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EWG Developer Page


G’day, Forts fans! We hope you’ve had a good 2019 so far. We’d like to point you to our new EarthWork Games developer page, the central location for all things EWG, be they news, content or social media links. Head over here and give the page a ‘follow’ to ensure you don’t miss out on any new updates.

Mod Picks

Forts is lucky to have so many diligent modders, and we love seeing what they come up with. There’s so much creativity out there that we’d like to highlight a couple of notable ones.

Birdie’s Mod
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1630215768&searchtext=
This epic mod, created by SamsterBirdies contains a whole host of extra weapons, devices and... helicopters. Fantastic work, Samster!


BFC v2
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1606499289&searchtext=
A collaboration between Trollodel and CreeLoPer27, this mod brings an upgrade of the Big Flippin’ Gun, with the penetrative power to go through 10/15 layers of armour. That’s a lot of flippin’ armour!


Tanya’s-Mod
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1492181905&searchtext=
Just in case you’ve been living under a rock, we’d like to draw your attention to this most ubiquitous of mods. Created by General Tanya-Chan, it adds a ton of new weapons, as well as alternate suped-up versions of the commanders. Amazing, and it keeps getting better!

Thanks for playing Forts!

Cheers,
EWG

Daily Deal - Forts, 50% Off

Today's Deal: Save 50% on Forts!*

Look for the deals each day on the front page of Steam. Or follow us on twitter or Facebook for instant notifications wherever you are!

*Offer ends Monday at 10AM Pacific Time

FORTS Tournament XIV - 2v2 TDM - Enter Now!



G'day FORTS Fans!

It has been long awaited, but we're back with The Official FORTS Tournament XIV !

This will be a 2v2 TDM tournament. It is being organised by the awesome [FR/Official] FORTS Communauté Véritable, and is open to everyone and all languages.

In order to participate, you must do the following...

  • Join the FORTS Discord
  • Send a direct message on Discord to 42 scientist#6023 saying you want to enter the tournament.
  • Your name on Discord and Steam have to match.
  • No long, obscure or offensive names allowed.
  • At this stage your team will be entered into the tournament bracket as a competitor.


WHEN

  • Tournament starts March 9th at...
  • 3pm (EST Eastern USA)
  • 8PM UTC/GMT (London)
  • 9PM CET (France)
  • 7AM AEDT March 10th (Eastern Australia)


WHERE


RULES

  • 2v2 Team Death Match
  • Single Elimination
  • 15 minute battle time limit
  • Ton of Guns enabled
  • Commanders enabled
  • Draws decided by total damage inflicted
  • 16 competitors max
  • No suicides
  • Late or missing players instantly forfeit
  • Finals match is best of 3


STREAMS
Smash Gaming Twitch Channel Project Incursus Youtube Channel Communauté Véritable Twitch Channel (French stream)

THE BATTLEFIELDS
(chosen randomly during the tournament)

Abyss 2v2


Balls 2v2


Vanilla Large 2v2


Stalactites 2v2


Wingman 2v2


Snow Leopards 2v2


Caverns 2v2


Up & Down 2v2


note: Earthwork Games reserves the right to make changes to this event as needed

FORTS - HOTFIX 2019-01-11a



G'day Forts fans, and happy new year! We've got another hotfix for you today. It should smooth out a few problems we've noticed since the December update.

One issue was that mass was being ignored for weapons and always defaulting to 40. To avoid disrupting already published mods, we have introduced a new variable called WeaponMass, which works only for weapons. Mod authors will have to set this instead of the usual Mass in order to change it from the default of 40. We've updated the built-in weapons, so the bigger weapons will put additional strain on the structure.

As always, if you notice any issues or have questions, please let us know.

Thanks for playing Forts!

Cheers,
EWG

Build 2019-01-11a Changelist

Add: WeaponMass variable which defaults to 40 if not set, and writes a warning to the log
Add: don't allow access to multiplayer if sound fails to initialise to prevent desyncs
Add: show a message and open known issues guide if the software renderer is detected
Add: don't record desync if any of the clients has a ping greater than a threshold (1 second)
Add: enable DebugDataDesync for every progressive checksum
Add: effects checksum to progressive data checksum debugging
Add: include host's version of the full desync in the desync detected message to immediately set sync state and print it out
Add: rewrite host log when the full tick check has been received
Add: defer sending desync files until full tick check has been received by host
Add: log data desync detail to separate file on data desync
Add: separated material, device, projectile and effect data checksum debugging for granular desync diagnosis
Add: Replay.DataDesyncEnabled to allow disabling data desync detection in replays
Add: if there is no device/material description for a language default to English

Optimise: don't take desync screenshot with console fully dropped
Optimise: don't send current (simplified) world dump on desync (not useful)

Fix: entire effects cache has its checksum calculated when index wraps
Fix: effect scripts and samples are loaded from the drive root
Fix: crash in DeviceEditor::DrawLaserPainting when mCurrentDeviceTypeIndex is -1
Fix: access to freed memory when upgrading a device
Fix: sandbox replays desync when firing weapons (always allow when player is promiscuous)
Fix: DebugDataDesync is incomplete for the first frame
Fix: crash when logging Msg::set_weapon_target and device not found
Fix: replay data desync immediately after recording a sandbox game (ambient effect loading)
Fix: crash when client selects a map while the host disconnects while loading game or map select screen
Fix: Hide enemy fort during truce shows struts and cladding
Fix: FileSelect button to cycle previews doesn't have an effect
Fix: desync when firing machine gun while AI is shooting it esp. when show cursors is on
Fix: lagging players don't drop out before they desync
Fix: desync message is duplicated in the console
Fix: last two desync screenshots don't add anything - now focus on team 1 and team 2 home screens
Fix: fog of war is enabled in desync screenshots
Fix: weapon mass has no effect (removed from simple data and now referenced directly from DeviceSlot)
Fix: crash when client tries to receive host desync files over LAN
Fix: desync files not always sent by the correct channel
Fix: sprite effect and sparks effect checksums were not being calculated
Fix: sparks effect keyframe was not having the complete data checksum done
Fix: randomised SpriteEffect mangular_deviation was incorrectly part of the data checksum
Fix: Data desync due to environment ambient effect inconsistently loaded
Fix: in some cases devices don't add any mass to the structure
Fix: memory allocation failure when loading Japanese language in 4K resolution
Fix: set window position before showing the window to prevent it jumping
Fix: AI doesn't build in some position on large multi-fort maps
Fix: crash when downloading replays while browsing another FileSelect screen
Fix: update mNextPhysicsFrameCutOff immediately after physics frame is updated - should reduce physics stalls
Fix: Escape during cutscene pause starts play instead of unpausing
Fix: Objective 2 Mission 6 description is incorrect in German. Should be "Schießen Sie AUF DIE Miniguns durch geschlossene Türen."
Fix: nested quotation marks in Portuguese for Mission 401 cause string loading errors
Fix: multi-group select & delete removes the wrong blocks and can crash
Fix: materials crash if Node value is missing
Fix: looping audio when quitting motherlode victory or defeat movie
Fix: AlienFX checkbox doesn't stay checked after restarting
Fix: 20mm rounds apply splash damage when reflected off Scattershot's shields
Fix: ui/screens/strings.lua unnecessarily reloaded (including in mods) every time a page effect is triggered
Fix: localisation of debug readout in map editor
Fix: prefab forts are out of date
Fix: dynamic parsing of Map and user selected mod scripts (no need to restart when adding new scripts)
Fix: various minor code correctness issues
Fix: AI exception when creating link and PosB doesn't exist in the action
Fix: extend client list box to the right to contain longest strings
Fix: reduce size of client list text to reduce obstruction during play
Fix: reduced precision of cursor position readout in map editor
Fix: FileSelect mProgress isn't always initialised, causing crash when downloading
Fix: ModManager::ApplyMod assumes a file exists if it's in mModFiles, causing a crash if it's missing

Remove: holiday theming
Remove: requirement for workshop mods to have a "mod.lua" script

Happy Holidays from EarthWork Games!



G'day Forts Fans!

Well, it's been a long year, with a lot of bullets fired, and many a fort coming tumbling down. We hope you have enjoyed all the extra features and functionalty we have brought you, and all the great output from the modding community.

The EarthWork Games team will be taking a break for a couple of weeks to recharge. We have big plans for next year, but in the meantime we're bringing you the last fixes of the year, along with a sprinkle of festive spirit to the game...



Release 2018-12-23a

Add: button to download featured replays, instead of automatically at start
Add: video card model and driver version to log
Add: message box when uploads are still in progress on exit
Add: in-game message box to query player about desync report upload
Add: notification and progress bars when crash or desync uploads are in progress on exit

Optimise: don't calculate checksum twice when writing a replay keyframe

Fix: some players have a black screen on start
- Add a checkbox to enable refresh rate selection
- Add a message box the first time a display mode with frequency is set
Fix: crash in Node::AddToChecksum when team projectile types are not even
Fix: replay desync when placing ropes
Fix: BreakStructure can destroy nodes when close to the ground
Fix: translation not provided if mainmenu has no strings table for the current language
Fix: application VSync option is not used (was always on)
Fix: crash when pressing Edit with no map selected
Fix: disconnected close ranked matches are always given to Team1
Fix: fires not extinguished for victors in TDM
Fix: when all items in a HUD tab have been maxed out, an item in another tab can be selected
Fix: when a device is selected which can't be built, it's not possible to select structure
Fix: the lobby chat edit box can overflow
Fix: players can spam the chat, causing performance issues and disconnection for others
Fix: desync/crash when a player replaces a material adjacent to where another player is placing a device
Fix: weapons can fire after being disconnected due to latency
Fix: tick profiling is inaccurate
Fix: seams are visible in HUD background
Fix: desync files are not considered to be uploading during the 5s delay
Fix: hung workshop downloads cause a loop which spams log, network and CPU
Fix: chat history workshop download buttons sometimes reappear

Remove: obsolete colour depth display/selection from options screen

Happy Holidays!
EWG