Once again we are taking part in the ongoing HalloweenKekri Sale with the pleasing numbers and haunting imagery. So let the new adventurers be respected with the discount, and the ancestral spirits with our special Kekri costumes and customs...
It's Kekri, not halloween, in the Far North.
Kekri is an ancient Finnish harvest festival celebrated in the fall when the annual agricultural activities were all accomplished and the harvest collected. Kekri meant the end of the crop year, which was a big turning point. It was the time when the souls and spirits of the dead wandered around and visited the living. The ancestors were respected and welcomed. Sauna was heated up for them, and meal prepared too. The living celebrated accordingly, and so do we.
Kekri Goat
Kekri time included tradition of Kekripukki (Kekri goat) figure. People would dress up as horned creatures, wearing furs or coats upside down, and went around in their disguises and were offered food and drink. So, what does a decent developer of tradition rich game do to follow the tradition? Yes. He dresses up as Kekripukki.
Well, hello there, any foods or drinks to offer? Some purchases will do as well.
Kekri-themed title screen
Again this year the we have launched a special Kekri-themed game title screen for duration of this sale & festivity period. The theme screen becomes live shortly after this annoucement, so allow the game to update and enter UnReal World for more haunting imagery.
Celebrate & Participate
We wish you happy Kekri time - or happy Halloween if that suits you better. All in all, now just celebrate and participate in the festivities at this special time of the year.
UnReal World version 3.70 has reached the stable stage and is now released and live. Your game will auto-update and characters from the previous version are compatible with the new version.
If you were playing 3.70 beta versions, you should know that there's also new content added since the last beta. And if you weren't playing beta versions at all, then prepare to discover a lot. You'll find changelogs later in this post, but first a little look at the key features with a few screenshots.
Key features of version 3.70
The key features of version 3.70 version deal with the moon and the moonlight, fibre processing with new textilecraft skill, snow penalty for all the creatures and snow crust, lots of new character portraits, tying equipment adjustments and additions, crafting fishing rods and hooks and usage of baits, option for metric units, and so on. The list of additions and fixes is long and you can find the full changelog at the bottom of this post.
Trudging through the deep snow the escaping elk tires itself easily while the hunter gliding with skis on snow crust travels easily.
There are lots of new character portraits added, and also an option to ask whereabouts of village water supply.
The autumn nights are already dark, but during full moon there's enough light for example to go fishing - with self-made fishing rod and hooks, that is.
Textilecraft in action. We have a new batch of harvested nettles retting in the water, and prepare to spin some yarn from earlier extracted nettle fibres.
Version 3.70 changelogs
First, here's changelog since the latest 3.70 beta version. New content to be aware for those who have already been playing the beta versions.
3.70 (stable) changelog - new content since 3.70-beta 3
- added: whole lotta new portraits, and specific portait categories for old men and sages
A good bunch of new portraits have been added for kids, female and male characters. There are also two new portrait categories specifically for old men and sages. Portraits in these categories are exclusive for those type of NPCs and can't be associated with other NPCs nor chosen as a player character portrait. MIGRATION NOTICE: NPCs generated in the previous versions continue to appear with their previously generated portraits.
- added: bowstrings as a separate functional part of a bow
Bowstrings are now featured as a craftable item of their own. Bowstrings wear out in use and thus need to be replaced every now and then. Crafting any bow now requires also a bowstring item, so you need to have a bowstring ready in order to make a functional bow.
* crafting a bowstring
Bowstrings can be crafted from [M]ake-menu under [W]eapons category. Bowstrings are made out of multiple strands of yarn twisted together, but also thin cordage can be used for a makeshift bowstring. Upon crafting a bowstring you can select the material, yarn or cord, to be used. It's faster to make a bowstring from a cord and the required length is also far lesser, but bowstrings made out of cords are also always of lesser quality. Your textilecraft skill determines the success of making a bowstring. Due to item usage complexity bowstring crafting is hard-coded and not to be found in editable diy_*.txt file.
* bowstring breakage and replacement
Good quality bowstring can last up to thousand of shots or so. The lower the quality the faster the bowstring is prone to break. When the bowstring breaks a message is displayed and the bow gets described as "bow with no string". Naturally you can't shoot with such a bow anymore until a new bowstring is added. You can check out condition of a bowstring in strung bows with nventory command. Upon selecting a bow to examine you will see how the bowstring looks like. You can add a new bowstring to a bow with no string with [a]pply command. First apply the bowstring, and then select a bow to be strung with the string.
- added: [a]pply command can be used to remove hook from a fishing rod or to unstring a bow
Sometimes you want to remove the old fishhook or bowstring at will and it can be done with [a]pply command. To remove a hook from a fishing rod [a]pply the fishing rod on dry land. The reason for doing it on dry land is that otherwise the fishing attempt will be initiated. To remove a bowstring from a strung bow just [a]pply the bow anytime. If you try to attach a fishhook or bowstring to fishing rod or bow that already carries those item parts you'll be notified of these new removal mechanics.
- added: spruce quick-bow - a simple craftable makeshift bow
Spruce quick-bow is the most simple and quick to make type of a bow. It's made out of a single branch that is cut from a standing spruce tree. It goes without saying that this type of bow is not a high performance weapon, but it is efficient enough for hunting squirrels and other small game. Spruce quick-bow can be crafted from [M]ake menu "Weapons"-category. There's also SPRUCE QUICK-BOW game encyclopedia [F1] entry available for more information.
Previously villagers would crowd endlessly around items they wanted to reclaim and restock if the load of whole stack was too heavy to pick up. Now they try to pick up such loads in smaller stacks, and if that should fail also they will eventually give up.
- added: craftable cords and ropes from yarn
You can now craft cords and ropes from yarn. These options can be fround from [M]ake menu under [T]ying equipment category.
- adjusted: cord and rope crafting requirements and applicable skill
Crafting any cord or rope now also requires a branch which is used as an aid for twisting the strands firmly together. The applicable skill for crafting yarn based cords and ropes is now textilecraft.
- changed: generic "cord" item name and quality
The generic craftable makeshift "cord" item which is made out of strips of clothing is now called "cloth cord" and its finished quality always remains on inferior side.
- updated: game encyclopedia [F1] entry for CORD and ROPE
- adjusted: "Set a net" now shows only tools in "Fishing" menu
- modding add: 'first word' value for [naming:] tag
Using 'first word' with [naming:] tag will get value of the first word of selected material/item name. For example, material requirement and naming such as: {Cord} [remove] [name:%s product] [naming:first word] would result in finished item called 'yarn product' if 'yarn cord' was selected as the material, or 'linen product' if 'linen cord' was selected. And so on.
- adjusted: fatigue accumulation when moving by watercraft
Type of the vessel and implement used to move it now matters to how fatiguing it is to move by watercraft. In general it is more strenuous to move by raft than by punt. The implement used to move the vessel also matters. Shoving the watercraft ahead with sesta takes more effort than paddling.
- adjusted: companions pay more attention to closing doors
Companions now always try to close the doors they pass. This is to avoid them letting domestic animals, or warmth, to escape from your settlements.
- fixed: possibility of NPC portrait being the same as player character's portrait - fixed: carried load unit (lb/kg) in statistics window not changing if system of measurement was changed during the gameplay - fixed: sneaking while skiing on snow crust didn't reduce the speed - fixed: dried cuts as fishing baits got used up in one single fishing attempt - fixed: [nominlen] crafting tag not calculating tying equipment stacks properly - fixed: NPC's excess bartered good might be distributed also to the village animals - fixed: auto-shortening of tying equipment in crafting recipes not always reducing the weight accordingly - fixed: boy NPC weights generated wrong and too low - fixed: plants not burning in fire
Version 3.70 major changelog - since the first beta release
- added: snow crust
Snow crust is a springtime phenomena where surface of the snowpack becomes so hard that it can completely support a walking or skiing person - and some animals as well. The crust results from partial melting of the snow surface by warm spring day sunlight followed by re-freezing when the temperature drops again, usually after the sunset. The crust normally only lasts for part of the day, but being able to travel on snow without sinking in there at all is a great asset for a hunter. Elks were traditionally hunted on skis during crust as it can't support the heavy animals and hunter gliding on skis eventually became faster than their fatiguing prey. This hunting method and many other wintertime scenarios now become possible with the additon of snow crust mechanics.
