Good morning community! This morning 08/10/2022 will mark the beginning of many infrastructure and hardware upgrades. The current stage of the upgrades is Account Migration to upgrade the current servers.

Players should be aware that the initial upgrades are unlikely to cause any major issues, as our initial migrations to the current servers were successful. However, due to the new AWS requirements some players may experience periodic login failures during the upgrade process.

For those curious as to why we've chosen this time to update the servers I'll briefly explain why this decision was made. The Repopulation servers and hardware are both considered to have aged into the legacy category by AWS. Recently their company made the decision that they will no longer be supporting these servers. We must attempt to bring Repop up-to-date with their policy. However, this is not without many risks involved due to its age.

During the late hours of Thursday and Friday of this week we intend to work specifically on the portions of the transition and upgrade that directly affect The Repopulation.

The last two steps will be the game server migration to the new AWS setup. It is our hope to minimize any downtime. Due to the age of the operating systems, hardware, and software there are a number of imponderables that may result in lengthier downtime than we anticipate.

We thank you in advance for your continued patience. If any hiccups occur, we'll post updates to this thread.

Good morning, everyone!


We’ve officially rang in the New Year of 2022. While we hope everyone is well, some of our staff has had a bumpy start to 2022 so far. New years handed us Covid, a broken arm and hand, and other medical issues - setting us up for a rocky start in January. While we haven’t yet resorted to living in a bubble we have had to delay our big announcement for just a little longer. The good news is that the team is on the mend, and we have started to get back on pace.

This update will go into a bit more depth of what we have been working through the last three months. As many of you know we hit a snag last quarter regarding the optimizations of the animations and the female faces. We also have done some reductions to help optimize the island for players and to be able to account for the high overhead vs. the mem cache crashing issue. In addition, there were a few fixes as well we will go into.


Disclaimer: Each section we have broken down what we have done, and that individual performance boost. We have only touched upon a few specific areas, so each section is not the total optimization and performance boost.

In total, the performance boost these updates have produced is close to 22% of all overhead on the old mainland and close to 15% on the Island.


As some of you know, we came into the game a couple weekends ago to apply a live hotfix and testing. This has helped to bring down some of the overhead. Some of the players got to have a short time of having lanterns and lamps in their housing and guild plots while testing the overhead of the game, effect on the players present and over all mem cache size.

The first applied fixes were a few physics updates and fixes. We reverted a few of the scripts back to engine default and some minor adjustments to some custom files that were in place that override some of the defaults.

In a few of the guilds and personal housing plots we placed a multitude of lanterns and lamps. Players were able to move fine without any noticeable drop in FPS/performance, and they were able to celebrate the Lunar New Year in style.

In addition to fixing and updating some of the scripts, we also updated the physical physics capsule for many of the assets. This means we used HE’s physics tool panel (Physics Shape Editor http://hewiki.heroengine.com/wiki/Physics_panel#Physics_Shape_Editor ) and went from “exact mesh” physics to either “convex hull” or “box”. We chose the type that best fit the use and purpose of the asset.

A few of the older ABT assets that were causing issues (Either able to run through them or had a HUGE physics collision mesh around them) were also cleaned up and updated.

The script side seems to have helped the entire game performance very slightly, ranging between 2-6% depending on the area.


Dev Server:

• Assets mesh optimized: 650+
  
• Fixed changes made to the physics .ini
  
• Assets physics optimized: 800+
  
• Changed physics shape from “exact mesh” physics to “convex hull” on generic assets
  
• Changed physics shape from “exact mesh” physics to “box” for signs and other box shaped assets
  
• Changed physics duplication to replicated “physics nodes” where possible

This fix has improved the overhead by almost 10% and reduces the mem cache by almost 12%.

One of the other things we tested with the players was a small hotfix applied to how lighting works on assets. ABT had in the past removed any dynamic lighting in housing due to how the assets were made, lights increasing draw calls and mem leaks. We believe we’ve partially fixed this issue.

During our live update and testing with the players, we placed several lights around the housing plots with both old and new assets, including the lanterns.

The best part, aside from being able to see our surroundings and other players at night, was that it did not cause anyone to crash or lag once we had a dozen in. Granted, we do not recommend adding that many in a single scene, but it was a great test. It was even better to be able to see other players and the great housing decorations/styles at night!

This fix reduce the overhead of having dynamic light sources in place by close to 12%, and fps/performance by 3-15% depending on connection and specs.

*This fix does not reduce draw calls.


In order to help with performance on the Island many NPC have been removed from the Area - RIN District: Strt_02. The remaining NPC are associated with missions. Once the new NPC System, and Character Models have been created NPC will no longer be such a burden and will once again be numerously populated in areas without issue.

The following NPC have been removed from Area - RIN District: Strt_02:

• Kathryn Gutteridge - Armor Vendor
  
• Stephanie Canak - Cybernetics Vendor
  
• Lisa Fain - Harvesting Tools Vendor
  
• Glenn Cunningham - Tailor
  
• Academic Advisor
  
• Ambassador
  
• Ambassador’s Guard
  
• Defense Advisor
  
• Officer of Energy
  
• Officer of Environment
  
• Officer of Infrastructure
  
• Carpentry Supplies
  
• Metallurgist Supplies
  
• Culinary Supplies

Please note players will still be able to find these vendor NPC on the mainland. The Advisor and Officer NPC remain in the FPR and OWON Embassies at this time. However, these NPC roles have not yet been added to any content lines. They are simply placeholders which give a visual for coming roles and content.

This fix reduce the overhead by 15%, andreduces mem cache by 15-25%


Over the last three months we have learned more about how the characters were put together from the models, rigs, skin weights to the animations. It has been a long journey unraveling some of those, but it has also been rewarding as well. An older yet still very good and relevant video by Mike Pickton can be found here explaining rigging and skin weights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpU1yqsT8_A

The good news is that this gave us more of a boost in overhead and performance than we had expected. However, it has been tricky to figure out why and how the face skin weights were tied to the idle animations, and the different ways this was done backend.

We found a few different ways they attached animations to the characters, females were done completely differently, hence the weird looking face on them when we applied that initial update.

Females had used at least three different methods for assigning animations to the characters:

• the engine’s default generic animation controller
  
• default HJ’s _RP (RolePlay) controller
  
• modified _RP controller

The other oddity we found was that each animation was done separately and not in animation groups. Upon saying this, we have tested the fixes for the update and are now going through each of the animations to apply said fix to them. We are currently about 20% done as of this article.

We are still unsure why the skin weights or bones in the face were used for most of the animations, but we are happy we were able to find out the “how’s” and get those fixed and out to you soon.

We are still unable to find all the instances where animations are loaded and unloaded, nor why the ‘destroy” was overridden in several places. The cache still does build up over time, but it is smaller now, and does get destroyed when you enter a non-adjacent area (teleport to another location).

This fix has reduced the overhead by almost 45% and reduced the mem cache by near 31%.

We want to end this by saying thank you to all the players that participated in the live hotfix/update and testing. It was a lot of fun and we were able to get a nice jump start on the physics and dynamic light system fixes.

By mid march we should have a much better idea of when we will be able to push the next update. Our primary roadblock is the female animations, so by that time, we will be able to give you a much better idea of when the game update will be coming and what to expect.

As always we look forward to your feedback. Please feel free to join us on our main forum or our Discord channel to continue discussion there.



P.S. Below is a short list as an example of the process to get these all updated while keeping the overhead gains as well as what was done in the process. It does not go into what is left yet, as there is not an actual lookup list of all animations, nor who uses which ones.


