Nov 10, 2016

Alpha 4.3.0: Bug Fixes and Improvements (Part III)

Empyrion - Galactic Survival - EmpyrionGame

Hi Galactic Survivalists!

We just released Alpha 4.3, which marks the last update with bug fixes and general improvement before entering the development cycle for Alpha 5.0.

In Alpha 4.3, we implemented more measures to avoid vessel / structure loss, added several new blocks and devices, tweaked the speed of CV versus SV, improved the Server-Client chat, re-balanced some weapons, added new stock blueprints, improved visuals, fixed many bugs and integrated other improvements as documented in the changelog below.

As always, we are very curious about your feedback regarding Alpha 4.3.

Thanks for reading.

Yours
Empyrion Dev Team

P.S: Info about using screen capture software OBS since Alpha 4.0: http://empyriononline.com/threads/obs-and-alpha-4-0.8102

Changelog: Alpha 4.3 (Build 706)

New measures to avoid vessel / structure loss and other improvements concerning playfield changes:
- Playfield change is now more stable: before changing a playfield, the target playfield is now asked if it is available
- Added additional security check to prevent entering a playfield if the max structure count would then be exceeded
- Added heartbeat message from client -> server
- Checking playfield server heartbeats and killing process if yaml configurable timeout reached
- Added 'detach' console command to help detaching a player when he has the 'stuck below cockpit' problem

New blocks and devices:
- Added 2 new window blocks: L-shape and 3-sided corner
- Added 2 new railing blocks: L-shape and round corner

- Added more CV thrusters to complete block group. Thrusters are now grouped in M, L, XL thrusters - each group has 3 thrusters: normal, slant, armored (with same specs)
- Added epic rocket launcher with homing missiles

- Added Akua berry bush, space orange tree, alien honey plant and textured plant protein plant as growable plants in BA / CV

- Added thruster M slant for HV
- Added 2 small-sized versions of jet thrusters
- Added damage states to jet thrusters and AMD

Gameplay:
- Tweaked speed of CV / SV: CVs are now slower than SVs on planets and in space (CV speed = 80% of SV speed)
- Slightly increased speed of SV in space to 115m/s (CV = 92 m/s)

New stock blueprints:
- Added CV Tier 4 (Thanks to Nosture: http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=786993317)

- Added CV Tier 5 (thanks to baddkarma74) http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=750189130

- Added SV Tier 5 (thanks to Vicomt): https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=792923923

- Added BA Tier 6 (thanks to H.P. Strangelove): http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=766326347

Improved Server-Client chat:
- Implemented server-side chatting to a specific player or faction (type "help say" in console to get usage details)
- Implemented client-side chat to server only (start chat message with "s! ", no other player will see this message)

Changes to how HUD names are shown:
- Adapted distance at which HUD tags are shown: planet 350m (instead of 250m) and space 1500m (instead of 1000m)
- Name + faction info appears at 300m (planet) and 1250m (space) - before: 200m / 500m
- Changed: unpowered structures are again showing their name in HUD

Weapon Balancing:
- Tweaked weapon ranges (BA turrets have now a higher range than CV weapons):
* slightly increased weapon range for Bases for some turrets
* slightly reduced weapon range for CV for some turrets
* increased weapon range for HV turrets
- Added homing missile to turret HV
- Slightly increased speed of homing missile SV
- Increased RPM for Alien Ion Turret (Planet) and Alien Sentries
- Increased Rotation Speed for all Alien Turrets and Alien Sentries
- Increased damage, hitpoints and range for Alien Sentries and Player Sentries
- Slightly increased projectile speed for Alien Turrets and Sentries
- Increased stack size of several ammo types

General Balancing:
- Increased overall drop rate of crushed stone
- Added crushed stone also in top layer on Omicron to make it easier to find crushed stone
- Re-balanced all jet thrusters

Improved visuals:
- Improved visuals of weapons in first person (improved shader)

- Improved turret HV: we are now using the same base for all turrets in order to have a more coherent style. In addition, we added better color masks and improved overall textures

- Re-added old icon for base (for better differentiation to terrain placeables) - now using same base icon on map as in creative menu
- Updated RCS block with better model

- Better implementation for destroying large and small deco trees/bushes when CV collides with them
- Adjusted 3rd person camera position on all stock vessels (stock blueprints)
- Improved weapon hold on chainsaw and miniguns
- Slightly tweaked smoke effect on lava planet
- Slightly increased size of Ammo Type field in HUD
- Tweaks to grass shader lighting

