The moment has arrived! The 1.6 and The Engineers (2.1) beta is coming just around the corner.
We've mentioned before that this update comes with headline features of Loot and Crafting and missions changes but also the fantastic thing about this update is the sheer depth and richness being added with so many changes, tweaks and additions making it into the update.
The development team have been working incredibly hard and we're really grateful for your patience and support while the content has been developed. Below is the very huge change log which hopefully goes to show the volume of work that has gone into this significant update. Enjoy!
The beta should be going live in the next few hours so make sure you have the latest launcher installed from the frontier store and settle down for a nice long read while you wait for the beta to go live.
Loot
Added new commodities for loot/crafting (including ones from ice rings)
Mining resources can now create materials
Materials can be spawned inside signal sources
Materials can be dropped from destroyed ships
Materials can be dropped from destroyed skimmers
Encoded data materials added
Data materials can be scanned from scannable wreckage
Materials inventory is now split into physical and virtual items
Added scannable wreckage scenarios and POIs
Added inbox messages when retrieving encoded loot from various objects
Crafting
Allow weapon damage values to modify visual affects
Experimental effects can be generated on module modifications
Engineers have module modifications of different types and grades available
Resources can be used to craft module modifications
NPC ships can use modified modules
Engineers
Added new landing pad types for Engineer bases
Added new hangars for Engineer bases
Added bases for each engineer
Engineer contact history added to stats panel
Engineer locations can be viewed in the galaxy map (if unlocked)
Engineers each have their own unlock flow
New surface material system - improves surface material detail and performance
New surface salvage items
Added new surface POIs
Added NPC patrols near planetary ports and outposts
NPC encounters can occur near planet surfaces
NPCs can engage in combat near planet surfaces
NPC ships can defend settlements and bases
Missions
New mission board added
Mission board contacts added
Contacts have their appearance deterministically generated to reflect various key factors
Mission givers have a welcome message that reflects the state of the minor faction, their tone and relationship with player
Display minor faction recovering and pending states
Missions are now rated by rank, not gated by them
Reason for mission generation now added as needed
USSs for missions now positioned in specific locations as appropriate
Difficulty of missions is factored into reputation requirements (as well as rank)
Added additional scenarios for missions
Mission UI now supports showing specific mission ranks (combat/trade/exploration)
Reward balance pass for missions
Commodities can be awarded from missions
Loot items can be awarded from missions
Special treasure locations can be awarded by completing missions
Reveal the location of a mission USS when the body is discovery-scanned (or you scan the nav beacon)
Mission contacts remember if they have encountered you before
Updated scenarios for missions
Added new planetary mission types
Added new scan mission types
Outfitting UI redux
Updated hangar cameras to fit new outfitting UI
Some locations can have unique vouchers from scanning for larger rewards that can't be 'scummed'
Added huge beam laser
Added huge pulse laser
Added huge multi-cannon
Added large multi-cannon
Added enhanced performance size 2 and 3 drive modules
Added VFX scaling for weapon size and damage
Added huge gimball mount
Bookmarks: adding bookmark feature to galaxy map and system map. Player is now able to save specific locations (systems, star, planet, stations, surface settlement)
Added collapsing sections to options screen
Community goal markers added to galaxy map
Minor faction state filters added to galaxy map
Mining scenarios can now spawn in icy rings
New mining commodities added
Add traffic density system for generating USSs
Shipping lanes are created between the primary star, stations, and planets with settlements. Shipping lanes that are too similar to others, or too short, are removed
Traffic density is calculated based on shipping lane, station and settled planet proximity. This traffic density value alters the probability of USSs
If you scan a body that has a mission POI on it, the POI will be revealed. The scan can come from the discovery scanner, or from scanning a nav beacon
Changed data scans to be unique per location, so they cannot be continuously rescanned
Unlinked minor faction reputation from their parent major faction reputation, now you will be neutral with an Empire minor faction even if you are allied with the Empire major faction
Added the ability to scan a nav beacon to get the system exploration data for that system
Added a 'cordial' minor faction reputation level
Allow cargo to be transferred to a newly bought ship, if it has adequate cargo space
Add Chopper's Orbital to Phiince system
Updated translations
Added named planets from Charity stream
Added new player group minor faction descriptions
Player inbox will hold a message until it has been deleted, or 30 days old
Added Bluford Orbital to LHS 3447
Canonn Research space science outpost added to COL 285 SECTOR IX-T D3-
Overhaul & cleanup of how module penetration behaves, to allow multiple hits and various styles of AOE damage. All missiles now use external damage spheres
Clock added to cockpit's info panel
Added missing backer station
Added option to reduce camera shake
Defensive code for preventing crash when starting binding preset is invalid
Fix crash in nonotonic timer
Fix zero health error with nav beacon
Don't throw an error when loading straight to insurance screen
Fix an error that happens when loading into a session with someone with a shield bank on cooldown
Fix error when spawning POIs
Fix a rare crash bug with terrain height map handling (will also benefit load times)
Don't crash if the cancel button is pressed multiple times in the bindings screen
Prevent drone control module from possibly being able to shut down while holding game object handles to drones
Don't crash if there is an overflow for ship lighting rigs
Fix for error with zero length vector on dust particle lighting#
Prevent soft locks on start-up for terrain disabled systems
Fix memory leak in Drone Component if a drone is never activated before being destroyed
Fix some terraformable meta data mismatches
Fix crash cancelling control binding
Fix crash with prospector drone
Fix Goliath crime component crash
Added guards to help prevent a Capital Ship related crash
Ensure that the variable for boost cost is initialised to something valid, in case planet gravity is not active
Fix crash in drone control module
Fix computational shape error
Fix for crash when approaching some settlements
Fix for AI fighter manager crash
Fix a crash in system generation for „Sidgoe LX-S c17-0“
Dont try to generate systems for child stars, it can crash due the child star not having its own set of meta data
Fix some of the errors about physics objects out of range when dropping out of supercruise
Stop the conflict target generator from crashing in the event that a scenario is featuring a conflict with a minor faction we don't know about
Fix an error on destruction of a ship in CQC
Make sure that any location objects are destroyed before removing the player
Fix a crash when the Goliath skimmer shields reform
Hammering the back button in the CQC menus should no longer throw an error
Fix an issue where a Protoplanetary Disk was initiated twice
Fix Radeon 7000s crash with terrain shadow generation
Fix a server crash for an odd edge case of where a player is ready in a proving ground that doesn't know about them
Prevented CMDR name from offsetting when in Russian
Scaled the cargo-canister rack schematic to the correct size
Adjusted the footer positions in the cockpit panels, they were off by a few pixels
Added simple
OS message box report for when a save operation fails
Synthesis quality options do not cycle around fixed
Added an unpowered state for weapons in Cockpit UI
Adjusted text field widths ever so slightly in cargo menu
Misleading wanted status and bounty message on vacant player ships
Nominate screen sticks on screen if exited by pressing B
Selling cartographics data does not allow you to select close on the menu when you have a first discovery bonus fixed
Fix some wrongly sorted UI render layers
System addresses hovered by pad/keyboard & mouse are now linked so that mouse movement won't hide the info popup after having used pad/keyboard to select a system
Discrepancy between material name shown on contact list and when targeting/recovering the mineral fixed
System map : making sure the system map address is reset when pressing back button to avoid displaying the map for another system when using the shortcut or the cockpit button
In the insurance screen, only show the free ship option as an alternative to rejoining current ship when the player has fines to pay in their current ship's jurisdiction
Ammo store shouldn't show drones as purchasable if there is no stock
Fix for missing currency formatting on data link voucher rewards
Fix calculating the distance to a sensor contact
When we're at max rank, the stats should consider rank progress to be 0%
Use „Total ship cost“ not „Total cost“ in the insurance screen to make it less misleading; the actual total cost would include paying off fines
New layout for options screen
Tone down the intensity of the white target
GUI elements so that they do not over-bloom
Add distances to wakes targeted by the player
Fixed 'Back' input not working on the cockpit chat panel
Fixed the ship schematic in the functions tab from 'drifting'
„Launch“ training messages saying „Not Bound“ instead of the bound key
Increased the minimum size for moons on the scanner in order to not collapse tiny moons into just one pixel
Display the data micro resource inventory in the inventory panel
Change the default number of items per page in Exploration selling from 20 to 50 following from server-side optimisations that make this plausible
Systems that require a permit no longer highlighted in red on the Navigation panel
Synced the wait time displayed on the quit game dialog with the underlying danger timer
Fix some Commander stats not updating correctly for certain mission types or when destroying skimmers
Fix displaying First Discovery names too many times when Commanders in a Wing claimed first discovery
Galaxy map now remembers the previous Cargo Mass slider setting, unless enough real cargo is added to the ship to exceed the slider setting
Fix system map not remembering which tab you were on
Planetary map: fixing coordinates used for surface settlements positioning and player ship position
Galaxy Map: It is not that obvious what is selected when using the controller on the galaxy map fixed
Galaxy Map: Pledge icon now lines up following the power's name fixed
System Map: System map „Locale“ scroll moves very slowly with mouse wheel fixed
Fix performance spike in galaxy and system map pop ups
Potential fix for the ring appearing sometimes in the system map
Fixed the visibility routine for bodies in system map doesn't allow unexplored bodies to be show when going back from planetary map
Safety fixes for input bindings: ConfigOptions returns the default option if its asked for the current options when it has an invalid index
System map is now properly initialised when a route is a plotted in the targeted system
