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Subsistence News

New Official Gameplay Trailer

I just posted an updated trailer for the game. Please check it out 👀

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The old trailer was showing it's age and didn't represent the game in it's current state, so this was overdue.

Cheers!
CG

Alpha 58 Update - 18th December 2021


[h2]Eagles:[/h2]
A new animal now flies the skies in the world. Eagles will nest in the high mountainous rocky areas. They will regularly leave their nest to scout the landscape to catch prey. They will fish in the lakes (for all fish types) and also hunt small game (rabbits and chickens).

While they don't generally pose a threat to players, they are opportunistic predators and will snatch a hooked fish or small game kill from players. So keep an eye on the skies while hunting/fishing.

Shooting an Eagle while it is clutching prey will cause it to drop it, allowing the player to trace it down and steal the catch for themselves.

[h2]Eagle Nests:[/h2]
Eagle nests can be found high up on rock formations in mountainous regions.

Usually too high and out of reach, players should use their climbing axes to scale the rockface to gain access to nests.

Looting an nest will yield Pristine Eagle Feathers. You can loot the nest while still attached to the rockface, just get close enough, look an the feather and press the use key.

Eagles will become aggressive if they spot you tampering with their nests, so be careful. Note: Killing an eagle will damage it's feathers, so looting from its nest it the only way to acquire the pristine features. Eagle kills are also now tracked in player stats.

[h2]Hang Gliders:[/h2]

Players can now craft Hang Gliders from the workbench. To use the Hang Glider, it must be placed on the toolbelt and equipt like any tool or weapon. When the player begins to fall, the glider will auto-deploy.

The glider will take slow usage damage over time, so keep your eye on it's health so it doesn't break during a flight. It requires Pristine Eagle Feathers to craft (and maintain), so players will need to loot some nests.

[h3]Piloting Controls:[/h3]
Fliers need to careful! Gliding is a dangerous sport, and the glider will not auto-correct to protect the pilot from a perilous crash. I've tried my best to simulate piloting physics, so pitching down hard will cause rapid acceleration while pitching up will trade velocity for upward lift.

While gliding, players can freely move their head around to enjoy the views, while using the keyboard movement keys to control the glider.

[h3]Landing:[/h3]
Be mindful of your speed while coming in for a landing. Use careful pitching to control a slow enough speed to ensure a soft touchdown.

Note: It's currently not possible to exploit flying onto exposed hunter bases. The way I've implemented this may seem crude, but eventually I hope to add more natural means of defense from flying raids.

[h2]New Hunter Bases:[/h2]
I've added several new hunter base designs of all size varieties.

The new designs take advantage of several new building pieces and base items previously unavailable.

I've also added a system that tracks which bases get destroyed by players, so replacement hunter squads can alternate through the different designs to keep things changing-up.


[h2]Big Performance/Lag Improvements at Scale:[/h2]
*This was the largest piece I worked on this sprint*. I've always been aware that when the game world was very densely populated, the CPU would bottleneck performance. This was particularly noticeable for dedicated servers with 10's of thousands of buildables placed, and multiple concurrent players connected.

This would sometimes push the server tick rate down into single digits, and result in extremely delayed response times for clients, high pings (due to the server getting backup-up) and AI teleporting erratically with their movement.

The cause of this was the sheer volume of actors (things in the world) trying to tick (run code) every frame, when the vast majority (over 95%) very rarely needed to update, if ever. I've made some sweeping changes to put almost all actors to "sleep", and wake them only on certain events, rather than each frame.

The impact is huge, as can be seen in these comparison stats, which shows CPU load on a server (at ~75% build capacity) with 4 concurrent players on each. What was previously pinned and constantly running below target tick rate, now sits comfortable with plenty of headroom.

Performance and scaling has always been a top priority. This type of work is hard to express in player-facing patch notes as it doesn't relate to specific features, but I think it's important to mention details when it is such a huge part of the development process.

[h2]Increased Mountain Rock Geometric Detail:[/h2]
The mountain rock formations have had their geometric complexity increased greatly, while preserving a the performant low poly collision meshes.


[h2]Big Increase To Server Build Cap:[/h2]
With the new CPU performance boosts, I've greatly increased the build cap for co-op and dedicated servers.

[h2]Dedicated Server Remote API:[/h2]
I'm implemented a web server into the dedicated server build. This allows for your server to receive remote calls via HTTP, allowing admins to query and trigger events on their server remotely (not needing to be logged in as a player).

An example use of the API would be to post an in-game alert notifying that the server will shortly be resetting, so players aren't caught off-guard during a reset.

Currently the API only has a couple of endpoints, but now it is implemented, provides me a platform to expand it's functionality moving forward.
Documentation on how to configure and use the API (with examples) is outlined in this guide:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2601952438

[h2]Physics Based Butcher Animations:[/h2]
Animal bodies will now physically react to the butchering process, jolting and pulling with the movement of the axe.


[h2]Fixed Animal Corpses Disappearing in MP Games:[/h2]
A highly requested fix from players for a long time. Thanks for your patience.

Also fixed the the animal models blurring for a period of time after they would ragdoll on death.

[h2]Dormant Bases While Base Members Offline:[/h2]
Domesticated animals will no longer die when all base members log off from a dedicated server. They will cease to feed and level up (and will continue when a base member rejoins).

In addition, bases will cease to consume or produce power, mining drills, generators, fabricators will cease to operate. Plants will also not grow. Fridges will remain active but use no power (so your food will be safe).

Once one of the base members logs back on, all items will function again.

[h2]Glass Wall Half (Vertical, Slanted):[/h2]
This new piece should add some more variety to base designs.


[h2]Animated Models For Dropped Fish:[/h2]
Tossing a fish from your inventory will now render the proper fish model flapping on the ground.


[h2]Christmas Tree:[/h2]
It's now possible to craft a Christmas tree from the workbench.

The trees must be placed within your base build sphere as they have functioning lights that run off base power.

