Cepheus Protocol News

These optimization changes will be coming to the normal build with path finding tweaks after we've had more time to test.

Revised Walk/ Run animations for all CERC Units Finalized Versions of all Treasure Island Buildings are coming

[h2]Patch notes to Public Beta and Experimental [/h2]

• Revised Walk/ Run animations for all CERC Units
  
• Various optimization tweaks for larger hordes for mid-late game
  
• Added logic to make the 'select location' popup occur later in the Master setup (so the player team can set up properly)
  
• Updated how the Run Override button on the Command Buttons at the bottom right works:
  
• Units moving in formation will stay in formation. They will run if their leader has 'Run Override' active, but not toggle it on for themselves if they do not personally have it on.
  
• The button on the HUD will now update any time you change selection, instead of only when you select a Group
  
• Updated Gas Attack collision to not block mouse queries (while still being able to harm units)
  
• Tweaked/cleaned up some door/nav block settings on gates in relation to the vehicles-can't-pass-through bug Tested it on a save that had that issue, and the Springboks can roll on through now
  
• Updated the Garrison Widget for vehicles to properly read the unit's assigned Class Icon (instead of referring to an old 'character class' variable to discern what to use)
  
• Weapon meshes made a bit cheaper on the engine side
  
• Fixed an issue with the Spine Thrower turret's projectile not properly ignoring friendlies
  
• Hooked up units to properly apply their LOD tick rate to their current weapon, too
  
• Applies on equipping weaponry, as well as when hiding/showing from FOW
  
• Hooked up the LOD switching to also affect Movement Component tick rate
  
• Hooked up values for military, civvies, infected, special infected, etc.
  
• Re-tuned military LOD values for the Mesh tick rate, too
  Result: Units (especially civvies) seem less expensive when at lower LODS.
  
• Updated runtime audio plugin for bug fixes
  
• Performance improvements to infected 'overhead' widget
  
• Hooked up Shadow LOD logic: Shadows will now turn off at certain LODS
  
• Hooked this up to LOD 2 for now (since there's three levels of LODs, only at the greatest LOD will shadows turn off for now)
  
• Also hooked up logic to turn off shadows when in Thermal Vision, and to turn off shadows on the Weapon when the character holding it turns off their shadows
  
• Hooked up an option for altering the Unit Distance Shadows setting from the Advanced options menu
  
• Hooked up a 'slo-mo' delegate response in the Base_Character class for the recent LOD mesh/movement component performance updates
  
• Now when slow motion is utilized, visible characters will instantly update their tick rate to something equivalent on the new timescale to avoid 'stutter-stepping'
  
• Shut down shadows on units that die
  
• Adjusted tick rates for Interaction+Health widget components on civvies+military units
  
• Created a basic 'infection area' indicator
  
• Fixed some issues with the 'Select Location Infection Indicator' widgetry
  
• Also made it more transparent so you can still see the map underneath it
  
• Re-added 'civvie clearing' to the Spawn Node 'clear spawns' loop
  
• Updated Fog of War updating to respect time dilation 'faster than' regular timescale, so its performance cost doesn't increase if the game is running on a speed faster than 1.0 (makes debugging more performant for now, likely will be useful if we implement fast-forward feature later)
  
• Fixed 'hidden Civilian clear loop' erroneously clearing civilians who are infected or special infection carriers
  
• Added a 'Civilian Spawn Limit' to the Chelsey System (150 for now)
  
• This includes a 'soft cap', currently at 67% (which is 100 units for now), where spawn rates are reduced
  
• Created a 'render state changed' delegate for the Cepheus Skeletal Mesh component
  
• Hooked up the 'stopped rendering' delegate logic to make Infected clear/re-create their 'overhead widget' as needed
  
• Made infected in a zone that is 'settled' (more than 50% of pods done, if memory serves) start shuffling out, despawning, or mutating at a threshold of 5 infected instead of 30 infected if there are no enemies nearby
  
• If enemies nearby (i.e. players overlapping), the mutation and despawning options for that zone's Order Loop are disabled
  
• Stadium wing fixed UVs version
  
• Made the custom movement component's 'tick group' customizable at runtime: used this to make civilian's movement tick group shift from a less expensive 'civilian rate' to a more expensive 'infected rate' when they go hostile
  
• Spread out pawn sensing via a 'random short duration deactivation' to it on BeginPlay, to reduce the stress of pawn sensing being done all in 'one lump' for groups that were spawned at similar times
  
• Increased pawn sensing interval and max accepted sound age for civilians and basic infected
  
