PC Alpha 19 Dev Diary

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@madmole

what are the chances of upgrading the network communications?

not sure if i am gonna say this right but i am gonna try.

Telnet needs to be upgraded to help out the server hosts.

most games are using UDP for ports.

i am not a network guru and in fact is it my weak point Network security.

that is why i have team members for that.

the biggest thing they hate is telnet and tcp.

as i understand it those are very old and very easy to compromise.

will you be looking to upgrade or use newer network protocols in the future?

**and sorry to everyone if i butchered that lol*

 
Ahoy Madmole

in the 7DTD universe or Lore (idk how to describe it)

is their mutated Animals kinda like in Metro or Fallout and normal animals. or is it just normal animals no super Mutant Death claws

For the People who say Camels will haunt you. looking at you Roland

 
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Guys if I don't respond its because I don't know the answer. Lets shift to A19 talk, not biomes, modding, networking, balance, etc. I'll post some images there is tons of art piled up we can show.

 
The exact opposite is going on now. Before we were worried our success was fleeting so we rushed updates out weekly, jamming ♥♥♥♥ in with no concept art, very little discussions and ended up with a frankenstien of a game with little to no continuity in design or art. Now we're drawing concepts, working from curated design documents and then have tasks for every step all laid out in a roadmap with a strong desire for all art to match the look and feel we wanted all along, and designs are all connected so its fluid for the player.
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Are you though? There was new old west assets in A17. Now there's a steam punk mace (I don't actually care beyond that it amuses me that anyone thinks that's an effective weapon in combat). Most of the rest of the assets are modern. Then we've got these future AI based follow you around robots planned.

You're telling me, there's a design document that says and someone, somewhere thinks these "designs are all connected so its fluid for the player."? Does that sound about right?

 
Guys if I don't respond its because I don't know the answer. Lets shift to A19 talk, not biomes, modding, networking, balance, etc. I'll post some images there is tons of art piled up we can show.
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Are the new weapons coming to A19? I saw that, the last time I checked, they weren't listed on the first page.

 
Guys if I don't respond its because I don't know the answer. Lets shift to A19 talk, not biomes, modding, networking, balance, etc. I'll post some images there is tons of art piled up we can show.
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i would like that alot please :)

 
Are the new weapons coming to A19? I saw that, the last time I checked, they weren't listed on the first page.
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well from what i know theirs

The Tactical Assault Rifle (tier 2 AR i think)

Tier 3 shotgun: from the hint he gave my guess is the Origin 12.

Tier 3 Sniper (dk what it is)

and thats all i remember (will update when brain starts working)

 
Guys if I don't respond its because I don't know the answer. Lets shift to A19 talk, not biomes, modding, networking, balance, etc. I'll post some images there is tons of art piled up we can show.
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so just show the images

 
Guys if I don't respond its because I don't know the answer. Lets shift to A19 talk, not biomes, modding, networking, balance, etc. I'll post some images there is tons of art piled up we can show.
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Just reveal a new feature and i will sleep with the person of your choice. :)

 
Hey faatal, what are you working on these days?
Also, do you have any side projects that you work on in your free time, or does working on a game during the day take the fun out of coding at night for you?
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I don't really do side projects. Spend enough time working on 7dtd.

We are still plugging away on the conversion to linear color space. A lot of good work has been done so far.

7dtd_a19sunset.jpg

 
So what exactly will linear color space do for the average player? Will it improve performance, or is it for aesthetic gains?

 
@Faatal We heard you since april 2019 talking about updating to Unity 2019.3, which means we can expect from 2019.1 stable Vulkan, performance improvements, better ambient occlusion, faster physics, final garbage collector and better tools for you, etc.
So now that 2019.3 is final and looks like a19exp is not coming very soon, can we asume new Unity is coming to a19?
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Unity 2019.3 shipped late and was and probably still is a buggy mess, so we went ahead and updated to 2019.2 on Jan 7. That should be what a19 ships on.

 
So what exactly will linear color space do for the average player? Will it improve performance, or is it for aesthetic gains?
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Linear color space just changes the way color values are handled. It uses more correct math for blending color values together which makes lighting more realistic, but throws off all the old values, so they have to be adjusted.

We are actually updating a lot of graphics code during the conversion above and beyond what needs to be done for linear. There is a lot of shader/sky/weather code in an ugly prototype state that I'm cleaning up. Many graphics features are being added or improved (fog, sun, horizon, moon, clouds, light spectrums, indoor lighting, water, environment particles). In general the cleanup makes it a bit faster and enhancements a bit slower, so I'd expect it to be about the same FPS when done.

 
@Faatal
AI Pathing question.

Does the AI follow blocks or follow colliders to determine their path? I made a spinning bridge (5x1x5) that rotates on the center, but I'm wondering if in the "open" position when the bridge ends aren't touching ground, if the pathing still sees it as a 5x5 block it can walk on (even though there are only colliders on the center part).

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Both. Initially the block's colliders. The path grid is build by raycasting down from the sky to find heights, but also tunneling down through blocks, looking at the blocks, since internal colliders are removed. Surfaces that could be stood on are then horizontally raycast in the cardinal directions to see if open and if links could be made to adjacent surfaces.

 
Wow. 2019.3 is that bad? I haven't downloaded that yet. Still using 2019.1
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It was supposed to be out in Dec, but had dozens of bugs, some of which were nasty, which delayed it. It was not released until Jan 27. I usually like to see the first bug fix update after a major new version to see what bugs slipped by or were found and labeled know issues. They have not released one yet. No thanks. We don't have time to wait. 2019.2.17 has been working fine for a month after a few days of fixing problems.

 
I'm super excited about changes in terms of graphics unless the framerate stays at the same level. With better lighting and color palette some updates to HUD etc. would be nice as well. Disabling and enabling visibility of mission status/current objectives (at the top-right corner) by pressing the O button could be an option.

In terms of HUD/Menu overhaul, SMX mod is the best example and I believe its compulsory to enjoy the game even more and this modification does make life easier. Players may definitely enjoy the benefits of having some additional options. Moving exactly the same items from a backpack to a chest by pressing one button saves a lot of time. The skill chart looks amazing, similar to a perk tree, way more convenient. Right know in-game menus feel like a chart from excel.

The first impression is the most important thing. Incorporating some solutions from the most popular mods is never a bad idea.

 
Both. Initially the block's colliders. The path grid is build by raycasting down from the sky to find heights, but also tunneling down through blocks, looking at the blocks, since internal colliders are removed. Surfaces that could be stood on are then horizontally raycast in the cardinal directions to see if open and if links could be made to adjacent surfaces.
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Makes sense. What's the update rate? Thanks for answering these.

 
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