Icarus News

Week Sixty Three brings improvements to last week's new deployable, the Thumper, and some small QoL fixes to crop plots, dropships and more.

A hotfix addressing a mission blocker caused by changes to our voxels was pushed Monday, and we’ve followed that up with changes to map icons, audio, exploits and more.

We’re also seeking more feedback and examples of dropship respawning occurring in voxels, trees and other locations that prevent you from being able to move.

Jump in and have a read.





We’ve focused this week on making some tweaks and changes to the new ore-regenerating Thumper device.

The first of these fixes was included in the hotfix we pushed Monday, which addressed the mission ‘Deep Vein: Extraction’ being blocked. Because of the change to how we ‘destroy’ voxels, the mission was interpreting this data incorrectly, leading to a mission step being assumed ‘incomplete' and preventing players from completing the mission. This has now been remedied and the mission will progress as intended.

Other fixes include a tweak to the map icon to make it more readable and a cleanup when logging in again.

Thumpers deployed in caves will now also trigger worms correctly, and more audio has been added. We’ve also added an option in the menu to disable screen shake, as some players found the effects too disruptive.

In order to correct a small exploit some players discovered, we’ve now prevented the Thumper from being able to be turned on while in water. While very clever, this removed any risk associated with using it. Additionally, the weight will also mean it is too heavy to be placed on top of any building pieces and will destroy them when placed there.





We’ve also added some other small Quality of Life improvements, with more work to do on some others.

Crop Plots previously were not detecting outdoors/greenhouses correctly and therefore provided incorrect buff/stat values. This has now been fixed, and Crop Plots should act as intended when provided with the right environments.

Mission Reward Dropships will now attempt to spawn closer to players also, as the current spread was outside our intended range. There are a bunch more fixes you can also find in the detailed change log below.

One of these improvements is to Dropship Spawner positioning, where we’ve had multiple reports of players landing in trees, voxels or on cliff edges. This prevents them from being able to leave the dropship and blocks their progress. We’re expecting this week’s changes will have alleviated those issues, but we’re still wanting feedback and examples/screenshots of where this has failed, so we can address them and implement more robust fixes that eradicate the cause.





Fixed

• Updated in-world tooltips to show the fillable resource color (eg blue for water, green for fuel, white for oxygen)
  
• Explicitly clear the frost affect when Cold and FrostBite modifiers are removed rather than running the blend weights again
  
• Force two decimal places on UI temperature display
  
• CARAPACE: Added unlock flag to mission (in addition to currently being granted during mission steps), so it will show the indicator on prospect selection screen
  
• Fixed a typo in mission dialogue
  
• Fixed a typo in mission dialogue
  
• Re-setting the local selected character before attempting to retry joining session. This should fix the issue with auto-retries failing
  
• Added logging within the User Interface to see whether or not menus are recorded as being shown when they're not visible, thus disabling the mouse input on death screen
  
• Fixed the logging so it doesn't spam every frame
  
• Fixed error caused by player leaving during an AI spawn check
  
• Fixed combo widget crash when the selected value doesn't exist
  
• Actors outside the world bounds during generation will now be assigned the closest generated level as their owner
  
• Black Wolf Knife is now correctly repaired by Black Wolf Teeth
  
• Add ProjectionLocation component to Caveworm loot drop sack to fix the widget being offset due to initial spawn offset
  
• ICESTORM: Fixed visual bug that would reset the mission progress of the device activation step
  
• Improved drop ship spawn point selection (tied to large AI navmesh, custom EQS with 5 point trace)
  
• Fixed Roasted Vegetables modifier using ProjectileDamage instead of BaseProjectileDamage
  
• Add DT Validation to modifier states to catch non-Base stat usage
  
• Fixed logging always showing as white colour instead of colours based on error codes
  
• Remove Durable trait from Shengong Canteen to match other water vessels
  
• Fix Shengong Canteen weighing 100g when it should be 1000g
  
• Fixing missing Fillable Type data from Larkwell Canteen
  
• Adding initial color selection functionality to Portable Beacon. Disabled while UX is being worked out
  
• Spawn mission reward ships closer to players
  
• Zero post process blend weights for cold/heat to when dead
  
• REMNANT: Fixed case where scans could be marked as incomplete after a relog
  
• Fixed issue where unmined voxels that had been regenerated weren't updating for clients until mined/damaged
  
• Added new gamplay setting to disable camera shake
  
• Decrease opacity of Thumpers search area map icon
  
• Fixed Thumper SearchArea map element not being cleaned up correctly after a prospect reload.
  
