Apr 5, 2021

0.9.0F is Live on Staging! New optimization and quality settings! More fixes!

EmergeNYC - FlipSwitchGames

NOTE KNOWN ISSUE WITH TRUCKS BEING STUCK AFTER GETTING IN. BEING PATCHED AT 3PM EST. WORKAROUNDS IN THE MEANTIME: 1. GET OUT AND THEN BACK IN THE VEHICLE UNTIL IT WORKS. 2. CLICK THE TRUCK FROM RTS CAMERA.

In this patch my goal has been to add to and improve the quality settings menu to allow players, especially people having trouble running the game, to modify or toggle certain settings that are performance intensive in hopes that they can get improved performance with some of these changes. I also improved upon the Quality option which now are presets and effect all settings including the new ones. For example Very Low preset will disable things such as shadows, dynamic destruction, 3D Hose, charring effects, and lower your texture quality, while the ultra preset will max all those settings. Presets can be applied and then modified to exclude or lower specific settings. Optimization was another key goal in this patch and several optimizations were made. Along with these changes, several bugs have been addressed which can all be found below. We plan on continuing to optimize and improve the hose system, fix problematic bugs and start slowly shifting our attention to fixing the main multiplayer issues, EMS issues, and AI issues. Thanks for all your support! Were 1 week since the release of the update on the staging branch and already have 100+ fixes, changes, and optimizations logged over 6 different patches since. We don't plan on stopping!

*Tiny hotfix to fix script error with supply lines for this patch going live in 3 hours from the time this was posted*

Added

Added new options under visual settings for toggling Fire Effects (Heat blur, Embers, Ashes)
Added new options under visual settings for toggling 2D/3D Hose
Added new options under visual settings for toggling Dynamic Destruction (Collapses, ceiling and walls breaking to fire)
Added new options under visual settings for setting how long debris should linger on ground before being reused or reset
Added new options under visual settings for toggling charring effects (glow/black char on walls where there is or was fire)
Added quality presets that affect all settings including the ones above, which should transfer over between scenes
Added option to use roll up doors on Engine 1 with C hotkey

Optimized

Optimized Hose rendering system and converted to 2D hoses which saves some frames (setting to switch to 3D Hose)
Optimized Emergency Lighting System a bit
Optimized some by removing old screen damage effect

Fixed

Fixed some trucks slowly sliding (needs testing)
Fixed all missing Ladder Pipes
Fixed USFS Hydrant Tool missing sometimes
Fixed Black Road markings
Fixed Black Trees
Fixed Black objects in street in MC
Fixed Tree scaling in Brooklyn
Fixed Vacant building model to have exposure windows in tact
Fixed Warehouse model missing all windows and roof in Brooklyn
Fixed Missing Roof of smoke call in Brooklyn
Fixed USFS Engine Quick Attack Line Return not working
Fixed ESU Truck not being able to be deleted
Fixed Rescue 2 front saying Rescue 9
Fixed Ladder 111 Old Q Siren
Removed broken manual siren from Fire Ambulance
Fixed some missing colliders in Restaurant in Manhattan
Fixed PD Camera breaking when holding RMB
Fixed Sirens sounding weird when Battalion 38 was spawned in

Multiplayer

Fixed ESU Siren sync

Community Screenshots Highlights

Apr 3, 2021

Update 0.9.0E Live on Testing Branches (Memory Usage Crashes Fixed + More!)

EmergeNYC - FlipSwitchGames

Hotfix 0.9.0E is live and addresses the excessive amount of memory used causing issues with many players crashing when trying to load one of the larger maps with Full Resolution Textures. Before 0.9.0E the average RAM usage with all units spawned in and a fire loaded in Manhattan was 24GBs of Ram being used. Now that number has fallen to 15GBs in the same conditions. I went through every texture and sound file, and resized files that needed to be compressed and reduced in size while making sure essential and important textures and sounds kept their integrity. Also in this patch are more optimizations, bug fixes, multiplayer sync fixes and additions. Now that the memory usage has been addressed we are going to continue digging deep into the game to find root causes of performance issues and continue to optimize the game while beginning to address more Multiplayer issues, EMS issues and improving other things like the hoses. Thank you all for your patience through this testing phase and we promise more timely patches that continue to improve the stability and playability of the game.

