Chris Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 An update to V8.5 has been uploaded to Desura and is now authorised. It has one new feature and a bunch of bugfixes that should smooth the experience a little more: NIGHT MISSIONS: These should sometimes be generated when you attack a crashsite at night, although I think it has to be right in the middle of night at the moment for some reason (I'm going to follow it up to work out why it's not happening all the time). Anyway, this basically just gives the maps reduced sight range - soldiers have 60% of the normal sight range as 'lit tiles' around them, and cannot see aliens that are not on lit tiles. To make things a bit easier, on a night mission all soldiers are automatically equipped with two flares each, which are thrown like grenades and will light up an area around them. Have a play, and see what you think. I imagine tweaks will be needed but it seems to be working OK. Also, night missions are HARD because the aliens still have unlimited sight range (unless blocked by walls etc), so they'll happily pick you off despite the darkness. Again, this'll change somewhat when the new AI model is done. BUGFIXES: - Alien fighter squadrons should no longer cause crashes when interceptors they are tracking return to base - The pop-up alert for attacking crashsite should no longer remain in ground combat missions - UFOs should no longer spawn with access doors on the edge of the map (and thus inaccessible) in ground combat missions - Lockups in the alien Hidden Movement phase should be less frequent now - Alien weapons will no longer cause a crash when equipped - Precision laser will no longer cause a crash when equipped - Machineguns now have a clip of 50 and each burst will consume 5 shots. - The basic armour with the machinegun should no longer display Wolf armour - Unarmed soldiers should display the correct sprites now. - Probably some other small fixes I've forgotten about I'm currently trying to set up these render servers that I bought. I might post some pics up on the forum at some point, because it's quite amusing. I assumed that they'd be relatively inoffensive things but they're a square metre or so each and weigh 30kgs, and sound like a tornado when they're switched on. No idea where I'm going to put them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Of Doom Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 yay! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cy-Fox Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Aw crap, now I have to change the version on my blog. Ya ninja'd me Chris! LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted January 6, 2012 Author Share Posted January 6, 2012 It's now up on Desura. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamkyon Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 People, it seems as though fire damage has made it into the game, so stock up on antiseptics and bandages! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sathra Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Whoo! Night missions! @Kyon: Fire damage? What do you mean? Its been in for ages (and its incredibly lethal too!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonie Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Installing, installing. I am now installing. Built myself a new computer for Christmas and I love it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamkyon Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 @Kyon: Fire damage? What do you mean? Its been in for ages (and its incredibly lethal too!) Umm... But it hasn't affected Xenonaut troops until now, has it? Or have I just overlooked this minor detail due to missing anguished groans? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyllan Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 (edited) "I'm currently trying to set up these render servers that I bought. I might post some pics up on the forum at some point, because it's quite amusing. I assumed that they'd be relatively inoffensive things but they're a square metre or so each and weigh 30kgs, and sound like a tornado when they're switched on. No idea where I'm going to put them! " I dont get it......, x-com had 2megs of memory, pixels.... and it had animation with soldiers...... so why do you need 2 old servers together to render pixels? im confused.... woulnt any semi recent computer do it? i mean the built so far is like 500megs, so where is this number crunching needed than a 4cores computer cant do? so what kind of kit the people who make battlefield 3 and oblivion use? i am just baffled..... Edited January 6, 2012 by cyllan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sathra Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Dunno, but one of the first things I tested when we got to try out GC was standing in fire. Did not work out well...but seems to be effected by armour. On topic though: Night missions are awesome. The flare-throwing animation speed is a bit out of whack (mostly since the flare is thrown at the start of the animation, not the end) but its fun. Need some pre-set light sources though. Bit odd to have the chinook or offices completely black. Oh, and Machinegun troops in basic are still wearing wolf, and those armed with flares and basic wear jackal. First mission was a night mission, killed half the aliens for some minor damage to the Ferret, then it crashed after I got the RPG-guy to throw a flare and re-equipped his RPG. There was some...bizzare stuff going on for a while after leaving inventory (looked like firing animations for anyone who's inventory has been modified). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mylar Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 "I dont get it......, x-com had 2megs of memory, pixels.... and it had animation with soldiers...... so why do you need 2 old servers together to render pixels? im confused.... woulnt any semi recent computer do it?i mean the built so far is like 500megs, so where is this number crunching needed than a 4cores computer cant do? so what kind of kit the people who make battlefield 3 and oblivion use? i am just baffled..... There is a huge difference between having a skilled bitmap artist sit down and knock out hundreds of sprite sheets for game animations bitwise (xcom) and having 3d models of people holding 3d models of weapons which you then render and then take pixel images of to create your spritesheets. (this game) When you watch a cutscene or game intro (or modern movie) with crazy detailed 3d environments and high poly count models, transparency effects, moving light sources, and it is all running at real time.... yeah, you are not (in general) watching that actually being computed and sent to screen. We are getting closer to real time rendering at that level, but are not there