Dear Stormworkers,

This week we release a minor update entirely focused on bug fixes and quality improvements!

This update is the latest in a campaign of quality focused minor updates, and we have more planned for the future.

The main quality improvement is a change to how we save vehicle files - this change is backwards compatible so your existing vehicle files still work the same - but vehicles will now saved with a better compressed format, meaning their size on disk is now smaller. This has several benefits to players - some players with lower spec PCs are less likely to run out of memory if they don't have much RAM, saves are generally smaller, and vehicles should spawn faster in multiplayer.



In the patch notes below, you will see a lengthy list of all the changes we have made for this update. Some of the patch notes include an #issue number which relates to the issue id from the issue tracker. We are trying to provide this extra info so players can better see what has prompted the change, as well as look at the official issue tracker to better understand the discussion around the change.

This also clearly shows what is driving bug fixes and improvements to the game - the clear and concise issue reports that players submit - so thank you to every player who submitted an issue relating to the below. We are really pleased to have made these improvements to the game, and so thank you for your help.



This week we have been made aware of some networking issues caused by the new physics based fish system. While we were unable to patch this issue for today's update we are working on a fix that we hope to deliver by next week. In the meantime we recommend that server hosts disable wildlife in general settings to prevent network slowdown. Thank you for your patience and helping us out by reporting bugs to the issue-tracker site.

While our schedule can still be subject to change, we hope to release improved controller support next week in time for the launch of Steam Deck, and a week or two after that, return with another bug focused minor update. We also have several minor update features in the works, as well as an exciting new major update.

We hope these new fixes make a positive difference to your experience playing Stormworks, and we look forward to your thoughts and feedback!

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers



Patch Notes

v1.4.7

Feature - Parsing Optimization

With an update to our parsing system, you can expect save and vehicle files to be significantly smaller in size; we managed to reduce the default mission vehicles by ~50%. We are not only hoping this will save users storage space but also reduce load times when sending vehicle data in multiplayer. You may need to re-save your vehicles.

Fix - #5064 Fix health sync requests causing ragdoll on respawn
Rework - #5381 Added addon option to disable natural disasters in default missions
Fix - #5158 Adjusted default natural disaster period from 5min to 15min
Fix - Volcanic ash now affects jet engine intakes
Fix - #2943 Increased relevance threshold for radar hits by 10x
Fix - #4395 increase detection range for cargo deliveries / cargo not delivering to large zones
Fix - #2973 Added buoyancy surfaces to motors and generators / modular engines sometimes not linking correctly
Fix - #4862 Unable to un-crouch when carrying a survivor
Fix - Initialize AI Aircraft state on vehicle load (Aircraft dropping out of the sky on load)
Rework - #1986 Solid rockets lose fuel on damage and take damage anywhere along the body of the rocket

Fix - #3763 Emp warhead now uses built-in impact threshold
Fix - #3781 Rename detonate warhead nodes to Arm
Fix - #2792 SetVehiclePosSafe not accounting for target vehicle bounds size
Fix - #4061 Muzzle break -> muzzle brake spelling error
Fix - #2165 Keypads not de-focusing when leaving their range
Fix - #4727 Arctic volcano mesh fixes
Fix - #4686 Train-line mesh issue for Donkk arctic exit and track diagonal variant
Fix - #4996 All electric parts should now be disabled by EMP blasts
Fix - #4941 Fluid cannon mass increased from 1 to 11
Fix - Impeller pump preventing flow when torque slot not connected
Fix - Ocean surface render issues
Fix - Reduce particle spawn rate for lava physics contacts
Fix - Lava emissive texture ignoring fog
Fix - #3472 Projectile splash damage not affecting MP clients (Fixed for non-dedicated servers)
Fix - #4507 Emotes broken when crouched
Fix - Minor tornado position desync for mp clients
Fix - #5091 Tornados bypass damage prevention

