Icarus News

Welcome to Week 145.

This week, we’re introducing two new biome-specific saddles with relevant temperature resistances to give your mounts extra support while traversing Icarus.

Seeding Carts have also been overhauled, with tiered plow attachments that bring their statistics and buffs in line with those of the tiered shovels introduced in Week 136.

We’ve also got a sneak peek at what’s to come next week and why you’ll want to return to Olympus to check it out.

Jump in and have a read.

• Added the ability to modify the crosshair, its size, shape, and color
  
• Fixing issue where all throwables (grenades, molotovs etc) where not able to be thrown
  
• Tooltips after highlighting a crop plot, then looking at other items now force an update, preventing lag when swapping between items
  
• Guano Recipes for Biofuel, Basic Fertilizer & Volatile Substance, now use far less Guano - this works better balance wise with the rarity of the Vesper Nests
  
• Fixed being unable to upgrade buildings to steel roofing
  

[hr][/hr]

This week's feature items are two new basic saddles - in Arctic and Desert variants. These provide your mount with temperature resistance buffs in the saddles' respective biomes. Both are unlockable in Tier 2 and craftable at the Ranching Station.

In addition, some saddles present in the Creature Comforts Pack have also received some stat increases to bring them in line with their standard counterparts.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2790990/Icarus_Creature_Comforts_Pack/

[hr][/hr]

Back in Week 136, we introduced a range of tiered shovels that provided tiered dirt mounts with added buffs and resistance to different weather and biomes. This rendered Seeding Carts relatively obsolete on a purely statistical basis. Thus, Seeding Carts are well overdue an update, which we’re delivering this week.

Seeding Carts will now have a new layer of customization with interchangeable plows. Different tiers of plows will have equivalent statistics and weather resistances to their comparable tiered shovels, creating the same higher-quality dirt mounds. Ideally, this will make farming with carts no longer a limitation when it comes to growing your crops.

In the future, we’d like to address the harvesting cart also with the same improvements in mind, so watch this space.


[hr][/hr]

As mentioned in previous weeks, the NullSector (our Free Prometheus Expansion) will include new Operations, a new exploration mechanic, new mutated creatures, and one new giant creature.

We are still actively working on the NullSector, with some big mission revamps in the works, more narrative, more dialogue, and more missions to provide the experience it deserves.

This region is not for the faint of heart. All the adjustments and differences are geared towards this being a hardcore survival challenge, so make sure you enter it prepared.

If you are interested in reading about what we plan to do with missions in the future, click here.


[hr][/hr]

Next week, we plan on converting a few more Olympus operations to missions, allowing some of the older content to be playable in open worlds.


[hr][/hr][h2]Your support makes these updates possible.[/h2]

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/40692/Icarus_Pets_Bundle/

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/35727/Icarus_Complete_the_Set/
[hr][/hr]

[h3]New Content[/h3]
[expand]

• Enabled new plow attachment requirement for harvest cart
  
• Added materials and textures for the Arctic and Desert saddle reskin
  
• Add User Interface setting to change Crosshair style, with 10 additional variations to choose from
  
• Add User Interface settings to modify Crosshair Color and Style with 7 additional colors and 10 additional styles to choose from
  
• Added drop-shadow to all crosshair elements to help in cases where crosshair color closely matches the background
  
• Adding Basic Desert and Arctic Saddles, Items, Blueprints, Recipes, Tags, Saddle Setup Etc
  
• Added Missing C++ Code for the Saddle Data
  
• Adding Stats and Icons for Desert & Arctic Basic Saddles
  
• Adding and unlocking steel, platinum & titanium plow seedincart attachments
  
• Adding and setting up Plow item icons
  
• Fixed bug where the various plough attachments weren't applying the correct modifier on created dirt mounds.
  
• Updated images for various plow modifier states to match new icons.
  
• D_DirtMoundModifications table is no longer exclusively for use by shovels; now takes a TagQuery to match against applicable items
  
• Fixed DNT in Seeding Cart Plow alterations
  
• Adding unique plow attachment destroyed audio, event, and to BP
  
• Fixed bug where the player could activate the seed cart without a plow attached.
  
• Fixed seed cart active modifier not being removed correctly if plow was removed while cart was active.
  
• Fixed bug where seed cart would consume dirt when stationary if activated without a plow attached.
  
• Switched to using the new plow attachment icon
  

[/expand]

[h3]Fixed[/h3]
[expand]

• Fixing accidental change to actionable that was intended to fix Molotov that broke grenades. fixing them
  
• Improve the Settings menu by increasing the vertical scroll bar thickness so it is easier to target & increasing scroll speed so navigating is less cumbersome
  
• Added Beeswax-improved wood icons
  
• Only alternate between 'Storm Incoming' and StormName for 10s before just displaying StormName for the remainder of the storm. This prevents 'Storm Incoming' from displaying mid-storm
  
• Add LODs to a bunch of Skeletal Meshes that had no LODs. This should allow for better performance, especially with lots of Creatures on screen at once
  
• removed campfire stick mesh, preventing light clip, basic rag torch light strength reduced in line with other fire sources
  
• Subcontainer inventories will not longer be created be created in HAB, fixes a crash when trying to load game with a firearm in meta inventory. Added additional inventory-related checks and validation
  
• Gridbase no longer forces buildings to adhere to grid squares upon reloading a prospect, which means Dev_Transform_Tool can be used to permanently adjust the positions of Building_Base actors
  
• Resaving MA_TREDESTR master material to be used with InstancedStaticMeshes as per automatic request when loading T019. This may resolve any issues with destructible tree visuals
  
• Add LODs to a bunch of Static Meshes that either had no LODs or the final LOD was still high detail. This should help performance
  
• Add an Editor utility to quickly add LODs to SM/SK meshes with a single click. Supports the ability to apply LODs to multiple selected assets at the same time
  
• Updated concrete railing and stair railing to be symmetrical and replaced them in the buildable BP
  
• Add User Interface setting (feature-locked) to change the Crosshair color. Also added an example Feature-Locked setting so that the setting can not be lost/forgotten
  
• Fixed issue with building placement not snapping correctly after grid base change
  
• Removed the negative scaling from all stair-buildable railing sockets
  
• Fixed one more case where buildings weren't being snapped to world grid correctly
  
• Adding new Widgets for a new Mission Objective Display to replace the old, currently its at parity with the old
  
• Change the Color settings option from Switch to Combo for better readability
  
• Added temp SM_Bat_Nest_WIP asset for design to start testing while waiting on final art asset
  
• Change idle pose for 3rd person on the Wood/Rag torches so they're held more correctly instead of horizontally
  
• Add source files for new Crosshair content
  
• Changed internal resource flow brown-out modifier to use RoundToFloat instead of CeilToFloat to prevent issues where minuscule flow deficits were causing -10% crafting speed modifiers
  
• Change all Light-slottable lights from standard shadows to Distance Field, fixing 1st person shadow casting bugs while Light slot items are lit
  
• Move Light-slot FP light re-position from center of screen to the bottom left, away from any FP meshes, to prevent back-lit blow-out
  
• Change Character FP arms to cast shadows (self-only) for improved visuals
  
• Improved fill light visuals/perf on Biofuel Lamp
  
• Removed point light fill on a flashlight that's not needed; bloom from main light handles this task
  
• Added min/max movement for flame mesh on fire-based torches to limit them from skewing too much
  
• Moved SlotImage (Light/Utility ghost icon) so that the icon is rendered behind the item icon when the slot is occupied
  
• Decreased opacity of Light/Utility slot ghost icon
  
• Hide the Classification icon when the object is in its appropriate slot to de-clutter the icon area
  
• Add glow edge to the Light slot when the light item is active
  
• Add a divider between the Light slot and 1st slot to further distinguish the Light slot
  
• Fixes and adjustments to dropship. Some layers were not triggering correctly or at all due to occlusion settings, eq curves, and special settings. fine-tunes and balance adjustments. saving profilers for additional tweaks and work
  
• Fixed bug where creatures using the CreatureSize_+% stat would be turned into bears
  
• Final tweaks of dropship descend and ascend. adjustments to volumes over distance to make sure everything is audible at the correct distances
  
• Adding missing window-trap door audio components to thatch, iron, and clay trap doors
  
• Bumped up resolution on rustic wood asset textures to improve visual quality
  
• Adding additional stats to saddles in creature comforts
  
• Fixing issue in talent editor where the cart was unlockable before the ranching station
  
• Adjusted helmet glass to be opaque
  
• Minor improvement to sentence structure on Dropship inventory screen regarding information about Orbital Exchange Interface
  
• Add ProjectionLocation component to Deep Ore Deposits so that you can still see the in-world tooltip when standing on top of it
  
• Adjusting item descriptions for plows
  
• Added inventories to bookshelves that did not have them (items not visually shown on the shelves)
  
• Fixed oxygen/waterskin placement in T2 tech tree
  
• Fixed being unable to upgrade buildings to steel roofing
  
• Moved steel roofing out of concrete roof setup, now only found in steel roofing
  
• Cleaned up unused building upgrade logic
  
• Fixed shovel right/left click activating in addition to the alternate if you use the menu with a shovel equipped
  
• Guano Recipes for Biofuel, Basic Fertilizer, & Volatile Substance, so they use far less Guano - this works better balance wize with the rarity of the Vesper Nests
  
