Subsistence News

The Alpha 54 update is primarily focused on adding official dedicated server support, improving the multiplayer client experience, and a number of other fixes and improvements.
[h2]Dedicated Servers:[/h2]
The dedicated server files are freely available for any players who own the game. Players can choose to host their own servers, or rent them from a variety of hosting services.

Please view the Server Admin Guide for players interested in hosting and admining their own server: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2201638184
[h2]Server Browser Update[/h2]
The in-game server browser has had a visual and functional update, and now gives detailed info on servers currently running.

Servers will show an icon indicating whether they are player-hosted or dedicated.

Clicking on a server in the list will now show granular details on the games settings and current in-game state.

[h3]Filters, search and history:[/h3]
There is a text search that filters servers based on their name of hosted-by fields. You can also sort the list by name/hosted-by/ping/player-count. You can also filter by "All" servers, or "History" (which will display only servers you've previously joined, sorted by the most recently joined).

[h2]Profile Stats:[/h2]
Available in both singleplayer and multiplayer, players can now view detailed stats of their current profile (or server). There is a new button under the clothing UI to open the "Profile Stats" (or "Server Stats" in a multiplayer game).

This new UI will display all players currently on the profile, a summary of their stats, and then a breakdown of various categories.

I actually implemented tracking for many of these stats many updates ago, but never added a UI to expose them. I decided to add it now as I wanted to give server admins visibility of players and their activities on their server.

This means that many of these stats will be populated, even on old profiles. However many are newly added, so will only start tracking once your game has updated. These stats will be a nice foundation for when I implement Steam achievements (future update).
[h3]Weapon Stats:[/h3] Shows individual kill stats for every weapon.

[h3]Hunting Stats:[/h3] Shows every single hunting kill made by the player on the current profile/server (including fish caught).

[h3]Looting Stats:[/h3] Show stats on many items looted/harvested in the world.


[h2]Server Admin Login:[/h2]
If hosting a player-hosted game, the host will be automatically logged in as an admin. For dedicated servers, admins must log-in with the "AdminPassword" that is set in their server config.

Admins will show in the player list with an icon besides their name.

[h2]Admin Kick/Ban/Unban Players:[/h2]
When logged in as an admin, while viewing a player in the server stats UI, you will have buttons on the right side to kick or kick+ban a player from the server.

As an admin, you will also have a tab above the player's list, to list all banned players (who are now offline). Selecting players in this list will display a button to unban them. You can still view the full stats of a banned player.

Banned players will be banned across all profiles hosted by that server.

[h2]Verified Servers:[/h2]
In the interest of players having a good experience when choosing a server to join, I've added the ability to flag servers as verified (which I can update anytime on a backend server).

The idea is that servers that become reputable and in good standing with the community can be flagged as "verified" and show at the top of the list. Please reach out if you are a host and would like your server to be considered.

[h2]Fixed Client Jumping/Landing Lag:[/h2]
Previously when jumping, the client would wait for the server to respond with their landing velocity, causing an awkward lag (delayed sound and camera shake) when landing.

This is now predictively calculated by the client, and now feels way more responsive for clients.

[h2]Improved Client Unlocking Crate Lag:[/h2]
Previously when unlocking crates, the client would ask the server to unlock the crate, wait for the response that it was unlocked, then send another request to access it. Now the client sends both requests at once, which cuts the lag on opening crates in half.

[h2]Removed lag from picking up small animals and dropped items:[/h2]
I've added client-side predictive pickup effects for small animals and dropped items (rather than waiting for the server). So picking up a small-game kill (or hand-catching chickens) now feels as responsive as single player.


[h2]Player Count?[/h2]
This is untrodden ground for me. The simulations I have been running on my dev environment are not sufficient to gauge the real-world performance stats (or the player experience).

I have started with a max count of 32, however this may change once servers have been tested. I would urge server hosts to be gentle with your max counts and monitor your performance stats. As a community, I hope we will soon get an understanding of performance ceilings. If you are a host, please join the "Server Admins" channel in Discord to discuss server performance and so I can notify of hotfixes going out, etc.

[h2]PvE/PvP?[/h2]
I've added settings for dedicated server hosts to customize whether to allow/restrict PvP actions on their servers. In particular these following rules (which can also be viewed from the server list before joining a server):

• PvP damage can be enabled/disabled.
  
• PvP Base Damage: Whether players can damage player-built bases.
  
• Access Enemy Player Base Items: Whether players can access enemy player base items, such as storage crates, refineries, etc (does not include doors/windows/hatches).
  

Hosts should reference the dedicated server guide to configure these settings.

[h2]Renting A Server:[/h2]
For players wishing to host a server without having to manage their own hardware, there are now several server hosting services that are setup to host Subsistence servers. I would recommend Nitrado, as I have been working closely with their team to integrate the servers and settings into their control dashboards. Although players are free to use any service or hardware they like.

You can find Subsistence servers to rent here: https://nitra.do/subsistence

[h2]New Tree Collision:[/h2]
Previously I had been using SpeedTree collision primitives for tree collision. As the map continues to expand, this collision has become buggy unreliable, resulting in collision not aligning correctly with trees. Furthermore, it seemed this alignment error would differ between client and server, resulting in some jerky server corrections for clients.

I've abandoned the previous collision primitives and added my own mesh collision for all trees. This seems to have fully solved the issue (for the price of a slightly increased map file size).

[h2]Crate Labels:[/h2]
A requested feature for a long time, players can now craft labels for their storage chests. Once crafted, the label can be switched between a set of preset labels.

