Jul 22, 2019

Devlog #2: Usability and Back-End Progress

BROKE PROTOCOL - NongBenz

Hello everyone, this is the second installment of our ongoing devlog series. These news posts will highlight key elements of our development process and decision making towards the upcoming milestone update: 1.0. Much of the focus over the past couple of weeks has been on improving usability with some cool new features and back-end changes.
So, what exactly have we been working on?

New Master Server code

So one of the first things we worked on was a new master server handler. This one has been created from the ground up again using .NET Core for improved stability and efficiency along with cutting dependence on the bloated Unity runtime.
We made it future-proof by using JSON for serialization and deserialization. This will allow us to add new properties without breaking third party API’s relying on the master list (such as the handy BP-ServerList)

Entity Database

Previously, all in-game items, buildings, players, vehicles and their associated parameters, textures, meshes, and audio effects were locked away within inaccessible engine resource files. Now, we’re finally exporting entity data into an external LiteDB database.

This new entity handling will offer API level access to entity fields and methods (in the BrokeProtocol namespace). And another cool thing is that (post 1.0) it can eventually allow easier client-side and server-side modding of new and existing objects and items. We’re re-designing our systems to be as flexible as possible with the API and modding in mind.

End-User License Agreement

Now that the API is nearing, we need to set some base rules about what’s allowed and what’s prohibited. That’s why we created the EULA. The goals were to protect our copyright, but also protect users from aggressive or unethical monetization from servers.

As a game that thrives on 3rd-party community support, we can’t directly control everything. However, we can have a license that protects users against abusive or offensive practices outlined below.

Hosting
Servers may create communities and provide custom content in the form of different mods, settings, rulesets, and gameplay elements. In order to protect players, Servers must not:

Sell privileges or content for an exorbitant fee
Charge for anything resembling administrator powers
Circumvent any anti-piracy measures nor enable access to stolen Intellectual Property
Undermine or attempt to circumvent any provisions of this license

User-Generated Content
If you’ve bought the Program, you may create or run modifications, maps, plugins, or tools. Mods are welcome but may not be distributed nor hosted on Servers if they are:

Unoriginal, stolen, or contain a substantial part of copyrightable code or content
Offensive, racist, homophobic, sexist, slanderous, or otherwise illegal
Charged for an exorbitant fee
Provide an unfair advantage to users

The license is still permissive about monetizing your server in a reasonable way to account for server costs. It just protects against abuse that could harm the game and community in the long-run. You will have to agree to this to download the game and once more to host a server.

Console Window

We’ve used BP-ConsoleMonitor since almost always. But this was just a log tail program with no input functionality. coloring, cursor position, etc were all extremely limited due to it being a log tail program in the end just reading output_log.txt or Player.log in newer versions line by line.
So now when you start the server using the Server.bat file it will attach to an existing console window if the parent is a cmd window, if not allocate and attach to the newly created cmd window. This allows the server to close when you press the close button now too, instead of going to task manager.

Because this supports input too now, you can register server console commands using the API as well. There are two already existing: “exit” and “save”. Both are pretty self-explanatory: “exit” is now the preferred exit method as it saves the server as well before safely exiting. Note that when you terminate the process using task manager the process being terminated cannot respond to said action, which results in data loss.

Project Repository Migration

Before we were using BitBucket, but we’ve decided to switch to GitHub. At first, this didn’t work due to the 100MB upload limit at GitHub. Fortunately, Git-LFS exists and after installing that we bypassed that problem.

Damn you libcef.dll for being 104.82MB!
Since our Issue Tracker and Wiki are on GitHub, it just made sense to migrate there. And GitHub also features more tools and even the possibility to integrate code commits with our Trello roadmap.

API

So now onto the API part. We’ve added a ColorParser so you can use the Minecraft color codes which automatically get parsed to unity RichText. This will be handy for color-coded string because for example:
&6Hello &cWorld&1!
looks a lot better than
<color=#D9A334>Hello</color> <color=#FE3F3F>World</color><color=#0000BE>!</color>
Which is how it looks under the hood.