Don't re-plot the current route just because the Galaxy Map is opened. Fixes the route being forgotten sometimes if viewing the galaxy map during FSD charge, and helps to avoid forgetting the in-system target at the end of the route
The default light for black hole systems in the system map was not giving the desired result - A cold, dim blueish light is now substituted as the default
Improved system map load time
Fix the issue with the latitude being calculated negative. i.e. the North Pole was at latitude -90 when it should have been at +90
Galaxy map: showing controlling faction state in the galaxy map popup, making sure „none“ is displayed when primary minor faction is no particular state
When searching for a system name, trim whitespace off the end of the search as some people use methods which automatically place whitespace on the end which is preventing the search from working
Added clear route button for any waypoint of an active route
Fixed route plotting issues when a system is actually unreachable : the route plot will fail, but the button will become available again, displaying a sub title : „route plotting failed“
Galaxy Map population sliders don't update their position dynamically when using a control pad
Players are no longer awarded bounty vouchers for destroying their own ship while in a vehicle
Remove a now obsolete angular velocity clamp that only applies in FAOff
The classified camera no longer resets the player's throttle
Shield cell banks now fire one at a time when triggered using the shield cell bank hotkey (similar to heatsinks)
The Automated Field Maintenance Unit can no longer be repaired unless there are more than one active repair units
Fixed error from firing heatsinks in super cruise
Scanner zoom level is now preserved when entering and leaving FSD
Silent running is now disabled when the docking computer is activated
Player's ship shields should recharge while player is in SRV
Disabled the Speeding UI warning while docked
Fixed the photo camera not turning when cockpit headlook is toggled on
Fix for the landing silhouette on the terrain schematics flipping to an X axis rotation when there's no altitude raycast result available
Made the compass on the
GUI align correctly with the nav marker at Nav Beacons and other locations
Player ship no longer inappropriately accelerates automatically to max speed under certain conditions
Hardpoints can no longer be deployed while in supercruise. This doesn't affect the usage of scanners and interdictors etc
The photo camera is now disabled if the player's ship is being interdicted
Photo camera popup can now be closed using the key bound to UI Select
Proximity alarm is no longer triggered by projectiles launched by their owning ship
Ships can land on top of each other when recalled in close proximity on a planet fixed
Fix problem with evaluating landing area where ships would time out trying to land because their landing gear took more than 10 seconds to deploy
Holding the vertical thrust input while launching from a landing pad will now work properly (you no longer have to release the input and re-apply it)
Fixed incorrect super cruise flight model parameters for Federal Gunship
Zero thrust on start of evaluating landing area as a previous fly to target might result in a spinning ship during this stage of approach
Make sure that ships called in to land can take off if they landed
Fixed thruster VFX playing while ships are landed
It is no longer possible for a docked ship to commit a ramming crime
Rebalanced heat efficiency of the Fer de Lance to offset the increased power plant change
Landing gear doors are now initialised open if you load in to the game docked
Cutter occasionally bounces off the surface when recalled fixed
Update the logic for collision damage between ships and canisters so that larger ships don't insta-kill canisters on contact
Review damage forwarded to the cockpit from hull - previously going in infrequent large lumps (and too fast overall) now occurs is more frequent but much much smaller amounts
Ships can no longer enter super cruise if their thrusters are disabled
Remove a stray transform set meaning if you hit a planet at much more than 0.1C you had a tendancy to drop out in it
Tweak the limits on headlook angles to make what you can see appear more natural (you can no longer see where your neck ought to be, for instance)
Ensure cargo is transferred when re-buying a ship from an orphaned SRV
Be a little bit more forgiving for surface landings that don't meet a decent standard
Fix minimum refuel calculation when using multiple fuel tanks
Fix bad bay numbers in „parking permission granted“ messages
Attacking something that you own is legal and won't make it hate you
Added Shield Cell Banks onto the targetable modules list. Should now appear on the subtargets list if a ship has them installed and be targetable
Authority issue between two players at POI's fixed
Stop NPC ships from dropping out immediately upon spawning in supercruise
Fix some NPC docking queue issues
Stop docked player ships that are near the docking shared path from blocking AI docking/launching
Scanning NPCs shouldn't boost if they don't have time to slow down
Fixed parked AI ships deploying their hardpoints while docked
Police will destroy any loose illegal cargo after an interdiction, to stop the player from ejecting it and then re-collecting after interdiction
Fix a few issues to do with chasers respawning when they shouldn't
When respawning persistent AI hunters, check to see if we're in an unpopulated system beyond a set distance (500LY) from the nearest capital, and if we are, only spawn the chasers 50% of the time; this will get rerun each time we change between normal space and supercruise so the odds of the hunters persisting will diminish
Updating certain player events so they don't appear in Anarchy systems, anything with authority, military or search & rescue ships in
Fix NPC ships failing to launch from settlements