1. action: need gender variable in repopmale1 biped agent.aas to use in branched logic
2. action: need setting of gender variable in the HSL animation agent script
3. action: in bipedagent.aas (repopmale1) branch logic based on Gender variable for idles
idle.asq - multiplexor for male animations

4. action: update animationset.dat in (repopmale1) to load new female based asqs
5. action: repopfemale idle.asq usages

• .AddSequence=idle_male 90
  
• .AddSequence=idle_male2 2
  
• .AddSequence=idle_male3 40
  
• .AddSequence=idle_male4 15
  
• .AddSequence=idle_male5 10
  
• - copy on disk to rename them
  
• - copy corresponding .gr2 or hgms to rename them corresponding to asqs
  
• idle_female_multiA.asq
  
• idle_female_multiB.asq
  
• idle_female_multiC.asq
  
• idle_female_multiD.asq
  
• idle_female_multiE.asq

6. action: update repopmale1 animationset.dat to add in

• idle_female_multiplexor.asq
  
• idle_female_multiA.asq
  
• idle_female_multiB.asq
  
• idle_female_multiC.asq
  
• idle_female_multiD.asq
  
• idle_female_multiE.asq

7. action: Assess necessity of moving certain dyc and par files to repopmale directory
ends up not needed, as the pathing is absolute not relative to the character specification folder

8. action: add Gender variable to repopmale bipedagent.aas
branch logic in idle, muted and combat idle situations

9. action: Modify RP_ACCCCharacterControllerClassMethods
use GetCharacterSpecification to get specification to imply gender

10. action: upload to repopmale1 directory structure

• repopmale1 - animationset.dat
  
• repopmale1 - bipedagent.aas
  
• idle_female_multiplexor.asq
  
• idle_female_multiA.asq
  
• idle_female_multiB.asq
  
• idle_female_multiC.asq
  
• idle_female_multiD.asq
  
• idle_female_multiE.asq
  
• idle_female_multiA.gr2 or hgm
  
• idle_female_multiB.gr2 or hgm
  
• idle_female_multiC.gr2 or hgm
  
• idle_female_multiD.gr2 or hgm
  
• idle_female_multiE.gr2 or hgm
  
• combat_idle_female.asq
  
• combat_idle_female_come_here.asq
  
• combat_idle_female_crit_blend.asq
  
• IDLE_AIM_SHOOTINGPISTOL_FEMALE_1H.asq
  
• combat_idle_female_dodge.asq
  
• combat_idle_female_melee.asq
  
• combat_idle_female_drawn_rifle.asq
  
• combat_idle_female_rifle.asq
  
• combat_idle_female_drawn_handgun
  
• combat_idle_female_drawn_shotgun
  
• combat_idle_female_handgun
  
• combat_idle_female_rifle
  
• combat_idle_female_melee
  
• combat_idle_female_come_here.gr2
  
• combat_idle_female_dodge.gr2
  
• combat_pistol_female_idle_shoot.hgm
  
• combat_idle_female_melee.hgm
  
• combat_rifle_idle_female_held.hgm
  
• idle_aim_female_rifle.hgm
  
• combat_pistol_idle_female_shoot.hgm
  
• combat_sword_female_idle.hgm

11. action: debug character selection

• why is gender being set to male? Script? No, default order in bipedagent...
  
• why isn't character accc controller properly setting gender
  
• why is it creating a default heroengine accc controller class?
  
• oh, repop overrode $ACCC but did not implement the method to specify
  
• create RP_ACCCClassMethods, implement proper override

HAPPY HOLIDAYS COMMUNITY!
HAPPY HOGMANAY, MERRY CHRISTMAS, MERRY YULE, HAPPY HANUKKAH, HAPPY KWANZAA, BOXING DAY!


Good morning community! It’s that time for our monthly article post. We do apologize as we are running a bit behind on our article schedule. As we reach the end of the year we want to wish everyone very happy and safe holidays. These last couple of months have been very busy for us at Repop. We’ll be bringing you more news on what we’ve been up to in our January 2022 Article. Januarys’ article will include information concerning an optimization update, an updated roadmap, and an exciting announcement. For this article, however, we want to reflect on what progress we’ve made this year and what we’ve learned. So let’s jump in and review.




This year we have released three patches and several Hotfixes. Early in 2022, we’ll be releasing another optimization Patch as well. That date will be released closer to its arrival.

• Patch A.00.03.16
  
• Patch A.00.03.40
  
• Patch A.00.03.41
  
• Hotfixes bring us to the current A.00.03.95

Much of this year was dedicated to the design, and early stages of development of several systems revamp. As well as the release of our last Road Map. We will be covering this in more detail during January’s article. To include what development work we have been up to during October, November, and the current month of December.




In our May/June update we had a chance to show off some of the work being done to optimize art assets, GUI, and Animations. Sarrene, was able to clean up and create furniture for future recipes during this time. We also had the opportunity to begin showing off parts of the New Item System. Our team even welcomed a new member.



The July/August update was a great chance to take a deep dive into the technical side of things. It allowed us to give you all a better view of the coming GUI and how Item Creation works now vs our New Item System.



As per usual, The Repopulation decided to give us a surprise in September. While continuing to clean up Character Animations for optimization we were quite literally faced with an odd issue. We found that the Female Charter FaceGen morphs were attached to the skin weights for the Idle Animations. Resulting in a terrifying new look for the ladies.



This issue has since been investigated and a fix is being implemented before the next Patch is deployed. Since we were on the topic of characters we gave the community a closer look at the New Character Creation System UX.



During October/November we did not release an article due to time constraints. However, we hope that our next article in January will make up for this. While also giving you insight into how busy we have been.




As we wrap up this year we look to 2022 for renewed momentum and change. Our team would like to take the opportunity to thank all of you who make up our community and have stood by us. The last two years have been hard on the world, and your continued support has helped keep us motivated. It is our hope that the coming year of production will prove it was worth it to stand by us. As always we look forward to your feedback. We’ll see you all again in January with our next announcement. Until then may your holidays be safe and bright.

Good morning community! Last month we let you know that we would be doing a featurette about the Characters, both Player and Non-Player characters. This is primarily what this month is about. Yet it is a bit longer than a featurette. We are also including an update to our development on the Character side. So grab a cup of coffee and sit back.

This month's article is focused on some of the joys and difficulties we have encountered with the NPC’s. During this process, we have learned many things and realized additional ways in which we can improve the new system. The challenges we have faced not only mean that we can make improvements in the game but with the engine as well.

Initially, we had thought we could update the PC’s and NPC models to be more efficient by removing parts that were not needed and consolidating set textures. However, as we started to investigate and experiment on this process we found that the performance boost would have been less than a 1% boost. In addition, we were able to find where some of the more expensive overhead was coming from during our tests.

We set up a clean area and tested by loading in 500+ characters via the default HE method, and only saw a 1-5% performance drop depending on the computer system. We started to do the same test using the Repop method and around 10 npc’s the performance had dropped over 40-50% across all computer systems. When we combined both tests together the performance drop was the same as with only the 10 using the Repop method. We were able to narrow down some of the major issues. This was a good thing!


The main two issues we found that have caused some major latency and/or crashing problems related to The Repopulation are 1) Extremely large audio files loading and reloading, 2) the NPC State system, more specifically on this topic, the number of animations.

Currently, there are between 2 to 3+ sets of animations that are loading for all characters depending on the character type. In this article, we will be covering only humanoid characters that are Player Characters (PC) and Non-Player Characters (NPC). The way the prior team set up the animations was not wrong, but it does cause a lot of excess and unnecessary loading and unloading from character selection to area transition (changing zones).

The downside is that out of three sets of animations, rp_male, rp_male1, rp_female, the corresponding animations for each are identical. They are just in different directories with slightly different names. An example of this is:

• Rp_male_idle1
  
• Rp_male1_idle1
  
• Rp_female_idle1

Each of these are identical down to the binary data. The only thing that is different is the name and the location of those said animations. We found some notes that indicated this might have been done temporarily and each outside of the rp_male were used as placeholders until later. However, for data that is identical, there is a lot of wasted overhead and loading/unloading.

Just one directory contains 20.5 MB of animation files. There are multiple directories and files that span across humanoid and non-humanoid NPC’s. Some of the NPC’s even have multiple animation files loading, such as the
Faugea, they load Repop_Male files plus the Faugea animation files.




Our testing allowed us to dig deeper into the performance drops and crashing to the desktop. The second issue is how the NPC States system was set up and works. This is why you can have many players in an area without too much drop in performance, yet if you have more than 10 NPC’s in an area you can see and feel the performance drop. The more NPC’s the worse the performance is, especially at loading.

The current NPC States system creates unique specs for each and every npc, even if they are clones/copies of each other. So if you have 25 specs on a single NPC, you add 10 in, you now have 250 specs loading. This is in conjunction with the animations that need to load for each and every NPC even when they are identical. Hence one part of the current NPC State System problems. Most NPC’s have much more than 25 specs on them, so load and unloading times are even greater. The number of systems that each NPC has attached to them is numerous.

