PTB: Update 13 Begins Testing!

Welcome, Park Testers!

This PTB release features a work-in-progress look at Update 13's content, including the reworked building toolbox, building experience, park rating rework, guest sitting and biome updates. Please note that Megaloceros and Ursus are not included in this pre-release and will be available once the patch is completely finished.

Here are some specific things that we'd like to get feedback on:

• Balance and Park Rating Changes: The conditions and various thresholds required to achieve higher park ratings have been changed, with goals that are laid out in the new rating UI.
• Building Toolbox and Building Experience: Help us find any oddities, bugs or experience downgrades from the previous system. It's totally new, so please take a little time to play with it!
• Guest AI: Visitors have had quite a few AI changes, including the addition of a rest need. Let us know how they distribute in the park and how their needs feel in terms of balance.

Once we've fixed the most prevalent bugs and finalized the content on our end, we will be releasing Update 13 very soon! Please send your feedback and bug reports to our Discord server's appropriate channel. Thank you!

How to Access the Public Testing Branch (Experimental!)

The Public Testing Branch (PTB) is a version of Prehistoric Kingdom that can be opted-into on Steam, containing experimental and potentially breaking changes. With the help of the community, we're able to hunt down various issues and gather feedback before pushing a an update to the public version of Prehistoric Kingdom.

1. Right click Prehistoric Kingdom in your Steam Library
2. Go to Properties
3. Betas
4. Select 'ptb_public_testing'

Please note that it is not recommended to play Public Testing Branch parks on earlier versions of the game. Please send feedback and bug reports to our Discord server's appropriate channel.

Known Issues & Additional Notes

• This version of the building toolbox temporarily does not contain filtering for specific themes or prefabs. This will be added for the official release of Update 13!
• Due to a crash fix, some exhibits may be broken if they had fences and gates occupying the same space! Please update habitats accordingly.
• Some menus, such as the new building style and coloring menu and the modular selection info panel can seldom overlap. We are working on improving the automatic scaling behavior of any overlapping menu.

Full Patch Notes

Features

• NEW FEATURE: Guest Sitting Guests will now stop at benches to rest or enjoy a delicious meal. This retroactively applies to all saves! A new ‘Rest’ overlay is available for checking on your guests' new need!
• NEW FEATURE: Improved rating and park goals
  • Park Rating Stars are earned by achieving incremental goals
  • Animal Points are given by every animal in your park based on the species, genetics, and ecology of the animal
  • Removed Exhibit Score: the Ecology Bonus is now part of Animal Points, and cleanliness was always part of Animal Welfare (making it redundant)
  • Attraction Points are currently given by shops and binoculars, but is planned be expanded in the future
  • Park Appeal affects guest population, and is driven by Overall Park Rating, Amenity Prices, and Park Beauty

Additions

• Buildings & Scenery
  • Added Stylized Animal Sign, coming in multiple animal designs:
    • Acrocanthosaurus
    • Ankylosaurus
    • Apatosaurus
    • Brachiosaurus
    • Coelodonta
    • Deinocheirus
    • Dilophosaurus
    • Dryosaurus
    • Edmontosaurus
    • Elasmotherium
    • Iguanodon
    • Leaellynasaura
    • Mammuthus
    • Megaloceros
    • Microraptor
    • Ouranosaurus
    • Pachyrhinosaurus
    • Parasaurolophus
    • Protoceratops
    • Psittacosaurus
    • Smilodon
    • Spinosaurus
    • Triceratops
    • Tyrannosaurus
    • Ursus
    • Velociraptor

• Foliage
  • Added or updated the following Coastal plants:
    • Coastal Manroot 1
    • Coastal Manroot 2
    • False Lily of the Valley 1
    • False Lily of the Valley 2
    • Maidenhair Fern 1
    • Maidenhair Fern 2
    • Maidenhair Fern 3
    • Scots Pine 1
    • Scots Pine 2
    • Scots Pine 3
    • Scots Pine 4
    • Scots Pine 5
    • Scots Pine 6

