(cross posted from the forums)

A vulnerability has been discovered in the Starbound server executable that allows writing non-arbitrary data to an arbitrary file that the user running the starbound_server executable has permissions to write to.

The mechanics of this vulnerability involves incorrectly validating sector names from the client.

This vulnerability affects versions Enraged Koala and lower. It is fixed in the current unstable and the current nightly. To workaround this issue run the server under a heavily restricted user account. Unfortunately, it is still possible to denial of service attack a server using the workaround. Thanks goes to members of the ##starbound-modding IRC channel for bringing this issue to our attention.

A vulnerability has been discovered in the Starbound server executable that allows players to gain admin privileges if they have been in the same area as an admin user.

The mechanics of this vulnerability involves cloning the uuid of the admin player.

This vulnerability affects all current versions; however, has been fixed in our repository and any nightly version dated after Jan 9 should be immune. To workaround, un /admin yourself before logging out. If you have logged out as /admin the last time you logged out, simply log in and un /admin yourself and log out. This exploit only functions if were an admin the last time you logged out or you were an /admin the last time an automatic store was running and haven't logged out yet.

To find out if you are currently an admin you may type: "/whoami"

More specific technical details will be forthcoming after the next stable update.

(cross posted from the forums)

A vulnerability has been discovered in the Starbound server executable that allows writing non-arbitrary data to an arbitrary file that the user running the starbound_server executable has permissions to write to.

The mechanics of this vulnerability involves incorrectly validating sector names from the client.

This vulnerability affects versions Enraged Koala and lower. It is fixed in the current unstable and the current nightly. To workaround this issue run the server under a heavily restricted user account. Unfortunately, it is still possible to denial of service attack a server using the workaround. Thanks goes to members of the ##starbound-modding IRC channel for bringing this issue to our attention.

A vulnerability has been discovered in the Starbound server executable that allows players to gain admin privileges if they have been in the same area as an admin user.

The mechanics of this vulnerability involves cloning the uuid of the admin player.

This vulnerability affects all current versions; however, has been fixed in our repository and any nightly version dated after Jan 9 should be immune. To workaround, un /admin yourself before logging out. If you have logged out as /admin the last time you logged out, simply log in and un /admin yourself and log out. This exploit only functions if were an admin the last time you logged out or you were an /admin the last time an automatic store was running and haven't logged out yet.

To find out if you are currently an admin you may type: "/whoami"

More specific technical details will be forthcoming after the next stable update.

Hey there!

We pushed the changes mentioned in our recent trailer to the unstable branch last night– rejoice! Anyone who’s been playing the nightly builds won’t see a huge difference, but anyone who makes the switch from stable to unstable will see some pretty massive changes.

So here’s what you need to know about the unstable update, starting with…


There’s a handy tutorial right here about how to switch to the unstable or nightly branch of the beta. Be sure to follow the instructions to switch to unstable. :)


If you choose to switch to the unstable branch, please know that your characters and worlds will not yet be compatible with the latest version of the game. Your old characters and worlds will still be there, but the unstable branch will use a different storage location than the stable branch for the time being, while we work out how to upgrade old characters.

We will try to maintain save file compatibility within unstable as much as possible, but it will depend on what sort of changes we have to make during unstable, so we cant make any promises.

If you are currently running nightly, then you probably already know how everything works already. FYI The unstable branch will use a ‘storage_unstable’ directory while we work on compatibility with stable.

• Many progression quests aren’t final, some are placeholders for future missions
  
• Combat balance is still WIP
  
• Performance issues, particularly in dense areas like dungeons and the outpost
  
• Background parallaxes have problematic transitions between world layers, e.g. oceans
  
• Pixel costs and rewards not yet balanced
  
• Interface windows (containers, AI, etc) can remain open after switching worlds or moving away from the triggering object
  
• Cooking recipes for tier 5 and 6 crops need to be implemented
  
• Crops sometimes get out of sync when grown on ship
  
• Enemy hit/death sounds sometimes fail to play
  
• Some errors in enemy movement and pathfinding
  
• Rare crash when removing items from containers, appears as “(InventoryException) Not allowed to discard stack when locked.”
  
• The launcher, on some people’s machines, will spew dll errors about missing ordinals. This is not fatal however, and the launcher will still work after you close them.
  
• And a whole lot more (probably)
  
  We’ll keep everyone posted as we make more updates and plans evolve, but thank you all for being so patient! Have fun!
  
  ---
  
  Tiy also did an AMA on the Starbound subreddit last night answering lots of questions about development and the unstable update, so be sure to check that out. :)
  
  Hope you all have a nice weekend and a lovely holiday. <3 :)
  
  ːSBHorseː

Hey there!

We pushed the changes mentioned in our recent trailer to the unstable branch last night– rejoice! Anyone who’s been playing the nightly builds won’t see a huge difference, but anyone who makes the switch from stable to unstable will see some pretty massive changes.

So here’s what you need to know about the unstable update, starting with…


There’s a handy tutorial right here about how to switch to the unstable or nightly branch of the beta. Be sure to follow the instructions to switch to unstable. :)


If you choose to switch to the unstable branch, please know that your characters and worlds will not yet be compatible with the latest version of the game. Your old characters and worlds will still be there, but the unstable branch will use a different storage location than the stable branch for the time being, while we work out how to upgrade old characters.

We will try to maintain save file compatibility within unstable as much as possible, but it will depend on what sort of changes we have to make during unstable, so we cant make any promises.

If you are currently running nightly, then you probably already know how everything works already. FYI The unstable branch will use a ‘storage_unstable’ directory while we work on compatibility with stable.

• Many progression quests aren’t final, some are placeholders for future missions
  
• Combat balance is still WIP
  
• Performance issues, particularly in dense areas like dungeons and the outpost
  
• Background parallaxes have problematic transitions between world layers, e.g. oceans
  
• Pixel costs and rewards not yet balanced
  
• Interface windows (containers, AI, etc) can remain open after switching worlds or moving away from the triggering object
  
• Cooking recipes for tier 5 and 6 crops need to be implemented
  
• Crops sometimes get out of sync when grown on ship
  
• Enemy hit/death sounds sometimes fail to play
  
• Some errors in enemy movement and pathfinding
  
• Rare crash when removing items from containers, appears as “(InventoryException) Not allowed to discard stack when locked.”
  
• The launcher, on some people’s machines, will spew dll errors about missing ordinals. This is not fatal however, and the launcher will still work after you close them.
  
• And a whole lot more (probably)
  
  We’ll keep everyone posted as we make more updates and plans evolve, but thank you all for being so patient! Have fun!
  
  ---
  
  Tiy also did an AMA on the Starbound subreddit last night answering lots of questions about development and the unstable update, so be sure to check that out. :)
  
  Hope you all have a nice weekend and a lovely holiday. <3 :)
  
  :SBHorse:

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

Evening folks!

When Starbound’s overall balance structure was first established, humanoid NPCs weren’t really a primary consideration at the time, nor was PVP, so the game was largely balanced based around the damage between players and the monsters. While this system was fine at first, it has been the root cause of much difficulty in balancing humanoid NPCs who were primarily balanced to fight against the player and got absolutely trashed by monsters, which was a problem, especially with our growing focus on missions. This necessitated a rethink of how everything was balanced.

To that end, Tiyuri and I, have gone over almost everything with a fine-tooth comb. Here’s a brief overview of the biggest changes.

- NPCs now use armor, so damage inflicted on them is reflective of their armor. Additionally their health now scales on a curve similar to the player’s.
- Damage values across the board have risen. Monsters now die more easily, but they can also kill the player faster too. Fight carefully!
- The energy scaling curve on guns has been completely reworked for a more gradual and consistent climb.
- Tiered armors have been completely rebalanced to suit the new armor and energy scaling levels.
- Players now start off with access to two weapons from the offset, with most races gaining a one-handed shortsword in addition to their broadsword. The novakids gain a two-handed rifle.
- Generated weapon values now typically sit somewhere between the tiered weapons. Rare weapons may still potentially be more damaging, but this should help to keep tiered weapons useful all throughout the game’s progression.

It might not seem like much but these changes have involved a frankly exhausting amount of configuration, but it has transformed the game feel quite significantly. A pleasant side effect of this humanoid-centric rebalancing is that the game is largely balanced for PVP too, provided all parties have suitably leveled equipment.

Guns are more dependable weapons overall, but melee inflicts monstrous damage for those willing to take the risk. In our testing, we found ourselves having heated 1-on-1 exchanges, rapidly alternating between ranged sniping and clashing swords when our energy reserves were locked away. It was both frantic and fun! I’m looking forward to seeing what you guys make of it.

---

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

Evening, everyone!

