Unturned News

Added:

• Alt hotkey to remove baked foliage with paint brush.
  
• "Disable" option for sensitivity scaling mode.
  
• Terrain material editor filter for only in-use materials.
  
• Terrain material and foliage editor name filters.
  
• Kick threshold for significantly exceeding per-RPC rate limits.
  

Changed:

• Separated terrain editor brush strength value for each tool.
  
• Assetbundle hash is included in asset integrity check.
  

Fixed:

• Warn if vendor vehicle spawnpoint is unset.
  
• Missing vendor and reward spawnpoint for vehicle uses player position as fallback.
  
• Picking up items while climbing.
  
• Invalid item conditions on tracked quest breaking UI.
  
• Fists use melee damage multiplier.
  
• Terrain undo/redo interfering with other undo/redos.
  

Sorry to say that there were two embarrasing mistakes made in the initial release of this update:

• Firstly, the 2020 LTS beta was accidentally set live rather than the actual update. The reason this happened is that my automatic release process was using the newest upload rather than the upload from the preview branch. In order to ensure this never happens again the automatic release will now specifically use the preview branch version rather than the newest version, and a confirmation dialog to double-check.
  
• Secondly, players were getting kicked for exceeding rate limits when equipping a kit. This highlighted a flaw in the equipment system from back when integrity checks were first added to equipped items. For the meantime I have increased the equipment rate limits significantly as a temporary workaround, but for the next major update I will properly resolve this flaw. If you experience other incorrect rate limit kicks please let me know and I will get them fixed, and as a temporary measure it is also possible to raise the Rate_Limit_Kick_Threshold in Config.json.
  

Client-invokable RPCs already have rate limits intended to prevent wasting server processing time. There was no penalty for repeatedly hitting these rate limits however, so time could still be wasted ignoring requests. There is now a Rate_Limit_Kick_Threshold option: if the same rate limit is hit this many times within the cooldown window the client will be kicked. For example a value of 5 means the client will be kicked the 5th time it is called within the same cooldown window. The default is 10.

The server checks both individual asset integrity and Unity assetbundle integrity to prevent cheaters from modifying their files to gain an advantage. Previously it was possible to bypass this by loading a different assetbundle on a per-asset basis, for example by adding a legacy ".unity3d" assetbundle to a vanilla vehicle. Individual asset integrity checks now include the assetbundle hash as well which prevents this exploit as long as the multi-platform ".hash" file is available for the server.



Unturned is currently using Unity 2019 LTS. Upgrading to 2020 LTS seems to be stable now and fully backwards compatible with existing content. If you would like to give it a try it is on the "unity-2020" beta branch, though there are still some known issues to fix next week. Assuming there are no unexpected surprises *fingers crossed* it should be in the next update.

Added:

• "Haven Across" music by staswalle on PEI loading screen.
  
• "Focal length sensitivity scaling" to adjust sensitivity according to scope/optic projection ratio.
  
• Controls option to use "Legacy" sensitivity scaling from prior to the 3.22.8.0 update.
  
• Hole mask brush for cutting holes into terrain.
  
• Gun option Requires_NonZero_Attachment_Caliber to disable vanilla attachments.
  
• Vehicle and turret passenger Unity events.
  
• Modulo NPC math operation and B_Value option as alternative / default for B_ID.
  
• Cost_Multiplier option in level asset skill rules.
  
• Per-navmesh "infinite agro range" zombie option.
  
• Browse Files button in editor maps list.
  

Changed:

• Flashbang briefly flashes a light component upon detonation.
  
• Merged "devkit" terrain tools into regular editor.
  
• Updated Germany, Hawaii, and Greece hole volumes to new hole masks.
  
• Improved foliage responsiveness by spiraling outwards.
  
• Updated Freezing mythical to the newer snowflake particles.
  
• Separated Melee_Repair_Multiplier from Melee_Damage_Multiplier.
  
• Replaced Germany grass materials with greener variants.
  

Fixed:

• Map preview image wrong size in singleplayer, editor, and server detail screens.
  
• Scope focus foliage option leaking memory with dual render scopes disabled.
  
• Prevent skycrane from picking up destroyed vehicles.
  
• Black water mask on main menu if logging out while underwater.
  
• Props with quest condition not updating when quest is abandoned.
  
• Decals are considered "small" in objects list filter.
  
• Locked brakes with vehicle physics profile braking model override.
  
• Placeholder workaround for carepackage landing misprediction.
  
• Re-enable oil on sand material.
  

• Fixed dedicated server was not loading out-of-bounds terrain for automatic conversion.
  