The option to craft these festive trees runs between Nov 1st and Dec 31st each year (based on your system clock).

[h2]Weapon/Clothing/Item Cosmetics:[/h2]
I've added various cosmetics for weapons, clothing and items, and integrated with the Steam inventory service. These skins are purely cosmetic and do not affect any actual content or in-game stats. They are intended for players who wish to further support the game's development.

The skins can be found on the game's Item Store on Steam.

To apply a skin in-game, left click on the inventory item and the available skins will show as icons in the item's details box. They can be switched back and forth at any time.


[h2]Added In-Game Tip for Chopping Ice Holes:[/h2]
It was not obvious to new players that this mechanic existed.


[h2]Cave Entrances Now Show On The Map:[/h2]
I think this helps awareness for new players who may otherwise not seek to explore the depths of the lakes.


[h2]Other notable changes:[/h2]
  • Firearm handling sounds have been increased in volume and expanded. Now as the player breaks into a sprint and draws the weapon in/out, sounds will play accordingly. I think makes the weapons feel more weighty and immersive.
  • Passwords will now save when joining servers, and be auto-populated when rejoining from the server list.
  • Fixed incorrect curved window snapping location.
  • Fixed scrollbars in all menus not scaling correctly to the length of the content within the scrollable window.
  • The full alpha version will now show top left while in the menu (previous the decimals were omitted).
  • If trying to join a server running a different version, the error message will now detail the exact version differences (rather than a generic error).
  • Fixed bug where flashlight would continue to drain its battery if removed from a weapon while turned on.
  • Passwords for previously joined servers will now save (so you don't have to re-enter each time you join). Unfortunately still not for co-op games.
  • Fixed bug where movement controls could still remain active while in map view.
  • Replaced unfocalized loading screen with simple loading icon instead.
  • Fixed audio bug where fire/generator/cooking/etc sounds would not play in heavily populated worlds.
  • Fixed bug where elevator switch would not call the elevator if the elevator was over 100 floors away.
  • Fixed bug where hunter woodburners would not decay with the rest of their base after being destroyed by a BCU Cracker.
  • Fixed animals sometimes playing their idle animations while walking for clients.
  • Fixed mining drill progress meter not updating in real-time for clients.
  • Fixed sandstone ore nodes not aligning correctly to the surface that are spawned on.
  • Attempted to fix the random crash while accessing solar panels or wind turbines. I believe this is resolved, but haven't 100% confirmed yet.
  • Fixed server name not showing in the server stats hud for clients.
  • Fixed certain sounds not playing while in freecam mode (such as gunshots). Some sounds are still not working, but I will get to those in the future (freecam is lower priority as only affects admins).
  • Fixed smoke from breaching charge not rendering for clients.
  • Added many low poly LOD meshes for player models and clothing (performance benefit).
  • Rugs, floodlights and switches have now been added to existing hunter bases.
  • Fixed bug where rugs would protect the floor below from explosive damage.
  • Fixed river sounds still playing after having frozen for the most southern river.


Discord invite: https://discord.gg/zyy4jQs
Twitter: @playSubsistence
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/playsubsistence/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkQZ7vkTiqetTC0_8umY2Pg
Steam Forums: https://steamcommunity.com/app/418030/discussions/

[h3]Hosting Your Own Server:[/h3]
If you would like to host your own dedicated server, I would recommend Nitrado (as I work closely with their team to support the game). You are also free to host on your own hardware, and the server files are freely available on SteamCMD.

You can view a detailed guide to hosting here:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2201638184

Continued Translation Support Credits (in no particular order): Thank you so much for the support.
Spanish (David Lascasas)
Hungarian (Erb Ármin)
Portuguese BR (Thiago Schumacke)
German (Philipp J. Rackl (LPCaiser))
Italian (Marcello Brancaccio, Federico D. Ravagli)
French (Anthony Charrault)
Czech (Dílna U mnicha)
Dutch (Damster_NL)
Danish (Jesper Vestergaard Bæk)
Russian (FRAME)
Turkish (Soulkast, Çagla Gurbet)
Swedish (Mattias Gustavsson)
Norwegian (Christer Djuvik, Svein Tore Stegemoen)
Romanian (VaeVictis)
Estonian (Streamerize)
Polish (Robertus Lubin)
Ukrainian (RoW-Team)
Latvian (Martins Plucis)

Alpha 57 Update - 28th July 2021


[h2]Migration to 64 Bit![/h2]
I have finally invested the time to migrate the game over to 64 bit. This is work I've been delaying for some time, however as the game has continued to grow, I was starting to hit the limitations of 32 bit (causing crashes for players with "Out of Memory" errors) and making development much more problematic.

Essentially the 64 bit version removes memory limitations imposed under 32 bit, allowing the game to scale in size far beyond what was previously possible, while offering more stable and improved performance. This may sound less than exciting, but please know how essential this was to the growth and future of the game.

[h3]Executables:[/h3]
Launching the game from Steam will now launch the 64 bit version. I am still shipping the 32 bit version as part of the game installation. The 32 bit executable can be found in ../Subsistence/Binaries/Win32/UDK.exe.

[h3]Save file restructure for 64 bit:[/h3]
Profile saves will remain intact. The first time you run the game on Alpha 57 a script will migrate existing saves into a new directory structure: ../Subsistence/UDKGame/SaveData/. So if you make backups, please use this folder moving forward.

[h2]New Deep-Cave Expansion:[/h2]
A brand new cave system now lies deep beneath the world.

Far deeper than the existing cave system, the new caverns reach veins of volcanically active lava pools and streams. Temperatures in the caves soar and will deplete player hydration levels, so ample water supplies are essential for explorers.

The new cave system connects the two existing caves systems. So it's now possible to travel from the SE Lake all the way to the NW lake entirely underground. However be aware of the risks when attempting this distance. Dying in the caves could make retrieval of your kit difficult and hazardous.

The caves now all being connected makes the entire underground system pretty mammoth. There will certainly be future expansions, linking mountainous ice-caves down into the system.


