Hello friends! We're shipping Dev Patch 8193.18 today. This is stabilisation and bugfixes, with just a tiny selection of existing feature improvements.

Changes

• VM: EnterTargetingMode() now also triggers when the user cancels out, with the target area or object returned as INVALID_OBJECT.
• Pathfinding: Creature bumping should now pick a more logical displacement direction for the bump.
• Pathfinding: Further improvements to AI pathing.
• Refactored Hardness to no longer be an effect; gain ~5% cpu time improvement on heavy server loads.
• VM: Material filenames and params now allow underscores.
• nwscript.nss: Added missing tileset resref constants.
• Multiplayer browser: Bumped module description size to 1KB, to avoid needless cutoff.
• Linux binaries are now built against Debian Stretch (9), fixing requirements to Debian 9, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, or newer. This should take care of the glibc issues some folks were seeing, as well as the stray libsndio linkage.
• Config: The default value for 2D/3D bias is now 1.0. This should fix sound effect quietness. You need to reset it manually in Options if you want to try this.

Fixes

• Renderer: Fixed weather not correctly cleaning up after lightning events, sometimes resulting in heavy FPS drops.
• Renderer: Fixed skinmeshes (cloaks, robes) occasionally being warped or dislocated when animating.
• Renderer: Normal maps are now read as two-channel textures (three are still supported, but this was needed for BC5).
• Renderer: Water reflections now ignore subsurface alpha.
• Renderer: env map tex coords are now always calculated per-fragment in HQ mode.
• Renderer: Specular lighting now ignores material transparency.
• Renderer: Refined light occlusion calculations.
• Renderer: Shared material uniform data is now reset for each draw call. This fixes issues where a material incorrectly adopts parameters from the previously-rendered, if the current material has none.
• Multiplayer Server UI: Fixed server port not being saved.
• VM: Fixed material parameters not being updated for single float changes.
• VM: Cutscenes: Fixed Hide Second Story Tiles not being saved/restored correctly. #137
• VM: Cutscenes: Fixed camera being reset with incorrect values despite VM::StoreCameraFacing not having been called. #126
• VM: ActivatePortal: Fixed some cases where NAT punchthrough or relaying failed to work.
• Fixed a regression in ValidateCharacter that resulted in invalid skill point messages. #180
• Fixed blank value in SkillPointModifierAbility in racialtypes.2da failing ELC. #180
• Fixed a rare crash when loading custom content models.

Premiums

• DoD: Addressed two minor issues related to the Great Cheese Caper quest

Art

• Set all weapons for Ambient and Diffuse of 100% (1 1 1), in alignment with the new graphics & lighting
• TCN_UDoor_02: Fixed a shifted walkmesh and transition mesh (you could transition the door w/o opening)
• TSS13_C07_04: Fixed a bad water reference
• PLC_C10 (Placeable Door): Fixed a bad set of Use Nodes (secret door fix)
• TDM01_O11_01: Replaced a missing face in the doorway mesh (#183)
• TCN01_A06_01: Fixed some meshes which had shifted from bas X-Forms (#178)
• TTF02_T13-14_01: Set meshes from Render 0 to 1, fixed UV's on tent flap, added bottom mesh to lean-to (#186)
• Orcus (Blueprint): Added missing creature hide and Wand to inventory (#177)
• TWC03_C53_01, TWC03_C54_06: Fixed broken fireplace animations, added a woodpile for fuel (#188)
• Gem Greatswords, Warhammers, Shields and Placeable Gemstones: Fixed UV's and self-illumination settings (#174)
• TRM02.SET Added a missing crosser entry (#194)
• TCM02.SET Fixed typos in a couple tile names (#196)
• TCM02 Replaced small/misaligned water meshes on several tiles (#195)
• IIT_Torch02 Adjusted smoke to be much more minimal than a standard torch (#189)
• TTF02_I07_02: Removed a bunch of extra/ugly tree foliage meshes (#181)
• Rendered new icons for the gem shields (#174)
• Fixed Tanarukk Blueprints, Factions & Script (#198)