MBB & Cattle and Crops enter partnership with Toplitz Productions
Toplitz Productions is an experienced publisher who will take over the marketing and distribution of Cattle and Crops for us. These two areas are very important points that we as developers can hardly manage alone. For this reason, we’ve held time-consuming discussions and negotiations with several publishers in the last months to find the best possible partner for Cattle and Crops in this area.
With Toplitz Productions, we have found a partner with many years of experience in the games industry as well as the development and distribution of simulations in the genre.
Further information and a statement from Toplitz can be found in Toplitz' press release.
TL;DR While we take care of the further planning and development of Cattle and Crops, Toplitz will assume marketing and publishing functions.
Status Update 17 Jan 2020
First things first (even if slightly belated): we hope you’ve had a great start into the new, golden decade and wish you an awesome new year! 🚀 🖖
We’re currently working on one last update before the release of the final v1 version. This update is expected to primarily contain, in addition to general bug fixes, vegetation imposters, which will lead to performance improvements on most systems. Aside from that, we’ve extended the task system with adjustable settings for vehicles with variable work widths and spread rates, allowing vehicles such as the Rauch Axis, Dammann Land-Cruiser and Stapel VT to be configured directly in the task creation window.
Last but not least we’re in the process of converting the three Strautmann vehicles to our in-house brand “Hammer”, changing specifically the textures and vehicle names. This applies to the Giga-Vitesse, SZK and Verti-Mix vehicles. The reason for that is the expiration of our license with the manufacturer Strautmann at the end of the month. We put a lot of effort into negotiating a renewal of said license agreement, however an extension has not been possible at this point in time due to duration terms and exclusivity clauses with other companies.
It has to be remembered that license agreements such as this are usually not set for life and can be revoked by both parties at any time. We’re grateful to Strautmann for the successful cooperation so far and hope to be seeing the brand back in Cattle and Crops at a later time. Nothing will change for you as the community, modders or Let’s Players: no images, videos or mods need to be changed or removed.
Finally, a little “good news, everyone!” teaser: we’ve recently entered a new partnership which we’re certain will highly benefit the development of Cattle and Crops. We’re going to provide detailed news within the next week.
Early-Access-Update-Release v0.9.0 - Polishing
Geringhoff With this update we’re very excited to introduce our newest industry partner! The new header Mais Star* Horizon 800 FB by Geringhoff enables you to harvest maize grain with the Claas Tucano combine. During this type of harvest, the corn cob is completely separated from the plant and the kernels stored in the bunker; the rest of the plant is chopped up and left on the field. You can sell the harvested kernels at the harbor. We’ve added an introductory mission that’s available immediately.
Sliding vehicles Up until now, the vehicle wheels blocked too early during the braking process and it looked as if the machines would slip even at low speeds. We have adjusted the braking behavior and the handbrake for all machines: now the wheels decelerate not only visually but also physically slowly with the vehicle speed.
All other new items, bug fixes and changes can be found in the change log.
We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We’re going to be back on January 13. 🎅🏻🎁🎄
Note to the modders We have adjusted the fixed implement attachers (front loader, front loader tool, combine cutter, forage harvester cutter). Implements are now aligned to the attacher node so that the reference and attacher nodes have the same position and orientation. Existing mods may need to be adjusted.
