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Devlog KAG Build 2657 - Fantasy Heads, Bounties Cleared, Crates, Map, Fixes, Spanish, Saw Jump changes, Red Bar

Discussion in 'Announcements' started by Geti, Jul 27, 2018.

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Favourite Additions?

Poll closed Aug 10, 2018.
  1. New Crates

    10 vote(s)
    62.5%
  2. Minimap Gold

    3 vote(s)
    18.8%
  3. Fantasy Heads

    10 vote(s)
    62.5%
  4. Clown Car Bug

    3 vote(s)
    18.8%
  5. Saw Jump Countermeasures

    6 vote(s)
    37.5%
  6. Bug Fixes

    3 vote(s)
    18.8%
  7. Spanish

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  8. Red Barrier

    3 vote(s)
    18.8%
  9. You missed my favourite...

    2 vote(s)
    12.5%
Multiple votes are allowed.
Thread Status:
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  1. Geti

    Geti Please avoid PMing me (poke a mod instead) THD Team Administrator Global Moderator

    Messages:
    3,730
    Hey Folks!

    Quite a big build this time around!

    This build coincides pretty closely with the release of the Fantasy Heads Pack DLC, as voted by the community! This pack will be available on steam here from 8pm PST on the 27th of July if all goes well with valve release certification - it may become visible before then for pre-orders if it gets certified earlier.

    The pack provides 34 new exclusive heads; 17 for each gender. We hope you will enjoy these new customisation options, and welcome any feedback on the pack!

    [​IMG]

    All the bounties that the community voted for this month were filled very quickly, thanks to PotatoBird, Pirate-Rob, and GoldenGuy - and everyone who pitched and voted for the bounties! The bounty system is ongoing, and you can participate in voting through github and discord.

    The crates are probably the star of the show, with numerous changes made; mostly by PotatoBird with some collaboration with Pirate-Rob. They can be purchased from the builder shop, hidden inside, provide protection from some explosions, contain booby traps, and can conveniently pick up resources en masse. They also provide a valuable avenue for teamwork, with archers or knights carrying builders safely in crates to the front. There's plenty more to note in the changelog for the curious. We are quite excited for the amount of attention the crates have gotten to make them an interesting, viable addition to the game! tl;dr: "I r8 cr8/8 m8"

    [​IMG]

    The other big bounty was the addition of visible gold to the minimap. Gold now appears as a yellow area with a subtle outline, which should prevent it being missed on some maps, and avoids the need for silly workarounds like saving the map for competitive play. This was somewhat contentious in the community discussion, so there is a config file which allows disabling the gold rendering completely. The code also serves as a very good example of a minimap handling script for mods to build on. Thanks to Pirate-Rob and GoldenGuy for this contribution!

    [​IMG]

    The final bounty was a fix for inconsistent bomb arrow damage in some edge cases. This may still have some rough edges, but it seems more stable now and Rob is happy to follow up as needed on any further fixes. Thanks to Pirate-Rob for this contribution. Looking forward to seeing it tested out in "prime time".

    Thanks again for your contribution to all those who took on bounty work!

    There have also been some important in-house developments, as well as some other contributions and reports from the community.

    • A spanish translation from Vikhenzo was added. We welcome feedback and any revision on this addition! Vikhenzo also fixed an issue with the vote kick message appearing in the chat box.
    • A minor changes to the quarry from Mazey that got missed last time - rounding the output to the nearest 5 units - was added.
    • Farming for coins with wooden structures is less viable now, as it gives the same income as wooden blocks. This should prevent unsporting platform-spam at the tent while not much affecting "normal" builder play very much.
    • The red barrier during build time has had some synchronisation issues sorted out. It no longer pushes players as much and there is a few tiles of no build zone at the edge, to prevent builders being tempted to touch it so much. The no build area has been adjusted slightly to accomodate this change, so maps should not require editing in response. Thanks to Bunnie and Franek for their thorough reporting of this issue.
    • The female voice pitch modifier on several sounds has been reduced slightly - the sounds should actually be audible most of the time now! It may still need adjusting in one direction or the other, feedback is welcome.

    Thanks to all the community members involved in developing, discussing, reviewing, and revising these changes!

