New Release! (BTW V4.70)

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FlowerChild
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New Release! (BTW V4.70)

Post by FlowerChild »

Version 4.70 of Better Than Wolves is ready for download!

Download Link

This release contains the following changes:

-Added Hardcore Bouncing. This prevents the player from placing blocks while jumping or while otherwise in the air, in order to reduce the effectiveness of "pillaring" (particularly when creating shelters in the early game), increase the value of stairs and ladders, and in general to promote a little more thought going into support structure when working on construction projects rather than just placing a column of dirt.

-Added Hardcore Protection which is comprised of a number of changes and additions to how armor works in BTW, which are listed individually below.

-Added Wool Armor (it's more like clothing, but offers minimal protection). It is created with the standard armor recipes using wool blocks. Like leather armor, it may be dyed various colors. For now, it is always grey (assuming a mix of colors) when initially created, but I will likely base it on the color of wool used in crafting in a future release. It is intended to act as an early game source of very low level armor. Note that you may not make boots out of wool, as those would be socks ;)

-Added Padded Armor. It is created with the standard vanilla recipes, using Padding. It is as effective as leather, but has far less durability, and is intended as an early to middle game alternative to leather for those that decide to settle an area and farm rather than live a nomadic lifestyle. It may also be dyed like leather. Like with wool, you can not make boots out of Padding.

-Added "legit" Tanned Leather Armor, that may be made with the standard armor crafting recipes using Tanned Leather. The "Gimp" version still exists, and old sets will retain this appearance, however, those items (and their recipes) are now left as easter eggs. Tanned Leather armor has the same protection values as regular leather, but twice the durability.

-Added Cut Leather, and Cut Tanned Leather as new items. They are created by combining leather in the crafting grid with shears, which consumes durability on the shears, but serves to increase the effective amount of leather you have on hand by reducing wastage. All recipes that use leather may use Cut Leather instead, creating "high efficiency" leather recipes, in a manner similar to what the Saw does for wood. This both serves to increase the value of shears throughout the game, making them a more integrated part of MC, and reduces the difficulty of acquiring leather since leather armor is now a much more important part of the game.

-Added Diamond Ingots as a new item. These are created with a diamond and iron ingot along with Creeper Oysters in the crafting grid. They replace diamonds in all tool, weapon, and armor recipes (other recipes that use diamonds, such as the Lens and enchanting table, remain unchanged). This is intended to balance the relative value of iron and diamonds in the early game, and lead to diamond tools being more of an "upgrade" to iron rather than an outright replacement.

-Added the ability to melt down diamond tools, weapons, and armor in the Crucible in order to recover the iron used in their creation (the diamonds themselves are lost).

-Added internal hooks so that add-on authors can create their own custom armor, and have it display on players and mobs with minimal effort.

-Added internal hooks so that add-on authors can have items either not be consumed or get damaged during the crafting process.

-Changed the Breeding Harness recipe to be 5 Tanned Leather in a "plus sign", with Straps at each corner, since the "Gimp" version of Tanned Leather armor is no longer considered a part of the main tech tree.

-Changed the recipe for Straps so that they are created by combining Cut Tanned Leather with shears in the crafting grid.

-Changed the recipe for Tanning Leather so that it requires Scoured Leather, Dung, AND a number of logs (for Tannin). The number of logs required is dependent on the species of tree, with the requirements left for the player to discover (even more Hardcore Wood!).

-Changed (further nerfed) the efficiency of stone tools on blocks to further encourage the upgrade to iron.

-Changed (greatly nerfed) the durability of wood and stone picks (this doesn't affect the other tool types of the same material) to further emphasize the advantages of upgrading to better ones, and to hopefully make branch mining with stone picks far less feasible to further encourage collection of iron in the early game through cave exploration rather than mining.

-Changed (optimized) the number of polygons that are rendered for snow, which should aid performance in taiga biomes.

-Fixed problem with picks not being efficient vs silverfish blocks.

-Fixed vanilla problem with the particles for block breaking effects rendering behind the cracks on the block itself. It was too annoying to leave as is.

-Fixed vanilla problem where tools would break at -1 damage instead of zero.

-Fixed problem with the Lens inventory render sometimes changing shape based on activity with other blocks.

-Removed the high efficiency book and item frame recipes using Tanned Leather, as that functionality is now replaced more elegantly by Cut Leather.

Enjoy! :)

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If you'd like to say thanks for this release and help contribute to the further development of Better Than Wolves, please consider making a donation:

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Ulfengaard
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Re: New Release! (BTW V4.70)

Post by Ulfengaard »

Ermahgerd! So excited!

This is going to be amazing. I'm really stoked about the armor changes in particular. Heeeeere, sheepy, sheepy!
Awfulcopter wrote:...nothing says harmony with nature better than leaves that bleed. AMIRITE?
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TheChinchilla
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Re: New Release! (BTW V4.70)

Post by TheChinchilla »

FlowerChild wrote:Added Hardcore Bouncing. This prevents the player from placing blocks while jumping or while otherwise in the air, in order to reduce the effectiveness of "pillaring" (particularly when creating shelters in the early game), increase the value of stairs and ladders, and in general to promote a little more thought going into support structure when working on construction projects rather than just placing a column of dirt.
Wow..... just wow. "Thank you FlowerChild" does not even begin to describe my gratitude for this update.
Arandia
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Re: New Release! (BTW V4.70)

Post by Arandia »

Hah, knew there must be a new version coming when the other thread got un-stickied. Thanks!

