Its been another month and time for an update from the developer - aka me ????
[/p][p]Good progress this month! Not on what I was originally planning, but good progress anyway ????
[/p]
FuseConnection visibility distance setting
[p]Sometime ago, while working on the firing system, I realized that the new feature I added some time ago, where the fuse connections completely disappears when are not holding the FuseConnection Tool - could be a bit confusing.For players that have played the game for a long time, it might not be that big of a deal, because you knew the fuses where still there, even though you couldn't see then, when switching away from the FuseConnection Tool.
[/p][p]However, for newer players or players that don't play that often, I saw some videos/streams where it seemed to confuse people, that they just created a lot of fuse connection and then they disappeared. [/p][p][img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/36145520/23bbc13405ec8e36776b5cf743350133d6629274.gif"][/img][/p][p]Therefore, I implemented a setting so you can decide how far you wanna see fuse connections. Setting it to 0, basically gives you the same behavior as before, but increasing it, will make fuse connections within that range show up, no matter what tool you have selected. [/p][p]I think it works better and is a bit more intuitive. As said, this was originally something I made as part of the new firing system, however, as its not really related to the firing system, I took this particular feature out so I could push it into an update already now, so you don't have to wait for the firing system update for it.[/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink href="https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1079260/view/539982417315758989"][/dynamiclink][/p][p]I explain in some more details in a live stream, in case you are interested for more details (NERD ALERT!)
Starts around 05:30 in.[/p][previewyoutube="k0rkHRSLvQ8;full"][/previewyoutube][p][/p]
Refactor and optimize mortars
[p]Since I originally created the native shell and mortar support, there have been some weird issues.First of, Amnestey tried creating an angled mortar rack long time ago, but ended up never releasing it because it performed really bad. He didn't do anything wrong, it was something in the game.[/p][p]As all the other mortars were working fine, back then I didn't looked more into it as there were tons of other things to do.[/p][p]As I was anyway looking into the mortar as part of something related to the firing system, Amnestey asked me again if I could look into it, now that I was away from firing system anyway.[/p][p][img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/36145520/8de6e79ddd948e839a06c8a883631c19285cd288.jpg"][/img][/p][p]I took the time and tried figuring out why it was not working properly. After some digging, I figured out there was actually something in the mortar scripts that in some cases would end up with a lot of physics calculations, which in turn result in bad performance on your CPU and send a lot of unnecessary data over the network in a multiplayer session.[/p][p]I'll spare you the technical details, as nobody cares, but if you want more info on the topic, watch my livestream here from around 08:25, where I try to explain it in a bit more:[/p][previewyoutube="k0rkHRSLvQ8;full"][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p]Anyway, the short version is that I have made some changes that make mortars perform better and easier to work with, as there are less physics stuff going on.
In general everything should feel like it work as it use to, which is the whole point, however, you thing is a lot different.[/p][p]You use to be able to put stuff into the mortar, physically placing it inside the mortar, and then it will shoot out when you ignite the shell beneath all the "other stuff". [/p][p]This part have changed a bit. You can still put things into a mortar, if it's small enough, but now it's "sucked into" the mortar if you place it at the opening, but only if you have already loaded the mortar with a shell.[/p][p][img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/36145520/1f59ae7d3a473e30e6e55f32772ed07c62e23d01.gif"][/img][/p][p]Hard to explain, but I expect you can soon try it out on EXPERIMENTAL where I would love to hear your feedback on it in the Experimental channel on my Discord.[/p][p]The performance difference can be seen around 36:45[/p][previewyoutube="k0rkHRSLvQ8;full"][/previewyoutube][p][/p]
Back to firing system
[p]I know I say it all the time, but I really do need and soon will, get back to work on the firing system - as we need to have time to figure out the features and perfect them, so they are ready for New Years ????[/p][p][/p][p]I'll finish off the mortar changes as soon as I can and get back on that freaking firing system! ???? [/p][p]I'll present you with the same screenshot as in the last two posts, as the status is more or less the same:[img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/36145520/be7e6d3fde7fc7ae6179038657c202ea649655ba.png"][/img][/p][p]That's all for now ????[/p][p][/p]Change log
[p]I have pushed the following updates since last Developer News.[dynamiclink href="https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1079260/view/539982417315758989"][/dynamiclink][/p][p] YouTube | Twitch | Twitter | Discord [/p][p][/p][p]- Enjoy![/p][p][dynamiclink href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1079260/Fireworks_Mania__An_Explosive_Simulator/"][/dynamiclink][/p][p][/p]
