PVKII October Map Update & Changelog news

PVKII October Map Update 2017 Release Notes

Another Halloween, another PVKII update!

So... long story short, we ran into some roadblocks as a team since our last update, but we are back on track! There’s no denying that it’s been a long time since the Workshop Update, and we wanted to give you at least something, while major code work goes on for a much larger, future update. Work continues on maps, animations, and features. We want to show more in the coming weeks with regards to rulesets, gibs/dismemberment and bots/offline practice. We will also release an updated classic in a follow up patch for this update. Temple, with a new cave environment, and of course new traps! It’s going through some final fixing and testing.

So without further ado, the majority of content and changes from our October Map Update:

Screenshots:

Please see below for a Changelog that details many of the changes in this release. Head over to our Bugs/Support Forums to report any issues.

Changelog:

Map Changes:
te_cara

• Layout changes and significant optimization by Gaz
• Visual updates and minor fixes
• Soundscapes
• Updated player clipping
• New loading screen
• Progress on Cara by jimonions, Schatzmeister, Colonel and Gaz

bt_island

• Spawn protection improvements
• Viking spawn adjustments
• Map by Gaz

Other Map Changes

• Advanced compiles for the following maps: Arena, Cathedral, Desertruin, Forgotten, Fort, Frostbite, Gravedanger, Sandstorm, Tortuga, Townsquare

Translations:

• Latest translations for: Brazilian, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Pirate, Polish, Portugese, Romanian, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Swedish, Traditional Chinese, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese

Code:

• Added spawn protection entity (trigger_spawnprotection)

Texture Changes:
Detailed changelog by contributor "Black Caesar"

[CHARACTERS]
GENERAL
- Skirmisher, Captain, Berserker, Huscarl and Gestir now have realistic skin-shading on their hands, making them look a lot more natural and less dull.
Fingernails have also gotten the same treatment, they are a lot more obvious and have their own proper shading.

SKIRMISHER
- Fixed the Normal Map, it was sized 512x512 with some bad compression and specular. Now it's 1024x1024 (just like the others) with non-grainy normal maps and proper specular.
- Switched the Rimlight a bit, it was a bit too strong and blobby, now not anymore.
- Better more realistic shading on his skin, it should look like he's sweating in some perspectives.
- Better shading on the leather, easily visible on his leather strap on the leg.
- Better shading on the pants.
- Nails now have their own proper shading.
- Blood & Wounds got their own unique shading, although subtle.
- Better shading on the gold.
- Shirt should have a visible better blobby-ish shading to it.

CAPTAIN
(These include for First-Person arms as well)
- The hook was using wrong VMT settings, this should be fixed now, it will look near-exactly the same in first and third-person.
- Added "envmap", it didn't have it before for obvious reasons (not enough metal), now he does considering gold and metal got improved in collaboration.
- Changed the "rimlight" effect, it should make it so the edges don't have some weird blue-white blob around them.
- Improved the "Lightwarp" texture. It was affecting the wounds and the nails, when it shouldn't. A more realistic colour-light to the skin will be seen better now.
- Skin shading has been heavily improved. While subtle, you should be able to see him look rather sweaty, considering his age, his warrior attitude and even his clothing, it should be fitting.
- Nails have their own shading, which should make them look a bit like in real life.
- The wounds (scars) now have their own shading, although subtle it is easily visible at some perspectives.
- Improved the shading on the hair, it should now be less "aurora"-ish, a very small blob of light will be seen when some extreme light is directly at it.
- Improved the shading on the metal, it should look more metallic. Especially with envmap on it. This can be best seen on the Hook (first-person mostly).
- Redid the gold, the colour should be a bit darker now but the shine is a lot stronger and more realistic. This is especially seen on the Anchor Necklace.
- Improved shading on the clothing, it should look a bit more worn, especially battle-worn. (Not dusty)
- Improved shading on the pants, they should be very dark but when light directly attracts to it, it should shine realistically.
- Better shading on the hat, should act a bit like the pants. Also, the "trims" have their own shine.
- Improved shading on the wood (pegleg & hook), this should make the wood look a bit worn-out, used and even a bit wet.
- Heavily improved leather, it should look more realistic. This is especially seen on his boots and the leather straps themselves (basically, everything leather).

