Alpha 19 Dev Diary

[Damocles]

2 minutes ago, MechanicalLens said:

Ever heard of a mesa?

Yes, I have added some. At least mesa like structures.

[Mechanimal]

41 minutes ago, khzmusik said:

I played A19 for a couple hours last night (which... so much for paying attention in my morning meeting). And generally speaking, I've been getting as good or better performance as I did under A18, while looking much better.

 

But there is a big issue: A19 eats up a huge amount of RAM. Like, nearly twice the amount of RAM that A18 did. I have 12G of memory and between 7D2D, Steam, and the OS, I'm nearly out of memory.

 

I'm guessing this is due to the higher-resolution textures but that's just a guess.

 

My questions: Has anyone else noticed this? If not, is it a bug caused by my setup? Either way - does anyone know of any ways to bring the memory footprint down?

 

(If not, I'm afraid I won't be able to play any mods until I buy a new 'puter.)

Well I have a dual quadcore with 32GB of Ram and a Titan card and I cannot run it smoothly at full res, was the same in A18. It's not s huge deal, I just knock the overall screen res down a notch, most settings I have are a split between mid and high, and it still looks great, and is smooth. But I put it back to 3440 and my framerate plummets. Not sure why, I run other modern games at 3440 without issue, like R6 Seige(though I do not run it at 4k, my son does on his). I may have a Titan card, but it is the very first one made, my sons 1080 Ti has more vRAM. But on his machine he runs stuff no prob, then he goes to play Minecraft, and laaag.. memory problems. It may have something to do with memory management in a voxel engine, not an easy task. Anyway he has maybe half the system RAM I do, but those 2 extra GB in his video card make all the difference in some games.

My guess is I need more vRAM, so a better video card, it is def not my system RAM, I have never, ever, seen that 32 GB peak or fill up no matter what I do, and I work on larger CAD assemblies that typically take "workstation" level machines where Titan is the potato entry card. In that realm vRAM is everything, more so than system RAM, and it only really lags when you get a high volume of geometry in a single file. I have to manage huge CAD files(robot assemblies) by removing erroneous details(some CAD files have a TON of this), and manually creating lower detail models like the LOD stuff they do in game engines.

Anyway, my point is it seems like voxel engines in general run into similar memory needs as workstation level CAD. Major kudos to TFP for even trying what they do, because they have to improve performance via extreme optimization, where-as in the CAD world they expect users to tackle it via Brute Force and just throw more video RAM at it. Problem there is the current "entry level" is the new Titan(24GB) at around $2,500, then the "normal" cards used are the Quadro cards that I think start somewhere just over $5k with 48 GB of vRAM. So, yeah... upgrade your video card. Should be able to find a decent 1080, better with something like a 2080, but in a few months the new series drops, so the 3080 and a whole new suite of stuff should be out this Fall sometime. Current prices will drop on some, not as much as you'd think on others, regardless this realm of hardware is about to go through another huge growth spurt by the end of this year. Time it right and look around enough and you should be able upgrade more affordably, soon, ish.

[KuriousTurtle]

2 minutes ago, Mechanimal said:

Well I have a dual quadcore with 32GB of Ram and a Titan card and I cannot run it smoothly at full res, was the same in A18. It's not s huge deal, I just knock the overall screen res down a notch, most settings I have are a split between mid and high, and it still looks great, and is smooth. But I put it back to 3440 and my framerate plummets. Not sure why, I run other modern games at 3440 without issue, like R6 Seige(though I do not run it at 4k, my son does on his). I may have a Titan card, but it is the very first one made, my sons 1080 Ti has more vRAM. But on his machine he runs stuff no prob, then he goes to play Minecraft, and laaag.. memory problems. It may have something to do with memory management in a voxel engine, not an easy task. Anyway he has maybe half the system RAM I do, but those 2 extra GB in his video card make all the difference in some games.

My guess is I need more vRAM, so a better video card, it is def not my system RAM, I have never, ever, seen that 32 GB peak or fill up no matter what I do, and I work on larger CAD assemblies that typically take "workstation" level machines where Titan is the potato entry card. In that realm vRAM is everything, more so than system RAM, and it only really lags when you get a high volume of geometry in a single file. I have to manage huge CAD files(robot assemblies) by removing erroneous details(some CAD files have a TON of this), and manually creating lower detail models like the LOD stuff they do in game engines.

