Migration to 64 Bit!
I have finally invested the time to migrate the game over to 64 bit. This is work I've been delaying for some time, however as the game has continued to grow, I was starting to hit the limitations of 32 bit (causing crashes for players with "Out of Memory" errors) and making development much more problematic.
Essentially the 64 bit version removes memory limitations imposed under 32 bit, allowing the game to scale in size far beyond what was previously possible, while offering more stable and improved performance. This may sound less than exciting, but please know how essential this was to the growth and future of the game.
Executables:
Launching the game from Steam will now launch the 64 bit version. I am still shipping the 32 bit version as part of the game installation. The 32 bit executable can be found in ../Subsistence/Binaries/Win32/UDK.exe.
Save file restructure for 64 bit:
Profile saves will remain intact. The first time you run the game on Alpha 57 a script will migrate existing saves into a new directory structure: ../Subsistence/UDKGame/SaveData/. So if you make backups, please use this folder moving forward.
New Deep-Cave Expansion:
A brand new cave system now lies deep beneath the world.
Far deeper than the existing cave system, the new caverns reach veins of volcanically active lava pools and streams. Temperatures in the caves soar and will deplete player hydration levels, so ample water supplies are essential for explorers.
The new cave system connects the two existing caves systems. So it's now possible to travel from the SE Lake all the way to the NW lake entirely underground. However be aware of the risks when attempting this distance. Dying in the caves could make retrieval of your kit difficult and hazardous.
The caves now all being connected makes the entire underground system pretty mammoth. There will certainly be future expansions, linking mountainous ice-caves down into the system.
Rock Climbing:
Players can now craft Climbing Axes at the workbench. These will allow players to ascend/descend any rock face in the world (including frozen waterfalls).
To ascend, with the axes equipped, simply approach and face any vertical rock face and a prompt will popup to begin climbing. To descend, simply approach the edge of a cliff and the same prompt will show, allowing you to climb down and mount the rock face from above.
Once mounted, the player can freely climb the face using the movement keys, while moving their head independently to view their path. You can jump from the face at any time (but be very careful).
The player will automatically unmount the wall when reaching flat ground. When reaching the top of a cliff, a prompt will show to vault up onto flat ground.
This new mechanic required significant development effort, and it will seem underutilized at this point (as for now it's only used to access the new caves). However it is part of a larger (iterative) plan and will take on a more prominent role in the future. High-mountain terrain (as a unique and fully realized biome) has always been on the roadmap, and is still absent from the game. Stay tuned.
Accessing The New Caves:
As mentioned, climbing axes will be required to access the new caves. Large vertical drops separate the new cave system from the existing caverns.
Server Build Cap Doubled In Size:
As mentioned on previous updates, the server build limit is in place due to the number of network channels available during a client connection to the server (rather than as some arbitrary performance measure). If I exceed the limit, then network requests get completely lost and the game essentially breaks.
As done previously, to increase the cap I group/cluster many buildables of the same type to all share a single channel. This time I've switched a lot of buildable types over, and the result is effectively double the cap size of Alpha 56! There is also room for further increases in the future.
Deep-Cave Hunters:
A new type of hunter occupie the new deep-cave system. They are identified by their gas masks and grimy bodies from the fumes in the caves.
They typically form in smaller squads than the other mining hunters, and are slightly less armored.
They required a bit of an AI overhaul to avoid suicidal runs into lava pools...
Gas Mask:
The gas mask is not a craftable item, and is currently only used by the deep-cave hunters. *However* it is possible to find it in the world, although is extremely rare.
Overheating:
I've updated the health system for when a player is too hot (indicated by the HOT hud icon). The increased depletion on hydration levels is the same as before, however now when hydration levels hit zero (and the player is too hot), the player will start taking actual damage. So staying hydrated during hot temperatures is now more important.
Taking a dip in a lake is one way to cool-off, choosing more appropriate clothing, or fitting your base with an AC unit.
Deep-Cave Mining Crates:
While exploring the new cave system, you'll find mining supply crates left around. These crates require players to break them open before accessing (which causes tool usage damage).
I'm using some minor destruction physics on the crate mesh to make it a little more satisfying to smash open.
These crates can contain higher tier items, however they have a high cool-down times on respawns.
Mixed Berry Jam:
Players can now craft jam jars from the workbench. These aren't too cheap, but are permanent and reusable items (for now).
Collecting berries throughout the various seasons now allows players to prepare mixed berry jam at the oven (requires the boiling pan).
The jam provides a boost to max health/stamina, otherwise not provided by eating the berries by themselves.
You may notice the total fruit/veg benefit is less than the total individual berries. This may seem like an oversight now, but will make more sense once perish times are added to fruits/veg (as jams will preserve fruits without the need for refrigeration).
Ore Node Impact and Crate Interaction Animations:
Ore nodes now animate when they take hits whiles mining.
In addition, crates will play a subtle jolt as players interact with them. I think this makes the world feel a little more dynamic and interactive while out looting.
Joining Server Streaming Status Bar:
When joining a server, the client now tracks the progress of the initial streaming of world-data, so there's now a handy loading bar!
Fixed Getting Killed While Joining Server:
There was previously a small amount of time when joining a server, where the player would spawn into the world before taking control of their player (sometimes leading to being killed). This is now fixed!
