[2022] Icarus Week Twenty-Nine Update | Horde Mode

This week we’re introducing Horde Mode, our first variable emergent event in Icarus. Randomly scattered throughout prospects and outposts, will be Enzyme Geysers which reap valuable rewards but are beacons for waves of dangerous foe hellbent on destroying them. These will also be available in your new, 64sqkm Olympus Outpost. We’ve also completed a recent engine upgrade and worked with NVIDIA to add more capability to NVIDIA Reflex, along with backtracking on a change we planned to implement this week, due to some unforeseen circumstances. Have a read and ready up for the Horde!



Horde Mode
Horde Mode is here, and we couldn’t be more excited to introduce our first variable emergent event to Icarus, complete with high levels of chaos, danger and bountiful rewards.

Enzyme Geysers

Enzyme Geysers are natural structures that are scattered throughout Icarus (on Olympus, Styx, Outposts and future biomes). Players can craft and deploy a ‘Vapor Condenser' on top of the Enzyme Geyser in order to activate the horde mode. The Vapor Condenser can be crafted in the Fabricator, so will require you to be high-level.



Defeat the Hordes

While the device is active, waves of aggressive creatures will spawn and charge the Vapor Condenser, with the intent to destroy it. If they happen to spot any players, they may choose to attack them instead. The number of players near the Vapor Condenser will also increase the number of creatures spawned to help the event scale with multiple players.

It is the players objective to defend the Vapor Condenser by any means necessary as they deal with 3 waves of aggressive creatures (which vary in type and increase in difficulty). Each time the player defeats all 3 waves the device “levels up” and upon next activation the level of the creatures spawned is increased significantly, making each play through more difficult to complete.



Reap the Rewards

Upon completion, Exotics will be deposited into the Vapor Condenser machine as a reward. This whole event can be repeated an infinite number of times, but the Exotics reward cap is limited, currently at 3. After that, the rewards will become inert and instead of Exotics being rewarded, Condensed Enzymes will be rewarded instead.

Condensed Enzymes are a new resource to Icarus and are starting their journey as an ingredient for crafting Statues, which can be used as trophies in your base to show off your horde completionist skills. In the future, Condensed Enzymes may expand into various other special recipes.

For the moment, completion of this event on an Outpost will only reward Condensed Enzymes, as Exotics cannot be taken back to the HAB with you from an Outpost and would serve no purpose as a reward.

In addition to item rewards we also reward a nice chunk of XP (around 2500) which also scales with the number of completions.



NVIDIA Reflex + Engine Upgrade
NVIDIA Reflex low latency technology is now available in Icarus, providing the best responsiveness available to date. This new feature is one of many NVIDIA backed technical improvements we’ll be bringing to Icarus in the future as part of our partnership with them, and will available with your most recent NVIDIA drivers update.

We have also recently completed a UE4 engine upgrade from 4.26 to 4.27, which will minor in it’s broad impact, is important for us keeping up-to-date with the latest technology and allowing us to stay cutting edge when it comes to Icarus’s development. Unfortunately it does mean a bigger download this week as its quite a big upgrade, but the impacts you will see with this upgrade include better stability, multiple engine Nav Mesh fixes, better frame rates and overall performance improvements.



Remove from Prospect Button is here a bit longer
Last week, we mentioned our intent to remove the ‘Remove from Prospect’ button from the in-game menu, as it’s original intention was no longer needed.

In rather ironic timing, we experienced a series of outages over the following weekend, which we apologize for and thank you for your patience while dealing with them.

As a result, we have reneged on our plan to remove the button while we test out the adjustments we’ve made to our servers and to protect players characters a while longer as we confirm these improvements will not put your hard work at risk.

COMING SOON | Dedicated Servers & Decentralized Characters
A major change in future is going to be doing more to provide tools for our community to enjoy the game. Providing Olympus as a full outpost map, customization for outposts, and indeed this update with Horde Mode - is about us working to expand on the concept of what ICARUS is as a game, and the communities role in shaping what it becomes.

As part of this we will be releasing Dedicated Servers in the future and providing them is now one of the highest priorities on the team. This will serve many purposes, particularly in helping ensure great performance for larger teams playing ICARUS together - dedicating the heavy lifting for hosting to a dedicated application.

Additionally, we will be continuing work to decentralize storage of character and prospect data, which will open up more possibilities for modding and user generated content - as well as forming your own communities around dedicated servers. We will continue to release more details in future updates, and extensive testing will be occurring with the community as is custom with any of our large updates.

