Eco News

Dear Eco Citizens,
we are happy to announce that Update 9.7.5, the second part of our 9.7 Performance Update series is now available. Thanks to our wonderful community, especially all players helping us with performance diagnostics and testing this release on official server White Tiger, we are confident that we were able to address most causes for FPS drops over time in Eco.

Starting with this update you should no longer need to restart the game after longer play sessions to restore your FPS. Naturally, our playtests cannot test every single possible hardware and settings configuration, so your feedback will be key going forward to fix any potentially remaining issues.

There will be a third update in the series expanding on the improvements already made in the new year and we'll soon be ready for more news on Update 10 as well. For now, all that is left for us to say is a big thank you from the whole Strange Loop Games team for your support during this year - we wish you and your families happy holidays and a healthy new year 2023!



[h3]Optimization - Client[/h3]

• Fixed: Transforms update time (those updates happen for every position, rotation and scale change) increased over time and led to reduction of FPS during play sessions.
  
• Fixed: Rendering time for minimap objects increased over time due to leaking graphics command buffers, which also led to reduction of FPS over time.
  
• Improved: All trees were rewritten to optimize creation and rendering performance, got mesh based LOD (Level of Detail) and now use static meshes for rendering instead of animated skinned meshes, decreasing the rendering and chunk loading time.
  
• Improved: In some cases repeating errors getting written to the log files in very high amounts could decrease performance, error logging has been limited so that this doesnt happen while preserving our ability to investigate and address them.

[h3]Optimization - Server[/h3]

• Improved: Stockpiles were generating too many block updates, trying to set blocks of stockpiles that didn't change.
  
• Improved: Introduced caching to some of the initially sent views, notably reduces lag when players join a server and the loading time for those players.
  
• Improved: Client updates are now faster, objects that aren't visible to the player are no longer checked as often.
  
• Improved: The network thread in some circumstances got overloaded, we moved some heavy work to a different thread, this notably reduces the amount of server lag (disconnect symbols) especially on bigger servers.
  
• Improved: Sped up calculations for predators by searching for potential prey from their own collection, instead of a collection that contains all physical objects.

[h3]Civics[/h3]

• Fixed: It was no longer possible to create civics before a constitution was passed and hence there was no way to pass a constitution with additional civics as a multi-election right from the start.
  
• Fixed: Default demographics could be edited ingame.
  
• Fixed: Laws would sometimes show a "Ignoring Trigger as that would result in a recursive law" message despite the law not being recursive and the action completing successfully.
  
• Fixed: Hands were no longer available as a tool for civic triggers.
  
• Fixed: Civics showed options related to an unreleased feature.
  
• Fixed: Contracts no longer showed their description on the contract board.

[h3]UI[/h3]

• Fixed: The skid steer could highlight itself as interactable when mounted.
  
• Fixed: The improved highlighting for selected items during avatar creation didn't apply to all parts of the avatar.
  
• Fixed: The claim highlights did not display white borders between deeds anymore.
  
• Fixed: The claim highlights in some cases displayed a color that is different from the set one.
  
• Fixed: The tooltip for "Citizen" didn't work correctly.
  
• Fixed: The title of work orders in their tooltips could change to a generic name.
  
• Fixed: The tooltip for titles displayed "Wages Source Bank Account" in the wrong color.
  
• Fixed: The position of a player joining the server on the map could be displayed at 0,0 instead of the correct coordinates.
  
• Fixed: The map UI could break, leading to the player only moving the icon layer when trying to move the whole map.
  
• Fixed: Empty slots in the "public crafting stations" tab of the economy viewer wrongly showed a empty tooltip.
  
• Fixed: The tooltip for an election ratifying a constitution didn't update the players eligibility to vote until a server restart.
  
• Fixed: Depending on world size, the icons displayed on the minimap could be too big.

[h3]World Objects[/h3]

• Fixed: Framed Glass windows that weren't connected to a different block had no collision.
  
• Fixed: Redwood signs used the texture of saguaro wood.
  
• Fixed: Shadow placement of glass with glass refraction setting turned on showed only a bright white block instead of the glass block.

[h3]Ecopedia[/h3]

• Fixed: Ecopedia showed hidden items that are unavailable.
  
• Fixed: Links in Ecopedia lost their color that hints at them being clickable.

[h3]Balance[/h3]

• Changed: Copper plates now require a machinist table nearby to craft.

[h3]Miscellaneous[/h3]

• Added: Holiday theme for spruces, storage boxes and elks.
  
• Improved: Animal collision with players has temporarily been disabled until their AI is reworked.
  
• Fixed: The message when hitting the shell of a tortoise with an arrow claimed it bounced off, dealing no damage despite it dealing reduced damage.
  
• Fixed: Claim highlights on worlds with some specific sizes, such as 120x120, were showing misaligned. (This might need a new world to take effect)
  
• Fixed: After reloading a chunk, fish could hover above blocks where players built structures over water.
  
• Fixed: The candle in the starter camp disappeared when sleeping - but it's flame did not.
  
• Fixed: The player avatar held their empty hands up in third person view after the player ate something.
  
• Fixed: Multiple visual issues with animal movement when the player has high latency.
  
• Fixed: Adding labour to crafting projects was sometimes not possible without restarting the project due to the players skills not being properly detected.
  
• Fixed: Players could be locked in vehicles and on mountable objects by loosing authorization while mounted.

[h3]Server & Configs[/h3]

• Added: The commands dealing with profiling, administrators, bans, whitelist and mutes can now be executed via RCON.
  
• Added: A new system to automatically kick idle players always or just when the server capacity is occupied to a set percentage and someone tries to join. Idle players will receive a popup warning when they reached the set idle time threshold. Admins are exempt from idle kick.
  
• Fixed: A rarely occuring issue that could lead to crashes and objects being removed at server start.

Difficulty.eco.template

• Added: "SkillbookCraftCost" config variable, taking the values "Normal" and "Expensive" - the latter making the recipes for skillbooks harder, which was priorily part of the "EndgameCraftCost" setting.

Network.eco.template

• Removed: The setting "MaxConnections" was removed as it was replaced by "DefaultSlots".

Users.eco.template

• Added: "RequiredOccupancyBeforeAFKKick" config variable, taking a value between 0 and 100 to determine how full the server needs to be (when a maximum amount of slots is set) in percent for kicks for idling to be executed. If 0, idle players will always be kicked - that is also the default.
  
• Added: "TimeRequiredForAFKMinutes" config variable, taking any value in minutes to determine how long a player needs to be inactive to be kicked. The default is 0, which disables the feature.
  
• Changed: The setting "UsersWithReserverSlotsAtQueue" was renamed to "UsersWithReservedSlotsAtQueue" due to a typo.

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.