NEW
Manufacturer Geringhoff, with 6m corn header Mais Star* Horizon 800 FB
Fruit type maize grain Attention: maize swath can’t be tedded/windrowed/collected
Returns whether there is a fruit somewhere on a connected path
GFX Vegetation Render Density is taken into account when displaying plants on the cutting controller paths
Cutting Controller can now send swath to two different Swath controllers (with different ratios)
The fertilizer type can now be specified for fertilizing tasks
Script methods “GetLightState”, “SetLightState” on the Implement Proxy
Script method “CreateInstance”: loads an instance dynamically
Console command "factionReputation" Without arguments: lists reputation with the respective factions factionReputation : sets reputation Example: “factionReputation harb 50”
BUG FIX
Save game load: unspawned animals will now be moved back into the barns
Bugs in the AI pathfinding were fixed - especially when path angles were exactly 0 or 2π, which triggered a bug in the math library
Optimized navigation paths at the harbor and farm. AI should no longer get stuck at those locations
Bogey trailers no longer have asymmetric attachment angles
Joskin Delta-Cap unloading textures show correct fill type again
Tank transfer continues even if the transfer window is hidden
Fertilizer implements automatically buy fertilizer when controlled by AI
“Get…”/”Set…”/”HasParentMachineState” now works even if the parent is a vehicle (previously only on implement parents)
Shader SSAO bug fix for environment objects
Engine raycasts replaced by PhysX sweep tests and machine spawn improved on sloping surfaces
Particle systems referenced by "ParticleType" are no longer re-initialized constantly, but only when changed
Cowshed: no animals in barns 0, 2, 4, 8 fixed
Hammer CornKing: fertilizing is activated automatically when controlled by the AI
Hammer Corn Seeder Unit: ridge marker side change is working again (both manually and via AI)
The Rauch Axis will be switched off after an AI task has been completed
Dammann Land Cruiser folds in/moves up the frame correctly again at the end of an AI task
Claas Quadrant clog mesh is displayed again
Harvest task progress is calculated correctly again
The position of the barn exit is correctly recognized and displayed in tasks again
Animal transport task with loading/unloading in the barn uses the correct transfer point again
CHANGE
Continued work on Tombstone 2.9.1 integration (many only internal changes)
Retail overlay with CNC version removed
Brake and handbrake values adjusted so that the vehicles no longer slip during braking (wheels lock)
Attacher angle (tow pin hitch and tow ball hitch): angles increased for MB Tracs, Claas Jaguar and Arion
Tow ball attacher added to Claas Jaguar and MB Trac 1000 (not visually)
The following vehicles have received more accurate dirt texture masks: Bressel und Lade Silage bucket S; S L; S XL Claas FL 100 Claas cutterbar trailer 521
Strautmann Giga-Vitesse no longer supports the loading of threshed fruit or fertilizer, but only chaff, swath and feed
Reaching positions in self-created tasks now has a 30m tolerance
Environment objects at the farm and harbor optimized in order to reduce AI collisions
Attachable 🠆 Attachers have been revised (front loader, front loader tool, combine cutter, forage harvester cutter). Implements are now aligned to the attacher node so that the reference and attacher nodes have the same position and orientation. Existing mods may need to be adjusted
Status Update 05 Dec 2019 - Development
As announced, we’ll elaborate on the planned development up to the release of version 1.0 in the following.
Planning: We will The time until the release of version 1.0 of Cattle and Crops use to optimize existing content and bug fixing, as well as to process feedback from the testing department. However, a small update 0.9 will be released before Christmas. New content and features will be added into the game after v1.0 again. The exact release date of v1.0 will probably be announced at the beginning of 2020.
🚜💨 Short: Update v0.9 > Polishing > Gold Version > Release v1.0 > Day One Patch > Further development with features and DLCs.
Multiplayer: We‘re going to develop the multiplayer further after v1.0. As already mentioned a few weeks ago, we will dedicate much of the time to the helper AI first. We can't make a statement about the development time and the scope of the multiplayer mode at the moment, but this feature is high on our list of priorities.
Console: A second pillar of development is the port to consoles. We get a lot of feedback through our social media channels on this topic, including when and on which console CNC would appear. As the planning for this is still unfinished we can't give any details yet. e are planning to port it to Playstation 4 as the first console version after the release of v1.0, however.. As mentioned above, we’re going to work on new content and constant improvements for the PC version at the same time: the PC remains the base platform.
