Hello Everyone!
It’s time for a progress report on the upcoming weapon-overhaul update. We would also like to show you the implementation of the completed assets.
Weapons
To read more about weapon specifics, check out this public Patreon post: https://www.patreon.com/posts/deep-dive-into-47278664
.44 Revolver
COM-15
COM-18
Crossvec
FSP-9
MTF-E11-SR
Shotgun
Logicer
AK
The AK is making great progress, however, it's not ready to be revealed quite yet.
Recoil
We’re introducing an improved recoil system to the game. This is used to control how weapons behave during full-auto discharges. Based on how many continuous rounds have been fired, there are three basic effects which may occur:
Camera Shake
A purely visual effect, that doesn’t affect the control of a weapon. Instead, its purpose is to make maintaining visual contact with a target more difficult.
Recoil Pattern
The current system is designed so that after each shot, the player’s camera will “jump”. However, it will now follow a predefined path (Recoil Pattern). This new type of recoil is not intended to be unavoidable. It can be easily countered by moving the mouse in the opposite direction.
Progressive Inaccuracy
Each subsequent shot from a weapon will become progressively more deviated from your crosshair’s actual position. The deviation amount depends on the type of weapon being fired — SMGs and the Logicer will remain relatively accurate, while rifles will take a significant accuracy hit when firing for more than just a few rounds. The deviation amount will be randomised and cannot be controlled.
Targets
Targets originated as debug tools. They were used for testing elements such as recoil, damage, attachment setups, and for simulating certain in-game scenarios. With how useful they’ve proven to be; it’s been decided that they will be implemented in the game, and will become their own system.
Targets can be spawned by a new Remote Admin command — “spawntarget”. Once spawned, they are visible to everyone on the server and operate in two modes. These are:
Local Mode — Players on the server may only see their own score.
Synchronized Mode — Players on the server can see the score of whoever interacted with the target.
There are currently three types of available targets:
Sports Target
A classic circular target with a yellow bullseye (10 points), and 9 further rings extending outwards (from 9 – 1 points). This is a generic target and can be used for multiple purposes. However, its primary function is to allow an individual to train and observe full-auto fire. Accuracy is calculated by dividing the sum of points with the number of shots fired.
Binary Target
This target has a slightly bigger bullseye (10 points), with it being approximately the size of a human head. The rest of the target is blank. Any hits outside the bullseye count for 0 points. This target is used for single-shot testing, such as seeing how likely a gun is to score a headshot from a determined distance.
Class-D Target
This target has a flat image of a Class-D on a 1:1 scale. This is mainly used for recreating in-game scenarios.
Firearm Hotkeys
We’ve added new hotkeys for firearms, allowing you to equip or swap weapons without opening the inventory. These hotkeys are bound to “1” & “2” by default. The weapon that corresponds to a hotkey is determined by their order in the inventory.
As an example, if a Revolver is placed in slot one, and a Crossvec in slot 4, hotkey “1” will pull out the Revolver.
When pressing the hotkeys, a weapon indicator will be visible in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, signifying which attachments are currently on the weapon.
Here’s what it looks like:
Attachment System
The Attachment System has been improved. You will now be able to change your attachments while in spectator mode, as well as at the weapon stations. When you select your attachment at a weapon station you will see a silhouette of the weapon. Sections of this silhouette will be highlighted to indicate parts that can be changed. A weapon’s silhouette can also be seen while hovering over it in your inventory. Any attachments will be highlighted.
Here is the WIP workstation:
Throwable Objects
An entirely new system included in the update, is the unique ability to throw/toss objects. Currently, any object that is held in the player’s hand can be used in this way.
While this ability may not seem important to some, it allows items to reach previously inaccessible areas, break windows, and theoretically, allow thrown items to affect other elements upon impact. Items will also be affected when dropped.
Continuing with this idea, this could potentially allow us to have 018 become triggered upon impact with the floor, 207 bottles breaking under certain force, or if a keycard is thrown at a scanner; having it open the door. A flashlight could even be damaged if it is dropped.
As an object is thrown, it will rotate randomly in the air before settling on the ground — this can even be used to play heads or tails! By default, the button to use this system is “T”. However, this can be changed in the options menu.
Please note that these ideas are all conceptual, and we’d still like to hear your thoughts and opinions.
Radio
Some of you may have seen a new radio in the previous Devlog, but that was not the final version. Another model has been created, along with new animations, graphics, and sounds for using it.
While there have been no changes to how it's used, there may be tweaks to its ranges and battery life.
Tesla Gate
It has been a long-term goal of the studio to move away from Containment Breach assets. With every update we move one step closer to reaching this goal.
The Tesla gate is an iconic object in the game. We've been working hard to create our own version of this piece of technology. Our team has created brand new sounds and visual effects.
Here is a demonstration:
Medical Items
Many items in the game have new animations, some even have new models. A lot of these are medical items like the First Aid Kit, Painkillers, and Adrenaline. The new model for Adrenaline will no longer have a needle. This was done on account of players with Trypanophobia.
Other Items
Many other items, including SCP objects, have new animations. Like the flashlight, 018, and 268.
Remote Admin
While these changes may not concern all of you, we would still like to inform you that there has been a complete visual rework of the RA console, and multiple quality of life changes.
Here is the complete list of changes:
- Complete visual rework of the console.
- Added command suggestions that pop up once you start typing a command, also hinting possible usage of parameters in the command.
- Added player nickname search bar.
- Changed the confusing nickname prefixes ([~] [@] [RA]) to icons. Gold shield for [~] blue wrench for [@] and plain user for [RA] as well as hint text explaining what the icons indicate when you hover your cursor over them. Introduced a new icon which indicates overwatch mode.
- Added pre-defined ban reasons to RA. You can specify these reasons in the Remote Admin config file.
- Added a new "Broadcasting" tab to RA which lets you send administrative broadcasts to player(s).
- Added new "External Lookup" and "External Panel" buttons to RA that allow external lookup to a specified URL.
- The Facility Guard’s class colour has been changed to be more differentiable from the spectators’.
- Fixed a variety of minor visual glitches.
We would like to thank lysol#3636 for the suggestions which some changes were based upon.
Optimization (New Culling System)
A topic that is regularly mentioned is the optimisation of the game. With each update we strive to improve wherever we can, be that updating some of the oldest code in the game, or recreating it completely. This update is no different. The weapon-overhaul brings with it some well-needed changes, like re-creating the inventory system and adding a new culling system.
Here is the new culling system at work:
Windows 7 Support
Some of you may remember we briefly mentioned support for Windows 7 will be dropped in the future. When the 11.0 update is released, Windows 7 will no longer be supported by SCP:SL.
Here is a statement from one of our backend developers: “It has become increasingly difficult to support an end-of-life operating system. Specifically because of the ever-evolving Windows 10 APIs that cannot be used effectively in our code-base due to the fact that Windows 7 simply does not contain them. To bring a better experience to Windows 10-8.1 users, Windows 7 support is being dropped.
Last Words
Work is progressing steadily and we can’t wait to have the 11.0 update available to you all. We plan to have a Patreon Beta in the near future and hope to reveal even more features. Until the time comes, have a great day and thank you, once again, for supporting Northwood Studios and SCP: Secret Laboratory!
~ Northwood Studios