Version 0.208 Holiday Bonus Patch
New Part: Flex Triangle!
- It even *mostly* works with Mirror Mode (crosses fingers)
- It even *mostly* works with Mirror Mode (crosses fingers)
Instruments of Destruction News
Version 0.207 Changes (Control Remapping)
- Add control remapping for most Keyboard shortcuts in gameplay and build mode (in Options near the lower left)
- Add control remapping for most gamepad shortcuts
- [NOTE: Most help displays haven't been updated yet, so they will mostly display the default, not what a control currently is.]
- Added 2 new parts: Y-Split 120 (perfect 3-way split, good for making hexagons/etc), and 5-Way 120 (2 more connectors on top/bottom)
- Added ability for hook launcher to attach to entities and to player vehicles
- Added "Lock Cabs In Place" option for Sandbox mode (not saved with vehicle, intended for building advanced vehicles)
- Added MAX IMPACT SPEED display, shows up if you get an impact of 200 km/hr or more (helps with Ballista testing)
- Adjusted level load damage falloff time to 3 seconds (instead of 5)
- Adjusted a number of part masses/costs (mostly in the FrameSimple category)
- Fixed Min Rotation slider not snapping to smaller increments when holding shift
- Added a small message to the Load Vehicle menu about restoring the previous vehicle if you meant to save instead
- Added a possible fix to the game soft-crashing if the downloaded featured vehicle file can't be read by the game
Walker Featured Vehicles (Next Theme: Ballistas)
December's Featured Vehicles Theme was Walkers, and there were a lot of very cool entries as usual. Let's take a look at the Winners and Honorable Mentions:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Here's the list in text form:
FEATURED VEHICLES
HONORABLE MENTIONS
There were a number of very-cool-looking walkers that didn't make the list, mostly because they didn't walk particularly well. That ended up being the number 1 criteria by a significant amount, along with having an interesting walking mechanism. I also stopped looking back in time around the end of June, so there were some older walkers that may have made the list if they had been updated recently.
That leads into a problem with how the Featured Vehicles system works in-game: It shows the featured vehicles in chronological order (by creation date). I'm probably not going to be able to reasonably fix the issue, but it just means I would encourage everyone who wants to enter future contests to re-submit their older vehicles as NEW workshop entries. It's not a big problem, just makes the list a little more random than desired.
JANUARY'S THEME: BALLISTAS
Next month's Featured Vehicle theme will be Ballistas. A Ballista is essentially just a very large crossbow meant to be used as a siege weapon. They are traditionally powered by ropes or cables of some type, and that's the desired design for this contest as well. There are a number of settings for ropes and rope types in Instruments of Destruction, and I've gone through and tested a large number of them to find some generally good settings.
Basically, Bungees make for the best elastic-firing ropes. Wires can also work, and Heavy Ropes can kinda work in specific cases. In the advanced settings, you'll want to start with something like this if you're using a stretched-out Bungee to fire a projectile:
ATTACH STRENGTH: 3.0
STABILITY: 0.5
TENSION: 3.0
SMOOTHNESS: 0.1
NODE SPACING: 7
Similar settings can be used for Wires, though it'd be advisable in any case to make multiple copies of whatever you're using to fire a projectile and do multiple test shots with slightly different settings to figure out what works best for you. Using multiple parallel ropes can increase the firing power, as you can see in this test vehicle I made while trying out various settings.
The projectiles don't have to be elastic-rope-powered, or spring-and-rope-powered, but I'm going to favor designs that utilize ropes similar to a real ballista. Other quick notes: The projectiles only need to be fired once (more is fine, not required), and they should preferably do physical damage instead of explosive.
WINCH SETTINGS
While I was messing with ropes, I went ahead and tried out various settings to see what works best for winches. Heavy Ropes and Cables work the best, but the exact settings depend a little more on the exact design of your winch and use case. Bungee is also surprisingly decent, while Wire is only ok and generally requires a pretty thick object to wrap around. Here are some good settings to start with for Heavy Rope:
ATTACH STRENGTH: 3.0
STABILITY: 2.1
TENSION: 3.0
SMOOTHNESS: 2.0
NODE SPACING: 4
Note that the Stability, Smoothness, and Node Spacing are very different from the elastic-rope settings, and the settings vary more between rope type. You can also get away with more varied settings if the central part of your winch is thicker. I added the test winch vehicle to the workshop as well.
[Only Heavy Rope and Cable work well with thinner beams, so also keep that in mind.]
