Status Report - 26 Apr 2016

[SMoss 2101]

 

Afternoon Survivors,

Brian, Peter, and Viktor give us the lowdown this week on the current blocker issues, as well as let us in on upcoming work from the design and animation teams.

Contents This Week

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

 

Dev Update/Hicks

Greetings Survivors,

Now that PAX is over lets take a quick look at what we're doing to tackle the last Status Report’s listed blockers, and what issues are between us and .60 hitting experimental (so you're all in the know).

- Loot Distribution: The QA, Design, and Gameplay Programming teams have isolated the cause of the issue, specifically tied to stalling of item respawn - while initial server spawn, and server cleanup are functioning properly. The Gameplay Programmers responsible for this are hard at work nailing down a fix to this issue, and a possible solution has been handed to QA - we will run it through the QA department for verification.

- "Stuck Magazines": This issue has been resolved, and the QA Team are no longer able to reproduce it. Strike one more issue from the list.

- Sliding Players: All of the reproducible methods for causing this issue have been flagged and resolved by the gameplay programming team, and have been verified by QA.

- Playability of New UI Inventory - The team has finished all remaining changes needed to be ready for .60 experimental - once the build is in the hands of the experimental userbase, we'll be able to make any required adjustments or improvements based upon how they interact with it.

In addition to these previous issues, the engine and gameplay programming teams are currently working on resolving two issues we'd like to see solved prior to hitting experimental:

- FPS Drop / Clouds: Internal Testing discovered a 100% reproducible frame drop to single digit factors on limited hardware configurations. While the issue only appeared on 2 out of 30+ PCs, we're taking it very seriously. That said, the engine programming team has committed a fix and QA are verifying it as of the time of this report.

- Server Crash: We've encountered an issue with unconscious players reconnecting / logging in to a fresh server sometimes causing the server to suffer an unexpected crash. Obviously we'll need to get this resolved before pushing to a large userbase because no one likes playing on servers that are consistently crashing - and we all know there will be plenty of unconscious survivors throughout Chernarus. That said, the gameplay programming team have a solid repro, and all the crashdumps and server logs they could want, and are tracking this issue down as I write this.

As you can see, we're knocking issues down one by one, and each day brings us closer to pushing the first .60 experimental build to Steam. Keep in mind, this will be just like every other experimental upload and will have issues. So lets all chip in and make sure to submit good bug data when encountering them - Quality Assurance Lead Ondrej Klima gave some excellent pointers in how to submit the best bug data possible in our last Dev Q&A video on the official Youtube Channel (youtube.com/dayzdevteam).

All of us here at the DayZ dev team cannot wait get .60 on to experimental branch. The excitement and support at PAX East was overwhelming, and there are still so many more improvements to the technology powering DayZ to come!

- Brian Hicks / Creative Director

 

 

Dev Update/Peter

I would like to talk about base building in this issue of Status Report a bit as it didn't get much attention in SRs from me yet, thus the community was naturally left with many questions which needs to be answered. It's known that we are using base building as a common name for a broad set of activities that leads to creation of your very own base of your operations made from different facilities which can provide you or your team shelter, storage, food, water, fortification, outlook or even an electricity grid.

Alongside pitching the stock tents which can be found or improvised ones made by crafting when needed and other features like barrels, fireplaces and such it's the sturdy made structures which turns a basic campsite into a base, may it be the barriers to secure perimeter of a base or watchtower to get better overview of surroundings. Structures are again divided into premade and crafted ones. Ready to go mesh containers which may be found at military bases are an easy and fast way to form desired barriers as they can be transported to site, placed and filled with soil and eventually empty them to reorganize the barrier or to take them to a different location. On the other hand you can made your own walls, sheds or watchtowers with proper tools, materials and a bit of dedication. Because I'm not a huge fan of premade whole objects when it comes to building mechanics in sandbox games I wanted to allow as much options as possible within the scope of our game to allow players to create varied results. Construction of non-portable structures starts with placing of their basic elements so as to form their foundation. Characters can interact with this foundation to extend it into a desired state. Walls have split lower and upper halves and it's up to you whether to mount wooden planks or metal sheets with connecting materials like nails to fill them or optionally leave one or both halves without any filling. To gather wooden planks or metal sheets you will have to look for pallets which will be spawned as a dynamic event similar as helicopters or police cars although with admittedly higher chances. After you run out of material for filling, don't worry that your construction urge will be halted as there is the possibility of crafting planks from chopped trees at several sawmills across Chernarus. However, it needs to be said that metal sheets give your walls more protection then wooden planks. I admit that plain walls could be quite bland after some time so you will be able to enhance them with some goodies like camo netting for added camouflage or light chains when you wish to achieve complete opposite, may it be a trading post, a trap or just to add some atmosphere in a harsh world. Tents can be also equipped with both of them. Anyway, there are more things to do to improve the functionality of any given wall. Improvised hinges turns a wall into a gate broad enough that even a V3S can pass through, or the addition of barbwire fence helps protect close proximity of the wall itself as, don't forget it, even a wall can be disassembled with proper tools like a crowbar. To step even further, barbwire can be plugged into an electricity grid maintained by a power generator turning it effectively into an electric fence so you will think twice before taking it down with pliers.

