itch.io

Let me be that person on the OP's side of the barricades and say what some of us want to say but filter themselves out because they don't want to sound too rude/cynical/entitled and receive a ton of downvotes.

I'm frustrated that I've been waiting for 0.9.0 to finally release, starved for content, and, after receiving a promise of a Halloween release to enjoy the creepy vibes in a project I love, I still have to stop myself each time my mouse pointer hovers over the download button, still waiting for the stable version to be released. The only option to experience the game is by playing the old 0.8.2c build, a build I already know from inside out, tauntingly sitting next to 0.9.0 with a promise of fresh content to experience, and letting my interest and hope in the whole game continue dropping further down every week I check VotV's page.

I'm frustrated that the developer earns whopping $300.000 a year, minimum, excluding the merch and other revenue sources, and all he managed to muster for $175.000 (it's been 7 months since 0.8.2c) while developing an indie game is some new assets, events, graphical tweaks, 2 times the amount of bugs, and introduced the performance drop even further to the point the lighting system makes no sense to enjoy due to the framerate hit. Depending on the place he's living in, a whole studio can be opened on this budget, not 2 and a half people involved in the project, memeing on X about a new tower, an unprofessionally messy Unreal Engine blueprint, or whatever. Yes, I'm calling out the developer for something that is a major issue in Patreon-supported games, yet somehow is straight-up forbidden to discuss in every community, except probably Yandere Dev's. The development of this game is powered purely by the community that received a promise of an awesome experience, and as a member of this community, you should call him out too, because these resources are coming to him from your wallet. If that sum isn't respected, maybe he should just accept a publisher's offer and be pressured to continue developing the game using corporate money with a dedicated accountant micromanaging every penny of his spendings on a much less relaxed schedule if he can't properly allocate the donations.

I'm frustrated that the developer is highly selective in his choices of how to interact with the community. They're never responding to the bug reports on itch.io, making that thread look long forgotten, preferring the comfort of his Discord server where things seemingly already escalated up to the point of a personality cult. I, as a member of itch.io's community, wanted to be a part of the game's development, presenting my input for everyone's benefit, but my shouts to revert the controls or introduce the old layout as an option for those who can't digest the new controls are directed into nothing, as if this part of the community doesn't even exist.

I'm frustrated that there's no transparency, and, coming from the point above, a lackluster community management. We have a couple (?) of changelogs. We maybe receive one meme per month on X. And that's about it. When a release window is given, it's certainly to be taken with a cup of salt after the 0.9.0's fiasco. I have to hunt for information on their Discord server, trying to make sense who's who, trying to build an internal chain of thought to an answer if it's even worth waiting a couple of more days/weeks/months until the stable release, or the stable release isn't coming and I should just stop waiting and enjoy the current build... Only to hear yet another "shut up bro can't you see it's a shadowy test" from another member practicing toxic positivity every time I'd go to report some issue or criticize the testing build which is logically expected to receive such feedback. We don't know if the stable 0.9.0 is even in the works or if the developer has completely switched to 0.9.1 now, which may or may not also come out as an unstable release and repeat the cycle.

Please take a fresh look at this project, because at this rate, we're not going to get that amazing game we genuinely wish VotV to be.

I did the unthinkable and visited VotV's Discord channel.

After much bumping my head against the buttons and channels, I found a message from someone marked as "Patron III tier" and "Translator", mentioning that "0.9 Test saves files will be compatible with Stable 0.9" but noting that "with the current spawing problem of certain events, unforseen consequences might happen".

Another user, this time simply a "Member", speculates that "chances are we won't get an eta either, version b is not likely to be the stable release so will probably be another shadow drop".

Another "Patron III tier" user seems to be sure that "we will get another unstable shadow test version that should fix alot of issues", potentially referencing some info only Discord or Patreon users are aware of. They're hinting on that, at least, a new shadow build is currently in development.

Unfortunately, a "Patron II tier" user picks the hill "stable wont come a long while, we first got a few patches we gotta get through to get to stable", but the trustworthiness of this claim is too complex to verify for our small (1-person) team of independent researchers.

A relevant piece of information comes from a reputable source ("Admin"), mentioning that "stable releases don't have estimated dates, as fixing bugs and polishing stuff can take unpredictable turns". Highly distressing.

There's a WIP changelog for the new version 0.9.0b, but, in comparison to all the other threads, 0.9.0 is also marked as WIP. It's unclear whether we should expect two builds (0.9.0 stable / next unstable and 0.9.0b) or the team switched completely to 0.9.0b and are currently too busy discussing which artwork should they put on the next batch of merchandize mugs to find a minute to update the title. Here's the changelog, edited as of November 11:

Fixed:
>Signal pulse effect on the coordinate panel doesn't have a lifetime indication
>Glowsticks attachment after save and load
>Crash after going to the main menu while downloading the signal (?)
>Kilo server problems
>Medkit bought from the store cant be unpacked
>Server break rate
>Radio tower save and load
>Physical interactions with the drive slot
>Village protection strikes down all entities
>Murderfur debug point is visible
>Floppy discs turn into errors after save and load
>PC doesnt save the floppy disc data
>Transformers decay rate 
>Day speed game rule
>Black hole sun teleportation event isnt rendering properly
>Certain events not spawning properly
>Printed objects bounding box
>NPC path finding inside the cremator
>Tower, coordinate radar and transformers decay rules arent working
>Glue arrives as kerfuro part from the store
>SOme UI issues **[NEW]**
Changed:
>Funguns properties
>Item prices
  -Fuse
>sv.request doesnt reset the packets
>cr.health and sv.health changed to "check"
>Coordinate towers going down frequency
>Signal amount in the daily task
>Sugar selling price
>cr.check functionality
>ATV
  -Default lights brightness
  -Car battery depletion
>Office supplies can be crafted into scrap
>Farm plants fruit drop amounts
>Data structures
>"Physics damage" now applies to fall damage and ragdoll damage only
>Objects inside the open containers can be collected or held
>Added more physical interactions
>Kerfur face
>TV screens materials
>Garden hose can be put in inventory
>Cardboard boxes
   -Price
   -Breakable
-Duct tape is now functional
>Nails strength
>Autumn and spring bird sounds
>Printed objects
   -Added new properties
>Drone sack is detachable
>Swimming
   -Removed depth boyancy
   -Reduced swimming speed without the scuba mask
   -Added swimming sounds
>PC UI **[NEW]**
Added:
>1 craft
>1 console command
>3 microevents
>1 signal
>2 settings **[NEW]**

For your information, I already left the Discord channel and didn't expose myself to it for more than an hour. I'm safe & unharmed.

I keep postponing starting a new playthrough after noticing that the current 0.9.0 is still an unstable/testing build and is riddled with bugs. Do we have any information from the developer about the stable build release window? Or perhaps it's going to be another half a year until the next build, which may or may not be unstable as well?

I just don't know and feel conflicted whether I should hop on the train and try to have fun with what was given to us or wait an undefined amount of days until we get a stable release.

It's Unreal Engine 4

I'm guessing this release is just a way for the dev to hit the promised release date (Halloween), not to gather feedback. The real source of feedback the developer actively listens to must be the patrons who get access to the Patreon builds. The problem is, gathering feedback from the Patreon members isn't the most viable strategy, as those people who pay for the locked builds are psychologically more biased towards supporting the dev's decisions ("I'm paying for this from my wallet, so I might as well justify my spendings") instead of giving valid criticism. The result is us ending up waiting a year for the build that was subtly sabotaged by the dev's suboptimal way of engaging with the community instead of delivering shorter release cycles for the public builds for everyone to voice their concerns, vote in opinion polls, etc and gathering diverse, uncontaminated data.

Gosh, it took me a while and a detour back to the tutorial to figure out how to toss items you're holding (short R). You have to press R and then quickly click LMB. Too early and you place the object, too late and you either do nothing or perform an attack. Just why all those gymnastics?

But if we don't criticize, how are we going to be sure the game's going to be even worth playing once it enters Beta?

Not a fan of the new controls at all. Anyone managed to find a keycard to progress through the tutorial? You need to finish it to access the other modes, but there's a door to open and you apparently have to find a keycard from the "nook" (book?) which is nowhere to be seen. Coming back to 0.8.2 and finishing the tutorial there doesn't work.

Edit: Right next to the burger, just may be hard to notice!

Any game-breaking bugs in this build? Any info about the stable release? Let's find out!

А диски эти случайно не проводят к зависанию игры, когда их в коробку складываешь? Как мне теперь их в стопке-то найти

No idea, maybe the user has a thing for hot and curvy goth girls!

Isn't she a part of the research team that works with Dr. Kel? She sends you emails as Dr_Ena with a furry profile picture, and if I remember correctly it's her who sends Kel croissants.

Ты просто хочешь вынести ярлык с игрой на рабочий стол чтобы каждый раз не заходить в папку? Правой кнопкой мышки по VotV.exe -> "Создать ярлык" и перетаскиваешь его куда угодно.

That would be pretty cool, there must be UE4 plugins that can mainstream this for the developer. One great example is Outlast 2, the clips you record with the camera there aren't just pre-renders, but in-game recordings you can access outside the game.

What the previous updates showed us is that we shouldn't load our main saves in the TEST builds and always read the notes about migration when changelogs go out. The dev usually writes about migration caveats.

98%-100% норма. Это значит что упора в процессор нет.

https://archive.ariral.space/VDMR/

It "snows" inside the base too, absolutely immersion breaking

Is it fixed in 0.8.2?

I've dropped two playthroughs at this point after ~4 in-game weeks because there's just simply nothing happening. Yes, there are those flying murderous orbs and random entities, if you somehow manage to get to the spot from the dot on the radar in time, but other than that, there's nothing but random "I don't want to sleep" with seemingly nothing happening around you.

The first few days in the game are the most exciting because you have *something* to do (clean, level up the base), but then, when I imagine that there's an impassable gap of boredom with nothing but chores until the actual events start happening from day 40 or so, I lose all interest in downloading the new version.

That's a nice screensaver

At this point I'd wait for the "stable" 0.8.2 build before starting a new playthrough

Oh damn it's Skyrim Together all over again!

If you're on Windows, try using NTFS compression for some folders or the entire drive, right click -> Properties -> Advanced -> "Compress contents to save disk space". The VotV 0.8.2 folder goes down from 5.93GB to 5.08GB, for example.

It's most likely a quirk of the TEST build, I'm confident the dev will fix it in the "stable" release of 0.8.2

Maybe put everything inside the mail box and don't reset the events? I don't have any other advices :(

Yeah, you definitely have the new station merged on top of the old station. If you don't have a backup and resetting stuff doesn't work, the save's probably broken. Nobody can say for sure right now, there are no changelogs or migration notices from the developer.

Using the itch app is discouraged. You download the .7z file from the front page and unpack it anywhere you wish. Can you send a screenshot what opens up so I could tell you exactly what you have to do?

You see, if you did it with just Ctrl + C, Ctrl + V, I don't think Windows copied hidden directories like AppData. Open `D:\CT50OMX500SSD1\Backup Fri, Dec 13 24 21:05:57 CT500OMX500SSD1\Users\You` in the file explorer and try to search for `VotV` or maybe just `AppData` in the search field. If it doesn't find it, then it's permanently lost... You just have to say a few well-deserved heavy slurs to Microsoft and next time backup AppData separately. You also mentioned you made an image, did you, like, copy the whole drive into a .img file or completely clone the drive onto another using a third party app? If so, AppData must be there.

What did you back up, the whole user's folder (C:\Users\YourName)? Or just the individual folders like Desktop, Documents, etc?

Keep turning, it takes 5-6 clicks or so. Click, the opposite direction, click, the opposite direction, repeatedly.

Это нормально и даже правильно, когда видеокарта загружена на 100% это значит что она полностью утилизируется не упираясь в производительность других компонентов компьютера.

С оптимизацией действительно проблема, но никаких трюков здесь нет. Либо испорченная картинка без травы и освещения, либо фреймрейт 30. Мой совет - привыкнуть к низкому фпс, игра визуально прекрасна и не требует быстрой реакции.

Have you ever felt like you absolutely need to pet a dog even if it's so angry it's clearly gonna bite half of your arm off?

Да, есть, 

В: Все мои настройки на 0; Качество суперпикселизированное; Полностью черный\серый экран

О: Зайдите в Настройки>Игра и нажмите кнопку "Регенерировать data.sav".

>Itch will say its running

Are you running it through itch.io's launcher? You shouldn't, it's highly recommended to download the game manually.

Просто попробуй другим браузером, Firefox например. Либо с телефона, чтобы затем перекинуть игру на компьютер.

The spawn is weird, sometimes it's right behind the corner, sometimes you can do a whole expedition to find only one crystal hanging unreachable on the ceiling. The best bet would be to re-enter it if you can't find it the first few "levels".

That's because PowerShell instead of command prompt popped up, that's okay, we just need a different command. Try this: 

Remove-Item "s_I'm abouta die" -Force

Ah I get it. I don't see your current save in this directory, does your current one have the same name as this one? If not, I think it should be safe to try deleting it with the command prompt,

Open the saves folder, hold shift and press the right mouse button somewhere in the window, choose "Open in Terminal", and type

del /p /f "s_I'm abouta die"

to forcefully delete the file with confirmation. Even if it won't delete it, the terminal generally should be more verbose about what the issue is.

Брать нужно то, что поддерживает ноут. Найди полные хар-ки своего ноута, там будет написано и то, какая память стоит, и сколько плашек уже установлено. Если не получается точно найти, то либо уточни через через прогу HWiNFO (будет написано в "Memory Modules"), либо вскрой его и посмотри что внутри установлено, все равно придется вскрывать во время установки. Лучше сделать и то, и другое; первое покажет что установлено сейчас, второе покажет, реально ли есть свободный слот для установки плашки. Затем на основе этой информации бери любую совместимую SODIMM плашку (у Athlon 3050U это будет DDR4) от популярного бренда.

Показывает 6 ГБ из-за того, что система забирает 2 ГБ на выделенную видеопамять из оперативной памяти. Если у тебя только 1 плашка установлена сейчас, либо вообще память распаяна на материнке, то со второй плашкой будет + ~20% к производительности в зависимости от игры.

А вылетать игра из-за слабого ноута не должна. Если работает, то и должно работать, если вылетает в определенный момент, то и у всех игроков должно вылетать на этом моменте. Моё единственное предположение это нехватка виртуальной памяти, попробуй увеличить pagefile через Параметры -> Система -> О системе -> Дополнительные параметры системы -> Дополнительно -> Быстродействие -> Дополнительно -> Виртуальная память и установи одновременно исходный и максимальный размеры на 32768, сохрани и перезагрузись. Но не зная точного кода ошибки сказать тяжело.

How it's named, can you write it or send its screenshot?