v1.4.014: Catching up on the last ten builds

Hey everyone. Last patch notes here were for v1.4.004. I've put out ten builds since then and haven't kept up with writing about them, so there's a fair bit to catch up on.

Fixed the game getting stuck at the main menu

Some fresh installs couldn't get past the menu at all. It happened with an empty shader cache, which explains why it worked on my machine and then wouldn't even start on yours.

Thanks to the playtester who reported it. That's what let me track it down.

The menu and store loading were waiting on each other. They now run in order, and the export test launches the game a second time with an empty user folder to help catch this before a build goes out.

The roughly five-second freeze when the store first appeared is fixed too. Shaders now compile in the menu, once per build.

Furniture placement

• Furniture now lands where the placement preview shows it. The preview, footprint, placement checks, and collision box all match the model. Some corner-pivoted pieces were landing up to half a piece away.
• Fixed furniture shifting 13-17 cm every time you reloaded.
• Moved furniture now sits on the carpet instead of floating 7 cm above it until the next reload.
• The Demo Kiosk actually shows its cabinet while you're placing it, rather than just an empty footprint and an arrow.

Counter and customer fixes

• Selling a shelf no longer crashes the interaction prompt or causes games to stock into the wrong row afterward.
• Grading a customer's second trade-in no longer shows the first game's grade.
• Fixed the camera getting stuck after turning toward a theft. You get control back when the camera movement finishes.
• Register text is now on the monitor instead of floating about 12 cm beside it.
• Speech bubbles no longer show through the customers standing in front of them.
• Removed the floating name above the game on the counter so it doesn't get in the way of the cover.

Interface

• Control hints now sit in a three-row column at the bottom-left, instead of stretching across most of the screen with up to six labels.
• Checkout now shows the right controls. A bug dating back to June meant you were getting furniture controls during a sale.
• The trade offer panel no longer takes up most of the screen. Your offer is easier to read, the background colour shows whether it's fair, and confirming an offer looks different from walking away.
• Level-ups now appear on the store TV instead of opening another window. Notifications print as paper slips.

Added and updated

• 38 Steam achievements with hand-drawn icons. These use Steam's notifications and achievement list instead of the separate in-game popup and viewer.
• Added a send-back bin for stock you've over-ordered.
• Fixed the Disc Doctor not being placeable in the released build.
• Press F10 to send me a bug report from inside the game. Your build, in-game day, cash, and recent errors are attached automatically.
• All cardboard cutouts are now hand-drawn to match the game covers.

Performance and language fix

Scene changes are down from about 1.1 seconds to 0.2 seconds. The Skills and Calendar panels now load the first time you open them instead of during store loading.

Using a German-language OS also no longer starts you in the unfinished German translation, which was only 27% complete.

Thanks for playing and reporting this stuff. Especially the problems I wasn't seeing on my own install.