• Made non-player units who become carriers 'shift to' the movement tick rate for Infected, so their movement is more accurate if they're moving to spread the infection
  
• Committing early Find Floor optimization for movement components:
  
• Adjusted how often units update their AI when updating their seenlist (first unit added will activate always, but otherwise cooldown will be more respected)
  
• Increased 'seenlist update AI rate' and 'damage update AI rate to 1.5 for Infected
  
• Increased 'seenlist update AI rate' to 5.0 and 'damage update AI rate' 2.5 for civilians
  
• Added logic to reduce the number of redundant combat 'move to location' calls, to hopefully reduce navmesh strain for infected moving in combat
  
• Removed the Unit Detection Spheres from the Faction units for now (needs new collision settings for them, otherwise it constantly overlaps their owners, causing their Detection Spheres to be more expensive than CERC ones)
  
• Implemented new ScoutDrone model.
  
• Set ScoutDrone flight height to 7500 (from 2500)
  
• Changed up some logic for how unit rehiding works after being seen, to be more consistent
  
• Changed up 'DelayedRehideBoost' to 'DelayedRehideInterval,' to directly set how long it takes for a unit to re-hide itself into the FOW after being seen
  
• Changed the LOD optimization for player+faction units to reduce 'close-up stutter' w/ help from
  
• Anim fixes for HEMTT crane
  
• Adjusted how Silencers/Suppressors are handled: They're now spawned in/despawned as needed, rather than always being a component on each weapon unless manually destroyed
  
• Adjusted how often units update their AI when updating their seenlist (first unit added will activate always, but otherwise cooldown will be more respected)
  
• Increased 'seenlist update AI rate' and 'damage update AI rate to 1.5 for Infected
  
• Increased 'seenlist update AI rate' to 5.0 and 'damage update AI rate' 2.5 for civilians
  
• Added safeties to pod/tower clearing in zones to ensure that a Tower won't be erroneously left behind and considered 'alive' after its destruction
  
• Added safeties to 'PassDamageToAI' and and the Infected 'AIDetermineStateTree' to prevent logic from running if frozen or ragdolling at the moment
  
• Added logic to reduce the number of redundant combat 'move to location' calls, to hopefully reduce navmesh strain for infected moving in combat
  
• Removed the Unit Detection Spheres from the Faction units for now (needs new collision settings for them, otherwise it constantly overlaps their owners, causing their Detection Spheres to be more expensive than CERC ones)
  
• Added logic to make Civilians have a different and higher 'not visible tick rate' until they get infected
  
• Fixed some issues with the 'Select Location Infection Indicator' widgetry
  
• Also made it more transparent so you can still see the map underneath it
  
• Fixed some construct widgets being 'reverted' to default settings
  
• Fixed some construct widget performance options (i.e. turned off collision, turned up tick rate, etc.)
  
• Added logic to make the 'select location' popup occur later in the Master setup (so the player team can set up properly)
  
• Added a basic 'ammobox clear' to Infection Pod construction, so if an ammobox is overlapping the pod spot it'll clear out the ammobox (may need more radius, though)
  

[h2]Patch notes to Experimental [/h2]

• Minor BP error fix for Capture Truck
  
• With an extra 'safety check' for if Capture Trucks are enabled, a zone owned by Chelsey will 'revert to neutral' instead of remaining infected-but-yellow
  
• Added a fix to the 'PackUp' logic for the 'select starting location' to prevent units from spawning 'halfway into the floor'
  

Cepheus Protocol Novelization is now available on Steam Store!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1387390/Cepheus_Protocol_Novelization

We want to have an AmA to discuss the experimental build and determine what people feel is needed before we wrap it up and merge it into public build + public beta and close experimental.

Our list for wrapping up experimental(Aside from bugs of course)

#1. Optimization
#2. Attacking/Defending Logic revisement for Chelsey
#3. Rethinking Population limits for Civilians/Chelsey and Factions.


Public beta would keep the factions in the beta stages for the foreseeable future proceeding the merge.

The goal after the merge would be to fix path finding and then go back to work polishing up Pierce's Police AI faction.

AmA on Discord June 7th at 5 PM PST in the AmA channel

We are aware of a bug where the ammo runners/ammo suppliers stop working we are looking into a fix for Monday/Tuesday

Hey CERC Recruits! So over the past few days I've been collecting data on the pros, cons of the CP trucks and how we are doing . Here is a rundown of some fixes i believe are needed after discussing it with the community but i want to mention it here to signal boost and make sure you folks are in the know!

