[2022] Prehistoric Kingdom - Update 2 (EA 1.0.4)

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

Welcome, park managers!

The second Early Access update is here! This update brings a wealth of changes and performance improvements that target a wide array of systems. If you’ve had issues running Prehistoric Kingdom, we highly suggest giving the game another try and providing us with your feedback.

In addition to these performance improvements, our most notable addition in EA 1.0.4 would have to be support for the Steam Workshop and box selection. These two features go a long way in streamlining the construction side of Prehistoric Kingdom, and we cannot wait to see what the community comes up with.

This update does not include Animal Signs, though they will be coming in the next one.

Features Steam Workshop Support
Support for the Steam Workshop is finally here! Players can upload their own saves and modular prefabs or download community submissions to construct the park of their dreams.



To upload a save, head to the Load Game menu and click the Steam-themed button. This will open the workshop submission form, allowing you to update an existing submission or create a new one.



To upload a modular prefab, click the Steam icon found on any player-made prefabs in the building toolbox. This will open a similar workshop submission form, allowing you to update an existing submission or create a new one.



Players can also upload their builds directly from the Prefab Editor when creating their modular prefab.

Box Selection
Box selection is a quick and handy way to select a cluster of items when inside a modular group. While holding the left mouse button, drag across the screen to create a box. Any items inside this box will be highlighted for selection.



Players can also drag boxes across the screen while in Demolition mode to mass delete anything inside a group with exceptional speed.



Main Menu Update Prompt
In addition to the main menu’s reworked visuals, a prompt will now appear after every substantial update - highlighting new features, items or animals.

Content Enjoy the addition of our new terracotta roof style, a set of vibrant tiles found under the Tropical theme in the customization panel.



We can’t wait to see what the community builds with these!

Full Patch Notes: Features

• NEW: Steam Workshop Support
  • Prehistoric Kingdom is now on Steam Workshop! Discover and download a variety of user-created prefabs and parks, while sharing your own custom creations from the in-game prefab editor!
• NEW: Box Selection
  • Left-click and drag to use the box selection tool while in the modular editing mode to select multiple pieces in real time
    
  • Supports active deselection and demolition
• NEW: Main Menu Update Prompt
  • Introduced a quick update prompt in the main menu to better notify players of notable additions and changes in the newest updates

Additions

• Animals & AI
  • Added new behavioural animations for the following animals. Please note that audio implementation is incomplete and that more animations will be coming to the hadrosaurs:
    
    
    • Tyrannosaurus
      
    • Edmontosaurus
      
    • Iguanodon
      
    • Parasaurolophus
• Buildings & Scenery
  • Added terracotta roof set to the Tropical theme
• Graphics/Visuals
  • Added distant foliage to far-away relief, improving general level fidelity
    
  • Added real-time cloud reflections, tunable via the graphics presets
    
  • Added selection graphics to objects that previously lacked it (e.g. Wind Turbine)
• Audio
  • Added ear and tail flicks to Coelodonta
    
  • Added additive sounds to Mammoth
• GUI
  • Added gamemode-based filters to the available saves list
    
  • Added map-specific loading screen splash assets

Changes

• Camera
  • General camera movement should be smoother and less jittery
    
  • Screenshot mode camera speeds are consistent with regular gameplay
• Gameplay
  • Re-enabled the Tutorial Scenario
    
  • Balanced the feed ordering system, with the maximum amount of feed that can be ordered now being more closely tied to the park’s feeding needs
    
  • Reduced waiting times for feed orders, with the timer now scaling up by a month with every 25 ordered units
    
  • Feed ordering is now disabled if no feed items are selected, or the minimum ordering amount is 0
    
  • Feed order arrival now triggers a notification
    
  • Improved cloud transition speeds
• Save/Load
  • Parallelized loading, thus increasing loading speed
    
  • Added additional smoothing to the loading progress bar
• Foliage
  • Updated slope adherence for trees to remain mostly vertical. This change does not apply to existing painted foliage
• Audio
  • Updated footsteps and terrain sweeteners for Mammoth
    
  • Tweaked fade-in for wind on high camera elevations
    
  • Improved and fixed painted water audio parameters
    • Lake and pond audio now plays in proximity to water bodies
      
    • Enabled an underwater transition sound effect which is affected by player speed
• Graphics
  • Re-enabled Bloom, Vignette, and Chromatic Aberration
    
  • Reworked Grass Density and Draw Distances
    
  • Slightly increased general saturation levels
    
  • Adjusted fly particles to use transparent wings
    
  • Increased saturation of the sky box
    
  • Improved mesh blending between the main terrain and distant terrains on all levels
    
  • Terrain settings below high now scale the shader quality down
• UX
  • Improved the camera tracking and tracking transitions for a smoother feel - tracking small fast targets won’t lag the camera behind anymore
• GUI
  • Save menu items now display custom map names as opposed to the level names we use in the engine
    
  • Updated auto-slope icon for Coastal and Boreal in the texture painting window

Bug Fixes

• Critical
  • Fixed a common crash while loading
    
  • Fixed the feeders occasionally not updating their feed type on user change
    
  • Fixed unreliable multiple piece deletion
    
  • Fixed the weather presets not cycling properly
• Animals
  • Fixed broken animation that would cause Triceratops to get stuck
• Save & Load
  • Patched scene cleanup code that could freeze loading
    
  • Fixed loading edge case where the animals would avoid exhibit fences in the beginning of the game
• Terraforming
  • Fixed water brush undo/redo artifacts
• GUI
  • Fixed issue that would display placeholder Nursery Menu assets when loading a species preview for the first time
    
  • Fixed edge case that would cause the time of day to briefly flash when exiting the Nursery Menu
    
  • Fixed a layout issue with the main menu fading animation
    
  • Fixed modular piece info menu layout issue that would cause the feeder menu showing up if all the pieces were selected
    
  • Fixed masking issue with inquiry texts on save/load menu items
• Rendering
  • Fixed certain graphics options not applying (such as heavy SSR)
    
  • Fixed shadow artifacts on the Medium graphical preset
    
  • Fixed bound-based culling for several items, which resolves modular items disappearing too soon before hitting the edge of the screen
    
  • Fixed a visual glitch that would cause selection rendering to be stuck on the red color after quitting modular group demolition
    
  • Re-introduced underwater rendering after being accidentally turned off in the last update

Performance

• Major optimizations to the modular rendering system
  
• Major optimizations to modular loading
  
• Minor GPU optimizations
  
• Optimized Terrain Shading & Settings
  
• Minor CPU animal optimizations
  
• Minor CPU optimizations to many small systems
  
• Visitor AI Optimizations

Notes

• There are some rare issues related to loading modular colors. Reloading a save may resolve this issue. We will continue looking into this behaviour.
  
• A number of visitor animations are currently broken, resulting in detached mesh pieces. This will be resolved as soon as possible.