V0.26 -  Improved gardens, co-op rafts, multiplayer improvements and lots more

Hey Everyone,

 

For this patch we've totally re-done how enemy and player animations are synced in multiplayer which should both improve animation accuracy and lower cpu usage. We've also fixed some issues with enemy combat in multiplayer games being too easy compared to single player, and worked on some enemy balance which should make things more challenging with multiple players.

 

We've taken a pass at overhauling the garden system. Planting should now make much more sense as little dirt piles appear for each seed you plant. Plants now grow in size over time, so leaving plants for awhile before harvesting is a good idea.

 

The snow area of the world has had some improvements, including some new snow covered props, snow rabbits and some gameplay tweaks to when you get cold.

 

All trees now work with the new wind system, new sound effects have been added for some of the creepy mutants, a bunch of multiplayer and single player bugs were fixed, some new props, some new animations and more.

 

As always, please continue to post your bug reports and feedback in the Discussions area of the Community Hub

 

 

  • (multiplayer) Fixed combat for clients being easier than in single player games due to enemies not using counter attacks as frequently
  • (multiplayer/Balance) Tweaked enemy frequency to work better with multiple players compared to single player
  • (multiplayer) All droppable items now sync between players
  • (multiplayer) All projectiles are now replicated over the network
  • (multiplayer) Fixed swimming sounds of other players being really loud
  • (multiplayer) Fixed a bug that was causing mutants killed by happybirthday trap to not fall down for clients when trap was reset
  • (multiplayer) Fixed some instances of enemies duplicating when killed
  • (multiplayer) Fixed some instances of enemies having wrong material on death, ie not burnt material if killed with fire
  • (multiplayer) Fixed plane not aligned for clients if host plays crash sequence all the way through
  • (multiplayer) Fixed issue with incorrect material on creepy mutant ragdolls
  • (multiplayer) Bloody tables are now synced between players
  • (multiplayer) Raft now synced between players!
  • (multiplayer) Fixed bug where items would remain on pedestal (metal doors) after being placed and taken again
  • (multiplayer) Fixed bug where if one player was holding full map, other players would only see them holding a partial map piece
  • (multiplayer) Fixed some issues with cooking food for clients
  • (multiplayer) Fixed repairing log cabin walls when whole chunk is broken
  • (multiplayer) Fixed a case of save failing for clients
  • (multiplayer/performance) Reduced cost of processing nearby tree detection for host
  • (multiplayer/performance) Optimized animator usage of all creatures in MP
  • Fixed bug where hanging scene could break if player had torch equipped instead of lighter
  • (performance) Removed some extra unneeded mesh colliders on distant objects
  • (performance) Decreased math instructions in ocean shader by 30%
  • (performance) New fully deferred version of skin shader
  • (performance) New Ocean Quality: Wave Displacement Low (previously existing option is now called Wave Displacement High) - note it doesn't change wave height, just how good it looks and how much strain it has on the hardware
  • (performance) Now forcing flat ocean on 32 bits systems
  • (performance) Greatly lowered per frame memory usage of ocean waves
  • (performance) Tuned down bloom on 32 bits systems to limit memory usage
  • (performance) Combined ocean/lake depth passes to save memory
  • (performance) Optimized sheen billboard icons distance detection
  • (performance) Optimized grass displacement system to use terrain height instead of a raycast to find terrain height
  • (Visuals) New art added: Stonewall built models (replaces rock pickup mesh in built walls)
  • (Visuals) New plant vface shader added! More accurate lighting on single sided plants. Included new vface billboards which contain sss
  • (Visuals) Tiered waterfalls now have working water connecting them down to the sea.
  • (Visuals) Cleaned up trees/small plants intersecting sinkhole
  • (audio) New flesh, object smash, tree hit and plane impact sounds for mutant limbs
  • (audio) Improved armsy arm sounds
  • (audio) Added some distant Armsy sounds
  • (audio) Improved mutant baby sounds
  • (audio) Added more cowman sounds
  • (audio) Added garden digging sound
  • (audio) Hitting plane with weapons now plays sound
  • (audio) sound event now plays when player is attacked by a shark
  • (balance) Lowered molotov fire spread duration
  • (balance) Halved chances of raining
  • (balance) Slightly lowered amount of active animals in the world
  • (balance) Pale mutants are now more aggressive when outside of caves
  • New winter top heavy tree added!
  • New item type: Yellow cave crate containing flares
  • New decorative magazine added
  • New burn animations added to creepy mutants
  • New look at story item animation added
  • New add seeds icon for garden
  • New change color icon for stick marker
  • Small wooden cages are now destructible!
  • Fixed plant type that was uncuttable/distorted when hit
  • Fixed treehouse ghost meshes containing old stairs mesh instead of rope mesh
  • Fixed player getting infinite leaves when hitting explosive caches and improved shading on rock over explosive cache
  • Fixed some breakable wood planks in caves not being breakable
  • Fixed garden plants popping on too close even on high draw distance settings
  • Fixed rope mesh vanishing whilst climbing if player was on low draw distance setting
  • Fixed enemies sometimes clipping through walls when jumping over rocks and other objects
  • Fixed bug where dragged mutant would not transition to death if killed
  • Fixed visible section where terrain ended under ocean and would be darker than other water
  • Fixed small (tiny)pine tree having blue outline in far distance
  • Fixed dead wood especially on beach all rotated the exact same angle
