Hello Everyone
This is Polymorph.
IfSunSets started into Early Access on November 5th and we are happy to see, that more and more people enjoy the game, but we are also aware, that our game still has bugs and problems, which sadly destroys the gameplay experience for some of you.
We are aware that especially the Multiplayer Mode has issues which can cause crashes and even can destroy in some cases save files or change the Level of the Character to a lower level.
We want to apologize for these issues and are working day and night to resolve those issues as soon as possible.
Our main goal right now is to stabilize the game, especially in Multiplayer.
As you might have noticed, we are putting out hotfixes almost daily and try to fix especially issues like crashes very quickly.
We really want all of you to enjoy the game, but sometimes a hotfix caused another issue which we then have to fix via another hotfix.
Because of that, another focus for us right now is to spend more time testing, to make sure that hotfixes we upload don’t cause other problems.
We are aware that we have to earn the trust from each of you and it is our goal and responsibility to create a game, players can enjoy.
So we ask all of you, to give us the chance and some time to make things right and improve the game stability, especially the multiplayer mode.
All of us promised ourselves to be transparent and honest to our community.
That is why we will discuss three main issues users are experiencing, what the status is of fixing these issues are, and what we kindly ask you, the players, to do, so that you can circumvent some of these problems in the meantime.
[Singleplayer: Item or Level Reset Issue]
Cases of items or level resets are rare in single-player mode but at least until Version 0.3.11, they happened to some users.
We are reviewing right now the data, if this issue still happens in Version 0.3.12.
[Causes and Countermeasures]
Previously, when a character died and interacted with the gravestone, a delay would occur during the interaction. If the character died again before finishing the interaction, the item being used at the time would disappear.
Patch Schedule:
We issued a patch on November 19th, which deals with this issue. After this update, items should no longer disappear even if the character dies during this interaction.
If Users still have this Level reset issues in Singleplayer (We discuss Multiplayer down below), then please let us know via Steam Discussions or on Discord.
[Game Crash Issue]
Causes:
There are multiple potential causes, but internally we have identified some compatibility issues with DirectX 12, optimization and PC specifications as the main factors.
After switching to DirectX 11, these fatal errors were fixed for many users and reports suggest that the CPU processing became more stable.
We are currently conducting various tests internally to fully implement DirectX11 support.
Planned Patch Schedule:
We are planning an update for next week
We are looking into full DX11 support and are optimizing the game to work better DirectX 11, so that we can release a patch which makes the game easily available to play in DirectX 11.
How to play the game in DX11 until the Patch releases:
For those experiencing "Fatal Errors," try running the game as follows to access Direct11 Mode:
- Open your Steam Library.
- Right-click the game title IfSunSets and select “Properties...”.
- In the General tab, find the Launch Options section.
- Enter the following command: “-d3d11” or “-dx11” (without quotes).
- Close the Properties window and run the game.
*Please be aware that starting the DirectX 11 right now can cause additional minor frame drops and graphic issues. We are working on fixing these issues before officially supporting DirectX 11.
[Multiplayer Instability (Disconnects) + Item and Level Resets]
Cause:
We found following reasons for this to happen:
- Data loss due to ping differences between the host and guest (Player 2).
- Data loss caused by the host's unstable internet connection.
- Too much data is being sent to the server at once, resulting in some data being lost.
- When the game ends, characters with missing data are saved, which causes a reset for the player (client).
To address the data reset issue, we are working on and partly already implemented the following adjustments:
- Simplification and optimization of save data.
- Increase in packet size (data size), so that the all data can be transmitted at once.
- Development of a system to more efficiently compress game data / user data before transferring it.
- Getting rid of data loss caused by ping differences by extending loading times.
Patch Schedule:
We applied a fix which deals with the Level Reset and Item Reset issue yesterday (Version 0.3.12).
The Data we received so far suggests that this fixed reset issues for most players. We are still monitoring the situation and savefiles created before this Hotfix was applied could have corrupted data.
We were not able to fix the disconnection errors yet and we are working relentlessly on it. We are planning to be able to improve this issue by next week.
Preventive Measures (just to be save):
we still recommend backing up your character save files before entering the game:
Navigate to the following Folder %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\IFSS\Saved\.
Back up the character save files + GameSettings.sav file in the SaveGames folder
It is recommended to back up the entire SaveGames folder if possible.
However, since single-player and multiplayer are saved as separate files but are all addressed by the GameSettings.sav, progress may be lost during the process of overwriting backup files.
By providing the save file name, guide them to back up individual files separately.
In this case, errors may occur when creating or deleting new characters (both in single-player and multiplayer).
This way, if any issues occur, you can restore your character.
We know that this is a lot to ask from our players at this moment, but we promise to update the game often to provide you a great experience on the island of Luminora.