Underspace News

Hello starchasers! Happy weed day or whatever. Is it weed day? It's weed day or something. That's important enough of a holiday to release a NEW patch, isn't it?

It's been just over a week since Underspace has released now, and about a week since our last patch. As you know, sleep eludes me as I don't want the skin man to catch me in my dreams, so I've had plenty of time to work on plenty of stuff.



This is just a small patch nevertheless, our truly big updates will be happening after our roadmap in May gets released. Let's get into the patch notes! Also, some screenshots!



[h2]NEW FEATURES[/h2]

• Added quicksaving and quickloading. These aren’t bound by default, but work all the same.
  
• Added new UI elements on windows to easily hide the background effects.
  
• Commodities now display how many cargo slots they take up.
  
• You can now use the frienddrive and your cloaking device from the quickmenu.
  
• You can now set the number of values the autosave system generates via the options menu.
  
• Added many new tutorials explaining menus or mechanics. Remember: You asked for this.
• Translated ancient gates will now give hints as to where to find the appropriate booze needed to open them.
  
• The in-game radio now shows the song currently playing on your radio.
  
• Added a new option to have the in-game radio not suppress ambient tracks (such as nebulas, stations, and asteroid belts).
  
• Mister Maudlin will now buy commodities from you. Don’t ask what he’s using them for.
  
• Starchasing chapters can now display their home bases.
  
• Repair items now have unique models and graphics for each one. Now that shrunken battleship actually is, in fact, a shrunken battleship in a bottle.
  
• Added a quest that lets you track the Marching Star during its campaign missions, to better keep an eye on it.
  
• Deleting saves now gives you a confirmation menu before doing so.
  
• When buying a ship, you now have an option to just buy and add it to your garage, or buy and transfer all your equipment to your new ship.
  
• There’s also a confirmation menu when quitting to the main menu now.
  

[h2]CHANGES AND REBALANCES[/h2]

• The under-construction jumpgate in Pard-130 now has a proper model.
  
• You will no longer have to wait for your energy to recharge when loading a save.
  
• Frienddrives will now only start to recharge once the party member has jumped out.
  
• Repair drops are now weighted towards repair items you actively need.
  
• Ammo for your equipment can now drop from NPCs. Space truly is nature’s farm. For missiles. Or something. How did the saying go?
  
• Obscurus Galacti does a better job of hiding itself amongst its many clones.
  
• In-game radio is now controlled entirely by the music slider option.
  
• Friendly battleships will now become hostile against you if you fire at them.
  
• Exiting abyssdrive via a key will now simply drop you back down to cruise.
  
• Added some more dialogue to Colonel Eltmoor to hint on what you should do.
  
• Tweaked the beam attack settings of some late-storyline bosses.
  
• The Hangman has been buffed.
  
• Unstable jumpholes are now even more unstable: Every unstable jumphole has a chance to rocket you to a completely different region entirely.
  
• When reassigning inputs, conflicting inputs will now swap keys rather than remove them, mainly to prevent softlocks.
  
• Escape will now clear the keybind of an input in the input menu.
  

[h2]FIXES[/h2]

• Fixed some additional quest soflocks
  
• Fixed some mislabeled jumpholes.
  
• Fixed stormeyes not spawning when a storm is killed or spawning when a storm shouldn’t be killed.
  
• Fixed issue where the suncracker could only die if you out-DPS’d it hardcore style.
  
• Fixed some engine display issues with Ijuni fighters.
  
• Lodestones can now stack.
  
• Fixed issues where the Tierra jumphole would disappear early.
  
• Fixed issue where radiation alerts wouldn’t occur when jumping into a system.
  
• Fixed issue where Pyrona’s freighter couldn’t be seen in Between Spaces.
  
• During hyperstroms you can now kill yourself without issue.
  
• The Lower Lanes can now be looted.
  
• Fixed THE VOID being all consuming during Box of Memories.
  
• Fixed issue where some tutorials weren’t firing at the point of need.
  
• Fixed issue where the game would process inputs even when unfocused.
  
• Fixed various tutorial typos and added some new tutorials to the manual.
  
• Fixed issue where you couldn’t view data on systems outside your current one on the navmap.
  
• Redfaces now sell their weaponry during the campaign.
  