• Readded inverted concrete ramp piece to concrete ramp option
  
• Fixed aluminum trap door's flickering issue by updating bounds extension on mesh asset
  
• Fixed bug where refrigerator's spoil time modifier wasn't being removed correctly when the device ran out of power (or wasn't connected in the first place)
  
• UMG_ModifierPopup no longer shows stats marked as hidden
  
• Update saddles to use generic box mesh when dropped
  
• Projection components now force update when the widget class is changed; this should remove any lag when updating the tooltip after highlighting a crop plot -> something else
  

[/expand]

[h3]Future Content[/h3]
[expand]

• Update to Medical Scanner In world widget to prompt users to scan for a detailed scan
  
• Fixed speaker for rescue outro dialogue entry
  
• Added CPT church lines for RESCUE mission
  
• Cliff Placement Pass and Macro Cliff Pass, Outpost 11
  
• Adding 2 new NPC's to CRISIS: ASHLANDS
  
• Adding new Stasis Bag Mesh and backset
  
• Adding new Animations and state machine to NPC animations
  
• Rew Relevant Persistence Quest Actor Array now replicates correctly
  
• Added new Logic to Remove NPC4/5 upon start of RESUPPLY: ASHLANDS
  
• Added sandworm building piece icons to data tables
  
• Added sandworm icons in the editor. Not hooked up to the data table yet
  
• Adding in retargeted NPC animations to work with our character skeleton
  
• Adding in whiteboard texture for Bunker Assets
  
• Adding footstep notifs for NPC character animations
  
• Adding all church lines to the dialogue table
  
• Adding all dialogue lines for null sector NPCs. Audio and events. No data table setup yet
  
• Adding Crisis NPC bark dialogue to the table
  
• Cliff Placement Pass and Macro Cliff Pass, Outpost 11
  
• Add a toggle on lavafall base to turn on and off smoke
  
• Added text for Sandworm building pieces
  
• Removing variation from NPC FMOD events that would cause issues with subtitles
  
• Added local/world coordinate toggle button to Dev_Transform_Tool
  
• Fixing Bunker Locker normals
  
• Added finished blocking out Volcano & Cliff Placement in progress on Outpost 9, on Red Quad
  
• Cliff Placement Pass and Macro Cliff Pass, Outpost 11
  
• Making broken glass on bunker windows easier to see by adding a second version of the glass material
  
• Removed shadow geo 63 from Prometheus
  
• Fixing Medic Scanner hold position and adding in animation to fix it being upside down in 3rd person, widget will need fixing in 3RD person, anim montages can also be used to fix other scanners on a case-by-case basis
  
• Cliff Placement Pass and Macro Cliff Pass, Outpost 11
  
• Blocking out Volcano Cave & Cliff Placement in progress on Outpost 9, on Red Quad
  
• Tweaked how feature level flags affect the generated UserSettings; should now correctly remove settings from UI if the flag is not met
  
• Remove Feature Level stuff from SettingsSchema to hopefully fix the validation error
  
• Added LC_Cliff 23,24,25 - originally made for PHNX
  
• Added Green camo materials for BP_Mission_NPC_Base
  
• Adding Audio & Dialogue for 3 Ashlands Sidequests
  
• Fixing up 2 Ashlands Subquests mission flow
  
• Adding Spawnblocker (invisible) in mission around the Ashlands Recovery area
  
• Blocking out Volcano crater, Cave & Cliff Placement on Outpost 9, on Red Quad
  
• Cliff Placement Pass and Macro Cliff Pass, Outpost 11
  
• Added 3 more color variants for the NPC Camo materials, Brown, Blue, and Red
  
• Delete unused Lantern_Battery BP
  
• Cliff Placement Pass and Macro Cliff Pass, Outpost 11
  
• Add health regeneration stats for new atmospheres
  
• Add additional shatter stats for attachments
  
• Add WITH_EDITOR guards to the foliage tool, include
  
• Adding interaction as well as actionable to stasis bags and medical scanner
  
• Adjusting craft stasis bag quests so they can just exist in inventory and not be crafted
  
• Adding 5 Second cooldown to interacting with NPC's so dialogue can't be spammed
  
• Fixing Ashlands Rescue so the NPC's buildings spawn if required
  
• Fixing Churches Monologue at the end of the Rescue mission so it plays until completion
  
• Fix an issue with bounds logging (only) when running the WorldGeneration commandlet
  
• Add a tool to pick up duplicate instanced foliage instances (same type, same position). The tool will also assign foliage to the correct developer level based on position
  
• Adding Concept of Quest Info that can be added to quests and displayed in a different location
  
• Adding Info Text to some Ashlands Quests
  
• Adjusting Ashlands mission step so you just need to have the medical device in your inventory and not specifically craft it
  
• Cliff Placement & Landscape Painting pass progress on Outpost 9, on Red Quad
  
• Remove some duplicate foliage instances in OLY and reassign to the correct developer level based on position
  
• Added a fix for NPC LookAt control rig 'popping' when parent Skeletal Mesh LOD changes
  
• Removed debug stability testing code from NPC AnimBP
  
• Improvements to NPC look at animation. Temporarily fixed NPC_Injured_Idle's head rotation. Fixed D_FactionMissions validation error
  
• Fixed issue where restoring prebuilt buildings using the new system broke when trying to restore the grid with a non-zero rotation
  
• Adding new Prebuilt Structures for Icesheet and the Ashlands Bunker
  
• Redoing first Ashlands missions to include new quest steps, more quest info, and include the destruction of a blocker
  
• Restructured Ashlands Story Mission
  
• Fixed lava lake lights blooming in volumetric fog by decreasing Volumetric Scattering from 1.0 to 0.1x, dropped 5m elevation of lights down to the surface and decreased gap between lights from 2.75m to 2.5m
  
• Change 'Undiscovered' text for field guide entries to be italic to separate them from the discovered entries a bit better
  
• Add hover tooltip text to small icons in Space menus
  
• Correcting Ashlands Bunker Orientation
  
• Adding flag pole audio loop audio event and BP
  
• Cliff Placement Pass and Macro Cliff Pass, Outpost 11
  
• Reduction in reverb for NPCs and fixed dip in churches volume at 19 meters in between 2d and 3d audio
  
• Started Set Dressing Lakes & Landscape Painting on Outpost 9, on Red Quad
  
• Re-saved D_Stats to fix validation error. Updated custom prospect settings struct to make it easier to modify in json
  
• Added new system (dev-locked for now) that allows modifying and configuring specific world stats on a per-savegame basis via an in-game settings menu
  
• Fixing dialogue routing that was causing reverb to sound 10db louder than the dialogue itself. Routed barks out SFX bus and used a preset gain reduced to match volume.
  
• Reduced Churches reverb send on each event to match but still keep his lines audible and important
  
• Fixed some instances of text not being localised
  
• Updated textures for Hammerhead_Slug_Grenade
  
• Updated materials and textures for Shotgun_CHAC
  
• Add functionality to DeployableBase to tag mesh components with 'Highlight' so that all components highlight collectively instead of individually
  
• Fixed needles being left behind on Metal Oxite Dissolver and moved them to Electric Oxite Dissolver plus rotation functionality
  
• Removed Shadow Proxy meshes from some deployables as this approach is being deprecated
  
• Resaved MA_ICE shader which is being used with SK meshes now
  
• Removed 4x LODs on Charger light mesh which is 200 tris
  
• Hid proxy meshes which were visible by default on some benches, causing them to not update until inventory was updated
  
• Removed some erroneously (not matching) applied DestructibleMeshes from certain deployables
  
• Enabled shadow casting on some proxy meshes
  
• Disabled collision on some meshes which didn't need it (inside aquariums, trophy cases, etc)
  
• Adding Icons for all bunker assets
  
• Adding proper descriptions to all bunker assets
  
• Adding Toilet and Teddy Bear Bunker Deployables
  
• Adding carrying audio and pickup for stasis bags
  

[/expand]

Welcome to week 144.

This week introduces the new Arctic Vesper, which is found in nests spawning in the frozen expanses of Icarus.

The Arctic Vesper is a dangerous foe, flying low to the ground and fiercely defending its nests, where you’ll be able to find the new ‘Guano’ resource that can be used in bio-fuel alternative recipes.

We also briefly mention the new cart attachments coming next week.

• Recipes that produce resources such as water or biofuel, will now display the amount of that resource produced on the recipe (See Composter)
  
• In place of stack count in item tooltips, items with a resource contained within (water / biofuel / electric charge) will show their current units and total capacity instead
  
• Mount tooltips will no longer show 'Owned by Nobody' when the owner logged out
  
• Removing dirt mound recipe and blueprint from the tech tree as it is no longer required since the introduction of different tiered shovels, blueprints points are refunded if they were allocated
  

[hr][/hr]

The Arctic Vesper has landed in Icarus.

New nests are spawning across the arctic regions of Icarus, where these bat-like mutations can be found. Vespers fly at low altitudes - roughly head height - and attack when threats come too close to their nests. Vespers will provide some needed variety to the arctic zones, now requiring you to keep your eyes on the sky as well as on the ground where familiar polar bears, wolves, and other carnivores roam.

Arctic Vesper nests can also be looted for a new resource, Guano. This can be used in some new high-volume biofuel recipes, an alternate recipe to volatile acid, and another recipe for farm fertilizer.

