Blade & Sorcery News

Hey guys, this beta is a bugfix and improvements patch, and hopefully the last step on the 8.4 journey. If there are no major issues with this beta update, it will likely become the 8.4 live version (likely along with one or two additional fixes). This beta update should not break any mods from beta 8.

Some of the more notable improvements in this small update include jumping to view direction while climbing, HP Reverb G2 support, more player customization options, randomized npcs hair, eye colours, etc, and slightly faster spell charging. There is also some changes to prevent the infamous dreaded "infinite loading" screen when you are missing a mod item or spell. This will not make out of date mods work of course, but it will allow the game to load at least.

LIV players - LIV is still broken but it is being worked on and KospY is communicating with the LIV devs. We are hoping it will be fixed for the live version.

As always, this is an opt-in WIP beta, so active testing is occurring and patience is appreciated!



- Added decal support on shields, arrows, quivers and bows
- Hair, eyes and skin color player customization is back
- NPC hair, eyes and skin color are now randomized
- Reduced default character height in character selection
- Adjusted depth for Bardiche and Northern Axe
- Increased spell charging speed a bit
- Adjusted fireball throw direction
- Increased arrow tip length
- Lowered velocity threshold for blade penetration on wood
- You can now jump while climbing in the direction you are looking
- Jumping while climbing will automatically ungrip hands
- Jumping while climbing is now possible with only one hand gripped (not only feet)
- Added a bit more force to jump while climbing
- Separated Wood pierce value from chainmail for axes in damageModifiers
- Improved buckler model and textures
- Improved Axe Depths to make axes easier to pierce, while making it harder to take out
- Updated LIV to 1.5.4
- Adjusted Containers for Berzerkers and Rogues to use LootTables rather than Items defining for weapons.



- Fixed infinite loading when loading a save with an item not existing (often happen with mods removal)
- Fixed gap and LOD issue on female mage armor
- Fixed clipping issues on female mage glove
- Fixed hand going through an object gripped with the other hand
- Fixed some skinning and clipping issues on bandit hand gloves
- Fixed some lightning issue on Citadel
- Fixed player height not saving correctly
- Fixed new carts missing audio
- Fixed thumbstick not working with HP Reverb G2
- Fixed texture issue on Rapier
- Fixed missing climbing grip sound
- Fixed missing penetration exit effect for fire imbued weapons
- Fixed handles not applying blood decal
- Fixed issue causing the character to disappear when changing hair
- Fixed an audio issue after player death
- Fixed missing grip sound while climbing
- Fixed missing jump sound
- Fixed missing fall damage sound
- Fixed hand going through objects after ungrabbing
- Fixed baron hat color
- Fixed axes not being able to penetrate wood
- Fixed some Out-of-bound access areas in Citadel



- Added disallowDespawn option for ItemSpawner and ContainerSpawner
- Added CreatureTableSpawner

Hello mates! 8.4 Beta 8 is now released, featuring the much anticipated, new and improved blood and wound decals, plus the return of the dying animations. The re-addition of dying animations is what contributed massively to the visceral and cinematic feel of combat in previous versions, versus the pure ragdoll experience as has been the case in U8 up to now. This means no more stabbing guys where they get pushed back; you can now properly skewer enemy again. Combined with some more big performance improvements, this should make the combat similar to the "U7 combat feel" that many players loved, but now with all the goodness of U8 additions, like armour and new models, etc.

With all the changes and additions, U8.4 has actually almost become it's own full update where it was supposed to be a small incremental update... ːeaglegagː But we think you guys are gonna love how the combat feels now. The end of the beta period is very near now and assuming everything looks good, this is looking like it will be the last beta and the 8.4 live version should be released soon. Then finally on to U9!

If you are unsure how to opt into the beta, instructions are here: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/629730/view/2957137317359486739

And as usual, it is a good practice to clear out your mods on new beta versions in case any break. If you find your game not loading, you can follow the help here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/629730/discussions/2/2450469119947281759/

• Added the new character and weapons decal system
  
• Added new pierce, blunt, slash and burn decals on characters
  
• Improved dying animations
  
• Added tone mapping post processing option
  
• Moved the wave spawner next to the table in arena
  
• Added and reworked some weapon collision sounds and effects
  
• Piercing stuff with a weapon imbued with fire will now emit a sound and generate smoke
  
• Ragdoll materials (flesh, leather, chainmail, plate) are now correctly detected for NPC environment damage
  
• Reduced Max Alive for most waves
  
• Player wounds are now visible
  
• Drinking health potion will now heal wounds visually
  
• Holstering a weapon will clean them after some time
  
• Reworked penetration system and damage calculation
  
• Added skewer detection, now piercing through a body will do a decal and effect on the other side
  
• Added self collision debug option (for fun, not recommended for normal play)
  
