Testing 162: Mastery, Prediction, and Stamina!

This update is accessible via the “Testing” release of Boundless on Steam.

Please report all issues discovered with the update to this support thread.

Please restart Steam to make sure you get the latest version of Boundless. If the update happens whilst Steam is open it’s unlikely you’ll get the latest version.

Overview:

This update continues the development process of the Tutorial, Objectives, Statributes and Character Progression. This is still a work in progress. We know these areas still need much work before releasing them to Live on Steam.

However we want to share the progress with everyone to checkout and give us any and all feedback. We have thick skin! So tell us what you like, what you hate, and what you think needs more work.

Important:

All players have been reset. This means everyone has the chance to test the very start of the game including the tutorial and early objectives.

Release Notes:

  • Crafting + Resources + Equipment:
    • Slingbow special fire modes are now locked behind Slingbow Mastery skill upgrades.
      • Rapid fire mode: Hold the fire button to spam shots.
      • Charge fire mode: Hold the fire button to charge up your shot and increase damage.
      • Some slingbows can rapid fire, some can charge shot, and some can do neither. You’ll have to experiment to discover which.
  • Creatures + Combat + Characters:
    • The impact effect when the Slingbow hits a target is now predicted and played on the client rather than server.
    • Improved visibility of cuttletrunks, hoppers and spitters in the dark.
    • Stamina:
      • The blue SP bar under your health bar now represents your stamina rather than air.
      • Air is still functional, and you will drown if you remain under water too long, but for now the UI won’t display it so be careful while swimming!
      • Stamina is spent when moving, jumping, and using items.
      • Stamina is regenerated over time.
      • When your stamina runs out your are temporarily “fatigued” which reduces all of your attributes down to basic levels and stops you sprinting. Regain stamina to fix this.
  • Sanctum + Tutorial + Objectives + Progression:
    • Experience Points required for each level has been rebalanced.
    • The default jump height has been lowered but the jump height and double jump upgrades have been increased.
    • The NPC in the Sanctum will now appear after the intro.
    • The spawn location in the Sanctum has been changed so both Warps are now visible.
    • Various changes have been made to the tutorial and its flow:
      • Some of the text shown in the information box has been updated.
      • The order of the tutorial has been changed to better introduce new players to Boundless.
    • Various changes have been made to objectives:
      • After the Tutorial you now only unlock 1 Miner, 1 Gatherer and 1 Explorer objective instead of 90 objectives for all professions.
      • You start with two objective slots. Further slots are unlocked as you level.
      • Tier 1 objectives have been updated.
      • Tier 2 objectives are now available.
      • The unlock order for objectives has been updated.
      • Completing an objective for a profession will unlock new objectives.
      • You now need to complete Miner, Gatherer and Explorer objectives to unlock objectives for the other professions.
      • The Mender category has been removed until the profession is playable.
      • A number of the bug fixes have been made, however there may still be some issues with the objective system.
  • GUI + HUD:
    • Update machine recipe lists and queue GUI
    • Update warp conduit GUI
    • Update skill tree GUI

Resolved Known Issues:

The following items were known issues in previous releases and have now been resolved.

  • Cannot trade coin.
  • Chat text overlaps with HUD Text in the centre of the screen.
  • Dense fog sometimes visible in caves.
  • Interaction distances for placing blocks may not be consistent.
  • Smart stack icon does not have the same tint as the items within the smart stack itself.
  • Some menu options are cut off at the top and bottom.
  • There are inactive objectives in the WEEKLY Objectives list.

Known Issues:

The following items are known issues in this release.