In my recent post, I mentioned that we’d soon be uploading a trailer highlighting some of the biggest changes we’ve made to Starbound since the last stable build. Without further rambling, here it is!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Sz2zr3pZEo

As Tiy noted yesterday on Twitter, we’re trying to push these updates to the unstable branch next week and, depending on how that goes, pushing them to the stable branch in January.

Katzeus at Starbound has done an awesome job summarizing most of the changes here.

Thanks again for your continued support and patience. :) Enjoy the trailer!

---

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

Alpaca in spaaaaace!


Alien Alpaca packin’!


Alien Alpaca jumping sweet jumps!


Alien Alpaca playing video games and cooking!


Alien Alpaca taking a breather!

Alpaca in spaaaaaace!

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

Evening folks!

When Starbound’s overall balance structure was first established, humanoid NPCs weren’t really a primary consideration at the time, nor was PVP, so the game was largely balanced based around the damage between players and the monsters. While this system was fine at first, it has been the root cause of much difficulty in balancing humanoid NPCs who were primarily balanced to fight against the player and got absolutely trashed by monsters, which was a problem, especially with our growing focus on missions. This necessitated a rethink of how everything was balanced.

To that end, Tiyuri and I, have gone over almost everything with a fine-tooth comb. Here’s a brief overview of the biggest changes.

- NPCs now use armor, so damage inflicted on them is reflective of their armor. Additionally their health now scales on a curve similar to the player’s.
- Damage values across the board have risen. Monsters now die more easily, but they can also kill the player faster too. Fight carefully!
- The energy scaling curve on guns has been completely reworked for a more gradual and consistent climb.
- Tiered armors have been completely rebalanced to suit the new armor and energy scaling levels.
- Players now start off with access to two weapons from the offset, with most races gaining a one-handed shortsword in addition to their broadsword. The novakids gain a two-handed rifle.
- Generated weapon values now typically sit somewhere between the tiered weapons. Rare weapons may still potentially be more damaging, but this should help to keep tiered weapons useful all throughout the game’s progression.

It might not seem like much but these changes have involved a frankly exhausting amount of configuration, but it has transformed the game feel quite significantly. A pleasant side effect of this humanoid-centric rebalancing is that the game is largely balanced for PVP too, provided all parties have suitably leveled equipment.

Guns are more dependable weapons overall, but melee inflicts monstrous damage for those willing to take the risk. In our testing, we found ourselves having heated 1-on-1 exchanges, rapidly alternating between ranged sniping and clashing swords when our energy reserves were locked away. It was both frantic and fun! I’m looking forward to seeing what you guys make of it.

---

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

Evening, everyone!

In my recent post, I mentioned that we’d soon be uploading a trailer highlighting some of the biggest changes we’ve made to Starbound since the last stable build. Without further rambling, here it is!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Sz2zr3pZEo

As Tiy noted yesterday on Twitter, we’re trying to push these updates to the unstable branch next week and, depending on how that goes, pushing them to the stable branch in January.

Katzeus at Starbound has done an awesome job summarizing most of the changes here.

Thanks again for your continued support and patience. :) Enjoy the trailer!

---

#Discussions_QuoteBlock_Author

Alpaca in spaaaaace!


Alien Alpaca packin’!


Alien Alpaca jumping sweet jumps!


Alien Alpaca playing video games and cooking!


Alien Alpaca taking a breather!

Alpaca in spaaaaaace!

In my recent post, I mentioned that we’d soon be uploading a trailer highlighting some of the biggest changes we’ve made to Starbound since the last stable build. Without further rambling, here it is!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Sz2zr3pZEo

As Finn noted yesterday on Twitter, we’re trying to push these updates to the unstable branch next week and, depending on how that goes, pushing them to the stable branch in January.

Katzeus at Starbound has done an awesome job summarizing most of the changes here.

Thanks again for your continued support and patience. :) Enjoy the trailer!

ːSBpenguinː

In my recent post, I mentioned that we’d soon be uploading a trailer highlighting some of the biggest changes we’ve made to Starbound since the last stable build. Without further rambling, here it is!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Sz2zr3pZEo

As Finn noted yesterday on Twitter, we’re trying to push these updates to the unstable branch next week and, depending on how that goes, pushing them to the stable branch in January.

Katzeus at Starbound has done an awesome job summarizing most of the changes here.

Thanks again for your continued support and patience. :) Enjoy the trailer!

:SBpenguin: