The special sale and celebration continues, and hereby gets supplemented with the release of the first beta of UnReal World version 3.50. It's available as beta-branch you can opt into manually at will. There's possibility of minor bugs, and the work with new goodies and features continues, but things are mostly nicely stable and good to go already.
Find the full changelog at the bottom of this post, and now here's how to get your hands on 3.50 beta.
This is password hidden beta-relesae. The password you need to know is:
betarelease350
- Close UnReal World if you happen to be playing it right now.
- Right-click UnReal World in your Steam games library and select "Properties".
- Select "Betas" tab.
- Enter the password into 'Beta access code to unlock private betas' field, and press [CHECK CODE]. (The password is betarelease350)
- Now 3.50 beta is available.
- Select "3.50 beta" in the dropdown box ('Select the beta you would like to opt into').
- Close the dialog, the game updates, and you are now ready to get going with the fresh beta.
Should you encounter some crazy problems with the beta, you can always switch back to current stable version by choosing "NONE" from the beta dropdown box.
Here comes the changelog. Let the adventures in the Far North continue. Cheers!
Version: 3.50 beta 1 changelog
BETA NOTICE:
This is a beta release. There are likely to be bugs and some of the listed improvements will be tweaked and polished further in patches to follow.
Your current Steam version characters are compatible with this version.
- added: wounded or starving dogs may refuse to attack on command
If your dog is seriously wounded or starving it may refuse to attack on command. Even the suffering dogs still defend their masters and themselves from charging predators and enemies, but are just reluctant to act as war dogs who always run after a given target completely despite of their own condition. This addition may encourage you to keep your dogs more safe and better fed from now on.
- added: redrawn 8 directional tiles for watercrafts
Both punt and raft now appear bigger and prettier in completely redrawn fashion. The watercraft tile direction does change based on the last actually rowed direction. Credits for these tiles goes to Paulo Spinola.
- added: specific animal purchases
Upon purchasing animals you may now get to choose small or big animals from the list. NPCs still decide which animals they wish to sell so the size you would prefer may not always be on the list, but the animal description now always matches what you'll get. For example, if you go for purchasing a sheep with no size mentioned you are guaranteed to get that average size sheep - not a big or small one.
- added: young animals
Cubs and calves have been added for relevant wild animal species eg. elks, bears, reindeer and hares.
In case of large species ie. elks and bears, the young ones usually remain with their mothers in the wild for a year or two before becoming independent. So now you may occasionally encounter an elk mother wandering together with her calf, or a bear mother followed by her cub. Mother animals may act more unexpectedly or aggressively than usual when they're still taking care of their young ones -- and that's especially true in case of bears.
- added: different gender dogs
In addition to plain dogs, which are male, there are now also female dogs.
MIGRATION NOTICE: for dogs generated in the previous version their gender is randomized upon first load.
- added: different gender bears
Male and female bears are now distinguished, females being descriped as "female bear". Male bears are larger and stronger than the females, and may also appear slightly more aggressive if necessary.
- changed: some animal descriptions
There are some animal terminology and description changes as follows:
* male elk description changed from "stag" to "bull elk"
* bears are now descriped as plain "bear" if they're male, or "female bear" if they're female
* domestic pigs now have gender-based description
Previously they were all called pigs, but are now descriped either a "sow" (female) or a "boar" (male)
* reindeers now have gender-based description
Previously they were all called reindeers, but are now descriped either "reindeer doe" (female) or "reindeer stag" (male). This goes for both dometic and wild reindeers.
MIGRATION NOTICE: animals generated in the previous version may still appear with their old names.
- changed: resources of animal origin named in gender-neutral fashion
For example, you'll now get elk cuts even if the animal gender based description would have been "bull elk". Or, you'll now get pig cuts regardless of the pig having been descriped as sow or boar. (However, a few exceptions to this rule may still occur here and there.)
- added: ant nests
Ant nests can be now found in the forest. They are needed in performing certain spells but currently have no other use or function.
- added: antlers & bones
Antlers and bones can be now harvested from carcasses.
* antlers
Male elk and both sexes of reindeers have antlers. For now, antlers simply appear on the ground when the carcass has been completely butchered for meat.
