animator Viktor Kostik.
Contents This Week
- Development Board Spotlight
- Dev Update/Hicks
- Dev Update/Peter
- Dev Update/Viktor
- Community Video: Max Coil and the Gents of Novo
Development Board Spotlight
Dev Update/Hicks
Greetings Survivors!
If you don't happen to follow twitter or the forums you may not be aware of the current focus on iterating upon 0.59 experimental. Obviously the team is working hard to resolve the issues with server side performance, as well as pushing several new potential changes to vehicle position sync to QA.
So the big question everyone wants to know - when will 0.59 move to stable?
- Once we are satisfied with server side performance at maximum player count vs 12 hour uptime
- Vehicle Position Sync is at a marked improvement over 0.58
- High repro (reproducible) server and client crashes are resolved
Past 0.59 - internally we are -hoping- to be able to get another update out prior to Christmas (to experimental at the very least). However, that will depend on the stability of the build post 0.59 stable and the merges done right after that. As mentioned during the PAX Australia "The Road to Beta" presentation - we'll keep everyone updated on this progress via the official Twitter account, and the Status Reports between then and now.
-KEEP IN MIND: THE UPDATE OF 0.59 TO STABLE WILL INCLUDE A FULL HIVE AND SERVER STORAGE RESET. THIS INCLUDES PRIVATE SHARDS OF THE HIVE-
Moving past discussion around 0.59 experimental, lets move on to discussing what the current status of some of the major engine side updates are.
Renderer
Completed within October
- Multiple Cascade Shadow Maps
- Updated Rain Postprocess
- Updated HDR & Glow
Current Focus
- Finalizing postprocesses
- Multithread Optimizations
Next Up
- Small bodies of water, and Ocean rendering
- True Sky rendering
We have some screenshots from debug that we can discuss in a little more detail as well. (Please take care to understand these are from debug machines - and are thus running lower resolutions/over all configurations and are meant to display technical tests)
In the above screenshot we can see improved cooperation between the HDR and Glow Effects.
Within the above screenshots we can see fog improved with proper height base.
In this screenshot in the distance we can see Aerial Perspective Fog, with the additional effect of light scattering
Here we see an early iteration of improved dynamic range hopefully allowing us differing light levels between interiors and exteriors.
The above screenshots show the current iteration of updates done to rain - which should allow a more rich, and believable downpour situation. Paired potentially with fog, this will greatly impact visibility during adverse weather conditions.
Animation System / Player Controller
The animation system and new player controller both are major elements of DayZ's engine that are in progress. The new actions done in Enforce Script can not enter experimental testing until the animation system fully supports all the necessary functions from the legacy animation system. I know I've gone on, and on about the total rewrite of actions in game being a massive change to how DayZ plays - and I hate to sound like a broken record. HOWEVER - I personally cannot state this enough. The change from the clunky old fashioned method used by DayZ, DayZ Mod, Arma 3, Arma 2, and so on to a new and more dynamic system will change a hell of a lot more than how you eat a bag of rice, or pick apples. I genuinely believe this will be one of the most massive changes to DayZ gameplay and completely redefine how the title is experienced.
That said - while we're all desperate to see this in the hands of consumers before the holiday break - A more reliable estimate (playing it safe and assuming we'll encounter critical bugs and blockers once this is merged into the main testing branch) would be to expect it early in the beginning of the new year.
For the full Status Report, please use the following link: http://dayz.com/blog/status-report-12-nov-2015