yet without crazy hardware... The rendering is done on a machine made for it, the frames are recorded in a video format, and then played as video which consumer level hardware can handle. I run dual quadro fx 4800s in my rendering box, which I also use for some gaming, but the drivers and hardware have subtle differences that make my rendering PC great at producing 3d images a frame at a time, which can later be turned into STUNNING 3d video when played in real time, but not so great for gaming. Those same differences make the off the shelf $200 gaming video cards absolutely blow my setup away for gaming performance at 6% of the cost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamkyon Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 (edited) Need some pre-set light sources though. Bit odd to have the chinook or offices completely black. Having parts of the urban battlescape under blackout would ramp up the tension, though! First mission was a night mission, killed half the aliens for some minor damage to the Ferret, then it crashed after I got the RPG-guy to throw a flare and re-equipped his RPG. There was some...bizzare stuff going on for a while after leaving inventory (looked like firing animations for anyone who's inventory has been modified). Ah, you had the "soldier appears to fire an assault rifle burst straight at the camera upon exiting the inventory screen" glitch happen to you? I've been trying to work out the reproduction steps for quite some time. It's been elusive, to say the least. Edited January 6, 2012 by iamkyon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sathra Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Having parts of the urban battlescape under blackout would ramp up the tension, though! Oh, of course! Just not all of the map, like present. Ah, you had the "soldier appears to fire an assault rifle burst straight at the camera upon exiting the inventory screen" glitch happen to you? I've been trying to work out the reproduction steps for quite some time. It's been elusive, to say the least. Yeah, I'm not quite sure what's actually happening. Its really fast. Sounds about right though. I think it might be something to do with equipping a weapon. I've seen them do something else odd, as well, which might be the throwing animation? Just really sped up, or only seeing the last part of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyllan Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 will there be a prone position, or just crouch? also i think machine guns should shoot 10 a shot 100 clip mag, otherwise soldiers are going to die like monkeys in a test lab, there is nothing like supressing fire Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sathra Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 No prone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted January 6, 2012 Author Share Posted January 6, 2012 Oh, and Machinegun troops in basic are still wearing wolf, and those armed with flares and basic wear jackal.First mission was a night mission, killed half the aliens for some minor damage to the Ferret, then it crashed after I got the RPG-guy to throw a flare and re-equipped his RPG. There was some...bizzare stuff going on for a while after leaving inventory (looked like firing animations for anyone who's inventory has been modified). Ah, dang. I've added the flare sprites (basically unarmared ones) into the game at my end, and updated the offending soldier_spectre.xml which was causing the Wolf / Basic issue. For the latter, let me know if you figure out what causes the crash and if you're getting it on the normal missions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sathra Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 (edited) Actually, now that I check it (saved before the GC), I have no idea why its a night mission in the first place. By the time the Chinook gets there, the 'day' section of the band is centred on the crash site. Edit: Screenshot Edit: Okay, now I getting really confused. Made a save in the wierd night mission, but loading it always crashes the game. The auto-save however loads up fine, except now its a day mission. They still have flares though. The inventory screen is all messed up too. No preview image, and 0 AP and morale. Or 99000+ AP. And changes don't seem to take effect when you leave the inventory screen, even though going back in shows the changes still in effect. Edited January 6, 2012 by Sathra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waylander Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 is the splash screen updated? it still says 8.5 when i launch even though i updated it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sathra Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 No, its not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anotherdevil Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 exciting! can't wait to get home! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted January 6, 2012 Author Share Posted January 6, 2012 Yeah, I forgot to update the splash screen. Hmmm. I've had a few instances where night missions aren't loading up when they should be. Perhaps the night / day is set when the UFO is shot down, or when the dropship departs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToastedDragon Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 blegh. Still as unstable as ever. 1 ground combat and it crashes (never been able to do 2. Though it's always at random moments it crashes) Loading saved games - yup still unable to load them Another weird thing I noticed For some odd reason the main weapons suddenly are no longer equipped but are equipped in the secondary weapons part of the display. When tried to switch them from sec to main the weapon vanishes. nowhere to be found. which suddenly left 4 of my guys without any weapons whatsoever and my vehicle just got one-shotted to hell. (the fu?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted January 6, 2012 Author Share Posted January 6, 2012 Toasted Dragon - the weapon swap happens when your troops return from their first battle, I think. It's a bit strange. What was the crash in the ground combat? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToastedDragon Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 The crash is random at most (Xenonauts.exe has stopped working) happens in Geo-scape, happens in Ground Combat, happens whenever it feels like it. And I'll be... I just managed to do 6 Ground combats this time before it decided to drop the ball. now I am confused. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorlom Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 which resolution are you playing on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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