Performance: One of the biggest potentials for improvement is the area of performance in Cattle and Crops. We see this as still very inadequate. In the phase up to the v1.0 release, the main focus is on areas such as: total number of objects e.g. trees, vegetation, shadow optimization, multi-threading. After v1.0 we plan to fully integrate the latest version (v3.0) of the Tombstone engine - which will not only offer numerous optimizations but will also bring some graphic improvements.
Season Pass: Up until now, the Season Pass starts with CNC 1.0 version. Due to the delays we have decided to start it with the release of the first paid DLC. This way you won't lose any potential DLCs as part of your Season Pass.
User Interface: The structure will not change significantly until v1.0, but some sections will be revised or optimized.
Story & Tutorials: The story will be revised, e.g. the grassland and BGA missions will be taken over into the main story line. The tutorials will be separated and added as single missions (as it was the case for a short time in the Tech Demo). With the release of the "Albergtal" mMap we have added most of the explanations to the story. The goal is to be able to start the tutorials again individually, e.g.. "Buy a vehicle". These can then be easily extended with new features and changes to CNC.
Languages: The entire game will be translated into other languages - French, Italian, Polish, Portuguese (pt-br), Russian, Spanish - by v1.0. We are also working on the technical implementation for Chinese and Japanese.
Circulation weather/soil/plant: The partnership with Landwirtschaftsverlag has also brought about some changes in game design. Our goal was to release an extended system with v0.8. Partly thanks to the access to more detailed information as well as to technical experts, this complex topic has been delayed in development and implementation. Due to this fact, this feature is the only one that could be released before v1.0 by an intermediate update. Should this system cause any problems during the polishing phase, we will have to postpone the release until after the v1.0 release.
Difficulty: We plan to complete the categorization and direct integration of difficulty level elements up to v1.0. This includes the classification of the individual settings into "easy"/"medium"/"difficult", as well as the exact implementation of the effects of the options in the game.
We hope that these explanations of the individual production areas will provide a good insight into the coming months. Many thanks for the support and for the continuing detailed feedback! We wish you all a merry Santa Nicholas and a wonderful pre-Christmas time! 🎅🕯️
Polishing Update 0.8
Happy Tuesday to all of you. We’re here to bring you a nice little new game update: Cattle and Crops v0.8. In addition to many bug fixes and improvements this update includes a host of new features.
Bogy Pivot Trailers
We’ve adjusted and improved the vehicle physics and have adapted it to the specialities of bogy trailers. With this, both the jittering and sliding should be reduced heavily. Affected vehicles are the Joskin Wago, Strautmann SZK 1802-H and the Claas Vario header trailer.
Field Guidance System
The FGS has been expanded by a multitude of new features, including a height adjustment option for the visualization lines - especially useful when harvesting large crops such as maize. When rotating the direction it will pivot on the vehicle position instead of the track itself. Also included is a new vehicle offset method that’s useful for plowing or when using a side mower like the Claas Disco. Additionally all direction and length values can now be entered directly via keyboard.
Steam Autumn Sale
You’re still waiting for the right moment? Use your chance now and get a big, fat discount: 50% on Cattle and Crops! In the Steam Autumn Sale!
Changelog:
NEW
Virtual keyboard to enable Input into text fields with the gamepad
Added FGS height settings for visualization
FGS vehicle offset with automatic side change added
Added value input for FGS
Plant growth is now influenced by temperature
Significantly improved bogy pivot trailer physics
Date is displayed in addition to the time
[MODDING] Box selection in the Shader Editor
[MODDING] More script methods to set external variables
[MODDING] Optional Attacher Filter Key for blocking attaching machines to other machines despite having the same AttacherType
[MODDING] In the Map XML the entry can now be added. This allows you to use your own screenshots as load screens.
[MODDING] Translations (StringTable) for tooltips (balloon strings)
TankTrigger now has a connection to the Barn that can be used by instances
[MODDING] Material filltypes can now be registered via XML
Attention: the types must be reset for all meshes!
