Monsters Loot Swag News

It's not just the Windows kernal that got updated and caused worldwide chaos - apparently Proton was also affected by changes to Windows, and has thus required a fix to the DirectX shader compiler. So once again, the game should be running on SteamDeck, Proton and Wine in general. A shame M$ don't actually mention anything when they update D3DCompiler47,dll ... ːnotsohappychappyː

In other news, the Beta has had another overhaul, and the GlowBin has been ... er ... binned! ːhappychappyː This has now been replaced with glow getting it's own pass during rendering. This required a bit of "fixing" of every object that used glow ... which turned out to be 94 of them ... ːsteamfacepalmː

Here is the full changelog for Early Access Update 30:

1. Update: 30: update to v.1.8.5.9
   
2. Change: Default Release updated to engine version 1281.
   
3. Change: Beta Release updated to engine version 1290 with a rollback for a bug I identified in player movement code.
   
4. Fix: Mostly about fixing Proton shader compatibility which broke after an update.
   
5. Change: D3DCompiler47.dll had previously been included for SteamDeck and is now updated to a more recent driver version.
   
6. Fix: LightFlameAmber animated texture was missing.
   
7. Change: GlowBin has been removed and glow now gets it's own rendering pass.
   
8. Change: 94 textures with glow have been updated to use the glowMap texture slot.
   
9. Change: Unified auto-exposure adaption rate through all 7 levels.
   
10. Change: Keyboard input returns to menus for the Beta version, though option selection and statistics menus are not currently useable this way, though you can ESC to go back, but really, use the mouse.
    

Valve have released an update to the Steamworks SDK, and so I have updated Monsters Loot Swag to the latest Steam build!

This is Early Access Update 29, and includes the following changelog and bug fixes:

1. Update to v.1.8.5.7
   
2. Change: Steamworks SDK updated to latest development build v.1.60.
   
3. Change: Alert FX upon defeating the level end boss and opening the exit had stereo audio when it should have been mono for 3D direction on players who are too far away from the exit to see the exit shields fall.
   
4. Fix: It was possible for SinglePlayer pause to mistakenly think it was in Multiplayer, if player had entered Multiplayer mode but aborted hosting or connecting to a game.
   

Welcome to Early Access Update 28! ːhappychappyː

The old Beta build is now considered stable enough to be promoted to the Default Release Build.

The new Beta build has a new audio library, which has resulted in a change to ALL THE THINGS - the things in this case being the audio files which have been reformatted from floating 32-bit OGG to 16-bit WAV, so the game engine doesn't have to do the conversion itself. Batching conversion was infinitley preferable to manually changing volume levels on all normalized audio. This has led to a rather larger update than usual which should weigh in at around 330mb.

1. Update 28: minor update to v.1.8.5.3
   
2. Change: Default Build engine ported to version 1226.
   
3. Change: Beta Build engine ported to latest version of devhead 1281.
   
4. Fix: If the startup character is locked, the first choice of character now defaults to the first unlocked character.
   
5. Fix: If the previous session's character was an unlocked character but that character is not currently available due to the steam achievement check failing, eg: offline play, a deathloop lockup/crash could occur.
   
6. Change: Altered level 3 loading "flavour" text to make a catgirl joke.
   
7. Fix: Level 4 preload was not working fully effectively due to wrong object transform.
   
8. Fix: Wrong HDR settings for level 4.
   
9. Fix: 2D audio initiated via server was failing.
   
10. Change: Beta audio files have been converted to 16-bit WAV due to changes to normalization of 32-bit float audio files in newest audio library.
    
11. New: Included openAL32d library.
    

This is POLARIS, she enjoys meditating under the stars, drinking green tea, and beating the seven shades out of anything that moves!

POLARIS is the second unlockable character, and can be unlocked by the player getting the achievement known as; THE AMBASSADORS BY HOLBIEN.



POLARIS is a close range, melee based playable character with a trio of hand-to-hand standard attacks, featuring very high health regeneration, alongside high mobility, and high strength for knocking monsters out of the way. Her Special Attack is FURIOUS FISTS, were she pummels everything in front of her with super-fast blows, whilst being invulnerable to damage herself. Her Special Evade is RUGBY RUN, a short range speed burst with very high damage to anything she collides with, ending in a small area stun.


FURIOUS FISTS in action! (You can make your own Waaaa-ATATATATATATATA sound effect if you like)

Besides this new unlockable character, there has also been a host of bug fixes, tweaks and changes, which bring the game build up to version 1.8.4.9. Most of the fixes are regarding updating the engine from the older, and now retired build, and stabilizing the BETA build.

1. Update 27: updated to v.1.8.4.9, BETA build merge 1.2.2.8.
   
2. New: Unlockable player cosplay character "Polaris" is now available and requires Achievement "THE AMBASSADORS BY HOLBIEN" to unlock.
   
