In this update, train construction is taken to a new level, which is an important stage in the development of the project. In a previous update, work was done to optimize the building elements, which eliminated a lot of high-res textures, but the new train textures were devoid of detail and looked bland. I decided to return the details to the materials while maintaining their optimal implementation.
The textures for all furniture have also been improved and unified.
But the main task was to expand the possibilities of construction and, above all, to expand the range of building elements, including internal walls, which will allow dividing the space into a room and a corridor, which will make it possible to create classic compartment cars.
More furniture was designed, including wall-mounted as well as sanitary ware such as a shower, toilet and 2 types of washbasins.
A large selection of decorative elements has also been added, such as window curtains, carpets, paintings and wall clocks.
For a long time, brutal elements of protection on the outer walls in the form of barbed wire and plates with spikes have been suggested, which are ways to inflict damage on zombies that run into them. And such massive elements as barrels and cans can now be stored in special storage for the outer walls of the train.
The second most important improvement, the ability to decorate interior walls, the player is given 16 materials to choose from, 8 of which can be chosen in an individual color.
And finally, the third important improvement, the ability to armor the outer walls with metal in two ways. At the moment this is purely decorative, but in the future it will help deter zombies from getting on the train when this feature is implemented for zombies.
A small but important improvement in construction, the introduction of auxiliary points that suggest the location of the element, without which in the past it was difficult to install elements of especially small sizes.
Each update I try to gradually improve the optimization as well as the interaction with the inventory, the details can be read below.
Important message! In this version, saving the previous version will work with one caveat. As a result of the increase in building elements and the imperfection of the system, after loading a save, most of the building elements will be mixed in the wrong order. The optimal solution to the problem is to disassemble all the elements of the train except for the main walls before downloading the update. If you do not want to disassemble the entire train, then it is optimal to disassemble the lamps and switches in order to save rare resources, as well as to disassemble the stairs with cabinets in order to save the resources that were in them. I want to clarify that the furniture is not an element of construction, it does not need to be disassembled!
CHANGES LOG
Added
Added new types of walls including a large number of internal walls and railings for the train.
Added a full-fledged Caboose for installation on both the first and second floors.
Added new lamps.
Added new furniture including wall furniture.
Added new decor elements such as curtains, paintings and wall clocks.
Added external protection elements of the train capable of causing damage to zombies as well as bars for doors with windows.
Added external storage for barrels and canisters.
Added the ability to install armored doors to varying degrees, as well as a hatch for the floors.
Added sanitary furniture such as showers, washbasins and toilets and related fittings. All plumbing is interactive and you can put water in it, but so far it has a purely decorative meaning.
Added 2 types of outer wall armor.
Added interior wall decoration menu with a choice of 16 materials for 8 of which you can choose an individual color.
Implemented markers on the installation points of the walls, which would make it easier to install in the right place.
When assembling train construction elements, the progress bar also displays the percentage of assembly.
Now when assembling furniture, a notification appears if the player tries to use the wrong tool.
Added sound effects when activating building menus.
Added the ability to hide the Game Interface by pressing the F11 key.
Changes
Improved textures for all furniture.
Improved textures for all train building elements.
Optimized furniture, which should improve performance when in a densely packed train.
Optimized all building elements of the train, which should also improve performance with a fully built train.
Increased wall collection time.
Increased tool durability by 100%.
Empty canisters are combined into a stack.
The name of the cabinet can be written in two rows and confirm the name by pressing the "Enter" key.
When transferring a large number of items from a third-party inventory, as many as can fit will be transferred.
When splitting items, the quantity can be confirmed with the "Enter" key.
Changed the geometry of the loot elements so that they lie on the surface of the tables and do not sink into them
Removed fast zombies from the first location to make the first location experience easier.
After loading the game, there are no more loud deafening sounds in case the cars are completely built up.
Corrected mistakes
The robot icon no longer freezes on the screen if you leave the robot in the previous location.
Fixed a bug where wall elements were not installed at a right angle.
The gramophone player interface no longer opens if the gramophone is not assembled.
Fixed doors opening in cabinets behind the player when working with workbenches.
Fixed the ability to endlessly replenish inventory through quick slots.
Plans for the next updates
After this update, I start working on two updates in parallel. The first will be dedicated to the updated interface with the introduction of game difficulty levels. The second update will focus on replacing old zombies and introducing new ones. The first theme will be implemented relatively quickly and the second much later.
Separately, I want to thank the player with the nickname Wombat for providing the train, which was widely used to create screenshots and a commercial.
Release 12.5 test version of the game
Hey machinists! The test of version 12 was overshadowed by serious bugs that broke saves, but work has been done on the game and at the moment there should be no more problems. However, today I ran the final test of the game to make sure that this error is no longer there. If the test goes well, it will be immediately followed by a release.
This version of the game can already be considered a release, so if you have long wanted to start playing the new version, then this is a great opportunity to do it and help me in an important test!
Don't forget to backup your saves! Test access code RQNElNUMmCP0Bm
Important announcement.
IMPORTANT WARNING!
IF YOU ARE GOING TO PLAY THE TEST UPDATE, BE SURE TO BACKUP YOUR OLD SAVE!
Unfortunately, a bug has been identified that breaks the saves of some players after resaving in the test version of the game. Saves can't be restored after that.
Open Final Test Version 12
Hey machinists! I am glad to announce that the final test version of the upcoming update is available for download. As always, I got carried away adding as much train building content as possible, which delayed the development, but I finally finished it. It remains for me to fix the accumulated bugs and shortcomings. The previous saves work with one caveat, I had to change the sequence of building elements, which will change the look of your train and it will be necessary to rebuild most of the walls of the train. Otherwise, all progress will be saved.
1. In this version of the update, a large number of building elements have been added, as well as more furniture. 2. The necessary materials for creating technically complex furniture have been changed, now they will be universal mechanisms and not unique ones, as it was before. 3. The first uniqueness of this test is the ability to armor the walls of the train in two stages. To do this, use the lower section of the construction menu. 4. The second uniqueness of the test, the ability to decorate the walls of the train with 16 unique materials, 8 of which you can choose a unique color. To activate the decoration mode, use the P key, the hint is in the lower left corner as usual.
To access the test, right-click on the game in the library - settings - beta version. Enter the test code and select the test from the drop down menu. Game test password: RQNElNUMmCP0Bm
Patreon game support
Hey machinists! I delayed this moment as much as possible and hoped that such a need would not appear, but unfortunately sales continue to decline and in the new year I was forced to stop working with the artist developing zombie models for the game. If you have a desire and, most importantly, an opportunity to help the project, I will be glad to see you on my Patreon support page!
Update 11.0 alpha
This small update was once again dedicated to optimization and also I tried to bring back the tall dense forests from the early version of the game. Also, a tool was removed from the project, which was supposed to improve performance, but as it turned out, it seriously overloaded the RAM, as a result of which players with low-performance computers suffered. Moreover, I assume that this tool was the cause of the game freezing at 90% game load. One of the reasons why work on optimization was carried out right now is a new tool that completely transfers the forest calculation from the processor to the video card. On the test scenes, the tool showed extremely high forest optimization results, but in the project everything turned out to be quite the opposite. For now, it was decided to leave the option to activate this tool, as it can improve performance if the processor is very outdated in relation to the video card. The result of this update is a 20-50% increase in tree height and slightly more forest density, making it darker and more atmospheric. FPS increase by 5-20% depending on the computer configuration. Reduced RAM load, which significantly increased the speed of loading locations.
CHANGES LOG
Improvements
Increased tree height and density for coniferous forests.
Removed the tool, the use of which greatly increased the load on RAM and also increased the size of the game in general.
The light switch has been replaced in the locomotive.
Corrected mistakes
Now the windows in the base building open visually.
Fixed a bug of object glare when the light source was behind a wall.
Plans for the next updates have changed slightly since the last post
12 The version will be devoted to changing the graphical interface of the game, the ability to change wall panels in the interior and the introduction of more new elements for the construction of wagons.
13 The version will be devoted to the redesign of zombies and the processing of AI. It is also likely that a zombie repulsion system will be implemented, resulting in a chance to drop zombies with a strong blow or a shot from large caliber firearms.
Update 10.3 alpha
Fixed a bug related to the auto-replacement of inventory items when dragging, which allowed you to move a non-equipment item to the equipment slot, which led to a break the save. If you experienced a broken save in recent updates and it was related to this bug, then your saves will work again.
CHANGES LOG
Improvements
Added an icon showing the position of the robot if it is far behind the player and also if it is stuck at a locked door.
Updated localization for German.
Corrected mistakes
The weight of the picked up item in the belt now correctly displays the weight of the inventory.
Fixed being able to move a non-equipment item to an equip slot using auto swap items.
Fixed a bug where zombies could freeze when attacking a door from a log house.
Update 10.2 alpha
CHANGES LOG
Improvements
Fixed one of the reasons why it was not possible to interact with the train.
Fixed the appearance of zombies in front of the player in a large house with a trap.
Increased tool durability by 50%
Weapon durability increased by 100%
Fixed flying stones near the lake on the way to the fishermen's settlement.
Removed the flying stump over the lake in the city.
Edited furniture element colliders to properly place items on or under them.
Reduced the angle of smooth rotation of objects for precise positioning on the surface.
Corrected mistakes
Fixed a bug where zombies would freeze at a barred door and no longer react to the player.
Unbuilt tank no longer collects water.
Fixed hood bug for green minivan.
Fixed the shift of the door from the log house when opened.
Fixed incorrect display of lakes during fog.
Update 10.1 alpha
Hello machinists! After a long study of the problems of the new version of the save, unfortunately, I came to the conclusion that it is still too raw. It would be foolish and unfair of me to try to fix the system now, seriously pushing back work on other updates and inconveniencing players with multiple serious bugs for a long time, which may take fixing all the problems in the new system. Therefore, I made the difficult decision to roll back to the old save system anyway, so that I could easily refine it in parallel with the development of other updates without torturing players with testing the game in the release version. Unfortunately, as a result, all saves will again not work. To somehow compensate for this, I made 3 types of saves.
The first save for players who have just started playing and have passed the first 2-3 locations. The train will be in the first location, but will be filled with loot at about the right level. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OxJyvN6hmYSaeZdu3gJWPcnbFndp9uVc/view?usp=sharing
The second save is for players who have overcome the tunnel or those who once played the old version and stopped at the stones after the tunnel. https://drive.google.com/file/d/183azAzbGF0rn1pL3Ck4buPiIu1rVK1SR/view?usp=sharing
Third save for veterans. The train will be littered with loot in large quantities, which will allow you to endlessly rebuild your train. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vbKLNCQVGtb9u9HmF3fdzwohIpH_lYO1/view?usp=sharing
I also uploaded the release version 10.0 in which your previous saves will work, you need to select the previous version of the game in the beta test settings.
CHANGES LOG
Improvements
The new game plus button has a different color to avoid accidentally pressing it.
Disabled the restriction for the player to the axle of the wheelset, so that players would not get stuck under the train in case of a fall.
Increased train horn audibility range.
Water purification, also requires sand.
Removed the need to create a blank fabric and leather bag for the production of robot storage. The bag is immediately created at the engineer's workbench.
Changed the number and timer of zombie spawns to the sound of the pump engine to avoid slow zombie reaction to the player.
Corrected mistakes
Fixed a bug where several robots had a single interface due to which bags were duplicated.
Holding the robot in your hands when moving between locations no longer cancels the download.
Fixed a bug in which the locomotive collapsed with wagons or wagons were torn off when moving between forks.
Fixed a bug where not all water sources could collect water.
Fixed a bug where fences in the city visually disappeared in front of the player.
Fixed glass glow in city houses in fog.
Fixed resetting the level of the evacuated swamp when loading the game.