[MODDING] "testMission" console command
Workers rebuy fertilizer (Rauch Axis, Dammann Land Cruiser)
Missions can now be tracked/hidden
Farm barns: Markers for barns have been added
Random loading images added
Hawe SLW 50T: chain system added
BUG FIX
FGS revised and fixes for crashes with savegames
Wetness is correctly displayed when tedding hay
Fixed substages for hay drying
Replace Geometries Multi-Material fixed
Trading Window is also hidden when hiding UI
Clog option moved from "Gameplay" to "Difficulty”
setAcre: negative swath volume fixed
Zoom strength is no longer dependent on FPS - you can now zoom with the controller in the cockpit view even with low FPS
Model viewer: physics disabled to prevent crashes with PhysX
Field status is updated immediately after execution of setAcre
Option to select the fertilizer when creating a task
Dirt adjusted for Claas Direct Disc, Disco, Volto
Hawe SLW 50T: decal dirt based on vehicle dirt added
Strautmann Verti-Mix: decal dirt based on vehicle dirt added
Instances are no longer loaded when disabled
CHANGE
Tombstone Collada Importer changes adopted
Continued work on Tombstone 2.9.1 integration
FGS rotation around vehicle instead of track
Farm stable fill meshes changed to morphs
Strautmann Verti-Mix: Fill-Mesh changed to Morphs, mixing movement added
Reversing lights are only displayed when the light is switched on (light effects are still displayed)
Landwirtschaftsverlag starts partnership with MBB & Cattle and Crops
After long negotiations we can finally announce today the cooperation between Cattle and Crops and the Landwirtschaftsverlag (agricultural publishing house) based in Münster, Germany. 🎉
Landwirtschaftsverlag (LV) joins in as a strategic partner in Masterbrain Bytes and will support us in many areas as well as provide technical information necessary for a realistic simulation. With specialist magazines such as profi, top agrar, Stark and many more, LV is Europe's leading industrial publishing house.
Why are we doing this? Very early on after the first release, we realized that communicating with you, the community, coordinating with manufacturers, researching real data, and marketing meant a lot of time spent that we needed to actively develop the game. Basically there were two possible ways for us:
Plan A: We take care of all of the above points alone. Plan B: We look for support to keep control of the project in order to continue to realize our vision of an agricultural simulation.
Due to the steadily increasing organizational effort for the Steam release, we finally opted for Plan B. This was the beginning of a time-consuming search process for a partner that lasted several months. In conjunction with the regular development of the milestones, the search contributed to the delays of the updates.
Effect on the project In short, Landwirtschaftsverlag helps us in an advisory capacity in organisational matters, in relation to development, with a great deal of expertise and a unique access to the industry.
With its many years of versatile experience both in print and online sectors, LV will actively support us in various areas such as marketing.
Since Landwirtschaftsverlag is broadly positioned in a multitude of sectors such as vehicles, equipment (profi, traktorpool), soil and plants (top agrar) as well as pigs and cattle (SUS, Elite, vetconsult), we can profit from the expertise in almost all areas of the game and enhance it with data, systems, processes and optimizations. A first result of the cooperation can already be seen in the plant growth and fertilization system presented in v0.6, which we developed in cooperation with the LV editorial team.
TL;DR Together with Landwirtschaftsverlag and especially you, Cattle and Crops can continue to grow towards a more realistic simulation in the future. Thank you for your loyalty and support! 👍
Season Update 16 Oct 2019 v0.7.0
In this update we introduce the colorful autumn season optically, in addition there is a new steering aid system (FGS), extended machine functions and bug fixes.
Seasons: With the update v0.7 we added the seasons optically. The vegetation and all tree species have been reworked so that the leaves can change color and the trees can lose their color in autumn. We also connected the wind to the weather data. In the long run, the different cycles will influence the growth of the vegetation through temperature and frost, for example.