    Engine side, there are also a few changes:
    • An important performance improvement has been added thanks to Asu: batched rendering of sprites and particles. The rendering is not really the slowest part of KAG, but this batching will speed things up a little more, especially for people with underpowered integrated graphics. Nothing should look different, it'll just perform a little better.
    • Mod download speed may be improved, and the joining protocol has been sorted out to avoid potential double downloads and timeouts for big complicated mods. Some security aspects of mod downloading have also been improved.
    • The top of map collision has been brought down one tile further which prevents easy clearance of towers that reach as high as possible. This is likely to somewhat curb saw jumping to the enemy tent, at least if they have proper defenses established. Bombs can still be tossed through the 1-high gap between the top of the map and the top of the buildable area, and saw jumping still works.
    • Minimap updates can be triggered from scripts per-tile, which may be useful for custom minimap implementations.

    I think that's everything of note, but please let me know if something slipped under the radar!

    [​IMG]

    Have Fun!
    Max

    Code:
    Full Changelog
    
    [added] huge crate rework + crates in CTF (see below) (thanks PotatoBird and Pirate-Rob)
    [added] gold visible on minimap (thanks Pirate-Rob and GoldenGuy)
        Bonus: configurable serverside for gold or no gold, see Rules/MinimapSettings.cfg
    [fixed] bomb arrow damage consistent (thanks Pirate-Rob)
    [modified] bomb arrows "hit through shield" fix (thanks Franek for the report)
    [added] spanish translation (thanks Vikhenzo)
    [added] quarry remainder change (quarry gives resources in multiples of 5)
    [fixed] the message for vote kicking (thanks Vikhenzo)
    [added] support for fantasy heads DLC
    [added] runnerheads script automatically supports new dlcs via engine-side heads pack definitions
    [added] red barrier sync (fixes desync on levels with custom red barriers)
    [modified] red barrier aligned to a tile boundary
    [modified] top border collision moved down 1 tile
    [modified] widened fade border on map
    [modified] female pitch modifier reduced (less "shrill" sound)
    [added] isInventoryAccessible checked on server before putting stuff in/taking stuff out of inventory
    [added] void CMap::EditMiniMap(int x, int y) function to trigger a minimap pixel update
        (for custom minimap special cases)
    [added] forced a periodic sync that may help with "infinite stun on join" glitch
        (or may not - please report if you notice any change in the frequency of the bug)
    [fixed] various script download issues + double download of mods (thanks Asu)
    [fixed?] timeout on joining servers with big mods
    [added] official sandbox server port numbers (so they are gold in the server list)
    [added] batched rendering (thanks Asu)
    [modified] increased number of particles available
    [added] better net graph (thanks Asu)
    [added] raised snapshot cap (relevant for some mods with extreme packet numbers possible)
    [added] n_file_simultaneous console variable for setting maximum simultaneous mod file downloads
    [modified] default simultaneous mod file downloads lifted to 8
    [modified] default n_file_chunk_size lifted to 32k (ATTN admins: update this variable for faster mod downloads)
    
    Crate Changes:
    
    [added] Crate to builder shop: either 150 wood or 20 coins
    
    [added] Players autopickup most items into carried crates
    
        [added] Crate autopickup when touching most items
        [added] Activate held crates w/ spacebar to dump items
        [modified] Logs now stack to 2 (and crates pick them up)
        [modified] Crates yield 100 wood on hitting a saw
        [dev] Crates make thud noise when storing an item
    
    [added] Crates can be booby-trapped with mines
    
    [added] Crate hiding: hold crate and press E to get in / out
    
        [fixed] You can now use emotes from inside crates
        [modified] Crate w/ hidden player breaks + stuns an enemy that tries to interact
        [added] Players hidden in exploding crates are launched + damaged
        [modified] You can remove allies from crates by pressing E near them
        [modified] You can enter a crate that has other items
        [modified] On entering crate, some items pop out if necessary to make room
    
        [modified] Crates break on player exit, not when last item removed
        [modified] Entering/leaving crate keeps momentum
        [modified] Players jump up out of crates they were hidden in
        [modified] Players/corpses are 2x2 in inventory, to fit more in crates
        [fixed] Attacking out of crate: now get brief stun
        [added] half of the explosion damage taken by crates will also be taken by player inside
        [added] Kegs kill crates and the players inside them
        [added] When getting out of crate, players say hullo
    
    Crate properties:
    
        [modified] Crates more team-specific, accessibility tweaks (can put item into occupied crate)
        [modified] Crates can only store 9 items (3x3 inventory)
        [modified] Crates are now heavier when there's a keg inside
        [modified] Crates have less drag for better throwing
        [modified] Crates have 2x health, take 4x builder damage
        [modified] Crates cannot be stored in any inventory
        [modified] Now you should be able to mill people in crates with saws somewhat more consistently
        [modified] Kegs can't be launched as far as other items out of crates by dumping them
        [modified] Crates with lit kegs in them are even heavier
    
    Fixes / Minor:
    
        [fixed] No more perpetual screaming from crates (cured claustrophobia)
        [fixed] Opening own inventory while inside crate
        [fixed] Taking players into own hand/inventory, etc
        [fixed?] Entering dead crates to vanish/levitate
        [dev] Normal crates appear carried on the back
        [dev] Crate tweaks: can't jump out of fast falling crate
        [fixed] Crate destruction sprite
        [dev] Crate item popout velocity tweaks
        [fixed] Bombs/items stashed in crate keep original team/owner
        [fixed] Translatable crate buttons
        [fixed] Explosions destroy crates from inside + fling items further
        [fixed] Items now pop out of dying crates consistently
        [fixed] Players can't use pickup key to escape crate without breaking it
    
     
    jimmyzoudcba, jonipro, Noburu and 9 others like this.
  2. Clev

    Clev Resident Stoner Staff Alumni Donator Tester

    Messages:
    106
    Nice! This sounds like it's gonna bring quite a bit of variety to the ways builders can work.
     
  3. joshua12131415

    joshua12131415 Bison Rider Tester

    Messages:
    190
    25252525
    Every single change here is awesome & i really like the direction kag is heading in with these bounties and community contributions :thumbs_up:
     
  4. Biurza

    Biurza E X T R A T H I C C Staff Alumni Donator
    1. MIST
    2. Active Forum Users

    Messages:
    245
    Can't wait to send enemy contraband crates with kegs and other goods :rekt:
     
    Magmus likes this.
  5. Furai

    Furai THD Team THD Team Administrator

    Messages:
    3,124
    Released a hotfix addressing issues with:
    • red barrier not being there
    • void not killing when dropped into
    • minimap not showing up (can still happen occasionally)
    • script downloading issues for modded servers
     
    jonipro, Magmus and epsilon like this.
  6. 8x

    8x Elimination Et Choix Traduisant la Realité Forum Moderator Staff Alumni Tester
    1. The Young Blood Collective - [YB]

    Messages:
    1,325
    Bombjumps over the tallest wall are not possible now, which is a terrible payoff for not considering the saw-bombjump an abuse and removing it as teleporter jump was back in the day (which required a greater deal of craft). Removing it as a solution was simpler and less intrusive to knights, but always in my opinion.

    Also, in the situation below you literally can't jump over.
    2018-07-27_15-52-39.png
     
    Eluded, Magmus, Biurza and 1 other person like this.
  7. Potatobird

    Potatobird Haxor Forum Moderator Mapping Moderator Tester Official Server Admin

    Messages:
    777
    July update upcrate is here!

    I can't wait for my pointy hat fantasy heads tbh. Been using my plumed helmet for years since I started playing and now I'm finally gonna change it

    Yeah, that was kind of the point, you shouldn't be able to jump over it even without the spike. I'm also in favor of removing the sky limit tho, I think people should just build roofs lol. I don't like how a tower that's a block or two short is useless, but suddenly once you go put a couple blocks on top it is completely unscalable and vastly more effective. Makes it basically necessary to build all of your buildings as high up as you can.

    And also, the harder it is to get over, the more tempting it will be for people to go under, and ratting I think has more haters than the "solorek knight bomb jumping over any tower" thing the sky limit was meant to counteract in the first place.
     
    PooManCHU and Magmus like this.
  8. TheDirtySwine

    TheDirtySwine Haxor Staff Alumni Donator

    Messages:
    818
    iMaGiNe VeRrA SeEiNg ThIs HeAd UpDaTe 25252525
     
    enderzilla747 likes this.
  9. ShnitzelKiller

    ShnitzelKiller Haxor

    Messages:
    590
    The game now freezes and hitches like crazy. This is extremely noticeable every time the map changes, and everyone can testify that they see ransom floating shit everywhere in the transition period. And materials take 10 seconds longer to spawn at the start? I'm not sure if this one is intentional.
    Also, did anyone actually ask for even more invisible barriers to annoy you when building? Flowers and random foliage weren't bad enough?
    Finally, weren't crates orignally in CTF as well as TTH, but were removed from CTF?
     
  10. enderzilla747

    enderzilla747 Bison Rider Tester

    Messages:
    104
    Launching 2 players at once on a catapult new meta? 1 inside crate and another holding that crate being launched. :smug:
     
    Clev likes this.
  11. Coroz

    Coroz B R B Donator Tester Official Server Admin
    1. [AG#] - Ancient Gear

    Messages:
    140
    In pub matches the newer players face less 'op'knights in the base that slaughter entire legions of players. because of sawjump / triple bombjumping.

    Besides 2 bombarrows or a keg are most of the times enough to break the tower open.
     
  12. 8x

    8x Elimination Et Choix Traduisant la Realité Forum Moderator Staff Alumni Tester
    1. The Young Blood Collective - [YB]

    Messages:
    1,325

    My point is that the use and exploit of a mix of features (bombs explosions boost, sawmills triggering all of them if lit, no damage of 4 bombs on team doors or trapblocks, and -last but clearly not least- getting coins from building platforms) from a few guys have made the devs come up with a solution that affects greatly the higher part of the players, pubs and competitive alike, which never tended to do that exploit, but which suffered them pretty often lately. What is more, despite I don't have any official sources that this will happen, laying platforms will give you no coins so as to avoid the coin farming usually knights do. This, obviously, would affect builders that do build, but that's another story...

    What I think is that for validating the fact that a simple player can fly over the whole map and drop a keg wherever he pleases (which is surely pure fun itself, but, as usual in my opinion, breaks the game balance and makes you feel cheated when you lose to that), this new fix has been introduced: you can build to the very top of the map, and not you or anybody else can bypass that obstacle (leave alone builders having to learn to build that section again, and the inconvenient of not being able to stand on your own castle's roof). Not even archers with grapples or knights with bombjumps.
    This, to my eyes, adds to the problem of the stalemates as well, but the thing is, something that has been a major feature in KAG since perhaps 2012, is now not possible: bypass a tower with 2 or 3 bombs. Bombjumping and grappling to bring chaos into an enemy base should be part of it, without the need of damaging it first. You can shoot 2 bomb arrows, or even one, if the top is reachable at shoot, but now you need to do that in the case you want to sneak into.

    So, well, it's too early for taking further conclusions, but perhaps this forces players to attack more at a mid-height, but it also forces more ratting. The first sounds nice to me, and it adds to the idea of everybody pushing together.

    Also, this is from a build 4 years ago
    (https://forum.thd.vg/threads/build-1180-shop-boat-map-coin-tweaks-and-many-fixes.20893/):

    " No more getting into crates
    As fun as it might be for you, we're quite tired of complaints about players effectively wasting a team slot by spending the entire game asking their team to carry them into battle. The code is still in there, just commented out for those who want this in modded servers."
     
    Last edited: Jul 28, 2018
  13. 4zK

    4zK Horde Gibber Staff Alumni

    Messages:
    70
    I eventually didn't mind saw-jumping that much and I think that the crated builder meta is a great addition, I just don't think that the two mix that well.
    I'd hate to break anybody's fun but I would start by exponentially cutting the force you get from multiple bombs blowing up at the same time. I don't want to remove the bug/feature, I just don't want players to be able to cross even the largest maps from one corner to another. I think that instead of - say - the code being F1 + F2... +Fn (I assume) the added recoil could decrease on every added bomb, such as F1 + F2/2 ... Fn/n or something

    that is, if you can somehow monitor whenever a collective explosion happens where someone receives the recoil. I'd love to hear some dev input on this

    I thought of this since decibels work in a similar way (e.g. the sum of two 10 decibel sources not adding up to 20, but 13)
    I also think that carrying a player in a crate should weigh you down a bit more, closer to a keg. currently it feels like nothing

