The Phoenix Patch
The Phoenix Patch
[h2]------Forest Fires------[/h2]
+Added new natural disaster: Forest Fires
-When fires start, they cannot deal damage or spread immediately, giving the player about 10 seconds to escape if one unluckily spawns underneath them
-Coming into contact with fires will apply a 'On Fire,' debuff for 10 seconds. While on fire, you take periodic damage. Entering water will put this debuff out.
-Being in close proximity to direct flames will cause very significant damage to the player.
-Being close to significant amounts of fire, smoke, and ash will apply a Stressful Scene debuff. This debuff applies a comfort loss and also serves as a warning for the next debuff
-Being close to very significant amounts of fire, smoke, and ash will apply a Suffocation debuff. This debuff starts your breath bar timer. Leaving the area will allow you to breathe
-From a distance, a forest fire will release large puffs of smoke, allowing players to easily see the presence of forest fires are on the map
+Forest Fire Spawning:
-Forest fires spawn from three sources
-Dry Lightning can frequently spawn very aggressive forest fires, but is a relatively rare weather type
-Thunderstorms frequently spawn smaller, localized forest fires. Rain often dampens their spread
-Long periods of time without rain will grant the chance for drought fires to spawn, which are very dangerous and spread rapidly
+Forest Fires can be started with the SpawnFire console command.
-Note that fires all use internal global counters that aggregate together, meaning if you want a 'fresh' fire, you need to wait for the old fire to totally stop releasing smoke before spawning another
-This command requires "Control Weather" permissions to use
+Forest Fires can burn down entire islands (or more) on Rival Shores, and have been seen to sometimes even burn down most of the mainland on Ancestral Plains.
-Very significant optimizations have been done regarding foliage eating, foliage respawning, and sending eaten foliage state data to joining clients to enable this kind of destruction to occur without issue
+Players selecting a creature for play will now receive a warning prompt if that creature spawns near a forest fire
+Spawn points near forest fires will not be selected for use
[h2]------Water Satiation and Water Dirtiness------[/h2]
+Added new mechanic - Water Satiation and Water Dirtiness
+Added new status condition, Water Satiation. To obtain Water Satiation, drink from fresh, new water sources
-Dirty water sources smell brown, and water sources now dirty when drunk from by many players
-Water Satiation improves growth rate
+Added new status condition, Water Poisoning. Drinking from dirty, brown smelling water grants water poisoning.
-Water Poisoning decays over time back to zero, and can be seen by having negative water satiation on the O menu
-Water Poisoning displays a debuff in the corner of the screen
-Drinking from fresh, clean water will remedy water poisoning. Eating comfort flowers or crystals will not.
-Water Poisoning applies a comfort drop that gets more severe as more poisoning is obtained
+Drinking from bodies of water will dirty them. Bigger creatures dirty water more rapidly.
+Water gradually cleans itself over time. It rapidly cleanses during intense rain
-Drinking from water that is both clean and new and exciting will provide the most water satiation. New and exciting, somewhat dirty water and somewhat boring, clean water provide satiation as well
-Sources you are bored of that are also dirty will provide negative water satiation, which is considered water poisoning when it goes negative
-This should ensure newer players or roaming players who stumble across dirty water sources are not punished for something beyond their control
-Dirty water sources now smell brown, rather than blue, and looks muddy
-Water can now be smelt and will prompt the player about how clean it is. This same prompt is now displayed when you begin drinking from a water source
-Water Satiation behaves exactly as Food Satiation does, and is removed on the water tick in place of your water bar.
-You can drink from water bodies that provide you water satiation until your water satiation is full, even if full on water
+Permanent water bodies such as rivers never can provide water satiation, but they also never can get dirty
+Orys can now find cucumbers in their burrows, which give +1.5 water satiation when eaten
+Tough Stomach reduces the amount of water poisoning received, but does not improve water satiation gain
+Water Satiation can never go above 50
+Water Poisoning is shown as negative Water Satiation on the stats screen
+Adjusted water body size stats on Rival Shores and Ancestral Plains to better balance them for water satiation and dirtiness
+Added new Mobility Trial, Water Satiation, which behaves very similarly to the Food Satiation Trial. Krono, Mosa, and Elasmo do not have this Trial.
