Alpha Discussion Official Thread (SPOILERS WITHIN)

[phimseto]

Wasteland 3 Alpha Controls



Wasteland 3 Alpha Known Issues 08/21/19

Welcome to the Wasteland 3 Alpha! Please consult this list before submitting a bug report. It may be that we are already aware of your issue.

Now addressed as of mid-day 08/21/19 update:
- Radio calls will now play without interruption.
- Nuclear Armor should now be visible.

General

• Character's ambush mode can be cancelled by placing vehicle on the character
• Destroyed Kodiak can be walked through
• Combat Started banner remains on loading screen during Quick Load
• Diggables and graves have the option to be looted more than once
• Camera lags behind party members and vehicle on movement
• Killing enemies who haven't yet spotted the player may cause their detection feedback to get stuck
• Drawbridge winch can be targeted/destroyed after being activated with AOE attacks
• Detection circles around enemies disappear, when player skips combat with them and progress gameplay to another combat
• Booze box behind the bridge may not present its content when player loots it
• Kodiak does not take the damage from the Fumer
• Weapon in second slot does not reload automatically after combat ends or if re-equipped
• Gondola Breathers do not have click-on barks
• Sandbag destructible cover objects enter damaged instead of destroyed states when run over by car
• Player can drive into rocks in mountains near Aspen
• Missing radio call may occur while setting off door trap at bear area
• The name of the Author of Bark and Radio message disappears in the last second of its duration
• Gas Mine can be triggered after being destroyed with a frag grenade

Audio

• Looting Cassette tapes will cause the next VO moment to finish prematurely
• Certain weapon sounds may not play properly when firing or reloading
• Sound Effect/Audio loop in the area by the crane after killing enemies
• Heavy Machine Turret has dying breather SFX played when destroyed
• Volume level of some sound effects depends only on Master Volume
• Growler Cub may not play attack sounds
• Gameplay SFX's of player actions trigger during loading screen

Combat

• the Red Dragon consuming .50 Cal ammo instead of .30-06
• Kodiak may teleport during first combat after choosing specific destination
• Mob and Companion Parameters can be seen when entering Precision Strike
• Switching weapons reset Precision Strike
• Occasional delays between actions when melee characters attack
• In combat, moving the mouse far from the selected PC and back can trigger the Lucky Action text and VFX inappropriately
• Pulse Rifle shots normal bullets instead of energy projectiles while using Precision Strike
• Entering attack mode when in "stopping" animation delays the weapon being drawn
• [Precision Strikes] De-selecting a button for a body part doesn't un-highlight it
• Missed melee attacks still show impact sparks
• Movement line preview can get stuck on the combat grid
• May be difficult to select characters in combat when they are clustered together.
• Player character suddenly loses health, then regains it after successful hit from Slicer Dicer
• Player character may teleport down the ladder during triggered combat mode

Graphics

• Footprints are not displaying correctly on snowy terrain
• Light flash and performance hitch when switching weapons
• Cover/Explosive barrels clipping into terrain in bunker
• Vehicle's smoke flow VFX is pinned to vehicle's model while moving
• Resolution switches automatically for option with higher screen refreshing rate, when player chooses option with lower rate
• Grenade explosion VFX may appear pixelated
• Brightness, Contrast and Saturation options does not cause any changes after moving the sliders
• 1 Handed Bladed melee attacks during exploration play combat idle animation too fast
• Killing an enemy out of combat may cause delayed death animation
• Free-aiming a shotgun at self causes character to stare at feet
• Characters' weapons pop as soon as aiming is started, regardless of animation
• AP bar may not preview correct action cost when player moves it on combat grid
• After performing Ambush by an enemy hiding behind high-cover, his model stays in attack position
• Nuclear Helmet clips through Scotchmo and Doc Nails’ head
• Growlers and Growler Cub movement animation has issues when performing two last steps
• Graphical issues with Control Menu slots and Restore Defaults, Close keybinds
• Rocket launcher reload plays too fast
• Certain armor sets may have small gaps between them, causing clipping through and blank spaces on character model
• Snowing VFX is present on the walls in Slicer Dicer cellar
• FPS drops between 13-24 for 2 seconds when managing the Inventory
• A small number of weapons have tiny icons
• Blood splatter VFX for "Bleeding" status effect are not final
• Player vehicle damage and destruction VFX are not final

Localization

• German Translation Issues in Demo
• The Coordination skill has bad text wrapping when observed in German
• In German, radio calls show double colons after name (eg Riley Woodson::)

