Cepheus Protocol News

So… Let’s get right into it. In the interest of transparency:

We need to take the time to polish some legacy systems to properly take the next steps for Coop and roadmap items. This means the “foundation” has been neglected in some areas, and some older backend code needs to be updated/refactored.

To see whats currently on Experimental check out
https://steamcommunity.com/games/979640/announcements/detail/4513262258492539032

[h2]What's Changing (Affects Programmers Only):[/h2]

• New Abilities: Implementing new abilities is a chore and very likely to cause bugs due to its complexity.
  
• Minimap System: Needs optimization and conversion to a more efficient solution.
  
• Legacy References: We still have references in our code to Capture Zones, medical tents, and Ammo tents from the 2020 release. (Check out old footage from that year!)
  
• Command Bar: The bottom-right command bar needs a retooling to improve ability integration.
  
• Systemic Merges: We’re consolidating some disjointed systems that were built separately over time, making bug tracking and fixes quicker and easier in the future.
  
• Civilian/Enemy Group Spawning: Retooling how civilian groups and infected spawn, spacing them out over time instead of spawning in the same frame. This will prevent frame “hitches” and improve FPS significantly.
  
• World Partition Simulation: Adjusting simulations to work more like Kenshi, with areas managed more efficiently outside of CERC influence. This will provide a major performance boost, especially when working with World Partition.
  

[h3]Aspects Not Affected by this Refactor (Level Design/Modeling/Animation):[/h3]

1. Map Merges: The merge to San Fran North and replacement map development will continue as planned behind the scenes so we can introduce a new open world map that replaces the current with the new areas.
   
2. Character Models: New character models for our exit from EA will be shared on Discord and Steam, including the final CERC and Infected models. They will continue to be worked on and brought into the engine while we do cleanup.
   
   [h2]What came in the last few updates:[/h2]
   
   Visuals for LCAC Garrisoning
   
   New Spec Ops
   
   New Assault
   
   New Winters
   
   New Sniper
   
   New Engineer
   
   
   

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[h3]Temporary Changes to Experimental Builds[/h3]
Note: Builds on Experimental will slow down for 1-2 weeks while we clean up and modernize these systems.

We've been developing fast, creating prototypes based on user feedback and our roadmap, and we’re realizing it’s created systemic issues in our pipeline. I want to personally apologize for this oversight in design; as our first “live RTS,” we’re learning as we go and addressing scalability/performance issues that have emerged with the game’s growth and recent engine updates. Things that worked years ago just aren’t holding up with the game’s current scale.

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[h2]In Conclusion[/h2]
In conclusion, this 1-2 week focus on legacy system cleanup will provide a stronger, more scalable foundation essential for Coop and future roadmap features. Although Experimental builds will slow temporarily, this will ultimately enable faster, more reliable updates, improve FPS, and allow for better overall performance. This is also done in the goal of allowing easier UGS(Modding) for new maps to streamline the process.

Originally posted by Smith

Project Director

Come join me as I stream the game, showcasing all the new units. I'll be answering questions throughout the stream.

:tv: https://www.twitch.tv/dark583

[h2]New Stuff Gallery:[/h2]


Summary:
We will be discussing the new units and progress we've had on the new CERC redesigns.

[h3]Assault Final[/h3]

[h3]Sniper Final[/h3]

[h3]Winters Final[/h3]

We’re excited to announce a live AMA where we’ll dive deep into the latest progress on vehicles and other exciting changes coming to Cepheus Protocol. Whether you're interested in the new mechanics or want to hear about all the updates, this is your chance to get involved and ask questions.

[h2]📅 Date/Time: Fri, October 18, 2024, 5:00 PM [/h2]

Join us on your preferred platform:

• Discord AMA Channel – Ask your questions and listen in on voice.
  
• YouTube Livestream – Watch the live stream and get insights on the latest updates.

