Greetings Friends and Fellow Avatars!
Not much for you this week for Update of the Avatar. We have two things for you: The Pre-Alpha Release 17 info and patch notes & more add on store items and info. I know it isn’t much, but there really is not much that is new. The community continues to stream, listen to Avatar’s Radio, and test the game. The Dev team continues to try and continue their perpetual work of trying to bring in more funds to keep development afloat, as well as get more development work done. Personally, I have been on a hiatus from playing SotA until certain features are completed and accessible for players. I may dabble some with R18 come the end of May. So without anything else to say, let’s just jump right in.
Play Release 17 Now!
FireLotus Release 17 Party in the new town of PaxLair. Check out more screenshots in the Release 17 Screenshot Gallery.
Release 17 PreAlpha launched yesterday, April 30, with thousands of backers downloading, patching, logging in, and checking out the new changes, including:
- PaxLair: SotA’s first Player Owned Town
- 8 improved adventure scenes
- Steam Achievements
- New Crafting Events: Success, Critical Success, Recovery, and Failure
- New Summon Phoenix skill
- Player Titles
- Lot Access Permissions
- Fences, pavers, and books
- 21 Pledge Rewards
- …and more!
Check out the Release 17 Instructions update for detailed information about all the new R17 content.
The Grand Tour Quest
Just as in our last several releases, there is a Grand Tour Quest designed to guide you through all the new content. You will be able to get the Fez Hat by completing the Release 17 Grand Tour Quest. This reward can only be unlocked during Release 17 (did someone say rares?), so be sure to log in soon and talk to all the Tour Guides!
We need all your help with testing the new patches, putting more stress on our multiplayer servers, and testing the new game content, so please join us in playing Release 17!
If you have not backed the game yet, you will need to register and login at www.shroudoftheavatar.com, select the “Pledge or Send Gift!” button in the right side-bar, and purchase a pledge at the $45 Adventurer level or above. The basic Adventurer level pledge is also available on Steam Early Access.
Release 17 Player Instructions
Release 17 Known Issues
R17 Patch Notes
Thanks to all our community members that jumped right into Release 17 and started reporting bugs. We’ve already fixed quite a few of them and pushed out several patches. Click here for the most up-to-date Patch Notes.
May 1, 2015
Build Number 257: 5:00 PM
Fixes:
- Goatee facial hair should now be visible
- Grand Tour Quest can now be completed (unfortunately everyone will have to do this quest again)
- Edvard (the NPC in the starting scene) does not respond to any text in his first dialog
- Fixed issue where crafting items can sometimes result in “red items” on the crafting table.
- Plate Leggings, Plate Chest, Leather Chest, and Leather Leggings recipes should now work
- Skeletons in Solace Bridge (starting scene) should be much more feisty
- /bug should now send you to the correct forum location (R17)
- Path to the boat in Solace Bridge should now be more obvious
- Magic Printing Press can now be picked up after being placed as a decoration
- Fixed Friendly NPCs attacking the players in certain situations
- Augmented Plate Leggings extend all the way to the feet and Augmented Plate Torso extends all the way to the hands
- Your own deaths should no longer count as PVP kills in your PVP kill count
- Fixed some animation alignment issues with tools when using a crafting station
- All crafted weapons can now be enchanted
- Fences should now work much better when placed around a player lot
- Corner Ornate Iron Fence section is no longer rotated 90 degrees so therefore is now usable
- Known Issues in game book should now be up to date
- Fixed overly shiny material on dock pieces
- Fixed transparency/sorting issue with windows
- Various fixes for AI not getting aggressive with players
- You can no longer /zone to someone if they are on a player lot you do not have access to
- Fixed sit locations on hot tubs and bleachers
- Added “Royal Crier” title
- Added all refined material recipes to merchants
- Aimed Shot should now be working again
- Novia Overworld cardinal directions should now be correct (i.e. North should actually be North)
- Added 5 Story Row Basement to Lord pledge rewards
- Fixed entry/exit issues with Soltown and Spectral Mines
- NPCs will now reliably give directions to people and places in Ardoris and Solania again, including the bank.