Fixes

Fixed Manhattan Tree Black floating Blobs
Fixed Doors not working sometimes
Fixed Dozer Handling
Fixed Model Issue on rear of Ladder 123 Old and Ladder 74 Old
Fixed radial menu option for opening rear roll up on Ladder 123 Old missing
Fixed window climbs on Montgomery still teleporting you on some buildings (Now updated to new system using G key)
Fixed an issue where control mapper menu would automatically scroll down or up on its own
Reverted Rescue 9 and Rescue 2 Horns and Sirens to original state before last patch
Fixed a few Montgomery County Roads to be smoother and not float above the terrain
Removed Shift + R option from aircraft due to crashing issues
Fixed School yard in Manhattan Ramps not having collisions

Added

Added option to enter Dozer from left or right side
Added collisions to Dozer
Added UI for Outriggers on Quint
Added new trees to Brooklyn
Added Burn/Char shader to MC Houses that didn't have them

Optimizations

Decrease Memory Usage by 40%
Decreased loading times
Fixed Enviro Zone Error
Optimized Rollup Door pieces
Optimized Characters by removing ground check (up to 6MS on CPU)
Fixed RCC Enter Exit Error in Multiplayer causing lag
Fixed a lag spike when opening/closing Nozzle spray
Reduced lag spikes when moving MC camera (Lower LOD Bias to reduce the spikes more)

Multiplayer

Synced NYPD Sirens
Synced Montgomery County Automatic Sirens
Synced Engine 227 Lights

Community Screenshots

Mar 31, 2021

Patch 0.9.0C & Hotfix Live now on Staging Branch

EmergeNYC - FlipSwitchGames

Testing is going great, we are finding lots of issues and getting them addressed quickly as well as discovering a wide range of different performance across different systems. We are working quickly to get patches out to address your bug reports and things will be moving much quicker now that I'm back home in NYC as of today. Overnight I've published two builds. 0.9.0C and a hotfix to address some game breaking issues that came with that patch. We will continue getting more bugs fixed and optimizations done with more daily patches this week and weekend and hope to resolve the need for 32GBs of RAM with Full Res textures by resizing a lot of textures that do not need to be high quality,
this will take a few days and then we will shift our focus onto getting Multiplayer stable and smoother as well as polishing the EMS issues and creating more EMS Calls. I hope you all continue to play and enjoy the update!

0.9.0C & Hotfix

Added

Added Separate Siren Volume Slider in settings for Sirens that are still loud after adjusting volume
Added all Montgomery County Units to Fire Academy
Added Quick Attack Line above pump on Engine 1 in MC
Added more tooltips to using tools in Fire Academy tutorial area
Added Correct Squad 1 AI Icon
Added mappable option to map a key to Fire1 to be able to spray and aim with a controller

Changes

Changed button to climb out windows to G to fix pressing F and getting teleported out a window
Moved Sky Crane spawn point to not spawn on the super scooper
Moved Dozer spawn to be more centralized and not spawn in same location as Hotshot Buggy
Moved Spawn all button under fire category in MC
Resized MC Spawn all button to avoid mis clicking it
Improvements on PA4000 siren
Improvements on Rescue 2 and Rescue 9 horns
Improved Rescue 2 and 9 Q Sirens
Improved Squad 1 Horn

Fixed

Fixed S road missing collisions in MC
Fixed not being able to walk forward in Fire Academy for some users
Fixed High risers function (Same keys)
Spreaders now reset and close after ending use of them
Fixed USFS Engine Hydrant tool not being able to be picked up after Shift + R the unit
Fixed Ford Explorer PD car in MC not spawning
Removed Sirens and Horns from Dozer
Fixed Dozer functions not working
Fixed Tahoe not turning on in MC
Fixed Role Selection menu in MC
Removed trees in Basketball court in Brooklyn
Fixed 234 Spare horn deploying the supply line
Removed Doppler effect from Automatic Sirens causing weird warping sounds on sirens
Fixed Pink Fire Academy floor pieces
Fixed gap between door in Engine 85 firehouse
Fixed gap between door in MC Firehouse
Fixed so you don't need to jump to get in the super scooper
Fixed water particles spraying through walls
Fixed Exhaust hoses breaking (Needs testing)
Fixed Engine 2 Flickering decals on doors
Fixed Doors disappearing and not opening (Needs testing)\
Fixed Infinite Vent Fan and Multiversal Drop
Fixed missing material on crib in building in Brooklyn
Fixed Battalion 37 and 38 spawn points in fire academy to not spawn on tutorial area
Fixed grassy road in MC
Fixed Dip tanks graphics glitch when connecting supply line to them
Fixed Squad 252 2nd piece spawn point in Fire Academy to not spawn on Tutorial area
Fixed Manhattan King's Laundromat Interior not showing
Fixed some fires that were not synced in Montgomery County
Made Roll input on Helicopters Mappable (Needs Testing)

Fixed Pedestrians walking in place
Fixed RAM warning covering loading screen tips
Fixed Dunkin Donuts fire in Manhattan that wont extinguish
Covered up hole behind construction site in Brooklyn
Pressing F2 will now disable Ladder Control so you cant control ladders after going RTS Mode

