Update v0.98.10 released!
[h2]This update IS compatible with savegames from previous v0.98.0![/h2][p][/p][p][/p][h2]OVERVIEW: [/h2][p]Hi survivors!
Last month, with update 0.98.8, I mentioned that there would probably be no further patches until v0.99 — a major update that will break save games and take months to complete. However, after a few weeks of testing and feedback, I decided to release one more update to fully stabilize 0.98.[/p][p]This patch mainly focuses on balance tweaks and bug fixes, but also includes a few small additions and some AI improvements. I won’t go into detail here, but I’ve highlighted the most important changes in bold within the changelog below.[/p][p]Happy reading, and have fun playing![/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]Here the full changelog for v0.98.10:[/h3][p](notable changes are in bold)[/p][p] [/p][h3]ENGINE:[/h3][p]- Construct 3 updated to r449-2.[/p][p][/p][h3]GRAPHICS:[/h3][p]- Added effect/sound when Ankylosaurs dig their nest, and when their babies emerge from the ground.[/p][p]- Minor improvements to normal mapping and reflection effects.[/p][p]- (Survival) Minor improvements to crafting/building animations.[/p][p]- (Survival) Drinking-from-Waterskin animation improved slightly.[/p][p][/p][h3]AUDIO:[/h3][p]- Reduced some sound latency for distant sounds (e.g., thunder, dying dinos).[/p][p]- Improved panning, volume, and logic for distant animal death sounds.[/p][p]- (Survival) Warning alert sound no longer triggers during Fishing/Light Fire, to avoid distractions.[/p][p]- (Survival) Halting a gathering action (while scouting afar) will also stop its sound.[/p][p]- Some alert sound volumes slightly reduced.[/p][p]- Character breathing sound volume slightly reduced.[/p][p]- Button clicking sound volume slightly reduced.[/p][p][/p][h3]INTERFACE:[/h3][p]- (Survival) Factors shown on mouseover for Strength and Health recovery are now ordered by magnitude.[/p][p]- (Survival) Factors shown on mouseover for Health recovery are more consistent, and now also list "Storm" when taking damage from a sandstorm or a snowstorm.[/p][p]- (Survival) "Let's hope for the best" message when eating a Mushroom now triggers in a fully random fashion, instead of always being shown before poisoning.[/p][p]- (Survival) Landmark name (at the top of the screen) is updated more frequently while Scouting.[/p][p]- (Survival) Stone's "Discard" button now has a reddish color, to make it stand out.[/p][p]- (Survival) Crit damage text will now always be shown (even with low damage), and its sound volume now scales with damage.[/p][p]- (Survival) Improved specificity of hints shown when trying to light a fire under poor conditions.[/p][p]- (Survival) Added a new message when taking a refreshing bath, and increased frequency of similiar messages.[/p][p]- (Survival) Added a new loading hint explaining ranged attacks.[/p][p]- (God) Water and Fertility texts now show, respectively, the total amount of water (all ponds summed) and the actual % of terrain fertility (fertile vs. arid soil).[/p][p]- Added a new splash message at the start of the game (showing once, after some playtime) inviting the player to review, spread the word, and join the game's community.[/p][p]- The Landmark text (at the top of the screen) now also displays the name of the sea you're currently in (e.g., Northern Sea).[/p][p]- The Landmark texts are now easier to read, do not overlap, and are larger at lower zoom levels.[/p][p]- Animal "Hibernation" renamed to "Aestivation" in summer, and "Torpor" in autumn/spring.[/p][p]- Mouseover on Lairs and Stumps now also shows their condition when inspected.[/p][p]- Mouseover on Nests now actually shows "Nest" and, if inspected, additional details.[/p][p]- Mouseover label "Condition:" shortened to "Cond.:".[/p][p]- Button shadows reduced slightly, for clarity.[/p][p]- Minor tweaks to main menu's color palette.[/p][p][/p][h3]SURVIVAL:[/h3][p]- Poisoning from eating raw Meat/Fish now scales with its condition (and is generally reduced, with a random component added).[/p][p]- Poisoning from eating raw Meat/Fish is less likely to trigger if its condition is over 75% (fresh).