SimCopter Remake 0.9.5

0.9.5 is the last major pre-release pass before 1.0.0.

At this point, nearly all of the original game's mission types and major gameplay systems are working. Most of the work leading into this build has been less about adding new systems and more about fixing the hundreds of little interactions that have to work correctly for SimCopter to actually feel like SimCopter.

There are still two exceptions: Crime and Riot missions are not working reliably enough to include yet. For this release, both have been set to 0 in the default User Cities settings so they will not be generated there. I'm working on the remaining issues with those missions now, and they're planned to return with the 1.0.0 release soon.

Everything else is ready for testing.

What's Changed

Missions

A lot of mission behavior has been fixed and tested for this release, including:

• Rooftop rescue missions
• Boat and water rescue missions
• Passenger transport and drop-off behavior
• Paramedic and patient handling
• Mission difficulty and generation logic
• Mission dispatch UI and opening radio/dialog lines
• Correct passenger exit and drop-off locations

Several edge cases involving passengers getting out of the helicopter too early, appearing in the wrong place, or being removed from the helicopter incorrectly have also been fixed.

User Cities

User Cities received quite a bit of cleanup as 0.9.5 came together:

• Fixed default mission difficulty values
• Fixed several problems with imported city filenames
• Apostrophes in city names work correctly again
• User Cities no longer accumulate points toward career level completion, since they don't have a career level goal
• Crime and Riot mission values now default to 0 until those missions are finished

You can otherwise play imported SimCity 2000 cities normally and use the remaining mission types.

Sims, Passengers & Police

There were quite a few small fixes here that make a surprisingly large difference during normal play:

• Improved passenger sprite and face display
• Fixed passenger state handling
• Fixed Sims remaining permanently frightened after the helicopter hits something
• Fixed police sometimes refusing to get out of their vehicle during pursuits
• Fixed people getting out of the helicopter too quickly
• Fixed helicopter dismount and passenger spawn positions
• Fixed dropping passengers from the helicopter
• Added the missing enter/exit sounds
• Added footsteps

UI & Settings

• Added mouse/control sensitivity settings
• Added FOV settings
• Save games now record the time they were created
• Fixed HUD scaling at different resolutions
• Added HUD font scaling
• Fixed the Career level selection screen
• Fixed several header/menu issues
• Fixed oversized text in the saved game list
• Fixed the dispatch UI
• Improved and upscaled several in-game tool UI elements
• Fixed the Apache instrument panel

Audio

• Fixed several radio playback issues
• Fixed missing or incorrect sound lines
• Added mission-start dialogue
• Fixed helicopter enter and exit sounds

Graphics & World

• Improved building materials
• Added animated water surface noise
• Added reflection variation to water and building windows
• Added additional street objects
• Fixed windmill blade behavior
• Fixed several traffic issues

Performance & Compatibility

• Fixed DLSS not working correctly in Low Power mode
• Anti-aliasing can now remain enabled in Low Power mode
• Additional packaging and Windows build fixes

Flight

• Adjusted rotor speed to better match the original game
• Tweaked default difficulty values

Known Issues

Crime and Riot missions are currently disabled.

These are the two remaining mission systems that aren't behaving closely enough to the original game for me to call them finished. Rather than leave partially working missions in the build, I've disabled them in the default User Cities configuration for 0.9.5.

They're the main remaining gameplay work planned for 1.0.0.

Looking Toward 1.0

0.9.5 gets the remake very close to the point I've been working toward: being able to load up a city and simply play SimCopter again without having to think about which parts of the original game haven't been rebuilt yet.

There will certainly still be bugs to find, which is exactly why this is marked as a pre-release. If you run into something strange, please open an issue and include as much information as you can about what was happening when it occurred.

The next milestone is 1.0.0, with Crime and Riot missions restored and the remaining issues found during 0.9.5 testing cleaned up.