Weekly News #173

Version 0.971a is already available for download for subscribers of the Super Best Friend tier ($25). To view the post with this version, follow this link: https://www.patreon.com/posts/released-0-971a-142884764

A week and a half has passed since the release of the last full version of the game—it's time to talk about what's been done, and there's clearly a lot to talk about. A huge number of different changes and long-awaited improvements await you in this news.

So, let's start with the most essential item, the one most requested by players—game optimization. A huge amount of work has been done on various game modules, significantly improving the game's performance—performance and stability have doubled. Rewinding time is now almost instantaneous, and accessing the interaction menu takes minimal time. For example, the system for detecting randomized NPC activity was completely redesigned from scratch. The number of potential errors has been reduced tenfold, and with it, the load on the system. This system also includes events with random NPCs, which are now detected differently and place less of a burden on the entire system, as well as a fine-tuned system for detecting hands and sleeves on random NPCs. Taken together, this has resulted in a significant improvement in game performance, which can already be seen in the latest bug fixes.

Secondly, randomized NPCs. There weren't as many changes as usual, and most of them were minor, if not noticeable. For example, swimsuits are now visible in more scenes.

Also, the female MILF NPCs have a new hand position, which you can see below:

Thirdly, the story. This is the second point that many people were waiting for, demanding some innovations in this area. So, we've done it—and quite a bit. A new branch has been added to the game, allowing you to join the Occult Club outside of any formalities offered by Ayano—through the student council. Previously, this branch was closed and essentially just labeled "in progress," but now it's finally closed and finished.

Furthermore, some scenes for the story character Yuki Oota have been redrawn. This one is 18+ in nature:https://x.com/kaitosi11/status/1984237333802320009

And also the scene you can see below:

Thirdly, and one of the most significant items on this entire list, is a completely NEW modification system. From the code to the interface. This is a separate item, worthy of mention, as it required a huge amount of work to simplify working with modifications. For example, the system itself now features dedicated modification logging, an example of which can be seen below:

As a player, you will now be able to install modifications not only through the game's internet servers, but also manually. Furthermore, there will be a new way to install modifications – manually, by setting the modification path literally in the game itself. Even if the modification is located on another drive, in another workspace, the game will be able to initialize it when the player enters the required path here:

In addition, the ability to sort modifications by rating has been added. And not only by rating, but also by name and weight.

Each modification has likes/views, and our Patreon subscribers and any other platform subscribers will be able to like these modifications. Among other things, the interface now offers a bit more information about the modification:

And when you open the corresponding tab, you can open the modification folder itself, delete it, and perform other actions:

Also, a minor change, but nonetheless, are two new sublocations in the "Beach" area, where your character can spend time or interact with the RNPC.

And finally, the fourth point: bug fixes and other code refactorings, in addition to what was mentioned above, in the first point:

New content:

A major refactoring of the system related to detecting RNPC activity was conducted, improving potential performance by 40 to 70 percent, depending on their number in a game session. The system was completely redesigned and written from scratch, using different algorithms as a basis, and now everything works differently. Despite this, calculation accuracy remained virtually unchanged, and the number of crashes, memory leaks, and other annoying issues caused by this system has become minimal in the game overall.

A major refactoring of the code responsible for initializing/inserting filters into the appearance and sprite of any RNPC was conducted. As a result, the loading speed of RNPC appearances has become virtually instantaneous, even upon first clicking on the RNPC name in the corresponding interface. Additionally, the speed at which the RNPC appearance thumbnail appears in all interfaces has been significantly accelerated. Filters in the thumbnail are no longer used at all, and those used affect the image locally rather than globally. This minimizes long loading times for the RNPC appearance and creates a smoother gameplay experience.

A major refactoring of systems that were bottlenecking the game was carried out, such as the conditional detection of events for the RNPC when your character arrives at a location. This refactoring improved game performance by 20-30 percent, fixed possible crashes on certain devices, and improved performance with location-based mods installed. The entire system now creates a data array and checks all conditions in advance, selecting which conditions are met without unnecessary checks to determine which RNPC is suitable for a given event. This has reduced the number of unnecessary calculations. Among other things, other bottlenecks in the system were refactored to create smoother gameplay, even those that didn't fit the definitions of global systems.

