[2019] Patch Notes: Early Access (EXPERIMENTAL) - v0.1.14 - Build 100692

Hey Pioneers!

First of all, this update to the experimental branch is a DANGEROUS one. It’s the most “experimental” build we’ve put out until now, so there will likely be new crashes and bugs. You might have to restart the game after some crashes when playing multiplayer. I’d like to remind you to back up your save files before trying it out. You can find your save files here:

%localappdata%\FactoryGame\Saved\SaveGames\

Second, this experimental update does not include trains. Sorry, but you’ll have to wait a little longer for that. What it does include is the Tier 7 content which we’d like you to try out so you can give us some feedback on the balancing of this next Tier (it is probably the most resource heavy one we have made so far). There is still much missing on the visuals of Tier 7, which will be added before the update rolls out on Early Access.

Additionally, there is a bunch of work we have put into the technical side of the game. Next to the new content we have been working on optimising the multiplayer experience and we hope we’ve got something for you that will make multiplayer run smoother. Now we’d like you all to try it out and see if those optimisations do their job and how we can improve on them further.

We also upgraded our engine version between this update and the last one, which comes with its own potential issues. This means that new bugs could pop up across parts of the game that have been stable before and now, after we’ve done our internal testing, we need more people to play the game with those changes to catch what bugs remain.

Usually, we aim not to push new builds on a Friday, since we won’t be able to react to bugs over the weekend. We are making an exception for this one, so we can collect your feedback until Monday and dive right into fixing any of the new issues then. This does mean that today's version will not receive any patches until next week.

Hope you’ll be enjoying the new content and that you are excited for the Trains to come in soon!

NEW CONTENT

• Tier 7 (Overall still work in progress)
  • Nuclear Power. Take your power production to the next level with Nuclear Power Plants, but be wary of the radiation! You’ll have to deal with the Nuclear Waste you are producing.
    • This includes a Hazmat Suit to keep yourself safe from radiation.
  • Bayer Process. Now it is time to integrate Bauxite into your production pipelines and set up the production of several new parts. You’ll also be able to try out the next step in quickly extracting resources with the Miner Mk.3 and the Conveyor Belt Mk.5
    • We also added a few alternate recipes for the new content.
  • Overall there are 12 new producible resources added to the game. Let’s see how big your factories will grow with incorporating all of them!

BALANCING

• Doubled Circuit Board stack size
• Tweaked resources in several areas
  • Red Jungle (Plateau northwest of Grass Fields)
    • Added Bauxite, Uranium and Coal
  • Bamboo Fields (Plateau north of Grass Fields)
    • Added Bauxite and Coal
  • Swamp (Northeast of Grass Fields)
    • Completely overhauled resource placements and added new nodes

BUG FIXES

• Fixed an on load crash related to the Small Stinger
• Fixed crashes related to Arachnophobia Mode
• Fixed an issue with chat blocking input over other widgets
• Spore Flowers now properly react to client players
• Dragged inventory objects now centre on the cursor
• Fixed the fall damage issue with Landing Jelly
• Alien Armour Plates dropped by the Flying Crab Hatcher are now visible for client
• Fixed the MAM getting locked on ongoing research if the time was corrupt
• Conveyor Pole holograms now show properly under the Conveyor Belt for client

UI

• Updated the style of the item pick-up notification
• Updated the style of menu window tabs
• Updated the launch button
• Tweaked the damage animation of the Health Bar

QUALITY OF LIFE

• Adjusted dropping items from inventory. They will now stack together if possible and should find clear places to be dropped around the player.
• Added a Codex feature that allows you to check up on the cost of Recipes, Buildings and Equipment wherever you are (open with X)
• Added a search bar for the Craft Bench & Build Menu
• Added a checkbox to only show affordable items in the Craft Bench

FACTORY

• Tweaked shadows on last LOD of Conveyor Belts

WORLD

• Overhauled the Swamp visuals (Northeast of Grass Fields)
• Rework of the Bamboo Fields in progress (On plateau north of Grass Fields)
• Reworked the Red Jungle (On plateau northwest of Grass Fields)
• Overhauled the Dune Desert visuals including fog & lighting (Northeast corner of the map)
• Updated gameplay in the Desert Canyons (North and east of the Northern Forest)
• New gameplay pass over the Swamp
• Made the Bamboo sway in the wind
• Updated the Willow Tree visuals (Used mainly in Northern Forest and Swamp)

OPTIMISATION

• Network optimisation of Conveyor Belts
  • Reduced conveyor network footprint
    • Message size reduction (Most messages reduced to an 8th in size, but depends on the specific conveyor/use case. But even the largest messages are far under 50% in size)
    • Replication Frequency & Priority Tweaks (Should result in more effective use of the data/reduced overhead, and less issues in moments of data congestion)
  • Improved item pickup from conveyors
    • Added server rollback states and version tracking on interactions for improved precision (pinpointing exact items should work now even on high ping)
    • Added client side prediction for improved responsiveness
  • Improved item placement accuracy on conveyors
    • Guaranteeing the pattern of items on conveyors to closer match that of the server
    • Compensating for delays or earlier than expected add/remove events over time, minimising popping and drifting
    • Added extra compensation animation as items are just about to move out of a conveyor
  • Current side effects/future work on conveyors
    • The overall reduced replication frequency combined with the visual compensations can make seams between two connected conveyors look a bit weird atm. Will be fixed soon, along with yet another significant reduction in net replication data.
    • Some popping in the start area of a conveyor can still be observed at times as we currently prioritise to remove popping in the end of the conveyor and responsiveness. This will be tweaks and improved as we go and see more real use cases.
    • We might consider reducing the data of initial replications on a conveyor, making their start state stream in over time instead, to reduce spikes in network data when loading into a game with a lot of conveyors close by
• Reduced network data on session join for clients
• Fixed a bunch conditional replication (replication dependency):
  • Generalised and improved the system to be used in more places easier
  • Made this system work better with saving games
  • Player equipment only replicate when actively equipped, and unequipped equipment is ignored.
  • Improved conditional replication to not trigger when it’s the server triggering interactions (The server already have the real state and don’t need to hook up for additional replication)
  • Made all inventory slots use the conditional replication, significantly reducing replicated data across most buildings
  • Refactored Overclocking and made it use the dependency system
  • Added/Moved more replication to the dependency system for:
    • All manufacturers
    • All storage Buildings
• Improved the data footprint of replicating Factory Building legs/supports
• Removed far distance shadows in the persistent levels?
• Optimised Pond, River and UnderWaterSurface materials
• Grouped Factory ticks
• Added waterfall LODs

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