Astroneer's Pre-Alpha Early Access has been updated to version 0.3.10199.0 (Patch "199")


Steam 'Early Access' users will receive this update Thursday August 17th.

UPDATE: 8/18
We are deploying a hotfix to Update 199. It includes three fixes:

1. Fixed audio settings to not always default to zero.
2. Fixed a multiplayer crash related to clients grabbing research chests and then crashing
3. Fixed an issue that would cause some savegames to cause the game to crash on load.

Update 199 is the first update with the full added force of our new but extremely well rounded Engineering team. While the designers were busy pushing out our first experimental tests for new content, as well as making HUGE leaps forward on Modularity, Research 2.0, & Terrain 2.0 (more on that later) the engineers worked to bring Astroneer to a MUCH more stable state.😂 These notes will contain a somewhat abbreviated list of these extensive fixes, but I want to take a second and sincerely thank everyone who took time to pack up crash reports and saves to send over to the team. They were a huge help and benefit the larger community in extremely meaningful ways. The team was able to close out dozens of bugs in the main branch of the game, as well as numerous ones discovered during our Experimental Tests. Every tweet, email, message, & post means a lot. Thank you.

Because of all this infrastructure/prototyping/stability work, we are still not delivering huge content drops. We know this might frustrate some, but if you want to read about all of the awesome stuff in the pipeline that is coming, jump down to the PROTOTYPING section of the notes. Astroneer is going to be bigger and better than we ever could have imagined, and we appreciate everyone's patience while we lay the foundation for all the content this game will be getting. We also have a test of new content over on our experimental branch of the game! Full details about how to participate here. Ok! Now for the notes:


You can find these updates in 0.3.10199.0, the current build of the game.

[AS-896] - The Options Menu has been completely overhauled.

The Options Menu has received the first pass of a complete visual and functional overhaul, resolving several bugs with the prior implementation. This update adds lots of options including some to help people with lower end hardware. You can now:

• Adjust display options including VSYNC and keep those changes
  
• Adjust graphics options to suit your hardware, including Shadow Quality, AA, PP and effects.
  
• Audio options now actually work! Adjust them to your liking.
  
• Keybindings on PC will now remain saved between sessions, with some added options like mouse sensitivity, toggling the hold to sprint, and others.

This menu will continue to be updated over the course of the next few releases.

[AS-994] - The Trade Module has received some bug fixes and interaction improvements, such as:

• The maximum return value is always the number of slots on the trade platform rocket.
  
• Now, once you reach the maximum return value, you will not be able to add more resources to any remaining open slots.
  
• If you add an item that pushes the trade value above the maximum, or switch the return item to something with a more favorable exchange rate, the actual return will always be clamped to the maximum.
  
• Resources that are on the trading platform already when the maximum return value is hit or exceeded can always be removed (but cannot be attached again unless removing them causes the return value to dip below the maximum).

[AS-1305] - Beacon colors can now be changed.

This longtime request has now been implemented. Beacons now serve as aids for finding a previous spot, as well as for navigation. Use the in-game UI to cycle through colors or choose the 'red strobe" option for emergencies.

[AS-1145] - Audio has been migrated to the Wwise Engine from Unreal 4 and remixed using the new technology.

Wwise audio engine integrated into Unreal 4. All audio in the game now plays through Wwise instead of UE4’s built in audio engine. The following changes and improvements have been made to the audio engine.

• New cave exploration music tracks added.
  
• Remixed / mastered existing music with additional instruments added.
• Tracks broken down into separate layers to leverage Wwise game states.
  
• Music becomes distorted when low on oxygen.
  
• Music changes based on time of day.
  
• Music now streams rather than load entirely on game start, reducing RAM impact
  
• Sound is sent through a reverb when underground.
  
• Footstep sfx are affected by the movement speed of the player.
  
• Ambience loops no longer heard when at the main menu or orbiting a planet.
  
• Both the medium and small generator’s audio slows down when their “fuel” is near empty.
  
• When death occurs, sounds stop playing earlier.
  
• Music does not abruptly start again when death occurs, it now fades back in over an extended period of time.
  
• Wind turbine audio more appropriately matches their animation frequency.
  
• Sandstorms now have improved distance attenuation and better stereo / surround panning.
  
• Sandstorm rock impact added for when the player gets hit by a boulder.
  
• Low oxygen breathing audio now triggered more abruptly rather than a gradual fade in.
  
• Rover tire audio no longer plays when vehicle is in the air.
  
• Rover engine audio no longer plays when rolling unpowered down an incline
  
• Rover engine audio revs when vehicle is being powered and leaves the ground.
  
• Rover shutdown sound added
  
• Improvements to the active voice count in the game, allowing for slight performance gains.

[AS-1259] - Each suit now has a unique Death animation.
As shown off in Vlog 11, some of Gene's new death animations are now in! 💀😢


In addition to numerous under-the-hood fixes which will improve your play experience, the following live issues have been fixed. Thank you to everyone in the community who has reported and shared details with us on these issues.

• Fixed several issues causing Multiplayer crashes which occurred when Client players returned to their base after venturing far away from it.
  
• Fixed numerous Multiplayer crashes related to interacting with items in the world as a client
  
• Fixed a Multiplayer issue that prevented Win 10 players from connecting to Xbox players
  
• Fixed a number of performance degradation issues relating to base conduits.
  
• Fixed several audio issues where sounds would persist even after the event has ended, including:
  
• [AS-691] - Biome Ambience SFX will no longer play when the player is in space.
  
• [AS-915] - In Multiplayer games, the sound effect of building loops no longer continues playing for the Client player.
  
• [AS-1027] - Fixed issues with SFX being played from sources not close to player.
  
• [AS-1345] - Fixed issue where Sandstorm audio would continue after the storm ended.
  
• [AS-1445] - The sound of oxygen being replenished no longer persists when disconnecting from the oxygen tether before the tank has fully recharged.
  
• [AS-1448] - Fixed issue where the ambient overworld wind sounds did not change when going deep underground.
  Fixed several audio issues where sounds would not play at all, including:
  
• [AS-1370] - Fixed intermittent issue where the Rover did not make any sound when driven.
  
• [AS-1372] - Fixed missing audio upon Pajama Suit Astroneer death
  
• [AS-1373] - Fixed missing audio upon Bubble Suit Astroneer death
  
• [AS-599] - Fixed “double death” issue with Astroneer taking fall damage and dying again when respawning after falling from a high altitude.
  
• [AS-873] - Collecting multiple resources with the Drill will no longer cause all the open slots to break.
  
• [AS-1256] - Fixed issue where Resource items would float off after being blown away during a storm
  
• [AS-1258] - Fixed issue where Save Slot 1 was sometimes overwritten when creating save data in Save Slot 2 and beyond.
  
• [AS-1297] - Fixed minor but extremely annoying issue where newly built base conduits would not follow the hologram path.
  
• [AS-1329] - Upon death, previous backpack inventory should no longer appear hovering next to the Habitat.
  
• [AS-1335] - Fixed a major issue where performance would severely degrade when players opened the Options menu
  
• [AS-1369] - Fixed issue where incomplete nuggets of Power were not consumed when placed on a slot.
  
• [AS-1334] - Fixed issue where Terrain Tool Augments were not working correctly

Some of these are grouped up, but included multiple issues. The main branch of the game should be much more stable, although we are sure there are still some lingering issues out there. Multiplayer crashes should be much less frequent, and performance should have improved across the board.

NOTE: If you previously used INI tweaks to adjust Astroneer performance, we recommend you reinstall the game, or revert your config files. We upgraded Unreal, and old tweaks to the .ini file will most likely cause you to crash or encounter unintended behaviors. Many crash reports we receive are related to the adjustment of source files, and we cannot offer support for saves broken by these adjustments.

• Some “vocal” efforts play on the server when activated by the client.

The following major feature prototypes are ongoing during development, but are not included in this release.

Modularity Prototype has been internally validated
Modularity was another topic that got teased during vlog 012. This is the exact moment it flashes across the screen. Aaron showed the team a prototype that confirmed our feelings all along: building with modular pieces looks awesome. Now comes the hard part of making it fit in with the core gameplay loop, among many many other considerations. We will update with more details soon.

Research 2.0 "minimum viable" prototype was tested internally.
I can't share lots of details about this right now, but Research 2.0 is going really well. If you missed it, some eagle eyed Astroneers spotted a moment from vlog 012 that shows off the current direction, WHICH IS VERY MUCH A WORK IN PROGRESS. This still has a long way to go, but a much more deliberate research system for progression feels really great and we cannot wait to get this into experimental for you all to try.

Dedicated servers are now working outside of the editor.
Another milestone in the long push to get dedicated servers operational. Andrew has been working on getting these spun up for us to try internally. While we still need to optimize and work out a TON of infrastructure tasks related to the current game as well as future features like online persistence, we are nonetheless one step closer to rolling out dedicated server support.

Terrain 2.0 new spherical planet is in progress.
Zabir is working on applying the Terrain 2.0 prototype to spherical planets. If you haven't heard, Terrain 2.0 will allow us to dramatically increase performance, which will allow the game to run better, but more importantly, lift the multiplayer player limit. We are still a way off from doing that, but it gives some context for the importance of Terrain 2.0.

Ok this has been a long one! Thanks for reading, and as always please don't be afraid to reach out with feedback, bugs, and suggestions! Btw: we are 100 subscribers away from 20k on Youtube! If you haven't already, go over and subscribe so you can get weekly updates on what we are working on as well as see Gene's collection of wigs.

-jt

Astroneer's Pre-Alpha Early Access has been updated to version 0.3.10199.0 (Patch "199")


Steam 'Early Access' users will receive this update Thursday August 17th.

UPDATE: 8/18
We are deploying a hotfix to Update 199. It includes three fixes:

1. Fixed audio settings to not always default to zero.
2. Fixed a multiplayer crash related to clients grabbing research chests and then crashing
3. Fixed an issue that would cause some savegames to cause the game to crash on load.

Update 199 is the first update with the full added force of our new but extremely well rounded Engineering team. While the designers were busy pushing out our first experimental tests for new content, as well as making HUGE leaps forward on Modularity, Research 2.0, & Terrain 2.0 (more on that later) the engineers worked to bring Astroneer to a MUCH more stable state.😂 These notes will contain a somewhat abbreviated list of these extensive fixes, but I want to take a second and sincerely thank everyone who took time to pack up crash reports and saves to send over to the team. They were a huge help and benefit the larger community in extremely meaningful ways. The team was able to close out dozens of bugs in the main branch of the game, as well as numerous ones discovered during our Experimental Tests. Every tweet, email, message, & post means a lot. Thank you.

Because of all this infrastructure/prototyping/stability work, we are still not delivering huge content drops. We know this might frustrate some, but if you want to read about all of the awesome stuff in the pipeline that is coming, jump down to the PROTOTYPING section of the notes. Astroneer is going to be bigger and better than we ever could have imagined, and we appreciate everyone's patience while we lay the foundation for all the content this game will be getting. We also have a test of new content over on our experimental branch of the game! Full details about how to participate here. Ok! Now for the notes:


You can find these updates in 0.3.10199.0, the current build of the game.

[AS-896] - The Options Menu has been completely overhauled.

The Options Menu has received the first pass of a complete visual and functional overhaul, resolving several bugs with the prior implementation. This update adds lots of options including some to help people with lower end hardware. You can now:

• Adjust display options including VSYNC and keep those changes
  
• Adjust graphics options to suit your hardware, including Shadow Quality, AA, PP and effects.
  
• Audio options now actually work! Adjust them to your liking.
  
• Keybindings on PC will now remain saved between sessions, with some added options like mouse sensitivity, toggling the hold to sprint, and others.

This menu will continue to be updated over the course of the next few releases.

[AS-994] - The Trade Module has received some bug fixes and interaction improvements, such as:

• The maximum return value is always the number of slots on the trade platform rocket.
  
• Now, once you reach the maximum return value, you will not be able to add more resources to any remaining open slots.
  
• If you add an item that pushes the trade value above the maximum, or switch the return item to something with a more favorable exchange rate, the actual return will always be clamped to the maximum.
  
• Resources that are on the trading platform already when the maximum return value is hit or exceeded can always be removed (but cannot be attached again unless removing them causes the return value to dip below the maximum).

[AS-1305] - Beacon colors can now be changed.

This longtime request has now been implemented. Beacons now serve as aids for finding a previous spot, as well as for navigation. Use the in-game UI to cycle through colors or choose the 'red strobe" option for emergencies.

[AS-1145] - Audio has been migrated to the Wwise Engine from Unreal 4 and remixed using the new technology.

Wwise audio engine integrated into Unreal 4. All audio in the game now plays through Wwise instead of UE4’s built in audio engine. The following changes and improvements have been made to the audio engine.

• New cave exploration music tracks added.
  
• Remixed / mastered existing music with additional instruments added.
• Tracks broken down into separate layers to leverage Wwise game states.
  
• Music becomes distorted when low on oxygen.
  
• Music changes based on time of day.
  
• Music now streams rather than load entirely on game start, reducing RAM impact
  
• Sound is sent through a reverb when underground.
  
• Footstep sfx are affected by the movement speed of the player.
  
• Ambience loops no longer heard when at the main menu or orbiting a planet.
  
• Both the medium and small generator’s audio slows down when their “fuel” is near empty.
  
• When death occurs, sounds stop playing earlier.
  
• Music does not abruptly start again when death occurs, it now fades back in over an extended period of time.
  
• Wind turbine audio more appropriately matches their animation frequency.
  
• Sandstorms now have improved distance attenuation and better stereo / surround panning.
  
• Sandstorm rock impact added for when the player gets hit by a boulder.
  
• Low oxygen breathing audio now triggered more abruptly rather than a gradual fade in.
  
• Rover tire audio no longer plays when vehicle is in the air.
  
• Rover engine audio no longer plays when rolling unpowered down an incline
  
• Rover engine audio revs when vehicle is being powered and leaves the ground.
  
• Rover shutdown sound added
  
• Improvements to the active voice count in the game, allowing for slight performance gains.

[AS-1259] - Each suit now has a unique Death animation.
As shown off in Vlog 11, some of Gene's new death animations are now in! 💀😢


In addition to numerous under-the-hood fixes which will improve your play experience, the following live issues have been fixed. Thank you to everyone in the community who has reported and shared details with us on these issues.

• Fixed several issues causing Multiplayer crashes which occurred when Client players returned to their base after venturing far away from it.
  
• Fixed numerous Multiplayer crashes related to interacting with items in the world as a client
  
• Fixed a Multiplayer issue that prevented Win 10 players from connecting to Xbox players
  
• Fixed a number of performance degradation issues relating to base conduits.
  
• Fixed several audio issues where sounds would persist even after the event has ended, including:
  
• [AS-691] - Biome Ambience SFX will no longer play when the player is in space.
  
• [AS-915] - In Multiplayer games, the sound effect of building loops no longer continues playing for the Client player.
  
• [AS-1027] - Fixed issues with SFX being played from sources not close to player.
  
• [AS-1345] - Fixed issue where Sandstorm audio would continue after the storm ended.
  
• [AS-1445] - The sound of oxygen being replenished no longer persists when disconnecting from the oxygen tether before the tank has fully recharged.
  
• [AS-1448] - Fixed issue where the ambient overworld wind sounds did not change when going deep underground.
  Fixed several audio issues where sounds would not play at all, including:
  
• [AS-1370] - Fixed intermittent issue where the Rover did not make any sound when driven.
  
• [AS-1372] - Fixed missing audio upon Pajama Suit Astroneer death
  
• [AS-1373] - Fixed missing audio upon Bubble Suit Astroneer death
  
• [AS-599] - Fixed “double death” issue with Astroneer taking fall damage and dying again when respawning after falling from a high altitude.
  
• [AS-873] - Collecting multiple resources with the Drill will no longer cause all the open slots to break.
  
• [AS-1256] - Fixed issue where Resource items would float off after being blown away during a storm
  
• [AS-1258] - Fixed issue where Save Slot 1 was sometimes overwritten when creating save data in Save Slot 2 and beyond.
  
• [AS-1297] - Fixed minor but extremely annoying issue where newly built base conduits would not follow the hologram path.
  
• [AS-1329] - Upon death, previous backpack inventory should no longer appear hovering next to the Habitat.
  
• [AS-1335] - Fixed a major issue where performance would severely degrade when players opened the Options menu
  
• [AS-1369] - Fixed issue where incomplete nuggets of Power were not consumed when placed on a slot.
  
• [AS-1334] - Fixed issue where Terrain Tool Augments were not working correctly

Some of these are grouped up, but included multiple issues. The main branch of the game should be much more stable, although we are sure there are still some lingering issues out there. Multiplayer crashes should be much less frequent, and performance should have improved across the board.

NOTE: If you previously used INI tweaks to adjust Astroneer performance, we recommend you reinstall the game, or revert your config files. We upgraded Unreal, and old tweaks to the .ini file will most likely cause you to crash or encounter unintended behaviors. Many crash reports we receive are related to the adjustment of source files, and we cannot offer support for saves broken by these adjustments.

• Some “vocal” efforts play on the server when activated by the client.

The following major feature prototypes are ongoing during development, but are not included in this release.

Modularity Prototype has been internally validated
Modularity was another topic that got teased during vlog 012. This is the exact moment it flashes across the screen. Aaron showed the team a prototype that confirmed our feelings all along: building with modular pieces looks awesome. Now comes the hard part of making it fit in with the core gameplay loop, among many many other considerations. We will update with more details soon.

Research 2.0 "minimum viable" prototype was tested internally.
I can't share lots of details about this right now, but Research 2.0 is going really well. If you missed it, some eagle eyed Astroneers spotted a moment from vlog 012 that shows off the current direction, WHICH IS VERY MUCH A WORK IN PROGRESS. This still has a long way to go, but a much more deliberate research system for progression feels really great and we cannot wait to get this into experimental for you all to try.

Dedicated servers are now working outside of the editor.
Another milestone in the long push to get dedicated servers operational. Andrew has been working on getting these spun up for us to try internally. While we still need to optimize and work out a TON of infrastructure tasks related to the current game as well as future features like online persistence, we are nonetheless one step closer to rolling out dedicated server support.

Terrain 2.0 new spherical planet is in progress.
Zabir is working on applying the Terrain 2.0 prototype to spherical planets. If you haven't heard, Terrain 2.0 will allow us to dramatically increase performance, which will allow the game to run better, but more importantly, lift the multiplayer player limit. We are still a way off from doing that, but it gives some context for the importance of Terrain 2.0.

Ok this has been a long one! Thanks for reading, and as always please don't be afraid to reach out with feedback, bugs, and suggestions! Btw: we are 100 subscribers away from 20k on Youtube! If you haven't already, go over and subscribe so you can get weekly updates on what we are working on as well as see Gene's collection of wigs.

-jt

Hola Astroneers! Experimental Test 002 is now live! This experimental build focuses on an entirely new gameplay mechanic, Terrain as a Resource!



To activate the experimental branch, right click on Astroneer in your Steam game library. Then navigate to Properties > Betas and choose experimental - latest untested builds in the dropdown. If the update doesn't happen right away, restart Steam.

The goal here is two fold. We would love feedback on the concept, as well as any bugs related to this new gameplay mechanic. Here is a survey to file feedback as well as bugs with this new system. The dev build we are pushing out has some other bugs, including some that have been fixed in the main branch, so keep bug reporting to T.A.R only.


As the title indicates, terrain is now considered a resource! That means a few significant changes to the core gameplay loop.

Adding or flattening terrain requires terrain “ammo” in containers.
This will likely be a significant change for some people. You can no longer add terrain indefinitely, even when tethered to your base. Instead, you'll need a ready supply of collected sediment in order to add terrain to the environment. However, while flatten also requires a sediment supply during this test, we'll be updating it soon to both fill and deplete canisters depending on whether it is removing or adding terrain.

Deforming terrain no longer uses power
We've removed the power draw from deforming terrain. This means that while adding or flattening terrain now requires a Sediment supply, removing terrain is completely unrestricted, even if you are disconnected from your tether line. You'll no longer find yourself staring at your backpack's battery meter, waiting for it to slowly charge in order to continue deforming.

This change allows for you to think more strategically about your backpack power usage. In exchange for removing the terrain tool's power draw, we're adding more uses for power in the form of items and abilities that you'll use intermittently. We've started by having Augments draw power, but we'll be introducing lots more uses going forward. And we've also removed the backpack's "trickle" charge, so you'll have to pay more attention to your power supply when it's in use.

Terrain and Hydrazine are now stored in reusable Canisters
Every Astro will start with one reusable canister. Additional canisters can be printed from your backpack at the cost of 1 Resin. While deforming, terrain removed from the environment will fill up canisters attached to the backpack or terrain tool. If all canisters are full (or no canisters are attached), collected terrain is burned off and permanently destroyed.



Reusable Canister
Can hold either Sediment (terrain) or Hydrazine (with other resources to come later). Printable from backpack for 1 Resin. Not to be confused with the oxygen canister, which still costs one titanium.

Ammonium
The previous behavior of harvesting canisters full of Hydrazine directly from "fuel" crystals was not intended to be a long term solution. Mining these crystals in the wild will now provide Ammonium, an entirely new resource. Ammonium can be refined into Hydrazine at the new Refinery module. Left unrefined, Ammonium is stable and will not detonate when caught in an explosion.

Sediment Processor Module
This new module allows you to filter out the trace resource deposits contained within collected sediment. The amount of resources produced depends on the rarity of the selected resource. For the purposes of this test, you'll be able to filter out Compound, Resin, Organic, Malachite, and Laterite.


To use the Sediment Processor Module, gather Sediment (Terrain) with your Terrain Tool into any available canister (empty, or partially filled with Sediment) attached to your Terrain Tool or Backpack. Then, transfer the collected Sediment by attaching canisters to the slot at the top of the Module's tank. Note that you can attach partially filled canisters, so long as they contain Sediment.

Once the Module's tank is completely filled, attach the desired resource to be filtered to the slot on the bottom-left. (If the resource can be filtered, an indicator hologram will appear on the Output slot on the bottom-right).

Hydrazine Refinery Module
The Refinery Module is the only way to convert Ammonium into refined Hydrazine. You can also still produce Hydrazine using the Fuel Condenser (but with a few changes which are covered below).

To use it, gather Ammonium from purple crystals found in the wild. Then, place Ammonium on an open Input slot on the bottom of the Module, along with an empty canister on a slot along the top. You can refine up to four nuggets of Ammonium at a time (provided you have a canister for each). Press the button, and the refinery will convert Ammonium into refined Hydrazine.


Fuel Condenser
We've made some adjustments to the Fuel Condenser to make compatible with the introduction of resuable canisters, and to better balance it alongside the new Refinery. The Condeser still produces Hydrazine from power alone, but you'll now need to provide a Canister for it be stored in. Additionally, filling an empty canister now requires multiple full charges.

To minimize tedium, we're adding a 'Set It and Forget It" mode. Once the activation button is pressed, the Condenser will automatically re-activate each time its battery is charged until the attached canister has completely filled.

Aside from being a balance update, we're also using this change to potentially pave the way for automation systems going forward.

TAKE THE EXPERIMENTAL 002 SURVEY HERE

Please be aware that this prototype and build are experimental, and unforseen bugs and behaviors will pop up. Also understand that saves in the experimental branch will most likely not carry over or be compatible with future experimental tests. Enjoy them at your own risk! If you want to see a live demo in action, you can check out this stream replay over on Youtube! Have fun and be sure to share your thoughts. We will have more details soon about our next experimental test, and some follow up questions sometime next week after everyone has gotten their hands dirty with this one.

-joe

Hola Astroneers! Experimental Test 002 is now live! This experimental build focuses on an entirely new gameplay mechanic, Terrain as a Resource!



To activate the experimental branch, right click on Astroneer in your Steam game library. Then navigate to Properties > Betas and choose experimental - latest untested builds in the dropdown. If the update doesn't happen right away, restart Steam.

The goal here is two fold. We would love feedback on the concept, as well as any bugs related to this new gameplay mechanic. Here is a survey to file feedback as well as bugs with this new system. The dev build we are pushing out has some other bugs, including some that have been fixed in the main branch, so keep bug reporting to T.A.R only.


As the title indicates, terrain is now considered a resource! That means a few significant changes to the core gameplay loop.

Adding or flattening terrain requires terrain “ammo” in containers.
This will likely be a significant change for some people. You can no longer add terrain indefinitely, even when tethered to your base. Instead, you'll need a ready supply of collected sediment in order to add terrain to the environment. However, while flatten also requires a sediment supply during this test, we'll be updating it soon to both fill and deplete canisters depending on whether it is removing or adding terrain.

Deforming terrain no longer uses power
We've removed the power draw from deforming terrain. This means that while adding or flattening terrain now requires a Sediment supply, removing terrain is completely unrestricted, even if you are disconnected from your tether line. You'll no longer find yourself staring at your backpack's battery meter, waiting for it to slowly charge in order to continue deforming.

This change allows for you to think more strategically about your backpack power usage. In exchange for removing the terrain tool's power draw, we're adding more uses for power in the form of items and abilities that you'll use intermittently. We've started by having Augments draw power, but we'll be introducing lots more uses going forward. And we've also removed the backpack's "trickle" charge, so you'll have to pay more attention to your power supply when it's in use.

Terrain and Hydrazine are now stored in reusable Canisters
Every Astro will start with one reusable canister. Additional canisters can be printed from your backpack at the cost of 1 Resin. While deforming, terrain removed from the environment will fill up canisters attached to the backpack or terrain tool. If all canisters are full (or no canisters are attached), collected terrain is burned off and permanently destroyed.



Reusable Canister
Can hold either Sediment (terrain) or Hydrazine (with other resources to come later). Printable from backpack for 1 Resin. Not to be confused with the oxygen canister, which still costs one titanium.

Ammonium
The previous behavior of harvesting canisters full of Hydrazine directly from "fuel" crystals was not intended to be a long term solution. Mining these crystals in the wild will now provide Ammonium, an entirely new resource. Ammonium can be refined into Hydrazine at the new Refinery module. Left unrefined, Ammonium is stable and will not detonate when caught in an explosion.

Sediment Processor Module
This new module allows you to filter out the trace resource deposits contained within collected sediment. The amount of resources produced depends on the rarity of the selected resource. For the purposes of this test, you'll be able to filter out Compound, Resin, Organic, Malachite, and Laterite.


To use the Sediment Processor Module, gather Sediment (Terrain) with your Terrain Tool into any available canister (empty, or partially filled with Sediment) attached to your Terrain Tool or Backpack. Then, transfer the collected Sediment by attaching canisters to the slot at the top of the Module's tank. Note that you can attach partially filled canisters, so long as they contain Sediment.

Once the Module's tank is completely filled, attach the desired resource to be filtered to the slot on the bottom-left. (If the resource can be filtered, an indicator hologram will appear on the Output slot on the bottom-right).

Hydrazine Refinery Module
The Refinery Module is the only way to convert Ammonium into refined Hydrazine. You can also still produce Hydrazine using the Fuel Condenser (but with a few changes which are covered below).

To use it, gather Ammonium from purple crystals found in the wild. Then, place Ammonium on an open Input slot on the bottom of the Module, along with an empty canister on a slot along the top. You can refine up to four nuggets of Ammonium at a time (provided you have a canister for each). Press the button, and the refinery will convert Ammonium into refined Hydrazine.


Fuel Condenser
We've made some adjustments to the Fuel Condenser to make compatible with the introduction of resuable canisters, and to better balance it alongside the new Refinery. The Condeser still produces Hydrazine from power alone, but you'll now need to provide a Canister for it be stored in. Additionally, filling an empty canister now requires multiple full charges.

To minimize tedium, we're adding a 'Set It and Forget It" mode. Once the activation button is pressed, the Condenser will automatically re-activate each time its battery is charged until the attached canister has completely filled.

Aside from being a balance update, we're also using this change to potentially pave the way for automation systems going forward.

TAKE THE EXPERIMENTAL 002 SURVEY HERE

Please be aware that this prototype and build are experimental, and unforseen bugs and behaviors will pop up. Also understand that saves in the experimental branch will most likely not carry over or be compatible with future experimental tests. Enjoy them at your own risk! If you want to see a live demo in action, you can check out this stream replay over on Youtube! Have fun and be sure to share your thoughts. We will have more details soon about our next experimental test, and some follow up questions sometime next week after everyone has gotten their hands dirty with this one.

-joe

Been a bit of a crazy week here! We pushed out hotfix 197, the experimental test is still running, and we have two awesome things to announce!


This week's vlog reveals a completely new gameplay mechanic, terrain as a resource! If you want a great walkthrough of exactly what that means, check out the video below. Also included is some news about changes to beacons and the drill.
https://youtu.be/5jq8lBC5hjc
We are still working out some kinks, but you can expect this to hit the experimental branch sometime soon.


The wait is finally over! Astroneer finally has merchandise. We partnered with Fangamer who came up with some awesome designs for both women and men. Partnering with them allowed us to keep working on the game while they handled all the details!



You can get yours here: https://www.fangamer.com/collections/astroneer

That's all for this week, will be back next week with more concrete details about a terrain as a resource experimental test!

-joe

Been a bit of a crazy week here! We pushed out hotfix 197, the experimental test is still running, and we have two awesome things to announce!


This week's vlog reveals a completely new gameplay mechanic, terrain as a resource! If you want a great walkthrough of exactly what that means, check out the video below. Also included is some news about changes to beacons and the drill.
https://youtu.be/5jq8lBC5hjc
We are still working out some kinks, but you can expect this to hit the experimental branch sometime soon.


The wait is finally over! Astroneer finally has merchandise. We partnered with Fangamer who came up with some awesome designs for both women and men. Partnering with them allowed us to keep working on the game while they handled all the details!



You can get yours here: https://www.fangamer.com/collections/astroneer

That's all for this week, will be back next week with more concrete details about a terrain as a resource experimental test!

-joe

Astroneer's Pre-Alpha Early Access version has just been updated to 0.3.10197.0 (Hotfix "197")



Steam 'Early Access' users will receive this update immediately.

This hotfix focuses on fixing some known issues that didn't make the '196' update.

As always, the team would like to thank everyone supporting Astroneer in early access, especially for sharing bugs, inspiration, stories, videos, and streams with us and the rest of our amazing community.

You can find these updates in 197, the current build of the game.

• The effects of storms have now been scaled back down.

This was an unintentional side effect of the engine upgrade, but we liked it and wanted to see what people thought. Unfortunately this resulted in many lost rovers and items. The effect storms now have has still increased overall, but is much less than what it was in 196.

The following bugs are now fixed. Thank you to everyone in the community who has reported and shared details with us on these issues.

• Upon death, ghost Astroneer corpses appear at your base.
  
• When basebuilding, conduits stray of of their intended path when resin is placed on them
  
• In MP games, Host players will see worklights illuminated for themselves and Client players, but Client players will not see the light
  
• Issue where the transform of an object moving into the backpack isn't set correctly, resulting in the item appearing inside the Astroneer

As a reminder, we also have a test running on the experimental branch of Astroneer. You can read all of the details about that test here:

EXPERIMENTAL TEST 001 DETAILS

We also continued rolling out development vlogs! Be sure to subscribe, next weeks vlog will cover a completely new gameplay mechanic we are working on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvAJcZzIYJo
As always, thanks so much and have fun!

-joe

Astroneer's Pre-Alpha Early Access version has just been updated to 0.3.10197.0 (Hotfix "197")



Steam 'Early Access' users will receive this update immediately.

This hotfix focuses on fixing some known issues that didn't make the '196' update.

As always, the team would like to thank everyone supporting Astroneer in early access, especially for sharing bugs, inspiration, stories, videos, and streams with us and the rest of our amazing community.

You can find these updates in 197, the current build of the game.

• The effects of storms have now been scaled back down.

This was an unintentional side effect of the engine upgrade, but we liked it and wanted to see what people thought. Unfortunately this resulted in many lost rovers and items. The effect storms now have has still increased overall, but is much less than what it was in 196.

The following bugs are now fixed. Thank you to everyone in the community who has reported and shared details with us on these issues.

• Upon death, ghost Astroneer corpses appear at your base.
  
• When basebuilding, conduits stray of of their intended path when resin is placed on them
  
• In MP games, Host players will see worklights illuminated for themselves and Client players, but Client players will not see the light
  
• Issue where the transform of an object moving into the backpack isn't set correctly, resulting in the item appearing inside the Astroneer

As a reminder, we also have a test running on the experimental branch of Astroneer. You can read all of the details about that test here:

EXPERIMENTAL TEST 001 DETAILS

We also continued rolling out development vlogs! Be sure to subscribe, next weeks vlog will cover a completely new gameplay mechanic we are working on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvAJcZzIYJo
As always, thanks so much and have fun!

-joe

Following up on our update last friday, this week we are rolling out the first of many experiemental tests to further prove out some features we would like to add to Astroneer! These kinds of tests are another way we are bringing you all into the Early Access process.



This experimental release brings an entirely new gamepad scheme to the experimental branch of Astroneer. Mouse and keyboard will remain the same.

FULL CHANGELOG/INFO HERE

For the full details of all the changes, head over to the above post, complete with fancy .gifs and lots of words abbout the new actions, like active grabbing, deforming with your camera still active, and quick tether placement.

The goal is to gather feedback on this new prototype and see how it stacks up against the default gamepad controls. We would absolutely love your feedback on this experimental test, and the best and most effective way of giving that to us is through this survey:

CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE SURVEY

Please be aware that this prototype and build are experimental, and unforseen bugs and behaviors will pop up. We are hoping to gather info specifically about the gamepad controls, and feedback about how the new controls feel. Also understand that saves in the experimental branch will most likely not carry over or be compatible with future experimental tests. Multiplayer on this build is unstable at best. Enjoy at your own risk! If you want to see a live demo in action, you can check out this stream replay over on Youtube, and keep the diagrams below handy! Have fun and be sure to share your thoughts. We will have more details soon about our next experimental test, (promise it will be for all PC players regardless of input device) and some follow up questions sometime next week after everyone has gotten their hands dirty with this one.





To activate the experimental branch, right click on Astroneer in your Steam game library. Then navigate to Properties > Betas and choose experimental - latest untested builds in the dropdown. If the update doesn't happen right away, restart Steam.

-joe

Following up on our update last friday, this week we are rolling out the first of many experiemental tests to further prove out some features we would like to add to Astroneer! These kinds of tests are another way we are bringing you all into the Early Access process.



This experimental release brings an entirely new gamepad scheme to the experimental branch of Astroneer. Mouse and keyboard will remain the same.

FULL CHANGELOG/INFO HERE

For the full details of all the changes, head over to the above post, complete with fancy .gifs and lots of words abbout the new actions, like active grabbing, deforming with your camera still active, and quick tether placement.

The goal is to gather feedback on this new prototype and see how it stacks up against the default gamepad controls. We would absolutely love your feedback on this experimental test, and the best and most effective way of giving that to us is through this survey:

CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE SURVEY

Please be aware that this prototype and build are experimental, and unforseen bugs and behaviors will pop up. We are hoping to gather info specifically about the gamepad controls, and feedback about how the new controls feel. Also understand that saves in the experimental branch will most likely not carry over or be compatible with future experimental tests. Multiplayer on this build is unstable at best. Enjoy at your own risk! If you want to see a live demo in action, you can check out this stream replay over on Youtube, and keep the diagrams below handy! Have fun and be sure to share your thoughts. We will have more details soon about our next experimental test, (promise it will be for all PC players regardless of input device) and some follow up questions sometime next week after everyone has gotten their hands dirty with this one.





To activate the experimental branch, right click on Astroneer in your Steam game library. Then navigate to Properties > Betas and choose experimental - latest untested builds in the dropdown. If the update doesn't happen right away, restart Steam.

-joe