Dear Stormworkers,

This week we are releasing a minor update with many fixes including some important quality improvements. Please see below for the full list of changes.

Thanks to the many players who have asked for player testing, we are bringing back the experimental branch! This can be accessed by right clicking on Stormworks -> Properties -> Steam Betas -> select Experimental in the drop down.



Experimental won't always be active, but will be used for a few days at a time while there is something that would benefit from testing. For example, currently on ⁠experimental is the new fluid system changes that we are trialing. While it is active, the channel will be visible on Discord and the info on what is being tested will be in the pinned comments.

Please provide any feedback in the #experimental channel on Discord if you would like to help test new changes.



Regarding the changes we are making, we are still working on the fluid changes. On experimental we have made lots of progress, but we are still making improvements and hope to release the experimental improvements as a hotfix soon.

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers



Patch Notes

v1.9.6

Fix - Crash caused by some dog halloween outfits
Fix - Fixed addDamage repair particle offset
Fix - #20593 Submarine base workbench typo
Fix - #20719 Small engine colour error
Fix - #20844 Nuclear plant colission issues
Fix - #21040 Updated main menu discord invite with official link
Fix - #21190 Beret colour issues
Fix - #21241 Floating train station at Uran Wind
Fix - #22546 Crash caused by spawnVehicle on an invalid path
Fix - Vehicles disappearing due to ai script teleports

Addon Lua:

Fixed general behaviour of setVehiclePos,setGroupPos, setVehiclePosSafe, setGroupPosSafe
Added new moveVehicle, moveGroup, moveVehicleSafe, moveGroupSafe functions
Fixed several documentation issues
Updated default ai scripts to use moveVehicleSafe as it better suits their behaviour

Dear Stormworkers,

Last weeks new Space DLC and major update released! The player creations and adventures across space are incredible - from new rockets, satellites and space stations to lunar bases and rovers.

The space race is real, with many players clearly building for hundreds of hours before the new launch, in preparation to be the best prepared. Congratulations to the many players with incredible new creations on the workshop! It is really inspiring.

This week we have an additional hot fix that addresses many important issues. Please see patch notes below for a full list of fixes. These changes include some very important fixes concerning cargo missions, weight of fluids, and vanishing vehicles. We are still working on a bunch of fluid and steam issues where we are improving the system to behave more like the old version and will get these improvements released soon.



As previously discussed, there were issues in the first day or so of the update. The main issue was that there was a change to gravity that effected many existing ships. We fixed this issue within a day, but we accept that it was very concerning to many players who felt like the hundreds of hours they had invested in building these creations was at risk of being lost.

We worked very hard to get the issues resolved as quickly as possible, with a fix live within 18 hours. However, it wasn't great that players had to deal with these concerns for any amount of time.

Let's discuss how we can stop the same problem in the future:

Unit Tests

We are planning a new "unit test" system in Stormworks. Unit testing is a common technique in software to write computer programs that verify if some code produces the expected output. In Stormworks, we plan to add new "data logging" components that we can add to vehicles to record a number or on/off value. Then, when our build server creates a new release, it can run Stormworks, spawn the "unit test vehicles", and record the outputs of all these logged values, and compare them to the previous release.

This will allow us to test most vehicle behavior. Any value in the logic system can be checked. For example, we can test buoyancy by logging the height of each corner of a ship with an altitude sensor. We can also be notified as soon as something changes.



Release Checklist

Simply having a written procedure of things to check before releasing a final build will ensure that we can check at least a few common ways that players play Stormworks. With the Space update, for the last few weeks before release, all our testing was focused on stuff between the launch pad and the moon. It is so easy to lose track of the bigger context when you are looking at a specific update, but having a written procedure to follow makes it much harder to be distracted.

The kind of stuff for the checklist will probably be testing some of the most popular workshop vehicles, testing the tutorial, playing a mission in multiplayer, etc.

Steam Beta Branch

Many players have suggested player testing with a beta branch on Steam, and we will consider it. However, when we have tried this before, there was an issue where many players played 'experimental branch' because they didn't want to wait for the release date. This created huge friction with the community, because some didn't want us to actually experiment and make changes based on player feedback, while they are trying to build something with the experimental components. Which public branch players decide to use is beyond our control, but we are looking at ways in which we can get this to work better.



Limitations

Stormworks is over 100Mb of code, and contains over 600 components. There is at least 200 million ways to place 2 components next to each other. It is not possible to test everything every 2 weeks. The above can certainly avoid a lot of problems in the future, but what else do you think we should do?

Community

As with many other sandbox games, Stormworks is highly dependent on user generated content. On the Steam Workshop, our players has close to the number of creations as the huge communities of more popular sandbox games. This also incudes player-to-player help and communication that we often see on our Discord server, forums, Steam guides, public wikis, and especially video tutorials and any other videos and streams on YouTube, Twitch and Discord.

We are endlessly grateful for all these players who keeps supporting the game and other players.

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers

v1.9.5

Fix - Solid rocket booster fuel amount slider now works for small nozzles
Fix - Cargo missions script fixed to function correctly
Fix - Mission vehicles sometimes teleported incorrectly which was causing other vehicles to vanish
Fix - Restored old equation for weight of fluid in a compartment
Fix - Split getVehicleData function loaded vehicle data to getVehicleComponents

v1.9.4

Rework - Updated solid rocket boosters to have previous behaviour when xml editting the fuel amount value
Rework - Updated solid rocket booster content force to have previous calculation
Rework - Solid rocket booster nozzle now contains full amount of fuel to help compatibility with some players ejection seats and similar
Fix - Fluid jets now correctly calculate if inside or outside an enclosed compartment
Fix - Pipes and containers with zero gas now have some pressure generated by elasticity of container to fix issue where sometimes fluid would not pump

v1.9.3

Fix - Fixed steam engines and fluid flow in steam and fluid parts
Fix - Fixed steam pistons
Fix - Reduced electric consumption for on/off valve
Fix - Fixed fluid jet issue
Rework - Steam boiler and condensers required again for boiling / condensing
Rework - Temperature no longer effects pressure to make pressure easier to understand

Dear Stormworkers,

Yesterday was the launch of the Space DLC!

The bad news is there were some issues. The good news is that over the last 24 hours we have released some hot fixes, and some major issues are now resolved.

Many players have asked for details. Lets discuss:

Sinking Ships

Some of the new gravity mechanics had unintended interactions with some of the physics optimizations for vehicles, which resulted in some vehicle parts weighing slightly more or less than they should. This was often an issue with larger vehicles and vehicles with many movable parts. While the change in weight was only small, this could cause ships to sit deeper in the water or tilt.

This issue is now resolved.

Jet Turbines

With the new atmosphere mechanics, the air is thinner higher up, which means less air resistance, but also means that at some height, the air is too thin for jet turbine engines to be efficient. This is intended, but was way out of balance, with engines starting to lose efficiency only a few hundred feet up.

This issue is also resolved.

Steam and Modular Engines

There are issues with steam boilers and many modular engines. This is a reasonably big issue, caused by some of the compressed gas changes.

We are currently working on this and will deliver a fix asap. Update: this is now resolved in v1.9.3

Other Issues

Of course there are other things to look at, and we will get to them, but the above are the main ones that affect many players.

Testing

Believe it or not, we actually did several months of full time testing. Some of these issues were introduced more recently when addressing other minor issues, such as the sinking ship issue. We were too focused on testing the new features and specific changes, and simply didn't expect this stuff to break. However, a lot of the problems are so wide ranging that it would have been easy to discover them and we should have.

Community Reaction

The vast majority of the community have been very supportive. To those of you who have patiently stood by for fixes, or messaged us your support, thank you, and sorry for breaking your game.

A small minority have unfortunately launched their own campaign, and within minutes of the new update launch, were recruiting to their discord, where they have organized and coordinated attacks. We have received discord raids, review bombing, abuse, and death threats. To these players, we ask you to consider your actions. We understand your frustration, but we can't respond to aggression, demands and threats.

The consequences are significant to the game, and the people who make it. It is right that we are held to account, but when it is taken too far, the damage is permanent. Stormworks continues and our focus is on the many great and wonderful players who share their criticism constructively.

Next Steps

As usual, we will get on with resolving the remaining issues. We will work through these tasks one at a time, and expect to keep publishing improvements over the coming days.

Further ahead, we are also looking at how we change the way we work to ensure the same issues don't repeat in the future.

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers

Fix - Jet engines now work efficiently up to much higher altitudes
Fix - SRB fuel weight reduced

Fix - Resolved ship buoyancy and other gravity issues

Dear Stormworkers,

The Stormworks: Space DLC is out now!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2383250/

What is included?

This new expansion means that you can build working space rockets, travel to space and the moon, operate in low and zero gravity, build orbital space stations and satellites, perform space rescues, and more.

The moon is the biggest land location yet, with over 1000 square kilometres of lunar surface. Expect craters, caves, stranded astronauts, and damaged space bases.

Create your electrolysis plant to make liquid rocket fuel to burn in your new liquid fuel engines.

Use compressed gas in your RCS system and use your reaction wheels for precise position and orientation control in space, for example when docking with other vehicles or stations.

New missions occur in space and on the moon, including astronaut rescues, repair, and recovery operations.

Design life support systems, considering temperature, pressure, and oxygen / carbon dioxide levels. Equip space suits to protect from the vacuum of space, and build EVA backpacks to assist with space walks.



New Updates To The Base Game

While the Space DLC is required to leave the atmosphere, many changes are included in the base game to ensure workshop compatibility.

The fluid system is completely reworked to support compressed gasses. Air now consists of it's constituent parts: oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen. Gas pressure introduces many new mechanics such as forces due to equalizing pressures, displacement, and more.

The world now wraps around at borders, allowing you to circumnavigate the world of Stormworks.

Many new components are also being introduced including new fluid parts, large solar panels, navigation sensors, directional communication dishes, and more.



A Big Thankyou to the Community

Many of you have helped inspire and drive this new update. Thank you to all the creators who have dared to dream of space and uploaded some incredible space vehicle creations to the workshop. And thank you to the Youtubers who have been showcasing these creations, playing with the idea, and discussing space in Stormworks.

We can't wait to hear what you think of the new update!

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers






Patch Notes

v1.9.0 - Space

Space DLC Features:

Feature - Atmosphere and Space Simulation
Feature - Huge Moon Surface Playable Area
Feature - Liquid Fuel Rockets
Feature - Electrolyser Component
Feature - RCS Thruster Component
Feature - Reaction Wheel Component
Feature - Astronomy Sensor Component
Feature - Space Missions


General:

Feature - World border wrapping
- The world of Stormworks now seamlessly warps you to the other side of the map when crossing an edge
- Updated the ambient temperature texture to reflect this change
Feature - Large Solar Panels
Feature - Fluid, Gas, Temperature and Pressure overhaul
- Fluids have been separated into liquids and gases
- New Gases: Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide(Exhaust), Nitrogen, Hydrogen
- Complete overhaul to fluid pressures, allowing gases to be compressed
- Complete overhaul to fluid transfer and exchange between components, including backflow and pressure levelling
- Compartments now have their own temperature and pressure data
- Player is now damaged from ambient pressure and heat in addition to height/proximity based damage
- Inventories now have a fluid port for recharging outfits with oxygen
- Fires now consume oxygen to burn and produce CO2
- Humans and animals now breathe which consumes Oxygen and generates CO2
- Ocean and atmospheric pressure now scales with altitude
- Rapid fluid exchange across door thresholds will now apply a force to objects in the flow
Feature - Barometer Component
Feature - Space/Backpack Seat
Feature - 2 Space Suit Outfits
Feature - Gravity calculation overhaul and improvements
- [DLC] Players can place vehicles into geostationary orbit at ~300km
- [DLC] Characters can float in space oriented by their camera direction
- Pseudo stable orbit gravity based on linear velocity (Explained below)
- Revised character falling pose
Feature - Improved Jet/Rocket particle rendering
Feature - New Rocket workbenches
Feature - Vehicle Groups (sub-vehicle splitting)
- Vehicles with many 'sub-vehicles' are now split into completely separate vehicles on spawn
- Addon lua has been updated to reflect this change, which is detailed in the section below
Feature - Improved the navigation of tile locations in the addon editor by splitting them by biome
Feature - Photomode cinematic camera stabilization and increased tether range by x4
Feature - Gas and liquid relief valve components
Feature - Liquid and Gas meter components
Feature - Gas Tanks
Feature - Directional Radio components for long distance data exchange
Feature - Solid propellant is now required to fuel SRBs, and can be refined with water and Aluminium
Feature - Sound effects for pumps and other fluid components
Feature - Added 30 Dollar Trainyard to the starting bases
Fix - #4846 #2798 Fixed vehicle fires not contributing to ambient temperature
Fix - Several particle effect rendering fixes
Fix - Fixed issue with parented mission zones not despawning with their parent vehicle
Fix - Dedicated server crash caused by clouds attempting to render
Fix - Fixed composite read values for the modular engine cylinder air and fuel
Fix - Fixed connection state sync for dock-door and nuclear parts
Fix - Crash caused by saving while a tile was not thread loaded
Fix - Flipping issues for components with no physics voxels
Fix - Fixed flame/jets rendering stutters
Fix - Internal RX signal strength integer overflow errors
Fix - Default missions not updating parented delivery zones transforms
Fix - Several multiplayer improvements to address nearby vehicle desync and frequency
Fix - Improved client character grounded vehicle detection
Rework - Removed sunrise/sunset slider in place of separate Day/Night duration sliders
Rework - Rescaled rewards for tow missions


Addon Lua:

getVehicleData - added group_id, removed filename
getVehicleGroup
despawnVehicleGroup
setGroupPos
setGroupPosSafe
onGroupSpawn
spawnAddonComponent - split id data - object_id, group_id, vehicle_ids[]

getTileInventory and setTileInventory now support propellant

getAstroPos


Dev Notes and Tips:

Tip - Be careful when opening doors between differently pressurized areas...you may find yourself flung out into space!
Tip - DLC owners get the new Stormworks theme space remix as the default main menu music
Tip - Many earthly positional data components don't work in space, make sure you are prepared to navigate manually or with an astronomy sensor
Tip - Components that rely on air/oxygen will be much less effective at higher altitudes as the atmosphere thins
Tip - Characters and creatures need oxygen to breathe, don't trap yourself in a small box with no ventilation
Tip - The fire extinguisher can be used to propel yourself in space!

Dear Stormworkers,

The new Stormworks: Space DLC will release on 12th October!

With just a few days to go, lets discuss some new mechanics!

Fuel Efficiency

Getting to space in the real world is a big challenge. That energy comes from fuel, and it takes a lot of energy to lift fuel into the sky. Often staging is used to jettison spent fuel containers, to reduce weight and improve aerodynamics. Otherwise, a careful and calculated balance is found between the weight of a fuel and the rate of burn.

The same is true in Stormworks. Getting into orbit requires a balanced design, with the correct amount of fuel and engines. Often you don't just want to get into orbit, but deliver a payload like a satellite or part of a space station, so more efficient designs are preferred. If you are playing career, then fuel is a valuable resource that you will need to manufacture.



Resources in Space

Just like in real life, it is expensive to move materials into space. This is significant, as liquid fuels are important for navigating in space, and compressed gasses are important for life support, and RCS manoeuvres. Solar has an initial cost in terms of transport, but will renew electrical power indefinitely, which is useful for heating and reaction wheel control.

Speed and Efficiency

We are introducing a soft speed limit, which is quite common for space games. The limit is set at 500m/s, and while it is possible to go faster than this, it is inefficient in terms of fuel. It is difficult to hit this speed limit when in the atmosphere due to air resistance, but once in space, this limit has a greater effect.



Creative Tools

There are no workbenches in space, but when teleport is enabled, it is possible to teleport anywhere on the moon from the map. It is also possible to spawn creations using the addon editor, in the usual way, as the moon tiles are available.

There are only a few days left! Join us for the launch next week.

Wishlist the DLC here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2383250/

Watch the trailer here:



Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers

Dear Stormworkers,

It is update week! Please see below for the patch notes for this minor update.

The change list may be small this week, but all changes are in a positive direction. We are particularly busy with final testing of Space DLC, and we are very excited for the release in less than 2 weeks!



Next week we will return with a final announcement and discussion on the upcoming release, and then on Thursday 12th October, the Space DLC will launch.

Much love <3,

The Stormworks Developers



Patch Notes

v1.8.10

Fix - #20218 Rotated and mirrored hinge connectors not working
Fix - #20274 Zoom not cleared after opening map/pause menu
Fix - #20355 Modular engine cylinder prices
Fix - #20365 Ammo belt rendering in editor F11 export mesh mode
Fix - #18921 Simplified map tooltips to Location
Fix - #20385 Fixed missing logic links on oil rig preset vehicle