Spooky events are beginning to take shape on PEI! The trees are losing their leaves... the water is drying up... the birds are quieting down! It can only mean one thing: we're approaching a scary Halloween!

Next Friday (23rd of October 2015) marks the release of the Halloween update! It will contain [among other things like upgrades to the skills system] some special Halloween content. Is there anything in particular you'd like to see as part of this update? Let me know in the comments!

Spooky events are beginning to take shape on PEI! The trees are losing their leaves... the water is drying up... the birds are quieting down! It can only mean one thing: we're approaching a scary Halloween!

Next Friday (23rd of October 2015) marks the release of the Halloween update! It will contain [among other things like upgrades to the skills system] some special Halloween content. Is there anything in particular you'd like to see as part of this update? Let me know in the comments!

This week I worked on separating out various Steamworks related features from one another (which should have been done from the start of development, if you have a time machine go tell Nelson to fix that). This will make working on the networking easier because it uses Steam's multiplayer API, and previously I had it entangled with other Steam features like workshop and achievements. Hopefully this cleanup will be finished with each service abstracted nicely for next week's patch. Rocket mods should be functional with these changes, as Sven [developer of Rocket] was kind enough to patch it with an early version of the update.

There were also some minor fixes alongside improvements such as:

• Improved skills menu. [In the future will also show current/next +stat% info]
  
• Improved crafting menu readability.
  
• Improved escape menu to pause game.
  
• Improved settings to save after changes rather than when closing application.
  
• Improved speciality to impact which skills are lost on death, no longer abusable.

This week I worked on separating out various Steamworks related features from one another (which should have been done from the start of development, if you have a time machine go tell Nelson to fix that). This will make working on the networking easier because it uses Steam's multiplayer API, and previously I had it entangled with other Steam features like workshop and achievements. Hopefully this cleanup will be finished with each service abstracted nicely for next week's patch. Rocket mods should be functional with these changes, as Sven [developer of Rocket] was kind enough to patch it with an early version of the update.

There were also some minor fixes alongside improvements such as:

• Improved skills menu. [In the future will also show current/next +stat% info]
  
• Improved crafting menu readability.
  
• Improved escape menu to pause game.
  
• Improved settings to save after changes rather than when closing application.
  
• Improved speciality to impact which skills are lost on death, no longer abusable.

Additions:

• Added map, item, vehicle, skin and object type workshop tags/filters. [Only compatible with newly uploaded workshop files]
  
• Added item node type to Horde mode for getting items with score.
  
• Added civilian night vision goggles. [ID 1044]
  
• Added kryzkarek, yuri, nykorev, matamorez, snayperskya and viper drops.

Improvements:

• Improved server list to not show results if version is out of date.
  
• Improved consistency of economy items by making new tool/updating old to new format.
  
• Improved military night vision goggles appearance.
  
• Improved lovely mythic effect.
  
• Improved mythics to lock to bones properly when leaning/looking.

Tweaks:

• Tweaked farms/bushes to give some experience.
  
• Tweaked ace animation holding position.
  
• Tweaked roadmap button text.
  
• Tweaked zombies to wear any clothes.
  
• Tweaked night vision colors.
  
• Tweaked maximum ammunition spawn.
  
• Tweaked zombie counts in Horde mode.
  
• Tweaked wealthy mythic effect fade-in.
  
• Tweaked bluntforce to spawn on Washington.
  
• Tweaked some mythics to trail behind the player.
  
• Tweaked divine/rainbow mythics to no longer drop.
  
• Tweaked economy icon hosting to use AWS.
  
• Tweaked party/freezing/energized mythics to drop.

Fixes:

• Fixed skins on ready-to-use workshop.
  
• Fixed missing key icons on box.
  
• Fixed standing with non-space key.
  
• Fixed muzzle flash/tactical light/etc locking.
  
• Fixed glow on flashlight.
  
• Fixed missing fuel tank at racetrack.
  
• Fixed blowtorch particles.
  
• Fixed taking off clothing.
  
• Fixed headphones material.
  
• Fixed glowing mythics casting shadows.
  