This is what i feel is needed to get experimental closed up and merged into public beta

#1. Cut the amount of zones by half / increase CP income for what was lost
#2. Add a bonus/incentive to go deeper into a zone ( zone money increase based on the strategic importance of that location) For #2 we would zone important areas potentially in a zone like a hotspot where it could be scored based by importance No color normal income-> all the way to red maybe for giving more income or a special resource in the future
#3. Optimization
#4. Ammo Runners bugging out at times

After the merge to public beta

Enemy #1 is path finding then back to factions


Cepheus Protocol Novelization is now available on Steam Store!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1387390/Cepheus_Protocol_Novelization

[h2]UI Updates Pending for Polish stages[/h2]



[h2]Experimental Build[/h2]

A few weeks ago we talked about Early to Middle game improvements and how our team can learn from games like Prototype and how they handled the simulation of a viral outbreak. You guys wanted the virus to be a bit more alive, deadly and wanted improvements to Chelsey across the board.

As an early showcase of the new system we now have put up an Experimental build for all to play and give their input. In some cases you might have to restart steam to see it but everyone can now opt into a new branch to try out the new direction and give their feedback. Again it will have TONS of performance issues and we are aware of them and working towards a tech solution to fix them as we speak.

As a reminder only talk about the Experimental build in #experimental-build-feedback or it will be buried in the day to day chats.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2ST3DM5sI4

Recap of what im talking about :
Discord Post

We are aware of a bug where the ammo runners/ammo suppliers stop working we are looking into a fix for Monday/Tuesday

[h2]Patch notes to public beta & Experimental [/h2]

• Fix for Character's weapon fire montages not properly respecting their Rate Scale
  
• Hooked up the new Roadmap images to the tutorial screen slide widget (that opens when starting a new pandemic game)
  
• Fixed the Electrified Gate upgrade being available for Electrified Gates (allowing you to erroneously upgrade something into the exact same upgrade, wasting money)
  
• Unit Card double-clicking and related also updated to work with opening the shop properly (selecting the group the deployed truck is in will not do open its shop, but directly clicking or double-clicking on the Truck's card will)
  
• Fixed the Capture Truck not properly 'overlapping' the zone it spawns in without leaving/re-entering it
  
• Made Capture Trucks purchaseable from the CERC tent (if the Game Instance option for capture trucks mode is enabled)
  
• Improved the Capture Truck shop's "Destroy" button to instead be a functioning 'Undeploy' button (with separate image, hovertip, and 'are you sure' text)
  
• Added logic to enable an 'Emergency Call In' for the Capture Truck (if you have none left)
  
• Fixed a hovertip issue on the capture truck
  
• Floating fences fixed
  
• increased zone income by 1.5X, increased assault price to 2k, decreased heavy to 3k , increased sniper to 5k, increased ammodrop price, increased airstrike price
  
• Presidio buildings adjustments across the board
  
• Lowered Tier 1 wall price by 80%
  
• Made the 'Objectives' indicator (on the bottom right of the HUD) auto-close after 30 seconds if you do not interact with it
  
• Smoothed out some navigation settings on player walls
  
• Towers no longer are 'null nav' but 'player wall' nav (which infected ignore, so they won't psychically go around a fully walled path)
  
• Added 'capture progress' saving to the Capture Truck (if it's in the process of capturing a zone when saved, it'll remember how long until it finishes)
  
• Improved the loading for the capture progress bar for the Capture Truck to be more visually accurate (instead of starting at 'zero' but filling faster if it already had progress)
  
• Added a 'SetTargetThreat' value in 'WeaponConfig', so each weapon can have a threat override for right-click-to-target logic
  
• Boosted this value for Grenade Launcher and Javelin to 10,000 (from 750 default)
  
• Updated the 'pack up units' logic of the initial 'Select Starting Location' logic to not 'duplicate' unit images when putting them in the Helicopter garrison
  
• Made the Capture Truck call in 'parachute in' instead of being dropped by a Sparrow
  
• Removed population cost for capture trucks
  
• Lighthouse area, adjacent to actual building previously unbuildable now fixed (location volume
  raised)
  
• texture swap/resize (Financial spelling error on billboard)
  
• Updated unit-purchasing logic to allow for purchasing a zero-population unit even if your unit population is currently maxed out (for capture trucks)
  
• Combat movement will now also avoid moving into an area where there is an active Restrictor
  
• Safeties added to prevent 'false emerges' which cause the Leviathan to emerge 'partway' and get permanently stuck
  
• Safeties added to prevent the Leviathan from getting stuck in 'burrow mode' and never emerging again
  
