New BETA version is available for testing (0.8.078)

Hello everyone,

Finally, geez! If you look at the version numbers, we've had 13 internal versions since the last Beta dropped. Annoyingly, this update is mostly technical, plus some cosmetics and a lot of bugfixes. The new style of the GUI will be most noticable (main HUD will soon get a similar makeover), but you should also notice a large improvement in performance, pathfinding quality and unit collision quality. The trickiest bits were:

• You don't want to get units stuck together, but you want units to get stuck a little, otherwise combat feels too weightless.

• You want the same results while playing on 1x, 4x and 12x but you don't want to do 12x the work on the CPU. You need to somehow improve the simulation resolution on high game speeds but without sacrificing performance.
  
  

This causes a constant struggle, obviously we need the game to play smoothly and to be responsive, but a lot of the charm of ML is the details. Normally in games where you watch things up close (RPG let's say) you'd make the world near the camera detailed while far away you can tone things down, in ML, since the player is actually competing with other Lords, this would affect balance, so we can't do it too much, and the game speed multiplier makes things even trickier to solve. In any case, this is the sweet spot we landed on so far. Is it perfect? No. But it can still be pushed in various directions depending on feedback. For instance we're experimenting with Oxen having more detailed collision avoidance than other workers since there is fewer of them but you tend to notice it more when they bump. I also considered doing more refined collision avoidance during early game when there aren't thousands of characters to simulate yet, and when players tend to watch more closely. But maybe it's too much "cheating"?

To be honest. My bet is you guys will say "it's fine, where are the Perks????" :)

How to Access the Beta

Saves: To avoid any potential issues, it’s recommended that you back up your saved files before switching to a beta version. Mods: Please remove any mods. They will most likely crash the game.

To find your Manor Lords Steam saves.

• Press Win + E

• Go to %USERPROFILE%]]AppDataLocalManorLordsSavedSaveGames into the search bar.

To try the BETA, please follow these steps:

• Open Steam

• Right-click on Manor Lords in your library

• Select Properties

• Go to the BETAS tab

• Enter the password: veryNiceBasket

• Choose "pre_release" from the "Beta participation" drop-down list

• Wait for the game to update the files (if nothing happens, restart the Steam client)

• Launch the game

You can report feedback and bug reports on the Manor Lords Steam forums or join us on Discord for bug reports and discussion about the latest patch.

• Major updates to the pathfinding system to reduce time spent waiting for a path.

• Added a proper “island” system that quickly rejects paths between different enclosed zones (Manor Castles, riversides with no bridge connection and so on).

• Further refactored character locomotion and collision to use proper substeps in order to reduce differences between different game speeds.

• Refactored Squad move commands: When moving multiple Squads by short RMB release, it defaults to forming a wide line when commanded in an open field, a 3 column line when commanded on a road and a scattered formation if commanded over a building area. To use the previous behavior (keeping relative Squad offsets), the player has to hold the ALT key when giving commands.

• Refactored the group pathfinding algorithm.

• Overhauled the Game Setup screen’s aesthetic.

• Added Gamepad controls.

• Added Granary, Storehouse, Trading Post, Homeless Tents, and Bridges to locations to avoid doing idle tasks around.

• When fighting on roads, Squads try to align their combat formation to their shape.

• Straight army paths are now saved and will be restored when loading. Multi-waypoint paths (Ctrl+RMB+drag) are currently not supported.

• Sightings of neutral Squads happen less frequently and their messages are grouped together.

• Neutral Squads no longer stop or slow down game speed.

• Families become homeless only when their home burns down instead of when it catches fire.

• Church Lv1 & Lv2 boundary has been increased to make space for future levels.

• Added info about permanently assigned animals to building floaters (TAB key).

• Improved tooltip when the player does not have enough resources during Burgage Plot placement.

• Ungarrisoning is now forced when demolishing to prevent “asking person inside to leave”.

• Increased garrisoning speed into the Deep Mine.

• Unread quests and letters are now properly displayed after loading a save.

• Trading Post Families husbands can stock the Trading Post if no one else can.