SHARPSHOOTER
(These include for First-Person arms as well)
- Redid the rimlight so it's a lot less intense.
- Skin how has a more natural shading to it, a bit sweaty but very subtle (less so than on others due to his skin tone).
- Redid the gold (seen on his belt and shoes), it's now a lot darker (almost the same as the original, which looked more like cooper) but has a heavily improved shading, which also makes them more obvious and elegant to look at.
- Improved the leather so it looks a bit more realistic while still remaining rough enough.
- The "red clothing" had a bit too much blobby light, this has been fixed, it should look a lot more obvious, more so than even the Skirmisher's but is not saturated enough.
- Redid the shading on the clothing, it should be a bit more realistic now. (This is actually better seen with darker colours)
- Vest & its Goldlines now have better unique shading each, with vest looking a bit more like rough leather and the gold lines being a bit more 'shimmery'.
- Pants have a more 'fancy' shading to it while still being realistic enough.
- Shoes now have a great fancy shading to it that makes it look like they're recently polished but still dirty due to wear&use, this can be easily seen in maps with coloured lights (tw_frostbite, lts_town), where a bit of light is captured to the shoes.
- Powder horn has a better shading, the blackness being a bit reflective like it's polished and the wood having a rough look to it.
- Sharpshooter's Powderhorn has a metal on the end (where he inserts his match for special), I made the shaders be fit for metal for it.
- Heavily improved the diffuse shading.

ARCHER
(These include for First-Person arms as well)
- Reduced the rimlight, this should remove some excessive 'blob light' on him.
- Heavily improved the 'scalemail' on his arms, this should be more obvious in the first-person hands. They're now more uniform and have better, proper shading.
- Leather has proper shading of itself.
- The clothing was a bit too 'un-rough' and unlit, this has been improved.
- Slightly better skin shading.
- Quiver and Sheath had bad shading (leather), this has been fixed.
- Pants had some weird lighting on it, this has been fixed. Also, the 'leather strips' on it have been improved.

HEAVY KNIGHT
(These include for First-Person arms as well)
- Improved the shading on the metal, it should be a bit less blobby now.
- Better reflections than before, though not exactly by too much.
- The Coat should have its own proper shading now.
- Gold shines way better than before now.
- Small improvements on the leather.
- Chainmail should have better shading now.
- Slightly improved the face, should be able to see a bit of sweat on him.
- Fixed the diffuse shading.
- Changed the shading on the metal, tried to make it look more realistic/badass.

MAN-AT-ARMS
(These include for First-Person arms as well)
- Better shading on the leather, should be a bit less shiny but a lot more rough-looking.
- Better shading on the padded leather, less shiny but more defined.
- Better shading on the clothing, it should be less grainy and slightly less blobby.
- Better shading on the metallic parts (chainmail coif and helmet), they should shine and reflect like real steel.
- Man-At-Arms' skinparts (Face and hands) should now have visible sweating. Better seen on strong sunlight.
- Minor details, such as his belt and belt metal, have their own proper shading.
- Improved the skin shading, there were bits of grainy/blocky shadowing on the skin, this has been fixed, he should look on par with Archer but slightly darker and a bit more saturated.

BERSERKER
- Better shading on his skin, it should look like he's very sweaty and somewhat oily. The effect is a bit subtle though, so don't expect a lot of reflective sweat.
- Blood now has its own proper shading, it will reflect like blood and look like blood.
- Improved the shading on the wolf-head so it looks like his fur is more realistic. Added a bit more blood, specifically on the two slashes on the bottom of it, its blood also shines like real blood.
- Heavily improved the pants so they have better and more realistic shading. Pants' belt has a better more realistic shading itself, boots and boots' fur got heavily improved as well.
- The sheath was shadeless, just a diffuse. It now has proper shading.

