CULTIC News

Hello everyone!

v102 of CULTIC is finally out on the main branch. This build included some pretty major changes that needed to be tested a bit more extensively than my smaller patches. Full details below!

This is a fairly lofty patch, so as always, if there are any issues or feedback, drop me a thread in the forums!

[h2]System Changes[/h2]

• Unity version updated to address a crash happening with the particle engine
  
• XML culture invariance introduced to help prevent issues with save files
  

[h2]E1M6 Balancing[/h2]
E1M6's encounter was a major pain point to the community, While this encounter is intended to be difficult, I do understand that replaying the entire mission was tedious, and not the kind of challenge I wanted for the players. Due to this, the following changes have been made:

• Checkpoint introduced between third wave of cultists and the boss entrance
  
• An additional supply cache is made available when the boss appears
  
• The boss now has an additional attack
  
• Smaller amount of cultists in wave 1
  
• Cultist spawns after the boss' arrival are now limited to low-rank cultists
  

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

• Various audio sources properly hooked up to audio mixer
  
• Textures with unintended shininess were toned down
  
• A fence in E1M9 that was solid can now be shot through
  
• Burning enemies now properly drop loot pickups
  
• Confirm action (left mouse) now properly opens the main menu on the title screen
  
• Player can no longer grow a third arm while throwing hatchets and using the lighter
  
• Intro cutscene music should now properly adhere to music volume preferences
  
• Fixed a bug where player controls would get reset to defaults if they opened the controls menu from the main menu and then cancelled out of it without making changes
  

[h2]Other Changes[/h2]

• Progress menu reworked into a Scene Select menu. Allows any map that has been previously completed to be replayed, with choice of two loadouts
  
• Brightness in E1M1/M2 caves was lowered
  
• Small pistol ammo drops now give 10 rounds (down from 20). A deeper audit into ammo availability is planned to look into ammo surpluses and deficits
  
• Debug console key is now bindable
  
• A sequence break in E1M3 was made inaccessible as it was a bit too easy to access casually
  

Hello all!

A new experimental build of CULTIC has dropped on the beta branch, which -should- address the issue users were having with busted save files, where items just wouldn't spawn into the map properly.

Basically, the issue boiled down to a number parsing issue. Some systems use commas instead of decimals to represent float values, so the positions of items and enemies in save files was being loaded in incorrectly, resulting in wildly incorrect position and rotation values.

This was a major oversight on my part, and explains why it was impossible to replicate on my system.

Regardless, it should be fixed in this build.

[h3]IMPORTANT:[/h3]

If you have a Map Start save file for the affected session, you may be able to load this map and play normally. HOWEVER - unfortunately, due to the nature of this issue, if you have created a quicksave or manual save in the map, that save file is most likely still going to have items missing. Items that fall egregiously outside of map bounds are destroyed, so if you have loaded a save (which would break item positions), and then saved again (after the items had gone out of bounds and been destroyed), that save file would still reflect the items having been destroyed.

I will be working some more bug fixes into this patch and releasing on the main branch later today, after I've had a chance to test more thoroughly.

Hello!

I just pushed a VERY EXPERIMENTAL build out to the "beta" branch. Unity made it sound like there's a chance the crashes could be related to the version of the engine I was using, so I've built a separate branch out using the latest LTS release to see if it happens to fix the issue.

Now, my version of Unity was from back when I started on CULTIC, so the engine update might have broken stuff as well. I didn't see anything too major, but I haven't done a full playthrough on this branch yet, so it's mainly just intended to see if it addresses the crashes. Check it out when you have the time, and let me know if it helps at all!

To access this branch:

1. Locate CULTIC in your Library
   
2. Right-click on the game in your list, and select Properties
   
3. Go to the Betas tab
   
4. Select "beta" from the dropdown list
   

If you are NOT experiencing crashes, I'd still appreciate the help sniffing for issues in this new branch, but otherwise, I'd recommend staying on the default branch.

Changes:

• Updated Unity engine version
  

Another minor patch with some additional QoL stuff and fixes!

• Issue with system audio causing loud menu sounds, log spam, and crashing should be fixed
• "Pick Up that Can" achievement reworked - no longer requires the barrel to be thrown, just that it kills 5 enemies
  
• "Rescue Mission" achievement should now work properly and not trigger if the teddy bear was the last prop you interacted with
  
• Overwriting save files should now properly work, rather than creating new files each time
  
• Survival: Purchasing ammo should now immediately update your current ammo count
  
• Your Quick Swap "previous weapon" should no longer get overridden when you pick up a physics prop
  
• A potential fix for a game-breaking bug occurring during lengthy Survival runs
  
• Using the pistol's alt-fire should no longer stow the lighter
  
• An Out-of-Bounds exploit in E1M3 has been fixed
  
• A collision mesh issue in E1M5 has been fixed
  
• The shotgun should now still fire if you attempt an alt-fire with only one shell
  

Quick patch to address a couple of issues and add some QoL options!

• Fixed bind for a [REDACTED] weapon that was previously missing from the rebind list
  
• Adjusted LAR Deadeye Upgrade to properly mention the alt-fire
  
• Added a Run Toggle key (Caps Lock by default)
  
• Added a HUG Toggle key (= by default)