Various performance improvements on non-render systems.
Improvements on the Terrain mesh, making it faster to render.
Gameplay
Rebalanced all guns and bullets.
Bugfixes
Fixed lots of weapon sounds.
Translations
Moved lots of item names and descriptions to translation files.
Reverted Traditional Chinese, now there are two Chinese translations, Traditional and Simplified.
*Coming Soon*
More achievements.
More changes to loots.
Improvements on the Melee Attack.
Changelog for update Beta 1.06a [Achievements][Bugfixes]
Steam Achievements
First batch of Steam Achievements are now live. There are 45 achievements to obtain.
Bugfixes
Fixed bug causing crash when exploring the craft menu.
Aesthetics
New Loading Screens.
*Coming Soon*
More achievements.
More changes to loots.
More item names/descriptions added to the translation files.
Improvements on the Melee Attack.
Changelog for update Beta 1.05a [Quickfix][Weapons]
Bugfixes
Fixed bug causing server to restart too often.
Fixed bug causing vultures to be frozen when they spawn over dead bodies.
Fixed bug causing rubberbanding when dismounting while galloping.
Gameplay
Tweaked all revolvers and rifles stats, they are better balanced now.
Changed gun randomization, now there are parts that only appear in the rusty rarity (like bent or ruined barrels), and parts that only appear in the top 3 or 2 rarities, like better grips, chambers or the most efficient reload mechanisms..
Aesthetics
Changed sound for the silenced revolvers.
Changed guns names and descriptions, now they reflect better the parts they have.
Changelog for update Beta 1.04a [Performance][NPCs][Base Building]
Gameplay
Added craft recipes to re-craft guns into new ones with the same rarity.
Changed craft kit rarity table, now better craft kit have way more chances of creating better guns.
Performance
Improved page loading/unloading time.
Improved time spent updating scene objects.
NPC
Big change on NPC code, now they should be more active and aggressive.
Fixed NPCs stuttering, entering walls, falling through objects.
Improved NPC positioning.
Base Building
Added short fence object to the base building mode.
Added tall fence object to the base building mode.
Bugfixes
Fixed bug preventing player from accessing the 2nd floor of a specific building without crouching.
Removed "Interact" message when riding horses.
Fixed bug causing game to get stuck in base building mode sometimes.
Aesthetics
Fixed crosshair center not being positioned correctly.
Changed lots of item names and descriptions.
Network
Optimized refresh rate of remote players.
Physics
Improved Physics determinism for player controllers.
Server
Improved server RAM consumption.
Removed one unused CPU thread from the server app.
Translations
Improved Simplified Chinese translation. Thank you [CN]彼得大帝_Peter.
Moved lots of item names and descriptions to the translation files.
*Coming Soon*
Steam achievements.
More changes to loots.
More item names/descriptions added to the translation files.
Improvements on the Melee Attack.
Changelog for update Beta 1.03b [Quickfixes][No More Horse Stuttering]
Horse
Fixed issue causing horse to stutter when turning it around.
Bugfixes
Fixed bug causing eventual server crash when a player is joining the server.
Network
Reduced packet size for request packets and shot packets.
Changelog for update Beta 1.03a [Network]
Network
Improved algorithm used to establish connection to servers, now all servers should show the ping and be reachable (assuming they use UPnP or have the UPD port correctly open).
Added algorithm to aggressively reduce the refresh rate of NPCs depending on their distance to each player and if they are visible.
Reduced by ~80% the amount of data when syncing NPCs.
Greatly improved all bullet copy and poker machines sync data.
Reduced the amount of data transferred between client/server to sync page data.
Improved packet formation algorithm (new Hive generated, all servers need to be updated to be visible in the server list).
Greatly improved overall network packet size.
Gameplay
Increased interaction range from 1.0 to 1.5.
Improved NPC velocity computation.
Bugfixes
Fixed bug preventing music volume to change when using the Music volume bar.
Aesthetics
Removed life bar from merchants and other non-killable NPCs.
Improved Aimed Object Data behavior.
Changed item sorting rules, now the weapons come first, and it sorts the clothes more efficiently.
Translations
Added first version of Hungarian translation. Thank you lostprophet.hu.
*Coming Soon*
Improvements when riding horses.
Steam achievements.
More changes to loots.
More item names/descriptions added to the translation files.
New craft recipes.
Changelog for update Beta 1.02a [Gameplay][Abandon Base]
Gameplay
Added objects and NPCs to 4 previously empty buildings.
Increased Carry Capacity from 100 to 150.
Increased fall damage.
