Devblog 192

A very small post-holiday update: the Xmas event is over, the servers are wiped (though blueprints are saved), and work on new trees has begun.

4 January 2018

Video Update

Tree & Foliage Revamp

As some of you might have noticed by reading my cryptic commits, I've been prototyping a new Douglas fir tree. We had some discussions about the state of trees in Rust and decided that they are well overdue for a makeover. The goal is to replace the old trees, which came from the SpeedTree store, with higher quality custom made meshes.

This comes with two major benefits: we can make the tree-farming more interesting, by potentially allowing players to actually cut the trees in half, leaving only the stump. Secondly, the old trees were very unoptimized. I've done some tests over the Christmas period and I was able to reduce the triangle count by roughly 40-50% percent, and cut down the number of drawcalls per model down to one.

What this means for you is that this will allow us either to increase the tree density, or keep it in its current state and potentially improve performance.

Below you will find some first screenshots of the Douglas fir in game. It currently has four variants. Keep in mind that more species will be added over time, and I'd like to increase the variety by adding more deciduous types of trees, such as oak or beech. In addition, adding more foliage to the ground level is something I also have in mind.

Keep in mind that this is a pretty big task, so it might be a while before you see those in game.

Third-Person Sounds

I'm working on improving parity between viewmodel sounds that you hear in first-person, and what nearby players hear when they see you moving around. I finished up melee weapon swings this week, so other players will be able to hear your rock whoosh through the air before you hit their skull.

I'm also working on weapon deploy sounds (these will have super short range, so you can still change weapons while you're being sneaky, don't worry). Once that's done there's a handful of little one off things, like syringe/bandage use and grenade throws, and then this stuff should be done.

AI

Over the vacation I’ve been hammering away on the scientist behaviour AI. It's coming along well, and should be soon ready for public scrutiny. I have completely reworked the behaviour AI, like I did with the animals. The scientists communicate, take cover, switch weapons based on distance, hide when they reload (or just switch to melee), run away from explosives, and more. Loot drops are now also controlled, so they no longer drop their entire weapon's arsenal on death. I also found a solution to the navmesh issues we had at monuments, so they should be able to navigate tight corridors too.