VERSION 0.206 CHANGELIST
Made the following changes/fixes for version 0.206. It's mostly just tweaks/fixes to the Hook Launcher:
There will be another update later this week to add control remapping and maybe a bit more. I'll post patch notes when that build arrives, but there probably won't be another news post. Will be on winter break for a while after that, with updates resuming sometime in January.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Here's the list in text form:
FEATURED VEHICLES
- Crawling Kaiju 2.0 - Smilloww
- HCLW Castello Errante - Arad
- Centipede - Shawnnui
- E.A.P. Heavy Mobile Walker - WSung
- Billy Bluber Bones - PaperMachine
- CrawlSpace - IceCreamMan4254
- Cyberpod Walker - Zombie Ninja
- Monoped X - Jonny_Arson
- Steering Flip Beam Walker - Pyalot
- Centipede - Pyalot
- Hunter - Stranger
- UHM Hexapod Walker - PengWolf
- Black Force Legacy - Detaal
- Cepa - Detaal
- Wacky Bipedal Walker - Kitten
- G.O.D. Mega Dragon 2.0 - _Unripe
HONORABLE MENTIONS
- Nemesis mk 3 - Stranger
- Tower Legs - Otokamo510
- Siege Engine mk1b - Stranger
- Walkism 3000 - Jonny_Arson
- Stomp! - Looshkin42
- Creep Crawler - IceCreamMan4254
- Rommel - Neo_Runner
- Nix - Detaal
There were a number of very-cool-looking walkers that didn't make the list, mostly because they didn't walk particularly well. That ended up being the number 1 criteria by a significant amount, along with having an interesting walking mechanism. I also stopped looking back in time around the end of June, so there were some older walkers that may have made the list if they had been updated recently.
That leads into a problem with how the Featured Vehicles system works in-game: It shows the featured vehicles in chronological order (by creation date). I'm probably not going to be able to reasonably fix the issue, but it just means I would encourage everyone who wants to enter future contests to re-submit their older vehicles as NEW workshop entries. It's not a big problem, just makes the list a little more random than desired.
JANUARY'S THEME: BALLISTAS
Next month's Featured Vehicle theme will be Ballistas. A Ballista is essentially just a very large crossbow meant to be used as a siege weapon. They are traditionally powered by ropes or cables of some type, and that's the desired design for this contest as well. There are a number of settings for ropes and rope types in Instruments of Destruction, and I've gone through and tested a large number of them to find some generally good settings.
Basically, Bungees make for the best elastic-firing ropes. Wires can also work, and Heavy Ropes can kinda work in specific cases. In the advanced settings, you'll want to start with something like this if you're using a stretched-out Bungee to fire a projectile:
ATTACH STRENGTH: 3.0
STABILITY: 0.5
TENSION: 3.0
SMOOTHNESS: 0.1
NODE SPACING: 7
Similar settings can be used for Wires, though it'd be advisable in any case to make multiple copies of whatever you're using to fire a projectile and do multiple test shots with slightly different settings to figure out what works best for you. Using multiple parallel ropes can increase the firing power, as you can see in this test vehicle I made while trying out various settings.
The projectiles don't have to be elastic-rope-powered, or spring-and-rope-powered, but I'm going to favor designs that utilize ropes similar to a real ballista. Other quick notes: The projectiles only need to be fired once (more is fine, not required), and they should preferably do physical damage instead of explosive.
WINCH SETTINGS
While I was messing with ropes, I went ahead and tried out various settings to see what works best for winches. Heavy Ropes and Cables work the best, but the exact settings depend a little more on the exact design of your winch and use case. Bungee is also surprisingly decent, while Wire is only ok and generally requires a pretty thick object to wrap around. Here are some good settings to start with for Heavy Rope:
ATTACH STRENGTH: 3.0
STABILITY: 2.1
TENSION: 3.0
SMOOTHNESS: 2.0
NODE SPACING: 4
Note that the Stability, Smoothness, and Node Spacing are very different from the elastic-rope settings, and the settings vary more between rope type. You can also get away with more varied settings if the central part of your winch is thicker. I added the test winch vehicle to the workshop as well.
[Only Heavy Rope and Cable work well with thinner beams, so also keep that in mind.]
