Patch Notes

[DC_vipeout]

This is a place where we will be posting patch notes for every patch released for Ancestors Legacy. The latest patch notes are always going to be in this post for your convenience.

If you are having any technical issues, please visit this thread.


Changelist 64715:

Several more stability improvements. In the previous patch we added code to help us narrow down very specific issues. This approach worked, and several more crashes are now fixed.

No content changes.

[DC_vipeout]

Closed Beta Changelist 34909:

• [New Feature] If a player does not pass a loading screen ready check the game will automatically do this for him after 30 seconds. This is to prevent "forever waiting" on loading screens.
  
• [New Feature] Default game mode is now Domination - this game mode suits us better, end game is less of a stale-mate.
  
• [New Feature] Due to the issue with not enough servers being created, a quick match player will now host a game of his own if the matchmaking process takes up too long. The filters chosen by the player are used to determine the map type and game mode.
  
• [New Feature] Added more AI difficulties, these are not final implementations but it's something that you can practice against. Previous Medium AI is now a Hard AI.
  
• [New Feature] Current ping to all other players is now displayed in the top left corner.

• [Tweak] Village with golden level defenses is now much tougher.
  
• [Tweak] Ballista squads can no longer retreat. Fight to death!
  
• [Tweak] Catapult projectile's impact and damage area is now half it's size. That was far too OP.
  
• [Tweak] Cavalry has been nerfed against spearmen.

• [Bugfix] Navigation issues in NW corner of the "Autumn Rise" map have been resolved, squads should no longer loose their way while moving through this terrain.
  
• [Bugfix] Hovering squad's selection banner will properly highlight the squad and display all the information as hovering the map banner does.
  
• [Bugfix] Player levels were not being updated in some sub-menus.
  
• [Bugfix] Catapult had troubles maneuvering in many places on all maps. This is not a final fix, but it should be noticeably better.
  
• [Bugfix] Slavic ballistas and catapults will no longer have pure white banners after being taken over by another nation. This happened only when there were no Germans in a match, minor missclick :)
  
• [Bugfix] Turning on "Covering You" skill on archers while there are fighting allied units nearby will no longer interrupt the combat causing more harm than good. Warriors will continue to do their job from now on.

• [Crashfix] Pressing a back button while being in a submenu under a specific case.
  
• [Crashfix] Player or AI loses a domination match while still recruiting some units.
  
• [Crashfix] Player or AI loses a domination match while still having any building tech in cooldown or running (E.g. prayers).
  
• [Crashfix] Rare case while checking for bow / crossbow shooting animations (vertical orientation).
  
• [Crashfix] In siege machine's code, related to cleaning up stuff after match finished.
  
• [Crashfix] Trying to get a chat widget while it is not present (huge lags / receiving messages while already out of the game / lobby, etc.)
  
• [Crashfix] When a player ALT+F4'd while having villages in a team match. Now they're properly passed onto the remaining teammates equally. Why can't you just quit through the pause menu? ;)
  
• [Crashfix] Several low level crashes that detailed explaining would not really mean anything to anyone outside of developers using Unreal Engine 4 or Epic Games themselves :)
  
• [Crashfix] Attempting to refresh HUD when the player has already lost.

• [Possible Crashfix] Asynchronous data loading code related to nation specific data. In case it happens again we will have much more information about the actual situation.
  
• [Possible Crashfix] Dying soldier under a non-duel situation (two or more versus one) had no death animation and decided to blow the game up... Should no longer happen.
  
• [Possible Crashfix] Trooper tries to play combat duel animation on another fighter (already dead, but he really wants to finish him off), that is apparently being garbage collected by the engine because of the corpse limit. Had to be a corpse heavy match, guys :)

[DC_vipeout]

Closed Beta Changelist 34989:

• [Tweak] Player score balance.
  
• [Tweak] Default Domination match score increased to 2000 (from 1000).

• [Crashfix] Player or AI lost a Domination match while researching a technology.
  
• [Crashfix] Hosting a lobby as a quickmatch player with custom filters. Small oversight resulting in such destruction :)
  
• [Crashfix] Rare crash in AI code.

[DC_vipeout]

Closed Beta Changelist 35074:

• [Tweak] Catapult crew is more tightly matched to the catapult itself, movement seems smoother.
  
• [Tweak] Increased the internet connection limits slightly, they introduced errors due to connection saturation while in reality there was still some bandwidth left for use.
  
