8:04pm EST - After several mass drops in a row I am restarting the server, loading the map and dropping the slots to 100. Not sure what is going on here, sorry for the downtime.

7:44pm EST - We've had a couple instances of mass drops accompanied by the below message in the server console. Thankfully, everyone can rejoin immediately. Unfortunately, I have no idea whats causing this (whether its a steam issue or problem with the game code). 

7:24pm EST - Crafting items seems to be taking longer and longer to have them actually hit the inventory once they are done. 

5:13pm EST - Heard from Maurino about the storage box bug. They are working on a fix and will patch as soon as they can. In the mean time, campfires are your best bet for storage.

4:20pm EST - Couple of things I've noticed about this build:

• Wood storage crates have a larger capacity (12 as opposed to 6)
• Having trouble getting back in the storage crates after I've looked in once. Saying 'occupied.' Relogging allows me back in once but you may want to use furnaces or campfires for storage for the time being.
• Chickens, I hear nothing but chickens!
• FPS hiccups (hitching) is happening to everyone from what I gather.
• 2 levels of building upgrades for most pieces. Doors can be made metal (although they don't require frags, only wood and stones).
• Local chat makes the game eerily quiet, even with 100+ people in.
• Getting reports of crafting taking resources but failing to put the item in inventory.
• Wood burns slower

3:24pm EST - Server CPU usage is running a bit higher so I lowered the slots to 150 for the time being.

2:52pm EST - Just hit 100 people in the server, everything running smooth so far.

2:32pm EST - And we're back! New update is officially live!

2:29pm EST - Big client update just hit! Updating server now.

12:03pm EST - No update yet, new tweet from Garry though: 

This week I made demolishing more fun than building - just like in real life.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfaLd-OOm6A

11:25am EST - I feel an update coming on. It's been 2 weeks and some huge things have shifted. This update brings a new building system, tool cupboard, window bars, custom world size, faster (moving) animals, FPS improvements and more. Given the amount of days it's been, I wanted to recap what to expect.

What's new in the update:

• Building system
  Building has completely changed. No more hammering away endlessly on each building piece. You place, it builds. Read more here.
• Structural integrity
  A whole new physics element has been introduced along with the new building system. Basically, shit falls down if it doesn't have enough support. See related videos here, here and here.
• Tool cupboard
  A griefers worst enemy, this wonderful son of a bitch blocks unauthorized building within 30 meters. Learn more here.
• Window bars
  Window bars are here to block intruders from jumping in your base. Unlike legacy, they don’t cost any metal fragments. A mere 300 wood will get you a fresh new pair of window bars.
• Variable world size
  The size of each map can now be set by each server admin. Size ranges between 2000 and 8000. The current size of maps in experimental has been 8000 but is now defaulting to 4000 on the latest update. Read more about this below.
• Animals move… fast!
  For the past 2 weeks animals haven't moved at all. That is definitely no longer the case. Animals are moving again (wolves especially are fast as fuck). Gear up with a spear as soon as you can and avoid those fuckers unless you're ready to engage. It is now nearly impossible to outrun a wolf.
• Door knocking
  You can go up to any door and hold ‘e’ to get an option to knock.
• Name tags are back
  Gone are the days anonymity. Nametags are back: you can see a persons name hovering over their head.
• FPS is much better
  There have been a number of optimizations (Terrain LOD's, Light LOD's, a bunch of other good stuff). FPS is much improved all the way around. Now the big test: How will a server run 3 days from now? My hypothesis: better than before.
• Dropped items disappear after 60 seconds
  Up till now, dropped items stuck around for ever. Think of all those skulls and rocks you drop on the ground? That shit adds up! Well, they now disappear after 60 seconds. Hopefully this helps servers perform smoother, longer.
• PvP looting disabled
  You can no longer pickpocket people when you are close to them.
• Mouse wheel select
  Scrolling your mouse wheel now selects the next or previous item on your belt.
• Text chat local
  Things typed in chat now only appear to those in your general vicinity.
  Note: this can be toggled on or off by the admin so it may vary depending which server you're on. Text chat will be local on our server.
• Wood piles are gone
  Enough said, you now hit tree's exclusively.
• You don’t spawn with a code lock
  Locking your doors is a bit harder now that you no longer spawn with one each time. You now need to cough up 50 frags and 500 wood to create a lock.
• Chickens are in
  3 types of chickens have been added to the spawn handler. Will they actually yield pieces of chicken instead of wolfmeat? Only time will tell.

Other notes

• Crosshair appears seemingly randomly at times
• Console is delayed coming up
• Although FPS is better, FPS hiccups (aka hitching) are happening sometimes
• Instacraft is no longer on for admins

World size

Earlier in the week, a new server variable was introduced to control world size. Yesterday, Andre set the default world size from 8000 to 4000 (note: this means it is now ¼ of the the previous default size). He commented on a reddit post shortly after:

The map size is 16km 2 by default now. You can still host servers with the 64km 2 map size of course, given that you have enough players on your server for it to make sense. The idea is to allow people to experiment with various map sizes to get a feeling for how it affects gameplay. In addition to that, players with lower-end hardware will naturally see higher FPS on smaller maps - which will especially be useful during the optimization process that's ahead of us. Talking about optimizations - we improved performance quite a bit this week, which should also help to make the game more enjoyable for the majority of players.

I'm really a fan of this option, it gives servers owners the ability to cater the size of the map to their audience. Lets face it, 64km2 is way too big for 20 or so people. Curious to see what the new default looks like, I loaded up a test server with the default size of 4000. Here’s 2 sets of screens from on top some towers I built:

Up north:

Down south:

This map is a lot smaller than the size we are accustomed to. Given this, I'll be trying out a world size of 6000 on our server when the update launches. I think this will be a little more cozy than in the past while still maintaining some space to spread out.

Also, the number of landmarks drops as the world size gets smaller. I just saw 1 wolf monument and 1 giant satellite in the 4000 world size.

Tip of the day: Build those bases wide

Given this new structural integrity system, tall shit collapses quick. That is why, I recommend you start building wider, not taller.