* If the snow crust can support somebody or not depends on how hard and thick the crust is, and how heavy the load of the person or animal is. Similarly to ice mechanics the snow crust also supports skiing person better than a walking person. The crust mechanics work similarly for player character, NPCs and animals.
* Information about the crust type, if there is any, is told when you look at snowy ground tiles. The crust information is added to the snow depth information so you get messages like "waist deep snow with hard crust", "knee deep snow with faint crust", and so on.
* Skiing on crust is faster and less fatiguing. There's also a new ski message notifying you about skiing on the crust. Similarly walking on crust is naturally faster than trudging in the deep snow. It's practically as easy as walking on any solid surface.
* There are new movement samples for walking or skiing on crust, so the sound of character's movement also works as an indicator of the phenomena.
- improved: mobility and fatigue penalties for moving in the snow
Previously there was one overall reduction to character's mobility when moving in the snow without skis, but now the actual snow depth affects to how much the mobility is actually reduced. The same goes for fatigue as it now accumulates slower or faster depending on the snow depth. Shortly, the deeper the snow the harder and slower it is to trudge through it without skis.
- added: snow penalties for animals and NPCs
NPCs and animals now suffer from the snow penalties similarly to player character. All the snow penalty mechanics now work the same for player character, other human beings and animals. The actual snow depth that starts to hinder the animals is naturally relative to their size. A human knee deep snow is a little extra strain for an adult elk, but for example a wild boar or dog would suffer from it more significantly. The new snow depth mechanics bring in many new factors to animal movement and hunting scenarios. It should be noted that there also several animals that are adapted to moving in the snow without much difficulties at all. There are for example hare, lynx, glutton, weasel, ermine, squirrel and so on. For animals like these the snow penalties appear far lesser, and they have their species specific snow movement adjustments in action.
- added: more prone to stumble when wearing skis
Whenever stumbling is checked a character wearing skis is always less agile and more likely to stumble than without skis.
- added: village areas always have reduced snow depth
The village area is considered so stomped that the snow depth is always low. Otherwise NPCs and player characters might needlessly fatigue themselves merely by walking around the village.
- added: foreign traders can share the excess trading load
Previously a single foreign trader wouldn't accept more traded furs than he could carry. This made trading of heavy pelts often all too awkward. Now foreign traders can share the excess load so that if the NPC you are trading with can't carry it all the excess items are distributed to his fellows who can.
- changed: observing surroundings from a tree - no more see-though trees
You can't see through trees anymore when observing surroundings after climbing up a tree. The overall visibility is still better but foremostly because being higher allows you to see beyond elevations that would normally block your field of vision. But visual obstacles such as trees now do remain visual obstacles.
- added: the moon, and the moonlight
The weather engine now models the moon in detail, with its' changing phases and moonlight affecting to the nighttime visibility and brightness. There are eight different moon phases now graphically presented in the horizon window, and the map gets blue moonlight tint according to the amount of moonlight provided. Especially during the darkest seasons moonlight can be of a great help significally extending the available hours for working, hunting or travelling. The moonlit nights are now a really different experience, and remember that it doesn't even have to be a full-moon for the moonlight effects to be noticed.
- added: smoothly changing visibility based on time of day
The change in visibility, ie. how far the character can see, now happens on minute basis. This means the visibility decreases and increases with the sunsets and sunrises much more smoothly than previously, when it was calculated on hourly basis. The visibility is also now more realistically calculated from the angle of the sun relative to the horizon. During the darkest seasons you will now experience the darkness falling faster, but also more smoothly, together with the quickly setting sun. The summer night expreriences don't change all that much compared to the previous version, but whenever the visibility changes even a little it now happens in smaller and smoother steps.
- changed: plant harvest time information messages
There are few changes in messages when looking at plants that aren't yet ready for harvesting. The used expression now speaks of "fully ripe" instead of "can be harvested", because its sometimes useful and possible to harvest plants even before they are matured. In case of herbs that are gathered for their flowers the harvest time expression now refers to when the plant will be flowering, instead of when it's fully matured for harvesting.
- added: plant fibre processing with a new TEXTILECRAFT skill
You can now extract fibres from nettle, hemp and flax and process them into yarn. For this, a new TEXTILECRAFT skill has been added. Plant fibre processing involves several stages of work, which are explained in detail below. There's also game encyclopedia (F1) entry about TEXTILECRAFT containing the essential information. All the textilecraft options can be found in the general [M]ake menu, or by using the textilecraft skill. And this is how the plant fibre processing is done:
* RETTING
First, the fibres must be separated from the stalks of harvested plants. This process is called “retting”, and it is done by soaking the plants in the water for several days. Sufficient soaking time depends on the water temperature, varying from 5 to even 25 days. The warmer the water, the faster the retting process is. The retting doesn't occur at all in very cold water so it can't be done for example in the winter. Nettle fibres are a speciality as they can be extracted directly from the fresh plants without retting and drying processes. Pros and cons of this are explained in EXTRACT FIBRE chapter.
* DRYING
When retting is complete, the plant stalks are dried outdoors in loose bundles. The stalks need to dry out fully so that they can be crushed in the following work phase of extracting the fibre. Drying takes about a week, and once dried they can be also stored for future and processed when there’s need and time for that.
* EXTRACT FIBRE
Lastly, the fibres can be now extracted from the stalks. This is done by breaking the retted stalks so that the woody core shatters and falls away leaving the loose fibres free. Traditionally this was done with a special device called ‘loukku’, but in the game we use more primitive method of beating the stalks for example with a club on a solid working surface. Extracting fibres this way is hard physical work and commonly carried out with several people working together. If you have companions around they will help you with the task. After the breaking phase, obtained bundles of fibre are scraped free from remaining coarse parts and extraneous material. This is done in steps, first removing the biggest extraneous parts and gradually proceeding towards the finer ones. Traditionally special tools, combs and brushes were used to clean the bundles of fibre as effectively as possible. In more primitive fashion it can be also done by whisking, rubbing and whacking the bundles against a hard surface, or with tools at hand. In the game this is the method used, and the equipment available for breaking is applied here as well. If need be, nettle fibres can be also extracted directly from the stalk by hand without the preceeding steps. To do it simply use "extract fibre" option directly to freshly harvested nettles. This method takes more time and dexterity, but can be a useful option when only a small amount of fibre is needed. The nettle stem is crushed by hand, and the fibres carefully stripped off. Character's expertise in textilecraft affects to required working time and amount of usable fibre extracted. So as your mastery in textilecraft increases you can expect to get higher fibre yield in shorter time. Extracted fibres are obtained in small bundles, eg. "bundle of hemp fibre". These items are categorized as PLANT type in character's inventory.
* SPIN YARN
Spinning fibres into yarn can be done either by hand, or with a spindle. Spinning by hand is naturally slower than using a spindle. Spindles are recognized also as ground items so you don't have to carry it with you. If you have companions around one of them can assist in spinning by holding the bundle of fibres for you. Obtained yarn can be then used in crafting of many different items.
- added: flax - a new cultivated plant
Flax is an old cultivated textile plant, but not as commonly grown as hemp. It doesn't survive in the very north and is grown only by certain cultures south of Kaumo. Kiesseläiset and Reemiläiset in the east, and Driikiläiset, Sartolaiset and Koivulaiset in the west do grow flax. Flax flowering is featured in the game, although the flowers can't be picked. The seeds develop after the flowering, but flax can be also harvested earlier for fibre alone.
