Version 1.0 (Alpha 22) Dev Diary

[Riamus]

37 minutes ago, bdubyah said:

Any plans to try and smooth out the hitching that happens when you decap a zombie? It's been a thing since the new system was added, but is so much more noticeable now that all zombies appear to be using it.

I'll need to look more closely as I haven't noticed this.  Maybe it is more noticeable at higher resolutions (I'm at 1080p) and 60Hz max refresh rate monitor?

Edited Saturday at 06:34 PM by Riamus (see edit history)

[bdubyah]

I haven't played much myself, but it's been a thing since Steve got the new decap stuff in previous alphas. Watch G9 or a Woodle vid and it happens quite a bit.

 

Also, unrelated, I was curious what the rewards for the more difficult challenges were and spawned and killed 50 feral wights. My reward options were:

 

All of those are T3 weapons except the baton. So people spec'd into INT get a T2 weapon while anyone else would get the top tier weapon of their tree. I get that it is melee only(or I suppose it is based on the choices) but just seems off to me. Are we ever going to get a T3 melee INT weapon? That plasma baton has been sitting in the xmls for a while now...:P

[Doomofman]

What was the thinking behind the small bear?

 

I assume they'll both have the same skin and it's not a black bear/brown bear scenario as in the art shown the skin is somewhere between the two

[dcsobral]

Regarding challenges:

 

I'm on day 17, deliberately trying to complete challenges. I'm also watching two different streamers play, one closing in on day 14, and the other just finished day 6.

 

All of us have moved past the stone axe and the bone knife WAY before those challenges could be completed.

 

Iron knives are common toilet drops so even the rotten meat challenge could not be completed before all three of us moved on to them. The day 6 streamer crafted a q1 bone knife and completed that quest with a single gore block, but only because people told him in the comments he had to use the bone knife.

 

The stone axe restriction is not nearly as bad with the exception of two challenges: honey (the first one!) and leather.

 

Acquiring 5 honey requires *on average* 25 tree trunks going by the 20% chance in the XML, but that's an average (maybe median?) and it can go much higher than that.  POI tree trunks do not count, which can easily lead people to think the challenge is broken.

 

As for leather, there are no restaurants in the forest! You cannot do that quest before you leave the forest, and it will require traveling long distances to a more difficult biome as well, so people are very unlikely to do it early on and quite likely to have a fireaxe by the time they do it.

 

Requiring specifically bone knives and stone axes instead of allowing all appropriate tools of that type doesn't seem to be serving any purpose other than force people to pay close attention to what the challenge asks for and force them to use inferior tools to what they currently have.

 

[Fisher]

22 minutes ago, dcsobral said:

As for leather, there are no restaurants in the forest! You cannot do that quest before you leave the forest, and it will require traveling long distances to a more difficult biome as well, so people are very unlikely to do it early on and quite likely to have a fireaxe by the time they do it.

 

 

There's a tier 3 POI, the Happy Sleep Motel, which has a diner in it.  Each one has enough seating to satisfy the quest.  I had a couple of them spawn in my starter forest towns.

[Riamus]

27 minutes ago, dcsobral said:

Regarding challenges:

 

I'm on day 17, deliberately trying to complete challenges. I'm also watching two different streamers play, one closing in on day 14, and the other just finished day 6.

 

All of us have moved past the stone axe and the bone knife WAY before those challenges could be completed.

 

Iron knives are common toilet drops so even the rotten meat challenge could not be completed before all three of us moved on to them. The day 6 streamer crafted a q1 bone knife and completed that quest with a single gore block, but only because people told him in the comments he had to use the bone knife.

 

The stone axe restriction is not nearly as bad with the exception of two challenges: honey (the first one!) and leather.

 

Acquiring 5 honey requires *on average* 25 tree trunks going by the 20% chance in the XML, but that's an average (maybe median?) and it can go much higher than that.  POI tree trunks do not count, which can easily lead people to think the challenge is broken.

 

As for leather, there are no restaurants in the forest! You cannot do that quest before you leave the forest, and it will require traveling long distances to a more difficult biome as well, so people are very unlikely to do it early on and quite likely to have a fireaxe by the time they do it.