[/p][p]- Damage from actions (bruises, cutting, etc.) no longer scales with current Health, but has been greatly reduced.[/p][p]- Damage from hitting boulders/walls/trunks bare-handed was increased.[/p][p]- (Realistic+ difficulty) Mouse-dragging is disabled when both hands are occupied.[/p][p]- Chance to stumble now partially scales with current Health (meaning that at low Health the chance is lower).[/p][p]- Slightly increased chance to score critical damage (headshot) on animals, especially for smaller ones, which were too difficult.[/p][p]- Ranged skill now also extends Scouting range, allowing you to see and aim farther (base range slightly reduced).[/p][p]- Melee skill increase from just swinging (hitting nothing) was reduced, but punching trees now gives an additional skill increase.[/p][p]- Firemaking skill now also increases from keeping a fire going (each fuel item that turns into charcoal next to the non-sleeping player -> slight Firemaking increase).[/p][p]- Reduced Building skill gain from action progress (all structures) and from completing Fire Pit (stones are too easy to farm, and Fire Pit can be used to cheese Building).[/p][p]- Max that can be carried in each hand: Berries 3 -> 4, Pine Cones 2 -> 3, Healing Mush 2 -> 3.[/p][p]- Condition for actions to be "halted" now takes into consideration the actual distance of the camera from the character, instead of whether it is on-screen or not.[/p][p]- Dried Meat decay rate slightly reduced, allowing it to last a bit longer.[/p][p]- When breaking a big Stone, the resulting small ones have a slightly randomized condition, instead of being the same as the original.[/p][p]- Body Muscle decay slightly reduced (higher mitigation from Body Fat).[/p][p]- Solid Fullness given by Taxus Berry slightly reduced.[/p][p]- Liquid Fullness reduction rate slightly increased.[/p][p]- Light Fire action will no longer cause Breath to reach 0.[/p][p][/p][h3]GOD TOOLS:[/h3][p]- It's now possible to add multiple animals consecutively, instead of clicking on "Add Animal" every time.[/p][p][/p][h3]ANIMALS:[/h3][p]- Female T-Rex and Ankylosaur will emit a low-frequency mating call when in heat and far from males, prompting a distant male to migrate to her area.[/p][p]- Female T-Rex, when in heat, if it spots a sleeping male will reach him and wait for him to wake up in order to mate (or fight). This will hopefully help T-Rexes reproduce more efficiently.[/p][p]- Triceratops will now actively wander close to their nests to better guard them, though not as closely as T-Rexes or Troodons.[/p][p]- (Survival) When hit by a ranged attack while sleeping, animals no longer instantly identify and chase the player from afar. Instead, they may simply wake up and panic without knowing the source.[/p][p]- Hibernation ambient temperature threshold for predators was tweaked, in order to make them less active throughout winter and summer.[/p][p]- Didelphodons will "maintain" their Lair over time, if there is sufficient population to overcome its natural decay.[/p][p]- Improved herbivore logic for selecting trees to eat.[/p][p]- Made some minor tweaks to animal hunting/fleeing AI, for more reasonable outcomes.[/p][p]- Meat consumed from carcasses by T-Rex was slightly reduced.[/p][p][/p][h3]VEGETATION:[/h3][p]- Taxus trees are now disadvantaged when growing close to the coast; therefore, they will more likely grow and thrive in the interior part of the island, which means that, in order to find Taxus Berries, you'll have to move away from the coast, creating more variety in the survival strategy. Island generation will also reflect this change (only for new games).[/p][p]- Tree energy bonus from pond proximity will now also affect Taxus trees.[/p][p]- Trees no longer receive energy from pond proximity if on sandy soil.[/p][p]- Palm trees now receive some energy from being on sandy soil.[/p][p]- Seed storing mechanics (in animal dung) were rebalanced to give some advantages to Taxus and Palm seeds.[/p][p]- Vegetation is now always visible in snapshots, even when playing with "Hide Vegetation" mode.[/p][p]- Tree shadows have their intensity reduced in "Hide Vegetation" mode, and shadow reduction when the player moves beneath a tree is gradual, not instant.