• \[Experimental] For characters that are large and it’s hard for them to turn in place, we added a minor preference to follow path points that don’t require extreme turning early on.

• \[Experimental] Disabled the “always show region border under cursor location” functionality since it obstructed the view of the combat sometimes.

• \[Experimental] Ale is no longer consumed by Lv1 Families.

• \[Experimental] Ale crafting output reduced from 2 to 1.

• Threshing Priority default is now Low when constructing a Farmhouse.

• Threshing Priority at Medium now uses 25% workforce, rather than 50%.

• Raiders will attempt to fill up their inventory when looting, but will leave if 50% of the settlement’s loot has already been taken or 40% of the settlement has been torched.

• Reduced the startle distance for Wild Animals.

• Hunters and Hunting Hounds are less likely to startle Wild Animals.

• Dirt cliff adjustments on Devil’s Hill Map.

• Environmental touch ups on various maps.

• Added diversity to food assets in market stalls.

• Fences now appear as intended for bigger Lv4 Burgage Plots.

• Adjusted Stone Gatehouse and Tower entrances to better fit the platforms.

• Lv2 Church Upgrade now displays scaffolding and ladders during the build process.

Styling & Quality of Life

• Load screen styling adjusted to match the revised Game Setup screen.

• Updated Building Panel opening animation.

• Transition of the Building Panel categories are smoother.

• Ale consumption is now displayed in the Family Consumption UI in the People Tab.

• Styling adjustments to Squad Tooltip to prevent stat text-cut off and improve consistency.

• Trade Category icons updated to be consistent with Resource Bar UI.

• Opening castle planner closes pinned building tabs, this prevents some potential bugs with demolishing manor.

• Popups for “Hunger” etc. will not appear while the player is holding LMB, to avoid interfering with some game mechanics.

Text

• Added missing strings for squad stances that may be prevented (can’t run because using Shieldwall etc.).

• Added new tooltips to Threshing Priority levels.

• Collapse chance tooltip updated to reflect daily chance and give more accurate info.

• Added logistics tutorial and shortened some early tutorials to prevent overbearing info.

• Reduced text for Market Supply Capacity and improved visibility on when it appears.

• Fixed reentering into the Main Menu not spawning already enabled AI Lords.

• Fixed coat textures being broken after reentering the Main Menu.

• Fixed random starting season not working correctly on returning to the Main Menu and selecting a new game again.

• Fixed region panel data swap not working properly when another swap occurs during the animation of the first swap.

• Fixed the ability to place a building in an adjacent region and skip construction requirements by holding the right mouse button.

• Fixed map edges not counting as any region when detecting region swaps.

• Fixed cross regional roads exclusively reading the starting regions obstacle data, ignoring obstacles in the connected regions.

• Fixed game freezing during Cinematic Mode (Ctrl+C) after blocking popup appears.

• Fixed game freezing when popup appears while rotating building.

• Fixed possibility of “Hunger” appearing while there is some food left due to transport tasks reserving food.

• Fixed Families not moving into a Burgage Plot if its construction process was paused right before completion.

• Fixed fruit trees not being planted when the sown vegetable garden was replaced by an orchard.

• Fixed wrong logic of unmaintained building collapsing, that could potentially lead to collapsed building being in invalid state, without possibility to be rebuilt.

• Fixed animals killed by arrows emitting human death sounds.

• Fixed animals and civilians counting towards “Enemies killed”/”Soldiers Lost” for achievements.

• Fixed animals dying affecting "Lost Villagers" for achievements.

• Fixed ox not abandoning their plowing task if the field switches to Fallow.

• Fixed ox and guide having incorrect rotation on higher speeds when plowing.

• Fixed being able to place buildings with flexible borders on top of Wild Animal resource nodes without triggering migration.

• Fixed workers not aborting their “pet” tasks when the animal stopped being idle.

Production

• Fixed destroyed or unoccupied Burgage Plots still producing eggs and similar passive products.

• Fixed Hunting Camp not reporting "storage full" for its generic storage.

• Fixed Hunting Camp not processing the last carcass when storage is full.

• Fixed faulty logic for Hunters that prevented the placement of animal traps.

• Fixed Stone Gatherer Camp not logging its yield in the production tracker.

• Fixed Stone Gatherer Camp completely ignoring storage capacity.

• Fixed production buildings not setting their reserve based on if a deposit is Rich or not.

• Fixed wrong amounts of food being added to the production log when taking food from a unit carrying food.

• Fixed Collapse Chance due to proximity of mines for Mining Pit and Deep Mine not triggering unless they were missing Maintenance resources.

Logistics

• Fixed incorrect calculation of how many more goods can be transported to a Granary or Storehouse.

• Fixed Trading Post not respecting reservation and surplus limits.

• Fixed workers with handcarts walking slower on roads.

• Fixed Granary and Storehouse workers not picking up unwanted goods from market stalls.

Military

• Fixed raiders being able to loot Timber logs.

• Fixed raiders not picking a random good in inventory to loot.

• Fixed raiders going after enemies outside the target region.

• Fixed raiders forgetting they were going home and starting to raid again.

• Fixed squads not tactically retreating when breaking off engagement if the enemy squad wasn’t previously targeted.

• Fixed AI squads sometimes “dancing around in place” during their attack instead of charging forward.

• Fixed polling of fighting skill availability (such as shieldwall in forest).

• Fixed formations sometimes reversing direction when sent to road locations. 

• Fixed squads recovering fully from fatigue when disbanding and rallying in quick succession. 

• Fixed villagers coming out of hiding during attacks to guide animals. 

• Fixed presence of troops (such as retinues) preventing game over if every citizen dies.

• Fixed inability to place rally points on roads.

Pathfinding

• Fixed collision logic sometimes treats streams as impassable obstacles.

• Fixed mismatch between pathfinding and collision logic that could cause workers to get stuck.

• Fixed collision logic not being able to handle a worker being stuck against an impassable obstacle like a bridge or cliff.

• Added an emergency push out if a character ends up inside an impassable obstacle, for instance after a castle wall section finishes construction.

• Fixed a problematic area on the Jagged Cliffs that caused pathfinding to fail sometimes.

• Fixed pathfinding links not always regenerating after demolishing a building, including when the Castle/Manor gets reconstructed.

• Fixed workers stuck trying to exit Deep Mines continuing to extract more resources.

• Fixed startled Wild Animals not returning to their Resource Node.

• Fixed Free Merchants making additional stops and aborting going to their original target Trading Post.

• Fixed Free Merchants not going home if there is no Trading Post to visit.

• Fixed Free Merchants not stopping at Trading Posts along the way.

• Fixed Manor Castle platform path points spawning on the wrong floor.

• Fixed Manor Castle not marking its obstacles as “impassable”.

• Fixed bandits constantly getting stuck or failing pathfinding while being at camp.

• Fixed raiders moving erratically due to constantly picking a new location outside the map to return to.

• Fixed soldiers facing the enemy even when they are extremely far away.

Save/Load

• Fixed unit stances and skills not being saved, always resulting in default values after loading the game.

• Fixed retinue equipment not being worn for rallied retinues on game loading.

• Fixed threshing priority not being saved properly.

• Fixed “region under attack” and “squads present” not being recalculated after loading a save game.

• Fixed wall gates open/closed states not being supported in game saves.

• Fixed manor stone wall gates open/closed status not being restored on game loading.

• Fixed Artisan shops in Lv4 Burgage Plots not persisting when loading.

• Fences on Burgage Plots no longer disappear if loading from save during an upgrade.

• Fixed crops deleted during the "Burn Field" action being restored on save/load.

Cosmetic/Visuals

• Fixed wrong rotation of hunters during shooting animation.

• Fixed bandits having wrong rotation while throwing torches.

• Fixed the wrong position and rotation of workers during tanning.

• Fixed invalid character rotation on bridges.

• Fixed animals and workers with wagons being rotated incorrectly when traversing bridges.

• Fixed Small Game carry animations.

• Fixed animation loops occasionally getting stuck after specific combinations of zooming out, zooming in and pausing.

• Fixed hunters glitching through the hunting camp table.