Some of the systems that are attached to the NPC via specs, are the Babbler system, the NPC FX system, the Outfit system, their Skill Spec system, NPC Level/Tier systems, NPC Knowledge, NPC Task system, NPC Voice systems, NPC QA status system, Threshold systems, Armour Stat systems… and more. Each of these NPC systems have multiple specs each.

In conclusion, we have decided that it will be best to make some improvements where we can short term, then focus on the new NPC system that will be cleaner with less overhead. In the future we will be redoing the character models along with the new character systems.


In the upcoming patch players will find that we have disabled by default, the audio files, including the NPC voice files. We found several that were identical just using a different name. The total size of the audio files that eventually load in game comes to 1.27 GB. These are a mix of files that include .wav, .fsb, .sgt and a few .mp3 files.

During our testing of the NPC’s we also found that the page file size kept building. We were able to identify most of it, but had to search and realized that sound files were also adding up quickly. Many of these were NPC voice overs (most were copies of copies just with different names) and NPC sound effects.

Currently in Dev audio is disabled by default. When pushed to production players can still turn it back on via the GUI in your settings panel.

When we redo the GUI and the audio system, you will have the option to disable all or some of the audio and sound effects. We will have these categorized so players can choose what they do and do not want to hear while in game.

For the short term we are focusing on a few smaller fixes we can test to improve the performance of Repop without having to do double or triple work now and in the future.

Current optimizations for the NPC’s this quarter are areas that we have been able to improve overall performance.

• Condensed animations (male and female since they were identical, visually and binary data)
  
• Reduced the load by 2-3 sets of animations to 1 set for humanoid PC’s and NPC’s
  
• Reduced the file load size From 197.5 MB to 33.5 MB
  
• Reduced load time by 30-40% (Or greater depending on the computer system and network/internet)

Now that we have optimized the animations and saw the performance improve, we decided to test things out.


We were happy to see the instant improvement with the loading into character selection, character creation, into the game and even during area transition. This made us happy. We decided to do some actual game building again to find where else we could make a few minor improvements, yet when we did, we realized there was a slight problem. Our female characters’ faces were a wee bit messed up.

Somewhere along the line, by changing the directory of the animation file to point to a single one, something changed the morphs on all female characters. Nothing else had changed but the directory that the animations were located at looking for the humanmale.aas file.

Normally, animations have nothing to do with facegen or face morphs. Yet, something, somewhere is altering the facegen file for all females when they are idle.

What is even more confusing, is that most active animations will reset the face of females to the proper look/settings. Once that animation is over and goes back to idle, the face is stretched and distorted.


Click here to view the FX and Idle animation on Player Character Issue in Action[i.gyazo.com]
Now that we are trying to figure out where the issue is located, we also found that there were some odd animations in these files as well. We are not sure if these might have something to do with the distortion or not. Three examples of odd animations in the directory for male animations are:

• Idle_female
  
• human_idle_beltbuckle
  
• Idle_female_fingernails

We also have found 276 .gr2’s including some files that had come from Hero’s Journey inside the repopmale1 animation directory. A few examples of these animations from Hero’s Journey being used:

• Swim
  
• Swim_backwards
  
• Swim_backstroke
  
• Male_jump
  
• Strafe_left
  
• Strafe_right
  
• (And most combat melee animations)

What is even more head scratching for us is that most, but not all non idle animations temporarily fix this distortion as mentioned above. A few animations do not, such as several of the combat will temporarily fix while other combat animations do not. What is changing the female mean setting (Standard unaltered face) to the distorted features?

We have tested by removing all facegen modifications and modifiers, yet this issue remains.

So our current task for a few of us is to find out what file or files are changing or altering the female faces from the mean to the distorted when in idle. We will NOT give up! We’ll update the community on our findings.


Click here to view the current NPC panel.[i.gyazo.com]
As many of you know there are several recurring issues with the current characters, both player and nonplayer alike. Many of the changes in the new system will address most of the issues. Once we have our own system and models in, we should be able to address any bugs in a much shorter time and get those fixes pushed along with some happy updates.

Some of the most common problems that will be addressed with the new systems:

• Missing body parts on the characters
  
• Facegen morph reverts back to default shape
  
• Dynamic colour reverts back to default colour on skin, hair and clothing/armour
  
• Odd animations or the wrong animations applied (such as standing up on or alongside a speeder bike)

These are visual issues that are seen in game with both player and non player characters. However, there are other issues that are behind the scenes that also cause additional performance and conflict issues with other systems related and not related.

• Bone conflict issues
  
• Large page file size per NPC due to the number of specs
  
• NPC script conflicts (e.g. engagements, triggers)
  
• NPC container issues (e.g. vendors)
  
• AI and combat issues
  
• NPC pathing issues

We have finalized the design of the new NPC system for both Player and Non-Player characters. We are actually quite excited. Since this article and update is about NPC’s, this is what we will show off and talk about.

A lot of work has gone into the new NPC system and sub systems. This has actually been one of the more fun parts of the redesign to keep to the same theme and game play, yet enhancing the NPC capabilities while designing and developing a system that will make it easier and cleaner for our developers to create, add or update NPC’s throughout the game.

The new NPC system covers everything from shop merchants, guards all the way to creatures that you may experience in the world. Once the base for the new NPC system is completed and tested, we will begin work on the new spawning functionality as explained further down.


The new system is going to have a single UX, or developer interface similar to the new Item system. The better and more put together a system or set of systems are, the easier it will be to create new NPC’s, clone NPC’s and even update or fix NPC’s when needed.

Simplicity is key. Keeping as much together as we can in a single set of panels and subsystems will allow us to achieve this goal.

Below you can view a small sample of what the new UX will look like and how we will build the NPC’s.
NPC’s in any game are a collection of the base system and multiple subsystems. With the new system, we will be able to view those changes or modifications in a single window instead of multiple separate ones that have to be re-opened multiple times.


With the above systems developed and to include a real faction system we will be able to create an in-depth and dynamic AI system. The AI system will be based on the mission dialogue system and tied in with faction. All subsystems such as pathing, combat, and other NPC interactions by players will utilize these four systems.

• NPC System
  
• Mission Dialogue System
  
• Faction System
  
• Combat\Skill System

Pathing will be based on Hero Engine’s Navmesh System for standard NPC and Creatures. Hero Engine’s Path Planning System will be used for NPC’s such as walking guards, and other specific NPCs that walk and move about areas. In the end, spawners and path planning will be much cleaner than the image seen above. This change from the current to the new will let us find NPC’s faster and make easier and quicker updates when needed.


Static NPC’s such as merchants, NPC patrons, and other stationary NPC’s will use a single spawner. Creatures and other aggressive spawns will use our customized region spawner. Both static NPC and spawn regions will use the navmesh and AI instead of wired pathing.

• WIP need to review current systems and new systems
  
• We want to decide how (programmatically) we want to do default spawning
  
• How we want to do regional spawning
  
• Want to create our own subsystem to regional spawning where we can drop down a placeholder of what will spawn. In the panel we will set the number of spawns and the size of the region.
  
• Under that subsystem we’ll also be able to set the tier and attach any custom scripts or abilities

Combat will be revamped to use the new skill system. NPC’s combat AI will be based on that skill system. Abilities and attacks for NPC’s will be optimized and only draw from the tier and skills we designate. Through the new NPC system we can also attach additional or customized scripts or skills.

NPC AI reactions to whether they enter combat or not will be based on the faction system. This will trigger different reactions from NPC such as flight, fight, or dialogue. These reactions will be done using a single parent system.


Though the current models may be used at the start they will just be placeholders. New character models and associated art assets such as weapons and gear will be developed at a later time. You may see some assets come in sooner such as weapons, and possibly some clothing items.

The concept art is mostly done, though we are still gathering up a few more ideas to make sure we keep to the same stylized fashion of the game yet offer more options to the players.

The purpose for new models is to have a more up to date look, while keeping the Repop stylization. This will also allow us to have a more optimized system which includes art, and functionality.



Utilizing the new item system we are currently building will allow us to have cleaner and reusable code. Loot tables whether they are for harvesting, corpse looting, or merchants will be a subsystem under the item system. This allows us to not only reduce overhead and the number of scripts running simultaneously, but also build upon it in a modular fashion. This means more customizations in the future as well as additional features to be added later. This will allow us to produce continuous content in the future.