• Tweaked colour of Thumper Map Icon.
  
• Thumper now uses correct map icon row
  
• Added VFX and placeholder audio to Thumper damage deactivation event
  
• Reversing sizemograph animation so it spins the correct way
  
• Added UnsupportedDeployable weight option, which ensures the deployable is not supported by any building pieces by setting a very very high weight. - Changed Thumper deployable weight to UnsupportedDeployable
  
• Prefer dropship spawn point closest to the drop ship beacon when calling dropship via beacon
  
• Fix an issue with cursor focus in the Report An Issue popup (irony) when retroactively editing
  
• Prevented Hedgehog defense structures from having their mesh set to their destructible mesh if it wasn't configured, this prevents them turning invisible below half health
  
• Updated OLY level blueprint to remove references to old persistent level data in WorldData struct
  
• Fix an issue where crop plots placed on a floor did not register as outdoors
  
• Ensure orbital transport pod spawn position is correctly replicated to clients
  
• Fixed error message popup on title screen not appearing
  
• Added loading screen to show when attempting to auto-rejoin a server after losing connection via error 65
  
• Fixed error message popup on title screen not appearing
  
• The thumper now doesnt allow activation when within a cave or water
  
• Adding thumper electric shutdown audio, warning alarm and sonar pulse and blueprint info
  
• Re-enabled Thumper activation in caves. Thumper should now correctly spawn cave worms and land sharks within caves.
  
• Added cheat to mine all voxels in a radius around player
  
• Added Thumper map icon to datatable
  
• Adjustment to thumper warning and placement. Re adding sounds to BP
  
• Set durability on Orbital Exchange Interface (now correctly takes damage and can be repaired)
  
• Removed incorrect FactionMission.Blocker gameplay tag from communications boards
  
• Fixed scan mission radars acting like normal radars.
  
• Fixed an issue with water pump components not activating correctly sometimes
  
• Clamp greenhouse benefits for crops to +50%
  
• Changed the way greenhouse buffs and indoor debuffs are applied to crops
  
• Fixed short range radio tooltip not appearing when highlighted, also fixed tooltips for other future communication deployables
  
• Dynamic quest "Crazed Creature" now teathers to its spawn point so it doesnt stray far from its icon.
  
• Fixed auto-retry join server load overlay not appearing
  
• Fixed auto-retry join server crash
  
• Fix some wall torches do not show as sheltered when inside
  
• Player dropships now topple any large trees in the way when landing
  
• Added settings option to change display gamma / brightness
  
• Reduced radius in which dropship topples trees in landing zone 500->275
  

Future Content

• ADDING lava hunter flinch vocals, event and data table entries
  
• Added missing DMs for SW_Blackberry_Bush variants
  
• Polish pass on GL macros, cliff and rock materials
  
• Adding lava hunter death audio event and data table entries
  
• Set WT_RiverSpline to generate frozen rivers, added PM to Frozen Materials
  
• Added new material for base of scoria and obsidian nodes to blend better with LC biom
  
• Transition Cave P1-P2 Set Dressing & Placement of Voxel Transition Cave in on Purple Quad, DLC Map
  
• Foliage pass on Blue and Green Quads and Added Rocks on Cliff Edges, Prometheus
  
• Added art assets and animations for DEP_Enzyme Cannon to the projec
  
• Generate LODs for several Prometheus Generated sublevels
  
• Add utility widget for deleting certain actors from generated heightmaps for LOD generation process
  
• Painted FT_Aloe_Vera in Swamp biome and replaced breakable Scoria and Obsedian in vulcanic biome pt.2, Purple Quad, DLC
  
• Adjusted tesselation on landscape material and LC landscape decals
  
• polish pass on SW, TU, GL CanyonWall materials and textures
  
• Expose Lava Lights bool on WT_RiverSpline for WBs to use to enable lava lights on specific rivers
  
• Setup FT_LC_Stones, Added Deep Ore And Cave Clean Up in P2 on Purple Quad, DLC
  
• Cleand up and re-painted breakeable Obsedian closer to lava and Scoria more in-land around p2, Purple Quad, DLC
  