• Fixed detailing on barrels.
  
• Fixed glossy blood splatter.
  
• Fixed including empty folders in maps list.
  
• Fixed scrapping night vision goggles.
  
• Fixed bright spot on road models.
  
• Fixed moving muzzle flare in first person.
  
• Fixed special case for Gold skin backwards compatibility.

Sorry about the super early update! Something got mixed up and some parts of the update were distributed incorrectly, so may as well release everything else as well. :)

One of the time consuming parts of this update is the tools upgrade for the economy. This is not really visible, but will make it a lot easier to quickly fix bugs or adapt to updates to the inventory service like tags.

Today I got a new AppID on Steam named "Unturned Experimental" which is very useful to test upcoming Steamworks-related updates without messing with the release version, for example adding the new Workshop tags! In the future it may be used for closed testing of networking improvements (it has its own listing on the server browser) which leads into the next topic:

Which of these would you like me to work on in October? Originally my intent was to create a huge Halloween event with Horde mode, but I think it may be more important and better for the future to really focus hard on optimizing the networking. I've been reading up on as many networking articles as I can find, and while 3.0's networking is better than 2.0's there's still plenty of room for improvement. Either way at the very least I will add some cool Halloween easter eggs/items!

Additions:

• Added map, item, vehicle, skin and object type workshop tags/filters. [Only compatible with newly uploaded workshop files]
  
• Added item node type to Horde mode for getting items with score.
  
• Added civilian night vision goggles. [ID 1044]
  
• Added kryzkarek, yuri, nykorev, matamorez, snayperskya and viper drops.

Improvements:

• Improved server list to not show results if version is out of date.
  
• Improved consistency of economy items by making new tool/updating old to new format.
  
• Improved military night vision goggles appearance.
  
• Improved lovely mythic effect.
  
• Improved mythics to lock to bones properly when leaning/looking.

Tweaks:

• Tweaked farms/bushes to give some experience.
  
• Tweaked ace animation holding position.
  
• Tweaked roadmap button text.
  
• Tweaked zombies to wear any clothes.
  
• Tweaked night vision colors.
  
• Tweaked maximum ammunition spawn.
  
• Tweaked zombie counts in Horde mode.
  
• Tweaked wealthy mythic effect fade-in.
  
• Tweaked bluntforce to spawn on Washington.
  
• Tweaked some mythics to trail behind the player.
  
• Tweaked divine/rainbow mythics to no longer drop.
  
• Tweaked economy icon hosting to use AWS.
  
• Tweaked party/freezing/energized mythics to drop.

Fixes:

• Fixed skins on ready-to-use workshop.
  
• Fixed missing key icons on box.
  
• Fixed standing with non-space key.
  
• Fixed muzzle flash/tactical light/etc locking.
  
• Fixed glow on flashlight.
  
• Fixed missing fuel tank at racetrack.
  
• Fixed blowtorch particles.
  
• Fixed taking off clothing.
  
• Fixed headphones material.
  
• Fixed glowing mythics casting shadows.
  
• Fixed detailing on barrels.
  
• Fixed glossy blood splatter.
  
• Fixed including empty folders in maps list.
  
• Fixed scrapping night vision goggles.
  
• Fixed bright spot on road models.
  
• Fixed moving muzzle flare in first person.
  
• Fixed special case for Gold skin backwards compatibility.

Sorry about the super early update! Something got mixed up and some parts of the update were distributed incorrectly, so may as well release everything else as well. :)

One of the time consuming parts of this update is the tools upgrade for the economy. This is not really visible, but will make it a lot easier to quickly fix bugs or adapt to updates to the inventory service like tags.

Today I got a new AppID on Steam named "Unturned Experimental" which is very useful to test upcoming Steamworks-related updates without messing with the release version, for example adding the new Workshop tags! In the future it may be used for closed testing of networking improvements (it has its own listing on the server browser) which leads into the next topic:

Which of these would you like me to work on in October? Originally my intent was to create a huge Halloween event with Horde mode, but I think it may be more important and better for the future to really focus hard on optimizing the networking. I've been reading up on as many networking articles as I can find, and while 3.0's networking is better than 2.0's there's still plenty of room for improvement. Either way at the very least I will add some cool Halloween easter eggs/items!