Optimizations

Optimized AI Triggers when not being used by AI (Saves up to 21MS on CPU when all units are spawned in)
Optimized dragging of hose with mouse (Saves up to 80MS on CPU while dragging hose)
Optimized Spraying of Hose
Optimized Pedestrian AI (Saves up to 4.0MS on CPU)
Optimized Enter Exit Car Script (Saves up to 10.5MS on CPU)
Optimized Rescue 2 Mirrors and fixed so they don't show on other units mirrors (Saves up to 30 frames when Rescue 2 is spawned in)
Disabled hose colliders on trucks themselves to optimize hoses a bit
Optimized Wheel Colliders to not process all calculations unless driving (Saves up to 30 MS on CPU when all units are spawned in)

Quick Hotfix for 0.9.0C uploaded a few hours after

Fixed Major Lag issue from Chief in Montgomery causing unplayable frame rate (Introduced last patch)
Fixed 176's Q Siren after last patch
Fixed Pink Engine 234 Patches
Fixed Steering Wheel Animation no longer working after last patch
Fixed Wheel friction not being accurate after last patch

Highlighted Community Screenshots

Mar 27, 2021

EmergeNYC 2021 Update Public Testing Branch now Open!

EmergeNYC - FlipSwitchGames

The long awaited 2021 update for EmergeNYC is live now on the public staging branch! See instructions below how to switch to the staging branch!

https://gyazo.com/01d5db05bf2a6c8b94a2c8ef26f8fcc0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xFhVF65qKo

This is a TESTING branch meaning you will still find bugs, lag spikes, and possible crashes. The game is also still in pre-alpha early access. We are working around the clock and the game will be patched daily with fixes for bugs and other issues reported by the community to continue to improve the playability, stability, and performance. Things will start moving very quickly from this point on and we are super excited to finally have everyone try out the largest update to the game yet. 2 significant patches are already live in the first 6 hours since release. Change logs for those can be found all the way below.

A series of new tutorial videos will be going up tomorrow to introduce some of the new mechanics to players.

Please report bugs, crashes, and other feedback on our discord where we are always active and in touch with our community and if you want or need immediate help: https://discord.gg/5mhbgJh

https://youtu.be/F01rOpNZZ9E

Major Additions

New Wildfire Vehicles, Aircraft, Characters, Equipment and Emergencies Added to Montgomery County

New Destructible Buildings that procedurally and dynamically fall apart or can be destroyed by the player

New Charring and Burning Shaders on Walls, Ceilings, pillars and above windows etc

Completely redone Water Stream Effects including puddles that build up on the ground and walls and dynamic splashing

All vehicle handlings and sounds completely rebuilt from the ground up to be able to handle the steepest roads in Montgomery County

New Engine Company 85 and Firehouse Added to Manhattan

A new Interactive Tutorial in the Fire Academy

Working Mirrors, Backup cameras, animated gauges in Fire Trucks

New AI System for vehicles allows you to have AI Drive, setup all hoses automatically, setup the ladder, spray the deck gun, and many more other options. (Still a WIP)

Over 40 new Emergencies across all maps

Added Live Radio that you will hear near vehicles and will be tuned into a different frequency depending on which map you are playing on (volume adjustable in settings menu)

Added Coughing, yelling and screaming sounds to advise you when you are taking damage from smoke and or fire (Putting on your mask or distancing yourself from the fire will stop this)

Added a Thermal Imaging Camera to see fire, windows, doorways, and victims through dense smoke

Added the Shovel tool which allows you to dig lines and remove flammable brush from the ground

Completely new interiors for all Hospitals, Montgomery County Fire Stations, and Brooklyn & Montgomery County Police Stations

New Emergency Lighting Effects

New Post processing graphics and lighting

Major Changes

Nozzles drop with hose when pressing E

Nozzles are deployed with hose from the hose bed

Completely Redone Fire System and Spread

New Fire, Smoke, Steam, Embers, Heatblur, & Ashes Effects also affected by random wind directions and speeds

All Fire Emergencies are now random meaning they will start in different places and at different intensities each play through or may be a false alarm

Completely redone all vehicle handlings

Completely redone all vehicle sounds (Sirens, Horns, Engine Sounds, Doors, and Compartments)

All Montgomery County Vehicles redone and given new Liveries & Unique Details

Massive Rework and Optimizations on Hose System (You can now left click and drag any part of the hose) to flake it out

Hoses now have weight, drag, and tension affecting the players movement if the hose is charged