• Added DEP_Bench_Fishing_T2 with selectable meshes
  
• Adding Lava Hunter aggro state vocalisations and event and Data Table Entries
  
• polish pass on swamp rock materials, added new texture for moss breakup
  
• Added Exotics, Turned on Lava Lights on the Lava Rivers & Spawned LC stone FT in Lava Area on Purple Quad, DLC 1
  
• Placed respawn ships and did some general clean up of resources, decals and cliffs, p2 Purple Quad, DLC
  
• Lowering spawn rate for all swamp creature idle sounds to accomodate for large amounts of creatures spawning
  
• Tundra Rocks - polish pass on TU macro materials
  
• GL Rocks - material parent fixes to GL stalagmites
  
• Swamp Rocks - material polish, plus parent fixes for cave floor mats
  
• Generate some more LODs for Prometheus generated sublevels and tweaks to tooling
  
• removed and replaced CF meshes in tundra biome, blue quad
  
• Updates to the lava Hunter anims
  
• River Cleanup and Polish on Green Quad, Fixed Ponga Trees on Megatree Prefabs and Flushed Grass on Yellow, Blue and Green Quads, Prometheus
  
• Add Lava Flow Points to P2 LC Area & Flushed Grass on Purple/Red, DLC
  
• added volcano landscape mesh, material, textures
  
• Adding lava hunter vomit loop start and end splat to trigger when event starts and ends
  

Week Sixty Two introduces our largest deployable yet, the ore-regenerating Thumper.

The Thumper allows you to regenerate harvestable Ore deposits in its vicinity. Standing at 16 feet tall, the Thumper is a large and powerful item, and provides a lucrative payoff for those seeking more Ore for their endeavours.

Jump in and have a read.





The ‘Thumper’ is a new deployable device we’re introducing to tackle the problem of resource scarcity, especially in Open World mode. This is the first of two items we’re adding, with this one focusing on Ore resources (but not Stone or Deep Ore Veins). In future, ways to regenerate trees are planned.

This is one of the largest deployables in the game so far, standing at over 16 feet tall, so it’s a sight to behold and truly earns its name. You can craft the Thumper in Tier 4 at the Fabricator, with a high production cost but potentially endless rewards.

The Thumper requires an electrical connection to activate, currently 1500W. It’s best deployed in an area where you have previously mined all the available ore, and can be activated and paused at your leisure with no cooldown on it being used multiple times.

On the interface, you can see the expected regeneration output from the Thumper's deployment and what kind of threats you might expect to face by using it. Did we say threats? Well understandably, a 1980 pound device slamming an extremely heavy weight into the ground and disturbing the surrounding environment will draw unwanted attention and the immense noise and vibrations will spur retaliation - so be on your guard.

The more Ore available, the bigger the impact on the surrounding environment, so expect more opposition when taking on lucrative deposits in densely populated areas.

The machine itself won’t damage players, but will disrupt the environment with dust clouds and more that could impair your vision and hearing.

The Thumper will regenerate nearby Ore nodes, but won’t regenerate Stone deposits or Deep Ore Veins. The reason for this is that we implement Stone voxels and deep ore veins differently than Ore voxels, which you can see in the different visual design of them. This meant that technically this system wouldn’t work on them as well as ore voxels, but also wasn’t required, as the sheer volume of available Rock deposits dwarfs that of Ore deposits, and deep ore provided a consistent stream of resource.





Ore Regeneration has been highly requested by the playerbase for a while, especially from those who have large bases in Open World mode or are investing in Tier 4 technology. We asked for patience as we didn’t want to include it as a ‘standard feature’ or automatic process in the game, but rather add it as a well designed new feature and a new planetary technology.

Environmental terraforming is a key part of Icarus' lore, and having resources refresh quietly in the background didn’t sit right with us when you consider the large scale impact it can have. Besides, UDA scientists would never miss an opportunity to mess with the planet some more if they could.

Associating respawning with a machine that you craft and deploy is important for the player experience too. We felt this provides a sense of control and some tactical choices to where and when you respawn resources, rather than it being automated or something you didn’t actively notice happening.

Like so many decisions in Icarus, adding a 'risk/reward' factor to using the Thumper involves a strategic tradeoff. Is the risk of disrupting the environment worth the effort and are you prepared for it?

As mentioned above, we’re also working on ways for plantlife to respawn in a future update.





