This patch is mainly about a huge optimization for algae and lots of changes to the planet editor, but there are lots of smaller things, for which I'd like to thank the players on the forums (special shout out to Uber/Ace and Material Ghost) and the many players emailing me.
Algae optimizations:
* Algae that get born out of the visible range of the camera are no longer even created (as opposed to created but hidden). If the camera moves closer, they are created 'just in time'. In worlds full of algae, this can lead to framerate increases of ~30FPS (!)
* When moving the camera in and out of the water, no longer all plankton is turned on/off... instead, only the ones close to the camera, decreasing the lag spike.
Polishing and fixing the planet editor
* There now is a habitability score, indicating the likiness of plants and land animals evolving before you start a world
* When in spherical mode, you can now drag to rotate the planet
* When in flat map mode, the size of the map increases and decreases to indicate to chosen map size (only a visual effect)
* The plant colors now have more explanation and question mark tooltips
* Improved the explanation text for wildfires
* Added a title and subtitle instructions for the season editor
* Added tooltips for the icons in the season editor
* Centered the 'ready' button and made it respond to mouse hover
* Volcano placement mode is now turned off if you switch tabs
Balancing:
* Nectar eaters get a bit more energy from nectar
* Herbivores get a bit less energy from soft plant tissue
* Various omnivore mouths no longer eat eggs
* The strongest ocean currents now require less speedy animals
Disaster fixes:
* Manually changed ocean levels no longer reset after going into an editor
* Moving the camera directly after launching a meteorite no longer leads to meteorites floating in the sky
* Doing a timejump right after a meteorite no longer results in perpetual darkness
* Doing a timejump right after a volcano eruption no longer stops the eruption process
Fixes for the 'locate organism' feature (the magnifying glass)
* Instead of sometimes failing, this feature will now quickly try again until it finds a good example organism
* Locating organisms now also works for plankton
* Clicking before hovering any button in the species list view no longer closes the species list view
Changes to the mutation mechanics:
* The addition of animal body segments is now more likely (so creatures can evolve longer necks or tails)
* Readded changing bark type
Bull dozer circle:
* Now also removes underwater creatures
* Now with the option to 'invert' (so remove everything outside the circle)
Misc fixes:
* The presence of mist no longer prevents the sound effect options from working
* Weather sound effects are now also muted underwater
* In the detail view, plankton in the world is now clickable for more information on the species
* In the detail view, clicking on the family tab multiple times no longer duplicates the rotating models
* Fixed the positioning of the UI in the 'see' dropdown for the lower instinct slots in the instinct editor
* When mixing multiple seed types in one plant, you should now see the correct color for all of them
I often forget to read comments below release notes, so if you have questions or bug reports, feel free to reach out via the Steam forums or [email protected].