Skills

• Scotchmo cannot lockpick certain objects from far away when selected and sent to interact with object some distance away
• Serial Killer applies bonus AP inadequately after killing multiple enemies in one move
• Draw! can trigger even if not using a handgun
• [Precision Strikes] Precision Strike shows hit percentage before applying it on enemy unit
• [Precision Strikes] Body parts for non-combat animals don't appear to highlight properly
• Heart animation VFX don’t follow animal after successful use of Charm Animal on it

UI

• Discrepancy between chance to hit in movement preview and when standing on a combat grid
• Fumer Breather Precision Strike screen does not highlight head when moused over
• Player is unable to switch display mode using in-game Arrow buttons found in the Options menu
• Restoring Display Options to Defaults from lower Resolution blocks cursor movement
• Quickbar buttons do not open centered on first use
• Quickbar doesn't show Precision Strike AP cost or AP preview when hovering on the button
• Enemy detection meter only appears over a single character
• Unequipped items from inventory menu disappears after loading game
• Character Health Points can drop below 0 value
• Enemy attacks cause damage previews to get stuck over player and enemies
• Inventory shows two dollar symbols
• Portrait tooltips show on the Inventory screen
• Toggling between characters on the Inventory has them all playing the same animation loop
• Loading bar progress does not correspond to percentage indicated
• Order of items in quickbar changes every time one is used
• No U.I. feedback for Holding "END TURN" Button (Mouse/Keyboard)
• Trying to reload prints "cannot reload" message twice
• Turret mob highlight only includes the weapon, not the turret base
• Large and very large text size may have some display issues
• 'Busy' prompt displays when player triggers dialogue with charmed animal
• Changing weapon during combat on 'Weapon 1' slot, when already assigned weapon has unfilled ammo level, automatically reloads newly assigned weapon
• Right clicking diggables results in window with loot and blank option while both do the same
• The player can select different character by pressing RMB
• Toggling between Inventory and Attributes causes portraits to bounce
• After restarting demo and enter the World Map, game says you've acquired Aspen Ad1 and/or Ad2
• Resolution options overlap each other
• Separation lines between main options buttons disappear when player switches resolution
• Objects highlight persists when looting and holding "Shift" button

[Araton]

Hi, quick technical question regarding the Alpha. For some reason I've found no answer to these questions in the e-mail:

How long is this Alpha version available on Steam? Will it be available until the Early Access Beta starts or is this a demo that will end when Gamescom does?

Are there going to be patches coming out for the Alpha during testing?

[whippleshuffle]

Hi, quick technical question regarding the Alpha. For some reason I've found no answer to these questions in the e-mail:

How long is this Alpha version available on Steam? Will it be available until the Early Access Beta starts or is this a demo that will end when Gamescom does?

Are there going to be patches coming out for the Alpha during testing?

The Alpha will be available until Beta is, and then Beta is replaced by the final game release.

Undecided exactly how we'll handle updates or how often if we do. We are working on some bug fixes for known issues, but otherwise might be testing changes to features in the Alpha (likely primarily centered around combat) to gather additional feedback. There are no plans to add additional content.

[emmathepony]

So I've put a couple of hours into the alpha and submitted bug reports via the form we were emailed, however, I will also list them in this thread for easy reference. I'm also gonna post the good points and suggest improvements. Firstly, I'm a huge Wasteland 2 fan and have beaten the original and DC version and I am very much looking forward to Wasteland 3, seeing as I backed the game enough to get an alpha key.

My computer specs are as follows:

GPU: RTX 2070
CPU: i7 8700 32. GHZ, 6 Core
HDD: 500 GB SSD
OS: Windows 10 64-bit

Without further ado, here's my list!

The Good:

• Shared inventory is back! No longer having to micro-manage each character each time you loot something.

• Big and small guns skill, classic Fallout style.

• Graphics and effects are nice.

The Bugs:

• Performance is very bad, stutter between selecting characters and more stutter when selecting the vehicle during combat.

• Deploying the combat turret makes no sound.

• Destructible environment is good but characters shouldn't be able to know where enemies are behind solid walls during an ambush attack, characters aren't psychic!

• Opening and closing the inventory cancels the group select command.

• Game continues to run in the background when 'exit to desktop' is selected.

---

• "Out of sight" applies far too often, even when you are, in fact, within sight.

• Throwable items (such as the grenade) doesn't work when you are in cover at a corner and the targeted enemy is more than 90 degrees from your position.