EMS Mechanics and Systems reworked & improved and made more user friendly

Completely redone K12 and Chainsaw Sounds

Added a new over the shoulder camera when holding the Right mouse button in Third Person Camera

Added the ability to pick up items off the ground with hotkeys displayed on the toolbar

Revamped the cutting mechanics with the K12 and Chainsaw on Roofs and Gates to be able to trace cuts and poke them out with a pike or a hook

New Vehicles

Montgomery County

Cal-Fire UH-1H Inspired Firefighting helicopter

LA County Firehawk Inspired Firefighting helicopter

Skycrane Firefighting Helicopter

Cal Fire OV-10 Bronco Inspired Firefighting Plane

Fire Retardant Plane

Super Scooper

Hotshot Buggy

New Engine 1

New Ladder 1

New Engine 2

New Tanker

Brooklyn

New Battalion 37

Engine 283

Engine 236

Engine 332

Engine 310

Ladder 175

Ladder 112

Tower Ladder 44

Squad 1

Manhattan

Readded Squad 28 new rig

New 2020 Engine 78

New 2020 Tower Ladder 57

New Engine Company 85

New 2020 Battalion 5

EMS

New and Updated Fortis Ambulance

NYPD

New Dredge Crawler PD Car

New Ford Fusion style Unmarked police car replacing the Tahoe

Small Additions

Added a Stamina meter to your player which is depleted by running, jumping and using tools and can be replenished by drinking from the cooler on the fire trucks using the radial menu

Added a (Shift + R) option when in the drivers seat of any vehicle to respawn it back to its spawn point and reset all of its compartments, and tools

Added a camera option to drive the back of the tiller by hitting 7 when in first person view while in the truck. Mirrors were added as well as an animated steering wheel

Added World Trade Center memorial spotlights

Readded the Old World Trade Center

Fires now burnout over a long period of time if not put out

Added the ability to spray from a hose line directly connected to a hydrant

Added the ability to lay in

Spraying glass with a high pressure stream of water will break the glass

Added a radial menu option when holding a nozzle attached to a hose line to charge or shut down the line, this allows you to move around more freely when the line is shut down and recharge it when you're in position

Added the ability to vault into or out of any window

Added Standpipes to all buildings that needed them that didnt have them

Multiplayer Additions

Ability to see which players are loaded and which are still loading by holding the (Tab) key after loading into the game and seeing the hourglass or checkmark next to each player’s name

All animations are now synced including use of all tools

Players can all spawn there rigs at the same time once all are loaded in, no need to spawn 1 by 1

and much more!

Bug Fixes

Fixed not being able to stretch anymore hose after returning to the main menu and loading up a map again

Fixed an issue where the radial menu would double click on its own sometimes

Improved the stability of the Tiller

Fixed Hazmat tent bouncing your character

Fixed relay lines not being able to be connected to Standpipes

Fixed the Hose pack carry animation
Nozzle are deployed with the hose when connecting a hose pack to a standpipe

Fixed all deck guns and Tower Ladders and the streams are redone and longer than before to allow you to reach fires further away

Added slanted colliders to many stairs across all maps to make climbing stairs smoother and easier

Fixed 227’s Firehouse TV

Removed the delay when entering a truck to being able to turn on/off the engine

Fixed Shelter roof pieces being skewed in Brooklyn\

Pressing F2 while in a bucket or deck gun will now remove your control from them when your character is deleted

Fixed smoke from window call in Manhattan where flower pot was inside the mesh

Fixed Montgomery County Garage and Shed Fire not being extinguishable

Fixed missing, duplicate or misplaced mini map beacons on some emergency calls

Fixed MDT Tickets that were incorrect

All youtube videos can play on TVs now

MUCH MUCH MORE.

Multiplayer Bug Fixes

Fixed Game Freezing if multiple players spawn in vehicles at once

MUCH MUCH MORE.

Hotfix 0.9.0B

Fixed Engine 2 Hosebed not having hotkeys to pull hose
Fixed USFS Engine not being able to pull supply line or quick attack line
Fixed Tanker Pump UI and Hose Pulling Controls still being enabled when entering and exiting truck causing hose to sometimes spawn in hand from far away
Fixed Terrain layers glitching and clipping into eachother noticeably in Montgomery County
Fixed Lake Water drafting connections being floating above the water
Disabled volumetric clouds by default in MC to avoid all black screen GPU glitch on some GPUs
Removed irrelevant visual settings in Settings menu
Added notes for not using full res textures if you have less than 32GBs of RAM for risk of crashing by running out of memory
Added notes for keeping in game volume above 50% to avoid weird siren sounds (use windows volume mixer to adjust volume)
Smoothed out the windy road outside of Brush truck station to not be so sharp and rugged
Fixed not being able to jump in Subway stations in Manhattan
Fixed Engine 234 Patch
Fixed Engine 222 Patch
Removed option to spawn NYPD and FDNY Boats