- game encyclopedia [F1]: updated entries about LINEN, FLAX, HEMP and NETTLE
- added: spindle - a new craftable item for spinning fibres into yarn.
- added: yarn as village product
Villagers can now produce and stock yarn made of either nettle or hemp. The type and availability of yarn depends on the culture and village population.
- changed: some craftable items now require yarn as the tying equipment type
Yarn is now required for example when making arrows, loop snare and fishing rod. There can be minor changes in the required lengths as well.
- added: leather cord, a new craftable item
Leather cord is made simply by cutting long, thin strands of leather. It's craftable from Tying equipment category in Make menu.
- added: "strong cordage" tying equipment requirement type
Strong cordage covers all the ropes and spruce withes. That's what you need to use when strong cordage is required in crafting and building.
- modding add: {Strong cordage} material tag
- changed: some craftable items now require strong cordage as the tying equipment type
Strong cordage is now required for example when making raft, big deadfall trap and bear trap.
- added: "thin cordage" tying equipment requirement type
Thin cordage covers cords and yarns. That's what you need to use when thin cordage is required in crafting and building.
- modding add: {Thin cordage} material tag
- added: making clothes requires thin cordage
Crafting of leather and fur clothes now require varying lengths of thin cordage for sewing the parts together. Yarns and cords can be used for that. This requirements covers most of the clothes but few pieces such as caps and cloaks can be crafted without any cordage.
- added: more use for cured animal skins
All the cured skins now work as kota covers, and cured furs work similarly to tanned furs as ground covers and blankets for more comfortable sleeping.
- added: straw - a new item part of certain plants
Straws are byproduct of threshing plants such as nettles and hemp. Straws don't have specific use of their own but do serve as material for fibre processing. Straw items were added for the sake of being able to thresh valuable plants for seeds and leaves first, and still have the straw remaining for fibre.
- modding add: a new flora header tag: [straw]
There is a new tag that can be added to plant header in flora_*.txt files. [straw] tag indicates that the plant leaves a straw after it is threshed. The tag is currently in use for hemp and nettle, for their fibre processing possibilities.
- modding add: a new flora property [FIBRE_YIELD:1,2,3]
There is a new property for plants in flora_*.txt files. [FIBRE_YIELD:value] property can have value of 1,2 or 3 and it defines how much fibre the plant yields when processed with textilecraft options.
- modified: nettle plant properties and habitats
They sprout about a month earlier than previously, in seedtime month, and have new habitats; wetland, pond and cliff.
- added: textile plants can be harvested for fibre while they're still growing
Harvesting growing textile plants can be done at the age of 30-35% of their full growth time. This needs to be done with "Harvest" agriculture option, as using pick up command just collects the young leaves or so.
- added: post spruce, a simple wilderness condition shelter
Post spruce ("asentokuusi" in Finnish) is a temporary shelter made by felling a spruce tree to lean against another. Some low branches are cut to make space in the midst of the trees, and the cut twigs are laid on the ground as insulation. This simple shelter gives you protection from the elements and is commonly used for spending a night in the wilderness. The option to set up a post spruce is found under "Building options", and requires the same tools as felling young trees in general. The twigs for the ground insulation are cut and laid automatically.
- added: sleeping on spruce twigs
Sleeping on spruce twigs now gives a little extra warmth and protection from the cold. Sleeping on furs is still the most comfortable way to spend a cold night, but spruce twigs come as a good alternative. About half a dozen spruce twigs will provide enough insulation from the cold ground.
- added: automated cutting of tying equipment to required lengths in crafting
Tying equipment is now automatically cut to required lengths in crafting. However, with this new condition in effect the selected equipment must meet the minimum required lengths - with a few exceptions which are dealt later. For example: If "5 feet cord" is required you can use any cord 5 feet or longer, but not shorter pieces. If the selected cord is longer than required it will be automatically cut to length and you'll find the remaining portion in your inventory. When multiple pieces of certain length tying equipment is needed the requirement is now described for example as "5 feet cord * 2", meaning that you need two pieces of 5 feet cords. This is a change compared to previous versions where such requirement would have been descriped as the total calculated length eg. "10 feet of cord". That is the default way of handling tying equipment requirements now, but there are few exceptions to the rules described above. The exceptions are: - using birch-bark strips in crafting - tying equipment requirements in smoking and drying processess - making a raft In these cases the tying equipment requirement is descriped as total calculated length and can be composed of several shorter pieces - just like it used to be. There's also new crafting tag [nominlen] which can be used to ignore minimum length requirement where necessary.
- modding add: [nominlen] tag for length-based materials
This tag, which stands for "no minimum length", can be used to indicate that length-based material requirement can be composed of several shorter pieces.
For example: {Cord} =5= [nominlen] [remove]
This means that 5 feet of cord is required but you can come up with the total length using several shorter pieces. If [nominlen] tag wasn't used here the selected cord would need to be at least 5 feet long.
- added: little girls as new NPC type
MIGRATION NOTICE: Villages generated in the previous versions contain only NPC types of that particular version so you can't expect to find little girls from migrated villages.
- changed: "kid" and "child" NPC descpriptions changed to generic "boy" description
- adjusted: children NPC attributes and skills
Previously children NPCs didn't differ all that much from the adults, but now their physical and mental attributes have been checked and adjusted. In general children are now weaker and more vulnerable to physical harm. But even if they lack the strength and endurance of the adults the level of some attributes eg. dexterity and agility can surprise sometimes. Children may sometimes choose to participate in fights if their village is threatened, but in general children are now more eager to flee upon serious danger. Boys are often slightly more eager to fight than girls who wisely rather run to alarm adults, and even the neighbouring villages if need be.
- added: withes are auto-selected when making fences
- added: roasting (turnips) in embers
Roasting in embers requires good amount of embers so it can't be expected to work in the remains of just any little fire. The fire should be burning for several hours before enough hot embers will remain for the method to work. For this reason roasting in embers is usually proceeded after substantial fire was lighted anyway out of necessity. It takes about an hour for turnips to cook in embers. For the convenience of timing you can start roasting in embers already when the fire is clearly dying and about to burn out soon, given that enough embers has been produced already.
- modding add: new cookery method tag [ember-roast]
Using this tag the associated food item is prepared by the ember-roast method. Glowing embers automatically becomes a requirement when using the tag.
- added: chat option to ask location of the village water supply
"Ask for directions" chat section now has an option to ask location of the village water supply.
- added: configurable display of units in imperial or metric system with more precision
There's now configuration option to choose which system of measurement, imperial or metric, you wish to use for displaying units in the game. The default is to use imperial system, and it can be changed from in-game setup options menu.
- added: craftable fishhooks and fishing rod
You can now craft a fishing rod, and wooden and bone fishhooks. Fishing rod item description now also tells the type of the hook attached eg. "Fishing rod with wooden hook".
- added: fishhook material matters to its effectiveness
Iron hooks are the best kind, then come bone hooks, and wooden hooks are the least effective.
- added: usage of baits in rod fishing
When rod fishing you will be now asked what to use as a bait. Using baits is not necessary, but recommended. Catching a fish every now and then without a bait is still possible, but for reliable rod fishing and decent catches baits are now quite essential. You can use pretty much every food item as a bait and portion of the selected item will be used during the fishing attempt. Pieces of raw meat and fish can be considered decent baits for predatory fish, but for example crumbs of bread may also work for some fish. You can also use a whole small fish, eg. roach or perch, in order to attract a bigger predatory fish. With this addition in effect the type of fish caught with rod fishing is now more dependant on the baits used. It's not likely that you'll catch a pike with an empty hook, but having a small roach as a bait might work. And that little roach might have been caught with quite moderate bait such as bread crumb, or even with some tasty vegetation.