Anyway, my point is it seems like voxel engines in general run into similar memory needs as workstation level CAD. Major kudos to TFP for even trying what they do, because they have to improve performance via extreme optimization, where-as in the CAD world they expect users to tackle it via Brute Force and just throw more video RAM at it. Problem there is the current "entry level" is the new Titan at around $2,500, then the "normal" cards used are the Quadro cards that I think start somewhere just over $5k. So, yeah... upgrade your video card. Should be able to find a decent 1080, better with something like a 2080, but in a few months the new series drops, so the 3080 and a whole new suite of stuff should be out this Fall sometime. Current prices will drop on some, not as much as you'd think on others, regardless this realm of hardware is about to go through another huge growth spurt by the end of this year. Time it right and look around enough and you should be able upgrade more affordably, soon, ish.

I bought my 2070 Super 2 weeks ago at Best Buy for $500USD, just a price gauge for anyone wondering

[Trankitas]

19 minutes ago, madmole said:

FYI, RWG will be a strike teams top focus for A20. We're going to give Robert all the support he needs to get it shippable once and for all.

You really should, RWG is the biggest feature of the game (in terms of replayability)

[Mechanimal]

1 minute ago, KuriousTurtle said:

I bought my 2070 Super 2 weeks ago at Best Buy for $500USD, just a price gauge for anyone wondering

Yeah I heard the "supers" were good. My Titan is again the original one, part of GTX series. The new one is RTX, and has over twice the RAM, also costs about double. Seems to me the best thing to do now is pick up a card like that, any RTX, Ti, or Super variant, and most of all shoot for MORE RAM, that is the magic sauce, not system RAM. Anyway, good find, those new Super variants seem to be the best deal for larger RAM amounts and performance in general, at the moment.

[Jarod_Silverstar]

@madmole

Only got a couple hours in so far, but liking the updates. Except for the overall light level at night, it is just way too bright and makes things to easy to see. Personally I like the darkness at night that adds to the suspense factor. There is little that compares to exploring a POI at night with a torch for light to be able to see.

It would be nice if for those of us that want it, we could get an option to adjust light levels at night and inside POIs.

[MechanicalLens]

Just now, Jarod_Silverstar said:

@madmole

Only got a couple hours in so far, but liking the updates. Except for the overall light level at night, it is just way too bright and makes things to easy to see. Personally I like the darkness at night that adds to the suspense factor. There is little that compares to exploring a POI at night with a torch for light to be able to see.

It would be nice if for those of us that want it, we could get an option to adjust light levels at night and inside POIs.

Then turn down your brightness once the sun sets and turn it back up once it rises. All it takes is a little micromanagement.

 

Okay, now that would be a nice quality of nice feature. I think that's been passed around a bit actually.

[beerfly]

17 minutes ago, madmole said:

We're going to give Robert all the support he needs to get it shippable once and for all. 

He have our support, too. Bugs and glitches are inevitable in such a huge project, there is solution for every problem though, can`t wait for the final version of RNG, no matter how much it takes. 

[Mechanimal]

21 minutes ago, Mechanimal said:

 

I am having fun in A19 btw, not having any new performance issues for the most part, was just commenting on what I've learned about engine and hardware limits, mainly since I need to upgrade for work, having a high-end gaming machine is just a happy side effect of needing a powerful workstation for my professional career. Once I upgrade it should once again stay ahead of game engine needs, took this one 7-8 yrs before it hit the limit. 

I'm dealing with same, minor, restrictions I had in A18, and I know it is my machines vRAM at fault. But a few setting tweaks and I forget about it, plays smooth as I have it now. 

 

[KuriousTurtle]

4 minutes ago, Mechanimal said:

Yeah I heard the "supers" were good. My Titan is again the original one, part of GTX series. The new one is RTX, and has over twice the RAM, also costs about double. Seems to me the best thing to do now is pick up a card like that, any RTX, Ti, or Super variant, and most of all shoot for MORE RAM, that is the magic sauce, not system RAM. Anyway, good find, those new Super variants seem to be the best deal for larger RAM amounts and performance in general, at the moment.

Yeah man, I love my new one. I get double the performance. I went from a 1070 to a 2070 super

[Adam the Waster]

@madmole

 

 

so sense you guys have expanded navezgane this area i had my eye on for a while has been "opened up"

 

are you guys planing on building another city here?

