1

News / Update: 0.1.594 (Server browser replaced)

« on: May 29, 2019, 10:11:17 PM »

Changes:
- new server browser (removed big lag when you display the server browser screen)
- removed 2018 notice from main menu

2

News / New server is online

« on: January 15, 2019, 09:29:51 PM »

I created new server with a name "Start server". So everyone can now play the game without creating own servers. Not big step yet, but atleast something.

(well, "everyone", if they will have good ping, server is located in Czech republic)

3

News / Update: 0.1.593 (Turret fix)

« on: October 18, 2018, 06:45:06 PM »

Changes:
- fixed Turret (not) shooting
- added credits page

Funny story:
Maybe you are currious that the patch with the fix is 1 GB big. It have only one credits page and small fix. Actually the reason why turrents are shooting so bad was a bug in the engine. But not only common bug.

What happened: turrets could shoot only forward. Even they could rotate to a target, they still internally looks forward.

Why it was released like that: because in Unreal Engine editor it looks ok. Turrets correctly rotating and shooting. They only seems little lagged. But that is nothing unusual on my computer.

Why it was not easy to fix it: Because in the UE editor it looks ok. Even in the standalone version. But only when I packaged the whole game (= created the final game for a distribution) then the turrets stopped working. And to package the game will take DAYS. Don't know why, but with update to UE 4.18 is packaging extra slow. Moreover after few days of packaging it just crashed with linux version and packaging was not complete. This is just impossible to do anything with that when bug will appear only after packaging.

I decided that I have to build the game on my computer and not on my 10 years old shit server. My computer is also slow but still faster that the server. First build took about 4 days. CPU is 4 core and all cores runs all that days on 100 %. Slowest thing was compiling the material shaders (twice, windows + linux). But don't know why it was SO slow. Luckily, when you will compile shaders once, then you don't need to do it again. If you will not delete the cache.

Now I had to find the bug. So I had to add debug information for server and build the game and test it. These builds (windows server) were faster, about a hour maybe. Luckily I could connect with old client to the new server and debug server behavior. Thanks to that I could not to debug client but what happens on the server was more important.

What was the bug: Bug was in the fucking engine. Just that the bug will appear only in the packaged version was suspicious. Turret have socket on the barrel and targetting and shooting comming from this socket position and rotation. And socket is connected with the turret model rotation. But, this socket is NOT moved on the server. Suddently. Even when is everything correctly set. Socket is still on the default place and done.

Fix: I had to just change targetting from the socket position to a point in the air which is rotated in a similar way like socked should be. That fixed the targetting and shooting. But the lagging still preserved. That was fixed by increasing minimal net update time from default 2 to 50. That determine how often should packets of shooting be sent per minute. Maximum was set to 100 and should be adjusted automatically, don't know why suddently it is broken.
Also I had to limit allowed angle for building the Turret so now can be build almost only on a flat floors.

That is not the end: I had to build final builds for distribution. Count in that I forgot to remove some debug infos and forgot to build clients with shipping settings so I had to build final builds several times. But then the packaging ended after 30 minutes on the one file "pillar". It should be just saved to the disk. After third attemp (always stuck at the "pillar") I figured out that something is not good with my harddrive. Cannot be openned (in that time) and everything was stucked. It was external harddrive and when I disconnected it then everything continued = failed, but was not stucked anymore. Good, harddrive is bad. But after reset he still had all data and was accessible. But I could not copy even 100 MB file, it copied 20 MB, wait, 5 MB, wait, stuck.

Solution was to copy everything to the second drive. Everything means whole project, whole UE sources and whole shader caches. That is about 150 GB. How, when is not possible to copy even 100 MB file? While I was thinking, the temperature and the stress of the broken harddrive was reduced and it was possible to copy something from the broken harddrive again.

I successfully copied everything to the good harddrive. Rewrote everything to target it there too. And started packaging. And it started to compile all materials again! Even when the cache was there copied too! Probably is there saved/hashed also path to the cache and that was now different so engine decided to compile everything again.