I've tried to include a decent amount of labels, but please let me know of more that are needed. I may consider adding dynamic text to labels in a future update.

[h2]Fixed client-side bug where buildables show as fully damaged:[/h2]
A common bug reported by players on established/large co-op games; when a new buildable was placed it would sometime appear as fully damaged for clients (not for the host). This has now been fixed.

[h2]New Buildable Move/Disassemble Rules:[/h2]
In an effort to prevent griefing I have updated the rules around moving or deleting buildables.

I now track which player placed which buildable, which allows for the following new rules:

• Cannot move/delete a buildable if it was placed by another player, unless that player is a member of the same base.
  
• Cannot move/delete a buildable if it is within another team's BCU range of influence (even if they placed it).
  
• Can move/delete any buildable placed by another team if it is within their BCU's range of influence.
  

For old profiles, previously placed buildables won't know about their ownership, but as long as they are in range of a BCU, will be protected (as per prior to this update).

Note: These same rules are also now applied to opening/closing doors/windows/ladder-hatches.


[h2]Base Decay (Dedicated Servers Only):[/h2]
One regular piece of feedback I receive from current server hosts is that servers can become messy with abandoned bases. There is now an optional setting in UDKDedServerSettings.ini (NumPlayerOfflineHoursBeforeBaseDecay).

This setting allows server hosts to specify a number of (real-world) hours that if no members of a team have been active for this time, then all buildables placed by any of them will start to decay. The decay time takes around 4 to 6 hours once it has started.

I would recommend setting this to something like 5 days (120 hours), or whatever you feel appropriate to keep your servers clean. If set to 0, then the decay feature is disabled.

[h2]Additional Admin Cleanup Abilities:[/h2]
Please note that there is a keybind available in the controls menu for admins, which when used in game will delete any buildable while looking at it. It is unbound by default.

There are also several admin commands available via the console (type help to list the commands). I plan to expand on admin capabilities/tools in the future.

[h2]Harvesting Grown Plants:[/h2]
I always found it a little jarring to be able to harvest an entire bed of plants in almost an instant.

Now grown plants require the use key be held down for a short period to harvest them. I think this is a bit more immersive for players who like to farm.

[h2]Plant Bed Alignment & Network Performance:[/h2]
I've fixed the bug whereby plants would become misaligned after moving the plant bed.

Plant beds have always been a strain on network games. They previously used individual network channels for each plant, so the server was constantly checking if each plant is relevant to every player (which also led to plants disappearing and reappearing for clients). I've re-written it's network code, so now all plants use only a single network channel (that of the plantbed itself) and is very light-weight for the server.

[h2]Cougar AI update:[/h2]
The cougar AI has had some tweaks to prevent certain exploits. I'll be keeping an eye on this to see how it plays out.


[h2]Hunter AI - Close-Range Combat:[/h2]
I've added new behavior to the hunter AI to respond to certain close-range encounters. They can also now perform melee attacks, so be cautious when rushing in close.


[h2]Save-Game Button:[/h2]
There is now a dedicated save game button in the menu while in single-player or hosting a co-op game.

[h2]Exit to Main Menu:[/h2]
Sorry this took so long. You can now exit to the main menu when playing on a profile.

[h2]Fixed Flashlight Shadow Artifacts:[/h2]
A Discord member reported that weapon flashlight attachments were causing shadow artifacts while in their base. This bug was introduced when I switched to using instanced static meshes for base buildables, and should now be resolved:


[h2]Updated Weather Effects While Swimming:[/h2]
Previously, while swimming, rain and snow effects would display under the water surface (and be pushed further away from the player). This is now fixed.


[h2]Hardcore Death Penalty on Dedicated Servers:[/h2]
Obviously terminating the server if a player dies in hardcore would not work for ded-servers. Instead, the player's dropped kit only lasts 2 minutes (so it is effectively lost for the player, as it previously was), and they will see no HUD beacon.

[h2]Bat Location/Attack Bug Fixed:[/h2]
Fixed a rare bug where bats could attack the player through the cave floor.


[h2]Expanded Server Build Limit:[/h2]
I have added network pools for Solar Panels, Wind Turbines, Power and Mass Storage, which results in 20 of each item only using one unit from the build limit (rather than one each). This should drastically increase the amount of buildables that can be placed in a multiplayer game.

This change will apply to existing multiplayer profiles. I'll expand this even further in the future.

[h2]Other notable changes:[/h2]

• Fixed occasional glitchiness causing the player to get hung-up on base items.
  
• Fixed bug for clients of mp games where doors and crates would not remove once destroyed (and be left with no collision).
  
• Fixed hunters often using the incorrect weapon holding states, leading to odd poses while in combat.
  
• You can now hit Escape to exit the map view.
  
• Fixed bug where the map could open at a strange angle.
  
• Fixed occasional bug of spawning a player too close to a hunter camp, predator (or potentially inside another player's base).
  
• Fixed deer and moose not correctly exiting out of their idle animations when fleeing for clients of mp games.
  
• Made some design changes to the solo and multiplayer profile launch UI to show the individual settings more clearly.
  
• Fixed the clam pickup message showing if clicking on the shell after taking the pearl.
  
• "Game saved" message no longer shows for clients, and now uses the correct hud messaging and localized fonts.
  
• Fixed short period of seeing "is being accessed" message when exiting out of accessing a base item.
  
• Added a proper jump landing sound when landing in snow (previously was the default dirt sound).
  
• The local Steam language will now be auto-selected when first starting the game after installing (so players shouldn't need to manually change the language when they first play).
  
• Fixed month override not working when first starting a brand new profile.
  
• Prevent players stepping up on base items when crouching next to them.
  
