Powerboat VR News

1. Fixed some ports not appearing when you got close to them
2. Optimised some port assets
3. Removed Heavy & Dense fog as I don't think it looks very good. I shall re-add them once I've got the full volumetric fog working.

Somewhere along the last few updates the VR camera came unaligned with the play area.

This update fixes that so the game is now playable in VR again.

Other fixes:
1. increased the range at which you hands can "grab" the steering wheel & throttle control.
2. Fixed the underwater effects for some of the port objects.

I will definitely be reworking the VR interaction system at some point in the future as it does feel a little "clunky" at the moment. Especially as I haven't actually played the game in VR for a while as it is easier to develop in a non-VR environment.

Any suggestions on VR improvements are, as always, very welcome.

Added the following options to the menu system....

1. Field of View option in the Graphics Menu (non-VR camera only)
2. Audio settings to allow you to mix the sound effects to your choosing. You can now mix the following
- Master Volume
- Boat Engine Volume
- Boat Water Effect Volume (splashes, thumps etc)
- Ambient Volume
- Music Volume (you can also adjust the music volume directly from the MFD when on the Radio page)

Other fixes

1. This fixes the sudden ocean change when you initially start to drive your boat when you've started a new game. This was causes by the ocean and world position not being in sync at the start of the game.
2. T800 now has engine smoke effects
3. Flounder now has engine smoke effects
4. Distances for Quick Jobs are now calculated correctly.
5. Vortex ballast position fixed which was moving the Centre of Gravity far too low.
6. Main Menu now retains your last position so, for example, if you close the menu while on the map screen then the when you re-open the menu it will still be on the map screen rather than jumping to the Main Menu. This makes checking things like quick jobs or map positions a little easier.
7. Buoys are now back at Fornells as they are not causing the crash.
8. Swapped the MFD + & - buttons round on the non-VR HUD

I think this now completes all the updates I wanted to get in before moving this to the live branch.

Hurrah! :)

This update adds a number of small tweaks and fixes as I get ready to send the beta out to the main release...

1. Adjusted the angular drag of all large ships so they turn a little easier and react to waves and sea conditions more realistically.
2. Fixed the default seating position in the T800 so you can now see over the dash.
3. Removed a set of floating stairs at Maupiti harbour.
4. Added RADAR reflectors to the wind turbines near Aldernay so they can now be seen on the RADAR
5. Added ability to change the RADAR range between 1km, 2km & 4km ranges. When changing distance it will be applied on the next RADAR sweep.
6. Fixed the T800 engine positions so it no longer always turns to the left.
7. Set the default boat recovery position to Maupiti harbour. This will now be the standard starting point when starting a new game.

This is a quick hotfix for the RADAR so that is still works in when it is dark and cloudy.

I've also added the following graphics options to help you tweak performance in both Standard and VR modes.

1. V Sync On/Off (Only effects Non-VR)
2. MSAA On/2x/4x/8x
3. Shadow Details Low/Medium/High/Very High

Other tweaks....
1. Nights can now get very dark and for longer (especially if there is cloud cover) so RADAR/GPS usage is required.
2. When switching boats your view position is now correctly re-set so you won't find your head at a weird angle.
3. Added RESET buttons to the mouse control panel so you can quickly and easily set the steering or throttle to centre/neutral positions.
4. Fixed the cockpit buttons not resetting correctly when pressed in non-VR mode.
5. Removed buoys from Fornells as still getting a crash there!
6. Altered the floating origin reset threshold to prevent flickering shadows when you move too far away from the world origin.
7. Tweaked the Sea Buzzard's engine rotation to a more sensible value.
8. Tweaked the Sea Buzzard's wave impact drag slightly.
9. Increased the size of the Sea Buzzard's water plume so it is more visible
10. Added global lighting to water spray particles so they will no longer glow at night.
11. Set initial starting point to Maupiti - I think this will become the standard starting point for the game from now on.

That's it for now.

Hopefully I will have time to update the store page and set this version into the main release next week. I just ran out of time this week due to a slight hiccup with deleting some very important data in the game!

This stopped quite a few things working correctly so hopefully I have fixed them all, but if you do encounter anything not working then please do let me know.

Happy Boating!