- added: FISHING category to [M]ake menu
The category contains fishing related handcraft options, which are as mentioned above, crafting of fishing rod and different types of hooks.
- added: fishhooks snapping off from a worn out fishline
Fishhooks may occasionally snap off as the line wears out in use especially around the hook. This wear is relative to the number and size of fish having nibbled the line over time. So, with big catches you can also expect a faster wear. If the hook snaps off a message is displayed and the fishing rod gets described as "fishing rod with no hook" - but it can be also repaired with a spare hook.
- added: [a]pply fishhooks to repair a hookless fishing rod
You can repair a hookless fishing rod with a spare fishook with [a]pply command. First apply the fishhook, and then select a fishing rod to repair.
- added: map zoom level is saved with the character - adjusted: skin sizes of seals - changed: berry porridge recipe
Less berries, more water and flour, and slightly shorter cooking time.
- added: a dozen of new character and NPC portraits - adjusted: saplings are now lesser obstacle for projectiles
You can still hit them occasionally, but it's far more easier to shoot/throw past them.
- improved: file write safety in case of sudden power loss or shutdown - fixed: high CPU usage, especially on some Linux and OSX systems
Hey, now we really have to say that's all folks, since we've reached single post character limit and can't list everything here. See news.txt in your game folder to read the last dozen of fixes.
First a little reminder, then a little peek into the future features -- and into nearby woods as well where the creator can be spotted crafting UnReal World gear for real.
Opt-into 3.70 beta
There hasn't been serious showstoppers with 3.70 beta, so there's also no reason why you shouldn't opt-into that very beta-branch. If you aren't exploring the far north with version 3.70beta already, just take a look at here: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/351700/view/2980802142084765582
Craftable, breakable bowstrings as a separate functional part of a bow
With the beta-version rolling so smoothly we've been relieved enough to also continue working on the few features that didn't quite make their way into first beta releases. So when the stable version comes, it's won't only stabilize the newly added goodies but also adds some new stuff to explore. For example craftable, breakable bowstrings as a separate functional part of a bow. Yes, that's where the textilecraft additions will bring us now.
Bowstrings will be featured as a craftable item of their own, and they wear out in use and thus need to be replaced every now and then. Bowstrings are made out of multiple strands of yarn twisted together, but also thin cordage can be used for a makeshift bowstring. It's faster to make a bowstring from a cord and the required length is also far lesser, but bowstrings made out of cords are also always of lesser quality. Good quality bowstring can last up to thousand of shots or so. The lower the quality the faster the bowstring is prone to break. When the bowstring breaks a message is displayed and the bow gets described as "bow with no string". Naturally you can't shoot with such a bow anymore until a new bowstring is added.
Spruce quick-bow
Another bow related addition is a spruce quick-bow - a new type of craftable bow. Spruce quick-bow is the most simple and quick to make type of a bow. It's made out of a single branch that is cut from a standing spruce tree. It goes without saying that this type of bow is not a high performance weapon, but it is efficient enough for hunting squirrels and other small game. This type of bow is strongly based in history, specifically that of the Saami hunters, and it is a fascinating method to make a bow quickly out in the wilderness. You can see Sami (UnReal World creator) crafting a spruce quick-bow in the woods in this video (on his traditional archery related YouTube channel): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYR91okTjlM Heh. It's surely different to craft these things with lines of codes in the digital realm than with an axe in the northern wilderness, but it's nice to master the both ways :)
And there's even more features still pending to be added for the stable release. Stay tuned.
3.70 beta-3 for Windows, Linux and OS X has been released to fix a few bugs. Those who have opted-into 3.70 beta release will have their game automatically updated - if enabled. On Windows version the listed bugs have been remedied already, but now all the supported platforms are in sync. With this patch there should be no critical beta bugs anymore, and polishing the lesser annoyances continues.
Version: 3.70 (beta 3)
** Saved characters from version 3.50-> are compatible with this version. **
BETA NOTICE:
This is a beta release. There are likely bugs, things are still somewhat under construction, and some of the listed improvements will be tweaked and polished further in patches to follow.
- fixed: weather for migrated characters getting corrupted
Migrated characters now experience reset of the weather upon loading them in 3.70 beta3. So the weather of migrated characters isn't exactly same as when they were saved, but as the reset is based on time of the year the change is most often quite unnoticeable.
- fixed: laggy movement on some map areas
This was related to how seeing through saplings was handled, and on some occasions data checks endedup in slow loop.
- fixed: domestic animals triggering your traps
- fixed: small weight units (g, oz) shown in carried load statistics together with false basic unit (kg, lb)
Now carried load is shown in basic units - either kg or lbs.
- fixed: character creation modes "easy" and "too easy" unexpectedly quit due to option points miscalculations
- typo: "kgs" abbreviation used in metric system units.
3.70 beta-2 hotfix for Windows has been released to fix a few bugs. Those who have opted-into 3.70 beta release will have their game automatically updated - if enabled. Patches for other platforms will follow later on.
Changelog for 3.70 beta-2 for Windows: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - fixed: domestic animals triggering your traps
- fixed: small weight units (g, oz) shown in carried load statistics together with false basic unit (kg, lb)
Now carried load is shown in basic units - either kg or lbs.
- fixed: character creation modes "easy" and "too easy" unexpectedly quit due to option points miscalculations
- typo: "kgs" abbreviation used in metric system units.
It's now always singular "kg", as it should be. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Version 3.70 beta has been launched. Things are fairly stable already, but as it's beta release the bug potential is higher than usual. Also, some features are still pending to be polished to their final stage in patches to follow.
Key features of version 3.70
The key features of version 3.70 version deal with the moon and the moonlight, fibre processing with new textilecraft skill, snow penalty for all the creatures and snow crust, new character portraits, tying equipment adjustments, craftable fishing rods and usage of baits, option for metric units, and so on. The list of additions and fixes is long and you can find the full changelog at the bottom of this post.
We think you may want to opt-into 3.70 beta now...
How to opt-into beta release
This is password protected beta-releasae. The password you need to know is: 370betaXXXZZZ
Close UnReal World if you happen to be playing it right now.
Right-click UnReal World in your Steam games library and select "Properties".
Select "Betas" tab.
Enter the password mentioned above into 'Beta access code to unlock private betas' field, and press [CHECK CODE].
Now 3.70 beta is available.
Select "3.70 beta" in the dropdown box ('Select the beta you would like to opt into').
Close the dialog, the game updates, enjoy!
Should you encounter crazy problems with the beta, you can always switch back to current stable version by choosing "NONE" from the beta dropdown box.
And here comes the changelog...
Version 3.70 beta changelog
** Saved characters from version 3.50-> are compatible with this version. **
BETA NOTICE:
This is a beta release. There are likely bugs, things are still somewhat under construction, and some of the listed improvements will be tweaked and polished further in patches to follow.
- added: snow crust
Snow crust is a springtime phenomena where surface of the snowpack becomes so hard that it can completely support a walking or skiing person - and some animals as well. The crust results from partial melting of the snow surface by warm spring day sunlight followed by re-freezing when the temperature drops again, usually after the sunset. The crust normally only lasts for part of the day, but being able to travel on snow without sinking in there at all is a great asset for a hunter. Elks were traditionally hunted on skis during crust as it can't support the heavy animals and hunter gliding on skis eventually became faster than their fatiguing prey. This hunting method and many other wintertime scenarios now become possible with the additon of snow crust mechanics.
* If the snow crust can support somebody or not depends on how hard and thick the crust is, and how heavy the load of the person or animal is. Similarly to ice mechanics the snow crust also supports skiing person better than a walking person. The crust mechanics work similarly for player character, NPCs and animals.