[h2]Rock Climbing:[/h2]
Players can now craft Climbing Axes at the workbench. These will allow players to ascend/descend any rock face in the world (including frozen waterfalls).

To ascend, with the axes equipped, simply approach and face any vertical rock face and a prompt will popup to begin climbing. To descend, simply approach the edge of a cliff and the same prompt will show, allowing you to climb down and mount the rock face from above.

Once mounted, the player can freely climb the face using the movement keys, while moving their head independently to view their path. You can jump from the face at any time (but be very careful).

The player will automatically unmount the wall when reaching flat ground. When reaching the top of a cliff, a prompt will show to vault up onto flat ground.

This new mechanic required significant development effort, and it will seem underutilized at this point (as for now it's only used to access the new caves). However it is part of a larger (iterative) plan and will take on a more prominent role in the future. High-mountain terrain (as a unique and fully realized biome) has always been on the roadmap, and is still absent from the game. Stay tuned.

[h2]Accessing The New Caves:[/h2]
As mentioned, climbing axes will be required to access the new caves. Large vertical drops separate the new cave system from the existing caverns.


[h2]Server Build Cap Doubled In Size:[/h2]
As mentioned on previous updates, the server build limit is in place due to the number of network channels available during a client connection to the server (rather than as some arbitrary performance measure). If I exceed the limit, then network requests get completely lost and the game essentially breaks.

As done previously, to increase the cap I group/cluster many buildables of the same type to all share a single channel. This time I've switched a lot of buildable types over, and the result is effectively double the cap size of Alpha 56! There is also room for further increases in the future.

[h2]Deep-Cave Hunters:[/h2]
A new type of hunter occupie the new deep-cave system. They are identified by their gas masks and grimy bodies from the fumes in the caves.

They typically form in smaller squads than the other mining hunters, and are slightly less armored.

They required a bit of an AI overhaul to avoid suicidal runs into lava pools...
[h3]Gas Mask:[/h3]
The gas mask is not a craftable item, and is currently only used by the deep-cave hunters. *However* it is possible to find it in the world, although is extremely rare.


[h2]Overheating:[/h2]
I've updated the health system for when a player is too hot (indicated by the HOT hud icon). The increased depletion on hydration levels is the same as before, however now when hydration levels hit zero (and the player is too hot), the player will start taking actual damage. So staying hydrated during hot temperatures is now more important.

Taking a dip in a lake is one way to cool-off, choosing more appropriate clothing, or fitting your base with an AC unit.


[h2]Deep-Cave Mining Crates:[/h2]
While exploring the new cave system, you'll find mining supply crates left around. These crates require players to break them open before accessing (which causes tool usage damage).

I'm using some minor destruction physics on the crate mesh to make it a little more satisfying to smash open.

These crates can contain higher tier items, however they have a high cool-down times on respawns.

[h2]Mixed Berry Jam:[/h2]
Players can now craft jam jars from the workbench. These aren't too cheap, but are permanent and reusable items (for now).

Collecting berries throughout the various seasons now allows players to prepare mixed berry jam at the oven (requires the boiling pan).

The jam provides a boost to max health/stamina, otherwise not provided by eating the berries by themselves.

You may notice the total fruit/veg benefit is less than the total individual berries. This may seem like an oversight now, but will make more sense once perish times are added to fruits/veg (as jams will preserve fruits without the need for refrigeration).

[h2]Ore Node Impact and Crate Interaction Animations:[/h2]
Ore nodes now animate when they take hits whiles mining.

In addition, crates will play a subtle jolt as players interact with them. I think this makes the world feel a little more dynamic and interactive while out looting.

[h2]Joining Server Streaming Status Bar:[/h2]
When joining a server, the client now tracks the progress of the initial streaming of world-data, so there's now a handy loading bar!


[h2]Fixed Getting Killed While Joining Server:[/h2]
There was previously a small amount of time when joining a server, where the player would spawn into the world before taking control of their player (sometimes leading to being killed). This is now fixed!

[h2]View Player Steam Profiles From The In-Game Player List:[/h2]
When clicking on a player in the in-game player list, a small button will show over their avatar, allowing players to open their Steam profile in the Steam overlay.

This will help players send friend requests or open chat on Steam if they team up in-game.

[h2]New Death Screen Hud:[/h2]
I've updated the death screen hud to now slide in the options available to the player.

Previously this was just a paragraph of text, so it was not obvious that easy mode offers the option to reload the previous save. The new design should be much cleaner and more intuitive.

[h2]Global Ban List:[/h2]
While I continue to add preventative measures to hacking, some players continue to try to use 3rd party hacking software on servers. Because of this I've added a global ban list. This service allows me to ban a player and have that propagate to all servers globally. I sincerely hope to never need to use it, but it is now there as a tool to protect players trying to play fairly.

[h2]Plants Will No Longer Grow With No Water:[/h2]
Previously plants would still grow (although very slowly) with no water. Now growth is halted if the plantbed has zero water.


[h2]Fixed Awkward Cave Transition At NW Lake:[/h2]
While entering the underwater cave system at the NW lake, previously I was actually using a portal and projecting an fake image to hide the transition of passing through the landscape layer into the cave environment. The new system handles the collision and physics correctly without the need for the previous hack and smoothly interpolates between the two environments.

[h2]Increased O2 Tank Duration By Over 50%[/h2]


[h2]Added Drop Shadows To Death Skull and Map Icons:[/h2]
Should make them easier to see in snowy terrain or in a blizzard.


[h2]Hunter Glow Stick Colors:[/h2]
Rogues now use green glow sticks, miners use orange and deep-miners use red.


[h2]Cloud Saves:[/h2]
I'm now utilizing the Steam cloud save service to sync all profile save data. So if you switch systems or format and re-install your OS, your profiles will persist. If you currently use multiple computers on the same Steam account and want to maintain separate save data, you can disable cloud saves for the game in the settings in your Steam client.

