Status Report - 12 Apr 2016

[SMoss 2101]

 

Afternoon Survivors,

Brian, Viktor, Miroslav, and Raist give us an update on current development in this Status Report. Subjects covered by the guys are blocker issues, network code, the new AI spawner, and the new animation system.

Contents This Week

• Dev Update/Hicks
• Dev Update/Miroslav
• Dev Update/Viktor
• Community Spotlight

 

Dev Update/Hicks

Greetings Survivors,

It’s that time again - biweekly Status Report time. In addition to my update, we have some interesting reads from Miroslav our Lead Gameplay Programmer, Viktor our Lead Animator, and Raist the Senior Programmer responsible for DayZ's Central Economy. That aside, let’s look at what our current critical issues are for the release of .60 to experimental branch.

- Loot Distribution: Current internal builds have an issue we're chasing down that drops globally spawned quantities of items to about 3,000 in certain situations/server states. This is around 17,000 to 18,000 less than the acceptable minimal operating value. This issue is one of the top priorities for the designers currently, as it effectively makes the title near unplayable.

- "Stuck" Magazines: The gameplay programming team are working on an issue that causes magazines during the reload process to become "stuck" within the players inventory, thus causing several cascading failures with players inventories requiring them to disconnect and reconnect to resolve the issue.

- Sliding Players: The QA Team encountered a 100% repro rate series of steps to cause players to become stuck in a sliding state - regardless of laying, prone, or erect. These steps have been provided to the gameplay programming team - and they are working on resolving the issue.

- Playability of New UI Inventory: The design and gameplay programming teams are wrapping up the last of the playability issues moving to the new UI, as functional support for the legacy UI won't be possible moving forward with the new Enfusion renderer.

 

Since the last Status Report the team has nailed down the last blocking bugs on the renderer side, squashed some nasty virtual machine server exception issues, resolved blocking issues with navmesh generation, infected AI behavior, several critical client crash bugs, a new nasty issue with the desync of player positions, and rolled out the support for configuring all the initial required graphical options within the options menu for the new renderer release.

Looking at what the Engine Programming team have taken on and ahead of them for the Enfusion Renderer:

- MSAA Implementation

- Alpha to Coverage Implementation

- Resolved all issues flagged as "Must Fix" or "Blocker" for .60

 

Current Focus is on:

- New UI and Renderer Major & Minor severity level issues

 

Aside from the current issues I've mentioned above, personally I'm a bit concerned of the network state of vehicles. With the team focused on the milestone goals for .60 we haven't been able to give the attention to iterating on network synchronization, performance, and physics on our current group of vehicles. I think they're far from where I'd like them to be - but we'll more than likely have to put off improving their state to somewhere more enjoyable for the Early Access playerbase to future builds.

Each day moves us closer to having a build we're confident and able to move to experimental branch, and no one group of people want it out there more than us, the developers. Lastly, before I sign off for this Status Report - I know I've said it before - but I can't say it enough, keep in mind this is just our first public iteration of this portion of Enfusion engine. In addition to iteration and progression from feedback and bug reports from the Early Access player base we'll also be working with GPU manufacturers to figure out how best to use their technologies to the maximum effect, and get DayZ optimized for use in future drivers from said manufacturers.

- Brian Hicks / Creative Director

 

 

Dev Update/Miroslav

In my last status report, I mentioned that we are rewriting some important parts of network code. Well, the work is finished and first testing showed improvements on server performance and server response time. So, these changes will be available in experimental build from start and if nothing goes wrong, they will hit the stable release too.

 

Two weeks ago, we started revisiting another important part of networking. The login process. Now, it's possible that you are present on server before you can actually play, so you can be attacked by AIs and players and you don't have an opportunity to defend (not common for this to occur, but possible in some edge cases). This will be fixed, but not in 0.60. These changes will allow us also implementation of login queue, which will help us to control server performance in case when a lot of concurrent players are connecting and waiting queue will be available too.

 

Last time, I also mentioned changes in AI spawner. Here you have a few words from our programmer Frantisek Bidlo a.k.a Raist, who's responsible for Central Loot Economy implementation:

Lots of new and horribly ugly looking infected are going to be swarming Chernarus. We have almost finished the new system and tools on area/ spawn rules/ group types definition in order to create believable distribution, doctors will haunt hospitals, police will be most probably found in the stations surrounding areas.

Different infected types may by stronger and faster than others, every city and village will get various combination depending on it's size, position and importance.

