Alpha 20 Dev Diary

[Spuder 7]

So with the change to armor/clothing will the night vision goggles be moved to a helmet mod like the headlight?

[faatal 1,353]

3 hours ago, Blake_ said:

@faatal , since Robert isn't here to answer, do you know if the RWG has a target RAM consumption for a20 ? The news are that you guys are ditching the 4k maps. I have mixed feelings for various reasons:

 

In 4k maps, the RAM RSS feed currently stands at 3800 Mb to ... 6000-6200 MB !! after around 5 (quest days/build nights) hour sessions SINGLE PLAYER. That means multiplayer can easily double after just 4-5 hours resulting in 12000+MB memory RSS feed and square and texture artifacts everywhere at virtually any time (artifacts start to happen when the dedicated memory  is filled and system RAM juggles too much).

 

My concern is that if we are going to get 6k maps minimum, how is that going to fare for us lads with peanut butter Pcs? At the moment I'm standing in the "just ok" rope with 4k maps consuming said 3,8 gigs to 6,2gigs  after 5 or 6 hours.

 

Do you have any insight on this subject ? Are 6k maps gonna have a stable 4 gigs of RSS most of the time or are they expectedly going to hit the 8 gig mark as Navezgane is currently doing ?  Senior programmers have a throne in Westeros from where they can overlook such things, right? I'm sure of it.

 

Salutations.

Not hard to reproduce. When dedicated memory is filled and RAM is also topping or juggling too much, it happens 100% of the time. Moving fast through the map (no need to God mode) also results in that, but again, memory HAS to be filled.

None of that should be set in stone yet. Once RWG changes are further along, we can see where memory use is at and fix what needs to be fixed.

Edit: Robert says 4k is still possible, so we will probably have that too.

Edited December 1, 2020 by faatal (see edit history)

[Maxley 38]

@madmole with the new character models, will we still be able to make our characters bright purple or any other unnatural color? I really enjoy having my character look as bizarre as possible so I hope this will still be a thing. Ark does an excellent job at letting you make a truly abominable characters, though I understand if body shapes like that aren’t possible for the sake of making armor not clip.

Edited December 3, 2020 by Maxley (see edit history)

[Blake_ 324]

@faatal , I've been testing A19.3 performance. I hope to have unearthed something useful in the output logs. Be aware, the issues posted below are universal to all sizes (4k and 8k) though in 8k they might be proportional.

 

 

[Xtrakicking 374]

On 12/3/2020 at 4:38 AM, Maxley said:

@madmole with the new character models, will we still be able to make our characters bright purple or any other unnatural color? I really enjoy having my character look as bizarre as possible so I hope this will still be a thing. Ark does an excellent job at letting you make a truly abominable characters, though I understand if body shapes like that aren’t possible for the sake of making armor not clip.

 

This is probably one of the reasons why they want to completely move on from the UMA system.

[FranticDan 63]

I decided to reenable the Charging Bull perk, because I enjoyed using it in A17. Noticed 2 things, it doesn't correctly function anymore, and the new description is essentially Pain Train from Fallout 4.

My question is, will Charging Bull be making a return in A20?

[Adam the Waster 694]

@madmole

So How many Armors/cloths do you think will come to the game and do you think we will see some old ones make a return (at least in style) 

like a Military armor set ment for gun users.

or a Knight armor ment for heavy melee weapons 

Also sense there are alot of clothes, will each piece of clothing already in the game be turned into the new clothing or will there be more added (i don't know how to explain it)
 

[sillls 117]

I wanted to ask. How were you able to get the game to load all that data? I know some people who are trying to make a game and it takes forever to the game to load and it doesn't have nearly as much detail as this game. 

[BobbyLee298 36]

Now that the fire Forest biome is merge with the wasteland biome (which i think is a good idea) could we see 1 new biome before gold, such as a swamp biome? Or what ever the team has in mind

[Weazelsun 4]

@madmole Regarding the armor/ clothing sets, what will become of the the special items like the firefighter's helmet, SWAT helmet, football helmet, and military stealth boots? Will they go away or stay and become part of special set?

[stample 61]

Liking a lot of the changes, but two things have me worried:

 

Inventory unlocking:  Currently you can unlock your entire inventory using double clothing pocket mods and triple armor pocket mods.  Going down to only 4 pieces of equipment means we'd like 6-pocket mods or something like it.  Or will Pack Mule become required to fully unlock your encumbrance slots?  It was mentioned much earlier in this thread that possibly a larger backpack is something on the roadmap in the future.  That would only make this even more vital.

 

Temperature management:  Are there plans to drastically increase the temperature bonuses of armor/clothing?  With half as many, you'd need twice as much on each piece to combat desert/snow temperatures.  If you're not going to continue the cowboy hat/skullcap/pressboy hat mods (which gave excellent temp bonuses, its not just about visual effects), how will we possibly have enough temp resistance?  I'm worried that a lumberjack-type outfit might be great for snow, but useless in wasteland/burnt/whatever-its-called-next biome, resulting in either constant overheating or foregoing the bonuses.  Likewise, would your ranger outfit result in you constantly freezing in the snow biome?  I look forward to the increased challenges in the harder biomes, but I hope that challenge doesn't include dealing with stage 2 freeze/heat exhaustion the entire time.  Today I can swap my skullcap mod for a cowboy hat mod, and my duster for a poncho, and I'm all set to handle a different biome.  That won't be possible now.