Fix - #4930 Siren component placement surfaces removed, added to research group
Fix - #5173 Add success returns for disaster lua functions and rework volcano spawning checks
Fix - #5172 Remove success return from guaranteed functions getWeather, getTime and cancelGerstner
Fix - #5048 Add tsunami callback for meteors and add lua param to allow meteor tsunamis
Fix - #4435 remove duplicate onVehicleDespawn() lua callback call
Fix - #4510 getAiTarget returning vehicle/char ids as numbers not integers
Fix - Creative menu button not calling onVolcano
Fix - #4580 Return params for getAiTarget
Fix - #5396 Megalodons spawned with volcanic eruption button

Balance - #4925 set fish flee speed higher than player swim speed
Balance - Increased fish scare distance
Balance - Increased fish max spawn depth

Dear Stormworkers,

Thank you so much for all the love and support around the natural disasters update! The feedback has been overwhelming and it is a joy to see so many players having fun battling the meteors, volcanos, hurricanes and whirlpools!

The update was a big success, with almost record levels of concurrent players (only beaten by the Weapons DLC!). We were also pleased with the quality of release, with very little required in terms of new issues. Our new quality assurance processes and better allowances and awareness of testing is working much better for us, which is really encouraging, as it is something we have been working on a lot the last 6 months. This was probably the major update with the least friction yet.



If you joined the launch party live stream, then you will know some info about our upcoming plans! One thing to note is that the good folk at Valve have sent us a Steam Deck, and we are working on improving general controller support as well as support for the Steam Deck. The hardware is really awesome, and we are really enjoying playing with it. You can check more info at The Steam Deck website. Its worth noting that there are joysticks, but also touch pads, touch screen and even a gyro.

We are initially planning on making some improvements to controller support, which is generally much needed anyway, but will make a big difference to Steam Deck players. Many players have been asking for improved controller support as well. These updates will hopefully start to arrive over the next few weeks.



Otherwise, we are planning a big bugfix update next week which we have been working on for a while now. The whole development team remain very interested in improving the quality of the game and review issues and discuss our plans together on a daily basis. As always, if you encounter issues or have ideas for the game, be sure to give us clear info including reproduction steps using the in-game report bug / request a feature buttons.

We look forward to hearing your feedback!

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers

Dear Stormworkers,

The Natural Disasters Major Update is out now, and to celebrate, Stormworks is 30% off, in a Steam Weekend Deal!

Natural Disasters

This update includes a host of new hazards in the world of Stormworks, including active volcanos, meteor impacts, ocean whirlpools, and hurricanes. These new events can be disabled (by turning off the necessary add-ons), and can also be accessed via the creative menu. Otherwise, they spawn naturally within the world, and sometimes even as part of missions!

Keep an eye out on the map because sometimes you may receive early warning of an impending disaster, and listen for the chilling sound of warning sirens which will fire if a disaster is imminent.

New Fish System

With this update, there is an all-new fish system, with physics based fish. These fish roam the ocean, and flee from vehicles or players. There are many new species of fish, and are now biome based, so depending on where you are in the world and how deep you are below the surface, different fish will spawn.

Being physics based means the fish can be trapped, or wash up. Out of water, the fish will flip and flap in an effort to return to the water. Please do help them back to the water as they can die if they are out of the water for too long. Many boats and ships are faster than fish and should you impact a fish, listen out for a satisfying slap sound.

Patch Notes

Please see below for the full list of patch notes. This update also includes important fixes and improvements.

We continue to work hard on other fixes and improvements that players have kindly reported on the official issue tracker. The next update will be dedicated to bug fixes.

We hope you enjoy this new free update and look forward to your thoughts and feedback!

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers



v1.4.4

Feature - Natural Disasters
Feature - Weather System Rework
Feature - Disaster Relief Missions
Feature - Fish Wildlife System
Feature - Air Raid Siren Component

Radial Tsunamis
Meteor Strikes
Volcanic Eruptions
Tornados
Whirlpools

Fix - Crash in multiplayer when entering/exiting seats
Fix - Weapons addon tank damages itself when pitching turret
Fix - Default addon zones sometimes being mis-positioned
Rework - Mount Goldblum is now a volcano
Rework - Megalodon now have 5x more health

Additional Info:

Natural disasters can now spawn through the world, and are interlinked with the mission system.
Although rare, natural disasters will make missions more challenging and spawn more frequently as time passes.
A new save is recommended to enable the default_natural_disasters addon for the full experience.