- Epic Plate Leggings now have correct leather under layer (instead of non-textured white under layer)
- Water walking is no longer possible in Solace Bridge starting scene
- Additional minor propping in PaxLair
- You can now emote again in the Overworld
- The top of the Knights Lighthouse is once again accessible
- Casting spells while moving no longer locks the Avatar out of jumping
- In Game Events book in game should be up to date
- Solania town crier now realizes he is in Solania (not Holtrot)
- NPCs which offer to buy raw crafting materials now buy them again.
- Trainers in Ardoris will now actually train players
- Fixed some animation blending issues that were causing twitchy arms
- Fixed some incorrectly scaled stairs in various locations
- Fixed color issues with Plate Armor
- Corner rough stone fence piece no longer floating above ground
- Fix for bug that caused decorations to be picked up from behind UI windows
- Items in new characters inventory should once again have zero value
- Chat over player heads now back to original timing (removed variable timing based on length)
- Toned down brightness on some speedtree leaves and billboards
- Owls Wash exit-to-overland is now much closer to Owls Wash
- Full encumbrance no longer completely immobilizes
- Quest items now properly are removed when the quest is completed
- Casting spells should no longer leave the Avatar stuck in the casting animation.
Known Issues:
- Some basements are not working properly
- Some fence pieces cannot be placed
- Some Grand Tour Hats are missing in the game
- Some decorations (like fences) can be placed off the edge of a lot
- Doors and Gates can sometimes break
- Short Corner Stone Wall floats in the air
- Some assets on the Overworld do not look correct when seen up close via the new camera
- Some cities are experiencing performance spikes
- Some assets create flash bulb like sparks on screen
- The screen may go dark unexpectedly in some cases. If this occurs, you can open the video options and turn off Tone Mapping as a temporary fix.
- Many pledge, add on, and stretch goal items have not yet been built and/or do not yet have tech support. These will not be complete until later this year
- The update to Unity 5 caused a host of general texture and lighting related issues, and not all of these have been resolved.
- Distant tree billboards may have a white outline that is especially noticeable at night, and some trees may shimmer with white at night.
- Skin tone will sometimes not match properly on different parts of the body
- Interior Player House culling system also culls objects on balconies, porches, roof, etc.
- Unity 5 engine bug: Terrain is not accepting shadow casting lights and terrain lighting shows up on grid vs. radius
- ALT key can no longer be bound. This was necessary to re-enable quick self cast with ALT
- Unity 5 Engine Bug: Objects in the foreground sort incorrectly against objects in the distance like trees and the horizon
- Spectral Mines and Graf Gem Mines do not have metal ore nodes
Paving the Way
The dev team has added yet another set of decorations in Release 17, some available in-game and some in the Add-On Store. Now you can dress up your yard, deck, patio, or walkway with a variety of paver styles!
Rough Wood Pavers (available in-game)
Rough Stone Pavers (available in-game)
Coyote Gray Cobblestone Pavers (available in the Add-On Store)
Checkered Maple Parquet Pavers (available in the Add-On Store)
Umber Gray Ceramic Pavers (available in the Add-On Store)
Fallow Granite Pavers (available in the Add-On Store)
Polished Midnight Black Marble Pavers (available in the Add-On Store)
Bone White Marble Pavers (available in the Add-On Store)
Fences Now Available
All of the fences that were showcased in the past few Updates are also available in the Add-On Store! If you want to give your property that special look, then you might want one of these fence sets:
Ivy Covered Stone Fence (normal and tall)
Green Leaf Box Hedge Fence (normal and tall)
White Floral Box Hedge Fence (normal and tall)
Upcoming Events for the SotA Dev team
2015.05.28 – Release 18
2015.06.16 – SotA at E3
2015.06.25 – Release 19
2015.07.25 – SotA at Classic Game Fest 2015
