SCUM News

[h3]Salutations, SCUM community! Hope everyone is easing into the week nicely! Here's this week's dev update for your reading pleasure![/h3]



We understand that the past few weeks have been a bit dry in this section, as the team has been mostly focused on bug fixing. However, this week we have a lot more to share, and we can go into greater detail about what our programmers are doing. First off, work has continued on the much-anticipated quest system and the content related to it, as well as on the armed enemy NPCs that will make your survival on the prison island even more challenging!

Next, the team has (re)started work on the armband, as well as the turret you'll be able to place on your base! Remember that dead speedometer needle on the ATV? That's being taken care of too. The way small vegetation reacts to the wind is also being greatly improved, making the map feel even more realistic. And last, but certainly not least, the team has started to make improvements to the horde and encounter system!



Our level designers are still hard at work reworking and improving some of the POIs, such as the castle ruins, airport hangar, military hangar, and the prison. They’re also reworking the terrain for the B0 sector. Optimizations are being made to the weapons factory POI and the town of Samobor, along with updates to the environment and level design for the airport.



The hard surface team is also working on the aforementioned turret and speedometer for the ATV, as well as improving the skeletal mesh of the dropship. Rework has continued on the M1 Garand, along with something the community has been asking for and patiently waiting for... Behold, the all-mighty Cruiser!








The soft surface team has been busy reworking several items and conducting overall optimizations. Meanwhile, the animation wizards have been working on a multitude of improvements, such as better animations for the SCAR-L weapon and weapon malfunctions. Work has also continued on improved foliage animations, a new trailer for the game, and overall bug fixing.



The sound team has been busy with recording sessions. We’ve heard sounds of the guitar and the forest during both daytime and nighttime.



As we’ve said, it’s business as usual with these guys, though they might be testing something specific this week…



Our designers have been hammering away on the quest system. It’s their sole focus right now, and we can’t wait to share more on that topic soon!


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To wrap things up, we’ll answer some of the questions that were posted in the comment section of the previous post:

• Good eye on that one! Game development is like a box of chocolates—you never know what you're gonna get! Botched movie quote aside, other things that required the immediate attention of our programmers working on this system took priority, but we’ll get back on track with this rework as soon as possible.

• We wanted to create a different type of enemy that the player simply cannot defeat, making these abandoned bunkers especially challenging. I mean, how do you kill something that literally has phoenix tears coursing through its veins?! All in all, there are no plans to make him killable, but who knows what the future holds...

• We’re aware of the issue and will have it fixed sooner rather than later. The same goes for the water wells some of you have mentioned. We kindly ask for just a bit more of your patience.

• We do indeed want players to have greater freedom in using prefabs as bases. We just need a bit more time to get that up and running. In short—we want to make this happen, and we’ll get there! As for the second question, we understand the frustration that comes with these wipes. After 1.0, we’ll see if we can reduce them to at least a manageable minimum. We can’t say for sure that we’ll be done with them entirely, but we’ll do what we can.

• We don’t have any plans for additional language support at the moment, but we’ll see what can be done after 1.0.

See you next week!

Fratman

[h3] Summer is slowly coming to a close, but what isn't slowing down is the work on our game. Here's a fresh new dev blog for your reading pleasure! [/h3]



The vast majority of our programmers are still hammering away at all those bugs, with the exception of a few who are continuing their work on the armed NPCs.



Our level designers are sprucing up existing POIs and other parts of the map. Over the last week, the team has been optimizing the nuclear power plant, and they've continued their work on the castle ruins and walls. Work has also started on reworking the airport hangar, the military hangar, and the prison located in sector C2.



Our art team, busy as bees, is working on a wide variety of tasks — from visually reworking items such as the small toolbox, cooked food materials, and a variety of weapons, to creating a new mesh for vehicle lights. Foliage and other level optimizations are underway as well. All departments do what they can to ensure that the game runs as smoothly as possible!

The animators are also keeping themselves quite busy as well with new and improved animations for the quad and for sentries when they drop from the... well... dropship. Significant progress has also been made with the NPCs in the outposts and I heard through the grapevine that the new trailer is shaping up nicely!



The sound team is still working on ambient sounds and their implementation. They are being very secretive about it, but we'll find out what they're up to soon enough.



The dust has slowly been settling after the patch, and our QA/CM team is returning to business as usual: finding new bugs, testing new features, catching cheaters, and staying in contact with all of you.



Work has continued on the much-anticipated quest system, while the team has also been researching ways to improve the driving camera and rebalancing the formula for meat cutting.


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To wrap things up, we'll answer some of the questions that were posted in the comment section of the previous post:

• While we can't give a specific date for its return, we promise that all the vehicles already in the game will return by the time we hit version 1.0 — including the hydroplane.

