Multiplayer Beta Now Available in Content Update 0.7!
Welcome everyone to Update 0.7!
We're serving a clean helping of two new career mode jobs, field of view options, and the much-anticipated launch of the professional class of power washer. Though that's not all, we’ve also launched an early beta of two multiplayer modes!
You and a friend can clean together in Career co-op, while up to six friends can tackle any job that you’ve unlocked in Free Play. We’d love to hear your thoughts on this multiplayer beta, so come chat to us on Discord and share your experience. We’ll be keeping a close eye on any issues you encounter and will be ending the year doing our best to make sure your experience is a positive one.
This is just the first rollout of multiplayer during Early Access, with features such as text chat, voice chat, matchmaking, and a PvP mode still to come, not to mention anything that YOU think we’ve missed. Please bear with us while we fix up the known remaining issues, help you all with any new ones you find, and get the remaining features in place. Oh and don’t worry if multiplayer is not your jam. No content is locked off from solo players and the new jobs and equipment in this update are for everyone.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
New jobs: Ferris Wheel and Monster Truck.
New Washer: Prime Vista PRO
New cosmetics: Colours for the model, blue gloves and Jungle themed Urban X washer skin
New challenges: Motorbike & Sidecar - Time & Water
New option: FOV slider
The FOV slider is something we have been wanting to add for a long time to help reduce the chance of motion sickness and as a general quality of life improvement. The implementation wasn't as simple as it may seem, with a coder having to be dedicated to it to make sure that it didn't break the washing and was as seamless as possible.
If you do struggle with motion sickness we suggest putting the FOV as high as possible and also enabling the always-on crosshair. We hope this helps!
New mode: Career co-op, 2 players max.
This game mode is comprised of the Host and an assistant. Only the Host will earn cash and make progress through the career. Assistants are limited to the use of the same equipment the Host has access to, but can’t use soap.
To join a player you must be friends on Steam then simply go to career mode, start a job, return to the tablet (the game menu), enable the hosting in the top left corner.
The friend can then connect from the join tab to the top right in the career mode section of the menu.
New Mode: Free Play co-op, 6 players max.
Host a game in Free Play mode and you can invite up to 5 friends to join you in washing any jobs you have completed in Career mode. You can use any equipment you have unlocked.
To set this game up, follow the same steps above as the career mode but from within the Free Play section!
[h2]Known Issues and Workarounds[/h2]
This is in a Beta state and we want as much feedback and community input as we can get so please do share. Currently, there are also a few known bugs that you should know about before diving in:
Percentage Clean Syncing
Appearance and progress of partially washed areas may not always be identical between the host and the client. If the job appears to be complete to some clients but isn't we'd suggest the host goes on the dirt find trusting their info on the details menu. The Host is the source of truth; if you find yourselves in a debate over whether or not something is clean, trust the Host.
Invisible Host
If the host terminates a session, then re-enables it without leaving the job, they will be invisible to any clients that join. We've worked hard on making a clean player model, so we'd strongly suggest avoiding this one unless you want to play a stealth-clean minigame. :)
Big Maps Performance
Some performance issues on larger levels for the Host when playing with 6-players. This will vary in severity depending on your rig. We’re working hard on improving this as it isn't where we would like it to be.
Multiple Same Ladder Pickup
If the Host and a Client simultaneously pick up a ladder and the Client attempts to place it, the Host’s interactions will break and you’ll need to relaunch the session. Same with multi-ladder scenes where two players attempt to simultaneously place a ladder in the same spot. We wouldn't suggest trying to recreate the classic Lady and the Tramp spaghetti scene with ladders.
Rapid Joining/Leaving Repeatedly
Rapidly joining, washing, leaving & rejoining a game will cause that Client to be out of synch with the Host’s cleaning progress. There is no berry to cure confusion in PWS!
Long load In-Progress Free Play
If several players are washing a larger job and a new client attempts to join it can take a very long time or even cause a time out. We'll be working on improving this.
Ladder Trapping
Careless use of ladders may cause other players to become trapped between them and a wall or some other object. Doing this will require the affected player to leave and re-join or the host should restart the session. This is not a suggestion to troll your friends, we see the look in your eye!
Timeout When Host Changes Jobs
When you’re hosting and a client tries to join you, if you attempt to change jobs or quit, then they’ll time out. Please wait until your friend has joined before moving on to another level.
Incorrect Cosmetics
Hosts may need to open and close the tablet to update their appearance if a client has joined the game. PowerWash blue is the new black?