Weather is no longer bound to the host's position:
- Custom menu sliders now display client-side local weather conditions when not overriding
- getWeather now correctly samples the target position

Fish can be enabled by toggling wildlife in general settings (moved from graphics settings); their spawnrate can be adjusted by the game host in general settings.

Volcanic ash can clog up air intakes, be careful when navigating them in vehicles.

We are expecting to make some balance changes on spawnrates, strength and other factors of natural disasters based on player feedback, the disasters may be very ferocious on launch day so keep a keen eye on the horizon!

Dear Stormworkers,

The Natural Disasters Major Update is almost here! We will be hosting a launch party stream at 16:00 on Thursday February 3rd, which is 1 hour before the launch of this new major update. We will be chatting with players and answering your questions, playing and discussing the new update! Please join us for this live stream and the big launch!



The Natural Disasters Major Update includes new volcanic eruptions, tornados, meteor strikes, whirlpools, rogue waves, radial tsunamis, and new mission content. See the previous announcement for full details on the new main features!



In the live stream, we will be discussing more in detail, as well as some of the other features, improvements and fixes that have not yet been announced in full. We have finally got that new microphone that we have been promising so audio quality should be much improved.

We look forward to talking to you at the launch party live stream!

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers

Dear Stormworkers,

In this weeks minor update, we are introducing dock bollards with integrated rope connectors to Stormworks! These new rope connectors are found all over the world of Stormworks at docks and other mooring locations to easily and conveniently tie up your vessels.

This feature has been frequently requested for a very long time, with some players even having a go at making their own mods and add-ons! We decided it was time this was officially part of the game so introduce this as an official add-on that is enabled by default. All new games will start with these rope connectors in the world. However, if you wish to disable this, you can do so easily by unchecking the add-on when starting your game.



Use the first person rope items to connect dock bollards to rope connectors on your own vehicles to secure them in place.

As always, this new feature isn't the only thing in this update, so see the changelog below for all the fixes and features that are packaged in this release. We are continuing to include the issue numbers in the patch notes where we can, to make it clear which specific issues have been addressed.



After the huge response players have given to the upcoming natural disasters major update, we are more excited than ever for the big release on Feb 3rd! We are working hard on the last few issues and tasks, to get this update ready to go live.

We will be back next week to announce more, so check in then for extra details about the launch!

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers



Patch Notes

v1.3.21

Feature - Default Dock Bollards Addon

This Addon will be enabled by default when starting a new save.

Fix - #756 Fix macos audio issues with sounds not playing
Fix - #207 prevent no sleep vehicles from unloading
Fix - #4022 onPlayerUnsit now returns peer_id as expected instead of object_id
Fix - #4145 fixed missing faces on barrels for heavy autocannon
Fix - #3835 compass ball additive layer rendering
Fix - #3735 floating trees fixed on multiplayer base
Fix - #4454 auto cannon ammo drum fixed mirroring
Fix - #4446 resolve fluid slots even when off
Fix - #4313 clear network requests when disconnecting from a server
Fix - #4298 hosts now send map update lua events when closing the map
Fix - #4023 onPlayerUnsit() and onCharacterUnsit() now trigger on ladders
Fix - #3029 allow crouch animation to override jump animation to keep camera aligned with physics hitbox during crouch jump
Fix - #4453 fixed gaps in the air ram model
Fix - #4311 hole in oil refinery fixed

Added ?mclear alias for ?mclean

Dear Stormworkers,

Natural Disasters (the next major update!) is will be here soon! It will release on Thursday 3rd February 2022 at 5PM UTC.

What is in the Natural Disasters Major Update?

Players have asked for hurricanes, volcanoes, meteor strikes, whirlpools, improved tsunamis and rogue waves, so that is what we have been developing! These events are spawnable via the creative menu, as well as occurring naturally within the world, and impacting the missions system.



Volcanoes

Volcanic eruptions can occur at specific locations within the world of Stormworks. We looked carefully at the different types of real eruptions because we want to create convincing and authentic volcanic events. Volcano eruptions are divided into several stages, from smoking and increased activity, to explosive eruption, pyroclastic flow, debris, ash pollution, and more. Volcanic eruptions are terrifying and deadly.



Hurricanes

High winds can now result in twisters. These powerful wind events involve a vortex of rotating wind energy to descend from the sky, meeting a water spout or debris cloud at ground level. Wind dramatically accelerates near the hurricane, and is powerful enough to lift vehicles that get too close. The power is awesome, with the first signs that a twister may form being clouds forming a spiralling vortex in the sky.



Meteors

Meteor strikes can occasionally occur, where fields of rocks of varying size may begin falling from the sky at high velocity. Impacts can cause explosions, and if a particularly large meteor hits the ocean, the energy release can result in a new kind of radial tsunami.



Whirlpools

Huge vortices can form in the ocean, where adjacent currents can feed energy into a rotating body of water. In Stormworks, these whirlpools are kilometres across, where huge ships can easily be swallowed by the eye of the whirlpool. These swirling bodies of water create strong currents in a spiralling direction towards the center, pulling down deep below the surface.

With these new natural disasters, there also comes a host of other features such as API support, new missions, and more.

We can't wait to share this new update in just a few weeks! As always we look forward to your feedback on this news. Between now and release, we will continue finishing this update, as well as working on new minor updates, fixes and improvements.

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers

Dear Stormworkers,

Happy new year!

To start the year off, we are releasing a bug-fix focused minor update! This update includes many fixes and improvements that have been requested by the community.



As always, we thank the many players who have given clear and detailed feedback and reports on the issue tracker - this makes it much easier for us to add the changes that you are asking for - so thank you. This week we have tried including the issue numbers in the changelog to help explain what has changed and why it has changed.



We are planning to announce the release date and more details of the next major update next week! The next major update is really exciting so this is a big event for us. See you next week for more info!

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers



Patch Notes

v1.3.19

Fix - #986 CTD when vehicle is removed while player is viewing a tooltip from it
Fix - #565 Microcontroller component states not saving
Fix - #3117 Restored missing Donkk Island Ruins
Fix - #1668 Microcontroller mass and centre of mass now scale with size
Fix - #3792 resetVehicleState offsetting loaded vehicles by their voxel offset
Fix - #3709 despawnVehicle deferred event not triggering onVehicleDespawn
Fix - #3708 discard on despawned objects are now handled immediately (deferring this caused them to persist after a save/load)
Fix - #3732 Weapon components pulling from blocked junction surfaces
Fix - #4296 Added getStartTile alias for getStartIsland to be consistent with documentation
Fix - Fluid port/intake components not using compartment sampling position

Rework - Air Scoop Intake now has a reserved voxel consistent with other intake components
Balance - Reduced radio voice chat static noise

Dear Stormworkers,

Seasons greetings!

This week we are adding new weapon barrel components, including fume extractors and muzzle brakes.

If you have the Search and Destroy Weapons DLC, these barrels work in the same way the existing barrels do, extending the barrel of the weapons. Some of the muzzle brakes scoop explosive material to push in the opposite direction, reducing overall weapon kick. The kick-back of some weapons has been increased in kind.



And if you don't have the Weapons DLC, these parts will still show up in the game and can be used as cosmetic items.

This feature has been a popular request among players, with many requests on the issue tracker, and some even before the Weapons DLC was released! Thanks to all the players who took the time to suggest these new parts.



We look forward to hearing what you think about the new parts! We will be back in the new year with more updates and have a really exciting 2022 full of updates planned out.

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers



Patch Notes

v1.3.18

Feature - new barrels and muzzle components for some of the existing cannons.

Dear Stormworkers,

Happy holidays!

