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Steam News20 December 20232y ago

When Night Comes, "The one about better performance"

Happy December Everyone! Hope all is going well! Time for the next big update to the game. This update is geared towards performance.

Full notes

Full When Night Comes update

Read the full published notes in a cleaner layout. The original post stays linked below.

What changed

4 fixes6 additions7 changes1 removal
  • Performance
  • Maps
  • Gameplay
  • Fixes
  • UI and audio
changedHope all is going well! Time for the next big update to the game. This update is geared towards performance. I have spent the last few months isolating issues that were creating an inconsistent gaming experience. So let's break it all down and how the game will run better with 2.05!
addedStarting with what this is and why it is needed. Occlusion culling is a process that prevents items from rendering that are completely hidden from view (occluded). The game has always had this in from launch. I went back and rebuilt the Occlusion Culling map for both levels and have since made the view radius from the player tighter. This means, There is less stuff being rendered at a time and performance could theoretically improve. But the key part is did this help? While it did not help stabilize the FPS to a key target, it did bring up the Avg FPS. This allowed for a smoother experience with less drastic FPS drops. This was helpful but still, the game seemed inconsistent. So moving into the next part of the update that is added is forced maximum FPS.
changed------------------Forced Maximum FPS-------------------
changedWhile having the game run with an unlimited unlocked FPS is fun, it caused the game to stuffer in the Nightmare Level when frames would drop randomly. So to counter this and create a smoother time playing the game, it is now locked at a target FPS of 30. Doing so helps the game keep up with the rendering and the experience is now much smoother than before. During QA this was the best option for helping the random drop in frames but with all things, Feedback is important so if needed we can adjust this.
added-------------------New Loading Screen-------------------
addedFinally, I have now added a new loading screen when transitioning from the Prologue to the Nightmare level. No more freezing when the game is loading!

When Night Comes changes

changedHope all is going well! Time for the next big update to the game. This update is geared towards performance. I have spent the last few months isolating issues that were creating an inconsistent gaming experience. So let's break it all down and how the game will run better with 2.05!
addedStarting with what this is and why it is needed. Occlusion culling is a process that prevents items from rendering that are completely hidden from view (occluded). The game has always had this in from launch. I went back and rebuilt the Occlusion Culling map for both levels and have since made the view radius from the player tighter. This means, There is less stuff being rendered at a time and performance could theoretically improve. But the key part is did this help? While it did not help stabilize the FPS to a key target, it did bring up the Avg FPS. This allowed for a smoother experience with less drastic FPS drops. This was helpful but still, the game seemed inconsistent. So moving into the next part of the update that is added is forced maximum FPS.
changed------------------Forced Maximum FPS-------------------
changedWhile having the game run with an unlimited unlocked FPS is fun, it caused the game to stuffer in the Nightmare Level when frames would drop randomly. So to counter this and create a smoother time playing the game, it is now locked at a target FPS of 30. Doing so helps the game keep up with the rendering and the experience is now much smoother than before. During QA this was the best option for helping the random drop in frames but with all things, Feedback is important so if needed we can adjust this.
added-------------------New Loading Screen-------------------

Happy December Everyone!

Hope all is going well! Time for the next big update to the game. This update is geared towards performance. I have spent the last few months isolating issues that were creating an inconsistent gaming experience. So let's break it all down and how the game will run better with 2.05!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------Occlusion Culling-------------------

Starting with what this is and why it is needed. Occlusion culling is a process that prevents items from rendering that are completely hidden from view (occluded). The game has always had this in from launch. I went back and rebuilt the Occlusion Culling map for both levels and have since made the view radius from the player tighter. This means, There is less stuff being rendered at a time and performance could theoretically improve. But the key part is did this help? While it did not help stabilize the FPS to a key target, it did bring up the Avg FPS. This allowed for a smoother experience with less drastic FPS drops. This was helpful but still, the game seemed inconsistent. So moving into the next part of the update that is added is forced maximum FPS.

-------------------Forced Maximum FPS-------------------

While having the game run with an unlimited unlocked FPS is fun, it caused the game to stuffer in the Nightmare Level when frames would drop randomly. So to counter this and create a smoother time playing the game, it is now locked at a target FPS of 30. Doing so helps the game keep up with the rendering and the experience is now much smoother than before. During QA this was the best option for helping the random drop in frames but with all things, Feedback is important so if needed we can adjust this.

--------------------New Loading Screen-------------------

Finally, I have now added a new loading screen when transitioning from the Prologue to the Nightmare level. No more freezing when the game is loading!

Those are the three big points of this update. Not much new stuff is added and Isolating performance and fixing bugs was the key part of this version. I hope everyone is safe and enjoying their December! Going to keep adding updates to improve the game! 2.05 should be out later today or tomorrow! Thanks for playing!

Detailed Patch Notes Below

--------------------2.05 Patch Notes-------------------

-Fixed Issue that occurred When loading between levels the screen can go black. New Loading Screen!

-Fixed The Text "A Way Out is Revealed" from flashing nonstop once activated, as well as added a new prompt for storytelling purposes

-Fixed The hidden achievement "This Carpet is Nice" which was incorrectly awarded to all players at the start of the game by updating it to be different. Instead, the Achievement name and description have been changed to something new!

-Updated Occlusion Culling to be tighter which improved performance

-Forced a Maximum of 30FPS while in the Nightmare Level

  • Lowed Surrounding Mountain textures in the Nightmare Level, so that are no longer being rendered at high resolutions

-Added in 3D Waterfall sounds for the Nightmare level

-Fixed Lighting in Prologue Level

-Adjusted text before entering Nightmare Level to add more context to what needs to be done

-Various small bugs and improvements

-Updated Version number and important bug list in-game

--------------------Important Issues--------------------

-If the nightmare level is reloaded by the player dying or the player opening a save file, The timer and Fog progress is reset as well as the player's inventory.

-Lighting with sometimes flash in the Nightmare Level when running

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To the Future!

I am still working on complex bugs, present from the first build of the game. That death bug is the main focus I am going to tackle! Looking forward, I still have planned updates to improve the game and its experience. Additionally, I am working towards adding more detailed lore and possibly a way to kill the entity!

Once again Thanks for all the feedback and reviews! It means a lot! Stay Safe!

Thanks, Nathan

Source

Steam News / 20 December 2023

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