  • Fixed some props looking too shiny/broken. Hanging body parts, legs, some enemy built art.
  • Fixed some trees wind settings not matching for trunks causing leaves to visually break away from trunk at some distances
  • Fixed bug where player was able to hit tree's/enemies that were behind him
  • Fixed anchorable rope/tree houses/tree platform climb rope icon overlapping with rope model
  • Fixed ghost traps placing floating above ground (not retro-active)
  • Fixed fish vanishing while running with them on the spear
  • Fixed fish sometimes appearing in the air around player
  • Fixed cooking on raft causing it to go haywire
  • Fixed raft sometimes being unusable after loading a saved game
  • Fixed issue with raft's buoyancy when built bellow water or after severe wobbling
  • Fixed scale on snow ground sparkles
  • Fixed fog height being too low in some snowy areas
  • Fixed player sometimes falling down when exiting at top of ropes
  • Fixed some navmesh issues when placing happy birthday traps
  • Fixed an edge case of rebreather light not turning on underwater
  • Fixed armsy being able to fall into water at the bottom of cave 5
  • Fixed missing dead tennis team in cannibal village
  • Fixed plane axe not getting bloody
  • Fixed a bunch of misaligned rocks, flying rocks, gaps between terrain and cliffs and other world errors
  • Fixed camera sometimes offset on plane when starting a new game from within a previous game
  • Fixed several issues with the rope trap in SP
  • Fixed mutants being able to follow player into water in cave 8
  • Fixed a case of molotov getting stuck unlightable after a failed lighting attempt
  • Fixed medium preset using SMAA by default
  • Fixed an issue where lower half of screen could be black after after loading a game in caves
  • Garden revamp: Seeds are now added one by one and spawn little dirt piles in the garden. Plants grow visually over time and provide from 1 to 3 of their respective yield based on growth time. Plants die after 1 to 2 days (depending on plant) at max yield. Plants growth timer now properly saves as well as account for slept time.
  • Terrain and detail improvements for section above big lake
  • Removed ferns and marigold flowers from snow areas
  • Added new snow covered rock, snow covered hollow log, snow covered dead wood
  • White rabbits will spawn in snowy parts of the map
  • New enemy behaviour:  Fire mutants can now throw firebombs at the player
  • Tree houses & platform now automatically position their rope above ground like anchorable rope does
  • Stick marker now also tints the top cloth piece the color of the flag you set
  • Hitting escape while in options in game now saves it
  • New sinkhole interior art added - along with enemies - sinkhole can now be accessed via lowest cave
  • New blend materials shader (used currently in sinkhole)
  • Improved look of cave 1 entrance, better rock materials and fixed running water settings on cave wall molted type
  • Resetting traps now require to hold the "Take" button for half a second
  • You can now save/Sleep at the tents in world and in caves!
  • Cave props - blue buckets and cut old arms are now dynamic and pushable
  • Burnt arms/legs in overworld are now dynamic objects
  • Orange snow covered tents added to snow section
  • Updated enemy layout in Cave 7 & 8
  • Cave 8 moved walls near entrance to clear walking ledge
  • Cave 8 fixed air pocket in corridor water
  • Cave 8 re-exported walls to fix issue with climbing down ropes through rocks
  • Cave 8 weights moved down to more easily see what you are placing in them
  • Cave 5 added mineral walls to swim up room and added new props
  • Cave 2 removed extra cave corpse in dead room
  • Cave 2 walls rexported with improved collision
  • Cave 2 hole in corridor plugged up
  • Cave 10 extra props added
  • Removed shiny cave debris
  • Less body part debris in caves
  • Rope layer changed so you can see it from further away in caves
  • Improved enemy nav mesh should result in less instances of mutants getting stuck
  • Improved collision on some cliff pieces to stop player poking head through
  • Improved draw distance on outdoor old white tents
  • Improved draw distance on thrown explosives and on built garden plants
  • Improved look for light molotov and light arrow animation
  • Improved look of molotov burning cloth - now correctly uses 2 sided material
  • Improved garden dirt material/texture
  • Improved draw distance on lake lily pads
  • Improved ambient reflections on objects
  • Improved timmy model/textures during plane crash
  • Improved ocean foam lighting at night with torch out
  • Improved look of cave water and fixed sharp edge/white outline around cave water
  • Improved accuracy of bonfire collision and its fire damage range
  • Improved accuracy of plane collision, can no longer crouch/glitch out of plane side doors
  • Improved accuracy of bridge collision shape
  • Removed some old purses and suitcases from overworld
  • Made it easier to light campfires with lighter (lighter does not have to be exactly over the fire any more)
  • Raft's driver now automatically unlocks when raft gets out of water
  • Added a safety net to bridge saving, to allow recovering it if anchor data gets lost. This isn't retro active, broken bridges are gone but all the new ones as well as working ones from saves will make use of the system after saving
  • Food cooking on a fire is now easier to target
  • Crafting mat feather/tooth/tree sap piles are now a bit smaller and teeth are more centered to prevent it from being inaccessible under bottles
  • Weapon rack, explosive holder and metal door now bring up same item if available after putting down one
 

Trailer 2

Hey everyone,

Here it is, the second trailer. Showing life in the forest a few weeks after the initial plane crash.

 

http://youtu.be/KwImGYR2rwg

Happy Halloween

We have a bunch of cool new stuff to show, check back next week for a  new trailer.

Trailer release

Welcome to the development blog for The Forest.

The Forest is an independent game currently in development for PC and Oculus Rift.

Check back at this blog often for new screenshots, videos and updates.