• Fixed issue where some party members were using their upgraded models too early.
  
• Fixed some softlocks with even more missions.
  
• The Remaining Eye cargo trader now buys cargo.
  
• The Hellomard can now be damaged and looted.
  
• Translated items will now save their translations. Note that they will need to be translated again for this to happen.
  
• Fixed some holes in the harvest gate.
  
• Fixed some softlocks that would occur with campaign mission 7.
  
• Updated some main quest dialogue to not go out of bounds.
  
• Added tech to help stop possible memory leaks in minefields. Naval mines aren’t that powerful. Yet.
  
• Some opening tutorials are slightly easier to follow now.
  
• Fixed some UI issues with the chapter stuff.
  
• Fixed some UI issues with the character skill menu.
  
• Fixed some UI issues with numeric readouts.
  
• Fixed some issues with out of system waypoints not working.
  
• Fixed some small graphical errors with civilian freighter headlights.
  
• Game resolutions should now save between game sessions.
  
• Fixed issue where quests could complete multiple times.
  
• Fixed some softlocks and typos in mission 9.
  
• Fixed some typos on lanelines and records.
  
• Fixed some softlocks with Baton, Broken.
  
• Rebalanced higher tier frienddrives augments.
  
• Fixed some potential softlocks with campaign mission 4.
  
• Fixed some campaign saves not loading fresh from a dock.
  

We'll be back next week with another patch, with a few various features. We're still working on refactoring a lot of internal input stuff to get controller support working (look, Unity's input systems, even alternative ones like Rewired, are a freaking mess. This takes a lot more effort than simple stuff like adding new questlines or multiplayer). They'll be some improvements here, so have some early previews of things like:



New radial menus for summoning party members or accessing menus.


New interiors for things like the Peerless Casino!



More billboards featuring my evil orange cat.

We'll see you next week, have fun and kill the storm!

Hail Starchasers.

I trust by now you know the drill.



It's been almost one Earth calendar week since Underspace's release and we've already had two hotfixes out due to popular demand.

Also now on Steam due to popular demand is the Underspace demo; if you've been on the fence about buying Underspace during its introductory sale price, now's your chance to try before you buy.



But, you know, play quickly. The sale over in less than 24 hours and time waits for no man (or Veiler, or Ast, or...).



That is all, Starchasers.

Hello again starchasers! I hope you've been enjoying space. What's that? You fell in love with a microbe? Well don't do that. She views you more as a friend. She just won't love you the way Lady Mimosa here loves plastic bottles.



Anyway, a bit of news: The demo will be coming back to Steam! We were waiting for a few hotfixes and were patching stuff up, but expect it to be back up this week. The 10% off sale will also end this week, so if you want to save a whole TWO (2) dollars, get it while you can.

Anyway, onto the patch. This is a big one with a lot of bugfixes, plus some small requested features. As a reminder, we do NOT do wipes on saves and make a point to try and make previous save versions always compatible with the latest version of the game.



[h2]NEW FEATURES[/h2]

• The abyssdrive, when unusable, now gives more accurate information as to why you cannot use them (comms, storms, etc).
  
• Completing Baton, Broken will allow you to mention it to Hat when it becomes relevant.
  
• Pard-130 now has a connecting jumphole to Shipstar.
  
• Canceling a mission that involves unique cargo will now remove that cargo from your inventory.
  
• Added new options to the options menu to control text scrolls speed and a multiplier for how long text stays on the screen. This can be found under the audio tab in the options menu.
  
• Cloud saves are now enabled and working!
  

[h2]CHANGES AND REBALANCES[/h2]

• Radios can now play on stations. The radio will use the ambient folder for this, if you’re using specific folders in that way.
  
• The escaped ship in Great Rescape is now recovered after you find it out in the minefield.
  
• Adjusted the distances of several hazards so that they can’t catch you quite as much by surprise.
  
• Adjusted the spawning areas of storm rifts inside several nebulas such as Thoroughfare.
  
• Added higher tiers of radiation hazards as storm hazards.
  
• Added many many more stupid names to the Ballden’s name generation.
  
• You can now craft higher tier repair items from lower tier repair items (Such as shrunken battleships from unstable refabricators), provided you can find them!.
  