VERSION 0.206 CHANGELIST
Made the following changes/fixes for version 0.206. It's mostly just tweaks/fixes to the Hook Launcher:
- Added a limit to how much tension ropes on grappling hook will apply (prevents ropes going absolutely insane)
- Added an option to re-use the previous thumbnail when updating a Steam Workshop vehicle
- Adjusted how some parts are displayed in the UI (added additional rotation modifier)
- Added option to use the previous thumbnail in an Updated vehicle
- Fixed sure grappling hook not having the right color when fired
- Made a ground-attached hook pull on the player a more reasonable amount
- Changed how pull strength to player works a bit on structures, so there's a reasonable cap for unbroken structures, and broken ones don't pull you as much
- Changed minimum pull damage radius to be smaller towards the bottom of structures
- Made the grappling hook retract if it hits water
- Fixed ropes making weird long-box-shaped splashes
- Made the flex arc able to cycle base connector (so it can be resized from either side, essentially)
There will be another update later this week to add control remapping and maybe a bit more. I'll post patch notes when that build arrives, but there probably won't be another news post. Will be on winter break for a while after that, with updates resuming sometime in January.
Version 0.205c patch notes
Fixed propellers being broken.
Fixed flex swivels and free swivels not locking.
Fixed not being able to use Toggle mode for locking on most parts that should have had it.
Added F11 (in-game): Toggle debug display for center of mass info.
Fixed flex swivels and free swivels not locking.
Fixed not being able to use Toggle mode for locking on most parts that should have had it.
Added F11 (in-game): Toggle debug display for center of mass info.
Introducing the GRAPPLING HOOK!
Let's jump right in with a couple GIFs of the Grappling Hook:
That's using the hook to do more damage than pulling.
And that's using it to do more pulling than damage.
Same vehicle, same part, just with different settings. It's a very bland vehicle, but incredibly fun to play with the hook. I think this might be the single best part in the game, but it's too early to say for sure.
HOOKED ON YOU
I originally created the grappling hook part back in mid-2021. It has many hacks in how it works, and it looked pretty wonky a lot of times, so I disabled it ahead of the launch earlier this year. It was the most-asked-about "coming soon" part, and I've put off working on it because I was worried it could explode into a much bigger task. Ropes are pretty difficult to work with, and I didn't really want to deal with the grappling hook's rope that much, as I couldn't really remember how I made it change in length, but I knew it wasn't a great method.
Turns out, it barely mattered. The rope is not really that important to the grappling hook, and I'd already figured that out (apparently) last year. The scaling of the rope works well enough, and I just had to tweak the visuals a bit and make it shorten its length more aggressively. The two most important parts of the hook are the (invisible) spring between the cannon and the hook itself, and the destruction damage caused by pulling on a building.
The spring just needed a few tweaks to make it stronger and more adjustable (by the player). The damage code had a simple math bug in it, and once that was fixed, I only had to tweak a few settings to get it working well.
So what should happen when a heavy vehicle pulls hard on a structure? Should the vehicle get pulled towards the building at high speed, or should the structure rip apart and come flying towards you? The answer is both, but it's really up to you which happens more. There are multiple sliders in the advanced mode setting that let you customize how the hook functions. It's also powerful enough that you really only need one grappling hook for most cases, but you can certainly use more than one if you want.
The biggest problem with using more than one is the controls aren't ideal for that case. By default, E fires the hook, and E also recalls it (without pulling on anything). If you want to pull towards the attached object, you press Q. It's still a little bit wonky at times, but generally just try both E and Q after you fire it out and you'll get the hang of it pretty quickly. Once the hook gets close enough to the cannon, it auto-snaps back in place.
[With two or more, the ropes can get out of sync because they can get caught on things when returning. Not always a problem, and it can be messed with to fix it, but it's definitely an issue.]
v0.205 CHANGELIST
The grappling hook is the shiny new thing for v0.205, but there are a lot more nice changes below. Here's the full changelist, then I'll highlight a couple important new things:
The new optional outputs for the Bombs/Pistons/Pivots let you trigger other parts for specific events/etc. It's pretty easy to add new outputs for most parts (except certain joints), so let me know if you want them for other parts. The Grappling Hook will probably get them at some point.
The locking mechanism for certain joints was a recent request, and it actually lets you do some interesting new mechanical contraptions. Note that it doesn't fully lock the vehicle/joint, but this is the closest I could get after hours of trying different approaches.
WALKER FEATURED VEHICLES
The video for Walkers is still being worked on, but winners will be announced soon. The theme for the next contest is also chosen (Ballistas), and I'll go over some tips/hints about the best rope settings/designs in the next Steam post as well. If you want to see the overall conclusion, check out my Workshop page (the 2nd most recent upload).
That's using the hook to do more damage than pulling.
And that's using it to do more pulling than damage.
Same vehicle, same part, just with different settings. It's a very bland vehicle, but incredibly fun to play with the hook. I think this might be the single best part in the game, but it's too early to say for sure.
