Eco News

Hey Eco Citizens,
we have just released Update 9.7.4 addressing a bunch of issues while we continue the work on the second major part of the 9.7 performance update series:

[h3]Optimization[/h3]

• Improved: The /profiler command for server profiling was improved and it is now possible to start all important profilings with /profiler everything.
  
• Fixed: Some players, usually with a cpu with a low amount of cores, would experience FPS drops when moving.

[h3]Civics[/h3]

• Fixed: Stores using the treasury would close after a server restart.

[h3]Tools[/h3]

• Fixed: The sound for a broken tool was no longer playing consistently.
  
• Fixed: The display of tool durability showed wrong values.
  
• Fixed: The durability bar of tools would vanish after a tool was moved.

[h3]World Objects[/h3]

• Fixed: Housing points for multiple, repeated rooms did not get reduced properly.
  
• Fixed: The Futon Couch was missing its model in the world.

[h3]Miscellaneous[/h3]

• Fixed: The game would take a long time to close or crash during the closing process.
  
• Fixed: In rare cases a client could get kicked from the server when trying to place a Steam Truck.
  
• Fixed: In rare cases players could crash shortly after joining a world.
  
• Fixed: A blank entry appeared in the minimap selection settings.
  
• Fixed: The details for a work order would sometimes not be shown in its tooltip.
  
• Fixed: In rare cases servers could become unjoinable, instead displaying an error until a restart.
  
• Fixed: The /unstuck command would fail in some cases when being underground and no longer dismount the player from vehicles.
  

[h3]Playtest[/h3]
The work in progress second major part of the 9.7 Performance Update series is currently on the public branch "playtest", accessible via Steam by right clicking Eco in your library, choosing Properties -> Betas and selecting "playtest" in the drop down. You're invited to join our test server White Tiger, and help us out with getting feedback and data for further improvements. You can find all details about the playtest, how to join and how to profile your performance on our discord: https://discord.gg/eco

Hey Citizens,
we're happy to announce that the Meteor Shard, our very first plushie made in cooperation with our friends at Makeship is now available for ordering at: https://www.makeship.com/products/meteor-plush



The Meteor Shard is inspired by the well-known in-game item that all Alpha Backers received for supporting us early (thank you so much!), comes with the iconic chain for hanging and is only available as limited edition via this Makeship campaign until December 23. The campaign basically works like a crowdfunding: We need to reach 200 orders until the end of the campaign for the plushie to be produced starting at the end of December and shipped in March 2023 - which Makeship does worldwide! If we don't reach that amount, you get your full money back, there are no risks involved.

Additionally, everyone that orders a plushie and once it arrived sends us a photo of where the plushie found its new home to support (at) strangeloopgames.com together with their SLG ID will get a unique user icon for their Eco accounts to show off ingame.

Eco players are experts in collaboration and saving the day, so we'll manage that easily, right? Let's make it happen together!

Hey Eco Citizens,
we just released Update 9.7.3 to address some more issues that were reported to us - thank you!

[h3]Optimization[/h3]

• As announced in the last Update we have made further changes to the minimap that have high impact especially on very populated servers. Specifically we optimized synchronization of the minimap by implementing a delta module, reducing the amount of objects that get sent from server to client by only sending occuring changes instead of a full list whenever a new object got added or removed to / from the minimap. This had resulted in notable FPS drop and server lag on big servers.
  
• We also optimized several controllers on the server that were sending updates to too many players, for example information about durability of items that belong to other players. On top of that we reduced the count of minimap updates being sent by only sending them when the position change is big enough. This results in notably reduced network traffic on highly populated servers.
  
• Additionally we added, expanded and optimized several debug tools to help us identify performance problems easier.

[h3]Modkit[/h3]

• Added: Legacy support for block form & fill icons to keep compatibility with deprecated mods and for big images on signs.

[h3]Server[/h3]

• Fixed: In rare cases, If recurring transfers from titles were present in a world, clients could not join the world without being kicked.
  
• Fixed: When concluding a barter trade the player would be kicked from the server.

[h3]World Objects[/h3]

• Fixed: Elevators could not be placed.
  
• Improved: Elevators can now also be placed on shafts with uneven solid ground.
  
• Fixed: Skid steers couldn't unload their contents into stockpiles and vehicles.

[h3]Miscellaneous[/h3]

• Updated: Localizations were updated to the latest state on Crowdin.
  
• Improved: During avatar creation the selections of the players are now better highlighted.
  
• Fixed: Vehicle deeds could get wrong default names that were intended for normal deeds.
  
• Fixed: Several errors that would be logged in the client logs, potentially impacting performance.

Hey Eco Citizens,
we're releasing Update 9.7.2 to address some more issues:

[h3]Optimization[/h3]
We identified and fixed some issues that were affecting performance especially on larger servers:

• Improved: We reduced the amount of position and rotation updates sent for minimap objects.
  
• Improved: We improved the rendering of deed icons on the minimap by using methods intended for static instead of moving icons.
  
• Improved: We removed the sending of unnecessary duplicated updates for bank accounts.

There is additional improvements for the minimap coming in one of the next updates.

[h3]Balance[/h3]

• Fixed: The Modern Glassworking module is now correctly accepted in the Electronics Assembly instead of the Electric Machinist Table.

[h3]Server[/h3]

• Fixed: If recurring transfers from titles were present in a world, the world could not be migrated.
  
• Fixed: If a chair object that is unavailable to get via normal game means was present in the world, the world could not be migrated.
  
• Fixed: Under specific circumstances related to titles and tooltips the server could crash.

[h3]Miscellaneous[/h3]

• Fixed: A critical exploit related to laws.
  Fixed: Players driving a vehicle below a body of water would get wrongly ejected from their vehicle for being in water.
  
• Fixed: When using legacy controls, entering a cart would always place the avatar facing north, no matter what direction it was facing when entering.
  
• Fixed: Parts of the in-development feature "Settlements" were unintendedly enabled in this release.
  
• Fixed: The animation for harvesting a plant didn't work correctly when holding a land claim stake.

Hey Eco Citizens,
we have just released Hotfix 9.7.1 to address the issue with players without SLG account link being unable to start their local games. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Fixed: Creating new or loading existing local saves in the client was not possible for players that had no SLG account linked.