Pre-Alpha Devblog #27 (Experimental Build 0.11.27)

Hello all,

Thanks for checking out our 27th devblog! We’ve released the initial 0.11.27 build to our experimental branch on Steam. This is our first public build with vehicles implemented and we need some feedback. As of now, you'll only find the cricket car spawning until we're happy with vehicle physics and mechanics. The RV will be in before alpha launch. There’s a lot of testing and breaking to do so go at it! Below you can find our patch notes.

We’ll be updating to default once experimental is tested and stable. Please do your best to check against the list of changes below and report bugs to our tracker.

General

• Ocean water source now infinite.
• Fixed issue where items in placement mode would break if moved to far from where they got picked up from.
• Eyes no longer glow on female zombie.
• Tweaked shotgun spread to make it more realistic.
• Resolved issue where shotguns would sometimes miss the target even though the crosshair was over them.
• 12g ammo and arg15's now spawn!
• Players are no longer pulled out of vehicles when driving over a bear trap. Trap does however still trigger.
• Fixed issue where hotkeys would break after attaching an item to a weapon that wasn't your currently equipped item.
• Fixed position of wooden club in hand for other players.
• Changed VSYNC option so that it is independent from quality setting group.
• Fixed issue where melee weapons would hit the ceiling when attacking inside a building.
• Fixed issue where attachments would render in position before the weapon was out.
• Removed error being caused by particles at various points during play.
• Fixed issue where the player wouldn't be frozen in place while loading causing the player to start in the ground.
• Wooden cup in shadows no longer floats.
• Zombies no longer continue to play the scream animation while the player is too close. Animation now transitions to attack.
• Added system for showing the most relevant guide hint on connection to the server. This will allow players returning to the game that haven't fully completed the guide to jump back into it.
• Fixed issue with rabbit trap where it would never spring closed. Also removed the decay from the object.
• Added system for world spawners so that loot can be found outside of houses.
• Avoidance now works on baseball bat and club.
• Take All button in back pack now works.
• Resolved issue where items could spawn and despawn in line of sight of the player.
• Added crafting recipe for small animal trap.
• Removed errors which were being thrown into the log when item hovers were having issues rendering.
• Added overall improved item distance network culling which allows less important objects to load from a closer distance. Specific objects like worklights, propane tanks and generators now have much further loading capabilities.
• Changed functionality on doors so that the player can trigger the handle or slam points and move their camera away to another part of the door. Fixes scenarios where a regular open was wanted but a slam would end up happening.

Optimisations

• Removed RAM overhead being caused by shells collision sounds effects.
• Changed how trees are saved on the server in order to save overhead and reduce overall server load.
• Removed item spawning overhead to reduce overall server build size and cpu intensity.
• Removed some of the overhead from stag surface rotation calculations.
• Fixes to particle preload scene.
• Tweaked quality settings slight in order to optimise.
• Fixed issue with Object quality which should show performance improvements for some.
• Fixed several small CPU intensive pieces of code.
• Optimised the harvest points in the world by pooling them.
• Reduced the overall size of the server by removing objects that are not needed.
• Disabled and replaced projected decals with static ones. This removes blood splatter however the system was causing extensive overhead.
• Tweaked the LODs on multiple objects that were being drawn from too far.
• Removed several points of design in Old Town which were causing lag.
• Improved world loading system to reduce the amount of world that is loaded at any given time.

AI

• Fixed issue which caused zombies to spawn in buildings that had just been cleared. This is not a solution for the greater issue of being able to prevent spawning in a secured structures. This change will be made soon.
• Removed zombie spawners from small utility closets that are on the outside of some houses.
• Zombies should no longer roam between building during the day.
• Fixed are check which prevents zombies spawning in close radius of player.
• Fixed issue where zombies would spawn in house you had just cleared of zombies.

Balance

• Harvesting from stags and chickens now requires a combat knife.
• Improved loot spawning prewarm system so that loot amounts is more accurate when the server starts.
• Tweaks to items spawning cycles to make them more consistent and to help prevent stagnation.
• Campfires no longer spawn around the world.
• Removed double baseball bat recipes.
• Disabled the ARG and Pump action from spawning in houses. These items can be found in police stations.
• Created crafting recipe for bandages from clean rags.
• Created crafting recipe for wire spool from scrap metal.
• Tweaked arg15 stats to make it feel less like a pee shooter.
• Tweaked spread and power drop off for shotguns to make them more balanced.
• Improved loot spread to ensure that more relevant items spawn at police stations.
• Tweaked item spawning so that more less generators and more generator related parts spawn.
• Adjusted calories on consumables. Most drops set to a standard of low, medium and high.
• Boxed food - Low 150 Med 200 High 250
• Cooked boxed food - Low 300 Med 400 High 500
• Canned food - Low 50 Med 75 High 125
• Cooked canned food - Low 100 Med 150 High 225
• Canteen drops adjusted to top highest canned drop
• Meat drops adjusted to match or top highest canned/boxed/canteen drop
• Adjusted meat names to include the word 'meat' and replace (Fresh) with (Raw)
• Disabled all 'rancid' meat drops as they serve no current purpose
• Cooked cat food created
• Cooked dog food created
• Mixed fruit cooked created
• Pineapple cooked created
• Removed spawnablility on cooked cans
• Dog meat name corrected

