Dev Diary #25

[arkaeldren 17]

On 1/6/2018 at 12:58 PM, Aleš Ulm said:

@KittenRaee Hm, I'm not really aware of many players who are experiencing such long periods of time when the game becomes unresponsive or frozen. That being said, there are some awfully big performance drops when moving over ylands when chunks of a terrain and objects are being loaded, moments when fps plummets momentarily (these happen even to people with powerful PCs for whom the game otherwise runs rather smoothly). We've actually talked about those several times in the past and it's obvious that this needs to be fixed. Unfortunately, there's not really an easy fix for this since it requires rather large adjustments done to several areas of code. We're already working on it but as I said earlier these optimizations will be gradual over the course of several months.
However, I haven't really heard from anyone for whom this would manifest in such an extreme manner so I'm not really sure if we're talking about the same issue and yours isn't, in fact, caused by something else (if there are others among you who are experiencing something similar, please let us know - thanks!).

May I please ask you to post this in the Bug section of the forum? You may want to add your game logs and dxdiag right away - if you're not sure how to get those, just start the thread and we will help you with the rest. If you already done this, please post the link in here. I'll make sure it gets enough attention (I understand that it must be very frustrating for you). Also, feel free to contact me via PM at any time. Thank you!

@Lupowop Well, it is true that she's the one who compiles this "Most pressing issues" list and knows the best which features are the most requested ones so yes, she has a big say in what gets fixed or implemented  (plus, one simply does not argue with the queen of memes   ). 

 

 

I think its a bit of an exaggeration calling it 6-7 seconds, but it is a persistent and serious issue.   On an ending note, thank you for being patient with your responses.  I could not be so diplomatic with any gaming community.

Edited January 8, 2018 by arkaeldren

[Lupowop 31]

On 1/6/2018 at 2:58 PM, Aleš Ulm said:

@Lupowop Well, it is true that she's the one who compiles this "Most pressing issues" list and knows the best which features are the most requested ones so yes, she has a big say in what gets fixed or implemented  (plus, one simply does not argue with the queen of memes   ). 

 

 

I can totally see this.  I, so far, have been impressed by how active you ALL are in the forums but I think @Ane is truly the "glue" that binds us (the users) to you all (the creators).  We sure do appreciate all of you but I personally thank her for "seemingly" reading every single forum post... I know I try to keep up and help here and there but it seems you are all "on top of this"... Please keep up the great work.  You truly have a masterpiece in the making.... this game (and I'm being sincere here) is a very close second to the survival genre that has truly captivated me.  The first being Minecraft and the second being ARK(when it first came out... not now)... I know it's totally different than ARK but I get the same "sense of giddiness" I had when taming my first dinosaur when discovering a new "treasure" or the same sense of awe when finding a truly amazing cave... Building in Ylands has fast become one of my favorite things to do and just seeing and "reading" all the potential goodness coming our way... I'm just happy I stumbled into this game!

[yumikaze 6]

great update!!!

[Aleš Ulm 1725]

10 hours ago, Soondead-27d3f9fbcbfb78c3 said:

Aleš, is there any chance the DS 0.6.3 can contain a way to harness the logs a bit? Perhaps limit the logging rate, file size, a command to reset the log file on demand or even allow some way to filter out unwanted noise.

If you're referring to DS logs getting really huge over time then yes, that is something that is addressed in 0.6.3

[Jimmi G 0]

32 hours in and going! Been enjoying it and making a list of things that I think would be improvement (pending reflection).

Just curious about one things (not sure if this is mentioned on other threads) is how the new updates will be handled in relation to older saves (existing ones). Are we looking at incompatibility down the line or wipes of saves? Thanks!

[Indian Chief 239]

Thanks for the update. Still loving this game, so much to do while you guys work on the bugs first. I'm happy that you're working on the bugs first. I'll post more ideas when you get to that stage.
Good luck and continue the great work so far.
208 hours so far

[destr0nas 0]

nice to read!

 

but because the idea for dedicated servers ive got a question. would the actually multiplayer (P2P) be active in the future too?

the problem is this: not any player would spent money for an dedicated server host, and the peer2peer option are very stable (i use a 2k internet cable and it works perfectly how it is in moment)

the only sync problems that we´d found are the graphical sections of water - if you build a small cave - it needs very much amount of time before the cave is filled with water again while you look

under the water, so you can see some "dirt pins" and "air bubbles" which you can hanging on.

 

for a short feedback  we would be very happy!

 

 

 

[Lupowop 31]

7 hours ago, Jimmi G said:

32 hours in and going! Been enjoying it and making a list of things that I think would be improvement (pending reflection).

Just curious about one things (not sure if this is mentioned on other threads) is how the new updates will be handled in relation to older saves (existing ones). Are we looking at incompatibility down the line or wipes of saves? Thanks!