* Information about the crust type, if there is any, is told when you look at snowy ground tiles. The crust information is added to the snow depth information so you get messages like "waist deep snow with hard crust", "knee deep snow with faint crust", and so on.
* Skiing on crust is faster and less fatiguing. There's also a new ski message notifying you about skiing on the crust. Similarly walking on crust is naturally faster than trudging in the deep snow. It's practically as easy as walking on any solid surface.
* There are new movement samples for walking or skiing on crust, so the sound of character's movement also works as an indicator of the phenomena.
- improved: mobility and fatigue penalties for moving in the snow
Previously there was one overall reduction to character's mobility when moving in the snow without skis, but now the actual snow depth affects to how much the mobility is actually reduced. The same goes for fatigue as it now accumulates slower or faster depending on the snow depth. Shortly, the deeper the snow the harder and slower it is to trudge through it without skis.
- added: snow penalties for animals and NPCs
NPCs and animals now suffer from the snow penalties similarly to player character. All the snow penalty mechanics now work the same for player character, other human beings and animals. The actual snow depth that starts to hinder the animals is naturally relative to their size. A human knee deep snow is a little extra strain for an adult elk, but for example a wild boar or dog would suffer from it more significantly. The new snow depth mechanics bring in many new factors to animal movement and hunting scenarios. It should be noted that there also several animals that are adapted to moving in the snow without much difficulties at all. There are for example hare, lynx, glutton, weasel, ermine, squirrel and so on. For animals like these the snow penalties appear far lesser, and they have their species specific snow movement adjustments in action.
- added: more prone to stumble when wearing skis
Whenever stumbling is checked a character wearing skis is always less agile and more likely to stumble than without skis.
- added: village areas always have reduced snow depth
The village area is considered so stomped that the snow depth is always low. Otherwise NPCs and player characters might needlessly fatigue themselves merely by walking around the village.
- added: foreign traders can share the excess trading load
Previously a single foreign trader wouldn't accept more traded furs than he could carry. This made trading of heavy pelts often all too awkward. Now foreign traders can share the excess load so that if the NPC you are trading with can't carry it all the excess items are distributed to his fellows who can.
- changed: observing surroundings from a tree - no more see-though trees
You can't see through trees anymore when observing surroundings after climbing up a tree. The overall visibility is still better but foremostly because being higher allows you to see beyond elevations that would normally block your field of vision. But visual obstacles such as trees now do remain visual obstacles.
- added: the moon, and the moonlight
The weather engine now models the moon in detail, with its' changing phases and moonlight affecting to the nighttime visibility and brightness. There are eight different moon phases now graphically presented in the horizon window, and the map gets blue moonlight tint according to the amount of moonlight provided. Especially during the darkest seasons moonlight can be of a great help significally extending the available hours for working, hunting or travelling. The moonlit nights are now a really different experience, and remember that it doesn't even have to be a full-moon for the moonlight effects to be noticed.
- added: smoothly changing visibility based on time of day
The change in visibility, ie. how far the character can see, now happens on minute basis. This means the visibility decreases and increases with the sunsets and sunrises much more smoothly than previously, when it was calculated on hourly basis. The visibility is also now more realistically calculated from the angle of the sun relative to the horizon. During the darkest seasons you will now experience the darkness falling faster, but also more smoothly, together with the quickly setting sun. The summer night expreriences don't change all that much compared to the previous version, but whenever the visibility changes even a little it now happens in smaller and smoother steps.
- changed: plant harvest time information messages
There are few changes in messages when looking at plants that aren't yet ready for harvesting. The used expression now speaks of "fully ripe" instead of "can be harvested", because its sometimes useful and possible to harvest plants even before they are matured. In case of herbs that are gathered for their flowers the harvest time expression now refers to when the plant will be flowering, instead of when it's fully matured for harvesting.
- added: plant fibre processing with a new TEXTILECRAFT skill
You can now extract fibres from nettle, hemp and flax and process them into yarn. For this, a new TEXTILECRAFT skill has been added. Plant fibre processing involves several stages of work, which are explained in detail below. There's also game encyclopedia (F1) entry about TEXTILECRAFT containing the essential information. MIGRATION NOTICE: For characters created in previous versions textilecraft-skill will be generated with their first load in this version. All the textilecraft options can be found in the general [M]ake menu, or by using the textilecraft skill. And this is how the plant fibre processing is done:
* RETTING
First, the fibres must be separated from the stalks of harvested plants. This process is called “retting”, and it is done by soaking the plants in the water for several days. Sufficient soaking time depends on the water temperature, varying from 5 to even 25 days. The warmer the water, the faster the retting process is. The retting doesn't occur at all in very cold water so it can't be done for example in the winter. Nettle fibres are a speciality as they can be extracted directly from the fresh plants without retting and drying processes. Pros and cons of this are explained in EXTRACT FIBRE chapter.
* DRYING
When retting is complete, the plant stalks are dried outdoors in loose bundles. The stalks need to dry out fully so that they can be crushed in the following work phase of extracting the fibre. Drying takes about a week, and once dried they can be also stored for future and processed when there’s need and time for that.
* EXTRACT FIBRE
Lastly, the fibres can be now extracted from the stalks. This is done by breaking the retted stalks so that the woody core shatters and falls away leaving the loose fibres free. Traditionally this was done with a special device called ‘loukku’, but in the game we use more primitive method of beating the stalks for example with a club on a solid working surface. Extracting fibres this way is hard physical work and commonly carried out with several people working together. If you have companions around they will help you with the task. After the breaking phase, obtained bundles of fibre are scraped free from remaining coarse parts and extraneous material. This is done in steps, first removing the biggest extraneous parts and gradually proceeding towards the finer ones. Traditionally special tools, combs and brushes were used to clean the bundles of fibre as effectively as possible. In more primitive fashion it can be also done by whisking, rubbing and whacking the bundles against a hard surface, or with tools at hand. In the game this is the method used, and the equipment available for breaking is applied here as well. If need be, nettle fibres can be also extracted directly from the stalk by hand without the preceeding steps. To do it simply use "extract fibre" option directly to freshly harvested nettles. This method takes more time and dexterity, but can be a useful option when only a small amount of fibre is needed. The nettle stem is crushed by hand, and the fibres carefully stripped off. Character's expertise in textilecraft affects to required working time and amount of usable fibre extracted. So as your mastery in textilecraft increases you can expect to get higher fibre yield in shorter time. Extracted fibres are obtained in small bundles, eg. "bundle of hemp fibre". These items are categorized as PLANT type in character's inventory.
* SPIN YARN
Spinning fibres into yarn can be done either by hand, or with a spindle. Spinning by hand is naturally slower than using a spindle. Spindles are recognized also as ground items so you don't have to carry it with you. If you have companions around one of them can assist in spinning by holding the bundle of fibres for you. Obtained yarn can be then used in crafting of many different items.
- added: flax - a new cultivated plant
Flax is an old cultivated textile plant, but not as commonly grown as hemp. It doesn't survive in the very north and is grown only by certain cultures south of Kaumo. Kiesseläiset and Reemiläiset in the east, and Driikiläiset, Sartolaiset and Koivulaiset in the west do grow flax. Flax flowering is featured in the game, although the flowers can't be picked. The seeds develop after the flowering, but flax can be also harvested earlier for fibre alone.
- game encyclopedia [F1]: updated entries about LINEN, FLAX, HEMP and NETTLE
- added: spindle - a new craftable item
Spindle is a wooden tool used for spinning fibres into yarn.
- added: yarn as village product
Villagers can now produce and stock yarn made of either nettle or hemp. The type and availability of yarn depends on the culture and village population.
- changed: some craftable items now require yarn as the tying equipment type
Yarn is now required for example when making arrows, loop snare and fishing rod. There can be minor changes in the required lengths as well.
