Alpha 19 Dev Diary

[beerfly]

 

Yeah, I haven't seen that one in Navezgane. Maybe it's there, but I haven't seen it.

 

It is both in Navezgane and RandomGen.

 

No hint for you, go and find it in Navez

[MechanicalLens]

At the same time though, quite a few POI's almost never spawn in RWG. (Wayne Manor, Crack-a-Books, the 4 skyscrapers, cave POI's, with the OG stores and Pass-N-Gases being a little more common but still pretty rare.) Plenty of Holme Depots though.

[sillls]

 

You mean Random Gen? I would like to know that too, I guess only devs could answer that, but in the twitter post which showed this image they mentioned that the POI behind the zombie is a new one that was not in Alpha 18 yet, so unless they are working hard on upgrading Navezgane, I would guess this is indeed a randomly generated world and it looks pretty cool. It's getting to that stage where it doesn't really matter where you look, you see some fancy stuff that makes it feel realistic.

 

Yes Random Gen. Would be great to see that POI in Navezgane.

[gpcstargate]

 

A new metal roof is what you're asking for right? I believe you can paint any block already, unless you can't paint them colors (i.e red, green, blau). IF this is the case I'd love to see a new dark red metal roof and colors!

 

We have a orange and a green metal roof .. But I've always want to see a Red Barn metal roof .. and maybe a few more texture (they discontinued one of the nice bricks that I really like) .. still on the chart but no longer available.

[Laz Man]

 

Actually there are many new POIs that never made it to Navezgane yet. Like that big construction area, I think that was never added to Navezgane.

 

It's in Nav, saw it today while mod testing.

[Roland]

The new Ranger Stations will be in both Navezgane and Random Gen.

[TWORDY]

Hey. I`ve seen new models for zombies and new lighting and its impressive so far. The game looks slowly like a triple-A title. I would like devs to pay more attention to artistic integrity, I don`t mean only texture resolution by that. I really like the fact that the game becomes grittier, so to me, gameplay becomes more adult-like wise. It's not like I have only gore in mind. Some areas, FX effects can be grittier and sometimes vibrant visually. The game slightly resembles the State of Decay 2 at some point when it comes to a new location in the forest - it`s not a bad thing tbh.

 

Please, could You work on high res textures and better geometry (overall look) for eg. cotton, coffee, red and yellow plant. Pumpkin and potato plants look visually more than awesome. New coffee maker's texture res is decent enough, but other devices and objects are very basic in geometry and blurred/pixelized like a simple bed, fridge, etc. Also, a full-grown tree can be seen as the same exact model in geometry, this is not game-breaking but ruins slightly immersion when it comes to landscape. Some visual integrity would be a nice thing in A20. Some bigger bush in which players could hide in would be great . I believe that a nicely designed grass geometry, skybox textures, particle effects may change a lot when it comes to the perception of the game also.

 

I really would like to see two new means of transport in A20, not only mods for vehicles. Vehicle for up to 5 players with a mounted turret (machine gun/TOW rocket) would be a badass addition. Some alternative fuel/electric vehicles with battery lifespan/recharging features. Guys please work on more vehicle models, one wrecked car model seems very odd. Please add a wreck of a Van, Pickup truck, etc. America is known for muscle cars and enormous lorries xD.

 

I hope someone could work on the system in which a character might be saved (experience/progression) and be playable on every server/single-player game (within the same Alpha version). That would enable me to develop my character in any server (with or without friends, offline/online). That would be a game-changer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BobbyLee298]

Hey. I`ve seen new models for zombies and new lighting and its impressive so far. The game looks slowly like a triple-A title. I would like devs to pay more attention to artistic integrity, I don`t mean only texture resolution by that. I really like the fact that the game becomes grittier, so to me, gameplay becomes more adult-like wise. It's not like I have only gore in mind. Some areas, FX effects can be grittier and sometimes vibrant visually. The game slightly resembles the State of Decay 2 at some point when it comes to a new location in the forest - it`s not a bad thing tbh.

 

Please, could You work on high res textures and better geometry (overall look) for eg. cotton, coffee, red and yellow plant. Pumpkin and potato plants look visually more than awesome. New coffee maker's texture res is decent enough, but other devices and objects are very basic in geometry and blurred/pixelized like a simple bed, fridge, etc. Also, a full-grown tree can be seen as the same exact model in geometry, this is not game-breaking but ruins slightly immersion when it comes to landscape. Some visual integrity would be a nice thing in A20. Some bigger bush in which players could hide in would be great . I believe that a nicely designed grass geometry, skybox textures, particle effects may change a lot when it comes to the perception of the game also.