Hotfix 0.9.0A

Added UI Tooltips for how to fly Helicopters and Planes while in them in MC
Fixed Tanker Flipping while driving
Fixed grabbing some hoses from across the map in MC
Fixed Fire Retardent plane not working when dropping retardent
Reimplemented back up man mechanics (Needs to be tested)
Added burning shaders to Brooklyn Private Dwellings with Garage
Added Pump icon to pump section in tutorial
Fixed Engine 234 Spare UI being on by default
All doors are now unlocked and properly say unlocked until forcible entry is reimplemented
Made relay lines a little bigger
Fixed Restaurant Collapsing into ground in Manhattan
Fixed Glass with decals in Laundromat having collisions
Fixed Engine 32 Locking up while driving
Fixed Engine 32 Spare handling
Removed Line renderer when dragging hoses
Fixed Garage door buttons being activated remotely
Fixed positioning of Shovel tool on MC Firefighters
Fixed Shovel tool Icon and name on radial menu
Fixed headlights being unsynced when engine is on or off sometimes
Fixed grabbing portable ladder when trying to stretch hoses off Engine 2
Changed glass material in MC PD station to bypass occlusion culling graphics glitch
Fixed Engine 85 deckgun
Added drop and holster ui in tutorial
Added more tutorial info in Fire Academy
Fixed dying when exiting vehicle sometimes
Fixed camera getting deparented from character when exiting vehicle sometimes
Added lights to all airplanes
Fixed Engine 2 handling to not get stuck on hills
Fixed Live Radio volume being too quiet
Fixed Super Scooper not refilling in Lake
Added option to disable burning shaders
Fixed 234 spare locking up while driving
Brush truck can now drive while connected to relay line or quick attack

Dec 27, 2020

EmergeNYC - New Fire & Water Effects & Sounds, Destructible Buildings, TIC etc

EmergeNYC - FlipSwitchGames

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq7qhRfWVCs&feature=youtu.be

*DISCLAIMER*

This update is not released yet and there is no ETA. We are taking our time to make sure it is quality, stable, and worth the wait.

Full Resolution Video for Download : (Youtube lowers video quality)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_jf76Cz6f2SndMo6zyFkBikfjhYDpFEm/view?usp=sharing

00:00 : Intro
00:41 : Before & After
00:55 : New Fire Effects
02:43 : New Smoke Effects
03:39 : Destructible Environments
04:20 : New Water Effects
04:55 : Thermal Camera
05:50 : New Rollup and Roof Cutting
06:20 : Secondary Searches
07:11 : Hotspots
07:20 : Overhaul
07:30 : New Montgomery County Sounds
08:30 : New Manhattan Sounds
09:05 : Live Radio
11:49 : New Brooklyn Units
12:57 : Optimizations

Coming Soon!
20% OFF UNTIL 01/05/21 price will raise after the update is released.

From the very beginning EmergeNYC has strived to be the most immersive and realistic firefighting simulator on the market. Part of this update has been asking ourselves the question “How can we do better than the new games who are dipping their toes in this genre.” The actual fire fighting gameplay is perhaps the most important aspect of a game like this and looking back our previous fire mechanics and effects were mediocre at best.

I have redesigned the entire fire & water systems from the ground up with all new particle effects, smoke and steam effects, dynamic charring, and now for the first time, we are introducing virtually completely destructible environments. I will be covering this and a lot more in this video.

New Fires(Lighting, brightness, Sounds, Charring, Refraction)
This before & after shot is to give people a sense of the improvement. We have done several changes and additions to the fire including lighting that flickers, reflects off of its surroundings and even buildings nearby giving it a much more realistic look. Dynamic burning shaders have been added. Anywhere that fire is burning or residual heat remains, a burning effect will appear and areas that have burned and been extinguished or burnt out will appear black and charred. The brightness and color of the fire has also been adjusted. All fire sounds have been completely redone with a random library of over 20 different fire sounds which improve the overall immersion over the previous single fire sound effect. Sounds for the fire being extinguished and even the sound of water dripping and charring after the fire lingers for some time. Refraction, heat blur, and Embers have also been added to the fires to give them the most believable and realistic looks possible. One of the most game changing improvements we've done is that fires will always start in a random location rather than the same fire starting in the same place every time. Now no matter how much you play the game, you will not know what to expect or if to expect anything because there is also a chance that no fire starts at all and it is simply a false alarm.