Also, hardcore bouncing? I think this is going to be another change that I'm going to hate but love anyway. Cheers.
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FlowerChild
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Re: New Release! (BTW V4.70)

Post by FlowerChild »

Get ready for a whole new level of suffering guys :)

I did a pretty extensive play-through on these changes to make sure their solid. The early game is pretty much a whole new game once again!
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StarsintheSky
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Re: New Release! (BTW V4.70)

Post by StarsintheSky »

This is really excellent. I am so excited to get in game! Thank you!
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Sarudak
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Re: New Release! (BTW V4.70)

Post by Sarudak »

This looks rather painful....
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CycloneSP
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Re: New Release! (BTW V4.70)

Post by CycloneSP »

O.o Wow! So. Many. Changes!

Hardcore bouncing has me particularly scared. As I know I use the pillaring effect rather extensively when constructing builds and/or putting random touches of finished builds.Question about HC bouncing, does this also apply to when you are holding shift on a ladder/vine/rope? Or is that something you want us to find out for our own?

EDIT: unless proven otherwise, I shall take the statement "while otherwise in the air" to include ladders/vines/rope.
Last edited by CycloneSP on Fri May 03, 2013 10:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Ulfengaard
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Re: New Release! (BTW V4.70)

Post by Ulfengaard »

FlowerChild wrote:-Fixed vanilla problem with the particles for block breaking effects rendering behind the cracks on the block itself. It was too annoying to leave as is.
BTW: Thanks so much for this. It was unconsciously irking the sh*t outta me.
Awfulcopter wrote:...nothing says harmony with nature better than leaves that bleed. AMIRITE?
dawnraider wrote:I think we need to stop asking how stupid people can be. I think they're starting to take it as a challenge :)
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DiamondArms
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Re: New Release! (BTW V4.70)

Post by DiamondArms »

FlowerChild wrote:
-Added Diamond Ingots as a new item. These are created with a diamond and iron ingot along with Creeper Oysters in the crafting grid. They replace diamonds in all tool, weapon, and armor recipes (other recipes that use diamonds, such as the Lens and enchanting table, remain unchanged). This is intended to balance the relative value of iron and diamonds in the early game, and lead to diamond tools being more of an "upgrade" to iron rather than an outright replacement.

-Added the ability to melt down diamond tools, weapons, and armor in the Crucible in order to recover the iron used in their creation (the diamonds themselves are lost).
Ow. Just Ow. I have no idea where to go on this. Oh well. Time to start trying it out. I barely used diamond equipment to begin with.

Also, YES HIGH EFFICIENCY LEATHER. My Leather Stocks just went up.

Wool Armor sounds like something Faction Players could use to show teams and groups. Definitely cool.

At this point, I'd say "Death to all equipment below Iron". Oh well.
johnt
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Re: New Release! (BTW V4.70)

Post by johnt »

I like all the hardcore changes, but I'm a bit iffy on the stone pick nerf since I already felt it was right on the edge of being frustrating as it is. I mostly use the stone picks for room clearing rather than branch mining. Looking forward to hearing feedback from early adopters on that change, because I really want to try all the other new stuff.
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FlowerChild
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Re: New Release! (BTW V4.70)

Post by FlowerChild »

Sarudak wrote:This looks rather painful....

What? What's this? Is BTW becoming too Hardcore even for Sarudak? :)
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FlowerChild
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Re: New Release! (BTW V4.70)

Post by FlowerChild »

johnt wrote:I like all the hardcore changes, but I'm a bit iffy on the stone pick nerf since I already felt it was right on the edge of being frustrating as it is. I mostly use the stone picks for room clearing rather than branch mining. Looking forward to hearing feedback from early adopters on that change, because I really want to try all the other new stuff.
Then make an iron pick. If you go all "but I want to save my iron...", then I'll go all "pffft" while performing an exaggeratedly long stroking gesture.

If you don't have enough iron, then I refer you to "build a mob-trap noob".
Equitis1024
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Re: New Release! (BTW V4.70)

Post by Equitis1024 »

Thanks Flowerchild! This looks awesome. Pillaring was silly. :)

I also want to thank you soooo much for the recent optimizations. I only just got to try them out a few hours ago, and my framerate has absolutely skyrocketed. I had gotten used to a miserable 5 fps on tiny render distance in my developed areas, and now I'm getting an average there of 20 fps on short! I never would have imagined that your optimizations would result in such a drastic improvement for me. Amazing work!
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Kazuya Mishima
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Re: New Release! (BTW V4.70)

Post by Kazuya Mishima »