[/p][p][/p][h3]STRUCTURES:[/h3][p]- Thatch is now severely damaged or destroyed by the Asteroid impact (depending on how well it's supported).[/p][p]- (Survival) Structure blueprints (shown while building) are less visible, especially at night.[/p][p][/p][h3]OBJECTS:[/h3][p]- Items inside caves are no longer always "dry": if there's enough rain they turn "humid".[/p][p][/p][h3]WEATHER & SEASONS:[/h3][p]- Lightning strike chance/frequency from humidity and high temperature increased.[/p][p][/p][h3]TERRAIN & MAP:[/h3][p]- Tweaks to Landmark assignments:[/p][p]...... Changed "Inner Land" landmark to be set closer to the coast, instead of deep inland.[/p][p]...... Added "Central Land" landmark, assigned to the innermost part of the island.[/p][p]...... Added "Cave" landmark, assigned to cave terrain (obviously).[/p][p]- Increased initial pond/bed size, as well as initial fertility and vegetation for all starting seasons (only applies to new games).[/p][p]- Several improvements to island shape and terrain generation (only applies to new games).[/p][p]- Volcanoes are no longer generated too close to each other (only applies to new games).[/p][p]- Caves are no longer generated too close to each other (only applies to new games).[/p][p]- Number of Caves was reduced even further on bigger maps (only applies to new games).[/p][p]- Added a chance of a wildfire happening at the start of the game.[/p][p]- Tweaks to aridity soil energy balance.[/p][p][/p][h3]WATER:[/h3][p]- Melting snow gives 20% more water to ponds.[/p][p][/p][h3]FIRE:[/h3][p]- Fire propagation chance on Taxus trees is much lower, meaning forests with plenty of those will have some kind of "herd immunity" from wildfires.[/p][p]- Fire propagation range on vegetation increased, especially due to wind.[/p][p][/p][h3]TUTORIAL & MANUAL:[/h3][p]- Updated the manual page about Difficulty.[/p][p][/p][h3]OPTIMIZATION:[/h3][p]- Some visual effects are disabled when the camera is fully zoomed out.[/p][p][/p][h3]FIXES:[/h3][p]- (Survival) Fixed a serious bug causing the character to become stuck when dropping/picking an item onto a Fire Pit, and in some other rare circumstances (also fixes affected save games).[/p][p]- (Survival) Fixed a rare bug causing the snoozing sound to become permanent (and sometimes making the character controllable while sleeping) if sleeping was interrupted by a T-Rex grabbing the character.[/p][p]- (Survival) Fixed T-Rex becoming stuck with the attacking action/animation if the character dies while grabbed by the dinosaur.[/p][p]- (Survival) Fixed a potential exploit that allowed the save button to be unlocked in Rogue-lite difficulty.[/p][p]- (Survival) Fixed shivering sound "trtr" looping during pauses/menus.[/p][p]- (Survival) Fixed an instance where the character would grab items in the right hand even when it was full, when swapping them from the left hand before attacking or doing some actions.[/p][p]- (Survival) Fixed Drinking stopping too soon while auto-repeating, even when more hydration was needed.[/p][p]- (Survival) Fixed mouseover tooltip on Insulation listing "Fur" as "Hide".[/p][p]- (Survival) Fixed drinking not happening if interrupted right after the drinking sound, which should intuitively signal that it did.[/p][p]- (Survival) Fixed snapshots showing a screen blur effect while the character is sleeping.[/p][p]- (Survival) Fixed pushing speed caused by sand/snowstorms on the player while moving or jumping being influenced by frame rate.[/p][p]- Fixed Landmark text briefly showing the wrong Landmark while taking a snapshot.[/p][p]- Fixed minor inconsistencies with some game effects (normal mapping, reflections) at resolutions other than 1080p.[/p][p]- Fixed text boxes (map name, landmark name, animal name) showing extreme text sizes at resolutions other than 1080p.[/p][p]- Fixed fire particles not always being visible during pauses or when taking snapshots.[/p][p]- Fixed a minor issue causing tree canopies' Z order to sometimes be inconsistent with their age/size.[/p][p]- Fixed the game menu once again being visible for a millisecond while returning to the main menu.[/p][p]- Fixed some interface elements not adjusting to ultra-widescreen resolutions.[/p][p]- Fixed some minor discrepancies in vegetation and animal collision boxes.[/p][p]- Fixed some minor issues related to buttons.[/p]
