Several weeks of May were used to push out necessary/backlogged updates for Unturned. Unturned II devlogs are released when we feel there's enough to discuss or push out an update for.
For resources regarding information like this, it's usually posted on the official roadmap, or in the latest U3 patch note or U4 devlog (whichever one is more relevant at the time).
This is super false -- anybody can host their own server. Now, if your ISP is blocking ports and they make it difficult for you to port forward, that's a different issue entirely.
As far as I know Nelson is mostly working on II right now. He just updates Unturned 3.0 to make new possibilities for modders to let all modifications kinda lead the way of Unturned 3.0, while Nelson is working on II.
Just to bounce off this comment -- you basically answered your question of "what takes that long" yourself. The last couple weeks were used to provide necessary updates to U3 (alongside some other stuff that has been planned/requested but backlogged for a while).
If Steam can detect the input device (in this case, your Thrustmaster) then it should work but you'd obviously have to map controls yourself through Big Picture Mode. If Steam doesn't recognize the device, or it recognizes the device but not the inputs, then you'll likely have to use an emulator so Steam recognizes the inputs.
Why would you p2p with friends (yes ok r/minecraft is an exception to this)
I think there's a misunderstanding of what's being discussed in the comment chain. A "private game" doesn't mean anything besides that it's private, such as with a password or a whitelist. It's not the opposite of a dedicated server, nor has anything to do with whether or not you port forward. Anyone can make a private server.
It's not the opposite of a dedicated server, which could more accurately be described as a listen server. But when people think of games like Don't Starve, Garry's Mod, and Terraria, those are actually using Steamwork servers.
When Turkey-er mentioned P2P, they're probably referring to peer-to-peer (not pay-to-play, which I think you may have interpreted it as).
I believe we've said there'd be a playable beta/demo version of the game by 2019 (which has happened), and more-or-less jokingly said that the game would most definitely be publicly available to everyone before 2025.
We've never put out an actual release date, but an actual release date will be available when it makes sense to have one. It doesn't make sense to have one right now.
There are, which is why I didn't make a comment about plugins.
My prior understanding was that Hykscraft offers pre-compiled versions of a lot of the plugins linked on the official RocketMod subreddit, and provides (will provide?) services to future plugin developers.
I don't have anything to say regarding that, so I didn't. :X
RocketMod should only be acquired from the patched version included with the game's base installation. Using older versions (i.e., versions from archives / third-party websites) won't work, especially for Linux hosters.
There are a lot of different ways to do light shading! The source code for Unity's Universal Render Pipeline was a good reference for the Unity internals. This does per-object forward lighting in a single pass which I think might prove useful to keep the dithering stable.
4.20.7.0 update introducing the first melee weapon: a fire axe.
These past two weeks were focused on core melee functionality for the fire axe item, fisticuffs, and gun smacking. There is still more work needed for the fists and guns however, so only the fire axe is included in the update.
Melee Part I
Warning: the blood and gore setting is enabled in this video.
Melee damage is dealt entirely from the 3rd-person animation intersections. (Whereas in Unturned the damage is "hitscan" directly toward your crosshair.) This means an attack of the weapon can strike multiple targets as long as the blade itself hits them.
Each weapon defines multiple hit shapes (boxes, capsules) that optionally deal damage. For example, the handle of the axe will interrup...