• Added hint labels for obscure terrain editor hotkeys.
  

PEI is the first map to receive loading screen music by staswalle!



You can listen on his YouTube channel here as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rxki2vxbAEA



Back in 2016 the Unity engine did not have built-in support for cutting the terrain. "Hole volumes" were hacked together as a solution for Unturned, and basically acted as a portal which disabled collision against the terrain. There were a lot of drawbacks to this approach however: for example bullets had to check whether they would pass through a hole before doing collision tests, and each pixel of the terrain shader tested whether its 3D position was inside a hole for transparency (which is why there was a limit on the max number of holes). Nowadays Unity DOES have built-in support for an unlimited number of holes fully integrated with physics, so the custom workarounds can be removed!



Unturned will automatically convert hole volumes on existing maps to the painted hole mask, but there might be some gaps until the level creator manually reviews the changes. Alongside this upgrade any maps using the old terrain tools are automatically converted to the new terrain tools, which have also finally been merged into the regular editor. In order to "dogfood" these changes I manually upgraded Germany, Hawaii, and Greece (which was using the old terrain system), so hopefully that shows I really believe this is an important improvement for the game even if there are some wonky effects on older maps that need manual revision. (Sorry!) If you are working on a map and run into any problems with this conversion please feel free to email me [email protected].



Following feedback on the scope zoom and sensitivity fixes in the previous update: we should now have the best of both worlds! A new "Sensitivity Scaling Mode" option has been added to the Controls menu. The default "Focal Length" option is new, and should perfectly adjust the sensitivity according to the perceived size of enemies on screen. I would recommend at least giving it a try, but if you want both the zoom levels and sensitivity to be reverted to how they were before the previous update you can choose the "Legacy" option. Alternatively the "Zoom Level" choice is available which preserves the behaviour of the previous update.

Grass loading (especially with "scope focus foliage" enabled) often felt unresponsive because it started in a grid pattern North-West of the camera. Loading now instead follows a spiral pattern outward from the camera, so the closest foliage is loaded first.

In sadder news I am sorry to say that Unturned II (4.0) development has been paused. This post summarizes some relevant factors from my personal life, and how Unturned (3.0) will be affected going forward:

Read "Unturned II Development Paused" Blog Post

Added:

• Climb interaction on ladder to snap without jumping.
  
• Graphics option for maximum draw distance.
  
• Options menus are available in the level editor.
  
• Quit to desktop buttons.
  
• NPC reward to override player spawnpoint.
  

Changed:

• Zoom factors use preferred field of view.
  
• Invert water mask while camera is underwater.
  
• Updated Unity from 2019.4.37f1 to 2019.4.38f1.
  

Fixed:

• Disabled specular on vanilla static materials.
  
• Not applying conditions/rewards on quest and vendor dialogue responses.
  
• Disable sky fog on water backface.
  
• Missing character limit in uGUI text chat input field.
  

• Reduced ladder interact range from 6m to 4m.
  
• Prevent interacting with horizontal/angled ladders.
  
• Fixed in-game quit button was blocked by combatlogging/Alt-F4 prevention on PvP servers.
  
• Fixed unable to decline quests.
  

After the character movement update it became more difficult to climb down ladders, so at long last you can optionally press the Interact key to mount at the point you are looking! Hopefully this reduces the number of hospital visits caused by jumping to climb down. Walking into a ladder to climb is also still supported.



You are probably sick and tired of hearing about fog adjustments with these past few updates.


100% is a balance between performance and quality. It was the intended maximum in the first of these updates, reducing the draw distance from its previous insanely high value. 50% is available for some lower-end hardware, but players at the maximum network distance will be slightly within the fog. 200% is available for higher-end systems.

Keep in mind that 2x the draw distance (radius) is 4x the area, so 100% has 4x the area considered for rendering compared to 50%, and 200% has 16x the area compared to 50%. The level editor max draw distance is separate from the in-game max draw distance, and its values are 2x as large. Landmark draw distance is automatically adjusted for the max draw distance, so for example landmarks 100% with a max of 150% is not rendering any landmarks in the fog.



Controls, options, graphics, and display settings can be adjusted in the level editor without returning to the main menu. You can also quit to desktop from the level editor or in-game pause menus, however the disconnect timer applies while playing in multiplayer.

NPCs can set a spawn location override so that the player will respawn at a marked location or vehicle spawnpoint. This override is saved between sessions. For example it could be useful for story sections or safezones.

Previously scopes and optics multiplied a base field of view of 90 degrees, whereas now your configured field of view is used.

Added:

• Mask when camera near clip plane intersects water.
  