A comprehensive refactoring of the RNPC display and initialization systems was carried out: layers are adjusted and superimposed differently, all unnecessary elements are hidden from the screen, and duplicates are eliminated. Furthermore, a predictive system has been added for these screens, reducing the overall loading time of the RNPC appearance upon first clicking its name in the corresponding interface from the conventional 3 seconds to 2. The initialization itself is divided into sectors and designed to avoid overloading the system with calculations upon first clicking and minimize microlags. The appearance caching system has been improved to display the RNPC sprite immediately after it's first opened, creating a more stable gameplay experience without crashes or lag.

A completely new interface has been created for the modifications interface: in addition to categorizing everything more conveniently, it also features various other new features. Firstly, it allows you to sort modifications by weight, likes, and name; secondly, it displays the number of views and likes on a modification's page; thirdly, it allows you to view the log file to understand what's happening with modifications; fourthly, the game now allows you to disable/enable modifications; and fifthly, it now contains much more information about the modifications themselves. A complete and comprehensive update of the modification system has been implemented to simplify interaction with it.

The storyline with Ayano Yoshida has been continued: now, when you join the Occult Club not through the membership form, but through the student council, the game will give you new events and a small storyline, rather than simply saying that this storyline is not ready yet.

A comprehensive refactoring of the modification systems has been carried out: modifications are now automatically logged by the game, and everything that happens to them, including possible errors, their paths, their actions, and much more, appears in the corresponding file. Furthermore, modifications are now located in a different directory than the game folder, simplifying installation and managing modification data. This also allows for manual installation of modifications via corresponding JSON files, as well as the ability to run modifications outside the game directory altogether, even if the data is located on a different drive.

A comprehensive refactoring of the arm/sleeve detection system and their positions has been carried out: the system has become more stable, a huge number of possible exceptions and visual errors have been fixed, and it has also become more modular, understandable, and less spammed. This has resulted in a slight but improved performance for the entire female RNPC sprite display system, making them load faster.

A new arm position has been added for the MILF RNPC.

About a dozen new perks have been added to the Occultism Club interface, available for purchase. These can be purchased as you level up the club, after which you can select the perks you need, including new mechanics that they unlock.

Two new sublocations have been added to the "Beach" location: shower stalls/restrooms for women and men, where you can find specific activities, the opportunity to complete certain location-specific activities, and also receive events.

Now, in the kissing scene between a female NPC and a male character, if she was wearing a swimsuit during the interaction with a female character through the appropriate menu, she will be shown wearing a swimsuit instead of clothing.

Now, in the hugging scene between a female NPC and another woman, both women will be shown wearing swimsuits instead of clothing, if they were wearing a swimsuit during the interaction with a female character through the appropriate menu.

In the scene opened by the corresponding activity in the restroom location, female NPCs are now shown wearing a swimsuit when your character is male, rather than clothing, if they were wearing one when interacting with the corresponding menu.

The Chinese translation has been updated: more text has been translated, and some existing translations have been adjusted. Additionally, the names of both genders of NPCs are now displayed in Chinese characters when playing in Chinese, instead of the previous English version.

Fixed bugs:

Fixed an issue where the RNPC mini-card featuring his appearance in the "Acquaintances" interface, accessed via phone, could be stretched excessively along the X-axis, causing the character to look out of place.

Fixed an issue where button prompts could appear in the "Character Library" interface even without the buttons actually being on the screen. Additionally, fixed an issue where the RNPC mini-card featuring his appearance in the same interface could be stretched excessively along the X-axis, causing the character to look out of place.

Fixed a bug where the women's restroom in the shopping mall could be occupied by men, while the men's restroom was occupied by women, which was unintentional.

Fixed an annoying bug that could cause a nasty lag when entering the modifications menu, which could last for quite a while – about 10 seconds on particularly weak devices, but everything opened instantly when offline. Now all data is processed in the stream, without causing script hangups.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw an exception if the game was minimized on a PC device and then restored.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions when attempting to navigate to the Academy entrance without any apparent reason.

Fixed a bug that could cause the RNPC caching system to literally not work at all due to certain code errors, causing the game to consume significantly more RAM and cause certain performance and stability issues during gameplay.

