PC Alpha 19 Dev Diary

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Crater Creator said:
from watching the Steam forum, I can tell you that nothing is frustrating players more these days than disappearing backpacks.  I had hoped that the new art for backpacks was part of an effort to redo them to be less buggy.
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I'm sure they'd fix it if they could, but it seems like that's just a "Survival game" bug in general. Basically every single survival game I've ever played has had a bug where you die and your backpack / loot bag falls through the map. Even ones on entirely different engines still do it for some reason, I'm playing Fallout 76 and basically just assume I'll lose all my junk on death =/

At least it was only a loot bag. On one of my most recent runs, me and a friend had JUST got a jeep, and before we took it out I spent several minutes lecturing him about how expensive it was and to make SURE he protected it with his life because it was worth more than him.

5 minutes after leaving the base, we were driving the jeep and it drove right off  the edge of the map as it loaded in and we lost jeep and both our inventories lol

What else can you do (besides cheat) but go ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 
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Damocles said:
There is no "Unity voxel system", its custom code running within Unity. The logic how its rendered would not be substantially different in other universial engines.

Since a block with a specific texture can be anywhere in the world, those textures need to always be in memory.

In most other games its easier to handle this, as they have premade static worlds. Its known what textures are used in which area of the gameworld. So textures that dont occur in a specific area can be removed from the memory (or using a low res version, until a high res version is needed, when the player gets close.)
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Thanks for the Reply, Damocles.

Could it not work by loading the chunks in like Minecraft does, I have some knowledge of how the systems work in general but I am no expert.

I have messed around with every engine level designer since Build was a thing.

I am well aware that currently that they are doing a polish and bug squash to get the game done, so it will not happen anytime soon.

Just thinking of the future and what could possibly happen in the future.

I am already very happy with the models and textures we are getting in A19, that stone block and wooden floor texture.

I already have plans for them haha.

 
Annihilatorza said:
Thanks for the Reply, Damocles.

Could it not work by loading the chunks in like Minecraft does, I have some knowledge of how the systems work in general but I am no expert.

I have messed around with every engine level designer since Build was a thing.

I am well aware that currently that they are doing a polish and bug squash to get the game done, so it will not happen anytime soon.

Just thinking of the future and what could possibly happen in the future.

I am already very happy with the models and textures we are getting in A19, that stone block and wooden floor texture.

I already have plans for them haha.
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Minecraft also uses a single texture atlas for the voxels. At least when I played the beta version back then. The chunks can contain all kinds of textures on the blocks, as players can alter the world freely. As soon as such a block is placed/painted, the texture need to be available.

Maybe some fancy dynamic resolution loading thing could add more textures. But that is complex, probably slow and error prone.

 
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madmole said:
I'm pretty sure players can't have these draw call per object nice models, we get mostly crude stuff so players don't put 10000 bookshelves in and wonder why the FPS tanked. Level design balances their use and has a budget of how many polygons to spend. Most likely we'll get the same book case models to build with. You can mod it in though.
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But placing 10,000 bookshelves would be a late game luxury that only the .0001% who've mastered the survival aspects would do, right? *ducks* ;)

I, too, like the new hardwood floor texture.  But I'm most happy about that loose pile of books/magazines.  It's long been on my list of wants, because it should look great anywhere from a messy bedroom to a waiting room to a hoarder's crawlspace.

 
madmole said:
You drastically over estimate the number of players who paint. Its a late game luxury for those who've mastered the survival aspects few ever do. The community is .0001% of the player base. You guys are hardcore and know every system in and out, the player base is water washing over the rocks, you guys are grains of sand stuck in the rocks, watching all the water pass by.

I get what you are saying, but there are so many 10-30 hour guys who never paint, its not something we should keep investing into because the lack of more important features is preventing them from discovering paint in the first place.
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I want to preface this post with: I CAN/will accept the answer about this is being more toward mid-late game and about it fps-tanking, so till that day becomes a reality I'll live. I also understand i'm not a new (10-30 hour) player.

