Greetings, esteemed colleagues!
The scientists of GATE (that's you) are always on our mind with your brilliant deductions and suggestions. To celebrate all of your good ideas, we’ve implemented a whole bunch of them in this Community Update #2! We’ve taken your ideas and our ideas and blended them up into a delicious idea soup for you to sup.
Here's a vlog about today's update. It's a wild one!
Details, you ask?
Connection Issues, Performance, and NPC Spawning
We've been making inroads to address various issues scientists are encountering. This update we've upgraded several major underlying support structures of Abiotic Factor to help with these problems. They are as follows:
- FLEMING ERROR - Switching from regular Steam networking to Steam Sockets: We believe this is the primary cause of the Fleming issue. We still have more investigating to do on this issue, but we have reproduced the Fleming connection issue in a controlled environment and this switch appears to have fixed it. This is a change to how Hosting and Joining works under the hood so new issues could manifest. Please continue letting us know how this goes!
- Push-Model Networking: We've switched to a new method of networking which requests data a bit more on-demand instead of constantly checking for things that need network updates sent to clients, which should be a huge un-burdening of CPU data load on the Host's computer. The Host player should see decent performance gains from this change.
- Engine Update: We've updated from Unreal Engine 5.3 to 5.4. This is just a general back-end upgrade for the dev team to use some new tools as well as take advantage of new optimizations made by Epic. You probably won't notice much change here, but we have redone a few of our graphical setting presets, so you may want to tweak your graphics settings when you launch this update.
- NPC Spawning Revamp: We've seen reports of and experience many issues ourselves with NPCs not appearing rapidly enough when entering certain areas. We've completely overhauled the spawning system for NPCs, including when returning to areas you've previously visited, so you should see a more prompt presence. There could still be an issue lurking here that we haven't isolated yet, so please continue reporting problems as you find them.
Sandbox Settings - Editable From World Select
As the title says, you can now modify your world save's Sandbox Settings at any time from the World Selection screen. Simply click the "Modify Sandbox Settings" button when your world save is selected. This means you can now change anything, tweak difficulty, you name it. Speaking of difficulty...
New Difficulty Settings!
More difficulty options have arrived! You can now select from 3 Difficulty levels, Normal, Hard, and Apocalyptic. This option will be available both when making a new server and in the Sandbox Settings when selecting your existing world save.
The difficulty modes are as follows:
- Normal: This is the new default difficulty. This will be slightly easier than the previous "default" as we have rebalanced some of the NPCs and limited some of their reaction times and abilities in this mode. This is to create a more forgiving landscape by default, but also puts things more in line with our intended challenge and difficulty goals. NPC spawn density (the number of enemies present in an area) are approximately the same as they have been, for a solo scientist.
- Hard: This difficulty mode is slightly harder than the previous default settings, and will give NPCs quicker reaction time, higher spawn density, and access to a few more abilities. We recommend that experienced scientists or scientists who have been asking for a little more challenge and higher NPC spawn counts change their Sandbox Settings Difficulty to Hard in this update. This can now be easily done in the World Select menu or when creating a new world save.
- Apocalyptic: We recommend to anyone looking for a serious challenge that they try Apocalyptic difficulty, and we've even made some aspects of it slightly less fair. We are considering a difficulty level above this as well, but we're not quite ready to crack open that ebbguh yet.
Check-In Terminals
Throughout your exploration of the GATE Cascade Research Facility you will now encounter Check-In Terminals at the start of each sector, more or less, as well as at least one other location. These new Check-In Terminals will simply provide a single point where you can respawn upon death, if you want. This will not erase your Bed Spawn Point or other spawn points, it will just provide another option.
Your character can only be saved to one Check-In Terminal at a time.
Favoriting Inventory Slots
You can now right click on a slot in your inventory to favorite (and unfavorite) it. Once favorited, the item in this slot will no longer be pulled from your inventory when standing on the Distribution Pad or when using other stacking methods.
Fabulous Fishes
Rare fish variants now look more rare with various different colors and patterns to differentiate them from their more common counterparts. We won't spoil them all here, but you'll notice your existing or new catches have had some improvements.
And to show off these rare biological beauties, we’re introducing the Aquarium! This container fits up to 6 fish, and will preserve them indefinitely - as long as it's powered! Keep that bubbler bubblin'.
Upgraded Carts
In the quest for new storage and better ways to transport certain items, Platform Carts can now be upgraded in a number of ways. We've added the following craftable Platform Carts for you to create - once you find the recipe!
- Platform Cart - with headlights! (Toggle with your Flashlight key)
- Hazard Cart - for more safely transporting hazardous materials.
- Aquarium Cart - for when you just can’t find a fish sitter. Unlike the Aquarium, this will NOT preserve fish forever, but a bit longer still.
Counting on Containers
Remember the last time you went to your fridge and grabbed a tomato? Remember how your entire DNA was fried by the radiation emitting from your fridge because you also store alien parts in there? Well, worry no longer.
Once you unlock the recipe, you'll have the Hazard Fridge available to you! This fridge works just like a normal fridge (it even requires one in the recipe) with the added benefit of blocking all Radioactivity emitting from within. About time, huh? But that's not all.