The NPC are going to use the same item system. We will be able to either select or drag and drop gear and inventory. We will be able to select the proper loot table and attach any special items to the NPC per the new item system.

Merchants will use the new loot tables under the item system. We will also be able to attach any special items just as we would to standard NPC to shops. The item system will also be used for buying items from players and a limited buy back system.

NPC looting or corpse looting will also use the base loot tables setup that will be customizable. Through the loot system we can also tier that loot based on the tier of the NPC.

Join us on our main forum for more discussion HERE[therepopulation.com].

Read the original article HERE[therepopulation.com].

Good morning everyone! We hope you have had a good summer so far. This update is going to be going over what we have done in the last 60 days and our current progress.

This has been quite the adventure, however, working in the new design into the game and keeping the same original theme and style has been a lot of fun. 

It is even more fun seeing this start to take shape on Dev. 
 

So, without further ado, we will begin with the largest undertaking and the core of all other systems to come: The Item System and the new GUI!

 
Item system update
As we have walked you through the process of the Item system from the start, we are happy to give you some of the current updates. As a quick review, we have worked on and covered the following:

1. Trace and list all current usable Items in-game
2. Base Item System design process
3. Audit of the current multiple Item Systems
4. Audit of the Container multiple systems
5. Container System design
6. Item and Container design finalization + game-breaking bug fixes
7. Container System redesign
8. Container System development
9. Item System design finalization (UX and system)
10. UX Design and development
11. Item System development

 

Now that we have started the Item System (and subsystems), we have a lot to update you on. The main thing everyone has on their mind right now is: How far have we gotten? We are now at the halfway mark. Though the numbers show we are pretty far along, the more we do, the longer it takes because of the intricacies and testing at each step to make sure we are on the right track. 

 
The new system will automate the bulk of the processes that currently has to be done in individual steps, one at a time. Part of what takes so long to build a proper system is to bring all of those individual steps into a single functional UX. Through the automation of attaching scripts, specs, and other requirements, we will have a solid foundation that will be much easier to develop the front-end items as well as added back-end functionality. 

 

Below is our current progress as of the first of this month.

Item System Design: 100% | UX Build: 98% The UX for the new system has all of the base completed. As we move forward to plug in more systems and functionality that will slowly go up. Until we have all subsystems done and plugged in, it will probably remain at 98-99%.

Core system created: 75%For the Core systems, we have a good chunk done and have even created a few test items. This has worked for both the Item List (Visual indexing) and the Item Creation functionality.

Sub-systems created: 45% | Systems linked/plugged in: 20%Subsystems created and plugged in will be an ongoing task throughout the game updates. As we test each subsystem and fix any bugs QA and players find, we will move onto the next subsystem. The first subsystem planned (though may change depending on development and testing) will be the Faction system.

External Subsystems: 10%Though the name may sound like it comes from outside the game, it actually means systems that are outside of the Item System or any subsystems. These are the little extras we will be bringing to the items later on during the beta and polish stages. An example of this could be Custom Stats or Decals. 

Over the next few updates we will go into detail on each subsystem that is completed, how that works and how it will relate to items for you in-game.  

 

 
It is important for us to take our time to do the new system correctly. This saves us time now, and in the future during Beta ensuring faster development. Dissecting the current Item System alerted us to many things which we could improve upon in the new system.

 
We are faced with some difficulties during the development process. Some of these issues will be outlined below.

• Multiple locations of scripts and script lines/commands that handle different aspects per item
• Multiple and unique ways different items are handled back end
• Lack of consistent indexing and/or conflict of indexing.

 

See the table of images below and write-up link HERE[therepopulation.com] for a more indepth of what it takes to make an item using the current system.

 

Below you will find a table which illustrates the many steps noted above as well as a slightly more in-depth explanation as to how to work through the process of creating a place-able item.
Making a single item for players using the current system takes 

• Each step is a new or different window and panel
  • It takes 20 to 50+ steps/windows type of item being created, to create a single item
  • If a mistake is made or need to do an edit/adjustment, must go back to the start
• The average time to create a single item under the current system takes between 30 to 60 minutes

 
The current system requires the in-putter to open and close a large number of windows in order to create a place-able item from start to finish This leads to many extra steps that will no longer be required with the new system. These include creating:

• Player Structure(s)
• Crafting Branche(s)
• Component(s)
• Recipe
• Item(s)
  • Component Item(s)
  • Recipe Book

 
Now the new system! The new system will basically be a “one-stop-shop” for creation through updating items in the game. There is a single window that will allow developers to input and create a new item in just a few minutes no matter how complex that item may seem to players.

We have and are continuing to build in the Item system so that all of the specs and attached fields will automatically be added/attached to the item via HeroEngine's GLOM[hewiki.heroengine.com] functionality and system. With us linking these functions back-end into the UX makes the development a lot easier, more precise, and faster.

The new system also allows our developers and in-putters to be able to fix, balance or update an item in a matter of minutes. This will be beneficial for players as well. As we update an item itself, it will update that everywhere in-game with a single save.

This means no more duplicating the update across the core item, player use items, crafted item, recipe item, harvested items, and so on. This also expands into the crafting system once we get there as well. It means that you, the player will not have to get a new item, a new crafting recipe, etc.


 

 
Once finalization is completed on the prototype server we will be moving these over to the Dev server. All systems will have to be added to the new GUI. Updates will continue as we finish each system. EG: faction, crafting, achievements, etc. 
We are building the GUI on the prototype server initially, and test the style and base functionality. This allows us to build in a clean environment without having to deal with related script bloat currently on the Dev server.  

Doing this work first on Prototype allows us to make major changes or adjustments without the worry of breaking other stuff that is currently on the Dev server. GUI Progress:
We will then transfer the work done on Prototype over to the Dev server. This lets us avoid double work, and will allow us to make the minor changes or adjustments much quicker. We plan on doing the initial update with the texture and style replacement and only the core systems required with the updates. Any systems that we have not updated or remade will be linked to the visual aspects of the current GUI such as Crafting.

Since many of the GUI aspects rely directly on the corresponding systems, we will push those GUI updates at the time of the system update. An example of some GUI elements that will not be updated initially because of the reliance upon the core system would be Crafting and Housing. Ongoing updates will continue which will add the new GUI to those elements as well as any fixes, tweaks, adjustments or modifications that are required.

 
Following our road map, we have been able to identify a few things that we can get out to you this summer and fall before the first  Item system push. Next update: 

• Small optimizations update coming next
  • Asset occlusion culling added
  • Terrain occlusion culling fixed
  • Terrain optimizations on the island

• First GUI initial update coming after Island optimizations:
  • Replaces the current GUI appearance
  • Reduced ~26 textures down to one (I)
  • Fixes major glitches in current
  • May fix some or all GUI scaling issues depending on individual pc DPI settings
  • Will continue to update GUI as we progress through systems: 
    • GUI scaling
    • DPI Scaling
    • Modular design
    • Added layout customization and options

• Small NPC animation optimizations after GUI initial update
  • Smaller animation groups to be created
  • Animation group loading and unloading (caching)
  • Unified animations to reduce load and render time

• New UX for developers
  • Base items recreated (limited for testing)
• Reduction of player gear and items (don't worry we will be adding in better!) 
• Removal of items that have been identified as having an IP (Intellectual Property)/Rights conflict
• A Sneak peek at a few of the new items coming in the future.
• Outline of item creation for players and how we will update.

 
Next month's update will be a featurette of what we found regarding the Character/Non-Player Character systems and what our plans for that will be. 

Join us on our main forum for more discussion or read the original article HERE[therepopulation.com].

Good morning community! June is here, and so is our monthly update. Today’s update will cover both May and June. These last two months have been quite busy and have gone by way too fast. We have a lot of information to share with you, especially since we have begun this next sprint.


This month's article update focuses on three areas. The best part is, the players will be able to see and interact/test some of these upcoming changes in the near future. We will keep you, the players informed of the progress and updates as we get closer to the Game Update.


This update article will be covering the following topics.

• New/Revamped Furniture models and art replacement
  
• New game GUI replacement
  
• Animation cleanup
  
• Item System revamp progress update
  
• There’s a lot to cover regarding these upcoming features, so let’s dive in!

