In order to fix a crash that was happening on certain laptops with Intel chips we have had to update the Unreal Engine version Empires of the Undergrowth is built on. Doing so may have some performance improvements but mostly the experience should be the same.
We’ve done plenty of testing ourselves but a change like this is systemic, so any part of the game could have issues that we’ve missed.
We are running this beta to make sure there are no hidden bugs that cropped up during the engine update, and we appreciate anyone who can spend some time testing any and all aspects of the game for problems.
If you would like to join the beta, the code is givemeextraextra. If you don’t know how to join a beta and would like to, follow the instructions below:
- Find Empires of the Undergrowth in your Steam library, right-click on it and choose "Properties"
- Choose the "Betas" tab
- In the box titled "Enter beta access code to unlock private betas", enter givemeextraextra
- After the "Access code correct" information appears, make sure you've chosen "Open beta" from the "Select the beta you would like to opt into" drop-down menu
- Press close - the game will now update to the beta branch.
We highly recommend making a backup of your saved games before you run an optional beta, on the off-chance that some changes cause them to be corrupted. To see where your saves are stored, see the information in this thread on the Steam forums.
Fixes
- The game will no longer crash on startup when using specific Intel graphics chips
- Fixed a crash that could occur at low frame rates
- Fixed an issue with player-controlled spider movement
- Fixed an issue in 2.1 where night creatures could get stuck in the tunnel exit
- Fixed an issue where creatures on top of tunnel exits could get stuck
- Fixed an issue on 2.1 where first night creatures to spawn would immediately despawn (there are now more creatures at night)
- Night creatures in 2.1 will now be more attracted to combat
- Fixed an issue with an ant getting stuck in 2.2 on a specific ramp
- Enemy woodworm dug out at start of 3.1 are now friendly again and hence the narrator makes sense
- The Culling is no longer stuck on easy
- Fixed an issue where the uber mole cricket would freeze instead of doing its thump attack
- Creatures will no longer decelerate when they spot and item of food or an enemy (movement should look smoother when going to gather food)
- Minor cosmetic painting issue fixed on 3.1
- Fixed an issue where the scientist was not coaxing your ants out when you retreated underground in formicarium challenge 3
- Fixed an issue where loaded food items underground could count as enemies being in your nest (this could cause a computer ally in freeplay to never stop protecting you)
- Fixed an issue where the scientists finger jab would aim at dead ants
- Changed victory animation on 3.1 and 3.2 so they correctly come out of the tunnel exit
- Minor cosmetic fixes to 2.2 (water edges and painting issues)
- Dug out a tile that should have been in the leafcutter demo level (on top of the tunnel exit)
- Fixed some potential issues with bots
- Improved checks added to food pickup meaning food should go ignored less
- Freeplay AI enemy colonies will now leave an enemy’s nest faster after the queen is dead
- Fixed an issue with freeplay AI colonies that caused them to sometimes place a marker off the map resulting in the associated ants breaking
- Fixed various minor issues with Freeplay AI colonies
Features
- Extra levels now come with a description and minimap when selecting them from the menu
Updates
- Minor bot optimisations
Thanks to syrian dugong on our Discord for the screenshot used in the artwork for this post!