Shroud of the Avatar – Update of the Avatar #136

by GolemDragon · July 31, 2015

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

Play Release 20 Now!
Role-Players of the Avatar
Battle Banners, Obsidian Towers (oh, and Outhouses)

Play Release 20 Now!

Avatars Radio FireLotus Release 20 Party hosted at the estate of Goldenwing Okhan in the Player Owned Town of Radio City. Check out more screenshots in the Release 20 Screenshot Gallery.

Release 20 successfully launched yesterday, July 30, with thousands of backers downloading, patching, logging in, and checking out the new changes! Lots of new content to explore, including:

113 new Player Owned Towns, including the first island biome town, Dara Brae
Dynamic Lot Placement Tool for Player Owned Towns
Trolls: Our First Very Large Creature!
Combat Pets & Taming
Player Owned Vendors
Player Made Books: In-Game Editor, Decoratable, Multiple Copies, Blank Book Recipe, and Runic Font
New Random Encounters: Highway Robbery, Wild Herds, Haunted Ruins, etc.
Spell & Skill Balancing; Combat Math Overhauled
Scene Polishing
New Crafting Recipes
…and more!

Check out the Release 20 Instructions update for detailed information about all the new R20 content.

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 19!

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 20 Player Instructions

Release 20 Known Issues

R20 Patch Notes

Thanks to all the community members that jumped right into this Release and started reporting bugs. The team have already fixed quite a few of them and pushed out several patches. Click here for the most up-to-date Patch Notes.

July 31, 2015

Build Number 296: 5:30 PM

Fixes:

Fixed minor typo in Guard Stanley’s dialog, now uses new quest turn-in dialog
Tutorial popup in Solace Bridge about attacking the targeting dummy now correctly describes how to attack it
Quest turn-in UI now lists single-item turn-ins correctly
Fixed chain helm material green-ness
Fixed minor gaps and collision on stairs in Obsidian Tower Town Home
Fixed floating prop in Solace Bridge Starting scene
Removed “this door is locked” message when AI opens door on a restricted plot
Text between % symbols is only parsed and removed if it describes a valid emote
Graff Gem Mines, Solace Bridge and Etceter Crag Mines: All ore nodes can once again be mined by players
Removing old basement hatch from Braemar
Fix plot marker placement issue that was messing up lot and house placement in Player Owned Towns
Solania and Soltown town criers respond to “what can I do to help” and similar requests with a reminder about mail deliveries
Fixed ice elemental bindings texture
Fixed issue preventing combining locked cards with dealt cards
Barnacled Anchor decoration can now be placed
Removed trees from a lot in Solania that were preventing deco placement
Fixed floating mountain in Novia Overworld
Fixed missing mouth interior on male NPC
Display names on Player Town maps now have correct casing
You can now claim unlimited lots in PoTs, but only 3 lots elsewhere
Island Player Town maps now for sale and given as Player Town reward
Fixed bug that was bringing up extra useless window for deck building via Window Selector button
Fixed duplicated NPC in Solania
Fixed island teleporter issues that were preventing accessing any island PoTs
Fixed a few PoT town’s data that should have been set to islands

Known Issues:

Player Owned Town Islands are inescapable
All Player owned Towns on Hidden Vale exit to Novia Overworld
If you upgrade from a property owning pledge between data wipes you will receive extra lot deeds
Trolls have no visual effects
Troll AI and behaviors are not working as expected
Not all Player Owned Towns in the list are in the game yet
Some objects / NPCs in game are missing textures and show up bright pink
Time is not in synchronized between scenes that have the new sky vs. the old sky
Red crystal nodes in Etceter Crag Mines are all yielding blue crystals
If your video drivers are out of date characters will appear as if they are covered in triangles
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
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

[Complete Patch Notes…]

Role-Players of the Avatar

Developed by community member Elgarion De Kahli, RPOTA.COM (Role-Players of the Avatar) features a web-based database where players can create, share and track a wide variety of RP content. All items connect to most other items in many ways for many interesting charts, graphs and lists. If someone comments on another person’s creation they will receive that comment via email if they have notifications activated.

Characters

Elgarion is populating the NPC data, and players add their characters.

Factions and Locations

Players can add their own factions to the RP Database. Factions can be any division of loyalty or ideals, such as a Guild (or even factions that exist within a Guild). A faction can also be some other story conducive group or organization.

Standings

This is where characters and factions can post standings towards other characters and factions. This generates an array of statistics for character and faction standings you’ve received and provided to others. What better way to punctuate the end of an RP session than going to the site and inputting a new standing towards a new RP partner. Plus its a great way to keep track of stances you have accumulated if you have many RP partners.

Journals

The bread and butter of RP, a wide variety of journal entry types can be entered, tracked, and connected to most other data content types.

Storylines

Have something grander to depict? Something on-going and continuous? Storylines is a better location for this type of content since it allows for interconnected chapters to be added. And these storylines connect to most other data content types.

Quests

This mechanic allows for folks to create quests for others to complete. Unlimited objectives can be added for each quest, and quests can be connected to most other data types.

Events and Forums

This allows for players to openly schedule events with the entire RP community. There are even plans to mirror the RP events with Avatar’s Circle.

Battle Banners, Obsidian Towers (oh, and Outhouses)

Several new items available in the Add-On Store this week, including:

Battle Banner

The dev team were inspired by Duke Violation’s creative use of the Moon Tower in Vengeance where he designed a PvP tournament around one team protecting the Moon Tower and another team trying to turn it off. We thought this was such a cool idea that we created the Battle Banner! This deco item toggles between red and blue states when touched. Can be used in “Capture the Flag” type combat games and tournaments (in case you don’t have a spare Moon Tower to use).

Obsidian Tower Homes

Patterned after the Obsidian architectural style of the Tower of the Shuttered Keep, these Obsidian Tower Homes provide a majestic view from their lofty heights. Available in Village and town lot sizes, these are the tallest structures that can be placed on these lots.

Obsidian Tower Village Home

Four stories tall, including rooms on the first three floors, a roof-top deck, and wrap around balcony on the 3rd floor!

Obsidian Tower Town Home

Five stories tall, including rooms on the first four floors, a roof-top deck, and wrap around balcony on the 4th floor! This tower is as tall as the parapets on the Lord of the Manor Keep, which previously held the record for the tallest player home.