Hello folks, we just released update 8.3 which includes another slew of bugfixes and performance optimizations. However, in terms of further optimization, we unfortunately have reached a dead end with the current third party character system ːsteamsadː The current character system was an acceptable solution for the beginning of the project, but now with the new ambition of the game we simply need to stop finding workarounds on a system that is simply not suited for our needs. So, in an effort to better optimize the NPC spawning and rendering performance, we are in fact going to redo the whole character system. KospY and the team already started to work on a custom made prototype and the new system should drastically simplify our workflow, allow us to support non-humanoid creatures, make characters/armors/creatures moddable as well as hopefully fixing (for good!) the performance issues about characters including the dreaded lag spike on character spawns. It's too early to say if this will be a golden fix for performance, and we would be hesitant to make promises, but the theory seems really promising. This overhaul will take some time, but it is planned to be released as a "minor" update of U8. Besides spawning lag, if you are still feeling performance issues in general even after 8.3, be sure to try all the various graphics options included in the option book, and also remember that mods may impact performance too. Also, you might have missed the following new options were added to help lower spec video cards (click to enlarge): [url=https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//33834682/5a4fed306fa3dc18774d8459b7e46703b9baf439.png][img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//33834682/997a328eb26f4de406e296095251ae53d864f293.png[/img][/url] (atlas refers to resolution, so lower is better at the cost of graphics) And here are some other performance tips if you are struggling (all in options book): [olist] [*] Lower render scale [*] Disable shadows [*] Disable antialiasing [*] Limit persistent bodies / items to 1 or 2 [*] Reduce character quality [*] Enable fast gen [*] Play on Arena map [*] Remove mods causing performance issues (check possible console errors spamming with F8) [/olist] In other news the game Store pages are finally getting a long-overdue makeover since the screenshots and information are dramatically out of date! Our concept artist also did a brilliant job by reworking our store cover ːsteamhappyː [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//33834682/7e23c37ac0a5e68b0a2031865db30638a1f30a11.jpg[/img] Below the full resolution images if anyone would like it as a wallpaper (with and without logo): https://imgur.com/7wdaX7R https://imgur.com/2WeUJcy Thanks for your amazing support and stay safe! Cheers! Baron, KospY and the Team ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [h1]Update 8.3 changelog:[/h1] [h2]Enhancements[/h2] [list] [*] Screenshots are now saved to a smaller format (JPG, can be changed in game.json) [*] Added metal footstep audio [*] Added death audio [*] Added focus depleted audio [*] Added a debug option to disable armor detection on NPC (increase spawning performance) [*] Added an option to enable/disable character expression (decrease performance) [*] Added whoosh audio to fire imbue [*] Added haptic to imbue whoosh and spell charge [/list] [h2]Performance optimizations[/h2] [list] [*] Optimized character texture sampling [*] Optimized armor hit detection [*] Misc optimizations [/list] [h2]Fixes[/h2] [list] [*] Added missing handle orientations on bucklers [*] Fixed feet tracking not working correctly [*] Fixed a shadow issue on characters [*] Fixed weapons on ground not being cleaned when level change [*] Fixed dropped bows not being auto-cleaned while in combat [*] Fixed NPC sometimes not dying when dismembered [*] Fixed HDR colors on screenshots [*] Fixed imbue issue with the small buckler [*] Fixed medium shield handle issue when swapping hands [*] Fixed left wrist stats position on female character [*] Fixed male/female ratio option not working [*] Fixed NPC pickup animation issue [*] Fixed female ragdoll joint limits issue [*] Fixed missing inner mouth on one of the male face [*] Prevent NPC to come and go when looking for weapon [*] Fixed slicing damage not being correctly applied [*] Fixed dual blade staff imbue acting on both blades [*] Fixed a misconfiguration preventing some shields to be pierced [*] Fixed fireball and lightning decals not showing on shields and props [*] Fixed reloadjson command not working [*] Fixed wrong damager icons on item spawner [*] Fixed flanged mace imbue flickering [*] Fixed bow and wrist blade imbue animation issue [*] Fixed archers missing their first shoot too much [*] Fixed water splash effect [*] Fixed arena flags rendering issue [*] Fixed staff not accelerating spell charge speed [*] Fixed missing audio when shooting fireballs from fire imbued staff [*] Fixed fire imbued staff not consuming imbue energy when shooting fireballs [*] Updated Unity to 2019.4.1 (may fix some crashes) [*] Misc error fixes [/list] [h2]Modding[/h2] [list] [*] Added an option "allowDecals" on items. This option is disabled by default to avoid some imbue issue related to the shader conversion and missing variants [*] Merged "creatureID" and "creatureTableID" in creature table and wave JSON to an unique field "referenceID" [*] Merged "itemID" and "lootTableID" in container and loot table JSON to an unique field "referenceID", allowing JSON mods to append any existing container and/or loot table ("referenceID" being the JSON merge key) [*] PlayerDefault container spells and apparels will now be loaded each time the game start (should be useful for mods adding spells or changing player outfit, as you simply need to override this JSON) [*] Fixed custom holderSlot not working correctly [/list]