CryoFall - Patch notes v0.28.x (Justice Update)

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=== CryoFall v0.28.x (Justice Update) ===

New features
   - Reworked welcome message window. Now it has several separate blocks such as server welcome message, game mode description (PvP/PvE/modded), and scheduled wipe information. Server administrators can easily configure this information with the new built-in editors directly in the game.
   - Server description message (in the server browser) now includes the next wipe date if it's configured for a particular server.
   - The online players list could now be hidden (it's a server setting). This way for PvP servers it will be much harder to determine the moment when a player group is outnumbered so it could be raided easily. This new setting is now enabled on all the official PvP servers (and some featured PvP servers).
   
Improvements
   - Status effects with known duration now display the remaining duration instead of their intensity (or in addition to it). This way certain status effects that have fixed effects, but could have different durations will be more clear (e.g. you will know when a particular buff will run out).
   - Minimap now has a small diamond icon showing your current position.
   - World map now displays the name of the biome under the mouse cursor. So you can point at anything and you will know what biome it is.
   - When using empty bottle over a water tile the whole stack of the empty bottle will be filled in one go, making gathering water this way much faster (works for fresh and salt water).
   - Food tooltips now include a mark for items you have never tried/eaten (so you don't need to jump between the inventory and Completionist menu to check what food or drinks you have not tried yet).
   - Quest "Build a permanent base" now includes a task requiring to relocate any structure.
   - Improved some quests to make them less annoying if you are doing it for N-th time and especially if you are playing in a group.
   - Now you can browse any tech group even if you didn't yet reach its pre-requisites. It makes it easier to plan your technology progression ahead and is especially useful on competitive PvP servers.
   - Steam Achievements are disabled when playing on modded servers as some of them provided all the achievements without the player's consent or direct actions.
   - In the server browser all servers are now sorted by ping by default and ping is measured only once now to prevent constant reshuffling of the list (you can still measure the ping again by pressing "Refresh" for the selected server or using "Refresh all").

Balance
   - Changed recipes for different implants making them more accessible. Especially implants that are not part of the "meta" in PvP. Biomaterial collector is now also cheaper to craft.
   - Heavy duty batteries require less lithium to craft.
   - Many structures (buildings) are made cheaper to make progression smoother.
   - "Well rested" status effect now provides two times more bonus learning points and also increases LP/XP gain from x2.0 to x2.5.
   - Recoil/fire spread pattern for automatic weapons is now random (within the configured angle) and is completely independent from the client. Any attempts to compensate for the weapon spread with will only make the overall fire accuracy worse. This change makes client side mods that compensate recoil useless making the game more fair.

PvE-related changes
   - PvE: now you can build oil pumps and lithium extractors in any biomes that permit land claim placement.
   - PvE: players cannot block each other (passing through) preventing pushing and blocking problems. The same applies to vehicles so mechs (with or without the pilot) cannot be used to block passage to the boss or a mining area.
   - PvE: creatures (except the boss) cannot damage vehicles without pilots. This way it's no longer possible to lure a creature to destroy a vehicle by standing between it and a vehicle.
   - PvE: it's possible to take vehicles that have "Docked" status from other vehicle assembly bays (previously it was required to go to that particular VAB where it's docked).
   - PvE: Destroyed vehicles will drop their content tagged for its owner so other players cannot steal it.

PvP-related changes
   - PvP: upgrading land claims from Tier 2 to Tier 3/4 will no longer change S.H.I.E.L.D. recharging cost.
   - PvP: improved detection of the enclosed base in PvP to prohibit usage of S.H.I.E.L.D. on it. This is required to prevent the abuse of shield with such a base layout (see http://atomictorch.com/Files/Images/CryoFall_A27-ShieldAbuse-Fix-Patch5.png and https://atomictorch.com/Files/Images/CryoFall_A28-ShieldAbuse-Fix-HoneycombLayout.jpg ). We've implemented a new algorithm that detects any such case (before A28 a honeycomb layout was still possible).
   
Medical system
   - Almost all medical items now have a usage cooldown period. This prevents it from being abused with automated macro (mods) or spammed in combat. Now you have to carefully think if you actually need to use a particular medical item.
   - While you have "medical cooldown" you cannot sprint, use your weapons or use other medical items.
   - Some items have been rebalanced with this new system in mind to make them more useful. Such as anti-toxin medicine is now more potent, etc.
   - This new system also makes previously unused items more useful now. For example hemostatic medicine is not only more potent than bandages, but it is also faster to use (shorter cooldown).
   - Toxin from pink mushrooms recipe moved to T2 from T3.

