Greetings Rubi-Ka Citizens!

@Portaler here with an update for February 29498 AD (2024). It has been a very busy month (+) since our last update. The team has been hard at work on several fronts. First we'd like to share a summary of some of items we've been working on.

Highlights

We have a goal to be able to make initial zones like Abandoned Subway and Temple of Three Winds more polished in preparation for a community raid night. One of the key problems that makes indoor zones like Subway and ToTW more challenging is the density of mobs and how we handle things like aggro between rooms. In past iterations of PRK, mobs would engage as soon as they were within a certain range from the player, regardless of any doors or room boundaries.

Improved Aggro Logic

We've improved the logic by which mobs will aggro players. Now they will only aggro players within the same room. This will improve scenarios where mobs from several rooms over would aggro through doors. One area for improvement remains however, our aggro logic still does not account for three dimensional physics. So things like aggro around corners within the same room will still tend to happen. It is technically possible for us to add a lightweight physics engine to the server to account for serverside line of sight calculations, but we're going to hold off on this until we've complete some other more important features like missions, and other priorities.

Leashing

We're happy to share that we've implemented our first round of "leashing" logic. Mobs that are engaged will continue to engage and fight players as long as players remain within range of their initial "home position". Once they leave that home position they will enter a "Leashing" state where in they will run back to their home position with an emptied hate list, returning to their normal "post combat" routine. This should improve 'trains' in zones like ToTW and Subway. Currently this leashing logic also applies to outdoor zones. We will revist this logic with likely adjustments to be made to how it will work in the great out doors.

Client Database Version

We've recently made a shift to a more recent version of the client's database, 18.4. Previously we operated on version 15.5.5, as this version was the last SL patch before AI. The client database in the 15.x era contains items and nanos that have specific flags. Over the years the original developers made patches that introduced new flags as well as changed the way many nanos mechanically functioned. PRK however uses the most recent set of binaries from the live client. This inconsistency between client database and client binaries created a variety of problems. That being said we made the decision to move to 18.4 as this will provide a higher fidelity of item and nano support.

Bug Fixes

#643 - Cannot place items in a bag
#642 - Enemies do not appear on the minimap
#640 - 'Empty' bodies persist in the world.
#639 - The Brawl Attack action seems to be missing its stun component.
#637 - Tab Targetting currently doesn't work on most NPCs
#636 - Looted Credits are duplicated visually on the client.
#635 - Looting items isn't reflected in the player inventory.
#632 - Feared mobs teleport around instead of run
#631 - Crat robot pets cannot be spawned
#629 - The Keeper Righteous/Unhallowed Fury Item has no cooldown.
#628 - Keeper Fury item does not work after zoning
#627 - Targeting self with a hostile weapon proc running interrupts auto attack
#626 - Evangelical Reaper procs heal for too little
#619 - Attack Pet attack routine currently broken.
#617 - Shade offensive proc nanos don't
#616 - Failed perk actions have non-descriptive errors
#615 - Perk dependencies don't cast on fighting targets
#613 - Summoning the MP mezz pets cause a server crash.
#612 - Self-damage components can be passively resisted.
#611 - Self-damage nano components also cause you to take damage from damage shields.
#610 - Self-only buffs are cast on the target instead of the caster.
#609 - Mongo's Ultra Behemoth can be cast on targets other than self.
#606 - Title Levels are incorrect for Levels 1 - 4
#605 - Non attack on sight mobs attacking on sight
#604 - Joining team is currently non-functioning.
#603 - Doors to the Subway don't allow players through
#601 - The Fixer Grid item 'Data Receptacle' last indefinitely.
#597 - "MA for combined attack" does not execute fist attacks
#596 - Unequippable weapons do not indicate they cannot be equipped
#592 - Profession Implants shop terminal clickable areas change shape with camera a...
#591 - Mobs warp when rooted
#590 - Charm nanos allow overwrite
#589 - Mind Control/Charm nanos don't work
#586 - Outdoor mobs cannot be fought
#585 - Outdoor mobs are all level 1
#584 - Over-equipped (OE) is currently not implemented.
#582 - The 'Trader Debuff AC Nanos' debuff line does not apply the higher debuff.
#581 - The 'Debuff NanoAC Heavy' line (Trader) cannot be used.
#578 - Guards have 25 health
#576 - Stacked items can be split in bag
#570 - Steps of Madness mobs all have 35 total health
#568 - Steps of Madness is virtually empty
#563 - Random teleporting to Greater Omni Forest whilst in the Omni Forest
#517 - Distill Life 6 & 9 Perks do not function.
#508 - Can't Equip Candy Cord due to Title Level
#496 - The majority of the shops are empty
#494 - Instanced mobs don't leash back and wipe hate list
#472 - Swapping items with the same stat modifiers exponentially increases the stat...
#456 - Vendors sell weapons with only 1 ammo in the clip
#447 - Light of Reclaim terminal antenna in incorrect location (in front of terminal)
#427 - NPC / Mob stats (e.g. health, damage) may not match their level
#424 - Killed mobs respawn unnaturally quickly
#396 - Monsters in Steps of Madness missing idle mesh
#393 - Monster does not die and continues to fight with zero HP
#390 - right click to autoequip NCU chip or belt, don't work
#370 - Every player in a team gets the same amount of XP
#365 - Level 25 players can not enter the Subway
#363 - Mob instances always have the same level, even if it's meant to be variable
#347 - Pets do not follow correctly
#329 - Buying multiples of the same item from a vendor costs the same as one
#310 - NPC Vendors are spawning with a physical terminal at their location
#207 - "Fear" not implemented

That's alot of work! We want to make a special shout out to the new "Bug Hunters" team, @Raggy and @TinkeringIdiot.

For a list of any open issues feel free to check out Issue Tracker

Are we there yet?

Of course, as many have asked 'when will we be re-opening'? Well I'm happy to share that we have closed a great deal of critical bugs. We have a few more things to do to improve the quality of our navmesh and pathing for NPCs. After which we will be re-opening the doors to PRK and folks will be able to login, play around and explore.

As we jump headlong into 2024, we want to thank the community and encourage all to keep up the hard work on this project!

If you'd like to learn more about the project or just look around, drop in to our Discord and say hi!

— Portaler