GearCity 1.22 Progress Thread

[Eric.B]

Welcome to the 1.22 Progress Thread. Here we will keep a running change log of everything that has been implemented for 1.22. If you're on Testing build, you will have received Items marked with a + already. Things not currently available to the public are marked with a -. Please post bugs in their own threads, as this thread is followed by many people who are following game progress and not your bugs.

GearCity v1.22 will focus on creating a series of Mod Tools which will allow content to be easily added or removed from the game. This will make it easier for me to finish adding missing content to the game, and balance what is there. These Mod Tools will be released to the public, under a copyfree license. The added benefit of the mod tools is that you and the community at large can alter the game and easily add or edit the contents of the game.

To supplement the player mod community, we'll be implementing a Mod Loading System. The mod loading system should allow modders to pack their content in ways that won't destroy the base game content, or other mods. This Mod Loading System will also work its way into a new Map Loading System. The Map Loading System will work with both the current Dot City system as well as the Regional Area System we had implemented in v0.2 but removed in v0.3. The Dot City system will be expanded to allow user custom designed maps without the need of 3d modeling software.

With a combination of both the Mod Loading system and the Map Loading System, we finally get a Scenario Loading System. Wow that's a Loading Systems! But don't worry, it's not as complicated as it sounds. The Scenario Loading System allows for you to play a game with a variety of challenges. Such as save a failing company or reach a certain market cap by a certain date.

To implement these 4 things, I first need to take care of a few missing game play features. Some of them have to do with the Loading System. Others do not. For instance, we need Random History, Pre-Established AI companies, and Expanded Game play length for make the Loading Systems work properly. Where as in game notepad and automatic marketing is not needed for the Loading Systems, but will be implemented any way. Most of these will come out in v1.21.1.

Finally, there will be some new pages on the Webserver side. We recently changed servers for our main forums, website, and email. Toward the end of v1.22 I will be writing our own custom translation program. Both Pootle and Googled Translation Toolkit have failed us, and there are really no decent free options to do mass crowd sourced translations. So I'll just have to write one my self. I do not plan on having it be overly complex, so it shouldn't take too much time. I am a bit rusty with PHP however... In addition to that, we will be implementing an official wiki system. This will mainly be used for documenting the Mod Tools and giving tutorials on how to use the tools. Eventually it'll expand to game play mechanics and tutorials as well. Although official contributions to those subjects will be done after GC is finished.

So that's what is planned for the next 3 months or so. Till then, follow this thread for progress reports!



Change Log
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+Increased Factory Employee Numbers in Early game years to be more aligned with historical figures.
+Decreased amount of wear required to pull up Retool Action Memo for Factories. Factory retool year effects number of factory employees!
+Reduced base Research Team costs by a factor of 10. Increased Research Team costs growth rate from 2% to 5%.
+Changed Vehicle Designer Selected Components font color from white to orange and moved the text to the top to make it more readable.
+Implemented All Time Sales Report for each vehicle type. Access them from the All Time Sales Report.
+Report zoom in and zoom out using ctrl+ and ctrl- respectively.
+Fixed Assisted Chassis Designer Bug if player had many large engines it would not allow design of a smaller chassis. If you have 6 or more engines, the assisted chassis size system will only check against the smallest engine rather than the average of engine sizes.
+AI will now occasionally mimic (not completely copy) successful vehicle and component designs.
+Adjusted AI engine designer sliders in the hopes to reduce or eliminate 0hp designs for AI vehicles.
+In game notepad for you to write down notes (accessible from side panel.)
+Redesign of New Game Window that merges advance game settings and makes space for map/scenario loading systems.
+Advance game setting to adjust randomness of total customers
+Advance game setting causing a gap in estimated research values when designing components/vehicles based upon your design skills. Gap amount is adjustable in this setting.
+Advance game setting already designed Component/Vehicle Costs increase with inflation.
+Advance game settings change your skill, image, and design rating values.
+Advance game settings No marketing. (Dunno why, but it was heavily requested in 2014...)
+Commonly request cheats added to advance game settings: No tech years, Can't Lose (Unlimited Money.)
+Nightmare! Difficulty Level.
+Custom Starting Year, you can now slide a slider and select a year between 1900 and 2019 to start in.
+Advance Game Setting: Establish AI Companies with premade factories, branches, vehicles, etc (defaulted on for Normal, Hard, and Nightmare modes.)
+Adjusted AI vehicle pricing.
+Adjustments to AI component selection system (for AI and player Assisted Designer) to take into account vehicle wealth class and price of components. With the hopes there will be less insanely expensive cars in cheap car classes.
+Fixed bug in Engine and Gearbox Licensing system.
+Fixed bug that caused a discontinued vehicle to replace an active vehicle after canceling new generation/trim vehicle that has a replace model modification assigned to it. (Typically via the modify components windows.)
+Fixed bug with Factory workers striking code that made Benefits demands to go too high.
+Fixed number of bugs in the striking system due to newer systems to manage manufacturing and marketing.
+Implemented new turnevents.xml modifier for Pension Fund growth rates as the existing system tied to the stock rates in the turnevent.xml file were not properly working with the funds.
+Implemented a window refreshing system for when the game is under heavy processing to prevent "Window Not Responding" ghosting in Windows. This still needs to be tested in Linux and OSX. Will also need to test on a modern Windows machine to see if I need it in any more places.
+Implemented a popup in some places telling you that the game is processing data. Will need to test on a modern Windows machine to see if I need it in any more places.
+AI Stock IPO's changed to 10 years after founding due to new established AI system.
+Adjustments to AI sales figures in Hard and Nightmare game modes.
+Implemented an In Game Settings system. Accessible in the office by hitting Escape or clicking the file cabinets.
+Delete Old Reports In Game Setting (Default On)
+Auto Save Period In Game Setting. (Default 1 Year. Choices are: Never, 3 Months, 6 Months, 1 Year.)
+Lock Office To Spring In Game Setting (Default Off, Prevents the office artwork from getting dark with the change of seasons.)
+Awards now show up in Corporate Time Line.
+Created Award Plaques and Trophies (Spent a whole day making them, and found out I only have room for little 48x48 pictures...)
+Auto Marketing System. (Enable it with other Auto systems in Mega Menu Autocommands.)
+Clone existing branch's distribution and marketing settings when building a new branch.
+Unlimited Play Time
+In Game Setting: Disable Save on Exit
+OSX: Removed Game from OS X Dock and adjust Steam launch to remove terminal window. The game window should be minimizable, you will no longer have 5 instances of the game open and the terminal window will be gone, however Alt-Tab will not be able to pull open the game.
+Linux: Launching game from shell script now, thus fixing Locale issues in languages that use comma as a decimal notation.
+Fixed bug that would discontinue your licensed components if the parent company went bankrupt.
+Fixed bug in factory clean up that would not free up production lines of factories in some cases.
+Fixed bug in Factory Districting system located in the Mega Menu. that would not show production system if the entire district was in Limited Conflict status.
+Fixed possible division by zero bug in Cash to Debt ratio variable used in stock evaluations. (Thus making companies share prices grow so quickly.)
+Fixed bug in "Recondition All" branches prices.
+Stand Alone Video Settings Editor
+First Phase of Mod Tools
+City Editor
+AI Editor
+Turn Events Editor
+Fixed bug displaying administrative benefits demand amount in the action memo.
+Fixed bug in vehicle manufacturing strike auto wages.
+Possible fix to strikers demanding less wages than they make.
+Fixed Sound Effects Volume Setting not being loaded.
+Limited company's profitability's effect on preventing benefit negation values.
+Added Administrative skill effect on benefits negotiation.
+Fixed bug which did not reset morale when successfully negotiating benefits with a department.
+Adjusted the time when we calculate demanded Benefits Rate. (At the same time fixed a bug in the old calculation that caused too many request every 3 years.)
+Slowed the rate of morale decline if your benefits are too low
+Fixed District Branch Filtering in Mega Menu
+Fixed bug which causes factory lines to be applies to the wrong vehicle in Mega Menu
+Fixed bug which gave marque's too much benefits on Image ratings from marketing compared to parent company
+Fixed Auto-Marketing crashing when player has no branches
+Possible crash fix with aerodynamic drag calculations when clicking the Ratings button on certain video drivers.
+Fixed bug which caused HQ selection to break when you return to the main menu from one game to start a new game.
+Fixed crash in shader system when going from stand alone car designer to in game car designer then exiting to Office.
+Possible fix to Monthly Report and others missing some inventory vehicles in certain conditions. (Not sure if I found all possible conditions.)
+Fixed bug with non-ascii characters in save games causing reports not to load.
+Disabled key repeat for all characters except backspace, delete, and arrows keys in order to prevent gui character insert issues do to frame timing. IE repeat characters in a text box because you type too fast.
+Fixed some bugs with escaping keying windows.
+Fixed newspaper hot key crash
+Fixed bug which caused the "please wait" popup to come up when starting a new game even if you forget to select a year or difficulty rating, or if your save name already exists.
+Fixed bug which caused the contracts to awarded one month too soon.
+Fixed bug in which created marques did not have AI Behaviors. (So when they were spun off they acted insane.)
+Fixed bug that did not copy shipping distances when cloning a branch.
+Adjusted shadow system to get rid of shadow type that causes vehicle paints to be black on some video cards.
+Fixed two places that did not copy engine transversed check box when redesigning or copying engine sliders.
+Fixed bug which caused reports and factory costs to be miss matched.
+Changed "Base Costs" text to "Line Costs" and added a cost per line amount in World Map Factory View Details.
+Fixed idle factories not showing up in factory expense report.
+Made RnD->Modify->Component automatically open the restore production window if no components are active but discontinued components exist.
+Fixed bug that sometimes caused OEM parts revenues to drop to $0 three years into the game.
+Fixed missing overview text for two stroke value type.
+Fixed crash in Portuguese language file when making a race team.
+Fixed crash when deleting old reports in translation files that do not use ascii characters.
