CryoFall - Patch notes v0.26.x (Pragmium War Update)

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=== CryoFall v0.26.x (A26 Experimental) ===

New major features & changes:
   - Boss battles.
   - World events (see the list below).
   - The all-new Completionist menu to keep track of all things you have discovered in the world and the things you tried so far (while earning your extra LP).
   - Steam achievements (about two dozens for now, but we will keep adding more in future updates).
   - Clan tags (as we are still working on a proper clan system, in the meantime you can add clan tags to your parties to differentiate players this way).
   - Reworked chat with emojis support (similar to those in Discord), new Trade channel, new Report/Block feature.
   - "Well rested" status effect which gives a bonus to those players who can't play the game 24/7 and helps them to stay competitive with more active players. Basically, it's a daily bonus which provides a small buff to the gained LP and skill XP.
   - Storage chests tags (you can set icons on your chests to indicate what's inside).
   - Minimap.
   - New character faces, hairstyles and bodies (all of them have been redrawn to be of higher quality and with more details).
   - Mechs made available in PvE (will prove handy in boss battles).

PvP-only major features and changes:
(for the details please read the announcement in Steam (https://discordapp.com/channels/344332261510086658/425246702920925186/700754360543740006))
   - Time-gating for T3 and T4 technologies temporarily restricting research of advanced tech for a specified time after the wipe. Configured in ServerRates.config
   - Oil and Li extractors can now be built inside bases on PvP servers providing a reliable alternative source of these resources (similar to how it works in PvE but with a distance restriction between the extractors, and lower efficiency/slow extraction).
   - Player loot system change: the vanilla version of the game will no longer drop players' equipment on death (armor and devices such as power banks are saved but take a slight durability penalty instead). This is an experimental change and we will analyze its effect on gameplay and player retention. Configured in ServerRates.config

World events:   
   - Boss battle (Pragmium Queen).
   - Meteorites crash.
   - Falling space debris (aka "spacedrop").
   - Native creature migration.

New creatures:
   - Pragmium Queen (boss).
   - Floater (new monster used in events).
   
New weapons and ammo:
   - Bolt action rifle (T2).
   - Light rifle (T3).
   - Crossbow (can be crafted without using workbenches, T1).
   - Stone tipped arrow.
   - Iron tipped arrow.
   - Grenade launcher (single shot, T3).
   - Multiple grenade launcher (5-shot, T4).
   - HE grenade ("HE" stands for "high explosives").
   - Incendiary grenade.
   - Freeze grenade.
   
Other changes to weapons & combat in general:
   - Plasma rifles are made significantly cheaper, also their damage is slightly increased since not all plasma particles hit the target due to spread, thus making the damage lower. With these changes now plasma is super powerful at close range but quickly loses its efficiency as distance increases.
   - Damage for (shotgun) pellets/buckshot is slightly increased to counteract spread. Still, this type of ammo is designed purely for close range.
   - Certain creatures now have ranged attacks. For now only a few but we will see how it plays and possibly add more enemies with ranged attacks in the future versions.   

New non-combat items:
   - Pragmium hatchet.
   - Pragmium heart (can be obtained from Pragmium Queen).
   - Blue herbs (can be gathered in the swamp biome).
   
Medicine:
   - Substantial balance improvements to crafting of medical items.
   - Hemostatic medicine is more effective now.
   - Painkiller is now crafted from just red herbs making it more accessible.
   - Stimpack is now crafted with blue herbs which only grows in the swamps adding more value to this area of the map.
   
Vehicles:
   - Battle mechs rebalanced slightly to better distinguish their roles. SkipperΓÇölight, fast, maneuverable. ManulΓÇöheavy and slow, but well armored.
   
Food & Farming:
   - Planted flowers now won't wither in just 1.5 days like other plants, since flowers are supposed to be a decoration they will last for 5 days (real-world time) before withering.
   - Fridges rebalancedΓÇösmall fridge (T2) doesn't require electronic components now (only using regular wire instead). Large fridge is now made more efficient (10x -> 12x food lifetime).
   - Meat jerky is now much faster to craft (in the drying cabinet) as previously part of the meat was rotten by the end of the process, not anymore.

Technology:   
   - New technology groups: Decorations (T2) and Decorations 2 (T3).
   - T3 and T4 research LP costs reduced.
   - Significant changes to existing groupsΓÇömany of the tech nodes are moved around for better progression and balance.
   - Oil refinery moved from Xenogeology to Industry 3, the Xenogeology group is now purely for resource acquisition.
   - All technological trees related to weapons have been changed significantly.
   - All components are now crafted in batches of 10. Also, the price has been adjusted to make them cheaper overall (this is especially important for T3 and T4 reducing grind by a lot).
   
Industry:
   - Mineral processing plant is now 3 times faster (30s -> 10s for ore processing), which means you won't have to build so many of them. At the same time, electricity consumption has increased slightly from 2 to 4. Overall the efficiency has increased by about 33%.
   - Flux powder is now crafted in batches of 5 with adjusted crafting time. Overall it is now more than 2 times faster to craft.
   - Mining explosives are now cheaper to craft (gunpowder 100 -> 50).
   - Many recipes related to chemistry have been made significantly cheaper to make later technologies in T3 and T4 easier to access.
   - Copper is more useful nowΓÇösome recipes have been changed to replace iron/steel with copper to give it a bit more use.
   - Rebalanced extraction speed of petroleum oil, extraction speed of lithium salts, processing speed of oil refinery, and engine generator power output.
   
Skills:
   - "Conventional weapons" and "Melee weapons" skills are now easier to advance (you will gain levels faster and get more LP).
   - Planting a resonance bomb will now correctly provide x2 XP for "Heavy weapons" skill (same as planting a modern bomb).
   - Planting mining explosives will provide some "Heavy weapons" skill experience.
   - "Heavy weapons" skill was reworked to provide different bonuses and made available in PvE. You can advance it by using new grenade launchers, mech weapons, and explosives (including mining explosives).
   - Reduced damage bonus for all ranged weapons skills from +10% to +5% maximum, to level the playing field between new players and and those with a lot of playtime.
   - Removed +5% bonus of the last level for survival skill, now the effects are directly proportional to its level.

New player built decorations:
   - Piano.
   - Incense shrine.
   - Bear skin rug.
   - Toilet.
   - Sofa.
   - Table.
   - Bookshelf.
   - More banners (3 variants).
   - Large vase (3 variants).
   - Folding screen.
   - Coin pile (2 variants).
   - Throne.
   - Bathtub.

[see part 2 below]

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[see part 1 above]

New props used on world map:
   - 3 new rocks: generic, desert and volcano.
   - Red bulldozer.
   - Fountain.
   - Shipwreck.
   - Bridges (horizontal and vertical).
   
Map changes:
   - New roads all around the map.
   - Map now has bridges that cross several bodies of water such as lakes as well as connect several peninsulas.
   - Bridges to connect desert and eastern volcano area.
   - Bridges to connect the southern part of the map.
   - Bridges across some larger lakes to make navigating the map easier.
   - Changes to points of interest and a lot of new decorations all around.
   - More spaces for larger bases, some resource points have been moved to clear space for large bases.
   - Public lithium and oil towns have been converted into regular rad towns, as they are no longer needed since you can build extractors on bases now in PvP (previously it was possible only in PvE).
   - Significant changes to world topology in general all around the map.
   - A few small fixes to resource spawns and such.
   
Quests:
   - Existing quests are reworked significantly to make them more interesting as well as better explain certain aspects of the game.
   - Changed quest order, presentation (they now display icons of the task), requirements, etc
   - New quests added, introducing additional challenges.
   - Quest "Light sources" changed to accept camp fuel crafted in the chemical lab (previously it accepted camp fuel crafted on campfire only).
   
Misc:
   - (PvE) Decay duration increased for Tier 1 and Tier 2 land claim. Tier 2 will last over 8 days on the official PvE servers if left abandoned (except demo players who have much faster-decaying land claims to prevent cluttering of the game world by abandoned bases).
   - Firearms shot sound distance increased by 1.5 times ("Wi-Fi" waves on the screen sides).
   - Added ΓÇ£reloading finishedΓÇ¥ sound effect (a gun cocking sound to make it clear when the weapon finished reloading).
   - Added sounds for electric stove and mineral processing plant.
   - Land claim window will now display the decay-related disclaimer when opened for the first time to ensure players are informed about the decay system and know how to prevent the decay.
   - Chat menu will display a disclaimer informing the player that the chat is not moderated on the official game servers and usually not moderated on the community servers so the player may see inappropriate messages. Players are advised to exercise caution and use Report/Block function when they see inappropriate messages. The chat messages will be not displayed until the player explicitly confirms they want to have access to the chat.
   - Changed wording for chest descriptions to remove the appearance of them being locked and protecting the loot (which is not the case). Now it only describes their size.
   - Garbage piles are removed from ruins. Only crates will spawn there (which means you will get significantly better loot). Garbage piles will now spawn along the roads, meaning there are now two types of piles you can find along the roads.
   - AFK mode now displays a notification to let players know that it's active so food and water consumption are suspended.
   - ΓÇ£Player joined/left the gameΓÇ¥ notifications in global chat are now only displayed for the party members (previously the game also displayed such messages when there were less than 10 players online).
   - Reduced restriction of buildings placement when there are creatures nearby.
   - Night vision adjusted to make it overbright during the day time so if you're using it during the night it's clear when it's time to turn it off.
   - (PvP) number of resource deposits in the world is now set to 7 oil deposits + 7 Li deposits total as capturing them is longer necessary to progress thanks to new alternative ways to acquire them, but we want to ensure there is still good competition for the spawned resource deposits.
   - (PvP) Search area for spawned resource deposit decreased a bit making it easier to find.
   - (PvE) Other players are no longer able to finish building a blueprints located in another players' land claim area.
   - When merging two bases their total energy charge will be combined as-is (due to base size limit of 3x3 it's no longer reasonable to exploit this by merging small generation base with the primary base).
   - It's no longer possible to build most buildings outside of the land claim areas (it was a problem especially in PvE when players built their bases without placing a land claim and then get them destroyed by other players).
   - Only buildings completely located within land claim areas are considered as protected (it was possible to place protected gates even though their second half was outside the land claim area).
   - Oil deposits and geothermal springs in PvP now have an alternative visual style just to provide a bit more visual variety to them.
   - Improved English profanity filtering.
   
Technical:
   - Switched to .NET Core Runtime 3.1 and embedded it inside the game so the game no longer depends on .NET Framework.
   - Updated NoesisGUI (UI library) to version 3.0. It improves performance and provides more features (which might be useful to modders). One of them is improved hot XAML reload which doesn't require the long process of reloading the whole UI anymore (though it's possible to force reload it by pressing Ctrl+F5).
   - Improved procedural textures generation scheduling/performance (especially for the world map). Resolved a deadlock issue when loading too many procedural textures at once.
   - Now it's possible to add new console commands with modsΓÇöthe client-server network compatibility will be no longer affected by this.
   - Improved out of range checks when interacting with world objects.
   - All creatures now have Icon property which could be used in mods.
   
Fixes:
   - Fixed an issue with private chat tabs sometimes wrongly marked as "unread" after connecting to the game server.
   - Fixed memory leaks related to procedural textures.
   - Durability penalty to armor on death was not correctly applied in PvE.
   - Fixed melee attack animation desynchronization especially noticeable for long axe/pickaxe smashing when changing attack direction.
   - Proper animation mixing between horizontal and vertical attack animations (when changing the attack direction).
   - Fixed rare issue with incorrect muzzle flash locations when firing a weapon while switching between front/back character visuals.
   - Fixed an issue when queuing crafting of a similar recipe while the queue is full. The game will first attempt to increase the number to craft for the already scheduled recipes.
   - It was not possible to build anything on carpets.
   - Adjusted hitboxes for bunkers and buildings in ruins/radtowns to ensure they always work properly.
   - Fixed night vision/light item flickers when switching the selected item slot.
   - The game server will properly handle the change of the FPS setting in ServerSettings.xml (without affecting in-game timers).

And finally, please consider leaving an honest review (https://store.steampowered.com/recommended/recommendgame/829590/) for the game on Steam if you haven't done so yet. Thank you for playing CryoFall and always supporting us!

[Lurler]

=== CryoFall v0.26.8.1 ===

New features:
   - Implemented server moderator system for community servers: players with moderator role can mute/ban/kick, use the spectator mode (including interacting with the world objects), and teleport.
   - Added new shortcut Ctrl+F5 to force reload the scripts and UI (might be very useful when editing UI for mods).

Boss-related changes:
   - Boss will spawn beetles soon after players approach it.
   - Boss HP regen will work only if it didn't receive significant damage for a while.
   - Boss HP and HP regeneration speed are increased, as well as the reward (number of the loot piles).
   - Decreased the boss damage multiplier to mechs x2 -> x1.75.
   - The boss jumping attack will add Dazed status effect (unless player is in a mech).
   - Boss resistance to kinetic (firearms) and cold damage (helium grenade) increased a bit.
   - Introduced server rate to configure boss event start delay since the server creation/wipe ("BossEventDelayHoursPragmiumQueen", by default it's 48 hours for PvE servers, for PvP servers timegating T3 specialized).
   - Introduced server rate to configure boss difficulty ("BossDifficultyPragmiumQueen", it's configured according to the number of the players necessary to defeat the boss with a reasonable effort; the default value is 5, min value is 1, max is 10).

Other changes:
   - Imported final A26 localization (including Steam Achievements).
   - Updated English profanity filter with much larger black and whitelists now (thanks to @Avakyn for working on it!).
   - Adjusted physics collider and hitboxes for electric stove.
   - Tinker table: the ammo loaded in one of the guns placed for repair will no longer disappear when
   repairing.
   - Increased Fast healing (from Stimpack) status effect healing rate (the total amount of HP is the same but it's applied much more often and evenly over the effect's duration).
   - Increased update rate for Psi, Heat, and a few other status effects (just to increase the accuracy of these effects).
   - Added a proper dialog window when KB2533623 for Windows 7 is required to launch the game.

Fixes:
   - Fixed boss death animation sound.
   - Fixed boss-type pragmium beetles spawning in volcanoes.
   - Fixed an issue with creatures' healthbars flickering when they're becoming visible on the edge of the screen (related to UI library bug).
   - Fixed a random issue with mech UI remaining on screen when dismounting a mech.
   - Fixed an issue mech UI remaining on the screen when a mech weapon is destroyed due to full durability loss.
   - Fixed an issue with a grenade launcher when it was possible to damage objects a level below when firing from higher ground (same as with other ranged weapons, it's not possible to damage anything or anyone on a lower height unless the firing is done through the slope).
   - Fixed an issue with night vision suddenly activating when opening inventory when the player wearing Super heavy armor and riding a mech.

[ai_enabled]

=== CryoFall v0.26.8.10 ===

Event-related changes:
- Events will create two simultaneous event areas if there 100+ players online. The game will ensure these areas are always in different biomes.
- Added checks to ensure the events (even different ones) cannot happen too close to each other.
- Improved algorithm for selecting the random event locations. Previously it was significantly skewed towards the smaller biomes such as the desert.

Changes:
- PvE: changed how the access restriction applies to objects in the land claim area. Now only player-built or planted objects (such as structures, farm plants, and tree/saplings) are protected. Other objects (stones, twigs, mushrooms, bushes, trash piles on the road, etc.) are NO longer protected. Anyone can gather them, even when located in another player's land claim area.
- PvP: lifted the out-of-landclaim construction limit for PvP serversΓÇöit's possible to build most buildings outside the land claim (like before A26), with the only exception of walls and doors (we want to ensure that even newbies are aware they should not build walls outside their green land claim area as they would be super easy to destroy there).
- PvP: time-gate will apply to T3-T4 weapons in drop events and radtowns (T4 weapons will start dropping only when T4 time-gate is reached, and T3 weapons only when T3 time-gate is reached). Armor will drop up to a tier higher. E. g. if time gate T3 reached the T4 armor can drop, but not earlier. So if T3 time gate is not reached players will be able to find max T3 armor. The exception is T4 Super-heavy armor and A.P.A.R.T.ΓÇöthey will not drop until T4 is reached. Similar rules applied to several non-equipment items as well. We hope this way it will be more balanced. This change is only for PvP servers with time-gating.
- Super-heavy armor: night vision will not activate automatically when this armor is equipped during the daytime.
- The damage necessary to suspend the boss HP regeneration is reduced so it's possible to use most T3/T4 weapons to prevent it from regeneration.

Improvements for server owners:
- New ServerRates.config setting "IsTradeChatRoomEnabled" (enabled by default) which might be useful for community servers like CryoSmall where direct trading between players is forbidden by the server rules.
- /world.destroy command will attempt to destroy a creature first (if there is any) then the first static object there. Previously it was able to destroy only the static objects.

Fixes:
- Fixed "Well rested" status effect getting removed on death.
- Fixed an issue with an empty tech tree on a custom game server if the PvpTimeGating setting was set to "0,0,0,0".
- Fixed an issue with "Press Enter key to open chat" not displayed in some cases.
- Fixed an issue when it was not possible to interact with space debris fallen in another players' land claim area on a PvE server.
- Improved connection stability on networks with an unstable route to the server (high jitter).

If you're hosting your own CryoFall server, please update it as soon as possible. The new game client generally will work fine with the previous server version but due to the changes listed above there might be some compatibility issues or discrepancies in the game logic.

[ai_enabled]

=== CryoFall v0.26.8.20 ===

Improvements:
- Improved tech nodes tooltipsΓÇönow listing the required component types for recipes and structures. If something is not researched yet, it's highlighted in red color and information added about the location of the necessary technology.

Event-related changes:
- Reworked spacedrop/meteorites/migration eventsΓÇömore simultaneous event locations to ensure that more players could participate. These event notifications were consolidated to ensure the UI is not overwhelmed.
- Meteorites event: the number of meteorites per location increased 5->7 meteorites. The search area size is reduced.
- Migration event: floater creatures will provide raw rubber when looted.
- Spacedrop event: reduced implant and devices drop rate so other items will drop more often.
- Boss event: Pragmium Queen will create x2 more loot crystal-like objects on death. Each of them has less loot but there are pragmium hearts in every one of them!
- Different simultaneous events will no longer happen together (except for the boss battle).
- Ensure that the new events will not happen too close to several previous locations.
- Event area circles made a bit more opaque to increase their visibility when the map is zoomed out.

Changes:
- T3 rifle damage increased +10% so now even with standard ammo it's dealing slightly better damage than T2 rifle with 8 mm ammo. Though it's best to use with armor-piercing ammo against armored targets.
- T3 rifle visuals adjustedΓÇöusing the same quick weapon trace like T2/T4 rifles, and faster recoil animation.
- T2 and T3 rifles are added to the military RT spawn.
- Scorpion killing XP/LP reward increased x2.
- Restored the explosion damage pattern of bombs to how it was in A25. Most noticeable on Mining charges as their effective range was significantly smaller in A26. (Note for PvP players: this change doesn't affect the number of bombs necessary to destroy something)

Fixed:
- The prices were not rendered on trading terminals in the world (they were rendered only in the menu).

If you're hosting your own CryoFall server, please update it as soon as possible. The new game client generally will work fine with the previous server version but due to the changes listed above there might be some compatibility issues or discrepancies in the game logic.

[ai_enabled]

=== CryoFall v0.26.8.22 ===

Changes:
- Adjusted respawn of pragmium spires in the desert to ensure they will respawn in at least x2 larger amountΓÇöthe game server will also respawn even more per spawn iteration if there are many players on the server (automatic scaling applies).
- Fresh-spawned pragmium spire will instantly spawn beetles and small nodes.
- Server scaling of resource respawn rate changed to start earlier (previously it applied only in 100-200 players range, now in 50-200 players).
- Firing a crossbow will no longer provide conventional weapons skill XP/LP (this skill is intended for firearms only).
- Made boss' beetle creature a bit slower as boss stunning the players and it's already hard to evade the beetles.
- Reduced movement speed of pragmium beetles that are spawned to defend the boss.
- The movement speed increase will apply on the bridges (same as on the roads).
- Adjusted collision box for water pump so players can walk around it when it's located near walls, furnaces, and most other structures.
- Server Operator players are now able to teleport on the map even without a creative/spectator mode enabled (but only via a context menu, open by right mouse button click on the map).

