Every two weeks, we accompany the Roadmap update with a brief explanatory note to give you insight into the decision-making that led to any changes. This is part of an effort to make our communications more transparent, more specific, and more insightful for all of you who help to make Star Citizen and Squadron 42 possible.

Hello vikings!

It was a lot of fun to see your response to the constructions we showed off last time – it seems many of you are looking forward to seeing them in the game! If you’ve been paying attention to Twitter in the past few weeks you might have also seen a couple of additional teasers, some more revealing than others, as individual developers have hinted at what they’re working with. Something you definitely don’t want to miss is the big trap that Jonathan showed some work-in-progress footage of last week, which will also feature in the Mistlands update. It’ll be great for catching enemies, but you’d best be careful and watch where you’re stepping too!



Meanwhile in the office, we have acquired some weapon and shield props (the shields being the real deal, but the weapons not so much) to have both as general inspiration but also to help us with making even cooler attack animations in the future. And most importantly, they make Valheim creator Richard feel like a badass:



But on to the teasers we know you are all waiting for! This month we’d like to share with you a piece of concept art of a new crafting station which you will need to craft many of the Mistlands tier weapons. After all, a regular forge can only get you so far, and to battle what you’ll find in the Mistlands you’ll need something with…a little extra.



It has also been far too long since there were any new fungi for you to discover! Other than the regular red mushrooms in the Meadows and the glowing Yellow mushrooms found in the Black Forest, you will soon be able to cook with a couple of Mistlands variants as well. Exactly what recipes they will be used for we’ll keep to ourselves for a bit longer, but here you have a first look at what shape and colours the mushrooms themselves might have:



Last time we mentioned a patch which will resolve some issues with the cloud sync. This is still in the works, though we also want to include an update of the game engine before we invite you all to test it. We feel this is an important thing to get done before releasing the Mistlands, as it should result in a smoother experience for everyone. Rest assured though, that this technical patch is not taking any significant development time away from the biome!

Build of the MonthThis month it was exceptionally hard to select a build to share here, as there were just so many good ones! Finally we managed to settle on this longhouse that Eriandhor posted, and we hope that you can agree that it was a worthy choice! If you would like your own building to be shared in the next blog post, simply use the hashtag #ValheimBotM when posting on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.



May your axes stay sharp!

The Iron Gate team


Discord
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
Reddit

After a popular documentary is caught fabricating alien life, Beck and Alayne look into the long term impact on scientists and explorers.

BECK: Welcome to Empire Report. I’m Beck Russum.

ALAYNE: And I’m Alayne Gaither, in for Alan Nuevo who’s off on paternity leave. Tonight’s lead story: chaos in the exoscience community as shocking new allegations into a popular spectrum show are bringing new criticism of how interstellar discoveries are vetted and shared with the galaxy.

BECK: Viewers may be familiar with the Incredible Living Universe series of spectrum broadcasts that present unusual animals from distant regions of explored space. Here’s a clip from a recent episode purporting to cover undersea life in the Kellog system.

DOCUMENTARY NARRATOR: Miles beneath the sea surface, phalanxes of so-called nerve-crabs march in unison; their destination is one of Kellog II’s thermal vents where they will feast on a bonanza of naturally irradiated tube worms. A single worm is radioactive enough to cause certain death if exposed to an unprotected Human but can also provide enough energy to support one of these noble crabs for the weeks-long journey back to its coastal breeding grounds.

BECK: The series received widespread acclaim among critics and the public for its spectacular visuals and unique nature of the animals presented and has been credited for inspiring Humans around the Empire to take a greater interest in the natural world. But, according to new allegations, it turns out much of what the show broadcast wasn’t natural in the first place; the series’ producers have been accused of fabricating some of the more thrilling content in the popular documentaries.

ALAYNE: For more on what’s happening here, we’re joined by Dr. Trant Keu from the scientific watchdog group ASCOR, which has been investigating the situation. Welcome, Dr. Keu.