We are seeking motivated and passionate individuals to join our volunteer localization team to help bring Icarus to more countries.

Right now we are only seeking volunteers for German and Russian, but other languages may be considered in future. By volunteering you will be helping us to make our game accessible to a wider audience, and contribute to the growth and success of Icarus community as a whole.

Furthermore, you will have the chance to connect with like-minded individuals and form new relationships in a supportive and collaborative environment. You can translate as little or as much as you want, whenever you can.

So, if you are fluent in English and German or Russian and have a passion for language and gaming, we encourage you to apply today and become a part of our localization team! You can find the link here: Icarus Translation Team Application Form

Please ensure that you have joined the Survive Icarus Official Discord when applying.

Only successful applicants will be contacted.

• Fixed issue where DEEP VEIN Extraction mission progress was locked due to latest voxel regeneration changes. Mission_Meta_Voxel and Mission_Research_Voxel can no longer be regenerated.
  

New Content

• Adding in pass on landshark tweaks and swapping out thumper mesh for proper version, adding in entries for unique projectile for landshark with modifiers to be hooked up
  
• Added power connection requirement to thumper. Set up animations and placeholder VFX/Screen Shake on thumper
  
• Adding audio to the thumper
  
• Updating Thumper Name and Description
  
• Adding Talent for Thumper and Unlocking Recipe
  
• Adjusting Thumper Minimum Time and adding ability for players to Pause the Thumper
  
• Added Thumper icon to D_Itemable
  
• Adding back context for Thumper device and hooking up to D_Meshables
  
• Adjustments to Thumper VFX, add working and final thump NS
  
• Adding in unique modifier for the landshark spit poison and adding in telegraphing for the dive attacks
  
• Added new in-world tooltip for Thumper
  
• Added ability to override default tooltip widget class
  
• Increased recipe cost of Thumper device
  
• Increase carry weight of the Thumper Device to do its size justice
  
• Added retreat death animation to LandShark. Added 'risk level' info to Thumper tooltip that gives an indication of how difficult the process will be. Added Thumper-related UMG text to ST_UMG. Doubled health of LandShark. Thumper now cleans up dead worms
  
• Thumper device no longer affected by weather
  
• Fixed bug where regenerated voxels would need to be manually updated by mining them to force their mesh to update to the 'reset' visual state
  
• Increased initial connection timeouts for all net drivers to 3 minutes to reduce potential connection issues with joining dedicated servers
  
• Increased initial connection time out to 3 minutes. This should reduce cases of error 61's when trying to join a server
  
• Fixed bug where a prospector dying in one prospect then beginning a new prospect would cause the prospector to drop in an already dead state
  
• Updating landshark dive attack audio to be more appropriate for an attack
  
• Fixing normal issue due to Unreal Computing normals instead of manually importing then with the Skeletal Mesh
  
• Added a reset to the DBNO logging on death
  
• Making unique asset for the Landshark death to use correct audio, upped the damage of its projectiles slightly and added in stamina action cost to the poison modifier
  
• Increase radius on Thumper screenshake effect from 10m to 15m
  
• Changing the Landshark ranged modifier to be cured with antibbiotics and added a modifier to the dive attack
  
• Adding unique landshark death movement event to sync up with new death animation. Adding notifier
  
• Optimize Thumper GroundImpact effect
  
• Adding heavy metal deploy sound to Thumper
  
• Added more logging and fixed another case where auto-retry joining was failing during an error 65
  
• Increased thumper effect radius.
  
• Added map icon and radius to indicate thumper location & effect radius.
  
• Thumper tooltip now displays voxel count instead of raw resource count.
  
• Increased maximum thumper event duration.
  
• Increased maximum LandShark spawn count per event.
  
• Fixed bug where LandShark dive attack could a target twice.
  
• Thumper is now deactivated when it takes 20% total health damage (since last activation)
  
• Fixed extraction mission progression blocker UI presentation and detection steps.
  
• Fixed hidden sort UI to not hide title of container.
  
• LandShark dive now has a chance to apply a new modifier debuff.
  
• Increased resource count to reach maximum thumper difficulty again, increased maximum number of land sharks at highest difficulty.
  
• Added new pulse material effect when first placing thumper down
  
• Added a more suitable specific soundset and event for the landshark dive.
  
