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PDX Ellinor

Second Lieutenant
Sep 25, 2023
138
205
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The Twist of Fate Update


Well, hey there, all you scoundrels, rogues, and misfits. We've got a lot of ground to cover today: a new Agent, a new event system, plus a whole stack of fixes.

The Isaac DLC accompanied by the Twist of Fate Update will be Free to Download for all of our players - Thank you for joining the Lamplighters League!

Saves, Heists, and Crashes​

Reporting in on our Campaign to stabilize the game on Xboxes. While we’ve made progress in making the game more stable and more receptive to frequent saves, there are still some limitations to the system that we can’t get all the way around, and we want to be transparent about them.

Saves:​

We have dramatically reworked our save logic to be leaner and faster. Players should notice faster save and load times across the board. Additionally, the demand for memory during a save operation no longer rises as sharply, which should reduce the possibility of crashing due to out-of-memory while saving. Our test group was able to save much more freely, even during heavy levels like Nicastro Heist and Strum Heist. We recommend that if you want to save during a heist, that you only save after completing objectives. Resist the temptation to save after every takedown and patrol combat for the best, most reliable experience.

Heists:​

We did not end up making edits to the Heists this time. Between the Save and Crash fixes, we found that we were able to consistently complete the Heists without crashing, especially if we limited our save activity to “after completing each objective in the chain.” We’ll watch performance on these levels.

Crashes:​

We fixed or guarded a few more null refs that were reported to us – and we think we have caught the remaining easy-to-encounter null refs. There may still be a few hiding in the dark corners of the game, but we expect random-seeming crashes due to null refs to be a lot less common now.

We also made adjustments to more aggressively release memory space, to allow players to play longer sessions without running out of memory, which would then cause a crash. While we have seen dramatic improvements of memory usage, we do still see memory grow after rapid save/loads, especially in large levels. We recommend that players save judiciously - or consider resetting their memory by restarting the game before embarking on a large mission.

A Quick Note about Nocturne​

Nocturne can now freely cross the boundary between PC Gamepass and XBox Gamepass instances. In the past, if a player had Nocturne on Xbox, and then tried to load that save through the Windows Store, they probably experienced an “invalid save” error or potentially even a crash to the main menu. This should no longer occur. Players don’t need to do anything to benefit from this, just make sure that you are signed in to the account that owns Nocturne when you launch the game on either platform. Our goal is a more seamless experience for our Gamepass Ultimate subscribers - thank you for playing!

Introducing Isaac Greymoor​


Meet Isaac Greymoor, a hot-headed, lead-slinging mercenary who wields a deadly light machine gun to devastating effect. And watch out, folks: on a team of shady characters he just might be the worst of the bunch.

Isaac Greymoor's LMG spits a hail of bullets and generates Heat as it fires—the more Heat, the more Damage. But too much Heat, and Isaac could become Overheated—causing him to suffer Damage even as he dishes it out. To learn more about his gameplay, look out for the Dev Diary we’ll post tomorrow, it goes into all the details!

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Does the name Greymoor sound familiar? Don't tell Isaac; it'll go to his head. But you may have heard Locke mention one Lord Greymoor, former leader of the Lamplighters League. Well, Isaac is his son, but the apple fell very far from the tree.

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Once you've grabbed the DLC from your store of choice, he will be the next Agent Recruitment mission you find. Or, start a new custom game and skip the intro to select him as one of your starting 4 Agents.

One more thing. The Isaac DLC is FREE. That's right, folks, this criminal is a steal. Our little way of thanking you all for playing, engaging in the community, reporting bugs, and voicing your feedback.

The Events of the Season​


Events are a brand new way to campaign against the Banished Court, available to all. Everyone will begin to see these after applying the 1.3 update! Most weeks, after reviewing the Activity on the World Map after a mission, you will be presented with a Fate Event. Check out this example:

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Fate Events offer the story of an adventure in the world outside of Del Vasto’s Landing and what else the League gets up to when not on a Mission or an Expedition. Fate Events usually end in rewards for the League, providing materials for the campaign by resolving each mini story with a choice. Available options can depend on which agents you have recruited, and each option leads to a different conclusion. It’s up to you how the League handles each opportunity!

