Custom Monsters and NPC's

So after a bit of work the system to import your own custom monsters and NPC's is nearly here. It has passed my own internal checks, and allows you to import your own PNG images with a transparent background then upload them to the game to use as custom cardboard cutout style tokens.

Once this is released, you will need to do the following to take advantage of this:

1.  Find the directory you set when starting the game
2. Drop the PNG files into the directory you should see in there called "PlayerPNGMonsters"

Run the game! Simple as that. Any players that connect don't need these - as the host, you will send them to all your players automatically when they connect.

A few more checks needed my side to ensure this doesn't break something else, then my QA team (or brother as he prefers to be called) needs to double check it works remotely. Ideally this should be available this week though!

Some other fixes/changes I am squeezing in with this:

• Fixed avatar selection bug meaning wrong avatar may be used
• Fixed bug when pressing F which could fly the camera off somewhere when editing maps
• Added HOME key as a button to zoom to selected object (or to your player if connected to a game/nothing is selected)
•  Added user items in the form of PNG files which will create a "cardboard cutout" effect of the object. For example, you could import your own list of monsters as PNG files which would be available for placing. At the moment the system will scale these by default to "normal" size but this can be changed on a placed object by right clicking and scaling the object (tip: hold LEFT SHIFT to make it increase scale with snapped values). Clients that connect to the server will attempt to cache any PNG files used on a map once they have been seen for the first time to prevent slow map load times in future. Server changes to PNG files will be mirrored to clients the next time they connect.
• Raised night ambient light to match editor
• Added lighting effects to candles in Interior Decorations
• Added magic flame to WallSconceTorch in lighting
• Optimised some wonky network code which would cause problems if players tried joining too early or before the server finished initialising
• Altered HOME key to zoom to player, or zoom to selected object as GM. If nothing is selected, it will take the camera back to the map location just in case you get lost
• Fixed a bug when joining then hosting wouldn't work properly. The game thought you were joining again rather than hosting
• New model category - animals! We now have a crow, 2 different coloured horses and a flock of birds - all animated.
• New circling birds - when placing these, the system will automatically place a faint yellow sphere to show the centre point of the flock. By default, this will be at the place you click on the map, but the height of the flock will automatically be placed up in the sky. This can be moved in the editor to reposition the centre point and at the moment places a set size flock. The flocks can be removed in the editor in the same way as any other object by deleting it. Connected players will not see the sphere - this for the GM and editor only in case you need to move it or remove them for some reason in game.
• Added sphere to fireflies object and circline birds, only visible in editor and to GM in play mode to allow easier movement of the object. This has also meant that the icon for fireflies is no longer a chopping block...
• The waterwheel rotation is fixed so it no longer looks like it's going to roll down the hill
• Fixed epicly hard-to-find bug causing random CTD
• Reduced haze amount on clear weather
• Added spin and velocity to dice as they are thrown so results are more random (and look better!)
• Optimised some of the server code to reduce network bandwidth requirements

Known issues

1. Some issues if a map is created on a different server to the one that hosts it, where custom PNG files are present in the map. At the moment, this can cause issues!
2. Clients joining map may reset weather to default setting from map save file
3. Sparodic bug for host in camera which will shake sometimes when hosting. As a workaround, this can be cleared by selecting an object or clicking somewhere whilst I find it