Looking for something a bit more long-term? Or a better way to cool things down? The Freezer has you covered. Once you unlock this recipe, you'll be able to store food indefinitely within this frozen chamber.
Chef's Counter Upgrade - Item Transportation
By popular demand from all our Somatic Gastrologists out there, Dr. Thule's has assisted us in implementing the Item Transporter on the Chef's Counter. You can now select this upgrade from the Bench Upgrades when using the Crafting side of the Chef's Counter.
The Chef's Counter now also only displays food-type recipes, because you asked so nicely.
The Trouble with Trinkets
The more trinkets added, the harder it is to pick between them. Sure, some probably need a buff -- and we're thinking about those -- but a few are no-brainers (I'm looking at you, IS-0052) and we thought, hey, why make you have to pick? We put our big science brains together, thought real hard, and we've come up with a solution. It was staring back at us through the microscope the whole dang time.
Second. Trinket. Slot. Enjoy.
New Ammo Types
To start off on a new system, we're introducing a single new ammo type and a new damage type you haven't seen before; Acid Bolts.
The Office Crossbow, a very stealthy weapon, should now stay a bit more relevant for longer. Much like swapping bait on your fishing rod, by holding the Reload action, you will see a radial wheel which will allow you to change the ammo present in your weapon, as long as you have the ammo type in your inventory.
Since you are bound to ask, yes, we would like to look into more ammo types in the future. We'll let you know what R&D comes up with when the time comes.
Feed Your Fellows
The days of eating Anteburgers your colleagues dropped on the floor are over! (... If you want them to be. We won't judge.)
You can now right-click (Alt Fire) while holding a food-type item and this will offer it up for fellow scientists to grab. A much more elegant and social method for sharing your cooking.
Sandbox Setting: Hosts Can Access Death Bags
We've added a new Sandbox Setting (ON by default) which allows the Host player (or admins) to access the Death Bags dropped by scientists when they kick the bucket. This change has required us to change the Death Bags to a more traditional container, so for the time being we have removed the ability to quick-retrieve all of your death items, but for now we're largely happy with this process taking a tiny bit more time and how it puts a bit more gravity on death.
We have also added a chat message indicating if your Death Bag has moved to a new location, to help reduce some of those "Where the heck did my loot go!?" forum posts. They went to Warren, by the way. Please make sure you cite him in your Steam reviews.
Sandbox Setting: Structural Support Limit
We've increased the default Structural Support Limit for deployables to 5, up from 3. We've also made this a variable you can change in the Sandbox Settings menu. If you set it to zero, you will remove this requirement entirely.
We still recommend the default values for balance reasons, but hey, we're not your mom. Probably.
New Collectibles
There are many new collectibles available to find, from bobbleheads to figurines. We've also added a new Kill Count section to the Compendium entries for several enemies, and upon reaching these kill counts, you will receive a recipe reward. Keep an eye out for these.
(Slightly More) Meaningful Jobs
In our ongoing and not-yet-final efforts to make Jobs a bit more meaningful, we've added XP bonuses to all of the Jobs based on what we feel are their primary skills. These bonuses are the baseline, but will stack with other XP bonuses that you might have from food or equipment. In no particular order...
- Epimedical Bionomicist now gains +50% First Aid XP.
- Trans-Kinematic Researcher now gains +75% Fortitude XP and +50% Strength XP.
- Archotechnic Consultant now gains +50% Construction XP.
- Phytogenetic Botanist now gains +50% Agriculture XP.
- Somatic Gastrologist now gains +50% Cooking XP.
- Paratheoretical Physicist now gains +50% Throwing XP and +50% Crafting XP.
- Lab Assistant now gains +50% Sneaking XP.
- Defense Analyst now gains +75% Accuracy and +75% Reloading XP. (Still affected by Slow Learner Trait.)
- Summer Intern does not have any additional XP gains as this will remain "the blank slate" Job.
We are aware of the discussions and suggestions around improving Jobs and making them more meaningful. We don't want to look at anything too harsh (like capping skills or locking you out of certain skills if you have a certain job) so the solution is probably something a bit more nuanced. It's an on-going conversation that we're happy to keep having with the scientific community. We'll see where we get on it!
Venting on Vending
The Heavy Weapon perk, at Strength Level 8, allowing you to properly swing Heavy Weapons, now has the added bonus of allowing you to permanently smash vending machines, spilling their contents all about! You probably shouldn't do this if you want to keep this resource available, but we're not going to stop you, because we think freedom is more important than uh... Farm Puffs.
More Soups
We have added more soup recipes to utilize more ingredients, especially the fish!
We've also heard quite a bit of feedback and we're looking at ways to improve the soup recipe learning system, or otherwise make it more engaging. We've also heard some criticism of Bad Soup. Hmmmm. Interesting stuff, but change will take time. Stay tuned.
Client Save Deletion
When playing on someone else's world save, Client players can now access their Server Profile from the escape menu and delete their character save data. This allows a client to restart their character save on a server without the host having to dig through server files. When deleting your Client character save, all of your inventory loot will be placed in a loot bag by our favorite Security Officer, Warren. For the time being, the Host cannot delete their personal character save this way and will still have to delete their own save from the world save. Be careful about item loss!