We're still not sure, if new AI spawner will hit 0.60 (or at least experimental), but we will try our best. Here are a few screenshots from the spawner testing, but please keep in mind that these are form testing and it's possible, that there won't be so high AI counts in release.

- Miroslav / Lead Gameplay Programmer

 

 

Dev Update/Viktor

When thinking about what happened in last two weeks in animation team I have realized there is so many different animations being worked on. I have decided to put together a quick compilation of some of them that have been done just recently. There are new reload anims for M4, for Red9 and CR527. Except weapons guys have been busy with adding missing animations for vehicles, opening and closing doors and hoods with tons of variations to cover all vehicles.

We have started to create a new graph for infected for upcoming animation system. Because of that we came back to idea to bring variations for infected locomotions where there will be multiple different idles, walks, runs and sprints so they look a bit different when moving around. Also some extra anims are in progress, like attacking doors. This week there will be already mentioned mocap session so we will get loads of new data for us to work on.

Make sure to check the video out and remember it is all work in progress as always, it may change, but mainly this are animations that have been finished in past week or two so they are still far from implementing. Moreover we still need to have new animation system in first.

- Viktor / Lead Animator

 

 

Community Spotlight

Good stuff, I should have caught on to Astros Legacy a bit earlier. I always do like me some nice DayZ cinematics, and when I came across the Astros Legacy channel, I was not disappointed when I found this:

Good things are to be found within his channel, and you can always follow him via his Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Also, it's been out for a while, but in case you did not see it yet, concept artist Simon Weaner did the following matte painting of the shipwreck at Rify:

The illustration is available (along with a lot of other awesome stuff) at Simon Weaner's DeviantArt profile!

If you have some footage, artwork, or screenshots you'd like to share, you can always swing by the DayZ forums and post it in the Gallery section.

Header image credit: [LGNR] s.hartman

- Michael aka SMoss / Community Manager

[☣BioHaze☣ 7337]

1 hour ago, SMoss said:

-snip-

Lots of new and horribly ugly looking infected are going to be swarming Chernarus. We have almost finished the new system and tools on area/ spawn rules/ group types definition in order to create believable distribution, doctors will haunt hospitals, police will be most probably found in the stations surrounding areas.

Different infected types may by stronger and faster than others, every city and village will get various combination depending on it's size, position and importance.

We're still not sure, if new AI spawner will hit 0.60 (or at least experimental), but we will try our best. Here are a few screenshots from the spawner testing, but please keep in mind that these are form testing and it's possible, that there won't be so high AI counts in release.

-snip-

We have started to create a new graph for infected for upcoming animation system. Because of that we came back to idea to bring variations for infected locomotions where there will be multiple different idles, walks, runs and sprints so they look a bit different when moving around. Also some extra anims are in progress, like attacking doors. This week there will be already mentioned mocap session so we will get loads of new data for us to work on.

Make sure to check the video out and remember it is all work in progress as always, it may change, but mainly this are animations that have been finished in past week or two so they are still far from implementing. Moreover we still need to have new animation system in first

 

 

-snip-

Thanks for hard work, devs/all!

I thought new infected spawn system was confirmed for .60 a while back but I guess I was mistaken...

I hope we can see a ready for prime time .60 before April is out but I am trying to be realistic and patient.

Also, it is nice to see mention of the newer infected models as we had not heard much on it in quite some time.

 

[-Gews- 7443]

Lemme copy/past Reddit response.

 

Sliding Players: The QA Team encountered a 100% repro rate series of steps to cause players to become stuck in a sliding state - regardless of laying, prone, or erect. These steps have been provided to the gameplay programming team - and they are working on resolving the issue.

No more double-carry worries? Yay.

 

Lots of new and horribly ugly looking infected are going to be swarming Chernarus.

I like what I hear.

 

Different infected types may by stronger and faster than others, every city and village will get various combination depending on it's size, position and importance.

I remember statements that indicated there weren't going to be different "types" of infected, but as long as they aren't outlandish variants like some other games, no problem.

 

There are new reload anims for M4, for Red9 and CR527.

Technically Red 9 reload animation is incorrect, the Mauser bolt locks back only on an empty magazine, the magazine follower is holding it open. The clip serves to hold the bolt open while reloading. When you pull out the clip the bolt slams closed.

So without the clip, you can see it would be problematic to reload with single rounds in any kind of timely fashion, because as soon as you push the first round in, the bolt will slam shut on your fingers!

[☣BioHaze☣ 7337]

2 minutes ago, -Gews- said:

-snip-

 

Different infected types may by stronger and faster than others, every city and village will get various combination depending on it's size, position and importance.