Many of the changes we make for this won't only benefit those using multiplayer, as their functionality will directly feed into those playing in the offline mode of the game. We also acknowledge the difficulty in maintaining balance for solo and multiplayer, and will continue to work towards better balance for both play situations.

COMING SOON | Outposts: Respawn Location
Some have noted, both on the forums, discord, and reddit, how frustrating it is to try and enjoy the Olympus Outpost map when you spawn in at the drop location each time. We will be addressing this in a future update as a priority.



If you were also wondering why this patch is a day early, it’s because tomorrow is Matariki, New Zealand’s national holiday to celebrate the Maori New Year.

Changelog v1.2.4.97945
Note: The changelog now includes all changes to the project, not just ones to the product.

Horde Mode

• Add biome-specific horde waves (not yet hooked up into level)
  
• Fixed up Horde DT row handles on BP actors to represent what biome theyre in and added function for updating this
  
• Adding New Datatables and Enteries for new Horde System
  
• Adding Component and logic for new Horde System
  
• Hooking up Analyzer Transmitter to use new Horde System
  
• Adding First Pass of Horde Mode to Engine
  
• Adding New In World UI for horde mode which reflects the machines statem, number of waves, progress in current wave, etc
  
• Adding Inventory for Horde Rewards to the Analyzer Transmitter
  
• Setup Basic Horde Mode Datatables so new Hordes can be created and Triggered
  
• Updated Both Inworld UI and Interacted with UI for Vapour Condensor so it works with the Current state of the Horde
  
• Added CompletionsUnitInert and InertReward elements to the Horde Datastructure
  
• Hookedup the multipler so each Horde which is triggered is scaled by the number of completions present on the Enzyme Geyser
  
• Adding new Experience Event For Horde Completion
  
• Horde Mode is now completeable multiple times on a single node with the multiplier scaling the difficulty and rewards upon each subsequent use
  
• Added ability for Horde Spawners to spawn around pre-designated QuestMarker actors placed in the level, instead of using a generic EQS centred around condenser location
  
• Added prospect difficulty and player count scaling to horde mode spawning
  
• Fixed issue where horde mode could spawn more AI during a wave than desired, and go over the 100% completion progress limit
  
• Change item rewards for Horde inert to be a single Enzyme item
  
• Horde mode in world widget UI pass.
  
• Change interacts around (Hold F now activates, Press F opens inventory) to prevent accidental wave stopping
  
• Replaced references to waves in the UI to mention stages as to allow it to make more sence in terms of activating a machine rather than a game mechanic
  
• Added a 1s delay between simultaneous horde spawns to spread out AI and reduce likelyhood of FPS hitches
  
• Add new Getter function for spawned creature levels with a larger (0.5x) multiplier to increase the creature levels per horde completion (now 25 -> 38 -> 50 etc)
  
• Add character growth setups (matching Jaguar) for Cougar and Snow Leopards, so they will now scale with their level
  
• Fixed spelling on Vapor Condenser itemable
  
• Tweaked horde waves: Shorter delays for 2nd waves, only 1 additional Bear per player, Polarbears spawn at level 1, more Hyenas at a time, numerous changes to make Scorpion wave more difficult
  
• Fixed erroneous setup of Jaguar which was getting its health and melee stats from two different sources, doubling its effectiveness
  
• Multiplied base stats curves of Jaguar (also shared with Snow Leopard and Cougar) by 1.5x after dual stat correction (slight nerf to Jaguar, buff to Cougar and Snow Leopard)
  
• NPCs no longer leave blocking collision behind temporarily after death, should make large groups of AI more predictable when fighting and will stop them running into invisible barriers
  
• NPC corpses no longer tick when their ragdoll simulation has full settled; significant performance boost in situations where player is surrounded by many dead NPCs. NPC corpses that come into net relevancy will now use the hosts cached ragdoll pose instead of having the cilent re-simulate their own. This should further reduce cases where dead NPCs fall through the world, especially when returning to carcass from far away
  
• Dont reward Exotics on Outposts as they cannot be taken back to HAB from an Outpost

Enzyme Geyser

• Add Deer Statue Decoration Wood item as first recipe which uses Condensed Enzymes in recipe (Crafted on Rustic Decoration Bench), more statues to come
  
• Add 21 Enzyme Geysers to Olympus in .Vision/Geysers folder
  
• Added NS and M Meta Mist Geyser FX
  
• Meta Geyser VFX added periodic explosions + tweaks
  
• Adding geyser analyzer hoard mode start - loop - end audio and blueprint implementation
  
• Adding analyzer transmitter device deploy sound and geyser loop
  
• Add Editor Locator beacon setup for Geyser BP with toggle
  
• Small position tweaks to Enzyme Geysers on Olympus
  
• Add Enzyme Geysers to Outpost002, 003 and 005.
  