 

Requiring specifically bone knives and stone axes instead of allowing all appropriate tools of that type doesn't seem to be serving any purpose other than force people to pay close attention to what the challenge asks for and force them to use inferior tools to what they currently have.

 

If you track the challenges, it will make it clear what you need to complete them and they will be improving the descriptions to make it more clear.  But yes, it isn't clear currently. 

 

I don't see a problem with it taking time to complete a challenge like honey.  Challenges really should be challenging, imo.  Most of these can be done very quickly and easily.  Yes, honey takes a while, but you really should be getting it anyhow.  I think a lot of people continue to use the stone axe even in late game for stuff like boxes and stumps as it is just faster without eating stamina.  So for most people, that won't be an issue the way knives are.

 

There are places with restaurant seats in the forest.  There was a cafe/diner in my game.  Probably only tier 1 or 2, though I didn't check.  If you track it, you can drive/ride/run down the street and wait until you see the indicator that there are some without having to even pay attention to what POI are around you that night have that.  I do think it is dumb to require leather from there and not from other sources that are more really available, though. 

 

The good thing is that the required tools are all very cheap to make, so even if you are past them, you can easily craft one to do the challenge is you want to complete it.  Even so, I don't see why they are so specific.  Just let us harvest the resources using any tool that can be used for harvesting it and from any source that can be harvested for it.  It isn't exactly better by being overly specific.

[dcsobral]

1 hour ago, Riamus said:

If you track the challenges, it will make it clear what you need to complete them and they will be improving the descriptions to make it more clear.  But yes, it isn't clear currently. 

 

I don't see a problem with it taking time to complete a challenge like honey.  Challenges really should be challenging, imo.  Most of these can be done very quickly and easily.  Yes, honey takes a while, but you really should be getting it anyhow.  I think a lot of people continue to use the stone axe even in late game for stuff like boxes and stumps as it is just faster without eating stamina.  So for most people, that won't be an issue the way knives are.

 

There are places with restaurant seats in the forest.  There was a cafe/diner in my game.  Probably only tier 1 or 2, though I didn't check.  If you track it, you can drive/ride/run down the street and wait until you see the indicator that there are some without having to even pay attention to what POI are around you that night have that.  I do think it is dumb to require leather from there and not from other sources that are more really available, though. 

 

The good thing is that the required tools are all very cheap to make, so even if you are past them, you can easily craft one to do the challenge is you want to complete it.  Even so, I don't see why they are so specific.  Just let us harvest the resources using any tool that can be used for harvesting it and from any source that can be harvested for it.  It isn't exactly better by being overly specific.

 

I did not realize you could track the challenges, or that it would then show indicators of the blocks you need to break. That does make them easier, though I still stand by everything I said. Good to know there are places in the forest with restaurant booths, but I had to travel 4k to find one. And I've never seen someone keep a stone axe beyond being able to craft tier 1 iron tools, nevermind keeping bone knives after looting a hunting knife.

 

My point on difficulty was not that it is a problem. The issue with difficulty is that you move on past the tool these challenges are requiring with quests that can't be done early game in a normal playthrough (as opposed to setting out to do specific challenges).

 

[Riamus]

1 minute ago, dcsobral said:

 

I did not realize you could track the challenges, or that it would then show indicators of the blocks you need to break. That does make them easier, though I still stand by everything I said. Good to know there are places in the forest with restaurant booths, but I had to travel 4k to find one. And I've never seen someone keep a stone axe beyond being able to craft tier 1 iron tools, nevermind keeping bone knives after looting a hunting knife.

 

My point on difficulty was not that it is a problem. The issue with difficulty is that you move on past the tool these challenges are requiring with quests that can't be done early game in a normal playthrough (as opposed to setting out to do specific challenges).

 

I never get rid of the some axe.  I'll keep that and a for axe on my tool belt and use whichever is easier in the situation.  For a box or door, a Q6 stone axe with mods can break them very quickly without using any stamina --you use it but the amount is small and regens as far as you use it.  A fire axe is more damage but slower and uses much more stamina.  I can break open a door or box faster with the stove axe and still be at fill stamina, so it is useful.  I've seen others on here who said they do the same thing.  But people are free to upgrade if they like.  I tried the battle axe once and never touched it again.  And fire axe I use mostly for trees, though I'll swap to stone axe when stamina drops to zero, making that faster.