I do want to tag in here though: I am wondering where these 1%  ( or .0001 in this post) numbers are coming from. Examples as to why I ask are: I know, 1 of those in a million lol, I paint/texturize my base as another way to break up the kill/quest grind (same with building) but also to be creative. I have though seen many requests throughout the entire forums for it and have also seen alot of videos showing painting/texturizing being done as well as base design pictures, and of course Poi's.

I know I've posted in dreams that more paint/textures would be nice along with more deco blocks helping to give the base that personal "flare"... I've noticed alot of big empty-feeling poi's and/or redundancies, however this is mostly true within the "modded in" POI's which leads me to believe the modders dont have enough tools at their disposal. I could be wrong since I dont personally mod. This also brings up that when we build a base we're using new materials, paint included, and resources so more "fresh" paint/textures would seem more natural rather than chipped, cracking, and falling apart (for both paint and textures). I can understand this for already existing structures but not freshly built bases.

With the above in mind it begs to question: Why take the time to build a big castle or specific cool design when all you need is a 7Wx7Lx5H built with square blocks. So no need for all these custom shapes....? I ask this since mid-late game is being attacked.

Side note, a structural integrity system would be nice & helpful (something like that of Empyrion is best example i can think of). Thinking of new players here as well.. I could see nothin more frustrating than having building capabilities at your disposal and building a structure you think is ok and bam, it all falls down.

 
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5 hours ago, beerfly said:

A new screenshot of a girl looking for her left eye. And another one with someone looking in a book shelf. 

https://twitter.com/x/status/1264615725886394368
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ajmSe3K.png


 
This may not be A19 related but since weapons/tools have 3 tiers would the workbench/forge/Etc have some tiers just to increase crafting speeds and such? 

Example

Campfire - microwave - stove

 
Mechanimal said:
Ah, so it replaces the old bookshelf, makes sense, but now there seems to be more than one model for bookshelves... which one is craftable? All of the them or just one? I imagine one, would have to check furniture block menu to see.
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I'm pretty sure players will just have the same as A18.

Mechanimal said:
Exactly! I do it for that added immersion, in a very similar way. If alone in an empty world full of awesome buildings who in their right mind would start their own building from scratch in an actual post-apocalypse full of free real estate? And I love building from scratch, still do it, but I try to make it all add-ons or expansion of existing structure instead of some pyramid in the middle of some random field away from everything, that always feels too "gamey" to me, like it reminds me that I am playing a game, too much.

Also helps with looting since I tend to utilize POIs in or near cities. Then, if I get some neat idea, I will start larger custom builds as more of a late game thing. I sometimes make my Blood Moon tower separate(though adapting buildings for those is way fun too). But from early to mid I am a hardcore POI adapter, it just always feels far more like what would actually happen in such a world, makes me feel more an actual part of it, adapting.

I've played MP games where we get hardcore about it, like super careful not to overly damage or remove existing structure or props, and a bunch of us take over existing POIs in entire neighborhoods, reviving/remodeling the existing structures, often in-line with whatever specialization we choose. Sometimes all in one POI like the mil base. Food girl took over the mess hall, INT/vehicle kid took over the garage, I maintained a micro-base/HQ facility/fallback point in the basement vault and focused on turning Aldo's cabinets up the street into our BM base(worked well, except the one BM I couldn't make it and returned to a 50' x 100' deep hole, yay Demolishers!). Is fun, and tonsss more immersive.
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To me its more work fixing up an old place than making a new one. Often you think you got everything boarded up nice but then some zombie gets in through a weak point you didn't see.

Crater Creator said:
But placing 10,000 bookshelves would be a late game luxury that only the .0001% who've mastered the survival aspects would do, right? *ducks* ;)

I, too, like the new hardwood floor texture.  But I'm most happy about that loose pile of books/magazines.  It's long been on my list of wants, because it should look great anywhere from a messy bedroom to a waiting room to a hoarder's crawlspace.
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More like early to mid game and .02% :) Making a proper container has useful function in easily identifying what resources are in what storage container.

BobbyLee298 said:
This may not be A19 related but since weapons/tools have 3 tiers would the workbench/forge/Etc have some tiers just to increase crafting speeds and such? 

Example

Campfire - microwave - stove
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I'd like to get at least one upgrade for the campfire and forge.

 
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