Patch Notes 16.5.5 May 27 2016

Today's patch contains a few new goodies and as always bug fixes. Vehicles are back they are still a work in progress. We know of a few issues with the vehicles in online play. At 5 pm EDT we will start the patching process and this should take 15 to 30 minutes to complete.

Animations

* Stances are now shifted based on if a player is currently in combat or not. This allows us to swap between a standard idle animation and a combat animation when wielding melee weapons, for example.

Engagements

* Engagement messages are now sent both as text banners and in chat.
* Reduced the maximum waves of the second stage of the Setlang Infestation engagement by one, as well as reducing the time limit required to get through it slightly, and the number of Large Setlangs required.

Game Mode

* Added two new server configuration flags: matchTimeLimit and buildTimeLimit. These are not useful in the standard Survival game type but can be used by additional game modes (which are coming soon). The matchTimeLimit would specify the maximum duration of a match where the buildTimeLimit would be used to specify another optional time limit. It gets its name because it is used as the build up time in the upcoming condensed survival match game type. In both cases these duration's are specified in seconds.

Housing

* Critical successes when crafting Structure Repair Kits can now result in Quality Repair Kits which have a bonus 50% to the damage repaired.
* During placement, base (platform) structures are now allowed to overlap with each other.
* Fixed a collision issue on the top level of the Tech Tower.

Items and Fittings

* Introduced a new set of Firestrand Armor, as well as it's critical variation. This is an improvement to Nanofiber armor which utilizes a new resource type but is more difficult to create. This armor offers slightly more protection than Nanofiber, but substantially more warmth. It is a useful set when visiting the frozen regions of the world.
* Increased the number of uses of tools or weapons by 100-300, depending on quality and type of tool or weapon.

Miscellaneous

* Added some props to the Character Creation screen.
* It is now slightly warmer during the day than it is at night.
* Introduced a new "startingLevel" server configuration option. This option is primarily intended for alternate game modes (coming soon) and defines the minimum level of all characters on the server. If a player logs in and is lower than this particular level it will boost them to this level and force them to respecialize their skills. This should not affect normal survival servers, but does allow users and upcoming game modes a bit more freedom on rule sets for fast action servers.
* You will begin regenerating stamina more quickly now when not in combat.
* Weather now affects temperature in game.

NPCs

* NPCs who are not critically hungry will now regenerate a small amount of health over time. This is primarily intended to heal mobs who were damaged and then disengaged.
* Large Setlangs received a small hit point boost to compensate for their reduced numbers.

Pets

* Added a /pet command. There is a /pet dismiss to get rid of your current pet and /pet summon if you somehow "lost" your pet. The pet needs to be more than 100 meters away for that to work.

Resources

* Limestone has become a tad more common.
* Introduced new resources which are commonly found near the Setlang Infestation engagement. These resources are used to create a new type of armor.
* Tweaked the unarmed to steel axe progression on some wood types.

Trade Skills

* You can now create Firestrand Armor with a Textiles skill of 8-10, depending on the piece. It requires a Crafting Station.

User Interface

* Vehicles now work with the target display HUD showing their name and health.
* There is now a SE Asia checkbox in the server selection window.
* Target Hud for vehicle will display the owner's name.
* Server Filters will now be saved and reloaded upon coming back into the game.
* Servers will now be filtered out from attempting to ping completely instead of just visually when selecting the server. So for example if you check only EU you will only ping EU servers now after a refresh. This happens only on a "refresh" of pulling down the full server list so it won't do it in the middle of pinging all the servers.

Vehicles and Mounts

* Vehicles will now trigger spawn volumes to fire up/sleep properly if they have an active driver.
* Vehicles will now properly save and load upon server restart.
* Improved handling of vehicle sounds, so others will also hear the engine and braking.
* Improved handling of vehicles so they will slide and flip a little less often (but it can still happen, so drive carefully!)
* Melee and ranged weapons can now damage vehicles. The base vehicle only has 500 HP so they are fairly easy to destroy if they aren't moving.
* Vehicle damage is only possible on PvP Enabled servers.
* Vehicles have a 7 day inactive timer on them. If they are not used after 7 days they will be removed from the server. Using them simply is jumping in to drive. This is only on servers, the code is ignored in single player.
* Vehicles can once again be spawned! Note, the vehicle behavior is improved, but there are still some known issues that will be addressed at a later time, including: The wheels do not appear to spin in online mode. Breathing is still not effected while under water.

Bug Fixes

* Fixed an issue where the server list could crash the client getting servers back.
* Fixed a bug which was preventing mobs from getting hungry, and thus making some mobs never aggro.
* Fixed a bug which could cause a player to display multiple death markers under some circumstances.
* Fixed a bug which was could inconsistency between your actual temperature and warning messages.
* Fixed an issue in some cases where crates and their contents would not be saved if the game crashed in single player or online if the server would crash or not be brought down cleanly.
* Added potential fix to show correct hidden state of resources when first logging in.
* You will now properly be taken out of the vehicle if you die inside it.
* Fixed an issue with the health/stamina bar issues that can with the 16.5.4.1 patch.
* Fixed a bug which was showing that players were taking falling damage, without actually applying the damage.
* You will once again take a small amount of damage when punching trees and rocks.
* Fixed an issue where stat icons were not showing correct values when riding in a vehicle.
* Characters will now retain their hair color when riding in a vehicle.
* Fixed a bug which was causing a delay in respawn times.
* Fixed an issue with some chat commands that could cause a crash while riding in a vehicle.
* Inventory should now be usable while riding in a vehicle, and after exiting.