Timelapse Long Load
The timelapse is shared from the host to the clients at the end of a job. It can be quite a lengthy process to download it even with fast connections which we’re investigating. It should be OK for the Host to move on to the next job if you don’t want to wait for it.
Quitting Freeze
Quitting the app with a session in progress may cause a frozen loading screen. It's best to end/leave any multiplayer session before you quit.
Turbo Nozzle
Having a turbo nozzle equipped looks a little… unusual. Let us know what you think!
Scaffolding Abyss Yeet
You can still boop yourself out of bounds using the scaffolding. I hope that’s the last time we write that. We’ve added some kill boxes to catch and respawn you, but depending on the velocity we just discovered that you may bypass them. We weren't factoring in that you enter velocities similar to a certain blue hedgehog
None Host Players Unable To Use Inventory
To fix it the none host player needs to resume a single player career job, equip the soap nozzle and then unequip the cleaner (equipping the no cleaner option) and then joining the hosts game again. This needs to be repeated for each power washer owned.
(What triggers the issue is having a cleaner equipped, so if a player during a career mode equips a soap nozzle and a cleaner even if they change nozzle and join a co-op job they still are unable to access the inventory. This bug can't be fixed by exiting and restarting the game nor changing mode.)
The gnomes have taken off to help out at Santa's workshop with a big backlog of presents this year... Just kidding! We'll be honest and say that gnomes broke multiplayer at the last second and have made a temporary leave of absence.
We were working on a feature to be able to pick up gnomes and move them to combat the issue where they could get stuck up against cleanable objects making them impossible to clean. Though what happened was there were unexpected issues with equipment and other things locking you in various scenarios.
The gnomes are a big part of the game and WILL BE BACK! Don't anyone panic!
We hope everyone has an amazing time with our multiplayer beta. We apologize for any issues people run into but we hope to improve the mode throughout Early Access and appreciate all of your feedback.
If you want to vote on new game ideas, talk to the community, find some tough dirt - then join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/powerwashsimulator
Keep up with everything PowerWash Simulator by following our channels:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PowerWashSim
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/futurlab
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@powerwashsim?
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/powerwashsim/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/powerwashsim
PWS Wiki: https://powerwash-simulator.fandom.com/wiki/PowerWash_Simulator_Wiki
We're serving a clean helping of two new career mode jobs, field of view options, and the much-anticipated launch of the professional class of power washer. Though that's not all, we’ve also launched an early beta of two multiplayer modes!
You and a friend can clean together in Career co-op, while up to six friends can tackle any job that you’ve unlocked in Free Play. We’d love to hear your thoughts on this multiplayer beta, so come chat to us on Discord and share your experience. We’ll be keeping a close eye on any issues you encounter and will be ending the year doing our best to make sure your experience is a positive one.
This is just the first rollout of multiplayer during Early Access, with features such as text chat, voice chat, matchmaking, and a PvP mode still to come, not to mention anything that YOU think we’ve missed. Please bear with us while we fix up the known remaining issues, help you all with any new ones you find, and get the remaining features in place. Oh and don’t worry if multiplayer is not your jam. No content is locked off from solo players and the new jobs and equipment in this update are for everyone.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
New Content
New jobs: Ferris Wheel and Monster Truck.
New Washer: Prime Vista PRO
New cosmetics: Colours for the model, blue gloves and Jungle themed Urban X washer skin
New challenges: Motorbike & Sidecar - Time & Water
New option: FOV slider
The FOV slider is something we have been wanting to add for a long time to help reduce the chance of motion sickness and as a general quality of life improvement. The implementation wasn't as simple as it may seem, with a coder having to be dedicated to it to make sure that it didn't break the washing and was as seamless as possible.
If you do struggle with motion sickness we suggest putting the FOV as high as possible and also enabling the always-on crosshair. We hope this helps!
New mode: Career co-op, 2 players max.
This game mode is comprised of the Host and an assistant. Only the Host will earn cash and make progress through the career. Assistants are limited to the use of the same equipment the Host has access to, but can’t use soap.
To join a player you must be friends on Steam then simply go to career mode, start a job, return to the tablet (the game menu), enable the hosting in the top left corner.
The friend can then connect from the join tab to the top right in the career mode section of the menu.
New Mode: Free Play co-op, 6 players max.
Host a game in Free Play mode and you can invite up to 5 friends to join you in washing any jobs you have completed in Career mode. You can use any equipment you have unlocked.
To set this game up, follow the same steps above as the career mode but from within the Free Play section!
