Devblog 41

I updated Lidgren to the latest version last update. This seems to have caused a few problems as after the server was running for a while we'd start getting exceptions about re-using a message. I reported the problem but have got no response - so I reverted to the older version. This seems to have fixed the exception. A symptom of this error on the server was that clients wouldn't be send some reliable messages - which meant that the client would be totally unaware of some entities. This was most obvious as missing walls on buildings.

We're now running on Unity5 b18. This will probably enhance performance and fix some bugs for some people as we were previously on beta 14 due to an incompatibility that got fixed in 18. We're seeing that objects are all black, or that shadows are really really dark on OSX/Linux. We're on it and will get an update out as soon as possible.

Alex 2 has been slowly working on making the sounds more awesome. You'll probably notice the changes more on the weapons.

There was a bug affecting the weapons, which meant they weren't visible in your third person hand. This was affecting sound too - so you'd get no weapon shoot sounds. The player model now correctly looks up and down again. Alex 1 has fixed all the weapons so they're all sitting in the hands properly again. Goosey has been tweaking the animations with more variety.

Fall damage is back again.

Chat is global by default again.

I've been spending a lot of time looking at server performance over the holidays. Optimizing and trying to avoid drops. I've been working at trying to make server owners be more aware of what's happening on their server - and how it's performing. Trying to make it less of a black box, so any reports of lagging out and shitty performance can be diagnosed more easily. I was thinking of embedding a http server and making all kind of stats and admin tools available. In the end I decided that while that would be super useful and super awesome, I'd end up spending more time developing it than it would be worth.. but maybe it's something we'll pick up in the future. For now I added a little FPS indicator to the console. My plan right now is to make more stats and insight available over time (like bandwidth usage).. but for now this simple fps counter is incredibly useful. Performance is 'ok' right now. What you'll find is that after loading a save your server's framerate will drop to about 10fps until it's finished working out all the building's stability details. After that it should run ok for a few days until it needs a wipe. I'm making a lot of progress on making wipes be required a lot less frequently.

I wanted to put a patch out before I started messing with the stability system. At the moment it's slower than it should be, and stuff is more stable than it should be. It should be possible to make skybridges, but hopefully their usefulness is offset slightly by the falldamage. I'm in the progress of refactoring and reworking the system so it'll run faster and sky bridges won't be possible.

Some steady progress in a week where it's reasonable not expect nothing to get done at all. Our aims are all based around gameplay and performance next week. Blueprints are still high up on my list - and Andre has been working on some REALLY cool stuff regarding radtowns.