We are still in the office for a few days yet but will be closing down for a week and a half to take a break over the winter holiday.

We have already been preparing a minor update, so expect a small update with some new components over the holiday! This means our minor update release schedule continues uninterrupted, and we are already testing and working on more fixes and improvements for a planned bug fix release at the start of next year.



We are also working hard on the next major update - natural disasters! We have made some great progress and look forward to making a big announcement in the new year. More details will follow in that announcement, but we will say - we think you will like the natural disasters!



We have also been working on our plans to support Stormworks through 2022 - with at least 3 major updates, as well as minor updates or bug fix updates every 2 weeks - the same release pattern as this year. Even after over 4 years of live development, there are so many awesome things we can add to the game, and we have been getting excited in the office about all the stuff we can do next year.

Happy holidays to all Stormworkers!

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers

Dear Stormworkers,

This week we add a bit of fun with Christmas and holiday celebrations here in Stormworks!

We have added a series of new seasonal outfits to the Stormworks wardrobe! From elf outfits to reindeer knitted jumpers and Christmas pudding hats! There are a wide range of new clothes to check out when starting a game or visiting the in-game wardrobe.



The seasonal winter holiday event also begins and includes the usual snow, white tipped trees, and decorations across the various islands.

As always, this minor update includes many bug fixes and improvements. See the full list below for details. While we have said this before, we cannot emphasize it enough - thank you to all the players who have submitted clear issue reports via the official issue tracker! It is a huge help and allows us to fix issues with the game much more quickly.



We look forward to hearing your thoughts and feedback on this new update!

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers



Patch Notes

v1.3.16

Feature - Seasonal Outfits

Fix - setVehiclePosSafe vehicle performing a bounds check against itself (boats in the sky)
Fix - #3429 Contains ammo logic node being outside the voxel bounds for belt connectors
Fix - #3134 Compass ball East and West swapped when upside down
Fix - #3052 Crankshaft 3x1 using the wrong mesh for its connections
Fix - #3053 Windows not see through on creative island / north harbour
Fix - #3282 Hole in creative island floor mesh
Fix - #2478 Resolved empty ammo box rendering for model export and added export rendering for belts
Fix - #3060 Increased tree physics cylinder radius
Fix - #3208 Added invulnerable slider to addon vehicles, updated several default vehicles to be invulnerable
Fix - #3135 Color picking a blank additive pixel no longer applies this colour
Fix - #3030 Removed extra voxels from bertha connector belt
Fix - #3217 Fix static vehicles not updating/initializing their internal transforms (teleporting not working)
Fix - #3510 Fix setVehicleWeapon description
Fix - Flare lights sometimes delaying activation
Fix - #3148 Mainland and arctic airstrip broken physics
Fix - #3501 Crash caused by rendering removed addon zones with a parent
Fix - #3235 Fix script error 211 for unnamed cargo on old saves
Fix - #3627 medium/large/huge missile fin component surface area values (new fin parts not applying enough force)
Fix - #3002 Optimized physics flooder inside certain shapes (extreme vehicle load time leading to hang)
Fix - #3554 Fix missing contains ammo node on autocannon belt (corner)
Fix - Tank track render lerping
Fix - #3668 Saving an addon with no name overwriting the addons directory (now defaults to unnamed_addon)
Fix - #3298 DLC weapons script size data parsing (wrong hp values and explosion sizes)
Fix - showOnMap not affecting local vehicles

Rework - #3549 Normal beds now heal slowly but cannot resuscitate like medical beds do
Balance - #3298 Increased default health and scaling for dlc weapons large and medium size enemy vehicles
Balance - #2842 Reduced dlc weapons explosion size for small and medium size enemy vehicles
Balance - Increased oxygen tank size for scuba and diving outfits
Rework - Flare objects now have near-neutral buoyancy
Rework - Removed Bugsplat error reporting

Lua:
Added onPlayerUnsit and onCharacterUnsit
Added setVehicleInvulnerable
Updated outdated playlist keyword to addon in default scripts