 

I really would like to see two new means of transport in A20, not only mods for vehicles. Vehicle for up to 5 players with a mounted turret (machine gun/TOW rocket) would be a badass addition. Some alternative fuel/electric vehicles with battery lifespan/recharging features. Guys please work on more vehicle models, one wrecked car model seems very odd. Please add a wreck of a Van, Pickup truck, etc. America is known for muscle cars and enormous lorries xD.

 

I hope someone could work on the system in which a character might be saved (experience/progression) and be playable on every server/single-player game (within the same Alpha version). That would enable me to develop my character in any server (with or without friends, offline/online). That would be a game-changer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now thats a list, all id like to see is a lever gun that uses 44mag, but the gun would need good animations for the reload

(https://www.classicfirearms.com/henry-h012mx-x-model-lever-357-38-174/)

In anycase stay safe fellas

[canadianbluebeer]

There's a small old west town in the desert with most of the new old west buildings. Just did a playthrough of it last night.

 

I thought ALL the POI were in navez, but not all made it to the RWG maps.

(I know the skyscrapers don't, and they aren't all in the pregen maps either. PREGEN02 has 3 of 4 tho. no pharma tower)

 

[Guppys Fur]

There's a small old west town in the desert with most of the new old west buildings. Just did a playthrough of it last night.

 

I thought ALL the POI were in navez, but not all made it to the RWG maps.

(I know the skyscrapers don't, and they aren't all in the pregen maps either. PREGEN02 has 3 of 4 tho. no pharma tower)

 

that wondered me too. Never saw the theatre, Bank or the Higashi Skyscraper in RWG. Alltough at least the bank and Higashi are updated to A18, i spawned them once in to test.

 

Since they are working on Prefab Placement for A19, i hope to see it back.

[unholyjoe]

 

Actually there are many new POIs that never made it to Navezgane yet. Like that big construction area, I think that was never added to Navezgane.

 

actually other way around... all new pois and or remodeled are placed in navezgane first because static map and easier testing (then they are placed in rwg mixer). as for the construction site.. the tower is in departure in desert biome. sometimes a poi just might not make it to rwg tho.... but will eventually.

[TSBX]

Joe, IF you can say, how's A19 feel in play-testing right now? No CPU frying builds, right ?

[madmole]

Don't know about you guys but the latest posts I have seen the graphics in the background of some of the pictures and the graphics shown with the frozen grocery thingy are some of the best types of graphics I have seen the only thing I can say about the graphics is is the trees even in ultra quality and when your like let's say 200 metres away and 50 metres high they look like they are kinda painted in and they look really low res just wanna know if this will be different in a19 thanks guys

 

That is the LOD going to a billboard which is something needed to make the game run decent. All games do it, but maybe we are more aggressive with it because we've always been performance challenged from voxels/unity/alpha.

[madmole]

 

Just curious, when will the game decide that your current base can be counted just as that, your base, and thus begins to play this music?

 

Bedroll and things calm.

[madmole]

Fair enough.

 

Has there been any news on performance improvements in A19 to counterbalance the performance degradation that has been steadily creeping in over the course of the last few alphas?

 

Many people are finding that they can no longer play the game without crippling framerate reductions even on the lowest graphics settings.

 

I get tired of reading posts like this. Why don't you just speak for yourself instead of an imaginary invisible army you are representing to somehow strengthen your argument?

 

The game has been performing better the last few alphas not worse, so I really don't like these false statements blanketed in a question.

 

The truth is both. It will run worse for some and better for others. We optimize the game constantly but then add more detail, more AI, etc. But at the end of the day some people just need new computers or to be silent until we're finished. It is a constant battle to keep it running decent while adding what we want. It really depends if you are gpu bound or cpu bound. I think code is optimizing a lot of cpu where graphics are adding more weight so the game is more gpu bound now that cpu where in the past it was the opposite.

 

But I have zero data comparing 19 to any previous build, but I have seen several optimizations go in. We're unifying LOD to 3 per model and that will make occlusion faster, but usually everything is very very tiny, there is no low hanging fruit left in terms of quick and easy optimizations.

[madmole]

 

This is the worst performing voxel game with the smallest map that I own. I'm fortunate that I have the hardware to run it well, many others aren't so lucky.