Guano as a resource is part of our wider intention to provide many alternative recipes for high-use products while also providing high rewards for hard-to-find resources. A good in-game example is the Mammoth Tusk, which can be ground down in a Mortar & Pestle to generate a large amount of epoxy compared to the standard bone recipe.


[hr][/hr]

As mentioned in previous weeks, the NullSector (our Free Prometheus Expansion) will include new Operations, a new exploration mechanic, new mutated creatures, and one new giant creature.

We are still actively working on the NullSector, with some big mission revamps in the works, more narrative, more dialogue, and more missions to provide the experience it deserves.

This region is not for the faint of heart. All the adjustments and differences are geared towards this being a hardcore survival challenge, so make sure you enter it prepared.

If you are interested in reading about what we plan to do with missions in the future, click here.


[hr][/hr]

Since the introduction of different shovels, Farming Carts have become relatively obsolete in the world of farming, only producing mounds equivalent to the quality delivered by the Iron Shovel.

Next week, we’ll address this by adding attachments that can be socketed into Farming Carts to improve the quality of the dirt mounts they produce.


[hr][/hr][h2]Your support makes these updates possible.[/h2]

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/40692/Icarus_Pets_Bundle/

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/35727/Icarus_Complete_the_Set/
[hr][/hr]

[h3]New Content[/h3]
[expand]

• Add the ability to play directional dialogue at world locations by registering dedicated audio components for individual dialogue speakers
  
• Adding and Enabling the Arctic Bat (Arctic Vesper) nest spawning in arctic zones
  
• Adding Guano item, icon and alternate recipes for biofuel, volatile acid and fertilizer
  
• Adding Arctic Bat Trophy and Vestiage, items, icons and recipes
  
• Adding base class for nests and common reward granting logic
  
• Adding Arctic Bat Vestiage and Trophy Icons
  
• Fixed texture group for bat creature's textures, bats are no longer 4k
  
• Disabled friendly fire on bat dive attacks
  
• Fixed a typo in the Vesper trophy item description
  

[/expand]

[h3]Fixed[/h3]
[expand]

• Adjusting the BP of water jerrycans to use updated parameter. Works the same - just simplifying setup
  
• Updates and fixes to grenades to help audio make sense.
  
• Fixed grenade throws not having unhide actor component on grenade throw animation resulting in only the first grenade being visible
  
• Adding more rock falls for the cave. More verbed rock falls to add more dimension to the environment. tweaks to spawn rates etc. also adding slow modulated eerie wind
  
• Fixing placement of notify on grenade montage. Adjustment to grenade bounce audio to make additional bounces feel smaller. correcting wrong grenade fix
  
• Added datatable validation to catch drop chances under 1%
  
• Fixed frag grenade effects not being played if the grenade never hits anything
  
• Added the reworked iron buildables, Railings, Doors, trap door hatch
  
• Changed MA_GLS_BLD's Opacity Mask Clip Value to 0.01, this should fix the issue where highlighting glass building pieces/deployables had a very noisy appearance
  
• Adjusted collision around horse's neck to significantly reduce how much the hair sticks out to the side when the head is turned, as well as fixed some bad skinning in some areas, most notably around the neck and tail.
  
• Also fixed skinning on the mane and tail to properly match the body skinning
  
• Fixed small candles setting things on fire aggressively. Some candles were using flammable campfire and some werent using anything. Made this consistent with all candles
  
• Removing dirt mound recipe and blueprint from the tech tree as it is no longer required since the introduction of different tiered shovels
  
• Adjustment to spear impact audio - making it slightly longer than standard arrows to accomodate for boss throwing spears
  
• Blend out and disable PostProcess volume on RespawnPod after it has landed. This fixes the lighting being darkened when walking near the seat of the ship
  
• Turn off Light on Machining Bench by default, otherwise Light will be on permanently until machine is first used. Will toggle automatically when recipes start/stop processing
  
• Updated Last few iron buildables to use the kit textures. full LOD pass on all iron builddable with custom LODs for assets using corrigated geo. Updated iron Door, Hatch, Window and gate BPs with new buildables
  
• Fixed bug where mount tooltips would show 'Owned by Nobody' when the owner logged out.
  
• Fixed bug where long player names wouldn't fit on mount tooltip 'Owned by' section
  
• Fixed typo in Portable Beacon flavor text
  
• Adding missing data table setups for molotov for the audio I did 2 years ago. Removed animations from the frag grenade that were pulling the pin etc
  
• COMPOSITION: Fixed end timer being too long and not providing feedback to players
  
• Adjustments to spear flying audio to accomodate better for variances in speed.
  
• Adding pickup spear wood and metal events and applying to data table entries. adjusted audio timing of spear whoosh on anim
  
• Fixing accidental change to spear notify to wrong place
  
• Fix turret targeting isn't working as desired for some deployment angles
  
• Fix a race condition crash reported in Sentry relating to terrain anchor async tasks and shutting down the level
  

[/expand]

[h3]Future Content[/h3]
[expand]

• Added dialogue entries for Cpt Church
  
• Added BLD_Floor_Metal_Grate, BLD_Floor_Half_Metal_Grate, BLD_Stairs_Metal_Grate and BLD_Stairs_Half_Metal_Grate
  
• Medic scanner and body bag added, medic scanner needs tweak to ore holding animation, should also fix all the flipped scanners in 3RD person at the same time too, body bag just needs carry hookup
  
• Fixed issue where NPCs using the CreatureSize_+% stat would stretch and warp when ragdolled
  
• Adding test event and audio for 2d 3d vocalisations
  
• Added Volcano & Cliff Placement in Outpost 9, on Red Quad
  
• Cliff Placement Pass and Macro Cliff Pass, Outpost 11
  
• Removed sublevels in ice mammoth arena and placed everything into the persistent level
  
• New Medical Device Mesh & inworld widget when held in the players hand, Setting up New Mission NPC''s
  
• Add buildable setup for metal grate pieces
  
• Added test meshes, and bp, for t5 kit
  
• Cliff Placement Pass and Riverbank Pass, Outpost 11
  
• Added items and DT entries to support new harvest cart blade mechanic. Added new stat 'IsSprintDisabled_Bool' to disable ability to sprint via stat
  
• Ice Breaker added footprints to walk and stomp animations, fix parallex decal projection, added VFX to stomp and basic walk
  
• Added Field Guide Items title icon
  
• updated Field Guide Items image
  
• Cliff Placement Pass and Macro Cliff Pass, Outpost 11
  
• Add dialogue speaker implementation to Mission NPC base so that directional dialogue can be implemented when ready
  
• Added Ape armor 1ST& 3RD, sk meshes, material, bp gfur and textures and updated D_Armour
  
• Added tooltips to field guide buttons
  
• New plough attachments are now called Steel, Platinum, and Titanium ploughs instead of Basic and Advanced
  
• Fix weather occlusion on whiteout effect
  
• Disabled storm wall FX actor until a pass is done on it to look better
  

[/expand]

Welcome to week 143

This week, we introduce a new growable plant: Sugarcane, which can be purchased as Seeds in the Orbital Workshop. Fully grown Sugarcane can be ground down in the Mortar and Pestle to make the newest ingredient on Icarus, Sugar.

With the addition of sugar comes new recipes and Candy, a new food group that doesn’t count towards the total active food buffs but provides small situational buffs for escaping dangerous situations.

We’ve also got a quick snapshot of what’s to come next week, and where you’ll find it nesting.

Jump in and have a read.

• Aluminum buildables have received a LOD pass, meaning there are no more black lines that ascend when viewed from a distance
  
• Added a new master glass material and reworked all the current glass BLD materials, to reduce the excessive amounts of fog that could be seen through the glass
  
• Adjusted the weight and curve of throwing a grenade to a more accurate motion. We’ve also balanced this against other throwables for cohesion and synced it better with the audio speed
  
• Turrets will no longer attempt to shoot a target if they don't have a line of sight (e.g. behind solid walls)
  
• Upped the stack size of kiwifruit to 100 to match most other harvested small fruits/veggies
  

[hr][/hr]

Sugarcane seed packets can now be purchased from the Orbital Workshop, and subsequently grown on the surface of Icarus. Fully matured sugarcane can then be harvested and ground into sugar using your Mortar and Pestle.

Sugar allows us to expand our food choices in the game, providing different alternatives with new buffs that facilitate new ways to play, just as the previous addition of salt did.

The beauty of adding Sugar is that it also allows us to explore other chemical applications and how food groups behave with this compound. The obvious area we may experiment with in the future is fermentation.


[hr][/hr]

We have added a few new sugar-based recipes: an Energy Bar crafted on the player, Salted Caramel Pastry and Caramel berry Tarts craftable on the Biofuel Stove, and Chocolate Chip and Coconut Cookies craftable on the Electric Stove.

All of these sugar-based recipes provide a boost to the charge speed of bows and the reload speed of guns, making them an excellent choice for enhancing ranged combat.

We’ve also added two new recipes for Strawberry Hard Candy and Watermelon Lollipops, which give you a short buff to movement speed and penalty reduction for being over-encumbered, respectively.

Candy won’t take up any food buff slots, allowing them to be used on top of other foods, countered obviously by the shorter window of effectiveness. Think of them as a get-out-of-jail-free card for those sticky situations when you need to hot-foot it.


[hr][/hr]

As mentioned in previous weeks, the NullSector (our Free Prometheus Expansion) will include new Operations, a new exploration mechanic, new mutated creatures, and one new giant creature.

