GearCity 1.18 Progress

[Eric.B]

Since we're moving back to Major build only releases, this thread will become much more important.

1.18 is mainly focusing on changes to the RnD system, internal car stats, how the company and consumer AI interacts with those stats, and lots of other little goodies.

This is an extremely important build to balance out and improve game play. I can't emphasize that enough. As such I'll be taking my time to make sure things work very well. There is also a lot of tedious work, which always takes time. My current goal is February. With no minor builds to distract me, I'm pretty confident I'll hit the date.

For a nice big overview of what I'll be working on, see the first link on this page: http://www.ventdev.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=2449

(I'll try to update the Roadmap weekly.)



1.18 Change Log
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+Fixed bug showing vehicles in unassigned engine contracts windows
+Fixed bug where factories lines do not reset after ending production of a vehicle that is still using production lines
+Fixed Fullscreen map movement bug with hardware mouse
+Fixed Duplicate car model names, along with incorrect usage dates.
+Redesigned vehicle ratings importance system
+AI component selection redesign
+AI slider behaviors redesigned
+Consumer AI ratings importance redesign
+Assisted Designer Component selection redesign
+Assisted Designer sliders settings redesigned
+Sub-component popularity index
+Manual Popularity Change
+Dynamic Fuel Popularity
+Component popularity random events now added,
+Consumers now take into consideration fuel type when buying a vehicle.
+Bought a refurbed MacMini (I'll start the Mac port soon as I get it.)
+Specific Vehicle Type Rating.
+Fixed AI factory production over maximum line limits (Should also fix the same issue with Auto Production tool.)
+Added tax expenses to two fiscal expense reports
+Fixed total expenses in two fiscal reports that had tax payments off set from actual payment dates.
+Fixed bug in office "profits" label in upper left hand screen which did include interest generated from money in bank savings account.
+Fixed Save Body bug in which the Warning label prevented the user from changing the name.
+Added a "Disable Banking Fees" Advance Game switch.
+Freed the report names so after you delete a report, you can reuse the name.
+Fixed bug in the end turn report system that didn't properly get the report information when you hit the next button.
+Fixed the bug in the vehicle demands report. If you had a vehicle that was being designed, the text would cut off from the rest of the report.
+Removed the add to end report button on reports that can not be added to the end turn reports.
+Fixed drag coefficient bug on models that have an open roof.
+Fixed a bug in the branch reports that did not reset sales per city. Thus giving too high of a sales figure.
+Cleaned up a number of text issues. (Thanks Jose!)
+Fixed bug in reserve shipping distance inheritance. You can also now change the shipping distances of any vehicles in reserve.
+Fixed bug in contract reports system that displayed contracts that were no longer active.
+Fixed bug in the clone vehicle sliders system.
+Fixed parts placement bug where if you rotated the camera to the other side of the design room, placed parts would be flipped.
+Fixed 2 possible crash points with decal flipping
+Design sliders exponential expenses
+Balanced Designed Costs
+Balanced Unit Costs
+Hypercar Design/Unit Costs penalty
+Fixed lower vehicle costs than components bug.
+RnD Windows automatically Tile
+RnD upper drop down panels now open over top of any other opened windows.
+Drivetrain stat balancing
+Engine Smoothness/Noise Rating
+Engine SubComponents Smoothness Ratings
+Valvetrains
+10 Valvetrain layouts
+SDL window mode (LINUX)
+Fuel and Induction system balancing
+Three new induction types, Turbos broken down into 10 "levels."
+6 New engine layouts
+3 New fuel types (5 Generations of Electric power)
+2 new cylinder type
+Modification to Bore/Stroke system
+Inversed design/manufacturing requirement stars
+Engine Power and Engine Fuel ratings now use specs
+Stopped Engine Fuel ratings decrease
+Boost Induction systems fuel economy.
+Removed Gearfor
+Reverse gear checkbox.
+Removed Gear Ratio Slider
+Added Low End and High End Gear Ratio sliders
+Gearbox Maximum Torque Input
+Gearbox Comfort/Smoothness Rating
+4 New Transmission Types
+Improved Aerodynamic Drag calculations
+Vehicle Specs window in body designer.
+Car Stats balancing
+Vehicle Fuel, Power, Cargo stats are now directly from specs and do not decrease.
+Vehicle Performance stats now use more specs.
+Increased Contract Cargo requirements slightly. (Vehicles are larger now)
+Fixed few minor bugs in view contract rnd GUI, will be getting a make over later.
+Combined City and Highway fuel mileage into one rating called "Combined" (Will make it easier to user selected units in the future.)
+Fixed bug in advance gearbox designer which zeroed out the number of selected gears if you change gearbox type while in the sliders mode.
+Tweaked assisted designer results for engines and gearboxes.
+Fixed a couple of bugs introduced by new features.
+Having too low of a top speed now effect sales.
+Advance/Assisted menu will automatically close when top buttons are selected.
+Minor weight adjustments to vehicles
+Fixed length/width sliders effect on engine torque
+Reduced late game year torque amount.
+Reduced bore/stroke effect on torque slightly.
+Reduced RPMs slightly.
+Adjusted SOHC and DOHC.
+Boosted Fuel Ratings
+Fixed "Ratings" button overlap in Body Designer
+Tweaked length/widths effect on maximum bore/stroke for an engine.
+Vehicle Image rewrite
+Markup and Age penalties reduced
+Factory Quality/Quantity slider improves or reduces Vehicle Quality Rating.
+Remove Vehicle Quality ratings from ratings degrader.
+Increased Dealerships effects on buyer populations.
+Improved hyper-expensive vehicle sales code
+Increased luxury and performance effect on sales of hyper-expensive vehicles
+Fixed Branch effect on AI sales numbers
+Increased Ratings effect on Consumer Buyer Rating
+Increased Quality Rating's effect on Consumer Buyer Rating
+Fixed buffer overrun when producing more than 2^32-1 worth of a single model at a single factory.
+Fixed Linux delete game
+Fixed Linux duplicated load game list
+Fixed possible division by zero in stats degrade
+Fixed smoothness issue with smoothness ratings.
+Fixed issue with AI engine sizes causing vehicles to be design without an engine thus causing insane stats.
+Fixed a bug in the licensing system that caused some new stats not to transfer.
+Redesigned Advanced Component Selection Windows.
+Visible Subcomponent Ratings
+Pros/Cons list for subcomponents
+Recommended Vehicles for Subcomponent.
+Display vehicle type ratings importance.
+Vehicle Design Warnings
+Subcomponent prototyping
+Chassis/Engine fit tool
+Designing vehicle automatically takes you to body designer
+Cancel confirmation windows in RnD
+Build Name/Marque/Completion Date windows in RnD
+Removed Length/Width effect on Max/Min Bore/Stroke
+Direct bore/stroke input system.
+Induction systems rebalanced to not give RPMs, increased torque amounts.
+Reduction of vehicle weight in later game years.
+Reduced drag slightly
+Reformulated the acceleration numbers.
+Revised Power Rate.
+Fixed bug with chassis costs making them extremely expensive in very late game years.
+Redesigned Component Modification System.
+New Model Year and Trim Cost and Time reduction.
+New Vehicle Modification GUI.
+Additional Trim Prompt
+OpenAl Software drivers
+Redesigned Assisted Component Designers
+Override sub-component Selection for Assisted Component Designers
+Select Chassis/Engine to design component to
+Redesigned Assisted Vehicle Designer
+Override Chassis/Engine/Gearbox selection in Assisted Designer
+Fixed Crash when returning to main menu
+Fixed possible divison by zero crash in stockmarket (Did not test if it resovles the issue.)
+Fixed Units sold achievement Memo.
+Fixed Memory leak with list boxes.
+Fixed Unicode file name crash. (Not tested for all languages! So let me know if you still have a problem!)
+Fixed Marketing bug using "Replace Model" autotool.
+Fixed two factory naming bugs.
+Fixed new trim estimated completion year date. Please note that the actual "built year" date for a trim is still the same as the base model.
+Player news now shows up in Manufacturer's news in the magazine.
+Combined new body style memos into one.
+Open all windows in advance designer with one button.
+Fixed Duplicate vehicle list bug
+Fixed Car Designer window popup bug
+Fixed Shipping distance calculation bug
+Fixed Car Designer slider issue.
+Optimized component/vehicle ratings and specs estimation.
+2 or 3 other minor issues.
+Fixed Wording for "Select Engine" in gearbox prototyping.
+Fixed missing combo box data in advance designer when switching from assisted.
+Adjusted player and AI component selection code.
+Slightly decreased vehicle unit costs
+Lowered starting design skills
+Fixed Trim/NewModel year timing bug
+Adjusted fuel code to account for number of gears more.
+Added an optimization warning message if you can not improve your fuel consumption anymore with designed engine.
+Fixed Label resetting bug for prototyping.
+Fixed possible crash in prototyping.
-Redesigned Licensing System.
-New Licensing system GUI
-Licensing System List Filters
-Improved AI designs
-Increased AI expansion
-Fixed no Branch Crash In Mega Menu
-Fixed Mega Menu Sell Everywhere list refresh bug
-Fixed duplicate marque listing in assisted vehicle designer
-Fixed assisted vehicle designer marque selection not working
-Fixed Possible Crash conditions with cylinderless engines when skill level is too low.
-Tweaked starting skill levels again.
-Fixed Incorrect artwork for 7 cylinders
-Fixed exact chassis/engine size bug causing nag message to pop-up when trying to design a vehicle.
-Fixed incorrect label for selecting gearbox in prototyping.
-Tweaked generic engine size in prototyping
-Fixed buffer overflow by extremely expensive chassis designs
-Fixed Nm abbreviation.
-Tweaked some of the Assisted Engine designer code to improve lag (major changes will come with the Optimizations ticket in 1.19)
-View Parts/Vehicle GUI redesign
-Research Requirements Info.