Vehicles

• Vehicles now recieve use effects.
• Now possible to damage vehicles with melee and ranged weapons.
• Now possible to damage players that are in vehicles.
• Added base set of balances to Cricket. Gears, speed and suspension have all been tweaked.
• Stopped player interaction with world items that are outside of the vehicle and hidden their UI.
• Added temporary system that allows players to repair their vehicle via the engine GUI with tools and metal.
• Zombies can now damage vehicles while attacking players inside them.
• It's now possible to kill passive AI with vehicle.
• House interiors now load while in a vehicle.
• Vehicles now have impact effects when colliding with the environment.
• Added functionality for vehicles to spawn with different colours.
• Added base set of vehicle spawners around world.
• Stopped dropping/placement on vehicles until a better system can be implemented for handling items resting on moving vehicles.
• Added visible vehicle damage.
• Vehicle horns now work!
• Added functionality for enabling and disabling the headlamps.
• Implemented engine functionality with various parts and fuel support.
• Player backpacks are now disabled while they're in a vehicle seat.
• Added audio effects when driving over terrains.
• Resolved issue where vehicles being driven would snap to a different rotation when another player joined.
• Improved vehicle relevancy so that they can be seen from further away when occupied.
• Fixed scenarios where a player wouldn't be visible for other players while in a vehicle.
• Added new VFX particles for vehicles.
• Added system for playing sounds based on shock absorber compression.
• Resolved collision issue between the vehicle and player when exiting seat.
• Players now receive damage when exiting a moving vehicle.
• Pressing interact key to enter/exit vehicle now only works when the vehicle is stopped. Hold interact is required while moving to reduce the chance of accidentally exiting.
• Removed over bright reflection in rear view mirror on cricket.
• Added support for for different engine sounds from outside/inside of a vehicle.
• Added system for playing impact sounds for vehicles.
• Improved exhause particles on cricket.
• Now have surface support which makes them less effective in shallow water/off road.

UI

• Fixed issue which caused the campfire UI to break if they were picked and dropped again after they'd had items put in them.
• Wooden club now has the correct image in the description area.
• Added new display when entering a vehicle which displays the controls and missing parts.
• Added built in key binding support!
• Clinchester and R-6804 no longer show the option to attach scopes.
• [Interact] button in machines is no longer black when the machine cannot be started/activated.
• Tweaked hydration notification to make it more clear for new players.
• Added useful hints to attachments so that it's easier for new players to get used to.
• Arg animation no longer clips while cleaning.
• Light switches now give a hint when interacting while there's no live power.
• Stopped health going negative during damage that kills the player.
• Adjusted grammar on meat drops
• Adjusted grammar and spelling on consumables
• Adjustment to descriptions on consumables
• Meat adjustments, cooking time adjustments making cooking take a bit more time
• Added missing gui image to raccoon fresh

Animations

• Wooden club now has a grab/take animation.
• Full new set of animation for the wooden club weapon. Previously they shared the baseball bat animations.
• Fixed finger position on lola and gary hand gun.
• Added new animations for hatchet when cutting down trees.
• Added animations for flashlight attachments on and off for each weapons.
• Cooked cans now play a new animations which doesn't include the lid being taken off (Lids now pop off as they become cooked)
• Chopping sections off felled trees now plays the correct chopping animation.

Environment

• Moved interior doors in various building into the interiors for improved optimisations.
• Fixed floating table in scene 61 by raising terrain.
• Fixed floating rocks in scene 22 by raising terrain.
• Added world filler design on terrain 18.
• Increased the loading range of wooden tables.
• Optimised and improved design around union point to make it more vehicle friendly.
• Optimised and improved design around Black Rock to make it more vehicle friendly.
• Optimised and improved design around Sage Creek to make it more vehicle friendly.
• Optimised and improved design around Addersfield to make it more vehicle friendly.
• Fixed issue where some items that were part of an electricity circuit were being culled too soon (Garage signs, garage doors, shop signs.)
• Added weapon attchment spawners in appropriate places around map.
• Fixed floating street signs in scene 61.
• Fixed floating Car in scene 13.
• Fixed floating Cabin in scene 13.
• Fixed clipping rest stop in scene 13.
• Removed invisible wall on bridge next to old town.
• Added doors that were missing on house variant 5.
• Lowered floating stone wall on terrain 53.
• Lowered floating fence on terrain 53.
• Lowered 3 floating houses on terrain 31.
• Lowered vehicle that was floating on terrain 37.
• Garage doors now have further loading distance.
• Lowered grass height overall for improved visuals with stags and vehicles.
• Optimised the performance of decals around the camp zones.
• Lowered stone wall which was floating on farm.
• Added environment filler design on terrains 46 and 52.
• Added environment filler design on terrains 39, 40 and 63.
• Added environment filler design on terrains 51 and 59.

Props / Drops

• Coal, Hose, Metal bar, Metal place, Metal rod and wirespool are now all stackable.
• All consumable drops are now stackable.
• Setup Pump action weapon.
• Setup Pump action drop.
• Added new pump action shotgun prop.

Sounds

• Added sound set for pump action shotgun.
• Fixed missing footstep sounds from other players.
• Fixed scenario where audio sliders would not work.
• Added system which dampens footstep sounds of zombies when the're on an upper floor.
• Fixed issue where zombie sounds could be cut off too soon.
• Added new vehicle impact sounds.
• Fixed scenario where empty shell hitting ground wouldn't play a sound.
• Added extra variants of glash breaking for window frames.
• Added 2 new engine sounds designed from outside and inside of vehicle.

Admin

• Fixed issue which could cause a player to be moved slightly when another player teleports.
• Resolved issue were players could be seen teleporting. Teleporting is now instant.
• Fixed issue where /cleanup would delete vehicles that had players inside.

Links

Discord: https://discord.gg/survivethenights
Forum: https://community.survivethenights.net
Twitter: https://twitter.com/STNgame
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/STNgame
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/a2zinteractive
Website: https://www.survivethenights.net