Gear City
Version 1.24 SP7
I will now transition to updating the game engine. There has been some confusion in the community over this. We are not changing engines. I am merely updating some of the third party programs that make up the engine. Similar to you updating your web-browser, updating Steam, or updating the game. Many parts of GearCity's engine (Beardgine) are over 10 years old. I will be updating components of the engine, and replacing parts to allow for better long term support of the game on OSX and Linux. If all goes as planned, we'll be getting an OpenGL 3 renderer, an updated web browser, 64-bit support. Etc. The bare minimum goal is to get the OSX build up to Apple current standards. Otherwise, the OSX build will be dropped when Apple drops Carbon and 32 bit support.
My goal is not to change the minimum requirements. We should still be able to support XP and up. 32 bit OSX and up, and Linux 32bit systems.
Speaking of which. January 1st Steam will stop supporting XP, Vista, and OSX 10.10 and older. I would like to remind users of these operating systems that GearCity is DRM-free. While you may lose the ability to update the game from these operating system, you will still have the ability to play the game after Steam drops your support. I highly recommend users of these operating systems to switch to Linux if you are unable to upgrade. But either way, you'll still be able to play GearCity.
So here is the change log:
-GUI: Fixed text overlapping issues in several locations.
-GUI: Fixed resize issues in several locations.
-Artwork: Added more user made predesigns! Thanks everyone who submitted!
-GUI: If music player is open and the song changes, the new song will be selected in the list.
-Gameplay: Buying AI companies with outsourced components will now discontinue any designs with bending outsourced contracts. This will prevent orphaned designs.
-Engine: Added placeholders for SaveGames and SavedCars folders so Steam will make sure you have them if you verify files.
-GUI: Components now have a total production report located in the Showroom. In the future I may break this down into vehicles.
-GUI: Up and Down Arrow Keys will now select the next item in lists if the list was the last item clicked.
-GUI: List should no longer return to the top after doing an action on a selected item.
-Bugfix: Fixed issue that was allowing players to license in development components.
-Gameplay: Increased the frequency of a dividend stripping lawsuit.
-Gameplay: Reduced the maximum amount of dividends to prevent financing the dividend.
-GUI: Adjust dividend based on EPS is checked by default now.
-GUI: Bottom bar now refreshes after purchasing a company.
-GUI: Fixed a place or two where vehicle names were missing the year.
-Engine: Updated OpenAL in Linux. Sound should now be working on Pulse Audio distros.
-Bugfix: Fixed issue which was causing militaries to use city names.
-Bugfix: Fixed taxes being off set by a month in the Expense Reports.
-GUI: Fixed Gearbox Overall rating being miss labeled as Performance.
-Bugfix: Fixed possible crash when resizing some windows too small.
-Bugfix: Project Profits values always positive.
-Gameplay: Adjusted AI's build branch behavior for when the company is not making money, has a less than 7% of the world map in branches, and has a boat load of cash.
-Bugfix: Fixed issue with the component modification system that caused the new price not to be displayed.
-Bugfix: Fixed issue with several predesigned vehicles with negative aerodynamic drag calculations. Thus causing bad data in the prototyping system.
-Bugfix: Fixed issue with factory upgrades that caused the player not to be charged for a month.
-Bugfix: Fixed factory workers striking during the middle of major wars when they're no longer producing anything.
Version 1.24 SP6
This SP has a good amount of bug fixes and optimizations to the reports system. For SP7 I will focus primarily on little GUI issues, fixing one or two achievements that are not triggering, and a couple other little issues here and there. We're nearing the end of the SP's. I switch to engine updates for modern Operating Systems after SP7 is completed. Once that is finished, I'll jump back to gameplay, knock out any remaining "features", and then finish up the polish and bug fixing that popup.
So what's in SP6?
-Bugfix: Fixed development pace slider disappearing when designing a new generation vehicle.
-Gameplay: Adjustments to new trim and new generation development time when not changing components.
-GUI: Disabled zoom hot keys when text box has keyboard focus.