• Fixed rare bug that could cause the player to fly into the air when pushing up against the perimeter fence.
  
• Fixed bug that would cause the player to lose movement control when submerging into water while climbing a ladder.
  
• Fixed bug of increasing power cost of bed spawns not showing for clients of network games.
  
• Bed spawns in co-op (player hosted) hardcore servers, now increase in cost after each purchase (same as in single player).
  
• There is now a checkbox in the co-op launch screen to show or hide the game from the public server list.
  
• Added more appropriate sound for when campfires and traps are destroyed from decay.
  
• Fixed exploit that allowed two team members to own two bases that would both auto-generate power/mass.
  
• Fixed UI bug that was preventing players from declining a base invite.
  
• Fixed exploit that allowed a BCU to be linked to another.
  

[h3]Summary[/h3]
To all of the singleplayer players, I'm sorry this update is so largely focused on multiplayer. However dedicated servers are a key, planned feature that I've been promising since launch, so I'm excited to finally add support. Please stay tuned for further updates, and hope everyone has a great week!

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)

[h2]Large Cave Expansion:[/h2]
There is now a large new cave expansion under the south east area of the map. The new cave system can be accessed via an underwater dormant lava-tube deep in the large lake in the area.

Players will need to use diving equipment to access the caves (same as the existing caves).

The new caves stretch far out towards the north. They currently don't meet with the existing cave system, but I plan to link them in a future update.

The new cave system is larger than the existing one, so has more than doubled the amount of subterranean space in the world.

Some areas are more confined with tight tunnel systems leading deeper in.

The new cave system adds a new source of crystal to the southern area of the map. However crystal spawn cooldown has been increased due to the increased supply.


[h2]Wild Boar:[/h2]
A new animal type that roams the landscape. Boar will generally avoid players and predators. However if cornered or threatened, will attack, but will typically flee after inflicting damage. They can be seen rooting through undergrowth in wooded areas.

Their attacks will have a high chance of breaking bones and causing bleeding. Boar substitute wolf spawns in their areas, so this will lessen some areas of high predator density.

Hunting and butchering boar will yield pork chops, as well as large quantities of animal fat.


[h2]Slanted Glass Walls:[/h2]
Slanted glass walls can now be crafted from the default player craft menu, along with side panels to fill the gaps.

These new pieces are a full-wall height and have a half-floor depth to the slant.

I think these new angles will give players a lot more freedom for interesting and creative base designs.


[h2]Foundation Stairs (half):[/h2]
A slim variant of the foundation stairs.


[h2]Bats:[/h2]
The cave systems now have a natural threat beyond the mining hunters. These large bats have a high chance of causing infection and bleeding (which differs across easy/normal/hardcore). However adds a means to harvest meat while within the caves.

While implementing the bats, I needed to create a new AI and navigation system for flying animals, which I plan to re-use for new ground-level flying animals.


[h2]Hunter AI Adjustments (and firepower):[/h2]
I've made some tweaks to slow movement speed when engaged in combat and during base attacks. Previously, during certain navigation hops, they would sprint unusually fast, so this change should help combat feel more natural and fair.

[h3]Reduced firepower in Easy/Normal:[/h3] Hunters have always had a nerf on their firepower compared to players. The previous nerf (percentage of damage dealt) was of 65% across all difficulty modes. I've now changed this to 50/59/65% across easy/normal/hardcore respectively. This should help balance hunter gunfights on the lower difficulty modes.

[h2]Hunter Targeted Base Switching:[/h2]
I've updated the logic for how hunter squads choose player bases to target for attack. If they are targeting a base, but then all base members log-off, they will now consider switching focus to another team's base. They will prioritize the most active and established bases.

This change is part of an effort to make servers self-balance as players join/leave, in preparation for dedicated server support. Also putting pressure on powerful player teams, while giving relief to players trying to get established.

[h2]Base Item Register and Range Extenders:[/h2]
I've completely overhauled how base items register with the base BCU. Previously, once a base item was placed it could only be unlinked from the base if the primary BCU was destroyed. Removing a Range Extender would not unlink items using its extended range. Also, placing a Range Extender would not relink items that had become unlinked.

So if the primary BCU was destroyed, this could lead to situations where base items could not be relinked to a base (even when moving the item back within range of the primary BCU).

This all sounds complicated because it is. The new system is much more simple and logical.

• Everytime you move a base item, if unlinked, it will check if it should relink with a base.
  
• When you place a range extender, it will check if base items in its radius should be relinked.
  
• When daisy-chaining Range Extenders, removing one in the chain will disconnect all in the remainder of the chain (and base items). Replacing that gap in the chain, will reconnect it.
  

Range Extenders that become unlinked from the base will show with a red panel for visual reference:


[h2]Wild Strawberries:[/h2]

During the summer months, wild strawberries can be found growing around the world. Strawberries have slightly better stats than blueberries, as well as small hydration boost (handy for the hot temperatures).

[h2]Animal/Fish Traps Duration Increased:[/h2]
Traps will decay at a much slower rate now. They will now last for around 5 days with no repair.


[h2]Campfires Affected by Rain:[/h2]
On Normal and Hardcore, exposed campfires will now be extinguished if left in the rain (on easy they will not).

I am just testing this out for now, and may roll this back. I feel it adds a small extra survival consideration and encourages progression, but I'm open to feedback from players.

[h2]Campfires Now Decay:[/h2]
Campfires will slowly decay over the period of 5 days. They now also have a damage skin to indicate their health.