Smoke and Steam (Volumetric, Dynamic Wind, and collisions)
We have completely redone and optimized the smoke effects. The smoke and steam is now volumetric meaning it is affected by the lighting around it. Light from the fire, your flashlight, emergency lights, and even the sun affect the shading and shadows in the smoke. All of this, while looking much better, also is much less impactful on your frame rate then the previous smoke. Wind now affects the smoke of all fires and with random wind direction and speed, the smoke and steam plumes look much more realistic and constantly shift making some areas easier to search when the wind is blowing the smoke away, and the next second, completely banked down. Thermal layering is now a thing meaning that the smoke rises and hangs on the ceiling. Staying low when searching is now more effective than before. The smoke particles have collisions which prevent them from going through walls, roofs and the smoke will now only seep out of openings that it can fit through.

Destruction (Collapses, opening walls, debris)
For the first time in any firefighting game, we are introducing fully destructible environments. This has been something requested by the community for years and up until now felt like an impossible task. Every part of the fire building minus the exterior frame is now destructible. This means every fire will be completely different. Roofs and Ceilings weakened by fire can collapse and block your exit. The floor below you can give way and
Fire can hide inside the walls and sneak its way around you or even above you. All of this is dynamic and not event scripted in any way. Simply put any part of the building that is damaged enough by fire or the player can and will collapse or break even down to the wooden pillars inside of the walls and in between floors.

New Interiors
Over a dozen new building interiors up to our new standard of quality including complete destruction capabilities have been added into the game with potential for many new emergencies

New Water Effects Sound Pressure Puddles
One of the things we knew needed to be improved were the Water effects. While I was at it I went ahead and redid the nozzle mechanics. The Nozzle is now opened or closed with the scroll wheel on the mouse acting as the nozzle handle allowing you to adjust the pressure and amount of water you want coming out of the nozzle. The sounds have also been redone, all of this adding to the immersion. To top it off, water puddles appear on the environment and even on your character

Thermal Camera
With all of these new improvements to fire and smoke it can be very difficult when doing searches, looking for fire through the smoke and steam, or when disoriented, finding your way to a window or door. For this reason we have implemented the new Thermal Camera. The thermal camera will show you where residual heat and fire are hiding, whether it’s behind thick smoke, under debris, or in the walls, the thermal camera is your go to tool when searching for heat and fire. When doing searches for victims, the smoke can become blinding and the need for the thermal camera may arise to try to find a victim in the thick smoke. If you become trapped and disoriented and need a way out quickly, the thermal camera can see through the smoke and door ways and window frames can be seen clearly. This is a very useful addition to the game and one of my favorite new tools.

Climb through any window
Climbing through any window of an active fire building is now possible for when needing to bail out, or climb into a window.

New Roof Venting & Roll up Door Cutting\
Another thing that we felt could be improved was roof cutting, and roll up door cutting. Previously you simply held your saw to a lock or a square piece of roof until it came loose, while you still have the option of cutting a lock off a rollup, you can now cut more dynamic cuts in the roof and roll up doors depending on the direction and angle you are cutting. Once your cuts have been made you can use any of the hitting tools to break the cut pieces off. This is still a work in progress mechanic.

Traffic Lights
One feature that has been lacking for a while now is fully functional traffic lights. Traffic lights now indicate their actual status and cars will stop and behave as they should at an intersection. This is very useful when knowing when to be on the lookout for traffic cars coming from the sides at an intersection.

Montgomery County and Manhattan Sounds
LC has been hard at work continuing his work on redoing all vehicle sounds and has completed all of the Manhattan and Montgomery County Units. So many of you enjoyed the last video so here is a minute or two of some of the new sounds.

Live Radio
Another addition to the overall immersion is Live Radio, depending on whether you’re in Manhattan or Brooklyn you will hear live real life dispatch audio with less than a minute delay which can be heard inside a rig and a certain distance near the rig.

Optimizations
Possibly the most important part of this update has been working on optimization. While adding these new features we kept in mind the possible impact on performance that this could all have. The top 3 performance impacting issues were smoke, the hose physics, and a long list of repetitive errors. All of these have been addressed and much more to give our players a much smoother gameplay experience. The fire hoses have been completely redone and now are 80% less impactful on performance. The new volumetric smoke effects, while looking much more realistic and believable, are now 90% more efficient than the previous smoke effects. Many other things that should not be taking load on the CPU have been optimized and the performance improvement will be noticeable for all players. New Settings have also been added such as how quickly dynamic debris should disappear.

Hotspots: Hotspots can ignite small fires long after the main body of fire has been extinguished. Washing down any glowing debris will prevent this from happening.

Overhaul: Most pieces of furniture and Debris can be grabbed with the mouse and thrown or moved meaning it is now possible to overhaul and you can even throw furniture out of windows.