The above 2 bugs fall within the same category because they both occur from the same rooted problem with how the game reads cover. I've played too much of XCOM, Xenonauts and games like them to know how problems like the above happen and it's to do with how the game doesn't count 'line of sight' unless you are within direct line of sight within enemies on the grid/tiles. So you may in fact be within an enemies sight but the game won't register as that unless you get out of the corner of cover and be directly within their sight grid, which is counter-intuitive. I've got screenshots to show what I mean:
Screenshot 1 - cannot attack enemy despite being within sight and gun pointed at him because the game doesn't register my corner cover as being within direct grid sight of the enemy.
Screenshot 2 - cannot throw grenade (shows as 'invalid target' despite being within sight), same reason as above.
Screenshot 3 - shows enemy as out of sight from Shellshock even though he isn't, reason above.
Screenshot 4 - again, enemy is "out of sight", even though he is IN sight. Shellshock, at the bottom-right, should clearly be able to hit the enemy above.
Screenshot 5 - shows Banshee, bottom-right, as being out of range to attack the enemy yet I'm only about 20 feet away.
These problems all boil down to corners of cover not registering as "being out of" the cover when selecting an enemy target. XCOM + Xenonauts don't have this problem, you can be in full cover at a corner and still shoot adjacent enemies.

My Suggestions:

• Please don't auto play cassette tapes, not only does it confuse the story radio calls, but I want to be left to explore the areas and be immersed in the ambience.

• During 'precision strikes', you should be selecting the limb to attack not the text box that corresponds to it (so more like VATS).
  Example screenshot. My cursor is on the enemy's leg but I can't shoot it until I select the text box, it doesn't feel fun to do that.

• Return cloth damage explosion, I want my naked characters!

• 'Automatic' weapon skill should be removed as it doesn't make sense 1 character can use a machine gun and another one can't, even if they are both holding 2 handed guns.

• Right-clicking environment/flavour text should be instant, not right-click -> examine.

• Quickload takes too long, it isn't "quick"load.

• The much-hyped "conversation camera" is lazily implemented, it's pretty much just a zoom in, no different from the Divinity reboot games. Very, very disappointed.

Tbh I'm really not sure what to think of the game so far, it has many bad design choices and bugs and not enough redeeming good points. The game doesn't feel fun to play, it's more like a delicate chore you have to take your time with or you'll easily break something. I get that it's an alpha, bug I'm talking about the design choices moreso than bugs right now. Anyway, that'll do it for now, I really hope Wasteland 3 becomes a fun game to play with a proper conversation camera as was originally shown.

[whippleshuffle]

So I've put a couple of hours into the alpha and submitted bug reports via the form we were emailed

Thank you for the detailed feedback and submissions.

[Drool]

The inability to see skills is monstrously frustrating. I ended up cycling through the whole party to find the person with the mechanical skill to activate the generator. Also, the inability to throw a grenade up a level (so, 8 feet?) is possibly good game balance, but it's pretty annoying.

Also, the gear comparison hotkey doesn't seem to work.

[Gizmo]

Visually impressive , but (as mentioned by others) the driving mechanic seems like controlling a toy, and I'll assume that the player can approximate 360° turns in place. It looks baaad. There is no way that a vehicle in that weight class could behave like that. My first thought was of Big Rigs.

Might I suggest the Halo Warthogs as a behavioral reference for a minimal rework?
https://youtu.be/RMxw0POPkJw?t=231

Does the pathfinding have to be linear A to B (...with on the spot rotation), or could it instead make its way to the destination (and/or follow the cursor) within some newly implemented (or more noticeable) limitations for how it can move? —Purely cosmetic of course. It should arrive at the correct location within the expected time frame... just that it not look like an RC racer while doing it.

*BTW, the Patriarch shown in the trailer looks quite in keeping with what I'd have wanted for the FO3 NPC aesthetic.
[ IMO this is a good thing ... is it deliberate? ].

[sear]

The inability to see skills is monstrously frustrating. I ended up cycling through the whole party to find the person with the mechanical skill to activate the generator. Also, the inability to throw a grenade up a level (so, 8 feet?) is possibly good game balance, but it's pretty annoying.

Also, the gear comparison hotkey doesn't seem to work.

Heya Drool, understood on the skills being a bit unclear. Better feedback for whether a specific character has a certain skill or not before you actually interact with an object was one thing we had in the pipe, but didn't quite make the alpha cutoff.