[h2]Co-op Random Poison Bug Fixed:[/h2]
Reported by players for a long time, this bug would infect clients of co-op games seemingly at random. This was due to an error in accessing the player's persistent state, resulting in some clients essentially acquiring the medical state of another player.


This should now be fully fixed. Please let me know if there are any recurrences of this.

[h2]Fixed Cave Lighting Bug (clients of co-op games):[/h2]
Occasionally clients were not correctly transitioned into cave environments. This resulted in caves being lit incorrectly and also not hearing certain sounds, no ambient reverb, etc. This should now be fixed.

[h2]Vertical Half Walls:[/h2]

Finally players can craft vertical walls, rather than having to build two quarter walls.

[h2]Elevators Will Now Stop On Half Floors:[/h2]
Previously elevators would only stop on floors that were full wall heights from the ground floor. They will now stop at half wall heights also. This will make base designs less restrictive.


[h2]Water Shaders Updated:[/h2]
Previously the various water shaders for rivers and lakes had some very static panning layers, and would also not move at correct speeds for flowing rivers. I've adjusted the flowing speeds and added a distortion to better simulate a fluid motion. It's a subtle change, but one I notice a lot.

[h2]Fixed Glass Roof Alignment:[/h2]
Glass roof pieces have always been slightly misaligned in their height. This is now fixed:


[h2]Migrating Birds Updated:[/h2]
I've toned down the number of birds, and added more variation to wing flapping animations.

[h2]Increased Size of Wild Cotton Plants:[/h2]
This should make them slightly more visible during the fall.


[h2]Dedicated Servers?[/h2]
I know many players have been requesting ded-server support for a long time. I actually spent a fair amount of time on this during this sprint, but some more work is needed. I don't have a fixed timeline yet, but the plan is to make the files freely available through Steam CMD, and allow players to host using whatever service or hardware they please. I'll have more info on this in the near future.

[h2]Other Notable Changes:[/h2]

• Fixed shadow bug that would result in floating hair shadow for female characters.
  
• Increased the range of weapon flashlights.
  
• Added lighting for white water particles (including when fishing). Previously would be fully lit at night.
  
• Fixed small gaps in the walls of the old cave system.
  
• Increased resolution of loading screen.
  
• Fixed "hunters moving into the world" message showing when building a second base.
  
• Added smooth transition between outdoor and cave environmental lighting (new cave entrance only).
  
• Fixed max health/stamina resetting on death. This was supposed to be included in Alpha 52, but didn't make it in. Decrease amounts are now 2/4/6 across easy/normal/hardcore respectively.
  
• Fixed bugged metal door model when in an open state.
  
• Fixed bug that was causing up to 4 hunter bases spawning to surround a single player base.
  
• Fixed exploit that allowed players to save/reload while low on breath to reset breath timer while diving without diving gear.
  
• Fixed visual bug where held weapon (and arms) would show while in map view.
  
• Increased visibility underwater.
  
• Fixed various underwater impact sounds playing without underwater fx.
  

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)

The Alpha 52 update is primarily focused on adding substantial performance improvements, however there are also many new gameplay features and mechanics that I’ll detail first, as many may be less interested in the technical breakdown.

[h2]Lathe:[/h2]The Lathe is a new high-tier item that can be crafted at the BCU. It can be viewed as a high tier workbench and allows crafting of advanced mechanical base items.

It is fully animated, with the tailstock sliding back and forth and physic-based sparks flying as each new item is crafted.

There are currently 4 items the Lathe will craft (continue reading for details):


[h2]Elevators:[/h2]Elevators can now be crafted at the Lathe and used to move between floors of your base at fast speeds.

The are intended as late game items and are pricey to craft. The take up the same space as a half ceiling.

There is a panel on the elevator platform allowing the players to choose which direction to move. The elevator will stop on any floor where there is a walkable floor to alight from, so if there is no floor to move to, it will not move. It draws a small amount of power from the base each time it's used.
[h2]Elevator tracks:[/h2]Elevator platforms must be attached to elevator tracks.

Tracks will only snap onto foundations and full ceilings (wooden or metal), and can then be stacked on top of one another.
[h2]Elevators switches:[/h2]Elevator switches allow players to request the elevator platform to their corresponding floor.

They can be placed on any wall, however must be close to an elevator track.
You can view a video of the elevator in action in this video:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]Animal traps:[/h2]Animal traps can now be crafted from the player default crafting menu, and allow players to procure small game meat without having to actively hunt.

Traps can be baited with a range of items (which show while accessing). Some item types require more than others to "bait" the trap. A checkbox indicates when the trap is baited.

Placing many traps in close proximity will reduce the chances of luring an animal. Also spending time nearby the traps will deter animals, so best to leave them and check back in intervals. Traps will slowly deteriorate over time (however can be repaired).
[h2]Fish traps:[/h2]Also crafted from the default player crafting menu, fish traps allow players to catch small fish without needing to use a fishing rod

They can currently be baited with tree grubs and rotten meat. One fish trap can catch up to 2 small fish, however when one fish is already in the trap, the chances of the second are reduced.

Similar to the small animal traps, overcrowding an area with fish traps will reduce the chances of catching fish, so try to spread them out. They will also slowly deteriorate over time.
[h2]In-game Map![/h2]A heavily requested feature from players, there is now an in-game map that can be brought up at any time (the keybinding can also be changed in the control settings). I've implemented a shroud/fog-of-war, whereby the shroud will slowly uncover as the player explores the map. This style of map was largely influenced by the original Command & Conquer strategy series that I grew up playing. Holding the right-mouse button allows the view to be moved around.

