Edit for 3.17.4.1 Patch:
Aside from fixes this patch also adds an option to enable/disable Skybox Reflections, unfortunately this is lower performance compared to the previous method, but that didn't work outside the editor.
With these updates changing so many core features I think we'll start using the preview branch again soon to avoid breaking the public version.
Update Notes:
Additions:
- Added nifty new inventions available from Doc Ernie.
- Added settings for chromatic aberration, film grain, TAA and screenspace reflections.
- Added settings to disable anisotropic filtering.
- Added Coalition rank and quest achievements.
- Added config option for Ray_Aggressor_Distance, now default 8 rather than 4.
- Added skins for Hawkhound, Schofield and Masterkey.
- Added first step of Modules feature.
Improvements:
- Improved rain to form puddles and ripple on the ground.
- Improved postprocessing to use new official Unity shaders.
- Improved explosions to leave scorch marks in deferred render mode.
- Updated to Unity 5.4.2p3 from 5.4.0p4.
Tweaks:
- Tweaked unboxing to show warning if unknown item is opened.
- Tweaked aircraft carrier to have a basic navmesh.
Fixes:
- Fixed buildables to better fit incorrectly placed slots.
- Fixed quest interactable clientside prediction issues.
- Fixed Hawkhound_8, Sportshot_10 and Viper_25 to be skinable.
- Fixed bayonet working clientside while reloading.
- Fixed mk2 scope off quality.
Modules:
This week I've started taking the first steps toward a modding API for Unturned! It's going to take a while to refactor, clean up and document everything, but when it's done there'll be the potential for all kinds of awesome mods that would've been impossible before.
In the meantime the biggest change is in relation to RocketMod. Sven, the creator of RocketMod, has been doing an amazing job opening Unturned's serverside up to plugins the past couple years with a wrapper that takes care of all the nitty-gritty, and this week we converted Rocket to use this Modules feature - although this week is a transition period so the main version will still use a patched assembly. This is great if you're a server owner using Rocket because installing is as simple as copying Rocket to the Modules folder, you can still play the game normally with Rocket installed and if nothing breaks you won't necessarily need to download the new version of Rocket after each update.
Graphics:
There are quite a few new graphics options in this update, so I thought it might be helpful to write out exactly what they do so you can make an informed decision on whether to turn them on/off:
- Chromatic Aberration: Slightly separates the RGB color channels near the edges of your screen, it doesn't have much of a performance impact and is more of a personal preference.
- Film Grain: Can help with color banding (for example when you see rings around a light), barely noticeable and doesn't have a big performance impact.
- Blast Marks: In deferred render mode a black spherical decal will be left after an explosion which has a small performance impact.
- Rain Puddles: Spawns splashes of water particles at rain impact points and fades in reflective puddles with ripples. This has a medium performance impact.
- Anisotropic Filtering: Reduces texture blur at oblique angles, probably fine to leave on, it's moreso an option for the sake of extra control.
- Reflection Quality: Increases the number and accuracy of screenspace reflection steps, but only works in deferred render mode and has a high performance impact.
- Skybox Reflection: Captures skybox cubemap so that reflections aren't black, has a medium performance impact.
Reflections:
If you've created custom models for the game you might have noticed reflective materials showed up black, now at the very least the skybox is captured when the lighting is updated. If reflection quality isn't off then screenspace reflections will be visible as well. I've experimented with a variety of reflection settings for the official models but haven't decided yet (Should cars be polished shiny, how does that line up with the apocalyptic environment?), but you can now properly use it too!