2022 was a very busy year for the Stationeers team. We consolidated our Statiioneers team with our ICARUS team at the same location, allowing us to draw together our talent and experiences across both teams.
Multiplayer
Our efforts last year culminated in the release of a major multiplayer refactor that solved a great deal of issues and substantially optimized the code. The game was still heavily reliant on a method of making network connections that was unreliable and not performant - so we developed that further (a variation of RakNet we call "RocketNet"). We released this late last year as well as removing DRM entirely from the game and also any requirement for the game to run on steam.
This has presented an issue for players who have difficulty making multiplayer connections due to Internal Address issuing problems, stemming from port forwarding challenges and IP exhaustion. We are currently working hard to reimplement Steam P2P to work with our new multiplayer, as this will alleviate a lot of those having port forwarding and IP issues.
Working on the "hook"
Many have noticed that after the major multiplayer refactor we have been focusing on redeveloping core areas of the game, trying to do so in a very deliberate and cohesive way. Sometimes this involves some small steps backwards - but our progress can be seen by the reworked hydroponics and our midway work on trading. Expect a lot more updates focused on developing what we would call the "hook" to the game. We have excellent systems but we are trying to make them matter. As always, we love discussing the game and where it should go here in the comments, on the forums, and more directly on the Discord.
Bug Fixes
As we're getting back in to the swing of things and making plans for the upcoming content updates we've been doing some house keeping and fixing a bunch of bugs reported by the community, as well as some additional fixes for the last update.
Bellow are the key fixes in this update
Trader Contact List
The trader contact list was sometimes breaking when you left a game and started or loaded a new game and would persist until you restarted the game.
Stationpedia Issue
We added the ability to pause the game while viewing the Stationpedia but the search was not working correctly while paused.
Atmospheric Network Errors
Changing an atmospheric network was causing devices to enter in to an error state and would only be fixed by turning the device off and back on again, which was not always possible.
Game Hanging While Loading
When starting a game it would hang for an indeterminant amount of time when it had reached about 90% completion. There is now no stall time at all.
Work on the next trader update is underway and you can expect to see it be released next week.
Your support makes this possible
Over the last year, we’ve completely refactored the net code making multiplayer more stable, we’re continuing to improve the connectivity, and we’ve improved some big systems to allow us to bring you better content and new game loops. All this while transitioning to a weekly update cycle.
All the community support, feedback, and involvement have made this possible. So thank you!
If you like the progress we have made, please consider taking a moment to leave a positive review. This makes a huge difference to the project. We've been working hard for the last five years, and feel confident the game has substantially improved over this time. Many projects steer clear of the hard tasks, and we are proud to have taken them on.
Additionally, you can support us by purchasing DLC that we've made to allow those who enjoy the game to support us, and in return get something a little fun to use in-game.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2089290/Stationeers_Human_Cosmetics_Pack/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1038400/Stationeers_Zrilian_Species_Pack/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1038500/Stationeers_HEM_Droid_Species_Pack/
Change Log v0.2.3773.18265
- Fixed typo in tutorial mission
- Fixed plant stabilizer arrows being emissive when the appliance is off
- Added custom project view editor tool for better project searching
- Fixed new trader contacts not displaying after leaving and loading a game
- Fixed stationpedia only returning one result when paused
- Fixed Atmospherics Devices go into an error state when adding pipes to one of their input or output networks.
- Fixed Pipe Network Atmospheres sometimes not being saved when the pipe network was being modified during the saving process.
- Fixed Error when trying to modify a mixerGroup property on an audioSource that is in the process of being destroyed.
- Fixed Heat exchangers stop working when an attached pipe network is modified.
- Fixed Plant Analyser not being able to scan Hydroponics Device
- Fixed missing mushroom spore bag thumbnail
- Fixed satellite power dial not showing correct tooltip text
- Fixed plants drinking and breathing while dead
- Fixed game hanging at ~90% while trying to start game while hosting
- Fixed issue with satellite dish not setting its closest contact correctly, which prevented logic values signal ID and Signal strength from returning expected values, signal strength returns as -1 until contact is resolved, and the degrees offset after resolving(smaller numbers are closer).
- Fixed SatelliteDish draws power from logic cable as well as power cable.
- Fixed constructing pieces of landing pad when it is linked to a computer can throw an error.
- Fixed Trader landing animation plays when loading a game with a trader already landed.
- Changed trader depart check to use grid system check instead of physics call.
- Fixed Trader shuttle not being lit by player headlight.
- Fixed saves failing to load because of null blocking grids array
- Fixed incorrect message when trading with no available credit card
- Trader code clean up.
- Changed Trader landing check from physics check to path trace.
- Fixed role sometimes being none when hosting
- Removed an external web request
- Reverted StartServer from being async
- Fixed Able to interact with logic chips behind closed roll cover.
- Fixed Translucent shader not calculating correct shadows.
- Fixed Ices lit from behind in lockers appear lit.
- Fixed name missing on medium and large hangar door. Removed unused hangar door kit
- Fixed Small Satellite dish is constructed with dish at incorrect horizontal rotation.
- Fixed items incorrectly popping out of chute valve after building a new chute next to a closed and occupied chute valve
- Fixed Incorrect pin-out n combustion centrifuge. (d0 pin was pointing to d1).
- Created GameStrings for remaining un-localised strings in combustion centrifuge tool tips.
- Fixed station contact tier dictionary from being cleared incorrectly