• [Tweak] Ballistas will now automatically load first bolt when set up in a position.

• [Optimization] Playing character animations on clients requires now 50% - 60% of the data we've been sending prior to this patch. Remaining information is reconstructed on client.

• [Bugfix] Ballistas now properly deal damage to buildings.
  
• [Bugfix] Visual and mechanical improvements to catapult movement - wheels rotation, less braking when the turn angle is small.
  
• [Bugfix] Ping reported on the screen to other players was incorrect - we made a mistake while unpacking the compressed data (in order to send less data over the net). It could be off for as much as 400% ^^ Corrected.

• [Crashfix] There is a haunting crash related to squad having one of the warriors go nuts and cease to exist without telling anybody. We've committed a nasty quick-fix which should resolve the issue when it occurs while we're investigating the root cause.

[DC_vipeout]

Closed Beta Changelist 35482:

• [Tweak] Catapult collision shape adjusted to better fit the actual shape - less collisions with environment, smoother movement.
  
• [Tweak] Low squad morale will now also affect fire rate of all ranged attacks.
  
• [Tweak] Slavic "Mounted Archers" squad has been nerfed to the ground! Well, no, not really. It's been nerfed a bit, though.

• [Bugfix] Slavic skill "Heavy Blows" can now be used as designed, previously the use conditions were incorrectly set up.

• [Crashfix] Under a specific condition the peasant would report that it finished the movement into the village (alarm) before it actually happened, resulting in data mismatch and a crash. Will no longer happen.

[DC_vipeout]

Open Beta Changelist 38518:

• [Tweak] Improved chat readability.
  
• [Tweak] Easy AI has been nerfed again.
  
• [Tweak] Multiple AI tweaks (mostly logical issues).

• [Bugfix] Fixed navigation issues on Lost Heritage map, units got stuck there.
  
• [Bugfix] Player profile experience is not properly received while playing with bots. Keep in mind that for the experience to be gained there has to be at least one human player in each team.
  
• [Bugfix] Fixed matchmaking issues that occurred while pressing the 'Cancel' button.
  
• [Bugfix] Avatars no longer reset when you enter and exit options from the lobby.
  
• [Bugfix] Fixed issue with 'Enter' option being visible in lobby while you were already in slot as a host.
  
• [Bugfix] Matchmaking widget no longer disappears from the screen - this caused a lot of confusion.

• [Crashfix] When a peasant yells twice that he died to the client.
  
• [Crashfix] While leaving a match and the player was already removed from the match, yet we were still trying to ask him about something on the host.
  
• [Crashfix] Host asked a client's squad to do something, yet by the time the packet made it's way to the client, the squad was already dead.
  
• [Crashfix] Hide all buttons and do not process HUD requests after the player has lost the game. Some remaining information caused insane garbage to be generated.
  
• [Crashfix] When a client received a ping information on map from another player, yet was already leaving the map.
  
• [Crashfix] When you captured and lost a village in the very same frame. Anyway, how did you do that? Seriously!? Probably a catapult hit, but the timing required is insane. Good job!
  
• [Crashfix] A dying soldier tried to play Med Camp animation. Dead soldiers don't heal in Med Camp anymore :)
  
• [Crashfix] Sometimes a village thinks it is attacked by a non-existing squad. As it seems, a dying squad is not really cleaning everything up properly. That's a quick fix, we'll be looking into it for real later on.
  
• [Crashfix] Player clicks "Replenish" button for a squad. By the time this information gets to the host, the squad in question manages to die resulting in non existing squad information. In that case, replenish request will be properly ignored instead of crashing the server.
  
• [Crashfix] When a dead ballista shooter tried to shoot a ballista. That could be hard to do. In our case, it crashed everyone in the game. Kind of sucks.

[DC_vipeout]

Open Beta Changelist 38704:

• [Tweak] Domination score is now added / removed fluently, instead of 5 second jumps. Works similar to how we handle resource income.
  
• [Tweak] Matchmaking logic now searches for more servers (increased from 20 to 100). This should allow for a faster search.
  
• [Tweak] Easy AI has been nerfed, it should be much easier to win a match with it now.

• [Bugfix] Multiple fixes regarding avatars and player experience not showing up properly in lobby and on loading screen.
  
• [Bugfix] Fixed a rare case where HUD would block and never increase the displayed resource numbers. Good catch.
  
• [Bugfix] Host was able to overcome 30fps clamp in lobby by going into options and changing the FPS limit option. We're sorry, but host in lobby must have that clamp.
  