• While that sounds great on paper, it's doubtful that the engine (and the game) would survive an additional enlargement of the map. It would be better to make the current map denser with additional POIs, buildings, or whatnot. However, all of that is reserved for future post-launch support of the game, which we fully intend to deliver. For now, as we've mentioned several times, our focus is on delivering the remaining features for version 1.0, along with overdue bug fixes, optimizations, system reworks, and more.

• I pick these questions from time to time to emphasize the point we've already made. We know it's a contentious matter that created a lot of frustration for a substantial subset of players. That is why we want to remind and reassure our players by saying that the puppets and their spawn rates will be further tweaked. Our programmers are working on it, but it may take some time to implement. We kindly ask for your patience on this matter.

• We're in the process of testing the fix for the well. We should have it ready for the next hotfix. Don't dehydrate on us!

• It's a neat idea that's definitely worth exploring. We acknowledge that our players really want to exact their revenge on the sharks (or at least have the means to defend themselves while swimming). It was definitely considered, but it would require a lot of work, which would distract us from more pressing matters. However, after version 1.0, who knows? :)

Have a great week everyone!

Fratman

[h3] Hey hey everyone, happy Monday. Let's take a break between hotfixes with a bit of an Dev update.[/h3]

This one will be a shorter one as most of the team is hammering away bugs and are not very talkative.





Programmers are bug fixing, bug fixing and more bug fixing. Our code wizards are at it to resolve issues you've been reporting to us.




Level design is back on the map rework. All of the previous work you've seen in these is now being tested and bug fixed to make sure once it is ready for release it is actually ready for release.


The art team on bug fixing as well but some other stuff also. Clothes are being reworked to reduce the level of clipping through layers and weapons are having their visuals updated as well.


Audio team is cooking up some new ambience sounds. They said they were recording something in the woods so who knows what that means.


QA/CM have been extremely busy since the update, collecting all of yours feedback and feeding it into dev machine. Our watch has not yet ended


The design team has been getting that feedback, and with the bugfixing, is also looking into any and all balancing issues to correct as well.

Unfortunately no Q&A this week, as most posts are the issue reports which we are working on. But do not worry it will be back!

See ya next week!

Beda

[h3] Hello everyone, happy Thursday! Did you know it is our 6th Early Access anniversary? Let's celebrate that with a hefty hotfix! [/h3]

• Fixed the issue where you could not use the cargo drop command more than once.
  
• Fixed the issue where squad mates messing with blueprints would sometimes crash the game.
  
• Fixed the issue where some animations would look broken.
  
• Fixed the issue where players could spawn outside of custom borders.
  
• Fixed the issue where Halloween emotes required Supporter pack #1.
  
• Fixed the issue where taking a chest in hands after leaving an event would cause a crash.
  
• Fixed the issue where players would get stuck inside vehicles after relogging.
  
• Fixed the issue where a random crash would occur after a vehicle got deleted.
  
• Fixed the issue where some weapon attachments would clip through weapons.
  
• Fixed the issue where some items would have wrong grips.
  
• Fixed the issue where dropships would sometimes cause a crash.
  
• Fixed another issue that caused a random server crash.
  
• Fixed the issues concerning new BB element blueprints such as incorrect meshes, incorrect blockage etc.
  
• Fixed the issue where in some cases liquid containers would not spill correctly.
  
• Fixed the issue with RIS light emission was not centered properly.
  
• Fixed the issue where AK15 would still have head bobbing on even if turned off in settings.
  
• Fixed the issue where explosion effects would not show unless the player was close to it.
  
• Fixed the issue where locked chests would sometimes disappear in Single Player.
  
• Fixed the issue where trader car lift would sometimes break down when other players are inside the trader zone.
  
• Fixed the issue where on some angles you could still see through censor filter.
  
• Fixed the issue where some items were not listed in parameters.json file.
  
• Fixed the issue where destroying small stairs would destroy other BB elements that were attached to it.
  
• Fixed the issue where players would sometimes get stuck after looting containers.
  
• Fixed the issue where some lockers did not have loot assigned to it.
  
• Fixed the issue where BB elements did not have a direction arrow showing.
  
• Fixed the issue where weapons would get stuck on full auto fire animation.
  

• Added new dropship sounds.
  
• Removed the craftable holsters from trader inventory.
  
• Improvised shotgun and handgun can now use more caliber types, making them more viable.
  
• Reduced the crafting materials needed for improvised shotgun and handgun.
  
• Implemented plough and spikes attachments for RIS vehicle.
  
• Removed outdated items from the spawning pool.
  

