Hello everyone! Updates have slowed down recently and you can probably guess why, I'm heavily at work with multiplayer!
There is currently a private beta for multiplayer with over 50+ people in it, and I'm even getting ready to release a public beta. There will be heaps more news about this in the coming weeks. The multiplayer private beta has been going great, and I'm so excited to get this ready for a full release!
If you're curious about the current state of multiplayer, I've recently made a new devlog video over on Patreon which goes into a bit more detail about the specific features and how they work (like train driving, player chat, circuitry, etc). You can find that video here:
Devlog - Multiplayer features preview
But here's a few examples of the kind of chaos going on in the private multiplayer beta:
While 99% of my time is being spent on multiplayer, there are a few smaller features that I've needed to add along the way as part of the process. One of those is 2D main menus.
Basically since multiplayer requires the 2D menu mode for a lot of its features (like text chat, player list, gesture menu, etc) I've been improving 2D menu support across the board so it can hopefully be the default and 3D menus can be limited to a few specific situations.
Remember you can always toggle between 2D and 3D menus, but 2D is now the default.
But now the main menu also has 2D menu support!
Meaning that instead of spinning the camera around in first-person mode to click on things, you instead use your mouse like a normal PC game.
3D main menus:
2D main menus:
By default if you are playing on PC you will see these new 2D main menus!
You can return to the old 3D menus if you want, there is a setting for this in the "Pause menu -> gameplay -> main menu options" menu.
There is also a full guide here which explains how to make your own custom 2D menu scenes and customize things like panning animations!
Remember you can also share your own custom menu scenes on the Steam Workshop and download other players menus!
This update also brings back all the classic Halloween features, like temporary Halloween themed menus:
And other things like the pumpkins and Halloween themed props which you can find in the "Misc" drawer category:
The Halloween main menus are just temporary and will go back to normal in about a week, but you can turn them off manually and bring back the normal main menus using this setting in the "Pause menu -> gameplay -> main menu options" menu.
Since there is a ton of work going on with multiplayer, this update also includes a bunch of fixes and changes which I've made over the last month while working on multiplayer, these are:
Fixed bug with track loading incorrectly when held in your hand hand on large maps
Fixed bug where the height change feature (using the scroll wheel) would get stuck on loading a map
Moved engine start/stop to the wagon popup menu (you can still use a shortcut key, but it is un-bound by default) So pressing G no longer toggles the engine
Improved resolution scaling for large displays like 1440p and above
Added missing mod placeholder model (which you can enable/disable in the "misc -> loading" menu)
fixes various issues relating to pressing escape when keyboard input is open
fixed a ton of stuff relating to audio, like the pickup "click" effects have been cleaned up a lot and no longer overlap.
click sounds are disabled when spawning into maps or entering and exiting the menu
added click sounds to various other UI elements (like drawers)
the setting search menu now shows instructions for pressing ~ to open/close the menu
The setting search menu can no longer be opened when photo mode is open
Fixed bug where duplicating a menu scene mod would not copy the menu save file
And that's everything for this update!
Things are really heating up with multiplayer and It won't be too long before a full public beta, so keep an eye out for news on that. These are exciting times for Rolling Line!
Joey Drysdale, Clae, The_President, Teapop311, Chloe Surett, Rowan Mackenzie, Matt, Ábris Pataki, NESecretWeapon, JohnR, ItzAerozic, Matthew Johnson, Microcosmologist, Blake Prevett, TrainTiny, Thomas Merolla, Don Willis, Jayton Hawkins, Helga Nordgren, Leto Gloas, TheAmazingRyry, Outertoaster, Nathan Perez, TrainMann, Railraider, Garst, Richard Prior, Joblogh, Detroit_, CAMOGUY54321, Ben Burch, Michelle chan, Jack Fruh, Jonathan Ginsburg, Lynk_Wyland, SmokeStream, KathalLasagna, Rivet, HuskyDynamics, Trackmeister, Lutz
You can join the Patreon to help support me to keep making free updates!