Performance & More - October 2018

Massive performance gains and a ton more all arrive tonight on the default branch! We are extremely excited to release the update to you tonight as we close out this long cycle. We hope you find the wait to have been well worth it -- improvements abound with nearly every aspect of the gameplay receiving attention along with the true focus, the main event of the cycle, being the long awaited performance optimizations. See below for the full change logs. :)

Update Video

Check out the latest video: SimAirport - October 2018 Update Video

What's Next?

We will be getting back to more rapid cycles now that we have taken care of the key foundational concerns that had hampered performance. We still have more performance gains ahead, and we'll continue to make incremental strides, but we're really ready to knock out some new content and additional gameplay systems!

Next cycle you will be seeing: Tutorial, Cafe / Retail Overhaul, and Staff Scheduling. As usual we'll slide in a few features, QoL improvements, and fixes too -- but the focus will primarily be on these three areas. You'll be seeing the tutorial hit edge this coming week even! :)

Don't forget the Official SimAirport Roadmap to see the whole picture of what to expect!

Thank You!

We want to extend a special thank you to the players on edge & experimental who have been instrumental to making this cycle a successful one. This was the longest cycle to date, and definitely one of the most challenging; we really appreciate the continued testing, bug reporting, and the overall patience that the community as a whole has & continues to extend to us. Your collective support continues to be incredible and is truly second to none. Thank you!!!

NOTABLE ITEMS

• Performance - Many Overhauls & Optimizations

  • Rendering systems & key data-structures completely revised
  • New Pax / Agent Sprites via fast agent display code
  • Tile draw & refresh routines refactored
  • Background thread controller and runners re-architected
  • Baggage System and luggage simulation & rendering overhaul
  • Overhauled all Sector generation, construction, and reachability matrix code
  • Substantially improved object pooling efficiency
  • Road graph, vehicle reachability/distance generation overhauled
  • Pax 'AI context' removed from saves, reduces RAM & save file sizes
  • Numerous existing UIs optimized & improved for efficiency

• A Real Main Menu!

  • Can start new game with custom set of airlines (and disable the defaults)
  • Steam Workshop UIs substantially overhauled & improved
  • Adds a Steam Workshop 'Browse' view with 1-click "Play" on Airports & better UX
  • Adds full featured Airline mod creation & editing tool
  • Adds a new in-game 'Mod Status' screen to display mods in the save and provide download/update functions

• Land Expansions in ANY Direction!

• Fuel System Improvements

  • Adds new Refuel Station which Fuel Trucks use to get refilled before returning to hangar
  • Recurring Order now a toggle, orders amount needed to fill tanks each night
  • Spot Order now separate UI, allows optional immediate-delivery
  • Fuel trucks will top-off from the fuel port after aircraft refueling at gates with a port
  • Usability & aesthetic improvements to Fuel UIs

• MORE HIGHLIGHTS

  • Financial: Bank Loan Systems

    • Loans always available via pre-application; rates vary on credit/amount
    • New Credit Reporting research and new Credit Report UI (Finance Hub)
    • New "Perfect Ops Bonus" UI (Finance Hub) breakdown on why/not receiving "100% bonus"

  • New 'Pax Flows' overlay

    • Activate from the right side of main UI/HUD toolbar
    • Multiple modes to analyze & slice/dice the pax data - press TAB to switch modes when active
    • View Satisfaction, Time-in-Airport, Arrival/Departure, and more!

  • New 'Pax Hub' Reporting UIs

    • Access via clicking Pax Satisfaction on top HUD
    • "Passenger Needs" displays breakdown of needs by satisfaction level
    • "Pax Timings" displays total time spent by passengers in your airport; allows for viewing today or yesterday, aggregate & filtered by flight. Only shown per gameplay-session (not serialized/saved).

