Patch 0.4 - Nesting customisation, help menu

by MaverickMatryoshka

Highlight of this patch is the inclusion of more foliage to use for your nests. Further, there is now also a secondary optional stage to the nesting, where you can add further bedding to have the nest feel a lot denser. The patch also features a handy in-game help section, see the new "help" category option in the status menu (tab key).

A quick shout-out to the new roadmap over on Nolt. This will serve as the project's main venue for community feedback prioritisation on direction and development for the project.

Full details below.

Features

  • Added more interactable foliage for nesting. Find various flowers in the grasslands (and in a hidden location or two), as well as tussocks around the big lake[1]. This completes the feedback item over on the roadmap.
  • Nesting now has a second optional build stage where more foliage can be added. The respawn point works from the first construction.
  • Improved the look of the glowing night eyes to be a bit more realistic, further tweaks will likely in future patches. Effect is now active for both Coelophysis, as well as newly added to Deinonychus. Other animals to follow.
  • Added an in-game help menu with solutions for common issues, and information on mechanics. See the new "help" category option in the status menu (tab key).
  • Expanded character creation with a few tints of blue. Coelophysis has less options and is a bit more muted to better fit the character, Deinonychus has more options. This completes the feedback item over on the roadmap.
  • Added an option to change render scale (screen percentage) above 100. Warning: expensive!
  • Cleaned up the status menu a bit.

Limitations

[1] The appearance of tussock placement in the nest needs another refinement pass, but can work nicely during the second optional stage as extra thickening.

Balance

  • Rescaled speed for Coelophysis and Deinonychus, such that Coelophysis is now faster than Deinonychus. This gives it more of a chance against the more powerful attacks of Deinonychus, and brings speed more in-line with historical data of the two animals' capabilities. They are still too fast in terms of realism, but in the absence of other playables, for the sake of gameplay fun they'll remain faster than would be accurate for the time being. Reminder that community servers that do not like this change can adapt it with a gameplay balance override. See the documentation.

Minor changes

  • Added tooltip to loading screen to better communicate that the hotkey'ed calls (broadcast location, friendly, threaten, etc.) need to be held to complete, instead of tapped.

Bugfixes

  • Corrective neck surgery for T-Rex. Posture should look a bit better now.
  • Fixed custom chat name colours not showing.
  • Fixed a bug where the nest construction hint kept making the hint activation sound.
  • Fixed the game starting Oculus VR erroneously.

Performance

  • Replication performance improvements.