VN Ren'Py Echoes of The Cataclysm [Ch.1 P1 v0.1.11] [nuii pointer]

[MitFORKL]

trash game from a trash developer who attackso other devs...do not touch this game...it's made by a toxic individual..here's what he does, buys a game on steam, plays for 5minutes and leaves a bad review...it's sad that we have people in the community that do this!

This is who this dev is...

Just accept your game is trash dude, you're embarrassing yourself.
All your positive steam reviews are clearly your friends, you even use bots to farm reactions to the ass reddit posts you kept spamming. You are a strange little man.

 

[SpyderArachnid]

trash game from a trash developer who attackso other devs...do not touch this game...it's made by a toxic individual..here's what he does, buys a game on steam, plays for 5minutes and leaves a bad review...it's sad that we have people in the community that do this!

This is who this dev is...

"Pot calling the Kettle black"

Proceeds to call the developer trash and their game trash, then complains about devs who attack other devs...

Says it is sad that we have people who do this, yet does the same thing...


I'm going to assume you haven't even played this game, yet you're calling it trash because they left you a negative review on your game. At least they played your game (even paid for it instead of downloading it for free here).

 

[nuii_pointer]

DevLog: Scene 8 Development Has Begun!!!


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TLDR;

• Anya!
• Made a door
• Made a room (environment)
• Began work on Scene 8 (posing)

✅ Last Week's Progress
What I accomplished since the last update:

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  - Finalizing Anya's rework (porting her into Blender) - I want to sincerely thank Termz once again for doing an amazing job on a very successful rework. (Sneak Peek next week!)
• PRISM Access Door - After looking and looking and looking for door assets through environment/scene packs, door assets, and so much time looking for the right feel of PRISM's doors, I couldn't take it anymore. I finally just decided to make my own re-useable door asset for all (or most) of the internal PRISM room doors... I know I know, "typical nuii - making things complicated again!" , but that's just how I roll and I'm not sorry about it! (Check out the Sneak Peek section down below!)
• Subject Intake Processing Room - And as explained in the previous DevLog post, I'll be moving forward by creating and gathering all needed assets including environmental. In this next scene where Ambrose will be interacting with the staff, we'll need a "Subject Intake Processing Room". Bat made a great observation that PRISM rooms might tend to look like the environmental feel of the military bunker and facilities from Stargate SG-1; I couldn't agree more (thanks Bat! ). (Be sure to check out the Sneak Peek section down below!)

️ Current Development
What I'm working on right now:

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  - I've begun posing the next scene, where Ambrose will be interacting with the staff. There's still some writing polishing that needs to be done, but there's enough written to continue posing!

Coming Soon
What I'm planning to work on next:

• In preparation for Scene 8 there's going to be a lot of environment creation, asset creation/importing, and character preparation. Just a few things off of the top of my head that will be needed for Scene 8:
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  • New Test Lab Room
• New Character:
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• There will also eventually be some micro-enhancements coming:
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    - just getting started early

Sneak Peek
PRISM Access Door

PRISM Room: Subject Intake Processing

Subject Intake Processing Room

Working on the next item: Scene 8

Community Corner
I want to sincerely thank everyone - patrons, supporters, commentors, critiques, passersbys, etc. - everyone. Just by you being here is support enough for me to be happy with this project.

Be sure to check out the Behind the Scenes streams on the

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Don't forget to check out the

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for detailed progress updates! ❤

 

[nuii_pointer]

DevLog: Asset Creation!

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TLDR;

• Made a bunch of custom medical devices
• Anya rework!

✅ Last Week's Progress
What I accomplished since the last update:

• Scene 8 Assets - I'm no 3d asset creator, but I absolutely love to try! With Echoes of The Cataclysm, there are props/items/things that just don't exist. Things like a "Neural Activity Resonance Scanner" or "Spinal Psychic Conductivity Analyzer". All of these things are custom devices that not only will play a part within this scene, but many scenes in the future. And this is where I can justify taking the time to create these assets. (Take a look down below for a sneak peek!)
• Anya Rework - I've been alluding to an Anya rework for a few months now - for a lot of reasons. I'm trying to get a more "realistic" look and push away from a "silly" or "cartoony" look - making this world very tangible for you is something I reach for. Anya's character was one of those things that I felt I needed to do to drive towards that goal. So please let me know what you think of her changes! (Take a look down below for a sneak peek!) - Again, thank you to Termz for the amazing work that he's done (again!)

️ Current Development
What I'm working on right now:

• Scene 8 - I had to pause work on this scene to custom create the medical device assets. But I'm now continuing work on it. I don't like to exactly announce where I'm at in the process, but this time I'll just say that I'm maybe halfway done with the scene.

Coming Soon
What I'm planning to work on next:

• New Character: Larry - didn't I announce this guy yet? Idk, either way... sorry, he's not fuckable.
• New Character:
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• There will also eventually be some micro-enhancements coming:
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    - just getting started early

Sneak Peek
New custom assets for Scene 8

Anya rework

Community Corner
I want to sincerely thank everyone - patrons, supporters, commentors, critiques, passersby, etc. - everyone. Just by you being here is support enough for me to be happy with this project.

