True to its development schedule, MasterBrain Bytes launches the first Grassland update for Cattle and Crops. This update fixes a few bugs and brings the necessary tools for grass harvesting.
A month and a half after the addition of the harvesters and balers to harvest its cereals, Cattle and Crops this time welcomes a first series of equipment for harvesting grass. Grassland, that's the name of the update, just adds even more weight to a game that already suffers from performance issues. On our test configuration, yet muscular, without changing our settings, the game collapsed at 30 frames per second, instead of 60 previously.
The development team is aware of this heaviness and announces on the official forum avoir "Decided to accelerate performance improvements and not wait for optimizations until the end of the early access phase." " To do this, the team is starting to implement the first upgrades to the Tombstone engine, the successor to the C4 engine whose support recently ceased. [SEE THE TOMBSTONE ENGINE IN ACTION] This new engine will lighten the load on the processor and video cards due to its better management of the environment. It will also provide better support for multi-core processors.
Grassland, what changes
This update therefore brings the grassland cycle to the game.
Hay drying: The weather affects the drying process of the swath. In dry weather the humidity in the strip decreases; when it rains, it increases. The grass needs good weather to become hay. During drying, the grass will go through different stages depending on its humidity, grass (more than 70%), silage (70% - 40%) and hay (less than 40%). After four hours of rain, the swath reaches 100% humidity. To dry completely, hay needs about three days without any rain. It is therefore necessary to consult the weather forecast before going to the field!
The swath volume: Windrows are based on realistic volumes and will therefore have varying heights. Checking your speed as you travel is important to prevent your rake from getting stuffed up. Humidity and volume also affect the visual effects of particle systems.
Calendar and weather: You can find the perfect time to cut and harvest the grass by looking at the calendar in the planning menu. The clouds are symbolized in gray, with LC (low clouds) and HC (thick clouds) showing you the cloudiness. A large yellow dot signifies sun, while dark gray indicates rain. The forecast is valid for two weeks.
Three point hitch: With the arrival of the tedder or rake, the three-point hitch system has been improved.
Modding: The .pak file format has been replaced by the adoption of .zip files, which are easier to use. Modding is also open to translations and management by XML file.
Assignment : Harvesting the grass is of course possible via the mission system which will provide you with a plot ready to mow and all the necessary equipment to work.
What's next before Christmas?
For developers, “This is our largest and most comprehensive update to date. So we decided to split it into two updates. Most of the update is included. In the second part, we will add the pickup for the forage harvesters. After this update, we will focus on fixing the bugs until Christmas. "
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