Steam players should receive this update on or around July 18th, 2019.
Xbox 'Play Anywhere' players can also expect this patch to hit their consoles or Windows 10 machines throughout the day July 18th, 2019. 

Hello Astroneers! This month's update is a really important one to the team at SES. July 20th is the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon, and to celebrate, this update's content focused on commemorating this amazing human achievement that has inspired us all. We hope you enjoy and please share your LM lander images with us! ❤️

Watch the trailer here: https://youtu.be/91_9-5EPR6I

The game has been updated with even more storage and platform options for your bases!



Medium T-Platform

• Printed from: Small Printer
  
• Resource Cost: 2 Plastic
  
• Byte Cost: 1,500

Large T-Platform

• Printed from: Medium Printer
  
• Resource Cost: 1 Aluminum Alloy, 2 Plastic
  
• Byte Cost: 4,000

Large Storage Silo A

• Printed from: Medium Printer
  
• Resource Cost: 3 Aluminum Alloy
  
• Byte Cost: 5,000

Large Storage Silo B

• Printed from: Medium Printer
  
• Resource Cost: 3 Steel
  
• Byte Cost: 7,500

In all Astroneer solar systems, a historical lander has appeared and is transmitting mission recordings!



To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission that put humans on the moon, we are running a special limited time in game event! Starting now until August 31st 2019, players who discover the iconic lander on Desolo will receive:

• Vintage Red Palette 
  
• Vintage Emblem Visor

In addition, the LEM lander's TV Camera is still operational, and will take photos of intrepid Astroneers that find it! Once taken, make sure to take a screenshot and share with us on social media!

EXO Surface Payload Delivery Airbags have been deployed containing firework variants that can be used to celebrate July holidays as well as the lunar landing anniversary! 

Delivery Airbags carrying Fireworks spawn in groups of 3, each having 3 fireworks. Delivery Airbags can’t be picked up and are not shreddable.

• Calidor: Yellow fireworks
  
• Vesania: Green Fireworks 
  
• Novus : Teal Fireworks
  
• Atrox : Violet Fireworks
  
• Sylva: Red Fireworks
  
• Desolo: Orange Fireworks
  
• Glacio: Blue Fireworks

Several “Quality of Life” issues have been addressed in this update

• By popular demand, Rovers are now able to be flipped without leaving the vehicle!
  
• The trace function on cables has been adjusted so that slotting cables between platforms should be less finicky. 
  
• Pressing F1 on the keyboard or XXXX on the Gamepad will now open the Astropedia directly. 
  
• Created new tooltips and descriptions for mutant seeds to indicate they are growing. 
  
• Wrecked Point of Interest platform legs are now be shreddable in the Medium shredder.
  
• Medium Storage now unfolds properly on Extra Large Platforms

• [AS-7229] - Optimized beacon rendering and update time.
  
• [AS-7498] - Optimized and timesliced tether post update.
  
• Optimized game state update.
  
• Slight optimization to speed up map load times
  
• Further optimizations to relevance checks for entities which dynamically spawn/despawn their actors.
  
• Further optimizations to power system update.
  
• Optimized update for tooltips.
  
• [AS-7291] - Optimized the splitter to only run logic required for control panel use when the control panel is open.
  
• [AS-7374] - Optimized rovers to only perform updates related to movement when the rover is actually moving.
  
• [AS-7416] - Optimized power cables to make sure they do not update until relevant state changes.
  
• [AS-7415] - Optimized the medium battery to have a much less expensive update.
  
• [AS-7228, AS-7230, AS-7231] - Various optimizations to turn off animation updates for objects that are inert until relevant state changes occur. These optimizations were performed for: Shuttles, Deployable Landing Pad, Astro Backpack, Printers, Soil Centrifuge, Control Panels
  
• Optimized control panels and catalog to nearly eliminate their update costs while closed.
  
• Optimized terrain tool update: now it only runs while deforming and is faster than before.

The following bugs have been fixed as of version 1.3.0.0

General

• Fixed our save system to work around the 16MB save file size limitation on Xbox and UWP. Players will still be unable to save if they create a save file greater than 128MB in size, or if the size of all of their save files is greater than 256MB minus the size required to save their current session.
  
• [AS-4646] - Resized debris object so they no longer grow and immediately shrink when unpacking. 
  
• [AS-6608] - When packaging the Wrecked small rover, another seat will no longer spawn when unpacking it.
  
• [AS-6615] - Rover wheels are no longer causing visual issue when approaching them after loading a save.
  
• [AS-5872] - Beacons, Chambers, and Engines located on other planets are no longer visible while orbiting a planet or traveling through space. 
  
• [AS-6879] - In the tutorial, Players will no longer be stuck in the dropship after pressing “Use” Interaction before prompted. 
  
• [AS-7078] - Planting seeds should now play the corresponding sound effects
  
• [AS-7153] -  All plants will now grant some amount of Organic when harvested with the Terrain Tool
  
• [AS-7161] - Particle effects that are connected to terrain will now get destroyed when that terrain is removed
  
• [AS-7366] - Proximity Poppers death VFX are no longer disproportionately large when they are dug up
  
• [AS-7458] - Terrain tool dots (and ring) now correctly turn red when out of range, even when the targeted terrain is obstructed.
  
• [AS-7548] - Client is now able to use the Chemistry Lab after leaving relevance. 
  
• [AS-7675] - SFX should not be heard while loading screen is present

Platforms

• [AS-7420] - Tether lines are now connecting correctly to the Tall Platform.
  
• [AS-7421] - Tether lines are now connecting correctly to the Medium Platform C

UI

• [AS-7662] - Highlight bar Alignment should be consistent across different monitor types
  
• [AS-7493] - Highlight bar on Saved Games is persistent until the action has been completed
  
• [AS-7358] - Removed hover state highlight bar from Rename save submenu header.

 
Thanks for reading friends! Just a few final announcements:

1. Astroneer will be at PAX West 2019 with a big announcement and some new content that will only be playable at the show! If you are planning on going, make sure to find us at Booth 6117!

2. We are really excited to announce that we have partnered up with Party City and Amscan to produce TWO Astroneer suit costumes for Halloween this year! You will be able to find them at participating Party City locations and online! You can pre order them RIGHT NOW online for yourself or the young ones in your life so they can be the coolest space explorer this Halloween!

PRE-ORDER HERE

3. Stay tuned next week for an announcement of our roadmap for the remainder of 2019! We have some really awesome free content coming your way till the end of the year and we can't wait to share our plans. 

Thanks for reading and talk soon!

-jt

Steam players should receive this update now! Watch the trailer here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFuA3gwxHJ8
Salutations, Brave Astroneers! Prepare yourselves accordingly for the latest transmission of changes, fixes, and upgrades from headquarters…

Readings from the Northern Hemisphere of EXO Dynamics HQ indicate that we are entering into what could be called the "Summer." Although it may be an entirely different set of seasons that you encounter on each of the worlds you visit, we have nonetheless decided to celebrate this change of (our) seasons with an influx of new schematics for our hardworking Astroneers, in both practical and recreational capacities. Please feel free to purchase and enjoy them in a proper and responsible manner! We are also pleased to release to you a pair of chromatic combinations in both helmet and visor varieties with matching palettes. We hope that you find them pleasing to the eye, and that the resultant satisfaction is an enhancement to your exploration and engineering goals.


The EXO Recreational Sphere and Recreational Canopy have been added to the game! There are also reports of special edition versions of these spheres scattered throughout Arid type planets! EXO Dynamics is not responsible for harm caused by hazards encountered while searching for this item.

Recreational Sphere

Printed from: Medium Printer
Resource Cost: 1 Aluminum Alloy, 1 Rubber
Byte Cost: 4,500
There are also reports of special edition versions of these spheres scattered throughout Arid type planets! EXO Dynamics is not responsible for harm caused by hazards encountered while searching for this item.

Recreational Canopy

Printed from: Large Printer
Resource Cost: 2 Aluminum, 1 Steel, 1 Explosive Powder
Byte Cost: 4,000

There have also been a number of items to help Astroneers with storage, and building bases!



Medium Platform C

Printed from: Small Printer
Resource Cost: 1 Resin
Byte Cost: 400

Tall Platform

Printed from: Small Printer
Resource Cost: 1 Copper
Byte Cost: 1,000

Tall Storage

Printed from: Small Printer
Resource Cost: 1 Ceramic
Byte Cost: 400

Medium Storage Silo

Printed from: Small Printer
Resource Cost: 2 Titanium
Byte Cost: 3,000

A new lighting item, the Floodlight, has been added to the game to help Astroneers in dark environments!



Floodlight

Printed from: Backpack
Resource Cost: 1 Tungsten Carbide
Byte Cost: 2,000

Summer themed Palettes and Visors have been added to the game! Log in before August 31st to acquire them!

These Summer "Sunset" and "Sunrise" themed Palettes and Visor sets are only available for a limited time. In order to unlock them for your account, make sure you log in on your platform(s) of choice before the end of the Summer, (August 31st, 2019) because after that point they will become unavailable to unlock.

New Harmless Hazard seeds will sometimes spawn when hazards get destroyed!



An unexplained phenomenon is causing previously seedless "hazards" to very rarely drop what we at EXO Dynamics are calling "Mutant" seeds. While these seeds are too anomalous to be properly scanned as research, we have found that the resulting plant that spawns from them carries none of the dangerous traits of its parent, and is instead docile and - well - harmless, and multiple Astroneers have been recorded utilizing them for decorative purposes. Look for these fascinating new finds as potential drops from:

• Boomalloon
  
• Common / Vicious / Deadly Hissbines
  
• Noxious Spewflower
  
• Elegant Spewflower
  
• Spiny Attactus
  
• Volatile Attactus
  
• Noxious Cataplant
  
• Volatile Cataplant

The Terrain Tool reticle decal has been updated to better aid deformation.
This new Terrain Tool decal has gotten a visual overhaul, allowing one to better respond to the relative angle of your environment! The functionality of the terrain tool remains unchanged, but this new visual should help when trying to manipulate terrain.

A slew of vehicle QOL adjustments have been implemented. EXO firmware updates to the locomotion systems in each of your vehicles has given them improvements to handling and a vastly increased ability to execute maneuvers. Executing "donuts," and "sick tricks" should now be much easier.

Twist Tolerance and vehicle cables:

In addition to vertical and lateral bending (pitch and yaw), cables can now twist (roll). This tolerance is limited to 15 degrees.

Braking Assist:

• Added braking force boost to vehicles so that they slow down faster than they speed up.
  
• Applied braking friction to wheels on the entire caravan so that rover wheels are less slippery when braking.

Automatic Parking Brake:

• Releasing the throttle below a certain speed will automatically engage the parking brake. If the throttle is released above that speed, the vehicle will coast as normal. The goal of this change is to address recurring feedback from players that the parking brake only engaged when fully exiting the vehicle.
  
• With the above change, exiting the vehicle will engage the parking brake, regardless of how fast the vehicle was going.

Tow Boost improvements:

• Tow boost applied to wheel forces, instead of being applied as a separate force to the back of the vehicle. This makes for more stable towing, especially when the lead vehicle doesn't have traction on all of its wheels.
  
• Tow boost takes into account the difference in weight between itself and its trailers. This addresses the Tractor having the least amount of torque when it had no connected trailers.
  
• Adjusted tow boost forces on all vehicles to be more effective in longer caravans.

Drill Control Improvements:

• Front-mounted drills now respond to left or right steering, and will shift the deformation sideways appropriately.
  
• While steering left or right, the angle of the drilled surface will bank left appropriately.
  
• When steering straight ahead, the drilled surface will align with gravity. This keeps surfaces level.
  
• Vehicles have a wider turn radius while drilling to prevent creating overly-tight tunnels.
  
• While drilling up-hill, vehicles have boosted acceleration proportional to the grade of the slope.

Drill Resistance:

• While drilling, vehicles have a reduced maximum speed. The reduction is greater if the drill is removing harder terrain than it's level (Drill 1 removing Level 2 terrain, Drill 2 removing Level 3 terrain, etc).
  
• While drilling, wheel friction is increased on the entire caravan. The friction is greater if the drill is removing harder terrain than it's level (Drill 1 removing Level 2 terrain, Drill 2 removing Level 3 terrain, etc).
  
• The goal of these changes is to not only make the drills feel more realistic but also to provide more tactile feedback to players while they drill tunnels.

Tuning:

• Adjusted acceleration, max speed, steering speeds, and wheel traction on all vehicles.
  
• Tuned suspension forces, neutral suspension height, and vehicle weight on all vehicles.
  
• Increased the strength of the parking brake.

BUGFIXES

The following bugs have been fixed as of version 1.2.0.0

General

• Fixed a bug where the fabric of the spacetime continuum would break, causing the solar system to stop moving.
  
• [AS-5943] - Ammonium and Quartz nuggets should no longer appear disconnected from Terrain Tool slot when being harvested
  
• [AS-5491] - Adjusted the value of the Extra Large Storage to better match its cost
  
• [AS-6752] - EXO research aid lids are no longer mislabeled as detritus when packaged
  
• [AS-6879] - Players can now exit the dropship when they press "Use" before prompted to do so in the Tutorial
  
• [AS-6937] - Cursor selection should no longer break in the Rename Save Game submenu after renaming a saved game
  
• [AS-7006] - Medium printer's print animation is now properly synced with the completion of the Research Chamber
  
• [AS-7069] - Small gravel like nuggets are no longer left behind when a player explodes resources with Dynamite.
  
• [AS-5120] - Planted seeds should no longer float if the terrain is dug out from underneath them
  
• [AS-7084] - Drops from hazards should no longer be ejected at high velocity
  
• [AS-7159] - Restored the Popper death animation to its appropriate size.
  
• [AS-7196] - Fixed a bug where projectiles shot from the Shooters did not have SFX upon impact.
  
• [AS-7314] - Proximity Poppers should no longer play their explosion VFX when they spawn.
  
• Fix vehicles failing to brake when sliding faster than their max speed, causing runaway rovers.
  
• [AS-6926] - Fixed a bug where wheel constraints would occasionally break when wheels get stuck in the ground, requiring a save-reload to recover.
  
• [AS-6927] - Vehicle-flip operation should now work consistently on every planet.
  
• [AS-6958] - Deforming terrain with a Tier 2 vehicle drill should no longer cause nearby decorators to fall through terrain.

Multiplayer

• [AS-6911] - Saving and exiting a Multiplayer game while a Client player is still in the dropship will no longer leave behind a dropship on the landing pad.
  
• [AS-7081] - In Multiplayer games, seeds should no longer disappear immediately from Client player’s perspective when planted.

Customization

• [AS-6612] - Fixed the Recruit palette properly apply to the Retro, Flight, and Terran suits
  
• [AS-7007] - Fixed a bug which allowed Players to remain in unearned suits and color palettes after cycling through menu tabs while in preview mode.
  
• [AS-7018] - Fixed a bug were Multiple emotes were missing SFX when paired with certain suits.

• Significantly optimized system for flecks that fly from harvested resource deposits into the player’s terrain tool. This should eliminate spikes in frame time when harvesting resources.
  
• Various optimizations to actor spawning to reduce the impact of spawning things on frame rate.
  
• Various optimizations to transform updating and object overlap detection.

Thanks for checking out the Summer Update! Stay tuned for details about updates for the next few months! And while you are at it, watch the most recent episode of the SES Vlogs! https://youtu.be/SLOAZaX4lCI
-jt

This update has a little of everything, new content, bugfixes, QOL changes, and performance optimizations! We plan on rolling it out early next week assuming everything goes well in with the Exo Fight Test!


Extra Large Shredder has been added to the game! Tired of wrecked Rovers and smashed Research Chambers littering the landscape? Changed your mind about that fourth Smelter in your base? Worry no more, because the new EXO Dynamics Extra Large Shredder is here to clean up the mess! This powerful machine takes on your larger pieces (or many smaller items) with the greatest of ease. Just be sure to have a big enough platform to fit this beast - only the Extra Large will do. The Extra Large Shredder will recycle the following objects into Scrap:

• Atmospheric Condenser
  
• Chemistry Lab
  
• EXO Dynamics Research Aid expended pyramid top
  
• Large Printer
  
• Large Seat (3-seat)
  
• Large Shredder
  
• Large Storage
  
• Partially Wrecked Medium Platform
  
• Research Module
  
• Smelter
  
• Soil Centrifuge
  
• Trade Module
  
• Wrecked Medium Platform
  
• Wrecked Research Module
  
• Wrecked Rover
  
• Wrecked Smelter

- Printed from: Large Printer
- Resource Cost: 2 Tungsten Carbide, 2 Steel
- Byte Cost: 5000

Extra large Platform C has been added to the Catalog.  This new platform is the largest one currently available from EXO Dynamics. It is able to fit either 4 Large items or 1 Extra Large item PLUS 2 Large items. Hook up a pair of Smelters and fill up an Extra Large Storage, or slap on a new Extra Large Shredder and a Large Storage and Trade Platform - ready to trade some Scrap for useful resources!



- Printed from: Large Printer
- Resource Cost: 2 Iron, 2 Steel
- Byte Cost: 5000

We have updated the Mantle layers of Vesania, Calidor, and Glacio with beautiful new flora, as well as Research Samples and Research Items. This shouldn't impact your current bases much, except you might have to dig up a few new plants or harvestables! Be sure to check out these planet'ss new underground layers!



Added a customization preview to the main menu! Players are now able to preview suits, color palettes, and emotes before starting a new game or joining another player. 

• Players will be able to preview both locked and unlocked items. 
  
• Locked content now have tooltips that help guide players on how to unlock those items. 
  
• Preview will highlight newly unlocked content after the criteria has been met.

 
We have increased the byte costs of all “non-starter” Catalog items by 25%. This is in response to the adjustments made to lower research times and raise the byte value of all Research items across the game. Overall we find that getting bytes faster means that you can unlock the things you want quicker, but this ensures you don't just breeze through and unlock everything!

This includes: 

• All Augments
  
• All Drills
  
• Atomspheric Condenser 
  
• Chemistry Lab
  
• Crane
  
• Drill Mods 2 & 3 
  
• Dynamite
  
• Extra Large Platforms A & B
  
• Extra Large Storage  
  
• Fireworks 
  
• Hydrazine Thruster 
  
• Large Platform C 
  
• Large Rover Seat  
  
• Medium Generator 
  
• Medium & Large Rover 
  
• Medium & Large Shuttles
  
• Medium Solar
  
• Medium & Large Shredders
  
• Medium Wind 
  
• Oxygen Tank, T1 Oxygenator 
  
• RTG
  
• Small & Medium Battery
  
• Solar Array  
  
• Trade Platform 
  
• Winch 

• Rover Auxiliary slot controls now correctly adapt to the direction the Rover seat is facing.
  
• Client Players in Multiplayer games can now impact Zebra, Leo, and Checker Balls with rovers.
  
• Structures in the center of every planet and moons now supply free oxygen
  
• Tuned transition speed of getting in and out of all kinds of seats to feel better

• [AS-6624] - Implemented an object spawning optimization that will make objects more performant overall.
  
• [AS-6546] - Optimized our foliage system to improve performance for planet decorators and resource deposits
  
• [AS-6545] - A slew of optimizations for the power system. Power infrastructure will perform much better as it scales up!
  
• Continued work on the tether system! Significantly optimized tether lines to reduce their impact on performance when large tether networks are present
  
• [AS-6840] - The loading screen would sometimes fail to stop playing in the background, causing performance to drop overall. This has been fixed!

The following bugs have been fixed as of version 1.1.0.0:


After a long absence, mysterious sphere variations have returned to the solar system! But beware, a few may have been hiding in plain sight all along among previously collected versions. These Heretics have been revealed. 

• [AS-5990] - Fixed a major issue in the Terran 2.0 code that caused seams to appear between biomes of different hardness levels. Seams that have already been exposed in saved games may persist, but new ones will not be created.
  
• [AS-4344] - Fixed a bug where Tether lines are always lit for Client players in Multiplayer games. 
  
• [AS-6703] - Fixed a bug which caused Tethers to continue to supply oxygen even when the platform they are connected to was disconnected from an oxygen source.
  
• [AS-5307] - Printing animation for the backpack should now accurately match the speed of resource consumption for all items.
  
• [AS-5958] - Fixed a bug that caused Small Generators to lose their hologram after the first resource was consumed.
  
• [AS-6170] - Fixed a bug where the Client player wasn’t able to see ditches in the terrain that the Host could see on Exotic
  
• [AS-6539] - Fixed a bug where the Client player could not interact with any object after quitting the game while in a vehicle.
  
• [AS-6579] - The printing head for the medium printer will no longer continue to print after a large storage has been successfully printed. 
  
• [AS-6588] - Fixed a customization bug with the Bio Suit which would cause missing elements to appear when using the Galactic Palette
  
• [AS-6642] - Fixed a tagging issue where the Puzzle Box tops were labeled incorrectly as “Detritus.”
  
• [AS-6651] - Power Columns on the medium battery now correctly reflect battery charge
  
• [AS-6694] - Client players should now be able to see Chambers when in orbit of any planet. 
  
• [AS-6695] - Added the correct icon to Exo Crates that require Nanocarbon Alloy. 
  
• [AS-6701] - Fixed a Multiplayer bug that occured when Client players deformed under Tether posts. The Tether lines would appear disconnected from the Client players’ point of view. 
  
• [AS-6703] - Fixed a bug where tether networks were not being automatically supplied with oxygen after connecting the oxygenator.
  
• [AS-6697] - Terrain tool should no longer cause nearby decorators to fall through the terrain. 

Audio Bugfixes

• [AS-4319] - Fixed a bug that halted SFX when loading soil into the Soil Centrifuge. 
  
• [AS-4775] - Rover sound effects should now scale and transition more smoothly.
  
• [AS-4866] - Research Items should now have audio when being picked up, dropped, and when hitting the ground. 
  
• [AS-4900] - Fixed a bug with single Tether not having audio when being dropped.
  
• [AS-5279] - Players should now hear audio when standing in front of a geyser on elevated terrain. 
  
• [AS-5704] - Wind SFX now smoothly transitions when moving into a new biome on Glacio. 

Wow this is a long one! Really happy with the amount of balance, content, optimizations and bugfixes that are shipping in this update, and am happy to say that our next one will have a bunch of the same, with an emphasis on new content! We will reveal more details about that in the coming weeks!(vlog anyone?) Also THANKS SO MUCH to everyone who voted for us in the Webbys! We managed to snag SEVEN awards, including all five People's Voice categories, and two full on Webby wins!

Cheers and talk to you soon!

-jt

Patch 1.0.15 should be live now on Steam!


This patch includes a large update to networking code to improve performance in multiplayer sessions. Hosts should no longer see huge performance drops when clients join their games!

General Updates

• [AS-6597] - Code redemption is now available in Astroneer. Redeem your Recruit Bundle codes now!
  
• [AS-6301] - Gateway Engines no longer require oxygen management from Astroneers.
  
• [AS-6181] - Emote selections are now persistent account-wide - like all other customization options - rather than just per individual save.
  
• [AS-6302] - The Gateway teleportation exit point has been changed so that the player no longer takes fall damage when exiting it.
  
• [AS-6404] - The Scrap value of Graphite has been fixed from a high 0.75 to the intended 0.25. This also addressed a minor exploit which allowed players to trade 3 Graphite nuggets for 4 Graphite nuggets via the Scrap mechanic.
  
• A number of balance and distribution changes to Hazards and Research Samples are included in this patch.

• [AS-6017] - Increased Research Sample spawn probability on Sylvan forest biome by 25%.
  
• [AS-6022] - Increased the density of Research Items and Samples in Sylvan subterranean biomes.
  
• [AS-6306] - Respawn times for Research Samples have increased 25%. Also increased the value of Research Items by at least 25%, and reduced their research time by a similar margin.

• [AS-6020] - Where there previously was a single growth, now a trio of Volatile Cataplants have sprouted on Glacio’s ice sheets.
  
• [AS-6021] - Delayed Bouncevine explosion from .5 to 1.5 seconds after being uprooted.
  
• [AS-6024] - Adjusted both the Noxious and the Elegant Spewflower to have a stronger toxin (especially the latter, which only occurs underground). Astroneers visiting Atrox are cautioned to avoid their fume clouds, which are at least 25% more deadly than previously recorded.

• We have addressed an issue with a performance optimization which was causing intermittent crashes in version 1.0.14.0.
  
• [AS-3085] - Fixed a long standing bug which would cause the Shelter tooltip to not reappear if Players exited the Shelter while mousing over it.
  
• [AS-4338] - Fixed the messaging on the Research Chamber for non-researchable items until the save is reloaded.
  
• [AS-4650] - Fixed a bug in the customization system where suit palettes with non-default materials incorrectly change backpack slot colors.
  
• [AS-6179] - Fixed a bug where players were unable to drive Large Rover trains of more than two Rovers.
  
• [AS-6188] - Fixed the glitch (and by that we mean hilarious exploit) which occurred when entering a shuttle and picking it up simultaneously allowed the client player to fly around.
  
• [AS-6211] - Client Players can no longer carry platforms when they enter the shuttle and carry the those platforms to other planets.
  
• [AS-6225] - Fixed a bug causing small printer functionality to become suppressed when instructed to print the thruster until the correct cable is connected.
  
• [AS-6337] - Astronium nugget now uses the correct texture.
  
• [AS-6352] - Text boxes no longer overlap when collecting more than one kind of resource in quick succession: instead they now conveniently stack alongside the backpack.
  
• [AS-6360] - Fixed a bug causing batteries to send out power on directional power connections even when they have no excess power to send out.
  
• [AS-6514] - Fixed an incorrect research Byte value and research time on a some hazards.

Also if you haven't heard already, Astroneer is nominated for FIVE Webby awards! We could use your vote to bring the awards home, so head over here (VOTE HERE) for more details about what categories and how to vote!

Thanks for reading and I look forward to kickstarting the youtube channel back up soon with a new post 1.0 vlog with more details about our next update!

-jt

Amazing news! Astroneer has been nominated for FIVE Webby awards! We are honored to be included, but now we need your help!

We need our community to head over to the below links and vote for Astroneer in all the categories we have been nominated:

Best Game Design VOTE HERE
Best Art Direction VOTE HERE
Best Visual Design VOTE HERE
Best User Experience VOTE HERE
Best Adventure Game VOTE HERE

We are beyond excited and hope that with your help, we can bring these awards home! Voting ends Thursday April 18th, so vote now!

Also stay tuned for details on a patch for later this week to address multiplayer performance, more crash fixes, and performance upgrades!

Thanks!

-jt

Patch 1.0.13.0 Release Notes

The primary focus on this patch was to continue addressing the most pressing performance concerns! When comparing with exisiting saves, we saw significant framerate improvements. Some more big performance changes are being tested and worked on right now, which should further help with performance, especially in multiplayer sessions. We are definitely not done optimizing, but this was a much needed big first step.


This patch includes a rework of the algorithm that drives the placement of new tethers in a network. The new algorithm should greatly reduce the hitches players see when placing tethers in a big network across all platforms, leading to improved performance in single player and multiplayer games. This is the first part of a two-step fix to this system, the next portion coming in a future patch.

The rework of the algorithm has somewhat changed the connection behavior of tethers. The impact of this change is not only on performance, but also in far more predictability and control over what will happen when you drop or pick up a tether.

Here is a summary of what’s changed and what remains:

• Vehicles, base platforms and characters should behave the same as before. You should not see any difference in how they make tether connections.
  
• Connections between tether posts that have changed. When placing a new tether post, it will now connect to the closest tether post of each distinct tether network in range. A tether network in this case being a set of connected tether posts.
  
• Tether networks are no longer self-healing! When you pick up a tether post it will trigger a network split of all the other tethers it was attached to. A tether post being disconnected will not cause any other tether post connections to change.

A number of overall performance improvements are included in this patch.

• Make debris objects despawn when they leave relevance
  
• Generally reduce object count by cleaning up stateless objects that are far away from players.
  
• Sped up transform updates for all objects.
  
• Updated timeslicing settings for expensive objects that did not previously take advantage of timeslicing.
  
• Optimized terrain geometry generation throughput.
  
• Do not update animations that are out of the player's view and not in their immediate vicinity to save time.
  
• Cached audio parameter values to avoid time spent updating them when they haven't changed.

Fixed several of our commonly reported crashes increasing overall stability.

• [AS-6342] - Fixed a bug introduced in the last update, where digging up Hazards with research samples attached cause the research to pop into the air and become stuck.
  
• [[AS-6351] - The achievement “Journey to the Center of the Thing” now unlocks when its requirements are met.
  
• [AS-6353] - Fixed a bug which caused objects to become unusable for client players when unpacked or repackaged while outside the host's field of view in Multiplayer games.
  
• [AS-6390] - Fixed a bug Moving wrecked rover seat means Player is unable to interact with debris POI after save.
  

Sorry that this one took a little longer than expected, there are some big changes to some core systems here and we needed more time to test! We are going to be at SXSW, GDC, and PAX East this month so if you are going, come say hi to us!

Also, ICYMI, the wonderful people at Noclip came to the studio to talk about Astroneer's history, you can watch the full documentary here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfUjl4owxTQ
Cheers!

-jt

Patch 1.0.9.0 Release Notes
The primary focus of this release was to address more of the key gameplay issues and stability issues that we’ve been encountering in live.

- Fixed even more of our most commonly reported crashes increasing overall stability.

- Deployed fixes for a number of our most commonly reported gameplay bugs:

• [AS-6208] - Made the first fix to the issue which is causing players to be randomly launched into the air while walking around, especially on planets other than Sylva. Now if this error occurs, the player will be only slightly bumped and should no longer take lethal damage. We are investigating a deeper fix to Terrain 2.0 that would fully address this issue, as well as some others, but will require more implementation and testing.
  
• [AS-6162] - Made several fixes to Terrain 2.0 which would cause Client players to see seams where Host players have deformed terrain around resource deposits.
  
• [AS-6196] - The Achievement "Delve Greedily and Deep" will now be appropriately unlocked when reaching the mantle of any planet. Unfortunately, this is not a self-healing fix, meaning that you will have to go back to the mantle of a planet to earn this.
  
• [AS-6212] - The exploit that allowed players to generate infinite Scrap by removing Small Batteries placed on the Shredder and replacing them has been fixed. You will now have to go back to collecting Scrap the good ‘ol fashion way.
  
• Made changes to how our backend service checks for Achievement progress in order to address the issue of players no longer seeing customization items they unlocked by completing achievements. If you are still experiencing missing items in your inventory, please keep reporting it to us.

-Cranes and Drills have received several fixes and adjustments:

• [AS-6234] - Fixed the bug causing the Crane and Drills mounted on vehicles to not collect soil into canisters attached to them.
  
• [AS-6270] - Fixed a bug which caused Crane-mounted Drills to stop digging a short ways past the surface.
  
• [AS-6271] - Fixed a bug which caused a lower strength Drill to fail to activate if a higher strength Drill is detached from its slot.
  
• The deformation rate has been made uniform across all Drill hardness tiers when drilling soft terrain.
  
• Additional power will now be drawn when multiple Drills are attached to one vehicle.
  
• Buffed the deformation size for Crane-mounted Drills.

-A number of most commonly occurring Tutorial issues have been addressed in order to smooth the experience for first time players:

• [AS-6101] - Fixed a bug where the UI prompt for the tutorial dropship does not appear again after a player dies.
  
• [AS-6111] - Fixed a usability issue which occurred if a player stowed a research sample in their backpack, there would be no prompt open the backpack.
  
• [AS-6112] - Fixed an annoying issue with the small printer where it would lose the Use key and could not be used to print a thruster and progress the objective.
  
• [AS-6113] - Fixed an issue where slotting the solid-state thruster to the oxygenator slot on the shuttle mistakenly advanced the objective.

-A number of issues have been fixed regarding quick stow and tier two object carrying.

• [AS-6160] - Fixed a bug that would cause carried objects to clip through terrain and become lost when a player enters a slide or deploys terrain tool.
  
• [AS-1070] - As part of the above fix with carrying objects, addressed an old bug where resources would sometimes fall through the terrain when their model was below the surface at the time they were ejected from the back of the Terrain Tool.
  
• [AS-5038] - And while we’re there, fixed a visual issue where attempting to quick stow a large item while holding it would trigger the “Backpack Full” UI warning

- [AS-6206] - The RTG can now be shredded in the Shredder.

• Client desync and performance drops on all platforms. (Update: Further profiling has helped us identify the biggest offenders for performance, and some fixes are being tested currently for deployment in our next patch)
  
• Some modified terrain nodes will sometimes lose collision, causing players to quicksand into them. (Still debugging this issue. Seems like deformation is causing terrain node math to get into a weird state on lower end hardware. Working on a fix)
  
• If you crash while in a shuttle in orbit, the shuttle will remain in orbit and your starting point might get broken. We have a solid repro of this and are tracking a fix.
  
• Rovers with front mounted drills will sometimes cause the rover to lose control when operating the drill for extended periods.
  
• Exiting Tractors will sometimes cause clients to catapult into space and subsequently suffocate. (Update: Verified that is happens when pressing "enter" twice before entering. Should be fixed in next week's update)
  
• Vehicles will sometimes not respond to input, causing repeated enters and exits before resuming normal operation (Update: turns out this might happen when other inputs are held while entering. Should be fixed in next week's patch)
  
• Crashing on loading before the start menu (This should have been addressed in this update, please keep us updated if you continue running into this issue.)

Lots of the most egregious bugs are cleaned up in this patch! Next weeks patch will begin the most meaningful performance upgrades to date for all platforms and hardware. Thanks for hanging in there while we work through alleviating the performance problems in single and multiplayer sessions!

See you next week!

-jt

The primary focus of this release was to address as many major gameplay issues as possible that have been reported over the last couple of weeks, as well as a fix for Xbox / Windows 10 players who could no longer access cosmetic items they have unlocked through progression.

BUGFIXES

• Fixed more of our most commonly reported crashes increasing overall stability.
  
• [AS-6164] - Fixed a major issue where vehicles would decide to take an unwelcome nap, and would remain stationary despite being powered.
  
• [AS-5572] - Fixed a major issue in Multiplayer that would cause Client Player’s camera to be launched into space if the "Enter" command was pressed multiple times when entering a seat.
  
• [AS-6127] - Added some guards and performance improvements to address the issue which occurred most often on lower end machines causing picked up and dropped items to fall through the terrain. There may still be some visible stuttering on lower end specs, but items should no longer be irretrievably lost.
  
• [AS-6103] - "Up By the Roots" achievement should now become unlocked by unearthing Popcoral
  
• [AS-6243] - Fixed a major issue where Players on Xbox / Win 10 would no longer see their unlocked cosmetic options as of version 1.0.6.0. The underlying issue had to do with the platform not properly communicating with our backend service and therefore not being able to pull down a player’s inventory. Actual player inventory was not affected and all items should be rightfully restored in the UI view as of version 1.0.7.0.
  
• [AS-6070] - Fixed a major issue in Multiplayer that occurred when a Client Player disconnected a rover train the Host was driving, the towed vehicle could no longer be driven by any players.
  
• [AS-6218] - Remove the use key quick stow capability (Edit: Clarification = We removed the 'hover over something + press F to Quickstow because it was causing some usability issues... namely for gamepad users who had something accidentally proximity selected that would wind up stowed.)
  
• [AS-5857] - Fixed an issue in Multiplayer games where Terrain would be briefly invisible for Client Players when joining a Multiplayer game. Included in this fix are other improvements to the load / join experience which should result in a more consistent experience throughout the game.
  
• [AS-6180] - Fixed a rare Multiplayer issue that would cause a rover train to become disconnected when Client Player drove the train.
  
• [AS-6233] - Fixed an issue which would cause clouds to z-fight to death when viewed from distance and turn into a flickery soup.
  
• [AS-6190] - The required resource icon at the subterranean Engine on Glacio has been changed to match the resource’s tool tip.
  
• [AS-6114] - Removed the erroneous mention of Oxygen on the gas resources tab of the Astropedia
  
• [AS-5902] - Removed erroneous smoke effects on the Shuttle Wreckage Thrusters.

KNOWN ISSUES

• Client desync and performance drops on all platforms. (Update: We are working furiously to ease the pressure on the host machine in order to fix this. Turns out MANY non relevant items were being rendered (items below ground in caves for example) so we are working on implementing an unreal engine feature that will help this issue tremendously)
  
• Exiting Tractors will sometimes cause clients to catapult into space and subsequently suffocate. (Update: Verified that is happens when pressing "enter" twice before entering. Should be fixed in next week's update)
  
• Vehicles will sometimes not respond to input, causing repeated enters and exits before resuming normal operation (Update: turns out this might happen when other inputs are held while entering. Should be fixed in next week's patch)
  
• Some modified terrain nodes will sometimes lose collision, causing players to quicksand into them. (Still debugging this issue. Seems like deformation is causing terrain node math to get into a weird state. Hoping to have this fixed next week)
  
• Crashing on loading before the start menu (This seems to impact players on windows 7. If you are having this problem there is a workaround you can use while we work on the fix.
  
• If you crash while in a shuttle in orbit, the shuttle will remain in orbit and your starting point might get broken. We have a solid repro of this and are tracking a fix.

Glad we got some of the gameplay bugs that impact the most players! Looking forward to continuing to squash gameplay bugs and get performance in line with what what we expect on all platforms!

-jt

The primary focus of this release is addressing the top crashes we are seeing out in the wild. This patch also contains some performance improvements and other bug fixes. 

Also, in case you missed it, we updated our roadmap today to reveal what the first three post 1.0 updates will be! You can read all about them here: ASTRONEER ROADMAP

• Fixed several of our most commonly reported crashes increasing overall stability. Most notably, we have fixed crash which would occur when saving a game, causing that save game to be corrupted. Saved games affected by this issue should once again become playable after installing this update. 
  
• Made additional performance improvements to the Terrain system, specifically when deforming a lot of terrain. 
  
• [AS-5878] - Fixed a bug where Research Samples attached to the bottom of Hazards would fall through terrain when the Hazard was dug up. 
  
• [AS-5925] - Fixed an issue where Clients would not see the appropriate Oxygenator state in Multiplayer games. 
  
• [AS-5931] - Fixed a bug where undermining large EXO wrecks would cause them to jitter around wildly while they look for a stable resting spot.
  
• [AS-6062] - Fixed a collision issue on some of the larger rocks and formations found on Vesania. 
  
• [AS-6088] - Fixed a bug where Hazards would be destroyed too quickly when dug up. The fix changes unburying behavior across the entire game to be more consistent for all objects. 
  
• [AS-6124] - Fixed a bug that caused foliage to shrink in place when harvesting with the Terrain Tool at maximum range
  
• Made a few more small changes to how often we report back Achievement progress to our back end service. This should have no outward impact on the game, but will stabilize the connection to the service.

KNOWN ISSUES

• Client desync and performance drops on all platforms. (Update: We are working furiously to ease the pressure on the host machine in order to fix this. Turns out MANY non relevant items were being rendered (items below ground in caves for example) so we are working on implementing an unreal engine feature that will help this issue tremendously)
  
• Exiting Tractors will sometimes cause clients to catapult into space and subsequently suffocate. (Update: Verified that is happens when pressing "enter" twice before entering. Should be fixed in next week's update)
  
• Vehicles will sometimes not respond to input, causing repeated enters and exits before resuming normal operation (Update: turns out this might happen when other inputs are held while entering. Should be fixed in next week's patch)
  
• Some modified terrain nodes will sometimes lose collision, causing players to quicksand into them. (Still debugging this issue. Seems like deformation is causing terrain node math to get into a weird state. Hoping to have this fixed next week)
  
• Crashing on loading before the start menu (This seems to impact players on windows 7. If you are having this problem there is a workaround you can use while we work on the fix.
  
• If you crash while in a shuttle in orbit, the shuttle will remain in orbit and your starting point might get broken. 

Looking forward to crushing all of these gameplay bugs and continuing to improve performance next week!

-jt

On February 6, we launched the 1.0 version of Astroneer, and no longer being an Early Access title, this necessarily included a comprehensive End User License Agreement (EULA). This was the very first EULA System Era had ever created, and at the time of its writing we thought it would be a good idea to create a single generic EULA to cover all possible System Era titles. As a result, the EULA included passages that covered policies on advertising and on more potentially invasive information gathering than anything actually present in Astroneer.

After receiving a lot of honest and helpful feedback about the EULA, we realized that it was unnecessarily broad and caused a lot of anxiety for privacy conscious players that we absolutely did not intend, and for which we apologize. In addition, certain language on User Created Content caused some confusion with regards to our policy and intention towards video content creators.

With regards to information and privacy: Astroneer does not and will not contain any advertising. Nor does Astroneer collect any information about players outside of what happens in the game. It has no ability to report on any personal details about you or your device.

Astroneer collects gameplay and crash telemetry. That means that we have a service that tracks your progress through the game so that we can unlock achievements and grant rewards, and you won’t lose your progress even if you start playing on another machine using the same Steam account, or if you uninstall and reinstall the game later. If the game crashes, Astroneer will record a small snapshot of some of the game state at the moment the crash happened and upload a report to us. Crash reports are entirely anonymous. Beyond these two things, we collect no data whatsoever.

In the section on User Created Content, the term “gameplay videos” was never intended to refer to the type of content created by our friends on YouTube, Twitch, Mixer, or any other video sharing platform. Partnering with content creators is in our DNA, and our official policy on video monetization can be found here.

As a result of people’s legitimate concerns, we worked quickly to revise and clarify our EULA, and the new version is now published live. The entire section on advertising has been scrubbed, and the sections on information gathering and user content have been updated to more narrowly and accurately reflect both the reality of what Astroneer can do in terms of information gathering, and our intentions for user created content.

I’d encourage everyone concerned to read the revised EULA, as well as our broader Privacy Policy. I want to emphasize that the privacy policy is a broad company-wide guideline, and therefore can encompass things that don’t apply to Astroneer.

System Era has no desire to ever create anything that remotely resembles spyware, and we care deeply about responsible stewardship of people’s online experiences. We humbly regret any consternation caused by the initial overly-broad EULA. This is a lesson we take to heart and will apply to all future titles we make.

Please feel free to send any questions about information and privacy directly to privacy@systemera.net, and any other concerns to support@systemera.net.

Brendan
@brendansystem