Beasts of Bermuda News

[h3]Deity Shrines[/h3]
+There are six total deity shrines on Forest Island, Rival Shores, and Ancestral Plains that players may visit for the purposes of pledging or sacrificing.
-These shrines come in three different types, representing the Mobility, Power, and Survival Deities
-There is one of each type under the Ocean, and one more of each type on land.
+There is a new Trial called Shrines Visited. This trial requires one to visit each shrine.
-Non-aquatics only need to visit the shrines that are on land, and aquatics only need to visit the shrines under the Ocean, but Lurdu and Ichthy must visit all six.
-You do not need to pledge to a shrine to successfully "visit" it.
+If killed while in the presence of a deity shrine, that death counts as a sacrifice to that deity.
+Players do not grow in the presence of a deity shrine.
+Creatures killed in the influence of deity shrines drop empty carcasses.

[h3]Pledging or Sacrificing to a Deity[/h3]
+Each deity shrine can be interacted with to give the player the option to either pledge or sacrifice themselves.
+If a creature that is not pledged or sacrificed dies, it is worth 75% of its previous value when used to resurrect a creature.
+If a creature is pledged to a deity, the Trials score associated with that deity is changed to equal the value of the second best Trials score.
-Creature point values are broken down and shown pre Trials category both on the save select screen and in the prompt shown when you pledge to a deity at a shrine
-These point values are based on a combination of how long the creature has been played, and how well the player has done on that creature's Trials
-If a creature has these point values: Power = 100, Mobility = 150, Survival = 125, a pledge to the Power deity shrine will bump the Power category up to 125. A pledge to the Mobility or Survival deity will not increase any individual Trials category unless the player earns enough Power Trials score to surpass one of these other two
-This allows players to avoid or neglect a specific Trial or collection of Trials and focus on the other two if they wish to, for example, ignore the hunting / power Trials
+If a creature sacrifices themselves at a shrine to a specific deity, the corresponding point value in that Trials category is instead set to the maximum of the three Trials categories.
-In the example above, this means sacrificing to the Power deity, which is done by visiting the Power deity shrine on the map, will result in their Power score being set to 150
+You can change your pledge at any time by visiting the appropriate deity shrine. The previous pledge is overwritten by the new pledge.

[h3]Resurrecting Dead Creatures[/h3]
+Dead creatures can be resurrected by a new, in-game UI which can be found on the save selection screen
+When selecting a dead creature, the option to resurrect that creature will now be present
+While resurrecting a creature, the player is given the option to sacrifice dead or living creatures from their select screen to meet the cost of a resurrection
+If the cost of resurrection is not met, the value of the sacrificed creatures will instead be subtracted from the target's resurrection cost
-This allows players to chip away at the cost of resurrection for a large creature that may be too expensive to resurrect at the time
+The amount of points a creature gives in order to revive another creature is not equal to its own cost to be revived.
-Point values are always broken down into three categories: Power, Mobility, and Survival
-The cost to resurrect a creature is based on this formula:
If Growth > 1.1, Cost = 30 * (Growth / 1.1) ^ 5
If Growth -The point value of a creature when used for meeting a resurrection cost is based on this formula:
PointValue = NumMinutesPlayed * TrialCategoryScore, where TrialCategoryScore ranges from 0 to 1.0 based on the average scores of the Trials in that category
-If dead and neither sacrificed nor pledged, this PointValue is 75% of what it would be from the calculation above
+When resurrected, creatures also receive a loss of some growth
-This growth penalty is very small for smaller growths, but climbs for large growths
-Here are some examples
-For a 1.0 creature, this means it will resurrect as a 0.8625 growth creature at the cost of 25 Trials points
-For a 1.5 creature, this means it will resurrect as a 1.2375 growth creature at the cost of 141 Trials points
-For a 2.0 creature, this means it will resurrect as a 1.6125 growth creature at the cost of 596 Trials points
-For a 2.5 creature, this means it will resurrect as a 1.9875 growth creature at the cost of 1819 Trials points
-For a 3.0 creature, this means it will resurrect as a 2.3625 growth creature at the cost of 4527 Trials points
-If a player resurrects with too many talent points spent for their reduced growth, their talent bonuses will not be active until they remove some talents of their choice. This is done by opening the Talents screen and clicking on talents