 

My comment on difficulty was specific to honey.  Honey is something you should probably find enough of with a stone axe before you have a fire axe unless you aren't trying to find any. Though admittedly in my game, that want the case this time because I want over 30 stumps in a row without any honey.

[sillls]

I am hearing some new music that only plays at night. I think that it was introduces in the last Alpha. But it is pretty good. 

I don't know the name of it though. 

I wonder if there is some sort of sound track of this new music in the game. 

[Adam the Waster]

4 hours ago, bdubyah said:

 suppose it is based on the choices) but just seems off to me. Are we ever going to get a T3 melee INT weapon? That plasma baton has been sitting in the xmls for a while now...:P

Yes please for the love of god plasma baton 

[seven]

8 hours ago, Laz Man said:

 

I will check if this is a bug.  In the line layout, the biomes are set in the correct progression order.  I don't see why this would be intentionally different for circle.

 

Can we get a toggle in RWG, with one option "Story Mode" for the progression you envision, and "Sandbox" which brings back actual 'random' to RWG?

[Thaledwyn]

So there are now 2 armor mods which give +1 strength: cigar and strength mod.

Are they combinable? If so, why always this strength skill tree favorism? Best AoE, best knockback, best farming...

 

Please remove the +strength from the cigar or remove the separate +strength mod.

[DocRussel]

10 hours ago, Laz Man said:

 

I will check if this is a bug.  In the line layout, the biomes are set in the correct progression order.  I don't see why this would be intentionally different for circle.

Not on my map.

[Fisher]

1 hour ago, Thaledwyn said:

So there are now 2 armor mods which give +1 strength: cigar and strength mod.

Are they combinable? If so, why always this strength skill tree favorism? Best AoE, best knockback, best farming...

 

Please remove the +strength from the cigar or remove the separate +strength mod.

No offence, but, please no.

 

I enjoy the free strength perk which allows the extra point into miner 69er and pack mule.  I've never put a point into strength since my 2nd game after I bought the game 10 years ago.  I refuse to buy into TFP's meta that the club is the best weapon that everyone should use and that's why we put the most mods in the game for it....

[Kalex]

8 hours ago, bdubyah said:

All of those are T3 weapons except the baton. So people spec'd into INT get a T2 weapon while anyone else would get the top tier weapon of their tree. I get that it is melee only(or I suppose it is based on the choices) but just seems off to me. Are we ever going to get a T3 melee INT weapon? That plasma baton has been sitting in the xmls for a while now...:P

Yes, please, please give us our T3 baton. INT build people are tired of being the red-headed stepchild of the builds.

[Riamus]

2 hours ago, DocRussel said:

Not on my map.

Well, I suppose that's kind of in order.  You just go up and until you're done with snow and then have to run to the south for wasteland.  So, one out of order but you never have to cross something before you progress to it.  Still, not quite in order as suggested.

[Adam the Waster]

2 hours ago, DocRussel said:

Not on my map.

Its cool that the land mass is connected and not just a island 

[Egor179]

On 5/8/2024 at 10:18 PM, Cr0wst0rm said:

antialiasing only degrades image quality

Picture quality makes worse only SMAA and FXAA, because it is a post-processing of the finished picture, and TAA and moreover DLAA (DLSS) is a whole rendering pipeline.
I also have 1920x1080 and without DLAA it looks terrible, not only aliasing on the edges, everything flickers and ripples. Just an incomprehensible mess of pixels.
Why do you have such a negative experience with anti-aliasing? I understand if we were discussing the years around 2015-2016, then it was really blurry, although it did the same job, technology doesn't stand still.
Check this out, tell me where the picture degradation is here?

 

[JayBiggS]

I would love to see optional displacement/parallax maps on all of the terrain textures. I think it would make a major difference in the game's visuals as there's a lot of ground to be found around. And in fact it is pretty flat, what do you think about that?

 

And no offense to the game's composer but the majority of the game's music has always had a bit of an amateur vibe to it, and like they only had one drum sound, a piano, and strings. I just feel the game deserves something of higher quality to match all the other visual and (soon) sound effect improvements. I'm not talking about the trader music.

