Finally the time has come to release the much anticipated Rail System. This update contains a full redesign of the docking and turrets system, as well as a ton of new features. The new rail/docking system also solves a lot of old problems.

Furthermore, thanks to the new devs, a lot of work has been done fixing bugs. They’re getting more and more familiar with the huge codebase, so bugfixing and work on new features will continue to speed up.


Here is the news in youtube form:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUEGEXCbwww&feature=youtu.be

Here you will also find a list of tutorial youtube videos by bench:

http://https/www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL76wZEm2fRBsB-UDoQZDtt_nVxSBCuun5

Here is a short overview of all the systems. They are explained in detail on our site.

Due to the lack of usability and dynamic in the old docking system, we have decided to completely redesign the system from the ground up. The new design is far more suited for all the current demands, as well as things to come.

The old system is still functional so ships, blueprints, or other structures will not break. The only restriction is that the docking beam is replaced with a pure activation beam, but if needed, the docking can be turned back on in the server config.


The new Magnet block can be docked to any Rail, so long as the docking ship will not encounter a collision by doing so. This means no more docking zone boxes. Also, the orientation of your docked vessel can now be fully customized.


In addition to the removal of the docking zone, Rail blocks can be chained together in paths to allow for docked objects to move along them. The system is completely dynamic and allows for full control with the logic system.


Rails are not the only new block allowing for docked objects and movement. Rotor blocks can be placed in your rail designs, or separately from them. The direction and angle of rotation can also be customized.


Logic signal interactions and linked speed control blocks can dictate the direction, distance and speed of movement/rotation of the new Rail and Rotor blocks. Also, power and some of the shields are now shared between the rail-docks and the mothership, as well as every object in between.


The new rail blocks are also completely integrated with the the logic system in StarMade.


Since the old docking also included the turret system, it now has also been redesigned. Turrets can now be divided into multiple rotational axes. The most common example of that would be a turret base that can rotate horizontally, and a turret top which would rotate vertically.


Several new logic blocks were added to expand the functionality of the logic system with StarMade’s gameplay and to help integrate the new Rail system. These new blocks include:

• Button block (Provides a short (0.5 sec) ON signal then deactivates)
• Flip-Flop block (Will only change its output when receiving an ON signal)
• Wireless block (Allows logic systems to connect from ship to ship)
• Remote block (Allows access to ship logic to be triggered from your action bar. Each block’s label can be changed by hitting ‘R’ on it)

An issue has been resolved that caused lag spikes whenever a new player joined on a more populated server. Also the configuration for the hotbar is now set by ship. That means when you load a blueprint after setting it, you will get the exact hotbar you saved the blueprint with.

This unfortunately had the effect that currently all hotbars will reset once, but in the long run the new system is a lot more comfortable.


The login procedure on servers that require authentication has been improved, so that non-uplinked players now get an explanation as well as a prompt to enter their credentials or go to the registry to setup a new account. Also, the pesky error messages which blocked the real message have been removed.

We fixed some bugs probably causing a lot of java version errors, making the code more strict to its version dependencies, so hopefully a lot less problems for new players will occur related to that.

Closed:

• Dis-Integrator does not work on asteroids
• unable to track down path calculation failed
• Map: Interface skips the sectors near a system border
• Sniper rifle can zoom in the galaxy map
• Admins getting revoked of admin after logging on/off of server
• Logic on asteroid crashes the game (ClassCastException)
• IndexOutOfBoundsException with some handheld weapons
• Non-linear camera movement speed
• Ending tutorial brings you back to global spawnpoint
• Weapon menu not refreshing correctly
• Tab + F10 - Can be used to see cloaked entities
• Asteroid name mismatch (Zerkaner & Zercaner)
• Large, nearly complete blueprint quotas round to 100%
• NEW claimed systems do not get saved
• Overdrive power consumption doesn't scale with ratio
• 1th and 2th typos in Faction Rank
• Renamed entities cannot be searched for
• cloaked ships still have the "pilot" marker visible
• Cannot enter build block on asteroid - prevent placing it, not entering it
• docking module on asteroid crashes game on activation - prevent placing it, not activating it
• Lag/Freeze on autocomplete
• Tutorial fails to import sector correctly
• Launcher's world manager has no scrollbar
• /search only searching loaded entities

Resolved:

• GUI Error - faction menus refresh too fast and endlessly

(All bugs fixed that were caused by the rail system itself are not listed)



Please go to our website to get an in-depth explanation and reference for all new systems.