A blue icon will show for the local player, and co-op players that share a base will show as white icons (only after they are added to the player list in the BCU). The in-game map has been on the roadmap for a long time, and it's functionality and purpose will continue to evolve to support upcoming features in the future.

[h2]Inventory HUD overhaul:[/h2]
I've overhauled the crafting menus, scrapping the previous text list and implementing a grid view (allowing many more items to be displayed at once). Text will still show when mousing over items. I've also done away with the radio checkboxes on the craft window, which previously allowed switching between variants of an item (full wall, half wall, etc), and instead simply display all items in the grid view.

I've also added drop-shadows to all item images, menu buttons, etc, so HUD elements pop more off the screen for a cleaner aesthetic. I think this looks a lot nicer, while also being more functional.
[h2]Rug:[/h2]Purely a cosmetic item at this point, rugs will give bases a better sense of comfort against all the hard wood/metal/glass surfaces (and I think look pretty cool too).

It will also soften footsteps for better immersion when spending time in your base. I plan to add more decorative items in the future.

[h2]BCU Range Extender:[/h2]BCU's can no longer be placed within range of one another. Using multiple BCU's as a means to extend the build radius of a base was always a placeholder.

The BCU Range Extender can be crafted at the BCU and used to extend the range at which powered (and other specific) items can be placed within your base. Note: They currently cannot be moved once placed.

[h2]New graphics for sun:[/h2]I've been meaning to make improvements to the sunsets/rises for a long time, as I've always found the sun rendering to look rather flat. The new rendering looks much nicer (imo), using parallax flares to give a sense of depth to the effect.

[h2]Largemouth Bass:[/h2]There is now a new large fish that can be caught by rod-fishing. The Largemouth Bass currently produces double the resources than a Salmon. However these are not yet unique items, so the yield is somewhat placeholder at this point until a later update.


[h2]Major Performance Overhaul:[/h2]Please skip ahead unless interested in the technical details. Please note that this is where the majority of effort was invested during this update cycle. I treated it as two separate projects; base rendering (built structures) and world rendering:

[h3]Base (built structures) rendering performance:[/h3] I've always been aware that building very large bases had a noticeable impact on performance. This hampered gameplay, especially for players with modest hardware, so I've always been planning to tackle this.

Below is a performance test, comparing the Alpha 51 update to Alpha 52, rendering an excessive number of buildables in a single scene and showcasing a massive boost to performance:

The largest performance hit was due to every building piece being individually drawn each frame, leading to large volumes of draw calls and bottlenecking the rendering pipeline. The new system renders only a single mesh per building piece and creates multiple instances from these single meshes to render the visible scene.

When building pieces want to display their own individual visuals (such as damage skins), they seamlessly swap-out between the shared instanced mesh and their own individual mesh (so no compromise in terms of dynamic visuals).

Animated base items: For the majority of base items that animate (such as doors, windows, etc) I use skeletal meshes to play the various animations. These meshes have a much higher performance cost due to their vertices being considered for motion/morphing every frame.

I've added separate static meshes for all of these items (that can also use the same instancing system previously mentioned), and will now switch over to use the static mesh whenever not in motion. This change will give a big performance boost for players that have large bases with lots of windows and doors.

[h3]World rendering performance:[/h3]Foliage: Grass, bushes, flowers, shrubs, etc all use the engine foliage system, which batches nearby foliage into clusters and renders them in/out based on proximity to the player.

Due to a bug in the foliage system, clusters that were outside the player proximity were still causing draw-calls, even when they were not being visibly rendered (especially taxing when viewing large open vistas). I've now added a system that will cull these distant clusters, greatly reducing the volume of excessive draw calls.

Trees: I use speedtrees to render the variety of trees in the world. Due to their implementation, they cannot be instanced, so eat up a lot of performance when many are in view (even when they are using their low-poly LOD models).

Because of this, I've created new low-poly meshes for all trees, and a new manager that swaps-out distant trees to use these new models. The new models utilize the foliage system, meaning they can be instanced and are as cheap to render as grass.

[h2]Improved shadow falloff[/h2]Previously shadow falloff would show noticeable banding at sharp angles from a light source (especially on flat walls etc). I've made some changes to reduce this artifacting:


[h2]Smoother butcher camera transitions:[/h2]Previously there was animation hitching when entering and leaving the butchering camera anim. This is now been smoothed out and I think feels much nicer.


[h2]High FPS native support:[/h2]You can now configure the max frame-rate in the in-game graphics menu. So if you have high refresh (or adaptive sync) monitor, I highly recommend increasing this setting.


[h2]New Languages (Japanese and Korean):[/h2]This brings the total supported languages to 20.

[h2]Other notable changes:[/h2]

• Fixed migrating bird not showing for clients of co-op games.
  
• Move the hammer to the default player crafting menu (previously crafted in BCU).
  
• The hammer now takes low usage damage over time.
  
• Fixed bug that could cause hardcore profiles to be reset to normal (and on rare occasions being lost).
  
• Fixed bug that could cause moose and deer to despawn during a hunt (or attacking players and hunters).
  
• Fixed issue whereby cooked or burnt meat could switch to raw while shift-clicking singles from a stack.
  
• Fixed bug where a URL in a hosting players Steam name would prevent the co-op profile from launching.
  
• Reduced the default master volume.
  
• Fixed bug that was resetting max health and stamina progression on death. Now death will result in a reduction of 2/4/6 across easy/normal/hardcore respectively.
  
• Fixed long-standing issue whereby inventory items could lag behind the mouse pointer when dragging quickly.
  
• Fixed underwater lighting caustics effects not showing for clients of co-op games.
  
• Fixed performance-hogging AI pathing bug, which could occur in hunter bases. This was a small fix, but was causing some big performance drops on large co-op servers. Thanks to the players who sent me their save files that allowed me to isolate this issue!
  
• BCU Cracker recipe has been moved to the Lathe.
  
• Added gentle flicker to lighting from campfires, woodburners and molotov fires.
  
• Fixed rare glitch that could cause the player to die when crouching while entering shallow water.
  
• Prevented player from using sprinting stamina while swimming. This will also stop the player from sprinting when running into water.
  
• Fixed occasional random weapon reloading sounds for clients of co-op games while nearby other players.
  
• Fixed exploit allowing hunter storage crates to be accessed through doors.
  

Thanks for everyone's patience while I worked though this one, and to all that helped test the build prior to release. The large focus on performance and scaling in this update lays foundations for many future plans, so please stay tuned as things continue to move forward.

We're all going through some tough times right now with everything that's going on in the world. I hope everyone's staying as safe as possible and taking care of those around them.

All the best,
ColdGames

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)

The Alpha 51 update brings a large expansion to the southern region of the world map.

South of the existing maple forest now opens-up into new meadows, forests, rocky mountainous terrain, rivers, waterfalls and lakes.

A new mountain valley cuts down between the two southern peaks, offering plenty of new mid-altitude terrain (and cougar hunting grounds).

Down at lower altitude, a vast lake opens up stretches of beaches and deep water (now the largest body of water on the map).

A new silver birch forest-type runs along the edges of much of the southern beach-front. This forest is dense with foliage and high saturated colors.

Other new tree types, foliage and rock formations have been added, to give a distinct visual difference to the new zones.

[h2]Cave Access?[/h2]The largest of the new lakes currently doesn't give access to any underwater cave systems. This is planned for the future. So (for the time being) players setting up bases in the new region will need to hike to the northern lake to mine crystal from the existing cave system.

Eventually I plan to interconnect the cave systems, such that players can traverse the map underground.

All of the new areas and assets have been hooked-up to the seasonal system introduced in Alpha 50 (including several foliage types I missed in the previous update).

[h2]Hunter Pathing Update:[/h2]The new large rock formations introduced problems for hunters pathing across the map, often leading to them getting trapped or lost. I've expanded on their pathing logic to negotiate the new geometry (whilst keeping the load on the CPU to a minimum).

This was actually a sizeable overhaul. I've run a lot of simulations with the new pathing logic, however there will certainly be room for improvement, so I'll appreciate reports of any issues.

[h2]Seasonal Bird Migration:[/h2]As a visual indication of the changing seasons, flocks of migrating birds can now be seen flying north in the late fall, and south in the spring.

A video of this event can be seen here: https://youtu.be/eqPt1EP3OT4

[h2]Bear Maulings[/h2]Similar to cougar and moose; bears now have their own vicious mauling animation.

The aim of this is to increase immersion and add a greater sense of threat to bear encounters. Some players may not be keen on this type of animation, so I've added an option to disable it in the game options:

The animation can be seen here (WARNING: graphic content): https://youtu.be/ZBK5ml8GX8M

[h2]Configurable Year Duration[/h2]After seasons were introduced, many players reported that they'd like to control the duration of seasons. There is now an option when launching a profile to configure this. The days can be as low as a single day per month, or up to a full 365 days for a full year.

When browsing the server list, this setting can be viewed in the info popup when clicking on a server in the list.

[h2]Foliage Collision[/h2]Due to the scale of the map, I've avoided using map-wide collision for foliage (such as bushes), due to its heavy demand on the CPU. I'm testing a new system (in this update, only with new bushes) whereby collision dynamically toggles around a given radius of the local player at a minimal CPU cost.

This means bushes will audibly rustle when walking/running through them (as well being able to hear predators, prey and hunters moving through them nearby). I feel this adds more immersion. Once tested on this build, I'll expand to include many more foliage types.

[h2]Fixed Hunters Disengaging During Attacks:[/h2]There was a fairly common bug, whereby hunters would suddenly disengage during base attacks and start casually returning to their base. This is now fixed.

[h2]Fixed Predator AI Failing To Attack Base Items:[/h2]Occasionally predators would stop moving after attacking a base structure, leaving them easy to exploit. This has now been fixed.

[h2]Updated AI Pathing on Frozen Lakes:[/h2]Since seasons were introduced, hunters and animals had issues navigating paths across ice, sometimes resulting in them failing to move on the ice at all. This has now been addressed for all AI.

[h2]Increased Number Of Rogue Camps, Moose and Deer[/h2]With the additional map space, I've increased the number of roaming moose and deer, and added new logic for having them space out more evenly while roaming.

[h2]Fixed Bed Spawn Bug:[/h2]Previously, if a bed was obstructed by other base items, spawns would be consumed but players would be dropped elsewhere on the map. This is now fixed.


[h2]New Language Support: Simplified Chinese:[/h2]Thank you so much to Tony Lee for helping to provide this support.

[h2]Other Notable Changes:[/h2]

• Fixed bug/exploit where burnt meat could be converted back to raw when adding to the fire.
  
• Fixed item dropdown menus sometimes getting stuck on screen.
  
• Fixed occasional crash when accessing certain base items (such as solar panels, turbines, radiator, etc).
  
• Reduced Depth of Field Blur at Distance. I've dialed back the aggressive depth of field blurring over distance. This results in an overall cleaner presentation and image quality.
  
• Fixed edge-case bug where fortresses would sometime not reconstruct elsewhere after being destroyed.
  
• Fixed bug where dropped kits would sometimes float in the air after being killed by a predator.
  