[h2]Fixed Some Hunter Weapon Handling Glitches:[/h2]
There were several states where hunters were switching weapons while still in the process of aiming/reloading/etc, so I've cleaned some of that up.

[h2]Additional Admin Features:[/h2]
  • Added ability to teleport directly to a base via console command:
    TeleportToBase [BASE_ID]
  • Dedicated server admins can now inspect buildables to check how long until the buildable will start to decay. This will also list how long the player who placed it (or a member of their base) was last online. Simply look at the buildable and enter the console command (also works in freecam mode):
    InspectBuildable
  • Dedicated server admins can now open the Steam profile of the player that placed any buildable. Simply look at the buildable and use the following console command (also works in freecam mode):
    ViewSteamProfileOfPlayerWhoPlacedBuildable
  • Added ability to disable clipping while in freecam mode (console command while already in freecam mode):
    NoClipFreeCam
  • Base names (that show at bottom right in the hud) will now update while in freecam mode.
  • The ListBases admin command will now also report on the time since a base member was last online (playing on the server).
    ListBases
  • Fixed bug where admins couldn't see ore nodes in the caves while in freecam mode.

Reminder that you can type "help" to view available admin commands.
[h2]Structural Integrity???[/h2]
I know some players expected me to enable this feature in the update. I worked a lot on this during the Alpha 56 update and simply needed a bit of break from that code, as there were several additional features needed to accompany it (such as structural support buildables). The feature is all still there and ready for me to finish. I'll pick this back up for a future update.

[h2]New Languages Supported:[/h2]
Two new languages have had support added:
  • Ukrainian
  • Latvian


[h2]Other Notable Changes:[/h2]
  • Added ultra-high-rez rock materials to cave rock, which blends in at close proximity.
  • Added localized messages for connection errors while attempting to join servers.
  • Fixed player shadow casting bug introduced in Alpha 56 (causing overly black shadows on players while in base lighting).
  • Fixed "Rent a Server" button not opening the Steam overlay on some computers.
  • Updated silver birch trees bark texture (credit to Gael Romanet for donating these textures, project Dismal).
  • Fixed bug where stack of perishable food item stacks would disappear when using shift-rightClick to split individual items (while in the default inventory).
  • Fixed bug where phantom fish could persist in the water with no fishing player or hunter.
  • Fixed clients hearing the fishing float "plop" sound a second time when starting to reel in a fish.


Discord invite: https://discord.gg/zyy4jQs
Twitter: @playSubsistence
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/playsubsistence/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkQZ7vkTiqetTC0_8umY2Pg
Steam Forums: https://steamcommunity.com/app/418030/discussions/

[h3]Hosting Your Own Server:[/h3]
If you would like to host your own dedicated server, I would recommend Nitrado (as I work closely with their team to support the game). You are also free to host on your own hardware, and the server files are freely available on SteamCMD.

You can view a detailed guide to hosting here:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2201638184

Continued Translation Support Credits (in no particular order): Thank you so much for the support.
Spanish (David Lascasas)
Hungarian (Erb Ármin)
Portuguese BR (Thiago Schumacke)
German (Philipp J. Rackl (LPCaiser))
Italian (Marcello Brancaccio, Federico D. Ravagli)
French (Anthony Charrault)
Czech (Dílna U mnicha)
Dutch (Damster_NL)
Danish (Jesper Vestergaard Bæk)
Russian (FRAME)
Turkish (Soulkast, Çagla Gurbet)
Swedish (Mattias Gustavsson)
Norwegian (Christer Djuvik, Svein Tore Stegemoen)
Romanian (VaeVictis)
Estonian (Streamerize)
Polish (Robertus Lubin)
Ukrainian (RoW-Team)
Latvian (Martins Plucis)

Alpha 56 - 1st April 2021


[h2]Lever-Action Rifle:[/h2]
A new high-tier rifle can now be crafted at the workbench.

The LA Rifle uses the same 7.62mm cartridges as the existing rifle, but deals slightly more damage. However, this is at the penalty of a slower fire-rate due to the lever action between each shot. So it is a more powerful and cost-effective weapon, so long as the shots are accurate.

I've added stats for the LA in the player stats view:

The LA Rifle can also load a new ammo type (which the basic Rifle cannot), please see later in the patch notes for details.

You can checkout a short video of the LA Rifle here: https://youtu.be/5xmkOMUkf0s
[h2]Moonlit Nights and Moon Cycles:[/h2]
I've finally taken some time to work on the night-time visuals and added a dynamic moon cycle.

This isn't a total nerf to the darkness of nights. The moon moves through its own cycles (currently set to 8 days), and the light emitted is dictated by its fullness. So there will still be many near pitch black nights.

It is also tied in with the weather system, such that if the skies are overcast, this will deprive players of brighter lit moony nights. I considered tying it in with months/seasons also, but given the adjustable nature of the seasons, I thought best to leave it as a separate system.

[h2]Physics Based Base Destruction:[/h2]
Previously when base items were destroyed, they would simply disappear with a destruction sound. I've now added individual destructible meshes for almost all pieces.

Now during attacks/raids, building pieces will explode/collapse and glass will shatter into physics-based pieces. I think this greatly helps immersion during gameplay.

You can checkout a short video of the new destruction in action here (where I detonate a BCU on my own base): https://youtu.be/kCxeLkBHMxc

[h2]Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights):[/h2]
Sometimes during clear nights, the northern lights will be visible and light-up the sky. This is not something that will happen every night and the intensity will vary across nights when they are visible.

As with the moonlight, storm fronts will obscure their visibility and their intensity will be muted by overcast skies. I think this adds some cool diversity to the world over the passing of time.