• Adjusted timing of notifiers
  
• Added a more suitable specific soundset and event for the landshark dive. Adjusted timing of notifiers
  
• Fixed issue where AI running on behaviour trees (LandShark, ScorpionBoss, SandWorm) weren't correctly removing their attack stats after attack animation finishes
  
• Land Shark boss melee attack: Fixed blood thinning paste not applying to the debuff duration
  
• Land Shark boss spit attack: Lowered the movement speed and physical resistance penalties, increased the stamina action cost penalty
  
• Thumper: Removed glass from recipe cost
  
• Fixed a typo in the Thumper description
  

Fixed

• Fixed issue where deployables in pre-built structures wouldn't load in correctly
  
• Fixing all affliction trigger percent chance stats and affliction triggers so that resistance reduces the chance of getting an affliction instead of increasing it (Cave Dwweller Alteration is now Fixed)
  
• Adding Cheat for Triggering Afflictions
  
• Fixes for client-side replication of regenerated voxel rocks. Voxels that have been regenerated into a new resource type now have their new type replicated to clients correctly. Re-enabled support for reinitialisation on mineral voxels
  
• Fixed bug where venomous fish would continue to be able to attack the player after they had left the water
  
• Added temporary logging for testing if camera movement is being allowed on death
  
• Fix an issue where the weather forecast would reset the pattern index if saved, then loaded, then saved, then loaded after the initial forecast, past the first block and save/load/save/load during the same block
  

Future Content

• Painted Yeast Plant and Reed Flowers in Swamp biome, pt2 Purple Quad, DLC
  
• Adding Ponga Audio, event and data table entry
  
• Fixed GeothermalSplines 2nd layer being generated multiple times
  
• Finished Leveling Out Landscape Under Lava Rivers/Lake on P2 Area Purple Quad, DLC Map
  
• Small adjustments to lava hunter notify timings
  
• Tonal adjustments to a few of the lava hunter layers
  
• Update Prometheus map image textures to reflect world changes and fix missing lava rivers. Texture settings fudged to alleviate dark image output prior to final art pass
  
• Update Prometheus heightmap image textures to reflect changes to world layout. Ensured settings match Oly/Styx
  
• Collision, LODs, optimization of SW, TU, GL Cliff meshes and materials
  
• UnPainted Yeast Plant and Reed Flowers, Added Mushroom on Hollow Trunks Purple Quad, DLC
  
• Foliage pass on Blue and Green Quads and Added Multiple New PFS Prometheus
  
• Painted Green Tea in Swamp biome, Wild Tea and Cocoa in Lava biome, pt2 Purple Quad, DLC
  
• Adding Lava Hunter vomit start sounds, event and notify
  
• Update GOAPDebugger to output Relationship data
  
• BatDogs are no longer hostile towards other AI types
  
• Adding lava hunter vomit loop, event and anim loop notify
  
• Transition Cave P1-P2 Set Dressing & fixing bugs on purple on Purple Quad, DLC Map
  
• Foliage pass on Blue and Green Quads, Prometheus
  
• Remove ProjectionLocation component from Flax BPs
  
• Correct LOD settings on numerous Prometheus foliage assets to fix meshes from billboarding way too soon
  
• Adding additional vomit throat gargle layer for lava hunter
  
• convex hull collision for SW, GL, TU Macro Top meshes
  
• Painted Beans and Cocoa in Lava biome, pt2 Purple Quad, DLC
  
• Cleand up and re-painted breakeable Obsedian closer to lava and Scoria more in-land around p2, Purple Quad, DLC
  
• SW Cliffs - re-imported Cliff_03 (SW, GL, TU) to fix positioning in map
  
• Initial partial pass for Generated LODs for Prometheus. Still very much WIP
  
• Fixed fishing trap using an invalid inventory id (none)
  
• Polish pass on thumper audio
  
• Added ability to collapse the log window with the Escape key and added Logging to the server lobby window
  
• convex hull collision for SW, TU, GL macro meshes
  
• Weather Device VFX Prototype
  
• Adding Lavahunter Roar sounds, event and data table entry
  
• Transition Cave P1-P2 Set Dressing & Decal Pass in P1 Area on Purple Quad, DLC Map
  
• Adding Lava Hunter Attack sounds and data table and anim notifys
  
• Reduced The Amount of Aloe Vera On the map and Continued With Foliage Pass, Blue and Green Quad, Prometheus
  

Week Sixty One focuses on correcting issues that arose from our Week Sixty update, something our community was vocal about and helped us to act on quickly.

