Soulash 2 News

Greetings fellow gods,

This week, I worked hard to solve some technical issues I've been putting off forever: x64 architecture migration and UTF-8 character rendering.

The x64 migration solves our lack of memory to build bigger worlds and regions. It improves the game's stability and will unlock more z-levels to play around with, going up and down.

The UTF-8 support is limited to European and Russian alphabets for now, as these were the most commonly requested. This is a major step forward in creating a modding system for translations. However, it will take more time to do it properly - we still need at least a partial entity update to override only the text fields while keeping the mechanical properties unaffected.

There have been some additional major improvements to the generation, mainly dwarven and elven settlements, to make it easier to traverse and find specific buildings we need. The dwarven rooms will now be closer together and expand below the ground instead of to the nearby mountains.



And something that has been requested for some time now, we can filter known beings by skill name to find the desired trainers!



Here's the full changelog:

[h3]Added[/h3]
- Added support for searching by skill name in the Knowledge Beings tab, which will find all known beings with the searched skill above 10.
- Added support for European and Russian special characters rendering.
- Added auto rest action when performing a basic attack without stamina.
- A few new natural resources were added to the grasslands, forests, and mountains.

[h3]Changed[/h3]
- Updated the engine and game architecture to x64, fixing the out of memory issues related to big maps.
- Improved text sharpness.
- Improved road generation to make the world less cluttered.
- Changed dwarven settlement generation to generate rooms closer together and go deeper underground rather than spread over multiple hills on z-level 0.
- Dwarven and Elven settlements now generate multiple flights of stairs connecting z-levels.
- Z-level position of buildings is shown when asking for directions in settlements.
- Mushrooms changed to be gatherable to unlock as resouces found in the region.
- Gathering is now a forbidden action at human, dwarven and mushmen settlements.
- Removed the debug console window when starting the game.
- Added info to Bedroll and Pillow that they are used from backpack.

[h3]Fixed[/h3]
- Fixed rare crash on region map generation.
- Fixed crash related to Hunter's Stew and other foods, giving special bonuses.
- Fixed rare crash related to exiting regions.
- Fixed rare crash related to escaping AI characters.
- Fixed rare crash on character creation.
- Fixed human settlements falling into ruin during the early generation phase.
- Fixed bonus max potential from age being provided too soon for older races.
- Fixed skills from mods not unloading once the mods were disabled.
- Walls of rooms are no longer carved out in Dwarven settlements.
- Fixed missing corridors connecting some buildings in Dwarven settlements.
- Fixed elven Grey Watchers and War Dancers building name generation.
- Removed the "Tree Background" option from ask for direction conversation options in eleven settlements.
- Items with negative food value are no longer consumed automatically.
- Swapped the tooltip descriptions of Analyze Speed and Analyze Weakness.

[h3]Modding[/h3]
- Added producers list in datatable of resources.
- Crafting recipes can once again be assigned to races.


I hoped to introduce the new civilization today, but unfortunately, we had to postpone it due to technical difficulties (laptop broke down). We've also begun working on port special locations to allow for a way to pass the oceans, so hopefully, we'll be able to bring in both next week.

Thank you to everyone who helped test the beta branch of x64! Please swap back to the main one now, as I'll remove the beta branch in the next few days.

Have fun,
Artur

Greetings fellow gods,

I could use your help. There's a new temporary beta branch for the x64 version of the game that is planned for deployment on Thursday. If possible, please switch to it and check if there are no issues on your machine, as the underlying libraries have been updated.

The current x32 version will not be supported once the new version hits the default branch, as it can't handle the amount of RAM the game needs on large worlds, causing instability and save corruption.

To switch to the beta branch, right-click on the game on Steam, select Properties -> Betas -> Beta Participation, and select "beta_x64." The game will be updated automatically.

Current save files are compatible with the new version.

Thank you for your time,
Artur

Greetings fellow gods,

Today's update brings the 3rd dexterity-based skill - Hunting. Centered around bows and crossbows, the skill offers a variety of tools to track beings, tame animals to become your companions, and exploit enemy weaknesses while shooting them from a safe range.



The full changelog is available below:

[h3]Added[/h3]
- New skill: Hunting.
- 9 new polearms.
- Added Hearth recipe to Construction.
- Added "mapregen" command to force refresh the region map.

[h3]Changed[/h3]
- Changed ore vein minimap pixels to be more visible.
- Bonus damage percent from abilities like Rage applies to bonus damage from statistics and basic weapon and ability damage.

[h3]Fixed[/h3]
- Removed the option to craft multiple skill books at once.
- Fixed Mutant's Lair spawning invalid area on z -1.
- Pole Fighting level 44 correctly provides a Pole Fighting skill book.
- Archer type NPCs no longer prefer to equip daggers.
- Fixed rare crashes when placing an arrow or bolt in the stash.
- Fixed rare slowdown in elven settlements.
- Fixed elven leatherworker available recipes.
- Fixed issue with the create item orders sometimes becoming unclaimable.
- Mycelium Wardens are willing to talk to players.
- Fixed cooldown of books when crafter more than 1 not preserving on save.

[h3]Modding[/h3]
- Added new passive property "restrict_tags" that can be used to apply passive effects only to entities if they have at least one matching tag, like "animal".
- Fixed rare crash in Map Maker.
- Fixed crash in Data Tables.
- Fixed Ability Editor hiding the last effect input.
- Updated modding docs with extra cheat console commands.

[h3]Hotfix v0.7.2.1[/h3]
- Fixes the crash when going through the Construction skill.

What's next? Work on the next civilization that will rise on the tundras of our worlds has begun. It will be a fun surprise, as we didn't have such a race in the first game!

As always, thank you for your fantastic support, allowing me to build my dream game full-time. I'm available to talk to you on Discord daily if you have more feedback or bug reports or just want to chat about the game. If you've been enjoying your time with Soulash 2, and believe others could too, make sure to recommend it through the Steam review system. It really helps!

Have fun pew pewing with your bows and taming giant frogs,
Artur

Greetings fellow gods,

Today's update focuses on addressing your feedback and reported bugs, with the main addition being craftable skill books on level 44 of every skill that goes up to 50 to allow mastery of skills through your own pursuit of knowledge without needing a trainer.

There are also several improvements and tweaks, like canceling orders to deal with edge situations related to simulation, like the death of the crafter while they make your item with delivered precious resources.

Here's the full changelog:

[h3]Added[/h3]
- Books that increase potential can now be crafted from skill level 44 and up. Once the recipe is unlocked, a new book may be written every 3 years.
- Added an option to cancel orders and recover resources.
- Experience gain from using resources when crafting and upgrading is now displayed before confirming. Hovering over the XP icon displays the affected skill.
- Added a tooltip to the Family Selection screen that described family benefits.
- Added a tooltip to the Character Creation screen that offers some details about the skill system and a recommendation for new players.

[h3]Changed[/h3]
- While cooking multiple meat units, the cooking sound is not interrupted before being done, and the rest of the sound is disabled.
- Increased the chance to steal items and resources from families when robbing their stashes.
- Improved Rob action tooltip to indicate a Sneaking vs Hearing check performed for nearby entities.
- Improved visibility of item quality borders in equipment.

[h3]Fixed[/h3]
- Fixed moving items to party members with more than 1 companion.
- Fixed Mycelium Pins recipe to be available in the building instead of crafting.
- Buildings in large towns no longer generate too close to the edge of the map, preventing entry.
- Player character no longer becomes a sibling with itself.
- Chaining Lunge no longer moves the character under the enemy.
- Fixed crash when attempting to upgrade an item that has already been salvaged.
- Fixed T-shaped ability targeting combined with range amplifier.
- Fixed message log about thorns damage.
- Fixed thorns damage dealt by enemies.
- Fixed Hit and Run ability sometimes not performing to the expected standards.
- Fixed Swap Places ability sometimes not working or causing the character to disappear.
- Fixed an issue where asking for a trainer would return an empty building name.
- Continue button no longer gets disabled when going back from character creation to difficulty selection.
- Companions correctly preserve their alternative weapons.
- Robbed items are correctly marked as stolen.
- Blinded archers no longer shoot at their normal range.
- Single-handedly ended the clone wars.

[h3]Modding[/h3]
- Added cooldown property to the Craftable component, which can delay crafting multiple units of specific recipes.
- Fixed issues with saving the Equipment component in Entity Editor.

[h3]Edit v0.7.1.1[/h3]
- Milestone checks happen on loading a save game to enable new ones immediately.
- Fixed Agriculture and Armorsmithing book milestones.

Work on Hunting skill continues, and we've also settled on the next civilization that will rise on the world map in the upcoming weeks. Thank you all for offering your invaluable feedback, and I wish you all many more hours of fun.

Enjoy,
Artur

Greetings fellow gods,

Following the feedback, I've updated the experience gained from crafting to include resource quality to promote crafting better items to advance rather than spamming trash and tackling some of the issues reported on Discord.

Here's the full changelog:

[h3]Changed[/h3]
- Resource quality adds to the experience gained by crafting and upgrading, but not building.
- Updated resource borders and name colors to reflect their quality.
- Breastplate crafting time reduced by 70%.
- Strawberries can be planted in the forest biome.
- Gatherable Herbs Bush spawns in the wild instead of Herbs.
- Improved glyphs for coal and peat moss to be more noticeable.
- Candles are now stackable.

[h3]Fixed[/h3]
- Fixed crash on companion death.
- Fixed crash when using using Arrow Deflection on Thorn Spitters.
- Fixed crash related to death in Hardcore mode.
- Fixed the item ownership issue in special locations.
- Fixed deconstruction action in own settlements.
- Fixed an issue where ordering multiple stackable items at once would take only a single resource unit.
- Live Moss can be used as a magic resource.
- Yew Tree planting no longer causes immediate tree growth.
- Wooden Spikes no longer block vision.
- Wooden Doors and Shell Doors can be deconstructed in the owned region.
- Fixed missing icon in crafting when a specific resource is required.
- Fixed usable items like Clay Jugs not showing in the Crafting Screen for selection.
- Fixed GUI issue in building menu related to scrolling and filtering.

[h3]Modding[/h3]
- Fixed Block Light component not selecting correctly in Entity Maker.


Have a fun weekend,
Artur