Last month, with update 0.98.8, I mentioned that there would probably be no further patches until v0.99 — a major update that will break save games and take months to complete. However, after a few weeks of testing and feedback, I decided to release one more update to fully stabilize 0.98.[/p][p]This patch mainly focuses on balance tweaks and bug fixes, but also includes a few small additions and some AI improvements. I won’t go into detail here, but I’ve highlighted the most important changes in bold within the changelog below.[/p][p]Happy reading, and have fun playing![/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]Here the full changelog for v0.98.10:[/h3][p](notable changes are in bold)[/p][p] [/p][h3]ENGINE:[/h3][p]- Construct 3 updated to r449-2.[/p][p][/p][h3]GRAPHICS:[/h3][p]- Added effect/sound when Ankylosaurs dig their nest, and when their babies emerge from the ground.[/p][p]- Minor improvements to normal mapping and reflection effects.[/p][p]- (Survival) Minor improvements to crafting/building animations.[/p][p]- (Survival) Drinking-from-Waterskin animation improved slightly.[/p][p][/p][h3]AUDIO:[/h3][p]- Reduced some sound latency for distant sounds (e.g., thunder, dying dinos).[/p][p]- Improved panning, volume, and logic for distant animal death sounds.[/p][p]- (Survival) Warning alert sound no longer triggers during Fishing/Light Fire, to avoid distractions.[/p][p]- (Survival) Halting a gathering action (while scouting afar) will also stop its sound.[/p][p]- Some alert sound volumes slightly reduced.[/p][p]- Character breathing sound volume slightly reduced.[/p][p]- Button clicking sound volume slightly reduced.[/p][p][/p][h3]INTERFACE:[/h3][p]- (Survival) Factors shown on mouseover for Strength and Health recovery are now ordered by magnitude.[/p][p]- (Survival) Factors shown on mouseover for Health recovery are more consistent, and now also list "Storm" when taking damage from a sandstorm or a snowstorm.[/p][p]- (Survival) "Let's hope for the best" message when eating a Mushroom now triggers in a fully random fashion, instead of always being shown before poisoning.[/p][p]- (Survival) Landmark name (at the top of the screen) is updated more frequently while Scouting.[/p][p]- (Survival) Stone's "Discard" button now has a reddish color, to make it stand out.[/p][p]- (Survival) Crit damage text will now always be shown (even with low damage), and its sound volume now scales with damage.[/p][p]- (Survival) Improved specificity of hints shown when trying to light a fire under poor conditions.[/p][p]- (Survival) Added a new message when taking a refreshing bath, and increased frequency of similiar messages.[/p][p]- (Survival) Added a new loading hint explaining ranged attacks.[/p][p]- (God) Water and Fertility texts now show, respectively, the total amount of water (all ponds summed) and the actual % of terrain fertility (fertile vs. arid soil).[/p][p]- Added a new splash message at the start of the game (showing once, after some playtime) inviting the player to review, spread the word, and join the game's community.[/p][p]- The Landmark text (at the top of the screen) now also displays the name of the sea you're currently in (e.g., Northern Sea).[/p][p]- The Landmark texts are now easier to read, do not overlap, and are larger at lower zoom levels.[/p][p]- Animal "Hibernation" renamed to "Aestivation" in summer, and "Torpor" in autumn/spring.[/p][p]- Mouseover on Lairs and Stumps now also shows their condition when inspected.[/p][p]- Mouseover on Nests now actually shows "Nest" and, if inspected, additional details.[/p][p]- Mouseover label "Condition:" shortened to "Cond.:".[/p][p]- Button shadows reduced slightly, for clarity.[/p][p]- Minor tweaks to main menu's color palette.[/p][p][/p][h3]SURVIVAL:[/h3][p]- Poisoning from eating raw Meat/Fish now scales with its condition (and is generally reduced, with a random component added).[/p][p]- Poisoning from eating raw Meat/Fish is less likely to trigger if its condition is over 75% (fresh).[/p][p]- Damage from actions (bruises, cutting, etc.) no longer scales with current Health, but has been greatly reduced.