Airport CEO Beta 5 released

Olof · December 10, 2020, 10:32pm

Happy holidays, airport CEO!

As the season of vacation is soon upon us, most CEOs will take a short break from their busy lives running an airport to spend time with their loved ones, perhaps in a bit more digital fashion this year. We will too, but before then we have another update in store for you: Beta 5 has just now been deployed on the default branch and is another quality of life update containing loads of bug fixes, balancing and some minor new features.

Just like with the previous and future beta updates, we are now at that stage of beta development where we’ve primarily completed the implementation of the remaining major updates and are fully focused on bugs and balancing. The deployment of beta 5 marks the end of this year’s last beta sprint but do not fear as the next beta version is just around the year’s corner.

A short message to MacBook M1 and (or) macOS Big Sur users

Congratulations on your new computer and operating system! However, as you probably know, application support for the M1 chip is on multiple fronts in an experimental state and that includes Airport CEO. Running ACEO on the M1 chip is currently not supported, however we’ve updated the Airport CEO website’s help section with some tips on how you can get it running if you’re experiencing stability issues. A future update in 2021 should provide stable support for MacBooks with the M1 chip, as well as any other stability issues with macOS Big Sur.

If your UI text labels suddenly aren’t rendering, if you’ve lost your game files or both then the above link will have all the information you need to fix those issues.

Now, let’s take a look at what’s changed in this version…

    Release notes - Airport CEO - Version Beta 5.1-0

Bug

[ACEO-37859] - Remote stands without vehicle transit structure connections can be opened
[ACEO-38682] - Staff are always assigned to terminals even if there are jobs available outside of terminal area
[ACEO-38693] - Demolishing terminal foundation does not reliably demolish all attached terminal walls
[ACEO-38728] - Connecting a remote stand to an international zoned boarding desk can cause international zone to be spawned in front
[ACEO-38732] - Doors placed over gate entry and exit points do not automatically open during deboarding and boarding
[ACEO-38743] - Objects are in rare cases render through floors
[ACEO-38748] - Tutorial jumps to wrong checklist after completing previous checklist
[ACEO-38757] - Tapping the mouse pad on e-mail containers for some MacBook models can cause the management panel to close
[ACEO-38763] - Certain objects can in extremely rare instances not remove world notification container when activated
[ACEO-38764] - Incorrect calc variable for parking lot need ratio determination can cause only half of parking lots to fill up
[ACEO-38791] - Adjusted patrol shift length to avoid excessive job task generation in early game stages
[ACEO-38801] - Zone texture bleed into white edges on certain resolutions
[ACEO-38811] - Person system updaters removal cause significant lag spike when there's a higher number of persons at the airport
[ACEO-38813] - Highlighted that only contractors can pass through fence gates in object description
[ACEO-38816] - One-way arrows not visible when placed under crosswalks
[ACEO-38817] - Employees not being able to execute a job task while transitioning secure zone do not spawn world notification containing path finding investigatable data
[ACEO-38820] - Rare exception in aircraft livery fetch can cause save file to break
[ACEO-38821] - Trees placed outside world entrance are not removed when buildable world entrance tunnel is placed
[ACEO-38825] - Flight planner blocker ATC restricting emergencies do not extend to next day
[ACEO-38829] - Camera is not positioned in map center when starting a new airport
[ACEO-38832] - Airside busses leaving stops for remote flights can cancel out other scheduled job tasks on the attached boarding desk causing stalled flights
[ACEO-38833] - Terminal panel can incorrectly show staff type as understaffed
[ACEO-38835] - Flights can in rare instances become indefinitely delayed
[ACEO-38836] - Secure zone can be placed in front of secure zone exits and security check-points causing persons to get stuck in behavioral loops
[ACEO-38837] - Switching between planned and normal mode does not affect any currently holding object
[ACEO-38838] - Roads can be placed on top of fence
[ACEO-38839] - Fence gate poles show up on underground floors
[ACEO-38841] - Tutorial panel checklist button can under certain circumstances become uninteractable
[ACEO-38845] - Removing a security checkpoint whilst persons are passing through can in rare instances cause them to get stuck
[ACEO-38848] - Planning attachable fuel tanks allow for building more than the set limit
[ACEO-38854] - Jet exhaust not properly rendered on macOS
[ACEO-38859] - Employee candidates can in extremely rare instances take a very long time to generate
[ACEO-38861] - Earth patches not removed when building tiles on top
[ACEO-38864] - Aircraft heat haze renderes incorrectly on large stand during night
[ACEO-38866] - Boarding procedures can in extremely rare instances not be invoked for remote stand flights causing flight turnaround to stall
[ACEO-38867] - Dummy agent, trailer links and ULD renders if spawned while camera is viewing lower floors
[ACEO-38876] - Removing zone can cause a stackoverflow exception resulting in a crash to desktop
[ACEO-38882] - Fuel depot incorrectly accepts more than six fuel tanks if the fuel tanks hasn't been built
[ACEO-38886] - Employees and franchise staff can in certain instances deboard at wrong terminal
[ACEO-38942] - Commercial flights not always prioritized over GA flights causing heavy delays on airports with single all traffic runway
[ACEO-38954] - Passengers do not always fetch the seemingly most reasonable desks
[ACEO-38964] - Flights can be generated for unbuilt stands
[ACEO-38966] - Persons can interact with excalators planned for construction
[ACEO-38968] - Elevator shafts can't cross different zones
[ACEO-38987] - Rare mismatch in job task index number can cause airside shuttle buses to get stuck at stand or stop
[ACEO-39009] - Passengers can in rare instances wait some time until they retrieve their bags from a baggage claim carousel
[ACEO-39010] - International zone can be dragged over secure zone exits
[ACEO-39012] - Various stand panel connection messages can be confusing and reference baggage loading when stand is deactivated
[ACEO-39018] - Check-in desk panel can show old flights with closed check-in process
[ACEO-39028] - Sprite not correctly set for planned rooms
[ACEO-39029] - Franchise contracts are generated and can be accepted for planned rooms
[ACEO-39033] - Items built to the left of a desk queue exit can cause passengers to get stuck of the desk closes
[ACEO-39035] - Elevator doesn't always connect zones over multiple floors causing false path finding failures
[ACEO-39047] - Extremely rare race condition can cause contractor path finding to halt
[ACEO-39052] - Stands do not verify runway connection in both directions which can cause aircraft confusion
[ACEO-39053] - Incorrectly placed fence gate on upper floor does not remove fence below and trapping contractor workers
[ACEO-39064] - Contractors who cannot access a construction position on a lower floor no longer attempts to complete the construction from directly above
[ACEO-39072] - Certain employee types drain too much energy while working
[ACEO-39073] - Aircraft waiting in front of stand with active pushback is holding too close
[ACEO-39076] - Aircraft does not always clear previous occupied nodes on load causing deadlocks
[ACEO-39078] - Main menu setting hover panels align to left and clip out of screen
[ACEO-39084] - Price of flooring not consistent
[ACEO-39102] - Extremely rare uncaught null reference exception when copying queues using templates can cause copying process to break
[ACEO-39110] - Remote boarding procedures where passengers can't find a path from a boarding desk to an airside shuttle bus can cause them to sprint across the tarmac immediately boarding the aircraft
[ACEO-39114] - Fuel trailer trucks do not set airport logo correctly
[ACEO-39122] - Terminal overlays not updating correctly at placement on floors above floor 0
[ACEO-39123] - Boarding desk not possible to disconnect from closed stand
[ACEO-39124] - Elevator can in certain situations deserialize incorrectly leaving an orphaned elevator floor
[ACEO-39129] - Contract negotiation process can in rare instances cause the contract to get stuck
[ACEO-39137] - Baggage bays can be opened without connections to either check-in desks or stands
[ACEO-39146] - Actual terminal can be built on top of planned
[ACEO-39147] - Removing a boarding desk placed in an international zone removes the zone when demolished
[ACEO-39153] - A passenger aborting a remote boarding procedure can in certain instances not restart it and complete airside shuttle bus boarding
[ACEO-39154] - Service trucks can in extremely rare instances deadlock at baggage bay if no trailer is attached
[ACEO-39156] - Clicking a service car stop does not reveal lines to assigned remote stands
[ACEO-39160] - Zones can only be placed on planned terminal if planning mode is enabled (even though planning isn't applied to zones)
[ACEO-39166] - Changing airline stands can cause null reference exception during rebranding process
[ACEO-39171] - Fence gate can be placed on all floors causing walkability issues for persons
[ACEO-39173] - Night mouse light renders aircraft heat haze effect incorrectly
[ACEO-39178] - Removing a planned terminal can in extremely rare instances produce an uncaught null reference exception breaking the building process
[ACEO-39189] - Extremely rare road configurations can render vehicles structures unreachable and vehicles not to spawn
[ACEO-39193] - Approach lights for medium runway can be built free of charge
[ACEO-39195] - Aircraft can wait indefinitely for passengers during boarding procedure
[ACEO-39220] - Door placement placed underneath jetways blocking zone placement can cause stands to loose connection with security checkpoints
[ACEO-39223] - Persons are not always using walkalators
[ACEO-39226] - Franchise staff do not arrive fully rested to airport
[ACEO-39227] - Various main menu panels appear blank
[ACEO-39228] - Planning mode exploit can allow for tilable objects to be removed without deconstruction simulation
[ACEO-39234] - Building planned objects without insufficient funds causes incorrect brief deconstruction overlay
[ACEO-39237] - Planned objects are counted toward construction queue
[ACEO-39240] - Security offers cannot pathfind across open and secure zone border until after save and reload
[ACEO-39241] - Uncaught null reference exception in aircraft taxiway system can cause aircraft to stall
[ACEO-39259] - Holding CTRL to delete taxiway does not always delete all nodes
[ACEO-39262] - Service trucks do not release occupation of last node after entering baggage bay causing traffic jams
[ACEO-39266] - Tiles marked for deconstruction on lower floors not always executed
[ACEO-39279] - New aircraft boarding cancellation policy can prematurely cancel ongoing boarding
[ACEO-39315] - Pushback trucks can in very rare instances throw null reference exception during aircraft tow is severe ATC incident has impacted traffic
[ACEO-39326] - Deliveries to removed structures are not correctly cleared by the system causing strange vehicle loop behavior
[ACEO-39353] - Passengers can in extremely rare combination of escalator and walkalator placement ignore walkalators fully
[ACEO-39357] - Planned rooms cannot be removed
[ACEO-39358] - Planned room overlay renders on multiple floors
[ACEO-39360] - Diagonal removal of taxiway nodes only removes one node per action
[ACEO-39365] - Moving an item incorrectly displays a cost sum in placement label
[ACEO-39366] - Under certain circumstances administrator assignment of programs are not correctly serialized
[ACEO-39394] - Diagonal taxiway sprites are missing road lights housing
[ACEO-39396] - Demolition of diagonal taxiway nodes may incorrectly demolish neighbouring nodes

New feature

[ACEO-33357] - New aircraft: Boeing 767-200 & 767-300
[ACEO-33784] - Taxiway can now be dragged out diagonally
[ACEO-38804] - New heat map mode: Arrival & departure passengers

Improvement

[ACEO-38188] - Number of e-mails in backlog now limited to reduce UI related loading time lag
[ACEO-38710] - Terminals with unclaimed job tasks missing available staff will now spawn notification highlighting this issue
[ACEO-38800] - Fuel or deicing fluid is now refunded at 75% of purchase price when demolishing depot
[ACEO-38824] - Improved aircraft exhaust effect with heat haze
[ACEO-39126] - Added elevator shaft wall to prevent people from accidentally falling down the shaft
[ACEO-39177] - Toggle added in gameplay settings to enable or disable seasonal easter eggs

Update notes

Diagonal taxiways

Yet another community requested feature has made it into the game, and this time it’s time for diagonal taxiways! They can now be dragged out at a 45 degree angle and will allow for a new building style and a new way to think about the structuring of your taxiway networks.

We’ve of course already received feedback on slanted corner pieces for taxiway foundations as well in order to box in diagonal taxiways a bit better and this is something we’ll be looking at next year.

A new aircraft

As a small 2020 parting gift, the Boeing 767-200 and -300 will now be trafficking your airport as part of the Stripe and Olympus airline fleet. The -200 is the biggest medium sized aircraft yet and yes… it’ll be a little cramped on those medium stands (the -300 is classified as large)! But two beauties none the less…

Seasonal easter eggs

If you’ve been managing your airport recently you’ve probably seen that the aircraft have been fitted with some seasonal bling. If you do not particularly enjoy this look, they can now be disabled using a new toggle found in the gameplay settings panel: Enable seasonal easter eggs.

And of course… loads of bug fixes and balancing

Yes, fixes and balancing on all fronts, as a result of the continued stream of bug reports you’re sending us. We’ve been solving everything from code thrown exceptions, UI issues and stalling vehicles to improved person pathfinding, balanced boarding behavior and more.

And more will come, work on beta 6 has already begun but now it’s time for us to take a short break. However, we will be keeping an extra eye on the health of this build for the duration of our short “vacation” in order to not loose momentum and to ensure that the beta period of ACEO continues to be an increasingly more stable experience.

Thank you for this year, everyone. ACEO leaves 2020 in the dust and roars into 2021 with a targeted 1.0 full release in Q1. We’ll be back soon with more daily updates and more information about the future.

From all of us at Apoapsis (Alexander, Fredrik and Olof) we want to wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year. See you on the other side and fly safe!

// Alexander, Fredrik & Olof - Apoapsis Studios

ceoandy · December 10, 2020, 11:31pm

Keep up the good work guys!

dallas · December 11, 2020, 12:10am

ACEO-38846 Cannot Place World Entrance Tunnel

When I attempt to place inside the world space, I get the message: TUNNEL MUST BE PLACED OUTSIDE WORLD.

When I attempt to place outside the world, I get the message: OBJECT MUST BE PLACED WITHIN WORLD

This is a savegame prior to the ability to build the World Entrance Tunnel. As such, I know I cannot purchase the additional two areas to build in as well. That’s a given.

dallas · December 11, 2020, 12:46am

Pax pathfinding still a horrendous mess. I have hundreds of pax with exclamation icons indicating that can’t get to where they want to go. Previously, they didn’t have a problem.

Frustrating. I’ll be back in a month or so.

Thiarcher · December 11, 2020, 1:19am

The pax dosen´t can find the luggage. I´m playing on 4.2 default branch.

humoresque · December 11, 2020, 2:21am

Nice new beta!

brandeng · December 11, 2020, 2:46am

Is everything listed under Bug a list of known issues or the bugs this particular stretch is fixing?

Fredrik · December 11, 2020, 8:24am

Not sure why you can’t place it but it all works here, I tried the save. It has to be placed on the exact border position of the world.

These are bugs that were fixed in Beta 5.

Olof · December 11, 2020, 8:44am

Yes you can, saves from prior the large map update will have two tiles locked but to keep playing on that save in the new update you can simply purchase those areas again and the change will persist!

I’m not seeing any bug report on this in beta 5 and we currently do not have any widespread reporting on extensive pathfinding issues as of beta 4.2 so it’s most likely something tied to your airport’s terminal layout, either a bug that’s caused by it or by the design. I really need to see a bug report from you on beta 5 in order to help you as just writing about it here doesn’t provide any means for us to fix your issue. Also be aware that you’re on the experimental branch and that you, as you know by now, are on the expressed unstable end of ACEO.

They are known issues that have been solved, i.e. bug fixes!

rsdworker · December 11, 2020, 1:30pm

i had crash when i deleted the secuirty zone - I am unsure if anyone had same issue

Luctor · December 11, 2020, 1:46pm

I had the same thing.

Olof · December 11, 2020, 1:50pm

Can you report this save where removing the zones will crash it? Would love to take a look at it.

Luctor · December 11, 2020, 1:56pm

reported it ACEO-38876

Megahenrik · December 11, 2020, 2:16pm

Just found that all passengers passports are missing country Made a bug report. Thought it was just one passenger at first. Don’t remember the number tho.

dallas · December 11, 2020, 2:39pm

@Olof, thanks for the response. I know that I can purchase those pieces that I originally had. However, I thought that as of beta 4, there are a total of five areas that can be purchased (as we had in the beginning). Are there still only three areas or five?

I think I’ll just start a new game with Beta 5. And, yep, I accept the problems in experimental. I like what you guys are doing.

EDIT: started a new playthrough, new airport. Still see only three additional areas to purchase. Is there a setting I’m missing?

EDIT 2: Oh this is just weird. closed and reopened savegame a couple times. Now, no pax in my savegame have the exclamation icon. The ol’ save-and-reload fix. I’m good with that.

Also, still not able to place a World Entrance Tunnel in or out of the world space. Am I missing a research for that? I have the ability to build multi-level in my savegame.
ACEO-38846 Cannot Place World Entrance Tunnel

davixolp · December 11, 2020, 3:08pm

thank you!

dallas · December 11, 2020, 3:55pm

ACEO-38883 Cannot Place Objects In Terminal Because of Non-existent Road

When I attempt to place objects in yellow area or north of it, I get a message: Can’t be placed on roads". There are NO roads here. Only, terminal tiles.

anish · December 11, 2020, 7:18pm

I had the same issue… Reported as ACEO-38891

VOID · December 11, 2020, 9:21pm

There is a setting called “Large map” or something like that when your creating a new game, it’s next to the difficulty slider and under the sandbox options

andyc · December 11, 2020, 9:31pm

In my case no crash, but it is not possible to remove any secure zone anymore in B5.0-0
The demolition tool keeps hanging untill you leave the construction mode. ACEO-38900

For international zones it still works