Dear Stormworkers,

This week, we have added another very frequently made request: more pipes!

That isn't all. We have also continued to look at optimisation and made some rendering improvements, which should also boost your frames per second.

We have added 4 new pipe pieces, including the 4 way and 6 way pipe. These are new components in very high demand within the advanced vehicle building community and a much needed part, particularly for compact designs.

The new pipes work exactly as you expect, simply use them like the old ones and transmit torque, fluid, or gas.

This update also comes with the usual bug fixes and improvements. Please see the list below!

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers

Patch Notes

v0.8.11
Fix - MacOS no longer crashes when spawning into game
Fix - Multiplayer server no longer gradually increases delay of some clients

v0.8.12
Fix - Corrected seat pose for racing seat
Fix - Corrected data in seat composite nodes
Fix - Corrected old seats not having composite nodes
Fix - Updated seat composite node short descriptions to be more informative
Fix - Additive components not rendering in the vehicle editor
Fix - Crazy spinning door animations
Fix - Custom waypoints now update correctly
Fix - Parachutes now fall slower and glide better
Fix - Editor world view now shows all ocean tiles
Fix - Camera orientation on re-spawning
Fix - Rain/snow bounds errors when paused
Fix - Advanced wheels hovering when mirrored
Fix - Multiplayer minor processing improvements

v0.8.13
Fix - Rendering monitors outside the view frustum
Fix - Repeated deaths on respawn
Fix - Mirrored door default state
Fix - Rogue mode end screen not appearing
Fix - Vehicle part transforms not resetting in the vehicle editor
Fix - Wheels being attached in the wrong orientation
Rework - Renamed Racing seat to Driver Seat

v0.8.14
Feature - 4 New Pipe Types
Feature - Added sloped railing segments

Rework - Updated frustum culling algorithm to improve rendering performance
Rework - Renamed racing seat to driver seat
Balance - Small dock door mass and cost rebalanced to 15 and 400 respectively

Fix - Monitor functionality in photomode
Fix - Vehicle components ignoring components on other vehicles
Fix - Hotbar now saves correctly in editor and microprocessor editor
Fix - Small dock door now also have composite nodes

Dear Stormworkers,

As promised, this week the minor update is hotly requested... it's new seats!

You now have a pilot seat without the foot wells, drivers seat with steering wheel, and very compact bench seat for fitting seats in new, more compact ways.

Seats also now include a composite output to easily attach seats into microprocessors.

The experimental changes are also being released into the main branch, so all players will now benefit from the new experimental features! If you are struggling to download the new v0.8.10, try restarting Steam.

Thank you to everyone who played the experimental branch and gave us feedback, this was hugely useful and helped us improve the quality of that version of Stormworks enormously.

We look forward to hearing your feedback on the new seats!

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers

Patch Notes

v0.8.7
Fix - Active mission toggling
Fix - Corrected seat and ladder exit positions
Fix - Attempted to fix Mac water rendering
Balance - Changed connector active power drain to a flat value (prev. scaling) (Subject to change)

v0.8.8
Fix - Mission "3D" markers re-enabled
Fix - Re-added confirm screens for purchasing islands and returning to the test editor
Fix - Several active mission bugs
Fix - Re-added research notifications
Fix - Tank tracks should no longer jump around
Fix - Section plane clipping in vehicle editor
Fix - Flashlight appearing in vehicle editor

v0.8.9
Fix - Multiplayer timing algorithm updated for multithreading
Fix - Light flare rendering
Fix - Flashlight behaviour in vehicle seats
Fix - Player head rotation in seats
Fix - Vehicle editor world view missing visuals
Fix - Camera drift when switching camera mode in vehicle free camera
Fix - Character push force on ladder exit
Fix - Ladder detach location
Fix - Unstable rudder forces

v0.8.10
Feature - 3 new seats: Compact, Racing, Padded
Feature - Seats now have composite nodes

