# Update Log
## 2026-08-17
### Performance
- Removed the old "Deep Observation" belief-map navigator entirely. Every NPC
now uses a single, simpler ground-truth A* pathfinder that plans a route
once and only replans on a real event (goal changed, path finished, or
genuinely stuck) instead of on a rolling timer.
- Fixed the root cause of severe NPC-update spikes (30-90ms/frame): the A*
search's node/iteration budget was flat regardless of how far the
destination actually was, so an unreachable goal just a few blocks away
cost as much as a legitimate long cross-country trip. The search budget now
scales with the real distance to the goal.
- Reduced the per-frame cap on full pathfinding searches so no single frame
can be dominated by pathfinding cost.
- Rewrote the block-search NPCs use to find resources (ore, crops, etc.) from
a brute-force volume scan to a nearest-column-first scan — cut a worst-case
~69,000-block check down to a few hundred in the common case.
- Removed the "NPC Smart Pathfind" toggle from the graphics menu; ordinary
wandering NPCs now always use the lightweight movement they were meant to.
### Fixes
- Fixed a crash (segfault) triggered by the new resource-search code under
heavy NPC load.
- Fixed 3rd-person gauntlets not tracking arm swings/attacks correctly — they
now stay locked to the hand through every animation.
- Fixed the Y key opening the Empire menu while typing in the creative
inventory search box or other text fields.
### New
- Added Low-Gravity and High-Gravity wands: cast an area effect that makes
every NPC and the player in range floaty or heavy for a short time.
- NPCs now visibly carry items/blocks they've picked up, and periodically
swap what they're holding so towns feel more active.
- NPCs now steer around each other on the road instead of walking through/
into one another, curving back onto their route afterward.
- Requesting a 2nd or 3rd house from an NPC while one is already being built
now queues it instead of interrupting the current build.
- The hire panel's "Build House" job now hands you the House Wand so you mark
exactly where and how big to build, instead of placing a fixed cottage.
The old "Request House" menu option was removed since the wand covers it.
- Added ~60 missing crafting recipes (tiered swords, pickaxes, axes, shovels,
helmets, chestplates, leggings, boots, shields, and gauntlets across
Copper/Iron/Gold/Mithril/Adamantite/Carbide) plus armor-trim recipes to the
Encyclopedia of Crafting, and the Items tab now shows the actual recipe for
the item you're viewing instead of a blank preview.
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