Hi all,

We've been working further on the most critical issues, mainly regarding nonVR and derailments. Soon, as things stabilize, we aim to move on to adding new features too (e.g. Hazmat jobs).


Whistle rope and draft on the steam locomotive can now be used in nonVR. HUD has also been improved, as well as keyboard driving controls, now smooth.


In this build we haven't made direct improvements to derailment physics, but we did some changes to brakes that should reduce derailments caused by braking.

Namely, train brake handle now allows more precision at low application level, and on the locomotive itself brakes are significantly less powerful than before, causing less train compression. This will be further improved by dynamically adjusting brake power for specific car mass in future builds.

Thank you all for your continual feedback! We're reading it all. Some small fixes also made it to this build:


Simulation:

- Made brakes less sensitive to light application
- Reduced locomotive braking power
- Further tweaked derailments

NonVR:

- Fixed switch remote not working properly since last build
- Improved HUD appearance (WIP)
- Made draft and whistle usable in nonVR
- Further improved keyboard train controls, now smooth
- G key now does weak throw, removed MMB throw
- Fixed switch remote aiming incorrectly

General:

- Slightly increased track “clearance” space, so that they’re not packed switch-to-switch
- Fixed job validator beeping infinitely when taking money in nonVR or using wallet in VR
- Cash register now returns money to wallet if player walks away from it
- Made water surfaces blue in the map
- Tweaked option names

Hey everyone,

Today we have a new build. First of all, it brings:


- NonVR Resolution options (should work in 21:9 too)
- NonVR Teleporting
- NonVR Keyboard train controls
- NonVR Old Bob's garage vehicle
- NonVR Console command to disable HUD
- NonVR Press numbers to select item slot


We did some further fixes to derailments too. This might eliminate "random derailments" altogether, but we're not sure until it's tested further.


Today we've also radically updated our http://www.derailvalley.com/roadmap/. Check it out!



Early next week we will improve the looks of the HUD in nonVR. CPU optimizations didn't make it into this build, but should be in soon.


Options:

- Added screen resolution option

Controls:

- NonVR: Added teleport (key F)
- NonVR: Added keyboard train controls
\ U/Y: Throttle
\ J/H: Reverser
\ M/N: Brake
- NonVR: Added slot selection via 0-9 keys
- Added item equip/unequip sounds (back)
- Updated controls booklet page for nonVR

Vehicles:

- Further improved derailment
- NonVR: Added secret rail vehicle (keyboard only)

Game:

- Reduced price of water
- Fixed a money duplication exploit
- Reduced job booklet spawn rotation randomness
- Disabled deleting cars when player is in car

Console:

- Added debug.toggleui command to hide/unhide UI

Hi all,

Today we're adding graphics options to Derail Valley. This should particularly help players running the game on lower-end GPUs, but also allows you to crank up graphics to higher than default.



Based on some of our players' feedback, we have hence reduced the game's minimum requirements from GTX 1070 to GTX 760 for nonVR mode (1070 remains minimum for VR).

Note that graphics options are work in progress, and we are yet to add resolution options. We are working on adding them in the next few days. Important: default settings are the ones shown in the screenshot.

For some players CPU may still be the bottleneck. If graphics options don't help much please have in mind that we are also working on CPU optimizations that should be done by the end of the week! There are a few more changes in this build:


Options:

- Added graphics options (WIP, no resolution yet)
- Added sound volume option

Controls:

- Added tilt to nonVR lean

Gameplay:

- Fixed cash register money duplication exploit

Debug:

- Output log now includes system info (CPU, GPU, RAM, etc.)

Hi all,


As you know there have been some remaining quirks with derailments. We've done some changes to improve them. You should be able to pull all kinds of trains now, loaded or unloaded at reasonable speeds through turns.

Do note however that hard braking can cause a derailment due to train compression forces. Slowly engage your brake.

Wheel squeal sound cue has been reworked in order to fit the new derailment settings. When you hear a deep grind you should start worrying.


This week we plan to do various improvements for non-VR. The first is the addition of lean, using Q and E keys. Another is inclusion of using arrows for movement, for left-handed players. There's more to come in a few days.


Some of you noticed that sometimes you'd be thrown out of a shunter while in smooth locomotion. This was happening if you'd lean more than 30cm and is now fixed.