Additions:

• Added Steam trading cards, profile backgrounds and emoticons.
  
• Added cosmetic woodland, arctic, multicam and desert weapon skins as free drops for playing the game.
  
• Added inspect screen to items on the menu.
  
• Added ability to prone holding crouch when in toggle crouch mode.
  
• Added ability to jump up from crouch/prone.

Improvements:

• Improved input for various things to work more nicely with the Steam controller.
  
• Improved in-game character rendertexture scaling.
  
• Improved downloading workshop content from servers.
  
• Improved rainbow tie/bowtie to use shader for scrolling.
  
• Improved skins/mythics to be creatable for workshop and added documentation for them.

Tweaks:

• Tweaked resource achievement values.
  
• Tweaked recipes that required specific wood to either use all wood or metal.
  
• Tweaked random characters to not have beards.

Fixes:

• Fixed bright white water on medium/high setting.
  
• Fixed ace attach animation.
  
• Fixed repairing pan with wood.
  
• Fixed maplestrike description.
  
• Fixed inspecting crossbow.
  
• Fixed forest APC spawning on Washington map.
  
• Fixed floating tub at Tignish Farm.
  
• Fixed getting kicked after larger authentication packet.
  
• Fixed inventory authentication failure message.
  
• Fixed wheel #7 missing collision/navigation data.
  
• Fixed diner #3 counter height.
  
• Fixed including DX11 motion blur.
  
• Fixed pilot jacket and biker jacket not dropping.

What do you think of the woodland/arctic/multicam/desert weapon skins? They're intended to provide a bit more customization to your items, and the colors are intentionally high contrast to avoid an in-game camouflage advantage.

Additions:

• Added Steam trading cards, profile backgrounds and emoticons.
  
• Added cosmetic woodland, arctic, multicam and desert weapon skins as free drops for playing the game.
  
• Added inspect screen to items on the menu.
  
• Added ability to prone holding crouch when in toggle crouch mode.
  
• Added ability to jump up from crouch/prone.

Improvements:

• Improved input for various things to work more nicely with the Steam controller.
  
• Improved in-game character rendertexture scaling.
  
• Improved downloading workshop content from servers.
  
• Improved rainbow tie/bowtie to use shader for scrolling.
  
• Improved skins/mythics to be creatable for workshop and added documentation for them.

Tweaks:

• Tweaked resource achievement values.
  
• Tweaked recipes that required specific wood to either use all wood or metal.
  
• Tweaked random characters to not have beards.

Fixes:

• Fixed bright white water on medium/high setting.
  
• Fixed ace attach animation.
  
• Fixed repairing pan with wood.
  
• Fixed maplestrike description.
  
• Fixed inspecting crossbow.
  
• Fixed forest APC spawning on Washington map.
  
• Fixed floating tub at Tignish Farm.
  
• Fixed getting kicked after larger authentication packet.
  
• Fixed inventory authentication failure message.
  
• Fixed wheel #7 missing collision/navigation data.
  
• Fixed diner #3 counter height.
  
• Fixed including DX11 motion blur.
  
• Fixed pilot jacket and biker jacket not dropping.

What do you think of the woodland/arctic/multicam/desert weapon skins? They're intended to provide a bit more customization to your items, and the colors are intentionally high contrast to avoid an in-game camouflage advantage.

A new map set in Washington state is available to play now! With the military quickly deploying to try and prevent the spread of the infection you will find many more exciting PvP locations! It also features the biggest city in Unturned to date: Seattle.

With this map being balanced more towards PvP PEI has been taken back a notch so that firearms are rarer and some of the locations to easily get weapons have been moved.

If you have any ideas or feedback about these maps please let me know! There are quite likely some missing spawns or floating objects somewhere that will need fixing as well.


This patch fixed a few things for users with specific graphics cards and fixed pink materials on workshop content that has not updated to Unity 5 yet (which you should do!) The downloading process for workshop content from servers is also much better, but more details about that in 3.13.1.0 next Friday.


Additions:

• Added Washington state map.
  
• Added military tower #3.
  
• Added diner #3.
  
• Added diner sign #1.
  
• Added road tee cap #2.
  
• Added lighting control over cloud blending color.

Improvements:

• Improved cloud shader so dark maps can look nicer. [Requires tweaking by creator]
  
• Updated to Unity 5.2.
  
• Updated to Steamworks .NET 7.0.0.
  
• Improved divine mythical effect.
  
• Improved object editor to allow copying between levels.
  
• Improved assets to cancel loading if inside official ID range.

Tweaks:

• Tweaked gun spawn rates lower on PEI.
  
• Tweaked layout of PEI.
  
• Tweaked chainsaw/blowtorch quality loss.
  
• Tweaked bat/golfclub to not spawn on PEI/Yukon.
  
• Tweaked low quality guns/melee to have a minimum damage.
  
• Tweaked height of bridge #2 supports.
  
• Tweaked sportshot gunshot sound.
  
• Tweaked camera model size.
  
• Tweaked midday water color on PEI.

Fixes:

• Fixed slightly offset edges of bridge turn #2.
  
• Fixed road model mipmap bug on map image.
  
• Fixed racecar default spawn health.
  
• Fixed quads vibrating all over the place.
  
• Fixed sideways friction on vehicle wheels.
  
• Fixed racecar to not have a horn.
  
• Fixed mythical effect direction on magic cape.
  
• Fixed toggling night vision right after loading into server.
  
• Fixed school table model size.
  
• Fixed yuri magazine to use ranger ammunition.
  
• Fixed properly checking whether barricade is on vehicle.

A new map set in Washington state is available to play now! With the military quickly deploying to try and prevent the spread of the infection you will find many more exciting PvP locations! It also features the biggest city in Unturned to date: Seattle.

With this map being balanced more towards PvP PEI has been taken back a notch so that firearms are rarer and some of the locations to easily get weapons have been moved.

If you have any ideas or feedback about these maps please let me know! There are quite likely some missing spawns or floating objects somewhere that will need fixing as well.


This patch fixed a few things for users with specific graphics cards and fixed pink materials on workshop content that has not updated to Unity 5 yet (which you should do!) The downloading process for workshop content from servers is also much better, but more details about that in 3.13.1.0 next Friday.


Additions:

• Added Washington state map.
  
• Added military tower #3.
  
• Added diner #3.
  
• Added diner sign #1.
  
• Added road tee cap #2.
  
• Added lighting control over cloud blending color.

Improvements:

• Improved cloud shader so dark maps can look nicer. [Requires tweaking by creator]
  
• Updated to Unity 5.2.
  
• Updated to Steamworks .NET 7.0.0.
  
• Improved divine mythical effect.
  
• Improved object editor to allow copying between levels.
  
• Improved assets to cancel loading if inside official ID range.

Tweaks:

• Tweaked gun spawn rates lower on PEI.
  
• Tweaked layout of PEI.
  
• Tweaked chainsaw/blowtorch quality loss.
  
• Tweaked bat/golfclub to not spawn on PEI/Yukon.
  
• Tweaked low quality guns/melee to have a minimum damage.
  
• Tweaked height of bridge #2 supports.
  
• Tweaked sportshot gunshot sound.
  
• Tweaked camera model size.
  
• Tweaked midday water color on PEI.

Fixes:

• Fixed slightly offset edges of bridge turn #2.
  
• Fixed road model mipmap bug on map image.
  
• Fixed racecar default spawn health.
  
• Fixed quads vibrating all over the place.
  
• Fixed sideways friction on vehicle wheels.
  
• Fixed racecar to not have a horn.
  
• Fixed mythical effect direction on magic cape.
  
• Fixed toggling night vision right after loading into server.
  
• Fixed school table model size.
  
• Fixed yuri magazine to use ranger ammunition.
  
• Fixed properly checking whether barricade is on vehicle.