Version 0.18.7

[FactorioBot]

Graphics

• New visuals for poison capsule effect.
• New dying effect and remnants for flying robots.

Sounds

• Entity destroyed alert - Sound softened and lowered in volume.
• Weapon sounds (WIP) - new Pistol, Submachine gun, Gun turret, Laser turret.
• Logistic chests open sound (WIP).
• Poison capsule cloud (WIP).

Bugfixes

• Fixed that reordering heat buffers during the same tick a different heat buffer was built would leave the heat buffer state corrupted. (81141)
• Fixed that entity sounds with probabilities would loop forever once they started playing. (80610)
• Fixed rocket silo tooltip did not include contents of the rocket result inventory. (81211)
• Fixed that styles were applied to wrong slot in a filtered train view. (81176)
• Fixed that server authentication would fail if both the token and username and password were provided. (80899)
• Fixed that changing inserter pickup/dropoff through mods didn't work correctly. (81263)
• Fixed that combat robots had their fire resistance overwritten. (81317)
• Fixed that rolling stocks were not pulled correctly when train was moving through curved rails. (81102)
• Fixed that LuaEntityPrototype::burner_prototype didn't work for the burner-generator entity type. (81281)
• Fixed janky construction robot flying animation during repair work. (81335)

Scripting

• Added optional LuaItemStack::build_blueprint raise_built.
• Added LuaInventory::find_empty_stack(), count_empty_stacks(), and get_insertable_count().
• Added LuaEntityPrototype::heat_energy_source_prototype, fluid_energy_source_prototype, and void_energy_source_prototype read.
• Added LuaGameScript::encode_string() and decode_string().
• Added on_player_set_quick_bar_slot.
• Added on_pre_player_toggled_map_editor.
• Removed LuaPlayer::name write. (81372)
• Removed core lualib util.encode() and util.decode().

Use the automatic updater if you can (check experimental updates in other settings) or download full installation at http://www.factorio.com/download/experimental.

[AntiElitz]

Hey guys,

thanks for keeping the game updated.
However I must give some Feedback to the sounds that are being changed, because they get consistently worse since 0.18.
I gave this some time to get used to the new sounds, but even after a month I still feel like there are a lot of flaws.

1. The Sounds are less unique
While the sounds may have a better production quality, they do lack a potion of variance between the different entities. Most of the updated sounds have just become white noise of different frequencies. This is not a very pleasant sound to listen to. Latest example is the new laser turret sound being another level of white noise again, compared to a very unique sound from before.
2. Action feedback is becoming worse
Because the sounds all sound fairly equal now, a player gets much less feedback for the actions he does. I do not notice if a laser turret fires anymore because if sounds basically the same as belts. Bots have similar sounds to the entity destroyed alert, so every time i pass a bot, i think my factory gets attacked.
3. There seems to be no volume normalization
Some of the new sounds are super loud and others are super quiet (eg. super loud offshore pump vs assemblers I can barely hear anymore). It may be the case that there are supposed to be louder sounds for louder entities in real life, but this is not how sound design is supposed to be done in a game. In Factorio the sounds that are more important for the player feedback are supposed to be louder
4. There are changes that don't appear in the patch notes
One time we get sounds for grabbing entities from the inventory, this time the sound for placing turrets are different. These are not the only undocumented changes in the sound department
5. There is no quality control for the sound department
While the quality of the releases are usually very stable in other areas, the new sounds always have problems in every release. This time the entity destroyed sound is basically muted. I do not notice weather i get attacked anymore. This is just after the sound was replaced by a new and very annoying one. Also the Turrets all of a sudden have a different placement sound compared to all other entities, which is a bug i suppose to be noticed very fast for a person reviewing it
6. The new sounds fit the game less
I feel like the general unique atmosphere of the game is being less transferred since there are the new sounds. I can not explain this one. it is just my personal feeling
7. Consider rolling back bad changes
Just because the sound are new does not mean the sounds are being better. I honestly recommend you developers to listen to the sound of 0.17 and compare them to 0.18 and judge yourself honestly which ones you like better and roll back to the preferred ones on a case to case basis. e.g. the new entity destroyed sound is not liked by a lot of people. Why is that not being reverted or going into a second revision?

Best's

[Omnifarious]

thanks for keeping the game updated.
However I must give some Feedback to the sounds that are being changed, because they get consistently worse since 0.18.
I gave this some time to get used to the new sounds, but even after a month I still feel like there are a lot of flaws.

