Unified Settings Biomes Graphics – Shogun Exodus Devlog #34

Raw Patch Notes

UPDATE 2026-08-03 #164 - Unified Scrollable Settings Menu
- Replaced the independently authored Start-screen and Pause-menu Settings implementations with one reusable `SettingsMenu` scene/controller. Both entry points now expose the complete same set of global preferences, including diagnostics, Dev Tools, ink animations, autosave controls, and keybindings; controls synchronize from `SettingsManager` on open and when another instance changes a setting.
- The in-game Settings presentation remains inside the existing Pause menu ink window, preserving its size, appearance, and existing opening-animation owner; only the settings list is now scrollable. The Start screen opens the shared Settings content in its own larger 680x540 ink window, which uses the existing `InkPanelContainer` visibility animation without any changes to the animation system.
- Settings continue to apply immediately and persist through the existing `user://settings.json`; Mods remains a separate menu.
- The global pause-input router recognizes an active rebind in either shared Settings instance, so Esc cancels title-screen rebinding instead of opening the hidden in-game menu.
- Immediate UI follow-up: programmatic synchronization now keeps control signals live for authored checkmark/slider visuals while a local guard suppresses setting writes, and explicitly refreshes an already-styled checkmark from the real button state. Scroll content reserves space for the 32px authored scrollbar, and the title-screen Settings content request is 680x540 so the ink frame's scaled safe margins remain fully on-screen. Opening Keybindings hides the underlying Settings content until Back is pressed, preventing translucent-frame text overlap; its own scrolling rows reserve the same scrollbar clearance.
- Files: `Scenes/UI/SettingsMenu.tscn` (new), `Scripts/UI/SettingsMenu.gd` (new), `Scenes/StartScreen.tscn`, `Scripts/UI/StartScreenMenu.gd`, `Scenes/UI/PauseMenu.tscn`, `Scripts/UI/PauseMenu.gd`, `Autoload/PauseController.gd`, `DeveloperFiles/current-game-setup.txt`, `DeveloperFiles/update-log.txt`.

UPDATE 2026-08-07 #165 - Moddable Biome Foundation (Flatlands)
- Added `Data/biomes.json` as the mod-merged biome catalog. `default_biome_id` points to the concrete `flatlands` record rather than defining a biome called Default. The taxonomy defines terrain (Flat/Rocky), temperature (Hot/Normal/Cold), and rainfall (Wet/Normal/Dry); Flatlands is the only authored biome and is Flat/Normal/Normal.
- Added the event-driven `BiomeSystem` autoload. It assigns a resolved biome id per location with no frame/tick/pawn work, exposes the active biome, resets for every fresh new-game flow, and persists concrete location assignments inside the existing `WorldState` session snapshot. Changing the modded default therefore affects later new games/locations while loaded saves retain their assigned biome.
- Biomes reference, but do not absorb, the independent presentation catalogs. Flatlands currently references world-background profile `default` and Castle style theme `default`. Empty `WorldBackground.background_profile_id` and `BuildingSpawner.style_theme_id` values inherit those biome references; non-empty instance values remain explicit overrides.
- Base now uses biome inheritance. Removed its hidden legacy `BaseWorldBackground` instance and deleted that obsolete scene. Cleared the authored `scene::unknown` / seed `1` WorldBackground overrides so the active background resolves the real location identity and derives its stable seed normally.
- `GameDB` now merges and exposes the biome catalog with deterministic fallback/warnings for missing IDs. No weather, mining, culture, audio, biome selection UI, dynamic combination generation, or TravelLocations biome metadata was added.
- Files: `Data/biomes.json` (new), `Autoload/BiomeSystem.gd` (new), `Autoload/GameDB.gd`, `Autoload/WorldState.gd`, `Scripts/WorldBackground.gd`, `Scripts/Buildings/BuildingSpawner.gd`, `Scripts/UI/CharacterCustomization.gd`, `Scenes/Base.tscn`, `Scenes/Enviroment/WorldBackgrounds/BaseWorldBackground.tscn` (removed), `project.godot`, `DeveloperFiles/current-game-setup.txt`, `DeveloperFiles/mod-guide.txt`, `DeveloperFiles/update-log.txt`.

UPDATE 2026-08-07 #166 - Flatlands World Underground Dirt
- Added the Flatlands Castle-adjacent underground dirt presentation to the biome-selected `default` WorldBackground profile. The door side uses the StairsSide edge, the opposite side uses WallSide, both flip for a right-side entrance, and five Ground textures are selected independently through deterministic left/right random streams before tiling outward at natural size.
- `WorldUndergroundLayer` now owns the ordered deep fill, underground details, and new `UndergroundDirt` sublayer. The strip consists only of static Sprite2D nodes and performs no frame/tick work; repeated sprites share Godot texture resources.
- `BuildingSpawner` now emits the focused `world_background_geometry_changed` contract and exposes ground-underground bounds separately from whole-Castle visual bounds. WorldBackground caches the dirt anchor: ground-floor or entrance changes re-anchor it, while an upper-floor-only width change only appends newly required outer coverage and leaves existing dirt/detail placements alone.
- `underground_dirt` is mod-merged by profile with stable, weighted, individually disableable asset dictionaries for `stairs_side`, `wall_side`, and `ground`. Missing/disabled pools degrade to uncovered background rather than crashing.
- Files: `Scripts/Buildings/BuildingSpawner.gd`, `Scripts/WorldBackground.gd`, `Scenes/Enviroment/WorldBackgrounds/WorldBackground.tscn`, `Data/world_background_profiles.json`, `DeveloperFiles/current-game-setup.txt`, `DeveloperFiles/mod-guide.txt`, `DeveloperFiles/update-log.txt`.

*This is an automated post, using Python and LLMs to summarize game updates. Mistakes, while rare, may happen.