What changed
0 fixes2 additions2 changes1 removal
- Server
- UI and audio
- Performance
changedFilipe - Lead Programmer It has been a while since our last devblog, but that doesn't mean we were any less busy. In the last week we’ve been occupied with bug fixes and performance improvements. Servers in general were having CPU performance hits to process all the game logic and replications, creating lag that isn't related to bandwidth, but simply the time the server takes to process what is needed. Besides that, clients were encountering several performance problems, which the most common is an over time one, that some people refer to as “Memory Leak”, but in fact, it was a combination of problems in the rendering process and collisions.
addedFor both the Server and Client we managed to make improvements such as increased server stability and processing, significantly reducing the “lag”, client rendering improvements and much more stable over time performance. During this time we also managed to introduce some new mechanics, which the other programmers are going to talk about, as well as additional dinosaurs that are coming soon and faster.
changedWe’re aware that we still have some issues to resolve, especially related to UI and pounce for example. Some of the problems with pounce were related to actors teleporting, which we’ve managed to reduce with the performance improvements, but pounce is a work in progress mechanic and will be changed heavily in future updates. Remember we will continue to optimise performance throughout the development process to allow for even more players and mechanics. For those asking about those new things, check out our realtime roadmap!
addeddmIV - Programmer After releasing the safe log mechanic I continued with tying it to a sleeping state. It’s an extension to the rest ability we already had in place, so adding it was relatively simple. The original fade out I made was pretty basic and we wanted to improve it. The team looked at several different visuals and we went with a UI-based approach. I feel satisfied about how the whole thing looks.
removedNot a month can go by without improvements to the scent mechanic. This time I made footprints be managed separately from other scentable objects. This allowed for increasing the scent range significantly, while reducing it for just footprints. Thus you can smell food and water from much further away without footprint detection reducing the performance. I also finally got around to optimizing the way footprint effects appear. Originally there was a noticeable FPS drop when the effects fade in and out, now that’s a thing of the past. Newly scented footprints will still fade in gradually. Each character has a number of footprints they can leave, so when that number is reached we remove the oldest footprints. I made that fade out smoothly as well. We had various other issues with footprint scent as well that I finally got around to fixing, so it’s a huge relief to finally put those behind me.
The Isle changes
changedFilipe - Lead Programmer It has been a while since our last devblog, but that doesn't mean we were any less busy. In the last week we’ve been occupied with bug fixes and performance improvements. Servers in general were having CPU performance hits to process all the game logic and replications, creating lag that isn't related to bandwidth, but simply the time the server takes to process what is needed. Besides that, clients were encountering several performance problems, which the most common is an over time one, that some people refer to as “Memory Leak”, but in fact, it was a combination of problems in the rendering process and collisions.
addedFor both the Server and Client we managed to make improvements such as increased server stability and processing, significantly reducing the “lag”, client rendering improvements and much more stable over time performance. During this time we also managed to introduce some new mechanics, which the other programmers are going to talk about, as well as additional dinosaurs that are coming soon and faster.
changedWe’re aware that we still have some issues to resolve, especially related to UI and pounce for example. Some of the problems with pounce were related to actors teleporting, which we’ve managed to reduce with the performance improvements, but pounce is a work in progress mechanic and will be changed heavily in future updates. Remember we will continue to optimise performance throughout the development process to allow for even more players and mechanics. For those asking about those new things, check out our realtime roadmap!
addeddmIV - Programmer After releasing the safe log mechanic I continued with tying it to a sleeping state. It’s an extension to the rest ability we already had in place, so adding it was relatively simple. The original fade out I made was pretty basic and we wanted to improve it. The team looked at several different visuals and we went with a UI-based approach. I feel satisfied about how the whole thing looks.
removedNot a month can go by without improvements to the scent mechanic. This time I made footprints be managed separately from other scentable objects. This allowed for increasing the scent range significantly, while reducing it for just footprints. Thus you can smell food and water from much further away without footprint detection reducing the performance. I also finally got around to optimizing the way footprint effects appear. Originally there was a noticeable FPS drop when the effects fade in and out, now that’s a thing of the past. Newly scented footprints will still fade in gradually. Each character has a number of footprints they can leave, so when that number is reached we remove the oldest footprints. I made that fade out smoothly as well. We had various other issues with footprint scent as well that I finally got around to fixing, so it’s a huge relief to finally put those behind me.
Filipe - Lead Programmer It has been a while since our last devblog, but that doesn't mean we were any less busy. In the last week we’ve been occupied with bug fixes and performance improvements. Servers in general were having CPU performance hits to process all the game logic and replications, creating lag that isn't related to bandwidth, but simply the time the server takes to process what is needed. Besides that, clients were encountering several performance problems, which the most common is an over time one, that some people refer to as “Memory Leak”, but in fact, it was a combination of problems in the rendering process and collisions.
For both the Server and Client we managed to make improvements such as increased server stability and processing, significantly reducing the “lag”, client rendering improvements and much more stable over time performance. During this time we also managed to introduce some new mechanics, which the other programmers are going to talk about, as well as additional dinosaurs that are coming soon and faster.
We’re aware that we still have some issues to resolve, especially related to UI and pounce for example. Some of the problems with pounce were related to actors teleporting, which we’ve managed to reduce with the performance improvements, but pounce is a work in progress mechanic and will be changed heavily in future updates. Remember we will continue to optimise performance throughout the development process to allow for even more players and mechanics. For those asking about those new things, check out our realtime roadmap!
dmIV - Programmer After releasing the safe log mechanic I continued with tying it to a sleeping state. It’s an extension to the rest ability we already had in place, so adding it was relatively simple. The original fade out I made was pretty basic and we wanted to improve it. The team looked at several different visuals and we went with a UI-based approach. I feel satisfied about how the whole thing looks.
Not a month can go by without improvements to the scent mechanic. This time I made footprints be managed separately from other scentable objects. This allowed for increasing the scent range significantly, while reducing it for just footprints. Thus you can smell food and water from much further away without footprint detection reducing the performance. I also finally got around to optimizing the way footprint effects appear. Originally there was a noticeable FPS drop when the effects fade in and out, now that’s a thing of the past. Newly scented footprints will still fade in gradually. Each character has a number of footprints they can leave, so when that number is reached we remove the oldest footprints. I made that fade out smoothly as well. We had various other issues with footprint scent as well that I finally got around to fixing, so it’s a huge relief to finally put those behind me.
I also implemented a pack scent mechanic, that you might have already seen in game in the form of orange clouds. It’s our way of combating large or mixed packs. When too many dinosaurs gather in an area they become detectable from far away. Different species have different pack ranges and dinosaur counts, with young dinos contributing less to the pack size. The system can be configured separately for dinosaurs of different species, so a mixed pack can show up with much less members than same-species groups.
I worked on the programming side of making water post processing functional. The ocean and swamps were fairly straightforward and came together