[h2]New Parasaurolophus[/h2]
+The new parasaurolophus model, set of sounds, and accompanying animations have been added to the game to replace the older para
+There are currently five skins associated with the new para. Players who log in from older para saves will be given a new skin and will also be allowed to customize or change it once by visiting the character menu and hitting Dino Customization
-Added Darkfoot Para by TeaTimeJess & Natahi4
-Added Savannah Para by Twilightwolf and Natahi4
-Added Default Para by Twilightwolf and Callie
-Added Bison Para by Twilightwolf & Natahi4
-Added Pharaoh Para by TeaTimeJess & TripTrap
+Para now has a gender-specific morph on its model. This morph starts showing up as you grow larger and does not show in the juvenile stage
-Players logging onto a para saved from the public branch will be immediately prompted to change gender. You only get to do this once, so choose wisely

[h2]New Character Stats UI[/h2]
+The 'O menu' has been redone
-Note that food and water satiation now only show up when they are non-zero, and that injury and bleed damage show up on the status condition icons


[h2]New Death Screen[/h2]
+After dying, a new screen now shows up rather than the regular Escape menu.
+In the top-left corner, there is now a dropdown arrow that allows one to view character stats, server stats, and a combat history leading up to their death
-This combat history shows all recent damage dealt and received
-It also contains creature type, gender, growth, coordinates, server, and time
+The new death screen should now show you why you died if it was from comfort-related or status-related conditions

[h2]Talent Hints[/h2]
+Smelling other players should now hint as to what kind of talent build they have, alongside which talent may be their best
-This hint prompt suggests what their first and second most talented trees are, and then suggests one of their strongest talents
-The talent portion of the hint changes once per hour to a new, randomly selected talent that may be tied for their best talent at the current time
-Inherits are factored into what this hint prompt displays


[h2]Burrow Changes[/h2]
+Several large objects can now be found underground while digging in ory burrows
-This currently includes large ribs, a vertebrae column, boulders, and a spooky acro statue
+Adjusted the spawn rate and priority of the cucumbers in ory burrows such that they are as common as the potato
+Increased the amount of water satation cucumbers give to 3.0, up from 1.5
+If talented into Burrow Master, the Oryctodromeus can now move decorative objects around in their burrows
-One object can be stashed at a time, and while carrying an object an icon appears on the dirt jar HUD element
-One point into Burrow Master allows moving non-edible, non-solid, non-special objects
-Two points into Burrow Master allows moving edible and solid, non-special objects
-Three or more points into Burrow Master allows moving all objects, including special objects such as crystals and ruins
-The cost to pick up and stash an object is 2x the cost of digging a tunnel node, and is reduced with Swift Claws
-The Ability key will now do this, and will either stash the object in the node you're standing on or drop the stashed object, depending on whether or not you're carrying a stashed object
+Crystals, rocks, and other solid decorative objects now reappear if a tunnel node contained that decorative element becomes once again suitable for its placement
+Reduced the volume of the crystals in ory burrows by 70%

[h2]Balance Changes[/h2]
+Adjusted Tropeo's damage so it deals significantly less as a hatchling, juvenile, or subadult
+Megalo's Identify ability is expanded: 4/3 reveals gender and 5/3 reveals food/water satiation
-Note that these won't show up on the UI if the target does not have any food or water satiation
+Para can now highlight any creature that is not in its group, rather than just non-herbivores
+The Para's alarm call now alerts the group chat of what they spotted
+Increased Megalosaurus' turn rate by 10%
+Stiffened Megalo's tail by 33% so it isn't as easy to hit during a fight


[h2]Map Changes[/h2]
+Tightened the Out of Bounds volumes on RS (they were too far away from the playable area)
+Added the deity shrines on Rival Shores, AP, and Forest Island
-There are six in total. Three are under the Ocean and three are on land
-The Shrines Visited Trial only requires visiting shrines appropriate for your creature. Non-flying Semi-Aquatics need to visit all 6
+Updated the forest to jungle bridge so that it is easier to jump at low tide, but still hard to grab players
+Added new biome-specific ambient sounds to both Rival Shores and Ancestral Plains

[h2]Mechanics[/h2]
+Consuming Water Satiation now counts towards the Water Drank Trial
+Consuming Food Satiation now coounts towards the Food Eaten Trial
+Dry lightning now adds to the Storm Time Weathered Trial
+The Distance Traveled Trial no longer applies for the Oryctodromeus
Added a new Trial for the Oryctodromeus - Distance Traveled Underground
-This requires about 1/3 the total travel distance of the previous Trial, but only counts while traveling while in a burrow
+Added a new Trial for Lurdusaurus and Ichthyovenator - Distance Swam
-This requires about 1/2 the total travel distance of the Distance Traveled Trial, but only counts while swimming
+Added a new Trial for all creatures - Species Identified
-This requires sniffing creatures of different species. It triggers if you sniff a player directly, so long as they are large enough to leave behind a scent trail.
+Forest fires now ramp up in spread rate for the first 90 seconds, giving players a larger window of time to see a fresh forest fire and escape to safety before it aggressively spreads
+Forest fires can no longer spawn within 100 meters of a player
+Reduced the maximum spread rate of forest fires
+Creatures marked dirty can now view their Trials, but cannot receive additional Trials score.
+SetWeather no longer increases the Storm Time Weathered Trial. ForceStorm still does.
+Console-spawned carcasses no longer grant progress towards any Trials
+Console-spawned plants no longer grant progress towards any Trials
+Mesh bites should now be more stringent, and should reject more cases where players are partially occluded by rocks or other objects
-This should remove the need for meshing-related biting or attacking to be moderated, as the game now handles this
+After logging in, players can now not deal or receive damage for 8 seconds
+Keen Senses no longer highlights players that are in the player's group
+The talent Sneaky now additionally reduces how long your scent trail is and, at 3/3, also makes it so you do not release scent while sitting or laying down


[h2]QoL Changes[/h2]
+If banned from a server, it now shows you how many hours the ban remains for and the reason why
+Blocking a player through the player list now mutes them completely in your chat, this includes any message sent by them in global, local, pack, dm, ...
+The player list is now only searchable by steam ID if you are an admin on the server
+Game now warns you if you try to spawn a saved creature near other big animals
+Players logging on no longer automatically join a group if they cannot normally join that group without admin assistance, unless an admin is present in the group at the time of logging on
+Reworked the Megalosaurus' Identity UI
-Note that if Food and/or Water satiation is at 0, it won't show on the UI even with the proper level of talents and inherits
+Dutch and Polish are now supported as in-game languages
+Added a new, improved Ichthy mesh and set of textures
+Creatures that die and get resurrected now get their stats (bleed, injury, etc) reset. This means that if you died with a lot of injury, your resurrected creature will have none.
+Added creature info on the dino select screen for Lurdusaurus, Saichania, and Kronosaurus

[h3]Environmental[/h3]
+Improved the wind sound effects
+The distant rumbling thunder sound now fades in before lightning strikes start happening
-This gives players a window of time where they can hear thunder approaching without the risk of being struck by lightning or witnessing the spawning of a forest fire
+Wind, Rain, and distant thunder rumbling sounds now turn off while the camera is underwater
+Edited rain weather effects to be more intense, and rain now blows with the direction of the wind
+Added a foggy effect while in caves
+While storming or windy, the Ocean's waves now get rough
+Cave lighting is now consistent regardless of time of day or weather outside

[h3]Server Control[/h3]
+Added a new function: ServerGlobalMute(DurationSeconds) which allows to globally mute the server for the provided duration, after which it'll lift automatically.
+Added a new function: SlowMode(DelaySeconds, DurationSeconds) which allows to create a slow mode on the chat globally with the specified "cooldown" and duration, after which it'll lift automatically.
-These functions only apply to global chat and are bypassed by admins.
+The observer camera now also shows a player's talent points when using the Identify ability on it.
-You must have enableallscreenmessages set in the console
-This will not show inherits that are beyond the player's current growth
+The ListTalentPoints console command now has a player name argument and now requires UseObserver permissions, rather than ModifyTalents permissions
-This will also not show inherits that are beyond the player's current growth
+Observer Cam's ability now displays if player has used commands and is dirty or even unsaveable
+Servers can now specify which herbivorous species can group with one-another through the game.ini config file
-It is possible to make arrangements such as this:
-Species A can group with species B, B can group with C, but A cannot group with C.
-All cases where A and C may be able to get into a group through B such as logging on and offline should be accounted for and blocked correctly
-By default, the config is set up such that all herbivores can group with one-another, which is the way it currently is on public branch
-Here is an example config. A server wishes for para and pachy to never be able to group with one-another, but wishes for both para and pachy to group with every other herbivore. They also wish for all other herbivores to group with one-another

!AllowedSpeciesGroups=ClearArray
+AllowedSpeciesGroups=(Group=(EDinoType::Apatosaurus, EDinoType::Saichania, EDinoType::Pachycephalosaurus, EDinoType::Oryctodromeus, EDinoType::Lurdusaurus))
+AllowedSpeciesGroups=(Group=(EDinoType::Apatosaurus, EDinoType::Saichania, EDinoType::Parasaurolophus, EDinoType::Oryctodromeus, EDinoType::Lurdusaurus)) 