+Map Loading System
+Added "Testing Dot City" map. Uses Classic Map's data, but dynamically loads city based on coordinates. Will be replaced by "Default Map" by v1.22
+Added base map artwork for player created dot city maps.
+Added "Oldschool Territories" Map. 23 Territory map designed for v0.1 of GearCity.
+Fixed limited/war causing some companies to not function.
+Implemented Factory/Branch size/costs/effects modifiers for maps.
+Implemented system that allows you to make specific textures for territories/cities.
+Map movement now dynamic valued based on size of the map.
+Ported Videosettings/Modtools to Linux and OSX.
+Removed wiki browser tab, made the wiki open in 2nd reports window. (Freeing up 50mb of ram.) May do the same to chat, not sure.
+A couple of minor bug fixes, most of them having to do with the new map system.
+Updated translations.
+Possible fix to New Generation/Trims costing more time than new vehicles designs if no sliders are touched.
+Fixed Tax expenses on Expense Report showing up one month late.
+Fixed select chassis button not being enabled when you change sub components of a vehicle that is being new generated or trimmed after going to the advance designer.
+Fixed LD texture crash on Oldschool Territories map.
+Removed debt payments from being counted against your tax payment.
+Fixed bug in Mega Menu Marketing when switching to district from individual branches
+Fixed Bug broken clone system in Mega Menu Marketing
+Fixed bug that allowed you to assign marketing dollars to cities with no branches on the world map.
+Hopefully a fix to the car designer raycasting crash.
+Fixed bug that shows district shipping checkbox when autoproduction is enabled
+Fixed bug in networth chart that included factory construction as well as unfinished vehicle and component designs.
+Fixed bug in advance designer that caused warning messages to "stick" after multiple designs
+Fixed bug in advance designer that caused optimal fuel messages to pop up when they shouldn't
+Fixed incorrect prestige ratings in Marque' view in Finances.
+Fixed incorrect weight unit in racing engine lists.
+Fixed bug in racing budget lock due to bug fixes in lobbying and other lock systems.
+Fixed bug in racing results memo that didn't show racing series.
+Fixed multiple bugs where engine power rating and engine reliability ratings were getting mixed when pulling data from the DB. (This fixed two known bugs, one of which was the Engine Reliability Modification issue.)
+Fixed bug in GearBox modification issue with smoothness rating. It was being applied twice.
+Fixed a bug with factory/branch ownership when you spin off/sell a marque.
+Assisted and Advance designer will no longer allow you to design 0hp engines. You'll get a popup message telling you that the engine was rejected and why.
+Fixed possible negative RnD costs in expense reports (because budget locks were being processed before reports were being generated.)
+Moved reports buttons in office to allow "web browser" window to be shorter. Thus hopefully giving most 1080 window mode players with 1080 monitors a full browser instead of the short version.
+Pension payouts now occur immediately (the year after), as approximately 6-8% of the work force retires each year.
+Pension liabilities are generated only for when workers retire, liabilities last 25 years now. And grow around 3% per year. (Less for factory workers, more for engineers/admins.)
+Fixed bug in the pension payout report.
+Changes to the pension system prevent excess pension liability costs and causes payouts to be immediate.
+Fixed bug in marketing report text causing the wrong text to be displayed.
+Fixed Autocommands replace model duplicate list bug.
+Possible fixes to world map city selection bugs (let me know if you still have problems clicking cities!)
+Fixed unclickable cities on "Classic Map"
+Added more information to the City Info popup, including name of the city/territory, population, and percapita.
+Fixed a couple of bugs in the German translation file that caused crashes.
+Added more colors and broke population and percapita data down more when using the "Mapping" system to view the data.
+Fixed regression bug that caused all modded engines to be transversed.
+Fixed contract and factory shutdown memo bugs.
+Reordered contract requirement units. This will become obsolete in v1.23 with new contracting system and (possibly) unit type selection.
+Some Lists will now automatically scroll to the selected position rather than resetting to the top!
+Fixed resizing bugs in mega menu and world map distribution.
+Disabled auto center for some windows when something like "Apply" is clicked. If you notice any that do it, and they probably shouldn't, let me know.
+Fixed debt's being transferred when making a wholly owned subsidiary.
+Fixed Bugs in AI Racing vehicle/engine designer
+Improved AI Racing vehicle type selection for generic type events.
+Adjusted Budget adjustments/program stoppage for AI racing.
+Added automatic re-IDing of cities in the TurnEvents, AI, and City files using the City Editor Tools.
+Random History
+City/Territory specific buyer rating.
+Base files for "Base City Map"
+Fixed bug with first earnings after IPO.
+Display eps of a freshly IPO'd company.
+Adjusted recent activity text to remove any confusion about your action to build a factory and the factory being actually built.
+Fixed bugs in the "Will it Fit" system in advance chassis and engine designer if you create more than one engine or chassis per visit to RnD state.
+Fixed bug which could cause reserved vehicles to become abandoned if you closed the factories. Game will now automatically scrap any vehicles in factories you close.
+Added a few more peek messages to loading in Windows to prevent ghosting on weak win7+ machines.
+Implemented Regional city maps, so you can change the map texture to any place in the world and have cities placed there using just gps coordinates.
+Implemented a European Test map.
+Changed buyer purchasing power formula to prevent exploitable sales and to simplify/speed up calculations. It may need some modifications over the next couple of patches.
+Fixed 2020 Starting Year Crashes on two maps.
+More Adjustments to Buyer Purchasing Power Formula
+Increased Dealership growth rates and decreased Dealership death rates.
+Adjusted AI Marketing triggers.
+Reduced Difficulty Random Bias favor to AI.
+Mod Editor
+Mod Loading Format
+Settings Editor Mod Selection
+Game Read Mod File and Override Scripts
+Name List Editor
+Newspaper Editor
+Fixed bug with stuck benefits flag due to negotiation.
+Fixed typo causing factory worker morale not to reset after benefit negotiation.
+Reduced benefit morale degrade
+Reduced requirements before employees get upset due to low benefits.
+Fixed UAE crash on base map.
+Fixed 2020 crash on European Map.
+Removed Testing Map from the game
+Fixed several reports issues in District reports.
+Fixed bug in coordinate system when getting distances between two cities.
+Fixed list not rescrolling properly on district mega menus.
+Fixed bug in competition map where HQ were red when cities were red.
+Adjusted age penalty effect.
+Changes all instances of "Unit Cost" to "Material Costs"
+Changes all instances "Total Production Costs" to "Total Unit Costs"
+Fixed bug which does not check "Auto Benefits" when loading the game.
+Load custom player logos files
+Load custom music files
+Reviews Editor
+Components/Models/Vehicle Types editor
+Racing Series Editor
+Player Logo Editor (Add your own Logos to the game.)
+Music Playlist editor (add your own music to the game.)
+Did you know editor
-Increased Electric Engine weight.
-Increased Electic Engine design and material costs.
-Increased Electric Engine manufacturing and design complexity.
-Increased Electric Engine Finish time.
-Increased Electric Engine Torque.
-Decreased Electric Engine RPMs
-Adjusted Electric Engine Fuel Economy
-Fixed bug in Components Mod Tool when exporting gearbox changes.
-Fixed Advance Designer, layout, showing bore/strike text and help buttons for electric engines.
-Fixed Advance Designer, layout, shows displacement slider for electric engines.
-Fixed Advance Designer, Summary, showing bore and stoke text for electric engines.
-Fixed Advance Designer, bottom panel, shows displacement help button for electric engines.
-Fixed Advance Designer, bottom panel, Test Vehicle Rating Specs shows cc for electric engines.
-Fixed Assisted Designer, showing displacement for electric engines.
-Fixed View Engine showing Displacement, Bore, and Stroke for Electric Engines.
-Added a 'None' induction system for designs, such as electrics, that do not have an air induction system.
-Adjusted Bond Coupon Rates.
-Adjusted Loan Interest Rates.
-Implemented wiki system
-Increased Diesel Torque and Fuel Economy.
-Decreased Diesel RPMs
-Increased Gasoline RPMs
-Decreased Gasoline Torque
-Decreased Natural Gas Torque and RPMs
-Increased Natural Gas Fuel Economy
-Decreased Hybrid Torque
-Increased Hybrid Fuel Economy
-Decreased Hydrogen Torque
-Increased Hydrogen Fuel Economy.
-Decreased Autogas's Torque and Fuel Economy
-Increased E85's Torque and RPMs
-Decreased E85's fuel economy
-Increased Steam Torque and Weight
-Decreased Steam's RPM and Fuel Economy
-Increased 2-Stroke RPMs, Fuel Economy
-Decreased 2-Stroke Reliability, Smoothness/Comfort, Weight, Torque
-Implemented a hidden "Torque" value for valves, mainly to be used with 2 stroke.
-Adjusted Star Display for SubComponents.
-Allow for negative values for weight, smoothness, and reliability in valves mod tool.
-Allow for negative values for smoothness in layouts and cylinders mod tool.
-Increased Single Cylinder Power
-Reduced Single Cylinder price and smoothness
-Implemented direct effect of low engine 'smoothness' on consumer buyers rating for certain vehicle types (based on type's luxury ratings). This should prevent single cylinder/two stroke engines being used on certain vehicle types.
-Fixed Crash in Mega Menu when using the Filters in the Districting System.
-Adjusted V, Straight, 10 Cylinder, and 12 Cylinder Smoothness Balancing.
-Added more 'layout arrangement' types to shorten VV, W, X, and H engines based on the number of cylinder banks they have.
-Switched Fuel Rating and Power Ratings for Engines to directly use the Engine's Specs rather than cylinder count.
-Ordering Subcomponents by Name
-Adjusted fuel popularity growth system
-Fixed some vehicle type popularity issues in some continents.
-Nerfed Design/Testing sliders effects on ratings.
-Rewrote used car sales system to have a more direct effect on lower end sales.
-Removed drop down boxes with no items for Steam/Wankel engines.
-Added "Turbined" flag for engine layouts that use "Dimension" rather than bore/stroke. This effects only Wankel engines in game. (Yes I know Wankels are not turbines, but Pistonless Rotary Engines are more similar to Turbines in this respect than real Rotary engines.)
-Tweaked Credit Rating Formula
-Credit Rating updates every 4 months rather than once a year now.
-Fixed bug in the AI/Assisted Designer Components Selection system that was giving equal weight to all components (thus why It seemed random.)
-Balanced AI subcomponent selection bias.
-AI save/use previous game's player designs.
-More City Data to Base City Maps
-Adjusted various rates for Base City Maps
-131 News articles and 800+ City events for Base City Map.
-Added Base Territory Map.
-53 new songs were added, roughly 4.5 hours, from 3 different artist.
-Minor redesign of the music player system.
-Fixed several bugs in the Music Player system
-Implemented a year limiter for music, so that only certain music will play based on the in game year. You can toggle this setting in the music player.
-Implemented continuous playback system, so that a song will not be interrupted by going to RnD or Showrooms. You can toggle this setting in the music player.
-Random Music setting is now saved.
-Implemented the in game wiki. You can access it out of game here: http://wiki.gearcity.info. Currently the wiki only contains some information about the mod tools. I plan to expand the game documentation every Saturday.
-Base City Map news articles and war flags have been updated to 1925 (not including major 1930s and 1940s wars).
-Fixed bug with engine saving that caused development pace and the turbined flag to be miss matched.
-Several bug fixes to the mod tools over the course of using them to implement various things in the game.
-War Events up to 1932 in Base City Map
-Mod Tools City Editor wiki entry
-Fixed Base City Map tax rates for Miami, Dubai, and Naples.
-Fixed bug in merger that causes some shares of merging company to disappear.
-Added an error message and prevented user from being able to buy child marques if they do not have enough money.
-Fixed bug which caused side panel to open below other windows
-Fixed exploit for new generation which can be used to reduce how long a model is made for.
-Fixed bug in Linux builds on new distros with libgcrypt2.0 requirements.
-Fixed VSync issue on OS X
-Fixed bug in Sales Reports that could cause some reports not to generate.
-RnD Licensing Drop Down Filters now automatically trigger an update of the list.
-Random History News paper articles now cause news paper to glow.
-Fixed bug that caused all newspaper articles to appear if starting the game later than 1900.
-Fixed bug in branch shipping sorting if prices are the same.
-Design skill points now increase or decrease if you buy/merge/or spin off a company.
-Added Revenue amounts to District Sales reports
-Adjusted awards selection, reducing random values and making sure the best overall is selected from the best of class.
-Adjusted auto-recondition frequency down to every 3 years from every year.
-Fixed refit and replace exploit on vehicles already under development by removing vehicles under development from the refit list.
-Fixed bug in modify vehicle list that caused them to only be sorted by model name.
-Moved vehicle body selection and load vehicle body windows to the side.
-Fixed Model Comparison crash in the showroom when changing company if the bottom list is empty and top list is not.
-Implemented safety check against negative shipping costs.
-Implemented safety check against incorrect amount of public shares for a company.
-Fixed bug in shipping system that caused incorrect branch infrastructure and gasoline ratings to be used. Thus reducing shipping costs.
-Added an exponential increase to shipping costs of 1.2 based on the distance. (Previous system had linear costs. Now the further away something has to be shipped, the little more it will cost per mile.)
-Increased the amount of Administrative, Marketing, and Branch employees.
-Reactivate discontinued (End Production) vehicles. This includes canceled designs.
-Create new generation or trims of discontinued vehicles.
-Fixed Target Demographic and Gearbox Type help buttons. Rewrote Engine Power help button to be more accurate with changes for v1.22.
-Canceling "Advanced" design of a vehicle or component will close the "Build It" window if it is open.
-Player can now set starting funds when spinning off a Marque.
-Can now set AI Behavior when spinning off Marque.
-Some labels will now rescroll up when text in them have changed. (Did not do this to the contracting system since it is going to be rewritten. May be other places that I need to do this at.)
-Mod Tools, Racing Editor Table sorting
-Mod Tools, Racing Editor ID's are now automatically generated when saving file, to prevent errors.
-Fixed very rare crash when adjusting the resolution settings in game.
-Improved RnD load time by roughly 10-15%
-Fixed bug that did not allow enabling/disabling tutorials in some rooms.
-Fixed duplicate tutorial text bug.
-Added a "maximum" transport costs to the estimated transport cost system. It now shows minimum and maximum transport costs.
-Fixed bug in minimum transport costs that could possibly not give you the true minimum transport costs.
-Fixed bug in district estimated average transport costs.
-Boosted marketing effect on sales
-Fixed Estimated Customers Chart numbers
-Fixed possible divisions by zero in project profits system.
-Fixed bug in racing selection that did not load the marque being used into the drop down boxes.
-Fixed bug in racing system that did not automatically load the selected engine or vehicle for a racing series you're funding. No more need to select a engine/vehicle to make minor adjustments to your team.
-Fixed bug in racing revenues that gave you income when the racing series was inactive.
-Fixed bug in Racing Expense reports that shows yearly expense instead of per month expense.
-Synced the dates for Racing Expense and the Main report.
-Added Season column to Racing Expense report.
-Fixed regression that caused Recondition Action Memos to show when Auto-Recondition is enabled.
-Fixed bug in Stock Report Memo being off set by one month.
-Fixed Issue with Engine Design Requirement Stars.
-Added disclaimer text to Estimated Customers Chart.
-Fixed bug in Networth Charts which did not calculate stocks properly.
-Fixed couple bugs in Stock Holdings reports.
-Fixed Total Gains column in Stock Holdings report.
-Mod Tools - Fixed bug in Mod Data Export with wrong miscart zips.
-Mod Tools - Fixed several bugs in the DYK Editor
-Tweaked several chassis subcomponent effects.
-Documentation - Added DYK Editor wiki page.
-Maps - War news articles have been added up to 1940. So we now have 1940+WW2 on Base City Map.

[Eric.B]

Work on v1.21.1 began a few days ago. This is going to be a big patch in terms of code and I'm hoping to move it out at a rapid pace.

Some major notes, I came across some employee data for a couple of early year manufacturers. As such I have greatly increased the number of factory workers. Pre 1920, there were roughly 15 employees per vehicle producing approximately 1 vehicle a day. Post 1920 (But pre WW2) that number went down to 8 employees. I didn't go that drastic with the numbers. But between 1900-1910 expect around 7-10 employees per vehicle in Normal mode. Be sure to retool your factories now and then. These numbers may become adjustable when I get to the "Expand Advance Game Settings" later in v1.21.1.

AI will now mimic successful vehicle designs. So if you build super cheap vehicles, flood the market, and sell millions of them. The AI will get the hint, and build something similar to your super cheap vehicle... I have not tested this in long term game play (doing that as of typing this actually.)


-Increased Factory Employee Numbers in Early game years to be more aligned with historical figures.
-Decreased amount of wear required to pull up Retool Action Memo for Factories. Factory retool year effects number of factory employees!
-Reduced base Research Team costs by a factor of 10. Increased Research Team costs growth rate from 2% to 5%.
-Changed Vehicle Designer Selected Components font color from white to orange and moved the text to the top to make it more readable.
-Implemented All Time Sales Report for each vehicle type. Access them from the All Time Sales Report.
-Report zoom in and zoom out using ctrl+ and ctrl- respectively.
-Fixed Assisted Chassis Designer Bug if player had many large engines it would not allow design of a smaller chassis. If you have 6 or more engines, the assisted chassis size system will only check against the smallest engine rather than the average of engine sizes.
-AI will now occasionally mimic (not completely copy) successful vehicle and component designs.
-Adjusted AI engine designer sliders in the hopes to reduce or eliminate 0hp designs for AI vehicles.

[Eric.B]

-In game notepad for you to write down notes (accessible from side panel.)
-Redesign of New Game Window that merges advance game settings and makes space for map/scenario loading systems.
-Advance game setting to adjust randomness of total customers
-Advance game setting causing a gap in estimated research values when designing components/vehicles based upon your design skills. Gap amount is adjustable in this setting.
-Advance game setting already designed Component/Vehicle Costs increase with inflation.
-Advance game settings change your skill, image, and design rating values.
-Advance game settings No marketing. (Dunno why, but it was heavily requested in 2014...)
-Commonly request cheats added to advance game settings: No tech years, Can't Lose (Unlimited Money.)
-Nightmare! Difficulty Level.
-Custom Starting Year, you can now slide a slider and select a year between 1900 and 2019 to start in.

[Eric.B]

-Advance Game Setting: Establish AI Companies with premade factories, branches, vehicles, etc (defaulted on for Normal, Hard, and Nightmare modes.)
-Adjusted AI vehicle pricing.
-Adjustments to AI component selection system (for AI and player Assisted Designer) to take into account vehicle wealth class and price of components. With the hopes there will be less insanely expensive cars in cheap car classes.
-Fixed bug in Engine and Gearbox Licensing system.

[Eric.B]

v1.21.1 is almost ready to go, just have 2 more tickets remaining. If I'm unable to finish them, they will get pushed back to v1.21.2, as they're rather large tickets. v1.21.1's release date is planned for the 20th. I might be able to get it done sooner, but I want some play time in it. This build has some major changes and the following minor versions are mostly going to focus on modability and tool creation.

-Fixed bug that caused a discontinued vehicle to replace an active vehicle after canceling new generation/trim vehicle that has a replace model modification assigned to it. (Typically via the modify components windows.)
-Fixed bug with Factory workers striking code that made Benefits demands to go too high.
-Fixed number of bugs in the striking system due to newer systems to manage manufacturing and marketing.
-Implemented new turnevents.xml modifier for Pension Fund growth rates as the existing system tied to the stock rates in the turnevent.xml file were not properly working with the funds.
-Implemented a window refreshing system for when the game is under heavy processing to prevent "Window Not Responding" ghosting in Windows. This still needs to be tested in Linux and OSX. Will also need to test on a modern Windows machine to see if I need it in any more places.
-Implemented a popup in some places telling you that the game is processing data. Will need to test on a modern Windows machine to see if I need it in any more places.
-AI Stock IPO's changed to 10 years after founding due to new established AI system.
-Adjustments to AI sales figures in Hard and Nightmare game modes.
-Implemented an In Game Settings system. Accessible in the office by hitting Escape or clicking the file cabinets.
-Delete Old Reports In Game Setting (Default On)
-Auto Save Period In Game Setting. (Default 1 Year. Choices are: Never, 3 Months, 6 Months, 1 Year.)
-Lock Office To Spring In Game Setting (Default Off, Prevents the office artwork from getting dark with the change of seasons.)
-Awards now show up in Corporate Time Line.
-Created Award Plaques and Trophies (Spent a whole day making them, and found out I only have room for little 48x48 pictures...)
-Auto Marketing System. (Enable it with other Auto systems in Mega Menu Autocommands.)
-Clone existing branch's distribution and marketing settings when building a new branch.

[Eric.B]

v1.21.1 has been semi-ready for a couple of days now, but has been undergoing some play testing to make sure that it's ready for release. We have implemented "Unlimited" game time. When you hit 2020 you'll be given the option to continue playing the game.

This new feature may introduce some new bugs into the game. Thus why we've had a longer than normal play test for this update. In doing so, I've fixed a number of bugs that I came across, and knocked out a couple of user submitted bugs. I believe the Unlimited Play Time stuff should be stable now... But we'll see! That's what Testing Build is for!

I'll start making final optimized builds now. Then do some tests via Steam. Update should be ready in the next 18 hours!

-Unlimited Play Time
-In Game Setting: Disable Save on Exit
-OSX: Removed Game from OS X Dock and adjust Steam launch to remove terminal window. The game window should be minimizable, you will no longer have 5 instances of the game open and the terminal window will be gone, however Alt-Tab will not be able to pull open the game.
-Linux: Launching game from shell script now, thus fixing Locale issues in languages that use comma as a decimal notation.
-Fixed bug that would discontinue your licensed components if the parent company went bankrupt.
-Fixed bug in factory clean up that would not free up production lines of factories in some cases.
-Fixed bug in Factory Districting system located in the Mega Menu. that would not show production system if the entire district was in Limited Conflict status.
-Fixed possible division by zero bug in Cash to Debt ratio variable used in stock evaluations. (Thus making companies share prices grow so quickly.)
-Fixed bug in "Recondition All" branches prices.

[Cerberus23]

-Unlimited Play Time

Hey Eric,

hope you've had a wonderful christmas, quality time with your family and more of that stuff people say around this time of the year *yawn* and so on and on

I think i'll love the unlimited playtime feature and it opens up so many oppurtunities for the "late game" of GearCity. Do you think with the upcoming modding tools it will be possible to create a somewhat "Modded Version of the upcoming Future" with things like newspaper entries, maybe wars, new companys, new technology to research, new fuel types, racing series, marketing options, branch and factory sizes, map changes (like population, city names, regions (from wars maybe?) etc.) ???

[Eric.B]

Hey Eric,

hope you've had a wonderful christmas, quality time with your family and more of that stuff people say around this time of the year *yawn* and so on and on

Thanks! And you as well.

(Although working on my laptop is not so fun... Shouldn't have been so cheap and spent $300 instead of $200 when I bought it!)

I think i'll love the unlimited playtime feature and it opens up so many oppurtunities for the "late game" of GearCity. Do you think with the upcoming modding tools it will be possible to create a somewhat "Modded Version of the upcoming Future" with things like newspaper entries, maybe wars, new companys, new technology to research, new fuel types, racing series, marketing options, branch and factory sizes, map changes (like population, city names, regions (from wars maybe?) etc.) ???

Most certainly. And I already have the UI layouts designed for Map systems and about 90% done on the City Editor.

Pretty much everything in the game stored in xml files are modifiable or will be, very shortly. The only time limitations we have right now is pre-1900, but I could always go through and the same thing I did to unlimited time for pre 1900 time.

Outside of that, you can pretty much make your own tycoon game out of the mod tools as long as the unmoddable stuff (UI/Formulas/Stats) make sense for it. (Hopefully the contracting system will be improved enough in v1.23 to allow for more modability there as well.)

Unlimited still needs quite a bit of testing to make sure it's not buggy.

[Eric.B]

As the Holidays come and go, we keep pounding away on the keyboard!

Since the last progress post, I have focused exclusively on the various external tools for the game. I have finished the Video Settings Editor. If you're on Windows, you may have seen our command line editor, this will be replaced by the new program. This program will also be ported to Linux and OSX toward the end of v1.21.2.

The Video Settings Editor may not sound like much, but it was the perfect program to write in order to learn the QT API. Upon completion I was able to hit the ground running on the Mod Tools! As of this post, I have completed the Main Menu and the City Editor for the Mod Tools. I've also completed the UI for Map Tools and AI Editor. The later I should have code completed in the next few days. The former requires a couple of editors (such as City Editor and AI editor) to be finished first before I can implement it.

For v1.21.2 the plan is to implement the Map Tool system, all sub-tools needed to create maps for the game, a map loading system in the game, and a couple of example maps... I would say right now, we're about 20% done.

Anyhoo, lets show off some screenshots!
www.gearcity.info/images/VideoSettings.png
www.gearcity.info/images/MainMenu.png
www.gearcity.info/images/MapTools.png (Missing Icons)
www.gearcity.info/images/CityEditor.png (Missing Icons)
www.gearcity.info/images/AIEditor.png (WIP)

[Eric.B]

Both the AI Editor and the Turn Events Editor have been completed. The Turn Events editor may need a little more work. But I will push that back for later.

All QT tools I'm making for GC are open source. If you're curious about the code, you can view it here: Mod Tools[github.com] and Video Settings Editor[github.com]

Since I am getting flooded with bugs reports from v1.21.1 , I will pause progress on the remaining Map Tool work and switch over to bug fixes. Once I get a good number of the big ones knocked out, I'll switch back over to the map tools and implementing the map loader. We may have to release v1.21.2 without a second map however if it takes too long.

[Eric.B]

We switched over to documenting and ticketing on Friday. And knocked out the follow bugs and minor features:
-Fixed bug displaying administrative benefits demand amount in the action memo.
-Fixed bug in vehicle manufacturing strike auto wages.
-Possible fix to strikers demanding less wages than they make.
-Fixed Sound Effects Volume Setting not being loaded.
-Limited company's profitability's effect on preventing benefit negation values.
-Added Administrative skill effect on benefits negotiation.
-Fixed bug which did not reset morale when successfully negotiating benefits with a department.
-Adjusted the time when we calculate demanded Benefits Rate. (At the same time fixed a bug in the old calculation that caused too many request every 3 years.)
-Slowed the rate of morale decline if your benefits are too low
-Fixed District Branch Filtering in Mega Menu
-Fixed bug which causes factory lines to be applies to the wrong vehicle in Mega Menu
-Fixed bug which gave marque's too much benefits on Image ratings from marketing compared to parent company
-Fixed Auto-Marketing crashing when player has no branches
-Possible crash fix with aerodynamic drag calculations when clicking the Ratings button on certain video drivers.
-Fixed bug which caused HQ selection to break when you return to the main menu from one game to start a new game.
-Fixed crash in shader system when going from stand alone car designer to in game car designer then exiting to Office.


I'll continue working on big bugs and little features until about Friday. (Or I knock out my list, which ever comes sooner.) After which I'll return to working on the Map Tool, Map loading, and a new test map.

[Eric.B]

Today concludes the last little round of bug fixes I'm doing for v1.21.2. There are still quite a few bugs left to fix, but since the main focus of v1.21.2 is map loading, I need to complete that before I can release an update. So I will be switching back to our Video Settings Editor / Mod Tools / In game map loading until they are complete. Once map loading is implemented and a test "dot city" map is completed, I'll release v1.21.2 and then move back to bug fixes for a bug fix only v1.21.3 patch.

In the mean time, here is what I knocked out since the last post:
-Possible fix to Monthly Report and others missing some inventory vehicles in certain conditions. (Not sure if I found all possible conditions.)
-Fixed bug with non-ascii characters in save games causing reports not to load.
-Disabled key repeat for all characters except backspace, delete, and arrows keys in order to prevent gui character insert issues do to frame timing. IE repeat characters in a text box because you type too fast.
-Fixed some bugs with escaping keying windows.
-Fixed newspaper hot key crash
-Fixed bug which caused the "please wait" popup to come up when starting a new game even if you forget to select a year or difficulty rating, or if your save name already exists.
-Fixed bug which caused the contracts to awarded one month too soon.
-Fixed bug in which created marques did not have AI Behaviors. (So when they were spun off they acted insane.)
-Fixed bug that did not copy shipping distances when cloning a branch.
-Adjusted shadow system to get rid of shadow type that causes vehicle paints to be black on some video cards.
-Fixed two places that did not copy engine transversed check box when redesigning or copying engine sliders.
-Fixed bug which caused reports and factory costs to be miss matched.
-Changed "Base Costs" text to "Line Costs" and added a cost per line amount in World Map Factory View Details.
-Fixed idle factories not showing up in factory expense report.
-Made RnD->Modify->Component automatically open the restore production window if no components are active but discontinued components exist.
-Fixed bug that sometimes caused OEM parts revenues to drop to $0 three years into the game.
-Fixed missing overview text for two stroke value type.
-Fixed crash in Portuguese language file when making a race team.
-Fixed crash when deleting old reports in translation files that do not use ascii characters.

[Eric.B]

Map Tools and Video Settings Editor have been ported to Linux.

The Map Tools have reached the point where they can successfully export map files for the game!

A map loader system has been implemented in the game. You can now select which map you wish to play when starting the game.

The "Classic" map (the map you're all used to) has been successfully detached from the game. I had to remove a bunch of hard coded stuff for this to work. But now map changes, city data, etc should are dynamically loaded from the map files.

What does this mean? It means that you can make your own maps, cities, AI, and turn events using easy graphical tools. You then export those files into a folder in the game, and then load those files at the start of a new game.


There are still a couple more things I have to do. There are 3 missing features in the Map Tools, missing error checks in the Map Tools, I need to implement loading a map from a save game, and I have to work on the dotCity map format (which allows you to just use the coordinates of cities to make maps rather than using 3d modeling tools.)

Hopefully I can knock out these things by the end of the month. I'll then take a couple of days to make a new test map and make sure loading/unloading on multiple maps works. We'll then be ready for v1.21.2 release.

[Eric.B]

After quite a bit of headaches, everything is now working with the new maps system.
Since the new maps are dynamic, as in, different sizes, shapes, cameras, etc. We were having trouble selecting cities. This bug was present in the old map as well, but due to the position of the map/camera you never really noticed it.

Well with the integration of map zooming, this bug became a monster. It took me a full day to slay it. On top of this, district city selection when making your own district broke. So I had to fix that as well. Few things here and there added up to a couple extra unplanned days.

I need to clean up some files, which shouldn't take long. Do some play tests to make sure the new map system doesn't blow up the normal game. Then port everything to OSX (which might be another potential headache.)

Not everything I wanted for v1.21.2 is implemented, but it's been too long since the last release. So I am looking toward a Feb 9th-15th release at the latest depending on if I run into any issues play testing and porting to OSX. Most of what I don't finish for v1.21.2 will be pushed back to v1.21.4. The road mapped v1.21.3 features will also be pushed back. Bug fixes and map content will become the new v1.21.3 as mentioned in many of the threads over the last month.

[Eric.B]

Everything is ready for v1.21.2. Almost all the files have been uploaded and tested, just another 14-16 hours or so before launching it...

Over the last 8 days I implemented a new map called "Oldschool Territories" which is a semi-revised version of the original map the game had in v0.1-v0.3. The map features 23 territories, and was designed before we moved to the city system you all know. Interesting factoid, the game wasn't named "GearCity" until we moved to the city system in v0.3.

The old territory map looks very poor. It's programmer art. But it serves as a platform to test the scalability of the game. With the new map I was able to fix a couple of manufacturing/distribution bugs with the AI. I was also able to somewhat balance branch and factory modifiers using the map system, thus allowing for larger factories/costs externally rather than hardcoded. I was also able to extensively test the 4 editors we have implemented so far in the mod tools, make corrections, and ticket things that need to be fixed or added.

The later two points are important, as for v1.22.3 the artist should be making a new fancy territory map with around 40-50 territories. This map should serve as a bases for those who find the game having too much micromanagement. Likewise, I'll also be working on a new Default City Map using the map tools. Which will hopefully balance out the gameplay a bit.

Anyhoo more info on that tomorrow. Need to play test Windows build (it just finished uploading) and get some rest...

-Map Loading System
-Added "Testing Dot City" map. Uses Classic Map's data, but dynamically loads city based on coordinates. Will be replaced by "Default Map" by v1.22
-Added base map artwork for player created dot city maps.
-Added "Oldschool Territories" Map. 23 Territory map designed for v0.1 of GearCity.
-Fixed limited/war causing some companies to not function.
-Implemented Factory/Branch size/costs/effects modifiers for maps.
-Implemented system that allows you to make specific textures for territories/cities.
-Map movement now dynamic valued based on size of the map.
-Ported Videosettings/Modtools to Linux and OSX.
-Removed wiki browser tab, made the wiki open in 2nd reports window. (Freeing up 50mb of ram.) May do the same to chat, not sure.
-A couple of minor bug fixes, most of them having to do with the new map system.
-Updated translations.

