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Kenshi
Asid:
Kenshi v1.0.45b
Fri, 28 February 2020
Translations:
• Added Korean Language support.
Korean fans can check out the official press release on Newswire https://www.newswire.co.kr/newsRead.php?no=901848 . Once again Lo-Fi would like to extend a huge thanks to Jeffrey Jeoung, BusanDaek, Byunghyun An, Son Byeong-gwan and all the others who worked hard on the fan translation that paved the way for the official release.
Bug Fixes:
• Fixed dialogue interrupts not working on announcements when another NPC interjected. Could affect certain player base raids.
• Fixed crash dismantling cages with an unconscious occupant.
• Kidnapped pack beasts from wandering traders will no longer have their inventory automatically re-stocked.
• Fixed possible crash when dismantling a turret that is being used (which should be impossible)
• FCS/MODDING
• Fixed crash if modded character mesh has UVs outside 0-1 range (other than head)
• Fixed an issue with CHARACTER "stealth stats" property
• Fixed crash if character model failed to load due to missing skeleton file
Asid:
February Community Update
Mon, 16 March 2020
In this month’s community update we wanted to acknowledge teaming up on the trailer, share some important news regarding the recent Korean translation, and provide some more details on what’s going on with Kenshi 2.
New Trailer
At the end of January we contacted Kokoplays to work with us on a new video that would coincide with our latest patch. The main aim was to give potential players an honest look at the game and an overview of what publications and users think of it. If you missed it, check it out below:
We’re incredibly pleased to see all the positive comments about the result, making it a notable entry for our new YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/LoFiGames which also offers Japanese, Chinese and Korean versions of the same video. In future we’d like to do more collaborative projects with members of the community, level up awesome ideas that might otherwise stay on the drawing board, and celebrate alongside the fans that make Kenshi great.
Korean Translation update
At the end of last month we pushed a patch with a number of bug fixes alongside the official support for Korean language text, thanks to detailed user feedback and the assistance of a freelance third party to verify, we’ve been made aware that the quality of this translation hasn’t met a standard we’re happy with.
Our current plan is to revisit this translation with a much stronger emphasis on context and error checking to update it as soon as possible, current projections put this at around 10 weeks. Unfortunately this has also lead us to reconsider Korean social media efforts. In the meantime, Korean Twitter and Facebook coverage is set to continue for at least another month, keeping users updated on the status of the translation.
Korean Wiki – looking for editors
On a more positive note, due to the popularity of Wikis in eastern gaming communities we worked with a member of our existing English Fandom Wiki team to start up a Korean version, mirroring a number of key pages to assist new users.
With the initial setup out of the way we’re now looking for Korean community members to take over. The Korean Wiki can be found here https://kenshi.fandom.com/ko/wiki/Kenshi_%EC%9C%84%ED%82%A4
GUI Development
In the interests of shedding more light on the Kenshi 2 progress from the technical team, this month we’re sharing some thoughts on the ongoing work underpinning GUI development directly from programmer Harrison:
“Hey, im Harrison aka Boodals, the newest programmer at LoFi. Ever since I was first hired in November, I've been working on remaking the GUIs from Kenshi 1 in Unreal Engine for Kenshi 2. Its too early in development to know everything that the GUIs need to be able to do, so we're just copying the designs (graphics & layout) from K1, and focusing entirely on getting the functionality working so we can test things. That means they currently look like uglier versions of the K1 GUIs, so there's no point in showing any pictures yet, somebody will make them look pretty at some point in the future.
The GUIs in Kenshi 1 were made using a programming library called MyGUI, which allows modders to reskin GUIs, and move individual GUI elements (buttons, text, sliders, etc) around by changing specific files. However, the GUI's functionality was hard-coded in the game's source code, which cannot be changed by modders. This means you cannot make a mod which adds a new button, only change what every button looks like, or move existing buttons around.
For Kenshi 2, we are using Unreal Engine which comes with it's own GUI system called Unreal Motion Graphics, or UMG for short. UMG is tied closely to Unreal's Blueprint scripting system, which is used to give the GUIs functionality.
We don't entirely know how modding will work for K2, but when we looked at other Unreal games that allow modding (such as ARK: Survival Evolved), both UMG and Blueprint is completely available. So in theory, modders will be able to change the game's GUIs, and script them to be able to do just about anything. This is in addition to the Forgotten Construction Set, so mods that add or change weapons, armour, items, buildings, and most other things in K1 will still be possible.”
Harrison first took up coding to make mods for various games before pursuing it as a career choice, which gives us another great point of insight as we make a conscious effort to support the community’s efforts again in Kenshi 2.
Materials Research
Elsewhere in the programming team, there’s been an ongoing investigation of Unreal’s material system which governs a huge number of visual elements and object interactions. Ranging from basic properties such as colour and transparency to complex physics based lighting and weather functions. We’re not just aiming to step up the visual quality in Kenshi 2, it also gives us a great opportunity to make the world itself feel more dynamic (which is part of what’s pushed us to search for a full time technical artist).
Finally, there’s a whole lot more going on behind the scenes with other members of the programming and art teams for Kenshi 2; all of which would be working closely with the successful applicants for each of the roles we’re hiring for. On the topic of abstract studio stuff, we also fixed some of the stranger behaviour with the sign-ups for our mailing list meaning we’ll look for more excuses to use it in the near future, also making it a great alternative way of getting these news posts for fans of Kenshi that prefer to stay outside of Steam’s ecosystem.
Asid:
Kenshi v1.0.46
Tue, 14 April 2020
Features:
• Added some DirectX dlls to assist users experiencing installation issues.
Bug Fixes:
• Fixed a random dialogue crash.
• Fixed a crash when dropping things in character portrait panels.
• Moved save complete message to after the back thread is finished copying files.
• Fixed 2 crashes that could happen from missing mod data.
• Fixed animal trading window not closing if confirm button is cancelled.
Due to a small error pushing the update this is tagged in the changelog as 1.0.47
Fixed a random dialogue crash.
Fixed a crash when dropping things in character portrait panels.
Moved save complete message to after the back thread is finished copying files.
Fixed 2 crashes that could happen from missing mod data.
Fixed animal trading window not closing if confirm button is cancelled.
Due to a small error pushing the update this is tagged in the changelog as 1.0.47
Asid:
March Community Update
Mon, 20 April 2020
In this month’s community update we’re working from home, welcoming several new hires to Lo-Fi and learning a bit more about performance considerations in Kenshi 2.
Developing from a safe location
As represented through parody on our Instagram, we’re encouraging everyone to stay at home if they can and as no exceptions to the rule, everyone at Lo-Fi has been working remotely. It’s taken us a little while to adjust but we’re now fully in the swing of things; our latest series of Kenshi 1 bug fixes have just been deployed to the stable branch and Kenshi 2 progress marches on.
Welcome reinforcements
To continue ramping up development for Kenshi 2 we’re excited to introduce some new faces to the team (starting remotely of course). Already hard at work, Victor Goossens, is our new Technical Artist and Sarah Keates, our new Office Administrator – both of which bring more structure to our workflow in the studio. Additionally over the next few weeks we’re welcoming Mohammad Rezazadeh as our Lead 3D Artist and Craig Tinney, as a Junior Programmer, each adding additional talent to push Kenshi 2 forward. Finally, with the popularity of the waterways picture shared in a previous update, fans will be happy to welcome back well known freelance artist Calum Alexander Watt.
Technically art or Artfully technical?
Joining us this month, Victor gives a better explanation of what a technical artist does along with a sneak peak of work that would make Bob Ross proud:
“Hi guys! I'm Victor, or Mr4Goosey (after my last name, Goossens)! I’m happy to say I’m Lo-Fi’s new Technical Artist (I’ll call it TA for short, so that doesn’t stand for Teaching Assistant here). Most of you are probably not really sure what that means, though. In a nutshell, my job as a Technical Artist is to be a bridge between the art department and the programming department. I do artsy things that are too technical for the artists, and I do technical things that are too artsy for the programmers.
I’ve been doing indie-development on all kinds of projects for years now. I got into game development as a programmer, but quickly developed a passion for creating beautiful things – bringing me to the specialized niche that is Technical Art.
Most of the work I do relates somehow to what your graphics card is doing while you’re playing games; I handle lighting, all kinds of color-balancing, and most importantly, I deal with shaders, the ‘code’ that tells your graphics card what every pixel on your screen should look like. Having specialized in Unreal Engine 4, a lot of the shader-work I do is actually material-based (using UE4’s node system). That doesn’t necessarily make the job much simpler (you still need to understand how rendering engines and graphics cards work), but definitely a bit easier to understand at a basic level. I also work with artists to work out any kinks in their work flow, as well as dealing with performance-budgets and optimization.
You might now be wondering what that means for Kenshi in the larger scheme of things. As you guys probably know we’ve decided to move to Unreal Engine 4 for Kenshi 2. Having years of experience in UE4, I’ll be working to smooth out the transition from Ogre, helping the team get used to Unreal’s way of working. Unreal Engine 4 has an incredibly powerful and versatile rendering engine – if you know how to work with it, because that power comes at the cost of complexity. The plan is for Kenshi 2 to be graphically above and beyond anything we could ever do in Ogre, and I’m here to make sure that we can actually pull that off. An easy example for that is what I’m actually working on right now:
Kenshi 2’s new Time-of-Day system, and primarily, its clouds! Kenshi’s fully dynamic lighting and environment is a massive challenge to represent properly, and it means things like clouds just cannot be left static. Kenshi’s new clouds grow, move and morph over time – all without melting your graphics card! Next up is just about every other material in Kenshi...”
The final piece
Last but not least, we’re still searching for a lead programmer to join us, keeping us on track to complete Kenshi 2 before all of this apocalypse malarkey. In the meantime, keep your eyes on our Twitter and Facebook pages for some new events and once again, if you prefer updates directly into your inbox, sign up for our mailing list here.
Asid:
Kenshi v1.0.47b
Thu, 28 May 2020
Korean language update.
Update 1.0.47b is out now! This deploys a significant update to the Korean translation. We'll be continuing to monitor the quality over the next few weeks so please include feedback below.
1.0.47b
• Korean Language update
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