Patch 471 is available for PC, Mac and Linux now on the beta branch. Don’t know how to access beta? Read this.
Patch Notes
Patch 471 includes an engine update and the return of the Vulkan rendering API. Be sure to update your video drivers to the latest. For systems where Vulkan is not support the game will select the next best API e.g. DirectX (12, 11, 10 or 9) or OpenGL as the case may be. Please note that the Vulkan and DirectX 12 integrations are in an early state, please report any rendering issues through the community hub or through Heathen’s support channel.
Community Features
With patch 471 we have introduced the first of a battery of upcoming community features. The Early Access Message has been replaced with the Early Access Challenge. The initial Early Access Challenge feature set is a simple leader board scoring the ‘Early Access Points’ earned by each player. A set of initial challenges have been issued for patch 471 each rewarding a set number of points per completion. As Terran progresses new features and challenges will be added to the Early Access Challenge area.
Technical
The Unity 3D engine has been updated to 5.6.2 correcting a number of rendering and physics issues including issues with the Vulkan rendering API.
Load order of assets have been adjusted to bring players to main menu faster. Core assets will not be loaded until a new game or existing profile is loaded. The ‘Continue’ button may not appear on load as it has previously however existing profiles can still be loaded via the Load Game option on the main menu. The ‘Continue’ functionality will be restored in a later patch.
Camera and flight logic have been updated to correct for gimble lock … rapid spin when looking straight up or down. It is now possible to do a full loop; this should be the final adjustment to the flight camera and flight logic pending player feedback of course.
GameSparks has been implemented as of patch 471 to handle backend services such as the Early Access Challenges and leader boards. Terran will expand on the new capabilities as build 471+ stabilizes through the Early Access process.
Work is on going regarding UI updates in particular updating text labels. These updates are to improve rendering of fonts and offer better support across a wider range of display resolutions.