FlowerChild wrote: -Added Hardcore Bouncing. This prevents the player from placing blocks while jumping or while otherwise in the air, in order to reduce the effectiveness of "pillaring" (particularly when creating shelters in the early game), increase the value of stairs and ladders, and in general to promote a little more thought going into support structure when working on construction projects rather than just placing a column of dirt.
I know plenty of people will likely hate this but I absolutely abhorred pillaring up and was one of the few informal rules I imposed on myself because it just felt so absurd. MC's building methodology was always weak but that one capability made it seem downright whimsical and not in a good way. I am more than happy using platforms and ladders as scaffolding.
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Re: New Release! (BTW V4.70)

Post by johnt »

Well this is largely in the stage where I am first settling in, digging out a basic shelter, starting a mushroom farm and so on. Takes a while to get enough iron to get a pick, sword, hoe, shears, etc and wasting an iron pick digging out a big room (and getting cobble for a mob farm) would be kind of annoying. I am curious how it plays out. I'm out of town for a few days so I can't install it anyway, yet.

To be more positive, though, I always hated nerd-poles, so the bouncing change makes me happy.
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Sarudak
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Re: New Release! (BTW V4.70)

Post by Sarudak »

FlowerChild wrote: What? What's this? Is BTW becoming too Hardcore even for Sarudak? :)
Hey man. I never said I didn't like it.
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Re: New Release! (BTW V4.70)

Post by Ulfengaard »

Kazuya Mishima wrote:I know plenty of people will likely hate this but I absolutely abhorred pillaring up and was one of the few informal rules I imposed on myself because it just felt so absurd. MC's building methodology was always weak but that one capability made it seem downright whimsical and not in a good way. I am more than happy using platforms and ladders as scaffolding.
Nah. You've got one supporter here, man. 'Dirt' scaffolds were immersion-breaking, imho.
Awfulcopter wrote:...nothing says harmony with nature better than leaves that bleed. AMIRITE?
dawnraider wrote:I think we need to stop asking how stupid people can be. I think they're starting to take it as a challenge :)
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FlowerChild
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Re: New Release! (BTW V4.70)

Post by FlowerChild »

Sarudak wrote:Hey man. I never said I didn't like it.
Ah, the good kind of pain then. I can relate to that...
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savagelung
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Re: New Release! (BTW V4.70)

Post by savagelung »

At first I was taken aback by Hardcore Bouncing. I thought pillaring was just a unique part of Minecraft's bizarre physics. Then I stopped and considered how pillaring affects my own gameplay. And now I'm super excited to take on huge building projects with glorious scaffolding all over the place. I think the platform block is now my favorite block! :D
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obl1terat1ion
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Re: New Release! (BTW V4.70)

Post by obl1terat1ion »

savagelung wrote:At first I was taken aback by Hardcore Bouncing. I thought pillaring was just a unique part of Minecraft's bizarre physics. Then I stopped and considered how pillaring affects my own gameplay. And now I'm super excited to take on huge building projects with glorious scaffolding all over the place. I think the platform block is now my favorite block! :D
Yep elevators are going to get alot more use :)
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FlowerChild
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Re: New Release! (BTW V4.70)

Post by FlowerChild »

savagelung wrote:At first I was taken aback by Hardcore Bouncing. I thought pillaring was just a unique part of Minecraft's bizarre physics. Then I stopped and considered how pillaring affects my own gameplay. And now I'm super excited to take on huge building projects with glorious scaffolding all over the place. I think the platform block is now my favorite block! :D
I went through a similar process. You may remember that awhile back I was considering adding a scaffold block to make for more reasonable pillaring. That motivated me to take a closer look at pillaring and its effect on gameplay, and to consider potential solutions.

This is the end result of that analysis and me asking "wait a sec...wtf are we pillaring to begin with?". I may still include a scaffold block depending on how this works out, but I want to see what the results are of reducing the effectiveness of pillaring first. Either way this makes sense, either to tone down a weird gameplay "feature" of MC, or to encourage the use of a new block.
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Ulfengaard
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Re: New Release! (BTW V4.70)

Post by Ulfengaard »

Started a fresh game so as not to spoil my LP. I'll tell you this much: I'm lovin' cobble like I never did before. Talk about chewing through resources. I feel like I'm just scraping by. I really want some iron, now.
Awfulcopter wrote:...nothing says harmony with nature better than leaves that bleed. AMIRITE?
dawnraider wrote:I think we need to stop asking how stupid people can be. I think they're starting to take it as a challenge :)
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Re: New Release! (BTW V4.70)

Post by FlowerChild »

Ulfengaard wrote:Started a fresh game so as not to spoil my LP. I'll tell you this much: I'm lovin' cobble like I never did before. Talk about chewing through resources. I feel like I'm just scraping by. I really want some iron, now.
Tell me about it :)

When I hit iron in my own play-through it was like the angelic choir sang out from on high. Before then, it's some serious "bloody nails scratching at the stone" action :)
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ThatOneDude
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Re: New Release! (BTW V4.70)

Post by ThatOneDude »

Ah! Perhaps my performance issues in the last version were due to my base being located in the center of a taiga. I have yet to test out this new release, but I have high hopes!
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