[h2]Known Issues and Workarounds[/h2]
This is in a Beta state and we want as much feedback and community input as we can get so please do share. Currently, there are also a few known bugs that you should know about before diving in:
Percentage Clean Syncing
Appearance and progress of partially washed areas may not always be identical between the host and the client. If the job appears to be complete to some clients but isn't we'd suggest the host goes on the dirt find trusting their info on the details menu. The Host is the source of truth; if you find yourselves in a debate over whether or not something is clean, trust the Host.
Invisible Host
If the host terminates a session, then re-enables it without leaving the job, they will be invisible to any clients that join. We've worked hard on making a clean player model, so we'd strongly suggest avoiding this one unless you want to play a stealth-clean minigame. :)
Big Maps Performance
Some performance issues on larger levels for the Host when playing with 6-players. This will vary in severity depending on your rig. We’re working hard on improving this as it isn't where we would like it to be.
Multiple Same Ladder Pickup
If the Host and a Client simultaneously pick up a ladder and the Client attempts to place it, the Host’s interactions will break and you’ll need to relaunch the session. Same with multi-ladder scenes where two players attempt to simultaneously place a ladder in the same spot. We wouldn't suggest trying to recreate the classic Lady and the Tramp spaghetti scene with ladders.
Rapid Joining/Leaving Repeatedly
Rapidly joining, washing, leaving & rejoining a game will cause that Client to be out of synch with the Host’s cleaning progress. There is no berry to cure confusion in PWS!
Long load In-Progress Free Play
If several players are washing a larger job and a new client attempts to join it can take a very long time or even cause a time out. We'll be working on improving this.
Ladder Trapping
Careless use of ladders may cause other players to become trapped between them and a wall or some other object. Doing this will require the affected player to leave and re-join or the host should restart the session. This is not a suggestion to troll your friends, we see the look in your eye!
Timeout When Host Changes Jobs
When you’re hosting and a client tries to join you, if you attempt to change jobs or quit, then they’ll time out. Please wait until your friend has joined before moving on to another level.
Incorrect Cosmetics
Hosts may need to open and close the tablet to update their appearance if a client has joined the game. PowerWash blue is the new black?
Timelapse Long Load
The timelapse is shared from the host to the clients at the end of a job. It can be quite a lengthy process to download it even with fast connections which we’re investigating. It should be OK for the Host to move on to the next job if you don’t want to wait for it.
Quitting Freeze
Quitting the app with a session in progress may cause a frozen loading screen. It's best to end/leave any multiplayer session before you quit.
Turbo Nozzle
Having a turbo nozzle equipped looks a little… unusual. Let us know what you think!
Scaffolding Abyss Yeet
You can still boop yourself out of bounds using the scaffolding. I hope that’s the last time we write that. We’ve added some kill boxes to catch and respawn you, but depending on the velocity we just discovered that you may bypass them. We weren't factoring in that you enter velocities similar to a certain blue hedgehog
None Host Players Unable To Use Inventory
To fix it the none host player needs to resume a single player career job, equip the soap nozzle and then unequip the cleaner (equipping the no cleaner option) and then joining the hosts game again. This needs to be repeated for each power washer owned.
(What triggers the issue is having a cleaner equipped, so if a player during a career mode equips a soap nozzle and a cleaner even if they change nozzle and join a co-op job they still are unable to access the inventory. This bug can't be fixed by exiting and restarting the game nor changing mode.)
Where Have the Gnomes Gone?
The gnomes have taken off to help out at Santa's workshop with a big backlog of presents this year... Just kidding! We'll be honest and say that gnomes broke multiplayer at the last second and have made a temporary leave of absence.
We were working on a feature to be able to pick up gnomes and move them to combat the issue where they could get stuck up against cleanable objects making them impossible to clean. Though what happened was there were unexpected issues with equipment and other things locking you in various scenarios.
The gnomes are a big part of the game and WILL BE BACK! Don't anyone panic!
We hope everyone has an amazing time with our multiplayer beta. We apologize for any issues people run into but we hope to improve the mode throughout Early Access and appreciate all of your feedback.
If you want to vote on new game ideas, talk to the community, find some tough dirt - then join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/powerwashsimulator
Keep up with everything PowerWash Simulator by following our channels:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PowerWashSim
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/futurlab
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@powerwashsim?
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/powerwashsim/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/powerwashsim
PWS Wiki: https://powerwash-simulator.fandom.com/wiki/PowerWash_Simulator_Wiki
