Hello shopkeepers!
Saleblazers is a part of TinyTeams 2024!
Check out the rest of the festival here.In this update, we're bringing you some stability and optimization improvements as well as some general gameplay updates.
[h3]Highlights[/h3]
- Improved performance
- Better rain
- More robust backup save system
- Improved building safety standards in Kazai Village
- New grass path tiles
- News on Saleblazers Dedicated Server
Happy Shopkeeping this weekend!
New Gameplay Trailer
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
It's been almost a year since launch, so we've decided to make a new trailer for our Steam page to better communicate what the game will be like for new players.
Thank you to uRBAN_Spaceman for sending us your save file and allowing us to use your shop in the trailer.
It's a little more raw and less cinematic than our previous gameplay trailer. I hope you like it!
Grass Optimization and Visual Improvements
The vertex count of grass has been dramatically reduced for better performance. In spite of this, grass also appears fuller due to shader and vertex changes for an overall visual improvement. The amount of grass throughout the game remains unchanged -- it just looks denser and runs faster.
Notice how the grass in the red circle appears fuller.
We've seen some systems jump from 100 FPS to 110 FPS. It's a win-win scenario: better visuals and better performance!
Increased Rain Intensity
We've always had physically calculated rain in the game, but it just wasn't very visible. Now it's a lot more pronounced when it's raining, which should make your shop feel a lot more cozy when you're indoors!
The particle has also been simplified a bit so that it's a little more performant.
Kazai Village Building Safety Improvements
Our Summer intern, Brandon, has helped us smooth out the experience of navigating Kazai Village safely by adding some much-needed railings and ropes to the edges of the platforms.
These changes come along with a lot of collider fixes. This should improve how the collision matches up with the visuals and it reduces the overall number of colliders to improve performance. There are also a few added props and other visual improvements.
Backup Save Improvements
This patch introduces a character save backup system that works alongside the World save backup system and a system for making multiple backup saves and choosing which one to load.
In the event of a power outage or interruption in saving that would corrupt the character save process, you can load up your character backup by:
- Going in game, navigating to the Help menu in the settings, and selecting Load Backup Save
- Renaming the character backup save file found at C:\Users\YOURPCNAME\AppData\LocalLow\Airstrafe Interactive\Saleblazers\Saves\YOURSTEAMID to the name of your character save
As of this update, when you select Load Backup Save from the Help Menu, the game will prompt you to select which save you want to load from your last 3 backups. Based on the timestamps, you can gauge which one will recover the data you lost.
When you load a backup save from the Help Menu, your World and character will roll back to the older save, overwriting your current save. Backup saves are generated automatically whenever the game saves via autosave or exiting the game to the menu.
Clients can also now use the Load Backup button which will rollback their character inside of another player's lobby. This should resolve any issues where clients lose any inventory progress in multiplayer sessions.
Grass Path Tiles
We heard you wanted more path options to customize your shops, especially when building outdoor spaces like courtyards. So, in this update, we added new grass path tiles, which you can research in the research board and then craft using plant fiber. We're excited to see what additions you make to your builds with these tiles.
Dedicated Server Update
We've gotten far enough in the dedicated server that we'll be pushing towards releasing this.
In the coming weeks, we'll be testing it out internally and adding server role functionality so that you can host public lobbies with some safeguards against griefing.
We hear you want a Linux server, but we're planning on working on the Windows version first. However, as with other dedicated servers, you should be able to run it with Proton or Wine.v0.14.7.37 Patch Notes
[h3]➡️ Changes[/h3]
- World saves now contain 3 backup saves to roll back to
- Character saves are now backed up in addition to world saves
- Added new railings and supports to make traversing Kazai Village safer
- Improved the look of the short grass for a denser, more full look
- Added a new research node to unlock grass path floor tiles
- Increased the HP on the Bonsai Decoration
- Improved the visuals for disabled buttons in the Help menu
- Improved rain visuals
- Reduced size of blood decals
- Improved locking levels in the golf course pro shop
- Improved various visuals for prologue level
- Fast traveling is no longer allowed while seated because it could lead to unexpected issues
- Customers will no longer say their starting transaction dialogue again on the second or third items when checking out using a shopping basket
[h3]⚙️ Optimizations[/h3]
- Reduced the number of triangles in tall grass by 6x
- Reduced the number of triangles in short grass by 4x
- Optimized collider placement and the number of colliders in Kazai Village
- Combined more meshes in Kazai Village to improve performance
- Reduced number of particle systems in rain from 3 to 2
- Reduced draw distance of trees for better performance
- Reduced ambient occlusion strength for better performance and visuals
- Reduced memory usage and increased performance by 8% by reducing overly aggressive spawner cache systems
- Optimized snow particles slightly
[h3]🛠️ General Fixes[/h3]
- Fixed many disconnect and loading issues relating to the save system, which could have caused several issues throughout the game
- Clients will no longer get the wrong dialogue for certain NPC shops
- Fixed another rare case of an infinite load due to corrupted nav mesh data
- Fixed a case where clients getting kicked from a multiplayer lobby would cause their items with upgraded durability to reset
- Fueled crafting stations will continue to craft items while the player is away
- Trash placed by customers into trash cans will now save properly when leaving and returning to the area
- Fixed a case where employees could start fighting infinitely
- Fixed bad collision with the Coastal Triangle building pieces
- Fixed collider issues near the Bellstalker Proving Grounds
- Fixed terrain painting issues near the Bellstalker Proving Grounds
- Fixed terrain seam near Kazai Village
- Removed a collider blocking the floor in Kazai Castle
- The Japanese Modern Sink will no longer be invisible on the first load
- Horizontal book rows will now always be interactable on the first load
- Prevented some items from stacking incorrectly in Snowville loot tables
- Removed blank dialogue node from Snowville warm clothing shop
- Fixed the door in the Blacksmith shop in Kazai Village being misaligned
- Fixed typo when using the pause_time console command
- Adjusted the display slot locations for the fridge food display
- Fixed a case where players who completed only half of the Shop Policy intro quest before it was changed in v0.14.6.27 could get stuck on the last stage of the quest
- Corrected the alignment of the teleport ban text on the map
- Fixed a floating tree near Kazai Village
- Disabled Jason Harakle appearing as a revenger
- The tourist camera accessory will no longer be invisible when placed on the ground or in a display
- Fixed a hole in the rocks near the golf course where you could fall inside and get stuck
- Closed a terrain seam in the desert near the oasis
- Changed an encounter in the desert to no longer give deprecated water bottles
- Fixed the Non-Normal Quit message appearing if you rejoined a lobby within the same session after a normal quit
- Fixed a rare case where nav mesh could become broken when teleporting from hubs to the level
[h3]📜 Known Issues[/h3]
- The reduced dialogue for customers checking out with shopping baskets will currently still play for clients checking out these customers
- We had one instance of loading a save file causing an unexpected application exit on this patch, but reloading the file resolved the issue with no data loss. If this happens to you, please let us know, though!
- There is a rare chance of getting stuck when checking out a customer. If this happens, you should be able to teleport to another totem to unstick yourself. We're working on a hotfix for this This issue has been fixed in v0.14.7.38
[h3]See you on the Island![/h3]