[Eric.B]

Releases a quick SP1 patch. SP2 will take much longer:

SP1 includes:
-Possible fix to New Generation/Trims costing more time than new vehicles designs if no sliders are touched.
-Fixed Tax expenses on Expense Report showing up one month late.
-Fixed select chassis button not being enabled when you change sub components of a vehicle that is being new generated or trimmed after going to the advance designer.
-Fixed LD texture crash on Oldschool Territories map.
-Removed debt payments from being counted against your tax payment.
-Fixed bug in Mega Menu Marketing when switching to district from individual branches
-Fixed Bug broken clone system in Mega Menu Marketing
-Fixed bug that allowed you to assign marketing dollars to cities with no branches on the world map.
-Hopefully a fix to the car designer raycasting crash.

[Eric.B]

I have been out of office for the last few days, but still around and working limited hours. There will be a couple more days in March where I will have the same level of activity. Sadly my hands are tied in this situation, but things will get back to normal in April... Anyhoo, Sorry for any late replies to forums post.

For 6 days since my last update, it's not as much as I would normally get done, but it's still a bit:
-Fixed bug that shows district shipping checkbox when autoproduction is enabled
-Fixed bug in networth chart that included factory construction as well as unfinished vehicle and component designs.
-Fixed bug in advance designer that caused warning messages to "stick" after multiple designs
-Fixed bug in advance designer that caused optimal fuel messages to pop up when they shouldn't
-Fixed incorrect prestige ratings in Marque' view in Finances.
-Fixed incorrect weight unit in racing engine lists.
-Fixed bug in racing budget lock due to bug fixes in lobbying and other lock systems.
-Fixed bug in racing results memo that didn't show racing series.
-Fixed multiple bugs where engine power rating and engine reliability ratings were getting mixed when pulling data from the DB. (This fixed two known bugs, one of which was the Engine Reliability Modification issue.)
-Fixed bug in GearBox modification issue with smoothness rating. It was being applied twice.
-Fixed a bug with factory/branch ownership when you spin off/sell a marque.
-Assisted and Advance designer will no longer allow you to design 0hp engines. You'll get a popup message telling you that the engine was rejected and why.


I have a number more bug fixes to get to this week. I'm going to try to get an SP2 patch out to testing at the end of the month with quite a few more bug fixes!

[Eric.B]

A number of bugs have been fixed, I'll be doing a quick play test of SP2 today. We will possibly get a release of v1.21.2 SP2 tonight or tomorrow at the latest. This will be the last SP for v1.21.2, I'll be switching over to implementing a couple new features (random history) and at least 1, possibly 2 new maps for v1.21.3.

-Fixed possible negative RnD costs in expense reports (because budget locks were being processed before reports were being generated.)
-Moved reports buttons in office to allow "web browser" window to be shorter. Thus hopefully giving most 1080 window mode players with 1080 monitors a full browser instead of the short version.
-Pension payouts now occur immediately (the year after), as approximately 6-8% of the work force retires each year.
-Pension liabilities are generated only for when workers retire, liabilities last 25 years now. And grow around 3% per year. (Less for factory workers, more for engineers/admins.)
-Fixed bug in the pension payout report.
-Changes to the pension system prevent excess pension liability costs and causes payouts to be immediate.
-Fixed bug in marketing report text causing the wrong text to be displayed.
-Fixed Autocommands replace model duplicate list bug.
-Possible fixes to world map city selection bugs (let me know if you still have problems clicking cities!)
-Fixed unclickable cities on "Classic Map"
-Added more information to the City Info popup, including name of the city/territory, population, and percapita.
-Fixed a couple of bugs in the German translation file that caused crashes.
-Added more colors and broke population and percapita data down more when using the "Mapping" system to view the data.
-Fixed regression bug that caused all modded engines to be transversed.
-Fixed contract and factory shutdown memo bugs.
-Reordered contract requirement units. This will become obsolete in v1.23 with new contracting system and (possibly) unit type selection.
-Some Lists will now automatically scroll to the selected position rather than resetting to the top!
-Fixed resizing bugs in mega menu and world map distribution.
-Disabled auto center for some windows when something like "Apply" is clicked. If you notice any that do it, and they probably shouldn't, let me know.
-Fixed debt's being transferred when making a wholly owned subsidiary.

[Eric.B]

Once again, it's a limited week, but doesn't mean stuff isn't getting done.
Fixed several bugs in AI racing engine and vehicle designer that caused racing teams not to be made. Also adjusted the AI racing budget's.

It's also that time of year to do paperwork...

More work has been done on the mapping tools, as I start to use them to make the new default city map. Progress has also been made on the new default territory based map...

Speaking of maps, Classic Map is 274 cities. Some of which belong in the game, some of which really don't belong. Many have nothing to do with automotive history, and many do. My goal for the default map is to drop it down to 200 cities. But at the same time, have a good blend of populated cities and cities with automotive history. It's a difficult balance as factories tend not to be produced around major population centers. Then there is always the question of which cities to cut. And how would people fans and residents act? Etc.

Anyway, I took the classic map and started looking at the automotive history of places I planned to cut. (Minsk for example.) Next thing you know I have a list of 1000+ cities that have had factories, offices, RnD centers, or testing centers for major auto manufacturing companies.

So I thought I'd share it with you all. This is an incomplete map, as there were many bus, niche, really dead, and military manufacturers I skipped over. Some of the data does include bus, semi-truck, motorcycle, tractor manufacturers as well, depending on the data I could get. It also includes some abandoned factories, but generally for larger companies.

Blue is factories/offices/etc.
Red is Largest 85 cities. (Note, Largest for their respective continents.)
Orange is cities included in Classic Map.

View Map of Automotive History, Populations, and Classic Cities

So Now I have to come up with 200 cities from this map. Then make all the data, turn events, news paper articles, AI, etc... While at the same time, bug fixing and adding features to the tools... Fun.


-Fixed Bugs in AI Racing vehicle/engine designer
-Improved AI Racing vehicle type selection for generic type events.
-Adjusted Budget adjustments/program stoppage for AI racing.
-Added automatic re-IDing of cities in the TurnEvents, AI, and City files using the City Editor Tools.

[Seaswolf]

That is very interesting! How about having an option to select 200 cities with respective histories and so on and an option to have how many cities you may like.
For example I love to play huge gigantic maps in Civilization game series and I'd love play your game with more than 200 cities.
No problem with the others cities don't have history, etc! For me is important mkt, population to conquer the world! Lol