We also have a future plan for resetting character traits by in-world means, but that's not a threshold we're willing to pass through just yet.
Accessibility Updates
Accessibility is something we take pretty seriously here. We want as many scientists as possible to contribute to the scientific efforts of the GATE Cascade Research Facility. We've done a large update to the Misophonia options, for those who have varying sound sensitivities, and we've also added a mode to turn off vomit-related effects.
For more details on these settings, we'll now turn this section over to our Accessibility Director, Kate.
Hey, scientists!
I'm really excited to tell you more about these two accessibility options - one new, the other upgraded.
Disable Vomiting FX: Emetophobia Mode
Scientists with emetophobia will suffer no more!
The Emetophobia Mode toggle is located in the Accessibility Settings menu, under the Accessibility - Other section. Like Arachnophobia Mode, Emetophobia Mode is off by default, but can be enabled at any time. Scientists not using this mode are not affected by those that are, and vice versa.
What to expect when using Emetophobia Mode:
- Scientists will not see or hear themselves vomiting, nor any other scientist in the Facility.
- Vomit puddles (decals) will no longer appear.
- Scientist dialogue about feeling sick will still be heard as normal.
- When a scientist would normally vomit, their needs will decay rapidly for the duration, and a message will appear on the HUD stating "You've expelled some food and water."
- When another scientist in the Facility would normally vomit, a message will appear in the chat box stating " has become sick."
- As it is important for gameplay, scientists can still get hit by another scientist's vomit, and this will show as green speckles. You can wash this off in water, as usual!
- A quiet liquid splash sound may be heard from time to time, but without any visual effects.
- This setting is not retroactive - any existing vomit puddles will not be cleared until they disappear on their own over time.
We hope that this new mode brings some relief!
Updated Misophonia Mode
When ABF launched into Early Access, our Misophonia mode was a simple toggle for the most common trigger: eating and drinking sounds. As someone who has Misophonia, I know all too well that triggers extend far past the dinner table. The ways in which Misophonia or other sound sensitivities and their triggers manifest varies greatly. A sound that is comforting or enjoyable to one person may be triggering or distressing to another - there is no universal solution.
As of this update, Abiotic Factor now has 5 separate Misophonia trigger categories! The volume of all 5 of these categories are independently adjustable using sliders, with a range of 0% to 200%, like our other audio sliders.
Additionally, the Misophonia setting location has changed. These new Misophonia categories can be found at the bottom of the Audio Settings menu, under the Accessibility - Misophonia section.
Here is a quick rundown of the new categories:
Eating / Drinking SFX
- This category pertains to sounds associated with eating and drinking, such as slurping, gulping, crunching, and chewing.
Breathing SFX
- This category pertains to the enclosed-space breathing sound effect that plays while wearing full-body suits.
- This will not necessarily remove all inhales and exhales from character dialog, but we snagged a few more "sound effect" style utterances from your scientist and other characters.
Humming SFX
- This category pertains to the humming sounds associated with running devices or lights, such as fluorescent lights, air conditioners, fans, or electrical transformers.
- (Note: If you are still hearing similar humming-type sounds after this is muted, try adjusting the Ambient Volume slider located in the Audio settings menu.)
High Pitched SFX
- This category pertains to sounds that are high pitched or particularly sharp, such as metal squeaks, electrical beeps, certain alarms, etc.
- (Note: While the definitions of 'high pitched' and 'sharp' can vary from scientist to scientist, this slider should cover most of these sounds.)
Repetitive SFX
- This category pertains to sounds with repeating patterns or continual tapping, such as Geiger counter clicks, water faucet drips, beeping, etc.
Please note:
The sounds listed for each category are not fully inclusive. There also may be some sounds that got missed, incorrectly categorised, or may otherwise change. As always, please be sure to Report these issues as you discover them.
Improving accessibility in Abiotic Factor is an ongoing effort, and we are continuing to update existing options as well as add new ones throughout development. Your feedback is taken into account with every iteration and addition. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your thoughts, and keep it coming! And most of all, enjoy Abiotic Factor.
- Kate, Accessibility Director
A Final Note Regarding IS-0091
Thanks for reading this far - we're almost done. We have one final note.
There have been reports of IS-0091 invading people's dreams. These reports are to be ignored. There is no concrete evidence of this phenomenon. We would also like to note that Dr. Thule is actively working on methods for re-containment of IS-0091, if for no other reason than to stop these ridiculous (and frankly, paranoid) rumors.
If you’re wondering where we gather suggestions from, the answer is mainly from our 💡 Scientific Suggestions Steam forum. We’re snagging them from other platforms such as Discord and Reddit but Steam is your best place to post where we won’t miss them.
These were just the major highlights, but if you're looking for the FULL PATCH NOTES, click the highlighted words to the left and watch the magic happen.
And as always, please keep submitting your bugs through the in-game links so we can keep doing these updates!
Thank you for all your work in the GATE Cascade Research Facility!
Onward -- to science.
Join the Scientific Community!
Join the Research Division Today!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/427410/Abiotic_Factor/