• Updated the 'generic mouse following widget' to work as a hovertip for this
  
• Crash fix for ordering civilians around in horde mode
  
• Added custom hovertips to each vehicle that has DeployMode available
  
• Fixed the Capture Truck being able to purchase a BMG at the Motor Pool (may not be retroactive with previous saves)
  
• Fixed the 'rally point' for several buildings being incorrect
  
• Fixed Atlas ammo runners taking up unit population
  
• Improved 'ammo restore' logic for Ammo Runners to 'stop short' rather than move into the target
  
• With an extra 'safety check' for if Capture Trucks are enabled, a zone owned by Chelsey will 'revert to neutral' instead of remaining infected-but-yellow
  
• CP Truck can now place down an ammo station & Medical station
  

[h2]Patch notes to Experimental[/h2]

• Fixed an issue with fully-corrupted zones not properly marking themselves as such for Capture Trucks
  
• Made Capture Trucks in a fully-corrupted zone 'undeploy' should the zone get ousted by the infection
  
• Made Capture Trucks not be able to deploy in a fully-corrupted zone
  
• Added safeties to pod/tower clearing in zones to ensure that a Tower won't be erroneously left behind and considered 'alive' after its destruction
  
• Fixed an issue where clearing all pods from a zone could result in losing zone control
  
• Made Aggressive Roaming infected target 'random' units in their zone rather than merely the closest (so large groups of infected don't 'stick together' and beeline the same unit) Made Aggressive Roaming infected not get despawned by the clearing logic
  
• Made Aggressive Roaming infected not get despawned by the clearing logic
  
• Made the 'Civvie Spawn Goal' (how many civilians appear in a zone when the other units are nearby) customizable per zone, and increased the numbers for Civvie spawns in some of the larger Infection Zones (like in Presidio+Angel Island)
  
• Tweaked the Civilian Population numbers for some of the zones (tweaked it up for some of the Angel Island zones that had really low numbers, and tweaked it down for some of the Presidio zones that had really high numbers)
  
• Added a slight delay to the Chelsey System's 'startup set location' logic, so if the Factions are active the Chelsey System can evaluate which territories are owned before it moves
  
• Made the Chelsey System not try to relocate into Faction-owned territory (Previously it didn't care, but faction combat in a sparse zone can 'stifle' Chelsey's start pretty significantly, so added this change)
  
• Fixed Chelsey (in the new Chelsey System) not properly initializing her stuck-fix logic
  
• Expanded the 'critical' stuck fix to require 8 'stuck calls' in a row
  
• Restored the 'minor stuck warp forward' logic, but made it less likely to occur
  
• Improved her critical stuck fix to coincide with the Chelsey System's positioning (instead of a 'universal start' at the hospital)
  
• Improved Infection Zone 'corruption' It now 'progresses' smoothly between its current infection level and the new 'ceiling' introduced by new infection pods (i.e. instead of jumping to 25 or so from a single pod, it'll rise to 25 over time). This also works in reverse for when pods are destroyed.
  
• If a zone hits 100% infection level, it'll start a five minute timer to oust the current Zone Owner. This timer is displayed on the Zone's widget.
  
  

Cepheus Protocol Novelization is now available on Steam Store!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1387390/Cepheus_Protocol_Novelization

[h2]UI Updates Pending for Polish stages[/h2]



[h2]Experimental Build[/h2]

A few weeks ago we talked about Early to Middle game improvements and how our team can learn from games like Prototype and how they handled the simulation of a viral outbreak. You guys wanted the virus to be a bit more alive, deadly and wanted improvements to Chelsey across the board.

As an early showcase of the new system we now have put up an Experimental build for all to play and give their input. In some cases you might have to restart steam to see it but everyone can now opt into a new branch to try out the new direction and give their feedback. Again it will have TONS of performance issues and we are aware of them and working towards a tech solution to fix them as we speak.

As a reminder only talk about the Experimental build in #experimental-build-feedback or it will be buried in the day to day chats.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2ST3DM5sI4

Recap of what im talking about :
Discord Post

[h2]Patch notes to all builds [/h2]

• Fixed a UI issue on the Unit Cards when switching between a 'one-clip' weapon and a weapon with reserve ammo (the dividing slash between current mag and reserve would not reappear if switching away from a one-clip, such as for Cerberus BMG to the cannon)
  
• Made a placeholder Radio Operator 'purchase' button (kitbashed the lettering from the other buttons)
  
• Updated the Assault's purchase hovertip description to mention that they have flares now
  