@destr0nas so on the last "big" update where we got the force field; the devs wrote that we would have to start new games as that would "break" things... The patch was implemented flawlessly and nothing was broken... it was applicable to your current build and everything worked fine... Now.... with that said... I'm no programmer but so far my experience with patches big and small has been very positive and my "home" base is still my home...

[Eva Pilot 01 1]

On 1/5/2018 at 9:08 PM, Aleš Ulm said:

* Inventory items disappearing or getting stuck between inventory slots/ outside the inventory panel etc.
We are aware of this issue and understand that it is rather annoying, but at least this gets "fixed" by restarting the game. We are planning to do some GUI-related changes, and this will get fixed along with some other issues.

 

Can this be a priority on together with MP fixes? I play the game as a host. Mainly because for the life of me i couldn't figure out how to run the DS.
This bug when inflicted upon me means I either have to stop doing what I am doing (usually crafting) or kick everyone off to restart.
Kinda ruins it as a host. 

Or another option is can the game launch a mini ds or host ds or something like that that allows host to play as a player instead of as the server? Host can then log off but have the instance run in the background for a set duration of time. (this is a "I have a dream" scenario) 

I'm really trying to get the DS to work but i'll post the request for guidance in the appropriate channel.

[Aleš Ulm 1725]

@LupowopYes, in the end we gave the generator even to characters in existing games. Unfortunately, something like this is not always an option.

Before every update, a lot of effort goes into making sure that it works with your existing saves so unless something unforeseen happens you should be able to keep your games functional throughout EA. I don't think that even when we leave Early Access your save games will become invalid (but it's still months ahead and anything can happen - and if something like that would have to be done, we would discuss it with you in advance in here).

The problem, however, lies elsewhere. In Exploration many things are created when the world is generated (when you start the game for the first time). While most of the features we add work even in the existing games, the problem is with changes that actually add something in the world. To give you an example - all those cool random places you encounter on various ylands are generated when the new game starts for the first time. With 0.7 we'll be adding some new places like that that will have NPCs in them. There will be no way for you to run into any of these unless you start a new game.

We understand that this isn't ideal but it has to be done this way. Making sure that players can experience absolutely everything new added to the game without having to start a new game would mean a tremendous amount of additional programming which currently is needed elsewhere (please note that we are talking about EA only - once we leave it, things will have to be handled differently). That being said we're discussing how to make a transition into the new game less painful for those who spent dozens of hours playing in their current worlds.

@Eva Pilot 01 We talked about this issue only yesterday and someone is actually looking into it right now. It won't be fixed in the upcoming 0.6.3, but very likely in 0.7. As for DS: yes, you can host DS and join is just like other players do (but with admin rights - the upcoming 0.6.3 will make managing things easier for you somewhat). That way even if you have to restart your game it won't affect others playing on that DS.  If you're not sure how to do that, try asking in the DS section, I'm pretty sure you'll get an answer there. If not, PM me and we'll discuss that.

 

[blfonsworth 10]

By chance is there any sort of ETA on 0.7 for the inventory bug as you mentioned? I'm pretty excited about Ylands but I can't play it atm. I get an item glitched every minute or so and within 5-10 minutes several items are glitched and I'm forced to restart because there's something glitched that I need to use. My friends play on my world so they have to restart every time I do. They dont have the issue as badly as I do, actually only 1 of them has an issue with it and he says it rarely does it. It's bad enough on my client that I just decided to stop playing until it's fixed, I've been checking in every week to see if there's been a patch for it. We had 6-8 people playing at one point, now just 1 person plays on his own world

Edited January 9, 2018 by blfonsworth

[Aleš Ulm 1725]

@blfonsworth I should be able to give you more information about this in the second half of this week. In the meantime, since you say it happens to you a lot, do you think you would be able to tell us what exactly you're doing when it happens? Are you trying to drag and drop some item and then something happens? Do you press any keys in that moment, where do you drop it exactly etc. (or even if you manage to capture it on video  ) - any information is welcome, very helpful and directly increases the chance you'll get your hands on the fix sooner  -  we need to be sure we find all the possible causes of this. thanks! 

[Lupowop 31]

@Aleš Ulm thanks for your prompt reply!... I am TOTALLY ok with having to "restart" with such a big update.  I cannot wait to meet NPC's (good or bad) out on ylands... I'll totally rebuild for that.... besides... half the fun of this game is Exploring new places and what better new place than a totally new world!  It would be nice (in the future) to have a "saved" character that retains his learned recipes even when he starts in a new world... I realize I had a frustrating blast trying to find all the recipes but when I start a new world it would be nice to have that "memory" still available to me.... also... perhaps something that should go into the feedback... The books you find.... you obviously put a lot of effort in those books... it would be nice to say find "the joy of cooking" and get a few nice recipes out of it... just think of the possibilities...

 

[blfonsworth 10]

2 hours ago, Aleš Ulm said:

@blfonsworth I should be able to give you more information about this in the second half of this week. In the meantime, since you say it happens to you a lot, do you think you would be able to tell us what exactly you're doing when it happens? Are you trying to drag and drop some item and then something happens? Do you press any keys in that moment, where do you drop it exactly etc. (or even if you manage to capture it on video  ) - any information is welcome, very helpful and directly increases the chance you'll get your hands on the fix sooner  -  we need to be sure we find all the possible causes of this. thanks! 