- added: leather cord, a new craftable item
Leather cord is made simply by cutting long, thin strands of leather. It's craftable from Tying equipment category in Make menu.
- added: "strong cordage" tying equipment requirement type
Strong cordage covers all the ropes and spruce withes. That's what you need to use when strong cordage is required in crafting and building.
- modding add: {Strong cordage} material tag
This tag defines strong cordage is needed as tying equipment.
- changed: some craftable items now require strong cordage as the tying equipment type
Strong cordage is now required for example when making raft, big deadfall trap and bear trap.
- added: "thin cordage" tying equipment requirement type
Thin cordage covers cords and yarns. That's what you need to use when thin cordage is required in crafting and building.
- modding add: {Thin cordage} material tag
This tag defines thin cordage is needed as tying equipment.
- added: making clothes requires thin cordage
Crafting of leather and fur clothes now require varying lengths of thin cordage for sewing the parts together. Yarns and cords can be used for that. This requirements covers most of the clothes but few pieces such as caps and cloaks can be crafted without any cordage.
- added: more use for cured animal skins
All the cured skins now work as kota covers, and cured furs work similarly to tanned furs as ground covers and blankets for more comfortable sleeping.
- added: straw - a new item part of certain plants
Straw refers to mere stalk of certain plants. Straws are byproduct of threshing plants such as nettles and hemp. Straws don't have specific use of their own but do serve as material for fibre processing. Straw items were added for the sake of being able to thresh valuable plants for seeds and leaves first, and still have the straw remaining for fibre.
- modding add: a new flora header tag: [straw]
There is a new tag that can be added to plant header in flora_*.txt files.
[straw] tag indicates that the plant leaves a straw after it is threshed. The tag is currently in use for hemp and nettle, for their fibre processing possibilities. Other plants can be modded to leave straws at will, even though the game mechanics don't currently have specific use for straw.
- modding add: a new flora property [FIBRE_YIELD:1,2,3]
There is a new property for plants in flora_*.txt files. [FIBRE_YIELD:value] property can have value of 1,2 or 3 and it defines how much fibre the plant yields when processed with textilecraft options.
- modified: nettle plant properties and habitats
They sprout about a month earlier than previously, in seedtime month, and have new habitats; wetland, pond and cliff.
- added: textile plants can be harvested for fibre while they're still growing
It is possible to harvest nettle, hemp and flax before they are fully ripe. This is for the sake of being able to obtain fibres also from the growing plants. Harvesting growing textile plants can be done at the age of 30-35% of their full growth time. This needs to be done with "Harvest" agriculture option, as using pick up command just collects the young leaves or so. Young harvested plants provide less fibre than fully grown ones, but being able to utilize them also during their growing season is a necessary asset at times.
- added: post spruce, a simple wilderness condition shelter
Post spruce ("asentokuusi" in Finnish) is a temporary shelter made by felling a spruce tree to lean against another. Some low branches are cut to make space in the midst of the trees, and the cut twigs are laid on the ground as insulation. This simple shelter gives you protection from the elements and is commonly used for spending a night in the wilderness. The option to set up a post spruce is found under "Building options", and requires the same tools as felling young trees in general. The twigs for the ground insulation are cut and laid automatically. There's also game encyclopedia [F1] entry about POST SPRUCE available.
- added: sleeping on spruce twigs
Sleeping on spruce twigs now gives a little extra warmth and protection from the cold. It's simple and much used option in wilderness conditions especially during the wintertime. Sleeping on furs is still the most comfortable way to spend a cold night, but spruce twigs come as a good alternative. About half a dozen spruce twigs will provide enough insulation from the cold ground.
- added: automated cutting of tying equipment to required lengths in crafting
Tying equipment is now automatically cut to required lengths in crafting. However, with this new condition in effect the selected equipment must meet the minimum required lengths - with a few exceptions which are dealt later. For example: If "5 feet cord" is required you can use any cord 5 feet or longer, but not shorter pieces. If the selected cord is longer than required it will be automatically cut to length and you'll find the remaining portion in your inventory. When multiple pieces of certain length tying equipment is needed the requirement is now described for example as "5 feet cord * 2", meaning that you need two pieces of 5 feet cords. This is a change compared to previous versions where such requirement would have been descriped as the total calculated length eg. "10 feet of cord". That is the default way of handling tying equipment requirements now, but there are few exceptions to the rules described above. The exceptions are: - using birch-bark strips in crafting - tying equipment requirements in smoking and drying processess - making a raft In these cases the tying equipment requirement is descriped as total calculated length and can be composed of several shorter pieces - just like it used to be. There's also new crafting tag [nominlen] which can be used to ignore minimum length requirement where necessary.
- modding add: [nominlen] tag for length-based materials
This tag, which stands for "no minimum length", can be used to indicate that length-based material requirement can be composed of several shorter pieces.
For example: {Cord} =5= [nominlen] [remove]
This means that 5 feet of cord is required but you can come up with the total length using several shorter pieces. If [nominlen] tag wasn't used here the selected cord would need to be at least 5 feet long.
- added: little girls as new NPC type
There's now a new NPC type descriped as "girl". Such NPCs are little girls, inhabitating villages with their family. MIGRATION NOTICE: Villages generated in the previous versions contain only NPC types of that particular version so you can't expect to find little girls from migrated villages.
- changed: "kid" and "child" NPC descpriptions changed to generic "boy" description
- adjusted: children NPC attributes and skills
Previously children NPCs didn't differ all that much from the adults, but now their physical and mental attributes have been checked and adjusted. In general children are now weaker and more vulnerable to physical harm. But even if they lack the strength and endurance of the adults the level of some attributes eg. dexterity and agility can surprise sometimes. Children may sometimes choose to participate in fights if their village is threatened, but in general children are now more eager to flee upon serious danger. Boys are often slightly more eager to fight than girls who wisely rather run to alarm adults, and even the neighbouring villages if need be. Combat skills of the children have been also checked and adjusted to quite inferior level. The lack of strength is now seen especially with their unarmed combat skills. If they land a kick or punch there's not much power in it. Armed with a knife or so they may cause some proper wounds, but in general children rarely pose a real threat anymore.
- added: withes are auto-selected when making fences
Withes are now preferred tying equipment when making fences, and they are automatically selected if available either on the ground or in character's inventory.
- added: roasting (turnips) in embers
Roasting in embers is featured currently only for cooking turnips in traditional fashion, but more use for the method will likely follow in the future. Find the new recipe "ember-roasted turnips" under "Vegetable recipes" in cookery menu. Roasting in embers requires good amount of embers so it can't be expected to work in the remains of just any little fire. The fire should be burning for several hours before enough hot embers will remain for the method to work. For this reason roasting in embers is usually proceeded after substantial fire was lighted anyway out of necessity. It takes about an hour for turnips to cook in embers. For the convenience of timing you can start roasting in embers already when the fire is clearly dying and about to burn out soon, given that enough embers has been produced already. The game will notify about the lack of enough embers so the necessary conditions can be figured out quite easily.
- added: ember-roasted turnips as cultural dish to be found in villages
Eastern and western cultures are familiar with the ember-roasted turnips and this ordinary dish can be now occasionally found in the village storehouses, or carried by NPCs.
- modding add: new cookery method tag [ember-roast]
Using this tag the associated food item is prepared by the ember-roast method. Glowing embers automatically becomes a requirement when using the tag.
- added: two orientations for prone character avatar
Just like with standing avatar there are two orientations for prone character avatar. These are now in effect and changing according to the facing direction.
- added: chat option to ask location of the village water supply
"Ask for directions" chat section now has an option to ask location of the village water supply. The option is available within the village area when talking to any village member.
- added: configurable display of units in imperial or metric system with more precision
There's now configuration option to choose which system of measurement, imperial or metric, you wish to use for displaying units in the game. The default is to use imperial system, and it can be changed from in-game setup options menu. The configuration option name in urw_ini.txt is [UNITS: with possible values METRIC and IMPERIAL. You can also change the system of measurement by editing urw_ini.txt setup file in your installation folder. If the option is missing add the following line there to use metric system:
[UNITS:METRIC]
You can also configure precision of the units displayed eg. how many decimal fractions to use. To do that edit or add [UNITS_PRECISION: option in your urw_ini.txt. Possible values are 0,1 or 2. The default is 1.
[UNITS_PRECISION:1]
The chosen system of measurement is only an interface level change and doesn't affect to syntax of crafting, building or cooking recipes where imperial units remain in use. As the imperial units are the internal base units the conversion to metric measurements doesn't always produce nicely readable whole numbers, but where possible some rough rounding will be used. For example, wilderness map scales of 100 meters is rounded to 100 yards in imperial system. Also, length unit foot is 1/3 meters in the game so that cordage lenghts remain readable when using metric units. Some smallers units, ounces and grams, which were absent from the interface before are now also used when necessary. This way we'll be seeing more easily readable values with less rounding needed.
MIGRATION NOTICE: NPCs who have their quests generated in the previous version may still speak about quest related distances in kilometers even if the imperial units are in use.
- added: craftable fishhooks and fishing rod
You can now craft a fishing rod, and wooden and bone fishhooks. Fishing rod item description now also tells the type of the hook attached eg. "Fishing rod with wooden hook".
MIGRATION NOTICE: Fishing rods generated in the previous versions now all appear with iron hooks, regardless of what their original hook properties might have been.
- added: fishhook material matters to its effectiveness
Iron hooks are the best kind, then come bone hooks, and wooden hooks are the least effective. The differences aren't dramatic though, but there's slight penalty for using bone and wooden hooks.
- added: usage of baits in rod fishing
When starting rod fishing you will be now asked what to use as a bait. Using baits is not necessary, but naturally highly recommended. Catching a fish every now and then without a bait is still possible, but for reliable rod fishing and decent catches baits are now quite essential. You can use pretty much every food item as a bait and portion of the selected item will be used during the fishing attempt. Pieces of raw meat and fish can be considered decent baits for predatory fish, but for example crumbs of bread may also work for some fish. You can also use a whole small fish, eg. roach or perch, in order to attract a bigger predatory fish. With this addition in effect the type of fish caught with rod fishing is now more dependant on the baits used. It's not likely that you'll catch a pike with an empty hook, but having a small roach as a bait might work. And that little roach might have been caught with quite moderate bait such as bread crumb, or even with some tasty vegetation.
- added: FISHING category to [M]ake menu
The category contains fishing related handcraft options, which are as mentioned above, crafting of fishing rod and different types of hooks.
- added: fishhooks snapping off from a worn out fishline
Fishhooks may occasionally snap off as the line wears out in use especially around the hook. This wear is relative to the number and size of fish having nibbled the line over time. So, with big catches you can also expect a faster wear. If the hook snaps off a message is displayed and the fishing rod gets described as "fishing rod with no hook" - but it can be also repaired with a spare hook.
- added: [a]pply fishhooks to repair a hookless fishing rod
You can repair a hookless fishing rod with a spare fishook with [a]pply command. First apply the fishhook, and then select a fishing rod to repair.
- added: map zoom level is saved with the character
- adjusted: skin sizes of seals
For the grey seal the skin yield has been doubled, and for the ringed seal increased about 20%.
- changed: berry porridge recipe
Ratio of the ingredients has been adjusted based on the real-life experiment. Less berries, more water and flour, and slightly shorter cooking time.
- added: a dozen of new character and NPC portraits
- adjusted: saplings are now lesser obstacle for projectiles
You can still hit them occasionally, but it's far more easier to shoot/throw past them.
- removed: possibility to kick down fences
Old mechanism that wasn't needed nor working properly anymore since we've already got deconstruct option.
- improved: file write safety in case of sudden power loss or shutdown
Some extra measures has been added to overcome unexpected shutdown related data loss regarding character file, window position data, and culture data.
- fixed: high CPU usage, especially on some Linux and OSX systems
The game reached very high CPU usage on some systems, which is now hopefully fixed. It was related to reading incoming SDL events which are now waited rather than constantly polled.
- fixed: in villages, building a fire to location with still warm embers was mistakenly considered a breach
- fixed: animals freed from traps mistakenly considered trapped and perishing because of that
- fixed: birds mistakenly flying still
- fixed: character's mobility suffering from faulty snow penalty
During the usual winter month characters movement was reduced due to snow penalty even if there wasn't any snow on the ground. Moreover, this faulty snow penalty was in effect also indoors.
- fixed: multiple creature selection listing irrelevant NPCs when picking from or packing a creature
- fixed: birch saplings blocking the line of sight
- fixed: cutting branches and peeling bark from saplings
- fixed: when thrown object or projectile hits a saplings the resulting message didn't mention the tree being a sapling
- fixed: birch withe material requirement eg. in the making of vasta also accepted spruce withes
- fixed: shortening tying equipment not reducing their price value
- fixed: resting for a turn [.] at settlement tile activated zooming in
- fixed: small silver items not always degrading in sacrificing
- fixed: looking at animals with no encyclopedia entry shows the previous animal's info entry --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That's all folks! ːurw_sageː
Cheers, have fun, and let's keep our fingers crossed for the possible beta bugs being minor and scarce. But whatever their size and annoyance level may be, we've got our bows prepared for shooting them down.
So lay back, wipe the sweat off your forehead, and feel free to enter into the far north for discounted price. It's easier there in the summer - you'll see.
And before the sale is over, a new release will be launched.
Sami (UnReal World creator) may seem outwardly calm and laid back, but on the inside he is actively preparing for release of UnReal World version 3.70 - which will take place before the summer sale is over.
The Steam Open World Sale has begun and we wholeheartedly cherish this special event and celebration of infinite exploration. It's very much our genre, since early 90s, and acknowledged with (debatable) merits such as ...
But we don't really want to ramble about the game. See, the store page shows and tells all you need to know. Now feel free to lose yourself in the most intricate, detailed and enchanting iron-age game world for discounted price.
Then, let's move on to additional content to celebrate the special open world event for real...
Picture feed from the real world
Those who have followed the development do know that for Enormous Elk game development isn't actually clean indoors job. We tend to practise what we code, pursue the traditional lifestyle to varying extent, and draw a lot of inspiration from the real world experiments and adventures.
As a special way to celebrate the ongoing Open World Sale we've compiled you this picture feed of the two man dev. team doing their infinite exploration outside the development chambers. This is an assorted collection of dev's life along the way in the real world. Enjoy!
Erkka (co-designer) on the left with frame drum, Sami (creator) on the right with kantele, at gorgeous Orinoro gorge in eastern Finland.
Sami doing elks calls in the woods.
Erkka walking horses in the woods.
Traditional log building with traditional equipment. Erkka on the left, Sami on the right.
Erkka's sauna warming up on a winter day.
Broad beans are flowering while Sami is cooking something.
Sami takes a look at the open arctic world.
Rowing in the summer evening.
Roasting the catch in the rain.
Sami after threshing rye in the barn in all traditional, and smoky fashion.
Erkka after some muddy work.
Find a dev among the sheep.
Sami is getting a feel of the wilderness.
Erkka chopping firewood.
Sami doing mounted archery.
Breakfast for Erkka.
Summery coffee break for the two-man dev. team.
Skiing with a shovel preparing to settle here for a night.
Sami's bicycle trip to gather a bunch of wild greens was a success.
And so was Erkka's fishing trip.
Happy islander.
It's winter. It's open world.