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House Events, on the other hand, occur rarely. These Events usually cost something to complete, but you may then sway the balance of power between the three houses. For these, the available options vary and sometimes can be completed by specific agents—but you can always choose to “Do Nothing” and allow the House to gain a little more ground instead. Choose wisely!

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We think Events add a real je ne sais quoi to the game. We get to share more about the world the Lamplighters operate in, and you get the opportunity to choose different outcomes and learn more about this cast of scoundrels…and there’s more control over the strategic layer of the campaign from the added resources and new ways to interact with Doomsday Clocks and Threat. If you are in the middle of a carefully orchestrated campaign and don’t want this to affect your playthrough, the feature can be disabled under Settings. However, we hope everyone enjoys these Events as much as we enjoyed creating them.

Quality of Life Updates:
  • Added the Agent “Isaac Greymoor” —for free!
    • Get this dashing new Agent from your platform store for $0
    • Once acquired, Isaac will be immediately added to your Agent Recruit Pool
    • Or you can start a new custom game to get Isaac immediately
  • Added “Events” system
    • Events occur on the World Map after completing a mission
    • Fate Events give you a glimpse into the larger world of the Lamplighters League, and lets you choose how to handle each event. Each option will offer the player different rewards.
    • House Events tell the story of the world during the rise of the Houses of the Banished court, and offer the player unique ways to interact with them
  • Added the “Wet” Status Effect
    • Stepping in or through Water imparts the Wet status effect
    • While Wet, Isaac loses Overheated and 1 Heat per Round, and cannot accrue Heat while Wet.
    • Units with Wet are immune to Burning, but take +5 Shock damage
  • Fixed a few dialog texts that didn’t quite match their VO
  • Fixed a few pieces of dialog that were quieter than others
  • Reduced the difficulty of the early combat game on the Explorer difficulty mode
  • Improved the efficiency of save/load operations
  • Made some adjustments under the hood to save memory usage
  • Localization fixes

Bug Fixes:​

  • A specific city level should no longer cause infinite loading issues.
  • A specific jungle level that sometimes had graphical issues on low graphics settings should no longer have black triangles in some places.
  • Turned down the default frequency of Action Cam
  • Fixed a few floating or clipping lore objects
  • Made sure that one bookshelf in the middle of a fancy room had appropriate collision
  • Lamplighter’s Tonic should no longer vanish from the Ability Bar during real time
  • Damage Talisman should now apply the correct amount of added damage output.
  • Fixed an issue where Threshold would not deal damage to all targets as described. Be careful with that magical ordinance, now!

In addition to the above fixes and new features, we made good progress on our campaign to stabilize some technical challenges. On the whole, the game saves and loads faster, and the game uses less memory overall. This is good news for our players on restricted memory systems!

Known Issues:​

  • Very rarely, the Isaac Recruit mission won’t spawn on Week 5 the first time you recruit him. It should appear the following week.
  • Passive effects that Isaac inflicts on his enemies will sometimes also be inflicted on him.

We’re already working on a short-term hotfix to address the Known Issues above. But, that’s everything for today! If you notice new issues, please bring them to us on Discord or the Forums. We can’t wait to see how Isaac shakes up your Agent loadout.

All the Best,
Samantha Stelter, Lead Producer
Jill Scharr, Lead Narrative Designer


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So what you're saying is we still can't reliably save on Xbox. And at any moment I could lose hours, or even days, of progress.

No.