[h2]Big Performance Overall:[/h2]
I have made some substantial performance improvements (for worlds that are highly populated with buildings and many light sources). The screenshots below shows a benchmark of these changes, comparing rendering a scene in Alpha 55 to Alpha 56 (using the world data from Europe#2). I will explain the technical changes below (for those interested):

[h3]Distant lights optimization: (dev details)[/h3]
One of the most expensive performance costs are individual light sources. In densely populated profiles there may be hundreds of individual light sources dotted around the map, all casting rays and dynamic shadow cascades. Many having overlapping cascades (which can be extremely expensive).
  • Many of these lights may be extremely far from the player to be barely visible, yet still use their same quota of GPU performance.
  • There may be many lights in close proximity to one another, yet be so far from the player view they only occupy a tiny fraction of screen space (such as a base with 20 lights in the far distance).
  • Lights would still render, even if they are muted-out by much brighter lights (such as midday sunlight).

I've added an LOD system to drastically reduce the number of light sources required to render the same scene.
  • Far distant lights (in close proximity to one another) will now cluster into a single source (reducing the expense of ray casting and overlapping cascades).
  • Lights that are overpowered by another light (meaning they would not be visible anyway) are now disabled.
  • Lights that are entirely outside of the current view are disabled completely.
There may be some quirks with this new system, and I will continue to make tweaks moving forward. However the performance increase is huge and should benefit many players.
[h3]Putting buildables to "sleep": (dev details)[/h3]
Another big performance improvement: Previously all buildables would "Tick" with the game engine, meaning each frame they run some logic to check if they needed to do something. When there are many 10's of thousands of buildables placed in the world, this can add a lot of performance cost.

In Alpha 56, buildables are now put to "sleep" when no events are occuring for them, and wake up only when needed. This takes a lot of pressure off the CPU and will allow further scaling of the game.

[h2]Plaid Shirt:[/h2]
A new clothing item can now be crafted from the default player crafting menu. The shirt is an alternative to the existing high-tier t-shirt.

However it's properties are slightly different, whereby it offers slightly more warmth at the penalty of slightly less damage protection. So it is a good option for early spring and late fall.

[h2]First Person Clothing Modeling:[/h2]
I've always found it very jarring to see bare arms in the first person view when my character is wearing long sleeved clothing. This was especially awkward to see during winter and blizzards.

I've now modeled first person versions of all of the long sleeved clothing items, which I feel helps a lot feeling continuity with your character.

[h2]Multiplayer Exploit Fixes:[/h2]
[h3]Cracking Bases:[/h3]
I have now prevented BCU Crackers and Breaching Charges being placed on player BCUs (when the server has PvP base damage disabled).

In addition to this, you can no longer extend the placement range of either item, avoiding the exploit of players placing BCU Crackers by extending their reach through windows etc.
[h3]Speedhack prevention:[/h3]
I've added logic to detect players using speedhacks on dedicated servers (and kick them).
[h3]Fly-hack exploit patched:[/h3]
Some players reported a physics exploit, allowing players on servers to defy gravity. This should now be patched.
Hackers are an unfortunate reality, but something I'm alway looking to patch/prevent as I continue development, so I appreciate the reports.
[h3]Ban players by Steam ids:[/h3]
Previously server admins could only ban players if they were logged onto the server. You can now use the console to ban players using their Steam id (which is the numeric value in the url of their Steam profile). Type "help" in the console to view the available admin commands.

Once banned, you should see them listed under the Banned list in the server info UI (where you can choose to unban them).

[h2]Phosphate Ore and Phosphorus:[/h2]
There is now a new ore type that can found while exploring the cave systems.

Phosphate ore is somewhat rare, and can be processed into Phosphorus in the refinery. Each piece of Phosphate Ore yields 3 Phosphorus once processed.

[h2]Incendiary Rifle Rounds[/h2]
Phosphorus can be used to craft incendiary rifle rounds. These can only be used with the new LA Rifle (press Left-Alt to switch between ammo types).

Incendiary rounds deal the same initial damage as their standard counterparts, however will catch the target on fire for around 10 seconds, dealing continuous damage over that time.

Jumping into water will extinguish the fire.

[h2]Shift-RightClick To Split Item Stacks:[/h2]
When splitting stacks, rather than having to right click on the item, you can now simply hold the shift key (or whatever you have bound to your sprint) and right click to split singles into another stack.

[h2]Fixed Incorrect Warmth %:[/h2]
Clients of network games were displaying an incorrect warmth reading when near heating sources.

It was either showing 100% or nothing. It was also leading to an incorrect reading on the current world temperature (which displays at top left). This is now fixed.

[h2]Strength Boost:[/h2]
Strength Boosts can be found under the default medicinal craft menu. These items will increase the player's physical strength by 1.5x for 3 minutes. This increases the speed of harvesting resources (chopping tree, ores, etc), melee damage caused to base items (breaking down doors, etc) and damage to humans and animals.

This can be useful for a burst of wood harvesting, or breaking into bases. A status icon will display on the right side of the hud indicating when the boost is active. The damage incurred to the tool will also increase to match the increased damage dealt.

[h2]Adrenaline Boost:[/h2]
Previously the Adrenaline boost would simply replenish your stamina, but then (depending on your health stats) would immediately start dropping again.

Now the Adrenaline Boost will provide unlimited stamina for 3 minutes, regardless of your character's physical condition. A status icon will show on the right while it is active.

[h2]Added Additional In-Game Tips:[/h2]
It's never been very clear that players can level-up their max health and stamina overtime by eating better quality foods. I've added an in-game tip to highlight this mechanic for new players.

It's also not obvious that players protein levels drop faster if the player is cold. So I've also added a contextual tip to explain this.

Players are issued a free heat pack when respawned during winter time. However this is not obvious and often leads to a death loop trying to get back to safety. I've added a one-time prompt to highlight this mechanic.


[h2]Filling Canteens and Washing Hands From Ice Holes:[/h2]
You no longer need to jump into frigid water to collect water or wash your hands from iceholes. Simply stand next to the ice hole and right click on your canteen to fill with water. Or click use to wash your hands.