Other tweaks / improvements:
- Added “Search” box for Blueprint Library (F2)
- Player character: Implemented simple texture LODs for saving VRAM in multiplayer
- Added better names for some weapons and ammo (to fit into GUI field) + better preview icons for better differentiation (color differentiation depending on type)
- Added better names for Sentry Guns

Easy-Anti Cheat (EAC):
- Updated EAC
- Added possibility to enable extra log outputs in dedicated.yaml (for debugging purposes)
=> by enabling extra log outputs on your server and sending us the log files, you can help us tracking down a problem that we are currently trying to solve in connection with EAC

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed: "Stuck below cockpit" problem for many use cases (if it still happens -> use console cmd 'detach')
- Fixed: Problem that a playfield server that was started could sometimes "drag you back in" and result in a "stuck below cockpit' situation
- Fixed: Problem that turrets did not lead target correctly anymore
- Fixed: Upgrading a Autominer does not upgrade ore/h and Limit
- Fixed: Problem that faction member ore info on map did not update correctly if other faction members discovered new deposit
- Fixed: Problem that animals got stuck sometimes at rocks
- Fixed: Problem that HV Harvester module did not work in 1st person reliably
- Fixed: Problem that NPC Zirax and Robots often needed very long to attack or missed completely
- Fixed: Problem that vessels jumped around after spawning and touching ground
- Fixed: Problem that sun was shining through planets in space
- Fixed: Problem that homing missiles sometimes circled around target
- Fixed: Problem with explosion center for explosion damage on objects that are larger than 1x1x1
- Fixed: Problem that options setting "Fullscreen Window mode" had no effect
- Fixed: Problem that block grid became visible from a close distance
- Fixed: Problem with normal map of jet thrusters
- Fixed: More than 20 internal errors reported on support email and collected on HWS Server (thanks so much!)

Nov 10, 2016

Alpha 4.3.0: Bug Fixes and Improvements (Part III)

Empyrion - Galactic Survival - EmpyrionGame

- Added Akua berry bush, space orange tree, alien honey plant and textured plant protein plant as growable plants in BA / CV

- Added CV Tier 5 (thanks to baddkarma74) http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=750189130

- Added SV Tier 5 (thanks to Vicomt): https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=792923923

- Added BA Tier 6 (thanks to H.P. Strangelove): http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=766326347

- Improved turret HV: we are now using the same base for all turrets in order to have a more coherent style. In addition, we added better color masks and improved overall textures

- Re-added old icon for base (for better differentiation to terrain placeables) - now using same base icon on map as in creative menu
- Updated RCS block with better model

Nov 3, 2016

Alpha 4.2.0: Bug Fixes and Improvements (Part II)

Empyrion - Galactic Survival - EmpyrionGame

EDIT: November 6, 2016 Updated Server to Build 693
- Fixed several internal errors

==========================================

Hi Galactic Survivalists!

We have just released a new version - Alpha 4.2. New features include tracer effects for bullets, the possibility to change the 3rd person camera position in vessels, decorations that can get destroyed with vessels, we added several new wings and thrusters as well as two new weapons that shoot homing missiles. Moreover, we rebalanced several weapons, fixed many bugs and added other improvements to the game.

Try out the newest version and let us know what you think!

Yours,
Empyrion Dev Team

Changelog: Alpha 4.2 (Build 688)

Main Features:
- Added tracer effects for bullets to certain weapons

The new tracer effects that we added to several weapons (including mounted weapons and turrets)

- Added possibility to change 3rd person camera position in vessels by Page UP and Page DOWN buttons (saving camera y and z offset in blueprint)

You can now adjust the third person camera for you vessels to find your preferred position.

- Deco trees/bushes/rocks get destroyed when CV collides with them (larger deco will not get destroyed, smaller deco does get destroyed)

Remember the situations when a little bush prevented your vessel from landing? These times are over now...

- Added several new wings + possibility to change wings of same size via Change Tool (equip tool, aim at the wing and hit LMB to cycle through the variants)

This picture shows a part of the new set of wings that we integrated - the full set of wings is waiting for you! (note: as shown in screenshot, you can easily change the texture on the wings)

- Added new set of thrusters for SV

This is the new set of jet-style thrusters

- Added new weapons: Mounted rocket launcher with homing missiles for SV and hand-held rocket launcher with homing missiles

Try out the brand-new handheld rocket launcher with homing missiles. It is a lot of fun to shoot down drones with this goodie!

Changes / Improvements:
- Slightly increased zoom of turrets and reduced rotation speed if player zooms in a turret
- Nights are darker again on some planets (changes take effect in New Game or for unvisited playfields)
- Added directional tags to thrusters in Control Panel
- Re-balanced HV Thrusters, Hover Engine T2 and Hover Booster based on community feedback
- Re-balanced SV Thrusters based on community feedback
- Reduced size of muzzle flash for certain weapons
- Added damage states for emergency o2 generator
- Improved ship statistics: swapped m/s with degree/sec for pitch, yaw, roll based on ships current torque
- Optimized polygon count on several building blocks to avoid problems with large blueprints
- Disabled Undo and Redo in building-helper menu for Survival Mode
- Reduced mass of small O2 tank
- Reduced output in template for purified water
- Renamed "Small Constructor" to "Mobile Constructor" for SV and HV
- Some renaming of homing missiles
- Better faction output in 'ents' console command
- Better wireframe blue/red displaying of rotate tool
- Some internal weapon optimizations

Weapon Balancing:
- CV: Allowed Rocketlauncher/Pulse Laser (fixed weapons) for planetary use
- SV: Increased RPM for Plasma Gun, Railgun and Rocketlauncher
- HV: Increased RPM for Plasma Gun and Rocketlauncher
- SVHV: Increased range of all weapons and turrets (~50-100m)

Updates:
- Updated Unity to 5.4.2
- Updated Easy Anti Cheat (EAC) to newest version

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed: Problem that shooting was still in-accurate for minigun and cannon turrets
- Fixed: Problem that turrets could still be shot manually from underground
- Fixed: Problem that up/down rotation on player characters was not working in MP
- Fixed: Problem that upgrading autominers did not work correctly
- Fixed: Problem that highest-tier Autominer T3 still showed upgrade possibility -> by using this, you get the components infinitely
- Fixed: Problem that equipped weapons are shown for other players when on motorbike (MP only) - partially fixed
- Fixed: Lockcode exploit: "Go Back" arrow could lead to full access of private structures (e.g. constructors)
- Fixed: Blueprint client-side exploit: copy blueprints in cache folder in BpProducts and use on MP server
- Fixed: Problem that splash of Player-turrets could kill Players in PvE
- Fixed: Problem that waypoint arrows in HUD were missing after relogin (MP only)
- Fixed: Problem that Lock Code 0000 (public access) did not work with certain devices
- Fixed: Problem that vessels rolled while trying to yaw with mouse (left right movement)
- Fixed: Problem that some trees jumped around when being harvested
- Fixed: Problem that light of spotlights traveled through solid blocks, but not through curved windows
- Fixed: Problem that inside of windows was very milky in certain light conditions
- Fixed: Problem that it was still possible to dive and move underwater in deep water with vessels
- Fixed: Glossiness / white dots on NPCs and some plants
- Fixed: Graphical issue in player inventory -> strange reflection on helmet
- Fixed: Layer problem on Aitis and Akua (now only grey rocks as layers on Akua)
- Fixed: Several line-placed block shapes had missing faces
- Fixed: Problem that no smoke was visible when watching other players falling down with capsule
- Fixed: Weapon hold on chainsaw
- Fixed: Wings were offset in blue preview box
- Fixed: Visual issue when looking from certain angle on hull texture
- Fixed: Preview color of blocks was wrong for certain blocks
- Fixed: Texture problem with wings for certain textures
- Fixed: Square flare around Sun
- Fixed: Idle animation on certain NPC (animation did not loop)
- Fixed: Error reported on support email linked to turret shooting - #CE018
- Fixed: Error reported on support email linked to Resume Game menu - #85A8B

Nov 3, 2016

Alpha 4.2.0: Bug Fixes and Improvements (Part II)

Empyrion - Galactic Survival - EmpyrionGame

This is the new set of jet-style thrusters

- Added new weapons: Mounted rocket launcher with homing missiles for SV and hand-held rocket launcher with homing missiles

Oct 28, 2016

Alpha 4.1.0: Bug Fixes and Improvements (Halloween Update)

Empyrion - Galactic Survival - EmpyrionGame

Hi Galactic Survivalists!

Ready for the pre-Halloween Weekend with Empyrion - Galactic Survival? We finished version 4.1 with more refinements, tweaks and bugfixes just in time!

As the transition to Alpha 4 has caused some inevitable workload for updating blueprints and prefabs, we have added more functionality and a new command for bringing your favorite builds up to speed!

Other Improvements range from making the HV weight balancing more convenient (by adding smaller artificial weight blocks), removing purified water from our high-tech self-hydrating concrete to make it more affordable in the early game, up to giving faction members access to all terrain placeables.

Also important for our builders and engineers: the T2 Multitool got stronger, especially for the high end materials! No tedious grinding of Combat Steel anymore. But maybe you should now handle it with some extra care. ;-)

Have a look at the other tweaks and re-balancing changes below.

If you want to dive into "Empyrion - Galactic Survival" for the weekend, maybe with your friends that do not own the game yet, this is a good chance: we are on a 50% sale on Steam right now. Get your game key for $9.99 and have fun playing!

As always, we are looking forward to your feedback, while helping us to squash the remaining bugs. :)

Cheers and have a great Halloween weekend!

Empyrion Dev Team

Changelog: Alpha 4.1.0 (Build 677)

AMD improvements:
- AMD maximum and minimum source quality now scaled relative to the savegames max-min deposit sizes for the selected difficulty level (before: fixed overall scale)
- Added new animations to AMD: it now opens/closes the shields and rotates them
- Animations + drill laser effect are only triggered when AMD is actually mining (thus you now see from far away whether AMD is active)

The AMD is now closed (Tier 2 and 3) and mining laser is switched off when it is not mining:

Console commands for managing blueprints:
- Added new console cmd 'prefabinfo' to obtain detailed info about a BP that is in your BP library. You can now easily identify and replace the forbidden blocks. For example, sometimes there are old blocks in the prefabs that can render a blueprint red in the library.
- You can now also replace single forbidden blocks as follows. Open the console and write:
“replaceblocks [EntityID] [ForbiddenBlock] DummyBlock”
(yes, we added a block called "DummyBlock"). Then just remove or swap the DummyBlock with a suitable device or block. Combined with the prefabinfo-command, this is the way to go in SURVIVAL, where you can not spawn RED blueprints for removing the forbidden blocks or run the BP Converter command.
- BP Converter command update: Added old non-automated Large Constructor and Food Processor to "replaceblocks [EntityID] -alpha4" console command (+ adjusted their names to make clear they are obsolete blocks).
Note: the command will update all blocks of the blueprint, but you first need to place it in the world in CREATIVE mode and get its EntityID. Just open the console and type in ID. Go close to your blueprint and note down the ID, which is shown in the info panel on top of the screen.
- Added console cmd 'ents' to show all spawned entities

Now you can zoom in with your turrest using the scroll wheel:

General improvements:
- Added Zoom for turrets
- Improved weapon shooting on all mounted weapons (SV / HV / CV): the weapons should now shoot accurately - try them out on your shooting range
- Faction members can now access and pick up terrain placeable devices that have faction access allowed
- When item menu (Creative or activated via console command) is open, items that are shift-clicked out of the toolbar are now put into trash.
Note: Works only in creative mode (H-button) or when activated via console command in Survival mode. It does not happen when your player- or container inventory is open in survival mode!
- Materials available in Output Area now count to "available resources" in template info
- Advanced constructors now put any remaining intermediate products in its Inventory and not in Output grid
- Added Hover Engine/Hover Booster info to Vessel Statistics Window for HV
- Added info about "max consumption" of a vessel to control panel
- Added 3 new artificial mass blocks for HV balancing: 250, 500, 1250 kg (de-activated 2500kg artificial mass block)

We adapted the light intensity on all starter prefabs:

General tweaks:
- Tweaked multitool: It should now be much stronger (especially multitool T2) - handle with care when using it ;-)
- Tweaked starter prefabs:
* Adapted light intensity on all BA / CV + some SV to adapt to linear space
* Added doors / shutter blocks to groups in control panel
* Upgraded BA / CV with new blocks
- Tweaked templates: Concrete Blocks do not need water anymore -> makes concrete much more attractive in beginning
- Added 20 Unlock Points for completing the techtree
- Tweaked hitpoints on building blocks: half HP for thin compared to full blocks
- Tweaked templates and reduced craft time for some intermediate components
- Tweaked model of CV Cockpit 2 (reduced size of console part)
- Increased Moneycard value of ZIRAX/NPC drops
- ATM: Withdraw is now limited to 50k credits per click (i.e., Each moneycard can only hold 50k credits)
- Changed: Crushed stone can now be found in lower layers - but: reduced drop probability of it

The Multitool is now much stronger - handle with care:

Visuals:
- Improved main hull texture: Reduced scratch effect and improved metallic look
- Updated model of emergency o2 generator
- Adjusted drill particles to better match day/night conditions
- Enabled "deferred reflections" on all blocks
- Updated several preview pictures
- Adjusted colors of structural integrity SI Effect

We added "deferred reflections" on all blocks:

(btw: this is "Katey's Beach House With Basement" - an awesome blueprint available on the Workshop http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=756903171)

The new model for the emergency O2 generator:

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed: Problem that turrets which were built below ground or filled up with terrain (e.g. fillertool) could shoot through mountains (now auto turrets do not shoot anymore if buried)
- Fixed: Problem that Hover Engine/Booster were still activated even when switched off in Control Panel
- Fixed: Infinite loop caused by repair block resulting in freezes, crashes and damaged save games
- Fixed: Problem that terrain place-ables could be destroyed in PvE
- Fixed: Error or Freeze when opening Inventory on MP and SP or when opening Player Setup (for some players with weak GPUs)
=> Overall Texture Resolution (except Character Model) is limited to "Half" if Video Memory is 1GB or Less
=> Texture Resolution of Character Models is limited to "Half" if Video Memory is 2GB or to "Quarter" if Video Memory is 1GB
- Fixed: Problem that Epic Weapons could be sold in Market but not bought
- Fixed: Problem that Repair Block was not colorable
- Fixed: Problem that sometimes POIs were not nicely placed (ugly cutout of terrain)
- Fixed: Vessels shooting themselves in 1st Person if weapons/cockpit is set back too far
- Fixed: Problem that thrusters used power even when turned off
- Fixed: Problem that map / radar icons of terrain placeables sometimes did not show properly on map
- Fixed: Problem that it was not possible to blueprint structures with Alien Core in Creative mode anymore
- Fixed: Shadow issue with stairs, elevators, shutter windows, railings (before these blocks did not take any shadow and were thus overbright)
- Fixed: Colour issue on Preview/Block Placement with Stairs, Elevators, Shutter Windows, Railing, Walkways etc
- Fixed: Exploit: food processor chain - create endless food (MP only)
- Fixed: Problem that weapon hold position was different between Male and Female
- Fixed: Problem that de-activated vessels had no updrift in water
- Fixed: Problem that handheld weapons could also damage combat steel
- Fixed: Problem that drill T1 and T2 could damage certain blocks and devices
- Fixed: Destroying/removing item from group does not update group-item count display
- Fixed: Problem that LCD Screens did not reliably save text when blueprinting
- Fixed: Moneycard: can maximal hold 16959 credits: Any 999.999 will revert to the value when resuming/relogin
- Fixed: Possible to move items via REGISTRY via STATISTICS -> Button Back button now returns to Registry when Statistics is opened via Registry
- Fixed: Problem that it was possible to mine with SV weapons
- Fixed: Atlas too small warning in console
- Fixed: German Umlauts have no small letters
- Fixed: Overbright light and wrong spotlight position on pistols and assault rifles
- Fixed: Overbright light of Player drone and too small spotlight area
- Fixed: Problem that CenterOfMass CoM Indicator was not always rendered "above" axis indicator
- Fixed: Problem that old interior blocks were not grey but white (e.g. on starter BA Tier 2)
- Fixed: Weapon hold animation on several weapons + reduced jittering (snipers + assault rifles)
- Fixed: Problem that Sathium asteroids had no name tags anymore
- Fixed: Problem that aiming with turret on an asteroid showed message "Currently occupied"
- Fixed: Problem that Radar antenna was higher than block size of radar dish
- Fixed: Problem that flare showed intensity and range in control panel even though they have no effect (now: intensity and range do not appear anymore for flares)
- Fixed: Problem that shutter window and walkway ramp/railing did not show properly in SI shader
- Fixed: Problem that ATM withdrawal box was not limited to 6 digits as 999999 is the maximum amount of a moneycard (higher amounts result in glitches)
- Fixed: Problem with laser shots clipping into camera when very close
- Fixed: Problem that HP of wood + concrete blocks did not show up in block info
- Fixed: Several internal errors

Oct 28, 2016

Alpha 4.1.0: Bug Fixes and Improvements (Halloween Update)

Empyrion - Galactic Survival - EmpyrionGame