• [Bugfix] In some cases traps costed twice as much (we were taking the resources twice). Shame on us :/
  
• [Bugfix] Do not allow the player to join server twice without leaving it - happened when you spammed the server browser join button.
  
• [Bugfix] Do not show "Leaving Game" messages when the match has already finished.

• [Crashfix] Our avoidance algorithm caused some issues with dead soldiers. If you're dead, you don't need to avoid other soldiers while walking.
  
• [Crashfix] Enumerate all available adapters, not only the current one - this is the fix for resolutions crash on laptops. Dedicated GPU sleeps (battery life) when game starts up and so does not report any resolutions at all.
  
• [Crashfix] Fixed a crash when a peasant wanted to build a building on client, but while that information was received by the host, the building was already cancelled by the player.
  
• [Crashfix] A ballista projectile decided to crash the host, because the client owning the projectile left the game while the shot was mid air, shooting at a squad. Insane timing.
  
• [Crashfix] Multiple cases of non-existing player (because he's leaving the game) but still owns some squads and buildings.
  
• [Crashfix] Multiple cases of peasants working in player's base - repair and build, as well as extinguishing burning buildings - with higher pings and packet loss.
  
• [Crashfix] When a client tries to Replenish a squad that is in his base, but that base is already being destroyed.
  
• [Crashfix] Do not set material parameters on the sky if the sun is already destroyed, because we're leaving the map.
  
• [Crashfix] Many, many more that are really hard to explain.

• [Info] Added multiple more fatal crashes, so we can learn more information when some of them happen.

[DC_vipeout]

Open Beta Changelist 38829:

• [Optimization] AI: Caching path lengths.

• [Tweak] Server browser visuals: sort servers (show ones with empty slots first), grey out full servers.
  
• [Tweak] Added some loading screen tooltips telling you that single-player campaign will be available in the full version of the game.
  
• [Tweak] AI: Don't be so quick to retreat if only capturing a village. Also, algorithm for recalculating already damaged villages slightly reworked.
  
• [Tweak] AI: Some fixes in internal state of bot's target mappings, AI should now choose his next steps a little more reasonable.
  
• [Tweak] AI: Easy bot will forget to call an alarm on his villages two of three times. Medium one - one of three.
  
• [Tweak] AI: Don't try to attack targets that are reaaaaally far.
  
• [Tweak] AI: Take your allies into consideration when planning next move.
  
• [Tweak] Black fade out during match end screen, so the player does not see broken camera view.
  
• [Tweak] Some improvements in our crash reporting tool, so we can get more helpful info from you guys.
  
• [Tweak] Many improvements for internal mechanics of matchmaking, such as travelling to full or non existing lobbies.
  
• [Tweak] Matchmaking will now search for far more lobbies, increasing the chances of finding a match.

• [Bugfix] Show proper message and leave the game if it was started without Steam (Yes, people were doing this. In MP beta. No questions).
  
• [Bugfix] If somehow player manages to get into already full lobby (should not happen, but well...) he/she will be kicked back to the main menu.
  
• [Bugfix] "Blind" fix for situation when state of village peasants on client was corrupted
  
• [Bugfix] Important change, that may help for characters going totally crazy (stucking, moving on water etc.) on clients
  
• [Bugfix] Fix for traps again - after last fix host could build traps for free. Not anymore!

• [Crashfix] Avoid accessing corrupted objects during clean up after match finished.
  
• [Crashfix] Potential fix for a situation with old HUD state.
  
• [Crashfix] (Hopefully) final fix for crashes in avoidance worker thread!
  
• [Crashfix] In very rare occasions (huge ping, massive packet lost) some characters-related code can be received on client in different order, that case is handled now.
  
• [Crashfix] Do not crash when a player has lost connection shortly before auto-ready check.

• [Info] Info about single-player mode coming in full version added to main menu. Also, "not representative of final quality" text added. Because its not 100% representative, obviously.

[DC_vipeout]

Open Beta Changelist 38988:

• [Tweak] Added victory audio that plays when you win a match.
  
• [Tweak] Fix for "swimming" squad banners right after recruiting squads.

• [Bugfix] AI will no longer stop recruiting squads after a certain amount of time - there was a bug with killed squads counter.
  
• [Bugfix] Do not call server logic for "Player Left" event twice per player.
  