HUSCARL
- Improved the shading on the chainmail, will be a bit subtle in high-light positions (such as the outside itself) but will be obviously good in low-light areas.
- Clothing has been improved, but only slightly so, this can be seen on how the shadows work on it, such as on the weird gray 'pantaloons-styled' pantaloons.
- Better skin shading, should look a bit sweaty at some perspectives but not extremely so.
- Heavily improved the shading on the leather, it will look a lot more rough. This is especially seen on the boots.
- The "cloth wraps" on the legs have a better and proper shading, although relatively subtle.
- The "gold" decorations seen on his forearms and the bottom of his chainmail (clothing) are now a lot more unique and prominent.
- Heavily improved the shading on the metal, that is the metal on the leather belts and the sheath, should look more realistic.
- Improved the diffuse shading. The leather should look darker, but more realistic this way.
- Improved the shading on the chainmail and metals (helmet).
- Due to changes in shading and diffuse, I've darkened the metal A BIT. He should look a lot better and more realistic this way.

GESTIR
- Normal Maps have been improved, they're now uncompressed with no quality loss from DXT5 compression.
- Rimlight has been modified to make it a lot less strong, this reduces "blobby light".
- Metal has a better and more realistic shading, this can be seen on his helmet.
- Skin now has a more realistic shading.
- The beard is slightly darker and somewhat dirtier, making it more realistic. Also, has proper lighting to it.
- The little braid on his beard had no shading at all, now it does.
- Leather shading has been heavily improved, this is especially seen on his boots & belt.
- Cloth shading heavily improved, it should be a lot less blobby, give out better details and have a more realistic shine to it.
- The "blood" on the clothing was not visible at all until now, with its proper blood shading. It looks 'glossy' to give an effect of it being recent.
- Fixed the diffuse shading.
- Made the "neck leather" have a better shader.

[WEAPONS]
//IMPORTANT:
Most weapons have gotten world-model overhauls, these include all of Heavy Knight's weapons, Huscarl's Axe, Berserker's Small Axe and Gestir's Spear. They are better in quality, as they share the same exact texture and UV.
There are also some minor fixes and changes regarding 'Blood on weapon'.
Systems that can't use DirectX 9.0c properly (mat_dxlevel is less than 95, Shader Model 3 is not supported, etc) will have to use Phong. Phong has been improved on nearly all weapons to make them similar from the RTNL textures, but not as efficient.

GENERAL
CHEST
- Improved the shading on the wood, it should look a bit more worn but still good enough.
- Heavily improved the shading on the gold, it’s now very reflective and shiny as hell. This should actually help everybody spot them better, especially in the dark.

PIRATES
- Skirmisher's Cutlass has gotten an overhaul;
* Resized the texture so it's 1024x1024 instead of 512x512, this does heavily increase image quality.
* Replaced the normal map to a better one that gives even better details than before.
* Shading on the blade is now a lot more realistic, it being shiny and having some dirt.
* Improved cubemaps on the blade and the gold, this should give better reflections.
* Slightly improved the shading on the gold.
* Slightly improved the shading on the wood.
- Skirmisher's Flintlock should have a way better metal shading, including some reflections as well as better shading on the wood.
- Skirmisher's Keg now has better shading on the wood and especially the metal. The metal is now more realistic, with proper shining and reflections.
- Captain's Cutlass has gotten a massive overhaul;
* Fixed smoothing errors, these were easily seen on the brass handle and edge of the blade.
* Changed the texture a bit, the blade should be dark so it looks more like steel instead of silver.
* Shading on the blade has been heavily improved, it should now shine like real steel with some visible bits of dirt.
* Brass shading has been heavily improved so it's more realistic and shiny.
* For those not able to use Beckmann, Phong has been improved.
- Captain's Blunderbuss has gotten a slightly better shading on the metal and the wood.
- Captain's Parrot has gotten an overhaul;
* If Anti-Aliasing is available, the edges on the feathers will be smoother. (NOTE: As said and will say again, ONLY if Anti-Aliasing is available AND ENABLED!)
* A better shading on his feathers, this should make them a lot more obvious, especially in regards to colour.
* Better support for colour by giving them better definition, this is mostly thanks to the feather improvement.
* A more realistic eye shade (not too obvious, it's impossible with this model)
- Sharpshooter's Knife has been modified to make the texture a bit more realistic, saturated and somewhat gritty as well as making so the gold and metal have a more realistic shader.
- Sharpshooter's Pistol shaders have been modified to make the metal look more real and the gold shine flamboyantly.
- Sharpshooter's Rifle shaders have been modified to make the wood a bit better and the metal shine like real metal.