 

pics here

 

Spoiler

ttttttttt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

[meganoth]

3 minutes ago, Jarod_Silverstar said:

@madmole

Only got a couple hours in so far, but liking the updates. Except for the overall light level at night, it is just way too bright and makes things to easy to see. Personally I like the darkness at night that adds to the suspense factor. There is little that compares to exploring a POI at night with a torch for light to be able to see.

It would be nice if for those of us that want it, we could get an option to adjust light levels at night and inside POIs.

I like that it isn't pitch black immediately at 22:01. Did you check it at later times? 1:00 in the morning it is very dark, on my screen I can't see much outside. I didn't go into poi's at night yet but I can't imagine I would be able to see anything since I already have problems seeing much in cellars at daytime.

 

Maybe your screens brightness is too high. There is the brightness setting ingame.

 

 

 

[faatal]

5 hours ago, Aldranon said:

I agree 100%  I have not received any strange hits from any situation.

I've seen a few in streams, so it can happen and still needs work.

[Khalagar]

 I'm also going to confirm that my trader quests are pretty frickin far away. This was the first one I had where there was even an option that wasn't 1KM+ away, and thus far I've done like 5 or 6 quests and only had a single dig quest available =(

 

 

 

2 hours ago, Proof_89 said:

I have FPS issues playing in 2k resolution in Ultra.  The max FPS i get is 55 and low 35. I noticed that if i go down in quality from Ultra to High i get just around 60FPS most of the times.

 

I see people here on forum playing in 4k Ultra with 60-70 FPS constantly and i really don't understand why i don't get the same in 2K with the rig i have: 

 

• GPU - GTX 1080 8gb
• CPU - Ryzen 5 - 3600 - 3.6ghz
• RAM - 16gb DDR4 3000mhz
• SSD - Samsung - 1TB

Do i need to tweak the settings somehow to get that performance? 

 

Cheerio!

 

Same, me and my friend have nearly identical rigs as yours. My friend plays at 4K and I play at 2K (1440p). No matter what settings I change or lower, A19 is running really bad for me, I get about 15-50 fps max. It drops down to 15-ish fairly regularly, my friend says his runs at about 45-60 fps. I wonder if it's it's something to do with 1440p? I have Dynamic Resolution off, but I wonder if that janked something on the back end

 

 

47 minutes ago, madmole said:

FYI, RWG will be a strike teams top focus for A20. We're going to give Robert all the support he needs to get it shippable once and for all. Closer quest POIs will be part of that improvement as well as fixing roads and issues like this.

 

Excellent to hear!! My RWG is pretty hit or miss, I had an image similar to the one posted but didn't want to make this post any longer to scroll past.

 

 

Also, since I know you guys are wanting more Junk Sledge stuff and @'s at @madmole , I specifically wanted to rush the Junk Sledge as fast as possible so I could use it early game as it's seemingly intended to be used, but the Junk Parts definitely gate it to being a week 2+ weapon. I had the ability to craft it within a few hours of spawning in, but junk parts don't seem to spawn this early so I can't use it

 

My question is, would it be possible to add junk parts to the loot table, or just remove junk part requirement entirely? I see shotgun parts a LOT, and get tons of military and steel armor parts etc, but as best I can tell, Junk Parts just aren't possible to get before the iron age, which leads to the inevitable "Junk Sledge is now competing against Iron Sledge" scenario. 

 

Except it's worse than that, because I could just craft an Iron Sledge atm, but still can't make a Junk Sledge. I've got all these points sunk into int and my precious junk perk . . .and have literally zero way to use it  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Mechanimal]

9 minutes ago, KuriousTurtle said:

Yeah man, I love my new one. I get double the performance. I went from a 1070 to a 2070 super

You probs went from GTX to RTX too from the sounds of it, and that is a big deal. The RTX cards are a newer chip architecture and the first gen of "Real Time Raytracing" cards, a decades old pipe dream in the graphics world. The dif is significant, I highly recommend everyone to at least get something from the RTX if they have GTX or older, hot damn will you feels it, and as you pointed out in the deal you got those cards have become far more affordable... well, the dang 2080 Ti is still around $1,200 which is more than I paid for my Titan way back. But still, there is a decent range of good and afforbale RTX cards out there right now.