Rework - Seat base meshes have been updated
Rework - Seat voxels have been changed slightly

Fix - Weather particles clipping interior volumes
Fix - Reduced camera flicker on ladder detach
Fix - Spotlights and Omni-lights have been stabilised at high speed
Fix - 3D mission markers no longer fight for rendering
Fix - Camera drift in 3rd person vehicle camera
Fix - Attaching/Detaching from ladders at high speed
Fix - 3rd person camera on ladders
Fix - Audio listener location when in the map
Fix - Force emitter blades now render rotation correctly
Fix - Wildlife not being loaded from persistent data
Fix - Time of day override in photo mode
Fix - Particles now always face the main scene camera
Fix - Label data is now updated when looking at non-NPC objects (HP bars on vehicles)
Fix - Centre active mission not working
Fix - Gamepad look direction bindings + behaviours
Fix - Camera and physics when attaching/detaching from seats

Dear Stormworkers,

As a reminder, the new performance optimisations are available only on the experimental branch, so don't forget to change branch if you want to take advantage of them!

Thank you for all the feedback and help identifying any issues on the experimental branch, we have dealt with all of the most serious issues and plan to spend next week continuing to refine the quality of the experimental branch.

We also have a minor update planned for next week that has been requested a lot! Can't wait :-)

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers

Patch Notes

v0.8.2
Fix - Hull foam particles now render correctly
Fix - Water stream particles now render correctly
Fix - Removing mission no longer causes crash

v0.8.3
Fix - CTD in MC editor
Fix - CTD Returning vehicles to workbench from map
Fix - Glass textures going haywire
Fix - Exiting photo-mode resetting camera roll

v0.8.4
Fix - Missions and their (mini-map icons) can now be toggled active again
Fix - CTD when using Test Mission
Fix - Research not appearing on the UI
Fix - Jittering when paused
Fix - Greatly reduced the distance based power drain of connectors
Fix - Video monitors now render correctly in turning vehicle

v0.8.5
Fix - Return to mission editor no longer causes CTD
Fix - Saving microprocessor no longer causes CTD

v0.8.6
Fix - Testing missions no longer causes CTD
Fix - Currently tested mission despawns correctly on return to mission editor
Fix - Outfit swapping now works correctly
Fix - Fixed, fixed yaw, free camera settings now work for third person camera

Dear Stormworkers,

Major Update #7 - The Performance Optimisation Update is now live!

This major update is on the new Experimental branch of Stormworks. See the above gif to see how to activate it! If you can't see the branch, restart Steam.

This update redesigns the Stormworks game engine, so that rendering, logic and physics are all calculated separately and at the same time, rather than one after another. This means that the game may run faster and render smoother.

We hope to improve the performance for many players with this update. Performance improvement will vary depending on the specifications of your PC and the number and size of vehicles you have loaded in game. It can range from minor improvement, to 250% improvement. Rendering and simulation will now run at independent speeds, rather than being locked to the same speed.

We expect players with either Intel graphics, older computers, or AMD graphics to see the greatest increase in performance. Please note that it isn't magic, and if you have a particularly slow and below min spec machine, or have spawned large and complex vehicles, the physics will still slow down the simulation.

This is a huge re-write of much of the game engine, so we are expecting issues. Let us know about any issues using the Report buttons in game and we will fix as soon as possible.

Please see the full change log below!

Much love <3

The Stormworks Developers

Patch Notes

v0.8.1

Feature - Engine redesign to share simulation and rendering workload between multiple threads

Dear Stormworkers,

For the last couple of months, we have been hard at work improving the frames per second of Stormworks. This has involved re-engineering many parts of the engine, and re-writing parts of the game.

The time is almost here to share these performance improvements! This Wednesday at 16:30 UTC, we will be launching this major update.

What level of performance improvement should I expect?

This depends. In some situations on some hardware, the performance can be the same, in other situations the game can run 250% faster.

Most players will notice a significant improvement.

The best improvements will occur for situations with heavy physics such as large ships, for computers with slower CPU, and for computers with AMD graphics.

What has changed to make the game run faster?

We have split up the core work load of the game into 3 chunks, and placed each chunk on it's own thread. Physics, logic, and rendering now run in parallel rather than in sequence.

Ocean simulation, some vehicle calculations, loading vehicles, and loading islands already ran in parallel.

These changes are part of our mission to improve the quality in Stormworks and tighten up several areas we have marked for improvement.

We really look forward to sharing these with you! See you on Discord this Wednesday for the usual update hype, voice chat shenanigans, Sheepdog's singing and more!

Much love <3

The Stormworks Developers

Dear Stormworkers,

This week's minor update includes 3 new control fins!

Small, medium and large control fins have been added to expand the available set of rudders and control surfaces. The design of these fins makes them well-suited for fitting to the sides of a variety of vehicle types, including rockets, planes and submarines!

As always, see below for the full changelog, and let us know of any bugs or feature requests on the Stormworks issue tracker website which can be accessed in-game from the main menu and pause menu.

We're excited about the progress of the performance and optimisation update and are getting some promising results. We look forward to sharing this update with you, and the full extent of the changes that have been made, in the coming weeks.

Much Love <3

The Stormworks Developers



v0.7.20

Feature - Added 3 control fins (small, medium, large)
Feature - Added equipment swapping by interacting with an outfit inventory while already wearing an outfit

Fix - Rebalanced mass of passenger and pilot seats
Fix - Fixed infinite generators with starter motors and connectors
Fix - Connectors consume more electricity when applying a larger attraction impulse
Fix - Flashlight state is saved/loaded correctly
Fix - Fixed custom day/night cycles not saving/loading correctly
Fix - Fixed fans not applying force in correct direction when mirrored
Fix - Fixed being able to toggle buttons using logic input when broken
Fix - Added short period of invincibility after respawning to prevent death loops
Fix - Solid rockets now work underwater
Fix - Improved rudder shaking issues at high speeds
Fix - Fixed placement issues with some multibody components
Fix - Corrected multiple spelling and formatting mistakes

Dear Stormworkers,

This week we have expanded on last week's solid rocket booster update...

Three larger sizes of booster have been added for creating large missiles and rockets. We have also split the boosters into separate nozzle and fuel parts. This should remove some of the logic clutter that last week's booster component was causing for longer rockets. If you've used last week's component in your vehicle, you will need to update it to have a nozzle on the end.

This is a small patch as most of our effort is currently focused on the next major update, however there are still some small fixes and improvements. See below for the full changelog.

Much love <3

The Stormworks Developers



v0.7.19

Feature - Added medium, large and huge solid rocket boosters
Feature - Solid rocket boosters now have separate component for extending fuel to reduce logic nodes
Feature - Added separate difficulty option for disabling megalodon attacks when creating a world

Fix - Player health/oxygen/debuffs are visible when sleeping
Fix - Fixed vehicles disappearing and not returning to workbench on some islands
Fix - Fixed crash when despawning track connector with grippers attached that are part of a different vehicle
Fix - Fixed pilot seat controls remaining visible after despawning a mission vehicle
Fix - Fixed solid rocket booster producing thrust in wrong direction when mirrored

Dear Stormworkers,

This week's minor update brings a new compact method of propulsion...

A small solid rocket booster has been added that will burn and produce thrust for a limited duration. These boosters can be stacked on top of each other to increase their capacity, and are ideal for building small rockets, ejector seats and missiles.

This patch also includes a number of bug fixes and improvements, including a minor rebalance to mission rewards that we hope will improve the pace of progression for those of you enjoying career mode. See below for the full changelog.

If you find any bugs or want to request a feature, don't forget to head over to the Stormworks issue tracker (accessible from the main menu and pause menu) to leave your feedback.

Have a great weekend <3

The Stormworks Developers



v0.7.18

Feature - Added small solid rocket booster component (can be stacked to increase the fuel capacity of the booster. The booster at the bottom of the stack controls ignition and burn rate of the whole stack)

Fix - Rebalanced amount of research points awarded by loot crates and missions to be slightly more generous
Fix - Missions scale the number of research points they give by the number of stars awarded on mission completion
Fix - Fixed video signal continuing to transmit over connectors after disconnecting them
Fix - Fixed double rewards being granted from loot crates when pressing E and Q at the same time
Fix - Fixed crash when copying save directories if the source directory doesn't exist
Fix - Fixed being able to resume a game if the save file has been deleted
Fix - Fixed players being able to join a singleplayer game immediately after host has quit a multiplayer session
Fix - Fixed being able to send empty chat messages in multiplayer
Fix - Solar cells are draggable in the X/Z axes

Dear Stormworkers,

This week we have added fuel efficiency curves to engines, so that, similar to real engines, there is a most efficient RPM where the engine generates the most power from fuel.

We have also improved the torque behavior of engines, where they now produce more torque at higher RPM.

Along with this are a long list of improvements and fixes in response to player feedback.

These changes are part of our current focus of quality improvement, as we are tightening up some game mechanics, as we also focus on the performance optimization major update.

We hope you find these new changes interesting, and as always, we look forward to your feedback!

Much Love <3

The Stormworks Developers


v0.7.14-17

Feature - Added engine fuel efficiency curve

Fix - General torque system rebalances
Fix - Components that have been recently added to the game are now unlocked in career mode if their parent research has already been completed in a saved game
Fix - Fixed small winch not being available when advanced mode vehicles are disabled
Fix - Moved small winch from electric research to rescue equipment research
Fix - Rebalanced winch component masses
Fix - Fixed player being dropped in the ocean/through the ground on some islands when returning vehicles to the workbench
Fix - Increased generator capacitance by 10x
Fix - Engine audio volume scales with throttle
Fix - Reduced engine fuel consumption by 33%
Fix - Updated engine names and descriptions
Fix - Fixed winches no longer transferring fluid
Fix - Fixed some connectors not connecting correctly when rotated/flipped in some cases
Fix - Megalodons will swim back to open ocean if they get within ~450m of an island
Fix - Fixed winch descriptions and lengths
Fix - Gearboxes lock up when connected in a loop
Fix - Electric motor torque scales with throttle value
Fix - Velocity pivot electric consumption and applied force are correctly scaled by "max power" property
Fix - Renamed gear ratios to no longer be inverted
Fix - Gearboxes now have 95% efficiency that propagates through connected torque links
Fix - Added friction to water jet impellers

Dear Stormworkers,

This week we have made some updates to winches. We have added a new, very long winch (500m!) intended for use with remote operated submersibles and other functions.

Winch cables are now more buoyant and will float on the surface of the water. They also all now transmit fluid via new fluid nodes.

In response to feedback, we have spent time this week looking at the electrical system and have made further changes. Generators and motors now operate at around 75-90% efficiency (with larger being more efficient). Generators convert more torque into electric, the faster they spin, meaning their resistance gets higher with rotation speed. The new balance is closer to what is expected while still ending infinite power designs.

We hope you enjoy the new winch mechanics!

In the background, we are also working on the next major update (focused on improving fps) and we are hard at work.

Much Love <3

The Stormworks Developers


v0.7.13

Feature - Added Huge Winch component (cable length of 500m, renamed other winch components accordingly)
Feature - Added fluid nodes to all winches and deprecated old fluid hose
Feature - Winch cables have buoyancy

Fix - Multiple electricity system rebalances
Fix - Rebalanced generators and motors to have greater efficiency
Fix - Generator resistance increases with speed
Fix - Rebalanced basic wheels to not generate as much electric
Fix - Robotic velocity pivots consume 10x more electric
Fix - Fixed underscore missing from base character set