Cross of Auria News

Earlier today, I posted a minor patch about opting into the Beta to fix the Grand Library hiccup. Shortly after that, other bugs were discovered that arose from swapping between the default and beta branches of the game. Because of this, all betas have been terminated and the current beta has been set as the default public branch. How this affects you: some quests may not appear or progress correctly in the quest log and there may be other unforeseen issues. If the game is doing something wonky you think it probably shouldn't be, let me know ASAP as a reply to this!

If there is any part of the game that you cannot pass, please let me know. However keep in mind that we ran out of time for development and progress during the Orc War campaign is still halted, especially until other earlier in the game bugs have been squashed. I intend to allocate some time this week to rectify all of this.

6.500 [Build #150, Release Date: Nov 02, 2024] Long Term Goals:
- To condense the player experience into a cohesive storyline and eliminate unused assets from the game files.
- To wrap up the main story in a way that both makes sense and is satisfying to the player.
- To finalize the Quest Log, undo Class introduction, and remove other scope-broadening systems which can not be completed in a meaningful way.
- Introduce the reserved mechanic instead of actor companions.

Bug Reports:
- The fastest way to report a bug is on Discord @ https://discord.gg/Ur4GdaKxPD.
Fixes:
- Restored Quest Step Progression in Grand Library, Levell/Soldier's Outpost, Rabbit's Foot, Hell's Gate/Monster Trail, Auria/Entrance, Auria/Entrance/Outpost, Auria/MarketTown, Auria/VisitorDistrict/Inn, Lvell Forest, Frost Fortress, FrostbroodLair/Treasure, The Veil #1, and to the Toxic Core event.
- Fixed a potential issue where the Rabbit's Foot man could be progressed without accepting the quest. If you have already rejected the quest and progressed beyond the point of accepting it, reach out.
Updates & Changes:
- Minor dialogue and function changes in the intro.
- Actors now have Talisman equipment and equip General Accessory by default. The update module remains in place in case the initial fails or an event removes them.
- Minor dialogue changes to the first instance of the Veil.
- (!) bubbles no longer appear to indicate the next steps in the Grand Library (required for the fix).
Notes & Known Issues:
- Many of the scripts which allow Quest Log progression are broken or missing. A quest may appear in the log in incomplete even though you have completed it. Please keep in mind that rewards happen via the dialogue and are completely separate from the Quest Log which is visual only. A fix for the broken QL may come at a later day.
- A temporary fix has been added for the Rabbit's Foot questline Quest Log display. By completing all of their quests and talking to them, a script will run displaying and activating the final step of each quest and then marking it as Complete. You must do this for both NPCs.
- I'm undoing the change in numbering patches & builds.
Other:
- I very rarely look at FaceBook anymore as a whole. If you want to get in contact with me about a CoA bug, use either the Steam Forums or the Discord linked above.

The Grand Library bug has been in the game for over a year at this point with me chasing my tail and applying small fixes to chip away at the problem. Today, a user with a save at that location helped me run through it and figure out what was broken. This goes back to to the June 17th, 2023 build #148 update w here the Grand Library quest had new events to show (!) bubbles to indicate the next step. It appears that the (!) controlled by a separate event when paired with a (!) controlled by an interaction text event which used the "wait to finish" would cause it to wait forever for the other event even if it was no longer playing. This caused the game to freeze in place forever.

A fix to this was deployed along the "testa" branch. The same fix will be deployed to the public branch either tomorrow or Monday. In the meantime, if you are affected by this, follow these steps to circumvent it for the duration of the GL quest before swapping back to the default branch:

To opt into a beta, right click Cross of Auria from the games list
Click Properties
Click the Betas tab
Enter, without the quotations: "coatest001glib"
Press "Opt in"
Let the update download.


EDIT
- Very shortly after posting this, a new bug was found that required me to disable the testa and devtest beta builds, leaving only the default branch.
- This puts us in a very weird situation where half the quest log has been gutted and progress won't be adequately tracked. I'll be attacking this in the coming days and attempting to apply fixes to the global update controller based on already completed quests. At some point, there will be an announcement that this is finished and we'll swap to bug squashing mode.

Quick update for everyone - as soon as the change is approved, the Founder's Packs will change from paid to free. Thank you everyone who helped fund the project. Updates are still planned, but there is currently no timetable.

The Founder's Packs will be renamed "Gift Pack" as soon as the pricing change is approved by Steam. By this time next week, it should be done. I likely won't post an update about it a second time.

I'm still looking into the Grand Library bug, but am coming up empty. If anyone else can replicate it, please let me know.

//hardytier

A beta build has been deployed for players stuck on step 2 of the Hephaes book Grand Library quest.

To opt into a beta, right click Cross of Auria from the games list
Click Properties
Click the Betas tab
Enter, without the quotations: "coatest001glib"
Press "Opt in"
Let the update download.

From here, continue past this part of the quest, then save.

At this point, it's recommended to go back to the Betas tab and using the drop down menu select None from the beta builds list. This will put you on the retail branch of the game.

A significant number of planned but unreleased changes are included with this beta, and are therefore untested and unfinalized. Details below.

This will be launched to the Retail version of the game once the changes are tested and finalized. This beta exists as a temporary workaround for the potential Grand Library progress bug.


0.6.402 [Build #149, Release Date: September 13, 2023] Bug Reports:
- The fastest way to report a bug is on Discord @ https://discord.gg/Ur4GdaKxPD.
New:
- Added a new armor type - Talisman - to control equipment per character. This item combines their ability to equip certain weapon and armor types from their Actor and default Class page and makes them permanent to the character. This armor, once equipped, can not be removed. It will be auto equipped to every character once they join the party or enter a new map with the Updates event. This code will stop trying to run once all seven base characters have their Talismans equipped. Equip controls have been removed from Actors and character-specific Classes.
--- Ex: Ruby can always equip a Sword and Medium Armor regardless of what class she changes to. Eurus can always equip a Scythe, etc.
Fixes:
- Adjusted some non-comforming quest reward text to align with the general format.
- Fixed a veil crystal that could be collected infinitely in the first map.
- Potentially fixed an issue where the Hephaes book quest in the Grand Library could not be continued on the third step, resulting in a crash.
Updates & Changes:
- Quest Log add-on has been disabled and removed from the menu.. Many of the quest log prompts have been removed. Remaining prompts will be removed as found.
- Alternate outfit Miles & Riley change and compensation is now conducted through the Updates event instead of in the Veil, and will happen anywhere the Update event is present.
- Removed battle tower Armor from the game data.
- Disabled ProfileStatusPage plugin and removed Profile Text data from Actors.
- Paladin class renamed Stormchaser.
- Arcanist class renamed Arcane Mage.
- Wind Reaver class renamed Reaver.
- Wind Warrior class renamed Zephyrite.
DLC: Yuelslain's Village:
- The Amaya and Eurus specific versions of the D-Frostslayer class are no longer available.
- The NPCs in the area now tell Ruby what to do instead of relying on the Quest Log.
- Scattered save points throughout the area.
Frostslayer Class:
- No longer adds an equippable weapon or armor type.
- Allows the use of Skills and Magic.
- Increases evasion by 3%, critical chance by 7%, and MP Regeneration by 5%. Has a default accuracy of 97%.
- Learns new abilities at level 2, 4, 7, 10, 12, 15, 20, 25, 27, 40, 42, 50, 62.
- Adds "Ice-Killer" element to normal attacks which does 200% damage against select ice-type enemies and regular damage to other enemies.
Notes & Known Issues:
- This was deployed as an emergency response to a bug report. Other issues may arise.
- DLC area updates may not be pushed alongside, in spite of this patch's notes.

Keeping with reducing the scope of the project to pursue a story completion, the Quest Log is on deck for removal with the next update. This patch sets the stage for that by removing healing crystals, adding save points, and adding quest-step bubbles for the Grand Library questline. This build will remain public until all promotional material can reflect the removal of the Quest Log which hopefully will coincide with the next patch launch.

Details...
A general rule of thumb of game development is that for every one manhour of development time, the player experiences one minute of play time. The time was even more skewed for the Quest Log, which added no functional value to the game besides UI aesthetics. As much as I want to keep some of the background lore going, I can think of better ways to deliver it. The quest log issue is effectively this: for every single quest step, there needs to be code telling the quest to start/end, description to change, reward to become visible/invisible or claimed, and bullet point objectives to be revealed and change. On top of that, the writing of the descriptions themselves takes a great deal of time. To sum up: the quest log has become too unwieldy to continue to develop. Instead, 0.6.402 will see the complete removal of the Quest Log, all quest log pop up data, and all associated invisible lines of code. Quest rewards will remain, as they are not directly entangled with the quest log itself.

To allow for zone reconstruction on the fly, global saving has been disabled outside of the world maps. Save Points have been scattered across the map which will temporarily allow access to the Save function as well as fully healing the party. Unlike healing crystals, save crystals can be used an infinite number of times. However, save crystals do not appear in challenge dungeons, such as veil-adjacent and colosseum creations.

In the original list posted last week, #1, #2, & #6 are complete. Moving onto the Quest Log next.

0.6.401 [Build #148, Release Date: June 17, 2023] Bug Reports:
- The fastest way to report a bug is on Discord @ https://discord.gg/Ur4GdaKxPD.
New:
- Introduced Save Points throughout the world. These locations enable saving where saving is otherwise restricted and heal the party - restoring HP/MP and removing all status effects.
Updates & Changes:
- Healing Crystals have been removed entirely.
- Saving outside of the Save Point has been disabled in most locations.
- The Grand Library quest now shows (!) bubbles for each next step.
- Disabled the anti-cheat from the world map. Help requests for edited save files will not be addressed.
Notes & Known Issues:
- Global saving is still available on the World Map and on various Veil-adjacent maps.
- This is the last public build that will feature a functional Quest Log.