 

EDIT: I've also always wondered...what, if any, is the limit to the number of total POI's the game can have? Not spawned in a single world, but total. Wouldn't it only be limited by the file size of the game, if there was such a limit?

 

 

Edited Sunday at 07:41 AM by JayBiggS (see edit history)

[Fisher]

Does anyone know if it's intended for this tower to collapse on you when you open the duffel bag in it?  Perhaps just a stability issue?  This is in the new athletics complex.

 

 

[Chaton Noir]

7 hours ago, Egor179 said:

Picture quality makes worse only SMAA and FXAA, because it is a post-processing of the finished picture, and TAA and moreover DLAA (DLSS) is a whole rendering pipeline.
I also have 1920x1080 and without DLAA it looks terrible, not only aliasing on the edges, everything flickers and ripples. Just an incomprehensible mess of pixels.
Why do you have such a negative experience with anti-aliasing? I understand if we were discussing the years around 2015-2016, then it was really blurry, although it did the same job, technology doesn't stand still.
Check this out, tell me where the picture degradation is here?

 

Hopefully in the next versions faatal can get DLSS SR to work properly, and then we'll get DLAA too. FSR 3 works good, but DLAA would be even better.

[Adam the Waster]

10 hours ago, Kalex said:

Yes, please, please give us our T3 baton. INT build people are tired of being the red-headed stepchild of the builds.

And a ranged weapon. I want that Nerd build! I want to shot zombies with baseballs or something goofy ahhh

[Cr0wst0rm]

8 hours ago, Egor179 said:

Picture quality makes worse only SMAA and FXAA, because it is a post-processing of the finished picture, and TAA and moreover DLAA (DLSS) is a whole rendering pipeline.
I also have 1920x1080 and without DLAA it looks terrible, not only aliasing on the edges, everything flickers and ripples. Just an incomprehensible mess of pixels.
Why do you have such a negative experience with anti-aliasing? I understand if we were discussing the years around 2015-2016, then it was really blurry, although it did the same job, technology doesn't stand still.
Check this out, tell me where the picture degradation is here?

 

If you play at 1280 * 960 resolution, there may be a slight improvement, but my point was that there is no point in using such feature with monitor with higher resolutions, for example 3440 * 1440.

Also from the footage you supported there is not even a slight chance it's 1920 * 1080. I have 1920 * 1080 myself and I can easily split captured pixels in photoshop.
I can already see you are just trying to prove your personal belief  
 

[FramFramson]

18 hours ago, Riamus said:

The good thing is that the required tools are all very cheap to make, so even if you are past them, you can easily craft one to do the challenge is you want to complete it.  Even so, I don't see why they are so specific.  Just let us harvest the resources using any tool that can be used for harvesting it and from any source that can be harvested for it.  It isn't exactly better by being overly specific.

 

Yeah, I don't understand what forcing players to use weapons they've moved past is supposed to achieve.

 

  

2 hours ago, Fisher said:

Does anyone know if it's intended for this tower to collapse on you when you open the duffel bag in it?  Perhaps just a stability issue?  This is in the new athletics complex.

 

 

 

There's a lot of reports about stability having been deprecated in some way such that POIs will collapse when you get near or do something innocuous. This is especially pronounced with the newest POIs, apparently. 

 

I don't know if it's because of the way the new POIs were built or a glitch in the stability system... TFP will have to answer that one I guess.

[Laz Man]

2 hours ago, Fisher said:

Does anyone know if it's intended for this tower to collapse on you when you open the duffel bag in it?  Perhaps just a stability issue?  This is in the new athletics complex.

 

 

Will check, thanks!

5 minutes ago, FramFramson said:

 

Yeah, I don't understand what forcing players to use weapons they've moved past is supposed to achieve.

 

  

 

There's a lot of reports about stability having been deprecated in some way such that POIs will collapse when you get near or do something innocuous. This is especially pronounced with the newest POIs, apparently. 

 

I don't know if it's because of the way the new POIs were built or a glitch in the stability system... TFP will have to answer that one I guess.

 

That's news to me, I will check.