Driving assistance steering system: The new Field Guidance System will please all those who like to control their machines themselves. We have heard from many of you how difficult it is to find the right track on the field. The new FGS with its Parallel Track System not only shows you the correct lanes - configurable in width, position and angle - but also optionally lets you steer the vehicle independently to stay in the lane. You only have to accelerate or use the cruise control and turn around yourself. In short, you can now fade in changeable auxiliary lines on the ground and anchor the automatic steering to the center line. With the standard keys "P" and "O" you can call and activate the FGS. You can also change the keys in the options menu under Control. In the speedo display there are status icons in the blue area.
https://youtu.be/NTz1tePxdCE
Engine: We were able to successfully update large parts of the basic framework of the engine. However, CNC is still based on a mixture of the C4 Engine and the Tombstone Engine 2.9.1. Unfortunately, we could not yet take over the improvement of the Tomstone Engine regarding the editor and are still working on it.
Field Sprayer: Another area where we got a lot of feedback from you was the slope compensation of the Dammann Land-Cruiser, presented at the end of August. We took your comments and ... "suggestions" ... to the chest and rebuilt the inclination adjustment from scratch. It now really adapts the alignment of the boom to the terrain. Together with the manual height adjustment and the new adjustment of the spread rate, you now have full control over the Land Cruisers. And there's also a smaller 3000L version that's easy on your virtual purse. In addition, a new hose channel system has been built, you can watch the Dammann at the rear if you change the height.
Another wish in your feedback was that you can connect and disconnect the machines via the radial menu. Every single attacher on a vehicle can now be controlled directly, and thus vehicles can be addressed directly. And in addition: every attachment can now even be connected and disconnected via CabControl. Just drive close enough, go to the attacher and click on the corresponding icon.
The Strautmann Verti-Mix and Hawe SLW 50T both received completely new morph fillmeshes, like the Joskin Delta-Cap and Strautmann Vitesse before. In addition there is a set of brand-new unloading particle systems.
Changelog:
NEW
First steps in season changes
The trees have been reworked so that they can change colour depending on the season and lose their leaves
[MODDING] The new Season Setting can be set globally and per map, for regional differences in map modding
The trees are now animated with the real wind data instead of having a generic repeating animation
Field-Guidance-System Steering aid Driving assistant with auxiliary lines (FGS)
You can create a helper task for filling the BGA
Language translations can now be imported directly from CSV tables
The Albergtal has been beautified in several places. Among other things the terrain shaders were revised and optimized
In the Albergtal valley there are new decals on the buildings and advertising signs
The Hawe SLW 50 now has new morph meshes and new particles
The Strautmann Verti-Mix has new Morph-Meshes and new particles
Dammann Land-Cruiser with new animations and slope compensation system
Added message window in the start mission for the autopilot
Added message window to explain how to fill the CornKing with maize seed and solid fertilizer tank for the sowing mission
The engine now detects whether an Xbox One or Xbox 360 controller is connected and can display different layouts for the menu buttons
There is a new attach and detach function via the radial menu
There are new attach and detach functions which are accessible via CabControls
The field menu can be opened by left-clicking on a field in the minimap
There are new bale shelters in the Albergtal
The materials of the vehicles were reworked so that the windows don't look so dark from the interior view
The Hammer CornKing must be switched on before use
The FillType at the slurry pumps is now preset and doesn't have to be extra are selected because there is only one FillType available
Statistics on fertilizer costs in finances added
[ MODDING] In the Script Editor, if you make a box selection with the Select Tool, also the section boxes behind the nodes are added to the selection
The attacher can manage up to 4 tanks
The editor now has a "Replace geometries with instances" for faster map building
Flags can now be animated using the ClothController and the WeatherController passes on the wind data globally. Example at the gas station
MissionCondition "transferFill" now also supports checks with machine tanks
Large parts of the engine's basic structure are now based on Tombstone and no longer on C4
The math libraries were SSE optimized
