Also, let's update the Roadmap!
Changes
Shadows
Shadows have been the most expensive thing to render in Noble Fates for a while now - our far view distances and the use of multiple cascades meant that most of the world was rendered multiple times each frame. Given Unity's architecture this meant that up to 1/2 of the CPU cost and GPU cost of Rendering was spent on Shadows!
We've reworked High to cut CPU and GPU cost in half by dropping to a single cascade and better utilizing the Shadow resolution. We've also retuned Shadows to minimize rendering artifacts (banding) and maximize quality.
In addition, we've added 2 new Shadow Settings. Very High will yield increased quality at the cost of System Resources. Medium strikes the middle ground between High and Low.
Portraits
Live Portraits are one of the cornerstones of the Noble Fates experience, but they have always been very expensive - coming in at ~5ms per-frame for 10. With this patch, we've been able to cut the cost by 75% - down to ~1.25ms!
To do this, we switched from rendering custom picture in picture cameras attached to rigs that follow your mortals around to batched rendering using a command buffer to capture only what we need without all of the extra overhead of Unity's camera rendering system.
In addition, this armed us to do a consistency pass across Portraits, meaning the lighting in Live Portraits and Headshots (the static Mortal images used everywhere else) now have a consistent appearance, regardless of the current lighting conditions in the world!
Footstep Decals
Footstep Decals clocked in at ~5ms on the CPU - with nearly half of this time spent re-rendering any objects that could receive Footstep Decals into a special buffer to identify the areas of the screen that could receive them.
We discovered some tricks we can play on Unity's rendering architecture to plumb through the identifying information we needed without an extra rendering step and in a more accurate way.
This allowed us to cut the cost of Footsteps in half and resolve the sorting artifacts that would occur before. In addition, this made it free to add Footsteps to Carpets!
Frame Rate Limit
Frame Rate Limits stop the Rendering side of Unity from abusing System Resources when CPU demand is low.
In our game, this can happen often - the demands on your CPU drop dramatically when the simulation is paused or when your on any one of a number of Fullscreen UI pages that continue to render the world below them. This can cause the framerate to spike unexpectedly and can cause a much greater than expected demands on the GPU.
Recently, we included the ability to set a Frame Rate Limit even when VSync was enabled. Now, we've set a default of 60fps. If you find the game asking too much of your GPU, you can drop it down to 30fps which will greatly limit the strain on your GPU.
Reachability CPU Resources
Finally, the arrival of the Reachability CPU thread increased the CPU demand of the game. That thread was allowed to run as fast as possible, exchanging CPU time for nearly no delay in updates to the Pathing System and Reachability.
This improvement took us from the 30s or so of latency prior to the Conquest Update to .25s or so (a 100x improvement!), but doubled the CPU's workload.
The reality, however, is that the sweet spot is something like a 25% increase in CPU workload in exchange for ~1s of Pathing latency (still a 30x improvement!), so we've set the default there.
This should result in imperceptible lag in Pathing updates, but if you find yourself with the occasional Unreachable error just after punching through a Wall, adding a new Bridge, or Terraforming - try cranking this setting up.
Summary
All in all, you should see a reasonable reduction in System Demands, improved FPS, and increased Quality!
As always, there's more to do here, and there's still another pass or two planned during EA.
Patch Notes
Noble Fates 0.30.3.6 Released
Minor Update
Restart the game and steam to pick it up!
Experimental
Updates like these arrive on the Experimental Branch first.
If you have the stomach for brief bouts of instability and want to help us out - switch to (or stay in) the Experimental Beta on Steam and participate in discussions here or on discord.
Expect occasional issues - but know that we appreciate you helping us make the game better!
Roadmap Update!
Let's take a moment to update the Roadmap and cross off a few boxes!
These days, there are 3 types of updates for Noble Fates - Hotfix Updates that address bugs and issues (including those that are listed on the Backlog and those that you Report in-game); Minor Updates that focus on reworking or expanding existing systems and filling them with additional content; and Feature Updates that add new features to the game expanding the overall breadth of what the game has to offer.
NOTE: We've replaced Content Updates with Minor Updates to better encompass the work that is being done to rework and expand on existing Systems during the march to 1.0.
Priority Progress
Progress against the Priority Fixes that we outlined in Fall 2024
We launched the Conquest Update that included expansions to Diplomacy, a number of Strategic Options, Ballistas, Save Compatibility, and also improved Reachability detection. Then we tackled Hauling and Performance with targeted updates.
Notable Changes
Current Priorities
Some new entries here - including Fortress Mod support, Savable Mortal Presets, and allowing Buffs to exceed Skill Caps. We think these changes will better round out the whole experience as we head towards 1.0.
Feature Updates
Finally, we have the Feature Updates. As a reminder, 8 of these will arrive during Early Access. 7 have landed so far. The most recent was Feature Update 7.
Feature Update #7 - Noble Fates: Conquest!
[dynamiclink href="https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1769420/view/527588640879019600?l=english"][/dynamiclink]
Our biggest update to date, Noble Fates: Conquest greatly expanded on the mid to late game introducing the ability to Conquer your Island via Diplomacy or Warfare.
Feature Update #8 Status Update: In Progress
The 8th Feature Update is in progress, and we're excited to share more details soon.
Early Access Status
We're around 85% of the way through what we aim to accomplish with Early Access. Current estimates have us at 12 months or so from 1.0 with Major Update #8 landing somewhere in the middle.
We're in good shape for landing 1.0, due to your continued support. As always, you have our sincere gratitude!
Post 1.0 Plans
We plan to support the game with a series of Hotfixes and Minor Updates that ensure the game is well balanced, performs well, and has consistent usability.
From there, the game could see subsequent Major Updates in one form or another depending on where things sit when the dust settles.
Community Corner
A few shots from the DIscord over the past few weeks...
I Catapulted Myself - by killabi
jimg's latest Mountain Base - this time he's building upwards!
Kideya's Tavern in progress!
Discord
Join the Official Discord to participate in Development!
Reviews
If you like the game, please consider leaving a Review. These can help players decide that Noble Fates is worthy of their attention.
Thanks for reading and thanks for playing!
The Noble Fates Team[/p]