Fixed a bug where the hands of female MILF NPCs could have significant issues changing throughout gameplay without any apparent reason: their hands could disappear completely, function incorrectly, and be impossible to change in their position, causing them to always be in the default position.

Fixed a bug where NPC features would not appear on the female NPC sprite without apparent reason under certain hand positions/emotes, etc.

Fixed a bug where tattoos on female NPCs did not take into account the hand position at all – despite the NPC's hand position, the tattoos themselves would appear as if they were in the first hand position.

Fixed an issue where, after loading an old save on a new version of the game, the pool of events available for display/drop remained unchanged and remained the same as in the old version. Now, thanks to a major code change, the game runs significantly better.

Fixed a bug where a NPC in a group activity with another NPC could have someone who wasn't even in the location at the time as the second participant, which simply looked odd.

Fixed a bug where the game could throw exceptions when attempting to initialize data about a player when entering the corresponding interaction menu.

Fixed a bug where the game could throw exceptions when attempting to switch locations in certain specific and exceptional gameplay situations.

Fixed an issue where the game could display an excessively low frame rate when opening the club management interface through the relevant categories.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions when attempting to create a NPC or its copies in the corresponding character library interface.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions when attempting to create a save through the corresponding game menu and/or loading a save.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to freeze and crash when attempting to skip time by 60 minutes at rare points in gameplay.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions when attempting to change the hairstyle of a female NPC through the editing interface for that same NPC.

Fixed a bug that caused micro-freezes/stutters when attempting to load the NPC's appearance, which could cause the game to crash completely.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions when attempting to view the biography menu of a randomized NPC at certain rare points in gameplay.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions when attempting to perform location-based activity in the "Cinema" location.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions when attempting to display information about modifications and related systems.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions when attempting to initialize general RNPC data in some rare cases when loading was impossible.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions when attempting to open the relevant game settings and font categories.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions due to enabled generation filters during the generation process itself, in very rare cases.

Fixed a bug that could cause the display of data in savegames to be inaccurate and incorrect due to certain errors in the initialization files.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions when opening the interface for creating/editing a randomized NPC.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions at certain points in gameplay when the player's location on the world map could not be determined.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions when attempting to initialize the current and future clothing of a randomized NPC.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to crash without specific exceptions/freezes when attempting to cache randomized NPC data without any apparent reason.

Fixed a bug that could cause exceptions when opening the Occult Club management interface, in the perk purchasing category for the club.

Fixed a bug that could cause certain issues with the display of randomized NPCs, their layers, and certain other gameplay aspects.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions when attempting to create a randomized NPC data slot in JSON format while saving it to the character library.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions when attempting to use items through the inventory interface in some rare gameplay situations.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions when entering the interaction menu with a randomized NPC and receiving hints about the success of a particular action.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions when opening the interface for changing clothes/removing accessories from your character.

Fixed a bug that could cause terrible performance when displaying the communication interface with a randomized female NPC in some very rare gameplay situations.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to freeze when displaying the sprite of a randomized female NPC with a large amount of appearance detail.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to crash when skipping 60 minutes in-game on a low-power device and in a location full of NPCs.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to run poorly and freeze when the game settings menu was open during certain rare gameplay moments.

Fixed an issue that could cause the game to display binary values ​​when displaying energy/money and hunger status through the main game control interface.

Fixed an issue that could cause the game to display incorrect values ​​for your character's attributes or certain stats.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to incorrectly detect the device's operating system, which could theoretically cause issues with enabling/disabling multithreading, which could lead to issues with the display of certain interface buttons, etc.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to throw exceptions when attempting to calculate data about randomized NPCs in adjacent interfaces related to them.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to perform worse when performance settings were enabled that were intended to improve rather than reduce performance.

Fixed a bug that could cause the game to generate initially broken RNPC on some devices, which could potentially cause exceptions when interacting with them.

As you can see, as usual, a significant amount of work has been done. Not only on new content, but also on adding new mechanics and systems, improving existing systems, fixing bugs, and improving what people have been asking for—game performance. We'll be adding and implementing what you've been asking for in the near future, in the same way. We'll be creating new content, fixing bugs, and improving existing mechanics that could definitely benefit from an update. You can expect to see our progress on November 15th, ten days from now.