• Adjusted the Scout Drone's collision a bit
  
• Fixed some spawn node positioning in the master
  
• Added logic to 'scale down' the amount of DNA earned from destroying an Infected Pod that is 'under construction' (not 'under full health,' but rather in the Chelsey System if it hasn't absorbed enough infected to reach full size)
  
• Added a bit of logic to prevent Infection Gas Towers that have just started construction from being 'missed' by soldiers aiming too high
  
• Streamlined minimap icon setup for soldiers to be easier (vehicles still require more images)
  
• Fixed some blueprint errors with setting up weaponry for vehicles that start with no weapon (like the Springbok)
  
• Added a fix to the (small) chance the player's mouse clicks would get absorbed by a 'power component detector' beneath the level (if they moused over (0,0,-10000) on the map: should no longer occur)
  
• Added a 'fallback safety' to (hopefully) prevent infected units in the Chelsey System from ever being able to capture a command post
  
• Added more finalized presidio buildings to the level
  
• Peak Point Fixed
  
• Hooked up the basic 'footstep' type to each regular special infected and the Juggernaut, to allow them to make footstep noises for player units to hear
  
• Adjusted the Juggernaut's footstep radius to be much bigger and louder
  
• Made the Juggernaut's 'screenshake roar' also generate a combat noise
  
• Hooked up basic 'combat noise' generation to the Leviathan's roar, swipe, and emerge
  
• Units firing a flare (or the flare itself, when it spawns) will be checked against anyone trying to fire a flare If too close (within 10,000 UU), the shot will be prevented
  
• Random Infection system crash fix
  
• Also fixed a related bug which caused its ability to read mouse inputs to 'slide' if opened in this same manner
  
• Also fixed a related bug which caused a map's specific minimap panning to get 'reset' if directly toggling minimap size
  
• Zombie stuck bug fix, added nav blockers to area in question (Grid06 Treasure Island, under stilted towers)
  
• P90 - has received an improvement in hand positions in its animations and fire
  
• UMP - has received an improvement in hand positions in its animations and fire
  
• MGL - has received an improvement in hand positions in its animations and fire
  
• Flamethrower - has received an improvement in hand positions in its animations and fire
  
• MK14 - has received an improvement in hand positions in its animations and fire
  

[h2]Patch notes to Experimental[/h2]

• Added logic to enable Leviathans to spawn in response to player aggression towards spawn nodes in the Chelsey System
  
• Fixed up some of their 'horde-reliant' logic to be compatible with the Chelsey System's lack of dedicated 'horde attacks'
  
• Fixed up several 'command post capturing issues'
  Improved the Leviathan's initial spawn to not be so lackadaisical about the units it was spawned to defend against
  
• Added 'zone corruption' in the Chelsey System- as a zone gains more infected constructs (pods and towers), the zone value will decrease. Clearing out these constructs can currently restore this value.
  The zone's widget will turn red and accurately display the changing value, as will the HUD's 'income display' for any zones you own. If you take a post but don't clear out the infection, don't expect much income.
  
• EXODUS update to the Chelsey System: Civilians in a zone that is experiencing more than 20% corruption from infected structures will start to siphon out to neighboring zones with less corruption (the more corrupted their zone, the faster they population will shift)
  Updated the Infection Zone Widget to display the 'infection level' and its malus upon the zone's value
  
• You can now choose where on the Island you start
  
• Started on the Chelsey System's saving and loading - Zone radius, target spawn node, and location are now properly saving and loading
  
• Increased chances of units that convert to infected of being 'aggressive roamers' by 20% (from 20% to 40%)
  
• Increased Chelsey System's starting infected amount to be a range from 40-55 (from 4-6)
  
• Fixed Chelsey potentially 'spawning in the ground' for some spawn positions in the Open World Master
  
• Fixed a loading-crash in the Infection System with infection towers
  
• Improved saving/loading of spawn pods to respect their unique class (more modular - BUT THIS WILL LIKELY MESS WITH SAVES MADE BEFORE THIS)
  
• Improved the Chelsey System's "Hive" to properly save/load, and for the System to 'remember' its Hive reference
  
• Improved the pod's saving and loading to also account for its 'creep decal' and display it at the same size (as well as unhide it if the player can already see it)
  
• Added improved saving/loading to units who are 'converted to infected', so they retain their uniqueness despite technically being an infected now
  
• Fixed converted player units 'showing through walls' while a zombie (makes them a bit easy to track)
  
• Fixed several issues with file-saving for civilians
  
• Added Infected and Civilian saving to the Chelsey System with Carrier tracking
  
  
  
  

Cepheus Protocol Novelization is now available on Steam Store!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1387390/Cepheus_Protocol_Novelization