View Player Steam Profiles From The In-Game Player List:
When clicking on a player in the in-game player list, a small button will show over their avatar, allowing players to open their Steam profile in the Steam overlay.
This will help players send friend requests or open chat on Steam if they team up in-game.
New Death Screen Hud:
I've updated the death screen hud to now slide in the options available to the player.
Previously this was just a paragraph of text, so it was not obvious that easy mode offers the option to reload the previous save. The new design should be much cleaner and more intuitive.
Global Ban List:
While I continue to add preventative measures to hacking, some players continue to try to use 3rd party hacking software on servers. Because of this I've added a global ban list. This service allows me to ban a player and have that propagate to all servers globally. I sincerely hope to never need to use it, but it is now there as a tool to protect players trying to play fairly.
Plants Will No Longer Grow With No Water:
Previously plants would still grow (although very slowly) with no water. Now growth is halted if the plantbed has zero water.
Fixed Awkward Cave Transition At NW Lake:
While entering the underwater cave system at the NW lake, previously I was actually using a portal and projecting an fake image to hide the transition of passing through the landscape layer into the cave environment. The new system handles the collision and physics correctly without the need for the previous hack and smoothly interpolates between the two environments.
Increased O2 Tank Duration By Over 50%
Added Drop Shadows To Death Skull and Map Icons:
Should make them easier to see in snowy terrain or in a blizzard.
Hunter Glow Stick Colors:
Rogues now use green glow sticks, miners use orange and deep-miners use red.
Cloud Saves:
I'm now utilizing the Steam cloud save service to sync all profile save data. So if you switch systems or format and re-install your OS, your profiles will persist. If you currently use multiple computers on the same Steam account and want to maintain separate save data, you can disable cloud saves for the game in the settings in your Steam client.
Fixed Some Hunter Weapon Handling Glitches:
There were several states where hunters were switching weapons while still in the process of aiming/reloading/etc, so I've cleaned some of that up.
Additional Admin Features:
- Added ability to teleport directly to a base via console command:
TeleportToBase
- Dedicated server admins can now inspect buildables to check how long until the buildable will start to decay. This will also list how long the player who placed it (or a member of their base) was last online. Simply look at the buildable and enter the console command (also works in freecam mode):
InspectBuildable
- Dedicated server admins can now open the Steam profile of the player that placed any buildable. Simply look at the buildable and use the following console command (also works in freecam mode):
ViewSteamProfileOfPlayerWhoPlacedBuildable
- Added ability to disable clipping while in freecam mode (console command while already in freecam mode):
NoClipFreeCam
- Base names (that show at bottom right in the hud) will now update while in freecam mode.
- The ListBases admin command will now also report on the time since a base member was last online (playing on the server).
ListBases
- Fixed bug where admins couldn't see ore nodes in the caves while in freecam mode.
Reminder that you can type "help" to view available admin commands.
Structural Integrity???
I know some players expected me to enable this feature in the update. I worked a lot on this during the Alpha 56 update and simply needed a bit of break from that code, as there were several additional features needed to accompany it (such as structural support buildables). The feature is all still there and ready for me to finish. I'll pick this back up for a future update.
New Languages Supported:
Two new languages have had support added:
- Ukrainian
- Latvian
Other Notable Changes:
- Added ultra-high-rez rock materials to cave rock, which blends in at close proximity.
- Added localized messages for connection errors while attempting to join servers.
- Fixed player shadow casting bug introduced in Alpha 56 (causing overly black shadows on players while in base lighting).
- Fixed "Rent a Server" button not opening the Steam overlay on some computers.
- Updated silver birch trees bark texture (credit to Gael Romanet for donating these textures, project Dismal).
- Fixed bug where stack of perishable food item stacks would disappear when using shift-rightClick to split individual items (while in the default inventory).
- Fixed bug where phantom fish could persist in the water with no fishing player or hunter.
- Fixed clients hearing the fishing float "plop" sound a second time when starting to reel in a fish.
Discord invite: https://discord.gg/zyy4jQs
Twitter: @playSubsistence
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/playsubsistence/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkQZ7vkTiqetTC0_8umY2Pg
Steam Forums: https://steamcommunity.com/app/418030/discussions/
Hosting Your Own Server:
If you would like to host your own dedicated server, I would recommend Nitrado (as I work closely with their team to support the game). You are also free to host on your own hardware, and the server files are freely available on SteamCMD.
You can view a detailed guide to hosting here:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2201638184
Continued Translation Support Credits (in no particular order): Thank you so much for the support.
Spanish (David Lascasas)
Hungarian (Erb Ármin)
Portuguese BR (Thiago Schumacke)
German (Philipp J. Rackl (LPCaiser))
Italian (Marcello Brancaccio, Federico D. Ravagli)
French (Anthony Charrault)
Czech (Dílna U mnicha)
Dutch (Damster_NL)
Danish (Jesper Vestergaard Bæk)
Russian (FRAME)
Turkish (Soulkast, Çagla Gurbet)
Swedish (Mattias Gustavsson)
Norwegian (Christer Djuvik, Svein Tore Stegemoen)
Romanian (VaeVictis)
Estonian (Streamerize)
Polish (Robertus Lubin)
Ukrainian (RoW-Team)
Latvian (Martins Plucis)