-Gameplay: New Marques now inherit 75% of parent company's image and skill ratings.
-Gameplay: Expanded marque's image and skill growth to include component designs.
-Bugfix: Fixed "Low Morale" display when contracts are assigned to a factory.
-Gameplay: AI now purges high end vehicles from sale in small cities if they don't sell any units over a period of time. This should speed up turn times slightly.
-Gameplay: Chassis weights have been increased slightly.
-Gameplay: Increased frame's and drivetrain's effect on chassis weights. Minor reduction for other sub components.
-Bugfix: Fixed issue with Buyer Ratings Table that showed all vehicles of a type instead of just the vehicles for sale in the selected city or district.
-Gameplay: Designer paint color will no longer reset after you paint something.
-GUI: Click the GUI will no longer cause an error sound when paint or accessory tools are enabled.
-Gameplay: Marketing Budgets have been added to Stock Reports.
-Gameplay: Reports header has been reorganized. Hopefully it is easier for players to find things instead of just throwing the miscellaneous reports into Reports 1 and Reports 2...
-Gameplay: Branch Reports now has wear information.
-Gameplay: Added Monthly Report to the reports header.
-Gameplay: Additional revenues information added to Quarterly and Annual Reports.
-GUI: RnD rating numbers are now displayed all the time instead of requiring the player to hover over the stars. This has required us to spread out the bottom panel more.
-GUI: Added Project Profits to RnD->View Vehicle.
-GUI: Assisted designer initial sliders positions have been corrected.
-Gameplay: AI production frequency has been replaced with AI Vehicle Design Frequency. This adjusts how many vehicle designs the AI will create.
-GUI: Last year race winnings for series is now displayed in the race series detail's panel on the Racing Budget window.
-Gameplay: Fixed issues with the AI that caused them not to discontinue designs that are listed in Licensing and Outsourcing systems.
-Gameplay: AI high performance cars should be more high performance now.
-Bugfix: Fixed crash when tabbing to name a vehicle trim's after already designing a trim.
-Gameplay: Adjustments to minimum vehicle fuel economy based on the engine design.
-Gameplay: 12 Additional Achievements
-Bugfix: Fixed some lawsuits turning negative due to high vehicle sales revenues.
-Gameplay: Merged CarReports and CityReports into 40 or so files, thus reducing the amount of reports the game generates in large save games.
-Gameplay: Removed historical Car Reports and City Reports. You only have the latest month now.
-Gameplay: Optimized car reports generation, thus reducing turn times significantly on large save games.
-Engine: Moved some historical vehicle data to the vehicle data table, thus allowing the engine to purge historical records and reduce save game size significantly for large save games.
-Bugfix: Fixed issue causing matured bonds not to clear out of company's meta information.
-Bugfix: Fixed mega menu crash when clicking arrows with no factories/branches.
Version 1.24 SP5 Hotfix #1
Version 1.24 SP5
There are still about 2-3 more supplemental patches to go. After that I will be upgrading various components of the engine for better long term support and stability. (Specifically for OS X, but everyone will benefit.) Following the completion of that, there will be roughly 2 more builds with possible save game changes and continued GUI clean up (it's an indefinite process). In that time period the remaining text content of the game will be finished and edited. And the last couple missing art pieces will also be done. And we could be starting paid translations.
Sometime in this time period I will improve our marketing materials, finish the mod tool tutorial videos (they're almost done just have to combine the audio with the video), finish editing what we have in the wiki, add to the missing parts of the wiki, and finally make some additional game tutorials (possibly some in game video tutorials). In that order.
Anyway, what's in SP5? Here's the change log:
-Gameplay: City specific buy ratings now interpolate between the city.xml files.
-Maps: Increased small city and low percapita city specific buy rate in early game years on all city-based maps. Also made some adjustments to European city specific buy rates in early game years to increase sales.
-Maps: Added missing infrastructure and fuel data to all maps.
-Gameplay: Dividends now split when the stock splits.
-Bugfix: Fixed development pace slider exploit when designing a new trim.