One thing to be aware of is that if you have all your party members selected (Spacebar to quick-select everyone), the game will automatically choose the person who has that highest skill level for the object you are trying to use.

The gear comparison hotkey - it used to be working, but we updated the inventory art recently and I think the feature may have got cannibalized as part of that. I definitely want to bring it back.

[Gizmo]

One thing to be aware of is that if you have all your party members selected (Spacebar to quick-select everyone), the game will automatically choose the person who has that highest skill level for the object you are trying to use.

This is good, and welcome information; specifically that the game does not auto choose for the player, except from among the selected.

*To be clear though... Is that how it works? (That the engine chooses the highest skill from among those selected—even just two?)

There is a lot to like that I have seen so far; in the videos.

[sear]

This is good, and welcome information; specifically that the game does not auto choose for the player, except from among the selected.

*To be clear though... Is that how it works? (That the engine chooses the highest skill from among those selected—even just two?)

Correct!

[Disguise_AU]

Is there a place where we can troubleshoot game crashes? I'm crashing at 3% when loading Aspen.

UPDATE: Report Issue button also crashes the game. I think it could be my anti-virus software blocking the game.

Update: It was my anti-virus software (Trend Micro Maximum Security), it was blocking an outgoing connection during both the loading of Aspen and when selecting the Report Issue button, causing the game to crash to desktop with no error.

[Stuurminator]

It looks like we're back to armour being visible on your character model again. Got to say, I've never been a fan of that.

[Gizmo]

I am a staunch fan of that; to the point that I considerate it the cost of having the benefits of that armor. Yes, including the helmet—or no headshot protection.

[Drool]

One thing to be aware of is that if you have all your party members selected (Spacebar to quick-select everyone), the game will automatically choose the person who has that highest skill level for the object you are trying to use.

I see that works for dialog, too. Also seems you've made it so the party uses collective pronouns too.

On an unrelated note, I think the fog of war is a little aggressive.

[Stuurminator]

Remembering the "37 Pieces of Flair" stretch goal, I went back and checked the Fig page for its description:

$2.85M: 37 Pieces of Flair – We unlock further Ranger customization, which could include multiple body types, more heads, and more hairstyles. Plus we’ll show items that your Ranger has equipped (gear like shovels, binoculars, etc) on their models.

Multiple body types, heads, and hairstyles seems like wasted effort if they're going to disappear inside of bulky helmets and body armour. Specifying gear like shovels and binoculars but not armour seems like a deliberate omission to me as well. Given the precedent they set in WL2, I suspect the visible armour is just part of alpha testing and won't make it to the final product.

I'd prefer visible armour if I had to choose one or the other, but I know many other people disagree. As discussed previously on this board, I think a toggle would make everyone happy (except people offended by the concept of others having options they wouldn't personally use).

[Gizmo]

(except people offended by the concept of others having options they wouldn't personally use).

Derisive barb aside...I doubt there is anyone here that feels that way it. It's conceptual—sure, but it was never about offense that others would have the option. It's not even an offense that is game related... The offense is that they would want it at all; that the notion would even occur to them.

It's an offensive mentality; the option in-game merely caters to it.

[Stuurminator]

Derisive barb aside...I doubt there is anyone here that feels that way it.

That wasn't specifically about you. There's plenty of people on the internet that hate the thought of people enjoying things they don't personally enjoy. I think it's because they view game development (and probably other things) as a zero-sum game, wherein every win for someone else must mean a loss for themselves.

[Gizmo]

There's plenty of people on the internet that hate the thought of people enjoying things they don't personally enjoy. I think it's because they view game development (and probably other things) as a zero-sum game, wherein every win for someone else must mean a loss for themselves.

Alas... There can be no argument with that—it's true; provable even.

[fuzzyballs01]

finally found a no commentary Alpha gameplay video, and here's my opinion on the game so far

nice

[sear]

I'd prefer visible armour if I had to choose one or the other, but I know many other people disagree. As discussed previously on this board, I think a toggle would make everyone happy (except people offended by the concept of others having options they wouldn't personally use).

We put in a lot of time and attention into our armor designs across the game to make them all feel distinctive and have interesting silhouettes and designs, from the low-end to the high-end ones. We also have a pretty wide variety of clothing options to choose from as well. Visible armor was one of the most requested features in Wasteland 2, and we really wanted to make it happen for Wasteland 3.

That said, it's very possible we'll be able to offer options for those who prefer to keep their defined character appearances instead.