Weather events and the system that operates them have been scaled back and improved. We haven’t scrapped the changes altogether, allowing us to keep the positive elements and strip out the ugly parts.

The irony isn’t lost on us that only hours after releasing this update, our home city of Auckland was hit by the worst storm in its history and promptly flooded.

Thankfully our team is OK and this week's update also includes a large performance optimization focusing on ‘ticking’ (described below). We expect this improvement to be more noticeable on lower-end PCs and large Open World bases.

Have a read, and stay dry team!





We’ve spent a week adjusting our new weather systems with all the feedback you have given us. This has been incredibly valuable, and we’re grateful for your constructive suggestions and candor.

• Weather now generates one event per weather block
  
• Weather ‘Blocks’ are now longer (often twice as long or more)
  
• Reduced frequency of weather events to a more reasonable and manageable amount
  
• Weather events are now picked again via the ‘weighted list’ system, rather than a rolling queue
  
• The Weather Forecast has been extended to three days
  
• Reduced and rebalanced the severity of weather in various prospects
  

These changes aim to provide a balance between reverting overwhelming elements of the new system, while still improving the new system with feedback so features such as the Weather Forecast and storm severity are kept.





We’re introducing some new performance optimizations that our team has been hard at work, looking at some of the areas we discussed in Week 59.

One word you’ll see a lot through these optimizations is ‘tick’ or ‘ticking’.

Ticks are an action that game objects perform, typically multiple times per second. Reducing the number of things done by each object every tick, reduces the strain on the CPU and therefore improves performance. Likewise, reducing the number of objects that tick also means better performance.

• Fixed the loading of certain assets during gameplay that could cause hitches. These were being loaded, used, and then released for garbage collection every few seconds
  
• Optimized the 'atmosphere controller' to rely more on cached data
  
• Optimized building pieces to cache several ‘commonly-accessed’ data table values
  
• Weather events now use cached building data, reducing hitches when the system is calculating which building pieces to damage in storms
  
• Building pieces no longer ‘tick'. Any ticking logic that they previously had (such as updating stability), is now controlled by their 'owning grid’ and has their calculations spread across multiple frames. When loading prospects with large amounts of building pieces these operations would previously sync up and cause noticeable hitches multiple times per second
  
• Nativized (converting Unreal Engine Blueprint code into C++ to improve efficiency) several building grid background tasks, which are now managed by an ‘owning system’ that evenly spreads these tasks between all building grids. This evens out performance with large numbers of different building grids present in the world
  
• Optimized the spline system used by electrical/water pipe systems
  
• Optimized deployable objects and benches. Deployables now have a custom ticking system that groups all of the deployables together to reduce CPU overhead
  
• Removed the tick process from almost all 'trait components' that were present on items in the game
  

An upcoming feature that some of you have seen in the detailed changelog is our resource respawning options. While this is not releasing this week, we are working on the behind-the-scenes technology for deployable items that will respawn various resources.

Firstly, we have upgraded and optimized the way we create and render caves. We are also re-running our entire world generation, which will ultimately add regeneration capabilities to voxels, trees and plants.

In the coming weeks, two new items are to be introduced that will allow players to respawn voxels and flora.

This has been a highly requested feature ever since the release of our Open World game mode. We’ve put a lot of thought into introducing this feature in a way that adds to the experience without detracting from performance. We can’t wait to share it soon.





Fixed

• MAELSTROM: Added respawning to explosive loot container
  
• Improve shadow settings validation for FLOD. Fix FT/BP assets to make sure their shadow settings match (disable shadows in AC assets as it is too harsh). Unified settings on lots of FTs back to default
  
• AVALANCHE: Increased size of travel location for preceeding through pass step. Updated highlight text for placement location of laser
  
• FORSAKEN: Fixed Damaged Gyroscope tagging to ensure this goes into the ship's gyroscope slot. Removed additional inventory slots, preventing items from being placed in inaccessible slots
  
• First pass at optimising weather audio system. Create a weather audio subsystem to manage weather controller events centrally and distribute updates to weather audio components much more efficiently
  
• Fix Flashlight and Biofuel Lamp being extinguished when the player is submerged
  
• RESURGENCE: Updated last quest step to require returning to the dropship, rather than the original ship location. Updated other quests steps capitilization
  
• Fix several issues which were causing tree fall sounds to behave incorrectly for clients on dedicated servers, and fix cypress tree landing sounds sometimes not playing the correct surface for clients
  
• Update voxel final hit audio behaviour to work with voxel re-initialisation changes
  
• Added a few more cases for the shield to delete itself on the off chance that the shield is not being deleted
  
• Tweaked storm prediciton timings to reduce frequency of back to back storms.
  