New Units: 8 new companies have been added

Secondary Searches: With collapses and destruction added, it can be easy to miss a fire victim in a primary search. Once the smoke has lifted and the visibility has improved, the need for secondary searches is much higher in this new update. Victims can be buried under debris and easily blend into all of the mess.

Announcement posted on 12/23 regarding release

As you are all eagerly waiting, I wanted to just clarify a few things for you guys. Yes a new video is coming out in the next 2-3 days. However the update is not. Simply because it is not ready. While my goal from the start was to have it ready by this time, I was unable to meet that self imposed deadline (Remember I never said it would be ready by now) just was one of my personal goals. The last few years I have not taken Christmas or New Years off to work on Christmas updates and many of you know that that never ended well. While putting an update out now is smart for profits and sales, I care more about the quality and stability of the update rather than wanting to make as much money as possible. This Christmas and New Years I will be taking off like a normal human being and spending it with my mother who came to visit me in NYC. This new video I am working on now is to preview the final additions to the update and all time afterwards will be spent on getting the update ready for Single Player only staging branch testing to thoroughly test before a full public release early next year. It will be Single Player only public testing at first because getting every thing networked properly is what is taking so long and there is no point in keeping you all waiting when things are fully functional in Single Player. There is still NO time frame for either release and I want to keep it that way because it allows us to work more thoroughly on very important things and you will all see that once we reach that point. I and all the devs in training are very hard at work and this new video will blow your mind with the amount of progress we have made in optimization and improvements to the game all around. Thanks all for your patience, and hang in there, this update will be very very worth it, I can promise that. stay tuned for the video coming

Thanks to our devs in training for their help:

LC
Javi
Sal
Cody
Naught

Nov 25, 2020

New Real to Life Sounds (Sirens & Horns), Realistic Hoses, New AI & More

EmergeNYC - FlipSwitchGames

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8D3skQaBGA&lc=Ugz_jlyBK6SA6PVrULN4AaABAg.9GU2VcR6tGr9GUg4q2aNtJ

Hello everyone, my name is Raf lead developer of EmergeNYC. I'm really excited to walk you through all of the things we have been working extremely hard on since our last development update video 3 weeks ago. This year I have really been able to tone all my skills as a game developer in all aspects (modelling, coding, animation) etc. This means the sky's the limit and virtually any idea I come up with or suggestion from the community, I am able to translate into the game as a functional mechanic. A lot of this update has been new additions such as the wildfires, and new game mechanics, however a huge portion of what is coming is polishing and complete reconstruction of some of the previous game mechanics to be more user friendly and functional. In this video we are going to go over a few different things. Completely new vehicle sounds which include exact replicas of real life sirens, engine sounds, and other vehicle sounds. Our redesign of the firehose mechanics into the most realistic fire hose mechanics in any firefighting game. New Real Time Strategy Emergency 4 style gameplay with new AI Commands and smarter AI. A more intuitive inventory and Item system. New Police Precinct, Hospital, and Firehouse interiors, and a lot of new neat additions to the game. The video will be time stamped to allow you to navigate to certain sections easier.

Hoses

The hose system has been plagued with bugs, poor optimization, and just a completely unrealistic feel to them. Most games which have any firehose mechanics generally “cheat” when it comes to creating these mechanics by using procedural infinite hose that has no feedback, limit to how much you can stretch, or any indications if the hose has water.
I redesigned the hose mechanics to encompass all of these aspects. While performing more reliably, and causing less stress on the player’s systems, the hoses now simulate tension meaning the player can no longer infinitely stretch a single length of hose to reach the fire and will be stopped from moving further once the hose is completely stretched. The player will also feel drag and heavier movement depending on whether or not the hoseline is charged with water or not. The Engine Company backup man now has purpose. If he is behind the Nozzle man on the line, the drag will be reduced significantly and the pair can move the line quicker. The hose behavior has been designed to look more realistic with more believable bending and stiffness when the hose is empty or full. Additional changes have been made such as when dropping a line while equipped with the nozzle, the line will be dropped with the nozzle attached so that any other players can easily pick up the nozzle where it was dropped. When deploying attack line from the hose bed, a nozzle comes pre attached allowing for the nozzle man to quickly grab the line and the nozzle simultaneously and have water on the fire quicker. The entire system is still a work and progress and I plan to make sure it is fully functional by the release of the update.