Weapons balance
   - Some balancing changes to weapons based on recent feedback. Even arrows are more useful now as they deal slightly higher damage and could be a useful alternative to early firearms.
   - All pistols are much faster to draw now (i.e. you can start shooting almost instantly when switching to pistols). This gives you a chance to quickly switch to your pistol if your primary weapon is out of ammo.
   - All T3-T5 ammo (10mm, 12ga, .300, 50SH, grenades, etc.) made cheaper to be closer in line with lower tier ammo (T1-T2) which was made cheaper last version.

Bombs balance
   - Rebalanced bombs. Or rather not really... we simply changed their damage to 1/2 AND changed their price to 1/2. Which effectively means we didn't change anything! However it now takes slightly longer for attackers to raid (though it will still be the very SAME EXACT AMOUNT of resources). This just increases granularity for this item type and makes combat more interesting.
   - Explosives (material, not bombs) stack size increased from 100 to 250 for convenience sake.

Items
   - Laser sight - you can equip it into your device slot and use it with any weapon helping you aim and also showing the range of the weapon you are currently holding.

Technical improvements
   - Decay-related structures removal refactored to prevent CPU spikes and ensure 100% smooth gameplay (especially noticeable on densely populated PvE servers).
   - Updated NoesisGUI to v3.0.6 (various fixes and improvements).
   
Security changes
   - Implemented several layers of protection against modifications and executable tampering with various integrity checks. The engine part is completely obfuscated and critical sections of code are virtualized to enhance security.
   - Implemented secure client mode when it must use a vanilla executable and Core without any client modifications. The game server could be configured to require the client to switch into this mode and permit a connection only with the secure "no client modifications" clients.
   - Implemented network traffic encryption for the game servers that permit only secure "no client modifications" clients to prevent tampering.
   - Implemented network rate limits for remote commands. Each remote method now has its own customized call rate that cannot be exceeded normally. The client will automatically stay within the rate. The only way the limit could be exceeded is through client modification. The server will detect such cases to kick the client temporarily and warn for the rate limit violation.
   
Server administration and settings improvements
   - Improved formatting of the ServerSettings.xml file to make it easier to read and edit.
   - Added new server configuration setting to prohibit usage of client modifications and require secure client connection ("<no_client_mods>" in SettingsServer.xml).
   - The online players list could be hidden now by the server administratorΓÇöconfigurable in ServerRates.config (PvP.IsOnlinePlayersListHidden, disabled by default).
   - Added server scheduled wipe date editor. Now it's possible to specify the next wipe date. It will be displayed in the welcome message and the server's description. It's automatically translated and converted to the player's time zone for max convenience.
   - Now it's possible to specify the kick reason when using the kick console command. The syntax is as follows: /kick playerName timeInMinutes "kick message in quotes"
   - Server rate settings PvpIsFullLootEnabled and PvpTimeGating renamed to PvP.IsFullLootEnabled and PvP.TimeGating respectively.
   - Added support for [color] bb tag. E.g.

Code Select Expand

[color=#FF0000]colors[/color]will make the text red.
   
Fixes
   - Fixed an issue when Steam Achievements were not granted properly in some rare cases. (Unfortunately, if you have already started playing on a server before the A28 Update, some achievements may still be not tracked properlyΓÇöget ready for A29 to have that resolved)
   - Fixed various issues with weapon fire sequences. Such as the inability to fire the last round of a particular ammo type, or when the game reported that the player doesn't have ammo to reload, or when the server reloaded the weapon before firing all the shots the client has requested. Also, it's much more reliable now in bad network conditions (high ping and packet loss).
   - It's no longer possible to place structures on a higher/lower ground than the current player location.
   - Slightly increased Pragmium Queen ranged attack range as it was possible to attack her with the artillery cannon without getting attacked back.
   - Sometimes Pragmium Queen was unable to deal melee damage to the player.
   - Started game server allowed network connections before the spawn scripts have been completed. It was especially confusing on freshly-wiped servers as some players started in a completely empty area.
   - Inviting an offline player into the party displayed an error message "your party is full". A proper error message will be displayed now.
   
Important:
   - When the update is released all official PvP servers will be wiped as usual. Additionally, CryoSmall and CryoFive will be wiped as well, which we confirmed with the server owner.
   - However, this time thankfully there is no need to wipe PvE servers, so PvE servers will NOT be wiped.
   - Community server owners can choose whether to update/wipe or not.

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=== CryoFall v0.28.5.3 (Hotfix #1) ===

Fixes:
   - Uneven/jumpy vehicle movement when colliding with obstacles.

If you're hosting a community server it's recommended to install this update.

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=== CryoFall v0.28.5.4 (Patch #2) ===

Changes:
- It's no longer possible to place structures close to the event objects such as space debris and asteroids (some players placed walls to prevent other players from interacting with such objects).
- PvE: increased construction restriction area size around the pragmium spires in the barren biome.
- Updated .NET Core Runtime to v3.1.8 for CryoFall client.