FAIL FAIL FAIL
Welcome to the Lamplighter League, you can play but just don't save as often and oh by the way, the game may randomly crash and you will lose all your data if you don't save. I'm on a Series X with these fn problems
 
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Still crashing when I try to load my game in Xbox x. And in PC the game freezes when I load the same game. I think the better it's sart again because the save looks corrupt but I'm not sure if I'll have the same problem later (I am now in week 20)
 
It's like this team misunderstands how game breaking these save issues are. We cannot complete the game as it was sold. And nothing in these release notes provides a real assurance that it won't happen again. The Marteau Heist alone takes about 20-30 minutes to complete. Has anyone on Xbox actually completed it? Is the team tracking that anyone has passed the game completely on Xbox? Because I've tried the Heist about 5 times and eventually deleted the game in anger. But nothing about this new update says the rampant crashing is fully resolved. How is this game still allowed to be on the store? It's so frustrating because the underlying game is so great, I just wish I could complete it without having my time absolutely wasted.
 
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Outstanding!

Time to gear up and start lighting lamps! : )

LAMPLIGHTERS ASSEMBLE!

:bow:
 
I thought i'd try firing it up again after reading this (persevered until week 28 when it first came out, but couldn't progress any further because of the inevitable crashes), within 5 minutes of starting the first mission it crashed. I think i'm done. (Series S)
 
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Once again, and as I've been doing for two months now, I'm entering the game with the hope that finally, after 5 patches, it's fixed. However, it is not. Same problems, Once again, and as I've been doing for two months now, I'm entering the game with the hope that finally, after 5 patches, it's fixed. However, it is not. Same problems, I try to save (I only do two per level) or just at the end of a level, the game crashes and I lose all progress. I guess I'll have to wait another 15 days for the next patch and continue with this endless process.
 
Let's say there's a problem with over-saves and there is no short-term solution. Wouldn't it be simpler, as a precautionary measure, for the game not to allow you to save except when it chooses. For example, three key points on each map. They are rules of the game, if you don't accept them, maybe you should be more meticulous when playing, but they are rules. The randomness that exists now is not a rule, the game can break at any time and it is not the user's fault. That's bad.

From what I'm reading, the problems only happen on Xbox game pass. Is there anyone in the entire study who tests with those simple conditions? The game breaks more as you go through the weeks, does anyone in the entire studio replicate that scenario on an Xbox with Game Pass?
 
Let's say there's a problem with over-saves and there is no short-term solution. Wouldn't it be simpler, as a precautionary measure, for the game not to allow you to save except when it chooses. For example, three key points on each map. They are rules of the game, if you don't accept them, maybe you should be more meticulous when playing, but they are rules. The randomness that exists now is not a rule, the game can break at any time and it is not the user's fault. That's bad.

From what I'm reading, the problems only happen on Xbox game pass. Is there anyone in the entire study who tests with those simple conditions? The game breaks more as you go through the weeks, does anyone in the entire studio replicate that scenario on an Xbox with Game Pass?
This is what I don't understand - these issues are so obviously widespread. I just challenge anyone to pass it on Game Pass. You can't do it. This is not a finished product. Any DLC, free or otherwise, is useless if you can't complete the game.
 
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So what you're saying is we still can't reliably save on Xbox. And at any moment I could lose hours, or even days, of progress.

No.

FAIL FAIL FAIL

It happened to me. But ngl, Lamplighter's still one of my favorite games ever. I'm still waiting for them to finally finish it up to play it one more time... This time, not worrying to find my save erased by Nicastro's real-life attacks.
 
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Have played and can confirm that the round-ending crashes have ceased. Progress!
I could actually live with crashes or being able to only nearly complete the game.

I just want reliable saves on xBox. I cannot find another tactical RPG that resonates with me and it's painful this is still unresolved.

I would try Shadow Gambit but i don't think it's turn-based, my pref. But it has the non-generic-paramilitary theming I am looking for.
 
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I could actually live with crashes or being able to only nearly complete the game.

I just want reliable saves on xBox. I cannot find another tactical RPG that resonates with me and it's painful this is still unresolved.

I would try Shadow Gambit but i don't think it's turn-based, my pref. But it has the non-generic-paramilitary theming I am looking for.
Shadow Gambit is not turn-based but it is very very good. The real-time elements don't require high APM or anything like that and heavy use of quick-saving and loading is basically built into the lore.