Ostranauts Hotfix Patch (0.10.2.8) Is Live!
Hey Folks!
Ostranauts v0.10.2.8 is now available on Steam, and your clients should be updating shortly.
This is a hotfix to our recently released "Taking Inventory" update that fixes several bugs and issues reported by players. In particular, the tutorials and captain and crew AI, but also several other changes.
Saves from v0.10.0.0 and later should work. If you were experiencing issues in the older save, this patch may fix some, but others may persist depending on the cause.
Despite the term "hotfix," this turned out to be a pretty big patch! Mostly addressing issues players have noticed since 0.10.2.6.
One of the biggest things we worked on in this patch is the new player onboarding experience. There were several pitfalls in the opening tutorials that caused players to lose momentum and give up.
Which is a shame, because it seems like those who manage to get through it, really enjoy the rest of the game! (At least, until they have gigantic ships and need crew to help, which is another area we tried to improve in this patch.)
For the tutorials, we changed the way they appear, and leave them on-screen for the user to dismiss. Several users reported issues with even noticing them, and these two changes should help significantly.
Users can also see finished objectives in the PDA, now, which was another issue reported by those who wanted to see old ones for reference.
Furthermore, the starting dorm area on OKLG had some visual problems that prevented players from finding various objectives and completing them. We changed the objects in there to have better contrast with the surroundings, added better visual aids when using objectives to focus on the target, and even added some visual aids directing the user where to act.
Finally, there were several steps in the tutorial chain where the user could go off-script, and it would break the rest of the tutorials. We tried to add more safety nets here to catch the more common cases and keep the tutorials coming.
On to the AI and crew, we heard several complaints of the NPC crew constantly badgering the player while they were trying to do other things. So instead, we've turned off their ability to initiate conversations with the player for now.
You may also notice that direct ordering your captain to do complex tasks is smoother and faster now. We found and fixed several built-in delays to the way AI processed commands, meaning they should jump to it immediately, and not stand around thinking a few seconds first.
Beyond that, there was a long list of fixes and changes to the game in general. All of which are aimed to fix bugs players encountered, enable content that was not appearing before, or improving usability.
One very significant fix involves another cause of the "ghost item" inventory bug. We found and fixed two causes of this which stemmed from closing the UI while an item was attached to the cursor.
As always, there's plenty more for us to fix, change, and add! And we'll be continuing in roughly that order. In the meantime, let us know if this patch helps you out, as well as if it reveals new problems!
Best,
Daniel Fedor
Founder, Blue Bottle Games, LLC
Ostranauts v0.10.2.8 is now available on Steam, and your clients should be updating shortly.
This is a hotfix to our recently released "Taking Inventory" update that fixes several bugs and issues reported by players. In particular, the tutorials and captain and crew AI, but also several other changes.
Saves from v0.10.0.0 and later should work. If you were experiencing issues in the older save, this patch may fix some, but others may persist depending on the cause.
- Added code to forbid NPCs/crew from initiating conversation with whomever the player is controlling, or anyone set to work/sleep right now.
- Fixed a bug that caused AI to immediately walk to install tile if a placeholder install was added to a tile.
- Fixed a bug that caused AI to pause for a moment when issuing direct order to install.
- Fixed a bug that caused AI to pause for a moment after finishing a task.
- Fixed a bug that caused AI to pause for a moment if direct order required fetching an item first.
- Removed idle crewmember notification icon from Roster PDA button, as it was mostly confusing new players.
- Fixed a bug that prevented editing of some zones after they were created. (E.g. when zone owner was not ZonePlayer)
- Changed the zone UI to disable the zone owner column outside of ship editor, as it should always be set to ZonePlayer when player creates a zone.
- Fixed bug allowing non-awake people to make "Big Scare" barks.
- Changed objectives to remain on screen until either completed or dismissed by user.
- Changed objectives so clicking to dismiss them moves them to the PDA Goals screen.
- Changed objectives to start larger at the top of the screen, then move to the lower left, for reference.
- Changed the objective rollover to hide everything on the screen except the target, for easier spotting.
- Changed objectives to spawn over UI so they are not missed, and can be referred to while in ship control panels.
- Added code to print a message in the log when objective complete, and disable the animated complete objectives for now.
- Added the ability to see completed/abandoned objectives on the PDA Goals screen.
- Changed alarm objectives (proximity, pressure, etc.) to behave similar to the old system, but are shown separately and blink then disappear after a bit.
- Changed loose conduit to look more like installed conduit, to help with dorm tutorial legibility.
- Added code to show a hint arrow for the install conduit tutorial step.
- Added code to prevent using the zones UI before leaving the character creation dorm area the first time, since it confused new players.
- Added code to allow the user to override the zone UI warning in the dorm area when shift is held.
- Changed OKLG dorm locker from a 1x3 inventory grid to 3x1, so it's easier to see in UI.
- Changed OKLG dorm locker to spawn yellow shoes, instead of black, so they are easier to see.
- Changed OKLG dorm locker to spawn yellow coveralls, instead of random, so they are easier to see.
- Fixed a bug that caused shift+click on clothing to not finish clothing tutorial objective.
- Fixed a bug that would cause tutorial objectives to spawning on stale/deleted objects.
- Fixed a bug that could cause nav station tutorial to target uninstalled/damaged nav stations in cargo hold.
- Fixed a bug that could cause null exception if an objective's target was null.
- Fixed a bug that could cause the nav tutorial for derelict docking to not complete if user saved game and reloaded before completing it.
- Fixed a bug that caused tutorial to stop prematurely if player uninstalls door instead of installing conduit.
- Fixed a bug that made objectives with long descriptions illegible at 720p.
- Fixed two typos in objectives: PowerVis spelling, and Clamp Engage button name.
- Fixed a bug that prevented objective highlighting from working on human targets.
- Changed paper doll UI backpack and drag slot contrast to be brighter, for better legibility.
- Added price info to OKLG license kiosk's option to buy a license.
- Changed vomiting duration from 4 hours to 6 minutes.
- Changed CO2 Scrubber so it keeps up with 6 crew members, instead of 2.
- Changed effectiveness of wipes and water to be double, for cleansing hygiene faster.
- Fixed a bug that caused inventory item to become a ghost if attached to cursor in UI, the original spot was not valid placement, and then UI was closed.
- Fixed a bug that caused inventory item to become a ghost if it was attached to cursor in UI when swapped with a slotted item, and then UI was closed.
- Fixed a bug that caused debug respawn ship UI to show no ships.
- Fixed a null exception that would lock player out of most controls if they attempted to use transit while nav station tutorial was beginning.
- Fixed Halberd's Scrubber to always run without a CO2 sensor.
- Fixed missing button audio on character creation sink previous skin button.
- Fixed a bug that caused some character creation sink arrows to remain after character creation when they shouldn't. (E.g. skin, eyes, facial features, etc.)
- Fixed typo causing purple jumpsuit gig not to spawn a purple jumpsuit in the gig locker
- Fixed several typos in gig text, dialogue options, and logging.
- Fixed bug allowing license purchase at infinite range from licensed kiosk
- Fixed atmo missing links to alarms on Bureaus, Mescaform, and Entrance
- Added missing cooler to Mescaform.
- Added enclosed dead ends behind doors on Mescaform.
- Added audio to some pants01 and T-shirts items that were missing it.
- Fixed a bug that caused used permits to not be allowed in hand slots.
Despite the term "hotfix," this turned out to be a pretty big patch! Mostly addressing issues players have noticed since 0.10.2.6.
One of the biggest things we worked on in this patch is the new player onboarding experience. There were several pitfalls in the opening tutorials that caused players to lose momentum and give up.
Which is a shame, because it seems like those who manage to get through it, really enjoy the rest of the game! (At least, until they have gigantic ships and need crew to help, which is another area we tried to improve in this patch.)
For the tutorials, we changed the way they appear, and leave them on-screen for the user to dismiss. Several users reported issues with even noticing them, and these two changes should help significantly.
Users can also see finished objectives in the PDA, now, which was another issue reported by those who wanted to see old ones for reference.
Furthermore, the starting dorm area on OKLG had some visual problems that prevented players from finding various objectives and completing them. We changed the objects in there to have better contrast with the surroundings, added better visual aids when using objectives to focus on the target, and even added some visual aids directing the user where to act.
Finally, there were several steps in the tutorial chain where the user could go off-script, and it would break the rest of the tutorials. We tried to add more safety nets here to catch the more common cases and keep the tutorials coming.
On to the AI and crew, we heard several complaints of the NPC crew constantly badgering the player while they were trying to do other things. So instead, we've turned off their ability to initiate conversations with the player for now.
You may also notice that direct ordering your captain to do complex tasks is smoother and faster now. We found and fixed several built-in delays to the way AI processed commands, meaning they should jump to it immediately, and not stand around thinking a few seconds first.
Beyond that, there was a long list of fixes and changes to the game in general. All of which are aimed to fix bugs players encountered, enable content that was not appearing before, or improving usability.
One very significant fix involves another cause of the "ghost item" inventory bug. We found and fixed two causes of this which stemmed from closing the UI while an item was attached to the cursor.
As always, there's plenty more for us to fix, change, and add! And we'll be continuing in roughly that order. In the meantime, let us know if this patch helps you out, as well as if it reveals new problems!
Best,
Daniel Fedor
Founder, Blue Bottle Games, LLC