Fixes:
- Switching the selected hotbar slot while a weapon is reloading resulted in the network desync of the loaded ammo count.
- When sending a party invitation to an offline player "Cannot invite an offline player" was displayed even on a server that has disabled Online players list. This way it was possible to determine whether a player is offline by sending a party invitation from a private chat.

If you're hosting a community server it's recommended to install this update.

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=== CryoFall v0.28.5.7 (A28 Halloween Event) ===

Halloween event:
- Halloween-themed T-shirts, cloth hat replaced with a pumpkin hat, milkmelon got a pumpkin appearance. Seeds could be easily obtained by gathering grass.

Improvements:
- Added a new general option "Capture cursor". Disabled by default. When enabled, it will ensure that the mouse cursor cannot be moved outside of the game window while the game window is focused unless the Ctrl key is held. Useful for multi-monitor setup or when playing in a windowed mode. (Please note: the menu text for this feature is presented in English only until A29 Update)
- Arrows have a high chance of dropping when hitting a creature (previously they've always disappeared).
- When collecting an item and there is already an item stack of this item type in the hotbar, it will be increased first instead of placing the collected item into inventory.
- Added missing item notification when cutting fish to get fish fillet.
- Server: major performance optimizations by introducing the rare update rate mode for certain objects. Offline players, vehicles, drones, torches, etc will consume much fewer CPU resources (over 50% performance improvement for long-running servers such as official PvE servers that are running for over 100 days now).
- Server: the game server will detect when the Core.cpk file is corrupted or from another game version and prevent server startup. If you intend to use a modified Core.cpk, just use it unpacked or create server mods.

Fixes:
- Sprinkler watering cooldown was applied to all sprinklers preventing player from using several sprinklers at once.
- Fixed various minor issues such as the skill experience not getting synchronized when switching to another game server without restarting the game.
- Fixed multiple various issues with CryoFall Editor. Additionally fixed an issue when Editor was slow when drawing terrain and placing objects.

CryoFall Editor is updated together with the game client.

If you're hosting a community server it's recommended to install this update. Without the update there are might be some minor client-server discrepancies and also the pumpking-milkmelon would be not obtainable by gathering grass.

If you're curious about all the Core-related changes, please check out the commit in the official Github repository (https://github.com/AtomicTorchStudio/CryoFall/commit/f6a6c57fc5e63145de2f3f8719c67eb4ba7a30e0). Unfortunately, due to an issue with the patch delta-packing, the Steam update size is much larger than it should be (about 100 MB).

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=== CryoFall v0.28.5.10 (A28 Halloween Event Patch #1) ===

Changes:
- Milkmelon plant reskinned to pumpkin (as it should be for the Halloween event).
- Milkmelon-pumpkin will produce only a single harvest but it's also made to grow much faster (for already planted plants you may need to apply watering or fertilizer to let the server recalculate the remaining time).
- Super heavy armor will not turn on automatically its night vision device when you log in to the game during the night time.

Fixes:
- Solar generator was not providing power (solar panels were also not degrading, so nothing is lost).
- Lights (floor lamps) were active in the "Auto" mode even during the day time.

CryoFall Editor is updated together with the game client.

If you're hosting a community server it's highly recommended to install this update.

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=== CryoFall v0.28.5.13 (A28 Post-Halloween Patch #1) ===

Changes:
- Halloween event finished.

- Pragmium Queen rebalanced to make her harder to defeat. The boss will regenerate its HP quickly so a team of players must participate in the battle to ensure high damage. Most official PvE and PvP servers with a relatively high population (>10 online on average) have boss balanced for a team of five players (T5, with few mechs) while servers with lower active population are balanced for teams of up to 2-3 players. (for community servers the boss difficulty could be adjusted by editing BossDifficultyPragmiumQueen setting in the ServerRates.config file)

- Boss loot distribution system adjusted to ensure that players that dealt more damage recently will be more favored than players that have dealt the damage early and walked away (some players abused the system by almost killing the boss to accumulate a high score, but then walked away just to spoil the game for unsuspecting players coming to defeat the boss).

CryoFall Editor is updated together with the game client.

If you're hosting a community server it's highly recommended to install this update.

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=== CryoFall v0.28.5.15 (A28 Post-Halloween Patch #2) ===

Improvements:
- Improved Linux compatibility with Proton. The game should be playable out of the box without using protontricks or special branches! Just select Proton 5.13-2 in the game properties and launch it. Please give it a try and let us know if you have any issues.
- Restored support for UI PPAA anti-aliasing when MSAA is not enabled.

It's a client-only patch.