Remember that I'll be doing Behind the Scenes streams on the

You must be registered to see the links

Don't forget to check out the

You must be registered to see the links

for detailed progress updates! ❤

 

[NoX Productions]

Just discovered this. I will have a look at some point. Props for doing it in Blender and making some custom assets, it's something I will never be able to do likely as I find it very complicated but the end result is looking good.

 

[MiltonPowers]

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[MiltonPowers]

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[nuii_pointer]

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TLDR;

• Scene 8 is almost complete!
• Followed technical advice for Linux setup that bricked my motherboard
• Zero data loss - all work is safe and backed up
• Replacement motherboard ordered, exploring temporary solutions
• Using downtime to work on writing for upcoming scenes

✅ Last Week's Progress
What I accomplished since the last update:
The Good News First
Scene 8 progress has been fantastic - or at least it was! I was making excellent headway using the pose library workflow that I talked about last week. I got to the point where I was almost ready to start polishing and doing minor tweaks to the render stills.
The facial expression pose library continues to be super useful. The speed improvements have been consistent, and I'm getting much faster at quickly cycling through poses to find the right emotional beat for each moment.
The "What The Hell Happened" News
So... my motherboard is toast. Completely bricked. Won't even POST.
In my spare time, I've been dual-booting into Linux (Ubuntu) to potentially transition away from Windows. And a nice bonus was that Blender behaves a little bit faster and smoother on Linux. But I ran into issues accessing my Windows data easily because of SecureBoot complications. So I decided to try virtualizing Windows within Linux instead.
SecureBoot didn't play nicely with that setup. I found some technical instructions online for how to configure everything properly, followed them step by step, and... well, that's how I bricked my motherboard. The configuration process corrupted the UEFI firmware in a way that prevents the board from even starting up.
My motherboard model (ASUS Prime Z690-P WiFi D4) doesn't have a USB BIOS recovery feature, so there's no firmware/software fix. It's just... dead. There's absolutely no display output, no matter what. I've tried all of the internet things to recover the UEFI with no luck.
Now, before anyone panics or tries to help me diagnose it (I appreciate the thought, but trust me, it's thoroughly dead): there is absolutely zero data loss. The SSDs are completely untouched, and even if something were wrong with them (which there isn't), I have multiple backups:

• Git repositories are saved to a separate server (for both the EoTC source code but also the 3d files)
• Backblaze full system backup
• On-site Synology NAS backup

Again, no data-loss, but even if these solid-states were dead (which they're not), data is safe.
️ Current Development
What I'm working on right now:
The Hardware Situation
I've ordered a replacement motherboard - the exact same model that I killed. The bad news is that it'll take approximately 2 weeks to arrive. The maybe-good news is that I'm actively hunting for a temporary motherboard replacement to get back up and running sooner. If I can find something suitable locally, I might be back in action within a few days. If the temporary solution works out well, I might even keep it permanently and cancel the original order.
Working Around the Problem
Just because my main rig is down doesn't mean development stops completely; I've still got my MacBook Pro. I'm using this forced downtime to focus on something else that will need to be done anyways: writing and music. I'm going to be working on dialogue, scene outlines, and also music for the upcoming scenes. This is actually something I've been meaning to dedicate more focused time to anyway, so... silver lining?
I'd much rather be rendering and posing scenes, don't get me wrong. But I'm trying to make the most of a frustrating situation - which, to be fair is completely my stupid fault.
Community Corner
I really appreciate your patience and understanding during this unexpected hiccup - I'm more disappointed in myself in not being safer with my motherboard's UEFI.
I feel sad, disappointed, annoyed, frustrated, and guilty for letting this happen (or causing it, rather) so I apologize to the community, as I feel obviously responsible, but also reckless, honestly. But I want to say thank you - your continued support means everything, especially during weeks like this when things don't go according to plan.
I'll keep everyone updated on the hardware situation as things develop - EXPECT A DEVLOG next week, because I'm not just going to take a vacation. I want to work, I want to provide you all with continued work - I HAVE PLANS DAMMIT!
Optimistically and hopefully the next DevLog will be titled something like "Back Online and Scene 8 is DONE!". Anyway. Thank you all so much for reading. Hearing from you all is the highlight of my week.
See you in the next one! ❤

 

[nuii_pointer]

I apologize, I made a clerical mistake and made last week's DevLog's visibility set to PAID ONLY; this was in error, and below you'll find last week's DevLog.

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TLDR;

• Got a temporary PC the day after the
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• Replaced motherboard successfully
• SSD metadata was corrupted
• System + All data is restored - BACK TO WORK

✅ Last Week's Progress
What I accomplished since the last update:

Temporary PC

A close friend of mine just so happened to have replaced his 6 year old PC and offered it up as a temporary workstation until I get my replacement motherboard. This was a big stress-relief, as I could just plug in my hard-drives into. I was able to run Blender within Linux (Ubuntu) ❤ The only issue that I noticed while using this setup, was that it would freeze every once in a while (remember this part for later).

Replacement Motherboard

Thankfully, the day after the "

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", I ordered a replacement motherboard which showed up Wednesday. The replacement took me about 2 hours - yes, slow, but I was methodical and careful! I didn't want more unexpected issues.
When I turned it on, it worked all exactly as expected . I then began to work on re-working my backup solution (obligatory

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mention); because before I work on anything, backups are the first thing to get working properly. But as I was backing up the SSD that contains EoTC game source files, Blender source files, DAZ3d files, EoTC documentation, etc. my entire system would freeze completely. "Huh, strange.. that's the same issue that I had with the temporary PC, but same SSDs." And it'd happen without fail, every time I tried to access the SSD, or back it up.

Corrupt SSD (Solid State Drive) Metadata

I won't bore you with the details, but after about a day of troubleshooting, I discovered that this SSD had corrupt metadata (possibly from the Motherboard issue from last week) and while Windows would've possibly been more equipped to automatically handle and fix the corrupt metadata, Linux wasn't able to recover it and just froze.
Thankfully, once I figured this out, it wasn't difficult to fix - just format the SSD to EXT4 (more supported by Linux), which addresses the corrupt metadata problem.

️ Current Development
What I'm working on right now:

I'll be so real with you: I'm so burnt out by the last 7 days of hardware hell. I just want to get back to working on scenes again. ... which brings us to:

Scene 8 - Oh boy. I feel like we've been here before. I'm doing some final checks to make sure that Linux is going to provide the same exact results (I'm pretty sure it will, but best to double check). And from there, I'll be finishing up Scene 8.

⚙ Technical Corner
If you're interested in the discovery of what the issue was with the SSD:

Community Corner
I appreciate everyone's patience. This has been a rough week and I feel guilty that I've now put Echoes of The Cataclysm a week behind on development. I'll be working extra hard to output scenes faster to make up for the lost time.

See you in the next one! ™️

Don't forget to check out the

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for detailed progress updates! ❤

 

[nuii_pointer]

DevLog: Grinding Hard (and Deep)

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TLDR;

• Significant progress on Scene 8
• Transparency about release timeline

✅ Last Week's Progress
What I accomplished since the last update:
This DevLog will be short (finally!).

• Scene 8 Development - Made substantial progress continuing work on the scene. I don't want to jinx it, but I think I'll have the nearly 300 rendered still 4k images finished by next week. And yes, 300; this is by far the biggest scene that I've created, which is also why it took so long!

⚙ Technical Corner
Linux (Ubuntu)
If you have read the last few DevLogs, then you should know that I have been making Linux/Ubuntu my daily driver. It's been a fun transition, definitely more advanced, and I'm having a great time! Besides the hardware issues in the past few weeks, I don't think Linux itself has slowed down my progress.
EEVEE + Compositing = Faster Iteration
Alright, I know it's not all that fancy or flashy, but believe me this constantly blows me away every time I think about it. This scene has got nearly 300 images (at 3840x2160). I wanted to do a "preview" of what the scene looks like, so I did a quick test render of all the images. Blender's EEVEE burns through the renders like crazy; we're talking about 15 seconds EACH. That's the entire render queue within nearly an hour! Are the images 100% super perfect? No. But the quality is certainly better than where we were a year ago, AND its improving more and more. I'm excited.
Sneak Peek

Community Corner
I want to air a grievance with myself and progress, even though there was no public timeline. I had quietly and personally hoped (and planned for) an October release for this latest update. Obviously as you can tell, I'm still right in the middle of development and the release didn't make it as I had secretly planned. And while I'm not making excuses for why it has been slow to fruition, I want to explain why - I also want to NOT become what a lot of other AVN devs have become with their tenure and DevLogs: complacent.
Also, I want to let you know that it'll be unlikely that I provide any sort of timeline (ever) publicly. Because time and time again, when a timeline is provided, it's almost always completely inaccurate - it's just so hard to properly provide a timeline, AND stick to it. I don't want to provide hope for a date, and then disappoint.
What I've noted that caused the update to be pushed:

• Surgery & Recovery - I had surgery right after Chapter 1 Part 1 release; the original timeline didn't account for this or recovery time
• Animation Expansion - The first scene originally had one animation, but I felt it needed more. I'm proud of the results, but it also pushed the timeline
• Hardware Issues - As documented in the past two DevLogs, this added weeks of delays

I want to be transparent and honest that it's been 4 months since the last release - that's not the intended release cycle. I provide these weekly DevLogs specifically for accountability, not every few months like others. I'm constantly working to improve speed and output consistency, and I'm working hard to get this update completed!
I want to thank EVERYONE for reading and for your amazing support. And I'll see you in the next one!
Don't forget to check out the

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for detailed progress updates! ❤