3. New: Multiple fist strikes special weapon for player melee combat datablock.
   
4. New: Rugby Run special FX and audio for Polaris special evade.
   
5. Change: Unlockable characters are now initialized directly via the test for unlocked steam achievements.
   
6. Fix: Removed zone volumes which were causing an assert on disconnect server / quitting level in BETA version.
   
7. Fix: Wrongly named arrayObject was attempting to cleanup the nodes list on level initialization.
   
8. Change: Added Follower mesh to preloading objects.
   
9. Change: Removed out of date font references.
   
10. Fix: Streamlined fonts and constrained sizes.
    
11. Change: Re-fonted all GUIs.
    
12. Change: Increased Elafi The Athelete Level 4 Boss melee attack range from 3.5 to 6.5.
    
13. New: Added multiple strikes FX for Elafi The Athelete Level 4 Boss melee attack.
    
14. Change: Decreased Elafi The Athelete Level 4 Boss melee attack knockback so that the player is not automatically knocked to safety after being hit and thus is more likely to receive multiple kicks.
    
15. Change: Moved the miss radius particle effect for Elafi The Athelete Level 4 Boss melee attack to spawn at 75% of range. Previously it made the player looked like they were in range of the attack which missed.
    
16. Fix: Multiplayer was showing engine versioning and not game versioning.
    
17. Fix: Level End GUI input control was not getting the call for set first responder due to misnaming.
    
18. Change: Amalgamated level end client calls to standardized function.
    
19. Fix: Removed redundant client call at level end.
    
20. Fix: Monster Boss charge FX array had been disabled in Default build, Beta build not affected.
    
21. Fix: Level End Menu buttons were throwing an assert whilst being parented to a gui when not visible. Parenting now delayed until button status check is activated.
    
22. Fix: Level End Menu buttons are now cleaned up onSleep.
    
23. Fix: Multiplayer mission recycling and level advancement was broken due to recent changes to engine build. Fixed and reported to engine development team. Changes merged into devhead on github.
    
24. Fix: Multiplayer advance level schedule calls were not referencing the new naming convention for game modes.
    
25. Fix: Multiplayer disconnect was calling an obsolete function, now calls disconnection directly.
    
26. Change: Removed all references to redundant server exit pause timings.
    
27. Change: Removed all references to obsolete cycling of missions on the server.
    
28. Fix: SpawnFX arrays with sfxPlaylist workarounds for some monsters on Default build were missing. Beta uses the correct system due to sfxPlayLists being fixed to work with networkable explosions.
    
29. Fix: Numerous weapon audio fx not referencing the correct module in BETA build.
    
30. Change: Player attributes for Light and Heavy Attack Damage no longer scale together. Heavy Attack Damage is now the maximum damage that can strike a single target and is out of 350. Light Attack Damage remains out of 150.
    
31. Fix: Explosion 72 particle was not correctly referencing the bitmap.
    
32. Fix: Machine-gun burst audio special attack was wrongly named in the Beta.
    
33. Fix: Level 1 Boss attack audio was changed but reference not updated.
    
34. Fix: swordFlashHighAudio was trying to reference a defunct playList in Beta.
    
35. Change: Updated autogenConditioners header file and will probably flush the shader cache on update.
    

When I post a big update it immediately seems Valve brings out a new Steamworks SDK - and here it is! Steamworks has been updated to v.1.9, and I took the time to roll in a few bug fixes whilst I was at it.
Monsters Loot Swag has been updated to v.1.8.0.3 .

1. Update 26: update v.1.8.0.3
   
2. Change: Updated Steamworks SDK to latest version 1.9.
   
3. Fix: Machine Gun Special Attack FX was not playing due to wrongly name event.
   
4. Fix: Time Stop Special Defend FX was not playing due to wrongly name event.
   
5. Fix: Level 7 enemies Spectral Knights now vary skin colour and death emitters.
   
6. Fix: Brought back Monster Boss fx alert when about to charge.
   
7. Fix: Beta has sfxPlayLists fixed, so explosions and fx have been reduced as they can play audio randomly.
   
8. Change: Level 1 Boss "Big Lad" steps now louder.
   
9. Change: Herne Deer Monster Distortion is no amalgamated into Herne Deer Monster Invisible.
   
10. Change: Smoothed out the cash bar increments when buying swag.
    
11. Fix: Most Damage Stat initial check had wrong name.
    
12. Fix: Previous Best Attack Stat could have been massively inflated by passing an id number rather than actual damage, if so it will be reset to 0.
    
13. Fix: Worst Wound Stat was referencing the wrong variable, but this does not need to be reset for an achievement.
    
14. Fix: Lighting Priority value seemed reverse of what code comments declared, level light priority vales have been inverted.
    
15. Fix: Dynamic Object based audio had no been updated to asset system and thus was not playing, eg: comedy banana sound.
    
16. Fix: Achievement 24 TOURISM GUIDE was firing instead of Achievement 49 MEAT SHIELD. This is now fixed and Achievement 24 will be checked to see if it needs to be revoked. This will only happen once and be stored to cloud.
    
17. Fix: PermaDeath was not firing due to changes in build type. You saved level progress is once again in danger!
    
18. Change: Swag Module save information has been moved out of core and into the Swag Module directory system.
    

The Beta now has engine versioning too, this is displayed on the Main Menu screen, and has been updated to devhead merge #1226.