RTS AI

A huge motivating factor in the development of EmergeNYC was my previous modding experience in 911 First Responders. This is where the seed for EmergeNYC was planted and I always envisioned EmergeNYC to blend the 3rd Person and First Person with the Real Time Strategy point and click style gameplay of 911 First Responders. This update will introduce the first major building block in EmergeNYC with AI to make single player and multiplayer a less hands on experience and more of a management, dispatch, and command experience. The existing vehicle AI have been improved significantly to ensure that the AI will reach their destination successfully. You can specifically place exactly where you want your selected truck to park even up to the angle that it parks. A unique audio clip taken from real life recordings will play when the unit has accepted the run. Many of the commands inspired from our Emergency 4 mods have been added including speed controls to control how fast the vehicle drives, rapid deployment which will quickly hook a supply line to the nearest hydrant, stretch an attack line, attach the attack line to the rig, and begin pumping water all with one click of a button. The Spray Deck gun command on the Engine Companies allows you to simply click where you the water to be directed. The new auto ladder command lets the player click on any window or rooftop and the ladder will automatically extend to the exact point you have set. The scene light will even automatically aim to where you have pointed the ladder.This is useful when you want to save time, or maybe need a way out of a hairy situation.

Items and Inventory

I wanted to make the inventory and item system a little more user friendly by adding hotkeys to pick up items off the floor or quickly equip them from your inventory rather than having to navigate to each one through the radial menu. This will help you save time on the fire floor.

Gauges

The driving experience in EmergeNYC is a major part of the game and improving many aspects of this was high priority on my task list. Working gauges now show you your speed and RPMs as well as other useful information such as what gear you're in, if the blinkers are on or off, and eventually things such as low fuel, overheating from damage, and more. 3D Animated gauges are now on every fire truck in the game.

Sounds

While that is a nice addition, thanks to our new developer in training program (Ill touch base on this at the end of the video)EmergeNYC has made a huge leap in immersion with this update with brand new vehicle sounds. All engine sounds and siren sounds have been completely redone. Teaming up with our new developer LC, we spent close to 2 weeks focusing on seeing how we could improve the sounds of EmergeNYC which are a huge part of the immersion. Using real audio clips and recordings as well as reference from the actual sirens being created and countless hours of tweaking, we have been able to create virtually the exact sounds going into even the smallest details. We have added rumblers which the FDNY has recently begun to put on all of their trucks. If you dont like the sound you can easily turn it off. Each company has a unique airhorn sound and engine sounds are correct corresponding to which engine the unit uses in real life. Every truck sounds different. We dramatically improved the Q Sirens and have included different model mechanical sirens ranging from the Federal Model 28 , older Q Sirens, and newer Q Sirens.
The sirens also switch between automatic modes more realistically. These changes may seem like they are not important however these really enhance the immersion of the game and we know they will be a player favorite.

Steering Wheel Support

Steering wheel support is now native in EmergeNYC with a quick setup allowing players to hook up their peripherals such as pedals, steering wheels, and other external inputs. Here you can see LC using his complete setup to play EmergeNYC.

Interiors

In this update we went back and finished any interiors that had not been completed yet, this includes the Montgomery County Fire stations as well as the Police Precincts and Hospital Interiors on each map. Each having a unique look.

Several new features have been added to enhance the multiplayer experience and make it easier on all players. A new player list shows who is loaded and still needs to load into the game, a new score system will be added where things can negatively or positively impact your score for example how many fires you put out will give you a higher score versus hitting traffic or parked cars will decrease your score. A Respawn option lets people teleport back to their firehouse with one click and returns all items and systems back to normal for a quick pack up if you prefer not to wait.

Multiplayer Optimization

To address your concerns about Multiplayer and optimization I can guarantee you there will be improvements all across the board and it is one of our top priorities along with all game breaking issues. I play multiplayer 90% of the time so I know how important it is to the core concept of the game. If you watch the video you can see steady frames all the way through and most of the video was shot in Multiplayer. The complications arise from having to network all the data from all players across the network and the more players you add into that equation the more data it needs to pass and performance issues arise. I am skilled enough to not rely on a hired developer to assist me with any of these issues anymore and can now figure out the best ways to get the best performance on my own. That’s why this update has taken so long, the end point here is the more time worked on this before release the more solid and stable end product and more satisfied less frustrated and disappointed players

Thank You!

Thank you for the support and the patience especially. I know I have kept you all waiting but I promise you I have been working my butt off every day 24/7 even spent the entire days sifting through hours of footage and editing this video while away visiting family. I bought my pc with me in a checked bag to keep working while I’m away and my monitor broke in the process and had to buy a new one. Goes to show I’m not letting anything stop me from trying to get this update pushed out as soon as possible. I want to make sure everything that I’ve shown you guys works as it should with no major issues. There are still things to address and some could take me 5 minutes to fix and others a few days. So that’s the reason I don’t want to give a release date but ideally I am personally aiming to release by Christmas week. I cannot make any promises though so do not take that as a solid answer.