From The Depths News

Hi everyone!

Following the Christmas update and some confusion regarding turrets and collisions Nick has spent a bit of time working on them. We are sorry this bug persisted and crept into builds as it did. A contractor and long time player was working on a bug relating to spinblocks and he disappeared, we've waited on him returning to fix things but he hasn't appeared back. We hope he is okay. This has resulted in Nick picking up the work and having to make the changes he did, though he has went further and improved subobject collision checking after reverting the changes in the previous patch. Here is a list of changes and clarifications in the recent update that I hope clears things up.

1. This only affects level 1 turrets, spinblocks and pistons. Once you go further than that you can clip as you always have so no this doesn't affect spin clipping. That is exactly as it always was.

2. As per the image below, if you are on a block causing a problem the green ring will show the radius of the check and the red part will show where the issue lies. If you need to check a subobject for collisions you can also use the tools in the shift + e advanced build tools menu and the debugger there for recording collisions.



3. As per the image below, slopes are now checked for more precisely. So instead of them being classed as a full block they are checked as they look. Some blocks such as intakes also have relaxed rules to allow turrets to turn as they did. It could be we've missed something with this so if you think another block needs this treatment please post in alphatest channel in the discord.



4. This also means you can now armour up your turret wells with slopes where they couldn't have went previously.



5. If you exploited the origin point of beams in order to place longer blocks where they shouldn't have been then you'll need to fix those. You can no longer exploit origin points.

Additions

APS Visible tracer - length multiplier now editable.
Smoke generator - Added steam particle effect as an option.

Changes

Walkers - Stability will go no lower than 0.8 when a clamping foot is clamped.
APS Ammo intake feeder - This is now fully modelled as an appropriately sized (small/simple) mesh for the purpose of the new turret rotation calculations.

Fixes

[Regression 3.8.3] Fixed an issue with 2 axis turret where the elevation axis would not move if the azimuth axis was not also moving.
Pistons - Piston collision check for slopes / corners / plates added, as per turrets and spinners.
Pistons - Piston collision checks now cached for performance improvement.
Turrets/Spinners - Slight performance improvement when rechecking collision checks after sustaining/repairing damage.

[Neter]
Excruciator (WF): Entirely overhauled; a high-speed battleship armed with multiple railguns to live up to its name. Godly difficulty, adventure difficulty 60
Spectre (SS): Duplicated text removed from lore.
Damacy (GT): Replaced missing block and fixed material allocation.
Glaukos (GT): Fixed random out-of-place blocks, added ball turret mounts to S missile turrets, smoothed some of the structure, painted "The One" deco block.
Corsair (DWG): Updated propeller logic to lessen chances of pitching and flipping.
Lamprey (GT): Deco fix for rail magnets.
Parallax (SD): Remade and reintroduced; a fast spacecraft which delivers two huge missiles at larger targets, uses a weak laser to swat smaller targets. Medium difficulty, adventure difficulty 50.
Carnage (SD): Aesthetic improvements, including gimbal thrusters.

[AotE]
Sentinel (OW): Fixed turret rotation, internally overhauled, AI tweaks, and rear was redesigned.
Longhorn (OW): Re-enabled spawning in adventure. This was intended sooner and was missed.)
Overseer (OW): Overhauled and reintroduced to the active roster. Does it fire a massive cannon shell, or is it a missile? You decide!

[Glao]
Obsidian (OFD): New plane which replaces the Bomber; a compact plane with a wavy movement pattern with missile arrays and an underslung turreted cannon.
Quartz (OFD): New thrustercraft; similar in appearance to the Emerald, but goes all in on a powerful frontal plasma cannon.
Conqueror (GI): New thrustercraft; a cannon-focused brute that outlasts foes with its heavy frontal armor and delivers a kinetic barrage in return.
Gladiator (GI): New thrustercraft; similar in appearance to the Conqueror but sacrifices some of its cannon power for missile arrays.

Fixed turret rotation issues introduced from recent patch for the following designs:
Longhorn (OW, AotE)
Lucerne (OW, AotE)
Chorus (WF)
Longinus (WF)
Purifier (WF)
Redeemer (WF)
Retaliator (WF)
Slasher (WF)
Thrasher (WF)
Angstrom (LH)
Atriedes (SE, AotE)
Scarab (SE, AotE)

We have once again disabled Steam sync. After liaising with Steam it became clear that there is a bug at Steam's side with their sync product which they have now admitted to. However, they don't seem to have any appetite to fix it because the ETA for a fix is "unknown." Their proposed fix of reducing files both; doesn't work for some of the player base and it doesn't seem to always work anyway.
I am sorry to anyone this affects, but it is out of our hands until they fix their issue. This also means GeForce NOW is off the table for players that want to use that.
I suggest you setup some kind of backup of your player profile. DO NOT use Onedrive or google file sync, that causes its own headaches and problems. See the bug reports channel in discord for a workaround if you do have any of those.