* bones
Bones can be harvested from almost any carcass except for the birds and very small creatures. Harvested bones appear on the ground when the carcass has been completely butchered for meat. Currently the bones you get are imagined to be the long bones (eg. leg bones) containing the marrow. Each carcass yields four of such bones. The bone size naturally varies depending on the carcass.
Antlers and bones appear in your inventory as tools but have only little usage on their own. Dogs do like bones and as they are marrow-containing ones it's also nutritiously wortwhile to feed them to your dogs.
Otherwise antlers and bones serve the best as trophies and new raw materials to be utilized via modding if you like.
- added: skulls & teeth
Skulls can be now harvested from a few species of dead animals whose skulls, or teeth, have meaningful ritual or magical usage. Currently these animals are bears and seals. Animal skull appears on the ground when the carcass has been completely butchered for meat. It is also possible to remove and pick teeth from a skull by [a]pplying it.
- added: meeting the spirit of the forest
Naturally this otherworldy creature has existed in the game world for a long time, but now it is possible for characters to actually see and meet him - although it is still a rare occasion. The spirit of the forest is famous of being relatively talkative. As a ruler of the forest and its animals he likes to make remarks about your relationship with the forest. In case of being very pleased the spirit of the forest may offer hunting advice, or even reveal where certain animals roam.
- added: a quest related to meeting the spirit of the forest
- overhauled: ritual screen [F4] -> "Spells and magic means" screen
It's now known as "Spells and magic means" screen and all the new spells are listed there as well. New spells" refers to spells featured in version 3.40, which are learned within quests and performed by following the instructions given in spell description by using the common game mechanics and actions.
Previously you could view new spell descriptions only from the quest journal, but now it's all available within the spells screen. Whenever a new spell is learned it will also appear in this new list of spells.
Spells screen also lists some relevant "old spells" which we've had in use for ages and which are performed automatically upon selection. However, most of the "old spells" have been removed completely to bring existence of magic means to our desired new level.
Bringing the selector on any spell in the list displays its information dialog. If necessary, a selection is then made by mouse click or enter. In addition, there are also hotkeys for quick spell selection.
In most cases the spell selection merely shows the spell information dialog as the new spells are performed manually by following the descriped game mechanics and actions. The old spells, eg. blood-stanching incantation or general sacrifice, automatically put to action upon selection. This kind of spells are also colored differently in the list.
- changed: re-organization and removals within the old spell system and spirit world features
* RITUAL skill removed
It was truly redundant skill, serving only as an alternative way to bring up rituals screen.
* feature of periodically learning rituals is removed, but the related messages kept and improved
Automatically becoming aware of new spells over time is history and now new spells can be learned only from NPCs within quests. The good old occasional messages regarding how you feel about your relationship with the spirits are still featured. (Eg. "You feel pleasant.")
Moreover, there's now a lot wider range of these spiritworld relationship related messages and they may vary depending on if the pleased or angered spirits are forest or water folk.
* most of the old rituals are removed
We've saved only a few relevant rituals from the old days, and we are happy with that. Some of the old rituals were seriously outdated and unbalanced in many ways. In case of migrated characters some old rituals are replaced with the new (3.40 ->) spells.
Here's a list of removed old rituals with the replacements spells where applicable:
Completely removed old rituals:
- permission to fell a tree
- blood-stanching prayer
- the oath of iron
- banishing the evil water guardian
- greet the supernatural guardian
- the origin of fire
Removed old rituals with migration replacement spells:
- permission to sleep -> replacement spell: "greeting the earth upon going to sleep"
- hunter's request to catch a fox -> replacement spell: "making foxes to come at the bait"
- fisher's request for a catch -> replacement spell: "gaining fisherman's luck"
- fisher's sacrifice for a catch -> replacement spell: "rod fisherman's sacrifice"
- favourableness of the trap -> replacement spell: "fox trap favorableness"
* these are the old rituals that were kept as is, or improved as descriped below:
- blood-stanching incantation
Works the same as previously.
