Hey Folks!
Update v0.14.3.3 is now available on Steam, and your clients should be updating shortly.
This is a hotfix update to our "Across the System" update, which is beginning to tackle some of the performance issues we've had, plus suicidal AI pilots, and other fixes.
Saves from v0.14.0.0 and later should work. Note that if you were experiencing issues in the older save, this patch may fix some, but others may persist depending on the cause.
- Framerate hitches caused by stuck interplanetary haulers should be less common now.
- Framerate hitches caused by AI ships nearly out of fuel should be less common now.
- AI Ships will now use the correct local ATC to request help, instead of calling a hauler out from across the System.
- AI ships should no longer get stuck accelerators, causing them to fly at hypersonic speeds.
- Lag spikes caused by opening the COMMS UI should be reduced now.
- Refueling kiosk should now be able to recharge ships with damaged batteries.
- It should now be possible to choose plot-specific actions again, if they were previously hidden after completing an unrelated plot.
- Docking ships should not quantum tunnel into each other as often anymore.
- Damaged battery charge now decreases to match its decreased max charge.
- Using stackable items inside containers should no longer cause lost stacks or blocked grid squares.
- More items and tools now have higher resolution art in the paper doll and MegaTooltip UIs.
- The paperdoll UI should have more accurate click detection when the item sticks out from a slot.
- Tooltips should now use correct names instead of [us].
- The MegaTooltip item icons should now correctly change appearance when the item changes modes.
- Docked ships should no longer slowly drift apart over time.
- Haulers should no longer completely deplete the derelicts in the boneyard.
- Scavengers should stop spawning when there aren't enough ships in the boneyard.
- Taking the PASS ferry to OKLG_SEC outpost should no longer lock the player inside a jail cell.
- Crew spawn locations on stations and ships should be more reliable now, resulting in fewer crew stuck outside.
- The paper cheat sheet on the NAV screen should no longer stubbornly refuse to move out of the way.
- Exercising Strength/Cardio condition should now correctly expire after finishing using equipment.
- Using super fast-forward should now expire more conditions when finished.
- Leaving a region will no longer cause errors due to crew being docked with an already deleted station.
- AI ships around VORB should stop spawning without any means of thrust.
- Incessant targeting alarms should be fixed now, since every spawned hauler won't start out targeting the player.
- AI flying through atmosphere should now correctly switch to rotor usage, if available.
- Added more lore snippets to the loading screen, and removed non-lore snippets.
- Several text fixes and edits to game content.
One of our current priorities is to address performance issues, and this patch includes a few early steps towards that goal.
A number of framerate hitches were the result of AI ships getting stuck in various situations, causing them to try, fail, and retry the same things over and over. This could lead to chained problems of haulers being sent out unnecessarily, and those haulers getting stranded, repeating the cycle.
We were able to find and fix several of those causes, plus a few bugs in the way AI ships are spawned. And the result, at least in some save files, should be fewer hitches and unnecessary new ship spawns. And fewer over or underpopulations of ships, haulers, and derelicts.
We also found a cause of AI pilots flying at 5 km/s, 10 km/s, or sometimes faster in the area around OKLG. This appeared to be a bad variable passed to the AI right before they got into a holding pattern, causing their accelerator to be stuck "on." So they would accelerate at full thrust.
Combine that with a separate bug that got them stuck in a holding pattern, and you get ships traveling at subluminal speeds without any regard for the ships (or asteroids) in their path. Both issues should be fixed now.
We found and fixed a number of smaller bugs that could lead to big problems. One involved stacks of items getting accounting errors and stale references, which could result in lost stacks of items, or grid squares that were blocked.
A separate issue involved items failing to load when a ship was docking, aborting the entire process mid-dock, and causing the ships to overlap completely. If you ever attempted to dock, and the other ship appeared inside your own, this bug's for you. (And this fix should allow us to say good riddance to that bug!)
We also added a new batch of sprite artwork for items. And a few fixes to the paperdoll UI to make clicks more accurate with these new images. The same images are also now used in the MegaTooltip, so when you select an item to learn more, you can see the nicer artwork.
Plus many other fixes, ranging from UI glitches, to non-expiring conditions, or even crew spawning in the wrong places.
As always, there's plenty more for us to fix, change, and add! And we'll be continuing in roughly that order. In the meantime, let us know if this patch helps you out, as well as if it reveals new problems!
Best,
Daniel Fedor
Founder, Blue Bottle Games, LLC