CNC now uses the Visual Studio 2017 toolchain and also needs the VS2017 C++ redistributables (should already be guaranteed with Steam)
The editors and plugins as well as the gamecode are now part of the .exe for better memory management
BUG FIX
BGA mission texts in English revised
Reputation "BGP" out of the Agrofields and replace it with "Harbour" so you can buy it again. Affected field numbers: 1, 2, 8, 9, 28, 29, 38, 39, 40
In the first feeding mission the farm silo 1 is now filled with 20.000 L chopped maize so that the Strautmann Verti-Mix can also be filled
Rauch Axis scattered animation no longer switched equal
Solid fertilizers have different colors in the tank and animation
Claas Jaguar has no false start content from 1.0L chopped maize any more
Animation acceleration/deceleration no longer depends on play rate
The AI no longer shifts to the manual gear shift of the vehicles, which sometimes occurred
Opening Instance File Picker no longer causes crashes in Editor
[MODDING] Deactivated collisions will no longer collide with other deactivated collisions
CHANGE
Start Mission revised, one stands now with the cooperative directly before the MB Trac and does not have to look for it no more. The parking position of the VertiMix has been adjusted
Stapel mission revised, the stack barrel now stands behind the bull stable when the mission begins
The Bale Mission has been revised. The Claas Tucano and the helper have been removed. Field 33 immediately has a swath which can be pressed with the quadrant
The Zip file system has been changed. It now works like NTFS and ignores the case of filenames
CNC Techdemo changed to Testmap
NOTES
The console command growth is a very helpful command, you can use it to influence the growth and fast forward the time, example 20 days: growth 20
Snow will follow later, for this all buildings and machines would still have to be reworked to cover them in an appropriate white dress
FGS will be further developed and supplemented by e.g. offset functions for ploughing and saving courses
The old savegames only work partially with the new engine conversion. You have all fields and vehicles but the mission progress will be reset
Savegame quests, if you have problems with a mission, you can skip the quest step with the skipCondition console command
If in your old savegames the teams are inappropriately connected, simply disconnect them and reconnect them again
The autopilot still has difficulties finding the new entrance at the dealer
Helpers buy in Rauch Axis and the Dammann Land-Cruiser no fertilizer after
The AI does not yet handle with the different working widths in the Rauch Axis and the Dammann Land Cruiser
Still no possibility to select fertiliser when creating tasks
The ejection animation at Claas Jaguar is always green
In the bale mission, the bale pressed by the quadrant is still green
Status Update 11 Oct 2019
We are in the final stages of finishing up the update 0.7. While the red and yellow paint is still drying, the test department keeps throwing a few bugs and “suggestions” at us. Still, the update should find its way to your computers next week.
And for those who like to read, the latest issue of the Stark magazine features a new interview with us. Check out their website at http://www.starkmagazin.de/
Status Update 13 Sep 2019
Today we have new information about the current state of development and what we are working on at the moment.
So far CNC has an engine basis of the C4 Engine with some parts of the successor of the Tombstone Engine. For the Season Update we want to take over even more modules of the Tombstone Engine. Since cherry picking is hardly possible, we're putting together almost half a million lines of code by hand to get almost all the features of the latest Tombstone Engine in one fell swoop. We're also doing this in preparation for the upcoming Tombstone version, which will bring some significant quality leaps in rendering like better SSAO, Godray effects through the trees and performance optimizations.
The currently available Tombstone engine also contains many optimizations such as multi-threading improvements for increased performance, better material handling in the asset pipeline and sharp fonts in high resolutions that we have not yet been able to adopt. Also, our goal is to edit forests and hedges faster with the new Landscaping tool and also provides the basics for future map modding.
Here is a video to show you how the Landscaping-Tool works.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3LbJt-RkuM
With your feedback from the last update we added the function to fill the bunker of the biogas plant with helpers. So you don't need shovels anymore. In addition you will soon have the possibility to control the attach and detach of your attachments via the radial menu.
Hotfix Update v0.6.2
Today there is a small hotfix update that fixes two bugs.
BUG FIX
Fixed crashes when opening the field menu
The Bressel & Lade shovels are now also visually empty when tilted
