Hi Galactic Survivalists!
Today we are releasing the second part of our performance update. As of now, server admins can not only set up rules about their server community being able to use blueprints at all, but also to which degree and to which sizes!
As a short explanation: Performance issues do not result from a ship being built out of 60.000 blocks alone. Performance issues are related to the device count, like generators, thrusters, fuel tanks and so on! That’s why the classes are based on device-count, not on the total block count.
With the new settings, you can now set up rules for the maximum device-count (Classes) of those ships that are allowed to be spawned via the Blueprint Library. (See Changelog below for all the settings)
This does not affect ships already in the game or ships that were manually built up and beyond these limits, but, as it stands now, we might (!) make active use of the device count classes for the upcoming vessel and structure balancings. Feel free to send us your feedback on this specific topic!
We are also going to introduce some more powerful and larger devices, all our builders might find useful.
Version 2.3 adds the new Tier 2 Generator and the Tier 3 tank. Both will not only reduce your structures device-counts, but also reduce the amount of tanks to fill while keeping the same level of fuel packs!
Please note: The new Tier 3 Fuel Tank is kind of temporary, as the UI needs a bit of a feature upgrade to fully feature larger tanks with more than 56 fuel pack slots. As soon as we achieved that, we might downgrade the content of the T3 Tank a little bit in terms of fuel pack slots (so it fits the calculation and balance again), but offer even larger T4 tanks (in size and content) in exchange.
Finally, we improved the visuals of the game by increasing the light intensity on many playfields, making the ambient color less dark, tweaking tone-mapping and the image processing effect.
The result of our tweaks are more vivid colors...
...and less overblowing of bright colors on the terrain:
Thanks to the higher light intensity, the normal maps on objects are much more pronounced:
We also increased the strength of the shadows:
We hope you’ll find these changes and improvements useful and are looking forward to your feedback! :)
Empyrion Dev Team
Changelog: Alpha 2.3.0 (Build 520)
Features:
- Added server-side Blueprint restrictions depending on the Device-count (dedicated.yaml). Restricted classes can not be produced in Blueprint factory and/or spawned. They are marked ORANGE in the Blueprint Library. Device count of each Blueprint is visible in the blueprints info panel.
Available Size Classes:
Class 1 = less than 50 devices
Class 2 = between 50 and 250 devices
Class 3 = between 250 and 500 devices
Class 4 = between 500 and 1000 devices
Class 5 = between 1000 and 1500 devices
Class 6 = more than 1500 devices (default)
Please note: these limits are not set in stone and may be changed in the course of development.
- Added global server-side restriction of blueprints being allowed to be used or not (dedicated.yaml).
Available settings:
None = Blueprint system completely disabled
StockOnly = only stock blueprints can be produced
All = all types allowed (default)
- Added Size Class and Device Count available via Control Panel -> Statistics (+ some tweaks to stats window)
- Added new T3 Fuel Tank (CV & BA, 2*2*1: 56 slots)
- Added new T2 Generator (CV & BA, 6*2*2: 500MW Output)
- Added Shutter Doors sizes 1x2, 2x3.
- Added new starter blueprint: Tier 4 SV. Updated some other starter blueprints (Thanks to Mr.IceCat)
New Tier 4 Starter SV by Mr.IceCat
Improved Visuals:
- Increased light intensity on many playfields (you must start a new game for this change to take effect)
- Increased intensity of shadows
- Changed ambient color (less dark)
- Tweaked tone-mapping and image processing effect
- Tweaked shader for trees on Akua, tweaked deco
Changes and Improvements:
- Increased LOD limit of structures: 1200m on planet (instead of 1000m), 3000m in space (instead of 2500m)
- Optimized Terrain -> less micro stutters.
- Optimization: Tweaked LOD groups of many devices (slightly earlier culling)
- Increased power of small and large Generator (BA / CV)
- Large Ammo Box has now 35 instead of 21 slots
- Added hitpoint info to small fuel tank
- Another small tweak to Escape Pod (collider and rolling behavior)
- Updated Stock CV Tier 1-3 -> added shutter doors for vertical doors
- Slightly reduced de-spawn time of destroyed drones
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed: Multiple instances of playfield loaded (leading up to a total crash)
- Fixed: Explosive devices do not get used up when placed
- Fixed: Underwater Deco placed on dry land
- Possible fix for ground/terrain rebuilding like an invisible layer with drone wrecks nearby
- Fixed problem with disabled audio source warnings
- Fixed wrong path description where to find outputlog in support email
- Fixed: Tanks - Description Info missing/wrong
- Fixed glass issue with cockpit
- Possible fix for playfield crash