I'm excited to see how players will use this feature to build all the variations of bases to mark their presence in the persistent environment of Chernarus. It must be said that even if we have working prototypes and final implementation in process of construction of non-portable structures and precise object placement (yes, it was postponed), it will not see public release until the arrival of the new character, which consist from new animation system, new rewritten scripts in Enforce, new controller, new damage system, new controls and other supportive components.

Unleash your inner survivalist architect... see you in Chernarus folks!

- Peter Nespesny/ Lead Designer

 

 

Dev Update/Viktor

I will continue where I left in previous status report. Last week there was a mocap session. We have captured many missing animations for wounded character and also some weapon specific animations. Once the data are processed the animators can start working on wounded crouched locomotions for player. In general most of basic anims for injured player are already done. However we need to implement it all at once and of course after the new animation system is fully in.

In recent stream you might have noticed some special moves for infected where they were going over some obstacles. Currently there are four different animations for getting over obstacles depending on the height. You should be able to see it in action with the next update. Please keep in mind this is very first implementation of such a feature and we will be working on many improvements to it but I think it works pretty well already and infected are now scary as s.... well have fun!

- Viktor Kostik/ Lead Animator

 

 

Community Spotlight

A short while ago I was contacted by one of our forum users HugoStiglitz. He sent a couple of links to videos that his friend CamCANTRUN had made, and it was some pretty good stuff. Especially the "Friendship" series was a good watch. Cam meets a random player Kyle who had a bit of trouble in real life it seems, and it was nice to see how Cam tries to pick up Kyle and take his mind off of things while doing a bit of adventuring through Chernarus. We should all be so lucky as to have a friend like CamCANTRUN.

Do go have a look at his Youtube, Twitch, and Twitter accounts as I'm sure there'll be more entertainment coming up in the future.

If you also 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: Uga

- SMoss / Community Manager

[Konfucious K 183]

The broad description of what is yet to come after this next amazing 0.60 patch just sends chills down my spine! This game just rules!

Edited April 26, 2016 by Konfucious K

[odin_lowe 3686]

Very nice to see those blockers fall one by one!! You guys are doing great!! Keep it up fellas! Very interesting Status Report.

[igor-vk 909]

1 hour ago, SMoss said:

Because I'm not a huge fan of premade whole objects when it comes to building mechanics

Me neither. Even if I played 100 hours of Exile in last 3 months.

[☣BioHaze☣ 7337]

Thanks devs/all!

This is all great stuff.

I wonder if the additional weapon animations Viktor mentioned are things like a bayonet stabbing motion or melee attack with the butt end of a rifle....

It is difficult to keep my composure through much of this wait (I was fairly cracking up around PAX East) but the more the devs detail the blockers the easier it is to manage.

More dangerous infected is very exciting but the dynamic AI spawn boosting their population is even more important IMO.

Looking forward to dynamic AI spawn in .61!

[Rags! 1966]

Wait a minute...

There we go.

 

 

[Noctoras 409]

2 hours ago, odin_lowe said:

Very nice to see those blockers fall one by one!! You guys are doing great!! Keep it up fellas! Very interesting Status Report.

The only real blocker issue I see is the server crash one - all others the player base will happily accept in order to get their hands on the new patch, that's for sure. Experimental doesn't mean a polished product.

That said, that's a status report along the lines I reckon most people expect it to be. Giving the problems a name, explaining it to some extent - it's a major improvement above previous "we have blockers, eh" status report, I appreciate that. I also appreciate the shorter community spotlight, which had been too big in some previous issues.

Edited April 26, 2016 by Noctoras

[BleedoutBill 1636]

Don't wiz on the electric fence!!!

[Girth Brooks 568]

This is a report done right! Great job.

[philbur 476]

And...folks....Hicks did not say "we are looking to release this very soon so keep your eyes on the DB and see y'all in 0.60!"

I am glad he resisted the temptation. Good update.

I personally would like to know what is being done about the lack of keyboard remap support and have yet to see any reference to it.

Do you guys think this aspect is "player controller" dependant. Or is it UI controlled? This was the first bug I ever posted on the tracker over two years ago and I do not have any info on progress or where on the priority list it is.

[shinjuru 114]

Nice.   New update.   This resets my anxiety levels.   I hope they work on some of the new key assignments like the letter "H".   It always makes me drop whatever is in my hands.   It was my main "Free Look" key assignment.

[HugoStiglitz (DayZ) 69]

Big thanks to SMoss for the mention! Cam's got some skills but you devs are the ones making it happen!

I look forward to 0.6 and all the builds to come! 