+Water source boringness / excitingness no longer resets when the player logs out. It takes 45 minutes for a water source to once again be new and exciting
[h2]------Added Skin Mutations------[/h2]
+While mating, players may now encounter various mutations
Currently mutations are the following:
-Albino (This also has a chance to happen on just a couple skin parts and not all of them)
-Melanistic (This also has a chance to happen on just a couple skin parts and not all of them)
-Wildcard color mutation - can happen at any time on any layer
-Color Mutation - can happen at any time on any layer, drifts the color randomly around the hue ring (cannot exceed 1% of hue drift)
-Bioluminescent Mutation - This one is rare. A random skin layer becomes bioluminescent. This will affect stripes and similar patterns. This mutation has the same chance of happening on any skin.
[h2]------Upgraded Sky Sphere and Ocean------[/h2]
+The new Sky Sphere has volumetric clouds and cloud shadows
+Warning: These are expensive. They can, however, be disabled via the Effects Quality graphical options.
-EQ low = no water caustics, no cloud shadows, 2D clouds
-EQ med = water caustics, cloud shadows, 2D clouds
-EQ high = water caustics, cloud shadows, volumetric clouds, exponential height fog
-EQ ultra = water caustics, cloud shadows, volumetric clouds viewable from above (performance), volumetric fog
-UQ cinematic = water caustics, cloud shadows, volumetric clouds viewable from above (quality), volumetric fog
+Enabled denser night fog on all playable maps
+The new Ocean has rolling, less chaotic waves
-It's also less prone to running up against the shore or poking through the map at further view distances
+Weather sound effects such as wind sounds, thunder sounds, and visual effects such as rain, fog, and lightning have been improved
+The weather now rolls between Sunny, Partly Cloudy, and Cloudy for the intervals that span between weather events such as Cloudy (now named Overcast), Foggy, Rain, and Dry Lightning
-There is a 50% chance of Sunny (little to no cloud cover), a 30% chance of partly cloudy (the 'default' cloud cover UDS had on the previous patch cook), and a 20% chance of cloudy (heavier but still partly-cloudy cloud cover)
+Added a Type argument to the setweather command. Accepts the name of the enum weather event types:
-Sunny, PartlyCloudy, Cloudy, Overcast, Rain, Fog, DryLightning (not case sensitive)
[h2]------Fish------[/h2]
+Updated the 'Gamecube Fish' to use a nicer, Chinlea fish model
+Fish can now be picked up by double tapping and holding down the use key while in close proximity to the fish.
-Only piscivores (Ichthy, Tropeo, Ptera, and Elasmo) can pick up fish
-Fish behave as any other held "foliage" object, and can be dropped, eaten, or picked up again
-Herbivores cannot eat fish, even if dropped
-The Stoic talent reduces how much Weight fish apply when picked up
+You can now eat fish while darting
[h2]------New Player Requests UI------[/h2]
+Updated all in-game requests to use a new, significantly nicer looking UI
-This includes group join requests, group invites, nesting requests, mating requests, and kicking from groups
+Added support for group votes on several request types
-This includes group votes to both allow players to join groups and group votes to kick players from groups
-To join a nest, if either parent rejects the request to join the nest, the player cannot join
+Added support for multiple requests to be outgoing at once, including group invites, mating invites, etc
+Several in-game prompts should now use the new requests widget system instead of the older one
-This includes prompts such as "You have received XX eggs!" and other similar typed prompts
[h2]------New Playerlist UI------[/h2]
+Added new UI to replace the old player list UI (tab menu)
+Added tab to the player list that displys group members only
+Moved the Group Finder to the player list, under its own tab. It is no longer on the escape menu.
