The great news is that we hit one of our mini-milestones, pushing the last reported bug count of 136 down to 84 remaining reports for the end of October 2023, now displaying on just four pages on the GitHub issues board.
So, to celebrate, we've released an update!
Some of the highlights of this update include fixes and small convenience additions as we round off the features you need to produce and publish your games. General improvements to the level save and reload system, cleaning up rogue and corrupt data in object lists, and video playback now cover the whole screen, including the last rightmost and bottom most pixel line.
Plenty of work on the new weapon system has been completed, together with bugs marked with the weapon tag to tackle most of the remaining issues with weapon placement and control. Muzzle, smoke and brass are now ejected from custom weapons. Dropped weapons from characters are now true objects that run their own scripts and weapons carried by characters are locked in perfect sync with the hands.
Environmental Probes now respond to more changes, including light range adjustment to represent the area of coverage better. We improved the ragdoll system, specifically in how characters fall, preventing them from dying while propped up on their knees, and added a tick box so you can see the ragdoll in debug mode.
We fixed the USEKEY developer mode option so that when more than eight logical connections are required for keys and doors to be associated, this feature can now be used to link objects by name only. Storyboard can now connect screens to secondary loading screens that connect to other levels and can be added as buttons and used in test game mode and in standalone exports.
For features, we added a loot drop feature to characters, so you can control if a character will drop an object when killed. The character creator system has also been extended to add early support for custom character types, watch out for future DLCs that expand your character choices!
Also, for developer mode users, we added a REFRESH button so the library view can be updated to show any recently added files, no need to leave MAX and relaunch. This is ideal if you are creating your own art and wish to see the results right away.
As the full list was a popular addition last month, we are pleased to share the latest fixes again this month, so here is the complete list since the last update on the 26 October 2023:
* All current 'pure' weapon bugs reported are now fixed* Added Loot Drops for characters so up to 10 objects can be dropped* Fixed Level Duplication Issue that caused duplicate hidden objects to be auto-created* Added code to clean up any corruption from previous duplications* Added initial support for custom character parts by adding a new folder to the PARTS folder* NOTE: Above intended for new character styles to be created with suitable part choices* Importer Code Cleanup ensuring only WICKEDENGINE code remains* Code Cleanup Before CC Work* Improvements to the ragdoll system for characters* Added command to check if slot sounds are playing* USEKEY now works as well as logic connections for doors* Added REFRESH button for developer tools options when want to refresh libraries* Added debug view of ragdolls on characters* Improved custom weapons now include muzzle, smoke, and brass* Improved response for character combat, damage decals for melee* Debug visual for firepot of character weapons* Dropped weapons are now true objects with running weapon scripts* Capped light spot radius* Standalone now retains HUD when the stock HUD system is used* Fixed the issue of clip ammo being wiped out* No longer deletes collection files from the root when saving to writables* Health panel and values now hide when a player is invulnerable or briefly immune* Prevented crashes when previewing large library collections* Prevented crash when specifying a material index OUT OF RANGE* Fixed issue causing respawned objects to lose their health and path-finding ability* Now env probes are updated when any sun/cloud settings are changed in the level editor* Fixed offset for Muzzle flash for characters* Added Instant Env Probe Refresh for when lights change range* Added new RDIsWithinAndOverMesh for precision nav mesh checks* Added Show Bones Info to the model importer to help character importing* Env maps now update based on sky changes and light changes in the game* Fixed issues of old global env maps being used* Added extra logs to deep dive when a parent object is removed from the list and elements reassigned, related to disappearing objects bug report* Restored VWEAP textures for legacy custom weapons with the gun_color fallback* Prevented an unnecessary save reload when the collection list includes objects not in the level* Added extra info when a folder is missing during a save standalone event* Fixed crash caused by building editor imported into the project with collectibles* Improved speed of env probe calculations when lots of probes near each other* Now copies the AMDFIX.INI file to standalone to fix AMD Black Screen for exported games* Corrected GetEntityColBox command* Fixed positioning of the FPSC readout to avoid overlapping the minimize button* Fixed issue of muzzle flash working with new