Dev Diary #53

[Aleš Ulm 1725]

Hey there, fellow ylanders.

This week we have finally released the update 0.11 “Peak Performance”. It is by far the largest update that we’ve done so far.

We’ve been working on the optimizations for quite a long time and are very happy with the results. In massive scenes with tens of thousands of objects we’ve seen FPS rise well over ten times. In newly generated games without lots of structures (like Explore), the FPS gain is lower but still noticeable. The important thing is, though, that the optimizations aren’t only about getting higher FPS - we managed to make the game run smoother in general, and we are far from being done!

We have made some serious under-the-hood changes and improvements, so it's quite likely that we also broke some things. This is why we'd like to ask you to report any bugs, anomalies, or flying sharks you experience. As we've said, this is just a step (an important one) towards improving the game and further fixes, changes and performance gains for custom ships and multiplayer modes are coming with update 0.12.

With the new optimizations Ylands runs faster and smoother - anyone fancy a race?

 

While we are very happy about the features present in this update, there are things we could have done better. The most obvious error is that we were unable to communicate properly to our players how some of the new or updated features were supposed to work , which made it difficult to use those. We could have been clearer with telling what the intended behavior is and what issues need to be reported and fixed. Because of the sheer size of the update, we focused almost entirely on getting things done and didn’t put enough effort into making sure the changes to existing systems were documented and explained well enough - for which I apologize.
We’ve discussed how we need to improve this - we will take some steps to fix this for 0.12 and will do a much better job in the future. I will talk about the steps we intend to take soon in one of the Dev Diaries.

We’ve been analyzing all the feedback you’re providing us with and will release several fixes and improvements in the upcoming small update 0.11.1, which - if everything goes right - should be released in a week or so. In this update we also plan to let you enable the first person camera via console command (as an experimental, unsupported feature). At the same time we will be actively working on a better solution to this problem.

Another thing that you’ve been asking about is the termination of the official Explore / Create servers. This was a decision born out of necessity, yet could have been communicated much better. As most of you know, these servers were not moderated by us, filled with griefers and people who were actively looking for ways of spoiling the fun for others. Even though we’ve introduced several features and fixes that helped with some of the issues, many others remained. For many new players these servers are one of the first places they go when they start playing. The fact that those were our official servers made it look like this is something we consider fine. After getting quite a lot of feedback on this we’ve decided to terminate those servers until we come up with fixes for several specific issues. When we do, we will restart those servers - we consider them to be a very important experience, especially for the new players. It goes without saying that even those running their own dedicated servers will benefit from those fixes and improvements. So the bottom line is: this is a temporary answer to a problem we are facing, and we are doing our best to solve it - so yes, the official servers WILL come back in the future.

That’s it for today. Have a great weekend, ylanders, and as always - stay classy!

[RedEagle_P1. 905]

Awesome work guys! 

1) The FPS improvement is noticeable for many of us

2) Removal of official servers gives small creators a reason to build fun custom servers because people will actually hop on and play them (setting up an EU one now) 

 

Things that could improve: 

When the new update like this comes out a lot of people get flustered because the changes changed something they love.

You guys are very attentive to listen but it's very hard to separate the noise from the facts.

I would set up a system such as uservoice which will allow people to clearly categorize and vote suggestions in a much more efficient way than on the forum. The result is much higher quality feedback and the ability to hear from those who would rather vote than actually write an argument for or against something.

 

[HetNeSS 8]

FPS are noticeable, agreed. Jumped straight up from "normal" graphic settings to "ultra" with stable 60 fps all the time around. I do starting to kinda like those updates, really. Like, smooth and not quite celebration-like, but in the end, it makes a difference

Edited November 23, 2018 by HetNeSS

[bojo2736 1016]

Thanks for the update, @Aleš Ulm.  Thank you for hearing us on the first person thing.  It really is a game breaker for some. 

@RedEagle_P1. a vote system might feel more efficient, but it doesn't get at anything but the predecided parameters of whoever made the poll. Allowing for players to express why something does, or does not work is valuable.

This is early access, and the whole point of early access is the information gained by players using the game out in the wild.

One more specific thank you to the dev team. The bloody flying sharks seem to be a thing of the past. It is so satisfying to see the old ones fall back into the sea as you approach them. You don't even have to get very close.  But it does seem like my pigs and panthers have learned how to climb trees.