Edited December 8, 2020 by stample (see edit history)

[faatal 1,353]

On 12/4/2020 at 3:33 AM, Blake_ said:

@faatal , I've been testing A19.3 performance. I hope to have unearthed something useful in the output logs. Be aware, the issues posted below are universal to all sizes (4k and 8k) though in 8k they might be proportional.

 

 

I can look at that at some point, but busy with other things now.

On 12/5/2020 at 7:26 PM, sillls said:

I wanted to ask. How were you able to get the game to load all that data? I know some people who are trying to make a game and it takes forever to the game to load and it doesn't have nearly as much detail as this game. 

A lot of complicated code. For all the people who complain about lack of optimizations, if there were none it would be unplayable.

[Jost Amman 274]

7 hours ago, faatal said:

I can look at that at some point, but busy with other things now.

 

[faatal 1,353]

I've been working on weather manager cleanup and now starting on the simulation, so hopefully less gloomy days.

[bilibili-wayne 6]

Hey team, I appear again! At present, I brought you a few questions, most players. , of course, this is after I summarize, actually is main or to delete is not necessary to ask questions (for example, player to brush the 50 zombies, said computer is very card).

The third episode of the 1 - A20 video when hair? Or release probably determine the time?

2 - can in A20, restore a zombie will climb a wall of spider come back?

3 - beamon behemoth has a plan to return? Too many players said: in the late game, almost every week is repeated. Wants to see a team of 5 levels of task to add a similar construction in the existence of the super BOSS! But it (he? Her?) Will not leave the task structure.
 

[4sheetzngeegles 77]

Faatal

 

I have a few questions relating to one subject.

 

Since TFP has access to all of their archived\older versions Do you
or any of the team ever go to them for any inspiration or do you start
from scratch with each iteration\alpha?

 

Will or is it possible to do a similar configuration, regarding the weather,
as it was in alpha 15. I am referring to the altitude temperature manager.
Example: Lower altitudes had a hotter climate, as you went higher the temperature
declined. Imagery: Wasteland, if painted to the lowest altitude has the most brutal
heat, then burnt forest, desert, Pine forest, snow in the mountains.

 

If a single day\night lighting gradient is used for all then it would have less abrupt
visual lighting changes as you move between biomes. The only difference would be the
atmospheric effects, Fog, clouds, LUT, Particle emission.
Gradient ref: sun,moon,fog,fog fade etc. For me its like an atmospheric LUT adjustment.

 

Biome distribution was also more 3d. It would go along x,y, and z.

 

With the manager that you are working on, if the above reference is applied could the manager
also be applied to a singular governor for the atmospheric effects? I mean not only the temperature
but as you change altitude, then say you have the existing particle storms, but they would
progressively decline, as you approach the median height, and progress as you approach the
extreme upper and lower distances. Imagery: Pine forest is middle of the height and has ChunkMargin 20,
as you descend\ascend the chunk margin decreases creating a smoother transition visually.

 

Is the prior code used, Copyright protected or TFP intellectual property, as TFP team mates
change?

[Blake_ 324]

On 12/10/2020 at 3:35 AM, faatal said:

I've been working on weather manager cleanup and now starting on the simulation, so hopefully less gloomy days.

 

Multiquestion attack !

 

1.Can you clarify ?

2.What does that mean for weather survival ?

3.What is the intended result/end goal of the weather system ? like : Weather-specific Zombies? Streamlined weather survival/heat-cold management ? or is it just "To look better than before" for now ?

[x3eemguy 1]

I want to know what he means by "less gloomy days". Is he taking away from the weather system? As of right now I can't remember when last I experienced rain or dense fog and I play at least 4 days a week for at least 2 to 4 hours a day. This current weather system is making me think of going back to my ps4 7 days to die where I experience really dense fog for days making me really think about what I'm doing. It adds the extra element that we are no longer getting on this pc version. And boy talk about the night, it's so bright I could see for miles even with my brightness turned all the way down, I hate it. Can TFPs please rethink the scare factor in this game. Simply limiting the players vision will make this game's experience 100 % better.

Edited December 12, 2020 by x3eemguy
Did not finish post. (see edit history)

[Jost Amman 274]

@faatal Christmas wish for A20... stealth would be MUCH more valuable if firing a gun would always have a chance to summon a horde (like the screamer). 

[khzmusik 57]

On 12/9/2020 at 9:35 PM, faatal said:

I've been working on weather manager cleanup and now starting on the simulation, so hopefully less gloomy days.

I don't suppose this will include support for seasonal weather (e.g. "winter" drops the world temp by 20 degrees)?

 

...Probably not, but doesn't hurt to ask.