[h3]What We’ll Cover:[/h3]

• New vehicle mechanics and updates
  
• Additional gameplay changes
  
• A sneak peek at development of the next few months going into the New Year

Mark your calendars! In 4 days, we’ll be holding a Development Rollup to catch everyone up on progress. We’ll be answering questions from the community and reviewing overall development since last time we met. The session will be live-streamed on YouTube and will also be available as a VOD for those who can’t make it live.

https://discord.gg/Uztq6kK9?event=1289951409411854387


After years of feedback we've caved and decided to pivot our design of CERC ground units. We are designing a new base "look" and getting rid of the "GI Joe" look. Our goal is for Michael to have the first pass out by Halloween there might be some bleed over. But its his primary goal and he'll be sharing progress on the Discord every few days starting after today in our announcements chat.


We currently are pursuing a more polished "final" look for our EA release next year based on the following ideas.

[h3]Mood board images for all classes redesigns [/h3]


[h2]After this is done if there is still a demand we will consider "camo" reskins for different nations as support packs. Let us know if this is still desired in the comments below[/h2]



More physics and destruction is coming!
https://youtu.be/pCcOG3nEFlg



Only the Bradley/Abrams and basic destruction is live now

The current update we are polishing on Experimental is code named "Escalation". We will not push it to public till the following line items are implemented and ready for general play. But you can jump in and test our progress and leave your feedback at any time by installing experimental. We prefer Discord for feedback so we can jump in voice calls easily but Steam is monitored as well.

We will be discussing the Abrams and Bradley and the MRLS which will be released within the next few days and the remaining challenges and goals going into the Halloween sale and beyond to wrap up the year.

[h2]What's coming in "Escalation"[/h2]

• Localization for all Languages updated
  
• Doctrines shifted/reorganized for longevity (Armored Core, Infantry Core, Airborne Core and Utility)
  
• Sparrow Weapons added
  
• Blackhawk Weapons added
  
• VTOL + Weapons added
  
• New Doctrines implementation that is geared towards longer play taking reference from games like Total War and Sins of a Solar empire.
  
• Mortar weapon Infantry
  
• Passive upgrades and ability tweaks across the board
  
• Abilities polish pass for Infantry to finalize them I.E the Sniper gains a claymore or heavy gains an actually "deployment" system that he setups up a basic defensive fortification.
  
• New Vehicle AI/ Driving still needs some polish
  
• Helicopter AI is reworked
  
• Some performance tweaks
  
• Vehicle Formations /Infantry spots next to vehicles
  
• Infantry/Units moving at the pace of the slowest unit in move order
  
• MLRS implementation with abilities
  
• Bus evacuation(Delayed) Will be coming at the end waiting for a more finalized driving AI
• Destruction (Delayed) Working out some technical issues with save/loading. We might have to forgo full saving as it works right now fully in terms of the destruction aspect. More details on this during the discussion this Friday
• Mine Deploying Atlas (Delayed) Low priority but coming
• Armor kits for the Abrams, Bradley & Striker with defensive items (Active denial for civilian RPG hunter teams)
  
• New and revamped Airstrikes
  
• More to be announced

Hey everyone,

We wanted to update you on some unexpected issues that hit us over the last 72 hours, pulling us away from finalizing the vehicle interface:

[h2]Unreal Engine 5.4 Crash[/h2] We encountered a critical crash that would occur after a heavy civilian evac playthrough and saving the game. It also happened during longer in-game sessions. After an intensive 24-hour work session, where each programmer picked up where the last one left off, we believe we've resolved the issue.

[h2]SteamCMD Tool Issue[/h2] We also faced a problem with the SteamCMD tool incorrectly updating the game on upload. We've spent significant time troubleshooting this and are still in contact with Valve to ensure it doesn’t happen again. To mitigate this, we’ve reorganized the game into multiple .pak files. This change aligns with newer engine standards and should improve load times and reduce patch sizes, though we initially planned to implement it closer to the 1.0 release. In the future, we intend to adopt a newer packaging format to better conform with Unreal Engine 5 loading standards, but that will come later as a result of our research into this issue.