[h3]Game Reporter[/h3]
Implemented a passive tool server side which allows broadcasting certain game events through Discord webhooks.
This can be used to see chat activity live in a specific discord channel for moderation purposes,
It can also be used to keep an eye on admin command usage activity and login/logout of anybody on the server, for moderation purposes.
-These are the config settings available for GameReporter (in your Game.ini file):
+Added group activity tracking for GR:
-This is enabled by the config variable bUseGroupActivityWebhook and the settings GroupActivityDiscordWebhook and GroupActivityDiscordIconURL.
-This webhook will track player joining and leaving groups along with parsing the online group members when joining and after leaving.
-It also shows the growth and species of each player
+The commands SlowMode and ServerGlobalMute now support 3 parameters affecting the local chat, the group chat, and DMs.
+Added a new config variable, bForceIgnoreGroupSpeciesCheckOnLogin
-When true, players logging onto creatures will automatically rejoin their groups, even if they violate species permissions
+Added a new admin command category, GroupInvitesOnly
-The only ability this admin category controls is the ability to invite other players to groups
-The 'Groups' category also allows inviting players to groups, but also allows usage of the admin command disbandallgroups
+Implemented Combat log Tracking for GameReporter …
-Config settings are:

 CombatActivityDiscordWebhook="webhook_url"
        CombatActivityDiscordIconURL="icon_url" (optional)
        bUseCombatActivityWebhook=True/False (to enable this feature on the server)
[GameReporter]
ChatReportDiscordWebhook="12345/example"
ChatReportIconURL="any/url/to/img"

LoginDiscordWebhook="12345/example"
LoginDiscordIconURL=""

AdminCmdDiscordWebhook="12345/example"
AdminCmdDiscordIcon="IconURL"

bUseChatWebhook=True
bUseLoginReportWebhook=True
bUseAdminCommandUsageWebhook=True

ChatReportDiscordWebhook: Chatlog sent over to Discord
LoginDiscordWebhook: Every login and logout will be sent to this webhook
AdminCmdDiscordWebhook: Admin command usage login webhook 

Note that these can use the same link if desired.
The webhook link needs to only be the channel number and webhook key, not the full discord webhook link.

 eg. `https://discordapp.com/api/webhooks/12345678/abcd` needs to be `12345678/abcd` 

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]
+Teleporting into a forest fire actor no longer catches you on fire if you are not actually near any flames
+Lurdusaurus' claw swipe attack now properly plays its animation on other clients
+Mosa's thrash damage is now properly reduced by Acro's intimidating roar
+Attempting to pick up plants while holding onto a carcass no longer destroys the plants
+Steam avatars no longer show through incognito mode if you mouse over the player's steam avatar on the player list
+Grabbed players no longer can be carried through portals, which resulted in a glitched state
+Eating multiple foliage elements at the same node in an ory burrow between digging and replacing the node is now handled properly
+Fixed a server side memory leak issue with objects being created asynchronously and not properly destroyed.
+Drowning and fall damage deaths now properly display on the death screen
+Several instances of combat log event-related texts not being translated into the correct language
+Several translation-related bugs. Some stuff needs translating to show up correctly in-game, however
+Aquatics now properly report they are breathing air, not water, in the combat logging messages
+Fix for the "failed to join server" error when joining a server after failing to join for some other reason
+The 'Turn while Stomping' talent no longer improves turn rate if it has an inherit, until you're big enough to see it
+The admin Server Manager window no longer crashes the client if there are too many saved profiles
+Pressing Spawn while viewing a creature's Trials on the save selection screen no longer gets the Trials screen stuck
+The status condition tooltip no longer shows if alt tabbed while not inside the Escape or Character screen, which resulted in it getting stuck onscreen
+The scroll position of the dino select screen creature info panel now properly resets when swapping to view other creatures
+The resurrection restore admin tool now properly shows the mouse cursor after closing if the player is using it from a UI such as the save select screen
+ The Health HUD orb now properly shows your HP remaining fraction when overweight

[h2]Mechanics Changes[/h2]
+When a player refuses a request to join the nest or to nest, or to mate, the requester gets temporarily "blocked" for these specific requests. The current cooldown is 2 minutes.

[h3]Forest Fires[/h3]
+The innate weather resistance of a non-swimmer creature now modifies how much damage they take from fires
-Apato and Sai have particularly high weather resistance stats
-Ichthy, Lurdu, Mosa, Krono, and Elasmo are not influenced by this
-The Weather Resistance talent does not further reduce forest fire damage
+Creatures who have their feet in water no longer can suffer from forest fire flame damage, nor can they be caught on fire
-Getting your feet in water will still not put out an already active fire on the player. This requires entering the swimming state

[h3]Water Satiation[/h3]
+Doubled the rate at which water source dirtiness goes away
+Full water sat growth benefit is now achieved by having any level of water satiation
+Water now cleans itself more quickly when 50 or more players are on the server. For every 50 players online, the rate gains +100% faster cleaning rate.
+Water sources get boring at 2/3 the rate they did previously

[h3]Skin Mutations[/h3]
+Bioluminescent skin mutations should now have a consistent chance of rolling across all skins

[h2]Rival Shores[/h2]
+Added a rock slope to the new cave on RS so fat apatos can get out
+Made Rival Shores bridge between jungle and forest islands wider at low tide
+Made the snowy river deep enough for a 1.2 mosa to swim through (don't recommend larger sizes)
+Added a new aquatic cave to Rival Shores
+Added new ice shelter on Snowy on RS
+Made the base of the waterfall on snowy nicer
+Fixed the "baby hole" on snowy to be a normal small shelter
+Added a velo/ory sized ice cave

[h2]Balance Changes[/h2]
+Balance: While charging, Pachy no longer deals excessive damage and injury if they hit while jumping
+Balance: The Thick Skull talent's damage increase to dart has been increased by 100%

[h2]Optimization[/h2]
+Reduced frame hitch when using scent in crowded areas

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]
+Fixed: The requests UI status widget not sizing to fit to the text properly
+Fixed: The first message in the top left stack area for requests no longer gets the upper angle of the triangle cut off.
+Fixed: The greyness of Ory quills
+Fixed: Broken eggs now replicate the state of the egg yolk's eaten-ness properly
+Fixed : Issue where the claws on rex did not recolor properly
+Fixed: The Elusiveness talent now interacts properly with Kronosaurus' lunge
+Fixed: Drinking freshwater through the landscape mesh
+Fixed: Elusive players now have the proper graphical effect when entering net relevance range on the non-owning client
+Fixed: You can now struggle out of grabs if the grabbing creature is beached
+Fixed: Megalosaurus state jam that resulted from using the Identify ability while sitting down
+Fixed: Plant debris from tornadoes no longer knocks players into the air
+Fixed: Players who would drop large carcasses now drop the proper carcass size (2250 command carcass size or greater)
+Fixed: Logging in while underwater no longer results in your breath bar being at 0% if you logged out while above water
+Fixed: Comfort Bias, Comfort, Stamina, and Ability Power now save and load properly
+Fixed: Thick Skull now properly increases damage
+Fixed: Krono's lunge can no longer be blocked by an aquatic egg
+Fixed: Tornados can no longer interact with grabbed players or eggs, causing the parent to be picked up as well
+Fixed: Several server and client crash sources
+Fixed: Certain freshwater sources playing frog ambiance when they should not be
+Fixed: Main menu sounds not hooked properly to the game settings, they are now controlled by the environmental sound setting
+Fixed: Main Menu graphical issues

[h2]Misc[/h2]
+Updated several language localization texts
+Added/Fixed Missing ID entries for Phoenix tropeo

[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.

Today we start the event for the Shimmer "Phoenix" Tropeognathus! To participate, you must join the Beasts of Bermuda Official Discord, located here: https://discordapp.com/invite/PQ5fPNn



[h3]In the Discord, these are the channels to make use of:[/h3]

#shimmer-event-info which has a link to a spreadsheet containing the rules of several different languages! Please read the rules carefully! It will also contain additional screenshots of the skin.

#event-group-search For those of you looking for some people to help you participate.

#shimmer-submissions This is where you go to submit your entry once you have it ready! Please do not open a ticket for it until you are actually ready to send it!

[h3]The event will run from:[/h3]
[h2]February 21st 2021 to March 21st 2021, and end at 11:59 PM EST![/h2]
(Here's a link to help you with the end date for your timezone: https://everytimezone.com/s/e7e406b4 )

If you have any questions, direct them (in the Discord) to #bob-questions, and if something is broken (such as the bot giving you trouble or something) feel free to contact EchoAlien or any online Admin!

[h2]Rex Patch: Minor Bug Hotfix[/h2]

[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]
+Fixed: Admins no longer have to wait for the logout timer
+Fixed: Excessive log spam on Ancestral Plains which was causing both memory and fps issues for both the server and the client
+Fixed: Non-admins can no longer use the useincognito console command
+QoL: Added support for Global Administrators