-Bugfix: Fixed month delay in the End, Scrap, and Replace old model system.
-Gameplay: Total Unit Costs and Manufacturing Costs located on the branch distribution side panels now uses previous turn data instead of estimating future data. This should make it more static, but will not reflect changes in costs until the next turn.
-Gameplay: I finally caved and made factory production lines slider only effect the number of factory lines and the tech slider effect everything else when designing a factory.
-Gameplay: Price and size adjustments when building a factory.
-Bugfix: Fixed issue with build factory production line slider adjusting the price and number of vehicles that can be built, even though the production lines do not increase.
-Bugfix: Fixed issue with low level conflict not effecting demand enough.
-GUI: Price Change Auto Commands now work on a district level if you have a district selected.
-GUI: Adjusting shipping distance on the world map will now show you the maximum transportation costs per vehicle.
-GUI: Added Units Shipped to Contract Revenues report.
-GUI: Color coded war status on New Game Map.
-GUI: Added a breakdown of a vehicle's buyer rating to the Wealth Distribution Chart. Click the Line Graph button next to where you enter the price of a vehicle to see it.
-GUI: Enabled previous/next arrow buttons for Mega Menu Districts.
-Artwork: Added more player designed pre-made vehicles! If you have any to submit, feel free to do so! https://steamcommunity.com/games/285110/announcements/detail/2901896660869879108
-Bugfix: Fixed issue with AI engine designs that could cause bad data in save games.
-Bugfix: Small bug fix for vehicle fuel economy specs which could cause the design to run at optimal economy all the time.
Version 1.24 SP4 Hotfix #1
Restart Steam and download the update if you have had this issue.
Also as a reminder, we're still accepting your in-game vehicle designs to be used as pre-designed vehicles. For more details see below:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/285110/announcements/detail/2901896660869879108
Version 1.24 SP4
Good Morning Everyone,
Version 1.24 has been updated to Supplemental Patch 4. This update includes many bug fixes and tweaks to the game and does not require any save game changes. Work will now move on to SP5, which will be more of the same.
Here is what was done:
-Mod Tools: Fixed removal of sub-components that are no longer in the Components.xml file that are AI Components Popularity File.
-Translations: Translation system is now available in game, Click the Help Button then Translate.
-GUI: Attempted to make Drop Down Box mouse wheel scrolling faster. Still needs some testing.
-Gameplay: Increased marketing and racing's effect on consumer population specific to vehicle models. I.E. customers not in a pool for all models, but just for the specific vehicle.
-Gameplay: Racing series will now show up one year before they start in the racing series lists. You are not able to start a team in this planning stage, but you are able to view the series restrictions in case you want to produce a design for the series.
-GUI: Clone sliders systems now works with in-development vehicles or components.
-Bugfix: Fixed Engine Saved Sliders not loading proper Bore and Stroke.
-Bugfix: Fixed Bore and Stroke range checks for saved engine sliders.
-Bugfix: Fixed issue with Modify engine which could cause power rating to decline.
-GUI: Fixed issue with the Auto-Save GUI checkbox which caused it not to be checked when system is enabled.
-Bugfix: Fixed destroyed factories events not canceling upgrades or rebuilds.
-Artwork: Added some player created designs! Remember, you can still submit your designs. For more information: https://steamcommunity.com/games/285110/announcements/detail/2901896660869879108
-Gameplay: Reduced AI's margin selling outsourced vehicles. Also tweaked branch prices.
-GUI: Added GUI final submission date to the contract side panel.
-GUI: HR wages now show a range of wages instead of an average for job positions that have multiple employees (manufacturing and engineering).
-GUI: HR will now hide if you have auto-production and auto-wage enabled.
-GUI: Branch and Factory Mega Menu's will now hide if you have no vehicles designed.
-Gameplay: Dealership growth and effects have been overhauled.
-Gameplay: Reduced the AI vehicle design time by approximately half.
