6:50pm EST - Just heard back from Maurino about head bobbing. Good news! He was already planning to take a pass on toning it down. No promise on when, however, there are a lot of other high priority things to get this launch ready.

Also, on the development branch server front: We tried out a testing / dueling context this afternoon. As we hit 30 people, it became clear that would be nothing but a pain in the ass to manage. Therefore, we just wiped and are again just a straight vanilla, pvp server. Go nuts!

Note: Other updates from today have been moved to the bottom of this post.

5:10am EST - Early morning edition here! Given the weaponrefactor branch was merged into main, I tested the development branch with some friends and looked into the changes that are coming in this update. One thing is clear: this update goes way beyond a weapon refactor. There are a shitload of awesome changes coming in this next update.

New building textures

The new textures for wood are in and they look amazing! Here’s a gallery:

Server performance

Wow, such improvement! We tried to lag the server out by building as many foundations as we could in the shortest amount of time. I’m very happy to report: we were unable to cause server performance to go to shit by placing a bunch of items.

Stability improved

Looks like the problems of walls falling down randomly is much improved. We were able to build very high without any issues.

Hitboxes are great

We tested a bunch of PVP scenarios and overall noticed a huge improvement with hit detection and accuracy.

Weapon head bob

Firing weapons now gives a similar head bob as you experience when harvesting. This is annoying (as with harvest) but I suppose it is a bit understandable that your vision would bob a bit when firing a gun. A really weird thing is the shotgun causes not only your head to shake, but the heads of all players around to shake also.

Armor changes

In the past, armor protected upwards of 99% where it covered. This has all changed as now direct hits to armor appear to protect 25% from rifle ammo and 12% from pistol ammo. Hazmat no longer gives your head god mode.

EDIT: Maurino emailed me saying the plate armor should actually be protecting 90% still. Looks like this 25% stuff may just be a bug in the current build.

Animal AI

Zons work on the animal AI is definitely noticeable. Wolves are a shitload faster and bears chase pigs. Overall, the animals look more alive and smarter.

New menu scene

Cupboards can be destroyed

Cupboards are no longer invincible. They can be destroyed in around 17 hits with most tools and can actually be destroyed by shooting them (if you feel like wasting the ammo).

Sound improvements

Alex has made some serious improvements to the sounds of items. Rocks, hammers, hatchets… pretty much everything except the salvaged axe sounds a lot better now.

Healing changes

Two big changes in the realm of healing: Food no longer increases your health and syringes no longer stop bleeding.

EDIT: Food is giving health again.

Bow changes

The way you fire a bow is completely new. You now must hold right click to prime then left click to shoot the arrow.

Urban outfit

The urban outfit is in. I’m getting flashbacks to legacy looking at this:

Protections stats

All clothing now has protection statistics for bullet, melee, cold, heat, explosives and radiation. Here's the low down:

EDIT: Maurino also mentioned in his email the numbers compiled here (pulled from the raw JSON data of the admin inventory site) are sadly meaningless. These stats are actually stored in game objects right now.

Head

Bucket
20 Bullet
30 Melee
5 Cold
10 Heat
60 Exp.
10 Rad

Coffee
20 Bullet
30 Melee
5 Cold
10 Heat
30 Exp.
10 Rad

Facemask
20 Bullet
30 Melee
5 Cold
10 Heat
30 Exp.
10 Rad

Hazmat
20 Bullet
30 Melee
5 Cold
10 Heat
30 Exp.
40 Rad

Chest

Burlap Shirt
2 Bullet
5 Melee
20 Cold
5 Heat
2 Exp.
2 Rad

Red Jacket
2 Bullet
5 Melee
20 Cold
5 Heat
2 Exp.
2 Rad

Hazmat Jacket
2 Bullet
5 Melee
20 Cold
5 Heat
2 Exp.
20 Rad

Snow Jacket - Red
2 Bullet
5 Melee
50 Cold
20 Heat
2 Exp.
2 Rad

Snow Jacket - Black
2 Bullet
10 Melee
50 Cold
20 Heat
2 Exp.
2 Rad

Snow Jacket - Camo
2 Bullet
10 Melee
50 Cold
20 Heat
2 Exp.
2 Rad

Green T-Shirt
2 Bullet
5 Melee
5 Cold
5 Heat
2 Exp.
2 Rad

Metal Chest Plate
20 Bullet
30 Melee
5 Cold
10 Heat
30 Exp.
10 Rad

Legs

Burlap Trousers
2 Bullet
5 Melee
20 Cold
5 Heat
2 Exp.
2 Rad

Urban Pants
2 Bullet
5 Melee
20 Cold
5 Heat
2 Exp.
2 Rad

Hazmat Pants
2 Bullet
5 Melee
15 Cold
5 Heat
2 Exp.
20 Rad

Feet

Leather Boots
2 Bullet
5 Melee
20 Cold
5 Heat
2 Exp.
2 Rad

Urban Boots
2 Bullet
5 Melee
20 Cold
5 Heat
2 Exp.
2 Rad

Hazmat Boots
2 Bullet
5 Melee
20 Cold
5 Heat
2 Exp.
15 Rad

Hands

Leather Gloves
2 Bullet
5 Melee
20 Cold
5 Heat
2 Exp.
2 Rad

Hazmat Gloves
2 Bullet
5 Melee
20 Cold
5 Heat
2 Exp.
20 Rad

Updates

3:20pm EST - Development branch server context. There was just a breakdown with the dev server: I failed to set a context and it caused some confusion and frustration. Here’s how I’d like the dev branch server to run: Friendly testing and dueling. This means that it is PVE unless you approach someone, challenge them to a friendly duel, and agree upon terms and conditions (location, weapons, armor). I’ve given some of my mod team the ability to spawn items, they will do so at their discretion to support in the testing. This is not a competitive environment, this is a friendly testing environment (server name changed accordingly). My apologies for any frustration caused by this breakdown.

2:35pm EST - Demolish is working again on the dev branch:

Man, I don’t think that will ever get old. If you’d like to play around on the dev branch, I’ve spawned up a server which is keeping up to date with the dev builds. You’ll need to opt into the development beta first (steam library, right click rust, properties, betas tab, select “development - The latest updates”). Look for Rustafied.com - Dev branch on the community server tab.

10:30am EST - Got an email from Maurino. The plate armor should still be protecting 90% and the protection numbers are pulled from in game objects at the moment (instead of the raw JSON data from the admin inventory site, which is where I pulled these from). So, take the stats on the bottom with a grain of salt.

10:10am EST - Addendum: There is no official date on when this will be live on the main branch. As with all updates, it’ll go live when Garry and team feel it is ready. There were some significant bugs still in this branch (demolition wasn’t working properly, couldn't lock doors) but I didn’t highlight them because, my hope is, they will be fixed prior to a live launch. If I were a betting man (which I’m not, I pretty much suck at betting), I’d say this will be live by sometime Friday afternoon.