v0.4.4: Weather Update

Hi everyone,

The weather update is now fully released! There are several new weather conditions that can occur at random throughout the day. This update is one I've been excited about for ages - I think it adds a ton of life and atmosphere to Hyland Point.

We've worked really hard on optimisation for this update - the new weather system has almost zero performance impact, even during the most visually complex effects. We've also made a number of rendering optimisations to existing parts of the game. In our testing, FPS seems to be 5-10% higher compared to the previous version of the game.

Additions

• Added new weather system:[list]
• Clear
• Overcast
• Foggy
• Light rain
• Heavy rain
• Lightning

Added umbrella (usable only by NPCs at the moment).

Added a purchasable flashlight to the hardware stores.

Added more police sentry locations.

Added 'setweather' command.

Added 'setweatherspeed' command.

Added 'triggerlightning' command.

Added 'triggerdistantthunder' command.

Added weather-specific NPC greetings.

Added new UI framework in preparation for controller support (not yet enabled).

Added weather volume setting.

Added 'rainy bonus' for deals completed during rain.

Tweaks/Improvements

• Rebuilt the day-night cycle system.
• Changed the layout and appearance of the settings menu.
• Police will now alternate between two locations during their sentry behaviour.
• Increased warehouse worker limit from 10 -> 12.
• Tweaked shadow settings for improved coverage and quality.
• Started moving core systems into a separate assembly (ScheduleOne.Core)
• Refactored audio code.
• Rebuilt the equipping system to support left-hand equippables (umbrella).
• Added more lights to various props and buildings.
• Tweaked some overly aggressive LODs.
• Replaced various static props with physics ones.
• Police will no longer tase you if you're within arrest distance.
• Marked more geometry as static for improved culling.
• Converted several transparent materials to opaque + alpha cutoff.
• Reduced the radius of the pathfinding obstacle of the pots, allowing employees to walk in between adjacent pots.
• Tweaked blood splatter particles.
• Changed vehicle drift particles.

Bug fixes

• Fixed NPC animation resetting when switching to/from 2D impostors.
• Fixed NPC ragdoll forces not working in some cases.
• Fixed NPC head distortion during attack animations.
• Fixed boot mesh clipping with feet.
• Fixed fog being applied twice on certain objects.
• Fixed avatar shape keys not applying to higher LOD meshes.
• The player will no longer respawn inside the destroyed RV.
• Fixed jukebox volume control not working.
• Fixed missing trees in prologue.
• Refactored some employee code to reduce stuttering.
• Ultra settings no longer has a 2x render scale multiplier (whoops).
• Fixed notification sound playing twice if two notifications are received in quick succession.
• Fixed colliders blocking the knock prompt for several buildings.
• Fixed wanted level getting reduced to 'investigating' when NPCs call the police.
• Fixed vehicle impacts not dealing damage to NPCs.
• Fixed a rare load ordering issue where grow lights would try to load in before suspension racks.
• Fixed frame spike when the first vehicle pathfinding calculation occurs.

I mentioned in my last post that there would be a lot of code refactoring happening in this update. My initial plan was to do a big round of refactoring now, and then do official mod support later this year. I quickly learnt that mod support is a massive influence on code architecture. If I had done a big refactor now without proper consideration for modding, I'd end up having to do an equally large rewrite in just a few months.

For this reason, I've decided to stagger the refactor over several updates in the first half of the year instead of doing it all at once. As each major game system is rebuilt and cleaned up, it will also simultaneously be prepared for mod support. This means that when we do enable mod support, it will be a much faster and seamless process.

Stay tuned!

Tyler