[2023] Prehistoric Kingdom - Update 7 (EA 1.1.4)

Welcome, Park Managers and happy one year anniversary!

Thank you to everyone who has played, supported and given feedback to Prehistoric Kingdom. It's crazy to think it's already been a full year, but here we are!

In this update, we've expanded the power system, added new modules and made a lot of important quality of life changes. There have also been some substantial optimizations and stability fixes, though our work on this front continues. Be sure to read the full patch notes!

The Next Update
As a brief aside, we'd like to quickly touch on the next release, Update 8. This update is going to be quite a major one for the game, including a brand new species and completely reworked animal locomotion. Due to the amount of ongoing work required, the update is expected to go live in June.

It's imperative that all of the new backend is efficient and allows us to safely expand it to include future behaviors and improved AI. Thank you all for your patience!

Now, onto the content!

Update 7 Features

Expanded Power System The Research system has been expanded to include the Energy category, coming with 10 researchable items including new generators and upgrades for power output.




This latest update also includes an early iteration of structure durability, allowing key modules such as power generators to breakdown over time. Once broken, players will need to repair the module by selecting the group or broken generator itself. From there, you can click the new "Repair Structure" button.

To ensure that nearby buildings stay powered, we've added Backup Batteries. These utility items will charge up overtime, providing power when a local generator has failed.



In the future, players will have staff to help maintain all the facilities in the park.

New Modules Two new modules have been added to the Structures category within the research system: the Restaurant and Shopping Center!

These modules are significantly larger than the existing kiosks, serving more visitors at once and bringing in greater profits. Like the other modules, their colors can be customized.




In the future, guests will be able to sit in the restaurant booths.

New Prefabs Several new prefabs have been added using the new modules arriving in Update 7. These structures are a great way to quickly build out your park!



This also includes a gorgeous Natural Aviary design, beautifully furnished with wooden architecture and an open internal space.



Biome Vegetation Presets 22 vegetation presets have been added across all the current biomes, allowing for quick and convenient habitat construction. These presets have been curated to provide appealing plant combinations in as few clicks as possible.





Alongside the new vegetation presets, we've refreshed the terraforming toolbox with updated visuals to help with usability. For players who wish to select individual plants, this option is still available!



Terrain Flattening & Adapting Foliage Important modules such as feeders, haybeds, kiosks and bathrooms will now flatten the terrain when placed below or close to the ground. This functionality extends to floor pieces, allowing players to build foundations.

By default, players cannot terraform over floor pieces or modules. For power users, these new terrain rules can be completely disabled in the building toolbox or terraforming window to make some custom structures easier to build (e.g. pools, moats, etc.)




Floating foliage will now be detached from the terrain, allowing players to terraforming without disruption. Plants placed below the terrain will maintain their height offset, even with terrain adjustments!



Furthermore, the plant brush will no longer place foliage on top of paths, fences and modules/floor pieces. As mentioned above, players can disable terrain rules to allow foliage painting on modular pieces again.



PSA: Modular Prefab Updates! Modular prefabs will now be placed from their modular grid height! This change gives players a consistent placement height to work with, allowing you to better curate the placement experience of custom prefabs.

As this is a structural change, it might affect several user prefabs that have been made prior to this modification. To get around this, simply shift the height of all the group’s pieces (quickly selectable through box select or Ctrl+A) to match where they should meet the ground, relative to the grid’s height. Resave your prefab with these changes.

With the help of workshop creators, we believe this new standard will create a more consistent and less-intrusive build experience. We apologize for the inconvenience.






Known Issues & Additional Notes

• Distant trees do not appear on loaded games. We are investigating this ASAP!
  
• Animals can freeze randomly. We are looking into this issue.
  
• For best anti-aliasing, please try the CTAA setting. We will likely enforce this as the only anti-aliasing setting (+ off) in the future.

Full Patch Notes
Features

• NEW: Biome Vegetation Presets
  • Added 22 vegetation presets to the foliage painting menu, allowing players to quickly create a wide array of environments
    
  • Updated terraforming menu layout
• NEW: Expanded Power System
  • Added the Energy research tree
    
  • Added Backup Batteries
    
  • Added 4 new power generators
    
  • Added generator efficiency upgrades
• NEW: Structure Durability
  • Added an early version of structure durability that allows power generators to break down over time. Groups with broken modules can be repaired.