[/p][p]- Damage from hitting boulders/walls/trunks bare-handed was increased.[/p][p]- (Realistic+ difficulty) Mouse-dragging is disabled when both hands are occupied.[/p][p]- Chance to stumble now partially scales with current Health (meaning that at low Health the chance is lower).[/p][p]- Slightly increased chance to score critical damage (headshot) on animals, especially for smaller ones, which were too difficult.[/p][p]- Ranged skill now also extends Scouting range, allowing you to see and aim farther (base range slightly reduced).[/p][p]- Melee skill increase from just swinging (hitting nothing) was reduced, but punching trees now gives an additional skill increase.[/p][p]- Firemaking skill now also increases from keeping a fire going (each fuel item that turns into charcoal next to the non-sleeping player -> slight Firemaking increase).[/p][p]- Reduced Building skill gain from action progress (all structures) and from completing Fire Pit (stones are too easy to farm, and Fire Pit can be used to cheese Building).[/p][p]- Max that can be carried in each hand: Berries 3 -> 4, Pine Cones 2 -> 3, Healing Mush 2 -> 3.[/p][p]- Condition for actions to be "halted" now takes into consideration the actual distance of the camera from the character, instead of whether it is on-screen or not.[/p][p]- Dried Meat decay rate slightly reduced, allowing it to last a bit longer.[/p][p]- When breaking a big Stone, the resulting small ones have a slightly randomized condition, instead of being the same as the original.[/p][p]- Body Muscle decay slightly reduced (higher mitigation from Body Fat).[/p][p]- Solid Fullness given by Taxus Berry slightly reduced.[/p][p]- Liquid Fullness reduction rate slightly increased.[/p][p]- Light Fire action will no longer cause Breath to reach 0.[/p][p][/p][h3]GOD TOOLS:[/h3][p]- It's now possible to add multiple animals consecutively, instead of clicking on "Add Animal" every time.[/p][p][/p][h3]ANIMALS:[/h3][p]- Female T-Rex and Ankylosaur will emit a low-frequency mating call when in heat and far from males, prompting a distant male to migrate to her area.[/p][p]- Female T-Rex, when in heat, if it spots a sleeping male will reach him and wait for him to wake up in order to mate (or fight). This will hopefully help T-Rexes reproduce more efficiently.[/p][p]- Triceratops will now actively wander close to their nests to better guard them, though not as closely as T-Rexes or Troodons.[/p][p]- (Survival) When hit by a ranged attack while sleeping, animals no longer instantly identify and chase the player from afar. Instead, they may simply wake up and panic without knowing the source.[/p][p]- Hibernation ambient temperature threshold for predators was tweaked, in order to make them less active throughout winter and summer.[/p][p]- Didelphodons will "maintain" their Lair over time, if there is sufficient population to overcome its natural decay.[/p][p]- Improved herbivore logic for selecting trees to eat.[/p][p]- Made some minor tweaks to animal hunting/fleeing AI, for more reasonable outcomes.[/p][p]- Meat consumed from carcasses by T-Rex was slightly reduced.[/p][p][/p][h3]VEGETATION:[/h3][p]- Taxus trees are now disadvantaged when growing close to the coast; therefore, they will more likely grow and thrive in the interior part of the island, which means that, in order to find Taxus Berries, you'll have to move away from the coast, creating more variety in the survival strategy. Island generation will also reflect this change (only for new games).[/p][p]- Tree energy bonus from pond proximity will now also affect Taxus trees.[/p][p]- Trees no longer receive energy from pond proximity if on sandy soil.[/p][p]- Palm trees now receive some energy from being on sandy soil.[/p][p]- Seed storing mechanics (in animal dung) were rebalanced to give some advantages to Taxus and Palm seeds.[/p][p]- Vegetation is now always visible in snapshots, even when playing with "Hide Vegetation" mode.[/p][p]- Tree shadows have their intensity reduced in "Hide Vegetation" mode, and shadow reduction when the player moves beneath a tree is gradual, not instant.[/p][p][/p][h3]STRUCTURES:[/h3][p]- Thatch is now severely damaged or destroyed by the Asteroid impact (depending on how well it's supported).[/p][p]- (Survival) Structure blueprints (shown while building) are less visible, especially at night.[/p][p][/p][h3]OBJECTS:[/h3][p]- Items inside caves are no longer always "dry": if there's enough rain they turn "humid".[/p][p][/p][h3]WEATHER & SEASONS:[/h3][p]- Lightning strike chance/frequency from humidity and high temperature increased.[/p][p][/p][h3]TERRAIN & MAP:[/h3][p]- Tweaks to Landmark assignments:[/p][p]...... Changed "Inner Land" landmark to be set closer to the coast, instead of deep inland.[/p][p]...... Added "Central Land" landmark, assigned to the innermost part of the island.[/p][p]...... Added "Cave" landmark, assigned to cave terrain (obviously).[/p][p]- Increased initial pond/bed size, as well as initial fertility and vegetation for all starting seasons (only applies to new games).[/p][p]- Several improvements to island shape and terrain generation (only applies to new games).[/p][p]- Volcanoes are no longer generated too close to each other (only applies to new games).[/p][p]- Caves are no longer generated too close to each other (only applies to new games).[/p][p]- Number of Caves was reduced even further on bigger maps (only applies to new games).[/p][p]- Added a chance of a wildfire happening at the start of the game.[/p][p]- Tweaks to aridity soil energy balance.[/p][p][/p][h3]WATER:[/h3][p]- Melting snow gives 20% more water to ponds.[/p][p][/p][h3]FIRE:[/h3][p]- Fire propagation chance on Taxus trees is much lower, meaning forests with plenty of those will have some kind of "herd immunity" from wildfires.[/p][p]- Fire propagation range on vegetation increased, especially due to wind.[/p][p][/p][h3]TUTORIAL & MANUAL:[/h3][p]- Updated the manual page about Difficulty.[/p][p][/p][h3]OPTIMIZATION:[/h3][p]- Some visual effects are disabled when the camera is fully zoomed out.[/p][p][/p][h3]FIXES:[/h3][p]- (Survival) Fixed a serious bug causing the character to become stuck when dropping/picking an item onto a Fire Pit, and in some other rare circumstances (also fixes affected save games).[/p][p]- (Survival) Fixed a rare bug causing the snoozing sound to become permanent (and sometimes making the character controllable while sleeping) if sleeping was interrupted by a T-Rex grabbing the character.[/p][p]- (Survival) Fixed T-Rex becoming stuck with the attacking action/animation if the character dies while grabbed by the dinosaur.[/p][p]- (Survival) Fixed a potential exploit that allowed the save button to be unlocked in Rogue-lite difficulty.[/p][p]- (Survival) Fixed shivering sound "trtr" looping during pauses/menus.[/p][p]- (Survival) Fixed an instance where the character would grab items in the right hand even when it was full, when swapping them from the left hand before attacking or doing some actions.[/p][p]- (Survival) Fixed Drinking stopping too soon while auto-repeating, even when more hydration was needed.[/p][p]- (Survival) Fixed mouseover tooltip on Insulation listing "Fur" as "Hide".[/p][p]- (Survival) Fixed drinking not happening if interrupted right after the drinking sound, which should intuitively signal that it did.[/p][p]- (Survival) Fixed snapshots showing a screen blur effect while the character is sleeping.[/p][p]- (Survival) Fixed pushing speed caused by sand/snowstorms on the player while moving or jumping being influenced by frame rate.[/p][p]- Fixed Landmark text briefly showing the wrong Landmark while taking a snapshot.[/p][p]- Fixed minor inconsistencies with some game effects (normal mapping, reflections) at resolutions other than 1080p.[/p][p]- Fixed text boxes (map name, landmark name, animal name) showing extreme text sizes at resolutions other than 1080p.[/p][p]- Fixed fire particles not always being visible during pauses or when taking snapshots.[/p][p]- Fixed a minor issue causing tree canopies' Z order to sometimes be inconsistent with their age/size.[/p][p]- Fixed the game menu once again being visible for a millisecond while returning to the main menu.[/p][p]- Fixed some interface elements not adjusting to ultra-widescreen resolutions.[/p][p]- Fixed some minor discrepancies in vegetation and animal collision boxes.[/p][p]- Fixed some minor issues related to buttons.[/p]