We recently welcomed two team members on board. We would like to give a warm welcome to the two as they join the Repop team and help us move forward.

Bennett, who is a Senior Technical Artist, will be focusing on animations and the technical side of Player and Non-Player characters. We would like to welcome him back and joining the Repop team! Bennet has over 7 years of experience working with HeroEngine, HeroCloud, and HE support.

Kenn, is a junior programmer, who will be focusing on GUI creation and support scripts. Kenn has over 5 years of experience with HeroEngine and HeroCloud as well as creating support How-To videos and walkthroughs. Kenn has worked on four different HeroCloud projects in the past.




This past quarter the art team has focused on recreating and updating the current default/common furniture that resides in the game. This does not include specialty furniture found or used in housing. However, all art that has been recreated will eventually be made available to the players to purchase or craft themselves.



We have recreated over 1100 pieces of furniture that we found throughout the game. This includes 340+ default and the remaining being variations of each to fit different environments and locations.

• Number of assets to be replaced: 338
  
• Number of new assets created: 726
  
• Total furniture assets: 1100
  
• Number of textures changed/replaced: 800
  
• Total textures now used: 4

Some new pieces that we have created and will be added to the game include some basic and default appliances which include sinks, stoves, refrigerators, and counters. Hint: These may be used by the players at a later time as we complete additional systems in the future.

We have also created some nice variences of the new furniture as mentioned above that will enhance areas and give players more options in terms of crafting and decorating.


One of the reasons we reduced the volume of textures is due to both the overhead and multiple issues some of the art has: eg: Glowing beds. Many of the old/current art has multiple materials/textures to them, which increases the draw count by x3 for each material. A good example of this would be one of the office desks. This had 4 textures for the base and one additional to equal 5 for the glow map.


For the most part, each asset was created on its own or at least exported into its own raw file (max, maya, blender) then exported separately with its own unique set of materials.


The new furniture that will be replacing these are done in a single raw file (max) and utilizes only three textures, plus one for glass, totaling 4 textures used throughout the file and across 1100 furniture assets.


After our tests are complete, we will start replacing all of the furniture on the Island. This will be your first experience to see what is to come with the World Revamp in the future.

Below is a small sample of the new furniture that has been imported into the game from the single Max file.
Over the last three years, we have taken a good look at the GUI in-depth and have heard feedback from the players. Talking with players in-game and in Discord has given us a great understanding of what you, as players would like to see in your game interface.


OPTIMIZATIONS:
This was number one. Currently, there are a lot of individual texture files. We are reducing these down greatly, which will help with the load and render times. We are also reducing the 2048’s and 4096’s to 1024 for all common use textures.

Current:

• GUI Textures: ~167+
  
• Icon Textures: ~102+
  
• Cursor Textures: ~30

New GUI:

• GUI TExtures: 2
  
• Icon Textures: TBD (Estimated: 12-24)
  
• Cursor Textures: 1-8 (Depending on testing)

MODULARITY:
The first issue we saw right away was the lack of customization of the GUI windows and panels. Many times we saw unmovable panels draw behind others that were open. This forced the player to either close out a window or guess what the window behind another was.

Our first task was then to break up the functionality between windows and panels and create a layout that will allow players to move any aspect of the Games UI wherever they like to fit their needs and play style. Having a fully modular GUI was and is our number one goal.



Functionality was the second issue we saw. Quite often you have to open multiple windows or panels to find what you are looking for. Below are a few examples of what you can expect to see with the new GUI’s focus on Ease-of-life functionality.

Our focus is 1) functionality, 2) modularity, 3) Ease of use, 4) customization and 5) Styles.

We have broken down the elements of the current Game’s interface and through a redesign, should be able to tackle the bugs as well as optimizing and modernizing the interface to fit this game's style and scope. Taking our past experience creating different GUI’s and UX’s we really hope you will enjoy what is to come. Here are a few examples of areas that we have attempted to improve upon with both the style and functionality, while still keeping to the same theme and spirit of The Repopulation.


Character Select: The first thing we have done is the Character Select. As a player, it is a pain at times to have to click through all the characters just to find out who is where. This will change.

The default location of the Character Select will remain the same, however, you will now see all of your basic information for each character without having to click through all of them to find the one you were looking for.

Information that will be included for an "At-a-glance" feature are 1) Character name, 2) Nation Allegiance, 3) Profession Title (if the player chooses one), and 4) Location. We hope you alt-iholics enjoy this.


Group Window: The second will be the group window and panels. Currently, you see only a name and a health bar, yet it is difficult to see or read in certain environments.

The new Group window will have a matching UI style that is minimal yet provides information that will help you keep an eye on your team, or at least see who has joined it.

We wanted a simple window that is easy to see as well as one that would show all the information you would need during any type of gameplay.

This window will be positional as well. The default will be in the upper left-hand side, however, as with all other aspects of the new UI coming, you will be able to position it where ever you like through the new GUI settings.


The PDA- main Character Window: This has been an area of some discussion internally and with players. The current version has some of the basic information, but no real direction to what tab does what or where you can open your additional windows. That is, without using the bottom right corner small icons or hotkeys. Some of those also require you to open additional windows or panels to get where you want.

We wanted to create an easy to use but with consistency in functionality for the players. So all windows will be accessible via the main Character Window, an optional Mini Hot bar, and (customizable) hotkeys.

There will be added functionality and features to this main PDA window as we progress through development and into Beta. Each tab on the top will give you all of your basic info without the need to open a separate window across your screen. However, we also will be providing stand alone windows as well for those that like to see side by side information.



Esc/Main Menu Panel: We have found several ways to optimize the layout that is more intuitive with better access to the functionality you are looking for. Combining several of the “buttons” that are in the same group of functionality will help reduce the clicking and searching (such as the FPS meter). We are also creating this window to fit more with the PDA style of the Main Character window. You will be able to access your video settings and GUI settings in the same session without the need to hit ESC again and click around. The initial Menu will be PDA in style and allow you to close out this Menu when you are finished and ready.


Allowing players to create their own layout and save those to the player node and not the account node will allow players to create multiple layouts and save them. This also means they can load a saved layout as well. This is especially good for players that have multiple characters or play a single character across multiple wards but hate resetting their hotbars and layout. An example would be a single character that has a Crafting layout, PvE Layout, Harvesting Layout and PvP Layout. As testing progresses and we get the new GUI where you all like, we will continue to add and update this functionality.


Finding a unique style yet still fit the game's theme without going too far away from the original was a bit tricky. We had created several “styles” as tests, and thanks to all the feedback from players in discord and on the QA team, we were able to find that style that fits. We plan on more updates later on to finalize and clean it up as we progress throughout Alpha, Beta and even into release.


We have started the audit on the animation system for PC’s and NPC’s. Currently, there are a lot of the same animations, only duplicated in multiple directories. We are working on cleaning these up and creating smaller groups of animations as well as removing the duplicates. This will bring the load times down and we hope it will help improve performance enough to make the game more playable for all players, especially when crossing an area or looking towards a city or populated area.

We are looking at ~1,600+ animations that span across just two directories. A snippet of these are:

Directory: ..\Character\dynamic_2\repopfemale

• RepopFemale Animation groups: 4
  
• RepopFemale Animations: 834
  
• RepopFemale Skeletons: 7

Directory: ..\dynamic_2\repopmale1\animations

• RepopMale1 Animation groups: 4 (Duplicate of female’s)
  
• RepopMale1 Animations: 742
  
• RepopMale1 Skeletons: 4

We are currently identifying those that are copies of the same animation but in the different directories. This will allow us to remove the duplicates and re-target to use only one of each. In turn, will reduce the initial load time.

Once we are able to do this we will be creating “groups” of animations that will preload and cache. Doing this next step means that the loading of animations will be done in the background while you play the game and will be ready when you cross an area line or face a populated space in the game.

For more technical information how HeroEngine handles this you can view this page here: http://hewiki.heroengine.com/wiki/.aas and here: http://hewiki.heroengine.com/wiki/Character_Animations

Once we can get the number of animations down to a reasonable count and improve performance, we will be looking at having optional animation types for players to choose from for their characters. We hope role players will especially like this. This work will begin once we have pushed the update and made any additional adjustments and improvements required. We may miss a few animations, or choose not to use some due to rig/bone issues.