We also added back function key support so you can now detect when a client presses a function key as well as open or close the function key menu, with your custom text.
Resources can also target specific versions now if you have a resource that targets a very specific version of the game, or if compatibility breaks in a future update.

GunGame Example Resource

Yes, one of the example resources will be a GunGame game mode. For the people who do not know what this is:
You start with a weapon, for example, a pistol and after a set amount of kills using that weapon you get the next weapon in the list. You keep doing this until you get the last weapon and make a kill with it, which results in a game. This is in most cases a knife, but that can easily be changed.
The config file will look something like this.
(This game mode will be released along with the docs and other examples next update.)

General Bug-Fixing and Improvements

As a reminder, we’ve archived our #bugs and #suggestions channels on the Official Discord in favor of our GitHub Issue Tracker. And we’ve been knocking bugs and issues off this list regularly. We’ve cleaned up the unneeded code and improved existing code. Optimization in packet handling, leveraging better libraries, and cleaner connection and authentication handling allows for faster and easier to maintain code on our end and a smoother experience for end-users.

That’s about it, we hope to release another dev log soon(ish) and be sure to follow our development progress on our Trello Roadmap.

Thanks for following along,
@NongBenz and @UserR00T

Jul 22, 2019

Version EA 3.30

Stay Alive: Apocalypse - Mehan Games

You CAN'T play old save files with this version.

WARNING: New improvements in this update may cause new errors. I will try to fix any errors you have reported as soon as possible. Thanks in advance for your help.

The main character weapon holding animations do not work for now, and the character type does not change when you select a prebuilded character. These errors will be fixed in the next update.

Features

Unity version updated to 2019.1.11f1
Now the player character can be selected from all NPC models
Added prebuilded character selection option
Grass mesh changed
Added tonemapping setting
Sun shadows improved
You can wash dirty clothes by placing soap or detergent in at least 3 liters of water.
The key configuration for the controller can be changed
Vender stands can be spawn on the roads
Turkish Ravioli food added (made with meat, margarine, dough and 0.5 / 1 liter water)
Gaining full trust or love from an NPC or completing NPC quests now gives Karma
OC system optimized for multi-core processors
The game now have full controller support (Need more tests)

Changes

The probability of the horde coming was increased and the zombies were running at full speed at the time of the horde (after the second day)
Script for main character management changed completely (Thousands of code edits made)
Visual change has been made in the carried object placement system
Lamps no longer turn on instantly
Listed Keys changed to "Q Menu Keys"
Q menu now come as default
Minor changes made on Q menu
Clan favors reduced to 20 points and trade confidence reduced by 10 times (Clan selection will be added with next update)
Game camera updates
Q Menu opens with C closes with the same button
Ayarlar file name changed to Settings (You have to made your settings again)
Minor changes made for the NPC Dialogue screen
General graphic changes no longer affect sea quality and vehicle mirrors

Fixes

Fast weapon replacement menu locks character if there is no weapon in inventory - Fixed
No upgrade option available when Q menu is open
Manhole covers and airplane drops names are "ss"
Falling doors from vehicles can be opened
In the event of collision with other vehicles, all other doors and windows of the other vehicle fall to the floor
When the Q menu is open, it acts as if it were a controller
No droplets appear in the sewer
When you select Free mode and go back, new game problems arise
In some cases, the carried object can be thrown continuously
Drinking dirty water does not increase the rate of dirtiness
Stacks ignored when collecting science points
Unable to remove falling doors
Returning to the main menu and entering or installing new games causes problems
Shadows flicker until you get in and out of a taxi when start the game as taxi driver
Auto saves do not appear in saved games

Fixes (Need More Tests)

Zombies spawning on houses, cars and objects
Vehicles break up chock and plastic falls from chock