Manor Lords — New BETA ready for testing (0.8.046 beta) release notes

Hello everyone,

A new patch has been released on the Beta Branch. As described in the development update post last week, this patch is focused on bug fixes, AI improvements, and balance and gameplay polish.

Thank you for all your feedback to help us improve the beta, your input has been invaluable. A full list of changes since the last Beta is included below, we're excited to get this into your hands to try out.

And if you have a moment, a Steam review sharing your experience would help us a lot. We’d love to hear your feedback because it helps us understand what needs attention, what’s working, and what should be adjusted.

How to Access the Beta

Saves: To avoid any potential issues, it’s recommended that you back up your saved files before switching to a beta version.

Mods: Please remove any mods. They will most likely crash the game.

To find your Manor Lords Steam saves.

Press Win + E
Go to %USERPROFILE%]]AppDataLocalManorLordsSavedSaveGames into the search bar.

To try the BETA, please follow these steps:

Open Steam
Right-click on Manor Lords in your library
Select Properties
Go to the BETAS tab
Enter the password: veryNiceBasket
Choose "pre_release" from the "Beta participation" drop-down list
Wait for the game to update the files (if nothing happens, restart the Steam client)
Launch the game

You can report (https://steamcommunity.com/app/1363080/discussions/3/) and bug reports on the Manor Lords Steam forums or join us on (https://discord.com/invite/manorlords) for bug reports and discussion about the latest patch.

Patch Notes — Version 0.8.035–0.8.046 (Beta)

Gameplay:

Added a "Protect Resource Area" checkbox for the Logging Camp and Firewood Cutter, which makes workers automatically avoid deforestation near vulnerable resources.
Maintenance calculation changed from "Time since last maintenance" to a proper "Durability counter" to avoid some cheesing methods.
Tweaked the Granary and Warehouse worker behavior significantly.
Due to tester feedback, storage building workers can again supply their Stalls from storage buildings only.
Added injury and even a minor death chance as a possible effect of failing Maintenance of some buildings requiring Tools.

Minor changes:

Worker families assigned to a building being upgraded will now participate in the construction.
Communal ovens now flip-flop between wheat bread and rye bread.
Workplace animals will now be assigned a home as close as possible to the workplace.
When debranching a tree, Workers will always pick the one closest to them.
When cutting down a tree, Workers will pick the nearest one, unless it is too far away from the Logging Camp.
Changed overstock to increase amounts by item subcategory and not item type (eg, overstock 1 will bring 1 extra firewood OR 1 extra fuel, not both).
Oxen transporting Timber for construction will get the nearest log instead of the nearest on the ground before the buildings.
Maintenance resources are no longer required for construction. The building starts as Pending Maintenance instead.
Oxen transporting Timber for the Sawpit or Logging Camp will now pick the nearest Supply Dump and not the first one built.
Removed Tool cost from non-Artisanal Buildings.
Removed the "Fence up" Upgrade from fields since it's a leftover of the previous development tree and doesn't quite fit anymore.
Added an additional starting location on 'Lake Lemm'.
Refined trimming of platforms that clipped towers sometimes with railings blocking entrances.
Ensured Mercenary Companies will not take payment if all the units are broken.
Increased the precision of both the collision avoidance and the clogging system to reduce traffic jams.
Changed order of goods produced for Blacksmith and Joiner to list Spears and Large shields first.
Changed so the first artisan of each type will start producing the first listed good.
Fixed preview models for Stonemason's station, Lime Kiln
\ Added new frame limit options (59.99 and 59.94) in an attempt to reduce VSync lag.
Reduced the avoidance effect on handcarts and wagons since it looked a bit too wonky.
\ Increased house entering distance at high game speeds to reduce people clogging doorways.
Added an additional road to Wirnitz in Germanic Valley
Added separate entrances logic for retinue and commoners for the Palace to reduce jams on the narrow stairway.
Trading Post Workers will now only use the Horses assigned to their Trading Post.
Oxen transporting Timber will now prioritize delivering to a target near where the Timber is picked up.
Manor no longer houses servant families; it was creating a lot of unnecessary edge cases with them not having proper residential requirements.
Praying people can now visit tier 2 Churches as well, and will go to the nearest Church if full.
When taking care of the dead, the bodies will now be moved to the nearest Corpse Pit or Church.
When planting Orchard trees, villagers now use a kneel animation rather than a sowing animation.
Replaced the Brewery extension placeholder.
Blocked sons with jobs from refueling the home if there is a female family member without any task that can do it instead.
Extensions will now display the icon of the chosen animal or crop in the inventory panel.
Tavern Upgrade Text now accurately describes how many plots it supplies.
Animals no longer contribute to a Workplace's Waiting time in the Productivity Tracker.
Tweaked the cliff pathfinding obstacle accuracy.
Added a lot more character names.
Added weights to character names to control how likely they are to be picked.
AI lords will no longer be able to have the same name.
Added an extra hard cap for storage distribution limits, eg if a stall has 21 items for some reason but only 20 storage space, the extra item will not count as supply.

Balance:

Shortened the fadeout time of all Approval Memories from 365 to 90 days to make the mechanic feel slightly more responsive.
When a household requires Clothes or Shoes, and it are not available that day, they will keep trying to satisfy that need on a daily basis.
Made all level Families consume Ale only 1 every 3 months again.
Lighting should no longer start fires on "Weather Events: None" game setting.
Reduced sawpit max workers to 1.
Iteration on bonus yield for having hunting hounds on hunting camp, the hounds will now give 1+ small game and 1+ pelt when returning from a successful hunt.
Goats yield every 49 days (was 56).
Goats now produce Milk. Every third year, they produce 2 Chevon and 2 Hides.
Stone Gatherer's Camp costs 1 Log (was 1 Log, 4 Planks).
Quarry now costs 2 Logs, 6 Planks (was 1 Log, 6 Planks).
Forester Hut now costs 2 Logs (was 1 Log).
Burgage Plot (Lvl3) now requires 2 grains. (was 1).
Reduced Garment/Footwear consumption for T2 and T3 Residentials.
Urban environment is now triggered by T3 Burgages (it used to be triggered by Artisans). - Rebalanced Wood-based, Cloth-based, and Clay-based items in the Trading Post.
Pigs, Goats, and hunting hounds no longer use the livestock order timer; the Oxen/Mules/Horses do.
The AI will now get their armament shipment too, same as the human player.
Manors no longer have families living in them (since manors aren't residential and can't fulfil requirements, it was always a bit weird).
Communal Oven produces 2 Wheat Bread from 1 Wheat Flour, Bakery produces 4 Wheat Bread from 1 Wheat Flour.
Communal Oven produces 1 Rye Bread from 1 Rye Flour, Bakery produces 2 Rye Bread from 1 Rye Flour.
Rebalanced Orchard yields to improve relative balance: Apples -31%, Pear -52%, Quinces +5%, then increased Orchard Yields overall +120%.
Adjusted yields of Vegetables: Carrots -13%.
Adjusted costs of all Vegetables and Orchards to be more in line with their yields. The price gap between low-yield and high-yield is much wider.
Backyard Extensions now calculate their Planting Cost based on the Area of the Extension, rather than border length.
Increased minimum threshold before Planting Cost scaling is introduced.
Salt reduced from 8 export value to 4.
Destroying a Bandit Camp will net 33% less Regional Wealth/Treasury on average.
Fertility drain starts from 5% of growth so that yields don't drop while the crop is still being planted.
Approval Level "Admired" now gives +10 influence (was +1).
Approval Level "Revered" now gives +20 influence (was +5).
Tithe gives 2 Influence for every 1 Food donated (was 1).
Rye and Wheat crop yield is now the same, but Wheat Flour produces twice as much Bread.
Removed the Ox walking speed bonus from Strasburg Masons Perk.
Woodwright Journeymen export value buff increased from 20% to 30%.
Smiths of Passau export value buff increased from 20% to 30%.
Removed Tool cost from initial Artisan Workshop construction.
Increased Blacksmith and Armorer Artisan Regional Wealth cost to 25.
Removed Tool cost from Stonemason's Station.
Barley, Malt, and Ale adjusted prices, overall value increased.
Barley yields increased by 50%.
Crossbow export increased from 4 to 5.
Slowed growth rates of Orchards to be more accurate to their tooltip (they were maturing too quickly).
Trading Post: Increased the max number of assigned horses to 4.
Removed any Regional Wealth being refunded when demolishing a building.
Reimplemented 2 Ale from 1 Malt at the Brewer.
Tuned down the speed of horses and mules so that guides don't have to run after them (doesn't affect wagons).
Shoes cost has been reduced from 2 Leather to 1 Leather.
Reduced deep mine yields -50%.

AI:

AI will now build a Blacksmith extension even if it has no rich iron resource node.
AI will now always build a Joiner extension.
AI will now build a Bloomery if it has any iron resource node or if it has already built a Trading Post.
AI will no longer buy an Animal Pen, Vegetable Garden, or Orchard backyard extension unless it can afford the animal order och planting cost.
AI will no longer add a single household artisan workshop on double-sized plots.
AI will no longer add an artisan workshop on plots meant for vegetable gardens or orchards.
AI will no longer sell tools until it can properly estimate its own needs.
AI will try to demolish an existing building in order to get hold of any missing resources to build or rebuild the first Logging Camp.
AI will now try to rebuild buildings that have been turned into rubble.
AI now sets better limits regarding hunting and fishing.
Fixed worker placement not properly taking hunting and fishing limits into account.
Fixed worker placement not properly understanding if enough raw material was available for multi-good producing buildings. - AI will now be a little bit quicker to add more worker families to the Trading Post.
AI will now only export one good per family in the Trading Post unless they have access to a horse.
AI will no longer buy a major trade route before it has acquired a second ox and a horse.
AI will score constructing residential plots lower to avoid overtaking other buildings when rebuilding.
AI will score Hitching Posts and Stables much higher when needed to avoid having animals running away.
AI will now build Charcoal Kilns.
AI will now try to exploit pelts or firewood/charcoal for early game regional wealth.
AI will not focus a bit more on harvesting seasonal goods during their season.
AI will now ignore sick families when trying to redistribute worker families.
AI will now focus more on building and upgrading residential houses in order to meet immigration.
Fixed not rebuilding market stalls due to them not getting a score.
Fixed Vegetable Garden unintentionally being slightly favored over Orchard.
Fixed always trying to put a well on a water vein even if that game option was turned off.
Fixed a bug that would invalidate trying to build a road connection towards the settlement instead of the nearest road.
Fixed a bug that would invalidate too many residential plots.
Fixed AI building on overly steep slopes.
Fixed AI exceeding region borders with their plots.
Fixed sorting of potential export goods not using the total stored amount as a tie-breaker.
Fixed AI trying to build roads to an invalid coordinate.
Fixed all of UI completely disappearing after opening and closing the Castle Planner.
AI will now redistribute workers every 3 days instead of several times per second.
AI will now consider constructing a building that produces non-essential goods if the export price is at least 2 instead of 3.
AI will now be able to upgrade Residential Plots to tier 2.
AI will now be able to upgrade Residential Plots to Joiner and Blacksmith.
AI will now update many economy and trade functions more seldom for increased performance.
AI will now destroy no longer needed buildings, like exhausted Mines, or buildings gathering resources no longer present.
AI will now calculate and be guided by the needs of things like Maintenance, and not just missing construction goods.
AI will now calculate and be guided by a strategic reserve of goods, and no longer trade away goods it needs.
AI will now try to place the Trading Post close to the nearest King's Road.
AI will now better favor the high ground when placing the Manor or its first Church.
Fixed AI building too many Hitching Posts.
Fixed AI building a tier 1 building when the rubble of an upgraded building can be repaired.
Fixed AI not being able to build Quarries.
Fixed AI not disbanding Militia and Retinue when no longer faced with any active enemy threats.
Fixed AI not building single Residential Plots by lowering the standard plot width from 1000 to 750.
Fixed AI not building any buildings if the initial building grid runs out of potential spots.
Fixed AI not being able to buy a Major Trade Route.
Will now ignore non-rich food resource nodes if too far away from the village with a max distance based on the number of families.
Will now assign Horses when possible to the Trading Post.
Fixed not setting hunting and fishing limits based on a Resource Node's actual max value.
Fixed incorrect scoring of Order Animals, Plant Vegetables, and Plant Fruits.
Fixed not prioritizing high enough the construction of the first Logging Camp.

UI/Text:

Removed Mead & Smoked Fish from Trading Post as they serve no function yet, and removed Dyes from the Trading Post.
Limited resource nodes will no longer show a partially filled icon after resources have been gathered.
If the maintenance rate is less than 1 per year, it will display the decimal.
Clothing subcategory renamed to Garments.
Shoes subcategory renamed to Footwear.
Active Maintenance Effect will now display in the Maintenance Tooltip.
Improved Affinity tooltips for clearer information.
Notification Banners appear when you have met conditions for a Plot Upgrade or Extension.
Updated Tooltips for Upgrades to give more accurate info.
\ Removed "Force Early Harvest" button.
Broken mercenary companies will no longer display in the Mercenary Company Panel.
Quest finished messages should no longer pop up for Mercenary Company payments (a bit overkill).
Made so that the player can browse perks even after selecting them and before they earn the slot unlock.
Removed the green upgrade Banners since they were reported to be annoying.
Broad sweep on text to improve consistency in both wording and styling.
Improved "People" list styling.
Wiki Economy section updated to have more accurate info for all subcategories.
Made Field UI updates more often.
Display possible import/export prices even when trade is not available due to not having an open Trade Route.
\ "Tasks per Day" was replaced with a summed "Labor Speed" value since walking speed is no longer affected by productivity modifiers.
Added "Extension productivity" in the productivity tracker for extensions to avoid confusion.
Castle construction cost now reduces in the castle planner when the "Strasburg Masons" perk is used; this is described in the construction cost section with a percentage.
Fixed sizing of the third log prompt peeking through the top of the log box.
Changed Records UI to now have a Balance section, showing the sum of imported and exported goods, also changing the All tab to show sales history (import and export as separate entries).
Readded the Sheen effect after creating or replanting a field/garden to give more visual feedback + added text feedback on seed and tree planting in the extensions.
Added Hunting Hound order feedback text.
Rye bread now has reserves and production limits in the inventory UI.
Changed "Yield to harvest left" to "Harvest remaining".
Since workers actively plant trees now, "trees planted" was changed to "saplings purchased".
Made the font colour for affinities in the environment view clearer.
Members of Worker families are always listed in order: Husband, Wife, Son.
Made the overstock font darker and aligned the text to be central.
Added new building thumbnails for various buildings.
Disabled production focus for the forager hut since it's not functional yet.
Removed Yield from market stalls.

** Audio:**

Added planting and hunting hound order sound effects.

** Crashfixes:**

Fixed a FSR4 Crash.
Fixed crash when loading saves with old or deprecated tracked time categories
Fixed a crash when loading a save with Hunting Hounds following Hunters.
Fixed the game freezing sometimes when placing bridges.
Fix for the game crashing when failing to populate the filtered upgradeIcon list
Fixed growing foliage causing a crash due to an invalid index.
Fix for Family Member UI crashing when families emigrate.
Fixed a crash when placing a manor.
Fixed crash with castle planner, related to wall/garrison tower placement.

Bugfixes:

Fixed castle modules spawning levitating after load game (or multiple load games).
Fixed the Baron spawning with just a single Region even though it has two assigned in the Game Setup.
Fixed collapsing buildings not turning straight to rubble.
Fixed upgrad