I've been trying to narrow that down myself but I can't seem to find any 1 thing that does it. I have noticed it seems to happen a lot if I'm dragging an object around in my inventory, especially if I try and drop it on a spot that is already occupied (not stacking same items) or if I press a key while moving it. Moving things on and off the toolbar seems to do it as well but not as often. Picking objects up seems to also do it but not as often as the drag/drop.

I thought maybe there were too many items in the game world to keep track of and maybe it was a database issue, so I started trying to clean up a lot of the trash on the ground. That didnt seem to help so I tried a new game.

Starting a new game world it took nearly an hour for the first item to be glitched, but once the first item went more followed pretty quickly.

edit: I forgot to mention a few other things.. it also does it when drag/dropping from container to personal inventory or from personal to container. The container inventory doesn't glitch out nearly as often but it is possible. It's a much more rare glitch than my personal inventory. Also, after the 19th/20th patch the bug stopped for a very brief time but then started back again. When it started up again it functioned different, but was very specific:

-Item A dragged onto Item B, Items would not switch places and Item A is placed into the open spot next to Item B and Item A is now glitched. I can no longer interact with Item B but I can Move Item A into any other spot which makes Item A no longer glitched. If I move it back to that spot and it's glitched.

-I move a 3rd, Item C, into the open spot next to Item B (where Item A was moved and glitched) and Item C is now glitched, if I move it away it's no longer glitched.

-If I move Item C onto Item B, they do the same as before.. they do not trade places, instead Item C is moved into the closest open spot (just like A was) and is now glitched.

The only way to make Item B unstuck or to get the open slot it was moving items to not be glitched is to reset.

The weirdest part is that this post-update glitch only lasted through a few resets and then it stopped working that way and went back to being random and not being able to move any glitched items around.

Edited January 9, 2018 by blfonsworth

[kimbuck 746]

With the new update with  npc's,  would it  be possible  instead of having to restart the game,  that the Players Base remains  as it is ...and  all the  surrounding  old  Ylands disappear and re-generated with the  NPC's  so the player can go exploring again to re discover new Ylands, and not lose all that's been crafted or built?

If so, perhaps that option could be  added to the  game  so  that players  can continue  afresh after they  have  apparently  discovered  everything.

[Aleš Ulm 1725]

Long story short: unfortunately that would be extremely difficult to do (if even possible - programmers would first have to see if it even can be done) :). It would definitely be very time-consuming (both the implementation and testing) - while it's very likely that in some cases it would result in something far from ideal anyway. To be perfectly honest it isn't really worth the effort and time - those we will put into fixing and making cool new stuff instead.  But just as I said earlier we understand that this is a problem and are trying to find some solution. 

[kimbuck 746]

Understood ..but  its fun to toss new ideas around  even if  impracticable ...   who knows,  something  might be worth considering later on.

When the   new version with the  NPC's  does arrive,  will  the   players  like me   who have put  considerable  effort and time in a game and developing its base still be  able to continue....   with all the  fixes ...the only difference being  no NPC's?

[kimbuck 746]

SAs the  devs  use  catchy  names for  updates...  like   wonderful writing...   and  the   latest  " countless colors",   i wonder what the next  update   will be  called...perhaps  " Naughty NPC's "    

[Ane 1213]

On 5/1/2018 at 2:08 PM, Aleš Ulm said:

The next major update is 0.7 "Cheerful Characters",

[kimbuck 746]

Spoilsport 

[Ane 1213]

10 minutes ago, kimbuck said:

Spoilsport 

I just learnt a new word thanks to you!

[kimbuck 746]

OMG !  you  becoming an  aussie?      ( Thats  an Australian!   )  

[Aleš Ulm 1725]

As for this issue: Inventory items disappearing or getting stuck between inventory slots/ outside the inventory panel etc.

- we have just fixed it. With the fix in place we are no longer able to reproduce it so fingers crossed that this was the only cause :). It will be released as a part of  0.6.3 sometime next week

 

[kimbuck 746]

Is it possible, therefore to  load resources and  weapons  etc  from my base  in the 0.6 version onto a  ship ... then  move them  in the  ship via the editor  into a new game on the 0.7 version when its released?  that could be a work around ..and  awesome!

Edited January 11, 2018 by kimbuck
left out a word..

[WijkagentAdrie 384]

On 10-1-2018 at 3:46 PM, Aleš Ulm said:

As for this issue: Inventory items disappearing or getting stuck between inventory slots/ outside the inventory panel etc.

- we have just fixed it. With the fix in place we are no longer able to reproduce it so fingers crossed that this was the only cause :). It will be released as a part of  0.6.3 sometime next week

 

Brilliant, one of the worst bugs of the moment fixed