-Gameplay: Temporary balancing change for City Maps, early year of sales in some high buyer rate countries such as Italy have been increased. This code will be removed when I implement interpolation of city buyer ratings for SP5.
-GUI: A bunch of minor GUI fixes such as over lapping text, cut off widgets, etc. I didn't keep a list as it was a fix while playing sort of session.
-Gameplay: Tweaked low funded racing team's results, which was causing horse power to be slightly more powerful than it should be. More tweaks may be coming.
Version 1.24 SP3
It's time for the third Supplemental Patch of many for v1.24. This update includes many bug fixes and tweaks to the game and does not require any save game changes. Work will now move on to SP4.
Here is what was done:
-Bugfix: Fixed possible crash when outsourced AI vehicles are discontinued through mass means.
-Bugfix: AI Gearbox manufacturing requirements ratings were too high.
-Bugfix: Fixed incorrect fuel economy values in ratings window.
-Gameplay: MPG can now be a decimal value.
-GUI: "Save" and "Save As" now displays a message when saving is in progress.
-GUI: Clicking "New Game" on the Main Menu resets the new game options.
-GUI: Fixed skill adjustment achievement covering scroll bars.
-GUI: Auto Production Model Restriction lists now shows "All Vehicles" if no models are being restricted.
-GUI: Fixed double digit completion dates in advance designer panels a second time.
-GUI: Some fixes to the new defined font size system. (Specifically the New Game Options Windows.)
-Gameplay: 12 new achievements.
-Gameplay: Additional tweaks on the AI component selection system to reduce Single Cylinder and Two-Stroke from being paired together.
-Gameplay: Minimum Bond Amount removed.
-Bugfix: Fixed Bond rounding issues.
-Gameplay: Lowered Bond and Loan interest rates
-Gameplay: Improvements to the Credit Ratings system.
-Bugfix: Fixed possible random events that could cause departments to strike even if there were no employees in the department.
-GUI: Assisted designer now has warnings if the vehicle is too slow, and if an engine has less than 5 smoothness/comfort rating.
-Gameplay: Heavy balancing done to the Base Territory Map to reduce sales in late game.
-Gameplay: Additional tweaks done to the AI for Base Territory Maps and other small "territory" maps.
-Mod Tools: Fixed several selection issues with the Components AI Pop Table.
-Engine Removed Shader cache. Shaders will now be generated at run time, which will slow down initial loading, but hopefully reduce crashes caused by bad updates.
-GUI: Fixed wrapping issue with large fonts in Advance Car Designer Vehicle Popularity panel.
-Engine: Implemented system to prevent RnD License GUI (and others) from getting corrupted due to save gui and game updates.
-Mod Tools: Fixed stuck engine layout end year spinner box.
Predesigned Vehicle Drive!
If you want your designs in the game as premades, simply gather up your car files from the GearCity/SavedCars folder. (How To Get to Main Folder). Compress them in a zip file or any other compression type. And email them to submissions@ventdev.com. Please include the "GearCity Car Submissions" in the subject line. Also include the name you wish to be credited, and license your work as CC0 “No Rights Reserved” so that I may reuse your work with the game. If you do not include the license, I will not add your vehicles to the game. You may also make special names for your vehicles, however this is not required. If no vehicle names are included, I will use the filename or randomly create one.
Please note, I reserve the right to not use your car files and to rename any files, vehicles, or author names for the designs as I see fit.
So:
- Navigate to the GearCity/SavedCars folder: http://wiki.gearcity.info/doku.php?id=troubleshooting:steam_installfolder
- Compress the .car files you wish to submit
- Email them to me: submissions@ventdev.com
- Subject line: "GearCity Car Submissions"
- Include a notification that you are licensing these files as CC0 "No Rights Reserved". An easy way to do that is to put: "I am licensing these files as CC0 No Rights Reserved https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/" into the body of the email.
- Please include the name you wish to appear in the game. If you do not wish to use a name, your submissions will be under 'Anonymous CEO'. Please remember, this game is distributed to tens of thousands of people. So if you don't want to use your real name, don't.
- If you wish to include different vehicle names from .car filenames, please let me know.
Version 1.24 SP2
It's time for another Supplemental Patch for Default and Testing build users. As with all SP's, SP2 focused on minor issues and features that did not require save game changes. There are still at least 4 more SP's planned for v1.24. So I will continue to work on these little issues for the next few weeks.
Here is what's in the SP2 update:
-Bugfix: Fixed issue with Auto Production system when player disables AP, sets district limitations on branches, and then reenables Auto Production. (Enabling AP will now automatically clear out all Districting limitation settings).
-GUI: Fixed display of player outstanding shares in broker view when AI companies hold shares and are not willing to sell.
-Gameplay: Reduced the effects of modifications and increased costs more.
-Bugfix: Fixed modification exploit allowing the player to do more than 1 modification if they wait longer than 2 years.
-GUI: Fixed Saved/Custom GUI overwriting the reports window size.
-Bugfix: Fixed issue in racing where two series shared the same ID causing naming confusing.
-Gameplay: Reduced random lawsuit settlement and lost cases costs.
-Gameplay: Put in time limitations for random lawsuits based on player demand.
-Modtools: Fixed a couple of issues with the Gearbox/Gears components editor.
-Settings Editor: Fixed issues music/sound fx volumes
-Settings Editor: Fixed issues with a few unit types.
-GUI: Fixed word wrap with Author's name in Map Selection.
-GUI: Dynamically change font size of End Turn company info based on length of the data.
-GUI: Fixed some list over wrap due to engine layout name length.
-GUI: Fixed alignment of Used Cars in World Map view competition lists.
-GUI: Added commas to the City Information popup.
-GUI: Fixed some word wrapping with the scrap checkbox for New Generation vehicles on Linux.
-GUI: Fixed several word wrapping issues with large font in the Components Refit window.
-GUI: Fixed GUI widgets becoming misplaced when resizing Mega Menu window.
-Engine: Made the Purge Data system more aggressive. In a 1.1GB test save game, I was able to reduce it to 350MB. This also double reports generation speed. However at the cost of only having 5 years of historical production data. (Some additional optimizations are possibly coming to this system.)
-GUI: Fixed chassis selection using incorrect player units.
-GUI: Fixed several wrapping issues in Vehicle Prototyping with large font.
-GUI: Added lobbying effectiveness percentage to lobbying screen.
-GUI: Added MIssed Sales to various reports.
-GUI: Fixed several large font wrapping issues with renew contracts window.
-GUI: Adjusted the banking overview panel so that scroll bar would take up less space.
-GUI: Fixed several large font wrapping issues in Banking Overview.
-GUI: Fixed Banking window resizing restrictions
-GUI: Moved line of credit application button to the static side panel. Button also now disappears after you sign up for a line of credit.
-GUI: Fixed issues with raycasting in the world map.
-GUI: Adjusted World Map Marketing summary font size to prevent possible wrapping.
-GUI: Fixed World Map Marketing resizing issues.
-GUI: Fixed Marketing manual entry wrapping issues.
-GUI: Fixed spelling mistake in Lobbying Header Image
-Gameplay Fixed possible overflow issue with credit fees.
-GUI Increased rounding amount for Banking Interest rates.
-GUI Changed default font in GUI sheet files. This may cause wrapping issues throughout the game, but also fixes some wrapping issues.
Version 1.24 SP1 Hotfix #1
Unfortunately, mod users were experiencing crashing at the start of new games. This wasn't brought to my attention early enough, so some SP2 tickets have worked their way into this hotfix. Some of these things are not heavily tested (primary the optimizations) but I can quickly revert if need be.
Hotfix #1
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-Bugfix: Fixed crash when player uses modded AI files.
-Bugfix: Displayed RPMs being higher than they should be.
-Bugfix: Fixed Autoproduction producing too many vehicles if the player messes with the branch district locking system before enabling Auto Production.
-Gameplay: Significant optimization to player production end turn processing speed. This should help players with large save files greatly.