TRANT: Thank you, Beck and Alayne, I’m glad to be here regardless of the circumstances. And right off the bat I need to say that what we’re discovering about Incredible Living Universe is anathema to what my colleagues and I do day in and day out. We have time-honored processes to catalog our discoveries, we have rules and a code of ethics that are instilled from the first day of our training. I would dare say that what has been allowed to happen here is more shocking to us than anyone.

BECK: I’m going to start with the obvious question: what exactly happened here?

ALAYNE: After the initial accusations started appearing, ASCOR began our own investigation and discovered strong evidence that at least a handful of sequences from Incredible Living Universe had been fabricated by the research team at the center of the production. Presented in the series as an independent scientific consortium called the Banded Raven, they were introduced as traveling from planet to planet with special dispensation to conduct biological surveys in protected regions of the galaxy. But the ASCOR review of all eleven episodes found inconsistencies and no independent scientific corroboration that the life forms and ecosystems being presented even exist. Most shockingly, we couldn’t find any proof of accreditation for the various ‘scientists’ who appeared on the show.

BECK: And some of the sequences you’ve flagged as fabricated comprise some of the most memorable sequences in the show. The armored crabs and glowing worms, even the sea trench and coastal pens, did not exist as identifiable organisms or regions on Kellog II.

TRANT: That’s correct, our researchers have discovered that much of the footage was likely altered from older archival footage. We’ve logged a complaint with the NFSC and the production company to either remove the unverified segments or, at the very least, make it clear that those parts are fictionalized and not backed up by scientific data and observations.

ALAYNE: Now Trant, I can’t even begin to imagine what happened here. My daughter has a beloved plush Box Elk, which was one of the creatures ‘discovered’ on the program and now… well, I don’t know what to think, was it ever real? How is it possible for a series to claim that a creature exists and not have the scientific community question it immediately?

TRANT: The fact is, and I don’t mean to sound reductive here, the universe is very, very big. And even though a tiny sliver of that giant universe supports the development of life, that still adds up to more living organisms than anyone with the best of intentions could ever hope to catalog or even to understand. Couple that with the restricted access that prohibits developing planets from being effectively cataloged and it creates a lot of opportunities for exploitation. So when the episodes presented creatures and environments that, on the surface, seemed like they could exist, I think a lot of scientists went with it because they wanted to believe it as much as anyone else. Plus, most scientists don’t have access to the areas highlighted in the series so there wasn’t a lot of firsthand knowledge and research available to hold up against what the series was presenting.

ALAYNE: I see, it’s still just so surprising that such claims go unchecked for so long. The series has been a hit for nearly five years now. Why did it take so long for the truth to come out?

TRANT: There’s an element of red tape that makes verifying something like this both difficult and expensive. Take the clip you showed earlier, the Subcommittee for Development & Expansion makes doing any sort of legitimate research on Kellog II as difficult as possible. You’re talking about needing an expedition that would cost millions and millions of credits just to confirm that the crab you saw doesn’t exist.

ALAYNE: But why do this? What benefits do you see in lying about this stuff?

TRANT: I don’t know, it’s hard to say who profits here. There’s certainly money to be made from the sheer level of exposure that the show enjoyed. Someone made money off that Box Elk plush your daughter has, so maybe it was just an elaborate scheme to create a marketing phenomenon. I don’t really know.

ALAYNE: What about the people behind these documentaries? Are they going to be punished?

TRANT: I would hope that there will be professional repercussions. At the same time, there’s also no specific law preventing someone from making up new kinds of animal. So it’s a difficult question as to what, if any, legal consequences the production company and its employees may face.

BECK: So what do we do now? Is there a way to undo the damage these fabrications have caused?

TRANT: What I want the public to know is that we need to keep moving forward. There’s a big job to be done by scientists and explorers to right this wrong by finding the real mysterious creatures that inhabit this universe. They may not be as immediately sexy and interesting as the ones we so easily fell in love with on spectrum, but learning about them is going to be so much more rewarding because it’s not just entertainment, it expands our understanding of the universe. And there are so, so many dedicated explorers and scientists who are already partnering to do this right now, the importance of their work is so high regardless of this scandal. So we’re going to keep working.

