[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//33834682/b1c680f70da8643cf5345734dbdff344baf4b90e.jpg[/img] I've waited many months to type these words so I'm gonna enjoy it... HELLO MATES, The Baron here and you know what that means... I have the pleasure of telling you that the long awaited U8.4 is now available as an opt in beta. ːpraisesunː [h3]What is this update, and why did it take so long if it is not a full update?[/h3] This is [i]the[/i] critical performance patch. As many of you have experienced, U8 had some performance issues tied into how the characters spawned, causing things like lag spikes, cpu strain, poor performance, etc. Issues arose because B&S grew outgrew the original simple concept from back when the game was first conceived, but as a result KospY and team found they had reached the limit of optimization with that original character framework, meaning there was no possibility of improving performance any further unless they went and redid the whole thing. They went and redid the whole thing. ːsteamsunnyː It took many months, but the Warpfrog team have redone the entire character system and it is now much, much better for performance. [h3]So where is U9?[/h3] It is underway! Work will continue on 8.X, but rest assured there are other Warpfrog team members working on U9+ and will continue to do so. The team is broken into different specialties so even if coders are rolling out 8.X patches and fixes, other team members are working simultaneously on future aspects of the game. There is lots of juicy U9 stuff to talk about, but we elected not to on the basis that it might have upset some people to hear about cool upcoming U9 stuff when they were still struggling to play U8, even though work was happening simultaneously. So we decided that when U8.4 is all squared away, then we will get into U9 news cycles. ːwftogrinː Do note, the roadmap for U9 has changed and gotten bigger and more complex so that throws the current roadmap out of whack. The very loose, pinch of salt, don't take my word for it, non-committed ballpark is Q1 or Q2 2021. The roadmap [strike]will be updated in the near future so keep an eye out for that[/strike] is now updated. This 8.4 patch was a huge, huge hurdle for KospY and team, as without the redo performance issues would have plagued the game indefinitely, making future things like the Dungeons Expansion unenjoyable if not downright impossible. So it surely took a while, but hopefully you all agree this was worth the time and effort in the big picture. [h3]What to expect from this beta[/h3] BUGS. As mentioned, the entire character system was rebuilt from scratch, meaning literally everything related to the characters had to be redone, from adding back in kick and dismemberment to configuring animations. As such, damn near everything is a bug risk and you will surely find a bug which you can report on the discord if you wanna help out. You will also likely roll across missing content that is in the process of being re-added. This patch was all coding changes (other than a few goodies KospY threw in), so on the player side you will mostly see nothing different; but you should feel the difference. So since this is not the full release, only the beta, the question for you is: Should I opt into the beta? [h3]You should [b]not[/b] opt into the beta if[/h3] - Bugs make you stressed or sad. - You wanna keep using mods (8.4 will break mods until modders have a chance to update). - It annoys you to have missing features (blood decals need to be re-added, character customization is incomplete, etc, etc). - You don't care about performance issues in U8. [h3]You [b]should[/b] opt into the beta if[/h3] - You don't mind WIP things and are just curious to see how it's going. - You wanna help the Warpfrog team by finding and logging bugs. - You wanna help by testing performance on your system and then giving a performance log (discord is best for submitting). To opt into the beta on Steam, go to the game properties > beta [strike]and type the code Upd84betaPlease. [/strike] Update: No code is needed anymore! It is even easier now, you will see the beta in the dropdown that 8.4 beta is an option and when you select it the game will update. [b]REMOVE YOUR MODS![/b] Your mods won't work, and I also recommend you clean your save file so your game is fresh by deleting the folder located at Documents/mygames/BladeAndSorcery. (100% do this if your game wont load) I'm bracing myself for the floods of 'cant get the beta working' threads because of mods. ːsteammockingː [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//33834682/0af887098d9fc328c0c459429c05d393d3af95d1.jpg[/img] Oculus users, you can access the beta through the menu Version and Release Notes on the Oculus Store page, not the game in your library. (counter-intuitive, I know) [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//33834682/3deeaddd64f9904cfa7377c2c4ae3539a8ac82a4.png[/img] The beta will end when all components of the character system are re-added and all bugs are found and squashed, at which point 8.4 will be live as an actual automatic update. And just to note - this is not the end of optimization. Further performance tweaks and optimization will always keep going for maps, etc, and that will not end until v1.0+. Here are the patch notes - do take careful note of all the things missing. As mentioned, everything is being re-added, and there is a lot to do: [h2]Update 8.4 (beta)[/h2] [h3]Enhancements[/h3] - Added new hairs and beards for male and female characters - Added new whoosh sounds for different weapons - Added a new control panel for the monitor view - Added a new spectator mode that automatically follow player across levels - Added infinite imbue debug option - Added console search field - Added spell wheel open/close animations - Added an option to disable blood - Improved feet placement while climbing - Improved armor detection precision - Hitting the arm while grabbing it will disarm the NPC - Added new hit sound when the head collide - Integrated ragdoll joints values from Ragdoll Physics Overhaul mod. Big thanks to Sketchcritic for allowing us to use his work :) - Misc options changes [h3]Performance optimizations[/h3] - New optimized character & creature system (no spawn lag anymore, improved performance, LOD...) - Optimized ragdoll performance - Improved memory management - Reworked and optimized dismemberment system - Reworked and optimized armor hit detection - Added an option to reduce physic accuracy - Added an option to reduce texture quality [h3]Fixes[/h3] - Fixed mage hood visible from first person view - Fixed an issue causing character to broke when customizing a character with specific weapons - Fixed player head probe lightning issue - Reduced player character idle movements - Updated Unity to 2019.4.12 LTS [h3]Modding[/h3] - Assets bundle management is now using addressable - Enum are now serialized as string in JSON files - Simplified serialization of quaternion, vector2Int, vector3Int and layer mask in JSON files - Misc JSON changes