[h2]Structural Integrity (work-in-progress, not enabled in update):[/h2]
I actually spent a full month this update working on a Structural Integrity system for base building. This restricts floating bases and ensures bases are structurally sound (or will otherwise collapse). The system is working well for the most part, however there are many loose ends that need tying up, and I didn't want to dedicate any further time to this one feature.

You can checkout this short video showing the feature in action (running on my dev build):
https://youtu.be/JTZEHli18lI
The blue flashing highlights you see in the video are just for my dev environment, to visualize the SI calculations rippling throughout the structure. I plan to revisit and complete this feature in the future, but right now it's on hold. I welcome feedback from players on the eventual introduction of this feature.

[h2]Fixed Elevator Bug:[/h2]
Fixed a bug where the elevator could run off the tracks (and often being lost).


[h2]Delay Entering World Until Fully Streamed/Initialized:[/h2]
Previously players would be dropped into the world before it had finished initializing (sp) or being fully streamed in from the server (mp). This would lead the player to glitch about on geometry that hadn't fully loaded. Players will now get a waiting screen until the world is ready.

[h2]Flashlight Battery Duration Extended:[/h2]
A full battery charge on Flashlight Attachments now lasts 16 minutes (real world time). Was previously 12 minutes.

[h2]Other Notable Changes:[/h2]
  • Switched to new metallic materials for Double Barrel Shotgun Rifle.
  • Added weapon handling sounds when raising/lowering weapons to aim down sights.
  • Fixed ice hole clipping bug, that could result in falling under the world.
  • Fixed bug where players couldn't cancel and exit out of chat while sitting on ground or in a chair.
  • Fixed fishing line showing at weird angle if starting to fish while in 3rd person view.
  • Fixed character standing at weird angle if switching view while exiting an ice hole (thanks Freaky P ;))
  • Windows will now be destroyed if their wall frames are destroyed.
  • Fixed various buildable's pitch and roll not replicating to clients of net games.
  • Fixed bug where two weapons would show mounted in the work bench (one below the bench) for clients of net games.
  • Fixed animation glitch where players could sit while in a falling state.
  • Fixed clipping bug where players could glitch through geometry while sitting on sofas (sometimes leading to falling to their death).
  • Inventory item blue highlight flash will now interrupt a previous flash, so feels much more responsive when splitting/transfering items in quick succession.
  • Log files now capture when admins ban players.
  • Fixed bug where dedicated servers could get into a restart loop, and machine needing resetting to fix the issue. This was caused by the server attempting to compile shaders (which it never needs anyway).
  • For humans and animals on fire, the fire particle will now remain attached during ragdolling (previously would float at the death location).


Cheers,
CG

Discord invite: https://discord.gg/zyy4jQs
Twitter: @playSubsistence
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/playsubsistence/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkQZ7vkTiqetTC0_8umY2Pg
Steam Forums: https://steamcommunity.com/app/418030/discussions/

[h3]Hosting Your Own Server:[/h3]
If you would like to host your own dedicated server, I would recommend Nitrado (as I work closely with their team to support the game). You are also free to host on your own hardware, and the server files are freely available on SteamCMD.

You can view a detailed guide to hosting here:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2201638184

Continued Translation Support Credits (in no particular order): Thank you so much for the support.
Spanish (David Lascasas)
Hungarian (Erb Ármin)
Portuguese BR (Thiago Schumacke)
German (Philipp J. Rackl (LPCaiser))
Italian (Marcello Brancaccio, Federico D. Ravagli)
French (Anthony Charrault)
Czech (Dílna U mnicha)
Dutch (Damster_NL)
Danish (Jesper Vestergaard Bæk)
Russian (FRAME)
Turkish (Soulkast, Çagla Gurbet)
Swedish (Mattias Gustavsson)
Norwegian (Christer Djuvik, Svein Tore Stegemoen)
Romanian (VaeVictis)
Estonian (Streamerize)
Polish (Robertus Lubin)

Alpha 55 Update (1st January 2021)


[h2]Ice Fishing:[/h2]
It is now possible to break through the surface ice on the frozen lakes (using an axe), allowing players to fish during the winter months.

With the axe equipped, look at the ice until a progress wheel displays, then begin chopping to create the hole. This can take a toll on the axe's condition, so keep an eye on its health bar.

Fishing in the ice hole does not require casting with the rod. Simply approach the hole with an equipped rod (and tackle) and an action prompt will display to start fishing.
[h2]Ice Holes and Winter Cave/Water Access:[/h2]
Players can descend through ice holes, giving new access to water and cave locations throughout the winter. I've added a vault mechanic for pulling yourself out from an ice hole while underwater.

Ice holes will eventually refreeze over. I have code in place to reduce the rate of refreezing if a hole is being actively used, but it will eventually refreeze regardless.

*Be careful to carry an axe while exploring caves during winter, as you may need to break through the ice to exit the frozen lake on your return.
[h2]Beehives and Honey:[/h2]
During the summer months, bees will now build hives that can be harvested for honey.

The hives are fairly rare and can be found attached to tree trunks. An axe or pickaxe can be used to harvest the hive to yield the honey.

Honey can be eaten raw and used in cooking recipes. Honey is currently the only food item providing a max-health/stamina boost in its raw form.
[h2]Bee Swarms:[/h2]
Beehives are not dangerous unless a player attempts to harvest the honey.

Attacking a hive will unleash a deadly swarm of bees, so take stock of your current condition (and equipment) before attempting to harvest a hive.

*Many players have suggested a beekeeping mechanic being added. This is certainly something I'm considering for the future.
[h2]Catfish:[/h2]
Catfish can now be caught in the various ponds around the world (they do not reside in the larger lakes). They are less active during the colder months.

They cannot be caught using fish traps, and require rod-fishing.

[h2]Pike:[/h2]
Pike can be found in all the lakes/ponds in the world. They remain highly active during the winter months, due to being predatory fish.

They also cannot be caught using fish traps, and require rod-fishing.

[h2]Perch:[/h2]
Perch can be found in all ponds/lakes, however are more common in ponds. They provide slightly more protein than the existing "small fish".

Perch can be caught in fish traps. The can be cooked whole, or harvested for fish oil.

[h2]Small animals now destroyed by live ammunition:[/h2]
Small animals (rabbits and chickens) can now be killed by a single shot of any live ammunition. However doing so will destroy the potential resource gains and leave you with a mangled corpse (and a satisfying "splat" effect).

The only (current) use for mangled corpses is to allow it to decay into "rotten meat".

I feel this change is a more intuitive means of maintaining gameplay balance (rather than how it was previously).
*Bow-hunting and trapping will preserve the animal's resources for harvesting.
[h2]Curved, slanted glass walls:[/h2]
This new glass building piece provides a slanted wall option for the curved variant.

It will attach to any curved foundation, ceiling and wall, and should offer new possibilities for some creative base designs.

[h2]New Animal AI Pathing Update:[/h2]
I've finally addressed the exploit of guiding predators into trees to attack them with an axe.

I've added new pathing logic to allow them to negotiate trees while chasing prey. There is still a lot of future work I have planned for animal AI, but this should be a big improvement compared to how it was previously.
[h2]Rosehip Berries:[/h2]
I've made more seasonal changes to the wild edibles in the world. During the colder months, blueberries will no longer be available, however rosehip berries will persist through the cold.

These tart berries come with a small hydration penalty (effectively making winter a little more of a struggle), so make sure to melt plenty of snow and keep a couple of canteens on you.
[h2]Wild Mushrooms:[/h2]
The cave systems now have a wild edible. Edible mushrooms can be found/picked, growing on cave rocks while exploring.

They can safely be eaten raw. There currently aren't dedicated cooking recipes for mushrooms, but that will come in the future.
[h2]Honey-glazed Pork and Sauteed Vegetables:[/h2]
Pork chops now have a dedicated cooking recipe, coupled with honey and grown vegetables.

This dish is the highest tier meal that can be cooked using the frying-pan (typically the baking pan is required for such stats-boosting recipes).
[h2]Fish Steaks:[/h2]
I've added a new white fish item. This meat is now yielded from Bass, Pike and Catfish.

It can safely be eaten raw, but much better cooked. It has slightly lower stats than salmon fillets.
[h2]Customizable Glow Sticks Colors:[/h2]

Players can now customize their glow sticks by choosing from a selection of colors.

Simply click on your glow stick to display it's contextual item display (at the top of the hud). Then select from the color-picker to apply your color of choice.

This should help teammates signal-to or identify one another, as well as offering additional visual customization.
[h2]Crayfish:[/h2]
Crayfish can now be found in the various lakes and ponds, by catching them in fish traps.

They must be cooked on a fire before eating, or can cause infection.

Crayfish are only small but are a good survival dietary supplement. They offer slightly more protein than small fish or perch (however do not yield fish oil).
[h2]Free Camera Mode:[/h2]
This is a cool new feature for admins of dedicated servers. Since Alpha 54, I have heard from many admins that they would like better control to monitor their server and have better access to the world (to perform cleanup etc).

When logged in as an admin, type "freecam" in the console to enter free-cam mode.

This will put you in a detached state, allowing you to fly around the map (even underwater and through cave systems). The speed of camera can be controlled by using the mouse wheel. The camera does react to collision, so you can't just clip through geometry.

While in this state, it is not possible to interact with items, however it is possible to use the "delete buildable" admin command. This allows admins to remove buildables by looking at them and using the "delete buildable" key, which is bindable in the in-game controls.
[h2]Teleport to Player:[/h2]
In addition to free-cam mode. Server admins can now teleport directly to a specific player (they will be switched to free-cam mode to teleport).

To use this feature you must be logged in as an admin on a dedicated server. Open the in-game server stats menu and select the player you wish to teleport to. This will present a button to trigger the teleport with the other admin buttons on the right side.
*The viewed player will be unaware of the camera.
[h2]Sitting on the Ground:[/h2]
Players can now choose to "take a load off" and sit down (without a chair).

I think this adds some cool immersion while resting by a campfire. This action can be set/rebound in the in-game controls (the default key is "/").
[h2]Seasonal Water Temperatures:[/h2]
I've made some fairly large changes to water temperatures in the colder months. The water will now get much colder than previously. The temperatures are colder across easy/normal/hardcore.
[h2]Insect Repellant:[/h2]
Found in the default medical crafting menu. This (fairly cheap) item provides temporary protection from insect bites/stings (useful for harvesting honey). While active, a status icon will show on the right side of the hud.

Currently the only insect threat are bee stings, however I have plans for mosquitos on the roadmap (still not totally confirmed yet however).
[h2]Save/Load-Game Improvements:[/h2]
Since the launch of dedicated servers, extreme pressure was put on the previous save/load system. With many 10s of thousands of buildables populating the map on certain servers, it was leading to some saves being unable to load (caused by multiple 'false' infinite loop detections, etc).

I now have a more robust (async) job-handling system for the game to easily manage these large tasks. This issue became a bit of a "time-bomb" for popular servers, and I had to hurriedly hotfix this in for servers in the weeks after Alpha 54, but it's now polished and is implemented into the singleplayer mode. So if you had a HUGE profile that stopped being able to load, this should fix it. This should also alleviate the "frame-hitch" that can sometimes occur when the game saves during gameplay.

[h2]Harvesting Hitbox Updates:[/h2]
Previously it was common to hit a tree or resource node, see a hit effect/sound, but no progress would be attributed to the harvesting process, feeling very glitchy and frustrating.

I've now addressed this, so what you see/hear should align correctly with what is being harvested.
[h2]No-Build Zones:[/h2]
Many servers were having issues with players/teams building structures over cave entrances, preventing others on the server from accessing them. I've now added no-build zones to these areas, which should solve this problem for server admins..

Note: These no-build zones are not active in single player or player-hosted co-op games.
[h2]New Sounds for Opening Medical Crates:[/h2]
Medical and ammo crates now have their own unique (and more appropriate) sound when opening.

