"Patch 199" has been released!

Astroneer's Pre-Alpha Early Access has been updated to version 0.3.10199.0 (Patch "199")

Steam 'Early Access' users will receive this update Thursday August 17th.

UPDATE: 8/18
We are deploying a hotfix to Update 199. It includes three fixes:

1. Fixed audio settings to not always default to zero.
2. Fixed a multiplayer crash related to clients grabbing research chests and then crashing
3. Fixed an issue that would cause some savegames to cause the game to crash on load.

Update 199 is the first update with the full added force of our new but extremely well rounded Engineering team. While the designers were busy pushing out our first experimental tests for new content, as well as making HUGE leaps forward on Modularity, Research 2.0, & Terrain 2.0 (more on that later) the engineers worked to bring Astroneer to a MUCH more stable state.😂 These notes will contain a somewhat abbreviated list of these extensive fixes, but I want to take a second and sincerely thank everyone who took time to pack up crash reports and saves to send over to the team. They were a huge help and benefit the larger community in extremely meaningful ways. The team was able to close out dozens of bugs in the main branch of the game, as well as numerous ones discovered during our Experimental Tests. Every tweet, email, message, & post means a lot. Thank you.

Because of all this infrastructure/prototyping/stability work, we are still not delivering huge content drops. We know this might frustrate some, but if you want to read about all of the awesome stuff in the pipeline that is coming, jump down to the PROTOTYPING section of the notes. Astroneer is going to be bigger and better than we ever could have imagined, and we appreciate everyone's patience while we lay the foundation for all the content this game will be getting. We also have a test of new content over on our experimental branch of the game! Full details about how to participate here. Ok! Now for the notes:

UPDATES

You can find these updates in 0.3.10199.0, the current build of the game.

[AS-896] - The Options Menu has been completely overhauled.

The Options Menu has received the first pass of a complete visual and functional overhaul, resolving several bugs with the prior implementation. This update adds lots of options including some to help people with lower end hardware. You can now:

• Adjust display options including VSYNC and keep those changes
• Adjust graphics options to suit your hardware, including Shadow Quality, AA, PP and effects.
• Audio options now actually work! Adjust them to your liking.
• Keybindings on PC will now remain saved between sessions, with some added options like mouse sensitivity, toggling the hold to sprint, and others.

This menu will continue to be updated over the course of the next few releases.

[AS-994] - The Trade Module has received some bug fixes and interaction improvements, such as:

• The maximum return value is always the number of slots on the trade platform rocket.
• Now, once you reach the maximum return value, you will not be able to add more resources to any remaining open slots.
• If you add an item that pushes the trade value above the maximum, or switch the return item to something with a more favorable exchange rate, the actual return will always be clamped to the maximum.
• Resources that are on the trading platform already when the maximum return value is hit or exceeded can always be removed (but cannot be attached again unless removing them causes the return value to dip below the maximum).

[AS-1305] - Beacon colors can now be changed.

This longtime request has now been implemented. Beacons now serve as aids for finding a previous spot, as well as for navigation. Use the in-game UI to cycle through colors or choose the 'red strobe" option for emergencies.

[AS-1145] - Audio has been migrated to the Wwise Engine from Unreal 4 and remixed using the new technology.

Wwise audio engine integrated into Unreal 4. All audio in the game now plays through Wwise instead of UE4’s built in audio engine. The following changes and improvements have been made to the audio engine.

• New cave exploration music tracks added.
• Remixed / mastered existing music with additional instruments added.
• Tracks broken down into separate layers to leverage Wwise game states.
• Music becomes distorted when low on oxygen.
• Music changes based on time of day.
• Music now streams rather than load entirely on game start, reducing RAM impact
• Sound is sent through a reverb when underground.
• Footstep sfx are affected by the movement speed of the player.
• Ambience loops no longer heard when at the main menu or orbiting a planet.
• Both the medium and small generator’s audio slows down when their “fuel” is near empty.
• When death occurs, sounds stop playing earlier.
• Music does not abruptly start again when death occurs, it now fades back in over an extended period of time.
• Wind turbine audio more appropriately matches their animation frequency.
• Sandstorms now have improved distance attenuation and better stereo / surround panning.
• Sandstorm rock impact added for when the player gets hit by a boulder.
• Low oxygen breathing audio now triggered more abruptly rather than a gradual fade in.
• Rover tire audio no longer plays when vehicle is in the air.
• Rover engine audio no longer plays when rolling unpowered down an incline
• Rover engine audio revs when vehicle is being powered and leaves the ground.
• Rover shutdown sound added
• Improvements to the active voice count in the game, allowing for slight performance gains.