• PvP damage penalty when client is potentially faking lag. (e.g. "lag switch")
  

Changed:

• Various minor gameplay balance adjustments. (detailed below)
  
• Render sky fog before transparent objects. Water transparency renders sky fog in forward pass.
  
• Updated Unity from 2019.4.35f1 to 2019.4.37f1.
  
• Converted hardcoded Anastasia door to text chat component + IOBS component.
  

Fixed:

• Warning when item blueprints have identical conditions.
  
• Leftover holiday chicken on Liberator. [Thanks danaby2]
  
• Capturing satellite image when assets are missing from level.
  
• Singleplayer pause menu also pauses audio globally. [Thanks Toothy Deerryte]
  

It is widely agreed that some balance adjustments are long overdue, so this update combines a variety of work-in-progress upgrades from the past few months of tuning and feedback:

Edit: these "Balance Improvements" were for April Fools. The underlying real issues here should gradually be improved upon however, for example the skill system needs a revamp, vanilla helicopter audio should be upgraded, global pathfinding would greatly help AI, etc. Hope you had a good one!

• Recoil on the Maplestrike has been decreased by 5%, and the recoil control buff from Sharpshooter has been changed from 50% to 95%.
  
• Draw distance has been further reduced down to 256m. Inflation of map sizes in open-world AAA games make it harder for us to compete, so the extremely exaggerated fog in Unturned at least makes the map FEEL bigger.
  
• Green skin color hues have been removed from the Permanent Gold Upgrade. They made it too easy to blend into grassy maps like Kuwait and Arid. Instead, they are now a complimentary benefit of the new subscription-based Platinum Upgrade DLC. Locking them behind a more expensive paywall makes them rarer, and thus more balanced.
  
• Helicopter audio volume has been increased by 220% to better convey how intimidating it should feel to see a helicopter flying toward your base. The deafening volume for passengers helps balance out how useful they are.
  
• It was unfair for zombies to use navmesh pathfinding when animals cannot, so zombie AI has been replaced by animal AI. Use of flares and other zombie-attracting items is encouraged to help them get unstuck from corners.
  
• Devkit was overpowered because it had features missing from the regular editor, so two new level editors "modKit" and "BoxEd" have been added which combine some features and remove others, evening the playing field for beginners to the modding scene. Editing mods without re-uploading to the workshop first is no longer supported.
  

Edit: again to clarify, these "Balance Improvements" were for April Fools. The underlying real issues here should gradually be improved upon however, for example the skill system needs a revamp, vanilla helicopter audio should be upgraded, global pathfinding would greatly help AI, etc. Hope you had a good one!





The lower-left of this screenshot would previously have been a clear view of underwater zones, but now gets filled with the water color. This should help protect secret underwater locations and bases.



In recent weeks the exploit of artificially delaying game packets AKA "lag switching" has become more of a nuisance. To combat this, a new setting in the server Config.json file "Fake_Lag_Threshold_Seconds" has been added with a default value of 3 seconds. If there is a delay between input packets from the client greater than this threshold they will be penalized for a corresponding duration minus one second. For example if the threshold is 3 seconds and the server does not receive any inputs from a client for 3.2 seconds, they will be under penalty for 2.2 seconds.

During a fake lag penalty the client's damage against other players is multiplied by the "Fake_Lag_Damage_Penalty_Multiplier" setting which defaults to 0.1 or 10%. For example if the multiplier is 0.2 then the client will only deal 20% gun and melee damage against other players while under penalty.

Unfortunately false positives are relatively likely if the client framerate hitches, for example while loading a dense region. With the netcode rewrites of the past year these hitches should gradually be ironed out, but for the meantime the "Fake_Lag_Log_Warnings" setting can be enabled to help tune the threshold.

Added:

• "Disable" option for weather command which cancels active weather and future scheduled weather. Useful for maps like Yukon which otherwise immediately start different weather when cancelled.
  
• Editor setting to disable clouds on a map. [Has_Clouds in level asset]
  
• Button to open file explorer in workshop item's install folder.
  
• Button to open Logs folder from errors window.
  

Changed:

• Save preferred in-game player list sort mode.
  
• Increased level editor far clip plane distance back to 4,096m.
  
• Sky transition fog only starts blending in past 75% of the far clip plane. This feels less foggy than the previous update, and helps hide issues with transparency.
  
• Using weather command with currently active weather guid will reschedule rather than toggling.
  
• Gentle snowfall no longer overrides sky fog.
  

Fixed:

• Planar reflection skybox projection matrix.
  
• Hide holiday-restricted props from satellite capture.
  
• With streamer mode enabled show in-game player list using redacted names.