Ostranauts News

Hey Folks!

Just a tiny hotfix patch (0.12.1.3) today. It includes the rollback of AI tweaking from yesterday that caused strange free-time behavior, plus a new fix for pathfinding that was allowing AIs to fix things from too far away.

There are still other fixes we'd like to add in a future patch, but they are proving to be hard to reproduce, and therefore fix. In particular, issues with scrap loot appearing suddenly, missing NPCs on stations, and memory issues.

Please do keep us informed if you discover any new bugs, or have more information to share on existing ones.

Best,
Daniel Fedor
Founder, Blue Bottle Games, LLC

Hey Folks!

Ostranauts v0.12.1.1 is now available on Steam, and your clients should be updating shortly.

This is a hotfix update to our recently released "Rate My Ship" update, which fixes several issues with game timers, pathfinding, and other problems.

Saves from v0.12.0.0 and later should work. Note that if you were experiencing issues in the older save, this patch may fix some, but others may persist depending on the cause.

• Added a performance optimization to pathfinding code.
  
• Changed AutoSave to reset interval timer when game manually saved.
  
• Changed AI to have more knowledge about how to use environmental objects.
  
• Fixed a possible memory leak when saving a game completes.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused AutoSave and Loading popups to stop updating while game was paused.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused AI to seek out and wear helmets if they even considered going through a voided airlock.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused wounds to be invisible on inventory paper doll after loading a save.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused special event timers (e.g. micrometeoroids) to update while game was paused.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused extra officers to spawn on OKLG stations instead of reusing existing ones.
  
• Fixed a bug that could allow important NPCs (like Flotilla fixer) to be used as NPC scavenger pilots.
  
• Fixed OKLG licensed kiosk action list so option 1 is Trade instead of License Info, for consistency with other kiosks.
  
• Fixed a null exception that could occur when updating the appearance of a destroyed object.
  

Several of this patch's changes involve pathfinding improvements. One is a performance optimization which tries to reuse existing pathfinding solutions more, and it should improve performance in high-traffic areas and areas with large spaces.

We also fixed a bug that caused AI to put a helmet on any time the pathfinder considered going through an airlock without air on the other side. Even if it ultimately didn't decide to.

AI also got a minor boost by having its list of possible actions updated to include some newer items.

A different batch of fixes focuses on timers, saving, and memory. Several timers in the game were using scaled time, meaning certain UIs would stop updating when the game paused. And an opposite situation for game special events continued even when the game was paused.

With regard to saving, the autosave timer now resets when the user executes a manual save. And there should be slightly improved RAM use after saving now.

Lastly, there were a handful of miscellaneous fixes to the game, including a few that caused missing or too many NPCs of certain types.

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

Hey Folks!

Ostranauts v0.12.1.0 is now available on Steam, and your clients should be updating shortly.

This is a feature update to our recently released "Rate My Ship" update, and changes autosave to use threading and disrupt the game less, plus several game and UI fixes.

Saves from v0.12.0.0 and later should work. Note that if you were experiencing issues in the older save, this patch may fix some, but others may persist depending on the cause.

• Changed Autosave to run on a separate thread.
  
• Changed the MegaTooltip (top right info) to show a consolidated damage bar on items.
  
• Changes AI to make OKLG managers less likely to attack Criminals on sight.
  
• Fixed a bug that allowed players to profit if they sold, bought, and sold the same ship immediately.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused the AI AUTO setting to toggle when selecting tiles in the zones UI.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused the trade UI Toggle All button to add non-sellable items.
  
• Fixed a white preview image in the ship purchase confirmation dialog.
  
• Fixed a bug that could cause derelicts to be missing preview screenshots.
  
• Fixed bug that caused pilot AI to try and avoid ships that were not really there.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused 1x1 battery, HVAC items, and others to be missing from OKLG Supply Kiosk.
  
• Fixed several typos in game data.
  

The biggest change in this Feature patch is the new Autosave threading code. It should now only pause for a few seconds when it starts to autosave, then run the rest of the autosave in the background on a thread. You'll notice after the big Autosave pop-up fades out, a smaller icon remains in the corner while it writes to disk. Hopefully, this will be less intrusive than the old autosave!

We also noticed a number of players misunderstanding the way the condition bar in the MegaTooltip (MTT is the info box at top right when an item is right-clicked). Previously, it would reset to 100% when an item transitioned from "working" to "damaged" mode, which was a bit confusing.

Now, both modes use the same two-part damage bar. When the bar is in the red part, it is damaged. And when it is in the green part, it is working normally.

We also fixed a ship broker pricing bug that caused several issues, including the ability to print money by serially buying and selling the same ship. Several bugs with ship images were also addressed.

An AI tweak we made should also make Managers less likely to attack Criminals on sight, which would often cause both to be tagged as public enemies for the police to then attack. It may not solve all the AI chaos we're seeing, but we'd like to see what effect this has before changing more.

Finally, there were a few other fixes the AI toggling, missing items in the kiosks, and other typos.

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

Hey Folks!

Ostranauts v0.12.0.8 is now available on Steam, and your clients should be updating shortly.

This is a hotfix to our recently released "Rate My Ship" update that fixes several bugs and issues reported by players. Namely, some AI crew fixes, barter zone QoL enhancements, and ship docking/undocking fixes.

Saves from v0.12.0.0 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 the trade UI to show all items on the sell screen, instead of just the items vendor wants to buy. Unwanted items are marked accordingly.
  
• Fixed a bug that prevented Fixer/trader from seeing wanted items inside unwanted containers.
  
• Fixed a bug that prevented barter zones from appearing if they were on unowned ships.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused docking fees to continue accruing after selling a derelict.
  
• Fixed a bug that allowed player to dock with hidden/despawned ships.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused derelict ships to be immovable if player used ferry to get to them.
  
• Fixed a bug that allowed AI to attempt to equip invisible game system objects for fun. (E.g. loot spawners, conversational topics, all of outer space)
  
• Changed AI to it would only attempt to quit the crew while docked at a station.
  
• Changed AI so it won't complain about work as often when it is dissatisfied.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused quitting crew member to load old social combat UI.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused upset crew to just stand next to the player without doing anything.
  
• Fixed a bug that could cause officer to get stuck when replying to player, especially when player said they don't know why they were stopped.
  

Several of this patch's fixes address the trade UI and barter zones. Players should now see an updated trader UI that shows all items in the barter zones, including items the trader won't buy. Items which are not sellable will be listed as "Not Wanted," and the rest can be sold normally.

This allows us to show not only items on the floor of your ship, but also items in bins, racks, crates, and dollies, even if those containers aren't directly sellable. This also fixes the issue where it seemed like a barter zone wasn't found by the Fixer, when it was instead seen as empty because it only contained containers at the surface level which the fixer didn't want.

We also fixed a few more docking/undocking related bugs, including another situation that could lead to docking fees continuing after selling a derelict. Docking with despawned or hidden ships is also now prevented, and we added a fix which prevented piloting a derelict after ferrying to it.

Finally, we added a series of fixes to the AI for crew. AI should now pester the player less often when dissatisfied with their job, and will only attempt to quit now if the player is docked at a station. We also fixed the old social UI that would appear when they do so.

Another fix addresses crew that would just stand there and do nothing next to the captain when dissatisfied with their job, and even a bug that cause them to grab ahold of anything in the universe, tangible or not, when bored (including the entirety of outer space).

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

Hey Folks!

Ostranauts v0.12.0.7 is now available on Steam, and your clients should be updating shortly.

This is a hotfix to our recently released "Rate My Ship" update that fixes several bugs and issues reported by players.

Saves from v0.12.0.0 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.

• Fixed a bug that causes docking clearance to get messed-up when attempting to dock with an already docked vessel.
  
• Fixed a bug that could cause NPC ships to never undock from derelicts, making some gigs impossible.
  
• Fixed a money exploit loophole when buying and selling derelicts without visiting them.
  
• Fixed a bug that prevented docking to owned ships if the transponder was off.
  
• Fixed a bug that could cause nulls when hacking a door.
  
• Fixed a bug that could cause ghost ships when undocking from an NPC ship.
  
• Fixed a bug on the Ferry UI that always showed OKLG as the destination.
  
• Fixed a bug that could cause AI ships to try to elude player after granting docking clearance.
  
• Fixed a bug that spawned purchased ships too close to another ship to be reached safely.
  

Several docking fixes in this patch! There were a number of edge cases we didn't cover in our code that needed fixing, and thanks to player reports, we were able to find and fix those.

Buying and selling derelicts also exposed an infinite money loophole that, while lucrative, sort of spoiled the fun of the game. So we patched that to help keep the game balanced.

And a few other sundry bugs were found and fixed in this update.

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