 

The voxel engine isn't the issue.

 

LOL ok. You should quit while you are severely behind.

[madmole]

 

Please, could You work on high res textures and better geometry (overall look) for eg. cotton, coffee, red and yellow plant. Pumpkin and potato plants look visually more than awesome. New coffee maker's texture res is decent enough, but other devices and objects are very basic in geometry and blurred/pixelized like a simple bed, fridge, etc. Also, a full-grown tree can be seen as the same exact model in geometry, this is not game-breaking but ruins slightly immersion when it comes to landscape. Some visual integrity would be a nice thing in A20. Some bigger bush in which players could hide in would be great . I believe that a nicely designed grass geometry, skybox textures, particle effects may change a lot when it comes to the perception of the game also.

Its just a matter of time when we replace or update things. We're adding new things to fill the void, and then upgrading old stuff. I just replaced the couches last week, the modular sectional ones, they have been around since A1 if I recall.

 

[madmole]

Joe, IF you can say, how's A19 feel in play-testing right now? No CPU frying builds, right ?

 

I haven't played at all yet. Only testing in Unity which runs like ass. Its getting close though.

[Blake_]

 

I get tired of reading posts like this. Why don't you just speak for yourself instead of an imaginary invisible army you are representing to somehow strengthen your argument?

 

The game has been performing better the last few alphas not worse, so I really don't like these false statements blanketed in a question.

 

The truth is both. It will run worse for some and better for others. We optimize the game constantly but then add more detail, more AI, etc. But at the end of the day some people just need new computers or to be silent until we're finished. It is a constant battle to keep it running decent while adding what we want. It really depends if you are gpu bound or cpu bound. I think code is optimizing a lot of cpu where graphics are adding more weight so the game is more gpu bound now that cpu where in the past it was the opposite.

 

But I have zero data comparing 19 to any previous build, but I have seen several optimizations go in. We're unifying LOD to 3 per model and that will make occlusion faster, but usually everything is very very tiny, there is no low hanging fruit left in terms of quick and easy optimizations.

 

I asked a while ago. Maybe you could enlight us now. What do you think of the recent Nvidia DLSS 2.0 system, did you guys talk about it and the very possible case scenario that by gold a big percentage of PCs will have RTX cards and (-takes a breath-), if so, are you confident to implement the option in the future?

 

I wouldn't call it exactly "low hanging fruit", but it sounds like a big improvement, even for dynamic environments.

[The Gronk]

 

LOL ok. You should quit while you are severely behind.

 

In what way? I'll stand by that statement. Your voxel engine runs pretty damn well as long as you have a few cores on your processor, it's the graphics that have to be crippled on anything less than a supercomputer.

[Adam the Waster]

Its just a matter of time when we replace or update things. We're adding new things to fill the void, and then upgrading old stuff. I just replaced the couches last week, the modular sectional ones, they have been around since A1 if I recall.

 

aside from updating the models of some of the old structures, blocks, loot ables and other stuff like the Couches. what else do you mean by "filling the void" like the new Lootables boxes or other stuff like the cloth rack?

 

 

[sillls]

 

actually other way around... all new pois and or remodeled are placed in navezgane first because static map and easier testing (then they are placed in rwg mixer). as for the construction site.. the tower is in departure in desert biome. sometimes a poi just might not make it to rwg tho.... but will eventually.

 

I remember MM asking me why I still like the Navezgane map over RG. I told him what I thought. Glad that they are still using it.

[madmole]

 

I asked a while ago. Maybe you could enlight us now. What do you think of the recent Nvidia DLSS 2.0 system, did you guys talk about it and the very possible case scenario that by gold a big percentage of PCs will have RTX cards and (-takes a breath-), if so, are you confident to implement the option in the future?

 

I wouldn't call it exactly "low hanging fruit", but it sounds like a big improvement, even for dynamic environments.

 

I'm a game designer not a hardware geek.

[madmole]

 

I remember MM asking me why I still like the Navezgane map over RG. I told him what I thought. Glad that they are still using it.

 

I've come to understand that everyone's "must haves" are different and respect that. Especially since I've seen my own must haves change over time its good to be respective of other people's things they like.

[SnowDog1942]

 

I've come to understand that everyone's "must haves" are different and respect that. Especially since I've seen my own must haves change over time its good to be respective of other people's things they like.

 

Id like bandits in thongs, male and female, so respect me!!