  • Added the following Temperate plants:
    • Beech Tree 1
    • Beech Tree 2
    • Beech Tree 3
    • Beech Tree 4
    • Beech Tree 5
    • Beech Tree 6
    • Beech Tree 7
    • Beech Tree 8
    • Daisy Grass 1
    • Daisy Grass 2
    • Daisy Grass 2
    • Dandelion Grass 1
    • Dandelion Grass 2
    • Dandelion Grass 3
    • Dandelion Grass 4
    • Eared Willow 1
    • Eared Willow 2
    • Eared Willow 3
    • Eared Willow 4
    • Field Grass 1
    • Field Grass 2
    • Field Grass 3
    • Flame Azalea 1
    • Flame Azalea 2
    • Flame Azalea 3
    • Flame Azalea 4
    • Flame Azalea 5
    • Flame Azalea 6
    • Flame Azalea 7

  • Added the following Temperate biome presets:
    • Temperate shrubs
    • Temperate field

• UI/UX
  • Updated the Building Toolbox menu with a fresh new look and improved functionality
    • Every structure category now has an ‘All’ menu selection, allowing a quick visualization of the entire structure list set for that category
    • Added ability to switch between large and small icon size for the Building Toolbox
    • Added save preference functionality to structure favoriting - newly favorited structures will now carry over across all saves
    • Added a set of contextual Building Action panels to the right hand side of the screen - these menus appear while any structural action is active and are highly contextual based on the current action type. Through these menus, several QoL features have been added to the building suite:
      • Improved keybind tooltip readability
      • Modular: random rotation and scale settings
      • Modular: gimbal move increment
      • Modular: gimbal Axis Flip, available during gimbal scaling. This allows quick mirroring on any local axis for the current objects

  • Added a new keybind: Toggle Fences/Path Replacement Mode - bound to ‘R’ by default. When pressed, this keybind will toggle the current fence/path action from ‘Build’ mode to ‘Replace’ mode, and vice versa
    
  • Updated the modular styling and coloring panel to be completely independent of the building toolbox, allowing for more screen real estate when changing modular pieces!
    
  • Color controls are now relative to piece types, giving more granular control over the coloration of each piece style
    
  • Updated the Management View menu and included a new park rating report to match the new rating additions
    • Added a Guest Navigation view - allowing guest navmesh visualization
    • Added a Staff Navigation view - allowing staff navmesh visualization

  • Added a Projected Park Population report tooltip that appears when hovering the park guest count on the main board
    
  • Added a trend icon next to guest population that shows when the projected number of guests is higher or lower than your current amount
    
  • Clicking the finances, staff, animals and guest numbers at the bottom of the HUD will open up their respective management menus

Changes

• Gameplay
  • Removed individual price categories for different food and gift brands, unified into two simple categories
  • Added price setting for Binocular modules

• Animals
  • Lowered shininess of Coelodonta fur
  • Animal overall welfare has been reworked to better consider each component of an animal’s life
    • Animal needs drain slower
    • Animal excretion amount lowered

  • Adjusted minimum exhibit sizes for the following species’ default grouping size:
    • Charonosaurus: 5,550m2 → 4,340m2
    • Deinocheirus: 3,400m2 → 1,575m2
    • Edmontosaurus annectens: 14,000m2 → 6,125m2
    • Edmontosaurus regalis: 33,440m2 → 10,425m2
    • Iguanodon: 13,580m2 → 4,030m2
    • Juxia: 6,220m2 → 1,100m2
    • Lambeosaurus: 11,400m2 → 2,500m2
    • Muttaburrasaurus: 6,524m2 → 2,796m2
    • Nasutoceratops: 3,600m2 → 1,400m2
    • Ouranosaurus: 7,920m2 → 3,300m2
    • Pachyrhinosaurus canadensis: 18,800m2 → 13,100m2
    • Pachyrhinosaurus lakustai: 11,780m2 → 6,570m2
    • Pachyrhinosaurus perotorum: 5,500m2 → 2,400m2
    • Parasaurolophus cyrtocristatus: 9,845m2 → 2,737m2
    • Parasaurolophus walkeri: 9,510m2 → 3,538m2
    • Styracosaurus: 6,000m2 → 2,400m2
    • Ugrunaaluk: 6,220m2 → 2,860m2

• Staff
  • Removed staff unhappiness for now, we have plans to reintroduce it with more gameplay in the future

• Guests
  • Adjusted guest population cap and spawn rates as a function of Park Rating and Park Appeal
  • Should now look at animals much more frequently, with higher Animal Points resulting in more frequent visits
  • Shopping behavior is no longer a need that builds up over time, instead guests will shop after having positive park experiences
  • Guests should now walk faster in general, and even faster still when they have a pressing need
  • Guest AI will no longer ‘explore’ for overlong periods

• Buildings & Scenery
  • In addition to benches and tables having interaction points, the Restaurant now has functional tables. Guests will get in line to purchase food, then take it to a table to sit and eat. Guests will also attempt to find nearby seating after purchasing from Food Kiosks or Vending Machines
  • Guests will now get in line to make a purchase after viewing products on shelves in the Gift Shop
  • Kiosks now have an exit point slightly to the right of the register interaction point, which helps clear up traffic jams when guests try to leave the kiosk. Guests moving from the register to this exit point are able to move through navmesh obstacles for that short distance, making it possible to build queue line ropes/barriers to direct the line, while still allowing guests to leave without walking backwards through the queue
  • Large bathrooms now have an internal capacity of 8 “stalls” for guests to use

• Environment
  • Updated sunrise/sunset ambient light to be brighter and warmer, reducing pitch black shadows
  • Updated Tanzania map lighting to be more consistent with other maps and appear less harsh
  • Updated environmental reflections to include fog
  • Adjusted clouds to appear less saturated and overblown during sunrise/sunset
  • Slightly brightened grass in the shade

• Foliage
  • Updated wind settings on older trees and removed wind from various cactus species
  • Adjusted global wind simulation to look more lively
  • Adjusted elephant grass coloring to better fit with the rest of the foliage
  • Adjusted shading on boreal fireweed and labrador tea to appear less round
  • Adjusted sizes for temperate arrowwoods 1 and 2 for better leaf size consistency, making them smaller overall
  • Reduced wind during rain

• UI/UX
  • Updated biome preset icons for temperate foliage and coastal pines
  • Updated the enclosure info panel to reflect the new rating changes
  • Updated the animal rating info panel to reflect the new rating changes
  • Opening the Terraform Menu now clears all non-animal selection

• Post-Processing
  • Adjusted auto-exposure to improve the game’s base brightness and increase visibility when in dark areas. This is most noticeable in dense forests, buildings and at nighttime
  • Adjusted bloom to have less spread and appear less intense. Most noticeable on metal objects such as feeders. It now mostly acts as light bleed for dark areas
  • Looking at navigation in the Management View no longer tints the screen blue, making the navmesh more visible

Bug Fixes

• Crashes
  • Fixed a crash that could occur when deleting a fence section if that fence had been loaded in overlapping another fence section
    • This enforcement of fence proximity rules may break existing enclosures which had gates and fences trying to occupy the same space!

  • Fixed improper process scheduling that could lead to a rare crash
• Gameplay
  • Fence placement undo and redo now properly changes the park balance

• Animals
  • Reworked interactable access which should help address animals not always using interactables after modifying them

• Staff
  • Fixed staff going on eternal breaks
  • Fixed rare navigational issue that prevented staff from moving
  • Fixed keepers being able to walk through obstacles to clean up dung if there was no navigable path
  • Fixed keepers getting stuck in an infinite loop of offloading dung if the assignment for that dung pile had previously been attempted and failed
  • Brought back staff end-of-assignment reaction animations
  • Fixed Auto-Hire-Cashiers not hiring anyone at the moment the toggle is activated
  • Fixed Staff Placement only showing correct placement validity while the mouse is moving

• Guests
  • Fixed Visitor Welfare being incorrect at roughly 75% of the desired value
  • Fixed a bug that caused guests to be unable to see animals
  • Fixed guests falling out of a queue line occasionally
  • Fixed guests getting stuck because they thought that roofs were walkable area
  • Fixed a bug that caused guests to have a slightly lower opinion of animals than they were supposed to

• Foliage
  • Fixed incorrect alphabetical ordering for Coastal biome trees in the terraforming menu

• Construction
  • Fixed a major bug that caused modular piece colors to desynchronize after deletions

• UI/UX
  • Fixed a GUI Input oversight that would cause toggles to turn on graphically but otherwise not trigger their intended behavior upon right clicks or middle clicks

• Rendering
  • Improved synchronization of human and prop animation
  • Generally improved human animation system

Performance

• Numerous small memory improvements
• Human animation is more optimal
• Many performance improvements to the building menu, especially for the search function
• Slightly improved save loading speed