Use of the rail system, Crimson-Artist


That’s all for now,
Thanks for playing StarMade,

- schema and the Schine Team

Finally the time has come to release the much anticipated Rail System. This update contains a full redesign of the docking and turrets system, as well as a ton of new features. The new rail/docking system also solves a lot of old problems.

Furthermore, thanks to the new devs, a lot of work has been done fixing bugs. They’re getting more and more familiar with the huge codebase, so bugfixing and work on new features will continue to speed up.


Here is the news in youtube form:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUEGEXCbwww&feature=youtu.be

Here you will also find a list of tutorial youtube videos by bench:

http://https/www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL76wZEm2fRBsB-UDoQZDtt_nVxSBCuun5

Here is a short overview of all the systems. They are explained in detail on our site.

Due to the lack of usability and dynamic in the old docking system, we have decided to completely redesign the system from the ground up. The new design is far more suited for all the current demands, as well as things to come.

The old system is still functional so ships, blueprints, or other structures will not break. The only restriction is that the docking beam is replaced with a pure activation beam, but if needed, the docking can be turned back on in the server config.


The new Magnet block can be docked to any Rail, so long as the docking ship will not encounter a collision by doing so. This means no more docking zone boxes. Also, the orientation of your docked vessel can now be fully customized.


In addition to the removal of the docking zone, Rail blocks can be chained together in paths to allow for docked objects to move along them. The system is completely dynamic and allows for full control with the logic system.


Rails are not the only new block allowing for docked objects and movement. Rotor blocks can be placed in your rail designs, or separately from them. The direction and angle of rotation can also be customized.


Logic signal interactions and linked speed control blocks can dictate the direction, distance and speed of movement/rotation of the new Rail and Rotor blocks. Also, power and some of the shields are now shared between the rail-docks and the mothership, as well as every object in between.


The new rail blocks are also completely integrated with the the logic system in StarMade.


Since the old docking also included the turret system, it now has also been redesigned. Turrets can now be divided into multiple rotational axes. The most common example of that would be a turret base that can rotate horizontally, and a turret top which would rotate vertically.


Several new logic blocks were added to expand the functionality of the logic system with StarMade’s gameplay and to help integrate the new Rail system. These new blocks include:

• Button block (Provides a short (0.5 sec) ON signal then deactivates)
• Flip-Flop block (Will only change its output when receiving an ON signal)
• Wireless block (Allows logic systems to connect from ship to ship)
• Remote block (Allows access to ship logic to be triggered from your action bar. Each block’s label can be changed by hitting ‘R’ on it)

An issue has been resolved that caused lag spikes whenever a new player joined on a more populated server. Also the configuration for the hotbar is now set by ship. That means when you load a blueprint after setting it, you will get the exact hotbar you saved the blueprint with.

This unfortunately had the effect that currently all hotbars will reset once, but in the long run the new system is a lot more comfortable.


The login procedure on servers that require authentication has been improved, so that non-uplinked players now get an explanation as well as a prompt to enter their credentials or go to the registry to setup a new account. Also, the pesky error messages which blocked the real message have been removed.

We fixed some bugs probably causing a lot of java version errors, making the code more strict to its version dependencies, so hopefully a lot less problems for new players will occur related to that.

Closed:

• Dis-Integrator does not work on asteroids
• unable to track down path calculation failed
• Map: Interface skips the sectors near a system border
• Sniper rifle can zoom in the galaxy map
• Admins getting revoked of admin after logging on/off of server
• Logic on asteroid crashes the game (ClassCastException)
• IndexOutOfBoundsException with some handheld weapons
• Non-linear camera movement speed
• Ending tutorial brings you back to global spawnpoint
• Weapon menu not refreshing correctly
• Tab + F10 - Can be used to see cloaked entities
• Asteroid name mismatch (Zerkaner & Zercaner)
• Large, nearly complete blueprint quotas round to 100%
• NEW claimed systems do not get saved
• Overdrive power consumption doesn't scale with ratio
• 1th and 2th typos in Faction Rank
• Renamed entities cannot be searched for
• cloaked ships still have the "pilot" marker visible
• Cannot enter build block on asteroid - prevent placing it, not entering it
• docking module on asteroid crashes game on activation - prevent placing it, not activating it
• Lag/Freeze on autocomplete
• Tutorial fails to import sector correctly
• Launcher's world manager has no scrollbar
• /search only searching loaded entities

Resolved:

• GUI Error - faction menus refresh too fast and endlessly

(All bugs fixed that were caused by the rail system itself are not listed)



Please go to our website to get an in-depth explanation and reference for all new systems.


Use of the rail system, Crimson-Artist


That’s all for now,
Thanks for playing StarMade,

- schema and the Schine Team

Hello players,



another update has just been uploaded. While work is still going on on all the new gameplay features, which will hopefully come out in short succession to each other, here is an update that will make chatting ingame a lot more comfortable to use and manage.



Since we didn’t want to go for an only slightly better chat, we tried to go for the full package: That means a full channel systems with passwords, moderators, auto-rejoin, and on-hud-customization.

http://i.imgur.com/Y36Beyh.png

http://i.imgur.com/Enu7UYA.png

The chat is now structured in channels. There is a general output always on your hud where all messages from systems, and channels you have joined but aren’t currently open for hud are displayed.



But of course if you open the channel and fix it to the hud, the messages will only display there.



There are a few default channels that are autocreated. These channels also can’t be left and there is no moderation. The General channel, and the Faction channel (which is auto-created for each faction). Moderation in the General chat is equal to moderation of admins in general. Moderation for faction channels can be done by removing someone from a faction.

But the most important channels are the custom channels. Any user may create temporal channels. These channels exist as long as there is at least on online player in it, and will automatically be removed otherwise (to prevent channel spam and abuse).

Furthermore admins can create permanent channels, which exist as long as an admin doesn’t delete it. It will also still exist if the server restarts. The channels password/options are saved.

Each channel has moderators. They have the ‘@’ sign in front of the name. Furthermore you can now identify server admins have the ‘§’ sign additionally. Admins always have moderator powers, and can join any password protected channel.

Also all messages are still logged on server in ./chatLogs, now by channel. The protection against other clients has been improved significantly. It is now impossible to hack a client to read other players PM’s and messages of a channel the client isn’t in. This is done by single casting messages only to the clients that are supposed to get it. It’s a more complicated system to design, but has many other advantages also, like less bandwidth used.

You can private message now with any player conveniently by just right clicking on his name in any chat. A private message channel is handled like a temporal channel and will only exist as long as both players are online (in fact the channels exist on the clients only, as the server just forwards the message to the specific clients).



Also all chat panels can now be pinned to the hud. that means multiple chat windows can be displayed at all times exactly where you want them to be. This will get some additional improvements in the future like color coding of the background, and more.



Channel positions and options are also saved on logout. While a client will also never receive a password of a channel, the system saves the last password the client has used.



This means on rejoining (each by server of course), the system will automatically attempt to rejoin all channels that were open.




There have been some bugfixes for both Intel and ATI cards. If there are further problems, please create a ticket and we will try to solve the problem asap.



I feel a little bad for not bringing any gameplay features lately, so I will work extra hard to get new shiny things to you as fast as possible!



Thanks for playing StarMade,

- schema and the Schine Team

Hello players,



another update has just been uploaded. While work is still going on on all the new gameplay features, which will hopefully come out in short succession to each other, here is an update that will make chatting ingame a lot more comfortable to use and manage.



Since we didn’t want to go for an only slightly better chat, we tried to go for the full package: That means a full channel systems with passwords, moderators, auto-rejoin, and on-hud-customization.

http://i.imgur.com/Y36Beyh.png

http://i.imgur.com/Enu7UYA.png

The chat is now structured in channels. There is a general output always on your hud where all messages from systems, and channels you have joined but aren’t currently open for hud are displayed.



But of course if you open the channel and fix it to the hud, the messages will only display there.



There are a few default channels that are autocreated. These channels also can’t be left and there is no moderation. The General channel, and the Faction channel (which is auto-created for each faction). Moderation in the General chat is equal to moderation of admins in general. Moderation for faction channels can be done by removing someone from a faction.

But the most important channels are the custom channels. Any user may create temporal channels. These channels exist as long as there is at least on online player in it, and will automatically be removed otherwise (to prevent channel spam and abuse).

Furthermore admins can create permanent channels, which exist as long as an admin doesn’t delete it. It will also still exist if the server restarts. The channels password/options are saved.

Each channel has moderators. They have the ‘@’ sign in front of the name. Furthermore you can now identify server admins have the ‘§’ sign additionally. Admins always have moderator powers, and can join any password protected channel.

Also all messages are still logged on server in ./chatLogs, now by channel. The protection against other clients has been improved significantly. It is now impossible to hack a client to read other players PM’s and messages of a channel the client isn’t in. This is done by single casting messages only to the clients that are supposed to get it. It’s a more complicated system to design, but has many other advantages also, like less bandwidth used.

You can private message now with any player conveniently by just right clicking on his name in any chat. A private message channel is handled like a temporal channel and will only exist as long as both players are online (in fact the channels exist on the clients only, as the server just forwards the message to the specific clients).



Also all chat panels can now be pinned to the hud. that means multiple chat windows can be displayed at all times exactly where you want them to be. This will get some additional improvements in the future like color coding of the background, and more.



Channel positions and options are also saved on logout. While a client will also never receive a password of a channel, the system saves the last password the client has used.



This means on rejoining (each by server of course), the system will automatically attempt to rejoin all channels that were open.




There have been some bugfixes for both Intel and ATI cards. If there are further problems, please create a ticket and we will try to solve the problem asap.



I feel a little bad for not bringing any gameplay features lately, so I will work extra hard to get new shiny things to you as fast as possible!



Thanks for playing StarMade,

- schema and the Schine Team

Hello players,

this update is something very special. While we are still working on a lot of new features, we took the time to take an indepth look at several systems. Mainly the graphics and the network code.

A lot of this game’s choices in terms of style and design have been made to make the game as big and as scalable as possible. This is the whole reason we stayed with the block only system as opposed to detailed polygon graphics, as blocks present a unique set of optimizations and designs that would be lost in a conventional LoD (level of detail) polygon system.

To tell the results upfront, we managed to increase the performance of both graphics and network immensely.
In numbers, this means an almost doubled framerate (depending on hardware), and a decrease of average network traffic to about 10% of what it was previously (profiled by stress tests on the server).

These kind of improvements are some of the most technical ones to be made for any program. A vast amount of hours went into analyzing and profiling, while in other areas like the network that even required to write additional modules to make analyzation even possible.

A big thanks to servers who gave us profiling information as well as the tester team and players creating stress tests to verify and improve the changes.

For any one interested, there is a more technical explanation of methods used and designs on the end of this post.


http://i.imgur.com/tH41b5L.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/iBhDlqw.jpg

But while we have a lot of more features in queue to come very soon, there are also some additional little features added to this version:


Servers are now able to define their own starter gear for new players. This includes credits, blocks, meta items, and blueprints (filled or not).

To edit the starter items, after the first start in this version a GameConfig.xml will appear in the starmade base directory, which should be fairly self-explanatory to edit.

This new door types added by kupu adds wonderful looking new doors.

http://i.imgur.com/y4RvVBu.png

http://i.imgur.com/Yel5Iwd.png

http://i.imgur.com/0dmeJN0.png


A lot more options for customization has been added to faction roles. There are now permissions to control relationship changes (declare war, personal enemies, etc), faction news posting, taking/abandoning a homebase, and territory claiming/clearing. If you are a faction leader be sure to check and adapt your roles accordingly.


Calbiri, Lancake, as well as the tester team modified and gave feedback to a whole bunch of balance changes.


Hull blocks have been buffed in order to improve the survivability of ships:

• Normal hull has 75 HP now.
  
• Standard armor now has 60 armor and 100 HP, bringing it to 250 EHP.
  
• Advanced armor now has 75 armor and 250 HP, bringing it to 1000 EHP.

Power supply beams have been buffed to bring it back to near pre-rework levels.
They are slightly less effective compared to what they used to be but they still offer around 5 to 6 times more power regen than their onboard equivalent in pure power regen blocks.

• Power supply/tick: 40 -> 240
  
• Power consumption/tick: 50 -> 270

The piercing defensive effect cap has been decreased but the amount of blocks you need to achieve max percentage has been decreased. This will bring the max achievable EHP to 2500!

• Shield capacitors have now 2 times more shield HP, this is to make fights last longer and increase the chance of surviving high alpha damage.
  
• Regen rate has remained unchanged.
  
• Shield Capacity Total Mul: 55 -> 110
  
• Warheads (dis-integrators) have doubled block damage.

• Radius has been nerfed to 48, with explosive you can get 58
  
• Slightly faster, nerf: 4 -> 3
  
• Does more damage, buff: 1 -> 2

• Slower so anti missile turrets have less chance of missing buff: 2 -> 1

• Ingots and crystals are 2 times cheaper to make it easier to craft advanced and crystal armor.
  
• Shield cap and rechargers are 2 times cheaper.
  
• HP of the more expensive systems, mainly weapons and support tools, has been increased by a factor of 2-3 in most cases.

The punch through damage system now has an effective penetration depth of around 7 blocks.
It used to make the other hull damage effects more or less obsolete and is in large groups gamebreaking. It is now equal to the piercing and explosive system in terms of block destruction per hit.

The piercing effect blocks are now switched over to the punch through damage system, with its double damage for blocks it would be ideal to use this system to destroy heavily armored ships.
This is also great for low damage weapons but with the drawback of doing no to low shield damage, depending on effect ratio.

The punch through effect blocks use the piercing damage system, making it capable of damaging blocks below armor without really destroying the armor itself first. It did lose its armor efficiency bonus though so if you want to destroy armor, piercing is the way to go. It doesn’t have a shield debuff though.

Explosive has not changed. It doesn’t exactly penetrate but it can damage a wide surface area with a minimum of weapon groups.

To clear things up, these are the current 3 hull damage types (not blocks):

• Piercing damage system: Damage applied on a block gets halved and goes to the next block. This will automatically lead to a softcap at around 7 blocks deep. This also makes it able to destroy/damage blocks below armor plates without destroying that first.
  
  
• Punchthrough damage system: Damage applied on a block gets deducted with that block’s EHP, then it is halved and passes to the next block. This also has a softcap at around 7 blocks.
  
  
• Explosive damage system: ⅙ of damage gets applied to all touching blocks.

Unfortunately these changes do require an overhaul in ship design. Because of the stronger shields, and more durable hull, it would be highly recommended to put more armor and weapon blocks on your ships and sacrifice some shields.

Any constructive feedback is appreciated.


[1]Bugfixes[/h1]


Bug 1769: Nocx Charged Circuit Wedge (typo bug)
Bug 1538: Brown paint can be bought in the shop; it can't be crafted
Bug 1285: Active circuit wedge have no animated texture
Bug 834: Ice Crystal Wedges missing from shops
Bug 565: Pentas are actually Heptas

All fixed prices have been adjusted so that they are around 1.5-3 times higher than their dynamic price.

There also have been some bug fixes to combat the slowdown of sound played, as well as more rare problems like driver crashes from the new GUI, and a lot of smaller bugfixes that caused crashes and glitches.

That's it for now, thanks for playing StarMade,

Schema & the Schine Team

Hello players,

this update is something very special. While we are still working on a lot of new features, we took the time to take an indepth look at several systems. Mainly the graphics and the network code.

A lot of this game’s choices in terms of style and design have been made to make the game as big and as scalable as possible. This is the whole reason we stayed with the block only system as opposed to detailed polygon graphics, as blocks present a unique set of optimizations and designs that would be lost in a conventional LoD (level of detail) polygon system.

To tell the results upfront, we managed to increase the performance of both graphics and network immensely.
In numbers, this means an almost doubled framerate (depending on hardware), and a decrease of average network traffic to about 10% of what it was previously (profiled by stress tests on the server).

These kind of improvements are some of the most technical ones to be made for any program. A vast amount of hours went into analyzing and profiling, while in other areas like the network that even required to write additional modules to make analyzation even possible.

A big thanks to servers who gave us profiling information as well as the tester team and players creating stress tests to verify and improve the changes.

For any one interested, there is a more technical explanation of methods used and designs on the end of this post.


http://i.imgur.com/tH41b5L.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/iBhDlqw.jpg

But while we have a lot of more features in queue to come very soon, there are also some additional little features added to this version:


Servers are now able to define their own starter gear for new players. This includes credits, blocks, meta items, and blueprints (filled or not).

To edit the starter items, after the first start in this version a GameConfig.xml will appear in the starmade base directory, which should be fairly self-explanatory to edit.

This new door types added by kupu adds wonderful looking new doors.

http://i.imgur.com/y4RvVBu.png

http://i.imgur.com/Yel5Iwd.png

http://i.imgur.com/0dmeJN0.png


A lot more options for customization has been added to faction roles. There are now permissions to control relationship changes (declare war, personal enemies, etc), faction news posting, taking/abandoning a homebase, and territory claiming/clearing. If you are a faction leader be sure to check and adapt your roles accordingly.


Calbiri, Lancake, as well as the tester team modified and gave feedback to a whole bunch of balance changes.


Hull blocks have been buffed in order to improve the survivability of ships:

• Normal hull has 75 HP now.
  
• Standard armor now has 60 armor and 100 HP, bringing it to 250 EHP.
  
• Advanced armor now has 75 armor and 250 HP, bringing it to 1000 EHP.

Power supply beams have been buffed to bring it back to near pre-rework levels.
They are slightly less effective compared to what they used to be but they still offer around 5 to 6 times more power regen than their onboard equivalent in pure power regen blocks.

• Power supply/tick: 40 -> 240
  
• Power consumption/tick: 50 -> 270

The piercing defensive effect cap has been decreased but the amount of blocks you need to achieve max percentage has been decreased. This will bring the max achievable EHP to 2500!

• Shield capacitors have now 2 times more shield HP, this is to make fights last longer and increase the chance of surviving high alpha damage.
  
• Regen rate has remained unchanged.
  
• Shield Capacity Total Mul: 55 -> 110
  
• Warheads (dis-integrators) have doubled block damage.

• Radius has been nerfed to 48, with explosive you can get 58
  
• Slightly faster, nerf: 4 -> 3
  
• Does more damage, buff: 1 -> 2

• Slower so anti missile turrets have less chance of missing buff: 2 -> 1

• Ingots and crystals are 2 times cheaper to make it easier to craft advanced and crystal armor.
  
• Shield cap and rechargers are 2 times cheaper.
  
• HP of the more expensive systems, mainly weapons and support tools, has been increased by a factor of 2-3 in most cases.

The punch through damage system now has an effective penetration depth of around 7 blocks.
It used to make the other hull damage effects more or less obsolete and is in large groups gamebreaking. It is now equal to the piercing and explosive system in terms of block destruction per hit.

The piercing effect blocks are now switched over to the punch through damage system, with its double damage for blocks it would be ideal to use this system to destroy heavily armored ships.
This is also great for low damage weapons but with the drawback of doing no to low shield damage, depending on effect ratio.

The punch through effect blocks use the piercing damage system, making it capable of damaging blocks below armor without really destroying the armor itself first. It did lose its armor efficiency bonus though so if you want to destroy armor, piercing is the way to go. It doesn’t have a shield debuff though.

Explosive has not changed. It doesn’t exactly penetrate but it can damage a wide surface area with a minimum of weapon groups.

To clear things up, these are the current 3 hull damage types (not blocks):

• Piercing damage system: Damage applied on a block gets halved and goes to the next block. This will automatically lead to a softcap at around 7 blocks deep. This also makes it able to destroy/damage blocks below armor plates without destroying that first.
  
  
• Punchthrough damage system: Damage applied on a block gets deducted with that block’s EHP, then it is halved and passes to the next block. This also has a softcap at around 7 blocks.
  
  
• Explosive damage system: ⅙ of damage gets applied to all touching blocks.

Unfortunately these changes do require an overhaul in ship design. Because of the stronger shields, and more durable hull, it would be highly recommended to put more armor and weapon blocks on your ships and sacrifice some shields.

Any constructive feedback is appreciated.


[1]Bugfixes[/h1]


Bug 1769: Nocx Charged Circuit Wedge (typo bug)
Bug 1538: Brown paint can be bought in the shop; it can't be crafted
Bug 1285: Active circuit wedge have no animated texture
Bug 834: Ice Crystal Wedges missing from shops
Bug 565: Pentas are actually Heptas

All fixed prices have been adjusted so that they are around 1.5-3 times higher than their dynamic price.

There also have been some bug fixes to combat the slowdown of sound played, as well as more rare problems like driver crashes from the new GUI, and a lot of smaller bugfixes that caused crashes and glitches.

That's it for now, thanks for playing StarMade,

Schema & the Schine Team

Hello Players,

This update contains a fix for servers freezing up (i.e. clients can't connect but the server is not hard crashing).

It also contains a few other fixes, for example, asteroids would turn brown after re-visiting a sector. With this hotfix, all asteroids that were affected by it will turn back retroactively; just as long as they have not been moved or edited!

Some GUI fixes have also been added such as increasing the usability of the sliders. It is now possible to click in the gutter of the sliders, and jump to the relative section of the page. We've also gone and added all new graphics for the sliders as well!

Cargo

Oh, and one bigger thing is that you can now switch to chests or factories from the inside of your ship/build block. The new option "cargo" is in the ship/station dropdown on the top task bar. You can also access all the named inventories from any chest from the panel's dropdown in the top right.

You first have to rename at least one chest/factory, which can be done from within the inventory panel. You can name up to 16 inventories per structure at the moment, however we will consider raising it depending on the additional load it causes to servers.



Thanks for playing StarMade,

- schema and the Schine Team

Hello Players,

This update contains a fix for servers freezing up (i.e. clients can't connect but the server is not hard crashing).

It also contains a few other fixes, for example, asteroids would turn brown after re-visiting a sector. With this hotfix, all asteroids that were affected by it will turn back retroactively; just as long as they have not been moved or edited!

Some GUI fixes have also been added such as increasing the usability of the sliders. It is now possible to click in the gutter of the sliders, and jump to the relative section of the page. We've also gone and added all new graphics for the sliders as well!

Cargo

Oh, and one bigger thing is that you can now switch to chests or factories from the inside of your ship/build block. The new option "cargo" is in the ship/station dropdown on the top task bar. You can also access all the named inventories from any chest from the panel's dropdown in the top right.

You first have to rename at least one chest/factory, which can be done from within the inventory panel. You can name up to 16 inventories per structure at the moment, however we will consider raising it depending on the additional load it causes to servers.



Thanks for playing StarMade,

- schema and the Schine Team

Hello Players,

The new GUI is finally done. I know it took a little, but now the normal update cycle will start again.


Designing, programming, and testing a GUI is a very time consuming process, especially when it’s replacing an already existing one.

This update might seem lacking in new features, because it replaces a lot of things. But we hope it will make gameplay and usability a lot more comfortable.

 

All of the art has been made by the awesome Kupu. Besides the new look, a lot of basic functionality has been added to the GUI. While the foundations for the new GUI designs are in, we are aware some older windows need replacing and further work will be continued.


 
Every window can now be resized and moved. Also the position of each window is saved and restored, even after exiting the game.

 
Dynamic window resize

All key element of windows will dynamically resize with the window.


List optimization

Large lists will no longer cause lag.


List filters, sorting, and searches

Virtually every list in the game now has responsive search bars, filters, and sorting on every column. One feature many people requested for a long time was for example a shop search, which is an addition in the new GUI.

Also the fixed tabs have been replaced with a menu bar on top for easy access to every panel.

A lot of GUI elements like buttons give greater feedback to the user with this new update.


 


The radar in the top right has been replaced with a completely new system that will show other entities relative to the player’s current horizon.[/u]

You can also switch on a bigger version in the options.


New Message popup System

The message system has been redone to be less obtrusive. There is still some work to do to get rid of unnecessary messages.


Effect and Feedback System

A pilot will now get feedback on what effects are currently affecting him. Also more instant information like power failure, being hit by a weapon with a side effect and much more will now appear in the HUD for the pilot to see.


Cleaned up HUD

The HUD has been designed to be far cleaner with unnecessary info cut out. Speed and other information is now placed in bars to the side. Information on what bar is what, will display when changing into flight mode and then will fade out after 5 seconds to make the screen more free. 

The 3 icons on the top right are “shop in distance”, “new mail”, and “trading” (which will be implemented very soon).


 

• Selecting an object now displays shield and power on the top left. Also if the name is too long, it will automatically scroll the name back and forth.

[/u][/*]

Options have been restructured to be much easier to navigate.

[/u][/*]

Relations of other factions are now accessible in the diplomacy tab.

[/u][/*]

Asteroid resource specs are now displayed in its name and also accessible in the navigation tab.

[/u][/*]

Item description is now available in the inventory.

[/u][/*]

Items can now be destroyed from the inventory

If the game window isn't focused (alt+tabbed), the first click on the window will be consumed, as it’s pretty much random for the mouse system where the first focusing click went.  This means no accidentally shooting a weapon or other unwanted actions upon returning to the game.

[/list]


 

Players can now set up to 20 bookmarks (can be changed in server config) of sectors, and name them.



Stations now behave exactly like normal blueprints. You can now save your station from within a build block, and buy the blueprint of it. Buying the blueprint from the shop will cost 1M credits. This price can now also be changed in the server config.


Updated shop descriptions

Calbiri updated the shop descriptions for missing entries, fixed many spelling mistakes and just general cleanup. More balancing will follow in the coming updates.



Kupu has added three awesome new decorative blocks;

• Decorative Charts
• Decorative Conduits
• Scaffolding

Also the icons got updated to be more visible (e.g. for the glass).



Some issues, large and small, have been fixed.

Something to mention is a fix for players that would prevent the world from saving at all.

Another new server config option is now also the separation of total thread pool and CPU thread pool. The default value of CPU thread pool has been lowered to combat the issue of some machines slowing down to the point of freezing.

Minor fix : Yellow Lights and Yellow Rods now have a working “OFF” state.



There will be some cleanup required for the old graphics and code. Also the new GUI will be designed to be more organized, so that it can be made into GUI/HUD packs that will be put on the content page for sharing.

GUI layouts will receive a little more polish and some placeholder sprites will be replaced.
The big messages on screen will be cleaned up to not be as intrusive as they are now.


Also a new chat system with groups tabs and all the good stuff will be made (That’s why we held off changing the chat system for now).

A lot of servers reported performance problems when a lot of people are playing. Thanks to their reports I already found a lot of areas to optimize the pipeline to hopefully eliminate the problems.

The new docking system along with the rail system will be the next main project for gameplay.


We’ll also will do further work on the game API.



Thanks for playing StarMade,

- Schema and the Schine Team

Hello Players,

The new GUI is finally done. I know it took a little, but now the normal update cycle will start again.


Designing, programming, and testing a GUI is a very time consuming process, especially when it’s replacing an already existing one.

This update might seem lacking in new features, because it replaces a lot of things. But we hope it will make gameplay and usability a lot more comfortable.

 

All of the art has been made by the awesome Kupu. Besides the new look, a lot of basic functionality has been added to the GUI. While the foundations for the new GUI designs are in, we are aware some older windows need replacing and further work will be continued.


 
Every window can now be resized and moved. Also the position of each window is saved and restored, even after exiting the game.

 
Dynamic window resize

All key element of windows will dynamically resize with the window.


List optimization

Large lists will no longer cause lag.


List filters, sorting, and searches

Virtually every list in the game now has responsive search bars, filters, and sorting on every column. One feature many people requested for a long time was for example a shop search, which is an addition in the new GUI.

Also the fixed tabs have been replaced with a menu bar on top for easy access to every panel.

A lot of GUI elements like buttons give greater feedback to the user with this new update.


 


The radar in the top right has been replaced with a completely new system that will show other entities relative to the player’s current horizon.[/u]

You can also switch on a bigger version in the options.


New Message popup System

The message system has been redone to be less obtrusive. There is still some work to do to get rid of unnecessary messages.


Effect and Feedback System

A pilot will now get feedback on what effects are currently affecting him. Also more instant information like power failure, being hit by a weapon with a side effect and much more will now appear in the HUD for the pilot to see.


Cleaned up HUD

The HUD has been designed to be far cleaner with unnecessary info cut out. Speed and other information is now placed in bars to the side. Information on what bar is what, will display when changing into flight mode and then will fade out after 5 seconds to make the screen more free. 

The 3 icons on the top right are “shop in distance”, “new mail”, and “trading” (which will be implemented very soon).


 

• Selecting an object now displays shield and power on the top left. Also if the name is too long, it will automatically scroll the name back and forth.

[/u][/*]

Options have been restructured to be much easier to navigate.

[/u][/*]

Relations of other factions are now accessible in the diplomacy tab.

[/u][/*]

Asteroid resource specs are now displayed in its name and also accessible in the navigation tab.

[/u][/*]

Item description is now available in the inventory.

[/u][/*]

Items can now be destroyed from the inventory

If the game window isn't focused (alt+tabbed), the first click on the window will be consumed, as it’s pretty much random for the mouse system where the first focusing click went.  This means no accidentally shooting a weapon or other unwanted actions upon returning to the game.

[/list]


 

Players can now set up to 20 bookmarks (can be changed in server config) of sectors, and name them.



Stations now behave exactly like normal blueprints. You can now save your station from within a build block, and buy the blueprint of it. Buying the blueprint from the shop will cost 1M credits. This price can now also be changed in the server config.


Updated shop descriptions

Calbiri updated the shop descriptions for missing entries, fixed many spelling mistakes and just general cleanup. More balancing will follow in the coming updates.



Kupu has added three awesome new decorative blocks;

• Decorative Charts
• Decorative Conduits
• Scaffolding

Also the icons got updated to be more visible (e.g. for the glass).



Some issues, large and small, have been fixed.

Something to mention is a fix for players that would prevent the world from saving at all.

Another new server config option is now also the separation of total thread pool and CPU thread pool. The default value of CPU thread pool has been lowered to combat the issue of some machines slowing down to the point of freezing.

Minor fix : Yellow Lights and Yellow Rods now have a working “OFF” state.



There will be some cleanup required for the old graphics and code. Also the new GUI will be designed to be more organized, so that it can be made into GUI/HUD packs that will be put on the content page for sharing.

GUI layouts will receive a little more polish and some placeholder sprites will be replaced.
The big messages on screen will be cleaned up to not be as intrusive as they are now.


Also a new chat system with groups tabs and all the good stuff will be made (That’s why we held off changing the chat system for now).

A lot of servers reported performance problems when a lot of people are playing. Thanks to their reports I already found a lot of areas to optimize the pipeline to hopefully eliminate the problems.

The new docking system along with the rail system will be the next main project for gameplay.


We’ll also will do further work on the game API.



Thanks for playing StarMade,

- Schema and the Schine Team