• Added additional initial storm steps and applied to specific missions
  
• Doubled the likelyhood of cosmetic storms appearing. This is mainly for Tier 0 / easy difficulties to have a significantly increased likelihood of cosmetic storms
  
• Fixed multiple async load warnings
  
• Fixed loading of certain assets during gameplay that could cause hitches
  
• Optimised deployable objects/benches. Deployables now have a custom ticking system that groups all of the deployables execution together to reduce CPU overhead
  
• Optimised atmosphere controller to rely more on cached data
  
• Optimised building pieces to cache several commonly accessed data table values
  
• Building pieces no longer tick. Any ticking logic that they previously had, such as updating stability, are now controlled by their owning grid and are processed across multiple frames. When loading prospects with large amounts of building pieces these operations would previously sync up and cause noticeable hitches multiple times per second
  
• Nativised several building grid background tasks which are now managed by an owning system that evenly spreads these tasks between all building grids. This evens out performance with large numbers of different building grids present in the world
  
• Removed tick from almost all trait components that were present on almost every item in the game
  
• Optimised spline system used by electrical/water pipe systems
  
• Weather events now use cached building data, reducing hitches when calculating which building pieces to damage in storms
  
• Multiple other small optimisations
  
• Swapped Flash Storm and Storm weather event tiers.
  
• Reduced Tier4 storm building damage during chaos events (still damages the same types of buildings, but for less damage)
  
• Range check and curve check when using SetTimeScale cheat (internal dev only/editor only)
  
• Updated Weather Generation based on adjusted design and feedback, reduced frequency of weather events back to a more reasonable amount
  
• Weather is now picked again via a weighted list
  
• Weather now generates one event per weather block
  
• Weather Forecast has been extended to 3 days
  
• Weather Blocks are now doubled in length
  
• Removed unused functions and variables after WeatherForecasting refactor and added more logging
  
• Fixed new modifiers moving across the screen, blocking reticule at 6 modifiers
  
• Fixed crash caused by components being removed from Deployables before they have unregistered with the deployable manager
  
• Tweaked storm frequency, adding in longer periods of quiet and more varied durations on weather forecasts
  
• Fixed potential issue with Error 65 reconnection and added additional logging around fail states
  
• Reduced default logging level of LogModifierState to reduce spam
  
• Reduced the severity of many early game missions in Olympus and increased some midgame missions that were using the easiest forecast.
  
• Tweaked ABYSS storm timings to help provide windows of opportunity
  
• ModifierStateContainers within MountInterface and Player Inventory now have a subtle pulsing animation when modifiers are added, instead of playing the normal animated transition
  
• Move to system that loads/saves all weather events at the forecast block level
  
• Weather forecast will reset for existing saves
  
• Fixed bug where mission-specific out-of-bounds mask would override map-based out-of-bounds mask; This would cause issues where player dropships could land out of playable areas on certain Olympus missions
  
• Fixed several crash bugs caused by optimisations to buildings and deployables
  
• Added an extra null check when displaying debug data about loading a bad data table row as this could cause a crash if it was in a really bad state
  
• Final tidy up for Weatherforecasting
  
• Fixing Extractors and Drills not ticking and extracting resources
  
• Fix an issue where the weather forecast would reset the pattern index if the game was saved+loaded at the exact start time of a weather block
  
• Fixing Crop Plot Glasshouse buffs being multiplied everytime they are checked
  
• Fixing Crop plot glasshouse percentage increase not being presented on clients correctly
  
• Reduced tier of the initial rough landing forecast.
  