Additions

• Gameplay
  • Enabled the Energy research tree, coming with 10 researchable items:
    • Basic Power Kit
      
    • Solar Panel
      
    • Increased Solar Panel Efficiency
      
    • Wind Turbine
      
    • Increased Wind Turbine Efficiency
      
    • Wind Turbine Large
      
    • Increased Wind Turbine Large Efficiency
      
    • Geothermal Power Plant
      
    • Increased Geothermal Power Plant Efficiency 1 & 2
  • Expanded the Structures research tree, adding 2 new items:
    • Restaurant
      
    • Shopping Center
  • Added automatic terrain flattening! Modules will automatically flatten the terrain if placed within a certain distance threshold from the ground. This will also stop terraforming actions from affecting terrain underneath the respective structures. This also applies to flat floor pieces, as long as their world rotation is 0 on the Z and X axis. Automatic flattening can be disabled through the options menu
• Buildings & Scenery
  • Added Paraceratherium Silhouette
    
  • Added Diesel Generator
    
  • Added Wind Turbine Large
    
  • Added Geothermal Power Plant
    
  • Added Backup Battery Small
    
  • Added Restaurant
    
  • Added Shopping Center
• Prefabs
  • Added Natural Aviary prefab
    
  • Added Restaurant Modern prefab
    
  • Added Giftshop Modern prefab
    
  • Added Large Geothermal Facility prefab
    
  • Added Large Wind Farm prefab
    
  • Added Solar Farm prefab
    
  • Added Small Wind Farm prefab
    
  • Added Small Diesel Plant prefab
    
  • Added Kiosk Apato Apparel prefab
    
  • Added Kiosk Giganto Gifts prefab
• Undo/Redo
  • Added support for vegetation painting in the undo/redo stack
    
  • Added support for path placement in the undo/redo stack
    
  • Added support for path replacement in the undo/redo stack
    
  • Added support for fence replacement in the undo/redo stack
• Audio
  • Added sounds to the refill and clean habitat buttons
    
  • Added sounds to the guest facility buttons in the management view
    
  • Added broadcast variants to Acrocanthosaurus
    
  • Added unique yawn to Protoceratops
• GUI
  • Added a power infomenu panel when selecting power modules, indicating an item’s current output and range, and in the case of backup batteries, current charge

Changes

• Balance
  • Updated minimum animal exhibit sizes, lowering the min. need across the board. The minimum exhibit size for a single animal of each species should now be much lower
    
  • Removed purchasing cost from Excavation Sites. These are now instantly unlocked and purchased upon reaching the required rating level. This change effectively removes a ‘middle man’ cost sink, hopefully making the Challenge mode experience more accessible
    
  • Heavily lowered park costs across the board
    • Lowered animal incubation costs by an average factor of x5
      
    • Lowered animal unlocking costs by an average factor of x4
      
    • Lowered research costs by an average factor of x2
      
    • Lowered upkeep costs by an average factor of x3
• Gameplay
  • Actions can now be carried out while the Management View is open
    
  • Floating vegetation now doesn’t realign with terraforming changes, while plants already colliding with the terrain will keep their terrain offset after terrain editing actions
    
  • Modular Groups now have a far more consistent way to ground themselves to the terrain: the group’s grid height - this means that a structure’s default height position will now always originate at the grid’s height. NOTE: as a structural change, this might affect several user prefabs that have been made prior to this modification. To get around this, simply shift the height of all the group’s pieces (quickly selectable through box select or Ctrl+A) to match where they should meet the ground, relative to the grid’s height. We apologize for the inconvenience
    
  • Fence replacement is now completely blocked if replacing an existing fence with the same fence type
    
  • Foliage painting respects buildings, paths and fences
• Buildings & Scenery
  • Changed visuals for Solar Panel and Wind Turbine
    