Smooth out AI difficulty curve
Improve AI for higher ranked NPCs
Improve reliability for docking computer with the Cutter
Don't allow vacant ships to commit crimes
Make lower level NPCs a bit easier to chase
Try to prevent NPCs stopping in space for no reason
Improve docking computer behaviour near planet surfaces
Optimise obstruction avoidance
NPC spawned with no shields and broken AI fixed
Slow down to engage Docking Computer message remains after cancelling docking request fixed
NPC AI continues to fire hatch breaker even when player has no cargo and hatch is powered down fixed
Improved use of missiles and torpedoes by NPCs
Stop NPCs rolling on the spot
Improve AI targeting of cargo canisters
Docking computer forces you to collide with station on entry fixed
Don't try and spawn ships with „Military Planet Dock“, military ships don't dock. Also turn on powerplay ships at stations
Powerplay ships can now be encountered in normal space
Make sure that the police patrolling the station will be of the same faction as the station
Fix ship vs environment collisions so that AI-controlled ships take damage again
AI shouldn't be trying to manually fire weapons that are on auto fire - it causes them to fire in really odd directions
Fix issues with inconsistent spawning. In particular, the issue with not all the cargo drops always spawning
Only spawn pirates, power pirates and power assassins at anarchy stations
Use local polity, not star polity, when determining ship composition at ports
Added in more power specific chatter for Power Pirates. These guys are essentially privateers, paid to rob people, so placed the emphasis more on it being a job
Increased variety for NPC paths approaching surface ports and outposts
Dropping the min cargo and bounty values for a hunter to appear in
Bumped up the percentage chance of the chasers appearing based on security
Added the Viper MkIV to the police archetype
Increase variety for ship departure behaviour on surface ports
Remove scan behaviours from pirates and bounty hunters when around ports/outposts/settlements, i.e. when docking, doing a lift off, or travelling across the surface before jumping
Killing an NPCs powerplant does not cause them to fall to the surface
Minimum threat value for ambient supercruise police ships based on system security level
Fix trespass zone orientation causing incorrect rendering on the scanner
Fix duplicate spawning of chasing ships after interdiction
Make state based trader NPCs have the same faction on multiple visits
Slightly altered the Police Viper score values so that Viper's appear when an investigation is called, rather than an eagle
Stop AI (often police) from scanning ships (particularly players) when docked at a station/outpost
Fixes to AI scanning players with silent running enabled
change hive mind reinforcement timer to be banded based on security level
“In trouble” flee behaviour update – make decisions based on target
AI should use Fragmentation Cannons at effective range, rather than at maximum range
NPC's Drives do not malfunction when damaged
Improved how NPC wing members operate with each other
Check if a player has permission to access Horizons content before adding settlements to the list of targetable locations
NPCs now have an automatic loadout system based on the archetype, ranks, ships and other factors
Ships at range struggle with weapon minimum distances, don't fire enough/at all fixed
If we've blocked NPCs from spawning due to multiple hunter hostile restrictions, check regularly to see if these restrictions no longer apply and then spawn
Mission giver faction now has its type set properly
Rank missions should no longer instantly fail for no apparent reason
Elite Piracy and Founder Smuggling missions should no longer instantly fail for no apparent reason
Added new 'Wanted' Smuggler Maint to prevent Hostage Rescue missions resulting in a criminal act
Multi-cargo contract elements now have messages. and cargo types can be checked
Balance ranks missions are generated for
Salvage Legal missions should've been using mission specific cargo
When a mission attempts to send an inbox message, if the player currently has that inbox message, we will not push a new message onto the inbox
Reduce mission limit to 20
Improve checks for player's cargo for mission advance
Fix for mission specific cargo not being dropped
Add 'Mission detected' text to mission based USSs
Change the Reputation Difficulty Scalar to be relative to player's reputation with a given faction
Fix an issue where the USS wasn't actually being marked as belonging to a mission
If a USS for a specific mission already exists, don't spawn another
Ensuring rescue mission cargo is not marked as stolen when liberated
Reduced time before targets spawn in Piracy and Rescue mission. Targets will now appear between 10 and 30 minutes from mission generation
Don't send people to settlements which don't have ports in missions
Don't send people to the same market they are requesting a mission from
Authority mission wrinkles shouldn't occur in anarchies
Don't add major faction rep to minor faction rep when working out player rep
Mission targets in settlements now don't have a range limit for displaying as contacts, also when targeted they will show as a mission target
If there are no missions, give text which tells players what other things they could do to help
Allow NPC ships to dump mission specific cargo
Allow inbox messages to obfuscate the sender for black ops
Add an introductory mission for new starters
Refresh the inbox when completing a mission, so mission tipoffs are immediately visible
If a mission requires you to go to a body, then display the mission marker for that body in the system map
Mission board factions now ordered such that factions with mission hand-ins are at the top
Distress call scenario fixes
Prevent training level asteroids from jumping about when the game is unpaused
Increased ship variation for terrorist leader
Terrorist archetype now prioritises military targets
Update spawning ambient AI in normal space, and add powerplay ships when at stations, nav beacons and RES locations
Increased ship variety for political assassination targets
Make more explicit use of security levels for generating police in supercruise
Fix for dropping out at a USS not spawning the USS objects
Added with bodyguard variants of trader and smuggler scenarios for missions
Added more player events to scenarios
Change how USSs are spawned so it is no longer simply time based, location is a factor
Add a sine wave signal to POI turrets
Add a clamp to prevent wars in systems with few planets creating no conflict zones
Fixes to loadouts and behaviours in the rescue scenarios
Fixed credit reward for routing a cap ship in war zones to 150000
Show „shipping lane“ instead of „deep space“ when in supercruise in a shipping lane
Prevent collectibles on surface falling through the floor for non-authority clients
Fixed an issue where materials would sometimes spawn inside a rock and be untargetable
Settlement generator health cannot longer go into negative values
Fix broken skimmer disable points on two settlements
Unable to scan data points after other player completes settlement fixed
Fix an issue causing POIs to spawn on steep parts of terrain when they shouldn't be
Reduce fall off point for deep space POIs so human debris doesn't get found so far out
Settlement sentry skimmers should avoid crashing into player ships
Fix for canisters in POIs not replicating
Don't try to render POIs when the sensors are off
Make all Skimmers and POI objects detectable by ground sensors only by default, we don't want ships picking them off from the skies without having to work for it. Note that anything firing at the player will still show up and be target-able back - note that POIs can still be discovered from ships
Collisions with skimmers are now also extremely disruptive to ships, hitting one will cause a temporarily loss of drives and shields - don't do it
Extend time ships can fly over settlements before they get fines and bounties
Cargo in a POI now has the correct legality flag set and is also marked as mission cargo if needed
Settlement point defence capability upgraded
Lower range at which buggy can target things
Tweak skimmer armour resistances for boss
Refresh vouchers when claiming a scan, so we can immediately see the voucher that was generated
Don't allow skimmers to respond to accidental hits from their allied turrets
Added a beacon light to certain data links so that players are attracted to them
Skimmer disablers added
Added point defence systems for settlements and bases
If you leave a trespass zone while hostile, show a different message than leaving it while not hostile
Fixed issue with incorrect firing mode assigned to gimballed fragment cannons
Increased the heat damage of small beam laser slightly
Explosive damage more effective against shield generators
Increased torpedo damage
Increased mine ammo capacity and hardness piercing
Increased damage from missiles
Increased ammo capacity for dumbfire missiles
Re-evaluate default missile guidance parameters so that they make more use of lookahead further out
Reduce the splash damage for dumbfire missiles so they're not overpowered against surface targets
Fixed hardpoints deployed audio being spammed by ships that are in the process of landing/docking
Point Defense Turrets should only damage their target or submunitions
Fix Point Defense Turret parameters so they're a bit more accurate
Chaff no longer blocks advanced scans and so is less of a catch-all defence
Rebalanced torpedoes to be much tougher but slower
Tweaked point defence turrets to fix a fire rate issue and increased hardness piercing of dumb fire missiles
Make sure that beam weapons don't cause crimes when they're not supposed to
Stop submunitions being teleported for a frame in some circumstances
Target-Only turret mode changes:
It will now stop firing when blocked correctly, and can be activated while blocked and will not fire until the shot is clear
Target Only now has the same rules as Fire At Will and cannot cause crimes under any circumstances when accidentally hitting things other than the intended target. Crimes for hitting the intended target apply as normal
Correct an exploit where rapidly switching target several times during a bullets' flight would allow damaging a target without aggro
Replace legacy weapon variants with their defaults, along with some credits and materials to offset the inconvenience
Increase heat generated per shot on rail guns
Reduce heat sink ammo by one
Fix an issue when you had exactly -35 rep, it couldn't work out your relationship
Added investment faction state
Rebalance how player actions and missions count towards the star system's influence caps for the day
Rebalance how player actions and missions contribute towards faction state and influence buckets
Additional factors now contribute towards outbreak and famine's buckets
Added a new „Retreat“ state for factions with low influence levels not in their home system
Significantly changed the „Expanded“ state. The Faction's search for another system is now triggered at the end of the expansion's active phase. If the surrounding systems are full, then an expansion might trigger an invasion war if an appropriate defender can be found.
Added new „Investment“ state for factions that have failed to expand, which significantly increases development level for a short time and lets the Faction search a bit further away when they next expand
The „Lockdown“ state now locks down many station services for affected Factions, allowing Commanders to concentrate on helping those Factions' crime control efforts
Conflicts should now be easier to win, with rebalanced effects of combat actions during conflicts.