We are still actively working on the NullSector, with some big mission revamps in the works, more narrative, more dialogue, and more missions to provide the experience it deserves.

This region is not for the faint of heart. All the adjustments and differences are geared towards this being a hardcore survival challenge, so make sure you enter it prepared.

If you are interested in reading about what we plan to do with missions in the future, click here.


[hr][/hr]

Next week, we plan to introduce a new creature that emerges from nests in Arctic zones. This creature will come with its own trophy, bestiary entry, and new resource type that will offer an alternative to some existing recipes.



[hr][/hr][h2]Your support makes these updates possible.[/h2]

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/40692/Icarus_Pets_Bundle/

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/35727/Icarus_Complete_the_Set/
[hr][/hr]

[h3]New Content[/h3]
[expand]

• Unlocking Sugar Recipe
  
• Unlocking Sugar Cane Seeds, Workshop Packs and Sugar Items
  
• Sugar now requires a blueprint and is craftable on the marble kitchen bench
  
• Adding new sugar food recipes and Item setup
  
• Sugar is not only craftbale on the mortar & pestle and material processor
  
• Fixed Sugar Cane crops having too low seed drop chance
  
• Fixed Sugar Cane seed rewards
  
• Added Sugar Cane seeds to dynamic quests rewards list
  
• Increase the water requirements for cookies and candies, working around a bug with processors turning off at low water requested
  
• Adding crunch default food to crunchy new edible candys instead of soft sounding chewing
  

[/expand]

[h3]Fixed[/h3]
[expand]

• Added second batch of aluminium buildables with improved LOD pass
  
• New master glass material, rework of all glass BLD materials
  
• Railings place with less of the railing underneath the floor when snapped, and some of the railing buried when not snapped. This looks more natural and has railings appear as a more similar height on stone floors particularly
  
• Fixed a typo in quest step for heal device
  
• Fixed a typo in item flavour text
  
• LOD and material fixes for various windows and doors, art deco and stone fireplace meshes
  
• Fine tuned the throwable curves to be in line with each other so the grenades dont fall right on the floor at a light tap.
  
• Adjusted weight and curve to feel like a grenade. Balanced against other throwables for cohesion and synced better with the speed of the audio
  
• Turrets will no longer attempt to shoot a target if they don't have a line-of-sight (e.g. behind solid walls).
  
• Did an optimisation pass on Turrets to reduce the cost of their target selection and status/material updating
  
• Fixed texture errors on glass door, added tempered glass variant materials for window and door, added texture tiling controls to MA_GLS_BLD to adjust scale of reinforcing
  
• Shields durability now reduce based on total damage rather than mitigated damage
  
• Increased shield durability maximums to reflect damage intake change, higher tier shields will have the same or higher durability
  
• Fixed issue where beehive upgrades would collide with player even if they weren't visible or attached to hive. Added additional inventory slots to Larkwell meta backpack (shotgun), previously gave none. Upped stack size of kiwifruit to 100 to match most other harvested small fruits/veggies
  
• Fix character talent weapons are not repairable at bench. Add a validator to pick this up in future
  
• Fixed incorrect material assignment on scoria trap door floor
  
• Fix typo in IDs on dynamic collection mission
  
• Slightly offset refined wood halfpiece floors so they line up correctly
  
• Adjusting smoke grenades bounce audio from feeling like its bouncing on the spot. Adjusted friction to prevent continuous sliding of grenade triggering constant annoying audio
  
• Adding grenade bounce impact event for spacial awareness of grenade proximity. Setting up for new boss grenades etc
  
• Added additonal aluminium buildable LOD Improvments
  
• Added batch of aluminium buildables with LOD pass done
  

[/expand]

[h3]Future Content[/h3]
[expand]

• Ice Mammoth Arena - biome overide added
  
• Fixed bug where exotic infused creatures weren't getting their particle systems initialised with the correct colour.
  
• Fixed bug where exotic infused creature particle systems would reset when switching from NPC -> corpse on death
  
• Re-added Itemable row that was lost in DT merge
  
• Remove (editor only) AtmosphereController_Spawner as is causing a crash for world builders edit time
  
• Fixed dev transform tool not working on actors with static mobility
  
• Altered text for living weapons as they are tbc
  
• Added item text for ape, cat, and hornet boss drops
  
• Added text to lava hunter boss drops
  
• Added text for Slug boss items
  
• Added text to Rock Golem items
  
• Fixed issue where opening bunker medical cabinet in-game rotated it
  
• changing light source to be a warm light, range and intensity of the lantern
  
• changing cone angle and alighnment of spotlight for the flashlight
  
• STRANDED: ASHLANDS - The timer has been increased by 1 hour on each difficulty, added another optional step for food & water
  
• changing intensity and range of the flashlight
  
• Ice Mammoth Arena - additional lighting at ice falls
  
• Ice Mammoth Arena - placed initial lighting under ice as night time lighting
  
• Added new developer tool to fine-tune actor transforms in-game
  
• Adjusted ice shader for armor/items sss base opacity
  
• Added text for Marrowraith items
  
• Removed emissive and replaced the shader for the ice crystals with ice mammoth icicle shader for the ice mammoth shield
  
• Added text for new boss vestiges and trophies
  
• Added text for boss biomass items
  
• Deal with (internal editor/tools) issues with instanced levels and the atmosphere controller. WITH_EDITOR gates
  
• Deal with (internal editor/tools) issues with instanced levels and the atmosphere controller. Engine divergence mod (WITH_ENGINE gates)
  
• Deal with (internal editor/tools) issues with instanced levels and the atmosphere controller. Engine divergence mod
  
• Deal with (internal editor/tools) issues with instanced levels and the atmosphere controller
  
• Added Ice Breaker Footstep Decals Prototype
  
• Added cheat to temporarily disable deployable placement collision / stacking rules
  
• Adding New Function for retrieving utility item data so it can be queried from different places in the code base
  
• Added SK_GUN_Rock_Golem
  
• Add viewport blocker for instanced levels (for the player that is entering + loading)
  
• Cliff Placement Pass and Riverbank Pass, Outpost 11
  
• Changed flicker to prevent escessive flickering
  
• Added meshes, materials, mask textures for Inverted Concrete Ramp and Floor
  
• Teleport mounts to instanced level exit when instanced level is being torn down
  
• Adding hornets throwing knives audio and data table setups. Fixed flying audio sounding a bit fake
  
• Added and replaced ice crystal material for the ice shield
  
• Added a tag water.NoShow to disable an objects mesh from being displayed when slotted into a water purifier.
  
• Added the tag to water jerry can and t3 water can to fix mesh clipping into the purifier
  
• Add implementation of inverted concrete floor and ramp
  
• Setting up player audio component and FMOD parameter to play audio when container is full VS empty
  
• Adjustment to medical scanner audio. Shortened it since the UI is instant. Also adjusted truck in same mission PM to be metal since its metal. Was set to plastic which we dont have footstep layers for
  
• Cliff Placement Pass and Riverbank Pass, Outpost 11
  
• Adding blueprint information and FMOD event volume adjustments to adjust the audio balance of emtpy container vs water sloshing dpending on water fill state
  
• Fixed BP material overrides for inverted concrete floor and ramp pieces
  
• Adding deploy audio for swamp ape trophy
  
• Added on animation and emissive for DEP_Cooler_T4
  
• Adding hornet wing pickup audio and event and data table
  
• Fix Ape trophy preview mesh
  
• Adjusted LOD distances for Portable Generator
  
• Trunk Merge
  
• Enabling ASHLANDS: RESCUE, adding quest markers and adding Small Mission Fixes
  
• Enabling ASHLANDS: RESCUE, Fixing mission flow - fixing mission markers, fixing mission droppod so it actually drops at the correct location
  
• Adding Action Promp to Empty Stasis Bag when focused
  
• Empty Stasis bags are now consumed when you use them on injured NPC's
  
• RESCUE: ASHLANDS - adding new mission, adding new recipe, quest flag and new items for stasis bags, adding new NPCs for the quest, adding new medevac ship, adding full quest steps and tag queries
  
• Making adjustments to quest objective enteries so that we can display 'info' quest information
  
• Adding new Prospector map marker
  
• Adding new Rich text style for quests
  
• Adding new modifier for near death
  
• Adding new Prospect Row & Talent for RESCUE: ASHLANDS
  
• Added some subtle spine rotation in new NPC lookat ctrlrig. All attached skeletal components are now correctly highlighted on mission NPCs
  
• BP_Mission_NPC_Base::ShouldLookAt is now replicated
  
• Added first pass AnimBP for mission NPCs and simple LookAt control rig
  
• Adding unique cave mission audio, event and scatter ambient rocks
  
• Adding in NPC Skeletal mesh and Anim states to use for NullSec mission
  
• Added textures and materials for first kit of the Wood Beeswax building tier
  
• Updated skinning on ITM_Backpack_FoodPrep_or_Chef
  
• Cliff Placement Pass and Riverbank Pass, Outpost 11
  
• Fixed Scyther bolt recipe output
  
• Outpost_012 - rivers, riverbank and cliff placement, terrain adjustments
  
• Added dev tool cheats to the Field Guide UI
  
• Cliff Placement Pass and Riverbank Pass, Outpost 11
  
• Demoved dev-lock on transform tool so it works on test builds
  
• Enabled skeletal component update rate optimisations on deployables
  
• Blockout Split of the Volcanic/Arctic Outpost
  
• Tag items for Field Guide placement
  
• Add Husbandry category to Field Guide
  
• Adding appropriate ice mammoth audio setups
  
• Added inverted concrete ramp and floor icon image
  
• Splitting quests up [CRISIS: ASHLANDS] - Finding Location and Healing the Crew, [STRANDED: ASHLANDS] - Helping the Crew Resupply, [RESCUE: ASHLANDS] - Saving the 2 crew members who where off scouting
  
• Adding concept for persistent mission actors that are spawned as part of missions but can exist and be retrieved outside of missions if required
  
• Adjusted logic for CRISIS, STRANDED and RESCUE to retrieve persistent actors rather than spawn and delete every time
  
• Fixing issue with RESCUE where the stasis bags did not mention where they where crafted
  
• Cliff Placement Pass and Riverbank Pass, Outpost 11
  
• Adding deploy sandworm wood building tier audio and data table setup
  
• Added remaining textures and materials for the Wood Beeswax building tier, including adjusting data table entries for the skinning, as well as tested each piece
  
• Fix Rimetusk head trophy mesh
  
• Added Sandworm frame/pillar to beams set
  
• Additional checks and logging for Foliage Instance Actors in WorldGeneration job
  
• Added line to dry atmosphere modifier that the temperature will fluctuate throughout the day
  
• Adjustment to sandworm wood deploy audio volume and fixing workshop grenade not having correct trigger audio setting for impact event
  
• Cliff Placement Pass and Riverbank Pass, Outpost 11
  
• inital lighting pass, adding far shadows
  
• Added implementation of reinforced glass doors and windows
  
• Lowered the price of glass window types
  
• STRANDED: Dev locked mission as this is not yet available
  

[/expand]

This week's update continues our trend of introducing small improvements and new content from our recently concluded project clinic.

Two features deserve special mention - our new corner stair pieces and changes to crafting shotgun ammo.

Our NullSec work has also progressed since the conclusion of the project clinic. We also have a small update on this below.
[hr][/hr]

• Improved performance by removing tick cost from spline networks and reducing building base tick.
  
• General lighting optimizations have been implemented to improve performance
  
• You can now drop items into the Medical Satchel, Seed Pouch, and Farmers Bag by dragging an item on top of them
  
• When a Medical Satchel, Seed Pouch, and Farmers Bag is in your hotbar, you can right-click to open it
  
• Updated the Icons for fuel slots so that if it accepts any container with a specific resource, a new symbol will be shown (this includes new icons for all resource types)
  
• Added a new exotic exchange button to convert Red Exotics into Ren at a rate of 7:1
  
• Added a new Portable Biofuel Tank that holds 150L of biofuel
  
• Updated the reinforced & basic glass textures to remove some of the unintended fog effect shown in various situations
  
• The Upgrade function on repair hammers now include ‘reinforced glass’ in their list
  
• Adjusted Explosive Ammo Crafting to use 1 Volatile Substance per 5 ammo instead of 1:1
  
• Battery Powered Lanterns now will stay lit underwater
  

[hr][/hr]

These stairs allow for vertical traversal using the same space as a half piece but in an L formation. This new piece should offer multiple new ways to build bases, allowing for more intricate designs.

These are available in refined wood & stone options as variants on the existing ramp and half-piece kits as part of the existing research sets.

Expect more material options for corner stairs in the future.


[hr][/hr]

We have also revamped the way shotgun ammo is crafted. Instead of all shotgun ammo requiring general ammo casings, a new item - shotgun cartridges - has been added in their place. These are crafted with 1 Copper Ingot and 3 Epoxy to produce 5 shotgun cartridges.

The shotgun slug recipe has been split out, so now you don't need to craft it using a buckshot round. This change eliminates an unnecessary crafting step and streamlines the process of creating the ammo.

The higher-tier ammo (Obsidian, Cold Steel, Miasmic, Incendiary) is still crafted using buckshot, as it is fired as a buckshot round with an added effect.


[hr][/hr]

As mentioned in previous weeks, the NullSector will include new map areas, new operations, a new exploration mechanic, new mutated creatures, and one new giant creature for owners of the New Frontiers expansion.

This region is not for the faint of heart. All the adjustments and differences are geared towards this being a hardcore survival challenge, so make sure you enter it prepared.

If you are interested in reading about what we plan to do with missions in the future, click here.


[hr][/hr][h2]Your support makes these updates possible.[/h2]

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/40692/Icarus_Pets_Bundle/

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/35727/Icarus_Complete_the_Set/
[hr][/hr]

[h3]New Content[/h3]
[expand]

• Open world drop selection UI changes
  
• Added the ability to add a color to the storm fog. Increased the clamp of fog density
  
• Lightning rods will now divert all nearby lightning strikes - previously it only diverted strikes that were targeted against players and buildings (leaving trees and bushes).
  
• Basic Lightning Rod is now destroyed after 3 hits instead of 1, and affects a radius of 50m (from 30m).
  
• Platinum Lightning Rod is now destroyed after 9 hits instead of 4, and affects a radius of 80m (from 30m)
  
• Added new hexagon modifier icons
  
• Removed Player Tracker Module from workshop
  
• Added Exotic Red to Ren image. Changed colour of exotic red button
  
• Do not list existing prospects when New is clicked (confusing people - use Load)
  
• Update starter torches to be repaired with sticks instead of wood (as wood is not in the recipe)
  
• Did a pass on building piece resource cost ensuring half size pieces cost half the amount as their full-size counterparts (Wall Angled, Half Piece, Half Pitch, Roof Corner)
  
• Adding Exotic Exchange Button so Red Exotics can be Exchanged for Ren
  
• Add upgrade hammer functionality for Reinforced Glass building tier
  
• Added Salt and Water to pickling recipe requirements
  
• Added Half Stairs to all Half Piece variations
  
• Added Corner Stairs for Interior Wood and Stone to Ramp variations
  
• All doors, windows, trapdoors, and fence gates now used a fixed bounds size, should prevent assets from flickering when on the edge of screen
  
• Adding new Resource 'Shotgun Casing'
  
• Shotgun Ammo Recipes now use the Shotgun casing as the base instead of the 'Ammo Casing'
  
• Splitting out the Shotgun Slug into its own blueprint and changed its recipe so it no longer requires Buckshot for Creation
  
• BP_IcarusSplineNet no longer ticks
  
• Changed modifier background icon shape and added medic backpack modifier icon
  
• Added grazing behaviour to mounts and tames (enabled via talent)
  
• Adding Concept of Positive & Negative Auras and setting up code so that Modifier backgrounds can be easily changed
  
• Modifying the medic backpack to only provide one aura and one aura effect, its a combination of the 3 from before
  
• Set Player Dropship icon's max compass distance to 100m
  
• Set default grazing behaviour to 'None' to prevent animals from grazing until told to
  
• Battery Powered Lantern now does not go out when you are underwater
  
• Update shotgun casing to be craftable
  
• Add Railing functionality to half stairs
  
• Adding in Water Container and Jerrycan Recolor materials for biofuel and petroleum
  

[/expand]

[h3]Fixed[/h3]
[expand]

• Replaced old hunter chest piece with the new one in the D_Armour
  
• Removing light buzz from trail beacons to stop excessive use of virtualizing audio events if the player is using hundreds of beacons
  
• Lowered the opacity, as well as height detail and roughness, for the wire grid in the tempered glass textures/material, as requested by Dean
  
• Fixed ensure that was being triggered by Lava Flyer having a stat re-applied on tick
  
• light optimizations
  
• Creature Deterent map areas no longer show on compass
  
• Fixed issue where cats wouldn't appear to sleep on beds properly (for clients)
  
• Added a more generic way of serialising prebuilt structures - electricity/water networks should now be supported as well as more complex deployable/container/foundation configurations
  
• Reduced tick frequency of BP_Building_Base::DirtyTickEvent, added random offset to ensure building pieces don't all tick on the same frame on game reloads
  
• Nativised BP_Building_Base::GetHardStability
  
• Hooking up Portable Biofuel Back Mesh
  
• Fixed a number of typos
  
• Tempered glass - adjusted material settings and albedo texture to mitigate fresnel fog effect
  
• Removed wood rag torch and wood flare repair materials, as these should not be possible to repair
  
• Fixed faction mission radar not being able to be activated on dedicated server, added some IsDedicatedServer checks to prevent cosmetic-only logic being run on the server
  
• Fixed wrong BP material id for the destructible mesh on BP_Building_RoofCorner_L_Wood
  
• Fixed radar not being able to be activated on dedicated server, or when host wasn't looking
  
• Resaved Mounts DT
  
• Increased initial delay variance on first BP_Building_Base::DirtyTick
  
• Added data and widgets for new mount/tame grazing behaviour
  
• Prevent some items that aren't repairable from being initially listed when 'Repair All' is clicked on the Repair Bench
  
• Any objects that run off fuel / hydrazine / water / oxygen as a resource in a container, now have new icons to show the resource type, the tool tip has also been updated so it is more readable (it was using the default UE4 tooltip text)
  
• Allow dropping of items onto the bags (Seed Pouch, Medical Satchel) to place them inside
  
• When the bags (Seed Pouch, Medical Satchel) are focused, right click to open
  
• Increased desert tames heat tolerences (moa, zebra and hyena)
  
• Fix charging station lights being lit when device is turned off
  
• Styx: Shifted an alpha wolf spawner slightly to avoid clipping with rocks
  
• Increase temperature leniance on arctic tames slightly to allow use in forest biomes
  
• Adjusting Explosive Ammo Crafting to use 1 Volatile Substance per 5 ammo instead of 1:1
  
• Unlock field guide by default on development builds
  
• Adding new pass on broken windows to move into more mesh based approach, 5 variants included
  
• Wild animals no longer attempt to drink from water bodies with creature deterrent radius
  
• Fixed bug where the 'How Many Shots Did You Count' talent was granting ammo to the wrong player on dedicated servers. Fixed bug where the 'How Many Shots Did You Count' talent was refunding the current amount of ammo player had in their loaded weapon instead of a single unit
  
• Replacing jerrycan water backpack sound with a more generic tub container sound rather than water sloshing. Until water level within BP can be worked out
  
• Adding correct deploy audio for biofuel and water tank.also correcting other wrong deploy audio sounds for new items. Lowered jerrycan pickup audio slightly
  

[/expand]

[h3]Future Content[/h3]
[expand]

• Adding LC_Ledge_01-03, LC_MAC_05 meshes and materials
  
• Material for ledges - missed in last commit
  
• Added destructible mesh for the ape trophy display case and added to the blueprint
  
• Outpost_012 - water, riverbanks, cliff placement. Added moss variant material for LC Cave Entrance 01
  
• Added ape boss balloon trophy to project in three parts
  
• Adding in electric motor to use with Null Sec mission, currently just a backpack item that can be picked up / dropped, no additional functionality
  
• Added more new biome modifier icon types and colours
  
• Fixed pins poing to previously named rows that have now been renamed. (Fixing build)
  
• Fixing Modifier State Compile Error
  
• Adding Mission_NPC_Base and interactions for dialogue
  
• Stopping the aerosol emitter from playing if its deployed. Hacking FMOD event to solve auto start - stop BP behavior. adjusting deploy audio to be more appropriate for Aerosol
  
• Added GRE_Golem_Caltrop_Grenade
  
• First checkin of flag assets, has base setup for ground and wall based flag that works with the weather system, NZ flag texture setup, mesh swap for correct pole coming in part2
  
• Adding New Prometheus NULL SECTOR Mission - STRANDED: ASHLANDS
  
• Added whiteout values to the weather actions. Resaved weather actions to fix build break
  
• COMPOSITION: Initial swap to powered aerosol device
  
• Correcting hammerhead slug Medium and Small still using large animation montages within some of the BT. Now uses all correct small and medium versions for all attacks and roars
  
• Fix black dist fog plane on Ice Sheets/re-added fog color on Ice Sheets on AtmosphereController
  
• STRANDED: ASHLANDS, adding ability to interact with various elements of the truck, adding new recipes for alternator & radiator, adding new quests steps to fill up biofuel & water containters and deliver alternators and radiator, adjusted npc's so they play dialogue using the correct system, added new quest session flag for recipes, setup various truck elements and spawned them in as part of the quest, added new interactables for filling biofuel / water from held items
  
• Added new Base Common quest for filling up an objects fillable
  
• Reverb adjustments to hammerhead bosses to avoid drastic sounding reverbs in some biomes with different reverb settings. Applying some additional reverb to the worm explode event
  
• Replacing earthquake audio from rock golem with a version with less close rock falls to leave more impact and intensity for the actual close rock falls
  
• Added whiteout to PlayerEffectComponent and InGameWeatherman, twead NFX to improve windy behaviour and look at diff lights
  
• Added hornet torn wing art assets to the project
  
• Added hornet stinger art assets to the project
  
• Updating Iron Bucket to be consistent with other water hauling devices
  
• Adding in mining truck and texture pass to use in null sec mission
  
• Added fuel resource icons
  
• Saved missing json file (fixing build)
  
• Added beeswax wood and tempered glass into the buildingfunctionlibrary switch statement and building lookup. added new tag query for beeswax wood and a tag along with it
  
• Adding appropriate PM to Ice Breaker bones so they play the right footsteps when walked on
  
• Adding in wall mounted whiteboard, as well as finished part 2 of flag checkin for custom flagpole mesh
  
• Adding in Radiator and materials to use for Nul Sec mission, also hooked up contexts to D_Meshable
  
• Changing UMG_modifier state widget to orange modifier circle texutres from Blue
  
• Cliff Pass and Landscape Painting Pass, Outpost 11
  
• Adding Portable Biofuel Tank
  
• Fixing Truck Map Icon Build Validation Fail and Alpha Value rendering it invisible
  
• STRANDED: ASHLANDS, adding animations to the NPC's Adding new Truck Map Icon, Updating Medical Scanner UI, Mission is now completely playable, Setting up radiator & alternator, taking item icons, setting up truck and truck parts / interact points, removing all the accidental quest markers from the quest
  
• STRANDED: ASHLANDS, adding quest flag so you can craft the Alternator & Fabricator
  
• Affing new Radiator Image & Mesh Setup
  
• STRANDED: ASHLANDS, added missing prebuilt structures
  
• Ice sheet mission dialogue edits
  
• SMPL3 dialogue hookup, line added for staging before Null sector and post entry
  
• Dialogue edits for Ashlands story
  
• Updated DEP_Swamp_Ape_Attractor
  
• Cliff Pass, Riverbank Pass and Landscape Painting Pass, Outpost 11
  
• Small adjustments to the hammerhead slug Small volumes
  
• Fixed Exotic Infused Ignari spawning in Ashlands
  
• COMPOSITION: Missed file commit
  
• COMPOSITION: Further changes to mission flow
  
• Made a few changes to the medical scanner UI
  
• Increase Dressing Kit cost
  
• A few small adjustments to ice breaker falloff distance. Slightly reduced the total length of the audio now that there's more fog, feels more appropriate. increased intensity in close proximity footsteps. More reverb
  
• fixed incorrect material assignments for sandworm roof pyramid L piece
  
• Removing dialogue entries for build fix
  
• Outpost_012 - river adjustments, bank placement
  
• Concrete BLDs - removed trim from angled wall pieces, fixed skin table entries for limestone, added empty material slot to most base SMs to enable the correct limestone fracture material
  
• Replaced Ice Mammoth Shield icon with new model icon
  
• Fixed issue where opening bunker locker in-game rotated it 31d
  
• Removed limit for amount of bunker lockers that can be placed side by side
  
• Adding in bunker Locker setup and materials, supports snapping to eachother to place multiple in a row, rotation bug with anim to fix
  
• Fixed BP node compile errors after changing native variable type
  
• The new method of serialising prebuilt structures now supports being spawned at a generated world location
  
• STANDED: ASHLANDS, the timer only now counts down until you have provided aid to all the crew members, Fixing Initial Quest Step to include preperation phase, New NPC's will not longer consume extra medicine / food / oxygen / water if they don't need it, increasing interact distance on the medical device, adding prompts for the medical device, adjusting quest steps text for consistentcy, adjusting NPC food / oxy / water values so they require more to stabilise
  
• Adding in various signs to use for Null Sec mission, as well as multiple variants of the large base sign, one completely clear to use as a player sign if needed, added in medic cabinet with animations and setup, added in large variant of the flag pole, locker mesh to follow
  
• Fixing Water Can showing the Radiator Mesh
  
• STRANDED: ASHLANDS, Updating Scanner so you can scan other prospectors, adjusting truck interact points
  
• Adjusting biome modifier image to use a new shape and colour
  
• Outpost_012: Flushing grass cache
  
• Small adjustment to hammerhead slug axe equip volume
  
• Set player/cargo landing pads decay to do not decay
  
• Adding new BP for High Yield Deep or Veins, we now have a modifier for time on the BP itself so it can be adjusted in future
  
• New Hail Weather FX Prototype
  
• Cliff Placement Pass and Riverbank Pass, Outpost 11
  
• Outpost_012 - rivers, lake, riverbank, cliff placement
  
• Setup Beeswax reinforced wood item setups
  
• Prevent player/cargo landing pads from showing damage numbers
  
• Updated frozen lake collision profile to fix NPC IK making them clip through the ground when walking on top
  
• Cliff pass, Outpost 11
  
• Added a combined mesh for the ape boss balloon trophy to be use for placement
  
• Possible fix for unity build include compile error on build agent
  
• Adding Mesh and Icon for Ape Grenade
  
• Setting up Ballistic Asset for Hornet Throwing Knife
  
• Removing regualar Hornet throwing knife item
  
• Setting up Meshes and Icons for Hornet Throwing Knife, Hornet Stinger, Hornet Wing, Ape Hide, Ape Trophies anmd Ice Mammoth Armor
  
• Setting up Ice Mammoth Armor so it can be equipped
  
• Setting up Ape Fishing Trap, Recipe & Blueprint
  
• Setting up Ape Rug Trophy, Recipe & Blueprint
  
• Update exotic creatures color to purple from blue
  
• Added new CL param to force enable RTX
  
• Knobble FLODActorComponent for rocks and voxels in instanced levels
  
• Lava Flyer Nests are no longer valid AI targets
  
• Cliff Placement Pass and Riverbank Pass, Outpost 11
  
• Added first pass of whiteout storms for Ice Sheet
  
• Adding press medical scanner audio. Currently playing off medical scan UMG in 2d. Need to check it doesnt play for all players
  
• Added first batch of reworked aluminium buildable LODs
  
• Collision pass and PM pass on the mining truck for accuracy
  
• Adding Ice Mammoth Feet Armor Icon and Mesh setup
  
• Adding back new SMPL3 lines for nulsec entry
  
• Added cooling weather events to Ashlands
  
• Change Hail VFX to new one, updates to collision and shader, optmization pass
  
• Adding in progress light fuction material for Abyss cave triggers
  
• Fixed null skeletal mesh error in editor
  
• Added SK_CHA_MAL_ARM_IcemMammoth_feet
  
• Outpost_012 - riverbanks, lake adjustment, cliff placement, moss variant material for Cave_LC_Entrance 03
  

[/expand]

Welcome to week 141

This week, we continue our project clinic.

Originally posted by author

We are working on some big changes with the ‘Nullsector’ (the Prometheus Free Expansion). We are aiming to provide some very different (but good different) experiences not seen before with Icarus. Some of these changes are a bit spicy and we are doing lots of rapid balance iteration at the moment, this includes overhauling the quests for a more narrative focus. The Nullsector will be released when the experience hits the mark it deserves.

- Jake Dodunski, Icarus Project Lead

[hr][/hr]

Our Project Clinic has resulted in an array of adjustments, enhancements, additions, and refinements.

[h3]Performance Optimization to Skeletal Meshes[/h3]

All objects in Icarus use meshes. Some of these meshes include bones that can be moved to perform animations. These are called skeletal meshes.

In this update we’re introducing an optimization on many skeletal meshes so the frequency of when their animations are initiated is drastically reduced. We have achieved this by implementing certain limitations, one being that these updates occur less often the further they are from the player. The other is that if the skeletal meshes are not visible, they will not play their animations at all.

This reduces the amount of time your processor spends calculating animations, which in turn affects the framerate. From internal testing on a large prospect, this has caused a 75% reduction in CPU cost relating to skeletal mesh updates.

Expect more improvements in the future.



[h3]Map, Compass and Beacon Improvements[/h3]

The compass has become quite busy with all the icons, search areas, map markers, and beacons, causing a lot of clutter while playing. We are looking at various ways to reduce this clutter and possibly enable some custom user options in the future. Some of our early improvements are:

• Portable Beacons have received a quality-of-life update. When you interact with them, you can set a distance at which they will appear on the compass. You can now name the beacons, which can be seen when you hover over the icon on the map
  
• Mount Compass Icons will now only appear on your compass if you are within 50m, and you can hover over your mount's icon on the map to see its name
  

We plan on improving this more in the future.


[h3]Tier 3 Water Can and Tier 4 Portable Water Tank[/h3]

Our upcoming introduction of the new ‘Null Sector’ will provide a different experience from what people have encountered on Icarus before. You will need to prepare and plan resource usage in a truly resource-scarce environment. This week we are introducing two new bulky items that can only be carried in your Utility Slot or on Mounts in preparation.

• The T3 Water Can is craftable on the Machining Bench and can hold 50L of water
  
• The T4 Portable Water Tank is craftable on the Fabricator, can hold 150L of water, and can be deployed and connected to a water network
  

[h3]Mount and Tame Updates[/h3]

Mounts and tames will now be affected by temperatures in different biomes, similar to the player. This means that if they get too hot or cold, they will get modifiers relevant to their current state. To help manage that, the various animal feeds now provide heat and cold resistance to animals.

In rare cases where mounts and tames disappear from the world, we have added some automatic logging so we can fix problem map areas.


[h3]New Gates for Railings[/h3]

We have introduced new railing gates for each railing type. This allows the construction of enclosed areas using gates that match your railings. These gates are unlocked with the base railing in each building tier trim set, so they do not require any additional blueprint points.


[h3]New Reinforced Glass Buildings[/h3]

The current Reinforced Glass crafting process requires a water network to be connected to the glassworking bench, which provides an alteration to any glass crafted. Unfortunately, this ‘reinforced glass’ looks and feels exactly the same as the base glass building pieces, which can cause confusion.

We’ve taken this on board and decided to adjust how the whole system works.

As of this patch, there is a new ‘Reinforced Glass’ Building tier that is unlockable on the tech tree. The building pieces look different and have different recipes than the standard glass tier. They also have the same level of storm protection as their reinforced alteration counterparts.

Any existing Glass buildings with the Reinforced alteration will still exist and function as they have in the past but can no longer be crafted.

Unfortunately, the upgrade hammer will not allow upgrading to the new Reinforced Glass until next week.


[hr][/hr]

One thing that has been identified through our playsessions has been that we have the opportunity to change how we approach missions. Through fixes, improvements, developments, and better processes - we have the opportunity to fundamentally change the kind and quality of the missions and operations in the game. So we are taking the time to redo the nullsector missions and be bold, try out new ways of making these.

This means it make take some time for us to redo these, but if we can get these right and achieve a better experience it means we can apply that to other missions.

It is a big change for us, so players should expect that our missions in future may be quite different. We also are looking at information applied to players. We want to ensure the players are better supported, in most cases, for what to expect for a mission. Not everything needs to be surprise twists, that can end up just frustrating the player to the point of Alt+F4.

We are also linking these changes with bold changes and new features that support new or improved ways to play. This is already somewhat obvious with this weeks additions for managing the transport of water. There is a new content work for new (and more exotic) animals as mounts and companions, but we don't want to just rush these out either. The delay with NullSector is about using this as an opportunity to "level-up" the product completely, rethinking how we make missions especially those that are not on the main chain. We want you to enjoy the missions so much that you simply have to do them all, not just suffer through the side ones because you want the Ren.

[hr][/hr]

As mentioned in previous weeks, the NullSector (our Free Prometheus Expansion) will include new Operations, a new exploration mechanic, new mutated creatures, and one new giant creature.

This region is not for the faint of heart. All the adjustments and differences are geared towards this being a hardcore survival challenge, so make sure you enter it prepared.



[hr][/hr]
As we continue to make iterative changes and work on the Nullsector, you can expect more improvements and quality of life improvements to the base game similar to this week.

[hr][/hr][h2]Your support makes these updates possible.[/h2]

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/40692/Icarus_Pets_Bundle/

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/35727/Icarus_Complete_the_Set/
[hr][/hr]

[h3]New Content[/h3]
[expand]

• Added Aluminium crafting options for Aluminium Ore recipes for gates
  
• Fixed issue where mount minimum/maximum temperature values weren't being set correctly
  
• Enabled logging for mounts/tames that fall out of world
  
• Disabled ticking on all ASkeltalItem root skeletal mesh components when not rendered. Now, mesh components will only tick when rendered, or when a montage is playing
  
• Adding pickup water tank audio to portable tank as well as jerrycan water
  
• Fixed being unable to drink from Water Jerry Can
  
• Fixed Crop Glasshouse Modifiers not recognising Reinforced glass for greenhouses
  
• Adding new audio for picking up jerrycan water. Audio, event and data table setup
  
• Fixed portable water barrrel emptying on pickup
  
• Added ability to fill containers and water storage from many water containers
  
• Fixed Water Jerry Can being unable to water mounts
  
• Fixed crafting time on portable water storage and water jerry can
  
• Added popup that warns user of increased loading times when enabling RTX via the settings menu
  
• Fixed issue where beacon name wasn't showing on tooltip. Increased portable beacon name max character length
  
• Portable Beacons can now be named. Portable Beacons now have hover tooltips on map screen that show name, owner, and distance. Portable Beacon icons on compass can now be configured to fade out at certain distances on a per-beacon basis
  
• Replaced workshop horse icons to the correct ones
  
• Added the two missing hair colours for the white and black horses, so all three horse colour have appropriate, distinct hair colour. Icons will still need to be updated
  
• Added new Tempered Glass Icons
  
• Fixed material UV issues with the Tempered glass building
  
• Add mount and pet temperature affects. Most mounts have talents to mitigate temperature, while all pets have base talents that mitigate temperature
  
• Arctic/Desert/Volcanic feed have cold and heat resistance for mounts. Base animal feed has a small amount of cold and heat resistance
  
• Fixed multiple material mismatch issues with the Tempered glass building tier, all through Data table entries
  
• Setting crude ammo to 100% break chance
  
• Adding slight bleed chance to crude ammo
  
• Adding and unlocking Reinforced Glass Talents / Items / Icons and removing water to craft reinforced modifier on glassworking bench
  
• Adding ability to add modifiers to players, mounts, objects when they are within certain biomes
  
• Unlocking Railing Gates for all Trim Sets
  
• Adding Water Jerry Can T3
  
• Adding Portable Water Tank T4
  
• Adding Water Can (t3) and water barrel (t4)
  
• Soups and Stews now give a small amount of water when consumed
  
• Added descriptions for anti-parasitics explaining they affect dystentry
  
• Increase Survival Kit cost by adding rope, organic resin and charcoal. This better reflects the tech and prep level of the kit
  
• Increase decay time of pies, pastry and rolls
  
• Update Glass durability row to have its own row (no gameplay change)
  
• Initial setup of Tempered Glass reskin blueprints
  
• Mount icons now only appear on compass when within 50m of mount (instead of all the time). You can now hover over mount icons on the map to display the Mount/Tame's name
  

[/expand]

[h3]FIxed[/h3]
[expand]

• Switched BP_DeployableBase's VisibilityBasedAnimTickOption to OnlyTickPoseWhenRendered to ensure no ticks happen when not rendered (pose was still being ticked even when montages weren't playing)
  
• Correcting the jerrycan water outpost to SFX bus. Reduction in volume of footstep carry water sounds
  
• Returned savory pies and rolls decay rate, updated decayable name to sweet pie and only increased spoil time of sweet pies
  
• Making player movement with water jerry can more subtle until I can figure out how to get the fill amount to work
  
• Fixed cases of items being deployed with out of date stats
  
• Volume adjustment to portable water tanks
  
• We now immediately force a terrain anchor re-evaluation whenever a Mount/Tame starts falling
  
• Thumper now switches to updating AnimBP every frame when active (fixes bug introduced with recent animbp optimisation pass)
  
• Updated deployable actor AnimBPs to disable re-initialisation of StateMachine nodes when going from not rendered -> rendered
  
• Adding audio for carrying jerrycan water or portable tank. Footstep carry audio and drop audio. To be adjusted based on if the container is empty or full
  
• Also made deployable main SK meshes not tick when non-rendered
  
• Fixed Vegetarian buff not applying to Smashed Avocado
  
• Added icon to indicate when needler is performing it's relocation move
  
• Made the signle shot deploy audio for trail beacon even more subtle to account for people putting multiple down in small area
  
• Fix Swamp Water escalation
  
• Add additional escalation to Sulfur Water
  
• Fixed bug where buffalo couldn't walk from stone stairs up to connected stone floor. Mount head blocker components now affect cloth physics (leather curtain doors)
  
• Fixed DNT typo
  
• Change in lighting to the wood rag torch to be inline with other early light sources
  
• Fixed Glassworking Bench indicating a water connection is required for crafting Reinforced Glass (as this is now a seperate recipe)
  
• Fixed issue where internal minimum temperature for mounts was above defined minimum comfortable temperature
  
• Fixed BP_BiomeOverride not correctly applying biome modifiers to mounts when entering
  
• Plough Cart no longer creates empty dirt mounds when you run out of seeds to sow
  

[/expand]

[h3]Future[/h3]
[expand]

• Added KNI_Hornet_Throwing knife
  
• Adding in new nul sector assets to use for mission as spawnable items, all prefixed as Bunker in item template
  
• Added White Out VFX Assets
  
• Fixed issue where animals weren't spawning above level 50 even if their spawn area had a higher level specified
  
• Added Vertex Animated Flags asset pack to project
  
• Cliff Placement in Outpost 9, on Red Quad
  
• Outpost_012 - cliff placement, new moss material variants for LC macros and cliffs
  
• Merge Ashlands temperature curve (must have been squished in merge)
  
• Fixing Modifier State Compile Error
  
• Cliff Pass and Landscape Painting Pass, Outpost 11
  
• Fixed Ice Mammoth Chandelier wrong deployable setup
  
• Fixed compile error inside UMG_Beacon_Customisation
  
• Adjustment to scyther pickaxe
  
• Added warning line subtitles for Ashlands mission
  
• Adding second version of Needler Albedo and carcass to use in Nul Sec
  
• routing scyther events correctly and also rebuilding banks to help fix bankshiz
  
• Added larger modifier background icon frame and a cyan version
  
• Added tainted sulfur water icon
  
• 'Dry_Atmosphere' modifier is now 'Extreamly Arid' and no longer has a spoil timer increase
  
• Adding new biome modifier enum type so biome modifers are displayed differently to bring attention to them
  
• Adding initial setup for New Promtheus Missions
  
• Adding in Null Sector props to use for the bunker, various broken items and decorative props to use in the room / mission
  
• Adding new dialogue for Ashlands Story Mission
  
• Remove small herbivores from Ashlands and Ice Sheet, lowered spawn density of creatures in these areas
  
• Made deploying trail beacons even more subtle to match the removal of the beeping
  
• Reimported Apex Meshes and Fixed Mat Pyramid Hip Roof Pieces Beam
  
• Removing secondary layer from deploying trail beacon
  
• Removing beeping from the trail beacons
  
• Added dirty variant of the scyther tank trophy and added it to the blueprint
  
• Updated the scyther trap animations to have the arms extended out further
  
• Adding in branch base swing and idles for tree movement implementation, extra anims to follow
  
• Cliff Placement in Outpost 9, on Red Quad
  
• Cliff Pass and Landscape Painting Pass, Outpost 11
  
• Outpost_012 - cliff and macro placement
  
• Adding scyther spear audio whoosh and impact flesh event etc
  
• Adding appropriate audio for scyther pickaxe and spear etc
  
• Fix Stretched Texture Pyramid Hip Roof Pieces Beam
  
• Added smaller basalt columns around the arena based on feedback, Rock Golem Arena
  
• Fixed slugs trying to use goap montage and freezing when spawned in water
  
• Adding separate event for lava flyer nest egg with different eq / spacial settings
  
• Cliff Pass and Landscape Sculpting Pass, Outpost 11
  
• More fine tunes and tweaks to distances and reverb and spacialisers / volumes of all 3 sizes of the hammerhead slug. Improved hammer Small death audio
  
• Fixed up Alpha issues in terrain 19 spawn map
  
• Adding Meshes for Scyther Pick, Scyther Aquarium, Scyther Trophy, Scyther Bolts & Arros, Scyther Spear
  
• Adding Talents for Sycther Aquarium
  
• Adding Scyther Bolt item setup
  
• Adjustments to hammerhead slug. Added unique hammerhead slug death taunt audio and notify adjustments
  
• Moved Basalt Columns based on feedback and changed biome to cave, Rock Golem Arena
  
• Updated sandwom saddles with improved skinning and combines both UV sets so the textures are displayed properly
  
• Fixed missed decay change
  
• Fix a couple of modifier typos
  
• Updated ITM_Shield_IceMammoth
  
• Updated Croc Skin Saddle skeletal meshs with improved skinning
  
• Added DEP_Swamp_Ape_Attractor
  
• Deep Freeze will no longer produce ice in the Ashlands
  
• Increasing ashlands biome modifier water concumptio to 500%
  
• Adding Dry Atmopshere Modifier which increases water consumption and spoil rate
  
• The Ashlands now provides the Dry Atmosphere Modifier
  
• Cliff Pass and Landscape Painting Pass, Outpost 11
  
• Adding slime PM to poison spot to play correct footstep audio
  
• Adding spit sound to hammerhead slug ballistic. Adding hammerslug taunt medium death asset etc
  
• Outpost_012 - macro and cliff pass
  
• Updated swamp and lava lakes to have higher chance of dysentary and increased water and food usage, when drank unfiltered
  
• Small additional tweak to gas cooker sizzle audio
  
• Lots of updates and tweaks to the hammerhead slug audio. Adding unique slam montages and audio for each size variant of the hammerhead. Was previously using slug montages. various other changes to accomodate for different size versions
  
• Adding correct spit ballistics to the hammerhead slugs and also adding medium and small attack montages to the medium and small BT blueprints so they paly appropriate audio for both
  
• Reduced the overall fur length on the mammoth trophy slightly
  
• Switched off the physics on the mamoth trophy Gfur and replaced it with groomed splines
  
• Added all materials and textures for all assets for the Tempered Glass Tier of buildables. Also removed test assets that are no longer needed for the Sandworm Building Tier
  
• adjusted flicker for fire source lights
  
• Added Lava Flyer autonomous spawners to some of the new Ashlands areas
  
• Cliff Pass and Landscape Painting Pass, Outpost 11
  
• Cliff Placement in Outpost 9, on Red Quad
  
• Adding hammer slug projectile item data so it uses the correct hammer slug projectile audio
  
• Outpost_012 - water body placement and landscape sculpting
  
• Updated Ape_Boss_Hide asset with new design
  
• Adding hammer head death taunt audio events and notifys and unique ballistic travel and impact eventsfor more control etc
  
• Fixed bug where dirt mounds would lose their 'wet' material when you moved too far away
  
• changed poison box collider to full encapsulate the mesh. added proper bestiary table to hammerhead slug
  
• Blocking OEI from working in the Nullsector Biomes
  
• Outpost_012 - final adjustments to height/weightmap imports, map setup
  
• Adjustments to rock golem blocker spacializer and other small adjustments
  
• Rock Golem wall destroy BP
  
• Adding rock Golem destroy blocker event and blueprint imp. adjustments to roll velocity volume etc
  
• Updated iron bucket physical material
  
• updated deplayable setup data table with scyther trophy
  
• Changed incorrect row in spin attack for hammerhead slug
  
• Added destructible meshs for the Scyther trophies
  
• Added several ranged attacks, slug now more prefers ranged as it gets smaller. Spin attack shoots projectiles in all directions and then leaves a pool on the ground
  
• Added scyther boss trophies to the project
  
• Adding missing anim notifys and BP logic for golem attack roll
  
• Adding rock golem BP logic to account for velocity of roll. Removing continuous audio playing when cre is rolling
  
• Cliff Placement in Outpost 9, on Red Quad
  
• Cliff Pass and Landscape Painting Pass, Outpost 11
  
• Outpost_012 - landscape adjustments, weightmaps, first pass placing lakes
  
• Updated trophy deploy audio for the standing Ice Mammoth
  

[/expand]