  • 'Departure/Arrival Runways' Display Tool

    • Activate via 'Show Departure/Arrival Runways' button of Gate menus
    • Displays runway candidates based on selection chances for that gate
    • Hover a runway to view detailed heuristics for that runway-gate combo

GAMEPLAY

• Adds several new planning mode options & colors
• Tuning adjustments to fuel system & fuel market
• All luggage on conveyors is now fully representative of checked/deplaned luggage
• Bag hubs now have a maximum number of bags sorted per game-minute
• Hangar Vehicles (bag & fuel) now eligible for tasks while returning to hangars
• Objects now 'in inventory' when in Supply Pile & not already allocated
• Aircraft request refuel & bag load/unload much earlier
• Aircraft will now be in 'Initial Approach' until landing is imminent
• One-way taxiways can no longer allowed on gate-adjacent taxiways (caused no-paths)
• Baggage claim zones now allowed in secure & non-secure areas
• Hunger object tweaks; cafes decreased, most kiosks increased; bar slightly decreased in attractiveness/fulfillment
• Fuel Tank tweaks: capacity + cost + build time (balances small vs large tank)
• Tweaks to sector division to better accommodate pathfinding to/from LRT
• Runway numbering scheme improved for accuracy & realism
• Loan payments taken from balance regardless of available cash (can bankrupt you)
• Removed Ramp Agent from Staff Hire UI
• Increase queue entry speed for improved efficiency
• Now begin with same airlines/mods as previous airport after selling your airport
• Improve responsiveness of pax LRT boarding behavior
• Reduce max pax wait time on luggage to 4.5hrs
• Reduce vehicle road occupancy node requirements for tighter fit
• Adds hangar vehicle true distance heuristics, used for some task assignments
• Allow slightly larger airport sizes via slight increase to land expansion max size
• Revises 'reachability' systems to be more robust and performant
• Pax spawn tweak: now fully spawned for flight by earlier of 3hrs before arrival OR 2hrs before departure
• Improved workmen task immediate-chaining for more efficient construction
• Adds new 'Booster Panel' upgrade for Baggage Hub; provides increased throughput (requires research, max 2/hub)
• Improved runway selection heuristics; now incorporates actual distance directly

PASSENGER & CREW AI

• Improved latency when under high load (i.e. 10x game speed)
• Revised idle behaviors and their invocation conditions
• Decreases fancy chair rest need effects to be more in line with regular seating
• Passengers now generally avoid walking on roads & prefer sidewalks when possible
• Crew: spawn 3hrs pre-departure with lounge, 2hrs without
• Crew: boarding desire now based off inbound flight's arrival time instead of departure time
• Pax leaving via LRT no longer first walk to right-side of the road first
• Arrival pax now less attracted to non-LC needs
• Pax now consider LRT vs Pickups via AI; can change mind & self-balance
• Logic adjustments to handle seeking zones in secure/non-secure areas
• Pax trash bin selection now chooses best bin without randomness

USABILITY / INTERFACE / MISC.

• Adds Czech language pack (HUGE thank you @max.vanca)
• Updates all translations to & from the repo on Github
• Object placement now waits until mouse-up before creating next object
• Slows down required double-click speed on the clock, to open Lifetime Stats
• Warns when no valid maintenance zone exists & small objects require repair
• Pax satisfaction (top HUD) hover changed: "X passengers very un-satisfied"
• Improvements to Pax hover display visual
• Airline Index UI filtering now filters the Airline detail/contracts listing display too
• Revises passenger need & lifecycle config
• Environment & Info reports now show primary objects in bright pink
• 'Highlight Passengers' is now regardless of floor (transparency based on floor delta)
• Force Departure button now prompts for confirmation
• Revise Flight Status UI, dramatically improves UI's performance impact
• Immediate validation refresh for target/source objects upon assignment change
• Add 'underground transparency' setting to preferences (gameplay tab)
• Upgrade text render library to latest version
• Overhauled internal translation file tools allowing faster future updates
• Adds padding to right side of flight scheduler, improves PM flight UX
• Adds '# Flights Scheduled' column to the Airlines index UI
• Agent sprites updated and movement animations added
• Add tooltips to conveyor ports to prompt & provide context for right-click port changing
• Revised reports & overlays code
• Adds a hotkey to compile hardware summary to assist in debugging
• Aircraft mod editor displays fuel capacity in liters instead of milliliters
• Improved ESC handling for consistency & compatibility with confirm / modal dialogs
• Flight Schedule UI: viewport size, allow scroll during hover, etc
• Tooltip placement changed to be less likely to obscure mouse/cursor position
• Fuel UI spacing, word wrap, and misc. text formatting issues