[AS-1259] - Each suit now has a unique Death animation.
As shown off in Vlog 11, some of Gene's new death animations are now in! 💀😢

FIXES

In addition to numerous under-the-hood fixes which will improve your play experience, the following live issues have been fixed. Thank you to everyone in the community who has reported and shared details with us on these issues.

• Fixed several issues causing Multiplayer crashes which occurred when Client players returned to their base after venturing far away from it.
• Fixed numerous Multiplayer crashes related to interacting with items in the world as a client
• Fixed a Multiplayer issue that prevented Win 10 players from connecting to Xbox players
• Fixed a number of performance degradation issues relating to base conduits.
• Fixed several audio issues where sounds would persist even after the event has ended, including:
• [AS-691] - Biome Ambience SFX will no longer play when the player is in space.
• [AS-915] - In Multiplayer games, the sound effect of building loops no longer continues playing for the Client player.
• [AS-1027] - Fixed issues with SFX being played from sources not close to player.
• [AS-1345] - Fixed issue where Sandstorm audio would continue after the storm ended.
• [AS-1445] - The sound of oxygen being replenished no longer persists when disconnecting from the oxygen tether before the tank has fully recharged.
• [AS-1448] - Fixed issue where the ambient overworld wind sounds did not change when going deep underground. Fixed several audio issues where sounds would not play at all, including:
• [AS-1370] - Fixed intermittent issue where the Rover did not make any sound when driven.
• [AS-1372] - Fixed missing audio upon Pajama Suit Astroneer death
• [AS-1373] - Fixed missing audio upon Bubble Suit Astroneer death
• [AS-599] - Fixed “double death” issue with Astroneer taking fall damage and dying again when respawning after falling from a high altitude.
• [AS-873] - Collecting multiple resources with the Drill will no longer cause all the open slots to break.
• [AS-1256] - Fixed issue where Resource items would float off after being blown away during a storm
• [AS-1258] - Fixed issue where Save Slot 1 was sometimes overwritten when creating save data in Save Slot 2 and beyond.
• [AS-1297] - Fixed minor but extremely annoying issue where newly built base conduits would not follow the hologram path.
• [AS-1329] - Upon death, previous backpack inventory should no longer appear hovering next to the Habitat.
• [AS-1335] - Fixed a major issue where performance would severely degrade when players opened the Options menu
• [AS-1369] - Fixed issue where incomplete nuggets of Power were not consumed when placed on a slot.
• [AS-1334] - Fixed issue where Terrain Tool Augments were not working correctly

Some of these are grouped up, but included multiple issues. The main branch of the game should be much more stable, although we are sure there are still some lingering issues out there. Multiplayer crashes should be much less frequent, and performance should have improved across the board.

NOTE: If you previously used INI tweaks to adjust Astroneer performance, we recommend you reinstall the game, or revert your config files. We upgraded Unreal, and old tweaks to the .ini file will most likely cause you to crash or encounter unintended behaviors. Many crash reports we receive are related to the adjustment of source files, and we cannot offer support for saves broken by these adjustments.

KNOWN ISSUES

• Some “vocal” efforts play on the server when activated by the client.

PROTOTYPING

The following major feature prototypes are ongoing during development, but are not included in this release.

Modularity Prototype has been internally validated
Modularity was another topic that got teased during vlog 012. This is the exact moment it flashes across the screen. Aaron showed the team a prototype that confirmed our feelings all along: building with modular pieces looks awesome. Now comes the hard part of making it fit in with the core gameplay loop, among many many other considerations. We will update with more details soon.

Research 2.0 "minimum viable" prototype was tested internally.
I can't share lots of details about this right now, but Research 2.0 is going really well. If you missed it, some eagle eyed Astroneers spotted a moment from vlog 012 that shows off the current direction, WHICH IS VERY MUCH A WORK IN PROGRESS. This still has a long way to go, but a much more deliberate research system for progression feels really great and we cannot wait to get this into experimental for you all to try.

Dedicated servers are now working outside of the editor.
Another milestone in the long push to get dedicated servers operational. Andrew has been working on getting these spun up for us to try internally. While we still need to optimize and work out a TON of infrastructure tasks related to the current game as well as future features like online persistence, we are nonetheless one step closer to rolling out dedicated server support.

Terrain 2.0 new spherical planet is in progress.
Zabir is working on applying the Terrain 2.0 prototype to spherical planets. If you haven't heard, Terrain 2.0 will allow us to dramatically increase performance, which will allow the game to run better, but more importantly, lift the multiplayer player limit. We are still a way off from doing that, but it gives some context for the importance of Terrain 2.0.

Ok this has been a long one! Thanks for reading, and as always please don't be afraid to reach out with feedback, bugs, and suggestions! Btw: we are 100 subscribers away from 20k on Youtube! If you haven't already, go over and subscribe so you can get weekly updates on what we are working on as well as see Gene's collection of wigs.

-jt