I have to agree. I haven't listened to 0.18.7, but I've also spent a lot of time trying to get used to the new sounds, and I'm generally not pleased with them. There are a few specific changes I like, but mostly they are less interesting and distinctive than they used to be. Additionally, while there are some I like, they often interact poorly with the other sounds in the overall soundscape.

And I have one specific example of a bizarre interaction. When I have a horde of small biters chasing me, their footstep sounds sync up in a strange way that's very disconcerting and I wondered briefly if the game was about to crash before I realized that it wasn't some kind of weird repetitive loop, just surprising synchronization of a sound that you would expect to be chaotic.

Sounds I like... the new mining sounds (though they're a bit loud). The weird little plink noises the robots make (though they interact poorly with the destroyed entity alert), the water pump sound (though it's way too loud for what it is).

Sounds I really dislike now include the destroyed entity alert, mostly because it completely fails to alert me. The previous sound was jarring and very irritating, which is perfect for that particular sound. I also really dislike the opening and closing storage chest sound. I loved the metallic clang for the metal chests. The old wooden thump for the wooden chest was OK.

Anyway, I agree strongly with AntiElitz. Something is very amiss with the 0.18 sound design overall. It is distinctly less enjoyable than the sounds in 0.17.

And there are things I really like in the 0.18 series. I think the graphical updates have been really good, for example.

[ptx0]

Anyway, I agree strongly with AntiElitz. Something is very amiss with the 0.18 sound design overall. It is distinctly less enjoyable than the sounds in 0.17.

yes, the .17 sounds often felt like a piece of music or a sample from a DJ but I find myself turning all sound off in the new release. the first were the construction bot noises that play far too frequently and seemingly mean nothing. i don't need to know robots are running out of battery or whatever it is.

[Melerion]

Hey guys,

thanks for keeping the game updated.
However I must give some Feedback to the sounds that are being changed, because they get consistently worse since 0.18.
I gave this some time to get used to the new sounds, but even after a month I still feel like there are a lot of flaws.

You devs know that we love this game and would never attack you, right?

That said, I agree with the persons above about the updated sounds. The feedback given was already well written and detailed, so this reply is mostly there to be "for the record" as a +1.

[Xterminator]

Anyway, I agree strongly with AntiElitz. Something is very amiss with the 0.18 sound design overall. It is distinctly less enjoyable than the sounds in 0.17.

yes, the .17 sounds often felt like a piece of music or a sample from a DJ but I find myself turning all sound off in the new release. the first were the construction bot noises that play far too frequently and seemingly mean nothing. i don't need to know robots are running out of battery or whatever it is.

Also have to agree with Anti and the other thoughts that followed. I find nearly every new sound to be more of a distraction or annoyance rather than contributing to the game atmosphere, or being informative (like attack alerts and such).
Personally, I find standing or moving in my factory to be bothersome or annoying in 0.18 due to the new sounds rather than almost soothing and satisfying like it was in 0.17.

I say all this as constructive feedback, not to be rude or hurtful. This seems like the Night Vision scenario again where the community is giving their feedback about their dislike for a change that you guys may not notice is a problem, and like the Night Vision thing, I'd urge you to listen to the feedback and make some changes based on the feedback.

[MakeItGraphic]

Personally never liked the sound in this game, it was fine for a little while but it grew annoying fast. And at the time had a slow machine wasn't worth waiting for all the sound to load.

--disable-audio

My best friend

[Nefrums]

I think that most of the new sounds are an improvement. The silo sound is awesome!
But there is a volume problem.

Background sounds needs to be lower than player action feedback sounds!

The sound of gunfire or simple feedback sounds like entity placed sounds needs to have significantly higher volume than background sounds like belts, assemblers etc.

[conn11]

I see it much more ambivalent. The new sounds like the pistol and smg are IMHO an improvement.
Most of the rest (speaking of 0.18) are objectivly more refined and clearer. Though I like most of the new sounds (entity destroyed excluded, because beeinig rather indistinguishable from bots) I hesitate to way them against 0.17. Reason is, after many hours of playing I've got an massive bias towards the old ones.
That said, the new ones strike me as unfamiliar, but not fundamentally "wrong" or less uncharacteristic. Only concern I've got is them beeing to detailed and noisy in longer sessions in a crowded factory; after a few hours with a rather beefy headset, I would say no. But exposure until now, maybe beeing sufficent for lesser titels, was rather modest for typical Factorio.

On the other hand, two points I've already noticed: There's sometimes bad interaction between different sounds (like pointed out previously). And now with much higher individual sound quality, transitions between entities, especially emitting the same sounds (e.g. a turbine array in a nuclear block) and with some exoskeletons equipped are quite brutal and way to abrupt. This is even more true by using the radar view on the minimap.

PS: The update for the poison capsule, including the icon is really nice.

[AntiElitz]

I have to agree that there are also very positive examples of new sounds like the mining drills and the rocket indeed. Not everything is bad. That's why I do recommend a case to case comparison.

[Mernom]

Am I the only one who wants the 0.16 attack alert sound back?

On a more serious note, perhaps ad a toggle to various sounds to change them? Based on player preferance.

[jan1i3]

Generally there are good and bad sounds, but as usual the bad ones stick out.
I haven't played that much, but with what i'm doing there were only good sounds, except a few and those stuck out.
I had a very good experiance, and the only thing that annoyed me was the sound when you click any inventory slot, which doesn't go well with shift clicking stacks imo.
I remember belt sounds getting annoying, but that wasn't a thing with the new sounds.
Rocket silo is great.
I like the new chest sounds.
I do think the sounds can use more work, changes, refinements, but while i can understand people disliking bad sounds, people also ask for more frequent updates and more insights/hands on the newest things.
It needs a good balance of course, and that is what is hard to get right.

I am confident that the end result of the sound changes will be an improvement

[conn11]

Am I the only one who wants the 0.16 attack alert sound back?

That would be me

Even going a step further, give us an unannoying (but notecable) alert sound for military stuff, bots pipes and belts (anyting commonly in an defense network, rails, power network) and the old on as very striking reminder for destroyed buildings and miners for once the defense line is breached.

[Domin1c]

I don't like new sounds at all.
Any chance we can get old sounds as an option?

[Deadlock989]

Thanks for moving bot shadows to the shadow layer ... yes, some of us notice these things ...

[Yezpahr]

I'm just whining, ignore me if you can't stand whining.
These recent floods of minor updates really didn't make much sense to a player's point of view....


Major version numbers and decimal and another decimal on version numbers (1.2.3.4.500) were invented for a reason.
It is widely accepted to not start changing major things in minor updates that break entire lists of mods...

I'll turn auto-update off and just skip minor versions from now on, as empty mod lists and broken savegames was the result of this 1 tiny update....

What caused my empty list? Something about "animation", line 52 and some lua file I was too frustrated about to read, that error message showed up for every mod I had.

[MakeItGraphic]

I'm just whining, ignore me if you can't stand whining.
These recent floods of minor updates really didn't make much sense to a player's point of view....


Major version numbers and decimal and another decimal on version numbers (1.2.3.4.500) were invented for a reason.
It is widely accepted to not start changing major things in minor updates that break entire lists of mods...

I'll turn auto-update off and just skip minor versions from now on, as empty mod lists and broken savegames was the result of this 1 tiny update....

What caused my empty list? Something about "animation", line 52 and some lua file I was too frustrated about to read, that error message showed up for every mod I had.

That's the risk of playing experimental unfortunately, but positive of that is there is a repository for these minor releases.

https://factorio.com/download/experimental

Personally I never use auto-update on any software, never have. Go to great lengths to avoid it. There is software out there as well that can scan your applications for updates, and you can update them at your own leisure. Perhaps after reading the changes, which can be quite enjoyable!

[Schallfalke]

First of all, I develop mods and play on laptop. Using normal sprite resolution but turned off smoke, clouds, decoratives.

I enabled all of my "Schall"-brand mods, and still got 60 UPS on battlefield screen of my megabase save in 0.18.6.

But when updated to 0.18.7, the battlefield screen drops to 20-25 UPS.
Found out the cause is the new poison goo made from the poison capsule (which is released by my mod poison rockets).
Removing the rocket turrets and their poison rocket ammo (and wait for poison goo vanish), the screen returns to 60 UPS instantly.

I understand most players (those not using my mods) never have this problem since they do not release poison cloud at this scale. But I wonder why the poison goo can kill UPS so quickly?

[posila]

I understand most players (those not using my mods) never have this problem since they do not release poison cloud at this scale. But I wonder why the poison goo can kill UPS so quickly?

I wonder too. Can you save the game when it's happening and share the save here?

[Omnifarious]

I enabled all of my "Schall"-brand mods, and still got 60 UPS on battlefield screen of my megabase save in 0.18.6.

But when updated to 0.18.7, the battlefield screen drops to 20-25 UPS.

Do you mean FPS or are you really referring to UPS?