Previously we added a temporary feature that your last used train will spawn next to you if you respawned or loaded the game. This caused some confusion among players however, thinking that the shunter never spawns. We've now changed this so that shunter will always spawn regardless of your last used vehicle.


- Fixed brakes getting unapplied when pausing (also fixes runaway trains)
- Fixed service station sometimes not working
- Fixed essential items sometimes missing


Derailment:

- Fixed cars derailing in turns seemingly randomly
- Updated derailment parameters and sound cue

Controls:

- Fixed leaning in shunter causing player to be pulled out
- NonVR: Added leaning (Q/E)
- NonVR: Arrow keys do same as WASD

Gameplay:

- Load game and respawn to nearest station will now always spawn a shunter (temp.)

Service station:

- Fixed being unable to refill a resource sometimes
- Fixed cash register buttons rarely not responding
- Fixed station remaining occupied after a serviced locomotive gets deleted

Vehicles:

- Fixed tender being too far from steam locomotive (WIP)
- Fixed brakes releasing when game unpaused / headset idle awake

Items:

- Fixed essential items missing after respawning to nearest station

Hey all,

Last night's build #50 had an issue starting on the Oculus store. We've made a quick patch fixing that in build #51. Enjoy!


Platform:

- Fixed the game not starting for Oculus users
- Preemptively fixed Touch controllers issue if there are both Oculus Remote and a gamepad attached to computer

Hey all,

Thanks for all your feedback! We've been busy fixing remaining critical bugs. Here's what made it to this round:


Since launch, some of our Oculus users weren't able to play Derail Valley. Their controllers were not working properly in-game, making it impossible to pass the tutorial. After days of poking around, we found the cause to be Oculus remote interfering with Touch controllers in VRTK, the underlying input system that powers Derail Valley. We made a potential fix for this (but weren't able to test it ourselves yet).


These bugs introduced in the previous build are now resolved. Starting the game will spawn in an actual nearest station. Spawned trains now have brakes applied too.


WMR controls are now complete, supporting usage of joysticks for movement as well as touchpad clicking for teleport and snap-turning.


Using options other than the main "play" button in Steam makes it possible to start VR version of the game without actually having a VR headset. Now, if the game starts in VR it will automatically fallback to non-VR if no headset was found.


- Fixed a terrain bump near Forest South
- Fixed offset teleporting in a moving train
- Map indicator is now always visible


Gameplay:

- Cars in station will no longer regenerate so closely
- Fixed cash register money-making exploit
- Map player indicator is now always visible

Savegame:

- Fixed game load always spawning player at north-east

Vehicles:

- Fixed spawned locomotives not having brakes applied

World:

- Fixed terrain bump over tracks near Forest South
- Somewhat widened loading loops in Iron and Coal mines
- Updated city buildings with higher-res textures
- Fixed Sawmill load machines being swapped

Controls:

- Added touchpad clicks on WMR for teleport, snap turn, page flipping
- Alternatively can be used via joystick
- Fixed misaligned teleporting in fast moving trains (esp. at low FPS)

Platform:

- Potentially fixed Rift controllers not working properly for some users in Oculus SDK version
- Starting VR version without a headset will now fallback to non-VR automatically
- Updated Oculus SDK to 1.32.1

Hey all,

We read and watch most if not all of your feedback, therefore making a prioritized list of issues. We can't address them all at once, but we started with the most critical ones. Build #49 is now up! Here's what we could do in the past few days:


When you derail, a pop-up will inform you that there's a respawn button in the menu. The button will teleport both you and your last used locomotive to the nearest station. This is especially needed for our non-VR players.


Savegame, being work in progress and unable to save trains and ongoing job, now clearly says so in the main menu. In addition, rather than spawn you in the middle of nowhere without a train, loading will instead spawn you at the nearest station, along with your last used locomotive. Note that the savegame still cannot save ongoing jobs.


There was a bug with loaded/heavy cars being too sensitive to derailment. This should be fixed now. We are also testing potential fixes for derailments occurring on straight tracks, as well as the tender being prone to fly away or at least derail. Please let us know if you experience any of these issues again.


Oculus SDK is now available as a launch option on Steam. For many players on Rift, the performance is much better running an Oculus SDK instead of SteamVR. This option is not useful for other types of headsets.


There should be a lot less of them, at least!


We've done an initial iteration of improvements for WMR controllers, with help from our awesome testers. Please try the game and let us know. Note that if you're unable to use the switch remote (or some other items), it might help to toggle the option in Main Menu > Misc > "Use grip to teleport (Vive)". These controls are work in progress and will be further improved.

