The Forest has been Updated to Unity 5 Engine, Brings Several Graphical and Gameplay Updates

The Forest has been updated to Unity 5 engine ans Endnight Games have released the full set of patch notes, which includes a several number of graphical upgrades and gameplay updates.

All the old shaders have been replaced with new PBR materials and textures. Tree models have also been replaced, and a new billboarding system has been implemented. Plant shaders now have sub surface scattering, skin shaders have been rewritten, and many other visual tweaks and improvements have been made to the look of the world.

For multiplayer, a new network prioritization algorithm has been introduced to provide more relevant updates of remote entities to players. This means smoother multiplayer gameplay and although the lag isn’t completely removed, the team will continue to tune in the coming weeks.

Some new graphics options should help those with slower computers get the game running faster, including a new level of detail setting which will allow you to raise or lower the view distance of most elements from Ultra all the way down to Ultra low. Across the board everyone should see some performance improvements.

The Forest now features bendable grass which results in more lifelike interaction

New bendable grass means you can see it part slightly as rabbits run through it, making them easier to track. Some major animal improvements mean geese can now fly from lake to lake, and if you like you can follow them and watch how they spend their days. Plus, Deer now no longer run headfirst into trees!

Player audio has been partially implemented, along with a new take on the female skinny audio.

Due to the massive re-working of some of the environment and terrain save games had to be swiped with this patch.

Version 0.16 Changelog:

• New options menu setting ‘Render Type’ will allow you to switch between new deferred renderer(recommended for modern computers) and Legacy renderer (recommended for older computers)
• Full pbr shaders on all items. Reworked most textures to fit new lighting.
• Reflection probes added.
• New ocean shader (work in progress)
• Better bow aiming – sight added to bow. bow tracks better with camera view when aiming up and down. Looks better now when viewed by another player
• Animals will now attempt to dodge trees, obstacles and other animals
• Fixed rebreather’s air resetting to 0 after loading a saved game
• (Multiplayer) Reworked the network prioritization algorithm to provide more relevant updates of remote entities to players (Smoother, less jittery enemies)
• Upgrade balance: Inverted bonus curve, it now goes from small (10%) to big (100%)
• Fixed booze upgrades still not showing up for some weapons
• Added a small outline to chat text to make it visible in bright lighting conditions
• Fixed issue preventing to lock floors/roofs on multiple walls on the same height level
• Grabber system now turned off when in in inventory/book/pause menu or while placing a building (ie, placing a building near water will no longer trigger drinking)
• New snapping grid gizmo to help with manual placing of experimental floors & roofs (tip shows the current lock position and is big enough to be seen from either side of a wall)
• Experimental Roofs now snap back to closest edge on current support (ie the wall you’re putting it on)
• Goose simulator added. Geese will now fly between lakes and swim around acting like geese
• Fixed Bon Fire not lightable
• Fixed flying food on rock fire pit
• Fixed burn lizard scale
• Added generic meat burnt
• Fixed drying generic meat
• Fixed Treehouse + Treehouse Chalet floor not buildable
  Deer will now drink at lakes
• Fixed issue where deer would run right through trees!
• Dead birds now have a chance of spawning feathers when hit
• Revamped cooking to allow eating burnt food but with far lesser gain
• Player will now see himself briefly dragged away into a cave when knocked out but not killed.
• New art added: Improved airline foodcart
• Fixed bug where climbing rope for first time would sometimes cause it to release right after climbing
• New trees! New bark and leaf types.
• New billboard system with lit billboards and rotation
• Unity 5 reflection probe system added
• New clouds/sky
• All shaders switched to use new unity pbr
• Dirtied up and improved regular enemy textures
• New pbr skin shader!
• In game controls remapping, both in Title & Main scene options
• Falling particle leaves now accumulate on ground
• Fixed logs flying up into air when trees were cut
• Fixed physics on some trees not colliding with terrain when falling
• New art added: dead small trunk
• Graphics options: added rendering patch selection
• Graphics options: added new setting to turn off sunshine occlusion
• Graphics options: added new setting to tune Level of Detail
• Graphics options: SSAO setting now also changes sample count
• Graphics Settings now properly show the saved preset name after restarting the game
• Graphics Settings: Renamed “Laptop” level to “Ultra Low”
• Fixed survival book entries not clickable on occasion
• New art added: new version of plane food! plane tray, styrofoam cups and trays
• New bushes- replaced 2 of the worst looking bushes with new type
• New lake shader added! reflective and with murkiness
• New dead trees! Better textures and models, and now all cuttable!
• Better shark ragdoll
• Jump animation added to player
• New combat move – Flying axe attack. Attack downwards with axe while jumping to perform a powerful ground chop.
• When falling from high up, player will briefly stumble to his hands and knees
• You can now cook arms and legs (and … eat them – but you probably shouldnt)
• Dead trees replaced and now cuttable!
• New log type for buildings that matches carried log
• (audio) New player sounds!
• (audio) New female skinny audio!
• New blueberry bushes!
• New multiplayer octree based priority calculation
• New art: Re-done plane seats
• Fish and sharks are now also in multiplayer games!
• Touch bending grass added! enemies, rabbits, animals and player will now slightly rustle the grass as they move through it (this is a first pass at this, next version will include better bending)
• You can now climb fishing stands
• Experimental Walls now block AIs (mutant & animals) from going through it
• Fixed fire particles staying up after cutting down a burning tree
• New world art: cliff wall variations.
• Lighter now stays equipped when exiting/entering ropes
• Added some additional optimizations and memory tweaks for 32bit machines that have less than 4gigs of usable ram
• Fixed molotov fire never shutting down

The Forest is available on Steam for $14.99 as well as on The Humble Store. We will bring you any new information as soon as it becomes available.