Added '/unstuck' command option.
Added content to lots of loot containers (boxes, barrels, pots, cabinets, etc).
Base Building
Added option to "Abandon Base". Accessible in the base building system. It's the last "part" available to "build".
Bugfixes
Fixed texts in the craft recipe window to show the actual name/description instead of the language tags.
Fixed bug causing player to be pulled towards the floor when falling.
Fixed lots of graphical glitches.
Fixed most of the shadow bug around terrain pages when close to dusk/dawn.
Aesthetics
Renamed "Reforged" rarity to "Rare".
Performance
Improved lag/rubberbanding when mounting horses.
Optimized Terrain meshes to use less RAM, GPU memory and be faster to render.
Removed a lot of unnecessary plants and foliage.
AI
Improved AI: they should properly detect when the target they are attacking has died.
Improved AI: they shouldn't detect players through walls and/or obstacles.
Server
Improved NPC generation.
Fixed bug causing server to hang when controlling too many NPCs at the same time.
Coming Soon
Steam Achievements.
More changes to loots.
More item names/descriptions added to the translation files.
New craft recipes.
Changelog for update Beta 1.01a [Bugs][Performance][Tutorial]
Gameplay
CLASSES STARTING GEAR: Now the classes ADD to your experience instead of BLOCKING entire parts of the game. In other words: All classes start with a gun, some ammo, an axe, shovel, pickaxe and a craft kit, and on top of that, each class have their own bonus items.
CRAFTING RECIPES: Now they are more accessible, easier to make and more entertaining to explore.
Added missing clothing recipes to the crafting system.
Screen becomes yellowish to communicate the thirst earlier now.
Tutorial
Added lots of new tips and hints.
Added 14 new tutorial messages and fixed the old ones to help new players get started.
Fixed "DPS" text in the character screen so the formula is entirely visible, not clipped by the panel it's in.
Added option to reset all tutorial and tips messages to the Game Options window (please use it if you don't see the new tutorial upon joining a server now).
Aesthetics
Added name generator for male NPCs.
Added name generator for female NPCs.
Fixed shadow far distance and extrusion distance for the sun light.
Added shadows to the dust particles.
Improved dust particles behavior, now they won't climb steep slopes unnaturally.
Improved Crosshair visibility and it's aesthetics when showing a weapon with high accuracy.
Bugfixes
Fixed bug causing upper animations to get stuck in the T pose sometimes.
Fixed lots of bugs with competing animations (reload/cut/mine/dig/melee).
Fixed bug causing dig/cut/mine animations to never be triggered under certain situations.
Fixed random crashes caused by some faulty 3D models.
Fixed bug causing shadows to flicker or glitch sometimes.
Fixed bug causing the game to start "paused" when showing the tutorial for the first time.
Fixed competing tutorial/hint messages cancelling one another.
Fixed shadow textures for transparent objects, now they reuse the ones computed for opaque objects instead of computing a new one.
Fixed lots of AABBs.
Removed lots of unused meshes from the Steam builds.
Announcing first Sunset Rangers beta version
Announcing the first beta version
What does it mean to reach beta? It means we've come a long way, and we're very happy that we could add all the major features the community requested, even the ones that weren't planned in the first versions (Base building, horses, etc).
It also means all the major features are now added to the game and we won't be adding more big features. Now the focus will shift to add content (more quests, events), balance the game, improve performance, and add minor features.
What are the major features that are now added? In the current state the major features are:
Random western-inspired world with events and quests
Thousands of weapons to discover
Base Building
Horse mechanic
Karma mechanic (want to befriend the bandits by killing soldiers? Go ahead)
Faction mechanic (ally yourself to one of the factions)
Survival mechanic (keep track of hunger, thirst, temperature)
NPCs to interact, sell items, buy items, kill, loot
Character customization (class, skin, clothings, equipments)
Character development (scaling gear quality)
Challenging experience with a hint of humor.
What will be added? Sheriff/Most Wanted mechanic will be more developed, NPC interactions, better AI, more questlines and anything the community suggest and that wouldn't be too big to represent a major feature.
What won't be added? Anything that's too big of a change in the current build.
How about the next builds? They'll have lots of important performance improvements, in both network consumption AND frames per second. They'll also have lots of re-balance of the game rules (damages, speeds, accuracy, etc). And also, of course, tons of bugfixing. The main focus now is to polish the experience.
Want to help us? You can support the project by participating in the balance/game design discussions, suggesting changes and improvements, helping detect bugs and glitches and by spreading the word, let your friends know about Sunset Rangers.
