Powerboat VR News

This update adds a new island tile consisting of 3 main islands and quite a few smaller outcrops. The islands are based on the real world location of Stot, Svenningen and Helloya which are located off the coast of Norway.

There is currently a single port on Svenningen.

The islands are not yet complete to the same level as the other islands, but the port does work and is tied into the "Quick Job" network. I haven't done too much detail work on this area as I'm using some new assets which will require a bit of a rework to optimise them and I'll end up having to redo everything once that is done anyway.

However, the islands look Ok for the moment.

RADAR!

All vessels now have a working RADAR which will pick up land and rocks and is fairly accurate to how real RADAR works on boats. It has a fixed range of 4km and the RADAR sweeps about every 2 seconds.

UPDATED WEATHER

I've added a range of visibility ranges to the weather system so it will now randomly pick from 1 of 9 different conditions from CLEAR all the way through to DENSE FOG.

The fog is not volumetric at the moment - it is purely distance, but I will be adding proper volumetric fog shortly so you will be able to sail through what will effectively be low lying clouds.

OTHER FIXES/UPDATES

1. All ports are now working correctly and are tied into the "Quick Job" cargo network. Don't for get to load you boat before leaving port!

2. Ocean fidelity has been increased so that waves are more detailed and move more like proper water. As a result, boats now have more buoyancy information to work with so should react even more realistically to water displacement.

3. All water particle effects have be swapped from meshes to billboards as they look better and run faster!

4. Fixed a lot of incorrect LOD zones which should increase performance across the board. You may see some pop up due to the larger 15km draw distance but it should be minimal.

5. Tweaked the FerryCat's rudder and bow thruster forces so it should be a little more responsive. Skilled captains will now be able to make it turn almost on the spot with clever usage of the rudder, throttle and bow thrusters.

6. Adjusted the default seating position in the FerryCat

7. All map images have now been updated with depth charts.

8. Engine noise will now work correctly when accelerating in reverse gear rather than it sounding like your getting slower and slower!

9. Long Island has been removed - it was just too big and there was no way I could ever cover that amount of land mass!

KNOWN ISSUES

1. I still think there may be a crash occurring when entering Fornells harbour on Menorca. I have a suspicion it may be cause by either the buoys or the structures on Monte Torro in the distance.

As such, I've disabled Monte Torro. Please let me know if you experience anything around Fornells.

FUTURE UPDATES

This version will be pushed out to the live branch at some point over the weekend once I have updated the store page to reflect to changes in game direction.

Once that is done I shall be focusing on the following areas over the next few weeks...

1. Damage and Maintenance
2. Fuel usage
3. Visible cargo


That's it for the moment. As always, your feeback always welcome :)

Happy Boating!

This is a quick update to bring the FerryCat into line with the other boats...

1. Added custom engine noises
2. Added smoke from exhausts
3. Improved the water plume from engines
4. Adjusted cargo amounts and how it effects the boat
5. Increased engine power so it can maintain full speed in most weather conditions
6. Adjusted water stability.

General Updates

1. Added 4x MSAA to both VR and Non-VR modes. Doesn't seem to effect performance much and looks better! I will add the option to the options menu so you'll be able to select Off, x2, x4 or x8.

This update adds a new boat - the FerryCat HS34.

It's a very modern fast (38kts!) catamaran ferry that can carry trucks, cars, passengers and cargo.

It is still a bit of a work in progress as VR players can only access the main bridge and the outside deck. There is no way to get down to the lower/vehicle deck at the moment although these areas are fully modelled and visible in Non-VR 3rd person mode.

I will add some extra access methods so that VR players can explore the ship completely very soon.

This ship will also be the 1st to receive the external modelling of cargo so that you'll be able to see how many cars/trucks you are carrying as they will be present on the vehicle deck, rather than only seeing the numbers displayed on the MFD - I hope to sort this bit over the Christmas holiday period as I shall have some free time.

A new island is also in the works but not quite ready for release - hopefully I'll be able to complete it over the weekend ready for next week.

This update adds the World Map so that you can easily see where all islands, ports and other places of interest are on the map.

Pretty straight forward to use, but please note that the world map does NOT show you your current location. This is very much by design. You can use your MFD GPS to get an accurate position but when plotting longer routes (as the GPS only zooms out so far) I want you to, much like a real skipper, plan your route using buoys & landmarks.

I shall also be adding GPS reliability/accuracy simulation so relying on your GPS too much may land you in trouble should it fail. To counter this I will be adding the ability to call in coast guard help (helicopter or aircraft) who will find you and then point you in the right direction if you get totally lost out at sea - for a cost naturally!

VISUAL TWEAKS

I've now increased the visual range from 5km to a much more realistic 15km for both VR & Non-VR.

I was pleasantly surprised that in most cases there was little impact to frame rates although some areas where you can now see 2 or 3 islands at the same time FPS can suffer a little bit. However, I can almost certainly improve on that by adjusting the LOD levels for buildings, trees and rocks and I think the trade off for the visual improvement is well worth it.

I've also added a better distant fog effect to VR & Non-VR which smooths the transition as islands come into view. You should now be able to see things like Maupiti's volcano loom in from the distance much more pleasingly.

However, if you find your system is now really struggling please let me know in the forums so that I can plan some graphics options that might help.

OTHER UPDATES

1. Maupiti now has an airport!

NEXT UPDATE

Next week will see the addition of a passenger and vehicle ferry and hopefully that will also be the update that finally makes it into the live build. I think there are now plenty of islands and vessels to show new players how the game is developing.

BIG THANK YOU

This is also a great opportunity for me to thank all the early adopters who have stuck with the game, given the updates those awesome "thumbs up", found bugs, helped fix bugs and who I have chatted to on both the forums and Facebook.

Without your support I'm not sure Powerboat VR would have got very far but now, when I look at the original version, it is surprising to see how far it has come and how much has changed.

Thank you to you all! ːsteamhappyː

This update adds Alderney from the Channel Islands.

It's a small island but does have some unique land marks with a number of forts dotted around the rocky coast line as well as a small wind farm not too far from the main port which is situated behind a large waterbreak on the Northern side of the island. The port is tied into the quick job system so missions to and from Alderney will be generated.

As always, I have moved the initial starting point to the new island's port.

Other updates...
1. Altered the clouds so they should look more 3D
2. Altered the T800 so that it is not bounced around so much by the water
3. Improved the mountain textures on Maupiti
4. Fixed a flickering edge to Maupiti's MFD map image
5. Increased draw distance to 10km

Next week will see the deployment of the main map