Apart from these, there have been other smaller changes:


Physics:

- Fixed heavy/loaded cars being very sensitive to derailment
- Potentially fixed tender being prone to random derailments
- Temporarily removed water hatch for testing
- Potentially fixed random derailments occurring on straight track
- Fixed unpause doing damage/shaking to vehicles

Gameplay:

- Added “Respawn at nearest station” button
- Teleports you to the nearest station together with last used locomotive
- Note that the locomotive will be restocked to new condition. This is temporary.
- Clears all your active jobs
- Added a “you derailed” tip, explaining what to do

Savegame:

- Game now loads player spawned at the nearest station from save location
- Like “Respawn” option, it also spawns last used locomotive, in new condition
- This is a temporary workaround until the savegame can handle ongoing jobs
- Now every station has at least one locomotive
- Added note to main menu that savegame is work in progress
- Fixed player being flipped at game load if savegame was made in a flipped train

World:

- Greatly reduced trees and rocks on tracks
- Added an extra locomotive spawn stub track to many stations
- Fixed a few railway bumps and irregularities
- Updated schematic maps and some faulty track names

Controls:

- Improved Windows Mixed Reality controller mapping (WIP)
- If unable to use the switch remote (or some other items), try toggling option in Main Menu > Misc > Use grip to teleport (Vive)
- Fixed Rift joysticks being difficult to flick when playing in SteamVR

Tutorial:

- Tutorial tip now points to individual items in the locker
- Fixed locker interior being dark

Oculus SDK:

- Added Oculus SDK as a launch option on Steam
- Somewhat improves performance for Rift users
- Not to be used with other headsets

Hey all,

We've been hard at work to finish the savegame features ASAP. The game now autosaves, and licenses and garages can be unlocked.

• Savegame does not save trains and jobs in progress yet. When leaving the game they will be treated as abandoned.
  
  
• In non-VR the secret new vehicle unlock won't show up (in VR it will). This is temporary and will be fixed soon. The progress however is saved and will appear properly once we patch it.
  
  
• For now, please keep a backup of your savegame outside of game data dir (DerailValley_Data/SaveGameData), to make sure an update won't overwrite it

Build #48 - January 26, 2019:

Gameplay:

- Added unlocking mechanic

Savegame:

- Progress is now auto-saved every 30 seconds
- Saved data includes:
- Tutorial completion
- Player’s position
- Inventory contents
- Money amount
- Acquired licenses, keys and unlocks
- Currently active job's progress is NOT saved, WIP
- The "-skiptutorial" flag has been disabled
- It’s recommended to keep a copy of your save file, outside of the game data dir,
to prevent Steam/Oculus potentially overwriting it during updates

Vehicles:

- Added secret new rail vehicle

See you soon with the next update!

Hey everyone,

Derail Valley is now available in Early Access! It can be played both with and without a VR headset. As an example of non-VR gameplay, see this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSl4HVZHpXE

When you start the game for the first time, Steam will offer you to choose whether to play in VR or non-VR mode.

Important note - we are still working on adding:

- License unlocking
- Garage unlocking
- Savegame

We expect to have them finished and patched-in in several hours.

Known issues and solutions:

- If you are missing controllers at game start, do restart the game until they show up.
- If you drop under terrain to water level, teleport/walk to nearest shore to climb back up.

This post may be further expanded. Have fun!

We know this is the last thing you want to hear, but we are postponing the release for a week, until 25th January 2019.

Despite working day and night for months on getting this right, we had to do last minute changes that made it impossible to test essential features (savegame, non-VR controls, railways, tutorial, license unlocking). Some critical problems became apparent literally 30 minutes ago, hence the late news of the postponement.

We know this news is very bad. The game would have been received even worse if those things didn’t work out properly at launch. The decision was difficult to make, but given the circumstances, also the best.

Before getting upset too much, please consider that an open world train simulator of this kind has never been done before, as well as a VR game of this scale. As a 5-member team that’s been working endlessly and in a lot of stress to pull this off, all I can say is that we made a mistake and we’re sorry.

The game is 99.9% complete for release, and as soon as it is tested over the weekend it will be sent to media and influencers for a review (another thing we were unable to do due to being too much focused to meeting the deadline).

The definitive release will be next Friday.

-Slobodan