• [Bugfix] Proper message is now displayed when you are kicked from the game under some timing scenarios.
  
• [Bugfix] Fixed an issue where mouse cursor would not properly show up after leaving chat window, when the cursor was hovered over minimap.
  
• [Bugfix] Fixed an issue when player avatars were refreshed twice in the same frame.
  
• [Bugfix] Reworked the way match state is handled - there were many rare cases causing issues, this required a refactor.
  
• [Bugfix] Profile exp should no longer randomly reset to 0. If it does indeed happen, please report again.

• [Crashfix] Trying to update session data as a host when there is no world anymore, nobody cares about such session - it's an ending match.
  
• [Crashfix] Cache some player data instead of relying on current state which does get corrupted when players leave the match AI code did sometimes crash the host in such a scenario.
  
• [Crashfix] Do not try to update highlight effects for dead squads.
  
• [Crashfix] Kick players that do not have a possible slot in lobby. For some reason we have more than max players joining lobbies and matches. This is fixing the effect, but we'll need to go deeper to fix the root cause.
  
• [Crashfix] Fixed rare crash in path-finding code.
  
• [Crashfix] Fixed a crash when a worker tried to find a position to build, yet the building no longer needed any workers - it was already built.
  
• [Crashfix] Do not try to stop cheering when you're dead.
  
• [Crashfix] Several crashfixes regarding archers shooting at targets.
  
• [Crashfix] Do make sure that there are no nullptr workers in the resource point a squad is attacking.
  
• [Crashfix] A squad issued order to build a trap, but by the time this order reached the server, the squad was already dead. Timing nightmare...
  
• [Crashfix] Sometimes, when trying to load user's steam avatar, there is no local player on the machine. Very weird, but this will no longer crash.
  
• [Crashfix] If you used a map alert ping and disconnected very quickly afterwards, your remaining team-mates would crash. No longer an issue.

• [Possible Crashfix] Numerous crashes in HUD due to input being processed while on loading screen (the HUD does not exist yet, or exists no more),
  
• [Possible Crashfix] Our pawns still do crash when trying to avoid walking through one another. There is a possible fix, along with more info in case the crash happens again.
  
• [Possible Crashfix] Detecting available resolutions. Please keep reporting this if you do still experience it.

• [Info] More info on crash related toggling skills that do not exist for the given squad.

[DC_vipeout]

Open Beta Changelist 39310:

• [NewFeature] You can now queue orders while the squad is retreating.
  
• [NewFeature] If a player disconnects during loading screen, AI Medium will take his/her place. Disconnecting host will still kill the game though.

• [Optimization] Anglo-Saxons infantry model now has proper LOD bone setup (reduces the number of calculations required when the camera is zoomed out, but the unit is still on screen).

• [Tweak] AI will no longer attack villages with too weak of a force to actually conquer them.
  
• [Tweak] Effect traps are cheaper and have increased effect strength.
  
• [Tweak] Selection color for banners have been changed. Let us know what you think ;)
  
• [Tweak] Slingers and Longbowmen recruitment time is 10 seconds shorter.
  
• [Tweak] Anglo-saxon infantry units a bit cheaper.
  
• [Tweak] German Panzer Cavalry upkeep cost raised twice.
  
• [Tweak] Slingers now have better range.
  
• [Tweak] Day / Night cycle is longer now.
  
• [Tweak] New minimaps.
  
• [Tweak] Arrow Rain duration has been reduced to 2.5 seconds.
  
• [Tweak] No food situation is now much more noticeable.
  
• [Tweak] Changed resource on the left-bottom corner on the Lost Heritage map from iron small to big. The previous setting was unfair.

• [Bugfix] Multiple bugfixes with regards to players disconnecting during loading screen - the Ai will now take over. It will not if the player leaves in the middle of a game, unfortunately that is a bigger task.
  
• [Bugfix] Fixed issue with profile experience that could possibly lead to resetting the levels. If you do experience level reset, please let us know.
  
• [Bugfix] Players can no longer join games through invites that are playing on a different build version.
  
• [Bugfix] Do not play cheer animations on horses and siege machines.
  
• [Bugfix] The initial squad for AI was not registered properly, therefore AI could have 11 squads, and have 1 more than it would otherwise be possible.
  
• [Bugfix] Improved pathfinding and reduced desynchronization on squads and their movement. Please let us know if you see units teleporting.
  
• [Bugfix] Fixed several icons that were not displayed properly.