weapon system for projectiles* Weapon successfully dropped at feet of killed characters* Moving out of character creator no longer resets the sky settings* Can now view current objects when the object is locked* Any hot swapped objects when in the level editor will reset the custom materials* Fixed the issue of video playback not stretching to the last right and bottom pixel* Improvements made to Thumbnail Refresh so imported objects of the same name are handled* Prevented crash when attempting to create physics debug mesh from zero polygons* After import and preview are done, now takes the user directly to the imported object in the library* Improved environmental probe system so more details are captured to avoid holes in geometry* Fixed the issue of checkpoint not resuming the looping and playing sounds* Above also works with game menu pause and resume that uses the same system* Storyboard can now connect screens to secondary loading screens that connect to other levels, and can be added as buttons and used in test and in standalone* Small fix to weapon ammo and weapon clip ammo commands* Added additional notes when adding storyboard screen status bars* Fixed the issue of new weapons not fitting into the hands of characters properly* Weapons no longer lag behind by one frame during character animations* Added LookAtPlayerWithOffset to LUA commands* Fixed the issue of skybox changes not being saved in the level editor* Added support to modify pos and rot for weapons placed into the hands of the new arms* NOTE: Above ideal for placing static straight weapons directly into the hands* ClipCapacity of zero no longer wipes out ammo collection* Updated text description to warn that game projects cannot be renamed* Improved how levels are loaded, fading in to hide any n-core thread updating of terrain and trees* Now all 38 tree types have their own thicknesses for the cylinder physics collisions* Thanks to Preben for the tip - LUA logic speed improvements for larger levels* Added new weapon property for CLIP CAPACITY that caps how much clip ammo can be assigned per weapon* Added new LUA commands to set clip capacity in the game* Added new HUD screen field names to associate ammo and clip values to slider gadget (Ammo Remaining, Weapon Reload Quantity, Maximum Clipped Ammo)* Fixed memory leak and collision on/off LUA slowdown that failed to delete entries into the collision shapes list* Reverted Anim Checks to fix anim issue, no joy, need to revert to find cause* Looking to speed up the LUA finish process (using an older system of detecting LUA commands)* Fixed critical writable folder issue introduced when the AMDFIX file was added* Added error trapping when trying to copy workshop content into the community folder* Added safety code around detection and use of animation data (for some rogue imports)* Removed old redundant code* Can now clear an emissive field to remove texture from a material of an object* Added AMDFIX.INI to the latest build to indicate this feature. Renaming it to NOAMDFIX.INI will skip the AMD hot fix detection, but manually requires D3D11.DLL and DXGI.DLL to be removed to restore to a non-AMDhotfix mode (NOTE: VR will not work with the AMD HOT FIX active)* Fixed issue of decals missing when fired impacted etc caused by water ripple culling* Also, impacts now ignore the detection of bulletholes so the correct material is always registered* Added WinGam() and LoseGame() to LUA commands* Fixed crash due to corrupt collection item lists, and added code to prevent memory overruns for similar scenarios.* Improved the workshop tab to show file count and latest date of workshop item, and improved the updating system for moving workshop files from Steam to the local instance of MAX* Hands system now scans the Hands folder for new hands to add to the player start marker drop-down list* Now recovers from levels that specify hands that do not exist locally.* Fixed the issue of the new hand's system lagging behind weapon animations* Added remaining legacy weapons to the new hands system* NOTE: Requires update to MAX WICKED repo* Added Water Height control un UNITS to help with water control scripting* Added code to clean new arms on legacy weapons* Added AK47 test asset to try out arm support for legacy weapons (ENHANCED)* Added new AMMOPOOL commands so scripts can find pool ammo clip value* Tweak to collection system to detect older collection tables that hold weapons* Improved the weapon collection system to support custom weapons* Fixed issue with vertical move mode for objects no longer skips* New HANDS setting in PLAYER START MARKER to customize new weapon system hands* When crouching while walking off a high place, fixed the issue of rapid acceleration* Adding smart objects, now works with both drag/drop entity modes* Added new LUA commands to make characters immune to underwater* Improved system for detecting what is damaged by explosions* Various fixes related to USE and DROP in the inventory system
Also, remember our end-of-month live broadcast is a great place to get a look at some of these fixes, so if you want to join in on these extended hour-long Q&A sessions, we host them on the last Wednesday of every month at 7 PM BST on our YouTube channel - see you there :-)