I remember statements that indicated there weren't going to be different "types" of infected, but as long as they aren't outlandish variants like some other games, no problem.

 

-snip-

I believe what we will see is a lot like the standard set by the mod.

People who were stronger in life will make stronger infected.

i.e. The large soldier who becomes infected wearing body armor would be much more difficult to kill than the hermit infected wearing rags and would also deliver more damage per strike.

[-Gews- 7443]

3 minutes ago, ☣BioHaze☣ said:

I believe what we will see is a lot like the standard set by the mod.

People who were stronger in life will make stronger infected.

i.e. The large soldier who becomes infected wearing body armor would be much more difficult to kill than the hermit infected wearing rags and would also deliver more damage per strike.

Also in standalone, we've seen some different types already but I only really notice the differences in toughness. It will be interesting to see what happens. The speeds and movement especially IMO.

[Buakaw 274]

Quote

Current internal builds have an issue we're chasing down that drops globally spawned quantities of items to about 3,000 in certain situations/server states. This is around 17,000 to 18,000 less than the acceptable minimal operating value. This issue is one of the top priorities for the designers currently, as it effectively makes the title near unplayable.

Great, now that we cleared that up, some people could stop bringing up how "great" 55 was.

[c4p 30]

15 minutes ago, Buakaw said:

Great, now that we cleared that up, some people could stop bringing up how "great" 55 was.

hehe, sticks, apples, berries, ponds - that was it^^

2 hours ago, SMoss said:

also be working with GPU manufacturers to figure out how best to use their technologies to the maximum effect, and get DayZ optimized for use in future drivers from said manufacturers.

- Brian Hicks / Creative Director

sounds great!

Really nice report devs! Thank you. I'm looking forward to actually play it! :-)

edit: header image is missing for me

Edited April 12, 2016 by c4p

[☣BioHaze☣ 7337]

SR - 20160412 needs Slayer or Pantera sound track....

[zemos (DayZ) 9]

To bad that Simon Weaners picture isnt larger then that, i wish there where a 1440p res. (or higher).

 

 

[blackberrygoo 1416]

The zombie animation of it breaking the door down was excellent lol .. And also the survivor escaping the car- what a great idea :) . I just hope we see any of this content soon at all , seeing as many many other cool things have been shown and still have yet to come to fruition :(.

[odin_lowe 3686]

Cheers fellas!! Very nice status report! Can't wait to see variations in infected appearance and behavior! It'll most excellent when we have access to experimental again, it's been so long and I love experimental so much!! Thanks guys and keep up the good work! 

[St. Jimmy 1631]

Nice report and info as always. I really like those animations.

 

 

Bit out of the status report but I believe this is a good place to plant this info. From Arma 3 SITREP #00151

...That also goes for a potential DirectX 12 implementation. After a lengthy initial investigation, we've concluded that this is far more complex than it may seem. It has been decided that our company will first tackle this in the new Enfusion engine, as its rendering pipeline is more compatible....

DX12 is still under the radar though only time will show us if it can bring anything for Enfusion.

[Noctoras 409]

Now what I really appreciate is the list of infos on the "blockers". This is giving the community more of a feel for the problems faced and is more upfront. I for one have more than once been critical about non communication, so now I will appreciate the change in style.

 

Hoping for 0.60 to go on exp. soon, it has been almost half a year since the last experimental went online ;)

[Deathlove 2286]

4 hours ago, -Gews- said:

Different infected types may by stronger and faster than others, every city and village will get various combination depending on it's size, position and importance.

I remember statements that indicated there weren't going to be different "types" of infected, but as long as they aren't outlandish variants like some other games, no problem.

The current type of infected are pretty much a joke if you know your way around. Horde or no hordes. This new type will hopefully make ppl more cautious of both pvp and looting situations. idk about your statement though. Mutated infected have always proven to be harder than standard infected types. Hopefully its something far more feral and aggressive in nature. I dont care how outlandish it looks as long as its not to numerous in groups.

[joe_mcentire 2074]

4 hours ago, blackberrygoo said:

The zombie animation of it breaking the door down was excellent lol .. And also the survivor escaping the car- what a great idea :) . I just hope we see any of this content soon at all , seeing as many many other cool things have been shown and still have yet to come to fruition :(.

i honestly don't like it. the shown zed animations looked somehow like i imagine typical SIMS animations - they simply lack some sort of mocap or inertia or most likely both. inertia to movements will hopefully find its way into this game - at least for players...hopefully

[[TAW] GunRunner 53]

11 hours ago, SMoss said:

- Sliding Players: The QA Team encountered a 100% repro rate series of steps to cause players to become stuck in a sliding state - regardless of laying, prone, or erect. These steps have been provided to the gameplay programming team - and they are working on resolving the issue.