BrilliantSkies would like to wish everyone a great holiday period!

To celebrate the holidays some of the community led by Melch (curator) and Lyons(map) have created the Christmas Campaign once more. You can load the planet by using the Content menu in game.
Thank you to everyone who contributed a design!

Nick put on his elf hat and has been working on some bug fixes. There are also updates to various campaign vehicles.

Just to let everyone know flamers and flames will be coming in the New Year so that is something to look forward to in the New Year!

Enjoy and have a good one!

PATCH NOTES

ADD

APS
[BUGS-4260] railgun magnets can now be 'hidden' using decorations, and decorations attached to them will nominally spin as per the magnet.

Lua
Added GetConstructLocalCenterOfMass() method to return the local center of mass.

Physics
[BUGS-4255] The 'V' menu (General info -> Physics) now has an option to turn off the half-voxel rounding/snapping of the centre of mass point. This may be useful for certain vehicle types.

Blocks
[BUGS-4247] GP PID can now has output yaw control option.

CHANGES

XMAS
The xmas 2023 campaign has been released.

Map editor
'View distance' now affects storm cloud layer as well as standard clouds.
If you use a terrain size less than 1024m the game will spawn more terrain pieces to make up for it so that there is not obviously missing terrain. This is has a very bad effect on frame-rate however so don't do it...)

Fire control computer,
Fire control computers can be assigned weapon slots so that they can be limited to controlling certain weapon groups.)

UI
There is now more information displayed about why weapons are not firing, when you manually try to fire them.)
Fuel engine build UI changes following community discussion.

FIXES
Environment
The horizon object that blends sky to sea has been broken for a while, it is now fixed.

Breadboard
[BUGS-4050] Doppler shift for sound effects was limited (by accident) to be no less than 10%. This has been removed, allowing breadboard playback module to produce sounds with no doppler shift.
RandomInput now has correct inputs and outputs number.

Turrets
Reverted a previous change to turrets that was supposed to make hull collision checks more lenient. This change was because it was possible for a quickly rotating turret to access rotations that a slowly rotating turret could not, by effectively jumping through some of the more problematic angles such as 45°. Rather than making it more lenient I have changed it so that checks are performed incrementally to ensure no difficult angle is jumped through. I have increased the precision of the calculation from floating point to double precision calculations.

UI
When aiming weapons manually you'll now see bombs, torpedoes, turrets, missile-block-lasers, plasma cannons and particle cannons as separately listed weapon types in the RDY/IDLE list in the bottom right (as well as cannons, missiles and lasers.)

Missiles
[BUGS-4270] missile controllers with no missiles on them will now use the missile-laser-block position as the firing post position for the purposes of aiming (if applicable). They will prioritize missile-laser-blocks with an encoding of 'our team' or 'our vehicle.'
[BUGS-4289] when a munition decorator is repaired it will apply the decoration to the missiles that need it.

Multi-player
Fixed building and material spending issues in multi-player when players are on different teams.

Tutorials
Fixed the AI build guide.

Weapons
AI fail-safes attached to AI equipment that controls a weapon are now used by the player when trying to fire the weapon manually. This enables you to test your fail-safe (and also not shoot yourself.)

CRAM
[BUGS-4269] CRAM barrel decorations had an issue where original mesh hiding was not working after spawning. Now fixed.