[faatal]

4 hours ago, tygerclaw98 said:

I mean as zombies they're neither alive or dead. They're UN-DEAD. As in at one point they were dead, and they were resurrected with limited functionality and zero brain activity other than basic animal instinct to feed.

THAT IS JUST YOUR OPINION..........ours were resurrected to shop at Walmart.

Old post you found there.

[KuriousTurtle]

4 minutes ago, Mechanimal said:

You probs went from GTX to RTX too from the sounds of it, and that is a big deal. The RTX cards are a newer chip architecture and the first gen of "Real Time Raytracing" cards, a decades old pipe dream in the graphics world. The dif is significant, I highly recommend everyone to at least get something from the RTX if they have GTX or older, hot damn will you feels it, and as you pointed out in the deal you got those cards have become far more affordable... well, the dang 2080 Ti is still around $1,200 which is more than I paid for my Titan way back. But still, there is a decent range of good and afforbale RTX cards out there right now.

Be warned though, the RTX cards require a good air supply. I had to tweak the hell out of the gpu fan curve to get my temps at a good level. The stock fan curve is garbage. 

[beerfly]

8 minutes ago, Khalagar said:

 I'm also going to confirm that my trader quests are pretty frickin far away. 

I`ve gone more than 100 miles from home for just a bubble gum (no, driving), because of lost bet irl, what is 2km away from where are you ingame ? You will find new spots, food, items, loot, get XP, sell @%$*#!. Nothing is ever lost. 

 

[MechanicalLens]

9 minutes ago, Khalagar said:

 I'm also going to confirm that my trader quests are pretty frickin far away. This was the first one I had where there was even an option that wasn't 1KM+ away, and thus far I've done like 5 or 6 quests and only had a single dig quest available =(

 

Ouch. You also have to consider that you have to double the distance... There and back.

[CypherTodd]

OMG!!!!!  This is amazing, it looks SOOOOOO good.  %$#@! I hope you are very proud of this cause you should be.  Been here since 9 and wow, every new alpha you have impressed me.  this one I am doing things I never have blunderbus, (ew).   Now I am running through Diresvile with 4 on the hot bar like last of the Mohican's.  Just wow thank you!!

[KuriousTurtle]

I have no issue with traveling 1.5km to do a quest, it means I get to see more of the world and mark good looking poi’s on the map to come back to and loot. Sure the first few days, those buried treasure quests are a main source of food. But if they make it a permanent solution to only offer those types of quests the first few day’s, then it’s not going to be any kind of challenge like they are wanting

[Blake_]

4 hours ago, MechanicalLens said:

Performance is jumpy for me. Sometimes it's at 80 FPS and buttery smooth, other times it's choppy temporarily and is at 10 FPS. But hey, it's called Experimental for a reason. 🙂

Seems like I speaked too soon. Performance is indeed a little bit  worse overall due to shadows.  They are better close to the player which impacts performance by a lot. I had to turn them off for the horde night and some POIs which is awful. 

Once turned off, the game runs way better ( +15 fps)  in every way. In a18 I had better performance AND shadows , so I wish there was another crappier option for shadows.

 

@faatal ,can we get  crappy updating shadows back as an option below  the usual "low" setting  ( the option would be shadows : simple/fast) for potato pcs and not so potato? 

 

I 'd love to have shadows back in some form.

 

Thank you in advance.

 

Edit: Any option that optimizes the game on top of that one is welcome too, like fast reflections or less mapping textures for everything, who wants diffuse texture for cars anyway, uh?

 

[Roland]

Sometimes I loot an entire nearby building without being told to go there by a trader and I get some pretty good loot AND the trader still buys it from me....

[KuriousTurtle]

@Roland you should add a knuckle rub emoticon to the like section of the posts lol

[beerfly]

1 minute ago, KuriousTurtle said:

I have no issue with traveling 1.5km to do a quest, it means I get to see more of the world and mark good looking poi’s on the map to come back to and loot. Sure the first few days, those buried treasure quests are a main source of food. But if they make it a permanent solution to only offer those types of quests the first few day’s, then it’s not going to be any kind of challenge like they are wanting

At the times we see new alphas, there is always new systems that they implement and balance. True, at some point traveling away from your ideas is frustrating, but it is not gonna be a permanent, game is still in Alpha. There are gonna be much more surprises.