• Fixed item pickup messages not showing the item name for clients of co-op games.
  
• Disabled gamepad input by default, preventing the issue of new players turning in circles when first playing the game. This can be re-enabled by setting AllowJoystickInput=1 in UDKEngine.ini.
  
• Fixed diving gear exploit, where it was possible to refill the oxygen meter by switching out the diving gear while underwater while no O2 tank was present.
  
• Reduced tree shake while chopping wood.
  
• Fixed issue whereby 9mm stacks would be removed on death if stacked on top of freely issued rounds.
  

As the game world is now becoming substantial in size, I have plans to add more reasons and mechanics to venture out far and make large journeys. Please stay tuned for further updates.

I hope everyone has a great holiday period. Thank you for all the continued support. Please share your thoughts/suggestions/critique on the various social channels below (I do read it all).

Cheers,
ColdGames

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 (LPCaiser)
Italian (Marcello Brancaccio, Federico D. Ravagli)
French (Anthony Charrault)
Czech (Dílna U mnicha)
Dutch (Damster_NL)
Russian (FRAME)
Turkish (Çagla Gurbet)
Swedish (Mattias Gustavsson)
Norwegian (Christer Djuvik, Svein Tore Stegemoen)
Romanian (VaeVictis)
Estonian (Streamerize)
Chinese (Tony Lee)

Alpha 50 finally brings seasons to the game. The world will now dynamically transition through all 4 seasons, affecting both the visual aesthetic and many gameplay mechanics.


Almost every type of foliage and tree has been hooked-up to a new system to handle smooth visual transitions through the various seasons.


In early spring, grass will start to grow and sprout an assortment of flowers across the various meadows, woodland and mountain slopes. Trees that have shed their leaves will regrow their canopies. Rivers and lakes will thaw as the daily temperatures rise.


During the summer months, as temperatures rise, the spring foliage recedes and much of the grass will go to seed.


As fall settles in and the heat subsides, the trees and foliage will transition to autumnal shades of reds, oranges and browns. Dead leaves will blow in the wind as the moose enter their rutting season.


Winter brings harsh cold temperatures, snow and blizzards. The rivers and lakes will freeze and many species of trees will become bare of leaves. Much of the grass will die or be buried by snow. The severity of the cold temperatures (and heat during summer) are adjusted for easy/normal/hardcore modes. This short video shows an example of a winter blizzard:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


Ground snow accumulation is based on snowfall, meaning as winter rolls in, it is the weather that will dictate the buildup of snow on the ground and rock formations.

Many of the tree canopies will change throughout the seasons. Below shows an image of the same forest scene across summer/autumn/winter.



Getting too cold will now slowly deplete protein levels, and while too hot will deplete hydration levels faster then usual.

A new “heat-tolerance” meter now shows in the player’s clothing profile. Different clothing items will affect this level. If the temperature rises above this level, the player will start losing hydration at a faster rate (and this will be indicated by a “HOT” status icon).

So carry extra fluids on hot summer days, or take a swim to cool-off.


Players can now craft radiators from the BCU craft menu.

Radiators kick-out more heat than campfires/woodburners (allowing for higher altitude base-building). They also have a much greater range, so can get better coverage through the base. Being within range of Radiator heat, gives a slight increase to health regeneration speed.

Radiators draw power from the base when active. While active, the heat elements will light up and emanate heat waves. Heat generated by radiators is affected by interior insulation properties (see below).


During the heat of the summer, bases can get very hot indoors. Air Conditioners (found in the BCU craft menu) can drop internal base temperatures by as much as -20°.

The fan blades animate and the cooling element will light up while the AC is running.



Up until now, heat from a fire was either on or off, regardless of proximity to the source. Now the influence of fires (also radiators and AC units) falls-off as players move further away. It’s percentage of influence is now displayed over the status icon.

In addition to this, both the radiator and AC unit are influenced by insulation in the base. If you have an open-air base, heat from the radiator will be diminished greatly over distance. However an enclosed base will make much better use of radiator heat and AC cooling. I’m not using true volumetrics for this calculation, so leaving a door open won’t deplete the base of heat, however standing by an open doorway will be cooler.


During the winter months, while the rivers and lakes are frozen, players will need to melt snow in their canteens to acquire water.

Simply stand on snow and the “fill with snow” action will show under the right-click menu. You can also use shift-click.


During mid-September through mid-October, moose will enter their rutting season. During this period they will become highly aggressive and instead of fleeing from players, will stand their ground and attack/chase.

When entering this period, all players will be notified. Also an additional icon will show next to the month reading in the top left for the duration. Players should be cautious of moose encounters during this time.

Through the depth of the winter, the rivers and lakes will freeze over. This means certain resources such as kelp, clams, sandstone, fish will be unavailable. Also crystal, as cave access will be restricted. However traversal across lakes will be easier, as you can simply run across the ice.

I’ve seen many players comment on ice-fishing, so this is something I’m considering adding.


During the winter months bears will go into hibernation and white wolves will emerge onto the landscape.

White wolves are more camouflaged to their environment, have higher hitpoints and yield more loot than standard wolves.


During fall months, cotton can be found and picked around the world. These plants will either give you one piece of cotton or a seed.



Previously water temperatures were the same as world temperatures (apart from the -4°C wetness penalty). Water temperature is now treated separately.

The winter jacket offers decent warmth during cold months. However, it offers little protection from physical damage. It also uses the chest armor clothing slot, so cannot be worn with combat vest or diving gear.

Sweaters provide better warmth than any of the existing shirts or hunter jacket, but offer less hit damage protection.