Campaign Blueprints

[Neter]
Brigand (DWG): New carrier ship that deploys a helicopter and launches barrages of missiles at its foes from afar. Godly difficulty, adventure difficulty 30. Now uses water travel mode as intended.
Rat (DWG): Fixed a turning problem, removed excess missile controller.
Judgement (WF): Overhauled as a potent particle cannon destroyer. Difficulties unchanged (Expert, adventure difficulty 60).
Disemboweler (WF): Updated AI behaviors to make its attack runs more consistent. Slight rudder changes.
Whaleshark (SS): Updated CA and scuttling parameters to help lessen the chances of planes going to space; note that this isn't a full fix and some may still do this, but should be a bit more manageable until a more permanent design fix is deployed. Now uses BB control for plane management. Exocets overhauled, even less prone to going to space from recent update.
Glyptos (GT): New thrustercraft, replaces the Perseus; you want missiles? You got missiles. Medium difficulty, adventure difficulty 40.
Perseus (GT): Retired, see Glyptos.
Flail (GT): Minor deco update.
Gog (GT): Deco fixes, minor block adjustments.
ICBM (GT): Fixed a few disconnected CJEs, deco updates.
Morningstar (GT): Same as Flail.
Velocity (SD): Overhauled; still retains its original role as a high-speed missile plane. Hard difficulty, adventure difficulty 30.
Anguish (TG): Updated CA parameters.
Spite (TG): Updated scuttling.
Spear (OW): Fixed duplicate airpumps/connection logic.
Umbra (LH): Now classified as a submarine
Banshee (SS): Fixed missing glass block.
Damacy (GT): Fixed side turret rotation.
Peacekeeper (SD): Retired, awaiting rework.
Corsair (DWG): Deco fixes, added turret ring.
Shrike (DWG): Paint update, added steam jets for more velocity, updates to tail section.
Bulwark (OW): Removed scuttling tag from turrets, causing it to scuttle when one primary turret was destroyed.
Harasser (WF): Harasser has been retired from Neter and remade as a new craft for AotE. Details will be in AotE section.
Piercer (WF): Fixed scuttling issue involving material storage.
Jealousy (TG): Internally redesigned to be cheaper PAC tuning.
Satisfaction Swarm (TG): Added OoC scuttling for drones.
Cherenkov (LH): Removed disconnected missile parts.
Exadyne (LH): Fixed frontal turret being disconnected.
Impedance (LH): Removed unneeded laser transceivers, filled in holes around the cockpit, fixed glass aesthetic near the stern.
Asphodel (SS): Updated Penguin subspawn with propellers over old dediblades.
Gannet Squadron (SS): Added OoC scuttling.
Kitakami (SS): Updated Penguin subspawn with propellers over old dediblades.
PredatorX (SS): Updated with thrust vectoring, removed side thrusters. Improved EMP insulation, added Breadboard for previous ACB functions. Fixed missiles not firing properly.
Spectre (SS): Fixed a few holes due to deco conversion from decos.
Typhoon (SS): Reduced minimum altitude so that its missiles could breach the surface properly. Optimized missile ranges.
Valiant (SS): Updated Penguin subspawn with propellers over old dediblades.
Damacy (GT): Fixed firing arc of primary cannon as well as problems with maneuvering and armor. Alterations to some weaponry.
Lamprey (GT): Redesigned; a hunting ship turned warship with a potent cannon to shoot at ships (and sea monsters theoretically) alongside complimentary weaponry. Difficulties unchanged. Lore added.
Carnage (SD): Aesthetic improvements, including gimbal thrusters.

- All designs through Neter, AotE, and Glao should have updated collision avoidance settings (Christmas campaign will get a passover in the near future). Note that there may be some mistakes with the parameters, which can be updated based on feedback. However, craft intended to ram should at least try to ram properly. If designs aren't behaving as intended, please report it to the unit-design-bugs channel on Discord.

[AotE]
Dust Chopper (DWG): New DWG bike unit; a small, fast, agile unit with a powerful missile. Adventure difficulty 5.
Smuggler (DWG): New DWG tank; a monosider with a mixture of cannons and missiles. Adventure difficulty 25.
Tuareg (DWG): Entirely overhauled; a large mobile base with a large assortment of weaponry alongside 2 Copperheads and 2 Dust Choppers accompanying it. Will be updated with adventure difficulty once validated.
Longhorn (OW): Overhauled and added back to active roster; an aggressive, ramming tank. Have you ever had a castle drive into you at over 80 m/s? Adventure difficulty 60.
Sand Raider (DWG): Fixed resting drive on wheels to be 0, this way it'll actually stop when not AI controlled.
Bison (OW): Rebuilt; now functions as a broadsider with its top turrets removed and replaced with a crossbow missile turret.
Bombard (OW): Minor paint aesthetic update.
Ember Forge (OW): The land version of the Ember Forge has been overhauled with a beautiful aesthetic update, alongside some light firepower to fend off attackers. The Neter fortress version may receive an update in the near future.
Lucerne (OW): Reworked to now be a frontsider with a large cannon barrage.
Harasser (WF): New "tank" unit: A fearsome bike with a rapid-fire cannon and a tactical nuke lance. Adventure difficulty 20 with low deviation.
Ravager (WF): Overhauled; an intimidating tank with a high top speed, a slew of varied weaponry, and if looks could kill, your next visit would be the Flayed God. Adventure difficulty 80 with high deviation.
Atreides (SE): Replaced the crude fans of the subspawn with propeller hubs.
Overseer (OW): Overhauled and reintroduced to the active roster. Does it fire a massive cannon shell, or is it a missile? You decide!