War now only needs a 5% influence difference to win. Civil War and Elections remain at 3%
When assigning the spoils of war, Ports & Stations that ships can dock at, are now considered more valuable than Planetary Settlements
Send out Inbox messages when Commander reputation changes past each threshold
Superpower reputation now affects the rate of change of affiliated Faction reputation
Fix background sim consequences for crimes other than piracy or murder and to consider both the victim faction and the faction that controls the jurisdiction of any crime
Local news articles have been improved for many states, including which system a Faction has just expanded into!
Fixed localisation for Commodity and Ship descriptions in local news reports
Added suspension travel prediction to SRV physics
After any outfitting web request, update the module boost states from the ship state that the server returns
Fix for incorrect SRV shadows
SRV fuel bars do not update in your role panel fixed
Disabling plot route / select buttons in galaxy map when player is in a SRV
SRVs can no longer be deployed when their respective Vehicle Bays are disabled
The select highest threat hotkey can now lock onto turrets and skimmers
Fixed the cargo scoop hotkey not working in an SRV when close to the ship
The SRV can no longer be deployed when the ship is in the middle of launching from a port
The SRV is now refuelled when it docks at a port
Fix for data link scanner not scanning when the option 'Firing deploys hardpoints' is disabled
Prevent turret mode being accessible via roles panel when under the ship (or otherwise blocked)
With drive assist on, moving off forwards at slow speed has long reaction time
Fix for vehicle turret camera clipping when at max pitch angle
Drive assist doesn't engage gear to react to throttle if buggy is slowly sliding fixed
Fix for the buggy rolling when it shouldn't, automatic handbrake only disengages when a drive/reverse input is received
Ship oxygen supply no longer depletes while the player is out of the ship (i.e. in a buggy)
Fix detection of high-speed collisions when two buggies collide
Fixed wheel motion blur rendering
Fixed Forward Only throttle issues with dead zones on the buggy
Fix incorrect physics collisions with wheels
When broadcasting text chat to /local, send to all ships/vehicles in the current session, regardless of range, visibility, etc (SRVs were not previously receiving chat from ships)
Tri-mesh vs. wheel stability improvements, wheels won't clip through walls anymore, rolling looks better
Now if your ship makes contact with your buggy while landing, it'll fly away. If you drive under the feet of someone elses landing ship, it'll crush you
Added tyre tracks
Fixed SRV turret mouse pitch axis being inverted by default
Allow transfer of stolen cargo from buggy to ship
Incorrect distance shown from targeted location after deploying SRV fixed
Fixed buggy wheel thrusters not animating while in the photo camera
The Turret mode does not scan targets. Meaning you have no information of health or shields - fixed
Added support for dirtying the buggy wheels according to the planet's dust colour
Fixed the buggy trying to run away while the game is paused or doesn't have focus
Fixed SRVs getting stuck in the cargo bay when deploying from the perspective of other clients
Role panel shows 0 buggys available when you restock srv via the restock screen fixed
Fixed the buggy going rogue while the photo camera is active during buggy deployment
Fixed the throttle showing negative zero while stationary and improved buggy behaviour while the photo camera is active
Fixed dumping cargo near a settlement in a buggy not giving the player a fine
Fixed escape menu moving during the vehicle boarding animation
Fixed Radar contacts being visible in the SRV while in turret mode
Raise up the buggy's garage start position by a couple of metres, to stop it getting embedded in the floor in some garages
Tweak vehicle cargo hatch behaviour to enable „Cargo Acquired“ message in the SRV
Buggy Turret UI is inconsistent when targeting things fixed
Small modification to the SRV headlights so that they don’t bleach out the ground so much on some planets
Add door change messages to the SRV to match what the ship has. Especially useful when opening/closing the cargo scoop while in turret mode
Let player park buggy in any garage, not just the one for the ship's landing pad. Use compass to lead them to the nearest one
Fix unsold exploration data and vouchers not always being removed when dying in an SRV and the parent ship has been destroyed
Don't start the CQC backfill matchmaking check timer if we're not in a CQC game yet
If someone joins a CQC match when the current game has less than 1 minute left, then have them wait on the lobby screen for the next match instead of joining a game about to end
Added scaling to the schematic models in the empire fighter cockpit
Fix a possible timing issue where the replication of CQC objects could come out of order, this would cause the splash at the end of a game to show an incorrect result, but the score summary screen which appears later would be correct
Make sure we don’t mark a CQC game as about to end when it’s in the loading state
Make sure we keep hold of the spawn point claim in CQC until either we move off the spawn point or we get destroyed, so we don't allow a spawn in the same location
Fixed issue of not being able to focus on party elements in UI
Fix an issue with accepting an invite from a player that has since disconnected from you
Cancel pending lobby invites when we enter matchmaking - players can't join lobbies that are in the middle of matchmaking, so the invite should be invalidated at this point
Adjusted how teams are set up in CQC games so make them more balanced
Save the CQC loadouts when you leave the ship select and loadout edit screens, instead of just when we quit the game
Fix for CQC disconnect bug caused by incorrectly aligned timeouts
Moved the animating doors on the asteroids map so there isn't a gap that the player can fly through
Added an extra check to the Matchmaking Lobby to try and catch an odd case of someone not quitting the game after the match has ended
Make sure we set the CQC user presence string when we start loading into the CQC menu, otherwise it will say we are in open play when we are on the loading screen
If we detect a CQC game is imbalanced (i.e. only 1 person in deathmatch or a 3v1 in team games) the it will start a 30 second countdown to end the game early. This countdown will be cancelled if someone else joins and balances the game out a bit
We now give players notifications for when someone joins/leaves/disconnects from the same CQC match that they are in
Fix drive placement/damagability on empire fighter drives
Drop 'CMDR' from gamertag when showing score summary as there's not enough room and everyone is a commander on that screen
If we receive a session error and we are the host to a squad, them make sure to remove the squad from matchmaking to avoid errors of being in the wrong state
After respawning after dying in a proving ground, make sure the respawn menu is closed
Fix for the CQC score screen staying up between matches if you have it open when the match ends
CQC ShieldBooster multiplier too small, bumped from 4% to 10%.