HOOKED ON YOU
I originally created the grappling hook part back in mid-2021. It has many hacks in how it works, and it looked pretty wonky a lot of times, so I disabled it ahead of the launch earlier this year. It was the most-asked-about "coming soon" part, and I've put off working on it because I was worried it could explode into a much bigger task. Ropes are pretty difficult to work with, and I didn't really want to deal with the grappling hook's rope that much, as I couldn't really remember how I made it change in length, but I knew it wasn't a great method.
Turns out, it barely mattered. The rope is not really that important to the grappling hook, and I'd already figured that out (apparently) last year. The scaling of the rope works well enough, and I just had to tweak the visuals a bit and make it shorten its length more aggressively. The two most important parts of the hook are the (invisible) spring between the cannon and the hook itself, and the destruction damage caused by pulling on a building.
The spring just needed a few tweaks to make it stronger and more adjustable (by the player). The damage code had a simple math bug in it, and once that was fixed, I only had to tweak a few settings to get it working well.
So what should happen when a heavy vehicle pulls hard on a structure? Should the vehicle get pulled towards the building at high speed, or should the structure rip apart and come flying towards you? The answer is both, but it's really up to you which happens more. There are multiple sliders in the advanced mode setting that let you customize how the hook functions. It's also powerful enough that you really only need one grappling hook for most cases, but you can certainly use more than one if you want.
The biggest problem with using more than one is the controls aren't ideal for that case. By default, E fires the hook, and E also recalls it (without pulling on anything). If you want to pull towards the attached object, you press Q. It's still a little bit wonky at times, but generally just try both E and Q after you fire it out and you'll get the hang of it pretty quickly. Once the hook gets close enough to the cannon, it auto-snaps back in place.
[With two or more, the ropes can get out of sync because they can get caught on things when returning. Not always a problem, and it can be messed with to fix it, but it's definitely an issue.]
v0.205 CHANGELIST
The grappling hook is the shiny new thing for v0.205, but there are a lot more nice changes below. Here's the full changelist, then I'll highlight a couple important new things:
- Added new part: Grappling Hook
- Added optional outputs for bombs, pistons and limited rotation pivots
- NOTE: Bombs activate (for 1 frame) when they explode, pistons and pivots activate the +/- outputs based on reaching the ends of their limits
- Added locking mechanism for the following parts (assign a key to use it, can also be a toggle):
- Sliding pipe, Axle/Axle S, Flex Swivel, Flex Pivot, Free Swivel, Free Pivot, Socket
- NOTE: Locking doesn't completely stop any movement/rotation, just slows it WAY down
- Changed advanced mode slider behavior with SHIFT (increments slowly towards cursor)
- Changed it so you get the active cab type when you reset a vehicle or delete everything (instead of always the 1st one)
- Reduced the delay between multiple bombs exploding (player bombs are almost instant)
- Fixed ultra-slow connector generation in certain cases (would cause reloading the level to take 20+ seconds)
- Fixed center of mass not being correctly calculated when entering play mode
- WARNING: This will mess with some vehicles, particularly flyers
- Fixed flex arc not lining up when previewing the placement, and being the wrong default size
- Fixed flex beams having the wrong alignment for one of the connectors after rotating + playing the game
- Level Editor: Fixed focus on selection not working for meshes, loop centers, and joints
- Fixed pistons ignoring input strength for multiple modes (Auto-Extend/Retract and half of Oscillate)
- Fixed phantom parts getting saved to the vehicle file in edge cases (ignore them on load)
- Fixed copy-paste settings not updating the part shapes for ones that change dynamically (such as suspension)
- Fixed a few localization issues
- Disabled motor torque spin debug message
- Reduced chance of broken metal forming a jointed structure (by 40%)
The new optional outputs for the Bombs/Pistons/Pivots let you trigger other parts for specific events/etc. It's pretty easy to add new outputs for most parts (except certain joints), so let me know if you want them for other parts. The Grappling Hook will probably get them at some point.
The locking mechanism for certain joints was a recent request, and it actually lets you do some interesting new mechanical contraptions. Note that it doesn't fully lock the vehicle/joint, but this is the closest I could get after hours of trying different approaches.
WALKER FEATURED VEHICLES
The video for Walkers is still being worked on, but winners will be announced soon. The theme for the next contest is also chosen (Ballistas), and I'll go over some tips/hints about the best rope settings/designs in the next Steam post as well. If you want to see the overall conclusion, check out my Workshop page (the 2nd most recent upload).