• Misc performance enhancements
  
• Piercing or slashing neck will now show a bleeding effect
  
• More weapon balancing
  

• Fixed NPC dying animations
  
• Fixed head shadow missing in first person view
  
• Fixed character locked in jump animation when game is paused
  
• Fixed wood penetration with bladed weapons
  
• Fixed ungrab causing the NPC to float sometimes
  
• Fixed issues in survival mode
  
• Fixed navmesh issue on stairs in Market
  
• Fixed blood effects on Ragdoll impacts when gore is disabled
  
• Fixed Dismember via TK still occurring when dismemberment was turned off
  
• Fixed gravity ring on NPCs being flipped the wrong rotation
  
• Fixed hands being seen through the rounded shield
  
• Fixed an issue causing weapons and projectiles to unpenetrate when the NPC play some animations
  
• Fixed minimum stabbing depth in arena sand
  
• Fixed Minor Navmesh issues on Arena, Market, Ruins and Canyon
  
• Fixed orientation issue when grabbing alive NPC
  
• Fixed NPC neck issues after beheading
  
• Fixed haptic causing performance issue on Oculus
  
• Updated Unity to 2019.4.19
  

• Reworked (again) collision system to make it easier to maintain and update.
  
• Removed materialDamage and materialEffect JSON. Materials is now directly handling effects and materialDamage is replaced by damageModifier JSON.
  
• Reworked penetration damage logic, added extra damage at specific depth and/or when piercing on the other side
  
• Reworked penetration dampening, added temporary modifiers to improve piercing for thrown weapons
  
• Added filters into effects JSON to help simplify the collision system
  
• Added audio playing delay option to EffectModuleAudio
  
• ColliderGroups with the same name will no longer override each other's ImbueGeneratedMesh
  
• Fixed Custom Holsters/Quivers making them crash the game
  
• (C# plugins) The struct "CollisionStruct" is replaced by a class "CollisionInstance"
  
• Reworked effects logic, added filters and imbue filters to effects to simplify collision management
  
• Blades and crystals physic material is no longer changed when imbued with a spell
  
• Reworked potion liquid logic. Potion liquids are now moddable (derive from the "Liquid" class and override "OnLiquidReception" method), then custom liquid can be set from the Item module JSON
  
• Removed creature DamageModifier and moved variables to Ragdoll.PartData
  
• Fixed zone events
  
• ItemPhysic and ItemSpell are now merged into ItemData. Old ItemPhysic json should be still compatible but ItemSpell will need to be redone (you will have to do an ItemData and add an ItemModuleSpell)
  

Hello folks! Another beta update with a variety of bugfixes fixes is here, included the much awaited return of full body tracking. Damage values have also been rebalanced to hopefully make weapons feel a bit nicer and especially make blunt strikes finally feel meatier; let us know how it is for you. And last but perhaps most importantly, Baron's Hat is now fixed, so we can all place down the pitchforks. ːsteammockingː

The beta is drawing to an end, with the only key missing piece now being decals. The new and improved decal system is almost complete and should roll out in the next beta, and if it is successful with no issues then it is likely that the B8 beta will become the full live version of 8.4, so the finish line is in sight!

[h3]Enhancements[/h3]

- Re-added full body tracking support
- Hips move back a bit more when looking down
- Hats are now using the new character system (Skinned meshes)
- Optimized performance on Market, Ruins and Canyon maps

[h3]Damager Rework[/h3]

- Blunt weapons feel more powerful
- Damage has been altered for all weapons
- Daggers can now dismember (though it is harder than usual)
- Dismemberment is a bit harder now
- Ragdolls no longer one-shot enemies
- Bladed weapons can now pierce wood easier
- Sand is now pierce-able in the arena
- Rapiers now use their own slash damager
- The player takes less damage from arrows and fireballs
- Shield bashing should feel better to use now

[h3]Fixes[/h3]

- Fixed NPC scaling issues after a long play time (hopefully)
- Fixed item swap grabbing issue
- Fixed Baron's hat
- Fixed lightning and gravity imbue VFX on characters
- Fixed dismembering using Gravity
- Fixed missing pointer is the character selection menu
- Fixed missing pointing hand pose when targeting UI
- Fixed NPC armor debug option
- Fixed handling issue on plates
- Fixed fists collision haptic
(This should include modded spells colliding with hands on cast)
- Fixed shaman staff not able to shoot fireball or do gravity slam
- Fixed deflected fireballs going through NPC

[h3]Modding[/h3]

- Removed quantity on ContainerData.Content
- Updated to latest version of addressable: 1.16.15

Hello folks! Just another small update to the beta; a few goodies but most importantly fixing some issues like the options not saving and also reducing the number of spawned enemy back down closer to original levels. Heads up, there may be more back and forwarding throughout this beta with regards to waves as tweaking based on feedback will occur.

If anyone is having trouble with loading screens when changing versions, be sure to check the pinned help topic in troubleshooting called "if you have infinite loading" because it will have the answer you need.

And remember, the 8.4 beta is opt in, which you can learn how to do here: https://steamcommunity.com/games/629730/announcements/detail/2957137317359486740 Otherwise you are still on version 8.3.

[h3]Enhancements[/h3]

• Added "Endless (Melee Only)" waves to Gladiators, Bandits and Knights
  
• New NPC type: Berserker: (Runs same pace as rogues, Attacks way more often, duel-wields axes, does not recoil when you parry, added to Melee, does not wear helmets)
  
• Removed "Daggers" from 1h LootTable
  
• Added more lift force to head during beheading

[h3]Fixes[/h3]

• Fixed some menu options not saving
  
• Fixed NPC not spawning with gender slider set to 100%
  
• Fixed non-melee NPCs spawning in Mixed Melee
  
• Fixed Battlemages spawning in Mixed Melee
  
• Max Alive has been reduced in most waves: (Wave 1 is unchanged, Wave 2 is 5 from 6, Wave 3 is 6 from 8, Endless is 6 from 8, Survive is 10 from 20, Stress Test is 50 from 100, Warzone is 8 from 7)
  
• Fixed Warzone waves to make it so you are not the prime target for both factions
  
• Made Warzone less randomised on faction spawns
  
• Removed Warzone CreatureTables
  
• Adjusted probability of all classes. You should now see more melee than archers and mages
  
• Battlemages: (No longer use Fireball and only utilise Lightning and Gravity at close range (Is currently bugged :( ), Move slower, Now utilize their own brain, Battlemage Gladiator set is now base mage set, Bandit Battlemage armor set has been reworked, Moved to "Ranged" class, Now appear in Wave 2)
  
• Rogues now move a bit faster
  
• Rogues are now in melee, meaning they spawn in the first waves, and now spawn in melee only waves
  
• Rogues attack a bit faster
  
• Mages should no longer use lightning halfway across the map
  
• Renamed Containers to be less confusing
  
• All Wave NPCs should now have hair and beards
  
• Difference between Melee and Ranged spawning has been altered
  
• Decreased overall number of enemies per wave. (this is testive, need overall figures, feedback requested)
  
• Fixed errors where "BucklerRound" was not found.
  
• Removed "Shield Rearm" from Shield enemies
  
• Minor wave changes
  
• Fixed neck deformation on ragdolls
  
• Fixed physics materials on Arena gates and Home head trophy
  
• Fixed a despawn zone in the back of Ruins

[h3]Modding[/h3]

• Added sliceSeparationForce and sliceVelocityMultiplier to creature json
  

Hello mates! Work progresses on the 8.4 live version as the Warpfrog team continue to fix all the bugs and missing elements following the complete character redo. If you have opted into the 8.4 beta you should get a little beta update on Steam and Oculus. If you have not opted into the 8.4 beta you should consider giving it a look as it majorly addresses and remedies all the optimization woes of the early U8 versions. Info on the 8.4 beta and how to opt in is here. Cheers!



[h3]Enhancements[/h3]
- Added 2 male and female hairs
- Added 2 beards
- Reworked candle particle fx
- Reworked all waves
- Improved ragdoll performance
- Added game mode support

[h3]Fixes[/h3]
- Fixed saves not updating from older version
- Fixed NPC hand and feet stretching after playing for a long time
- Fixed flag floating in the arena
- Fixed blood decals growing on ground
- Fixed flying objects not damaging player
- Fixed archers aiming feet instead of chest
- Fixed NPC neck stretching too much when grabbed
- Fixed missing Dane axe
- Fixed NPC sometime not equipping their weapons correctly on spawn
- Fixed mesh particle warning spamming the console
- Fixed player arms falling and stretching abnormally
- Fixed NPC / player collision avoidance
- Fixed weapons spawning at the center of the map
- Fixed debug options resetting between maps
- Fixed archer floating after being killed while aiming
- Fixed NPC wrist twisting weirdly when picked up after being sliced
- Fixed mesh duplication after slicing sequentially hand, lower arm and upper arm
- Fixed lots of missing physics materials
- Adjusted Navmesh in arena to prevent NPC getting stuck on the wave spawner
- Fixed navmesh that caused NPCs to get stuck on a rock in Canyon
- Fixed Water rendering over the waterfall effects in Canyon
- Fixed weird lighting of doors inside the sewers of Citadel
- Fixed hole in Citadel
- Fixed rope at the scaffolding in Citadel
- Fixed misc errors and warning
- Updated to Unity 2019.4.16

[h3]Modding[/h3]
- Added loadorder support
- Moved back velocityDamageCurve from material damage to damager JSON
- Added self damage multiplier on damagers JSON
- Reworked container, loot and creature table JSON
- Moved avoidance priority from brain to creature JSON