BECK: Heady stuff, certainly something to keep in mind the next time you see some unusual life form or bizarre planet discovered announced in a vacuum.

ALAYNE: Next, after the break, we’ll be showing you some of the most powerful warships in the fleet live from the Vision Center at Orison where Invictus Launch Week 2952 is well underway. That and more when Empire Report returns.

Scorpius - ILW- Standalone Ship / Prix : 316.8$ TTC

Scorpius - 3 Paint Pack- Paints / Prix : 25.2$ TTC

The pioneers of interstellar travel. Roberts Space Industries and the UEE Navy go way back.

Consolidated Outland continues to innovate, with its recent releases offering affordable hauling and planetside fun respectively.

Argo is the unsung hero of the Empire. This industrial behemoth keeps the UEEN war machine rolling with its rugged transporters and ubiquitous commercial tools.

Origin’s designers prize the ‘experience’ above all else and consistently push the envelope of both interior comfort and outright performance.

Justice Has a New Ally

Happy Monday, everyone! Invictus Launch Week is underway, with content themed around the event coming all week long.

Redeemer - ILW- Standalone Ship / Prix : 468$ TTC

Redeemer - 5 Paint Pack- Paints / Prix : 61.2$ TTC

Invictus Launch Week & Star Citizen Alpha 3.17.1 - Now Available!

From May 20 until May 31, celebrate the military might of the UEE with a display of the UEE’s awe-inspiring naval fleet. The celebration allows all players to see some of the ‘verse’s biggest, best, and most iconic ships up close at the Vision Center at Orison on Crusader.

Anvil C8X Pisces Expedition - ILW- Standalone Ship / Prix : 64.8$ TTC

Legionnaire- Standalone Ship / Prix : 144$ TTC

C8 Pisces - 2 Paint Pack- Paints / Prix : 9.6$ TTC

Anvil salutes the troops with its most iconic warbirds that await pilots who strive to make the galaxy a safer place for all.

Show your support for the fleet and the Empire with an array of official Invictus Launch Week merchandise and classic Star Citizen looks.

Star Citizen Alpha 3.17.1 LIVE.8073467 Patch Notes

PTU Testing Needed - Calling All Pilots!

Star Citizen Alpha 3.17.1d PTU.8073467 Patch Notes

Get an update directly from Founder & CEO Chris Roberts on the Road to 4.0, CitizenCon, our Bar Citizen World Tour, and more!

The ascendant Tevarin Senator from Elysium claims he’s only focused on his second term in the Senate, but others wonder if he’s preparing for bigger things.

TERRA GAZETTE

By Koto Dodson

Contributor

Quinton, Angeli, Croshaw system

Suj Kossi, the Tevarin Senator from Elysium, took center stage at this year’s Universalist Strategic Vision Conference (USVC) with a keynote speech that electrified the crowd and solidified him as a rising star within the party. Senator Kossi’s speech wove together tentpole Universalist talking points while criticizing Imperator Addison, describing her administration as “ineffectual” and her agenda as “focused anywhere but on issues that actually matter.” The success of Senator Kossi’s speech, and its primetime setting, left many political analysts wondering if the party might be preparing him for bigger things to come.

In 2946, Senator Kossi made history by becoming the first Tevarin ever elected to the UEE Senate. Already a household name, Senator Kossi’s political capital only grew during his first term in office. He was a regular guest on popular spectrum news programs, sat on prominent Senate committees (including the influential Subcommittee on the Interior), and co-authored and advocated for several important pieces of legislation. Senator Kossi’s constant public presence, increasing political savvy, and extensive list of endorsements led voters in Elysium to elect him to a second term last year. While the win was expected, it was widely celebrated and hailed as an important moment for the future of Tevarin politics; one that proved that Tevarin candidates can not only win, but build a wide coalition of supporters.

Regardless of political affiliation, many have welcomed the growing Tevarin presence on the political stage. Imperator Addison campaigned on a belief that “increasing Tevarin voices and representation within the government is essential to a stronger UEE.” Her administration has since made Ki Jotal the director of the Department of Transportation and Navigation, making her the first Tevarin cabinet member, and appointed more Tevarin to government positions than any previous administration. While these gains are significant, a bigger change may be occurring at the ballot box.

The Addison administration recently released data showing that citizenship applications among Tevarin have increased significantly in the last few years. Now, the results from the recent May 3rd elections are revealing just how impactful that Tevarin Citizen voting block has become, as even election experts were surprised by the strong Tevarin turnout in certain parts of the empire. While no other Tevarin candidates will be joining Suj Kossi in the UEE Senate, a record number ran with nominee Ruwo Nee garnering the most attention before narrowly losing in Centauri. Exit polls showed that strong Tevarin turnout in Elysium and Centauri also affected down-ballot races, as both systems elected a record number of Tevarin to local public offices. Still, for some election experts, the most interesting exit poll data was who Tevarin voters supported in races without a Tevarin candidate. Universalist Party candidates did particularly well, in part because of an extensive outreach effort overseen by Suj Kossi. Despite the Addison administration’s work on improving xeno-relations, its efforts didn’t appear to attract the loyalty of that demographic to Addison-backed candidates. As the Tevarin voting block grows in strength and significance, the Universalist Party appears better positioned than the Centralists and Transitionalists to welcome these voters into the fold.

While Senator Kossi’s ascendance has been good for the Universalist Party, and UEE politics in general, there is growing concern within the party over some of the Senator’s positions. Though he’s a fairly conventional Universalist on many issues, Senator Kossi is a strong advocate for revising Citizenship requirements and expanding enfranchisement across the empire. He has also worked with Imperator Addison on legislation that would create new government programs and initiatives meant to further increase Tevarin citizenship and involvement in the public sector – legislation some Universalists see as unnecessary, expensive, and/or a waste of his political capital. As one party insider put it, “These are bloated Addison administration initiatives. Even if they succeed, neither Senator Kossi nor the Universalist party will get any credit for their success.”

Yet, not everyone within the party thinks that Senator Kossi diverging from the Universalist platform is a bad thing. In fact, some see these deviations as a potential strength. Monique Erby, an Elysium-based political analyst who’s closely watched Senator Kossi’s rise, believes it could help him with voters that other Universalist candidates never could court. “Senator Kossi has played his position quite well. During his initial campaign, he painted himself as a run-of-the-mill and reliable Universalist when the story was about him being a Tevarin. Then he became an active and enthusiastic party cheerleader to solidify his position within it. Now that the story’s shifted to him being just another Universalist who happens to be Tevarin, he’s leaned into beliefs that differ from the party. Like any good politician, he’s molding his image in a way that lets people see in him what they want to see.”

Despite these concerns from within the party, Senator Kossi is clearly still in its good graces, as evidenced by him landing the keynote speech at USVC. Illyana Sharrad, who was recently elected as the party’s chairperson, gave him that prime speaking slot and remains one of Senator Kossi’s most ardent and vocal supporters. “Senator Kossi is proof that we’re a big tent party. We want a diversity of voices and ideas within the Universalist party,” said Sharrad during a USVC press conference. “He has a compelling vision for the future of the UEE, and the party will support him any way we can in achieving those goals.”

When asked if part of Senator Kossi’s vision includes running for Imperator in 2960, Sharrad simply smiled then pivoted toward more immediate concerns than an “election still eight years away.” As one of the final five Imperator candidates in the 2950 Imperator election, Sharrad still looms large over the Universalist Party and its future. While there are rumors that she may run for Imperator again in 2960, there’s a growing belief that Sharrad has instead chosen Senator Kossi to represent the party in the next election and is working on helping him build the political clout and infrastructure needed for a run of his own. No Tevarin candidate has ever made it past the primary vote, let alone run as a candidate for a major political party. Meanwhile, others wonder if Sharrad’s support and spotlighting of Senator Kossi is instead a self-serving tactic meant to blunt the growing influence of Titus Costigan within the party.

As for the chances of a Tevarin nominee winning the Imperator election, Monique Erby has her doubts, “You just need to look to the Stanton system and what’s happening with the XenoThreat terrorists to know that there is still a sizeable portion of the population who are unwilling to embrace non-Humans in positions of power. Representing Elysium is one thing, but it’s hard to say if the votes would ever be there for an alien head of the UEE. If the election were held today, the numbers I’ve seen would say no, but who knows what the next few years may change.”

Following his speech at USVC, Senator Kossi himself brushed off questions about a 2960 run for Imperator. “My future remains focused on improving the lives and defending the rights of my constituents in Elysium, supporting the military in its campaign to defeat the Vanduul, and bringing more opportunities to Tevarin across the Empire.” Still, a potential Kossi campaign was what many USVC attendees were talking about following his speech. On the last day of the conference, Senator Kossi placed third in a straw poll of preferred 2960 Imperator candidates, coming in just behind Illyana Sharrad and Titus Costigan. Though Senator Kossi might want to downplay talk of a potential run, it seems the question will remain a constant one throughout his second Senate term.

Star Citizen Alpha 3.17.1c PTU.8071730 Patch Notes

Star Citizen Alpha 3.17.1b PTU.8070519 Patch Notes

Happy Monday, everyone!

Hull A- Standalone Ship / Prix : 129.6$ TTC

​
Hello everyone!
 

Today we give you 20.5 stable with fixes for crashes and also a fix for the drone that caused issues in MP. 

We are aware of the following regarding this build:

We are seeing reports of the Discord overlay potentially crashing the game, please read here[support.discord.com]. Please scroll to "Overlay Issues".
EOS issue with macOS Monterey, you can still play without EAC until this is fixed by EOS.
Party voice for macOS does not currently work and needs to be fixed by EOS in a future update.
Party voice currently not supported on Linux, waiting for a fix by EOS. 
If you are not on macOS Monterey and you crash, you can try starting the game without EAC or run the game's 7dLauncher.exe directly from the game folder. If you can play then, great, but please help us by reporting the crash following the link below.
 

If you are still crashing, please take your time to report a bug, after reading this: 
https://community.7daystodie.com/a20-bug-database/bug-pool/before-you-post-a-report-r1/

If you still crash before the game starts, we would need your launcher.log and the anticheatlauncher.log.
Please provide them in a bug report following the link above.

Mods folder

Due to restrictions from Microsoft, FUTURE updates may change the location of the Mods folder.

These restrictions make it so that the Mods folder can longer be in the same installation folder as 7 Days to Die.

You can specify the location of the UserDataFolder in the game launcher. The Mods folder can then be placed in that folder.

 Add the following to the command line:

Format:

-UserDataFolder=<YOUR_DRIVE_LOCATION><YOUR_FOLDER_LOCATION>
 
Example:

-UserDataFolder=C:\MyUserData


The UserDataFolder can also be set in the serverconfig.xml file.

Format:

<property name="UserDataFolder" value="<YOUR_SERVER_DRIVE_LOCATION><YOUR_SERVER_FOLDER_PATH><YOUR_FOLDER_LOCATION>" />

Example:

<property name="UserDataFolder" value="C:\MyServer\Users\TFP\123456\MyDediSaves" />

 
Changelog:

A20.5 b2

Added 
Server browser now shows warning when results hit the search limit 
Localization files are tested for a valid header line and show appropriate errors Changed 
Removed EAC compatibility warning on Windows 11Fixed 
Voice comms fail for player who was voiced in multi player party who then leaves game to main menu then rejoins game and party 
Voice chat fails to initiate for latest joiner to the party 
EAC error after entering server password 
Reenabled player reporting 
UserDataFolder and SaveGameFolder did not allow gamedir relative paths 
PartSpawn in POI Marker doesn't pull parts from mod folders 
XUi FilledSprite view not properly updating on position changes 
Drone causing excess data in player data .ttp file on dedi 

​

​
Hello everyone!
Please take your time and have a look at the new EXP build.
This build tackles several reasons that did cause crashes for some users.
We are seeing reports of the Discord overlay potentially crashing the game, please read here.[support.discord.com]
We hope in this EXP build, everyone can play again.

If you are still crashing, please take your time to report a bug, after reading this: 
https://community.7daystodie.com/a20-bug-database/bug-pool/before-you-post-a-report-r1/

If you still crash before the game starts, we would need your launcher.log and the anticheatlauncher.log.
Please provide them in a bug report following the link above.

Please do not look for help in the discussion thread here, but go to the bug reports instead. The QA team is in there helping as soon as they can.

 

To participate:

1. right click on the game in steam 
2. click on properties
3. click the "betas" tab
4. the drop down menu will have latest_experimental available   ← you want THAT
5. select that and wait for the game to download.

Changelog:
A20.5 b2
 
Added 
Server browser now shows warning when results hit the search limit 
Localization files are tested for a valid header line and show appropriate errors Changed 
Removed EAC compatibility warning on Windows 11Fixed 
Voice comms fail for player who was voiced in multi player party who then leaves game to main menu then rejoins game and party 
Voice chat fails to initiate for latest joiner to the party 
EAC error after entering server password 
Reenabled player reporting 
UserDataFolder and SaveGameFolder did not allow gamedir relative paths 
PartSpawn in POI Marker doesn't pull parts from mod folders 
XUi FilledSprite view not properly updating on position changes 
Drone causing excess data in player data .ttp file on dedi  


​

Screenshots taken by the incredible Liderpina!
Whether it’s for practicality, role playing, or simply wanting to look badass, what you wear makes the barbarian. Styling your character and making it unique is a large part of Conan Exiles, and throughout the 4 years, we’ve seen some absolutely incredible looks. For this year’s anniversary, we want to celebrate that!


We want you to ransack your closet and dress your best in this contest! There are two main categories: modded and unmodded. You can choose which of these you’d like to enter. Your entry will be judged on the following criteria: creativity, overall cohesion, and theme. The judges will consist of the Funcom community team as well as Exile volunteers from the community.

Judgment will be on the outfit and character (clothes/hair/tattoos) alone. Pose, photo composition, or background of the entry will not be counted as we want the main focus to be on the outfit. But please make sure the whole outfit can be seen clearly for the judges!

The outfit you are submitting does not need to specifically be YOUR character, but it needs to be the outfit you have selected and put together. This is helpful if you need a model to take better pictures, for example.



All entries must be submitted by May 20, 2022 11:59 PM. We will not accept any entries after this date. Winners will be announced on May 30, 2022 1:00 PM. Entries must be submitted through this email address: contest@funcom.com. More info on how to submit below.



There will be 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners for both unmodded and unmodded categories. We also have DLC keys as prizes for honorable mentions.

Please note, as these are physical prizes Funcom will require an address for shipping purposes. Due to unfortunate circumstances out of our control, we will be unable to ship to Russia. Thank you for your understanding!

First Place (x2)
(Valued together at $68.00)
Miniature Valeria’s Sword Letter Opener
Funcom Playing Cards
Funcom Hoody
Funcom shirt
1 DLC key of your choice (does not include bundles)
Second Place (x2)
(Valued together at $41.00)
Miniature Valeria’s Sword Letter Opener
Funcom Playing Cards
Funcom shirt
1 DLC key of your choice (does not include bundles)
Third Place (x2)
(Valued together at $32.00)
Miniature Valeria’s Sword Letter Opener
Funcom playing Cards
1 DLC key of your choice (does not include bundles)
Honorable MentionsWe will provide 3 DLC keys (valued at $30.00) of your choice (does not include bundles) for winners of the following categories:

Funniest
Battle Ready
Social Outting
Lookalike

Your entry must include an image of a character wearing the outfit.
When you submit your fashion entry, you affirm that it is your own work. You may have help creating it, but it can only be submitted once. Please do not submit an entry that you did not create.
You may use the admin tool if you’re creating your submission on singleplayer/co-op or a private server.
If on PC, you can use Ansel.
You may use DLC.
One entry per email per person.
Please refrain from sending pictures taken from mobile phone.
You can send in as many screenshots or videos as you wish. You can use Imgur [imgur.com] or another (safe) site to upload images or videos if that’s easier. Just be sure we can access it!
All entries must adhere to the Conan Exiles Code of Conduct.
Your image can contain nudity as long as it is cohesive with the outfit. Just note that these will be going onto social media so we have to make some adjustments. :)
How to Enter
Please send us your entry of the outfit to this email address: contest@funcom.com to enter. If you do not email us here, it will not be counted.
Make sure your subject line is “Fashion Contest".
We will accept entries until May 20, 2022 11:59 PM . Entries submitted after this date will not be counted.
In the body of your email, please include the following:
Which platform you’ve created the outfit on (PS4/Xbox/PC).
Which category (modded or unmodded) you are entering.
Which mods used, if any.
The individual outfit pieces used.
Terms and ConditionsOdds of winning will be determined by number of entries.

No purchase necessary

Privacy: Funcom’s Privacy Policy is at: Privacy Policy - Funcom

Restrictions: Void where prohibited by law. Participants must be of legal age in their country of residence to participate. Directors, officers and employees of Sponsor, its parent, and any of their respective affiliate companies, subsidiaries, agents, professional advisors, advertising and promotional agencies, and immediate families of each are not eligible to win any prizes. All applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations apply.

Use of Entries. In consideration of the chance to enter the Contest, The Sponsor(s) shall have the perpetual, non-exclusive, worldwide license and right to use, modify, reproduce, publish, perform, display, distribute, make derivative works of and otherwise commercially and non-commercially exploit Entrant’s name, character, likeness, and entry materials in perpetuity and throughout the universe, in any manner or medium now existing or hereafter developed, without separate compensation to Entrant or any other person or entity.

General Release. By entering the Contest, Entrant releases participating sponsors and any of their respective parent companies, subsidiaries, affiliates, directors, officers, employees and agencies (collectively, the “Released Parties”) from any liability whatsoever, and waive any and all causes of action, related to any claims, costs, injuries, losses, or damages of any kind arising out of or in connection with the Contest or delivery, misdelivery, acceptance, possession, use of or inability to use any prize (including, without limitation, claims, costs, injuries, taxes, fees, losses and damages related to personal injuries, death, damage to or destruction of property, rights of publicity or privacy.

Affidavit,Release and Data Collection - As a condition of being awarded any prize, winners will be required to execute and deliver to Sponsor’s a signed Affidavit of Eligibility, which includes an acceptance of these Official Rules, a release of liability and delivery information for prizes. Entrant is informed that the data collector is Funcom Oslo AS., and the data collected will be transferred to the United States of America. Upon request, Entrant will be provided with access to Entrant’s personal data. Entrant may withdraw their personal data upon request, however in such an event, Entrant will be disqualified as an entrant in the Contest prior to the fulfillment of prizes.

Winners List: After May 30, 2022 1:00 PM winners will be posted on the Funcom official forums.

Sponsors :

Funcom Oslo AS.
Kirkegata 12 N-0153 Oslo Norway
www.funcom.com

Above-Ground Trains
We wanted to get some trains onto the above-ground rails this month.

We have some more train content in the works, but for this initial release we're mostly reusing existing assets in order to provide something to try out until that content is ready.



The above-ground Work Cart closely resembles the underground one, but now has coupling points at each end that can connect to other train cars. The bogies (also known as trucks - the wheel assemblies) have also been updated to rotate with the track more realistically.



We've taken some static train wagon models that we had and made them functional. These don't actually do anything special yet, but they spawn along with Work Carts on the new rail sidings and they can be shunted around.



The Work Cart train engines take low grade fuel as usual. Their target speeds at low/medium/high throttle are constant, but their acceleration and pulling ability are affected by gravity and how many couples wagons they're pulling as you'd expect. If your long train can't make it up a hill, it's possible to use multiple Work Carts in a multi-engine coupled setup for more power.



Coupling happens automatically when wagons collide at a low to moderate speed. High speed collisions will not couple, and may take damage instead. Uncoupling is manual - simply interact with the coupling point.



Rail Network Branch Lines


The rail network has received secondary lines that branch off the main line and merge back onto it. This all happens entirely procedurally with no need for predetermined prefabs aside from the rail mesh itself, which results in a very flexible system that can cover a wide range of use cases as we expand the rail network in the future. For now, these branch lines are just where the trains are spawning. We will see how things work out and go from there.


Rail and road foliage improvements


The foliage / bushes spawning next to rails and roads have received some optimizations to eliminate their overhead as you move around the world. They now also spawn in larger clusters with varying coverage, resulting in some dense areas and some open areas, which allowed us to also reduce their total count as a performance improvement without having it affect the visuals too much.

Zipline Improvements


Ziplines seemed to be well used last month, but there were too many cases of ziplines failing to connect, leading to zipline platforms with no connections. I've improved the procedural generation process this month in a few different ways.

Ziplines are now better at routing around obstacles, allowing ziplines to go via 2 separate mid-points before arriving at their destination. I also added zipline arrival points at Sewer Branch, Stables, Lighthouse and Dome.

All of these changes combined have improved the number of ziplines on procedural maps by about 40%.


Death screen Improvements


The death screen has been improved this month with many NPC's getting custom icons and proper translations. We've also improved how we show your death information if you suicide while downed. Previously doing this would result in the death screen showing your death as a suicide, preventing you from seeing the name and weapon of your attacker. This is now fixed and you will see the last attack details even if you suicide while downed.



Client Performance
Client performance was identified as a growing issue last month so we all put some time aside to try and improve performance this month. We've made good progress in some key areas:
Fixed a regression introduced last month that was generating a lot of garbage and causing stutters. This was deemed high enough priority that we released it in a hotfix early in the month.
Identified a bug that was preventing lasers and some other heavy systems from budgeting their performance correctly (This was also affecting server performance).
Significantly reduced network traffic from planters and plants getting watered by sprinklers.Performance is always a high priority for us and we've got more improvements being worked on for future updates.

General QOL
SAM Site Damage - SAM Site can no longer be damaged by bullet type damage

Junkpile scientists - NPCs have returned to junkpile spawns


Community UI Improvements
We've integrated several pull requests from the Community UI Github project this month, bringing improvements like blocking keyboard input while in text boxes, better item and skin rendering as well as fixing a handful of bugs. Thank you to Ailtop, Jake-Rich, shooter46 and Mughisi for the contributions.

We have some more improvements to this system in the works, specifically to improve rendering and network performance on rapidly updated UI displays.


Hapis Island
Some of you have been waiting for Hapis Island to return after last year's graphical overhaul broke it. This is just a little heads-up to tell you that we are aiming for it to finally go live again in next month's patch.

Twitch Drops
Starting from today till May 12th 23:59UTC Twitch drops are enabled for Rust Twitch streamers. You can earn special and unique skins simply by watching your favourite Rust Twitch streamers.



During the final 24 hours of the Rust Twitch drop campaign, all drops will be moved to general.

Learn more at twitch.facepunch.com.


Changelist
Added rail network branch lines
Added above-ground trains
Added 4 type of train wagons
Improved client performance
Improved zipline placement and monument integration
Reduced network traffic of sprinklers watering large amounts of filled planters
(Community UI) Added support for natively showing item icons (thanks Mughisi)
(Community UI) Added support for read only and multi line InputFields (thanks shooter46)
(Community UI) Added support for the NeedsKeyboard component
(Community UI) Adding "needsKeyboard" to an InputField will block keyboard input only while that input field is focused
Improved and fixed several issues in collection of official server analytics
Improved rail and road foliage performance and visuals
SAM Site can no longer be damaged by bullet type damage
Reduce the chance of vehicle parts from junkpile_j
Fixed grenade launcher reload error when first person spectating
Fixed long ziplines disappearing when the player is at the end of the line
Fixed a bug that was disabling the performance budget of budgeted systems (lasers, walk animations, etc)
Fixed incorrect prevent building bounds when building around zipline wires
Fixed very long ziplines disappearing when a player was near the end of the line
Fixed several overly strict antihack configs resulting in unable to damage construction
(Community UI) Fix countdown not working (thanks Ailtop)
(Community UI) Fix RectTransform only being added when a graphic component is added (thanks Jake-Rich)
Fixed junkyard keycard not respawning