Keep up the great work!

 

[Nebulae3 422]

A great update - I looking forward to 0.60 for sure. 

[zemos (DayZ) 9]

Thanks for a great SR! So nice that all your hard work is starting to pay of :D

 

PS Is it just me sounds/feels they trying to get it out for to day? :S Hope everything whent fine yesterday/evening!

If not, cant be fare away now! Internet prepare your self! :D

 

Edited April 27, 2016 by zemos (DayZ)

[Konfucious K 183]

1 hour ago, zemos (DayZ) said:

Thanks for a great SR! So nice that all your hard work is starting to pay of :D

 

PS Is it just me sounds/feels they trying to get it out for to day? :S Hope everything whent fine yesterday/evening!

If not, cant be fare away now! Internet prepare your self! :D

 

I've suspected it too, the PAX would have been a nice marketing boost but from what we saw it's practically "ready" so hopefully, fingers crossed we'll get a surprise soon!

[emuthreat 2837]

I'm really liking the improvements in these status reports, specifically the itemization of blockers.  It does a lot to help keep down the 'itis' caused by waiting for unknown issues to be fixed, while sitting in the dark.

I was super-excited to read about all of the planned functionality for basebuilding.  I'm looking forward to making that tough decision on whether or not to shoot, and destroy, a valuable generator, or try to find a smarter way through an electrified fence.

 

Then I remembered how badly persistence is broken right now, and how it is planned to be pushed to experimental in a deliberately broken state.  Here's to hoping that we won't have to disassemble and reassemble our entire bases every 8 days....

[zemos (DayZ) 9]

Yea i think so too!

I just read my post again and now that im a bit calmer, i understand it wount come to day. It will probably come with BANG!?

Havent Brian said it will come more videos that compare and show whats new blabla ?

Edited April 27, 2016 by zemos (DayZ)

[Arthur Dubrovka 376]

Hey Guys,

long time no see :)

 

So it seems like nearly all blockers are knocked out! The basebuilding thing I´m so excited for and I hope they will implement a good degregation system so you can find an abandoned base in the woods with broken walls etc. But the most thing I´m excited for is the new Playercontroller/Animation system. I hope so bad it gets implemented in the next few exp. builds.

Because of this new UI thing coming with 0.60 I wanted to share an Idea I stumbled upon while searching for different types of UI design for Dayz. I just wanted to share and hear your voice about it because I like it.

http://kolinsue.com/projects/dayz-inventory/community-release-en

 

edit: another UI i really like is the UI from escape from tarkov, I dont have link but google is your friend...

Edited April 27, 2016 by imunone

[ebrim 998]

Thanks for the blocker list. Very much looking forward to my return to Chernarus.

[blackberrygoo 1416]

Thanks for the update and the list of blockers ... The basebuilding stuff sounds great , I really hope we will see .60 have some of this exciting stuff in it ! Can't wait for .60 :) : my optimistic guess is it will drop next Friday the 6th of May !

[igor-vk 909]

Was there a word how will new render affect older PCs? Does Arma 3 works on DX11? I get 30+ FPS in Arma 3, much higher I ever did in Dayz. 

Im not expecting any miracles, just asking if we will get better performace or worst. Last update killed FPS on Dual core CPUs by half.

[BCBasher 2465]

3 hours ago, igor-vk said:

Was there a word how will new render affect older PCs? Does Arma 3 works on DX11? I get 30+ FPS in Arma 3, much higher I ever did in Dayz. 

Im not expecting any miracles, just asking if we will get better performace or worst. Last update killed FPS on Dual core CPUs by half.

Are you still having the FPS loss? 

My X2 Athlon took a hit somewhere during the development of .59 but then got better along the way.

I've been playing a bit this week to get back into it and the Athlon desktop at 3840X720 is only displaying a few less frames per second in a given situation than our 4 core laptop at 1360X768. They're both down to high single digits in the heart of the cities but in the 20-30s in small towns and the woods. Overall both feel better than ever even though the numbers are about the same as they've been for most of the time we've played the game.

Edited April 28, 2016 by BCBasher

[igor-vk 909]

Honestly, didnt play since mid january. Im frustrated waiting for .60. I had terrible FPS loss trough .59 experimental phase but it got better when it hit stable. I play on 1900x1080, and in big cities its 12-15 FPS. But only 25-28 in wild.  

[philippj 103]

21 hours ago, igor-vk said:

Honestly, didnt play since mid january. Im frustrated waiting for .60. I had terrible FPS loss trough .59 experimental phase but it got better when it hit stable. I play on 1900x1080, and in big cities its 12-15 FPS. But only 25-28 in wild.  

I patched my graphic down, so i could experience the game as much as possible. Cant see past 700 meters but i can play with solid 40-80 FPS, but still annoying to play because i cant see shit.

Waiting for .60 continues

[Arthur Dubrovka 376]

Want new playercontroller NOW!