+On the Group tab, one can now see if somebody is your parent, mate, or offspring
+Mousing over steam avatars on the player list now makes them show in maximum size (184x184)
[h2]------General New Stuff------[/h2]
+Added Baby and fat morph targets to Velociraptor
+Added New Rex Skin: Mottled by Tserra
+Added New Tropeo Skin: Spotted by Tserra & Natahi4
+Imported and set up new Tyrannosaurus sounds for vocal calls, bites, eat, drink, and sit/sleep transition animations
+Added Wildfire ichthy skin
+Added new language support: Bulgarian
+All Phoenix Tropeognathus event participants should have their shimmer skin rewarded.
-Selecting this skin is safe. It won't show up on public branch yet, but it won't cause problems if you use it on the public test.
+Added totally new Main Menu
[h2]------Growth Tick Changes------[/h2]
+Balance (public): Max growth speed from comfort is now obtained at 67 comfort, to not punish players who may be further from their group and not receiving very strong "Near Friends" comfort buffs
+Balance (public): Growth ticks are now determined by Food, Water, Comfort, and Water Satiation.
-To obtain growth ticks equal to pre-patch maxed out food, water, and comfort ticks, the average of these must be 89% full, giving some leeway if one stat isn't excellent
+The intent of the above changes are to make it so the best strategy for fast growth is no longer idling in large groups. Players who are actively exploring the map and obtaining water sat should now grow more quickly than players who are idle
[h2]------Server Badges------[/h2]
+Implemented the Community badges, currently located on the server row for each server that has a badge
-Servers that have been in long-term, good standing in our community will have badges that reflect as such
-These may not be added to all appropriate servers yet for the public test session.
[h2]------Scent Hint Prompts------[/h2]
+Added scent hint prompts to several in-game objects that the player can interact with
-While using scent, carcasses will tell you how fresh the carcass is and will inform you whether or not it provides satiation
-Bodies of drinkable water will tell you how clean the water source is
-Burrow scents now inform you that the burrow was recently in use
-Eggs now show whether or not they are yours, and also inform you of the species of the egg if you have Egg Thief
-Several interactable foliage objects such as comfort flowers now state what they do
-Scent clouds from other creatures now tell you what species they belong to
-Fat plants now inform you that they are delicious and should be eaten, as a herbivore
-This functionality can be disabled through Gameplay Options, under Preferred Interaction Prompt Mode
+You can now smell your own eggs without requiring the Egg Thief talent
[h2]------Quality of Life Changes------[/h2]
+Added the lens flare quality setting
+Added gamma correction setting in the graphics settings
+Skins now have a HEX display that can be used to get and set color values individually
+Toned down the teeth emissive significantly on Rex
+Adjusted Tyrannosaurus rex's head look angles while stationary, walking, and sprinting
+Adjusted Tyrannosaurus rex's pupils so they better make eye contact with the viewer
+The Unstuck button now starts a 600 second timer that teleports the player to a random, appropriate spawn point while they wait on the escape menu
+Added tooltip to Devastating Ambush's status condition
+Score on the player list now shows in thousands (K) or in millions (M), rather than showing the absolute number
+Game will now prompt the player if they happen to try to spawn a saved creature in an area that is potentially dangerous.
-Currently, situations checked are:
-Underwater as terrestrial
-beached as swimmer
+Added status condition indicator icons that show whether or not you're in Tunneling or Attack stance as an ory
+Reduced Tyrannosaurus' sit and drink sounds down by 30%
+Ocean caustics should no longer slide along the seafloor while far away from the map origin
[h2]------Administrator------[/h2]
+Added new console command, MoveToRandomSpawnPoint, which allows moving a player to random, appropriate spawn
-It requires teleport admin permissions to use
+All admin commands should now prompt the client if they lack permissions to use the command rather than failing silently
+The admin command toggleplayernametags now requires UseObserver permissions
+Added new console command, DisbandAllGroups. Disbands all groups for all online players.
