It’s the end of the month again which means it’s time for us to update. Last month’s update was well received by players, and was even mentioned in articles on a few gaming sites. We still aim to bring back the Necromancer scenario that was fixed up in Update 21, however this month most of the work has been towards fixing up the room editor, making the client compatible with the new rooms, and a multitude of graphics and rendering fixes for the client. The room editor fixes (which are mentioned in the previous post) are especially important as they allow us to create new rooms easily, while performance improvements to the client 3D renderer will allow us to use more complicated lighting and particle effects, and more complex rooms.

General Changes

Changed the first screen of Orc Caves to spawn 60% cave orcs and 40% orcs (from 40% cave orcs and 60% orcs) and second screen to 20% orcs, 50% wizards and 30% cave orcs (from 70% orcs 30% wizards).

Potions and scrolls can now be used during attack cooldowns (previously they failed but consumed the item/removed a use). Wands still respect the attack cooldown period.

Added player-switchable brazier lamps (none placed yet).

Added more DM commands to place lighting and scenery, available to all DMs (for future guides). If you can think of a good place for lighting or more trees, let us know!

Added white short skirt and white long skirt for sale by Madelia. Tepal on the island will also sell white tanktops.

Slight performance improvement in the monster target/hatred checking code.

Maximum monster count in Tos Graveyard raised from 10 to 20.

Room editor now fixed, so we can build new rooms for future content.

Room Changes

Added lantern outside Jasper inn.

Added more torches to the first screen of Jasper Sewers, changed entry spot to top of stairs.

Lighting in first screen Jasper Sewers, Tos GY, Tos crypt, CV antechamber, CV Throne Room, East and West Jasper, East Ende and the inside of multiple buildings has been lowered.

Maps with oceans attached now display a much larger ocean, reaching the horizon.

Numerous graphical errors (sky showing through floors/walls/ceilings, gaps between textures, missing textures, lines on floor/wall joins) fixed.

Client Changes

See http://imgur.com/a/D63WM for images (most added here) explaining the room/client graphics fixes.

FPS counter added, displays next to latency cube. Enable this in the Preferences menu (near the profanity options, Show FPS).

Particle rendering now 2x faster.

Dynamic lighting now renders much faster, and max number of lights increased from 50 to 150.

World rendering in general is faster, as is room loading.

Fixed lighting errors where a light would sometimes not illuminate part of the room correctly.

Fixed objects not being drawn behind transparent objects (e.g. trees or players not appearing behind fog).

Fixed crashes due to client running out of memory.

Fixed objects not being drawn if they were too close to the edge of the player’s view.

When an update is required, the client will now attempt to start the patcher on the user’s computer before going to the website (this update implements it, so the website would have been loaded this time).

Bug Fixes

Fixed weapons in the player’s right hand being drawn on top of the player when viewed from the left side.

Fixed players with <10 vigor occasionally not being able to change zones.

Fixed monsters spawning inside walls in Orc Caves and survival arenas started on those maps.

Misc memory leaks on the server fixed.

Fixed spelling error in ghost respawn message.

Fixed drawing errors with Riija Monk/spooky little girl.

Center lever to activate Brax moved out of the wall.

Fixed a reversed bitmap in the Necromancer NPC soldier shield.

Enjoy the update! If you encounter any issues, please contact us in-game or on the forums and let us know.

-Delerium