[Roland 2,848]

11 hours ago, x3eemguy said:

I want to know what he means by "less gloomy days".

There was an issue where once it started raining it would get stuck on raining for weeks of in-game time. "Less gloomy days" means that issue is fixed and rainy days will come and go randomly and no one weather pattern will get stuck day after day.

[BobbyLee298 36]

On 12/12/2020 at 3:40 PM, Jost Amman said:

@faatal Christmas wish for A20... stealth would be MUCH more valuable if firing a gun would always have a chance to summon a horde (like the screamer). 

Currently it does, but by the sounds "heat" rating. But it does it at a contant rate... Meaning 1 shot fired = to 2 added to your "heat" level

 

if they added a random heat chance thing that adds a larger burst of "heat" at once, that would trigger a horde or screamer depending if your "heat" is already near 100%

 

say like 10/200/30 in the sound xml or somthing

 

The number 10 being the min number of shots needed to trigger the "heat" event,

The number 200 being the max number of shots to trigger the "heat" event

And the number 30 being how much "heat" it addes to that area 

 

The scalability of this would be great, and a stealth perk could be created, tho on the coding end if this i got no clue. 

 

 

 

 

Also they could just do somthing like this 

3/12 

 

3 being the min amount of "heat" generated per shot

12 being the max amount of "heat" per shot

 

This would be alot eazer IMO, and the a stealth perk can just directly affect how high your min and max is

 

 

 

 

 

And i dont see this happaning at all considering they never brought back "smell" for a LONG time and because TFP want to get this game done with, im sure everyone can tell by this point

 

None the less well see what happens in A20

 

[Diragor 17]

On 12/12/2020 at 3:28 PM, x3eemguy said:

I want to know what he means by "less gloomy days". Is he taking away from the weather system? As of right now I can't remember when last I experienced rain or dense fog and I play at least 4 days a week for at least 2 to 4 hours a day. This current weather system is making me think of going back to my ps4 7 days to die where I experience really dense fog for days making me really think about what I'm doing. It adds the extra element that we are no longer getting on this pc version. And boy talk about the night, it's so bright I could see for miles even with my brightness turned all the way down, I hate it. Can TFPs please rethink the scare factor in this game. Simply limiting the players vision will make this game's experience 100 % better.

Yeah I often think about the ps4 version of the game where you could have snowy days in the forest biome or it's damn foggy.

One of the a19 streams they did they've shown the full auto shotgun in the snow biome and changed the settings to be very foggy. You could only see like 3-5 blocks far and I loved it. Thats real survival horror *-* I want that in the weather system

[faatal 1,353]

On 12/11/2020 at 2:55 AM, 4sheetzngeegles said:

Faatal

 

I have a few questions relating to one subject.

 

Since TFP has access to all of their archived\older versions Do you
or any of the team ever go to them for any inspiration or do you start
from scratch with each iteration\alpha?

 

Will or is it possible to do a similar configuration, regarding the weather,
as it was in alpha 15. I am referring to the altitude temperature manager.
Example: Lower altitudes had a hotter climate, as you went higher the temperature
declined. Imagery: Wasteland, if painted to the lowest altitude has the most brutal
heat, then burnt forest, desert, Pine forest, snow in the mountains.

 

If a single day\night lighting gradient is used for all then it would have less abrupt
visual lighting changes as you move between biomes. The only difference would be the
atmospheric effects, Fog, clouds, LUT, Particle emission.
Gradient ref: sun,moon,fog,fog fade etc. For me its like an atmospheric LUT adjustment.

 

Biome distribution was also more 3d. It would go along x,y, and z.

 

With the manager that you are working on, if the above reference is applied could the manager
also be applied to a singular governor for the atmospheric effects? I mean not only the temperature
but as you change altitude, then say you have the existing particle storms, but they would
progressively decline, as you approach the median height, and progress as you approach the
extreme upper and lower distances. Imagery: Pine forest is middle of the height and has ChunkMargin 20,
as you descend\ascend the chunk margin decreases creating a smoother transition visually.

 

Is the prior code used, Copyright protected or TFP intellectual property, as TFP team mates
change?

 

You don't rewrite all your game code for each new release/update. That would be crazy. 95%+ is the same code.

 

Now you might rewrite a system, but that is often overkill too. I am updating the Weather Manager, not rewriting it. Maybe 40% of the code has been touched.

 

We are not planning on doing altitude changes for any of it.

 

All creations by a person/company are automatically the copyright owner by default (in the USA anyway), unless stated otherwise.

[faatal 1,353]

On 12/11/2020 at 7:21 AM, Blake_ said:

 

Multiquestion attack !

 

1.Can you clarify ?

2.What does that mean for weather survival ?

3.What is the intended result/end goal of the weather system ? like : Weather-specific Zombies? Streamlined weather survival/heat-cold management ? or is it just "To look better than before" for now ?

1 Yes!

2 Nothing much atm other than the weather should change at a consistent rate.

3 The goal of these changes is to make it run faster, look better and not get stuck on ugly conditions. Rain comes and goes in a clean fashion. Snow looks pretty sweet now.