• Fixed snow not appearing on rocks and cliffs in winter.

• Fixed daytime visual state not resetting properly after disabling day/night feature.

• Fixed interior shadows not rendering.

• Fixed attack confirmation decals appearing in wrong locations.

• Fixed surface type under workers not being updated, trigger incorrect walking sounds.

• Burgage Plot fences now behave more consistently and don’t disappear when upgrading.

• Fixed issue where front gate could appear twice when upgrading Burgage Plots.

• Fixed building models disappearing temporarily at the start of the building upgrade process.

• Fixed new construction models blinking for a short while under some circumstances (such as the Lv2 Church upgrade process).

• Fixed Artisan shops not being added if Lv4 Plot upgrade was built before choosing Artisan upgrade. 

• Fixed some resource pickup locations spawning inside obstacles.

• Fixed Farmhouse upgrade Ox cart spawning in the middle of the stable’s divider.

• Fixed hovering fishes in Fisherman’s Hut.

• Fixed a white square being visible after selecting Buildings from the Construction and Castle Planner tabs. 

Text/UI

• Fixed walk/run squad UI button not updating when triggering run command via doubleclick.

• Fixed retinue customization button still being available after corresponding manor gets destroyed.

• Fixed building UI being in a corrupted state when clicking the right mouse button immediately after releasing the left mouse button.

• Fixed a white square being shown instead of a proper icon for rubble and shrine after pressing TAB.

• Fixed game staying paused and edge panning not working after closing settlers camp UI.

• Fixed confirmation windows remaining on-screen upon closing the pause menu.

• Fixed game unpausing and map becoming scrollable on returning from “ESC menu” while blocking popup was present.

• Fixed some Burgage Plot UI elements being excessively recreated on new day.

• Fixed animals that ran away not being subtracted from regional livestock data.

• Fixed lambs growing into sheep not being correctly updated in the regional livestock data.

• Fixed exports of stable animals subtracting the count of the region's animals twice.

• Fixed Trading Posts showing as not connected to the trade network. 

• Fixed Trade Rules sometimes being ignored when a Trader recalculated their shopping list.

• Fixed Mortar missing from resources list while constructing.

• Fixed wrong item categories for Flax, Wheat and Barley (Crops is now a subcategory of Crafting Materials).

• Fixed missing tooltip warning when buildings with flexible borders overlap Wild Animal resource nodes. 

• Fixed corrupted resource counter updating after switching between owned regions.

• Fixed translation issue with the Tannery description in Polish.  

• Fixed crash on attempting to redistribute supplies while some Burgage Plot had corrupted memory state.

• Fixed crash when going into Manor building’s People tab while browsing the map after Game Over.

• Fixed potential crash when demolishing Vegetable Garden Backyard Extension.

• Fixed crash when using visit mode while a unit was selected.

• Fixed a crash when raiders were targeting a building in an empty region.

• \[Experimental] Limited max game speed to 8x due to increased simulation precision having an impact on performance.

• Menu textures now unload upon transitioning to gameplay to free up memory.

• Optimized memory consumption by UI textures used during gameplay.

• Removed expensive widgets from various game and menu UI elements.

• Reduced performance drop on building removal caused by redundant Log Entry logic.

• Notably optimized harvest yield calculation performance when large amounts of sown field plants are present on the map.

• Added a better method for backyard animals to look for random idle spots to reduce pathfinding errors.

• Disabled shadow casting on Lightning during storms since it caused stutter when also using sharp shadows.

• Removed the optimization that caused some foot sliding, especially noticeable on horses.

• Reused tooltip widget between similar UI elements.

• Optimized usage of particle systems.

• Fixed performance problems while trying to place a Burgage Plot plot point in the sky.

• Fixed Coat of Arms UI assets being loaded during the game after opening Main Menu.

• Greatly optimized obstacle verification during squad attack formation projections.

• Greatly reduced stutter when spawning Building Panels.

Join our community on Discord and Reddit to ask questions, trade tips, and keep up with the game. There’s also a community-run wiki that covers the most common questions, and you can follow Slavic Magic on Twitter for more developer updates.

Thank you for playing!

Greg