  • Assigning both mouse buttons to ‘Use Left Hand Option’ will disable the left mouse button. To fix delete C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\boundless\user_settings\yourname\controls.json.
  • Buying plinths that had wanted items set before v151 have unset them. Sorry. Going forward they will be fine.
  • Cannot close Inventory when Chat is used.
  • Cannot sell some items even if the tint matches on a Buying Plinth.
  • Cannot switch tabs on Inventory menu using shoulder buttons on a controller.
  • [new] Client crashes after launching it from the World Builder (Occurs on Testing version only).
  • Consuming meat and starberries causes the game to display duplicate message on the HUD.
  • Entity rendering will not always work correctly when there are multiple warps very close together, or where a warp opens up to a location very near where the entrance is.
  • Game displays welcome message for a world through a portal without going through it.
  • Game does not display a message when the maximum number of planet markers has been reached.
  • Gem grappling hooks retract automatically when hanging.
  • GUI rendered incorrectly on Intel HD graphics on Windows.
  • If the game (loader) fails to start on Windows 7 and 8 you may need to install Update for Universal C Runtime in Windows - Microsoft Support
  • Item placed into buying plinth will disappear when placing the same item into storage.
  • Item wanted is completely different to what was placed there before on the buying plinth.
  • Items will occasionally be unable to smart stack with other items that belong in the same smart stack category.
  • Menus may constantly reappear on screen after closing them.
  • Objective ‘Travel Back To Your Campfire’ may not always trigger if standing near campfire but not inside the campfire area. To get around the issue, try leaving the area and return to it to see if the objective completes.
  • Opening or closing doors and trapdoors when standing too close to them will restrict player movement. To get out of the situation, interact with the door or trapdoor again.
  • Portal UI text overflows when the portal token name is very long.
  • Shift-clicking an item from the selling plinth will show odd numbers and will not always go in the shopping basket.
  • Shift-clicking and dragging on the coin icons from within the trading menus may cause a crash.
  • Some creatures may disappear instantly and drop items before their bodies hit the ground.
  • Some Extractor machines lack animation.
  • Some interactive blocks (crafting table, machine, beacon control) have become corrupted during the migration. This will result in at best those blocks not being able to be interacted with, at worst the game crashing when interacting with those blocks. To fix the issue the block(s) in question need to be re-placed. In the case of anything other than a beacon control the block can simply be broken, picked up, and then re-placed. In the case of a beacon control this will work, although it would result in all the plots having to be re-placed one at a time and during that process the contents being unprotected. A better workaround for a beacon control is to craft a new beacon control, place that, and then break the old one, which will keep the beacon’s plots placed throughout the process.
  • Speech bubbles may still be displayed above players after going through portals.
  • The recipes are not final.
  • Z-fighting with some items (workbench and other machines) when placed underwater.
18 Likes

DANG IT @james, YOU’RE MAKING ME CHOOSE BETWEEN PLAYING THIS UPDATE AND DoW3!
Looks like it’s going to be a restless weekend! :wink:

7 Likes

Nice changes from what I’m reading so far. Will have to test this soon. Love the change in objectives. It’s not intrusive, but kinda guides the players on the advancing through the game, without being pushy it seems.

Different effects for slingbows seems like a nice addition. I’m sure new players will feel less overwhelmed with less objectives to choose. It will be nice to get the perspective of a new player perhaps. Someone that has a “virgin” boundless experience.

1 Like

This looks like it’ll smooth out the first few hours quite a bit!

Going to try to rope a friend in and play some this weekend to see how feels

4 Likes

Just a little tiny thing after playing through first few levels: you may laugh how tiny thing it is but it only shows how much great polishing happened and I can’t find anything major just yet.

The first task - collecting the light cube - was completed before I picked the cube. I mean, I got the message and all before I reached the cube.

All the other tasks completion messages happen after completion, with perfect timing.

2 Likes

Crop Harvesting objective description says “plants gathered…”. In 161 it was completed by gathering flowers actually. Now it doesn’t react to neither flowers nor plants.

3 Likes

looks good il have to try this later in the week to get into the game again

Heh, sorry guys this must be a noob question but how do you get the ‘testing’ version? I can’t find it on steam…

2 Likes

@Scratchnwiff Right click on Boundless in your library, select properties at the bottom. Go to the betas tab, click the drop down menu and select the testing branch. :slight_smile:

8 Likes

Hehe thanks bro, helpful as ever :slight_smile:

3 Likes

I have just realized I posted 2 issues here instead of the other topic made for it :blush:

Whats the story with the super fast kinda nervous hits my character performs with tools? I must say I preferred less slower hits from 161. Is it because changes in the way skills are supposed to affect the starting speed of digging/breaking?

1 Like

This brings an inquiry to mind; does this mean the next “live” update will be preceded by a wipe?

So i’m testing for 2 hours now… since 1h 30m i’m searching for copper on a starter world didnt found 1 in 4 different caves and on/in a mountain. :confused: No Iron either. I really think you messed up the rescources lately :frowning:

1 Like

Found loads of copper and some iron at -2258,86,202 in icy mountains with caves at the water.

1 Like

in deserts mountains you always found copper, iron and tech fragments

@Nibuls post your issues in this thread next time

Testing 162 - Report issues here

1 Like

Oh, I accidentally, sorry :neutral_face:

1 Like

no problem nibuls

1 Like
  • I think that putting the stamina into the game is a bad idea.
  • And i need the air bar back :weary:
  • Slingbows and a GHooks are so sluggish! :flushed: