Terraria

[Unkillable Cat]

So 1.4.1 (the final FINAL we-mean-it-for-realz-this-time update) was released yesterday.

I'm still chewing through the patch notes, but they did add some new achievements and yet another NPC (the Princess).

Now to wait for TerraCustom to get sorted out...

EDIT: That is a LONG-ASS list of changes. What I've found notable so far:

# Some armor sets didn't get nerfed/buffed, they got completely reworked. READ the patch notes (balancing changes).
# Lucky Horseshoes are no longer found in Sky Chests, but in underground Gold Chests. Instead basic wings can possibly be found in the Sky Chests.
# Summoners get lots of early-game love.
# Fishing poles got rebalanced, now the Traveling Merchant's fishing pole is not the obvious "go-to" rod of choice, as it will only be available after Skeletron is defeated.
# If a player has less than 20 torches at any point, breaking pots has an increased change of dropping torches.
# Mana Crystals now need 5 Falling Stars to be crafted instead of 3, but the spawn rate of Falling Stars has been boosted to compensate.
# Crafting Tier 1-ore gear now requires less materials.
# Enemy Debuff Immunities got reworked, meaning that far more enemies are no longer immune to a whole range of Debuffs. The biggest exception, Confusion, still remains as it takes far too much time to code it in.
# The Merchant will now sell Sharpening Stations in Hardmode.

 

[Luka-boy]

Well at least after half a year they finally fixed the issue that prevented me from playing in Fullscreen on my 4K monitor.

 

[garren]

Well at least after half a year they finally fixed the issue that prevented me from playing in Fullscreen on my 4K monitor.

Frickin finally, now I get to try the 1.4 series properly, that fullscreen issue was too annoying.

 

[Üstad]

How do people can keep track what they should do in order? I used to play with my friend and he was telling me what to do where to go now, perhaps I'm not interested in with the game as much as him.

 

[Sentinel]

I got this game. It's fun!

 

[Citizen]

How do people can keep track what they should do in order? I used to play with my friend and he was telling me what to do where to go now, perhaps I'm not interested in with the game as much as him.

Idk, maybe taking ADHD medication would help?

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Once again Terraria updates, but only to add a single gameplay-related change:

Enemy Banners now also give increased player protection against enemy projectiles (previously they only applied to contact damage).

So what's all the hubbub about then?

Steam Workshop Support

BUUTT... they may have jumped the gun a bit, because tModLoader (which is needed for all the big mods) is still running on 1.3.5, meaning they're all incompatible with Journey's End.

But what is currently available? Texture packs, graphical packs, music packs, and the like. But once tModLoader hits version 1.4... you're gonna see some serious shit.

 

[Hirato]

There are kind of unofficial beta builds available for 1.4.
At least, if you're interested in giving it a try with Terraria Overhaul for 1.4.

they're available on Mirsario's patreon age.
https://www.patreon.com/Mirsario

 

[Unkillable Cat]

A year ago...

So 1.4.1 (the final FINAL we-mean-it-for-realz-this-time update) was released yesterday.

And what's happening? Another update incoming... and another game crossover.

But this time it's not only more appropriate, it's also a bigger title.

This guy look familiar?

Maybe you'll recognize things better from the other game...

Spoiler

Work still continues on tModLoader, but it's nice to know Terraria ain't quite dead yet.

 

[Blaine]

Several of the big tModloader content mods (such as Calamity Mod) are way, way better than the 1.4.1 "GM's girlfriend" update. tModloader remains the superior version by far for this reason.

The last vanilla update added gemstone bunnies, gemstone trees, a furry NPC, princess-themed shit, and generally just a bunch of miscellaneous nonsense that adds nothing of substance to the game. There were some graphical improvements to item sprites and the parallax backgrounds, yet there are resource packs created by modders that look much better.

The only really desirable additions from 1.4.1 are some apparent performance and QoL improvements (though QoL improvements like auto-doors have been added to the tModloader version by modders), and maybe the Blood Moon minibosses. The Hallowed princess-fairy boss was clearly penis envy of mods like Calamity Mod that add proper hard bosses, as was Master Mode, mimicking the increased difficulties added by Calamity Mod, Thorium Mod, Fargo's Mod, and others.

 

[HeyCheckOutHowHardICanPee]

The Hallowed princess-fairy boss was clearly penis envy of mods like Calamity Mod that add proper hard bosses

I don't remember the Empress of Light spamming my chatbox with quotes from a teenager going through their edgy phase.

 

[Blaine]

I don't remember the Empress of Light spamming my chatbox with quotes from a teenager going through their edgy phase.

That's completely irrelevant. Bullet hell bosses were first implemented in Terraria by the Calamity Mod, and attempting no-hit kills of said bullet hell bosses is a prominent aspect of the Calamity Mod community (in which I don't really participate, but am aware of peripherally). Furthermore, Providence, the premiere bullet hell boss of Calamity Mod, is a goddess summoned in the Hallow whose AI changes based on the time of day.

The Empress of Light is a goddess-like bullet hell boss summoned in the Hallow that changes her AI based on the time of day and drops a unique reward if she's killed without the player taking a hit. That hits all four nails on the head: 1.) bullet hell boss, 2.) goddess in the Hallow, 3.) no-hit aspect, and 4.) AI differs based on time of day. The connection is clear.

Now don't get me wrong, it's fine for vanilla Terraria to imitate and take a page from modders, but the fact is that Calamity not only did it first, but does it better. It's just an odd situation for the game: The skeleton crew of Terraria's development team, led by the creator's girlfriend who only really got involved after the game became successful (first time I've heard that story), is drip-feeding small amounts of mediocre content, while modders are doing far more and doing it much better than the official team.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

if you like bullet hell you're probably gay

 

[HeyCheckOutHowHardICanPee]

Bullet hell bosses were first implemented in Terraria by the Calamity Mod

The vanilla game has had bullethell-lite tier shit in it since expert mode came out.

Between 2015 to 2017, Calamity was a mod with 3 worm bosses, 2 slime bosses and 1 reskinned retinazer AI boss.
During this time there was an onslaught of mods that shat out touhou clone bosses with 6000000 projectiles and fancy pattern mechanics, hell, the first ever mod released for tmodloader was just a bullet hell bossrush mod.

Furthermore, Providence, the premiere bullet hell boss of Calamity Mod, is a goddess summoned in the Hallow whose AI changes based on the time of day.

The nighttime variant AI for Providence was added in August, 2020.
Empress of Light (with both day and night) was added to Terraria in May, 2020.

 

[Blaine]

if you like bullet hell you're probably gay

I don't, but Calamity's creator (actually gay) apparently does.

I do like difficulty, though, and vanilla Terraria's bosses are a joke compared to Calamity's. The bullet hell shit really isn't appropriate to Terraria, but it's better than the fights being way too easy.

The vanilla game has had bullethell-lite tier shit in it since expert mode came out.

Not a single boss in the vanilla game could properly be called a "bullet hell" boss, on any difficulty—until the Empress of Light was added, that is. If you think any of them are, then you're definitely not accustomed to difficult action/reflex games.

Between 2015 to 2017, Calamity was a mod with 3 worm bosses, 2 slime bosses and 1 reskinned retinazer AI boss.

Everyone has to start somewhere. Terraria itself used "borrowed" Final Fantasy sprites as placeholders during its alpha development, and was extremely simple at release.

I know this because I bought the game two days after its release, and had been following it during its development:

The nighttime variant AI for Providence was added in August, 2020.

That's a point in your favor. My other three carry the day.

Here's another fourth, since you win that one: The Empress of Light hovers, attempts to maintain her distance, and sends sprays and showers of projectiles in various patterns to attack the player. Absolutely no other boss in the vanilla game does this—bullet hell spray generator, essentially. Most others either attempt to chase and make contact with the player like heat-seeking missiles, or line up/circle about to perform series of dash attacks.

She does have one dash attack, but that's a small part of her retinue.

Now to be fair, Calamity has plenty of "line up and dash" bosses and minibosses. Actually, it's kind of annoying, but it's also an expected consequence of Terraria's presentation and movement mechanics (along with the possibility of free building, which aside from offering a high level of control to the player, makes programming AI much more difficult).

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I don't, but Calamity's creator (actually gay) apparently does.

 

[HeyCheckOutHowHardICanPee]

hovers, attempts to maintain ... distance, and sends sprays and showers of projectiles in various patterns to attack the player

So, similar to the lunatic cultist or moonlord but with more projectile vomit?

How did you go from
"terraria devs cant compete with modders and are ripping off calamity bosses" and "calamity was the first to implement bullet hell into terraria"
to
"this boss does different things compared to other vanilla bosses though" and "we all have to start from somewhere terraria was barebones early on!!"

If you really want to point out Calamity inspirations, the Queen Slime AI was entirely coded by a Calamity fan and ex-modder.

 

[Turjan]

So, Don't Starve got this image. Left side of the image should depict what comes to Terraria.

Some items, more pets (yeah, we definitely needed more of those ), a new (mini-)boss (snow biome, as it looks)?
Well, we will see. I don't expect anything exciting, but then again, I didn't expect anything at all.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

TERRARIA 1.4.3 FULL CHANGELOG

New Content and Changes
Added a Don't Starve themed seed

- Play with Don't Starve-inspired shaders and lighting
- Complete darkness is now dangerous to your health
- Players will need to eat or face hunger and eventual starvation
- A few minor Don't Starve inspired worldgen features
- Has substantially improved drop rates and availablility of Don't Starve related items

• Added the Deerclops, a mid-late pre-Hardmode boss hailing from the world of Don't Starve
  
• A variation on the Deerclops' boss theme, provided by Klei Entertainment!
  
• A few rare background clouds featuring characters from Don't Starve can now appear
  
• Added several new Don't Starve-related emotes
  
• Main menu now has some links to some assorted Terraria-related websites
  
• Worlds using special seeds now have unique icons in the World Select menu to better tell them apart
  
• Added a config option for an older version of Smart Cursor Hold, labeled in the config file as "SmartCursorHoldCanReleaseMidUse". Changing this setting to true will make it so that Smart Cursor: Hold will IMMEDIATELY deactivate when releasing the hold button, even if the player is mining.
  

New Items

• Several new pets from the Don't Starve universe
  
• A collection of Don't Starve weapons and equipment, adapted to the world of Terraria!
  
• Wilson and Willow Vanity Outfits
  
• Several vanity hats and accessories
  
• Two food items, the Froggle Bunwich and Monster Lasagna
  
• The full array of standard boss related items from Deerclops
  
• 4 Don't Starve-themed paintings

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where Crimson Grass Walls spread slower than Corruption
  
• Fixed a (previously undetectable issue) where enemies with a higher NPC ID than Golden Slimes would have Golden Slime bonus money drops
  
• Fixed a rare worldgen softlock, where the game gets stuck trying to generate Hellforges
  
• Fixed an issue with part of Leather Whip's segments being cut off
  
• Fixed an issue with Ice Bow being flagged as a channeling weapon when it isn't
  
• Fixed an issue with Flying Knife not having proper screen range limits
  
• Fixed Princess not having the same "leaving" SFX like Angler
  
• Changed the SFX of a number of some newer Summoning and Magic weapons, so that they are a bit more representative of the attack itself
  
• Updated, added to, and pruned dozens of entries from an inaccurate and outdated list of homing projectiles that the Lunatic Cultist has damage resistance against
  
• Fixed a rare bug with some minions that could make them despawn
  
• Fixed some issues with certain sentry minions which could result in desync for players joining after they had been summoned
  
• Fixed an issue where Celestial Starboard did not draw/make dust properly in reverse gravity
  
• Fixed an issue with some Rocket projectiles, resulting in a number of silent and not so silent crashes
  
• Fixed a subtle issue where certain items were a different color in the hotbar than they were in the inventory
  
• Fixed a bug where Boulders and Rolling Cacti qualified as Ranged items eligible of dealing Frostburn if you wore the Frost Armor
  
• Fixed an issue where Smooth Marble Blocks didn't merge with dirt, ash, or frozen slime blocks (despite merging with most other blocks)
  
• Fixed an issue where some of the newer campfires didn't have Smart Cursor outlines
  
• Fixed an issue preventing Honey Pit microbiomes from spawning in the Jungle
  
• Fixed a bug where Thorns-effects hit Empress of Light at an extremely rapid rate
  
• Fixed an issue where Light Dynasty Walls showed an inaccurate teal map color
  
• Fixed an issue where some config settings are reset every time an update or hotfix occurs.

Some of the new stuff?

Chester, a pet/piggybank rolled into one:

Lucy!

Muck about in the Constant at night and you get this:

The Constant-seed adds lots of pure 'Survival Horror'-elements, breathing some freshness into the game (I hope).

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I gave the 'Constant'-seed a go, which is probably the first time in over a year that I play Terraria.

Starting fresh is rough. The new food mechanic works like this: As long as there is no Food Buff in place, the Hunger-buff is active. It starts as a five-minute cooldown where it does nothing ('peckish'), then it turns into a 5-minute debuff which lowers one's stats ('hungry') before finally turning into 'Starving', which drains health every second until death. Eating any food item resets things. So in lieu of any food being around, this gives a player roughly ten minutes to find something to eat.

So go find some food then! Except there are more problems. Those stone deposits one often saw on the surface? They've been replaced with marble deposits. Why is that a problem? Because most food items are crafted in a cooking pot, which requires metal bars, which require a furnace to be smelted in. Another source are trees. A new game mechanic called 'shaking' is when you hit a tree once with an axe or hammer, which leads to a chance-based drop of stuff like acorns, wood, birds flying out, or food items. The problem with that? Foodstuffs only have a 4.5% drop rate.

Throw into the mix that surface caverns tend to be full of cobwebs (meaning surface spiders!) and the dark being full of Grues, and you get an idea of how the early game is in the Constant.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Terraria, released over ten years ago, finally wins the 'Labor of Love'-award in the annual Steam Awards.

 

[HeyCheckOutHowHardICanPee]

tModloader has finally set a date for when they want to release the beta; by May 16, 2022.

• Most 1.3 mods should be able to be ported
• The API won't break without warning
• We start encouraging modders and users to migrate.

This means that tModloader 1.4 and its overall rewrite have been in the works for over 2 years by the time of release of the beta, making it the longest delay between tmodloader to update, by nearly over 10x the amount of time as the previous longest.

 

[Palikka]

Another last update. A small one this time.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I'm holding out for a 1.4.4.4-update.

 

[Theodora]

Last tried Terraria near a decade ago. What difficult / world settings do people recommend for learning the game solo?