Heat update for 24 March 2020

Over the past months we gathered up a big list of critical bugs to fix, and have been working hard to fix all these bugs. Were releasing a new update today, which which is the result of many bug fixes and changes based on community feedback. It also contains many server sided optimizations and stability fixes.

We are happy to see that many have been playing and enjoying the new Homestead mode. We also understand that many enjoy the online modes as well. We appreciate your support and we look forward to continuing to improve the game.

We are taking the servers down and rolling them back up in order to process the update. We will be wiping Official servers for this update. Community servers should not need to wipe.

If you experience a crash or freeze, please follow these steps, especially after an update as it seems Steam sometimes requires a file integrity check after an update to work properly - https://steamcommunity.com/app/656240/discussions/0/1777136225016630475/

Here are the changes for Update 18:

• Small CPU optimizations all around.

• Fixes for frequent console errors, many of them.

• Fixed a slow CPU-consuming system that was leaking on the server. (Old saves will see a significant performance boost.)

• Reduced the amount of time that the NPC pathfinding takes to save. Saves with few enough structures will skip compression to gain more speed.

• Added "autoCullInventory" to the server settings. This deletes old containers that have no connection to the game world and have not been used in 15 days. (Selected containers are assumed to be leaks. Player inventories and special containers cannot be culled.)

• Disabled debug/error logging in Homestead mode.

• Paintings will save in Homestead mode.

• Paintings will re-apply their texture load shortly after loading, for those cases where the model had not loaded yet and the canvas remained blank.

• Fixes for furniture collision, either missing from holograms or using the wrong collision data when placed. (Yes, those crocodile hands were a tabletop after all.)

• Disabled 'Security Level' interactions on furniture that cannot actually secure anything. (eg. Chairs, Tables, Shelves, etc...)

• The map will properly load land highlights in Homestead mode.

• NPCs will now default to sleep when they aren't properly assigned to a party. (They were attempting to join a party to stay awake, but the behavior is unexpected.)

• Fixed the inventory scrollbar to remember where it was when the menu closed.

• The 'Saving' blackout pane now appears when auto-save is disabled.

• Land flags now have 1HP when data is missing, allowing broken flags to decay or be killed.

• Dead animals can no longer be tamed.

• Fixed the missing wallpaper on the in-game loading screen.

• Fixed the missing loading screen for the main menu.

• Sleeping players will now attempt to snap to a surface before using physics to settle into place. (The physics were not fast enough to get them to the ground on logout before an area unloads.)

• Added redundant backup saves for character level, appearance, inventory, and research. (eg. The backup data is chosen if it has a higher level or finds a functional old inventory.)

• Added a character recovery step to the player loading process. (The server searches the database for character data that is 'disconnected' from its player data.)

• Reduced the building grid space occupied by fences to reduce the chance of the "Removal would cause collapse" error.

• Increased the preset settings for texture streaming. (Community anecdotes suggest that this improves streaming in general.)

• Fixed the settings menu offering integral values 'minus one'. (eg. That framerate cap that stops at 239 instead of 240.)

• Fixed animal spawns attempting to select bogus spawn locations. (Often the animal never spawned.)

• Fixed a relationship between wild animal spawns and tamed animals that eventually ended all animal spawns.

• Minimum animal spawn radius is now based on player position. (This eliminates a dead zone that prevented spawning. Overall map coverage is significantly improved.)

• Guns can no longer be silenced by swapping after firing.

• Sales made at distant Shipping Bins are now included in the overnight summary in Homestead mode.

• Marshals will no longer spawn in naked.

• The "Cutting Rope" bar will properly indicate the time to escape.

• Added anonymous players to the 50/50 Draw in Homestead mode.

• Added a no-build zone to the Governor's Plantation. This no-build zone follows the front road until it exits the Governor's land.

• Adjusted the no-build zone in the White House. Underground gaps now have no-build zones.

• Increased the value of animal skins in multiplayer by ~250%.

• Increased the health of the Gunslinger Tent to 1500, up from 250, but it remains weak to Bash attacks.

• Characters now poop half as often.

• Characters no longer begin an endless cycle of poop prompts when the server time is paused.

• Items that combine with other items can now be applied to/from any container. (This problem was often seen when trying to remove a liquid from the shipping bin.)

• Containers specify if they can hold 'Heavy Goods'.

• Added bullet points to item types to remove the ambiguity of 'Heavy Goods' and 'Container' versus a 'Heavy Goods Container'.

• Increased Outhouse range from 5m to 50m.

• Increased Outhouse (Enhanced) range from 5m to 75m.

• Players can now damage structures that they own in PVE mode.

• Reduced the damage of wild Wolves to 10, down from 15.

• Increased the minimum and maximum radius of predatory animal spawns and bandit camps.

• Increased the minimum radius of large animal spawns.

• Decreased the minimum radius of small animal spawns.

• Deconstructing your home is free in Homestead mode.

As well, in-case you missed it, we had also patched the game twice after the last update:

Update 17: [Patch 1]

• Starting gear that holds liquids now has a proper capacity, so they don't need to be emptied first.
• Fixed the great flood of server console exceptions when a player disconnects on the train.
• Dead animals will no longer attempt to bleed when hit.
• Reduced the value of animal skins and raw meats.
• Skinning animals drains extra energy in scenario mode.
• Removed Shipping Bins from the catalogue in Homestead mode. They can be properly crafted again.
• Children can no longer be abandoned in Homestead mode.
• The "Mute 'Gross' Sounds" button now works on pooping and horking SFX.
• Energy can now be upgraded in Homestead mode, in the same way that Health can.
• In Homestead, Passing out from exhaustion on your property is now half-price, while doing so indoors is free.
• Added a status icon to show when the player is sheltered / indoors.
• Added more detail to processed item tooltips, now saying where each one is processed. (And saying so on more than just metals.)
• Increased the NPC limit in towns.
• Reduced the nutrition of produce, especially berries.
• Reduced the yield of regrowing crops to make up for the lack of re-seeding costs. (eg. Corn, Strawberries)
• Fixed the yield of some crops that were under-performing. (eg. Turnips, Carrots, Grain)
• Fixed the unnecessarily aggressive deer and birds.
• NPCs hit human targets more consistently, now aiming for the collarbone instead of the forehead.

Update 17: [Patch 2]

• Fixed exploit introduced in Update 17 concerning the presidents tax chest and the shipping bin.
• Homestead characters will no longer forget how to defecate.
• More fixes for common server errors, mainly when creating NPCs.
• Updated the "/itemlist" command to grey out items that cannot be given to players.
• Updated the "/itemlist" command to show the blueprint ID after each item name.
• Updated the "/give" command's overall flexibility, and its ability figure out player names, item names, and numbers.
• Updated the "/give" command's help messages to clarify that an 'Item Name', 'Search Index', or 'Blueprint ID' may be used.
• The "/give" command now accepts blueprint IDs. (eg. "/give 8713" will give a full stack of Dollars.)
• The "/give" command Now accepts item qualities. (eg. Legendary, L, or 4 may be used to select the highest quality: "/give Horse Legendary")
• Fixed the "/give" command confusing a player name as part of an item name. (eg. "/give Dollar Timmy" no longer looks for an item named "Dollar Timmy" when Timmy actually exists.)

Thanks for everyone's continued feedback and support.

• Code}{atch

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