Fixed:
- It was possible to gather the same plant by several players simultaneously with every player receiving the harvested items.

If you're hosting your own CryoFall server, please update it as soon as possible. The new game client generally will work fine with the previous server version but due to the changes listed above there might be some compatibility issues or discrepancies in the game logic.

[ai_enabled]

=== CryoFall v0.26.8.23 ===

Changes:
- PvP: made Li/oil extractor explosion much smaller and weaker (now it's equivalent of a Modern bomb explosion) so it will no longer obliterate everything around in a large radius (it was not expected by many players).

Fixes:
- Fixed random crashes related to the UI library (we've updated NoesisGUI to the latest version).

If you're hosting your own CryoFall PvP server it's recommended to install this update.

[ai_enabled]

=== CryoFall v0.26.8.28 (Client-only patch) ===

Improvements:
- The textures for UI now loading asynchronously and in multiple threads providing improved performance and faster loading times.
- UI rendering now using improved subpixel text smoothing to further improve the text clarity.

Fixed:
- The learned skills counter didn't refresh when discovering a new skill.
- Selecting another chat tab didn't set a cursor properly in the input text block.
- "Ctrl" key getting stuck when typing in chat.
- Sometimes some of the visible terrain decals were removed when discovering new map chunks.
- It was not possible to mark the server as a favorite.
- When crafting an item that increased the amount of an existing item in the hotbar while driving a vehicle sometimes the notification "cannot use this item while driving a vehicle" appeared.

This is a client-only update. No server update necessary and no server update provided.

[ai_enabled]

=== CryoFall v0.26.8.34 (Client-only patch) ===

Improvements:
- Implemented support for DirectX 10-compatible GPUs. That's right, the game is no longer requiring DX11 and you may run the game even on some GPUs from 2007 as long as they have at least 512 MB of RAM (for better FPS you may need to reduce the graphics settings, especially the texture quality level).

Fixes:
- Random client unresponsiveness/hiccups especially for players that have multiple private chat tabs.

This is a client-only update. No server update necessary and no server update provided.

[ai_enabled]

=== CryoFall v0.26.8.35 (Client-only patch) ===

Improvements:
- Added a proper error message when DirectX 10-compatible GPU is not available.
- Added a proper error message when VC++ Redist (2015-2019) is missing, with an explanation of how to download and install it. (It should be automatically installed by Steam Client but we got several reports when it was not the case and manual installation resolved the issue)

This is a client-only update. No server update necessary and no server update provided.

[ai_enabled]

=== CryoFall v0.26.8.36 ===

Changes and improvements:
- PvE: allow using workbenches/crafting stations for any player (previously it was permitted only for the land claim owners).
- PvE: allow installing implants/interacting with a medical station for any player (previously it was permitted only for the land claim owners).
- PvP: increased number of output slots in advanced (electrical) extractors built on resource deposits to 4 input and 4 output slots.
- PvP: Stimpack will be not obtainable from a spacedrop event and in ruins/radtowns until T4 specialized tech time gate reached.

Fixed:
- Various rare crash fixes (thanks to an update of NoesisGUI to 3.0.1).
- Incorrect explosion sprite scale when using the low quality setting for sprites resolution.
- Incorrect trading station and sign text rendering when using the low quality setting for sprites resolution.
- Ctrl key getting stuck randomly is definitely fixed now.
- Hitting a cliff with a grenade didn't result in an explosion.
- Arrow will have a chance of dropping on the ground when hitting a cliff or a structure.
- Fixed incorrect "next level" effect value in skills like Conventional weapon when there was actually no change with the next level of the skill.
- Marketplace mod will no longer display the available item amount on PvP servers ( http://forums.atomictorch.com/index.php?topic=1653.0 ). It will receive either 0 or 1 amount depending on whether it's available for sale or not. (On PvE servers there is no fix necessary as in PvE trading stations cannot be destroyed to take the contents.)
- Server rate "SharedLandClaimsNumberLimitIncrease" max allowed value was not matching the one listed in the rate's description.

If you're hosting your own CryoFall server, the update is recommended. The new game client generally will work fine with the previous server version but due to the changes listed above there might be some compatibility issues or discrepancies in the game logic.