I turned off the monitor and went to sleep. After few hours I wake up because there was too silence around. Turned on the monitor and I saw that packaging of the windows client was finished in 4 hours. Surprise. So I packaged rest of projects.

You can say, yes that is clear now, before it was so slow because of the damaged harddrive. But, why it was so slow even on the old server? Why all cores of my computers was on the 100 % usage all time? What they computing when problem was in the harddrive? Well, I don't care now.

I uploaded the builds to the Steam, tested them on the windows and the linux and released.

And now the answer for the question: "Why the patch have 1 GB?". Answer is: I have absolutely no idea.

4

News / Another IndieGoGo reward

« on: August 28, 2018, 01:37:58 PM »

Hello,

I created small musical game Beat the Song and decided to give it to IndieGoGo supporters as a another reward while he waiting for Murnatan.

This game is last try how to make atlest some money. If this will fail then I need go to find common job.

Also I need to do one thing first - buy a new computer to continue with anything. It is impossible to work with this (about 6 years old computer) anymore. It's hell. I was testing Murnatan on the lowest quality settings and then was surprised what a game I see when I turned on slideshow (max quality). Imagine how I had to do screenshots for you (not possible) or videos (hahaha).

Ah, one more thing. Thanks to Beat the Song I figured out a way how to create MODs for Unreal Engine 4 games (crazy thing) and I discovered why it causing big lag when you going to the server browser for first time. Question is what situation will be in Murnatan where is big part of game in C++. Hmm, we will see.

5

FAQ / Discord / Discord chat

« on: August 24, 2018, 03:05:25 PM »

Come there: https://discord.gg/HfvNAna

6

News / IndieGoGo rewards

« on: June 22, 2018, 12:53:54 PM »

When you will get your rewards?

Badge on forum: now (just tell me that you really want it)

Coupon for item shop: when will be item shop implemented

Place in credits: DONE

VIP status forever: when admin system will be implemented

Place in credits in book: when book will be finished

Special skins: when skin support will be added (after item shop and admin system)

7

News / Current plans

« on: June 11, 2018, 08:39:01 PM »

1) make money <<<NOW
2) dumb bots (basic walking and attacking) (it looks complicated more than it seems )
3) ambush mod
4) admin system (log in, vip, bans)
5) ...

8

News / Update: 0.1.592 (Engine update 4.18)

« on: May 30, 2018, 07:56:18 PM »

Changes:
- updated Unreal Engine from 4.15 to 4.18

Side effects:
- server printing error message in log, but that is no problem
- mouse cursor can sometime disappear on linux
- aliens furs are little buggy

Note:
There are no other changes. We need to test if server still crashing on same bug.

9

News / IndieGoGo campaign ended and future

« on: May 26, 2018, 02:54:25 PM »

Hello,

first I want to thank to all backers. There was only few backers but with high pledges. I never expected that anyone will choose these high pledges. That was big surprise for me. You did really something for this game. Also most of you will get VIP status forever, which is not implemented yet in game but it will be impossible to get it anytime later.

Campaign duration was 2 months. During that time we fixed lot of bugs and improved some things. But most important bug still remains - server crash bug inside Unreal Engine. There is no point to play this game when server crashing so often. This is not common deathmatch game where "nothing" happens, so every crash will demotivate players. So instead of previous plans (create admin system, add support for custom maps, ambush mod...) was developing mainly targetted to fixing crashes. But that one crash cannot be fixed. So I decided to upgrade Murnatan to most recent version Unreal Engine and try it if it will still crash.
Sadly - I cannot test it for that crash. Game never crashed when you played it alone. And crashed totally randomly with more players. Sometime after few minutes of match and sometime after hour. So only solution how to test it is release new version in public and test it there.

