Oct 29, 2019

Alpha EXP 10.6: CPU, Flight model, HV>SV docking

Empyrion - Galactic Survival - EmpyrionGame

Hi Galactic Survivalists!

Most of you will have heard already about the features that are coming in Alpha 10.6, like the CPU, the new Flight Model, HV-to-SV docking and more.

Without further ado, some important general info on the CPU system and their use in the Experimental version.

The primary goal of adding the CPU system was to add a way to allow some basic specialization and an additional way to balance vessels in regards of thrust, RCS, weaponry and other parameters. Other features, added alongside CPU, will support that goal and open up alternative approaches. For example with 10.6 you do not necessarily need a (CPU costly) RCS anymore, because the position of thrusters will gain you a decent torque as well and the new aerodynamics lift/drag model will allow for SV designs, that can lift off on planets (with an atmosphere) by having only back-facing thrusters - without the need of any additional side, up or down thrusters!

In this context, there are a few important info you need to know about:

The values you see in the device infos are not yet final. They might move up or down or anywhere in between, even AFTER 10.6 has gone live on the public branch (but then possibly in a lower amplitude).
Because this is the case, we decided to do two things: First, the current Experimental version will have the CPU System activated by default with no option to deactivate it, so we get the most of the feedback. Second, when this version goes live on the public branch, we will not only add a SWITCH so you can decide if you want to play with CPU or not, but we also will set CPU Points to OFF per default. Server owners will of course get the same options.
At some point in the future, when the feedback indicates the CPU Points have grown to a workable balance, we will switch the setup again, so from then on CPU will be activated by default, BUT you will still be able to decide to not use them as the setting for On/Off will stay in the game of course!

Note: When resuming a 10.5 savegame, CPU system is off. We recommend to start a new savegame for EXP anyhow, due to all the other feature updates and POI changes (f.ex. The QuantumSTAR traders you can get the components for the CPU Extenders, will not be available in resumed 10.5 games!)

Please read the detail-info thread about CPU (and the other new features) BEFORE starting into the Experimental version :)

Main Features & Additions of Alpha 10.6

CPU Points & Tier System
New Flight Mechanic & Techniques
New Pilot HUD
HV-to-SV Docking
Thruster Rebalancing
Base Attack changes
Building additions
- Material Blockshapes (+16)
- Heavy Windows (Full Glas, Connectors,...)
- Railings (2 entirely new design groups: Metal and Metal-Glass + Double-Railings)
- New Hangar door models
New POIs
- Default Survival Orbit: Wreckages
- Default Survival Snow: Civilian buildings updated
- CREATIVE Mode Orbital Base Start: New Base with Library (How To Build / Use Tools..)

As always in an Experimental phase:
- Please read through the pinned and ‘Showcase WIP’ marked INFO threads before starting a game (these threads are also the place for discussions about a feature!):
https://empyriononline.com/forums/faq-feedback.25/
- Please make good use of the feedback threads for your actual EXP GAMEPLAY feedback (not for discussions): https://empyriononline.com/forums/experimental-features-discussion.35/

Thanks a lot in advance for reporting any bug and issue in our bug-forum

Before making a bug report, please read about how to use the bug section

Also, ahead of reporting any issue, please have a quick look at the KNOWN ISSUES

Please note that the Experimental phase will last at least 2 weeks.

Now, have fun playing Alpha 10.6 Experimental ! :)

PS: Also do not forget to check out our awesome Empyrion Galactic Survival Soundtrack, composed by Alex Jordon! Enjoy! https://soundcloud.com/empyrion-game/reposts

==========

Patch 2019-10-31 (Build 2689)

Changes:
- Allowing to spawn HVs in space now
- Added blueprint name to 'di' output command (only available as game host)
- Optronic Brides and Matrix CPU template collectibles are now required for Blueprint Factory and Repair Bay
- Added CPU template collectibles to more traders: Bertrams (Small) and Servant Corp (Large)
- CPU Penalties : Ships with at least one Core admin or NPC core or NPC core admin will no be subject to CPU penalties
- Performance improvement when shooting a gun
- Weapon CPU balancing : all the weapons are now correctly balanced (bug some weapons was not rebalanced with the factor 3)
- Tweaks to HUD element visibility (F6)

Fixes:
- Can't build due to "You do not have enough CPU to place that block"
- Fix for exception with particles
- Max rotation speed : Rotation bug with ship having incredibly big torque and thrust value -> fixed
- Items can disappear from containers when CE's are added
- Fix runaway "CONSTRUCTION" difficulty setting label
- Removed wrong pivotpoint from BAJ_JunkT1_06.epb
- Fix for sporadic NRE when changing playfields

==========

Full Changelog

NOTE: Version of Config.ecf has been increased! Please review and adapt your modifications!

CPU
- Added CPU Extender T2-T4 for HV,SV,CV and BA (models are placeholders!)
- Added 4 new collectibles required to craft T3 and T4 Extenders ( Large/Small Optronic Bridge, Large/Small Optronic Matrix) which will be added to the rare and ultra rare alien container loot tables and QuantumSTAR traders
- Added Collectibles for CPU T3/4 Extenders to Loot Tables
- Added Collectibles for CPU T3/4 Extenders to new Trader: QuantumSTAR ( Default Survival > Polaris Orbital Trading Station)
- Added crafting templates for all CPU Extenders
- Added CPU information to 'di' console command overlay

Base Attack
- Zirax attack Hacking Swipe has been reduced to 8-10m
- Zirax attack troopers have gotten a new behavior: When they are stuck, they will start to wander around (Patrol behavior) and check if their target (core) is in range once and a while.
- Hacking swipe for Talon Shaman has been removed
Note: both changes are TEMPORARY changes. More changes are planned for A11 release (Change of attack pattern, targets, damage balancing)
- Added new particle effect for Talon Shaman (visible during Talon Base Attack)

LCD & Projector
- LCDs: Replaced checkbox for switching between new and legacy modes by a button for one-time conversion from legacy to new (legacy mode costs performance)
- Improved LCD Projector:
- dimensions and offsets now all have 1/4 block steps
-> 4x resolution of dimensions
-> 2x resolution of offsets, value is now also displayed in blocks (was 1/2 blocks)
- added z offset (front / back)
- added 45° rotations for all three 3 axes
- LCD screens: increased character limit

New models & model updates
- Addel L, M2 and L2 Thruster for SV (Available in Small, Large, Advanced Constructor)
- Added new Ventilator shapes
- Added new full-glass Heavy Window shapes
- Added 16 new Material shapes to all block groups and blockshape menu
- Added 2x6 new Railing types to Walkways & Railings group (BA, CV)
- Added 4x double Railings to Walkways & Railings group
- Updated Boarding Ramps (Removed front side ledge)

Other additions & changes
- Ship controller : add a small force in all directions on HV in space (for docking ability; HV can move in space with a max speed of 3 m/s)
- Rockets that are fired from a moving ship now always inherit the speed of the ship (additional)
- Docked ships are now considered when calculating the total weight of a structure
- Enhanced Blueprint Workshop: in Creative Mode structures with "forbidden blocks" can be published as POI's; they are tagged accordingly and can be used in the Workshop search bar!
- Added type name and custom tag checkboxes to Blueprint Publish dialog
- Doubled "Steer your Escape Pod" message display time from 5 to 10 seconds
- updated playfield of "Invader vs Defender II" scenario
- SSG: Improvements to Sector Type parameter settings
- CtrModifier key now configurable

New/updated POI
- Added new SNOW versions for Civil and Polaris POI to be used on Snow-Playfields
- Added new group of orbital Wreckages (BAs, but also a CV and a SV) for all orbits except starter orbits
- Updated non-snow POIs (Civil Settlement-B)
- Updated the Default CREATIVE Scenario ORBITAL BASE start with an all new Starter Base that now offers all the necessary info to get started with building and creating awesome stuff in Empyrion. The Base also has a goodie spawned nearby to toy around with.

Balancing
- Reduced mass of Fuel Tanks (CV, BA) and Large O2 tank (CV,BA)
- Total Thruster Rebalancing ( Larger Thrusters/Jets more efficient per block/kg/m³ than smaller ones; CPU values adjusted to match significant increase of thrust power)
- Increased crafting times of all Thrusters
- Increased crafting times for all RCS

Technical optimizations and changes
- A playfield server will now load several playfields (1 planet playfield and 1 orbit playfields or 3 orbit playfields)
- optimized explosion-related code
- Setting max count of spotlights to 30 to avoid performance problems
- Suppressing now unity error message failed triangles and outputting a warning instead
- Structure information text files in the Shared folder now have dots '.' again as fraction separator in all locales
-Improved the internal ticking of the game by using the unity FixedUpdate calls. Set physics ticking to 0.025
- Docked ships will not send position updates in MP any more (optimization)
- performance improvement when loading LCDs in 'new mode'
- Console command 'servers' will now list all loaded playfields per playfield server on a dedicated server

Server
- Playfield server outputs INFO line now for each loaded playfield
- adapted the 'stoppf' command to multi-pf servers: when more than one pf is loaded only that one is unloaded

Dedicated.yaml:
- The two (helper) parameters Srv_Visible and Srv_ForceHiding should no longer be used. The only valid parameter to determine public visibility is Srv_Public. So please, replace them if you still use them.
- If none of the above mentioned parameters is in a yaml file, the server is by default visible, so if you want your private server to not be visible simply add a line "Srv_Public: false".

ModAPI
- ModAPI: Added IApplication.GetPfServerInfos() to get data about pf server processes and their loaded playfields
- ModAPI: Enhanced IPlayer by two new properties: IsPilot and DrivingEntity, added IEntity back-ref in IStructure

List of Bugfixes

- CoQ from global effects manager -> Solar panels
- Fixed bug with player digged out areas in far terrain not showing correctly
- Fixed: [Coop] 'AllowedBlueprints: None' is not being added in the dedicated.yaml in Coop mode
- Fixed: Terrain placeable devices (Portable constructor & water generator) get removed after terrain under them is drilled
- Fixed: Can’t connect to LocalDedi => App not Running
- Fixed: When drilling an ore deposit with or without a PD the drill can stop drilling until the cursor is moved again
- Fixed: [MP] Replace mode not showing changes made in creative MP until structure is respawned
- Fixed: NPC's stop moving when they 'fall' from a structure into space/orbit
- Fixed: Lower res textures appearing on devices - NGui camera is excluded from Texture Streaming computations
- Fixed: All AI controlled vessels (AIPV, freighters, patrol vessel etc) 'fall' when the player approaches them
- Fixed problem that when a passenger initiated a playfield change (teleport/warp), the pilot was not taken with him
- Fixed: Turret targeting other turrets below ground
- Fixed: Texture & colour tool 'Textures' UI glitched
- Fixed: Shooting effects and blinking planet atmosphere
- Fixed: In orbit the players suit light can cause the clouds of a planet to flash between white and black
- Fixed: Accessing and editing an LCD Screen or Projector will activate it, ignoring settings and power
- Fixed: Docked vessels can get moved far away from the parent vessel after a playfield change & remain 'docked'
- Fixed: Players can be disconnected from their vessel if their internet connection drops
- Fixed: [MP] Constructor Input & Output empty when the player quits and re-joins an MP game
- Fixed: Distant planets go black & disappear when viewing from certain angles
- Fixed: Text from LCD screens appearing on other LCD screens
- Fixed: X key already assigned to action message when X key is unbound from shield
- Fixed: AsteroidFieldRing does not rotate for Class 2 and Class 3 planets
- Fixed: AlienBug02 hitbox
- Fixed: Invisible block face 'Sliced corner A2' & 'Sliced corner B2' when next to other blocks
- Fixed: Small container controllers clipping through blocks that are placed over them- 06842: CoQ triggering after entering, exiting then re-entering a planet repeatedly
- Fixed: CoQ when try to open Chat
- Fixed: CoQ prevents loading into playfields with lpf command
- Fixed: {keybind(...)} PDA doesn't work in Chapter Titles/Description (and several other locations)
- Fixed: [MP] Not possible to load into a MP server if character was left on a planet
- Fix for 3rdp camera getting stuck directly above the player's head sometimes (esp. when the player uses the player bike
- Fixed: Motorbikes get caught in a repositioning loop when trying to cross over the poles
- Fixed: Base attacks triggering on a player base whilst honoured with zirax
- Fixed: Access to locker cause COQ
- Fixed: Base attack not appearing after alert triggers (full fix)
- Fixed: Blocks can be placed inside devices
- Fixed: Reloading weapons or tools triggers a CoQ
- Fix for ship not moving in MP
- Fixed: CoQ loop from Drone data
- Fixed: Internal Error when destroying a structure with a selection tool active on any part of the structure
- Fix for terrain showing gaps sometimes
- Fixed: In "New Game Scenario" no Workshop icon in the scenario's list
- Fix for OutOfBounds exception when leaving a playfield
- Fixed: Long render time for structures
- Fixed problem with collider of boarding ramp on playfield server
- Fixed: Gameoptions flag ForvePvP was not considered in choose starter planet window
- Fixed: POI Shield Gen Keeps Resetting
- Fixed: Chunks of structure missing on first visit
- Fixed: Spawner set wrong in POI "Abandoned Excavation Site"
- Fixed: Survival Constructor stuck on backward time skip
- Fixed: shields cycle on & off repeatedly when docked
- Fixed: Copy Paste of multiple LCDs result in wrong order / issue
- Fixed: Previosuly placed Solar panels are not working
- Possible fix for ticks getting out of sync
- Fix for console command 'ticks' not working any more
- Fixed icon size of Sprite selection button in Screen Edit window
- Fixed: When a HV touches the bedrock it will get repositioned above terrain
- Fixed: When a vessel with retractable turrets changes pitch the turrets barrels aim downwards
- Fixed: Game freezes up & stops responding after a player base is taken over by zirax when a new wave is triggered
- Fix for slight camera stuttering when exiting a cockpit in MP in 3rdp
- Fixed: On a client a folder 'Stamps' is created in the 'Saves' folder when connecting to a server
- Fixed: Weapons and tool effects remain after docking
- Fixed: [MP] R2T: Repair console 'last saved', 'Total repair time' & 'Remaining time' don't update when first opened
- Fixed: [MP] The repair bay 'Green' shield gets removed from the vessel it wraps around when a player moves far away & returns
- Fixed: Chapter window does not take CSV key
- Fixed: NoSkip does not work in COOP and bug carries over to SP

Sep 17, 2019

Alpha 10.5.x: Optimizations, Bug Fixes and other Improvements

Empyrion - Galactic Survival - EmpyrionGame

Hi Galactic Survivalists!

We are thrilled to release Alpha 10.5 to the public today! This update does not only contain a LOT of bug fixes but we also dedicated a lot of our time to some major (multiplayer) optimizations! The first pass of these changes should allow for a more fluid gameplay experience, especially in combat. We have implemented a few new methods on how data and events are handled and would like to have your feedback on how things have improved. Please use the feedback thread pinned in the feedback forum!

Besides bug fixes and optimizations, Alpha 10.5 has a lot to offer: The orbital planet view is now a real 3D Mesh, showing also terrain heights and other specialities. The Talon will no longer ignore you and also have their own Base Attack. If you ever wanted to toy around with floating text messages and signs, you now can do that with the new LCD Projector device. In the same context, we improved the LCD panel creativity options, which now are offering a slew of sprites, icons, signs and a lot of formatting options for your creative all-out art attack (also available for the projector, of course).

Last, but not least, beyond a heap of other changes, optimizations and updates, our Builders League has set its hand on various POIs and also added several new ones. Large and small orbital bases, mining facilities, artifact sites and many more are waiting for you. If you are around on a snow planet, check out the new Rados bases - they might now be covered with snow, but they are even better prepared to give you a warm welcome.

As always, before giving feedback, read the changelog below and give Alpha 10.5 a try. Then, please head over to our feedback forum and let us know what you think: https://empyriononline.com/forums/faq-feedback.25/

If you run into any issue - or if you reported an issue in the experimental phase that does not seem to be fixed - please add your bug report to our bug report forum. There is also a description on how to set up a bug report, so the QA team can track it and work on your issues.

https://empyriononline.com/threads/read-before-reporting-bug-report-template-requirements-known-issues.47082/

https://empyriononline.com/forums/bugs.24

Without further ado: Have fun playing Alpha 10.5! :)

Yours,

Empyrion Dev Team

=======

Patch 2019-11-02 (Build 2664)

Fixes:
- Orbit Instances are broken
- Can't connect to LocalDedi => "App not Running"
- Deactivated Incremental GC (maybe a reason for crashes)

==========

Hotfix 2019-10-26 (Build 2660)

Since we changed something in the network code we need to assure that client and server are both up to date. For this we increased the version number to 10.5.1.

==========

Patch 2019-10-25 (Build 2659)

Since we heard about multiplayer problems we tried to improve some networking bottlenecks and also fixed other stuff. Have fun!

Fixes:
- Improved entity interpolation
- Improved network communication to prevent exploits
- Faster chunk loading on clients
- problem that when a passenger initiated a playfield change (teleport/warp), the pilot was not taken with him
- CoQ triggering after entering, exiting then re-entering a planet repeatedly
- Base terrain height issue

==========

Hotfix 2019-09-25 (Build 2654)

Fixes:
- Possible fix for slow chunk loading when changing playfields/DSL load
- POI Shield Gen Keeps Resetting

==========

Hotfix 2019-09-20 (Build 2652)

Fixes:
- Sometimes chunks of structure missing on first visit
- Spawner set wrong in POI "Abandoned Excavation Site"
- Another possible fix for IndexOutOfBoundsException
- Constructor getting stuck when the time corruption problem happened
- some exceptions

==========

Hotfix 2019-09-18 (Build 2648)

Changes:
- updated "Invader vs Defender II" scenario

Fixes:
- When a HV touches the bedrock it will get repositioned above terrain
- Possible fix for ticks getting out of sync
- Fix for console command 'ticks' not working any more
- Fixed icon size of Sprite selection button in Screen Edit window
- Removed feature that turrets rotate to their neutral position when retracted because of a bug. Will add this again in 10.6
- Game freezes up & stops responding after a player base is taken over by zirax when a new wave is triggered
- Fix for slight camera stuttering when exiting a cockpit in MP in 3rdp

==========

CHANGELOG: Alpha 10.5 (Build 2646)

MAIN FEATURES:

1. Optimizations:
- Dedicated server now calculates planets instead of playfield server, planets are now calculated on demand and not all at startup. This prepares the way for solar systems and infinite space.
- Significantly improved internal network communication. This should result in more fluid experience (less lags, less kicks etc in multiplayer).
- Added interpolation of entities to reduce rubber banding
- Binarizing playfield yaml files to improve loading and networking time when the game is loaded a 2nd time
- Optimized dedicated server and playfield server: now using memory pools for the network connection to avoid heap garbage and defragmentation
- Changing terrain blocks will now be sent only to the clients that are around the changed area. Should improve drilling performance in MP a lot
- No voxel terrain chunks are built if flying above 700 meters
- Set EAC packages to unreliable/unordered. This might result in less player kicks when there is a lot of network traffic
- Turret rotation update rate is set to two updates per second and sent on unreliable channel to relief network channel

2. Improved Planet Outside View (3D mesh, better atmosphere etc)

- Planet 3D view now using AtmosphereColor from playfield.yaml
- Planet 3D view: now using clouds color to color the clouds (color gets brightened a bit) and using atmosphere color for atmosphere (for savegames builds < 2600 the color gets brightened, please adjust your scenarios before you start new savegames)

- Deactivated local clouds when leaving/entering a planet and also deactivated atmosphere fire on ships
- Updated atmosphere colors on all playfields
- Planet 3D view: not showing clouds if playfield yaml has exactly one weather 'Clear'
- Planet 3D view: added normal map to clouds

3. Improved LCD Panels

- Added LCD Projector block (can be found in LCD Group) - a projector has no own screen but projects the content into the surrounding area (with configurable size and offset)
- Newly placed signs will by default use the “new mode" that allows multi-color text and sprites
- note that some international character sets are not yet available (e.g. East Asian characters), if you need them please use the Legacy mode (works exactly as before)
- Extended 'Sign Edit' window by font symbol and sprite selection windows (sprites only usable with new LCD mode)
- Added 'Help' button to show the new formatting possibilities
- Added tooltips to most UI elements to indicate functionality

4. Talon Base Attack

- We added a new base attack for the Talon faction: they will not invade your base but they position around your base and will deactivate the power of your base so you have to get out of your base to hunt them down

5. Improved Controller Support
- Several improvements for the handling of the controller
- Added an option to turn in game controller support on & off
- D-Pad down to work with inventory to move stack in one click
- Added Logistics and Factions to the radial menu accessed by controllers
- Added a way for a controller to enlarge & shrink the sensor detection area in sensor view mode
- Added 'Building tools' to the radial menu for controllers

6. Improved ModApi
- ModApi has been enhanced by some new functionality, other things have been changed
- please check the "Changelog" included in the documentation's start page (in folder Content/Extras/Modding Doc)

=====

OTHER FEATURES:

Major POI Update:

- Reworked Drone Bases (now have a one-time shield that does not regenerate when brought down)
- Added shield generator to more POIs
- Added specifically designed Rados SNOW set, replacing old Rados bases on snow playfields; includes renewed, revamped and also completely new bases.

- Added: Lava Processing Facilities on Lava Planets
- Updated: Orbital Trading Station (Variant4 TSO)
- Updated crashed Titan POI
- Added new orbital structures:

*Hideout, Base, Black Market, Slave Market for further use with future Pirates Faction addition; For now assigned to Polaris)
* Mining Bases, Alloy Synthesis Factories, Artifact Sites and more
- Updated: Talon Temple
- Added: Planet Remnant asteroid site

> An enormous "Thank you" to: Vermillion, Fractalite, ravien_ff, Dinkelsen, Frigidman, Needleship & Ramachandra

Improved Visuals:
- Sector map: setting color of planets now as a combination of AtmospherColor and LightHorizonColor color
- Entering a planet now creates the terrain immediately without showing intermediate results
- Tuned water shader a bit: using less local fog to give the water more its 'real' color
- Space: slightly increased light intensity
- Adjusted water parameters to use more specular again to reflect the sky stronger. Adjusted waves slightly
- Removed space fog in space playfields. Please give feedback if you miss it and want it back (maybe turned down a bit)
- Ground blast particles of ships are more transparent now
- Improved visuals of some sun flares (SunFlareYellow and SunFlarePurple)

Gameplay:
- Added PentaxidOre as alternative template to Advanced Constructor to open up an additional (although costly) path to produce PentaxidOre ( in late game phase)
- Added "NoShieldReload" property for Shields per POI in playfield.yaml: setting this property will not load the shields after getting them down any more
- Allow removing of structure's lock codes and device grouping in Control Panel
- When a player opens CP or a container it will now set this structure to 'visited/touched' delaying any wipe

Changes:
- Updated Alien and Snow playfields

- Activated better UDP delay detecting
- Forcing now half texture resolution if the system has less than 10 GB of main memory (before 8 GB)
- Added console cmd 'structure' to manage structure internals
- Added new armored windows + railings
- Keeping the latest three input config files to allow switching between Public and EXP branches without losing the setup
- Added max size detecting when trying to spawn a blueprint to avoid too heavy server network load (max file size=3MB)
- Adjusted max blueprint size detecting: now only done when a CLIENT wants to spawn a blueprint
- Mask typical swear words and the name "Eleon" as part of a non-official server name
- Config files TraderNPCConfig, EGroupsConfig and DefReputation are now read from the scenario folder if they exist (else the default folder is used as before) - note: check if you already placed such files in scenarios and if they are up to date

Updated Scenario “Invader vs Defender” (by RexXxuS):

"The Golden Phoenix Asteroid Field grants many treasures at a hot price"

Since it's a new Universe with new logic it is now called "Invader vs Defender II".
Some highlights (still wip):
- new meticulous created Universe with smooth transition from PvE to PvP (hier das Golden Phoenix Bild einfügen)
- a lot of PvE content and great boost for PvP in the center
- Origins have more impact on your gameplay now
- More (PDA) Missions to play

Bug Fixes:
- Base attacks set to OFF in the difficulty setting is not working & attacks are still triggered
- Repair console UI does not update the needed resources until exiting & re-entering the console
- Possible fix for showing "Connection lost" dialog when changing worlds
- Not all shutters flowing O2 (1x3, 1x4 & 1x5)
- Multiple block types (concrete, steel etc) when picked up from SI drops are not put into the correct block groups
- Cockpit 8 - single hit removes almost all of the cockpit
- Drones and Troop Transport set to player faction after Drone Base Capture
- [Edge case] Drilled out terrain returning after loading back into save game
- Structures not getting DSL'ed on startup of a game
- Asteroids rendering issue
- Water appears in bases placed closed to lakes when player returns from being 5km+ away from a base
- Possible to damage other players BA or Vessel shield in PvE playfield
- Lava flickering
- Zirax troops sometimes not firing on player despite being hostile
- Zirax patrols are not present on Arid starting planet
- [SSG] Directory not found exception
- Returning to a structure that has lights setup to blink can result in some lights appearing on when they should be off
- More relaxed times for 'UDP delay detection' to avoid "connection lost" popups
- Drilling particles did not get correctly lit
- Fixed jumping animation was not working for other player in MP games
- Possible to place blocks in the center of a warp drive
- Player looked into wrong direction on some angles when using jetpack in space
- In MP other players did not look up/down correctly
- Using Auto level in a vessel can cause the thrusters of a vessel to get stuck switching quickly between 2 directions
- [MP] Vessel exploit
- Not possible to place a symmetry plane or place the selection area on a structure when the building tools window is open
- On screen Soft Cursor cannot be used until the controllers Right stick has been pressed/'Clicked'
- Oxygen death after melee death gives wrong message
- Fix for showing blank screen after warping when deleting cache on server side
- Fix Sector Warp Lock reticule text overlap
- Telluropod & Desert golem sometimes do not damage the player when attacking
- Drill Animation sometimes not stopping
- POI found to always be floating above terrain & is offset from center in BP preview
- Fixed 'Start' button on controller as ESC not working in all windows
- Scrolling stops working in 1 faction window when switching to a faction window with no scrolling option & back
- Dark stretching on 3D representation of planets close the poles
- Troop transports sometimes freeze above where they should land until reloading back into the save game
- Moon playfield has atmosphere until 'Terrain LOD' kicks in when getting closer to the moon
- [SELECTION BUILD TOOL] LCD screen text or symbols not maintained when copy & pasting screen
- [SELECTION BUILD TOOL] NPC settings for NPC-Spawners as well as motion sensor / light barrier areas not maintained
- [Player report] Troop transport is triggered every time when returning from orbit to planet-side base
- 'struct remove-device-signals' command not resetting removed circuit signals
- Water appears in bases placed closed to lakes when player returns from being 5km+ away from a base
- Polaris mission - Privacy matters waypoint not activating on mini map or planet map
- 'Reset to Defaults' option should only reset selected 'Input'.
- Turret Barrels Protruding from Block
- Plants, rocks & trees don't get removed for players who are far away from where they have been removed
- POI found to always be floating above terrain & is offset from center in BP preview
- Planet terrain in the map view loses detail & goes dark after changing from a moon playfield to a planet playfield
- Fixed texture view in SSG
- Outputting to log when a player spawned a blueprint in MP
- Xbox Controller: Weapons won't react to left & right triggers on first load until they are fired by a mouse button first
- Xbox Controller: Radial menus will not open for controllers on first load into a save game until they are used by a mouse
- Xbox Controller: Mounted weapons & Turrets cannot be fired from the controller until LMB on the mouse is used 1 time
- Issue with origin & sensors
- Symmetry & Copy & paste modes are both not functioning
- Warp lines turn back on after being turned off when the sector map is reopened
- Fixed: Positioning of "static" checkbox for NPC spawners
- Controller/mouse UI checks fixes
- Blocks can be placed when selecting a block shape
- Vessel speed is not maintained after warping when moving into a sector you have not been before
- Unable go back to main menu after pressing escape when trying to bind a key
- The "Fill all" ammo option when the ammo container is connected causes the client to crash
- Space Vessel : after resuming some games, the vessel head to the coordinates 0,0,0)
- Problem that mission "Totally overpowered" was not possible on LavaNascent playfield since some POIs did not spawn
- Left & right bumper for 'Common controls' to roll left or right when the jetpack is on whilst in space doesn't work
- Spawner plates set to 'static' ignore power state, sensor logicCD)
- Device names appear wrong after opening the control panel
- 'Teleporting...' disappeared when the target world was not yet generated
- Players getting damaged when teleporting and the target world needed to be generated
- Talon base attack UI on planets with no talon shows values above 0
- MP: Player vessels markers on the map go out of sync when 1 player moves far away from another
- Allow building mode to switch between toolbars
- MP: when turrets are trying to track & fire at a target the barrels aim in other directions
- MP: Exceptions from flying around a planet coming from map icons
- Constructor continues to put crafted items in assigned container even if it has been removed (losing those items)
- Planets and moons with an atmosphere but no clouds will still show clouds when viewed from the planet's surface
- Exception when text spanning more than one line in projectors if size is 90 or above
- MP: Desync issues with clients when returning from distance away from another player
- When viewed from a planet's surface, clouds on moons don't display correctly under certain circumstances
- LCD Projector: CoQ when adding and removing Sprites
- LCD Projector: Adding Sprites in a row longer than the display will break the line-break and cursor position in preview window
- MP: Desync issues with clients when returning from distance away from another player (FIX FOR DECO)
- Whatever DefReputation.ecf file is loaded in first, will override any other DefReputation.ecf file
- Exception loop from Troop transporter when it is returning to the Drone base
- Exception triggered when crafting a T3 Auto mining device
- Exception triggered by o2 calculation
- Stiff, slightly twitchy grass during weather transitions
- "Weather: RainMedium" resulting in very visible 'scan line' artifacts on grass
- Fixed: Several internal exceptions

Aug 28, 2019

Alpha EXPERIMENTAL 10.5

Empyrion - Galactic Survival - EmpyrionGame

Hi Galactic Survivalists,

We are excited to release the first EXPERIMENTAL version of Alpha 10.5.

Alpha EXP 10.5 features massive optimizations and bug fixes, an improved outside view of planets, new LCD panels, Talon base attack and many other changes and improvements.

Please report any bug in our EXP Bug Forum: https://empyriononline.com/forums/bugs.34/
Please read the 'HOW TO REPORT A BUG 'ahead of adding a new thread: https://empyriononline.com/threads/...ort-template-requirements-known-issues.47118/

Thanks a lot for your appreciated help and have fun playing Alpha 10.5 Experimental :)

Yours,
Emp Dev Team

=====

Update 2019-08-30 (Build 2625)

Fixes:
- Players cannot see other players in Local co-op

=====

CHANGELOG: Alpha EXPERIMENTAL 10.5

MAIN FEATURES:

1. Optimizations:
- Big internal change: dedi now calculates planets (instead of playfield server), planets are now calculated on demand (not all at startup)
- Significantly improved internal network communication > more fluid experience (less lags, less kicks etc). We are still working on the interpolation of entities to reduce rubber banding > we will add this interpolation in one of the next EXP releases
- Binarizing playfield yaml files to improve loading and networking time when the game is loaded a 2nd time
- Optimized dedicated server and playfield server: now using memory pools for the network connection to avoid heap garbage and defragmentation
- Changing terrain blocks will now be sent to only the clients that are around the changing area. Should improve drilling performance in MP a lot
- No voxel terrain chunks are built if flying above 700 meters
- Set EAC packages to unreliable/unordered. This might result in less player kicks when there is a lot of network traffic to increase fly speed on planets

2. Improved Planet Outside View:
- Improved planet 3D mesh, better atmosphere etc
- Planet outside view now using AtmosphereColor from playfield.yaml
- Planet 3D outside view: now using clouds color to color the clouds (color gets brightened a bit) and using atmosphere color without modification for atmosphere (for savegames build < 2600 the color still gets brightened, please adjust your scenarios before you start new savegames)
- Deactivated clouds when leaving/entering a planet and atmosphere fire
- Updated atmosphere colors on all playfields

Feedback thread: https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-10-5-improved-planet-outside-view.69767/

3. Improved LCD Panels:
- Added TextMeshPro to LCD 1x1 NoFrame as a test
- Please check with "1x1 NoFrame" LCDs how the new display system works (multi-color etc.)
- newly placed signs will by default use the new "Pro mode"
- Enhanced '2x1 LCD with frame' to work with the new mode
- Extended 'Sign Edit' window by a font symbol selection popup (usable for old and new LCD modes)

Feedback thread: https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-10-5-exp-improved-lcd-panels.69766/

4. Talon Base Attack:
- We added a new base attack for the Talon faction: they will not invade your base but they position around your base and will deactivate the power of your base so you have to get out of your base to hunt them down

Feedback thread: https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-10-5-exp-talon-base-attack.69765/

5. Improved ModApi:
- ModApi has been enhanced by some new functionality, other things have been changed
- please check the "Changelog" included in the documentation's start page (in folder Content/Extras/Modding Doc)

====

OTHER FEATURES:

POI Update:
- Reworked Drone Bases (now have a one-time shield that does not regenerate when brought down)
- Added shield generator to more POIs
- Orbital Trading Station updated (Variant4 TSO)
- Updated crashed Titan POI
- Added new orbital structures (Hideout, Base, Black Market, Slave Market for further use with future Pirates Faction addition; For now assigned to Polaris)
- Talon Temple udpate
> Thanks to: Dinkelsen, Frigidman, Fractalite, Needleship, Ramachandra, ravien_ff, Vermillion

Visuals:
- Improved visuals of some sun flares (SunFlareYellow and SunFlarePurple)
- Sector map: setting color of planets now as a combination of AtmospherColor and LightHorizonColor color
- Entering a planet now creates the terrain immediately without showing intermediate results
- Tuned water shader a bit: using less local fog to give the water more its 'real' color
- Space: slightly increased light intensity
- Adjusted water parameters to use more specular again to reflect the sky stronger. Adjusted waves slightly

Improved controller support:
- Several improvements for the handling of the controller
- Add an option to turn in game controller support on & off
- D-Pad down to work with inventory to move stack in one click
- Add Logistics and Factions to the radial menu accessed by controllers

Before starting the experimental client go to your saves folder 'Empyrion - Galactic Survival\Saves' & create a new file called it f.ex 'Input backup'
Copy the file 'inputconfig_v31' from the saves folder & place the copy into the newly created folder to back it up
Now when you start the experimental release another input file will appear in the saves folder but with a new version number 'inputconfig_v32' you may now also put this into the backup folder you created
If you decide to go back to the public branch B2554 delete both the inputconfig_v31 & inputconfig_v32 files from the saves folder & place the backed up copy of v31 back into the saves folder & do the same if you decide to go back to the experimental branch with the backed up v32 file to restore any custom layouts you created.

Gameplay:
- Added PentaxidOre as alternative template to Advanced Constructor: Feedback required
- Added "NoShieldReload" property for Shields per POI in playfield.yaml: setting this property will not load the shields after getting them down any more
- Allow removing of structure's lock codes and device grouping in Control Panel
- When a player opens CP or a container it will now set this structure to 'visited/touched' delaying any wipe

Other Changes:
- Activated better UDP delay detecting
- Forcing now half texture resolution if the system has less than 10 GB of main memory (before 8 GB)
- Added console cmd 'structure' to manage structure internals
- Added new armored windows + railings
- Keeping the latest three input config files to allow switching between Public and EXP branches without losing the setup
- Added max size detecting when trying to spawn a blueprint to avoid too heavy server network load (max file size=3MB)
- Adjusted max blueprint size detecting: now only done when a CLIENT wants to spawn a blueprint
- Mask typical swear words and the name "Eleon" as part of a non-official server name

Bug Fixes:
- Repair console UI does not update the needed resources until exiting & re-entering the console
- Not all shutters flowing O2 1x3, 1x4 & 1x5
- Cockpit 8 - single hit removes almost all of the cockpit
- Structures not getting DSL'ed on startup of a game
- Base attacks set to OFF in the difficulty setting is not working & attacks are still triggered
- Asteroids rendering issue
- Dark stretching on 3D representation of planets close the poles
- Troop transports freeze above where they should land until reloading back into the save game
- Moon playfield has atmosphere until 'Terrain LOD' kicks when getting closer to the moon
- [SELECTION BUILD TOOL] LCD screen text or symbols not maintained when copy & pasting screen
- [SELECTION BUILD TOOL] NPC settings for NPC-Spawners as well as motion sensor / light barrier areas not maintained
- Multiple block types (concrete, steel etc) when picked up from SI drops are not put into the correct block groups
- [Player report] Troop transport is triggered every time when returning from orbit to planet-side base
- 'struct remove-device-signals' command not resetting removed circuit signals
- Drones and TT set to player faction after DroneBase Capture
- Lava flickering
- Water appears in bases placed closed to lakes when player returns from being 5km+ away from a base
- POI found to always be floating above terrain & is offset from center in BP preview
- Planet terrain in the map view loses detail & goes dark after changing from a moon playfield to a planet playfield
- Fixed texture view in SSG
- Outputting when a player spawned a blueprint in MP
- Possible fix for space particles flashing
- Drilling particles did not get correctly lit
- Possible to place blocks in the center of a warp drive
- Zirax patrols are not present on Arid starting planet
- Xbox Controller: Weapons won't react to left & right triggers on first load until they are fired by a mouse button first
- Xbox Controller: Radial menus will not open for controllers on first load into a save game until they are used by a mouse
- Xbox Controller: Mounted weapons & Turrets cannot be fired from the controller until LMB on the mouse is used 1 time
- Fix for planet outside view not showing atmosphere sometimes
- Possible fix for showing "Connection lost" dialog when changing worlds
- Issue with origin & sensors
- When repeatedly using the BA command for Talon a CoQ can be triggered sometimes
- Returning to a structure that has lights setup to blink can result in some lights looking on when they should be off
- Zirax troops not firing on player despite being hostile
- POI found to always be floating above terrain & is offset from center in BP preview (better fix)
- Fix 'Start' button on controller as ESC not working in all windows
- Water appears in bases placed closed to lakes when player returns from being 5km+ away from a base
- More relaxed times for 'UDP delay detection' to avoid "connection lost" popups
- Symmetry & Copy & paste modes are both not functioning
- [Edge case] Drilled out terrain returning after loading back into save game
- No longer possible to copy & paste symbols from an input field to another (e.g. LCD screen)
- Warp lines turn back on after being turned off when the sector map is reopened
- Fixed jumping animation was not working for other player in MP games
- Fixed: Positioning of "static" checkbox for NPC spawners
- Possible to damage other players BA or Vessel shield in PvE playfield
- [SSG] Directory not found exception
- Controller/mouse UI checks fixes
- Blocks can be placed when selecting a block shape
- Fix for showing blank screen after warping when deleting cache on server side
- Fix Sector Warp Lock reticule text overlap
- Telluropod & Desert golem do not damage the player when attacking
- Drill Animation not stopping
- player looked into wrong direction on some angles when using jetpack in space
- in MP other players did not look up/down correctly.
- Using Auto level in a vessel can cause the thrusters of a vessel to get stuck switching quickly between 2 directions
- [MP] Vessel exploit
- Not possible to place a symmetry plane or place the selection area on a structure when the building tools window is open
- Black screen loading after teleport
- On screen Soft Cursor cannot be used until the controllers Right stick has been pressed/'Clicked'
- Possible fix for ghost ships appearing sometimes in MP in playfields
- Oxygen death after melee death gives wrong message
- Vessel speed is not maintained after warping when moving into a sector you have not been before
- Unable go back to main menu after pressing escape when trying to bind a key
- The "Fill all" ammo option when the ammo container is connected causes the client to crash
- Space Vessel : after resuming some games, the vessel head to the coordinates 0,0,0)
- Left & right bumper for 'Common controls' to roll left or right when the jetpack is on whilst in space doesn't work
- CoQ loop from Troop transporter when it is returning to the Drone base
- Exception triggered when crafting a T3 Auto mining device
- Problem that mission "Totally overpowered" was not possible on LavaNascent playfield since some POIs did not spawn
- CoQ triggered by o2 calculation
- Stiff, slightly twitchy grass during weather transitions
- "weather: RainMedium" resulting in very visible 'scan line' artifacts on grass

Jul 15, 2019

Alpha 10.3: Improvements and Bug Fixes - Part III

Empyrion - Galactic Survival - EmpyrionGame

Hi Galactic Survivalists,

we just released Alpha 10.3, please check the changelog below.

Thanks again for your ongoing feedback and bug reports :)

Yours,
Empyrion Dev Team

==========

CHANGELOG: Alpha 10.3.0 (Build 2539)

---
PLEASE NOTE: Players who have spawned a recently saved Blueprint that have problems with signals or the device list should execute some console cmds to remove faulty data. For this, step onto that structure, open the console window and enter 'help structure'.
Then execute all three sub-commands to clean up the structure. You may then re-setup your signals, lock codes and custom devicve grouping / naming and save it as a working Blueprint. Sorry for any inconvenience!
---

Changes:
- Added console cmd 'structure' to manage structure internals

Fixes:
- When some blueprints are spawned they lose their device list & signals setup
- Troop transports freeze above where they should land until reloading back into the save game
- Base attacks set to OFF in the difficulty setting is not working & attacks are still triggered
- Dark stretching on 3D representation of planets close the poles

==========

CHANGELOG: Alpha 10.3.0 (Build 2535)

Fixes:
- Ship Controller: Ship high angular speed bug
- Value 1E+10 for label TorqueAmount in structure (SV_Prefab_Tier1) cannot be converted to Int
- HV mounted drills will not spin/ work until they are close to the terrain
- Temperate Starter playfield Moon Pole area has pink Alien terrain overlapping the moon terrain
- HV/SV Cockpit 8 legacy is the same as the non legacy version
- Save template last saved timer appears incorrect

==========

Sorry for the non-functioning turrets, but we already fixed it!

CHANGELOG: Alpha 10.3.0 (Build 2533)

Fixes:
- Turrets not shooting
- Chainsaw does not start animation unless you only start using it when standing close to a tree
- Solar panels are not producing any output but appear to be 'online'

==========

We quickly fixed some stuff reported today, so have fun with a more stable version :-)

CHANGELOG: Alpha 10.3.0 (Build 2532)

Changes:
- Planet map: smoothing normals to show less zig zag lines
- Permissions for adjusting color palette with Configure color window on structures

Fixes:
- Decoration: Unharvestable Trees
- Moon playfield has weather after triggering the pole fog
- OverflowException when parsing numeric faction abbreviations (f.e. '333')
- Avoiding reported CoQ
- Usage indicators display incorrectly in HUD
- Heat & radiation areas break when a BA is rotated
- Don't showing tracers and particles for a mounted weapon that cannot shoot (because it would hit the own ship, but still using ammo)
- [MP] CoQ & disconnect from servers when changing playfields whilst still connected to container via wireless connection

==========

CHANGELOG: Alpha 10.3.0 (Build 2531)

Updated Base Attack:
- Added "Time to next attack" to Registry and Control Panel stat window: you will now roughly know when your bases will be attacked
- Swap out Last Attack time with Next Attack time in Base control panel
- A base that is under attack will now not be unloaded (DSL) anymore when a player goes far away

Changes:
- Added Anti-Grief Zone also around Space Asteroids similar to Resource Deposits on planets (when enabled in gameoptions)
- Structures are now set to invisible before they get DSL'ed
- Planetary Trading Stations are now discoverable on planets like other POIs (before: on some planets, they had reduced HUD distance due to cluttering)
- Orbital Trading Stations have now a slightly increased discovery distance (2500m)
- Orbital Trading Stations of Polaris faction are now not displayed with Admin map tag anymore
- Since we introduced the new hitscan logic, we do not allow that ships can damage itself any more
- Base Attack: size has now a slightly stronger impact on BAP

Fixes:
- Hitscan and 3rd Person View
- Using an ADMIN POI Core makes Polaris, Talon Visable on Map
- When using Discovery=false in playfield.yaml there is no map icon shown
- Sometimes on game entry no structure was DSL'ed
- Hud NPC health bar not at correct value, in some cases
- Some wreckage POIs had no player spawner block (=> player spawned outside in strange positions)
- When spawning in some blueprints they lose their device list & signals setup
- Some blueprints can have missing parts in the visible preview & after spawning in
- Invisible blocks in blueprint spawn preview
- Clone chamber: not possible to paint/texture below
- Wall Mounted sentry view clipping into wall and CAN shoot through wall
- Clipping issue with mini-gun turret
- POI ShieldGenerator not automatic 100%
- Uncontrolled ship rotation after take off from the planet
- When close to walkway & shutter window blocks the avatar can continue moving with no directional key presses
- Incorrect structure color palette selected with C/T tool
- Sit in cockpit and leave can give CoQ

Jul 2, 2019

Alpha 10.2: Improvements and Bug Fixes - Part II

Empyrion - Galactic Survival - EmpyrionGame

Update: July 7, 2019 (Build 2526)

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed: When spawning in some blueprints they lose their device list & signals setup
- Reverted fix for: After making a BP of a structure at max size the center of it is moved when spawning the BP in.

========

Update: July 5, 2019 - Alpha 10.2.2 (Build 2524)

Changes:
- Tweaked Ocean Planet (eg water plane now at 60m and several other improvements) and re-added to random generation

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed: Constructor production can exceed the volume capacity of assigned containers
- Fixed: Missing localisation when repairing a vessel with a lock code in auto mode in R2B
- Fixed: After making a BP of a structure at max size the center of it is moved when spawning the BP in.
- Fixed: Resource Terrain as Bedrock logic

========

Update: July 4, 2019 - Alpha 10.2.1 (Build 2523)

Changes:
- Refinement of C/T tool by adding "Remove" toggle > it is now possible to remove symbols without changing color or texture
- Adjusted HP and Mass of new Cockpits (added with A10)
- Adjusted HP of Armored Double Doors
- Removed Reload Delay from Alien Turrets and Sentries
- Increased Anti-Shield Effect for Plasma Turret and Plasma 2 Turret (doubled)
- New Ion Turret (Alien) now has EMP effect that only damages Shields (significantly)
- Increased recharge speed for SV Shield (2/3) and HV (1/3)
- Renamed (only loca change): Ion Cannon (Alien) > Plasma Turret (Alien), Ion Cannon 2 (Alien) > Plasma Turret 2 (Alien)

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed: [MP] Shield is regenerating after being hit
- Fixed: Currently not possible to start building underwater
- Fixed: MP RtoBP issue with template password auto repair option
- Fixed: Playfield server boot timeout check, improved log output to see how long a pf server needs to boot / prepare

Known Issue:
- Missing localisation when repairing a vessel with a lock code in auto mode in R2B

==========

Update: July 2, 2019 (Build 2522)
- Fixed: Sporadic exception when opening CP
- Updated EAH Tool

======

Hi Galactic Survivalists,

We released Alpha 10.2 with more bugs fixes and improvements. Please check out the changelog below.

Yours,

Empyrion Dev Team

=====

CHANGELOG: Alpha 10.2.0 (Build 2521)

Updated Base Attack:
- Base Attacks now depend on presence of drone base: If the drone base has been destroyed or there is no drone base on a planet => no base attacks (see new label "Drone Base" in Stat window)
- Display message when a drone base has been deactivated
- Base attack will now spawn 600m from the edge of the base (not from the center of it)

Updated Behavior of Pangolin and Triceratops:
> the old charging behavior was removed where the animal tried to run over the position of the player in a straight line, causing damage along the way. This did not always work and sometimes lead to player damage without visible reason
> New behavior:
when calm:
- the animals use the same behavior as for example Parasaur - wandering the land, considering the terrain and avoiding buildings
- if they see player, they currently ignore him.
when shot:
- they run to the player and then use melee attack with occasional roars
- the range of pangolin attack was reduced from 7 to 4 meters (it is possible to evade the attack)

Changes:
- Internal optimizations
- Increased render distance of thruster and mounted weapons
- Apply click-able links to PDA Window Description panel.
- Slight color improvements on planet map
- PdaWindow: add format option to yaml to allow to print mapped hotkey to PDA messages.
- PDA now takes into account custom keybinding, i.e. if you change your keybinding, PDA will take this into account. You have to use eg {keybind(Map)} or {keybind(Inventory)}

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed: Shield does not protect player in open cockpit
- Fixed: Shooting at NPC Faction POI with active shield does not have any effect on Reputation
- Fixed: Explosive blocks missing explosion effect
- Fixed: Sound and visual effects of weapon hit is missing
- Fixed: New Drill destroys everything around
- Fixed: CoQ triggered after multiple playfield changes
- Fixed: [MP] CoQ triggered after closing the logistics window & reopening it
- Fixed: Adjust Block Collider to prevent shots / interactions through them
- Fixed: Passenger is booted out of active turret control as soon as AI is trying to shoot at a target
- Fixed: Textures on solar panels looked different depending on angle of sun light
- Fixed: Back button in constructor visible although no back-target set
- Fixed: PlanetLife: spawn points underneath bases, that are not completely touching the ground could get spawned
- Fixed: Title menu buttons Single and Coop still visible when going back to title menu after clicking Back button.
- Fixed: 'Heavy landing gear 2' & 'Landing gear 2' misaligned
- Fixed: SSG 3D preview texturing
- Fixed: CT Tool: Using Replace Mode on Walkway with Textures leads to vanishing blocks
- Fixed: Exception reported from servers: sometimes playfield server reports too early unload of playfield, leading to errors
- Possible fix for error message found in logs '-ERR- Double faction found'
- Fixed: Several internal exceptions found in logs

Jun 17, 2019

Alpha 10: Out Now!

Empyrion - Galactic Survival - EmpyrionGame

Hi Galactic Survivalists!

After more than 4 weeks in Experimental phase, we are very excited to release Alpha 10 to the public branch today!

Thanks to all Experimental testers, who helped with tracking down bugs and who sent in their feedback over the past weeks, we managed to greatly improve the initial feature releases.

Here is a short overview of the main features of Alpha 10:
- Polarized hull shields
- More than 100 new building block shapes
- Increased mining speed and improved drill handling
- New base attack & AI improvements (including a standalone Base Attack Scenario)
- Combined color and texture tool
- New movement controller mode for vessels
- New multiplayer chat
- Increased texture resolution of our 3d models

Check out the update video that highlights the main features of Alpha 10:
https://youtu.be/ixaOycpvbCs

When looking at the overview and the full changelog below (with a LOT more changes, improvements and bug fixes), you will notice that we introduced several “first time” features and some gameplay changes. We are aware of the fact that this might lead to some relearning of mechanics, which can be inconvenient for everyone that is used to a certain play-style. However, the goal of the Alpha phase is still to add, change and introduce large feature updates.

Thanks a lot in advance to keep this in mind when playing Alpha 10. Said that, especially the new Base Attack (including a significant AI update for NPC ground troops) and the Modding API are additions that will still evolve over time. That’s why we value your feedback on ANY of the game topics and try to incorporate ideas and suggestions wherever possible and we hope everyone will continue to do so with the public release.

Please check out Alpha 10 and make good use of the Feedback forum: https://empyriononline.com/forums/faq-feedback.25/

Of course, please also report any bug or issue with Alpha 10 in the bug forum: https://empyriononline.com/forums/bugs.24/

Have fun playing Alpha 10!

Yours,

Empyrion Dev Team

=====

CHANGELOG: Alpha 10.0.0 (Build 2504)

MAJOR FEATURES:

1. Shields
- Added polarized hull shield for vessels and bases

Hitting a shield-protected base
- Added shield generator (Pentaxid is required to charge the shield and energy is needed to power the shield)

- Added shield info to Control Panel and shortcut button “Shield” to the GENERAL window to switch on/off shield. In addition, shield can be switched on/off via hotkey “X” (default key can be remapped)
- While shield is active, you cannot place any new blocks on the structure or warp jump with your vessel
- Allow Warp Drive Tank also on HV (now renamed into Pentaxid Tank)
- Pentaxid Tanks now accept stacks of Pentaxid (instead of single items only)

2. More than 100 New Building Block Shapes
- Added more than 100 new building shapes

Some of the new shapes
- Added tabbed block shapes menu for easier selection

- Added BlockShapesWindow.ecf for your very own custom block shape menu sorting and configuration

3. Increased Mining Speed and Improved Drill Handling
- Significantly increased drill speed so that terrain is now removed much faster (less grinding)
- Faster resource gathering (less grinding)
- Improved drill mode (removes terrain as a semi-sphere) so that you can cut out tunnels more nicely

- Merged resource drill and stone drill mode into one mode for all drills + survival tool
- Improved fixed drill mode for HVs

The underground handling of HVs is now significantly easier: you can dig very nice straight tunnels with your HV (to activate drill mode, press SHIFT+O)

When your HV is in the fixed drill mode, you can now use W/A/S/D, the arrow keys and the mouse to precisely navigate. In addition, pressing LMB while in the fixed drill model will enable auto mode of your drills so you do not need to keep LMB pressed

> For more changes to drilling and mining, see the additional changelog below.

4. New Base Attack & AI Improvements
- Zirax ground troops can now invade player bases

Zirax attacking a base

- Zirax Ground troops have 2 types of special weapons: Demolition Tool (cuts through ANY material) and Remote Hacking Device (can hack/replace a core remotely)

The demolition tool in action

The remote hacking device in action

- Added several rules and parameters for base attack probability calculation: the probability that your base is attacked now depends on your reputation vs Zirax as well as the location, energy footprint and size of your base
- Base attack coefficients can be seen for each base in statistics page of Control Panel (as well as expected difficulty of next base attack + time of last base attack)
- Allow also NPC bases that were captured by the player to be attacked subsequently by Zirax
- Zirax soldiers consider which turret did a damage to the group and they will protect against such turret as a group
- If there is already an ongoing base attack, we then do not launch another attack (avoids multiple simultaneous base attacks on a server)

5. Color-Texture Tool
- Added new tool that combines texturing and coloring

Instead of applying first the new texture, then changing to the color tool and choosing the new color....

....you can now just choose a texture and color at the same time and the apply both with one click:

> When clicking on a texture or color with LMB, close window immediately (it is like the old behavior)
> When clicking on a texture or color with RMB, just select/highlight texture/color (do not close window)
> Separate color and texture preview in right-bottom corner (i.e. 2 preview slots, only color and only texture)

- Only texture and color mode:
(i) "Only texture" mode (keep current color) - when selecting left upper slot and choosing a texture
(ii) "Only color" mode (keep current texture) - when selecting left upper slot and choosing a color
> Restore default texture and color - when selecting left upper slot for both texture and color
> Added icon to left upper slots and also display in right-bottom corner (if either selected for color or texture)
> Replace function affects textures and colors based on selected items

6. New Movement Controller Mode for Vessels:
- Added a new "mouse pointer" directional behavior for controlling your vessels (aka "Pilot Mode")
- Pilot mode can be enabled
- Added hotkey to toggle pilot mode

How it works:
- If your mouse pointer (i.e., the circle) is in the center crosshair, your vessel just goes straight forward

- If your mouse pointer moves out of the center crosshair, the vessel will keep turning "at the direction" your mouse is pointing, and keeps turning in that direction until the mouse is "again", in the center

- The further your mouse pointer is away from the center crosshair, the faster your vessel turns
- You can switch this mode on/off via the Control Panel or via hotkey "Shift + I"

7. New Multiplayer Chat

- Added new chat system with tabs and many convenience features
- Chat now has an auto-complete popup list for names / factions (use Up, Down, PgUp, PgDown and Enter to control)
- Shows Alliance channel messages
- Chat input field scrolls with long texts
- Added 'new messages' indicator per channel
- Added cycling through Tabs with CTRL + Left/Right
- Added "/clr" chat command to clear a chat channel
- Added separator to show what messages are new

8. Increased Texture Resolution:
- Thanks to Unity 2018.3, we are now able to use ‘Texture Streaming’

We increased the resolution of all textures for our 3d models:

=====

ADDITIONAL FEATURES:

Building & Templates:
- Added volumetric lights to player suit light, growlight, flashlight, motorbike and all spotlights (eg vessel spotlights or base lights when used in spotlight mode)

- Updated color masks on most devices to have better coloring (no un-colorable gray parts anymore)
- Added new cockpit

- Added new heavy window shapes

- Added large drill module for HVs

- Added thin ventilator block (more variants planned)

- Added new Asteroid Ring to space playfields (scenario creators might need to update the position for voxel asteroids if they are handplaced). You can still use old Asteroid Ring via "AsteroidFieldRingOld" in playfield.yaml

- Added more variants for Boarding Ramps, Hangar Doors, Shutter Doors and Shutter Ramps
- Allow to place Boarding Ramps now also on Bases
- Added 4 new CV Containers

- Added more variants to Armored Doors

- Added new deco Antenna Blocks
- Deco devices (antenna, pipes, etc) from group DecoVesselBlocks are now also placeable on bases > renamed into "General Devices (Deco)"
- Replaced all Zirax weapon models with higher quality versions (same for Polaris Assault Cyborg)
- Updated models of Constructors, De-Constructor, Power Generators (BA,CV), Fuel/O2 Tanks (BA,CV), Oxygen Station (BA,CV), Medic and Cloner Station (BA,CV), Portal and Water Generator

- Cockpit 2 (open) for SV/HV is now 2 blocks high for sleeker SV/HV designs
- Added new "Repository" deco block (under Deco group)
- Added human trader "TraderHuman"
- Moved ScifiChair to front (better combination possibility with table)
- Renamed many block shapes for consistency (no impact on save games)

Gameplay Improvements:
- Updated drone colliders to have more "weak" spots > emissive areas on drones (head multipliers will apply)
- Allow upgrading device when needed material is in connected inventory/container
- Shotguns can now destroy enemy spawner pads
- Added weight of fuel into the total mass of the ship
- Added more deco containers to weight calculation
- Implemented: In 'Salvage' mode MultiTool and SurvivalTool now return a random set of top-level items (instead of deconstructing fractions of a top-level item to lower level items)
- Removed Recoil from Salvage Mode of Survival Tool
- Added possibility to upgrade growing pots: Wood > Cement > Steel
- Auto level player when near water line to avoid being in an in-between state above/below water
- Slightly increased gun elevation for Turret Cannon and Flak as well as increased gun depression for Sentry Guns

NPC Factions:
- When opening a container of a NPC faction, now a warning popup appears to indicate that opening the container will result in a drop of reputation
- When now destroying an NPC block/device, reputation behaves as with attacking an NPC or opening container > reputation falls to neutral and with repeated action then to unfriendly
- Don't show reputation warning message when trying to open container or pickup plants from Alien (Aln) or Admin (Adm) factions

Global Handling & Game Feedback:
- Jetpack state is now persistent
- Added new plant growing messages (no oxygen, temperature not adequate, radiation too high, no light) to better indicate why a plant is not growing
- Allow godmode in creative mode with G (no console cmd needed anymore)
- Drone types are now differentiated by color (Minigun = blue, Rocket = red)
- Do not display dead enemy drone units (red blips) in maps anymore
- Better highlight of active toolbar slot
- Allowing to create a blueprint from any structure in survival if godmode invisible is enabled
- Added info to status effect (displayed after certain time) into which other status effect it will evolve if not treated otherwise
- Drilling: added message when trying to drill bedrock or any terrain layer that is too hard for the driller
- Drilling: added message when hitting not destructible terrain with the drill
- Cockpit: allowing to turn head for 150° in FPV mode for some cockpits (old was 75°) to better look back

AI & NPCs:
- Added ability that an open door/hangar door will be used by AI and considered as "open space" to path through it
- Improved AI behavior of Talon, Alien Civilians and Assault Cyborg
- AI behavior refactoring and optimizations for faster loading and less stuttering

Base Attack Scenario:
- We added a first iteration of a pure base attack scenario
- You will start in a base on a planet that is under attack. The Zirax launch waves of base attacks
- Your goal is to survive as long as possible
- The base attack scenario is intended for SP and COOP

Improved O2 Calculation:
- More accurate O2 calculation in BA / CV (O2 is now calculated on 1 meter Voxels in BA and CV instead of 2 meter Voxels)

In this situation, the O2 flow would have been blocked. Now, O2 can circulate freely

Drilling / Mining Update (continued):
- Displaying angle of inclination with respect to horizontal position > so you can drill tunnels very accurately now
- Possible to use WSAD, arrow keys and mouse when in HV fixed mode
- Added Drill mode to Survival Tool, so you can now also dig holes and drill with this tool
- Removed Mechanical Drill T1; Survival Tool will take its place (with 5m range for the drill mode) - adapted PDA, playfield.yaml, templates etc (renamed “Drill T2” into “Drill”)
- Rebalanced: Survival Tool, Drill T2, Epic Drill, Debug Drill
- Added fine drill mode for Drill and Epic Drill
- Flattening mode now uses new drill mode and thus is now very fast in flattening areas
- Stronger filler mode for faster filling of terrain
- Added new drill mode to all vessel-based drill (but without projector HUD element)
- Switched ordering of drill modes on handheld Drill and Epic Drill
- Handheld Drill and Epic Drill: Each mode now has a visually slightly different particle effect
- Added better muzzle flash to Survival Tool, Drill and Epic Drill
- Improved filler mode on drill: Updated filler texture and improved blending/usage
- Removes terrain as a whole semi-sphere instead of small voxels (= significantly fewer terrain-updates per m³ changed = CPU saving and network traffic)
- Added first iteration of resource material progression
* Tier I: Iron, Silicon, Copper, Promethium
* Tier II: Cobalt, Magnesium, Gold, Neodymium, Sathium
* Tier III: Erestrum, Zascosium, Pentaxid

Improved Game Start for Random Default Scenario:
- Several convenience improvements
- More rock resources in starter biome
- Added "Base Starter" to Personal Container of Wreckage
- Overall more resource deposits (+ added 1 gold resource deposit for special discovery)
- Wreckage spawns now closer to start area
- Improved deco distribution, added more biomes
- Better biome spawning of creatures

Robinson Protocol Improvements:
- Better player guidance
- Updated information given for some PDA Info descriptions (f.ex. Vessel-Build descriptions)
- Crushed Stone now also completes rock mining
- Added reference of Empyriopedia (Doctors Journal, Biologist Guide) in appropriate places
- Updated formatting
- Removed info-reference about arid playfield in temperate playfield robinson protocol mission

Updated Epic Weapons:
- Assault Rifle (Epic): Increased DMG, Increased Reload Time
- EM Pulse Rifle (Epic): Renamed from Pulse Rifle (Epic), Increased DMG, Increased Reload Time, Small DMG to shields
- Laser Minigun (Epic): Small DMG to shields
- Heavy Sniper Rifle (Epic): Renamed from Epic Sniper Rifle; Significantly increased DMG; Increased Reload Time; Now uses Railgun Bullet; Small damage to HS and CS blocks
- Sniper, Sniper T2: Increased DMG
- Plasma Rifle (Epic); Renamed from Epic Laser Rifle; Increased DMG, Increased DMG vs. Shields; Increased Reload Time
- All Epic weapons: adjusted Rate of Fire

Global Balancing & Progression:
- Increased range of Repair Bay and improved Repair-2-Template activation process
- RCS Device (CV) can now be constructed in Large Constructor
- Reduced reload time of player sentry turrets
- Adjusted mass, energyIn and hitpoints of Cockpits
- Full rebalancing of mass and hitpoints of Doors, Boarding Ramps, Shutter Doors and Hangar Doors (Weight and HP now grow with size; Increased HP significantly for lager variants)
- Globally adjusted mass and hitpoints for Shutters and Ramp groups
- Adjusted volume for Shutter and Armored Door groups
- Balancing damage on survival tool (lower dmg), multitool and tool turrets (higher dmg) for Deconstruct and Disassemble modes
- Rebalanced Zirax Minigun: stronger against turrets and other devices
- Techtree tweaks: SV can now be built at level 5, CV can now be built at level 7 (before there were some inconsistencies)
- Significantly reduced damage of rocket drones on player
- Increased health gain from Bandages
- Increased hitpoints of SV and CV Thrusters and Jet-Thrusters
- Increased SU of some deco blocks (Furniture and tech block that should visually have a bigger inventory)
- Added VolumeCapacity to ContainerPersonal
- Increased HP of Troop Transport
- Reduced attack damage of Alien Bugs 02, 03 and 04

Rebalanced Handheld Weapons:
- All values are now calculated in a consistent manner: T2 = x% better than T1, Epic = x% Better than T2
Global Value Changes in %: (T1 vs. T2; T2 vs. Epic)
> Degradation: -25%; -35%
> RoF: +15%; +15%
> Range: +10%; +20%
> Bullet Spread: -25%; -50%
> Recoil: -20%; -40%
> Magazine Size: +40%; +60%
> Reload Time: -5%; -15%
> Damage: +15%; +30%
Exceptions: Epic Rocket Launcher and Epic Plasma Cannon do have non-calculated values for reload time (higher), magazine size (fixed to 3) and RoF (fast).

PDA Improvements:
- Added possibility to script a PDA in C# (added in-line documentation - part 1)
- Added some documentation comments to IPda. Added documentation config file for PdaScript
- Added possibility to hide Action Titles in the HUD
- Reduced time before autostarting PDA when spawning in a structure from 5 to 1.5.
- Resized dialog box to height instead of width for very long messages
- NearUnit check now more flexible for designers. Wait up to 3 seconds for structures to load to find Unit blocks when unloading proxy entities.

Playfields & Creation:
- Added new lava planet: LavaNascent

- Implemented faction dropdown for Traders: you can now set the trader to a different faction than the POI the trader spawned in, eg you can now spawn a Admin POI and set the trader to the Zirax faction
- Added possibility to generate random custom scenarios
- Display far away terrain changes
- Supporting property "Discovery: False" in Properties of yaml now. Added new yaml param to several starter bases (eg TemperateStarter2) so they are not "discovered" (XP gain) on game start
- Added possibility to color clouds in the night similar to day cloud color (CloudsNightZenithColor, CloudsNightHorizonColor)
- Playfield tweaks on Alien, Barren, Ocean (clouds, weather, terrain textures)
- Temporarily disabled Ocean Planet in random scenarios (until playfield is better optimized)
- Slightly updated setting for Temperate2 starter planet (start equipment, distribution of POIs etc)
- Added 'BaseAttackCount' to playfield_static.yaml with a default value of 1 (see Example planet playfield for usage) > Determines whether there are base attacks on this playfield. 0 = no base attacks, 1 = base attacks enabled (later the INT will determine the number of simultaneous base attacks on a playfield)
- Several playfields tweaks (terrain textures, night clouds color, music etc)
- Some renaming for consistency (pls adapt your custom config.ecf, trader config and PDA):
* CrystalWarp > PentaxidCrystal
* WarpDriveTank > PentaxidTank
* WarpDriveTankSV > PentaxidTankSV
- Added possibility to use 4 additional underground textures (for layers or resources) - see "te" editor:
* In total 20 texture slots (slots 0-19)
* Surface textures: slots 0-11
* Underground / resource textures: slots 9-19 (note: slots 0-11 can also be used for underground/resource textures)
> Now all Voxel resources on planets have correct textures (no generic texture anymore)
- Removed 2 broken space POIs (BAO_Migotzu-Orbital-Hub, BAO_AntarisSpacefarm)
- Major update of POI set for XENU: a big thanks to Frigidman
- Updated Ghyst and Rados POIs: thanks to Frigidman
- Updated several POIs with better offset, terrain removal or flatten settings

Sound:
- Updated current biome sounds and added new tracks (thanks to Alex). These new tracks can be used in playfield.yaml: AlteredPhase, Anomalous, Apogee, Artefact, Blight, ColdDivide, Dusk, Fragments, Ghost, Magnitude, Obelisk, Praxis
- Hurt sound of male/female is now less dominant and annoying

Graphics, Models, Visuals & GUI:
- Improved player light (added flare, MP support, light now only available when wearing armor)

- Improved tooltip behavior: Tooltip text is displayed below mouse cursor (not next to it) and tooltip will be removed when the player clicks on the respective UI item
- Added “Spawn Name” as a new column (behind Group Name) to F2 BP Window
- Tweaked night light intensity on moons (most were too dark, MoonIce was too bright)
- Updated MP Choose Planet window
- Block preview: wire frame tiles now on each block
- Slightly updated Boarding Ramps
- Updated deco plants for bases (plant pots)
- Updated 3d models of rocket projectiles
- Desaturated flashy NPC faction colors
- Improved map and planet outside view

Updated Control Panel Display:
- Pentaxid Tank now always displayed even if not placed on structure (was not consistent with eg oxygen tank behavior)
- Re-arranged windows in lower part. From left to right > Power | Shield | Ammo | Oxygen | Fuel | Pentaxid
- Do not display Thruster and Auto Break buttons for BASES (only for CV, SV, HV)
- Added “Damage Level” in % above Battery (WIP)
- Lerping shield + power values in control panel for better visuals
- Added additional toggles for Signals and Customs to Control Panel

Other Changes:
- Structural integrity of terrain: terrain supports first version of SI by removing not connected small terrain pieces
- Renamed "Body Temperature" into "Suit Temperature"
- Renamed "Hover Thruster" to "Ground Repulsor Engine" (to indicate that it is less capable than the more advanced Hover Engine) and changed block description accordingly
- Implemented new fullscreen handling (incl. 'Exclusive Fullscreen'), fixed wrong description of borderless window, fixed init bug in multiple choice button
- Changed server start scripts to close their window after a timeout (otherwise they may stay forever)
- Allow to spawn Base Attack drones via "debug menu"
- Build settings dialog: activating selection button switches symmetry plane now off
- Better player guidance for solar panels: added efficiency to block info
- Debug O2: combining the debug O2 diamonds within air blocks + added culling of O2 diamonds for better performance
- Added culling for debug airtight blocks for better performance
- Updated Unity to 2018.4.1

Console Commands:
- Added shield state to console command 'shield'
- Added Epic Armor to console cmd "equip armor"
- Enhanced console command "di damage" to enable per entity debug output on console (only SP)
- When using 'di', now also showing shield information (shield points/percentage/shield state) in the debug panel
- No Blueprint spawn restrictions applied in GodMode-Invisible anymore (now you can spawn any POI in survival for testing)
- Added possibility to dynamically reload new shape window while game is running via "shapeswdw reload"
- Added console command to monitor the solar panels
- Added permissions to more console cmds and added missing permission info to several console cmds (cmds were already were restricted)
- Added console cmd "shield"
- Added hitpoints of a block to console command 'di' debug overview
- Added console command 'gameid [id]' for dedicated servers that shows/changes the unique game id. Changing the game id will result in regenerating the cache on client side on next connect

Custom Config.ecf:
- Increased version number of custom Config.ecf > your current version is not active until you increase version number (pls update ecf properly)
- Added ShieldCapacity, ShieldRecharge, ShieldCooldown, ShieldPerCrystal to ECF
- Supporting shield damage multiplier (DamageMultiplier and BlastDamageMultiplier) > you can now create weapons that only reduce shields and do no damage to hull

Modding Update:
A10 includes a draft of a new Mod API that uses C# interfaces for the different game domains instead of a request-response structure. In addition, it allows mods to be loaded in all host processes (not only in dedi as before).
For those who are interested: there is a first documentation included, please check Content/Extras/Modding Doc.
PLEASE NOTE: This is still work-in-progress and for the upcoming weeks there will be breaking changes. But you are invited to already check this out and maybe do some first tests as well as giving us feedback.
We'll announce it once the API is stable enough for production code. Stay tuned!

Updated Empyrion Admin Helper (EAH) Tool:
- For the different updates to the EAH, please refer to:
https://empyriononline.com/threads/tool-emp-admin-helper-eah-free-v1-47-x.5771/page-57#post-312760

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For the list with the more than 175 bug fixes, please refer to the full changelog: https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-10-out-now.49963