This might also be a growing pain with Steam’s interaction with Unreal Engine 5.4.2, which, as many of you know, comes with bugs/issues when using the latest versions of software. Rest assured, we will continue to sort these out and work tirelessly until any remaining issues are eradicated.

As of now, the first issue should be resolved, and we've mitigated the Steam download bug by adjusting how we package the game. We're still awaiting a definitive answer from Valve, but we’ve made the necessary changes to keep things moving forward.

Unfortunately, these setbacks caused us to lose 1-2 days, so our estimate for the vehicle interface release has been pushed to early next week—assuming no further stability issues arise.

[h2]Bonus Update[/h2] One of our technical artists added a new "line" highlight system to make it easier to tweak settings. Take a look here! Live now



Thank you for your patience and understanding!

— The Halcyon Winds Dev Team


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[h2] Bug Fixes & Improvements: [/h2]

[h3] Late Load Crash: [/h3]

• Implemented a speculative fix for a crash related to a Discord forums post reported by a user during late load.
  
• Added additional safeties for loading crashes, including `LateLoadUnit` midway checks in case a unit is destroyed during load.
  

[h3] Goldencrest [/h3]

• Placed move proxies around the area. While this doesn't fully resolve backtracking issues, it helps mitigate some ignored move orders. Fully fixing this will require further work after we finish the interface work in a few days.
  
• Edited cranes in the construction site for better alignment.
  

[h3] Helipads: [/h3]

• Updated Helipads with a larger vertical 'clear landscape object' presence. This change should prevent evac choppers from getting stuck under cranes in the construction zone.
  

[h3] Character Handling: [/h3]

• Added `IsActorBeingDestroyed` checks to `LoadCharactersDelayFinish`, `GetTargetGarrisonTag` in `Base_Character`, and `HasTagWithSubstring` in `CPFunctionLibrary`.
  

[h3] Memory Management: [/h3]

• Cleaned up `memcopy` issues.
  

[h3] Shaders: [/h3]

• Speculative fix for a water shader recompile issue that would occur on first load of the game where the water would be invisible for up to 10-20 seconds while it "compiled" live
  

[h3] Save-Load System: [/h3]

• Committed a fix for `UPROPERTY()` that addresses save-load issues.
  

[h3] User Interface: [/h3]

• Added a mouse-over highlight to settings in the options menu.
  
• Introduced a speculative fix for the next patch to resolve the 'jittering on load menu when paused' problem.
  

[hr][/hr]

Please note the following going forward: Restart your game/steam to get the update if needed
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[expand]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zz49hElQa8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZA_1INK--I

[h3]Letter from the Producer[/h3]
https://steamcommunity.com/games/979640/announcements/detail/3718325557390407190

[h3]New Roadmap system [/h3]
We now have a new system for our community to follow along on development. This website will break down all the major systems that are coming each patch. It will not include hotfixes/bug fixes. Sections inside TBD can be included randomly if we are ahead of schedule.
View the Roadmap
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Your support helps us grow the team and create a better game for everyone!

[h3]Support Us on Patreon[/h3]
Join our Patreon community to gain exclusive access to behind-the-scenes content, early builds, and other perks.

[h3]Check Out Our Merch Store[/h3]
Show your love for Cepheus Protocol with our official merchandise! Every purchase directly supports the development of the game.



[h3]Cepheus Protocol Anthology[/h3]
Immerse yourself in the gripping narrative of the Pangu Virus outbreak through multiple perspectives. Follow the dedicated heroes of the Center for Epidemic Research and Control as they battle to contain a devastating alien virus that transforms innocents into terrifying creatures of unimaginable power.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1707120/Cepheus_Protocol_Anthology_Season_1/

[h3]Watch the First 40 Minutes of Cepheus Protocol Anthology Season 1[/h3]
Get a sneak peek at the intense and dramatic opening of Season 1.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eWbDibGMrU
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If you're experiencing crashes/instability, please try a Steam Verify/Display Drivers update before contacting us.