• Added new admin commands to admins:
  
  #ForceBBEncounterOnNearbyOwnedBase --> will spawn dropship + sentry if it's enabled in sentrys and if it meets requirements of basebuilding elements
  #ForceDropshipEncounter --> will spawn dropship on your location
  #DestroyEncountersAtPlayerLocation --> will end all encounters on your location
  #SpawnRazor --> spawns a razor
  #DestroyAllRazorsWithinRadius --> #DestroyAllRazorsWithinRadius 50, will destroy all razors within 50m range
  #Spawnitem2 --> better way of spawning items
  
  
• Added new server settings:
  
  [World] - In game under - WORLD in subcategory NPC
  
  scum.BaseBuildingEncounterTriggerChance=-1.000000
  Values for this setting are expressed in percentages.
  This setting determines the chance for the base buiding encounter to be triggered. Default value is 7.5, the min value is 0.1, and the max value is 100.
  
  scum.BaseBuildingEncounterTriggerTimeMultiplier=1.000000
  This setting determines the time needed for the base building encounter to be triggered. Default value is 1, min value is 0,1, max value is 100.
  Multiplier will affect 3 different timers that determine how long the player needs to be active in the base to trigger the event, how much time it passes between the checks after failed spawn for the BB encounter, and on cooldown after the encounter has been finished.
  If multiplier was set to 10, all values shown bellow would be multiplied by 10.
  The default value for player activity is 900 seconds (15 minutes), multiplied by 10 would end in 9000 seconds (150 minutes).
  The default value to spawn BB encounter after encounter failed to be spawned is between 1800 and 2700 seconds (30 - 45 minutes), multiplied by 10 would end in 18000 and 27000 seconds (300 - 450 minutes).
  The default value for cooldown after BB encounter was finished and before new check can be triggered is between 28800 - 36000 seconds (480 - 600 minutes), multiplied by 10 would end in 288000 - 360000 seconds (4,800 - 6000 minutes).
  
  scum.DropshipAbandonedBunkerEncounterTriggerChance=-1.000000
  Values for this setting are expressed in percentages.
  This setting determines the chance for the dropship encounter activation by abandoned bunker alarms. The default value is 50, the min value is 0.1, and the max value is 100.
  

[h3]Hope you've had a blast driving around in your favorite four-wheeled machine and setting up the dream home you'll never have IRL because of real estate prices. Regardless, there's no rest for the wicked—behold this week's dev update![/h3]

We'll kick things off with a reminder about the decennial BTS video featuring our dynamic marketing duo/Italian plumber impersonators Matija and Dario. It's an entertaining watch, so it doesn't hurt to check the video out.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

However, we know you're not here because our guys are contenders for Mr. Congeniality. Here's a quick look at what the team has been up to over the past week:






As is customary before each update release, our programmers were head over heels in bug fixing and preparing everything for a smooth update rollout. However, deep within the chambers of their office, new code for the NPC firearm system has been developed, along with overall performance improvements for the game.


Our level designers have also been heavily engaged with bug fixing—specifically with base building elements and painting tweaks. Work has also continued on the castle ruin walls that we've already mentioned. However, there is something else that we'd like to show you. Some of you may have had the fortune (or misfortune) of encountering the new dropship and its deadly weapons. Since this feature has been soft-launched, it's still prone to a variety of changes that also include visual improvements, such as WIP the one you can take a peek at below:




The art team was no slouch either—far from it, in fact! Our animators were busy making the latest dev blog video on the new update and were also fixing some of those quad bugs that cropped up.

At the same time, our hard surface team was creating new assets and textures for the rifles, while the soft surface team was also focused on bug fixing in their own segment.


If the dropship didn't sound good to you, then rest assured that our sound team will make it pop once they're done with it.


Our QA team has been tirelessly working to help the team make one of the smoothest patch releases since SCUM entered Early Access, so make sure to send inappropriate messages of support to Cheeseking and xKickx. They'll appreciate it greatly.


The design team has also been heavily engaged with bug fixing for this new patch. Nothing more to add here this week, but if you've watched our previous BTS video, you'll know what they'll continue working on ;)


And now for your Q&A

• If some foliage stands in their way to your base, you can be sure that some greenery will not stop them in their mission to forcefully redecorate your base.
  

• We're humbled by your craving for more updates, but we've just released a patch. The team needs a short breather, but rest assured, we'll get on it immediately.
  

• There are no explicit dates for those updates. We'll have more to share in that regard when the time's right.
  

• We want to emphasize that the dropships have been soft-launched—meaning that we will be actively gathering feedback on their functionality to ensure that their implementation is exclusively for the benefit and enjoyment of our players. As for the anti-cheat, that is also something the team will be working on in the coming period. We always have that in mind, and we recognize the necessity for a more robust and reactive anti-cheat system, so we'll definitely put a greater focus on it sometime down the line.
  

• The idea behind the dropships was to introduce an additional layer of challenge for players and teams that are the most dominant on the servers. They will not be attacking those who have just started to build their fledgling bases. The reasoning is that if you have enough time and resources to create concrete citadels on the map, you should have the means to defend yourself from the dropship and the mech that they... drop! In any case, as we've mentioned in the previous reply, we'll gather as much feedback as we can on this mechanic and make sure to balance everything out.
  

Yours truly,

Fratman