• [Crashfix] Match ends but there is no winner - this happened when a private match was hosted alone (this is fully supported for free roam or learning the game).
  
• [Crashfix] Skill state changed, but the squad was already dead on the client receiving the state update.
  
• [Crashfix] Fixed another way that detecting resolutions have caused a crash.

• [Possible Crashfix] Unit avoidance code still does crash, there are a few possible fixes in this patch.

• [Info] There are multiple places where we have added code that displays more information when a crash occurs. Please, report crashes it really does help us figure out what's wrong.

[DC_vipeout]

Open Beta Changelist 39425:

• [Tweak] Ctrl + double-click on a banner selects all units of that type

• [Bugfix] Fixed pathing issues in several spots on all the maps.
  
• [Bugfix] Fixed several audio issues - no audio device detected at all or audio stutter. Please let us know if this helped if you experienced such issue prior to this patch.
  
• [Bugfix] Possible fix for resetting player profile experience. Please let us know if this issue still occurs.

• [Crashfix] Weather system tried to update camera effects when being kicked from the game.
  
• [Crashfix] Domination game mode crashed when a player disconnected precisely at the start game event.

[DC_vipeout]

Open Beta Changelist 39521:

• [Tweak] Several tweaks to Hold Fire logic for catapults and ballistas.
  
• [Tweak] Proper setup for slavic ballista.

• [Bugfix] Input will no longer be consumed by the application without properly processing it, after turning off Action Camera when the cursor is above the minimap.
  
• [Bugfix] On Lost Heritage map bushes will now work properly.
  
• [Bugfix] Several pathing issues fixed with squads taking over catapults at the edge of navigable area.
  
• [Bugfix] Even more information for us when player level resets, it's connected to internet disconnect timing and our logic trying to assign points. Also, another possible fix.

• [Crashfix] Make sure that you never try to process hovered logic on an invalid actor.
  
• [Crashfix] Fixed a crash at the start of Domination match that could occur.

[DC_vipeout]

Open Beta Changelist 39714:

• [New feature] You can now use "Stop" ability on squads to, well, stop movement or shooting. Unfortunately, due to limited space on action bar, "Muddy Pit Trap" will no longer be available.

• [Tweak] Morale is now decreasing much slower when you have no food left.
  
• [Tweak] After building health reaches zero it will take more time to completely extinguish, but then it can be repaired much faster.
  
• [Tweak] Shooting range of all nation's towers is now equal.
  
• [Tweak] Brave fire fighters using wells are now more effective!
  
• [Tweak] Interpolation between movement animations should be slightly smoother.

• [Bugfix] Situations when catapult's squads has no crew should not occur anymore.

• [Crashfix] Once again, in some very rare cases game objects on client side can become invalid, it should now be handled properly and not lead to a crash.

[DC_vipeout]

Open Beta Changelist 39779:

• [Tweak] AI should now be a little smarter and won't attack silver villages with a single squad.
  
• [Tweak] Peasants can not activate traps anymore.

• [Bugfix] Horse archers can not detect traps, they were able to do it by mistake...

• [Crashfix] Clear some variables during leaving game map on match end to avoid crashes.
  
• [Crashfix] Don't try to display threat level on already killed squads.
  
• [Crashfix] Division by zero crash fixed, yeah...
  
• [Crashfix] Some additional safety conditions to avoid crashes when playing animations on war machine crew.
  
• [Crashfix] Hopefully final fix for crash connected to not-proper cleaning some stuff during squad's destruction sequence.

[DC_vipeout]

Open Beta Changelist 39914:

• [Tweak] Intense Fire skill for Viking Norse Archers has been nerfed. 200% fire rate was reduced to 150%, duration reduced from 15 to 6 seconds, cooldown increased from 60 to 90 seconds. One heavy nerf.
  
• [Tweak] Peasants are no longer recruited faster due to a nation having recruit speed technologies in a blacksmith.

• [Bugfix] Slavic cavalry is now properly defined as a cavalry and not a spear unit. The players were right and we were wrong thinking it was just an icon ;) This will affect it's value in combat, especially versus squads equipped with shields. Good find!
  
• [Bugfix] Catapults and ballistas will now have properly working area attack skill.

• [Crashfix] There is still an issue with crashes on host right at the start of a Domination match. If this doesn't fix it, stuff starts to get serious.

[DC_vipeout]

Open Beta Changelist 40003:

• [Bugfix] Clients can now properly take over catapults with their own squads.