• Adding Enzyme Geyser BP Object and setting up snapping points
  
• Added C++ Base Classes forthe Enzyme Geyser and added a recorder component so its state can persist between saves
  
• Added Condensed Enzyme Item, which is currently rewarded when Enzyme geysers reach an inert state
  
• An Enzyme Geyser now goes inert after a certain amount of activations completions so that the high value reward is not limitless
  
• Update EnzymeGeyser to use new mesh and erruption effects
  
• Update Geyser socket and scene component info to suit new mesh
  
• Fix UMG Widget text for geyser collapsing instead of hiding, causing the widget to not fit on screen
  
• BP_EnzymeGeyser audio state updates when an Analyzer is attached - currently switches on and off, will update to apply an EQ parameter instead. Created a new DeployableFoundationInterface to allow attach/detach events to be fired on generic foundation actors to enable this behaviour. Also refactored ADeployables foundation actor functions to use the new interface.
  
• Fix missing ref in BP_EnzymeGeyser audio implementation
  
• Fix geyser FX not restarting when VapourCondenser is destroyed - Deployable wasnt calling detach events correctly from its EndPlay.
  
• Update to distancing of the Geyser
  
• Updated the Static Mesh and Skeletal Mesh LODs for the asset DEP_Analyzer_Transmitter_Device
  
• EnzymeGeyser mesh, textures and material
  
• Split out Geyser niagara effects (eruption from main) for audio purposes
  
• Adding more geyser audio burst events and adjusting standard geyser audio to be more appropriate for updated visuals
  
• Tweaked arctic geyser positions to be in less sparse/open areas making it easy to complete waves
  
• Polish and Optimization pass on Meta Geyser, reduced saturation, emissive, particle spawn count, etc
  
• Meta Geyser Eruption VFX increased duration and delay and fix Lit Water VFX Material
  
• Virtualizing geysers and limiting to 1
  
• Placed 23 Enzyme Geysers in Styx
  
• Adjustment to fmod audio attachment area for the vapour and geyser. Made sure it was where it was meant to be

Analyzer

• Adding Prototype Analyzer Transmitter device, animbp and corresponding animation assets, setup basic deploy and activate logic for the visuals
  
• Adding new UI Widgets for Analyzer Transmitter
  
• Setting up basic interaction and temporary effects
  
• Adding Analyzer Transmitter Item to Datatables Creating a BP
  
• Toggle material when AnalyzerTransmitter is active. Add Projection widget locator to fix animation moving info box
  
• Improvements to PhysicsAsset for AnalyzerTransmitter mesh
  
• Small update to analyzer deploy audio. Also added Bait Deploy audio and adjusted flies ADSR to have a more natural start / stop
  
• Fix replication of analyzer transmitter device audio states
  
• Added vapour condensor icon to D_Itemable.
  
• Setting up basic snapping deployment logic on the for the Analzyer onto the Geyer Object
  
• Renamed AnalyzerTransmitter to Vapour Condenser because the name did not represent what it was
  
• Adding new player interactions to access UI and Inventory of Transmitter
  
• Added Rewards (Both XP Items) to Vapour Condenser
  
• Added a recipe doe the Vapour Condenser and added it to the Fabricators Recipe List
  
• Redesigned Vapour Condenser widget active state.
  
• Fix spelling of Vapor from Vapour
  
• Small adjustment to spacializer override settings for the vapour condenser to be more directional at a closer range
  
• Small update to the vapour analyser deploy audio sound. Less metal thunk at the end which didnt sit quite right
  
• Update DM to ElectricDrill for Vapor Condenser
  
• Fixing issue where the T4 Talent for the Vapor Condenser was pointing an invalid Item which was causing build errors
  
• Fixing issue where the Recipe for the Vapor Condenser was pointing to and invalid it which was causing build errors
  
• Fixed Vapor Condenser readout not displaying correctly for clients
  
• Remove ProjectionLocation component from Vapor Condenser and set SK mesh to not update bounds when animating (ComponentUseFixSkelBounds) to prevent widget from wiggling during animation
  
• Update Vapor Condenser icon
  
• Add proper meshable setup for Vapor Condenser
  
• Improvements to Vapor Condenser widget for better readability
  
• Swapping out Analyzer Transmitter mesh for proper pass mess with correct Textures, reimported animations on the new skeleton to include fans turning and slightly more polished deploy animation
  