VIKINGS
- Minor changes on Berserker's BigAxe, making it look more iron and savage.
- Berserker's Axe & Sword have been overhauled, they should have better shading on metal, wood and leather.
- Huscarl's Axe now has way better shading on metal, gold and wood. The axe was supposed to look a bit fancy, hence it will look as such.
- Huscarl's Sword has gotten a massive overhaul;
* The texture is now a bit darker than usual, to make it further look like an "iron sword".
* Fuller (middle of the blade) is darker to make it look better in contrast to the blade.
* Crossguard & Pommel now has a bronze colour with its own proper shading.
* Handle's leather is a bit darker, giving it a better contrast.
- Huscarl's Shield has major changes on the shield so the 'worn wood' is better visible than before, metal looks a lot more realistic and leather has its own proper shading. (This also applies to Gestir's)
- Huscarl's Throwing Axe now has a more realistic shading on the metal and the wood.
- Gestir's Spear had its shaders redone, this should make the metal look more realistic as well as the wood.
- Gestir's Langseax should have better shading on the metal and the leather. The 'blade' will look a lot more stoney.
- Gestir's Javelin got the same treatment as his Spear; better metal and better wood shading.

KNIGHTS
- Archer's Shortsword has gotten an overhaul;
* Metal is now a bit more dark, but also way more realistic, with better shine, better reflections and with a MORE METALLIC look than before (Back then, it really just looked too much like stone).
* Gold is now slightly desaturated, but still strong, also has way better and more realistic shading to it.
* Wood is now a bit more worn and used.
* The metal bars on the handle now have their own shading, which should look like relatively new, silver-ish.
- Archer's Crossbow has a way better metal shading, slightly improved shade on the wood and a better, more realistic shading on the gold.
- Archer's Bow should have proper shading on the metal (the arrow's tip/head), the wood also has slightly better shading (This is better seen on darker wood though) and leather now has its own shading.
- Heavy Knight's Two-Hander's shaders have been revamped so they don't have any kind of blueish blob tint, instead, it now has proper realistic metallic shaders.
Also, for slight decorative purposes, some small parts (handle rings & dots) of the Two-Hander are gold.
- Heavy Knight's Arming Sword has been 'raised in quality'. This means that the "Normal Map" is no longer grainy, you won't see any weird light-based cubic artifacts. Also, shaders for it have been improved so they give a more realistic metallic shine.
- Heavy Knight's Shield has also been improved, both first-person and third-person. The metal, leather and wood should have proper shaders and better(stronger) shine.
- Man-At-Arms' Halberd has been revamped in the shaders, the metal should look a lot more realistically shiny and reflective while wood had some slight changes to make it a bit more worn and used. Also, the small rivet bits on the halberd are coloured bronze now.
- Man-At-Arms' Mace should have better metal shading, the most obvious change is that some metal bits, such as the spike's ring and the handle's metal bars, are now bronze-coloured with better shading than before.
- Man-At-Arms' Buckler has a more realistic and worn metallic look to it, back then it looked like blobby paper.
- Man-At-Arms' Crossbow has better metal, with less dirt than before and better shading. Gold is also more gold and with a more proper shading to it.

Version: Beta 3.5-r4 [0.3.5.4]

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See you in game you freaks! Happy Halloween!

PVKII Team
Octoshark Studios