Fix an issue when trying to start a game with more players that in supports
Fix an issue with team sorting, it was possible for the team sorting to happen when we didn't have all the players data, so it couldn't split into teams correctly
Modified trimesh hitcheck for targeting weapons to work on the Cutter
Fixed hardpoint slot decal renumbering and adjusted thruster on Keelback
Improved LODS on cargobay for all ships
Bobble head stem fixes on some ship cockpits
Added Low LOD lights and fixed clipping issue in Cutter cockpit
Make sure that landing gear collision is in the right place at the right time
Type 6 landing gears have some of the pistons broken fixed
Type 7 landing gears have some of the pistons broken fixed
Keelback Hardpoint door clips into thruster fixed
Fixed UV mapping issue on the Cutter large hardpoint insets
Fixed the landing gear on the Keelback not deploying in sync
Added in cargo bay door and fixed some hitcheck issues for the Anaconda
Fix for non shadow casting ship headlights (Anaconda and Cutter)
Make the struts an interior material so they get the nicer clip plane on the Vulture cockpit
Four types of generic utility hardpoints for use as Scanners, Shield Boosters etc
Burning embers on permanent damage now cools off over time
Fixed greeble issues on the Anaconda
Fixed Anaconda chair positions and orientations
Let the Corvette's schematic get smaller when departing a planet surface
Updated Scratch, Dirt maps etc to improve appearance of damaged states and fix issues with damage appearing on new ships
Fix for Python hitcheck issue
Fixed flipped decals on Type 6, Type 7, and Type 9
Fixed mirrored decal on Diamondback Explorer
Viper MkIV flipped decal fixed
Adjustments to Imperial Cutter cockpit to fix some camera and HUD issues
Fix for incorrect hardpoint doors opening and closing in outfitting on Type 6
Updated Orca cockpit so bobbleheads don't intersect broken canopy
Fixed flipped hardpoints on Keelback
Fixed medium hardpoints were intersecting with the weapon's cage
Ensure that cockpit exterior textures aren't loaded twice
Now the Federation Corvette has bespoke landing gear doors animations
Decal pass on all ships
Fixed hitcheck for the ASP scout to cover wings
Some hitcheck fixes on the Imperial Cutter
Fixed offset shield issues with the Vulture
Keep clear text flipped on Corvette hull fixed
Fixed some hitcheck issues with the Orca
Fixed landing volumes for Asp Scout
Fixed offset hitcheck on the hauler, also fixed the landing gear hitcheck so that it covers the doors so that the SRV won't drive through them now
Increased the height of the buggy bay so that it doesn't clip when you look up in the SRV
Updated the Eagle's top hardpoint to not clip and be able to fire when small weapon is applied
Updated the Imperial Cutter's retro drive unit so that the particle fires the correct direction
Fixed stretched texture on the front of the Type 9
Fixed bone position on the Cutter's rear thrusters
Fix some issues with Sidewinder landing gear
Fixed mirrored text and incorrectly rotated light on the Python
Fixed an AO issue on the Type 9
Fixed multiple issues regarding the Imperial Eagle
Viper Paint 'MCV2' LOD issue fixed
Fix a mesh issue on the Viper
Prevent rings intersecting moons
Make sure that a ring is not completely invisible
Planet pops in and out of view when close to the edge of the viewport fixed
Graphics settings-dependant rocks now placed near existing rocks to maintain patch layout, so that graphics settings now only affect the general density, rather than the pattern of placement
Small surface rocks now generate right up to and around settlements
Game is not waiting for physics terrain to be ready on start-up at planet fixed
Reduce the green component of the starlight starting with surface temperatures greater than 8000K. This moves the colour scheme more towards the expected colour range for O-B stars
Reduce the maximum brightness from the star so that not every system follows the full range. This is a loose guard to stop dim stars with a nearby frost line from having high-albedo planets in over bright conditions
Fix the desaturated starlight target - it had been transitioning to full-grey instead of a fraction of the true/conventional colour mix
Fix a bug where patch lighting wasn't being generated and causing planets to render at low detail
Disable the terrain depth prepass render nodes when the player isn't on near/on the planet surface
Ejecta crater basins, edges, and multiring regions play nice with each other - the subsequent craters in the array should (mostly) stamp out the previous ones
A layer of noise from crater basins has been removed as it misbehaves for planets with large radius
The europa line depths have been exaggerated for large planets
Various optimisations for planet surface rendering
Add a very low terrain option for use in environment map captures
Optimisations for weapon effects on planet surfaces
Improved LOD management over distance
Enable asteroid shadow casting in ultra quality settings
Put the rocky/metal asteroid shaders into the correct FX list, there's no need for them to be doing any forward rendering
Add high quality bloom settings and preset updates for new bloom settings. Currently enabled for ultra and high presets for Win64 and OSX, and also enabled for Xbox One. The previous bloom has been kept in as a cheaper medium setting
Colour re-balance and general housekeeping for Rocky asteroid rings.
