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The road to 0.3.0


Tobias Solem

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With the approval of AWOL I write this post to give you some heads up on what is going on behind the scenes, and why there have been little to no information lately as to what's going on with the mod. The information I am releasing here are what I've grasped from conversations with AWOL and streams from the developers themselves and thus are prone to change, but they should give you an idea of what's coming. Have no doubt that the devs are still working hard to release a new patch, and the reason why it (0.2.6) has been delayed is that they wanted to release something that will take a big step in the intended direction, something that will impress the community.

Maintaining two separate developer builds for release was not feasible, and pushing 0.2.6 further and further just wasn't reasonable any longer, so the current next milestone is version 0.3.0. It will come with a database wipe, partly because the database has been changed in development. A changelog is in the works and should be released soon.

Version 0.3.0 will first be released to the official hosts only, the objective is to stress test the build and see how it performs under pressure (100 players). Us official hosts have an established line of communication with the devs and will be forwarding test data during this initial launch so that the patch works well for a public release.

The current approximate ETA for release is about a months time.

What is coming up (PRELIMINARY INFO, EXPECT CHANGES)

+ Revamped building system, you can now insert buildables (walls, etc.) into the ground and snap to them, falling walls is a thing of the past

+ Axeman has been working on a new Epoch multi-part mission system, involving using UAV's to gathering intel, , engaging human opponents, etc. etc.

+ More stuff/items you can pick up

+ Expanded map support

+ Improved sapper brain

+ More sapper variants

+ New UGV-enemy

+ Several anti-duping fixes, one of the consequences currently of this is that you get booted to lobby after you permadie.

+ New treasure sites underwater, you can now loot underwater

+ More new loot containers (ie. at Ferris wheels)

+ Several bug and glitch fixes + improved antihack and admin menus

+ You can now bash persistent wrecks of vehicles/rocks and get scrap metal from them

+ Frequency Jammers now prevent loot from spawning within their area

+ More functions/upgradability for frequency jammers

+ Loot tables have been tweaked

+ Base items (cinder, wood, etc.) now are much sturdier and can take lots more punishment

+ New server events (shore ship wrecks) spawn with chests

+ A take all-button

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Thanks,

 

Looking forward to seeing the changes YAY

 

**BUT** always a but yes I know..

 

Would have been nice to here this from the DEV direct but hay ho some information is better than none..

 

Not sure why the official host get this first I understand the need for feedback from trusted hosts but it means the smaller communities are going to suffer again as no doubt everyone will update to the new build and then won't be able to join the smaller community servers  as they will be on wrong versions (yes we can tell them not to update but who listens anyway).. My personal take is if the smaller hubs want to run "bleeding edge" with no support and feedback channel let them why not ?.  Just seems to be a little preferential.

 

Also would it not be good to allow people who are activly developing mods/addons like AI to have it sooner as well so they can test the code before the comunity starts yelling "it does not work" ?. Just a thought 

 

DB wipe... :-) hahaha my community will love this I have been telling them it will come soon :-) 

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The word "release" would indicate a month ( aprox) for everyone :)

 

Thats what i was thinking but clarity is good (timescales change and i reailse a month isn't set in stone).

 

I'm a bit perplexed at them stress testing it on empty official servers? Well apart from Mells maybe.

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Nothings changed has it ? It has been that way from the start for the reasons stated in the past .

 

Sigh, Obviously you are missing the boat.

 

Stress testing on full 100 man servers, is there any official hosts who manage that feat bar maybe mells? It's hardly going to be stress testing on empty servers. Which is the part that baffles me.

 

Hence why i said it in the first place, whether it's changed or not has bog all to do with why i said it.

 

It will be interesting to see what they add in the next patch.

 

Have a good day.

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The point here is that they want to draw more players to the official hosts during the test. The developers are focusing on developing rather than community interaction. I saw the need for some info so I asked for the permission to relay what I know. Which I got.

The reason why official hosts are getting it first is that we have an obligation to run it in a vanilla state when testing, the devs want to evaluate Epoch 0.3.0 only, without other scripts and custom stuff. They want to evaluate the actual mod, and get feedback on that alone. AWOL has direct access to our server for example, and we can feed him logs etc. and already have quick channels of communication. It is what they want, and how they want it.

Discussing this is kinda pointless, that's just how they want it done. And in the end everyone will get a more stable/tested release anyhow.

Also, just to confirm. There is no 0.2.6 release. Next release is 0.3.0

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I would imagine a lot of people will abandon their servers to help test. I will be hopping on wtp server to help get the numbers up

 

 

I'm glad you will help, they will need all the players they can get to be able to stress test 100 man servers.  I'll keep checking when it's released to see if I'm right in my thinking that there will be loads of unfilled official servers and maybe 1-2 that will be close to capacity during testing.

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Maintaining two separate developer builds for release was not feasible, and pushing 0.2.6 further and further just wasn't reasonable any longer, so the current next milestone is version 0.3.0. It will come with a database wipe, partly because the database has been changed in development. A changelog is in the works and should be released soon.

 

 

 

Are we moving to SQL???  *crosses fingers*   :o

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Can anyone confirm, for a fact, that 0.3.0 will REQUIRE a DB wipe?

"REQUIRE" is a strong word, I do believe you can adapt (for example)to keep buildables and stuff, it would require some effort on your part (not exactly sure how much effort, but possibly you would have to move parts of the db to new keys/etc. - I'll give further info if/when I get it), I do know they have changed the structure and it won't work out of the box to run 0.3.0 with a 0.2.5.2-db.

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Are they really going to have the official hosts running vanilla? I ask because right now your server can be FAR from vanilla and still be an official host. Many official hosts have missions, weapons packs, map addons and more.

I am aware of this, several official hosts have been running missions, etc. - mostly because the period of evaluating 0.2.5.2 is over. I have heard no frowns whatsoever from the devs regarding this thus far. With the "pre"-release of 0.3.0 it would surprise me if that did not change though.

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I am aware of this, several official hosts have been running missions, etc. - mostly because the period of evaluating 0.2.5.2 is over. I have heard no frowns whatsoever from the devs regarding this thus far. With the "pre"-release of 0.3.0 it would surprise me if that did not change though.

 

I hope so, because I asked Axeman to remove me from the official hosts group because I wanted to run more than just vanilla with a couple config changes and didn't feel an official host should be running things that change the base Epoch gameplay. It doesn't seem right to have an official hosts group but not require anyone to adhere to any specific guidelines.

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I hope so, because I asked Axeman to remove me from the official hosts group because I wanted to run more than just vanilla with a couple config changes and didn't feel an official host should be running things that change the base Epoch gameplay. It doesn't seem right to have an official hosts group but not require anyone to adhere to any specific guidelines.

I agree. I've been pestering AWOL about this as well, the thing is that "official host" isn't exactly attractive unless you get some sort of benefit being an official host. I suppose a part of that benefit is going to be "early access", and possibly getting to run "certain approved scripts". I have heard no final words there though, I shall ask AWOL.

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