Powerboat VR
AI Traffic BETA Update
1. Added option to the "Game Options" menu to set the maximum number of A.I. traffic in the game. This value is stored and used each time the game starts. Default is 10, but the maximum is now 100 for those with powerful rigs or who like really busy sea lanes.
2. Optimised the A.I. traffic manager so it uses less resources when dealing with fewer A.I. vessels.
3. Setting the Maximum A.I. Traffic to zero will now disable the entire A.I. system freeing up all resources.
4. A.I. will now drive at more realistic speeds for that vessel (i.e. a lot slower than you can currently drive them!).
This now completes the current stage of A.I. traffic and I shall move this into the main public build on Friday unless anyone spots any major challenges between now and then. ːsteamhappyː
Next stage is to add suitable night lights to all A.I. vessels so that they can be seen visually in the dark as well as on RADAR. This hopefully shouldn't take too long and might make it into Friday's update.
Once this is complete I think the next stage will be to add a few more islands and a few ships.
A.I. Traffic Beta Update
1. Added the FerryCat to A.I. pilotable boats.
2. Added the Sea Buzzard to A.I. pilotable boats.
3. Increased number of A.I. traffic to 40 vessels!
4. Minor fixes to some of the water effects
This is probably about as far as I'm going to go with the A.I. traffic currently as I want to move on to adding lights to the vessels for night time navigation.
I will be adding a menu configuration to select the maximum number of vessels to spawn so that you can tweak it to your preference and you'll be able to go way above 40 vessels if you so wish!
Performance of the A.I. system seems pretty good. Even with 40 vessels being simulated I still get 120fps at 1440p for the most part. Main slow down is anywhere that has palm trees and/or ports as neither of these assets have been optimised yet - that's another thing on my to-do list!
I think the main requirement of adding some life to the map has been achieved. I do want to take the A.I. further so that they have some collision awareness as well as getting them to dock/undock at ports, but for the moment I think this will do :)
AI Beta Update
2. Added and corrected waypoints around the islands to help the A.I. navigate a little better.
3. Tweaked the initial spawn system to distribute the A.I. boats a little more evenly over the map while still placing some close to the player.
4. Fixed a bug with the waypoint collider so that it is not a solid object.
A.I. Traffic BETA Update
1. A.I. Traffic are now visible on the RADAR and leave a green trail as they move. This works much like a real RADAR and gives an indication of not only direction but also speed - e.g. the longer the trail the faster the vessel is moving.
2. Increased the number of active A.I. vessels from 10 to 20!
3. Minor fixes to A.I. to stop them getting stuck at waypoints.
4. Adjusted the initial spawn criteria so that they can spawn within visual range when the game starts. This allows traffic to appear near the player straight away. Placement is random so sometimes there might be a lot of traffic nearby, sometimes they might be a long way away.
5. Tweaked the wake trails of A.I. vessels as they are quite CPU intensive.
Next thing is to get the other current vessels added to the A.I. list
AI Traffic BETA
This beta adds 10 A.I. controlled Flounder vessels to the map who will drive round on random, but logical routes. I haven't fully finalised the routing system so it is possible they might get too close to land on some islands.
A.I. vessels will continue to exist as long as they remain inside a 20km bubble around you. Your visual range is 15km so there's a good 5km buffer where even though you can't see them, they are still being tracked within the game and will prevent any ships blipping out of existence as soon as you lose sight of them.
Currently A.I. vessels are pretty dumb and have no knowledge of your position or any other A.I. vessels. This will be improved later so that they will try to avoid a collision. Ideally they will follow maritime rules for collision avoidance.
They also cannot dock and will not attempt to go inside ports or other enclosed water ways, but I'm hopeful that this will be possible. I also want to get AI vessels to spawn docked in the ports to add a bit of life there too :)
A.I. positions are also not currently saved into save games but they will be shortly.
Feedback on A.I. doing silly things and/or performance issues always gratefully received on the forums :)
The next stage will be to increase the number of active vessels to see how far the system can be pushed. Ultimately there will be a config area to setup the maximum number of AI vessels.
Buoyage Update
UPDATES
1. Added "Safe Water" buoys with realistic light flashes
2. Added "Weather" buoys with realistic light flashes
3. Reduced screen tinting on boat windows so it should now be easier to see through them at night.
4. Added buoy markers to the main map and SatNav
5. Final optimisations for buoy physics.
6. Included some "behind the scenes" code ready for A.I. boats.
Buoyage BETA Update 2.0
1. New "Weather" buoy added. These are marked on the map by "Special Mark" icons (yellow with yellow "x" on top) and have yellow flashing lights.
2. Updated buoy physics to make them move and rock with the water more realistically.
3. Increased the mass of the "Safe Water" buoy so they are more resilient to small vessels hitting them!
4. Buoys now have bells on them which can be heard once you get close enough to them
5. Buoys now have a physics based anchor system so they will always return to their correct position (approximately). You can still push them around a little bit though but its a fairly accurate simulation of them being anchored by a chain to the sea floor. This system will soon be applied to the boat anchors as well.
6. Various optimisations for the buoys. They are now very efficient in terms of processing overhead.
7. Fixed the map icon so that it doesn't rotate when the buoy rotates.
8. Buoys now have unique id numbers and unique light sequences based on real world information.
9. Map now displays buoy ID number as well as the light sequence text using NavAid (AtoN) notations
For example:
Y QFl(5) 7s - is Yellow light with 5 Quick flashes every 7 seconds while
W ISO(5) 10s - is White light isophase (equal length of time on/off) lasting 5 seconds every 10 seconds.
As far as I can see the buoys are all functioning as expected and, unless I spot anything serious tomorrow, this BETA will be pushed into the live branch.
The next task will be A.I. ships which will travel around the map using the buoys as navigation points and should help to bring the map to life a little!
To temper expectations - A.I. ships won't be able to dock at ports initially but hopefully I'll be able to make them smart enough at a later date!
Buoyage BETA Update
1. Placed "Safe Water" buoys around the map in logical positions.
2. Buoys now have numbered ID plates
3. Buoys now show up on the SatNav and World Maps together with their ID number and their light code.
4. Buoys now reflect RADAR
5. Optimised buoy buoyancy code so that full buoyancy calculations are only made when the player is <1km away from the buoy.
6. Reduced buoy light brightness with just some subtle bloom.
7. Made buoys compatible with the world resizer. Open ocean buoys will now scale their distances while buoys marking entrances/exit to harbours will remain fixed in place.
Other Updates
1. Fixed a few drag values for boats which were set far too high when dealing with water impacts.
2. Made clouds a bit thicker so that stars are not visible through heavy cover.
Next week I shall be adding some meteorological/weather buoys in as these, together with the "Safe Water" buoys, will provide a network of waypoints for the A.I. ships to use to navigate the map.
Buoyage BETA
For instructions on how to opt in please see the pinned post in the forum.
I have added 2 "Safe Water" navigation buoys to Maupiti. 1 is located right by the cargo loading bay and the other is just outside the main ocean access to Maupiti's bay between the two islands.
The buoys have a working light system with, I believe, the correct isophase of 10 seconds on, 10 seconds off - please correct me if it isn't.
The buoys are full physics models so have fun bumping into them and watching them bob around in the water. They are not currently anchored in place so it is possible to push them around for the moment.
If there are any seasoned boaters out there then please let me know if I'm using buoys correctly/incorrectly or want to suggest places where buoys should go.
World Resizer Update
Updates
1. You can now resize the world using the option in the "Game Options" menu.
2. Only the distances between islands are altered. Islands remain the same size as do any inland water ways.
3. To prevent cheating on jobs you cannot resize the world when "Quick" or "Standard" jobs are in progress AND you must be inside a cargo loading area.
4. Job payments are now calculated dynamically based on the current distance between ports.
5. Job delivery timer now works and will count down in seconds on the "Current Jobs" page.