BUG FIXES

• Fix aircraft sometimes showing "NaN Boarded"
• Fix pax sometimes getting stuck at GADs during boarding when no queue was assigned
• Fix aircraft being unable to pushback & depart when aircraft gate was at 0% maintenance
• Fix runways not exempt from proximity checks when they're under construction
• Fix stuck passenger when only exit from security zone is escalator
• Fix stuck vehicle and/or janitor caused by trash bags that made it ever-so-slightly off map (garbage zone on map edge)
• Fix dismantling roads not completing until reload game
• Fix hover box sometimes not working on newly placed objects
• Fix buttons missing on some selected dialogs (assignment, etc)
• Fix placement indicator ruler/measurement text sorting
• Fix vehicle selection dialog showing 'Fire' button
• Fix Aircraft showing 'Break Deadlock' button which is no longer needed
• Fix janitors/garbage trucks getting stuck periodically until reload
• Fix to discourage agents sometimes walking through objects
• Fix placement indicator text sorting, improves sizing when zoomed out
• Fix custom aircraft sometimes requesting very low amounts of fuel
• Fix "Follow Mode" not disabling when changing object context
• Fix garbage truck doing 2 tasks/dumpster even if they're empty
• Fix pax wandering near Gate Agent Desks with queues that cannot service the agent type
• Fix research UI sometimes being incorrect after loading until un-pause
• Fix large object repair projects ordering excessive number of supply piles
• Fix workmen stuck due to bad target selection over right boundary of map
• Fix staff getting stuck & appearing on all above-ground floors when they become marooned on a demolished upper floor
• Fix dismantle Dumpster null reference
• Fix passenger stuck on walkway start to nonsecure destination when end of walkway is surrounded by security zone
• Fix toolbox handling and visual representation
• Fix network-capable gates from requesting indoor luggage due to congestion
• Fix aircraft turning around on runway too eagerly
• Fix pax AI lifecycle proximity heuristic considering only a single goal target (ex: GAD) when multiple exist
• Fix multiple Foundation tool pricing & allocation related issues
• Fix Pax AI background thread stop routine for cleaner exit
• Fix runway selection on map layouts with extensive one-way taxiway usage
• Fix idle tasks sometimes allowing pax to sneak thru security
• Fix crew repeating security in some scenarios
• Fix invocation order of pax AI when no sector exists, avoiding stuck
• Fix multiple pax behavior/display issues when using Info objects
• Fix Flight Crew not using security when GAD queues restricted to First/Coach
• Fix luggage load/unload bug that could cause task to fail, golf cart to be orphaned
• Fix fallback 'leave on foot' to be AI selection based based on global timeouts
• Fix zone tooltips using up too much screen real estate
• Fix pax unable to finish security when ID Check positioned on security zone border
• Fix saves w/ LRT not used when placed on wrong floor due another (resolved) bug
• Fix rare aircraft taxi clearance failure resulting in stuck aircraft due to thread-safety
• Fix fuel port save/load related bug, could cause non-clean exit
• Fix & improve runtime font switching (non English language fonts) to be more scalable and less bug-prone
• Fix having LC needs unintentionally contribute to satisfaction scores
• Fix several janitor & trash related task bugs
• Fix refuel task distance heuristic using aircraft position vs gate position
• Fix numerous clipping / sorting issues when pax using small objects
• Fix error in Wander behavior that could cause undesired pax actions
• Fix sprites being unnecessarily reloaded into RAM between game loads
• Fix spacial lookup rebuild causing large RAM allocation/churn every frame
• Fix road placement guide sprite mis-config that caused visual artifacts
• Fix airport value modifier, don't include cash when evaluating EV
• Fix conveyor transition placement validations, allow use on H2H
• Fix conveyor functional validations, only allow H2H when using 2-way conveyors (warning shown if invalid connections exist)
• Fix Airline resolution during loading; always uses local version if two copies exist (order: SteamID, GUID, then name)
• Fix numerous mod & workshop related bugs
• Fix multiple issues with secure area & reachability lookup inconsistencies which were causing stuck & lost/bad pax behaviors
• Fix aircraft not re-selecting departure runway when chosen runway is is unreachable
• Fix object warning incorrectly showing up underground for outdoor objects
• Fix Supply Truck hover display of supply piles onboard
• Fix flight bag carousel selection, filter to pax-reachable carousels (same wing, or non-secure)
• Fix stuck vehicle condition when roads completely diverge at the spawn point
• Fix foundation wall incorrectly clear-able when on map boundary
• Fix multiple hangar vehicle reachability matrix bugs
• Fix luggage vehicle distance checks using aircraft position instead of gate position