Edited November 23, 2018 by bb cakes_P1
Spelling

[RedEagle_P1. 905]

18 minutes ago, bb cakes_P1 said:

Thanks for the update, @Aleš Ulm.  Thank you for hearing us on the first person thing.  It really is a game breaker for some. 

@RedEagle_P1. a vote system might feel more efficient, but it doesn't get at anything but the predecided parameters of whoever made the poll. Allowing for players to express why something does, or does not work is valuable.

This is early access, and the whole pint of early access is the information gained by players using the game out in the wild.

One more specific than you to the dev team. The bloody flying sharks seem to be a thing of the past. It is so satisfying to see the old ones fall back into the sea as you approach them. You don't even have to get very close.  But it does seem like my pigs and panthers have learned how to climb trees.

I guess what I like about uservoice is that it allows the community to tell the developers which issues are priority. Right now suggestions and such quickly sink down as new ones come in (in the forum). I would love to see the most pressing issues rise up. 

 

[bojo2736 1016]

I would hate to have the "lesser" ones disappear.  Prime example is the naming issue we are having in MP. I don't think it would get any attention because it only seems to effect those running multiple servers. Aka just P1 right now.  We managed to find an issue that can now be addressed with MP 0.12.

Another good example is the first person thing. Their raw numbers said it wasn't a big deal since most players didnt use it that much.  But it is game breaking for some. It has made specifically sailing hard for me. And fine placemnet of objects.  I don't think their raw numbers showed them that. And the numbers alone didn't suggest the compromise we will be getting.

[JgrPower 6]

11 minutes ago, bb cakes_P1 said:

The bloody flying sharks seem to be a thing of the past.

@bb cakes_P1No problem
 

 

11 minutes ago, bb cakes_P1 said:

But it does seem like my pigs and panthers have learned how to climb trees.

Interesting, but definitely not related to the flying sharks issue. Is it happening often?

[Fompster 141]

I'm really liking the new features so far but I mostly work in the editor and here are a few things I noticed:

• I'm randomly getting small flashes of light when moving objects (it rarely happens but the lights come in the colors red and yellow)
• When duplicating objects manually sometimes the GUI box doesn't disappear
• Only happened once so far but after a while of building the X, Y, Z arrows kept on shrinking to the point that I couldn't click on them because they were so small
• Also when copying and pasting colors into another object the alpha will turn to 0 (eg. FFF4D418 -> FFF4D400)

But for the rest everything is great, keep up the good work!

Edited November 23, 2018 by Fompster_P1
Missed something

[bojo2736 1016]

2 hours ago, JgrPower said:

@bb cakes_P1No problem
 

 

Interesting, but definitely not related to the flying sharks issue. Is it happening often?

Yesterday I found two pigs (not together) about halfway up a bamboo tree.  The panthers, both the brown ones, where at the top of trees. I will make a topic if it's more than a one time anomoly.

[Indomitus 388]

I've encountered a couple of flying bears.  And while my sharks might not fly anymore, they do occasionally come ashore to sunbathe.

[kimbuck 746]

I have   seen  panthers  on top of  trees ..and also a  bear  floating offshore....  and   tree climbing  pigs ....   hmmmm ..also  encountered   4  horses   in a  rather  compromising  foursome!

[Obba95 10]

The Editor is buggy. When I Ctrl + D things, the rotation tool bugs (it continuously rotates, and right clicking seems to save the location I want, but it keeps rotating?) and I can't delete anything (Delete just doesn't work). And I have to exit and enter to make all the stuff normal again.

[Indomitus 388]

1 hour ago, Obba95 said:

The Editor is buggy. When I Ctrl + D things, the rotation tool bugs (it continuously rotates, and right clicking seems to save the location I want, but it keeps rotating?) and I can't delete anything (Delete just doesn't work). And I have to exit and enter to make all the stuff normal again.

I've seen this as well, with the Move tool, and mostly when editing an Explore map.

[ike_d 1]

4 hours ago, Obba95 said:

The Editor is buggy. When I Ctrl + D things, the rotation tool bugs (it continuously rotates, and right clicking seems to save the location I want, but it keeps rotating?) and I can't delete anything (Delete just doesn't work). And I have to exit and enter to make all the stuff normal again.

By chance do you have another controller plugged into your machine? I had a similar problem, but in game not using any editors. I unplugged my G27 wheel and it stopped. 