• Missed base skeleton asset from the last analyzer transmitter commit
  
• Fixing Screen position for Vapor condenser to line up with proper mesh better
  
• Fixing Wrong material being assigned to Vapor Condensor when in active state
  
• Updating vapour condenser deploy sound to match updated animation and slight adjustments to the geyser loops
  
• Fixed screen widget size and position on Vapor Condenser after mesh update

Other Additions, Changes and Fixes

• Adding Radar Pulse for Central Scanner used in the outpost unlock mission. Adding blueprint implementation and audio
  
• Add new Highlightable entry for Caveworm Nest used in Gossamer mission, with name/description and assigned in actor blueprint
  
• Rename Rustic Decor Crafting Bench to Rustic Decoration Bench so it fits better on the UI
  
• Add DT validation for Deployables which dont have focusable set
  
• Removed seemingly erroneous Radar deployable define on Dropship in ItemsStatic and improve DT validation to exclude special case animal carcasses
  
• Added Numerous client strings for UI elements so that they can be translated accordingly
  
• Added Bronze Elephant statue to project.
  
• More elements to the bear cub audio.
  
• DCO_StatueBuffalo_Stone mesh, material and textures
  
• Adjusted mud footstep to be more appropriate in volume. Also put a spacializer on it which was missing
  
• When an Online Prospect save occurs we now also trigger a local save which caches out the Prospect Blob data locally so we have save files with players prospect progress saved locally when the backend server goes down. This can be used in future to restore state if required. Files are saved to Saved/OnlineBackup
  
• Delete unused Prospect Image
  
• DEV - Set up overlap-triggered versions of basic audio objects
  
• IcarusAmbientSound and OverlapAudioComponent, actor and component audio emitters with inbuilt overlap triggers
  
• Removed the audio listener collider from BP_IcarusPlayerCharacterSurvival. Replaced it with a dedicated AudioListenerCollider placed on a new native base class IcarusPlayerCameraManager
  
• Removed an old unused audio emitter version
  
• Increased the weight of crystals gathered in the NIGHTFALL mission, as multiple stacks can be carried of these to increase the possible travel time if required.
  
• Ensured all billboard textures are using correct optimized texture settings
  
• Remove unnecessary references in materials causing more texture loads
  
• Fix expensive lossless compression settings on some textures that dont need it
  
• Moved some assets out of dev folders
  
• Delete unused and expensive assets
  
• Fixed missing icon on Rustic Decoration Bench RecipeSet DT
  
• Fixing issue where the Deployable and Deployable setup Data tables had unsaved changes and referenced the wrong rows, preventing the build from compiling and failing build validation
  
• DEV - fix PlayerReflectionAudioComponent cluster size values only being set if debug was enabled
  
• Fixing typo in GrantedAuraWeightReduction_? stat description so it makes gramatical sense
  
• Fixing cooking station having concrete / stone deploy sound. Changed it to heavy wood deploy
  
• Fixed UMG_CharacterProfileSlot compile error.
  
• Fix Frag and Smoke Grenade physics assets, causing stretched visuals when rolling on the ground after being dropped (not thrown)
  
• Fixed Survey Unit tooltip, used in the NIGHTFALL mission.
  
• Fix up special deployable DT errors with dummy content to pass validation checks
  
• Increasing Calming Presence Aura range to match what is written in the talent description (5m -> 20m)
  
• Updating Game Meat to correctly be called Gamey Meat as all our meat is Game Meat and this specific meat is Gamey
  
• Fixed crafting speed of devices being calculated incorrectly
  
• Fixed crafting timer not using correct crafting duration
  
• Adjusted all crafting recipes after code change to keep current crafting speeds the same
  
• Fix materials on destructible mesh for Electric Deep Mining Drill
  
• Tooltip when hovering over potential prospects in the prospect browser now show correct number of Ren and Exotic rewards given
  
• Increase texture poolsize back to 6000 and increase VT memory pool size back to 256 after .27 upgrade changed back to UE default
  
• Build Issues
  
• Merging 4.27.2 Engine upgrade to Trunk
  
• Modified make setup to run venv after to avoid soft lock
  
• Fixed make setup so now venv doesnt activate after installing
  
• Adjusted how make setup works to see if it fixes build issues
  
• Added make setupteamcity which skips venv since some teamcity jobs get stuck on that
  