    I don't like how the new ceiling limit works either, I feel that it's too cheap of a workaround for this issue. castles are meant to be scaled!

    on another note, trap blocks - let alone any team-specific block should not be completely immune to damage from friendly bombs, as dealing damage through allied buildings can be very advantageous, especially when dealing with a sapped trap. I say make them twice as resilient against friendly bombs instead, just not indestructible by them

    the platform farming nerf is fine by me, but I don't agree with how the whole coin reward system works currently
    in my opinion, every placed block should be rewarded accordingly, especially stone background since it's a vital in all construction (forget wooden background though, it's irrelevant)

    let's say that the stone block (10 stone / 4 coins) and wooden block (10 wood / 1 coin) are kept as our key measurements and most cost efficient in terms of coins, I would propose something like this:

    stone block: 10 stone / 4 coins
    stone door: 50 stone / 8 coins instead of 4 (currently highly cost-ineffective)
    stone wall: 2 stone / ½ coin (or 1 coin every 2 blocks)
    trap block: 25 stone / 6 coins instead of 4 (not to further encourage the usage of these, but to give appropriate coins in return)
    spikes: 30 stone / 6 coins, even though they aren't a solid block and don't contribute to the building itself
    wood block: 10 wood / 1 coin
    wood door: 30 wood / 2 coins instead of 4 or 1 (currently)
    wood platform: 15 wood / 1 coin (as is)
    ladders: 10 wood / 0 coins (as is currently) to discourage farming coins with ladders
    to end on something other than "I don't like this" etc. I'd like to propose a function for mines in crates
    currently, when placed in crates, mines are carried around just like in your pocket. I would suggest that while travelling in crates, mines should be activated (or come out activated when crate is broken), so that breaking an enemy crate in order to see what's inside would serve a slight risk and give more possibilities for crates in terms of tactics
    oh, and crates containing siege equipment don't swap team anymore when picked up, is this intentional?
     
    Last edited: Jul 28, 2018
    Asu, Magmus and Clev like this.
  14. Clev

    Clev Resident Stoner Staff Alumni Donator Tester

    Messages:
    106
    I really like 4z's ideas, the mine crate especially.
     
    Magmus likes this.
  15. Fuzzle

    Fuzzle Grand Grumbler

    Messages:
    297
    - Worsened game performance.
    - Many new vulnerabilities for exploits.
    - Many new and fun bugs!
    5/7 update. For once I approve.
     
  16. Biurza

    Biurza E X T R A T H I C C Staff Alumni Donator
    1. MIST
    2. Active Forum Users

    Messages:
    245
    With new features bugs follow naturally.
    Performance is about as it was, only thing worsened is nextmap related lags, but it'll get fixed soon.
    please stop acting like it's really just pixelated version of you in that avatar.
     
    Magmus likes this.
  17. Fuzzle

    Fuzzle Grand Grumbler

    Messages:
    297
    Haha, yes. As you said, 10 bugs per feature is "natural".
    No need to test and review. I approve.
     
  18. Asu

    Asu THD Team THD Team Forum Moderator

    Messages:
    1,580
    The lags on map change are a minimap bug. It's being refreshed *far* too often for some reason when there are enough players, which is why it went through testing unnoticed. It will be hotfixed soon. Other than that ingame performance should be better than before with the batching optimizations. I wish to do the same with GUI because it's causing a ridiculous performance hit.
    Those other issues seem weird though, I don't recall seeing anything like that. They could just be related to the huge lags.

    Red barrier was garbage because you had to try really hard to actually build beyond the red barrier, because you were getting constantly pushed. The nobuild zone could be reduced to the barrier zone though, I agree (...if this doesn't come with unintended side effects).
     
    Magmus likes this.
  19. bunnie

    bunnie Haxor Tester

    Messages:
    1,319
    its even more garbage now. the idea of a nobuild zone is very unintuitive
     
    Magmus likes this.
  20. Asu

    Asu THD Team THD Team Forum Moderator

    Messages:
    1,580
    If the nobuild zone matched the red barrier it would be okay imo. I don't see having a no-cross zone as a no-build zone being unintuitive.
     
    Magmus and Potatobird like this.
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