Beta Build!

I just uploaded the new beta build (This is version 1.0.5 Beta, build 151026) to Steam, and also a patch for those of you that have the stand alone version. I’m going to be providing a bit of detail here for people that want to beta test and modders that want to try out the changes to the mod kit.

So first things first.

Where do I get the beta build?

If you have the game on Steam, go into your game library and right click on Banished. Select properties, and then in the windows that opens, select the BETAs tab. Select the drop down and pick Beta Test for 1.0.5.

If you don’t use Steam, you can download the patch here: BanishedPatch_1.0.4_To_1.0.5.151026.Beta.zip. Note that you need to apply the patch to version 1.0.4. Previous versions of the game won’t work with this patch. Once downloaded, just unzip the archive into the folder where you have Banished installed. This is usually C:\Program Files\Shining Rock Software\Banished\.

If you’re into modding, you can get the beta mod kit here: BanishedKit_1.0.5.151026.Beta.zip.

What’s changed in this beta build?

This beta build is mostly to test major engine changes that have been made to support multiple platforms for Banished and future games. It also contains a few bug fixes, and some changes to the mod kit. Note that save games and mods made with 1.0.5 beta will not work in 1.0.4. In fact they’ll probably crash the game if you try to move saves or mods over. Old mods and saves should work fine with the new version.

Here’s the change list:

– UTF8 is now used instead of USC2.

– Resource files can be in UTF8, USC2, UTF16, big and little endian. They’ll be converted to UTF8 on load.

– Memory usage allowance has been increased to 1 gigabyte, which should allow for larger mods.

– All materials now use custom shading language SRSL instead of HLSL. – Any mods with custom materials will need to be modified to point to the new shaders and/or use SRSL.

– Math library can now be compiled without the need for SIMD instructions.

– OpenGL is now supported (but isn’t currently being released with the PC version)

– Data compilation is now in a separate DLL – CompileWin.dll – this can be swapped out for other platforms (consoles, mac, linux, etc)

– Shader compiler is now in it’s own DLL. Video DX9/DX11/GL dlls are no longer required for compiling shaders.

– Added safety code to check for invalid and dangling pointers – this should make catching hard to find and rare issues easier.

– Sped up mod details dialog for massive mods that have 10000’s of files included. This should make looking at conflicts and uploading to Steam workshop easier.

– Beta Mods and Mods newer than the currently released version can no longer be uploaded to Steam Workshop.

– Nvidia and AMD GPUs in laptops should now be auto selected for use, instead of an Intel Integrated card.

– Textile limit is now available for modders to use. – Cropfields, Fishing, Forester, Hunters, Orchards, and Pastures now have a configurable resource limit. – Livestock has a resource limit for the by product they make (eggs, wool, milk, etc) Note that if a by product isn’t created because of the resource limit, the icon won’t appear above the building. – Added textile to the Status Bar, Resource Limit window, and Town Hall UI – Added graphs for textiles to Town Hall UI



What if I find a problem with the Beta Build?

If you find a problem, I’d like to hear about it. You can submit bugs on the forum in the new beta sub forum. Or through the regular Support methods.

One major issue I’d like to know about if it occurs is a new debugging feature to help track down object reference errors. If you get an error that looks like one of the following images, I really want to know about it.







or





It’s pretty important that I fix these if they occur, otherwise the game state can become corrupt and make save games possibly invalid after load, causing crashes. If it happens, please include the crash.dmp and your save game. Especially if you can reproduce the problem reliably.

This additional error checking might slow down the game 5-10%, but it will go away for full release builds.

What changes happened in the mod kit?

First, Steam Workshop uploads are disabled in the beta build. Since 1.0.5 mods don’t work with version 1.0.4, I won’t be allowing uploads until 1.0.5 is updated for everyone.

Second, Textile is now a working resource type and limit.

All resource producing buildings can all specify which resource limit makes them stop producing. This allows a crop field to be limited by the textile limit and stop producing cotton, while a food producing crop field keeps working. It looks like this:

CropFieldDescription cropfield { ResourceLimit _resourceLimit = Textile; float _growthPercentOnTend = 0.007; }

The _resourceLimit variable now exists for Crops, Fishing Huts, Foresters, Hunters, Orchards and Pastures.

For pastures that have an animal that produces a byproduct (like sheep producing wool), you can now specify a resource limit on the animal. For example, the sheep resource looks like this now:

LivestockDescription livestock { ComponentDescription _additionalRawMaterial = "Template\RawMaterialWool.rsc"; float _additionalCreateInMonths = 3.0; // this should probably be Textile, but is being left as food so the base game // is unchanged. Modders will definately want to change this... ResourceLimit _resourceLimit = Food; // Textile }

If your mod uses new materials, there will be some work to update them. Instead of what was previously there, the engine uses a custom shading language. Old materials should still load and work, but to build a new mod you’ll have to rework them. There’s some details of the new shading language here.

What does the future hold?

My current plan is that while this build is being tested by the community (big thank you!), I’ll be working on the Mac and Linux builds pretty much exclusively. With the Mac and Linux builds I’ll hopefully also be working on some bug fixes and performance issues.

If this current beta build comes back clean after a few weeks (or after a few fixes), I’ll push it out as an official build.

Once the Mac and Linux builds are ready there will be a Beta test for them as well. For modding, the only thing that may change is that you may have to recompile mods to get new audio to work on other platforms – but otherwise existing mods should load on other platforms. I know there’s a few requests for a few other changes to the mod kit, and I’ll be looking into some of them to determine how easy (or difficult) the more desired ones are.