At a later time, after the Item system is done and we are ready for the Character Revamp, we will begin focusing on any missing animations as well as additional to help bring the world a bit more life.



Work is progressing on developing the Item System GUI (development GUI, not game GUI). The basic server and client classes exist but the numerous decorators (http://hewiki.heroengine.com/wiki/Decorator_class) needed for various item types have not been created yet. Getting this new system up and running to the point where new items can be created will take some time but it is progressing.

The current item “system” is fairly fragmented and has multiple ways, almost systems, that handle different types of items. We have been able to see how and where different people worked on different parts of the game from programmers to scripters. However, as messy as the current Item System(s) is, it has given us a lot of information and a base to work with and how to redesign in a more efficient way.

We wanted to create a new and unified system that would allow faster item creation for the developers and world builders, as well as a more optimized system for the players in the game. Having a more optimized system that utilizes the optimization features built into HeroEngine, we can improve the overhead and in turn improve the performance for the player.

Three additional benefits to the new item system is that we will be able to 1) quickly create new items, 2) add or update items to merchants, or 3) even be able to gift an item to players when we like. This new process will take minutes per item instead of hours.


The design process has been fun yet challenging. Trying to figure out the best methodology to the rebuilding process and affect the players in the least negative way has been of great discussion within our team and with you the players. Thanks to much input from all sides, we have the best way to build in parallel to the current, push that to test then when all works out well we will push to live.

We wanted a simple, to the point design that would build on top of each other, using as much new code as possible to keep the system optimized. In doing so, we have worked out a hierarchy for all possible items we could possibly think of; ones that are in-game now and what we will be adding later in the future.

We will start with Classification. This is the top level for the item groups. Below that we will have a subclass, type then the item itself. Here is a simple flow chart showing what it would look like for character gear:

In addition to building the system itself, we are also creating a new UX for developers. This tool will link the primary system and all sub and adjoining systems together for the developers and world builders, allowing them to create new items in 30 minutes down to a few minutes depending on how complex the item will be.

The new UX will include all aspects of creating an item. Using the glom feature in HeroEngine, we can add new functionality as the new systems are built. Once an item is completed and saved, the compiler will only include the information that was filled out, and not include any of the non-used, non-relevant fields.

This will mean that simple items like inventory quest items will have almost 0 overhead and a fully filled out item, like a weapon, will still be optimized by glomming on the field data instead of creating a whole new spec.


Once we have the core functionality built and attached to the developer’s UX tool, we will begin recreating the most basic items that players currently have and use. Throughout this process, we will compile a list of those items, as well as getting feedback from everyone (Players and QA testers) to figure out what we might have missed.

The order of development:

1. Base Item system design: (Complete)
   
2. Item System core/foundation: (Complete)
   
3. UX creation: (In Process)
   
4. Item Architecture creation: (In Process)
   
5. Item systems-> UX connections: TBA
   
6. Recreation of base game items and gear: TBA
   
7. Item System updates to features and functionality: TBA

The two steps that will take the longest are steps 5 and 6. As we begin step 6 (Item re-Creation) QA will begin testing these and continue to test as we add more. While the recreation is being done, Ron will continue to work on the more advanced functionality.

The largest challenge was trying to figure out how we could dynamically convert the items over to the new system. However, due to so many hardcoded scripts for items, having so many different ways items are created to how they are handled; we decided to forgo the added time spent as we had learned from the Container system. Each new item would have to be converted over from the old to the new, and that means creating a new conversion script for each type we find that did not work/convert over.

The second challenge is more technical and takes a lot more time. Consolidating all currently used items in the game from those that have been disabled, no longer in use or not required any longer. The spec oracle has recorded over 5031 items in the game currently and results into over a dozen and a half “types” and methods used to create said items. This count does not include furniture and other miscellaneous items.


Due to the challenges we have faced, we have decided on the mini wipe we spoke of over the last year. The Merchant NPC’s will be present and open for a limited time for current players to be able to pick up their gear and items again. The length of time these merchants will remain on live depends on testing and the amount of time needed to replace the current items in-use in-game.

Each Classification of items will have their own NPC’s. Players will be able to more easily find the items they are looking for based on the NPC merchant's name.

When we release the first iteration of the new Item System, almost everything will be back down to the basics. This means that we will have a mini wipe for all items in the game. This will allow you, the players, to test all new items by receiving them through various means.

As we near completion of this first phase of the new Item System we will give you an estimate of when this will be pushed to Live. We will continue to keep you updated.

We look forward to reaching new stages of testing. These new stages will give us multiple opportunities to interact with the community, and gain valuable feedback. As always the feedback and suggestions we gather from you the player is extremely important to our development process. Our goal is to create a game, and environment that the community enjoys and thrives in. We look forward to hearing your thoughts. So please join us on our main forum, and on our Discord channel.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE[therepopulation.com]

CLICK HERE TO JOIN IN THE CONVERSATION AND COMMENT ON THE FORUMS!

Good morning community!

Spring has sprung, the team is busy with spring cleaning so to speak. Happy Easter, Spring Equinox, and Passover. We hope you are enjoying a safe and joyous day with those close to you. Today’s article will not be a particularly long one, but we will cover multiple topics. Let’s hop right in!

READ OUR PATCH NOTES FOR BUILD: A.00.03.16 HERE[therepopulation.com]


In Patch A.00.03.40 our updates revealed an old bandaid or two to the mission system had been removed during the Container update.

Generated Mission Related Bugs: Generated missions used additional unique container and item types. This resulted in two different issues that were found:

• Players would see that their required items picked up from NPC’s updating, but the Generated Mission system was not recognizing the count data. This meant that even though it showed those steps were completed with a green checkmark, the Generated Mission system was not getting that information.
  
• When a mission could be completed, the mission/quest items remained on the character node and in the Mission inventory.

In Patch A.00.3.52 which we pushed on Tuesday (30 March), we were able to make corrections to these issues.

Now when a mission completes the associated items contained in the Mission inventory should disappear. This inventory window can be brought up via a button push of L. The selection of the second tab which is labeled Items will allow the player to see what items they are currently holding.

Still remaining: Please be aware that Vulture Claws are not clearing from this inventory at this time.

Players should now find that generated missions will now complete as intended with one known exception: The mission is known as Declawing the Vultures is one of these exceptions. Please be aware this mission is currently NOT working.


Weapon Visualization Bug: Another old bug is back. Players may experience some temporary issues with weapon visualizations. Some of these are temporary and will resolve themselves. These include:

Some weapons appear to be invisible upon equipping to the slot associated with carrying a weapon on their back.

When double-clicking a weapon in the character sheet to remove it may take some time for the visual to remove itself from the player character.

When swapping weapons carried on the back players may see a temporary doubling of the old weapon and new weapon in the character sheet.

Players have likely noticed that when using dual weapons only one shows to be worn when sheathed/inactive. This is due to how the current character models utilize bones associated with weapons. These dual weapons should both appear once the players go into combat mode. They will then return to a visual of a single weapon worn when out of combat. This will be resolved when we replace the current character models with our new models.


Player City Teleporting Bug: After Patch A.00.03.52 Qa discovered there was an issue flying from Plymouth City to Player Cities. This issue has since been resolved. If players encounter this issue we ask that you please put in a bug report and alert the Gm on duty. We will then respin the area to resolve the issue.


Our most recent patch brought with it new art changes. Two new/updated buildings have replaced the old for the Blue Hops Pub and the Inn in the FPR shopping district. We have also added additional signage around the island to give it a bit more life and help players know what the building's purpose is, or will be. You will be able to see the new signs and art in the next game update.

This update included two new building updates (two interior and exterior) for the tutorial island, and 175 signs, 96 of which are new.

New sign count listed below:

• 11 Banners
  
• 22 hydro/agriculture
  
• 11 garage
  
• 19 genetics
  
• 9 med/resurrection
  
• 8 blue hops pub
  
• 3 Clone cafe
  
• 11 robotics
  
• 2 workshop

We are excited to announce that both the new Item and Crafting system design is complete. Do note that we still have a bit of work to do for the actual components once we complete the item system this quarter. Here is what we currently have, however, some changes may be made during development and player testing.

The new Item System is the first that will be built. Since all other in-game systems rely on items and how they work from being indexed to use, this will be our prime focus for the next three months. Once completed, released and we’ve gotten rid of any bugs you all find, we will begin the Harvesting and Crafting systems.


We will be unifying all the tiers into a more comprehensive method. In the backend, there are already tiers and levels of items. However, as that is displayed to the players, it can get quite confusing, especially between grade and quality. Tiers will range from 0 to 6, with corresponding levels. This will be standardized across all items in the game and will include crafting as well.

In the end, this means we will be able to remove items which have no use and implement a more logical order to the item and crafting system. As it is right now, there are a few end result items that are a lower tier (lower skill level), yet require subcomponents that are a higher tier (higher skill level). This can bring about some cooperation between the players, yet causes much more confusion for the new player coming into the game.

With the new crafting system, your end result item will always use the same tier or lower for the basic craft. The player will soon have the option to experiment with the items used. They will be able to make a higher-tiered item or a much more superior item by experimenting with different raw materials subcomponents of the same required type.


This will be changing as well, but not as drastic as with the core crafting item and item types. Quality will become your base and the condition is what will determine how good the item is and how long it will last. We have found several issues with the current a-f and 0-9 that have persisted for a while. A few of these seem unique to only some of the players but not to all. To fix this, we will be making the adjustment towards a Quality/Condition system instead.

The core functionality will still be the same as you are used to now. The only real change will be a bit more information exposed to you and the wording. So the new system will have the following for all items; bought, found or created:

• Tier: level of the item
  
• Quality: How effective the item is
  
• Condition: How long the item will last (includes repairs)

Though this is almost the same as it is now, we hope that the unification of all in-game items will help players old and new, have an easier time recognizing the items and what is required of them. It will also help with making repairs be more consistent with understandable variables.


The crafting on the front end will not change too much from what current players are used to. However, upon saying that there will be a few significant changes coming to the game. The first will be the ‘ease to complexity’ of crafting for players just starting out.

Crafting should be fairly simple to grasp for lower-end items or the most simple items that are found in-game. The beginning of crafting will be to introduce the new changes, as well as the standard How-to’s.

The depth, and some complexity, will come as players advance in tiers, gain new knowledge and begin crafting more complex items. There will be a learning curve from basic tier 0 items and moving through the more in-depth crafts as you progress to more advanced items of all tiers.


Currently, only some items can be repaired. This can be good or bad under the current system depending on what that item is. However, it can still be confusing for many, and for us. The current condition system is set only to a random algorithm that will decide how much and when the damage of an item is taken.

This currently means Character1 may have an item that lasts almost forever, while Character2 may have to repair their items every couple of fights. It really depends on randomness and luck. There should be some luck involved, but it should not be the only determining factor, as this makes it [randomly] unfair for some players while giving an [random] advantage to other players or characters. We plan to bring some core logic to the underlying system, while still giving a small percentage of randomness so there is a more even playing field while still keeping each character's experience unique.

There will still be repair kits. Crafters can make these to sell or use themselves as it is currently. These will be tier-based as well. The higher the tier and quality the better chance to get a full (99%) repair from them.

A new addition that will be added in the game will be that crafters can also sell their services to repair items. This will be similar to a trade window, where PlayerA can drop in their gear they want to be repaired so PlayerB can repair it for an agreed price. Those crafters that specialize in their craft and repair may become in high demand. Unlike the Repair Kits, a grandmaster may have a chance to repair the item to 100% of the original condition.


There are so many items in-game currently that are “1 off’s” or have no use at all. The only thing they are really good for is selling fodder; to sell off to an NPC merchant. We do plan on removing most of these useless items from the game by giving most of them a purpose. One of those is allowing most items to be deconstructed for a small percentage of the core materials or a subcomponent. This should really help out those players that spent so much time and energy crafting trinkets to skill up only to be useless and sell fodder.

A good example would be crafting screws to level up your metalworking or similar skills. Instead of using up all of those materials only to sell them to an NPC and then either buying more raw materials or harvesting them again, you will be able to decon those. Let us say that you have 100 screws that required 10 steel bars to make. If you decon those, you will have a chance to get between 1-3 steel bars in return.

The player’s crafting tier and skill level will play a part in what their return is. Many items found in the world while adventuring will also be able to be decon’ed as well. So players will have a choice now to sell them to an NPC or decon them for the raw materials and/or subcomponents.

We will cover more on the new Item system in a feature post closer to the system release date. We hope you’ve enjoyed the article this month, and look forward to bringing you more news soon. Be safe and have a wonderful Easter.

READ OUR PATCH NOTES FOR BUILD: A.00.03.16 HERE[therepopulation.com]

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE[therepopulation.com]

CLICK HERE TO JOIN IN THE CONVERSATION AND COMMENT ON THE FORUMS![therepopulation.com]

Good day community! We hope everyone is having a great Friday. Our team is wrapping up February with a small patch and heading into March by releasing the updated Roadmap.


PATCH A.00.03.41: Today we launched a small, but major patch. Read our patch notes HERE[therepopulation.com].

We focused on the major and some minor bugs that appeared after our Container update. During this update, we were able to find a plethora of methods that items were created. Though this did cause additional unknown issues, it has helped with tracing down how these were done in the current system.


We want to thank ALL of the players that played, tested, and reported the issue, and thank you all for the patience over the last two weeks!


This list may seem small but it was quite the undertaking as the amount of work that needed to be done backend to make sure all was working for the players was in place and intact.

• Buffs Apply correctly:
  ■ Rest Area Buffs
  ■ Item Buffs
  ■ Entertainer Buffs
  
• Buff Timers now work
  
• Can apply multiple buffs
  
• Fixed and removed 12 GUI Chompers: These caused multiple errors both backend and at times, GUI bugs for players.
  
• Adjusted the bank and inventory conversions to attempt to avoid the issues that occur with banks, equipped items, and fittings.

Our current focus for the next 4 weeks is continued bug fixing, Neighbour system inspection, and prep work for the new Item System. We are quite excited to have reached this phase, but we also want to make sure that the game is playable and there are no game-breaking bugs with the current systems.

• 4-week push for bug fix
  
• Neighbors system inspection

• NPC Carlo Amante located in Plymouth City
  ■ The mission Amante’s Collections:
  ■ May not be offered at this time. If you can not receive this mission you will not be able to interact
  with him to get the mission Data for the Mob.
  ■ For those who have completed this mission, Carlo should react as normal.
  
• There are still colored whiteboxes on the island (White and colored boxes)
  ■ These will be replaced as we update the areas and complete the artwork
  
• The large map has not been updated yet.
  ■ It will be updated in upcoming updates.
  
• PRE-2017 KNOWN ISSUES:
  
• (Pre-2017) Some players experience very long load times with a black screen for their initial load.
  ■ We are still looking into this. It should be fixed once we rebuild the current "streaming" system.2020 04 21 Repop swamp01
  
• (Pre-2017) Possible crashing to desktop due to the NPC’s animations loading/unloading during area transitions
  ■ This will be resolved when we get to the NPC revamp
  
• (Pre-2017) Framerate issues when you have shadows on. Disable shadows if you have lower FPS and/or ping.
  ■ This will be resolved when we update the shadow shaders/system in beta.
  
• (Pre-2017) Possible crashing if you have a full or nearly full inventory
  ■ This will be resolved when we finalize and implement the new Item and Container systems
  
• (Pre-2017) Framerate dropping when you turn your camera towards NPC locations
  ■ This will be resolved when we get to the NPC revamp

The next 6 months are going to be a very busy time for us. With the focus on the new item system, we will be touching so many systems that are currently in the game. Once the new system itself is completed, we will have to begin recreating the current items with the new system. We discussed the option of creating conversion scripts, but as we all found out from the Container System revamp, there are so many different ways (classifications, categories, and specs) that the current items were done, it would be faster for us to remove any unused items in-game and recreate the current ones.

We plan on doing a few game updates that will help players cycle through and test the new system. Players will be able to tell which are old and new items based on the icon styles. Once the system is complete and we see it is working, we will make the final sprint and then push all new items and do the mini wipe.

• Item System (Huge revamp)
  
• New/Updated items based on the new Item System
  
• Continued GUI redesign and revamp

Outside of our patch content, the next development year will be focused on rebuilding the new systems that we have designed and start getting these out to the players. This includes the Item System and the GUI style and new optimized functionality. We will be giving you more information as we progress through the remaining design and the actual development.


With game or any software development, planning and designing ahead of time is most cruitial. This allows developers to know what they are building and why, as well as help sort out any issues that may arrise later on. One of the steps is creating mockups and prototypes to go along with the detailed documentation. This we have done and are showing you a snippet of what the new developers UX for the new Item System. Though it may be a lot of work up front, this will allow us to be able to create dozens of items in an hour instead of one over the course of hours.


Here is our updated roadmap for the for 2021. As you can see we have been adding a bit more to this list as well as a new colouring system to help the players identify where the mini wipes are planned. From this point forward, you should start to see more performance gains not only on the Mainland, but also on the Island as well.



(Triangles next to text denote possible wipe sections)

■ Website and forum updates
■ New fully functional clean UI/UX with modular style (WIP)

△ Item System (new system) (Next)
△ Crafting Basics (new system)
△ Harvesting basics (new system)
△ Quest/Mission Dialog system (new system)

■ Factions (new system)
■ Races spec system (new system)
■ PC/NPC System (new system)
■ Player Merchants (new system)

△ Horticulture (new system)
△ Adversarial Camps (Spawners)
△ NPC Pathing and navmesh updates (revert to engine default then update)

■ Player gear basics (new system)
■ Ability System (new system)
■ Combat Ability and Skill system (new system)
■ Combat Progression and title awards (new system)

△ Updated Nation System Revamp
△ Housing (Revamp + new system)
△ Player Auction converted to World Auction House (new system)

■ Additional Updates to the new single Astronomy System
■ Start of World Rebuild (area linking (seamless) and rough sculpt
■ Job Billboard system (new system)
■ Updated/Stylized UI/UX with modular style

• ✓ New container system (Built new Container system and mapped and adjusted multiple item types)
  
• ✓ New Inventory system for players and guilds (includes the new working expansion bags)
  
• ✓ NPC Pathing and navmesh updates (Cleaned up Pathing and Navmesh to reduce LOS issues)
  
• ✓ Updated Nation System Revamp (Cleaned up and revamped current system to work consistently)
  
• ✓ Additional Updates to the current Astronomy System (reduced 7 parent files to 1, reduced number of files from ~130 to 24)
  
• ✓ Adjusted Adversarial Camps (not rebuild)
  
• ✓ Cleaned up and recreated multiple shader files for better appearance and performance on Island and Mainland.
  
• ✓ Revive and other miscellaneous bugs fixed
  ■ for Mainland missions, encounters, and other Skills/Abilities.

System Redesign: (Not Development)

• ✓ Item System Design completed
  
• ✓ Factions Design completed completed
  
• ✓ PC/NPC Statistical System Design completed
  
• ✓ Combat Ability and Skill system Design completed
  
• ✓ New GUI style and functionality Design completed

We also will still be doing the first HE update sometime after we finish the core Item system. When we do this, it will cause much breakage across most of the old systems. At that point, we will begin the parallel development for those systems. We are not sure when we will be doing the first HE update, but we will let you know when we do, and what we expect to experience, or have experienced. Update schedules will then be estimated based on that breakage.

Doing stepped HE updates will allow us to start bringing up to date. DX11/12 will not be in the first few engine updates pushed to Repop. That is still to be announced.

Your continued support helps us progress with our project. We appreciate all the feedback, and tickets we receive from the community. We hope that everyone will enjoy the coming changes and testing with us. As always we look forward to your feedback.


Read our article in our news section HERE.[therepopulation.com]

Click here to join in the conversation and comment on the forums Here![therepopulation.com]

Good morning community! This morning the server came down for Patch A.00.03.40.

This patch primarily focused on bug fixes, and clean-up now that the Container System has been added. You will also be able to preview some of the new items for the Lunar New year that will be made available to the players once the Item and Crafting System is done.

READ OUR PATCH NOTES FOR BUILD: A.00.03.16 HERE[therepopulation.com]

CONTAINER SYSTEM REMNANTS:
As many of you know, when we recreated the Container system to clean and reduce overhead, we also ripped off many bandaids. Some we were expecting, some were very unexpected. However, thanks to the wonderful players, we were able to identify those bugs and trace them to the root cause.


BUG FIXING:
Just a few of the bugs we fixed were game-breaking for most players. You can find the full Patch Note list here. These bugs (expected and unexpected) have helped us refine the design for the new Item System, and what areas to target first for the new system.

► GUI stats and stat reporting for gear and fitting fixed: Players experienced an issue once the update went live. Fittings and other gear that would modify their character stats were being reported with multiplied numbers. So instead of a +10 a player might see a +30 or even +120. We even saw a few times where it was going backward as well. This issue should now be fixed. It appeared to be caused by conflicting containers holding the modified data to be reported to the player (data and GUI containers). If players find any other items that are causing similar, please fill out a bug report and let us know.

► Gear modifications to stats when players would equip or unequip items: This one relates to the above GUI reporting of stats, but also affected the players as well. Removing an item did not always adjust the display or the effect of the modifier on the gear. So if you removed an item that had the modifiers on it, that stat would not be reduced. The same happened in reverse as well. Any items that we may have missed with how they are registered and work with the Container System, please let us know so we can make note of it and or fix the issue.


► Quest/Mission items not being reported to the system correctly causing players to not be able to progress in their missions: This again was due to the Container system change and how items were registered in the game system in multiple different ways. Quest/Mission items were another one of these that were done differently. If players have any issues with items being in their inventory yet not able to complete a quest/mission, please let us know and fill out a bug report so we can get that fixed asap.

► Trading should no longer require there to be currency offered, and players should no longer see a third currency window while participating in a trade. Players were experiencing difficulties trading after the Container System went live in our last patch. These issues include a third currency window appearing, the inability to trade without offering currency, and the autoloading of all their currency as a trade offer. Some players could not trade whatsoever. Players should now be able to trade without issue.

►The Set-Up Camp ability has been fixed. The ability will no longer consume all of the players' tents in inventory without spawning the camp when used. Players were experiencing an issue where upon use the Set Up Camp ability would consume all tents held in their inventory, and no camp would be constructed.


NEW ASSETS:
We have added a few new assets to the world. These assets will eventually be available to the player through purchase and crafting once we redo the Item system and then the Crafting system. We are actually quite excited about the idea of being able to give players more options for both crafting and housing and cannot wait to get to that point. Some of the new items are:

Lunar Holiday: Several new assets were created and will be on display for a week in the major cities for the remainder of the Lunar New Year. We have both year-round lanterns as well as the Lunar New Year ones. Current players will have the prior years available to them once we get the new Item System in place.

Players can expect to see these new assets to be removed after the 23rd of this month. We will, however, create a display for these sorts of items so players can still catch a glimpse of holiday items when they are out of season.

New doors: New doors have been added to the Island. These different styles will not only help us add doors to the world during the World Revamp but also what styles and looks the players want for their housing. Some of these will be available for purchase or crafting after the revamp as well.

NEXT SPRINT AND FOCUS:
The next short sprint will be focused on the remaining major bugs and performance issues. Minor bugs that are remaining from the Container System will be addressed with the new Item System. Some of the focus in this sprint will be related to Area management and Neighbours. Neighbors are related to the Area Management and how assets and NPC’s relate and are brought into the player's “awareness”.


RECAP:
We are very excited to be nearing the Item System Revamp. Once we make it through the next sprint our focus will be implementing the new item system. This system will resolve many of the current issues as well as allow us to start on related systems. We’ll release an updated roadmap in our March Update article. This will include which portions will include partial wipes. The roadmap has been adjusted quite a bit, but we feel the players will be pleased to see which systems are next on the list.

As always we look forward to your feedback be it positive or otherwise. We hope to see the momentum pick up greatly over the next quarter. We are extremely thankful for our community sticking by us so we could reach this point. The team hopes you'll all continue to support us as we reach new testing phases, and implement more of our systems.

READ OUR PATCH NOTES FOR BUILD: A.00.03.16 HERE[therepopulation.com]


CLICK HERE[therepopulation.com] TO JOIN IN THE CONVERSATION AND COMMENT ON THE FORUMS!