  • Improved texture seams on the Igneous Rock piece set
    
  • Moved Donation Box 1,2 and 3 to the Guest Amenities section in the GUI
    
  • Modular style selection now displays all the different styles present in a building (as opposed to one style per styleset), allowing users to quickly swap out specific materials in their structure without having to select individual items
    
  • Removed shadows from modular glass and glass fences
• Foliage
  • Reduced reflectivity of Scots Pine and Bald Cypress leaves
• Audio
  • Adjusted camera mix when underwater
• Visuals
  • Improved dithering effects on the ambient occlusion’s second pass
    
  • Adjusted night time color grading for overcast and stormy weather
    
  • Removed contact shadows from grass rendering - we’ve been going back and forth with this visual tweak for the last few weeks, but ultimately chose to settle on a fluffier, less noisy grass look
    
  • Improved CTAA antialiasing, the game image should feel slightly less jagged overall
    
  • Decreased overall ambient reflectivity
    
  • Further balanced ambient lighting on all levels
• Music
  • Updated a Torvosaurus music cue in the tutorial
    
  • Music is now properly paused when opening the pause menu
• Save/Load
  • Animal fact voice lines now persist in saved games, so they shouldn’t repeat over the same playthrough
    
  • Nursery animal skin ‘seen’ status now persists in saved games
• GUI
  • Streamlined the Landscaping Menu for simpler feature access and ease of use
    
  • Updated the Modular Group Infomenu, compartmentalizing data throughout several windows, for a less cluttered look. Function modules are now more easily accessible through the Overview section
    
  • Updated the Power Management View, drastically simplifying all power-related information
    
  • Updated Mammal Taxonomy data (visible in the Nursery Menu)
    
  • Improved movement smoothing inside the Excavations Menu world-map
    
  • Character voice lines are now properly paused when opening the pause menu
    
  • Improved modular style buttons overflowing in the Structure Styling Toolbox
    
  • The Main Board Undo & Redo buttons now contextually activate/deactivate based on the available undo/redo operation stack
    
  • To combat notification spam on complex park, we’ve set a cap on active notifications pop-ups to 9 at any given time
• Tutorial Improvements
  • Disabled Favorite toggle in the Building Menu during the tutorial scenario
    
  • Nigel takes less time to return to the player with new objectives during the ‘Tree Lizard’ mission
    
  • Camera cinematics are now properly paused when opening the pause menu
    
  • Fixed a premature objective completion case tied to placing the path in the same starting point during the ‘All roads lead to dinosaurs’ mission
    
  • Prevented user from being able to edit terrain height during the tutorial

Bug Fixes

• Critical
  • Fixed one critical bug preventing users from fully loading saves
    
  • Resolved potential research initialization issues
    
  • Fixed modular selection issue tied to changing visual style
    
  • Fixed potentially critical main menu initialization bug preventing users from properly starting up the application
    
  • Fixed critical bug related to dung beetle nest placement
    
  • Guests stuck in the corner of the map are now detected and reset
• Gameplay
  • Fixed issue causing a new prefab placement not triggering on the first GUI click, while editing a modular group
    
  • Fixed path replacement gizmo issues, the tool now refreshes appropriately when switching replacement mode
• Construction
  • Fixed an undo issue that would cause modular objects to be re-created with incorrect positions
    
  • Fixed unintended edge case that would cause first walls in groups to be weirdly unaligned if the ‘Stack’ and ‘Align’ toggles were both enabled
• Visuals
  • Light colors load correctly now
• Audio
  • Stopped exterior post-processing from being audible when underwater
• GUI
  • Fixed another nursery notification edge case that would report the wrong amount of incubated animals
    
  • Fixed new bug causing the save menu not to properly refresh after a new save registration
    
  • Fixed notifications menu issue causing park alerts to bundle in the same notification group, missing any text

Performance

• Fixed multiple critical memory leaks, the game should be less prone to crashing
  
• Significant optimizations to modular processing
  
• Massive CPU optimizations to visitor AI processing
  
• CPU optimization to power visuals processing
  
• Optimized power system memory usage
  
• Massively optimized loading of complex or dense levels (particularly with lots of modules)
  
• Significantly optimized memory load on complex saves

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