Changed billboard colour to better match „real“ rocks
Tweaked billboard normal to give better surface detail
Tweaked fog effects when in ring to add more „atmosphere“
Balancing pass on Metal and Ice asteroid rings:
Billboard diffuse textures tweaked to remove shading.
Billboard colour matched to „real“ asteroid diffuse better.
Billboard normals given more detail.
Ring fog boosted and balanced for greater atmosphere.
Ring distant specular brought down into sensible ranges as much as possible
Transition from distant ring to close up ring (in supercruise) improved to be more visually pleasing
Fix for large surface rock rotations not matching the correct settings
Enable asteroid SSS at medium material quality
Change to help reduce the brightness of ice ring systems
Texture generation workload size is now increased during System Map loads to compensate for vsync
Fix environment map null render logic
Fix black strip artefacts on planets
Tweak shadow bias settings for planetary approach on ultra to reduce some blocky artefacts
Fixed non-linear depth for stars and planets
Fix AO artefacts due to precision issues on terrain patches
Prevent light showing through planets that use lookup tables for atmosphere scattering, like gas giants
Implemented alternative technique for baked shadow calculation that removes precision issues. This fixes patchy shadow artefacts on large planets
Fix an issue where planets were using the wrong lighting when rendering sometimes
Improve LOD calculation for surface patches
Replace the authored ring detail texture with a generated texture which is unique for every ringed planet and does not tile
Scale frequency of detail texture on planet rings so that rings of differing breadths have uniform detail effects
AMD optimisation for terrain patch generation
Asteroid billboards are now deferred. This means that the ring fog is able to interact with them correctly
Changed how planet rings shadow. They now receive more realistic, much less diffused planet shadows. Rings background occlusion values have all been boosted as well
Fixed the asteroids in the ring sometimes not appearing when dropping out in them
Planet base dust is now driven from blended surface material colour
Stop shield geometry being drawing into the environment map (was causing the planets to turn blue sometimes)
Fix an issue where stellarforge live objects would not get a FOR shift it it happened the same frame as a location transfer, this would mean the live objects would be a few km out of position
Fix physics crash with overheating ship and fuel scooping
Fix softlock entering or leaving supercruise
Fix error retrieving star data when the data hasn't loaded yet
Add option to hide user's presence in rich presence
Unable to see any notifications in the top right panel about the flag in CTF fixed
When a player is invited into a game, try to use your squads suggested team as your suggested team, this should help the xBox backfill matchmaking make better team suggestions for new members
Allow comms to remain open between squad mates until a CQC game starts, then it will switch over to team comms. After a match has ended it will go back to squad comms
Fix issue with player being kicked if they're Live data wasn't properly initialised as the session was being created
Activate panel controls while focussed on the scanner panel for consistency - can now use pad B to exit the focus
Docking computer activates hardpoints and fires at station without player input
Always show the friend options popup, even if the only options are Show Gamercard and Back. This is less confusing than just automatically showing the gamercard in some situations
Add greater facility for binding controls
Prevent unlocking ship-killing achievements by killing skimmers
Fix full gamertag not being shown when targeting wing wake
Made space for gamertag in CQC menus able to fit 15 characters wide
To the right of Arena on Main Menu are links to Training Videos, these block Controller Navigation to Comms Contacts fixed
Various UI performance optimisations
Enabled HBAO by default on Xbox One
Fix issue with video player when coming back from constrained mode
Friends and Private Groups: Pressing B with a friend selected backs out of friends completely instead of just the sub-menu fixed