Emps-World Forum

Emps-World => Update Notes => Topic started by: Thomy on April 08, 2020, 08:15:35 am

Title: Updates April 8th & 10th 2020 - Menu Styles, Discord Bot, Aura Buffs and More!
Post by: Thomy on April 08, 2020, 08:15:35 am
Hey guys,

This update contains changes for many aspects of the game. There's new items obtainable through Silver crafting, a rework for Elemental and Abyssal weapons, Buffs to endgame Invention auras and a few engine changes that improve your gameplay. I've also fixed many bugs reported over the past weeks and added the option for customized User Interface styles. You can choose between modern and oldschool styles.

Menu Styles
You are now able to customize the look of your menu. By default you get the modern gameframe and icons. Click on "Interface Settings" to change set your preferred look. (https://emps-world.net/img/updates/interface_settings.22062.jpg)
There's also custom cursors that change depending on what option, npc, player or object is selected. Feel free to disable them if you prefer your own default mouse cursor.

Silver Casting
Several new moulds have been added to Dommik's Crafting store (Al-Kharid & Crafting guild). You are now able to melt Silver bars in a furnace to create new items:(https://emps-world.net/img/updates_no_preview/silver_casting.jpg)
Using a Runecrafting staff and Tiara allows you to create combination runes easier. They do not count for runes but will allow you to create runes without needing additional talismans.

Discord Bot
We now have our own official Discord bot that is integrated into the game server. It will forward clan chat from and to discord and offers some utility commands, such as finding drops for npcs. Have a look at our official Discord (https://discord.gg/xUvVGkk) channel. This is the bot's initial release so it may not always work or be disabled from time to time but feel free to play around with it! :D

Elemental and Abyssal Weapons
I would like to bring more weapon variety into endgame PvM by improving abyssal weapons and their elemental upgrades through crystals. You no longer lose your abyssal weapon and the upgrade crystal once all charges run out. The item reverts back to its original state without the upgrade crystal. The sink is no longer necessary because of Invention. The maximum charges were changed from 50,000 to 40,000 to be aligned with the reworked aura. I've changed the Whipmaster aura into Abyssal master aura, which increases damage for all abyssal weapons including bows and staves! The creation costs for Abyssal master aura have also been changed: it no longer requires any Demon energy but 100 of each 4 basic energy types. All abyssal weapons have received a special attack that applies an effect depending on their element: The theoretical DPS of Abyssal weapons is now similar to the one of Demon weapons. They have a significantly lower accuracy bonus but attack faster.

Invention Aura Buffs
I've identified that quite a few of the higher tier auras are just too weak for their costs, especially those made with Demon energy. I've changed the following: I will be further monitoring how auras with Demon energy perform and adjust them in future updates if necessary. Please let me know what you think of the changes!

Game fixes / changes:
Engine fixes / changes:
Texture System Rework
This change went live a lot earlier but I'm mentioning the technical changes for those interested. I've changed the texturing system from an texture atlas (openGL 1.5+) to a texture array (openGL 3.0+). This results in overall sharper and smoother scenery. Not only does this modern system look better but it also loads terrain significantly faster. Particles now also look more detailed and smoother. With this change I've improved particle spawns for elemental weapons and the wildy wyrm too. Shaders (programs on the GPU) have been upgraded from openGL 2.0 to openGL 3.0. Computers not supporting these changes will just use the old system. Rendering images and text in-game has also been optimized through that system resulting in higher fps rates and sharper image quality. The game needs to render image scenes less often because of more optimized rendering techniques. These optimizations work for both the old and new systems! Images or letters that are party cut-off by scrollbars are also no longer streamed to the GPU but properly cut with the new system. Full screen and anti aliasing button have been updated to be toggles. The game no longer needs to re-open its window to apply the settings.

Memory System Improvements
I've received a few reports of lag or crashes over the past weeks and investigated the issue. I've improved the game's memory usage by caching less models and transforming them on-demand rather than keeping all transformations. The game used to keep a copy of every model on every position which isn't quite necessary because there is a lot of duplicates with different rotations or ground alignments. You should feel that the game loads a bit quicker, smoother and it will be consuming less memory. The native libraries are now also stored inside the .emps_world cache folder by default and no longer on your operating system's temp folder.

Please let me know what you think of these changes and what you would like to see next? I was thinking of additional bosses or another Invention batch with new auras?

All the best,
Thomy




Updates of April 10th:

Item Drop System and Death Item Timers
I've received quite a lot of reports recently about people  losing their items and requesting them back through our Helpdesk. We have taken a look at some cases and on rare occasions have decided to return items because they were impossible to be picked up in time. I'm now changing that policy that we are not returning any items lost upon death unless of course lost or deleted by a bug. I am additionally changing the death item timers to 10 minutes. That means that your items lost on death will be visible to you for 8 minutes and an additional 2 minutes to other players. This is more than enough time to run back and grab your gear even if your internet connection fails you. Below's a list of all (changed) item timers: I think this death mechanic is fairer and also won't punish failing internet connections too much anymore.

Game fixes / changes:

Title: Re: Updates April 8th 2020 - Menu Styles, Discord Bot, Aura Buffs and More!
Post by: Ralphe10 on April 08, 2020, 08:39:25 am
HM Nex please!

Nice update :)
Title: Re: Updates April 8th 2020 - Menu Styles, Discord Bot, Aura Buffs and More!
Post by: Earl on April 08, 2020, 10:52:12 am
Very nice!
Title: Re: Updates April 8th 2020 - Menu Styles, Discord Bot, Aura Buffs and More!
Post by: Cahit on April 08, 2020, 12:40:27 pm
As always, well done Thomy!

A few features for the server broadcasts bot:

- Make it include what killcount a player has when receiving a rare drop from a boss.
For example "A player has just received a Torva Platebody drop with a killcount of: 2,650!"

- Make it announce when a player reaches a new boss kc milestone.
For example "A player has just achieved a new kal'ger milestone of: 500 kills, 1,000 kills, 1,500 kills etc".

- To add more diversity to the bot, have it announce distraction and diversion events, such as when a Shooting star has landed. Or when Kolodion Spider is about to spawn in the wilderness.

Additonal bosses to the game would be nice to see!
Title: Re: Updates April 8th 2020 - Menu Styles, Discord Bot, Aura Buffs and More!
Post by: Mellen Gi on April 08, 2020, 03:40:22 pm
Well done, Thomy! :)