Fantastic!! This was a big issue that's caused quite a few untimely deaths. I'm sure all the people who thought they were in cover but were stuck standing, or got shot by somebody they couldnt see because the guy shooting was stuck in the crouch position thank you big time! Luckily, we usually run in groups so we could identify the issue for eachother. Its nice to know that we might not have to worry about it soon!

 

[emuthreat 2837]

I'm just glad to finally hear that the severe vehicle problems are at least acknowledged.  It has been eating at me for as long as the bugtracker has been down.  I wonder if getting a broken van to play with would be too much to expect from .60?

[S3V3N 1402]

16 hours ago, SMoss said:

 

- Resolved all issues flagged as "Must Fix" or "Blocker" for .60

 

Guys, this is the important part :) Unless the new UI is holding them back now, there should be an update today! The other things sound great, but we'll have to wait and see. Firstly I want to see the renderer and fps improvements.

[[TAW] GunRunner 53]

4 minutes ago, S3V3N said:

Guys, this is the important part :) Unless the new UI is holding them back now, there should be an update today! The other things sound great, but we'll have to wait and see. Firstly I want to see the renderer and fps improvements.

EAAASSSYYYYYY now buddy.... You missed the first part.

Quote

 That aside, let’s look at what our current critical issues are for the release of .60 to experimental branch.

- Loot Distribution: Current internal builds have an issue we're chasing down that drops globally spawned quantities of items to about 3,000 in certain situations/server states. This is around 17,000 to 18,000 less than the acceptable minimal operating value. This issue is one of the top priorities for the designers currently, as it effectively makes the title near unplayable.

The part you quoted was specifically about the rendering tech only :)

Edited April 13, 2016 by [TAW] GunRunner

[S3V3N 1402]

6 minutes ago, [TAW] GunRunner said:

EAAASSSYYYYYY now buddy.... You missed the first part.

The part you quoted was specifically about the rendering tech only :)

That's a problem of the CLE and I think they make it look more dramatic than it is. Tweaking some values should fix that, or rolling back to the last CLE-version that worked. I doubt this will take long to fix and the update should have a priority; CLE is working fine in 0.59. By now they blew any chance to make it as good as they promised anyway. So just release it and post hotfixes, as usually. It's not like any of the prior patches worked flawlessly. 

Edited April 13, 2016 by S3V3N

[[TAW] GunRunner 53]

Your entirely correct, but depending on what is causing the issue is it could take some time. Im just saying don't get your hopes too high in case it takes a bit longer :) But lets hope it doesnt

[zemos (DayZ) 9]

10 hours ago, joe_mcentire said:

i honestly don't like it. the shown zed animations looked somehow like i imagine typical SIMS animations - they simply lack some sort of mocap or inertia or most likely both. inertia to movements will hopefully find its way into this game - at least for players...hopefully

I like the idea that z can break in(maybe easier when they are more in number?!:S), but not kick in. Players should be able to and ofc be able to reinforce there camp, but regular doors sure!

 

[Tigermonk 140]

12 hours ago, Noctoras said:

Now what I really appreciate is the list of infos on the "blockers". This is giving the community more of a feel for the problems faced and is more upfront. I for one have more than once been critical about non communication, so now I will appreciate the change in style.

 

Hoping for 0.60 to go on exp. soon, it has been almost half a year since the last experimental went online ;)

just keep in mind 'end of april' somewhere.. that'll be somewhat realistic... anytime sooner.. is just 'getting your hopes up' don't do that.

[Nebulae3 422]

21 hours ago, blackberrygoo said:

The zombie animation of it breaking the door down was excellent lol .. And also the survivor escaping the car- what a great idea :) . I just hope we see any of this content soon at all , seeing as many many other cool things have been shown and still have yet to come to fruition :(.

yeah, I`m so ready for patch 0.60 - it`s probably the beginning of new animations of base building & construction so houses and doors are probably not safe from zombies in the future with structure damage.

That broken overgrown ship image was amazing art by the way! :)

Edited April 13, 2016 by ori42

[Nebulae3 422]

7 hours ago, S3V3N said:

Guys, this is the important part :) Unless the new UI is holding them back now, there should be an update today! The other things sound great, but we'll have to wait and see. Firstly I want to see the renderer and fps improvements.

Yeah, I noticed that as well - so the build is hopefully out soon! ))