• Reuploading .exe for UGS because I think we lost them during engine upgrade
  
• Prospect Abandon button UI Pass
  
• Implemented first pass of mount prototype
  
• Committed missing saddle class from mount prototype commit
  
• Fixed mounts not forcing clients into third person perspective when entering saddle. Fixed bumpy camera movement when riding mount
  
• Can no longer strafe left and right while mounted. Added HeadBlocker collider to mount. Moving backwards on a mount is now 80% slower. Made buffalo AnimBPs movement start/stop less glitchy. Fixed prototype mount damage source location being in the wrong position. Added fur to buffalo mount. Mounts can now play idle montages when not ridden
  
• Moved character stamina cost related functions out of IcarusPlayerCharacterSurvival and into IcarusCharacter. Shifted GetMaxSpeed movement mapping function from IcarusNPCGOAPCharacter to IcarusNPCCharacter.
  
• Added new bespoke AIGrowth and movement speed values for mount. Fixed player being deducted sprint stamina cost if they try to sprint while crouching. Mount can now sprint and swim
  
• UMG_Stamina now generically looks for CharacterStates stamina value on possessed pawn instead of casting to BP survival character directly. Fixed sprint stamina cost only blocking IcarusPlayerCharacters from sprinting, instead of anything with stamina.
  
• Fixed AIcarusCharacter::IsSprinting not using normalised accel/velocity values when it expected them.
  
• Fixed bug where adding to max stamina wouldnt keep the current percentage of stamina.
  
• Fixed sprinting not working for mounted clients. Added very simple BT for mount behaviour.
  
• Mount controller is now cleaned up correctly when a player receives control
  
• Adding in previs riding pose for the ridable creature prototype

Art & Map

• DeepMiningOreDeposits removed emissive on materials
  
• DeepMiningOreDeposits Exotic adjusted emissive intensity
  
• DeepMiningOreDeposit Exotic removed emissive
  
• Add additional material for DeepMiningDrill with emissive disabled (default)
  
• Added LOD Materials for DC Uderwater Rocks and Adjusted SM_Rock_CF_Underwater Material LOD distance
  
• Landscape Sculpting, Cliff Placement and Detail Pass On Custom Cave Entrance, Outpost 008
  
• Added New Foliage Spawners For Snow Trees and Bushes, Outpost 008
  
• Decal Pass On Cliff Meshes, Finishing Up Voxel Pass and Polishing Cliffs, Outpost 008
  
• Polished riverbanks, cliffs and decals, added voxels and completed underground cave, Desert Outpost 007
  
• Polished cliffs and decals, added BP_Cave volumes and cave voids to handmade caves, added light components to drop-down caves, edited waterpoints on all lakes and rivers, Desert Outpost 007
  
• Edited decals and foliage, fixed BP_Cave trigger volumes and edited cave lighting, Desert Outpost 007
  
• Polished decals, cliffs, riverbanks and foliage, playtested in editor and fixed double foliage issue, polished manual cave entrance and BP_Cave volumes, added resources around cliffs, Desert Outpost 007
  
• Landscape painting, decal placement cliff placment around impassable on Outpost 006, Forest Outpost 3
  
• Landscape painting, decal placement procedural spawning on Outpost 006, Forest Outpost 3
  
• Resource Crop Spawning, Voxel Resource Placement, Water Bodies pass on Outpost 006, Forest Outpost 3
  
• Meta Resources, Spawn Locations Clean Up on Outpost 006, Forest Outpost 3
  
• Polished underwater area painted decals on Outpost 006, Forest Outpost 3
  
• Cleanup Polish Pass on Outpost 006, Forest Outpost 3
  
• Cliff clipping through cave on Blue Quad, Styx
  
• Flushed Grass on Red/Yellow Quad, Styx
  
• Covered impassables around arctic in L10/L11 with cliffs to improve collision, fixed floating voxels and resources around Blue/Green quad, edited underwater foliage in Green Quad lakes, removed BP_Tree_AC_Fir_01 and BP_Tree_AC_Pine_01 from arctic transition areas, flushed grass all across Styx map
  
• Added BP_Tree_AC_Fir_01_SnowLite and BP_Tree_AC_Pine_01_SnowLite for Arctic transition areas
  
• Flushed grass on Outpost 004, 007 and Olympus
  
• Added RVT Swamp Water Shader and Textures
  
• Added FlowMap functionalities to Swamp Water
  
• Swamp Rocks - committing prototype and first pass work
  
• Volcanic Rocks - committing prototype and first pass work
  
• Added Texture Maps for Swamp Landscape Material
  
• Styx Cinematic Sequencers Files

A lil somethin somethin: You can find the details for this event on the announcement page here.