+Added a new console argument, bForceLongStorm, to forcestorm. When true, it's much more likely to generate a lengthy, intense weather event
+Added new server config variable, bDisableLocalChat, which allows servers to disable the blue, /l local chat
+Viewing of the server manager now requires admin permissions for CheckServerData or ModifyServerData. Deleting of creatures in the server manager requires ModifyServerDataPermission
+Added a new command: Reskin which allows an administrator to let a player replace or adjust their skin if needed.
+The admin observer camera can now use the megalosaurus ability
+The admin command 'ForceStorm' now has an input argument. It accepts overcast, fog, rain, or drylightning. If not provided, it defaults to rain
+Added a new console command, SpawnPlant, which spawns a glowing herbivore plant. It behaves similarly to SpawnCarcass
+The SetGender console command now has a player name / ID input argument, and no longer dirties the creature when used
-If the player name / ID argument is left empty, it will default to being used on oneself
[h2]------Optimizations------[/h2]
+Significantly reduced the count and size of eaten foliage state packets the client receives when joining a server
-While loading eaten foliage state data, a throbber now appears on the screen
+Reworked hitbox code to lighten server loading
+Removed several UE4-native replicated properties from character class - big source of server CPU usage
+Moved several BoB-specific replicated properties out of character class - big source of server CPU usage
+Optimization (public): Disabled unused Kinematic bone stuff. Was using 3% or so of total CPU
+Minor Optimization (public): Removed some old code that was running an unused springarm server-side (0.6% total CPU usage)
+Optimization (public): Fixed issue where eaten, woody foliage was causing un-necessary frame drops, especially when lots of woody foliage was eaten
+Misc Minor Server Optimizations
-Disabled pupil tracking serverside
-Carcasses no longer tick on the server
-Disabled fish controller ticking on the server
+Optimized sending of player location data such that it's drastically less expensive on the network
+Implemented a major skin network optimization
+The cumulative sum of these optimizations should result in rather significant server-side performance improvements. We encourage servers to experiment with increasing their player slot counts.
[h2]------General Mechanics Changes------[/h2]
+Carnivores can now eat the bones that spawn in ory burrows
+Overpopulation caps now check for how many players of that species are online rather than checking this number minus one
+Larger animals should now move more noticeably with the Ocean waves while at the surface
+Enabled the console commands 'stat gpu' and 'stat memory' to help diagnose performance and memory issues
+Terrestrial and flyer typed fresh spawns should no longer spawn underwater during floods
-A terrestrial spawn point above the maximum flood point has been added to all maps
+Ocean tides now have spring and neap tides
+The head look angle no longer goes lower while carrying objects if swimming
+Removed the KILLING BLOW! text from printing under all conditions.
+Increased growth speeds from 0.7 to 1.2 significantly
+Creatures dying above the Ocean's surface now spawn a carcass at the Ocean surface, rather than on the floor of the Ocean
+Creatures dying in the Ocean now drop a carcass where they died, rather than on the floor of the Ocean
+Adjusted head tracking so the head stays more level while sprinting
+Set up meshing detection on bite hits such that biting through walls, logs, or other obstructions is no longer possible
+Fov command is clamped to user settings
[h2]------Balance Changes------[/h2]
-Note, several bug fixes also will influence balance
+Carrying held objects while in flight now slows down your flight speed
+Scavenger no longer grants additional food from eggs
+Sprinting no longer consumes oxygen for aquatics
+Attacking no longer consumes oxygen for aquatics