- Player designs should no longer spawn on the main menu.
- Fixed a "too high" scuttling problem for various land designs (and their subconstructs)
- All AotE designs have had their collision avoidance parameters adjusted from the 50s default. There is likely room for optimization here that will be addressed based on feedback/extensive testing.

[Glao]
Emerald (OFD): Now properly spawns in the air. Whoops.
Helicopter (TRD): Removed dediblades, minor deco overlapping fixes. Likely slated a for a rename/rework in the future.
Granite Squad (OFD): Updated to be faster, more aggressive, and with improved cannons.
Obsidian (OFD): New plane which replaces the Bomber; a compact plane with a wavy movement pattern with missile arrays and an underslung turreted cannon.
Quartz (OFD): New thrustercraft; similar in appearance to the Emerald, but goes all in on a powerful frontal plasma cannon.
Conqueror (GI): New thrustercraft; a cannon-focused brute that outlasts foes with its heavy frontal armor and delivers a kinetic barrage in return.
Gladiator (GI): New thrustercraft; similar in appearance to the Conqueror but sacrifices some of its cannon power for missile arrays.

- All active Glao design bp files have been moved to their respective folders. Duplicates still remain in the main Glao folder which will be cleaned up in the near future.
- All active Glao designs have had their collision avoidance parameters adjusted from the 50s default. There is likely room for optimization here that will be addressed based on feedback/extensive testing.

Not sure what is going on but it seems steam sync related before I re-enabled it today.
If you think you've lost your game data suddenly check this path:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\0\268650\ac\WinMyDocuments\From The Depths\Player Profiles

I am unsure why this happened, but I have contacted Steam.
Sorry for any inconvenience if this has happened to you.

Fixes:
Multiplayer - Resource zones will now no longer be infinite in multiplayer if they've been set to be finite in the world editor.
Fuel build UI - Same treatment the plasma one has had. Will gradually roll this out where its appropriate and possible to do.

[Neter]
Brigand (DWG): New carrier ship that deploys a helicopter and launches barrages of missiles at its foes from afar. Godly difficulty, adventure difficulty 30.
Flail (GT): Minor deco update.
Gog (GT): Deco fixes, minor block adjustments.
ICBM (GT): Fixed a few disconnected CJEs, deco updates.
Morningstar (GT): Same as Flail.
Velocity (SD): Overhauled; still retains its original role as a high-speed missile plane. Hard difficulty, adventure difficulty 30.
Anguish (TG): Updated CA parameters.
Spite (TG): Updated scuttling.
Spear (OW): Fixed duplicate airpumps/connection logic.
Umbra (LH): Now classified as a submarine
Banshee (SS): Fixed missing glass block.
Damacy (GT): Fixed side turret rotation.
Peacekeeper (SD): Retired, awaiting rework.

[AotE]
Dust Chopper (DWG): New DWG bike unit; a small, fast, agile unit with a powerful missile. Adventure difficulty 5.
Smuggler (DWG): New DWG tank; a monosider with a mixture of cannons and missiles. Adventure difficulty 25.
Tuareg (DWG): Entirely overhauled; a large mobile base with a large assortment of weaponry alongside 2 Copperheads and 2 Dust Choppers accompanying it. Will be updated with adventure difficulty once validated.
Longhorn (OW): Overhauled and added back to active roster; an aggressive, ramming tank. Have you ever had a castle drive into you at over 80 m/s? Adventure difficulty 60.
- Fixed a "too high" scuttling problem for various land designs (and their subconstructs)
- All AotE designs have had their collision avoidance parameters adjusted from the 50s default. There is likely room for optimization here that will be addressed based on feedback/extensive testing.

[Glao]
Emerald (OFD): Now properly spawns in the air. Whoops.
Helicopter (TRD): Removed dediblades, minor deco overlapping fixes. Likely slated a for a rename/rework in the future.

- All designs through Neter, AotE, and Glao should have updated collision avoidance settings (Christmas campaign will get a passover in the near future). Note that there may be some mistakes with the parameters, which can be updated based on feedback. However, craft intended to ram should at least try to ram properly. If designs aren't behaving as intended, please report it to the unit-design-bugs channel on Discord.