Hello everyone!
Today's patch is very exciting! A lot of new things have been added to the game, as well as a heavy focus on further optimization improvements.
Let's dive into it right away with the changelog, we'll then detail things a bit more so you know exactly what is up:
-Add: New map Veghel (AAS 01 + Offensive 01) -Add: Bayonet System - Added to M1 Garand, K98K, G41, Sten, Lee Enfield -Add: 101st Airborne faction -Add: Sherman M4A3 -Add: Sdkfz 234 Puma -Add: Realistic bullet impulse on ragdolls -Gameplay: Damage Model 2.0 for all vehicles (see below) -Gameplay: View cone added to tank's compass -Gameplay: US Sapper main weapon changed to Grease Gun -Gameplay: Jagdpanzer 4 added to Arnhem AAS 03 -Gameplay: Parachute drops added to Driel Offensive 06, 08, 09 -Gameplay: Parachute drops added to Heelsum Offensive 03, 06, 07, 08 -Fix: German Sapper kit adjusted to have 3 bandages instead of 1 -Optimization: Landscape geometry is now much lighter with no visual loss -Optimization: Foliage over distance is rendering faster -Optimization: Water shader on old maps -Optimization: New shader for old building
Let's breakdown all these changes in more detail!
VEGHEL:
This week, we had a couple of testing sessions with our Supporter Edition owners and the map was very well received! Thanks to all of them for showing up, we had a blast.
This is why we feel comfortable in going with a public test today for the next 24 hours.
Veghel is a new 3x3km map, located just North of the Bridge of Son and South of Nijmegen.
You are more likely to know it under the infamous nickname, 'Hell's Highway'.
Minimap:
This scenario will introduce for the first time the 101st Airborne in Post Scriptum.
It is available with 2 layers for starters. Offensive Single 01 and AAS 01.
More layers will come in the near future.
NEW VEHICLES:
Here they are, after teasing you for a few weeks, here are the 2 new vehicles coming to Post Scriptum:
Sdkfz.234 Puma
M4A3 Sherman 75mm
BAYONETS:
K98k, G41, M1 Garand, Sten Mk V and Lee Enfield are now equipped with bayonets!
BULLET IMPULSE:
We have added a system that gets your character's ragdoll to behave based on where the bullet was coming from.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/459383617575976981/521726444217565187/Headshot.gif
DAMAGE MODEL 2.0:
In this update, we are adding our Damage Model 2.0, here is a quick guideline of how it works:
Each weapon is given a value of armour that it can penetrate.
Each tank has it's own armour thickness value per polygon.
In the image below, the more white the texture, the thicker. Each polygon is assigned a thickness based on historical data.
When a projectile collides with these polygons, it will then calculate the relative armour thickness, if the penetration value of the shell is higher than the armour thickness, then the projectile passes through the metal, if not, it will bounce off.
If it does penetrate, it will then look for what component is behind.
Each vehicle in Post Scriptum is now fitted with internal components.
Blue = Crewman = % of chance to injure or kill him
Red = Ammo Rack or Fuel tank = % of chance to set the tank on fire and explode
Yellow = Turret ring = % of chance of disabling turret rotation
Pink = Engine = % of chance of disabling the engine/transmission
Green = Tracks = % of chance of disabling the vehicle mobility
Internal components can be repaired with your wrench or at any friendly repair station.
As a crew member of the vehicle, we have added UI icons so you are aware of the status of your tank.
Each icons will show white for fully working components, yellow for partially damaged and red for destroyed.
If you have a good eye, you will also have spotted a little marker on the view cone at the bottom left of the screen, allowing to give a better indication to your teammate while inside the vehicle (clock)
OPTIMIZATION:
Optimization is still an ongoing battle, but we are very happy with the progress made by the team over the past 4 months.
After the holidays, we got back to work and found new ways to get even more frames. Here are a few "technical" images, but they are fairly easy to understand, green is good / red is bad
BEFORE:
AFTER:
This will help the GPU quite a lot since we made similar changes on all our foliage.
We also made a tweak to landscapes, where they will draw a lot less triangles.
These changes were made as a test on Veghel this week.
Same location went from 63fps to 95fps. We don't expect it to be that spectacular on all maps, but recent tests are definitely showing a noticeable improvement!
CONCLUSION:
This is one of our biggest patches to date, we are very proud of the hard work that was put into it over that past month and we are certain you will love it
As usual, if you want to get in touch with us and our community, feel free to join our Official Discord at this address
discord.gg/postscriptum
WHAT TO EXPECT NEXT?
Very near future:
We are going to monitor Veghel tests closely, to make sure that it is going as smoothly as possible.
Parallel to this, we are finishing our game mode "Armored" and it should come to you shortly after Veghel.
As usual, we will host a closed test for all our Supporter Edition owners before releasing it to public for free.
Near future:
We are also working on an additional map that will release early this year.
A 600m x 2km long map, that will bring an interesting change of pace to the game, ideal to seed a server and change the type of engagement during a round.
The Sandbox game mode is also in the works, we'll try to show you our progress during our next Tea Time.
The SDK is still in limbo, we have no news about its status since last time, we only know that it is on the way... Sorry about that, we'll let you know as soon as we have more news from Epic.
Future:
We are actively working on our next theatre, we will announce it as soon as we are ready to show content for it. But it is going extremely well and we are super excited about it.
Distant future:
We are also in the early stages of an additional couple of theatres!
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That concludes today's update, we hope you are as excited as we are.
Periscope Games wishes you the best for 2019!
Cheers