{"data":{"id":16919,"title":"Squadron 42 Monthly Report: December 2018","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/comm-link\/transmission\/16919-Squadron-42-Monthly-Report-December-2018","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-links\/16919","api_public_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/comm-links\/16919","channel":"Undefined","category":"Undefined","series":"Monthly 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is a cross-post of the report that was recently sent out via the monthly Squadron 42 newsletter. We\u2019re publishing this a second time as a Comm-Link to make it easier for the community to reference back to, and plan on following this process for future Squadron 42 Monthly Reports.\nAttention Recruits,\n\nWhat you are about to read is the latest information on the continuing development of Squadron 42.\n\nRead on for pertinent details from our planet-wide operations on Squadron 42-related work over the last month, as well as intel on an exciting new dispatch. The information contained in this communication is extremely sensitive and it is of paramount importance that it does not fall into the wrong hands. Purge all records after reading.\n\nOver and out,\n\nUEE Naval High Command\n\n\nThe Road to Glory\nToday sees the unveiling of our Squadron 42 roadmap, a useful piece of intel that tracks the progress of development in detail. Much like the Persistent Universe roadmap, this is linked to our JIRA tracking system, and thus lets you see at a glance the work remaining on the game as we thunder on toward the finish line. Of course, also like its Star Citizen counterpart, the Squadron 42 roadmap is not necessarily exhaustive and may be changed or updated as development continues. Make sure you read the caveats, and enjoy this insight into the process. This monthly project update will work as something of a companion piece, shedding more light on specific work done by each development team, while the roadmap will provide dynamic real-time tracking of progress weekly. Without further adiue, let\u2019s see what the devs fighting the good fight on the frontlines have been up to\u2026\n\nAI\nThis month, Ship AI\u2019s focus was on optimizing the Tactical Point System. They now have multiple queries bundled together in a batch from different threads, which allows more control over the cost of the overall system. They submitted several optimizations for the character movement system, which can now update all the components in a multithreaded batch approach and will utilize the maximum the CPU resources during the game update. A pass for thread safety of several subsystems was performed, including the attention target component and communication system. This is required to eventually move the Subsumption component update to the multithreaded batch update step. In FPS Combat, the \u2018Defend Area\u2019 assignment was introduced; correctly achieving this behavior requires monitoring the mastergraph transitions to evaluate if the recipients of the Subsumption event can actually process it. In the Defend Area example, they might be executing any regular behavior when receiving the assignment. If the behavior can handle the request in a specific way, great. If not, then the mastergraph takes care of selecting one that can. Alongside this, they\u2019re adding new behaviors to improve combat and patrol to respect this assignment. New behaviors and functionality to support stealth gameplay were implemented, with new audio and visual stimuli being added to allow players to draw the attention of guards, prepare traps, and open up otherwise blocked paths. Work also continued on the bartender for Lorville. To achieve several functionalities of his behavior, they implemented the first pass of UseChannel routing and are continuing to expand the usable functionalities. The Usable Builder Tool received a new feature too: it\u2019s now able to correctly preview different characters using different usables so that designers, animators, and programmers can easily test and verify the content as it\u2019s delivered.\n\nAnimation\nOn the Story front, the Animation kicked-off production passes on a handful of Squadron 42 scenes. They\u2019re also working to finalize the Armorer character for SQ42 \u2013 itself a large and intricate task.\n\nAudio\nAudio worked closely with the SQ42 composer Geoff Zanelli to establish themes for the game\u2019s different races and important characters. This, combined with the second round of music implementation, allowed the team to better support pacing and overall development. The Dialogue Team worked to ensure animation and design had all the assets required to successfully implement their conversations, comms, and cinematics.\nCharacter Art\nThe Character Art Team polished the Vanduul armor and concepted the Navy Gunner\u2019s outfit.\nCinematics\nAfter completing the CitizenCon SQ42 teaser trailer, Cinematics took time to verify that each scene was functioning correctly from start to finish. This mainly involved the Shubin Station art pocket, but also other things like the battleground around Vega II. Once complete, they worked on a pivotal scene for the game featuring a key character not revealed yet. This involved using a new method of character hair and skin creation (tweaked for more realism), and small modification to costumes. The Cinematic Animation Team carried on with regular scene work. Having completed first passes for much of the game\u2019s narrative, they transitioned to scenes where a full implementation pass with a state machine is required. They also supported the engineers working on key workflow tools. Along with navspline improvements, new functionality was added to allow the team to edit multiple cinematic sequences at once. Previously, TrackView only supported a master and child sequence and didn\u2019t allow editing of the master if the child was edited, or vice versa. Some SQ42 scenes feature characters on capital ship bridges reacting to things they see through windows, which requires the team to split sequences between interior and exterior. The new multi-sequence workflow allows multiple sequences to be open and active at once and syncs the timelines for both the master and child.\nEngine Tools\nThe Engine Team resumed work on GPU skinning. They added vertex velocity support (motion blur), completed several optimizations to skip zero weights (improved throughput), prepared background data, and made the first pass on memory layout and LOD support. They also made the execution of ray collision checks and the defragmentation of grids run concurrently. This achieved a 30-50% speedup for physics planet terrain computation, reduced the number of cell queries on planets, and improved proxy mesh generation of terrain ground volumes. Terrain rendering improvements were added (glow forward pass) as well as fixes for water volume and ocean rendering. The existing hair shader was improved, and a new depth of field algorithm was created to improve quality, performance, and fix halos around silhouettes. Part of the team worked on additional culling refinements in the zone system to submit fewer objects to the renderer, as well as various low-level optimizations to reduce load on the render thread.\nEngineering\nEngineering actualized a system to allow variable limits on how far players can move their heads when looking around. The default amount is overridden by the outfit and helmet, so wearing heavy armor will restrict how far they can look. Pickup and Carry was finished off, including the solving of an issue when interacting with items in EVA. Developments on the female character continues. Because of her different sized skeleton, the team implemented animation-driven inverse kinematics to allow her to reach a ship\u2019s controls without the need for new animation sets. Progress has been made on the usables builder tool, which allows the content creators to drop in a character and play all the related usable animations, move locators around, and generally test a setup without having to go into the game. As part of comms, a \u2018Tannoy\u2019 system can now pump audio to multiple parts of an environment. For example, an announcement to a single ship\u2019s hangar or a more global ship-wide announcement. The ship AI Team helped out with the new Intelligent Flight Control System (IFCS), tweaking ship behavior to better utilize these new flight controls for a better dogfighting experience.\nEnvironment Art\nArt began using their new hard surface shader and new blending features for wear and tear. This enables a more realistic appearance of localized damage without a jarring transition between worn and pristine areas. They\u2019re paying particular attention to make sure wear looks natural and unforced. One of the high-level goals for SQ42 is for every asset and its features to sit in a scene naturally, feel unforced, and for the lighting to have a slightly softer, more realistic feel (except for some areas where the intensity is cranked up to 11). Lighting focused on the Javelin found in an early campaign level, taking into account the emphasis on making one key light do more of the work. This new approach looks great and is less demanding on the engine too. Tweaks to a control room seen close to the end of the campaign progressed, with the aim being to set the correct tone for the narrative and gameplay moments that spread from it. Props seen throughout the campaign (including monitors, screens, wiring looms, hatch covers, ropes, destructible lights, and pressurized items) all received attention, this time to determine how they break or deform when damaged. Several key events take place where these assets need to react correctly to gravity, decompression, damage, pulse, etc. The vast Shubin mining station gained more detail to the supporting structures around it. Development of the facility\u2019s Bridge (as first seen in the CitizenCon 2948 trailer) continued, which comes in at around three times the size of a Bengal\u2019s.\n\nGameplay Story\nThe Gameplay Story Team made swift progress throughout November and continuously added more scenes to their Q4 list. They are currently working on 38 scenes for the quarter and are expecting to add several more by the end of the year.\nGraphics\nThe Graphics Team worked on several shader effects, including the resurrection of the caustics water effect, which is needed in several locations throughout SQ42. The new hard surface shader was rolled out to the entire team and should improve performance, allow new surface shading features, and enable more dynamic wear & dirt effects. Performance was also a focus, with most attention on the low-level texture and mesh streaming systems to help squeeze as much content in with as little performance impact as possible.\nLevel Design\nThe Level Design Team converted the older sables inside the Idris to a more efficient and flexible system, which also incorporates crew behaviors for things like \u2018off-duty\u2019 and \u2018mess hall\u2019. Level work is an ongoing collaboration with the Art Team and is constantly reviewed at senior level. \u201cIt\u2019s all going well and now that we have almost all the scenes in the levels you really get a great feel for the story flow and pacing.\u201d Cockpit scenes are coming to life thanks to \u2018Render to Texture\u2019 technology, while the new IFCS system is fully implemented into SQ42 and making a huge difference to dogfighting. Regular feedback and suggested improvements mean spline technology and flight controls are constantly refined.\nNarrative\nThe Narrative Team continued plugging away at [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] as well as [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] and that was a lot of fun.\nProps\nThe Props Team continued work on the assets required for NPS interactions and activities by creating additional sub items used by the engineering crew and the storage cases to house them. The larger maintenance machinery assets are now ready for the animation and cinematic departments to use in their work, too.\nSystem Design\nThe System Design Team integrated the New Flight Model into enemy ship AI, ensuring that they are still engaging to fight against and don\u2019t become unbalanced. They noticed that the new IFCS currently causes too much unwanted \u2018jousting\u2019 behavior, so are currently looking into ways to modify it. Dialogue wildlines for the ship\/FPS\/social AI were reworked to unify them within the same overall structure. Collaboration with the audio & writing teams ensured the system works properly for all systemic dialogue in the game. The team is also working to develop tools to automate the setup of dialogue lines. Stealth gameplay elements continue to be developed, which require the AI perception to be upgraded to cater for peripheral vision, as well as various audio events and stimuli from environmental sources, such as throwing a pebble to distract enemies.\nTech Animation\nThe Technical Animation department progressed with the initial batch transfer of male animations to the female skeleton. This included updating low-level assets for animation database referencing to ensure she can run around and fire weapons. It has been successful and handed off to animation for further review and polish. Some much-needed toolsets for authoring skinning data on the many different costumes were finished. Used in conjunction with the existing toolsets, these will make skin authoring a more efficient process. An interesting dilemma was presented recently, whereby the team needed to show some sort of fluid dynamics, which usually require intensive calculations The Technical Animation department came into its own and used the existing physics solution to create a dynamic yet economic fake for the various glasses & cups in the bar scenes. Multiple animations for cinematics and gameplay were added, as were several new tools to the animation pipeline along with bug fixes and additions to existing tools. Time was also spent fixing several smaller bugs like animation compilation errors, missing integrations, weapon entities, and DBA setups.\nTech Art\nThe Tech Art Team analyzed the full requirements of the character \u2018DNA gene pool\u2019. In order for the next-gen facial customizer to work most effectively, a limited pool of heads with specific and unique shapes is required. Relevant factors are gender, ethnic origin, age, physical constitution, and distinct facial features such as hooked vs. pointy nose, thin vs. full lips, and so forth. Several scenarios with varying pool sizes were created to determine the mid-to-long-term plans for populating the pool. The planned release of the new customizer will initially use as many heads as possible from the selection scanned, providing they fulfill requirements. The team also worked on the asset authoring tools and pipeline for the new cloth\/softbody solver, which was first showcased at CitizenCon. Optimal simulation mesh topology and vertex density are key to making it work efficiently and fast enough while yielding high-fidelity visual results. Another important factor is creating the best possible binding between the high and low res simulation mesh \u2013 this can only be fully automated for simpler cloth asset types and requires artistic \u2018guidance\u2019 and fine-grained control in more complex cases. The team went to great lengths to ensure the authoring tools provide this capability in a convenient, easy-to-use way.\nUI\nLast month, the SQ42 team specced-out improvements to how AR mission objectives are displayed to the player. For both the PU and SQ42, they\u2019re aiming to create a common unified methodology for how important information is imparted regarding type, position, whether it\u2019s obstructed, etc. They\u2019re also looking at the long-term requirements of missions and building a system to help to surface important information when it\u2019s contextually needed. Another major feature worked on is the area map. Pre-visualizations of how the map could be were built procedurally using existing underlying systems, such as the room system. This informs not only the overall layout but also how it becomes more defined as the player traverses the environment for the first time.\nVehicle Features\nThe team spent the month on Vehicle Scanning improvements. The groundwork necessary to allow ships to aim at the engines on target ships has been completed, and the feature itself is nearly ready to be rolled out. Scanning nav points for destination info have been completed and are also ready for implementation.\nVFX\nVFX continued to iterate on lightning effects by putting the new texture noise functionality through its paces, which will allow them to create much finer detail up close at a fraction of the previous cost. They also developed a tool to allow artists to create VDBs (including gas clouds) more quickly and with more control over the finer details. Thruster improvements were made to more closely match the VFX. They gained new effects and functionality including damage, overheat, and misfire options. R&D for a Xi\u2019an missile launcher kicked off too.\nWeapons\nThe Weapon Art Team carried on with the Multi-Tool rework and made progress with the Kastak Arms Ravager-212 and the level two and three upgrades for the Hurston Dynamics Laser Repeaters. They also made minor adjustments to the iron sights on a handful of weapons to improve the sight picture and to make them more user-friendly when no optics are attached.\nCovert Intel\nWE\u2019LL SEE YOU NEXT MONTH\u2026","de_DE":"Dies ist ein Querverweis auf den Bericht, der k\u00fcrzlich \u00fcber den monatlichen Squadron 42 Newsletter verschickt wurde. Wir ver\u00f6ffentlichen dies ein zweites Mal als Comm-Link, um es der Community zu erleichtern, auf diesen Prozess f\u00fcr zuk\u00fcnftige Squadron 42 Monatsberichte zur\u00fcckzugreifen und ihn zu verfolgen.\nAchtung Rekruten,\n\nWas Sie gleich lesen werden, sind die neuesten Informationen \u00fcber die Weiterentwicklung von Squadron 42.\n\nLesen Sie weiter f\u00fcr relevante Details aus unseren weltweiten Eins\u00e4tzen zu den Arbeiten der Staffel 42 im letzten Monat sowie Informationen zu einer spannenden neuen Sendung. Die in dieser Mitteilung enthaltenen Informationen sind \u00e4u\u00dferst sensibel, und es ist von gr\u00f6\u00dfter Bedeutung, dass sie nicht in die falschen H\u00e4nde geraten. Alle Datens\u00e4tze nach dem Lesen l\u00f6schen.\n\nEnde und Ende,\n\nUEE Naval Oberkommando\n\n\nDer Weg zum Ruhm\nHeute wird unsere Squadron 42 Roadmap vorgestellt, eine n\u00fctzliche Information, die den Entwicklungsfortschritt im Detail verfolgt. \u00c4hnlich wie die Roadmap von Persistent Universe ist diese mit unserem JIRA-Tracking-System verkn\u00fcpft und erm\u00f6glicht es Ihnen so, auf einen Blick zu sehen, welche Arbeit am Spiel verbleibt, w\u00e4hrend wir auf die Ziellinie zusteuern. Nat\u00fcrlich ist die Staffel 42-Roadmap, ebenso wie das Pendant zu Star Citizen, nicht unbedingt vollst\u00e4ndig und kann im Laufe der Entwicklung ge\u00e4ndert oder aktualisiert werden. Stellen Sie sicher, dass Sie die Vorbehalte lesen und diesen Einblick in den Prozess genie\u00dfen. Dieses monatliche Projekt-Update wird als eine Art Pendant fungieren und mehr Licht auf die spezifische Arbeit der einzelnen Entwicklungsteams werfen, w\u00e4hrend die Roadmap eine dynamische Echtzeit-Verfolgung des Fortschritts pro Woche bietet. Ohne weiteren Aufwand wollen wir sehen, was die Entwickler, die den guten Kampf an der Front f\u00fchren, im Sinn hatten.....\nKI\nIn diesem Monat lag der Schwerpunkt der SchiffskI auf der Optimierung des taktischen Punktesystems. Sie haben nun mehrere Abfragen, die in einem Stapel aus verschiedenen Threads zusammengefasst sind, was eine bessere Kontrolle \u00fcber die Kosten des Gesamtsystems erm\u00f6glicht. Sie reichten mehrere Optimierungen f\u00fcr das Charakterbewegungssystem ein, das nun alle Komponenten in einem multithreaded Batch-Ansatz aktualisieren kann und die CPU-Ressourcen w\u00e4hrend des Spiel-Updates maximal nutzen wird. Es wurde ein Durchgang zur Fadensicherheit mehrerer Subsysteme durchgef\u00fchrt, einschlie\u00dflich der Aufmerksamkeitszielkomponente und des Kommunikationssystems. Dies ist erforderlich, um das Update der Subsumption-Komponente schlie\u00dflich in den Schritt Multithreaded Batch Update zu verschieben. In FPS Combat wurde die Zuweisung'Verteidigungsbereich' eingef\u00fchrt; um dieses Verhalten zu erreichen, m\u00fcssen die \u00dcberg\u00e4nge der Mastergraphen \u00fcberwacht werden, um zu beurteilen, ob die Empf\u00e4nger des Submissionsereignisses es tats\u00e4chlich verarbeiten k\u00f6nnen. Im Beispiel des Verteidigungsbereichs k\u00f6nnen sie beim Empfangen der Zuweisung ein normales Verhalten ausf\u00fchren. Wenn das Verhalten die Anfrage auf eine bestimmte Weise bearbeiten kann, ist das gro\u00dfartig. Wenn nicht, dann k\u00fcmmert sich der Mastergraph darum, eine auszuw\u00e4hlen, die es kann. Parallel dazu f\u00fcgen sie neue Verhaltensweisen hinzu, um den Kampf zu verbessern und patrouillieren, um diese Aufgabe zu erf\u00fcllen. Neue Verhaltensweisen und Funktionen zur Unterst\u00fctzung des heimlichen Gameplays wurden implementiert, wobei neue audiovisuelle und visuelle Reize hinzugef\u00fcgt wurden, die es den Spielern erm\u00f6glichen, die Aufmerksamkeit der Wachen auf sich zu ziehen, Fallen vorzubereiten und ansonsten blockierte Wege zu \u00f6ffnen. Auch am Barkeeper f\u00fcr Lorville wurde weiter gearbeitet. Um mehrere Funktionalit\u00e4ten seines Verhaltens zu erreichen, implementierten sie den ersten Durchlauf des UseChannel-Routings und bauen die nutzbaren Funktionalit\u00e4ten weiter aus. Das Usable Builder Tool hat ebenfalls eine neue Funktion erhalten: Es ist nun in der Lage, verschiedene Charaktere mit unterschiedlichen Benutzeroberfl\u00e4chen korrekt anzuzeigen, so dass Designer, Animatoren und Programmierer den Inhalt bei der Auslieferung problemlos testen und \u00fcberpr\u00fcfen k\u00f6nnen.\nAnimation\nIm Bereich Story gibt die Produktion des Animationsauftaktes eine Handvoll Szenen der Staffel 42 weiter. Sie arbeiten auch daran, den Armorer-Charakter f\u00fcr SQ42 zu finalisieren - selbst eine gro\u00dfe und komplizierte Aufgabe.\nAudio\nAudio arbeitete eng mit dem SQ42-Komponisten Geoff Zanelli zusammen, um Themen f\u00fcr die verschiedenen Rassen und wichtigen Charaktere des Spiels festzulegen. Dies, kombiniert mit der zweiten Runde der Musikimplementierung, erm\u00f6glichte es dem Team, das Tempo und die Gesamtentwicklung besser zu unterst\u00fctzen. Das Dialogue-Team arbeitete daran, sicherzustellen, dass Animation und Design \u00fcber alle notwendigen Mittel verf\u00fcgten, um ihre Gespr\u00e4che, Kommunikationen und Kinofilme erfolgreich umzusetzen.\nCharakter-Kunst\nDas Character Art Team polierte die Vanduul-R\u00fcstung und konzipierte das Outfit des Navy Gunner.\nKinematiken\nNach der Fertigstellung des CitizenCon SQ42 Teaser-Trailers nahm sich Cinematics die Zeit, um sicherzustellen, dass jede Szene von Anfang bis Ende korrekt funktioniert. Dazu geh\u00f6rte vor allem die Shubin Station Kunsttasche, aber auch andere Dinge wie das Schlachtfeld um Vega II. Nach ihrer Fertigstellung arbeiteten sie an einer entscheidenden Szene f\u00fcr das Spiel mit einem noch nicht enth\u00fcllten Schl\u00fcsselcharakter. Dies beinhaltete die Verwendung einer neuen Methode der Charakterhaar- und Hautgestaltung (optimiert f\u00fcr mehr Realismus) und eine kleine Modifikation der Kost\u00fcme. Das Cinematic Animation Team setzte die regelm\u00e4\u00dfige Szenenarbeit fort. Nachdem sie die ersten Durchl\u00e4ufe f\u00fcr einen Gro\u00dfteil der Geschichte des Spiels abgeschlossen hatten, gingen sie zu Szenen \u00fcber, in denen ein vollst\u00e4ndiger Implementierungspass mit einer Zustandsmaschine erforderlich ist. Sie unterst\u00fctzten auch die Ingenieure bei der Arbeit an wichtigen Workflow-Tools. Neben den Verbesserungen von navspline wurden neue Funktionen hinzugef\u00fcgt, die es dem Team erm\u00f6glichen, mehrere Filmsequenzen auf einmal zu bearbeiten. Bisher unterst\u00fctzte TrackView nur eine Master- und Kindfolge und erlaubte keine Bearbeitung des Masters, wenn das Kind bearbeitet wurde, oder umgekehrt. Einige SQ42-Szenen zeigen Charaktere auf gro\u00dfen Schiffsbr\u00fccken, die auf Dinge reagieren, die sie durch Fenster sehen, was das Team dazu zwingt, Sequenzen zwischen innen und au\u00dfen aufzuteilen. Der neue Multi-Sequenz-Workflow erm\u00f6glicht es, dass mehrere Sequenzen gleichzeitig ge\u00f6ffnet und aktiv sind und synchronisiert die Timelines f\u00fcr Master und Kind.\nMotorwerkzeuge\nDas Engine-Team nahm die Arbeit am GPU-H\u00e4uten wieder auf. Sie f\u00fcgten Vertex-Geschwindigkeitsunterst\u00fctzung (Bewegungsunsch\u00e4rfe) hinzu, f\u00fchrten mehrere Optimierungen durch, um Nullgewichte zu \u00fcberspringen (verbesserter Durchsatz), bereiteten Hintergrunddaten vor und machten den ersten Durchgang auf Speicherlayout und LOD-Unterst\u00fctzung. Sie haben auch die Durchf\u00fchrung von Ray Collision Checks und die Defragmentierung von Grids gleichzeitig durchgef\u00fchrt. Dadurch wurde eine Beschleunigung von 30-50% f\u00fcr die Berechnung des physikalischen Planetengel\u00e4ndes erreicht, die Anzahl der Zellabfragen auf Planeten reduziert und die Generierung von Proxy-Netzen f\u00fcr die Bodenvolumen des Gel\u00e4ndes verbessert. Es wurden Verbesserungen im Terrain-Rendering (Glow-Forward-Pass) sowie Korrekturen f\u00fcr Wasservolumen und Ocean-Rendering hinzugef\u00fcgt. Der bestehende Hair Shader wurde verbessert und ein neuer Tiefensch\u00e4rfenalgorithmus wurde entwickelt, um Qualit\u00e4t, Leistung und Korrektur von Halos um Silhouetten zu verbessern. Ein Teil des Teams arbeitete an weiteren Optimierungen im Zonensystem, um weniger Objekte an den Renderer zu \u00fcbergeben, sowie an verschiedenen Low-Level-Optimierungen, um die Belastung des Render-Threads zu reduzieren.\nIngenieurwesen\nEngineering hat ein System entwickelt, das variable Grenzen daf\u00fcr setzt, wie weit sich die Spieler beim Schauen bewegen k\u00f6nnen. Der Standardbetrag wird von Outfit und Helm \u00fcberschrieben, so dass das Tragen einer schweren R\u00fcstung die Reichweite einschr\u00e4nkt. Die Abholung und der Transport wurde abgeschlossen, einschlie\u00dflich der L\u00f6sung eines Problems bei der Interaktion mit Elementen in EVA. Die Entwicklung der weiblichen Figur geht weiter. Aufgrund ihres unterschiedlich gro\u00dfen Skeletts implementierte das Team eine animationsgetriebene inverse Kinematik, die es ihr erm\u00f6glichte, die Steuerung eines Schiffes zu erreichen, ohne dass neue Animationssets ben\u00f6tigt wurden. Fortschritte wurden mit dem Tool \"Usables Builder\" erzielt, das es den Inhaltserstellern erm\u00f6glicht, einen Charakter einzubauen und alle zugeh\u00f6rigen nutzbaren Animationen abzuspielen, Locatoren zu bewegen und im Allgemeinen ein Setup zu testen, ohne in das Spiel gehen zu m\u00fcssen. Als Teil der Kommunikation kann ein Tannoy-System nun Audio an mehrere Teile einer Umgebung \u00fcbertragen. Zum Beispiel eine Ank\u00fcndigung zu einem einzelnen Schiffshangar oder eine globalere schiffsweite Ank\u00fcndigung. Das KI-Team des Schiffes half bei der Entwicklung des neuen Intelligent Flight Control System (IFCS) aus und optimierte das Schiffsverhalten, um diese neuen Flugsteuerungen f\u00fcr ein besseres Nahkampferlebnis besser zu nutzen.\nUmwelt Kunst\nArt begann mit dem neuen Hard Surface Shader und neuen Mischfunktionen f\u00fcr Verschlei\u00df und Abnutzung. Dies erm\u00f6glicht ein realistischeres Erscheinungsbild von lokalisierten Sch\u00e4den ohne einen ruckartigen \u00dcbergang zwischen abgenutzten und unber\u00fchrten Bereichen. Sie achten besonders darauf, dass der Verschlei\u00df nat\u00fcrlich und ungezwungen aussieht. Eines der hochgesteckten Ziele f\u00fcr SQ42 ist es, dass jedes Objekt und seine Funktionen nat\u00fcrlich in einer Szene sitzen, sich ungezwungen anf\u00fchlen und dass die Beleuchtung ein etwas weicheres, realistischeres Gef\u00fchl hat (au\u00dfer in einigen Bereichen, in denen die Intensit\u00e4t auf 11 angehoben wird). Die Beleuchtung konzentrierte sich auf den Speerwerfer, der in einer fr\u00fchen Kampagnenebene gefunden wurde, unter Ber\u00fccksichtigung der Betonung, dass ein Schl\u00fcssellicht mehr von der Arbeit \u00fcbernehmen soll. Dieser neue Ansatz sieht gut aus und ist auch f\u00fcr den Motor weniger anspruchsvoll. Der Kontrollraum, der kurz vor dem Ende der Kampagne zu sehen war, entwickelte sich weiter, mit dem Ziel, den richtigen Ton f\u00fcr die Erz\u00e4hl- und Spielmomente zu setzen, die sich von ihr ausbreiten. Requisiten, die w\u00e4hrend der gesamten Kampagne gesehen wurden (einschlie\u00dflich Monitore, Bildschirme, Kabelb\u00e4ume, Lukendeckel, Seile, zerst\u00f6rbare Lichter und unter Druck stehende Gegenst\u00e4nde), erhielten alle Aufmerksamkeit, diesmal um festzustellen, wie sie bei Besch\u00e4digungen brechen oder sich verformen. Es finden mehrere Schl\u00fcsselereignisse statt, bei denen diese Verm\u00f6genswerte korrekt auf Schwerkraft, Dekompression, Sch\u00e4den, Puls usw. reagieren m\u00fcssen. Die riesige Shubin-Minenstation erhielt weitere Details zu den umgebenden Tragwerken. Die Entwicklung der Br\u00fccke der Anlage (wie erstmals im Anh\u00e4nger CitizenCon 2948 zu sehen) wurde fortgesetzt, die etwa dreimal so gro\u00df ist wie die eines Bengals.\nGameplay-Geschichte\nDas Gameplay Story Team machte im November schnelle Fortschritte und f\u00fcgte kontinuierlich weitere Szenen in die Q4-Liste ein. Sie arbeiten derzeit an 38 Szenen f\u00fcr das Quartal und erwarten bis Ende des Jahres weitere.\nGrafiken\nDas Grafik-Team arbeitete an mehreren Shader-Effekten, darunter die Wiederbelebung des \u00e4tzenden Wassereffekts, der an mehreren Stellen in SQ42 ben\u00f6tigt wird. Der neue Hard Surface Shader wurde f\u00fcr das gesamte Team eingef\u00fchrt und soll die Leistung verbessern, neue Features f\u00fcr den Oberfl\u00e4chenschutz erm\u00f6glichen und dynamischere Verschlei\u00df- und Schmutzeffekte erm\u00f6glichen. Die Leistung stand ebenfalls im Mittelpunkt, wobei das Hauptaugenmerk auf den Low-Level-Textur- und Mesh-Streaming-Systemen lag, um so viel Content wie m\u00f6glich mit so wenig Performance-Auswirkungen wie m\u00f6glich zusammenzufassen.\nLeveldesign\nDas Level Design Team hat die \u00e4lteren Zobel im Inneren des Idris in ein effizienteres und flexibleres System umgewandelt, das auch das Verhalten der Crew f\u00fcr Dinge wie \"au\u00dfer Dienst\" und \"Messehalle\" beinhaltet. Die Arbeit auf Stufe ist eine kontinuierliche Zusammenarbeit mit dem Art Team und wird auf Senior-Ebene st\u00e4ndig \u00fcberpr\u00fcft. \"Es l\u00e4uft alles gut und jetzt, da wir fast alle Szenen in den Levels haben, bekommt man wirklich ein gutes Gef\u00fchl f\u00fcr den Ablauf und das Tempo der Geschichte.\" Cockpit-Szenen erwachen dank der Render to Texture\"-Technologie zum Leben, w\u00e4hrend das neue IFCS-System vollst\u00e4ndig in SQ42 implementiert ist und einen gro\u00dfen Unterschied im Luftkampf macht. Regelm\u00e4\u00dfiges Feedback und Verbesserungsvorschl\u00e4ge bedeuten, dass die Spline-Technologie und die Flugsteuerung st\u00e4ndig weiterentwickelt werden.\nNarrativ\nDas Erz\u00e4hlungsteam setzte die Arbeit mit[REDACTED][REDACTED][REDACTED][REDACTED][REDACTED][REDACTED] sowie[REDACTED][REDACTED][REDACTED][REDACTED][REDACTED] fort und das machte viel Spa\u00df.\nRequisiten\nDas Requisitenteam setzte die Arbeit an den f\u00fcr NPS-Interaktionen und -Aktivit\u00e4ten erforderlichen Assets fort, indem es zus\u00e4tzliche Unterpunkte f\u00fcr die Engineering-Crew und die Aufbewahrungsbeh\u00e4lter f\u00fcr sie erstellte. Die gr\u00f6\u00dferen Instandhaltungsanlagen stehen nun auch f\u00fcr die Animations- und Filmabteilungen zur Verf\u00fcgung.\nSystemdesign\nDas System Design Team integrierte das neue Flugmodell in die gegnerische SchiffskI und stellte sicher, dass sie sich weiterhin im Kampf gegen das neue Modell engagieren und nicht aus dem Gleichgewicht geraten. Sie stellten fest, dass das neue IFCS derzeit zu viel unerw\u00fcnschtes \"Turnier\"-Verhalten verursacht, und pr\u00fcfen daher derzeit, wie sie es \u00e4ndern k\u00f6nnen. Dialog-Wildlinien f\u00fcr das Schiff\/FPS\/soziale KI wurden \u00fcberarbeitet, um sie innerhalb derselben Gesamtstruktur zu vereinheitlichen. Die Zusammenarbeit mit den Audio- und Autorenteams stellte sicher, dass das System f\u00fcr alle systemischen Dialoge im Spiel ordnungsgem\u00e4\u00df funktioniert. Das Team arbeitet auch an der Entwicklung von Tools zur Automatisierung der Einrichtung von Dialogleitungen. Es werden weiterhin heimliche Gameplay-Elemente entwickelt, die eine Verbesserung der KI-Wahrnehmung erfordern, um dem peripheren Sehen gerecht zu werden, sowie verschiedene Audioereignisse und Reize aus Umweltquellen, wie z.B. das Werfen eines Kieselsteins, um Feinde abzulenken.\nTechnische Animation\nDie Abteilung Technische Animation machte Fortschritte bei der ersten Batch-\u00dcbertragung von m\u00e4nnlichen Animationen auf das weibliche Skelett. Dazu geh\u00f6rte auch die Aktualisierung von Low-Level-Assets f\u00fcr die Referenzierung von Animationsdatenbanken, um sicherzustellen, dass sie herumlaufen und Waffen abfeuern kann. Es wurde erfolgreich umgesetzt und zur weiteren \u00dcberpr\u00fcfung und Verfeinerung an die Animation \u00fcbergeben. Einige dringend ben\u00f6tigte Toolsets f\u00fcr die Erstellung von Skinning-Daten f\u00fcr die vielen verschiedenen Kost\u00fcme wurden fertiggestellt. In Verbindung mit den vorhandenen Toolsets werden diese das Erstellen von Skins zu einem effizienteren Prozess machen. K\u00fcrzlich wurde ein interessantes Dilemma vorgestellt, bei dem das Team eine Art Str\u00f6mungsmechanik zeigen musste, die in der Regel intensive Berechnungen erfordert. Die Abteilung Technische Animation kam zu sich und nutzte die vorhandene Physikl\u00f6sung, um eine dynamische und zugleich wirtschaftliche F\u00e4lschung f\u00fcr die verschiedenen Gl\u00e4ser und Tassen in den Barszenen zu schaffen. Mehrere Animationen f\u00fcr Cinematics und Gameplay wurden hinzugef\u00fcgt, ebenso wie mehrere neue Tools f\u00fcr die Animationspipeline sowie Bugfixes und Erg\u00e4nzungen zu bestehenden Tools. Die Zeit wurde auch damit verbracht, einige kleinere Fehler wie Animationskompilierungsfehler, fehlende Integrationen, Waffeneinheiten und DBA-Setups zu beheben.\nTechnische Kunst\nDas Tech Art Team analysierte die vollen Anforderungen des Charakters \"DNA-Genpool\". Damit der Gesichts-Customizer der n\u00e4chsten Generation am effektivsten arbeiten kann, ist ein begrenzter Pool von K\u00f6pfen mit spezifischen und einzigartigen Formen erforderlich. Relevante Faktoren sind Geschlecht, ethnische Herkunft, Alter, k\u00f6rperliche Konstitution und unterschiedliche Gesichtsz\u00fcge wie z.B. h\u00e4ngende vs. spitze Nase, d\u00fcnne vs. volle Lippen, etc. Zur Ermittlung der mittel- bis langfristigen Pl\u00e4ne f\u00fcr die Besetzung des Pools wurden mehrere Szenarien mit unterschiedlichen Poolgr\u00f6\u00dfen erstellt. Die geplante Freigabe des neuen Customizers wird zun\u00e4chst so viele K\u00f6pfe wie m\u00f6glich aus der gescannten Auswahl verwenden, sofern sie die Anforderungen erf\u00fcllen. Das Team arbeitete auch an den Asset-Authoring-Tools und der Pipeline f\u00fcr den neuen Stoff\/Weichk\u00f6rper-L\u00f6ser, der erstmals auf der CitizenCon vorgestellt wurde. Optimale Simulationsnetztopologie und Knotendichte sind der Schl\u00fcssel, damit es effizient und schnell genug arbeitet und gleichzeitig hochpr\u00e4zise visuelle Ergebnisse liefert. Ein weiterer wichtiger Faktor ist die Schaffung der bestm\u00f6glichen Verbindung zwischen dem hoch- und niederaufl\u00f6senden Simulationsnetz - dies kann nur bei einfacheren Stoff-Assets vollautomatisch erfolgen und erfordert in komplexeren F\u00e4llen eine k\u00fcnstlerische \"F\u00fchrung\" und eine feink\u00f6rnige Steuerung. Das Team unternahm gro\u00dfe Anstrengungen, um sicherzustellen, dass die Autorenwerkzeuge diese Funktion auf komfortable und benutzerfreundliche Weise bereitstellen.\nUI\nIm vergangenen Monat hat das SQ42-Team Verbesserungen bei der Darstellung von AR-Missionszielen f\u00fcr den Spieler ausgearbeitet. Sowohl f\u00fcr die PU als auch f\u00fcr die SQ42 ist es ihr Ziel, eine gemeinsame, einheitliche Methodik zu schaffen, wie wichtige Informationen \u00fcber Typ, Position, Obstruktion usw. vermittelt werden. Sie untersuchen auch die langfristigen Anforderungen von Missionen und bauen ein System auf, das hilft, wichtige Informationen aufzutauchen, wenn sie kontextuell ben\u00f6tigt werden. Ein weiteres wichtiges Feature, an dem gearbeitet wurde, ist die Lagekarte. Vorab-Visualisierungen, wie die Karte erstellt werden k\u00f6nnte, wurden prozedural mit bestehenden Basissystemen, wie z.B. dem Raumsystem, erstellt. Dies beeinflusst nicht nur das Gesamtlayout, sondern auch, wie es definiert wird, wenn der Spieler zum ersten Mal die Umgebung durchquert.\nFahrzeugmerkmale\nDas Team verbrachte den Monat mit der Verbesserung der Fahrzeugabtastung. Die Vorarbeiten, die erforderlich sind, damit die Schiffe auf die Motoren der Zielschiffe zielen k\u00f6nnen, sind abgeschlossen, und das Feature selbst steht kurz vor dem Rollout. Das Scannen von Navigationspunkten f\u00fcr Zielinformationen ist abgeschlossen und kann ebenfalls implementiert werden.\nVFX\nVFX setzte die Iteration bei Blitzeffekten fort, indem es die neue Textur-Rauschfunktionalit\u00e4t auf Herz und Nieren pr\u00fcft, was es ihm erm\u00f6glicht, viel feinere Details aus n\u00e4chster N\u00e4he zu einem Bruchteil der bisherigen Kosten zu erzeugen. Sie entwickelten auch ein Tool, mit dem K\u00fcnstler VDBs (einschlie\u00dflich Gaswolken) schneller und mit mehr Kontrolle \u00fcber die Feinheiten erstellen k\u00f6nnen. Die Triebwerksverbesserungen wurden vorgenommen, um dem VFX n\u00e4her zu kommen. Sie erhielten neue Effekte und Funktionen wie Schaden, \u00dcberhitzung und Fehlz\u00fcndungen. Die F&E f\u00fcr einen Xi'an-Raketenwerfer wurde ebenfalls gestartet.\nWaffen\nDas Weapon Art Team setzte die \u00dcberarbeitung des Multi-Tool fort und machte Fortschritte mit dem Kastak Arms Ravager-212 und den Upgrades der Level zwei und drei f\u00fcr die Hurston Dynamics Laser Repeater. Sie haben auch kleinere Anpassungen an den Eisenvisieren an einer Handvoll Waffen vorgenommen, um das Visierbild zu verbessern und es benutzerfreundlicher zu gestalten, wenn keine Optik angebracht ist.\nVerdeckte Intel\nWIR SEHEN UNS N\u00c4CHSTEN MONAT.....","zh_CN":"This is a cross-post of the report that was recently sent out via the monthly Squadron 42 newsletter. We\u2019re publishing this a second time as a Comm-Link to make it easier for the community to reference back to, and plan on following this process for future Squadron 42 Monthly Reports.\nAttention Recruits,\n\nWhat you are about to read is the latest information on the continuing development of Squadron 42.\n\nRead on for pertinent details from our planet-wide operations on Squadron 42-related work over the last month, as well as intel on an exciting new dispatch. The information contained in this communication is extremely sensitive and it is of paramount importance that it does not fall into the wrong hands. Purge all records after reading.\n\nOver and out,\n\nUEE Naval High Command\n\n\nThe Road to Glory\nToday sees the unveiling of our Squadron 42 roadmap, a useful piece of intel that tracks the progress of development in detail. Much like the Persistent Universe roadmap, this is linked to our JIRA tracking system, and thus lets you see at a glance the work remaining on the game as we thunder on toward the finish line. Of course, also like its Star Citizen counterpart, the Squadron 42 roadmap is not necessarily exhaustive and may be changed or updated as development continues. Make sure you read the caveats, and enjoy this insight into the process. This monthly project update will work as something of a companion piece, shedding more light on specific work done by each development team, while the roadmap will provide dynamic real-time tracking of progress weekly. Without further adiue, let\u2019s see what the devs fighting the good fight on the frontlines have been up to\u2026\n\nAI\nThis month, Ship AI\u2019s focus was on optimizing the Tactical Point System. They now have multiple queries bundled together in a batch from different threads, which allows more control over the cost of the overall system. They submitted several optimizations for the character movement system, which can now update all the components in a multithreaded batch approach and will utilize the maximum the CPU resources during the game update. A pass for thread safety of several subsystems was performed, including the attention target component and communication system. This is required to eventually move the Subsumption component update to the multithreaded batch update step. In FPS Combat, the \u2018Defend Area\u2019 assignment was introduced; correctly achieving this behavior requires monitoring the mastergraph transitions to evaluate if the recipients of the Subsumption event can actually process it. In the Defend Area example, they might be executing any regular behavior when receiving the assignment. If the behavior can handle the request in a specific way, great. If not, then the mastergraph takes care of selecting one that can. Alongside this, they\u2019re adding new behaviors to improve combat and patrol to respect this assignment. New behaviors and functionality to support stealth gameplay were implemented, with new audio and visual stimuli being added to allow players to draw the attention of guards, prepare traps, and open up otherwise blocked paths. Work also continued on the bartender for Lorville. To achieve several functionalities of his behavior, they implemented the first pass of UseChannel routing and are continuing to expand the usable functionalities. The Usable Builder Tool received a new feature too: it\u2019s now able to correctly preview different characters using different usables so that designers, animators, and programmers can easily test and verify the content as it\u2019s delivered.\n\nAnimation\nOn the Story front, the Animation kicked-off production passes on a handful of Squadron 42 scenes. They\u2019re also working to finalize the Armorer character for SQ42 \u2013 itself a large and intricate task.\n\nAudio\nAudio worked closely with the SQ42 composer Geoff Zanelli to establish themes for the game\u2019s different races and important characters. This, combined with the second round of music implementation, allowed the team to better support pacing and overall development. The Dialogue Team worked to ensure animation and design had all the assets required to successfully implement their conversations, comms, and cinematics.\nCharacter Art\nThe Character Art Team polished the Vanduul armor and concepted the Navy Gunner\u2019s outfit.\nCinematics\nAfter completing the CitizenCon SQ42 teaser trailer, Cinematics took time to verify that each scene was functioning correctly from start to finish. This mainly involved the Shubin Station art pocket, but also other things like the battleground around Vega II. Once complete, they worked on a pivotal scene for the game featuring a key character not revealed yet. This involved using a new method of character hair and skin creation (tweaked for more realism), and small modification to costumes. The Cinematic Animation Team carried on with regular scene work. Having completed first passes for much of the game\u2019s narrative, they transitioned to scenes where a full implementation pass with a state machine is required. They also supported the engineers working on key workflow tools. Along with navspline improvements, new functionality was added to allow the team to edit multiple cinematic sequences at once. Previously, TrackView only supported a master and child sequence and didn\u2019t allow editing of the master if the child was edited, or vice versa. Some SQ42 scenes feature characters on capital ship bridges reacting to things they see through windows, which requires the team to split sequences between interior and exterior. The new multi-sequence workflow allows multiple sequences to be open and active at once and syncs the timelines for both the master and child.\nEngine Tools\nThe Engine Team resumed work on GPU skinning. They added vertex velocity support (motion blur), completed several optimizations to skip zero weights (improved throughput), prepared background data, and made the first pass on memory layout and LOD support. They also made the execution of ray collision checks and the defragmentation of grids run concurrently. This achieved a 30-50% speedup for physics planet terrain computation, reduced the number of cell queries on planets, and improved proxy mesh generation of terrain ground volumes. Terrain rendering improvements were added (glow forward pass) as well as fixes for water volume and ocean rendering. The existing hair shader was improved, and a new depth of field algorithm was created to improve quality, performance, and fix halos around silhouettes. Part of the team worked on additional culling refinements in the zone system to submit fewer objects to the renderer, as well as various low-level optimizations to reduce load on the render thread.\nEngineering\nEngineering actualized a system to allow variable limits on how far players can move their heads when looking around. The default amount is overridden by the outfit and helmet, so wearing heavy armor will restrict how far they can look. Pickup and Carry was finished off, including the solving of an issue when interacting with items in EVA. Developments on the female character continues. Because of her different sized skeleton, the team implemented animation-driven inverse kinematics to allow her to reach a ship\u2019s controls without the need for new animation sets. Progress has been made on the usables builder tool, which allows the content creators to drop in a character and play all the related usable animations, move locators around, and generally test a setup without having to go into the game. As part of comms, a \u2018Tannoy\u2019 system can now pump audio to multiple parts of an environment. For example, an announcement to a single ship\u2019s hangar or a more global ship-wide announcement. The ship AI Team helped out with the new Intelligent Flight Control System (IFCS), tweaking ship behavior to better utilize these new flight controls for a better dogfighting experience.\nEnvironment Art\nArt began using their new hard surface shader and new blending features for wear and tear. This enables a more realistic appearance of localized damage without a jarring transition between worn and pristine areas. They\u2019re paying particular attention to make sure wear looks natural and unforced. One of the high-level goals for SQ42 is for every asset and its features to sit in a scene naturally, feel unforced, and for the lighting to have a slightly softer, more realistic feel (except for some areas where the intensity is cranked up to 11). Lighting focused on the Javelin found in an early campaign level, taking into account the emphasis on making one key light do more of the work. This new approach looks great and is less demanding on the engine too. Tweaks to a control room seen close to the end of the campaign progressed, with the aim being to set the correct tone for the narrative and gameplay moments that spread from it. Props seen throughout the campaign (including monitors, screens, wiring looms, hatch covers, ropes, destructible lights, and pressurized items) all received attention, this time to determine how they break or deform when damaged. Several key events take place where these assets need to react correctly to gravity, decompression, damage, pulse, etc. The vast Shubin mining station gained more detail to the supporting structures around it. Development of the facility\u2019s Bridge (as first seen in the CitizenCon 2948 trailer) continued, which comes in at around three times the size of a Bengal\u2019s.\n\nGameplay Story\nThe Gameplay Story Team made swift progress throughout November and continuously added more scenes to their Q4 list. They are currently working on 38 scenes for the quarter and are expecting to add several more by the end of the year.\nGraphics\nThe Graphics Team worked on several shader effects, including the resurrection of the caustics water effect, which is needed in several locations throughout SQ42. The new hard surface shader was rolled out to the entire team and should improve performance, allow new surface shading features, and enable more dynamic wear & dirt effects. Performance was also a focus, with most attention on the low-level texture and mesh streaming systems to help squeeze as much content in with as little performance impact as possible.\nLevel Design\nThe Level Design Team converted the older sables inside the Idris to a more efficient and flexible system, which also incorporates crew behaviors for things like \u2018off-duty\u2019 and \u2018mess hall\u2019. Level work is an ongoing collaboration with the Art Team and is constantly reviewed at senior level. \u201cIt\u2019s all going well and now that we have almost all the scenes in the levels you really get a great feel for the story flow and pacing.\u201d Cockpit scenes are coming to life thanks to \u2018Render to Texture\u2019 technology, while the new IFCS system is fully implemented into SQ42 and making a huge difference to dogfighting. Regular feedback and suggested improvements mean spline technology and flight controls are constantly refined.\nNarrative\nThe Narrative Team continued plugging away at [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] as well as [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] and that was a lot of fun.\nProps\nThe Props Team continued work on the assets required for NPS interactions and activities by creating additional sub items used by the engineering crew and the storage cases to house them. The larger maintenance machinery assets are now ready for the animation and cinematic departments to use in their work, too.\nSystem Design\nThe System Design Team integrated the New Flight Model into enemy ship AI, ensuring that they are still engaging to fight against and don\u2019t become unbalanced. They noticed that the new IFCS currently causes too much unwanted \u2018jousting\u2019 behavior, so are currently looking into ways to modify it. Dialogue wildlines for the ship\/FPS\/social AI were reworked to unify them within the same overall structure. Collaboration with the audio & writing teams ensured the system works properly for all systemic dialogue in the game. The team is also working to develop tools to automate the setup of dialogue lines. Stealth gameplay elements continue to be developed, which require the AI perception to be upgraded to cater for peripheral vision, as well as various audio events and stimuli from environmental sources, such as throwing a pebble to distract enemies.\nTech Animation\nThe Technical Animation department progressed with the initial batch transfer of male animations to the female skeleton. This included updating low-level assets for animation database referencing to ensure she can run around and fire weapons. It has been successful and handed off to animation for further review and polish. Some much-needed toolsets for authoring skinning data on the many different costumes were finished. Used in conjunction with the existing toolsets, these will make skin authoring a more efficient process. An interesting dilemma was presented recently, whereby the team needed to show some sort of fluid dynamics, which usually require intensive calculations The Technical Animation department came into its own and used the existing physics solution to create a dynamic yet economic fake for the various glasses & cups in the bar scenes. Multiple animations for cinematics and gameplay were added, as were several new tools to the animation pipeline along with bug fixes and additions to existing tools. Time was also spent fixing several smaller bugs like animation compilation errors, missing integrations, weapon entities, and DBA setups.\nTech Art\nThe Tech Art Team analyzed the full requirements of the character \u2018DNA gene pool\u2019. In order for the next-gen facial customizer to work most effectively, a limited pool of heads with specific and unique shapes is required. Relevant factors are gender, ethnic origin, age, physical constitution, and distinct facial features such as hooked vs. pointy nose, thin vs. full lips, and so forth. Several scenarios with varying pool sizes were created to determine the mid-to-long-term plans for populating the pool. The planned release of the new customizer will initially use as many heads as possible from the selection scanned, providing they fulfill requirements. The team also worked on the asset authoring tools and pipeline for the new cloth\/softbody solver, which was first showcased at CitizenCon. Optimal simulation mesh topology and vertex density are key to making it work efficiently and fast enough while yielding high-fidelity visual results. Another important factor is creating the best possible binding between the high and low res simulation mesh \u2013 this can only be fully automated for simpler cloth asset types and requires artistic \u2018guidance\u2019 and fine-grained control in more complex cases. The team went to great lengths to ensure the authoring tools provide this capability in a convenient, easy-to-use way.\nUI\nLast month, the SQ42 team specced-out improvements to how AR mission objectives are displayed to the player. For both the PU and SQ42, they\u2019re aiming to create a common unified methodology for how important information is imparted regarding type, position, whether it\u2019s obstructed, etc. They\u2019re also looking at the long-term requirements of missions and building a system to help to surface important information when it\u2019s contextually needed. Another major feature worked on is the area map. Pre-visualizations of how the map could be were built procedurally using existing underlying systems, such as the room system. This informs not only the overall layout but also how it becomes more defined as the player traverses the environment for the first time.\nVehicle Features\nThe team spent the month on Vehicle Scanning improvements. The groundwork necessary to allow ships to aim at the engines on target ships has been completed, and the feature itself is nearly ready to be rolled out. Scanning nav points for destination info have been completed and are also ready for implementation.\nVFX\nVFX continued to iterate on lightning effects by putting the new texture noise functionality through its paces, which will allow them to create much finer detail up close at a fraction of the previous cost. They also developed a tool to allow artists to create VDBs (including gas clouds) more quickly and with more control over the finer details. Thruster improvements were made to more closely match the VFX. They gained new effects and functionality including damage, overheat, and misfire options. R&D for a Xi\u2019an missile launcher kicked off too.\nWeapons\nThe Weapon Art Team carried on with the Multi-Tool rework and made progress with the Kastak Arms Ravager-212 and the level two and three upgrades for the Hurston Dynamics Laser Repeaters. They also made minor adjustments to the iron sights on a handful of weapons to improve the sight picture and to make them more user-friendly when no optics are attached.\nCovert Intel\nWE\u2019LL SEE YOU NEXT MONTH\u2026"},"links_count":0,"comment_count":23,"created_at":"2019-01-08T00:00:00+00:00","created_at_human":"7 years ago"},"meta":{"processed_at":"2026-05-07 22:38:21","valid_relations":["images","links"],"prev_id":16917,"next_id":16920}}