Update 0.74.0 "So Big" Experimental news - Kenshi

The latest update is now out on Steam! To download it, you will need to opt in to Steam Experimental.

0.74.0 “SO BIG”

This is a super unstable version, it’s not ready for release but because there hasn’t been a release for a long time I’m putting it out in the “Experimental” branch so people who are interested can play around with it. If I try to fix everything first then I’ll just keep delaying it more and more until the players lynch me. If you’d prefer to play it when more stable, we recommend waiting a couple of weeks after patching.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

• Keep the “view distance” low, it has a drastic effect on performance. This is caused by the terrain engine, it’s getting fixed in a future update
• Keeping the population size low will help performance too
• Run the game fullscreen, disable civilian NPCs, turn off shadows will all improve the frame rate
• Running the game in DirectX11 mode has a better frame rate

SLAVERY!

• There is a slave camp in the west. Any newly captured slaves will be sent to the camp. Escape attempts will be met with harpoons. Intruders will be captured.
• Slavers strip slaves and shave their heads. Confiscated items are put into storage. Slaves are kept in cages and made to work in the mines during the day.
• Slaves have shackles locked onto their feet. They can’t be removed unless lock-picked or broken with tools.
• Stolen items are now tagged and the original owner can recognise them
• More limits to trading/looting things at a distance, can’t take items from other peoples storage without looting it directly
• Disguises- If you wear the uniform of another faction, NPCs will think you are one of them. Until you get recognised
• NPC towns can have gates, gate guards that challenge you on approach, and recognise unauthorised intruders and escaping prisoners

OTHER FEATURES

• New race added, the Shek (People keep complaining that we are adding races instead of fixing bugs- The guy who makes the races is an artist, he’s not the same person as the ones fixing bugs!)
• New character editor that uses morph targets for the facial features instead of bones. Looks better, gives more control, and has better in-game performance.
• Character models overhauled, male and female faces look much better, less piggy.
• New GUI re-skin and overhaul.
• Turrets are faster at aiming. NPC guards can man turrets.
• Lots of upgrades and features added to the construction set
• Support added for level mods (to add towns and stuff to the map)
• Support added for physics object attachment to characters and animals
• AI system tune up- better performance and no task oscillation bugs
• Added auto-job for the corpse furnace (careful, they’ll burn any loot too)

RENDERERING

• DX11 mode (DX9 still supported, but will look crappier and run slower)
• Lights! Night time is darker, buildings can have lights mounted on them
• New global illumination ambient lighting model, and BRDF material shaders

FIXES OF NOTE

• Improved the terrain collision accuracy
• NPCs won’t loot someone who’s being carried
• Fixed the bug where guards wouldn’t protect you from bandits
• Ragdolls are now created on the background thread
• Fixed the invisible ragdoll bug
• Fixed missing upper body combat animations
• Fixed harpoons getting stuck in mid-air
• Stopped large animals trying to attack targets inside buildings

NEXT UPDATES

• Will be focused on bug-fixing and stabilisation
• Will have a new movement system to avoid the characters getting stuck, flickering, and random framerate drops caused by Havok, until then we’ve worked some quick-fixes into the current release to help things as best we can
• After the performance issues are sorted out the wall placement problems will be looked at

CURRENT BUGS:

• The gui is not 100% finished and full of cosmetic bugs
• The pathfinder is super broken right now (movement flickers, getting stuck, no collision, and performance drags) because we aren’t quite finished with a re-write, it will be updated properly asap
• Still needs more features for the lights, like more techs, types, power-related light brightness and stat penalties for working in the darkness, personal lanterns
• Still needs more ways of getting enslaved
• Performance is terrible, it will improve drastically with 2 future updates: The pathfinder (ETA: 2-3 weeks) and the terrain system fix (ETA: 1-2 months)