On Hornankallio cliff Sami takes a look at the familiar landscape - not too far away from his development chambers.
The Road goes ever on and on ...
And if the road goes smoothly the next update, UnReal World version 3.70, will be released in June, 2021.
Code is pouring and bubbling in development chambers as we head towards yet another version update. And now it's a little sneak preview time with our textilecraft test character Kuitu Kaumolainen ...
The biggest single addition to the upcoming version is featuring mechanics to extract fibres from certain plants and process them into yarn. For this, a new TEXTILECRAFT skill was created, and lots of spin-off features regarding fibre processing and cordage also followed. Fibres can be extracted from nettle, hemp and flax - which has been added as a new cultivated plant. Let's start from there ...
Flax
Flax is an old cultivated textile plant, but in Iron-Age Finland it wasn't even as commonly grown as hemp. One reason for this is that flax doesn't survive in the very north so in the game it's grown only by certain cultures south of Kaumo. As a curiosity, the finnish word for flax ('pellava') originally meant the nettle plant ('nokkonen') which speaks about importance of this age-old wild source of fibre. But nevertheless, flax is in the game now and it can be grown, harvested and processed for fibre.
Kuitu Kaumolainen has found his way to Kiesse, a region where flax is grown. At Kaumo where he's from they only produce nettle or hemp fibres. Blue flowering flax is easily spotted from the field, and it could be harvested for fibre already.
Textilecraft options
Processing plant fibres into yarn involves several stages of work, and it's all done by using your TEXTILECRAFT skill. Character's expertise in textilecraft affects to required working times and the amount of usable fibre or yarn produced.
After the plants are harvested the fibres must be then separated from the plant's stalks. This process is called "retting", and it is done by soaking the plants in the water for several days. Sufficient soaking time depends on the water temperature, with the warmer being faster.
Kuitu Kaumolainen harvested 100 flaxes and headed by the lake to start retting the stalks. Here you can see all the textilecraft options to proceed with fibre extracting and spinning them into yarn.
Extracting fibres is hard work
It took two weeks for Kuitu's flax to soak properly. After that it took one more week to dry them. And only then Kuitu can start extracting the actual fibre from the stalks. Extracting fibres is done by breaking the dried retted stalks so that the woody core shatters and falls away leaving the loose fibres free. The stalks are beated for example with a club on a solid working surface. Extracting fibres is hard work and commonly carried out with several people working together. Traditionally there has been a custom to arrange specific work parties for processing fibres of each village together with the neighbouring people. And in the game your companions can actually help you with the task. Obtained bundles of fibre are then scraped free from remaining coarse parts. Traditionally special tools were used, but it can be also done by rubbing and whacking the bundles against a hard surface, or with tools at hand.
Kuitu starts extracting fibres from the dried retted flax stalks at his shelter. He is about to beat the stalks with a club on top of a log. These dried retted stalks could have been also stored for future and the fibre extracted when there's time and need for that.
Spinning yarn
It took lees than half an hour to extract the fibres from his 100 flax stalks and Kuitu got 16 bundles of flax fibre. Fibres can be then spun into yarn either by hand, which is slower, or using a spindle. Spindle is also a new craftable item, and very easy to make. So Kuitu crafts a spindle and starts spinning. He decides to go for full length yarn. When starting spinning it is possible to choose how long yarn you wish to spin on one go.
Kuitu manages to spin 80 meters of linen yarn in less than two hours. It could be then used in crafting of different items such as loop snares, arrows - or fishing rods.
Nettle specialities
In the next version it will be also possible to craft fishing rods, and hooks out of wood or bone. And a working fishing rod naturally needs a line too. Now Kuitu has his linen yarn which could be used as line, but the whole process of extracting flax fibres with retting and drying took weeks. That's quite a long time if there's an urgent need for little piece of yarn. Luckily there's also faster wilderness condition option for utilizing plant fibres - and that is a nettle. Nettle fibres are a speciality as they be extracted directly from the fresh plants without retting and drying processes. To do it you can simply use "extract fibre" option directly to freshly harvested nettles. This method takes more time, but is an useful option when only a small amount of fibre is needed. The nettle stem is crushed by hand, and the fibres carefully stripped off. It doesn't take long before Kuitu finds some nettles. Textile plant harvesting is made possible for fibre even when they are still growing.
Kuitu harvests some nettles. Then he simply extracts the fibres by hand, and spins some nettle yarn. If he would like to produce a lot of yarn, this would be too slow to be practical, but now he's only after fishing rod line,
Wooden hook, nettle yarn - and baits
Kuitu finds a slender tree trunk, fashions a wooden hook out of a branch, and proceeds to assemble a fishing rod. Now we should mention that In the upcoming version usage of baits in fishing is also featured. Using baits is not necessary, but naturally highly recommended. Catching a fish every now and then without a bait is still possible, but for reliable rod fishing and decent catches baits are now quite essential. You can use pretty much every food item as a bait and portion of the selected item will be used during the fishing attempt. Pieces of raw meat and fish can be considered decent baits for predatory fish, but for example crumbs of bread may also work for some fish. You can also use a whole small fish, eg. roach or perch, in order to attract a bigger predatory fish. With this addition in effect the type of fish caught with rod fishing is now more dependant on the baits used. It's not likely that you'll catch a pike with an empty hook, but having a small roach as a bait might work. And that little roach might have been caught with quite moderate bait such as bread crumb, or even with some tasty vegetation.
Kuitu makes his survival fishing rod, with a wooden hook and nettle yarn.
The work with the several less laborous features continues but we're getting closer to release every day. It's always quite impossible to say when everything is completely wrapped up and working, but maybe - just maybe - we might have this version out in june.
Cheers!
For those who are more curious about the real life practises here's a short documentary in Finnish showing how the flax is processed. Having read the above I trust you will understand what is happening even without subtitles. The gear used differs slghtly from the more primitive method of the game, but the steps are the same; sow, harvest, ret, dry, extract, spin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNFD_CUlxZU
The last weekend some quite exciting weather engine achievements and accompanying real life adventures were made as Sami (creator) and Erkka (co-designer) spent some creative time together. Now there are two new essential weather features on the table - both still somewhat under construction, but most likely to be seen in the next version.
And the features are...
The moon
Our weather engine now models the moon in detail, with its' changing phases and moonlight affecting to the nighttime visibility and brightness. Lots of tuning is still pending, but we can already see that the full-moon nights in the game will be a different experience.Especially during the darkest seasons moonlight can be a of great help and extended the available hours for working, hunting or travelling. Just have a look at the screenshot compilation below.
Left: A casual midnight by the lake in dirt month as it appears currently in the game. Right: The same scenery with the new moon code in action. It's full moon and our nighttime visibility is a much different.
Snow crust
Snow crust is a springtime phenomena where surface of the snowpack becomes so hard that it can completely support a walking or skiing person. The crust results from partial melting of the snow surface by warm spring day sunlight followed by re-freezing when the temperature drops again, usually after the sunset. The crust normally only lasts for part of the day, but being able to travel on snow without sinking in there at all is a great asset for a hunter. Elks were traditionally hunted on skis during crust as it can't support the heavy animals and hunter gliding on crust with skis now became much faster than their prey. Lots of work is still needed before snow crust support is all coded, but that's the intention. Now it also requires proper snow penalty to be added for NPCs and animals, and reworking the skiing code to some extent too. (And if you were thinking of skiing NPCs so were we.)
The last weekend it was both full moon and snow crust possibility, so we also went experiencing these things in real life. Naturally these both are familiar experiences already, and as countryside kids we've learned possibilities of snow crust for work and leisure all the way from our childhood. But if you'd like to see the magic of skiing in moonlight without any artificial light, or get an idea about difference between skiing in slushy spring snow compared to the crust, we've got a short videoclip for you: