Ghastly Greetings, Miners!

It is spooky times again and Management has allowed for a temporary change of the Space Rig in order for you to get in the right mood. Additionally, there are two new head wear to be claimed while the Halloween event is running: Deep One Galactic and Headcracker! In order to get the two new hats, you need to first complete the Halloween Party Special assignment. The assignment will also award you with a handful of other goodies!



Oh, and should you have missed some of the previous Halloween hats then you will get those as well.

The Halloween event will last until November 1.

Ghoulastic Goodbyes!
Ghost Ship Games



--- PATCH NOTES ----

HALLOWEEN EVENT ACTIVATED
- New event assignment: Hallowen Party Special
- New headware available: Deep One Galactic
- New headware available: Headcracker
- The Spacerig dressed up for Halloween
- Planet Hoxxes got infected by Pumpkins






... and yes, the BIG update is arriving at November 4, 2021.
Here is a teaser that was shown on our dev stream last Friday:

This is a small fix and added functionality for the mod game version control and a few fresh translations (And a note of the Crash Fix we sneaked out yesterday).

With Love,
The Ghost Ship Crew

• Added Checkbox to Modding menu to disable/enable auto disabling of mods with outdated game version tag.
  Note: Disable at your own risk - some mods can crash when we do updates to the game (if that happen they will automatically get disabled on reboot regardless of this setting)
  
• Removed prompt when enabling mods with outdated game version tag
  
• Added icon and tooltip next to mods that have been disabled on start because their game version tag is outdated.
  
• Added newest translations and pushed translatable strings.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused Approved mods to sometimes not disable on join if the Host had uninstalled the mod (without disabling it first).
  
• Fixed a crash that happened clicking the checkbox to enable a mod that another mod has as dependency.

This patch includes a bunch of QoL improvements and some bug fixes for modding support. You get clearer info about what mods a host is running before joining, and we have improved the whole experience around switching to and from a Sandbox save.


We are still looking into raising the mod cap. This turned out not to be a trivial task. And, we are also evaluating if there should be an ‘optional’ tag for Approved mods that don’t require everyone in a session to have it installed. More info to come.


With love,
The Ghost Ship Crew


- Mods not packaged for the current version of the game will be disabled on game launch to prevent crashes. Mods creators can set the compatible game version on mod.io. Players with an incompatible mod installed are still allowed to enable a mod from a previous game version, but warned when they do so.
- You can now load Regular Saves while on a Sandbox Save. Loading a Regular Save will now disable Sandbox Mods automatically.
- Pop up asking whether you want to change to a Regular Save will appear when all Sandbox mods are disabled.
- You can now cancel changing to a Sandbox save when installing and enabling Sandbox mods. Cancelling will automatically disable all Sandbox mods.
- Players on Sandbox saves can now see all other public servers in the Regular and Deep Dive Server list.
- Players on Sandbox saves joining Regular or Approved modded games will be prompted to change to a Regular save and their mods will be disabled on join.
- Changed text from 'Modded Save Game' to 'Sandbox Save'
- Prevented some illegal characters in save game names to prevent save game corruption.
- Added code to ensure that main saves can not be Sandbox saves. (Note: Changing names and/or info manually on files in the Save Games folder can cause this to break and can irreversibly corrupt your save).
- Added enable/disable all functionality to the Modding Menu.
- Added Cancel button in the Modding Menu to cancel enabling/disabling mods.
- Added ‘Show Only Modded Servers’ filter to the Server List.
- Added icons when joining a Modded server that show which mods are being downloaded and which you already have installed.
- Added that Approval Categories for mods are shown in Join Dialog and Sever List tooltip.
- Added mod info when hovering over mod name in Joining Dialog for Modded Servers.
- Disabled cancelling the joining progress, while downloading and installing mods in order to prevent corruption of mod files.
- Mods with one or more dependencies now get automatically disabled if the mod(s) they depend on are not enabled or not installed.
- Added a small tooltip on the Moddin Menu, when a mod cannot be enabled because of a missing dependency.
- Fixed a bug that caused dependencies to not enable/disable properly on join and leave.
- Fixed a bug that caused players with Approved mods enabled to hang forever in “joining” - when joining a Regular server for the second time after launching the game.
- Fixed a bug that made it so you could not join password protected modded games through the Server List
- Fixed that the mod name sometimes got cut off on the Modding Menu.
- Fixed that the modded text on the chat was not localizable.
- Fixed that the Player Rank icon became stretched when Player Rank was above 999
- Fixed a crash that occurred if a backup save was not detected.
- Fixed blueprint mods spawning one time for every player who joins a mission
- Added slovak language

We are finally able to reveal a “small” side project that has been in the works since the beginning of 2021. And yes, as some you have guessed, we are making a board game adaptation of Deep Rock Galactic! To give you some background on this, our CEO and co-founder, Søren Lundgaard, has prepared this blog post for you.

But before you read on, please check the pre-Kickstarter page HERE and make sure to sign-up for a notification when the Kickstarter goes live next year! And a chance to WIN your own copy!




Apart from loving computer games, many of us at Ghost Ship are also board game enthusiasts, and we’ve dreamed of a board game adaptation right from the beginning. Back in November 2020, I received an email from our good friends at MOOD Publishing about collaborating on a board game project and I quickly replied: Yes! It got even better when we convinced our friend and professional board game designer, Ole Steiness, to join in. Ole has several released board games under his belt - one of them (Champions of Midgard) even broke into the Top 100 in Board Game Geek.

The idea was to first create a prototype and then do a Kickstarter to measure interest and scale the production. This method has worked well in the board game industry - much better than for computer games.


Before you start on a project like this, it’s always a good idea to do a bit of research, right? I wanted to know how many board games were created based on computer game IPs, and specifically how many of those were launched on Kickstarter, successful or not. So I trawled through the entire Kickstarter page and compiled a list of all the computer-game-IP-related projects that I could find. If you are interested, you can see the result here.


                                List of board game Kickstarters based on computer-game IPs

So, what did we learn from this research? It showed me that very few of these actually failed their goal, so that was comforting. I was also looking for how “heavy” those games were, and it looked like they leaned towards the heavier side of board games - again this was good, as I expected a DRG board game to be somewhat heavy. Looking at how the games were received on Board Game Geek, it was also clear that we shouldn’t expect to create something that would rock the board game world. Getting restrained by an IP and trying your best to live up to expectations from the community does not always result in a masterpiece of design. Unsurprisingly, many of the successful Kickstarters had games that offered a cool selection of miniatures. This played in the favor of Deep Rock Galactic as well.

All in all, the conclusion was that this project was viable, so we decided to get a prototype started.



                          A very early prototype of the Driller player mat along with cards and tokens


The first few prototypes were honestly not that fun. We were trying out all sorts of things to find the unique elements that a Deep Rock Galactic board game could bring to the table. There was never any doubt that the core of the game should be a 1-4 player co-op dungeon-crawler, and we would not be afraid to build on good design principles from other co-op board games. The first prototypes were quite focused on the traversal and exploration aspects of Deep Rock Galactic, and while it looked quite cool, it turned out to be too fiddly. So, we decided to focus more on the combat, while still experimenting with the cave layout and cave sizes.


                                Very early prototype with focus on random layout and traversal

During the prototype phase, we kept experimenting with the ability to dig into the terrain. And we realized that this would be the unique thing that the game would bring to co-op dungeon-crawlers. While the caves are pre-placed, there are no pre-made connections. It’s all up to the players to create their own tunnels and be clever about the impact that has on the movement of both the enemies and the players. But there were still many other issues to solve.


                           This prototype is closer to where we ended up with the cave design layout



Just like in the computer game, we wanted the collaboration between the players to feel important and to form the experience. The synergies between the classes helped here, but it wasn’t as pronounced as in the digital game. Part of this was the toned-down focus on traversal, and we felt the game needed something else to spice up that pure feeling of co-op gameplay. We also wanted the players to get into the role-playing aspect of the game, and the solution came in the form of a set of Rock And Stone cards.

While shouting “Rock And Stone” in the computer game doesn’t actually affect gameplay, we thought it could be cool if it actually did something in the board game. And to improve the co-op aspect we decided to let the Rock and Stone cards always be about helping your fellow dwarves. This worked out really well, especially when you play with the rule that you have to say the Rock-and-Stone line out loud for the card to have effect :-)


                                    Work-in-progress versions of some Rock and Stone cards



Initially, we thought that the game would be a series of smaller missions played together in a campaign - with character improvements and progression between missions. That’s how the computer game works, and other co-op board games have accomplished this. But the more we playtested, the more we felt like part of the progression should happen inside the mission. This feeling also came from the fact that the missions were not that short - it looked like playing a mission with 4 players would take about 1-2 hours. Along with the random event cards, the different mission types, the flexible layout, and this in-mission progression, it moved more and more towards a single-mission design rather than a campaign focus.

Now, there is nothing stopping you from playing several missions in a row and forming a sort of story out of that. But we decided to keep the focus on a single mission to make sure that it would be a fun challenge in itself. And then later, we might create mini-campaign expansions. Just as its digital counterpart, the board game quickly proved to be very expandable.


                        Playtest of the prototype at the Ghost Ship office - Leave no dwarf behind!



When you start designing a board game, you just use whatever is in your toolbox to get things going. During the playtests, Ole, the designer, always had a box of mockup tokens and miniatures scavenged from other board games, and it helped us imagine how the game would play out. As the prototypes became more refined in gameplay, our friends at MOOD started supplying us with tokens and board elements that were closer to how the game could look in a finished version. Though, for the miniatures, it would take longer as that requires a lot of detailed modeling and 3D printing, so we have only tested with a few of those in the prototypes. For the final production, the miniatures will be created using molds in a factory setup, so that we can create as many as needed in high quality.

Part of the fun of this project is that this gives us a physical representation of Deep Rock Galactic, which is otherwise just a digital product. I’m personally very much looking forward to placing a magnificent board game box packed with DRG miniatures on my already overloaded board game shelves!


                        Playtest session at the MOOD office with some work-in-progress board art



Right now, we don’t have a definite answer for this. We have a very good prototype now and everything is moving along nicely, but there is still a long way to go. First, we have to run the Kickstarter (and that will not start before sometime next year ), and then we will plan the actual production. When the factory has produced and packed the boxes, they will be shipped around the world to all the backers. And there is always a risk that they will get stuck somewhere - like in the Suez. So, we’ll need to be patient on this one.

For now, you can sign-up on our pre-Kickstarter page HERE and, of course, notify your friends to do the same! Signing up also gives you a chance to WIN your own copy!


Rock and Stone to the Board!

With love
Søren Lundgaard, CEO of Ghost Ship Games

Bonus info: my personal favorite co-op board games are: Gloomhaven, Aeon’s End, Defenders of the Realm, Robinson Crusoe, and Spirit Island

This small hotfix ensures your Server List filters are no longer reset when you close the Mission Terminal and addresses an issue with disabled mods re-enabling after returning from a mission. Read all the details below and then get back to work, miners!

With Love,
The Ghost Ship Crew


- Fixed an issue that caused Server List filters to reset when you exit the Server List
- Fixed an issue that changed Main Saves to Sandbox in some cases
- Fixed a bug that caused the ‘Continue’ timer to be 15 seconds rather than the usual 10
- Fixed an issue that caused disabled mods to sometimes re-enable after leaving a mission
- Fixed an issue with Deep Dive Server List settings not refreshing on open
- Added localizability to the pop-up that appears when the player is asked to change to a Sandbox Save Game
- Added localizability to the ‘Modded’ tag in the ESC menu
- Added localizability to ‘Active Save’ on the Saves Menu

This is it! It’s finally happening - Modding support is here!

What started as a simple Save Game profile system turned into full-fledged modding support. We have spent the past months iterating on these features with the modding community, and it has been great to see this update come to fruition.

We can’t wait for you to dive into the wonderful world of DRG mods. This has been a completely different update for us. Truth be told, we don’t know what’s going to happen. We are excited (and maybe a little bit scared) to see where modding will take this game. Until then, we’ll be busy fighting bearded bugs with our galaxy-themed guns alongside a decked-out molly.

With Love,
The Ghost Ship Crew

One example of how a community mod can change the game

Fan-created walk-through video of the modding support features




You can access all the mods from within the game through the brand-new Modding Menu. The Modding Menu is where you can easily enable and disable all of your installed mods moving forward.

We have mentioned before that we use Mod.io as a mod hosting platform. You can easily access the DRG mod.io page from within the game, and you only need to do this when subscribing and unsubscribing to mods. The game will make sure to install/uninstall those mods. And you can easily activate and deactivate mods from within the modding menu.

All the mods you find through the modding menu are hosted on mod.io. Some of you have expressed concerns over our choice of mod.io as a modding platform instead of other alternatives. We went into detail for the reasons behind this choice in our last Steam post and our modding support FAQ.

When browsing mods, you will quickly become familiar with our three approval categories: Verified, Approved, and Sandbox. We have made detailed descriptions of these in our mod.io guidelines. But here is the high-level breakdown of each category:

Verified (for Base Game) mods are QoL mods that do not impact gameplay or audio, visual mods that improve accessibility, and localized versions of in-game graphics. Mods with the types: Cosmetics, Visual, and Audio automatically default to the Verified Category if they only modify cosmetic or audio files. This is automatically detected in-game.

Approved (for Progression) mods are challenging or alternative game modes, changes to weapon stats, and mods that moderately alter gameplay elements while still retaining progression in line with the regular game.

Sandbox mods are any mod that changes rewards or mission payout, and mods that directly unlock in-game items.

Besides these three approval categories, we have two special categories: Cosmetics and Audio. These are mods that only change the appearance or sound of your local game. And they work the same way as Verified mods.

It’s finally time to do that Haz 6 mission in a bathing suit with your squeaky toy hammer in place of your pickaxe. Happy mining!



You can now clearly see which servers are running mods and which aren’t—no more relying on the host to put this in the title. You can also clearly see which mods a host has installed before joining.
There are also filters on the Server List that let you choose to show or hide servers that are running Approved or Sandbox mods - this means you have much better control of your server list.

You don’t need to worry about joining modded hosts by accident anymore. No more surprises and reverting to a previous save when you accidentally got a million XP from a modded game. With this update, modding should be safe, fun, and transparent.



While Verified mods let you play the game and join others as you regularly would, Sandbox and Approved mods come with restrictions. Approved mods require everyone in a mission to have those mods installed. Sandbox mods do as well and need you to be on a Sandbox Save Game (now made possible through Save Game Profiles).

But don’t worry, you won’t have to remember all of that. The game takes care of disabling your Approved mods when joining a host that doesn’t have those mods installed. And if you are a host with Approved or Sandbox mods installed, then the game will make sure other players have those same mods installed if they choose to join your game and it will even disabled those mods for them, when they leave. As mentioned above, they can see what mods you are running before joining you.

Sandbox is a bit different. Here you will have to disable your Sandbox mods and change back to your main save to see non-Sandbox hosts in the server list.


This feature is primarily for modders. It allows anyone modding the game better access to certain features and functionalities in DRG. If you are interested in building mods for DRG, there is already a vibrant modding community. Do you feel the cave leeches are missing sunglasses? Or that BOSCO could use a tophat? Or maybe you want to do voice lines for mission control in another language? Then it’s time to get to work on that DRG mod.


This has actually been live for a bit. If you are a community translator then you can now access a steam branch with a nightly build including newest translations from Crowdin. So you don’t have to wait for a release to see your work in-game. If you are interested in providing community translation or DRG, there is a community translator channel on our Discord with a very active community.

• Added a new tab in the ESC menu for Modding Support
  
• Added a new Stabber Vine killcry callout
  
• Added support for a "-disablemodding" command line argument that can be added to the Steam launch options to disable mods if you encounter crashes
  
• Added support for a shared Save Game between the live branch and the translation branch
  
• [COMMUNITY REQUEST] Added wrapability to reward text on the "You have been kicked" popup to enable longer translations
  
• [COMMUNITY REQUEST] Added wrapability to 'Show infoscreen on startup' text to enable longer translations without overlapping UI elements
  
• [COMMUNITY REQUEST] Added wrapability to subheader text on the Memorial Wall screen to enable longer translations
  
• Added subtitles to the noise that is made when throwing to fix an issue with blank subtitles
  
• Added subtitles to a defense callout to fix an issue with blank subtitles
  
• Added subtitles to coughing and grunting noises to fix an issue with blank subtitles
  
• Added subtitles to dashing noises to fix an issue with blank subtitles
  
• Added subtitles to the Burning Love reactions to fix an issue with blank subtitles
  
• Added subtitles to the Gut Wrecker reactions to fix an issue with blank subtitles
  
• Added subtitles to the Mactera Brew reactions to fix an issue with blank subtitles
  
• Added localizability to Mastery Unlock pop-ups
  
• Added localizability to Liquid Morkite Well on the Laser Pointer
  
• Added localizability to Deep Dive Instructions in the Deep Dive Terminal
  
• Added localizability to missing strings on the Restore Save overlay
  
• Fixed typos in the subtitles when transferring Lost Equipment coordinates to the Terrain Scanner
  
• Fixed a typo in the quotes for Fungus Bogs biome
  
• Fixed typos and incorrect capitalization in the subtitles when the Drop Pod is called
  
• Fixing another save has more progress popup, even though another save does NOT have more progress
  
• Fixed typos in all subtitles related to upgrading Bosco, perks or equipment
  
• Fixed a typo in the subtitles when waiting for departure in the Drop Pod
  
• Fixed typos in subtitles when waking up in the cabin and in the Medbay
  
• Fixed a typo in the subtitles when mining
  
• Fixed typos in the subtitles when using the zipline
  
• Fixed an excess space in the subtitles when a Resupply Pod has arrived
  
• Fixed typos and excess spaces in the subtitles when slapping the leprechaun at the Space Rig
  
• Fixed typos and excess spaces in the subtitles when slapping dice
  
• Fixed inconsistent capitalization of the Sentry Gun in subtitles
  
• Fixed a typo in Mission Control's dialogue when the Fuel Cells are connected to the Drop Pod
  
• Fixed excess spaces in the subtitles when Doretta requires repair
  
• Fixed typos, inconsistent capitalization and excess spaces in all subtitles in Refinery mission
  
• Fixed typos in the subtitles when Doretta is under attack
  
• Fixed typos in the subtitles when pressing the gravity button on the Space Rig
  
• Fixed typos in the subtitles when picking up a pickaxe overcharger
  
• Fixed typos in the subtitles when placing the Gunner's Shield Generator
  
• Fixed a typo in the subtitles when power attacking
  
• Fixed typos in subtitles when petting
  
• Fixed typos in subtitles for all perk activation shouts
  
• Fixed typos in the subtitle when the player is caught by a Cave Leech
  
• Fixed typos in the various subtitles when the player is out of fuel, ammo or grenades
  
• Fixed a typo in Mission Control's introduction to Point Extraction mission
  
• Fixed a typo in Mission Control's announcement of the Drop Pod's arrival in Point Extraction missions
  
• Fixed excess spaces in the subtitles when the M.U.L.E. is returning to the landing zone
  
• Fixed typos, inconsistent capitalization and excess spaces in the subtitles of all Machine Event dialogue
  
• Fixed an excess space in the subtitles when forging overclocks
  
• Fixed inconsistent capitalization in subtitles for forging
  
• Fixed a typo when the player is caught by a Mactera Grabber
  
• Fixed inconsistent spelling of the Lootbug across subtitles, perk descriptions, milestones and the Miner's Manual
  
• Fixed an excess space in the subtitles when firing the Flare Gun
  
• Fixed an excess space in the subtitles when interacting with the Jukebox
  
• Fixed typos in the subtitles when depositing in the M.U.L.E.
  
• Fixed typos in the subtitles when Heightened Senses is activated
  
• Fixed a typo in the subtitles when mining Red Sugar
  
• Fixed a typo in the subtitles when grinding pipes
  
• Fixed a typo in the subtitles when using the Scout's Grappling Hook
  
• Fixed a typo in the subtitles when the Gunner's shield is recharged
  
• Fixed typos, inconsistent capitalization and excess spaces in the subtitles of all grenade warning
  
• Fixed typos in the subtitles when the player takes friendly fire
  
• Fixed typos, inconsistent capitalization and excess spaces in the subtitles of all Escort Duty Mission Control dialogue
  
• Fixed description of the Dreadnought cocoon on the Laser Pointer
  
• Fixed inconsistent descriptions for Salvage Mission items on the Laser Pointer
  
• Replaced the Dreadnought cocoon icon on the Laser Pointer with the colored variant
  
• Fixed a typo in the subtitles for the Dreadnought Laser Pointer callout
  
• Fixed a bug that caused Mission Failure text to overlap with other UI elements on the Mission Complete screen in certain languages
  
• Fixed a typo in a pop-up message that warns the player of potentially overwriting an existing Save Slot
  
• Fixed typos, inconsistent capitalization, and excess spaces in the subtitles of all Laser Pointer callout dialogue
  
• Fixed typos and inconsistent capitalization in the subtitles for all killcry callout
  
• Fixed typos in the subtitles for all gunsling reaction
  
• Fixed typos and inconsistent capitalization in the subtitles of miscellaneous in-mission dialogue
  
• Fixed typos and inconsistent capitalization in subtitles for Mineral Trade dialogue
  
• Fixed various miscellaneous typos reported by the community on Jira
  
• Fixed typos in all subtitles in the Tutorial Level
  
• Fixed typos in subtitles for gunslinging reactions
  
• Fixed typos in subtitles for various generic dialogue
  
• Fixed various typos and inconsistent capitalization in all subtitles for Mission Control dialogue in Deep Dives
  
• Fixed a typo in the subtitles for Mission Control dialogue when all Aquarqs are collected
  
• Fixed typos and excess space characters in subtitles when reacting to the environment
  
• Fixed typos in the subtitles when reacting to flies
  
• Fixed typos in the subtitles when browsing The Shop for new gear
  
• Fixed typos in the subtitles for coughing noises
  
• Fixed typos in the subtitles for character-specific dialogue
  
• Fixed typos in all subtitles for Fuel Cannister dialogue
  
• Fixed a typo in the subtitles when ordering Bosco to fire his rockets
  
• Fixed an excess space character in the subtitles when ordering Bosco to mine
  
• Fixed a typo when ordering Bosco to light
  
• Fixed a typo in the subtitles when ordering Bosco to fetch something
  
• Fixed a typo in the subtitles when carrying a heavy object
  
• Fixed various typos when ordering beer
  
• Fixed typos and capitalization across all bar-related subtitles
  
• Fixed another typo in the subtitles when consuming a Blacklock Lager
  
• Fixed a typo in the subtitles when consuming a Blacklock Lager
  
• Fixed a typo in the subtitles when reacting positively to a beer
  
• Fixed inconsistent capitalization in more Mission Control dialogue
  
• Improved the wording of the tutorial hint that describes how to replay the Tutorial Level
  
• Fixed a typo in the tutorial hint that describes how to replay the Tutorial Mission
  
• Fixed a typo in the loading screen hints
  
• Fixed inconsistent naming of the Resupply Pod across chat alerts, tutorial hints, UI, and the Laser Pointer
  
• Fixed inconsistent capitalization in Mission Control dialogue for assignments and promotions
  
• Fixed inconsistent capitalization in Mission Control dialogue on the Space Rig
  
• Fixed inconsistent capitalization in Mission Control dialogue in Point Extraction Mission
  
• Fixed inconsistent capitalization in incoming Supply Drop alerts
  
• Fixed inconsistent capitalization in Misson Control tutorial dialogue
  
• Fixed inconsistent capitalization in Mission Control wave alerts
  
• Fixed more cases of inconsistent capitalization in Mission Control dialogue
  
• Fixed typos and inconsistencies in Mission Control's dialogue in Elimination Missions
  
• Fixed inconsistent capitalization in Misson Control's dialogue when all Alien Eggs are collected
  
• Fixed typos and inconsistencies in Mission Control's dialogue when an objective is completed
  
• Fixed inconsistent capitalization in Mission Control's dialogue when the M.U.L.E. has docked
  
• Fixed a typo in Mission Control's introduction to Mining Expedition
  
• Fixed inconsistent capitalization in Mission Control's dialogue for Mission Selection
  
• Fixed inconsistent capitalization in Mission Control's dialogue in Salvage Mission
  
• Fixed a typo in the chat alert when the M.U.L.E. can be called back to the Drop Pod
  
• Fixed a typo in the subtitles when throwing snowballs
  
• Fixed an excess space character in the Saves Menu
  
• Fixed a typo on the Dirt Diggers screen of the Miner's Union Terminal
  
• Fixed several cases of inconsistent resource descriptions on the Laser Pointer
  
• Fixed a typo in the description of Dystrum on the Laser Pointer
  
• Fixed typos in the description of Magnite on the Laser Pointer
  
• Fixed a typo in the description of Hollomite on the Laser Pointer
  
• Fixed several cases of inconsistent capitalization of all news headlines
  
• Fixed several cases of excess space characters at the end of news headlines broadcasted on certain terminals in the Space Rig
  
• Fixed a typo in Mission Control's introduction to Salvage Missions
  
• Fixed another typo in Mission Control's announcement of all mini M.U.L.E.s being fixed
  
• Fixed a typo in Mission Control's announcement of all mini M.U.L.E.s being fixed
  
• Fixed another typo in one of the quotes for the Magma Core biome
  
• Fixed a typo in the subtitles when killing an innocent Cave Angel (how dare you!)
  
• Fixed a typo in the subtitles when marking a Core Infuser with the Laser Pointer
  
• Fixed typos in the Control Customization Menu
  
• Fixed typos in the Controls Options
  
• Fixed a typo in Mission Selection
  
• Fixed a typo when marking a Brewing Ingredient with the Laser Pointer
  
• Fixed a typo in one of the quotes for the Magma Core biome
  
• Fixed a typo in Mission Control's introduction to the second stage of a Deep Dive
  
• Fixed a typo in the subtitles when placing a Satchel Charge
  
• Fixed a typo in the Web Spitter entry of the Miner's Manual Bestiary
  
• Fixed a typo in the news headlines shown on certain terminals in the Space Rig
  
• Fixed a typo in the Glyphid Dreadnought Twins entry of the Miner's Manual Bestiary
  
• Fixed a typo in the news headlines shown on certain terminals in the Space Rig
  
• Fixed a typo in the description of the Compact Feed Valves overclock for the CRSPR Flamethrower
  
• Fixed a typo in the news headlines shown on certain terminals in the Space Rig
  
• Fixed a typo in the subtitles when marking a Dreadnought Hiveguard with the Laser Pointer
  
• Fixed several typos in the subtitles when reacting to damage from thorns
  
• Fixed several typos in the subtitles when depositing in the M.U.L.E.
  
• Fixed a typo in the UI Options menu
  
• Fixed a typo in the biome description of Hollow Bough
  
• Fixed typos in Swarmer Tunnel shouts
  
• Fixed a typo in the description of the Disabled Inertia Inhibitor upgrade for the Deepcore 40mm PGL
  
• Fixed a crash that could sometimes occur when the armor of the Dreadnought was destroyed
  
• Fixed an issue where you could not join games, if you had just joined a game and failed because someone joined the game at the same time as you and got in quicker making the server full

Experimental Build 59095
Experimental Build 58972
Experimental Build 58262

• You are only able to enable 25 mods at a time because of an issue that prevents joining multiplayer sessions past this cap. This limit is temporary and will be increased as soon as we have a solution. Solo play is unaffected by this cap.
  
• Verified dependencies does not always reenable when joining a server with it active
  
• Hidden mod on mod.io do not automatically update to new versions
  
• Disabled mods are sometimes re-enabled after leaving a mission
  
• Corrupt mod files are not handled/aborted, but are stuck in a loop trying to redownload and extract. This can be worked around by unsubscribing to the faulty mod.

The title says it all, really - Update 35 will be the largest update the game’s received to date, and it’s become clear we will not be able to hit the originally planned Q3 release date. As always, we want this update to be great, and to not rush it out of the door before it is done. And from what we hear time and again from so many of you, you overwhelmingly feel the same.

We believe Update 35 will set the direction for where Deep Rock Galactic will go from here, and we can’t wait to properly show off all we have in store for you. We’ve already shown you the new weapons, but there is much more. Oh, and if you missed the weapon teasers, here is a recap:






The new mission type has grown way beyond our original scope and ambition for it, and we are honestly pretty stoked about where it’s going. We want it, and the other features, to be all they can be, and to not just check them off on the roadmap and move on to something else. So - while it was definitely not an easy decision, we feel postponing Update 35 until Q4 is the correct thing to do. We will of course announce a specific date, when we got a date we feel confident to reveal.

Delaying like this will give us some much-needed breathing room to really nail this update, and get everything in place. More information to come, very soon!

In the meantime, official Modding Support is almost upon us, and now has a release date: September 14! We already did a breakdown of all you can expect in that interim-update, which you can read here. We’re quite proud of what’s been done on this front - this, again, grew way beyond what we originally envisioned.

As always, thank you for being with us on this journey. Your continued feedback, support, and love for the game keep making these updates so exciting for us to do. So, sit back, grab a brew, and be patient for a little while longer. Good things come to those who wait. Rock and Stone, Miners. :)

With Love,
The Ghost Ship Crew

It’s been some time since our last post, but all our hard work is about to pay off! Update 35 is coming along very nicely, but first, we have Update 34.5 to deal with - Modding Support! We are nearing the finish line, and soon you will be able to browse, install, and manage mods from within the game. For now, this happens on the Experimental Branch.

What started as a simple feature to let you manage savegames quickly became a larger and more complex suite of features. At the end of all this, you will be able to manage mods from within the game (using https://drg.mod.io/), know what others have installed before joining them, and streamline the installation process if you join a host using mods.

We’ve also gone through all your feedback on our previous post, regarding our choice of modding platform and concerns about the approval process. This post should hopefully both give you an overview of all the new features and explain our choices.

Let’s dive in!

NOTE: This Experimental is different from previous ones, as there is a risk of it not transitioning to a public release immediately after. With Update 35 looming, if we can’t get modding support to the level of stability that we want within the next few days, we may have to postpone it until after Update 35 is live. Crossing our fingers that that won’t be an issue.



While developing 34.5, we received a ton of feedback and help from the modding community. With your help, we’ve tried our best to create a comprehensive solution that makes using mods easy and fun. Modded games should be plainly visible, and some mods will need restrictions so you can more easily protect your unmodded savegame from unwanted alterations.



With the new modding support, you can now browse, install, and manage mods from within the game. We have added a dedicated Modding menu for this, so you have a clear overview of which mods are installed and currently active.

As you browse and install mods, you will become familiar with our three approval categories. These categories determine if a mod needs a separate save and if all players need the mod installed. When we initially announced modding support, there were concerns over mods being used to cheat or unfairly boost your progression. The approval category system deals with this problem, while also creating a space for mods that provide varied experiences and quality-of-life features. In our experience, the vast majority of mods that we have reviewed fall within the latter category.

So, these are the approval categories:



This mod is an example of a Sandbox mod since it changes how resources are acquired

Examples of Sandbox mods would be any mod that changes rewards or mission payout and mods that directly unlock in-game items.

Sandbox will be the default category for any Mod uploaded to Mod.io. You are free to use any Sandbox Mods with a Modded Save Game.



You cannot use your Regular Save Game with your main progression when playing with these mods. When you have Sandbox mods enabled you can only join other servers with Sandbox mods.



This mod is an example of an Approved mod since it changes various gameplay elements

Examples of Approved mods would be more challenging or alternative game modes, changes to weapon stats, and mods that moderately alter gameplay elements while still retaining progression in line with the regular game.

You can use Approved mods along with your Regular Save Game, meaning you can still earn XP and Resources for your regular progression while using them. If you join a game that does not have the same Approved Mods installed as you, those Mods will be disabled. Likewise, other players will automatically download the mods active in your game when joining.



This mod is an example of a Verified mod since it changes the appearance and sounds of an item

Examples of Verified mods would be QoL mods that do not impact gameplay, audio or visual mods that improve accessibility, cosmetics and SFX mods that you'll only experience yourself locally, and localized versions of in-game graphics.

You can use Verified mods along with your Regular Save Game. These mods will stay active even though you join a host who does not have those mods installed. Other players will not have to download those mods to join you. In effect, Verified mods are only active for you and do not alter the gameplay of any other players.


In past posts on the topic, some of you brought up that allowing mods is the same as allowing cheating. While working on 34.5, we’ve had many discussions about what we consider cheating and what we don’t. To us, cheating is:

• Increasing rewards or XP received from missions
  
• Unlocking items without actually earning them in-game
  
• Boosting your progression to level up much faster than intended

That is why we have the Sandbox category - you are free to play around to your heart’s content with any of these things in there. But we want to protect other players from being exposed to it without wanting to.

We should mention that the vast majority of mods so far do not fall into the Sandbox category. Some change gameplay elements, such as the cost to order Supply Pods or the ammo count for your guns, and you will find these mods in the Approved category. This has been discussed widely, both within the team and with the community. We do not consider these cheats, and this is why:

• Most of these mods are used in conjunction with other mods, like lowering the cost of resupply but increasing the enemy cap. The intent is usually not to make the game easier but to provide options for a different experience.
  
• Making the game moderately easier is a very inefficient way to boost your progression; you still have to go through the mission loop. Improving your win percentage is not comparable to spawning millions of gold in a mission.
  
• Some of these mods improve accessibility, such as increasing visibility. And yes, you could technically get an advantage with these mods. But the same reasoning applies. It is not a very efficient way of boosting your progression.
  
• If you use these mods to get an advantage in missions, you are more likely to be bored as you make the game easier than intended. We have spent a lot of time tweaking the game to be as engaging as possible.

We have learned a lot about mods and modding throughout this process. And we feel that this solution does maintain the integrity of the progression system while also allowing players to access the wonderful world of DRG mods.




Not knowing if a host was using mods was an issue in the past. While most mods didn’t impact your progression, you want to see what you are walking into. We have made it visible if a host is using mods and what mods they are using. You can also choose to filter for hosts with Approved mods or Sandbox mods in the server list.




We also wanted to have the game manage the activation and deactivation of mods based on the host you were joining. When you join a modded host using Approved mods, you will get a prompt detailing what mods are active and if you want those mods installed. Likewise, if you have Approved mods installed, those will be deactivated when you try to join a host that doesn’t have those mods installed.
If you have Sandbox mods installed, you will literally be in the modding ‘Sandbox’. You will only see others with sandbox mods installed in the server list. If you deactivate your Sandbox mods and change back to an unmodded save, you will have access to the full server list again. And you can do all of this from within the game, no restart needed.




Our last steam post detailing our choice of modding support platform and our approval process got many comments. We have read through all of them. All the feedback has helped us with developing the best modding support we can.
We picked up some different concerns in those comments, mainly around why we don’t use Steam Workshop, concerns about Mod.io in general, and if we will commit to approving mods regularly. We want to address all of those concerns in separate sections, so it will hopefully be clear to you why we have made these decisions.


Steam workshop was a good option when we looked at developing modding support. We also looked at other platforms, each with its strengths and benefits. The key reason for choosing Mod.io was the Unreal SDK integration, support for the approval categories system we are planning, and solutions for uploading mods to the platform. While all of the platforms we looked at had different benefits, Mod.io was the best fit for our work. Mod.io also supports Windows 10 and Xbox, which provides interesting opportunities for expanding modding support to more players, but that is not something we have planned.

A lot of the comments to our past Steam post were about Mod.io as a valid choice for a modding platform. When we initially looked at Mod.io, it was apparent that many other games have active modding communities on Mod.io. Deep Rock Galactic is not the first game on the platform. We also met with Mod.io very early in the process and have worked closely with them over the past months, and our impression is that it’s a competent team of very experienced developers who have a passion for mods and modding.
Collaborating with Mod.io has been a great experience, and we are very satisfied with the integration and player experience mod.io as a platform provides to the game. It also became clear to us that Mod.io is working hard to constantly improve their platform, which shows significant promise for the future of the service.

When we discussed the approval process, we talked early about whether we could commit to this long-term. We ultimately decided to dedicate time for approvals every weekday. The extensive work on the categories and the collaboration with the modding community makes the actual approval process less time-consuming than we initially thought. We are also sharing this workload between many of us here at Ghost Ship, so we plan on doing them every weekday for the next couple of months.



We can’t wait for you to try out modding support and all that entails. For now, that will have to happen on the Experimental Branch. Hopefully, the experimental version of modding support will soon graduate to the main branch, but with Update 35 looming around the corner there is a real risk that this one will have to be truly experimental for once.

With Love,
The Ghost Ship Crew

Some time back we made the decision to delay the modding support planned for Update 34 in order to create a more comprehensive and robust solution for using mods in your game. We have been hard at work ever since and wanted to give you some insight into two aspects of the solution we are planning: Mod.io support and approval categories.

Our initial solution only included a save game profile setup while relying on players to install mods manually through various tools and scripts. We have decided to implement a modding platform that lets modders upload mods for players to install within the game. In terms of modding platform we have chosen Mod.io, a relatively new platform made by some of the original creators of Moddb. We evaluated multiple different platforms, including Steam Workshop, which had a lot of great features as well. In the end, we chose Mod.io as it was the best fit for the solution we are developing. We are at this very moment implementing Mod.io into Deep Rock Galactic.

We have also developed multiple levels of mod approval categories as a better solution to mods only being available on modded save games profiles. Here are the categories:

Sandbox - This will be the default value for any mod uploaded to Mod.io. You are free to use any of these mods with a modded save. Which means you cannot use your regular save with your main progression when playing with these mods. Servers running these mods will be tagged in the server browser and only people using modded saves can join. Examples of mods that would fall into this category are mods that change rewards or mission payout, and mods that unlock in-game items.

Approved for Progression - You can use these mods along with your regular save, meaning you can still earn xp and resources in your regular progression while using them. Your game will be tagged as ‘using mods’ similarly to Sandbox. If you have these mods installed you cannot play on vanilla servers. Examples would be harder or alternative game modes, weapon changes, and mods that moderately alter gameplay elements but still retain progression inline with the regular game.

Fully approved - You can use these mods along with your regular save, and your game will not be tagged as ‘using mods’. You can also join any game as if you were not using mods at all. It is possible for the host to opt out of all mods. Servers where the host has actively chosen not to allow any mods will not be visible to you if you have any mods installed, and vice versa the person will not be able to see servers with any mods on them. This category is likely to be somewhat exclusive and limited to select mods. Examples would be QoL mods that do not impact gameplay, audio or visual mods that improve accessibility, and localized versions of in-game graphics.


We are also working on guidelines for these mod approval categories. So you can more easily anticipate which category your mod will be approved for if you are developing one. As we already mentioned, most of the mods we have seen would likely fall into the Approved for Progression category, and you would not need a separate save game profile for those.



We are still hard at work developing this solution. We do not have a release date yet, but we will keep you posted as the project progresses. We have also updated the Modding Support FAQ we previously posted, you can find it here.

With Love,
The Ghost Ship Crew