Today we’re happy to finally release The Stacking Charges Update, now available to all players of Police Simulator: Patrol Officers!
Introducing: Stack and hand out multiple charges
This feature was one of the most frequently requested, constantly being on top of the most upvoted ones on our official Trello Roadmap. As it provides another layer of realism – and quality of life, that’s for sure – it was an absolute no-brainer to start working on it.
To ensure that this feature actually works, the team had to overhaul the UI when interacting with an NPC. When selecting ‘Issue Violations’, a new window called ‘Select Violations’ is shown on the right side of the screen. Selected violations will be put into this window, providing a constant overview of the applied charges, in addition to them being highlighted in the general interaction wheel. This way, you can give multiple or all violations at the same time – and are also able to arrest NPCs for multiple liabilities. Good to know: You will of course receive SP (or lose CP!) for every handed-out violation.
So, if they were spraying graffiti, start fleeing, stole their ID card, and possess a ton of drugs… well, time to overwhelm them with charges!
What else is in the update?
In addition to this feature, we have fixed a number of bugs and resolved a lot of crashes, improving the overall stability of the game. Always nice to see, heh?
Since the release of 8.0.0, a lot of you reported that too few or too many callouts were coming in. Our team investigated the issue intensively and discovered what was causing it, which ultimately required a rebalancing of the underlying system that causes callouts to be triggered. If you discover anything else in this regard, please send us a report and we’ll take a look :)
So, what’s coming next?
Just two weeks ago, we revealed our plans for the future of PS:PO – sharing a first look at the very next update, and the features we have greenlit and will be part of future updates.
Here are the official patch notes for Update 9.0.0
New Features
During NPC interactions you are now able to stack charges and give multiple or all violations at the same time
You are now able to arrest NPCs for multiple liabilities
Changed the interaction UI to make room for the new feature
Balancing
Rebalanced the callout frequency and improved the overall behavior of callouts being triggered
Fixed some issued that caused callouts to not be triggered
Crash Fixes
Fixed a crash at the end of the shift that was related to the traffic system
Fixed a crash that occurred when attempting to close the game
Fixed a crash related to player pathfinding
Fixed a crash when occupied spaces were being updated
Fixed a crash that occurred when pressing the return & submit button at the same time
Fixed a crash that happened to the host in multiplayer when the client was performing a wait gesture
Fixed a crash that occurred when colliding in high speed with an NPV
Fixed a crash that occurred when joining a multiplayer session while being in the shift selection screen
Fixed a crash that happened when a player interacts with an NPC
Fixed a crash in multiplayer that happened when the host kicked the client
Fixed a crash that happened when the player character was sitting inside a vehicle
Fixed a crash that occurred after some strange behavior during an escort
Fixed some other crashes
Bug Fixes MULTIPLAYER
Fixed an issue that caused the Background Checks to not update for the client after asking for an ID during accidents
Fixed an issue that caused missing information to be displayed after the host crashes their patrol car into an NPV
Fixed an issue that caused arrested and escorted NPCs to start fleeing when the other player called a tow truck
Fixed an issue that enabled both players to escort an NPC to a holding cell at the same time
Fixed an issue that disabled the option to switch between Open Patrol and Shift Patrol with a controller enabled
Fixed an issue that caused the client to not see cars that are present to the host
Fixed an issue that disabled the option to place arrestees into the back of the Cruiser for both players
Fixed an issue that caused a desynced display of an arrested NPC
PLAYER CHARACTER & NPCs
Fixed an issue that caused NPCs to get stuck near the park in Chester
Fixed an issue that caused NPCs to not exit their vehicle after an accident
Fixed an issue that caused an NPC to become unresponsive after handcuffing them at an accident site
Fixed an issue that made it possible to interact with the driver of a pulled over NPV before it even stopped
Fixed an issue that let an NPC to not be interactable after asking them to leave their vehicle, also making it possible to just walk through them
PATROL CAR / EMERGENCY CAR / TRAFFIC CAR
Fixed an issue that caused the Cruiser to not have cracked windows after a crash
Fixed an issue that caused cracked windows to not follow the door animations
Fixed an issue that caused the doors of the Gladiator 6 to not have a proper animation when opening them
Fixed an issue that caused parked cars to not receive any damage
Fixed car engine sounds to not work properly
Fixed an issue with the optimization of parked cars which had an impact on performance
Fixed an issue that caused parked cars to be placed between parking spots
Fixed an issue that led to CP loss for ticketing a car parked on a sidewalk
Fixed an issue that occurred after towing an NPV, leading to the spawn of an identical NPV nearby, causing further issues like another accident or input freezes
Improved pathfinding of NPVs
WORLD, PERFORMANCE & GRAPHICS
Fixed an issue causing the player character to float at the entrance of metro stations
Fixed some subway stations that had a collision at their entrance
Fixed some faulty objects in the Northpoint precinct [Xbox Only]
Fixed a floating fence inside the park in Chester
Fixed an issue with the optimization of the navmesh which had an impact on performance
Created blockers for buildings
Created a persistent blocker geometry for object which have not loaded yet
UI
Fixed a weird devil emoji present in the background check tutorial
Fixed an issue with the UI layers in the shift selection screen
we hope you had a good start into spring and are already looking forward to Easter! We looked around, filled our baskets, and found some amazing surprises along the way... including a first look at what's ahead of us when it comes to new content for Police Simulator: Patrol Officers!
Earlier this year, we went through all your wishes, the most upvoted Trello cards, thousands of comments, and evaluated their scope and possibility. That took quite a while (sorry for keeping you waiting!) but we have now greenlit a lot of things that are planned for the next updates in 2023 and beyond.
Changes in updates 9.0.0 and 10.0.0
First things first: Last year, we already announced the content that comes with the updates 9.0.0 and 10.0.0. Considering the updates that will come afterwards we decided that some changes needed to be made.
Being able to tackle a suspect will unfortunately not come with the next update 9.0.0, currently scheduled to release later this month. We believe that it makes much more sense to include it in a future update together with some additional, very fitting features. No worries, tackling suspect will still come – but at a later date :)
Update 10.0.0 will change completely: We're happy to announce that it is now themed around our patrol cars which truly deserve an overhaul and additional care. With the update, you will have the ability to change your car via a garage that you can find directly in-game. Change your selection of cars in front of the precinct according to your personal preference. You are also able to repair your cars via the garage! You will also be able to manage which trunk tools you want to take on patrol via the garage so you are perfectly prepared for your next callout.
Another change you can look forward to relates to the entire physics system and car handling and physics of our PVs: We're introducing an entirely new physics engine, switching to Chaos Physics. We'll share more details about the content of 10.0.0 the closer we get to it and we can't wait for it!
What comes next?
The future looks bright: Internally, we have laid out a plan for the entirety of 2023 and even the beginning of 2024. On our Trello, we shifted a bunch of cards (including a lot of highly upvoted ones) into the 'Community Feedback: Officially Greenlit' column, meaning that we plan to include them in future updates. Please be aware that this column is not 100% final, some things miiiiiiight be subject to change, but we have them all in mind and are really looking forward to them!
However, we also removed some of the older stuff in the column as it has been severly outdated. That might sound disappointing but we believe that we included much more frequently requested features that provide more value.
The features and improvements you see in the column are not sorted by updates yet – that's why only updates 9.0.0 and 10.0.0 are currently present. We will shift them into the update packages (11.0.0, 12.0.0, 13.0.0...) the closer we get to one. Keep an eye on Trello and do not forget to vote for your favorite remaining features, there's a chance they will be considered in the future as well!
We can't wait for all your feedback and wish you a lot of fun going through the greenlit features and discover what we have planned for the future of PS:PO.
Self-Defense
De-escalation, self-defense, and usage of a service pistol: We are actively and intensively researching the possibilities of including such scenarios in the game. It is important to us not to change the nature of the game but be as close as possible to reality. We take the matter very seriously, which is why the evaluation may take a while. Next to our research, we are consulting a bunch of former and active police officers from the United States and talk to those who have been part of the police in bigger cities. Please bear with us while we are working on the scope of these features, we do have them in mind, but we would like to give it a purpose, make it meaningful, keep it realistic and be aware of the consequences.
Just to provide an insight into another hurdle we are trying to work out: Currently, PS:PO is rated T (= age 13 and up) and their equivalent in most regions, primarily because a scenario where you must use the gun is not present at the moment. This causes a huge issue: If we introduce gun usage, there IS a risk that the age rating will be raised, causing a lot of problems as people who have already bought the game might have expected it to stay at this rating – and not for it to be completely different. We have to keep in mind the expectations of all our players and really want to do things right. In the meantime, we are talking to all agencies and partners involved to check if there's a solution, but it will take a while.
Thank you all for your patience, we know stuff hasn't been perfect in the last few months. The teams at both Aesir and astragon love PS:PO so much and we work hard to polish and advance it further. Thank you for your support, your feedback, your understanding, your engagement, your passion. We do not take it for granted.
See you soon on your next shift, Your Police Simulator Team
Hotfix Update 8.3.0
Fellow officers,
We hope you had an amazing weekend! Today, we're releasing Update 8.3.0 which is fully focused on resolving some pressing issues that came up over the last few weeks and months.
First things first: The biggest problem that required a lot of internal resources were the invisible cars that caused frequent and truly frustrating car crashes. Fixing this bug was our main priority with this update and it turned out to be far more complicated than we initially anticipated. Our team investigated the issue extensively and... yikes, was it difficult.
Here's what we found out: When a car is despawned it remains in its last location until it is required elsewhere. When it is eventually required, the traffic simulation moves the car to its new location and turns the visualization and collision back on. The issue was that the collision of the car is not transported to the new location until some frames after it moved to the new location which causes it to exist in the old location for the same period. If the player is inside the collision zone of the car in that moment he is thrown off the map, gets a "car totaled" game over or gets stuck in the ground which leads the game to eventually crash. In that brief period you can also run into the invisible car while driving. This very short time window and the collision not being visible in even our debugging tools was why it was so hard for us to consistently reproduce the issue and why it took us so long to figure it out.
We hope that the related issues are now fixed – should you still encounter them, please report the bug with a video so that the team can investigate them further.
FYI: In some threads we mentioned that we are also working on update 8.4.0 before pushing out 9.0.0. We now decided to migrate 8.4.0 into 9.0.0 instead as we believe to have discovered the reason for the issue of seemingly no callouts coming in. However, we want to take a little bit more time with resolving it.
Have a look at the full changelog here:
Changelog - Update 8.3.0
Fixed an issue where a player could collide with something Invisible during the gameplay when driving with a patrol car
Fixed an issue in multiplayer where players lost the ability to place & remove a wanted NPC in patrol car
Fixed issues related to road flare placement and the outlines of road flare placement not being accurate
Fixed an issue in multiplayer where the client would not see the intuition message for the host toggling callouts on & off
We’re back again! And we’ve brought another hotfix update along with us. 🔥
8.2.0 once again focuses mainly on resolving some of those pesky crashes and bugs that snuck in with the 8.0.0 update (and obviously the ones that were present before!). We’re cautiously optimistic that we’re getting closer to resolving them all, so thank you for your engagement and especially for filling out those crash reports! 💙 They really, really do help a lot. As always, if you’re still encountering a crash after this update, please let us know here: Crash Report
With this said, we're gonna start working on update 8.3.0 asap to tackle more issues and further improve the game 💪
Have a look at the full changelog here:
Changelog - Update 8.2.0
Gameplay
Fixed an issue causing the tow truck to not being called
Emergency Cars
Fixed two ambulances arriving to a crime scene at the same time
Fixed that medics with injured NPC are clipping through the ambulance
Fixed an issue that caused the arrest transport to clip into the players’ car when being called
Fixed an issue with medics accompanying injured NPC to clip through the ambulance car
World & Graphics
Added an animation so that picking up a barrier from the left side is properly mirrored
Fixed an issue causing NPV drivers to float a little after stepping out of a bigger car at accidents
Created blockers for buildings
Fixed a floating fence inside the park in Chester
Improved the animation when placing an arrested NPC into the UTV
Fixed an issue with all patrol cars where you stand on one side of the car and placing the arrestee happens on the opposite side
UI
Fixed a bug that caused the camera to not reset when focusing while switching seats
Fixed a missing string table entry related to multiplayer sessions
Crashes
Fixed a crash when moving far away from an NPV, causing it to despawn and then leaving the encounter area
Fixed a crash related to some different stop locations
Fixed a crash related to tow trucks
Fixed a rare crash that occurred when the web browser is still open while loading into the map
Fixed a crash related to a bugged street in Brianna
Fixed a multiplayer crash that occurred when the client returns to the main menu right after calling for an arrest transport and that officer leaves the car
Fixed a crash that occurred when a car performs a U-turn
Fixed crash when unloading level when joining multiplayer session or exiting to main menu while unresolved player accident is active
we hope you had a nice start into the new year! 💙 We've kept ourselves quite busy and worked tirelessly on the next updates, the first of which is out today.
It focuses primarily on resolving a bunch of annoying crashes that sneaked in with the 8.0.0 update last December. Thank you so much for sticking with us while we investigated all the crashlogs. PSA: If you encounter a crash after installing this update, please do not forget to send us the crashlogs so that we can take a closer look at the issue. You can do that here.
In addition, we fixed a few bugs and overhauled the UTV. It was always intended to carry four passengers but for complicated reasons could only carry two. Well, now you can actually put four into them – so try out the DLC and improve your transport capabilities!
We are already working on another update focusing on crash & bug fixes, releasing within the next few weeks. Plus, work on Update 9.0.0 is also well underway, introducing new features such as stacking charges and tackling fleeing suspects. More details about those will be shared as soon as we can :)
Changelog - Update 8.1.0
Urban Terrain Vehicle DLC
Changed the back area of UTV so that it can now actually carry 4 suspects
Fixed an issue that caused the UTV model to develop weird spikes when repeatedly receiving damage
Memory & Performance
Fixed low LOD objects rendering while walking around the city
Fixed infinite loading screen for the Player when Host resumes a single player activity
Fixed issue where textures at Beaufort Landing wouldn’t load properly
Crashes
Fixed a crash while closing the game
Fixed a crash when placing arrestees in Holding Cells
Fixed a crash where game could crash when using abilities as Host/Client
Fixed a crash while using abilities in a single player session
Fixed a crash after launching last played shift multiple times in a row
Other bug fixes
Fixed cars spawning on top of each other in accidents
Fixed player model glitching in main menu and while idling
Fixed “SH!FT” sign floating when opening the trunk
Fixed some skinning issues on police officers
Fixed an issue where NPCs would stand on chairs next to tables
Fixed an issue where resuming a single player activity while being Host of a multiplayer session would create a new multiplayer session
Fixed an issue where towing NPVs in accident was not possible
Fixed an issue where NPCs sometimes would go on pyramid structures found in Conway
Fixed an issue where game would crash if the player would somehow go outside of the world
Fixed speedometer inside of the car and on-display in 3rd person not having matching speeds
Police Simulator: Patrol Officers is even more fun as a co-op experience! If you're still looking for a partner, now's the perfect time to gift the game to a friend! Take a look at the store page for details!
And it's not just us! Other games from the astragon portfolio are also deeply discounted - with up to 90% off.
See you soon on your next shift, Your Police Simulator Team
Hotfix Update 8.0.1
Fellow officers,
we've just released a Hotfix Update with the version number 8.0.1. It addresses some frequently appearing crashes which sneaked in with the most recent Update 8.0.0.
PSA: If you encounter a crash, please send us the crashlogs so that we can take a look at the issue. You can do that here.
Changelog - Update 8.0.1
Crashes
Fixed a crash which occurred when attempting Car Patrol
Fixed a crash which occurred when driving around
Christmas Break
As mentioned before, we are heading to a little Christmas break starting, well, today! We'll take some time to relax, reflect on the year, spend some time with family & friends, play some video games, watch movies, catch up with the latest series... and come back in full force in January. We can't wait for it!
Enable & Disable Callouts
Some users have mentioned that the feature to enable & disable callouts has been removed. Well, actually, you have to activate this feature in the game's settings!
Head over to the settings, select 'game' and you will find the setting 'Show turn On/Off the radio callouts'.
Oh, you're surprised it's out already? Understandable. Initially, we planned to release the update in January. But as development has progressed quite smoothly, we are able to push it out ahead of schedule. Isn't that nice?
What's inside?
As mentioned earlier, with this update we're primarily focusing on quality-of-life improvements and a large number of bug fixes. Since leaving Early Access, we have started to collect all of your amazing feedback and included it into our internal development roadmap. Thank you all, it helps a lot! 💙
Here are a few examples: We've taken care of the incredibly annoying flashing lights in some precincts, fixed NPCs floating in the air at accident sites, made sure that am and pm are displayed correctly, once revisited the "return to show police presence" message, updated the localization... and much much more.
Oh, we resolved some crash reasons, too.
In addition, we're adding the ability to cancel a call for an ambulance or tow truck. Emergency vehicles should now also come from the opposite direction more often. Oh, we also improved the "Asking for Directions" feature!
A little break!
The team will head to a little Christmas break starting next week to relax a bit, take some time off and come back in full force in 2023! We hope you're able to do the same, enjoy playing PS:PO and spend an awesome time with family and friends.
A huge shout out to all of you, our amazing community. You've been absolutely fantastic and we enjoyed spending the year with each and every single one of you. We can not wait for 2023.
Here are the official patch notes for Update 8.0.0
New Features
Added ability to cancel & call tow truck & ambulance
Gameplay
Increased the frequency of callouts
Added timer for Asking for Direction and other NPC interactions so that you won’t get blasted by them all at once when starting a shift
Added several improvements to Asking for Directions
Improved Reward System for the Asking for Directions feature
Improved minimal distance for POI from NPC for Asking the Direction
Added interactive POI categories
Improved EMS targeting & pathfinding
Car Control
Rebalanced the Cruiser
Rebalanced the UTV
Rebalanced the Utility car
NPVs
Changed behavior of pulled over NPVs
Graphics & World
Adjusted NPC walking animations
Adjusted certain precincts light settings
Added mirrored animation for picking up barrier
Added collision to a police officer in the North Point Precinct
Adjusted camera while walking up the stairs
Tutorials
Added missing Player Accident Tutorial
Added intuition feedback for player accidents when leaving the player accident unattended
Changed the wording for "Already in session" to "Already in another session"
UI
Rearranged buttons and side panel in Police Computer to appear more aligned
Multiplayer
Added POI replication in Multiplayer
Controls
Added scrolling ability while using gamepad on "News"
Performance Improvements
Fixed performance decrease in map and while unlocking new POIs
Optimizing performance to have less hitches happening during gameplay
Bug Fixes GAMEPLAY
Fixed not putting equipped tools away in certain situations
Fixed enable/disable callout function not working
Fixed Simulation mode removing the callout enable/disable function
Fixed Road Barrier removal so it can be removed from both sides
Fixed ability to reload a full-clip handgun
Fixed the range of speeding to cause CP loss to player while driving around in Simulation mode
Fixed evening shifts not unlocking when they are designed to unlock
Fixed unequipping tools not working properly
Fixed sub-folder not showing up in interaction wheel
Fixed other callout timer not ending when player has active Player Accident
Fixed position of callouts appearing in Open Patrol
Fixed backup officer being stuck after cancelling an arrest
Fixed incorrect number of tools showing in tool wheel
Fixed Early Access save games with no district selected not loading
Fixed freezes during gameplay
MULTIPLAYER
Fixed not being able to place cones as a second player
Fixed Multiplayer tutorial showing up every time in Multiplayer session even when tutorials are turned off
Fixed sequence of loading screens showing up for second player after being kicked
Fixed tasing NPCs as second player makes them teleport
NPCs
Fixed several issues with NPCs in the NPVs at accidents
Fixed NPCs responding negatively to a repeated move/wait order when player has a valid reason
Fixed some issues with injured NPC clipping in ambulance
Fixed evidence missing on NPC after they fled
Fixed NPCs being able to interact with in precincts which should not be the case
Fixed NPCs in accidents sometimes spawning under the ground
Fixed a case where sometimes wallet thieves could go inside a building
Fixed NPCs on bridges being interactable
Fixed flickering NPC models every now and then
PATROL CAR / EMERGENCY CAR / TRAFFIC CAR
Fixed issues with NPVs flying into the sky
Fixed the ability to create duplicate tow truck calls in order to get SP
Fixed tow truck towing car distance in order for tow truck to tow NPVs that are close
Fixed windows of Cruiser missing damage
Fixed CP loss if player pulled over same NPV multiple times
Fixed losing CP after towing a NPV in accident
Fixed some cases where hitting NPV at high speeds would not cause Player Accident
Fixed NPV drivers to see the hand gestures more easily
Fixed parked NPV spawning on a lamp
WORLD & GRAPHICS
Fixed broken arm animation while escorting NPCs
Fixed holes in the ground
Fixed Arrestee climbing into backup vehicle animation to look better
Fixed a gap between two buildings in Historic Downtown
Fixed High crime area map in Police Car to look less bright
Fixed cones disappearing after picking them up
Fixed arm animation for escorting NPCs
Fixed Open Patrol showing previous district information
Fixed missing hair texture of Emma Davis after greeting an NPC while having hat equipped
Fixed an issue with Emma Davis’ model
Removed floating object outside at North Point precinct
Fixed resolution of some tutorial images
Fixed some issues with metro stations
Fixed inconsistent State of Franklin text on license plates
Fixed NPCs not properly exiting their vehicle in car accidents
Fixed animation delay when entering Police Car on a sidewalk
Fixed interaction when using Radar Gun near parked NPV
Fixed a floating bench near Conway Stadium
Fixed a gap in the ground at North Point
Fixed parking lot in Brianna
Fixed a fire hydrant next to bus stop
Fixed missing collision of crashed NPVs
Fixed backup police officer floating when exiting the vehicle
Fixed wrong character showing up before Main Menu
Fixed lighting on traffic stop callout
Fixed objects in counter officers hand clipping through the hand
UI
Fixed an overlap of multiple present callouts
Fixed intuition feedback having incorrect background color
Fixed blue bar appearing after "Press Any Button" screen
Fixed Asking for ID not being correct in Japanese
Fixed waypoint not appearing for Cruiser
Fixed highlighted text still appearing after hovering
Fixed missing localization for switching seats
Fixed wrong localization for ‘Resolution’
Fixed player name appearing in pause menu
Fixed incorrect line break in handbook in "Guide for Good Cops"
Fixed subtitles overlapping alcohol/drug checks
Fixed tutorial windows overlapped by other windows
Fixed overlap of subtitles while performing ID check
Fixed unlocalized tutorial image texts
Fixed overlapping arrows in callout UI
CONTROLS
Fixed key bindings not working properly
Fixed issue where player was not able to change performance setting
SOUND
Fixed brake sound on patrol vehicle sometimes not stopping
Fixed timing of subtitles and VO lines
CRASHES
Fixed various crashes reported by users
Fixed a crash occurring during first shift
Fixed a crash after using hand gestures on emergency vehicles that are done picking up arrestees/injured people.
Fixed a crash that occurred on multiplayer if second player used hand gestures
Fixed a crash caused by some missing information
Fixed a crash that was caused by spamming call & cancel tow truck function
Fixed a crash in multiplayer if the party leader returned to the main menu from a public session
Fixed crash when joining a multiplayer session
Fixed crash that occurs when NPC despawn
Fixed crashes that occur after first shift or when using pull over sign
Fixed crash after completing accident
Fixed a crash while driving around
Fixed a crash in multiplayer
Fixed a crash when using traffic cones
Fixed a crash for player in multiplayer when traffic stop callout appeared
Fixed a rare crash that sometimes happens related to audio drivers