- general sacrifice
The act of sacrificing is now always known by every character from the start, and has a wider usage than before. It still works as an act of its own, but now also gets associated with other spells as a multipurpose way to please certain spirits for a certain reason. If there's a spell that requires sacrificing which is not described by other means then the general sacrifice does the trick.
For example, if there was a spell described as:
"Reindeer hunting luck is achieved by sacrificing berries on reindeer tracks in the morning." Then, to perform the spell you would probably need to find reindeer tracks, be standing on them in the morning and then use "general sacrifice" spell choosing berries as an item to sacrifice.
- updated: SPELLS encyclopedia entry [F1]
- added: VALUABLES encyclopedia entry [F1]
- added: SACRIFICES encyclopedia entry [F1]
- added: silver valuables as a sacrifice
Previously sacrifices were limited to food items, but now sacrificing silver items is also possible and necessary in rare cases. You will notice the general sacrifice item selection now allowing to pick an item from both food and valuables categories.
However, silver sacrifices are always related to certain new spells and are not completed unless the conditions are right. Upon using silver items as a sacrifice some shards of the item are cut and carved away, and eventually the item gets used completely. This makes silver items both higly appreciated and costly offerings.
- added: more spells
About a dozen of new spells have been added. Like explained above the spells can be learned from NPCs within quests, but there are also some new spells which every character knows from the start.
Here's vague summary about the newly added spells:
* bear skull rite
This spell is known by all the characters from the very beginning. It's crucial common knowledge about what to do with the skull of a downed bear. Killing a bear should now always call for executing this spell at least.
* bear teeth related spells
Bear teeth are powerful charms especially for hunters, and now there are spells associated with them.
* bird and hare trapping
There are new spells to better succeed with bird and hare trapping.
* ant nest related spells
Ant nests aren't merely a terrain feature but also a place for executing certain spells, once you learn them.
* spirit of the forest related spells
There are new spells for both encoutering and gifting the spirit of the forest.
* bear hunting related spells
There are new spells to better succeed with bear hunting.
- added: new spells for new characters
Upon character creation some of the new spells are now randomly assigned for a new character. Depending on the character's culture the given spells are emphasized on either hunting or fishing, or both. New characters usually start with four spells, and the spells screen is shown during character creation just like before.
Of the old rituals general sacrifice is now known by every character from the start.
- added: valuables to be found in the villages
Valuables such brooches, pendants, bracelets and so on can be now rarely found in the villages. Type of these stocked valuables depends on the culture. Even though it is not in the least common for every village to stock valuables the possibility for having acquired some them exists for every culture.
- changed: game-course completion reward "Learn three new rituals" changed to "Learn two new spells"
- added: skinned/cut/burnt carcass coloring
Skinned carcasses now appear in fleshy red color.
Cut or eaten carcasses appear dark reddish, and burnt carcasses blackish depending on the cut/burn degree.
- added: BUTCHER_CONFIRMATION configuration option (defaults to NO)
If the option is enabled a confirmation prompt appears if you try to butcher a carcass before skinning it.
This is to avoid accidentally cutting up the whole carcass and losing the skin.
To enable the option add the following line to urw_ini.txt setup file in your installation folder:
[BUTCHER_CONFIRMATION:YES]
- added: SPEND_DELAY_ADD configuration option
This option can be used to slow down the time consuming actions if you find the game turns running too fast for your taste during the time spending dialog. The given value is in milliseconds, adding that much more delay for each game turn. Good value to try slowing things down a bit would be 10 and nobody really wants to go higher than 100.
To use eg. 10 millisecond turn delay add the following line to urw_ini.txt setup file in your installation folder:
[SPEND_DELAY_ADD:10]
- added: EAT_MUSHROOM_CONFIRMATION configuration option (defaults to YES)
Yes/No confirmation is now asked if you try to eat a mushroom that is not completely known to you, or a known poisonous mushroom. Notice that this applies only to raw mushrooms. When it comes to cooking we assume characters being on track about what they want to do. The option is on by default, as it's most convenient for newcomers.
To disable the option (as it used to be) add the following line to urw_ini.txt setup file in your installation
folder:
[EAT_MUSHROOM_CONFIRMATION:NO]
- added: confirmation dialog for emptying containers (with other than liquid contents)
As the contents are discarded for good upon emptying containers the confirmation is justified, especially for newcomers. If the container has liquid content the confirmation is not asked as losing the liquid upon emptying should be quite obvious.
- adjusted: skiing fatigue rate decreased, walking in deep snow more penalized
Skiing fatigue accumulation rate is decreased which makes skiing more profitable than previously. In addition, walking in deep snow is now slightly more fatiguing than previously. As a result difference between walking in deep snow versus skiing should be more signficant now.
- adjusted: fishing equipment (eg. fishing rod) availability increased among certain cultures
Somewhat increased among kaumolaiset and kiesseläiset, and slightly increased among koivulaiset and islanders.
- added: fire burns away the ground cover
Lichen, moss etc. ground cover now gets destroyed from under a burning fire. Only very small fires may leave the ground cover intact.
- added: winter skin/fur descriptor
As we know winter furs are more valuable, and it's been like that for a long time. Now there's finally also an indication of wintertime furs and skins within the item description.
For example:
"Fine winter fox fur" or "Poor winter bear-skin"
- renewed & optimized: drawing of rain and snowfall
Previously rain and snowfall were drawn in putpixel fashion which was often more or less sluggish. Now rain and snowfall presented by tile graphics with improved look and fast rendering.
- fixed: animals with no proper dexterity/strength being able to sometimes open doors
- fixed: turnip seeds could be used as "vegetable" ingredient in cooking
- fixed [rare condition]: NPCs foolishly drowning/freezing to death in small ponds at the village yard
- fixed: bogbean anti-inflammatory herb property was mispelled in flora files and thus not effective
- fixed: fresh or untanned skins not getting destroyed by a burning fire
- fixed: villager kotas might mistakenly contain "inside of a building" tiles instead "inside of a kota" tiles
- fixed: some treasures you heard of were never to be found
The bug was caused by map maintenance being prone to mistakenly remove treasure locations.
- fixed: missing chance to get also decent quality crafts at very high skill
- fixed: companions and dogs not always attacking robbers on command
- fixed: stone-axe and some knives attack and defense class values wrong
The following weapons still lacked the intended attack/defense class changes.
Here's the list of fixed ones with "old -> new and current" attack/defense class.
* Stone axe
attack/defense: 2/1 -> 1/1
* Kaumolais knife & Northern knife
attack/defense: 2/1 -> 1/1
* Broad knife & Hunting knige
attack/defense: 1/1 -> 1/0
* Knife
attack/defense: 1/0 -> 0/0
MIGRATION NOTICE:
Weapons obtained or created in the previous version still carry the faulty values.
- fixed: too high quest generation interval in case of some rejected quests
Some quests (eg. robbers) might come in your way again too quickly if they were first rejected in the past.
- fixed: robbers occasionally staying at the same region for all too long
- fixed: knife price
Regular knife (called "knife") price was too low (< squirrel hide) and is now increased to intended value
of 6 squirrel hides.
- fixed: arctic fox hide price was the same as of regular fox
Now arctic fox hide is more valuable, as it should be.
- fixed: zooming out at the very left edge of terrain didn't remember the position when zooming in the next time
- fixed: buying animals decreasing quest reward credits
- fixed: depopulating a village might occasionally cause cultural area to be removed also from unvisited nearby villages
Unvisited nearby villages then appeared as vagabond villages when you entered them, but had no proper population or buildings.
- fixed: "crater" villages ie. village generation failures when the surrounding terrain was of much higher elevation
- fixed: indifferent ripe and growing tile graphics with some plants
For example lake reeds, milkweeds and heathers had the same tile graphics regardless of being ready or almost ready to harvest.
- fixed: trousers mistakenly cover feet
MIGRATION NOTICE: Trousers obtained or created in the previous version still appear with feet coverage
- fixed: animal in the forest cover quest completion troubles if the tracks got seriously messed up by other animals
The freshest tracks of the missing animal you can identify do matter. Previously it could rarely happen that you needed to burn the twigs on tracks of other animals who had replaced the original freshest tracks.
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That's all folks! :urw_sage:
Cheers, have fun, and let's keep our fingers crossed for the bugs being little and scarce.