• Crafting recipes now show the stats and description of the crafted item.
  
• Ammo now displays in ship descriptions.
  
• Turn rate now displays in ship descriptions.
  
• Forgiveness isn’t considered a virtue in the Union, but they’re still willing to forget. Attacking a neutral or friendly station, jumpgate, or laneline will gradually cause it to stop being hostile, provided you’re far enough away. By default, if you’re more than 35k away from a base for around a minute, it will stop being so damn angry at you.
  
• Extreme collision damage now only occurs while using the abyssdrive.
  
• Gone Adrift will no longer show scannables for the ships you’ve already found.
  
• The Gate and the Code has more hints on how to figure out the Code for the Gate.
  
• Shooting missiles at a station doesn’t instantly incur a hostile wrath. They know you didn’t mean it. Right? RIGHT??
  
• Taking a further look at Us Missions, we’ve decided to make them award a VERY meager amount of reputation, to prevent softlocks. The Us are slow to trust unless you like, blow up an ancient jumpgate to stop a racist guy from attacking them or something. That gets them a bit happier.
  
• We’ve adjusted how the leading pip works with projectiles. Should be more accurate.
  
• Increased the target framerate option to go up to 300.
  

[h2]FIXES:[/h2]

• Mod support has been restored to the game.
  
• Fixed some typos in dialogue.
  
• Fixed some quests that were displayed as being available when the requirements for them were not met.
  
• Many quests have had their objective text adjusted to make the actions that need to be taken more obvious.
  
• Hardpoints on Ballden ships now have proper rotational values.
  
• Hypercharged webbing now works and the Curshian Death Cube can be overcome. Have fun in Curshia Prime!
  
• Unpausing from the save menu no longer locks the controls.
  
• Abyssdrive colors now save.
  
• You can now set waypoints to locations outside of your star system (though you’ll need to know the path) and set waypoints while on stations.
  
• Fixed issue where chapters wouldn't acknowledge storms being killed.
  
• Fixed issue in Box of Memories that could cause softlocks.
  
• Fixed issues in the Lords of Croft and campaign mission 14 that could cause softlocks.
  
• Saves made in space during a random mission will now acknowledge that you’ve launched to space with that random mission and update accordingly.
  
• Bugfixes for the following random missions: Runaway Train, Corpse Collection, Carcass Sorting, Starchaser Teamup, Military Assistance, Washer Sacrifice.
  

And that's it for today! Have fun with the Death Cube. Who knows what waits beyond it?


We're aiming for another patch at the end of the week. This one will start bringing in some of the aforementioned features in our previous patch, along with new things like radial menus and unstable jumpholes getting a bit more crazy. Keep an eye out!

One more cat pic for the road? Fine.

Hello starchasers! We've still got a patch coming on Monday but I had some time today so I figured "Why not". Is it some special occasion? Some holiday? Homestuck day you say? Well Homestuck's terrible now so no. It's just a nice present for you all.



[h2]CHANGES AND REBALANCES[/h2]

• The best price tab now shows the star system of the station you can sell things at.
  
• Off-Track now has some more crazy nonsense to help you figure out the puzzles within.
  

[h2]FIXES[/h2]

• Fixed issue with options resetting on a restart.
  
• Storms received some optimization with some effects, which should help with GPU load.
  
• Starchaser ships now properly color both highengine effects.
  
• Fixed saving issue that would cause unstable jumpholes to reset the game.
  
• Fixed some possible softlocks that happen during campaign mission 10.
  
• Storms now properly save in save files.
  
• Us ships can now be customized.
  
• Fixed cargo duplication bugs when transferring a ship.
  
• Fixed some small UI errors when transferring a ship.
  

Cat picture.

Welcome starchasers! This is our first hotfix since launch, mainly meant to address a lot of priority reported issues. Not all of the issues people have come to me with were able to be fixed in the current timeframe, but rest assured you can expect another patch on Monday that should be pretty comprehensive. This will include a lot of keybind issues, primarily.



But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's get into our current patch notes.



[h2]KNOWN ISSUES:[/h2]

• Some keybinds are missing in the controls menu and binding certain keys (such as escape) can cause issues.
  
• Abyssdrive coloring won't save sometimes.
  
• Several random missions may not complete properly.
  
• Saves loaded in-space won't properly update random missions.
  
• Out of system waypoints for specific objects aren't functional. Waypointing to a system directly IS functional.
  
• Some scannable items in quests persist.
  
• Killing certain storms won't count as progress towards specific storm-chased-based chapters.
  

[h2]NEW FEATURES:[/h2]

• You can now delete saves in the saving menu.
  
• Mouse buttons other than mouse buttons 1 and 2 can now be mapped to actions.
  
• Missiles now take into account your current velocity when firing.
  
• New positioning for the Transfer All button when trading in a ship. It can all transfer all your cargo BACK to your original ship.
  

[h2]CHANGES AND REBALANCES:[/h2]

• Hardpoints have gotten some major upgrades. In addition to them having higher health, repairing your hull will also repair your hardpoints and reactivate them.
  
• NPC missiles were far too fast. As a result, most missiles fired by NPCs have been slowed significantly, allowing you time to shoot them down or asking your Autoturret to shoot them down.
  
• We've rebalanced energy mechanics a bit to slow down your energy charge rate. This makes the skill for that much more useful while still allowing you to fire for a decent time.
  

[h2]FIXES[/h2]

• Fixed a major issue where manual docking wasn't enabled by default and automatic docking wouldn't let you go through gates. By default now, automatic docking must always be turned on due to its vast inferiority over manual docking.
  
• While cleaning up the... stuff they found inside the Littlefish, Hat and the Idolsmashers accidentally flipped the "Hardpoints have no health" switch in the cockpit of said ship. I went back and switched it back on. Now the Littlefish's gun ports aren't made out of kitten whispers and butter dreams.
  
• Fixed issues where respeccing your character would give you extra skill points. For those who received them, have fun you overpowered bastards, you cards you.
  
• You can now reset your reputation with Vauldwin law enforcement aboard Kaisus Circle.
  
• Several unintended audio files that remained have been stripped out.
  
• You can now partially loot cargoboxes that have commodities inside them.
  
• Fixed (hopefully) cargo duplication issues when trading in ships.
  
• Fixed several stations in Ballden Space where you'd fall through the floor.
  
• Baton, Broken, now properly awards Amesten's freighter at the end.
  
• Made the instructions in "To Catch A Smuggler" clearer.
  
• Removed some additional placeholder audio.
  
• Expanded the area you need to enter before the Yeahtier will begin moving in "The Battle that Always Will Be".
  
• Taking a train to a station other than UHC-46 will now make "Off-Track" properly complete.
  
• Comprehensive fixes for the in-game radio. Unfortunately, MP3 support isn't on the table (thanks Unity!) but we fixed a bunch of loading errors related to it and updated the guide as to what formats and rates are valid to get Underspace to acknowledge your tunes.
  
• Loading a save that was saved in cockpit mode now doesn't disappearate your ship.
  
• Lowered the sound of scanning pings and fixed issue where sound settings wouldn't change their volume level.
  
• NPCs squadmates on lanelines can no longer ram you up. At least, not lethally.
  
• Rewrote some of the in-game manuals to contain more comprehensive information.
  
• Basic functionality for the search menu has been restored on the navmap and typing names into the searchbar won't cause menus to open.
  
• Fixed issues where cargo construction missions gave you too little loot to complete them.
  
• Texture quality option has been removed. A deep dive revealed it did Croft-all for performance while also making the game look significantly worse. We'll give you something neater in return, don't worry.
  
• Fixed issues where fighter spawns in some missions wouldn't progress the mission.
  

While you're here, I'll share a few smaller things being worked on that'll be upcoming with some of the later patches this month. This doesn't cover the BIG update roadmaps, just some neat features in the pipeline. This includes:

• Greatly expanded tutorials for aspects of the game, including covering equipment, menus, etc.
  
• Improved feedback on items when they become available to be crafted.
  
• New UI elements such as dialogue history and being able to read scanned data entries from your main UI.
  
• New menu options for things such as text speed, allowing alternate inputs to control the throttle, and more.
  
• New graphical options to help with optimization.
  
• New ways to sell, acquire and utilize both your scanned data and learn about in-game locations.
  
• Quickmenu support for additional equipment types.
  
• More cat photos.