+More food poisoning is now obtained for non-piscivores while eating fish
+Reduced the comfort bonuses received for having high friendship grades with other players
+The Crowded Group status condition now reduces growth rate by 15%
+Increased the comfort drop associated with being over the soft cap limit by 50%
+Semi-aquatics now get sitting-sized (2x) health regeneration ticks while swimming
+Increased the effectiveness of the Egg Thief talent by 25%
+All creatures will receive a talent reset in this patch
+Out of Element now increases damage dealt while it is storming
[h3]Acrocanthosaurus[/h3]
+Acro roar's damage reduction is no longer considered when applying thick hide or sharp teeth
[h3]Elasmosaurus[/h3]
+Increased the oxygen cost of using dart to 45, up from 30
+Increased Elasmosaurus' swim sprint speed to 1900, up from 1750
+Increased Elasmosaurus' swim walk speed up to 900, from 800
+Reduced stamina and ability resource costs of Elasmosaurus' dart by 20%
[h3]Kronosaurus[/h3]
+Reduced the ability cost of Kronosaurus' bite down to 12, from 15
+While aiming Lunge, Kronosaurus now orients towards the direction of your control input (camera + keys)
+Reduced Swift Flippered's influence on Krono's lunge control by 50%
+Kronosaurus can now charge its lunge 20% further
+Kronosaurus' weight for the purposes of grabbing or being grabbed has been increased by 50% (buffed)
[h3]Megalosaurus[/h3]
+Reduced Megalosaurus' base bite damage to 115, down from 135
[h3]Mosasaurus[/h3]
+Increased the oxygen cost of using dart to 45, up from 30
[h3]Oryctodromeus[/h3]
+Oryctodromeus now has Wing Tear in place of Out of Element
-Wing Tear increases damage dealt to flyers and also inflicts significant injury damage
[h3]Pachycephalosaurus[/h3]
+Replaced Pachy's Out of Element talent with Stoic
[h3]Parasaurolophus[/h3]
+Para no longer exits quadrupedal stance if it jumps
+Improved Para hatchling and juvenile speeds
+Reduced Para's stomp ability power cost to 28, down from 35
+Increased Para's stationary swim turn rate to 85, up from 70
+Increased Para's sprinting swim turn rate to 55, up from 45
[h3]Pteranodon[/h3]
+Increased Pteranodon's swim sprint speed to 775, up from 650
+Increased Pteranodon's swim walk speed to 380, up from 325
+Pteranodon can now dart. It cannot struggle.
+Pteranodon takes 15 stamina baseline to take off from land or from freefall, improved by the Quick Takeoff talent
+Reduced Pteranodon's injury damage by 33% under all scenarios
[h3]Saichania[/h3]
+Saichania's reflect no longer scales with its damage output beyond 1.0 growth
[h3]Tropeognathus[/h3]
+Adjusted Tropeo down bite angle
+Increased Tropeognathus' swim sprint speed to 800, up from 650
+Increased Tropeognathus' swim walk speed to 400, up from 325
+Tropeognathus can now dart. It cannot struggle.
+Tropeognathus takes 25 stamina baseline to take off from land or from freefall, improved by the Quick Takeoff talent
+Tropeognathus can no longer hit players who are behind them with Wing Beat while on the ground
[h3]Tyrannosaurus[/h3]
+Tyrannosaurus rex's down bite no longer goes into its chest and is better-aimed at the feet while stationary
+Devastating Ambush now consumes stamina while in use, but continues even while out of stamina
+Swapped the location of Intimidation and Sharp Teeth on the Tyrannosaurus rex talent tree
+Reduced Tyrannosaurus' swim sprint speed to 400, down from 600
+Reduced Tyrannosaurus' swim walk speed to 300, down from 350
+Reduced turn rate while using Devastating Ambushed by a further 25%
+Tyrannosaurus no longer receives double the increase in stamina from the Endurance talent
[h3]Velociraptor[/h3]
+Velociraptor now has Wing Tear in place of Out of Element
-Wing Tear increases damage dealt to flyers and also inflicts significant injury damage
+Velociraptor now has Acrobat in place of Tough Stomach
-Acrobat significantly reduces damage taken if hit while in the air (jumping, falling)
+Velociraptor now has Vigilance where Intimidation was, and has Arboreal where Vigilance was.