[leo_chaos 23]

The new save we just started is the first one for a while and the difference in YLands even in the last few months is amazing!

So much has improved since I first started playing, currently there's 3 things I things that take away from my experience a bit: 

- Sounds, the main one- The weather really could do with its own volume slider as the rain volume is so loud and if you go underwater then surface during a storm the sudden noise hurts and the same goes with the small steam engine (only engine I've used since I played before) I hate getting it going or having to reverse due to the volume of the noises it makes. If I turn down sound effects though it seems like I lose too much noise from everything else, especially the quieter noises associated with that slider.

- The ability to lock something in place in game would make a BIG difference, we put down a coal bucket or something for light and everyone keeps picking it up and having to place it again, a lock/unlock in position option in the action wheel would remove a lot of frustration and allow for more customisation

- Block descriptions which I found by trying to add a sloped block the a floor, some of the blocks rotations don't show much about the shape and when built they can be much smaller/larger or even a different shape than expected. In the info panel to the right when a block is clicked which shows the needed materials, a small image on a grid could give us a sense of exactly what we're building much better than the static image from the catalogue

Edited November 27, 2018 by leo_chaos
forgot the third one 

[Brbrmensch 32]

i have a few questions:

do you plan on making fire?

do you plan on making global communications, say, if you build a radio

Spoiler

not even talking about not having enough space to gain the speed

 

[Ane 1213]

17 hours ago, leo_chaos said:

- Block descriptions which I found by trying to add a sloped block the a floor, some of the blocks rotations don't show much about the shape and when built they can be much smaller/larger or even a different shape than expected. In the info panel to the right when a block is clicked which shows the needed materials, a small image on a grid could give us a sense of exactly what we're building much better than the static image from the catalogue

In the 0.12 update we will be adding descriptions of the blocks with their approximate sizes (like 1x1x2), so when you hover with the mouse cursor over them, you will see what exactly you're building.

[Ane 1213]

4 hours ago, Brbrmensch said:

do you plan on making fire?

do you plan on making global communications, say, if you build a radio

What do you mean? There's already fire in the game.

Not a radio, but we'd like to have some sort of global chat.

[StoutCrusher 37]

19 hours ago, Brbrmensch said:

do you plan on making fire?

I'm curious what you meant here too...do you pyrotechnics or fireworks?

[Brbrmensch 32]

On 11/28/2018 at 11:41 AM, Ane said:

What do you mean? There's already fire in the game.

 

On 11/29/2018 at 2:28 AM, StoutCrusher said:

I'm curious what you meant here too...do you pyrotechnics or fireworks?

i mean hitting tree with your torch and burning down entire forest, as well as your cozy wooden house

i mean making a stick road from bottom of the mountain up to it's peak to make a beautiful olympic torch

i mean putting logs into a shape a burning them to make them visible from above

i mean burning a living pig to scare of big animals

i mean the usual kind of fire

[bojo2736 1016]

Global chat is needed.  

[StoutCrusher 37]

15 hours ago, Brbrmensch said:

i mean hitting tree with your torch and burning down entire forest, as well as your cozy wooden house

i mean making a stick road from bottom of the mountain up to it's peak to make a beautiful olympic torch

i mean putting logs into a shape a burning them to make them visible from above

i mean burning a living pig to scare of big animals

i mean the usual kind of fire

Ah, that sounds intense. #Pyro Lol 

[StoutCrusher 37]

@Aleš Ulm just watched you at #4CPrague Conference. I am really looking forward to the years to come. Loved that you spoke about tough subjects like the Lows of Ylands, and informed us on how the gaming side works, as well as your learning of how to handle and fix things. #Respect #Pickleman

I am posting the link to the video for those that may want to watch it, it's not my YouTube channel. If you are allowed to re-post this video to the Ylands YouTube Channel, I think it would be nice for everyone to see. Thanks, ans take care.

 

[bojo2736 1016]

On 11/23/2018 at 6:45 AM, bb cakes_P1 said:

The bloody flying sharks seem to be a thing of the past. It is so satisfying to see the old ones fall back into the sea as you approach them. You don't even have to get very close.  But it does seem like my pigs and panthers have learned how to climb trees.

Critters in trees, sharks on land, ships locking up, inventory problems.  Can't wait til .12

Edited December 13, 2018 by bb cakes_P1

[bojo2736 1016]

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