Current state:
Currently I trying to update game from Unreal Engine 4.15 to 4.18. Most recent version is 4.19 but there is totally reworked skeletal mesh support and that is currently impossible to change. Game is already upgraded sucessfully to 4.18 and in dev mode works "ok" (few things doing problems but it is playable). But packaged shipping version for distribution is of course fucked up and every new packaging will take 6 hours (or two/more days if it is first packaging).

Future:
Now I trying to build some working version with UE 4.18. Then I will release it.

Next, if it will still crash with same bug then I will try to update it to 4.19. But if that skeleton component will affect some core mechanics then I will have to stay in 4.18. And don't know how to solve that bug. Maybe code some bots to simulate players and try to finally replicate crashing on dev machine, then fix that bug or rather change that what causing it. Or completely redone whole game in recent UE version

Next, I would like to implement (not in this order):
- dumb bots (basic walking and attacking)
- admin system (log in, vip, bans)
- support for custom maps
- ambush mod

But this implementation will take time. I need also start my life. Make some money, buy something for self, maybe find woman, make children, divorce etc. Don't know yet.

But good thing is that core of this game is good and this development is not dead. Only decreased mainly to one developer (me) and slowed down.

It is sad because if there could be 6 months of developing more then everything could be different. And with about another 1-2 years could be released final version. I tried to get money from investors, from game companies, from Unreal grant, from Europe donations, from various sources but nobody care. And I really do not want to spending time with talking, writing, planning all these bullshits for investors and for nothing. Oh man, how much time I already spent like that.

Well, Murnatan looks like a whole life project

10

News / Update: 0.1.580 (Rotcannon)

« on: May 06, 2018, 02:13:58 PM »

Changes:
- fixed wrong values for aliens (mainly walk speed): Grabit-, Adv Grabit-, Granger-, Narbatucker+, Adv Narbatucker+, Pitin-, Pum+, Adv Pum-, Tyrant-
- server scripts does not need to update with every release
- logs are allowed again
- increased volume of Granger sniffing
- fixed calling weapon equip for aliens
- fixed building Reactor/Overmind when another is already in construcing state
- decreased vote time
- fixed pushing players by Turret ghost structure
- fixed server crash (energy provider)
- adjusted player animations to match better with speeds
- increased size for objectives (UI)
- added additional human taunts (numeric block keys: 0, 1, 2, 3)
- fixed server crash (IsStructureInState)
- added beta map Rotcannon
- added testing map SimpleTest

11

News / Update: 0.1.577 (Team balancing)

« on: April 08, 2018, 12:26:20 PM »

Changes:
- fixed wrong teamkill/teamdestroy messages
- spectator can fly through structures
- added team balancing
- fixed aliens can build when Overmind not fully constructed yet
- removed resolution scale from graphic settings
- fixed crashing when changing custom graphic settings
- added mouse invert into settings
- added mission objectives info
- temporary disabled server logging output
- fixed counter at end game screen (Next map in -01)
- fixed spectator slowdown
- fixed collisions in center of rotating doors for structures
- classes in scoreboard are visible only for teammates and spectators
- sniffing effect duration was extended from 1 to 10 seconds
- grenade is less bouncy
- temporarily turned on friendly buildable fire off
- fixed base is powered when RC/OM is not fully built
- added flood filter into chat
- fixed Tube playing attack animation when OM is deconstructed while Tube attacking
- fixed displaying energy sign above alien structures built far away from main base in constructing phase
- fixed pushing teammates by ghost spawn structures with "don't block spawn" feature

Server owners: please update your servers and configure new starting script.