Firearms and bows now take usage damage. Once depleted of health, they will become unusable and require maintenance.

Broken weapons will show a red X over the item. Right-clicking will show a repair button, which shows the repair recipe as you hover over it. The recipe changes based on how damaged the weapon is.



Weapons with upgrades are more expensive to maintain. This increased cost is only applied for “increased damage” upgrades.


Clothing now also take damage and will need to be repaired.

Damage is caused to items depending on where the damage was inflicted. Once worn clothing is reduced to zero health, it will be moved into the main inventory. So if your inventory is full, be aware the clothing item will be dropped. There will be an audible “ripping” sound when a clothing item’s health reaches zero.


The individual stats (damage and warmth) for clothing items can now be viewed in the craft menu, and in the hover-tip for the item.


Hunters (including rogues) will now dress accordingly for the time of year.

During the winter months they will wear camoed variants of the winter jacket. This will substitute any combat armor, so generally they will be less protected from gunfire.

During fall and spring you will see them wearing sweaters and t-shirts.



I’ve updated the status icons to also now display text. Also have a back shadow, so easier to see over the background.

Heat packs provide a short period of warmth (regardless of world temperature). Currently set for 2 minutes. While active a heat icon will show.

In normal and hardcore modes, players spawned in the wilderness during winter will be issued a free heat pack as part of their starting loadout (to help with their journey back to base).


Difficult to display in the image below, but bears and wolves now have much denser hairs on their bodies.



I’ve finally added a simulation for the fishing line, connecting the rod to the float.

This feature actually rolled out (unmentioned) with the previous performance hotfix, but it deserves a mention as I feel it makes fishing way more immersive, seeing the line tighten and jerk around as fish fight as you reel them in (also was a lot of work :) ).


I’ve fixed the annoying alignment issue on item dropdown menus. Often then would render offscreen, requiring players to move the item to select actions (especially for toolbelt and clothing items).



Crates and dropped hunter kits have slightly less loot during the winter months.



Previously if a player exited the game while their dropped kit was yet to be collected, it would not save and be lost. This is now corrected and will still be there after reloading the profile.



Selecting a public server in the server browser will now display the current time of year that server is in, and also the current version of the game.

When attempting to join a server that is currently in winter, the player will be prompted by a warning advising so.


Currently each season lasts 6 in-game days, so around 14 hours of gameplayer per year. In the future I plan to allow players to configure this themselves.


It is possible to override the current month when launching a profile. Simply click the ‘Edit month’ next to the current month on the profile.

This should give players some freedom to exit from winter, or play any season of their choice without disrupting their progress.


Several players reported discomfort with the bright lightning flashes during storms, so I’ve added a toggle for these flashes in the in-game settings.


Previously there was a jarring visual cutoff where river water would transition into lakes. I’ve now fixed this so the transition is blended smoothly.



Huge thanks to Streamerize for localizing this version!

• Prevented infection from animal attacks during the first day on easy and normal modes (full day for easy and 0.6 of a day for normal).
  
• Increased speed at which fish are reeled in when fishing.
  
• Increased distance at which loot will not despawn near players.
  
• Added subtle metallic reflections to base armor-plating.
  
• Updated almost all foliage (grass, flowers, bushes) such that wind will only affect the upper part of the plants. Previously roots of grass would move in unison with the upper part.
  
• The menu map will now display in the same season as the most recently saved SP profile save.
  
• Fixed rare bug where wind turbines would not turn and generate power.
  
• New sound for picking up plants.
  
• Added one second delay preventing players from drinking from a canteen after filling with dirty water (to prevent accidental infection).
  
• Reduced volume of the double barrel shotgun fire sound.
  
• Slightly reduced the number of ore nodes in the world (and decreased their size).
  
• Prevented edge-case where fishing tackle would fall through the ground if cast on to the ground or river.
  
• Higher tier shirts and pants now require the lower tier as part of their crafting recipe.
  
• A random clothing item is no longer deleted on death (in normal mode).
  
• Starting M9 and low tier pants now start on low health.
  
• Added lower poly LOD’s for all clothing and human meshes.
  
• Fixed sudden lighting changes while transitioning into evening/morning during cloudy/rainy days.
  
• Fixed bug where the light from a fire wouldn’t move for clients of co-op games if the fire was moved.
  
• Alpha version number now displays at the top right of the hud.
  
• Prevented edge-case in hardcore mode where premium weapons parts could be excluded from hunter base destruction crates.
  

Please note that this is the first step in truly bringing seasons to life in the game, and lays a foundation for seasonal specific elements for future and existing features.

This one has been tricky to balance. In particular the temperatures, being influenced by time-of-day, time-of-year, weather, wetness, altitude, clothing, sheltered-amount, artificial heating/cooling. I imagine I will follow this release with some balancing hotfixes once players have given me feedback.

Thanks for everyone’s patience while I worked on this one. Please share your thoughts on the new changes and what you’d like to see in the game moving forward.

Cheers,
ColdGames

Discord invite: https://discord.gg/zyy4jQs
Twitter: @playSubsistence
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/playsubsistence/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkQZ7vkTiqetTC0_8umY2Pg

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 (LPCaiser)
Italian (Marcello Brancaccio, Federico D. Ravagli)
French (Anthony Charrault)
Czech (Dílna U mnicha)
Dutch (Damster_NL)
Russian (FRAME)
Turkish (Çagla Gurbet)
Swedish (Mattias Gustavsson)
Norwegian (Christer Djuvik, Svein Tore Stegemoen)
Romanian (VaeVictis)
Estonian (Streamerize)