NavalArt update V1.4 Beta - Parts, optimization, and preview features

Foreword

Due to the substantial workload involved in developing the career framework, level configuration, and testing, we have decided to release the official 1.4 update in mid-February.

As for the core game updates, they include a large number of new parts, numerous bug fixes, and extensive optimization efforts. After undergoing a half-month stability test within the community, these changes are now ready for an official release.

We have therefore decided to roll out the above content in advance as Version 1.4 Beta, in order to improve the overall player experience.

Version Control Recommendations

You can switch versions in the Properties menu of your Steam library, choosing either Version 1.32 or the Public Test Branch.

The 1.4 Beta default release will only receive bug fixes in the near term. No additional updates will be made before the official Version 1.4 release in mid-February. This branch represents the most stable version.

The Public Test Branch is intended for ongoing testing of new mechanics and for collecting feedback on new content. At present, its content is identical to the stable release.

After collecting feedback and fixing any potential issues in the stable release, we plan to open early testing of the Career Campaign on the Public Test Branch around January 20, with new content being updated periodically before mid-February.

Note: The Career Campaign will undergo extensive adjustments during the testing phase. Career save files created in the test version may not be compatible with the official 1.4 release.

Optimization Projects

Major improvements to save file loading speed

General

• Optimized CPU-heavy operations such as UV calculations

• Added preloading for deck material resources

• Optimized ship loading functions

• Optimized buoyancy curve calculations

• Optimized weapon loading

• Optimized static loading, including improvements to RebuildMesh for adjustable hulls

Dock Scene

• Reduced the number of materials used in the dock scene

• Optimized mesh generation logic for vertex-edited hulls

Summary

On a personal mid-range PC, loading an ~8,000-part save in the dock scene was reduced from 4640 ms to 1700 ms, making dock loading 2.7× faster

Dynamic scene loading was reduced from 4290 ms (2309 ms + 1981 ms) to 2366 ms (1692 ms + 674 ms), nearly a 2× speedup

Major improvements to combat scene frame rate

General

• Added screen-pixel-occupancy-based LOD; LOD currently applies in combat and sea trial scenes

• Significantly reduced the performance cost of anti-aircraft weapons

• Optimized wake/track rendering frame rate

• Optimized draw time for shells, torpedoes, and other weapons

• Optimized particle performance in combat

• Optimized ocean height sampling functions

• Optimized physics calculations

• Optimized turret pathfinding algorithms

• Optimized UI performance overhead

Summary

On a personal mid-range PC, in the mission Hunting Flagship Yamato:

Before optimization:

Early phase: ~60 FPS

Mid phase: ~40 FPS

After optimization:

Early phase: ~116 FPS

Mid phase: ~70 FPS

Overall frame rate improvement of approximately 2×

(Credit: Discord Worldoz )

General

• Added AI torpedo range checks

  • When a target enters 80% of torpedo range, the AI will launch torpedoes.

• Added ship loading failure notifications for all scenes

• Fixed an issue where screenshots with non-transparent backgrounds contained semi-transparent pixels

• Fixed an issue where using in-game text input fields could trigger other hotkey functions

Dock

• Fixed an issue where creating an empty save that was not saved before entering Sea Trial would cause the empty save to be loaded again when returning to the dock

• Fixed an issue where the bottom hotbar in the dock scene could not correctly assign custom parts

• Fixed an issue where color-separated parts were not visible in Armor Mode

• Fixed an