[h2]Seasonal Fish-type Diversity:[/h2]
Previously there was no change in the chances of catching a particular fish type across the months/seasons.

Now, not only do different lake types yield different fish types, but the months/seasons dictate the population/chance of certain fish types (example: it is now rare to catch a salmon during the winter).
[h2]Fixed Server List Crash:[/h2]
Many (myself included) reported that the server list could sometimes crash the game while populating the list.

This was a massive pain to debug, however I believe I now have it fixed. The issue was caused by my aggressive handling of sorting algorithms as server results come in. I will keep an eye on this to verify the issue is closed.
[h2]Fixed Temperature Reading Errors In Hud:[/h2]
Many players reported inconsistencies with the temperature displayed top-left, their clothing stats and the time at which they may start taking damage from exposure. This should now be fixed (caused by rounding of floating point values in the hud).
[h2]Lakes Now Freeze Regardless of Players In Caves or Diving:[/h2]
Previously I added a placeholder fix, so that lakes would delay freezing if a player was diving or exploring the caves.

Now, since players have a means of escaping the ice, I have removed/altered this. It will still attempt to avoid freezing players/hunters in the surface ice however.
[h2]New Profile Stats Added:[/h2]
All of the new fish are now tracked in the player stats.

Also rosehip and mushroom picking stats have been added.
[h2]Increased Temperature Penalty For Being Wet (Hardcore):[/h2]
In hardcore the temperature penalty is now -5.5°C (was previously -4°C). Easy and normal are unchanged at -2/-4°C respectively.
[h2]Fishing Rod Improved Controls:[/h2]
Previously, after striking and hooking a fish, if you pressed the reel-in key while the strike animation was still in motion, it would ignore the held-down keypress. This felt unpleasant.

Now you can hold the reel-in key during the strike animation, and it will begin reeling once complete.
[h2]Fixed Incorrect Animal State Showing In Animal Traps:[/h2]
Animals would sometimes show as alive when looking at them in a trap, but then were actually dead when accessing the trap. This is now fixed.

[h2]Updated Menu Map:[/h2]
The menu map has been updated with greater detail/density of foliage and trees.
[h2]Fixed Exploit Accessing Base Items Through Walls:[/h2]
There was an exploit whereby when first joining a populated server, it would take some time to stream all the buildables in, and it was possible to access base items through a wall. I've now added additional server-side checks to ensure bases are protected from this theft.
[h2]Hosting Your Own Server:[/h2]
If you would like to host your own dedicated server, I would recommend Nitrado (as I work closely with their team to support the game). You are also free to host on your own hardware, and the server files are freely available on SteamCMD.

You can view a detailed guide to hosting here:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2201638184
[h2]New Languages Supported:[/h2]
I have added new support for the following 3 languages (bringing total languages supported up to 23):
  • Arabic(currently working on addressing some rendering issues for Arabic)
  • Vietnamese
  • Thai

[h2]Other Notable Changes:[/h2]
  • Prevented audio, glitching in/out while the game world is in the process of loading in. Now audio will smoothly transition in when your boots hit the ground.
  • Console now shows welcome message, displaying the "help" command to list available commands.
  • Fixed bug where mounted weapon could become misaligned when moving the workbench.
  • Fixed bug/exploit where base items could be moved out of a base into another, without transferring it's connection from the original base.
  • Added subtle dark gradient behind bottom-left hud messages (for better contrast/visibility).
  • Prevented tossed items from sticking to base walls like velcro (they should now drop to the floor as expected).
  • Fixed "winter-warning" not showing when joining a server in winter.
  • Added error message when attempting to join a server running a different alpha version.
  • You can now press escape to exit out of confirm popups.
  • Fixed bug where a confirm popup would get stuck on the screen, requiring a game restart.
  • Fixed bug where clients of network games wouldn't recognize a clip-size upgrade on a weapon, resulting in them not being able to reload the weapon if it's clip was above the default clip-size count.
  • Fixed rare bug where clams and sandstone nodes would disappear when swimming close to them.
  • Fixed bat hanging animation not playing for clients of network games.
  • Added brief fade from black when entering a profile or respawning after death.
  • Fixed bug with food perish times, where a complete stack could disappear after just one of it's stack perishes.
  • Added admin console command to disable all base lights on a server. This is a bit of band aid due to base lights having a performance cost if used excessively on servers with many structures, and players leaving all their base lights on when logging off. A true performance fix will come for this in the future.
  • Strawberries and rosehips can now be used to bait small animal traps.
  • Fixed bug where it was still possible to access enemy woodburners, even when the server was set to disallow access of other players base items.
  • Fixed underwater gap in the fenceline in the large eastern lake.


[h3]Summary:[/h3]
I hope everyone's having a great holiday period (after a pretty tough 2020). I'm excited for 2021 and to continue working on the game and moving it forward. Thanks to everyone that's been supporting the game during its development. I still have a lot planned for its future! Happy New Year!

Cheers,
CG

Discord invite: https://discord.gg/zyy4jQs
Twitter: @playSubsistence
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/playsubsistence/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkQZ7vkTiqetTC0_8umY2Pg
Steam Forums: https://steamcommunity.com/app/418030/discussions/


Continued Translation Support Credits (in no particular order): Thank you so much for the support.
Spanish (David Lascasas)
Hungarian (Erb Ármin)
Portuguese BR (Thiago Schumacke)
German (Philipp J. Rackl (LPCaiser))
Italian (Marcello Brancaccio, Federico D. Ravagli)
French (Anthony Charrault)
Czech (Dílna U mnicha)
Dutch (Damster_NL)
Danish (Jesper Vestergaard Bæk)
Russian (FRAME)
Turkish (Soulkast, Çagla Gurbet)
Swedish (Mattias Gustavsson)
Norwegian (Christer Djuvik, Svein Tore Stegemoen)
Romanian (VaeVictis)
Estonian (Streamerize)
Polish (Robertus Lubin)