It's Christmas before time at Masterbrain Bytes. The publisher of Cattle and Crops presents us with the 0.0.9.9 update of the title with a fairly modest changelog, of which we will especially remember the AI fixes and the “kick in the behind” in terms of performance. On our config (Core i7 / GF960M / 16GB RAM) it's obvious. We can finally play without lag in full HD with the level of detail on High, it does not flinch.
“We have made several performance improvements and expect an average refresh rate increase up to 100%. On the one hand we have reduced the number of objects visible at a distance (LOD), on the other hand we have reduced the consumption of video memory by optimizing textures and shadows. There is a new setting ultra for textures and a warning is issued when the graphics card does not have enough dedicated video memory. For the ultra setting you should have a graphics card with at least 3 GB VRAM. We would like to point out that there have been serious performance issues with Aero Theme Manager on Windows 7. This application is now temporarily disabled by our game, which can lead to frame rate doubling. »
Here is the change log:
- LAUNCHER UPDATE: the launcher has been updated to version 0.4.6 and can now delete obsolete files that are no longer required by the game
- NEW: Differential lock: all vehicles now have a locked differential and now manage better in rough terrain
- NEW: You get a warning in the graphics options if there isn't sufficient video memory for the desired texture quality
- BUG FIX: The AI navigator has been reworked, the AI traffic doesn't drive across fields any more
- BUG FIX: Performance problems with an active mission marker have been resolved
- BUG FIX: In the trading window you can now immediately perform the action with the start button, before you first had to select an amount
- BUG FIX: The Jaguar doesn't tilt forward when braking
- BUG FIX: The Jaguar doesn't eject chaff any more when it is being started
- BUG FIX: Problems with the height of attached machinery on the farmyard have been fixed
- BUG FIX: Plowing with the Arion is possible again
- CHANGE: A LOD system for vehicles has been introduced. Some elements are faded out at a distance, this leads to significant improvements when multiple vehicles are visible at the same time
- CHANGE: The VRam usage has been reduced. Textures on max level only use 2.62 Gb instead of 3.57GB
- CHANGE: Under Windows 7 “Aero” is being turned off when the game is being started, this provides a better framerate
- CHANGE: An additional texture quality category has been implemented, now there are low, medium, high and ultra
- CHANGE: The handling of all vehicles has been reworked. New transmission-motor- and physics adjustments deliver a more realistic driving experience
- CHANGE: The Jaguar's motor sound has been reworked
- CHANGE: The Arion's and Axion's motor sound has been reworked
- CHANGE: The chasers don't block the field entrances any more, they look for a roadside parking position without impeding the chaff cutter on his way to the field
- CHANGE: The reload and respawn buttons in the vehicle fleet view have been implemented again
- CHANGE: Some steps in the missions can now be skipped. Additionally there is a chest / console command “skipCondition” to skip running mission steps
- CHANGE: The season one mission has been reworked