12

News / Update: 0.1.575 (Player counts)

« on: April 01, 2018, 04:39:51 PM »

Changes:
- server browser contains also player counts, map name and server version
- increased weight and air control for Narbatucker, Adv Narbatucker, Pum
- increased Adv Pum weight
- end table records are read only
- smaller Turret collision
- removed pushing players by Turret rotation
- moved Turret shooting source more to center (now can shoot aliens on top of Turret)
- increased human jump (possibility to jump over Turret)
- fixed grammar in main menu text
- decreased step height for all aliens (can't walk over Turret)
- Grabit's acid bomb is less bouncy
- increased pounce hit volume
- fixed Pum not pouncing some buildings
- lowered camera for Pum, Adv Pum
- longer Pum pounce range
- Pum and Adv Pum can pounce in way of looking (not only in way of moving + looking)
- default screenmode is fullscreen windowed
- only Boxfield and Tension maps are in rotation
- fixed client crash take damage
- fixed client crash helper consumer provider
- fixed doors and clipping issues in PraeGelidus
- fixed two holes in Tenura terrain, added missing collisions, removed ceiling kill area
- added shaft leading into elevator room in Tension
- fixed elevator Mur kills in Tension
- another possible fix to pool server crash
- dead bodies does not block attacks anymore
- human dead bodies does not leaving active hitboxes near their deaths
- fixed Pum blood material
- increased precision of mouse sensitivity setting
- fixed linux cursor on main menu
- fixed wrong rewards (evo/credits) for teamkills

Server owners: please update your servers completely (delete all and configure it again).

13

Discussion / Quake/Half Life map converter

« on: March 26, 2018, 04:03:07 PM »

Hi,

just have to say that Trenak found something interesing: https://forums.unrealengine.com/unreal-engine/marketplace/66198-hammuer-a-hammer-worldcraft-map-importer-for-unreal-engine

Now when we did most of work with converting Rotcannon and Mission One by hand But maybe would be interesting to convert exactly original. Someday.

Maybe it will be handy for someone.

14

News / IndieGoGo campaign for future development

« on: March 26, 2018, 10:57:23 AM »

Hello,

some of you asked me how to support Murnatan so now you can do it there: IdieGoGo

Few notes:
1)
I played Murnatan last two days until four o'clock in the morning. We (devs) previously tested that game but only slightly and with max 5 players. In that player count you will not know if it will be good or not. But now with 18 players it was really fun. It is really something that I wanted to create.
I was surprised to see all that old known nicknames from old times. I did not expected that these players still playing Also your feedback and suggestions are very good. Well, thanks.

2)
Money from campaign will be used for development, not for what we done so far.

Priorities:
We need to fix atleast crash bugs.

Next we need atleast one dedicated server for gaming - currently I hosting it at home - when I start googling, you will start lagging But thanks to you we have now more servers where to play.

Then I would like to implement support for mods to open it for your creations (maps).

And many many other plans, described in campaign.

Most important questions:
What if we get no money?
We would like to fix atleast biggest bugs and crashes. Then development will be paused with occasionall updates (when I will have time and if I will be cappable to develop something alone).

Then I will have to find job/business and get some money also for myself, life, food and so on.

And then when I will gather requested money from job/business then I will get team together again and we will finally finish Murnatan. But that can took several years.

What if we get only part of money?
In that case we spent it into development and we do what we can for that amount. Game will not be completely finished but will be done what can be.

What if we get all the money?
Then I will wake up With that we will start full development again and we will finish it.

15

News / Update: 0.1.565 (Armoury menu, crashes)

« on: March 25, 2018, 04:24:27 PM »

Changes:
- fixed glitched armoury/build/evolve menu
- fixed client crash ckit texture
- fixed client crash equipment
- fixed server crash pounce damage
- fixed server crash player join
- fixed server crash pool
- faster Sniper Rifle zoom
- mouse smoothing turned off
- reduced shadow quality by default
- linux server scripts converted to unix format
- fixed Mur/Adv Mur instakills in Boxfield
- fixed Mur self hit possibility
- fixed HP access for dead body
- fixed wall, ceiling and elevator kills in Tension map
- locked doors in PraeGelidus map
- fixed broken collision in PraeGelidus map

I hope it will be more stable now and we will be finally cappable to finish Tension map

BTW, if you see some wrong english in game, just fill bugreport in bugtracker.