May 31st, 2019 – Patch EA 0.8.5

Hi all! Next version incoming. So what’s the biggest thing we added in this version. Well, it’s the Multiplayer! We call it still a Multiplayer Beta and it’s only enabled on a separate stream (see details below). There are a few things still missing for having a good MP experience and there are also still some bugs in there. Nevertheless we decided that it’s time that you all can also start playing with your friends. In order to make MP and SP less error prone we had to also make some changes regarding the way pausing works in the game. There were A LOT of bugs we resolved for MP as you can find in the bug fixes section below. Enjoy!

NOTE: The multiplayer mode is NOT implemented in the normal version. If you want to test the multiplayer, you need to unlock the corresponding BETA version for your game.

  • STEAM:
  • 1) Open your games library and right-click on “The Guild 3”.
  • 2) Click on “Properties” and in the following menu on the tab “BETAS”.
  • 3) Enter the code “multiplayerbeta” and then click on “CHECK CODE”.
  • 4) Now choose “mp-beta” in the beta dropdown above the input field.
  • You can switch between the normal game and the mp-beta if you choose the appropriate version in the beta dropdown. It then takes a moment for the necessary data to be downloaded before you can play.
  • GOG:
  • 1) Open your games library and right-click on “The Guild 3”.
  • 2) Click on “Settings”.
  • 3) In the following menu switch on the “BETA CHANNELS” far right in the “CONFIGURE GAME” section, so that the channel dropdown appears in the same section.
  • 4) Select “Add private channels” in the channel dropdown.
  • 5) In the following window enter the code “multiplayerbeta” and confirm to make the MP-BETA available.
  • You can switch between the normal game and the MP-BETA if you choose the appropriate version in the channel dropdown in this window. It then takes a moment for the necessary data to be downloaded before you can play.

We will remove this BETA version as soon as we have firmly integrated the multiplayer mode into the game.
If you have a restrictive firewall then you may have to manually open the following outgoing ports to be able to play in multiplayer:

  • 61111 TCP & UDP
  • 36895 TCP & UDP
  • 36975 TCP & UDP

You can find these information as well in the FAQs Beta Multiplayer!

New features

  • Multiplayer enabled (in the BETA version, please see above!). So from now on you are able to host and join Multiplayer games. What’s not yet in is the correct host migration, the chat in the game and reconnecting to a MP game but we are currently working on those features. In order to be able to enable MP we further changed:
    • As there were lots of issues related to the game’s speed settings throughout the whole game in multiplayer, we removed the possibility to increase or decrease the game speed in multiplayer games.
    • We also updated the way the login flow works. A lobby will only show up after the host has finished loading. As long as a client is connecting to the game, the host can’t start it.
    • One bigger change we had to do was the way pausing works in the game. Unfortunately pausing hasn’t really paused the game, which created lots of issues in multiplayer and singleplayer (eg. building placement while paused, buying add-ons while paused, etc.). Unfortunately it’s not a trivial issue. So in order to make especially MP work properly, we changed that while in pause you are not able to use any functionality other than un-pausing the game. You can still hide the UI to take nice screenshots by pressing ALT+h.
    • References of destroyed buildings to routes are cleaned up correctly now, so they are properly cleaned up in MP games.
    • Props are now correctly synced when they are removed between host and clients.
    • Sounds weren’t initialized on clients, so only the host was able to hear sounds. We changed that.
    • We added that Multiplayer lobbies are greyed out if the version doesn’t match the version of the client. This way problems of version mismatches can be avoided and you know why you aren’t able to join a particular lobby.
    • PLEASE NOTE: Right now if the host leaves the game or is destroyed, the multiplayer game is over. Additionally you can’t reconnect to a multiplayer game right now. We are currently developing both those features.
  • Workplaces are usually limited. Before EA 0.8.5 family members didn’t take a workplace when they started working in a business. We changed that. From now on family members that are working in a business will take up a workplace like workers do. We think it will make the choice a bit more interesting whether to send a family outside doing action or keeping them in a business to save employee costs.
  • As you all know the family campaigns were pretty broken. In order to fix them we extended the objective system which we use for the AI and for the tutorial. So now we are also using those objectives for tracking progress for family campaigns. To see your progress just open the quest log. The quest required to win the game is highlighted.
  • To make politics more interesting we added that the AI’s voting behavior considers the relationship between their dynasty and the proposing dynasty. The better the relationship the more likely they will go with what you propose.
  • We changed how the budget calculation is done so it’s easier to comprehend. For a business controlled by a player the remaining budget is only affected by item transactions.
  • In preparation for the new storage keeper and the new manual trade routes, we removed the priority list in the current storage keeper UI. This UI wasn’t properly working and transporters would only go to the first place in the list.
  • The game was handling window resizing, mode switching and graphic initialization pretty badly so far. Changing resolution and switching modes should now work way better and should be less error prone. We also assume that it will resolve some crash errors.
  • We also fixed issues related to the hotkey assignment and changed a bit how it works.
    • When the game is created freshly, ‘1’ is the home residence and ‘2’ is the closest marketplace. From then on, no automatic messing about with shortcuts.
    • You can bind a shortcut to any characters and buildings using CTRL + NUMBER
    • NUMBER by itself will just select the actor
    • ALT + NUMBER will make your current selection move towards the actor. If it’s a building you can enter, it will enter, otherwise it will just walk up to the building or character. If you also hold down SHIFT, it will make your character walk instead of run.
    • SHIFT + NUMBER will clear the selection slot.
    • Selection slots are now stored and loaded in savegames.

Please note: The game does not display/load save games from outdated patch versions as they have become incompatible due to the rework of core systems.

New features under hood

  • We are now able to hide all scenario options for a map defined as tutorial map. This way we can avoid issues related to different settings selected before somebody starts the tutorial map.
  • A system was implemented that allows us to localize text keys for different genders.

 

Balancing

  • Effects and usage was changed for the following items:
    • Mead
    • Guntram’s Brew
    • Endurance Potion
    • Cream Cake
    • Painkiller
    • Weak beer
    • Wonder cure
    • Strong beer
    • Boozy breath beer
    • Barrel of brewer beer
    • Antidote
    • Wheat beer
    • Small cake of joy
    • Dr. Faustus’ Elixir
  • Reduced the amount of Orphans the church will give to a single character/wedded couple to 3, it is still possible to have more children through the “produce offspring” action if your fertility is high enough.
  • Changed how the popularity with villages and city districts affect the expected sentence of a trial: Rich Citizens now have a higher impact on the expected sentence than Commoners or Poor people.
  • When you have a friendly or unfriendly popularity in a village or city district, your businesses in that neighborhood will now get a buff/debuff that affects the movement speed and productivity of your employees.
  • Adjusted formula for calculating item prices. Generally we unified the item price calculation (as there were around 3 different implementations).
  • Notification of office appointments are now only sent when the appointed candidate belonged to a dynasty to reduce the number of messages.

      Art

          • One of the marketstands was missing a character. This one has been added now.
          • Further optimizations for buildings.
          • Some new props have been created and added to the maps.
          • The far trade markets via land in the scenario maps Magdeburg, Augsburg and London have been reworked so that they look more like real markets. The other maps will follow.
          • Optimizations and bug fixes on several scenario maps.

       

      Bug fixes

          • Fixed a bug that caused the game to crash upon joining a MP game on the maps Augsburg, Vienna, London and Paris.
          • Fixed several crashes related to actions in multiplayer games.
          • Fixed a bug that caused the game to crash after starting a second multiplayer game.
          • Fixed a bug that caused the game to crash upon typing a message into the lobby chat.
          • Fixed a bug that caused the game to crash if the player saved, loaded, saved and then tried again to load the same file.
          • Fixed a bug that caused the selected action icon to be shown behind opened windows. Now if you want to apply an action by selecting a character in a UI, you see which action is the selected one.
          • Fixed a bug that caused the game to block keyboard camera movement controls upon starting a new game.
          • Fixed a bug that caused the game to not appoint a new sovereign properly.
          • Fixed a bug that caused the game to show only the number 1 as the recommended punishment in the indictment window.
          • Fixed a bug that allowed players to target city buildings. No more conquering the market! 😉
          • Fixed a bug that caused the game to create random families with the same name.
          • Fixed a bug that caused the game to generate only characters with the same age in social group (e.g. poor villagers).
          • Fixed a bug that was showing both the positive and negative floating text after executing the drive workers action.
          • Fixed a bug that caused the game to show the wrong message upon a character successfully returning from a trip overseas.
          • Fixed a bug that caused the game to duplicate market characters upon loading a game.
          • Fixed a bug that allowed the player to target market characters. From now on they shouldn’t be targetable anymore.
          • Fixed a bug that caused the AI to target characters in an execution scene.
          • Fixed a bug that caused the game to create too many transporters for businesses which were already on the map when the game started.
          • Fixed a bug that caused the secondary attribute “Fertility” to be reset after loading a game which had been saved while a character was pregnant.
          • Fixed a bug that caused businesses which were already on the map to not start with any budget.
          • Fixed a bug that caused the game to send too many notifications when a character became sick.
          • Fixed a bug that caused the game to show an empty election UI when multiple family members apply for the same office seat.
          • Fixed missing localization issues in the tooltips for political offices.
          • Fixed a bug that caused the game to not save the “Use Front Store” setting.
          • Fixed a bug that caused the game to show all the HUD elements in an interior scene upon opening and closing the menu overlay.
          • Fixed a bug that caused worker names to be too long for the production UI.
          • Fixed several bugs that caused the game not tracking family campaign progress correctly.
          • Fixed a bug that caused the game to not show action cooldowns on clients in multiplayer.
          • Fixed a bug that caused the game to not show pregnancy floating texts on the client.
          • Fixed a bug that caused the game to show some props and animals twice and without animation on the client.
          • Fixed a bug that caused props to not get removed upon placing a building on them in multiplayer.
          • Fixed a bug that caused workers to not produce anymore after the building had been purchased in multiplayer games.
          • Fixed a bug that caused the game to not show the “You have lost!” window upon losing a game in multiplayer.
          • Fixed bug that caused the game to show the “Dynasty member died” window on the host instead of the client in multiplayer games.
          • Fixed a bug that caused the game to spawn a weird amount of AI dynasties in multiplayer games.
          • Fixed several issues on the Visby map related to misplaced props.
          • Fixed a bug that caused the game to not properly unlock skills correctly which lead to follow-up issues (eg. building placement).
          • Fixed a bug that caused the game time UI in the HUD to continuously show and hide the time in multiplayer games. Grrr!
          • Fixed a bug that allowed host or client to continue playing a game after they lost, which lead to a lot of follow up issues.
          • Fixed a bug that caused the game to not asked for a password when a client tries to join a password-protected lobby.
          • Fixed a bug that caused the game to ignore the defined amount of years per round in multiplayer games.
          • Fixed a bug that caused buildings to not being upgradeable in multiplayer games.
          • Fixed a bug that caused the affection values for romances to not be synced correctly in multiplayer games.
          • Fixed a bug that caused clients to constantly lose connection to the host after a few minutes in the game.
          • Fixed a bug that caused the game to not open a building menu when entering a building with a character which is selected in multiplayer.
          • Fixed a bug that caused the game to not show the correct information in the lobby in multiplayer games.
          • Fixed a bug that caused the game to not give any feedback when the client is connecting.
          • Fixed a bug that caused robbers to take their bushes and crates with them after ambushing something in multiplayer games.
          • Fixed a bug that caused the game to not show some of the texts on the client in multiplayer games.
          • Fixed a bug that caused transporters to show the wrong speed information on the client.
          • Fixed a bug that caused the automate button to not switch its state correctly in multiplayer.
          • Fixed a bug that caused married character to not change their cloth color according to the new family in multiplayer.
          • Fixed a bug that caused the game to show open lobbies despite the host already closed that lobby.
          • Fixed a bug that caused particles to not get removed on the client in multiplayer.

       

      Known Issues

          • If you adopt an orphan from the church, the child may walk through the altar.
          • The family campaign “Become the ruler of the city!” is currently instantly completed. We are working on a fix.

       

      Important information

      If you are experiencing difficulties with loading and saving the game, you may attempt to delete all files from the folder “Games” in the installation directory of The Guild 3.
      It is quite possible that some problems that you have in your game are caused by missing or corrupted files. In this case, the following can help:

          • STEAM -> right-click on “The Guild 3” in your Steam library, then Properties – LOCAL FILES – VERIFY INTEGRITY OF GAME FILES…
          • GOG -> right-click on “The Guild 3” in your library, then Properties – “More” – Manage Installation – VERIFY/REPAIR

      Join our official Discord server https://discord.gg/CGnN2Vb) where you can meet us (that is, when we take a break from developing games) and other players to chat about the game.

      What we are planning for the next patch

      For the next patch we want to finally release the new storage keeper and the new updated trade route system. Additionally we’ll also dig a bit deeper in the economy system.

      A short outlook…

      We want to further improve the politics and court system according to your feedback and we also want to do a bigger block of bugfixing to get the game more stable.

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      We value your feedback!

      If you have the time, we would appreciate it if you could fill out a short survey regarding the changes we made in patch EA 0.8.5: https://forms.gle/sr4fFKK7ThZxit187
      Please note: we do not collect any personal information other than your feedback – you will remain completely anonymous. This survey will end the day we release the next patch.