-Arboreal significantly increases climbing speed
[h2]------Bug Fixes------[/h2]
+Fixed: Trials no longer reset for parents if their offspring reaches adult age (0.7 growth) while they are offline
+Fixed: The Beachgoer talent now improves turn radius while on land
+Fixed: Tough Stomach now properly mitigates against the turn radius reduction incurred while overweight
+Fixed: If exiting a sprint and transitioning to walking, characters now properly use their walking turn rate stat
+Fixed: Bright underwater fog near dawn and dusk while underwater
+Fixed: Offspring Trials no longer receive an additional point until your child grows to 0.7
+Fixed: While offline or on a different creature, if your offspring grows beyond 0.7, you're now given an Offspring Trial point
+Fixed: Pressing the ability key while Devastating Ambush is in use no longer causes undesirable behavior
+Fixed: Water sources underground or in caves no longer release blue scent clouds through the landscape mesh
+Fixed: Pressing escape while on the dino select screen no longer deletes the spawned creature if you have zero saved creatures
+Fixed: Alt f4'ing no longer bypasses the logout timer if you've been standing still for 30 seconds
+Fixed: Using Megalo's ability no longer resets its bite timer
+Fixed: Eating carcasses with your internet disconnected no longer grants food
+Fixed: Eating fat plants with your internet disconnected no longer grants food
+Fixed: While picking up plants, they no longer occasionally duplicate
+Fixed: Picking up foliage while carrying too much no longer causes frame drops due to the 'You're carrying too much' widget drawing on top of itself
+Fixed: Tornados now pick up and throw plant debris
+Fixed: Pressing enter while on the main menu no longer brings up the chat window
+Fixed many map bugs on Rival Shores, Forest Island, and Ancestral Plains
+Fixed: Sai, Lurdu, Ory, and Pachy now properly blend their eating animation if eating and/or picking up foliage while moving
+Fixed: Ory's hands no longer go into its chest while looking up during the idle variant animation
+Fixed: It is no longer possible to heal players who have high levels of Thick Hide by dealing very small amounts of baseline damage
+Fixed: Pachy's charge damage, injury, and knockback now properly scale with their growth level
+Fixed: Several woody plants that showed up as un-eaten from a distance
+Fixed: The 'Press Use to Drink' prompt no longer displays if you are near freshwater bodies while in a burrow
+Fixed: Ory's Attack Stance no longer periodically resets to Digging Stance while in burrows
+Fixed: The state of the breath bar now saves and loads properly
+Fixed: The Score value visible during the Combat game mode should no longer overflow and turn negative
+Fixed: The Dry Lightning weather type now works properly
+Fixed: Changing the HUD to colorblind mode now properly updates the satiation color without requiring a respawn
+Fixed: Aquatic eggs left behind after the mother logs are no longer able to be damaged
+Fixed: Lightning can no longer strike the admin observer camera
+Fixed: After death, the escape menu button background no longer shows up as a white rectangle
+Fixed: Dart damage now scales with growth
+Fixed: The Apatosaurus no longer gains ability power when it opens the Character menu while grabbing another player
+Fixed: Apatosaurus no longer enters a state jam disallowing it to attack if it is grabbed while it is tail is whipping
+Fixed: Creatures dying in very deep water no longer fail to spawn a carcass
+Fixed: Latency-related bug that would sometimes allow two players to thrash a grabbed target at the same time
+Fixed: Holding jump or crouch while crouched no longer allows you to move more slowly to charge up Devastating Ambush while continuously moving
+Fixed: Error in skin database for acro and lowered texture quality of several elements such as spikes, claws and eyes to save memory
+Fixed: Devastating Ambush no longer charges while crouching at full speed as a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex
+Fixed: Devastating Ambush no longer charges while crouching at full speeds if walking diagonally
+Fixed: Friendship friendly fire reduction percentages in the message displayed when reaching new friendship tiers now display correctly
+Fixed: HUD no longer gets blurry on lower settings
+Fixed: Carcasses now spawn on the floor of deep Ocean water
+Fixed: Admins now bypass the logout timer
+Fixed: Net-relevant carcasses no longer release scent or have prompts
+Fixed: Certain palms had collision that would trap flyers
+Fixed: You can no longer dart while carrying group members if the group member is also grabbing another creature
Screenshots courtesy of the Beasts of Bermuda Testing Team.
+Updated Tyrannosaurus Rex to have a new model, new skins, and a new set of animations