• Reduced duration of the initial middle ground and mini-ramp forecasts, this will result in slightly quicker storms for those prospects
  
• Temporarily removed building stability queue optimisation as it causes stability to behave erratically
  

Future Content

• Setup 3 new caves for Inital Testing, Purple Quad, Prometheus
  
• Adjustments to spacizliser settings of T3 / T4 communicator
  
• Volcanic Rocks - disabled complex collision on LC_Cavefloor 01-03
  
• Adding T2 Communicator audio and adjusting BP implimentation for all communicators audio
  
• Small communicator audio tweaks
  
• Adding new Notifier to Deployable Base / Deployable Subsystem
  
• Adjusting Promethus Story Mission 1 to work with Audio and Quest Steps
  
• Adding an LC_GrassB set of Red Grass assets that are more sparse than the GrassA variants, for better blending of grassy areas
  
• Adding more bones to data table for some creatures death fall and small adjustment to better reflect various creatures death fall size
  
• Added skeletal mesh for the exotic tree device as well as a starting animation and a looped harvesting animation
  
• Swamp Rocks - LOD materials, convex hull collision on SW, GL, TU CanyonWall meshes
  
• Building Transition Cave from P1 to P2 Area on Purple Quad, DLC Map
  
• Started New Small Lava cave and Did a Foliage Pass On Green Quad, Prometheus
  
• First pass generation of Prometheus Landscape LODs
  
• Voxel placement pass, added and edited cliffs, p2 Purple Quad, DLC
  
• Adding correct creature in AI table for the swamp quad mount and zebra mount. Adjustments to the footstep layers
  
• Further fine tune and adjustments to quad footstep layers. Balanced mud vs dirt etc
  
• Added placeholder thumper item. Previously mined Voxels now support reinitialisation to original, unmined state
  
• Adding correct harvest sound to green tea leaf bush
  
• Added water immersion parameter to creature audio world movement sound, to help with soundset of low creatures moving through shallow water
  
• Adding needler water immersion movement sounds
  
• Transition Cave volumes added, added cliffs around macros & added voxels to P2 on Purple Quad, DLC Map
  
• Added New Small Lava Cave and Did A Foliage Pass On Both Blue and Green Quad, Prometheus
  
• Swamp Rocks - LOD materials, convex hull collision on SW, GL, TU Cliffs 10-12
  
• Added first pass thumper mechanics to deployable BP
  
• Added first pass of LC_DragonTree_Var1, including FTs and BPs, as well as Chopped and Burnt versions
  
• Added DEP_Thumper with animation
  
• Voxel placement pass, added and edited foliage, p2 Purple Quad, DLC
  
• Added split log meshes for LC_DragonTree
  
• Added Tomato plant highlight text
  
• Added ActorPrefab and ActorPrefabAsset classes to set up the new prefab system for replacing cave templates
  
• Added BP_ActorPrefabFunctionLibrary which will handle all coversions from prefab data to world actors
  
• Added CavePrefab to replace the current CaveTemplate implementation
  
• Converted all cave templates assets to prefabs
  
• Replaced cave templates on every outpost and Olympus/Styx levels
  
• Added support for prefab generation during the world generation process
  
• Leveling Out Landscape Under Lava Rivers/Lake on P2 Area & Cave Template Fixes Purple Quad, DLC Map
  
• Foliage Pass For Swamp and Grasslands and Fixed Some Broken Deep ore Deposits, Blue and Green Quad, Prometheus
  
• Replaced cave templates with prefabs on Terrain 019 Red/Yellow quads
  
• Added Mega Tree Prefabs to be used in Terrain 019
  
• Converted all tree levels to Mega Tree Prefabs
  
• Cave template utility now supports creating tree prefabs
  
• Flushed grass on Outpost 008
  
• Placed breakeable Obsedian and Scoria around p2, Purple Quad, DLC
  
• Replaced cave templates with prefabs on the rest of Terrain 019
  
• Added missing cave prefab for Terrain 019
  
• Added LC_SucculentTree with 3 variants, including FTs, BPs and Data Table entries
  
• Promethus Mission 2 Cave worms now do not continue to spawn and adding a quest step to clear them out
  
• Promethus Mission 2 Fixing Dialogue Ordering on Quests, and Adding Interaction Quest Step
  
• Fixing Initial Quests not always calling QuestStarted as they should be doing
  
• Adding in inital Lava Hunter assets, anims and rig
  
• Initial pass for tooling to find floating world objects
  
• Added new LandShark creature with first pass of behaviour set
  
• Leveling Out Landscape Under Lava Rivers/Lake on P2 Area & Swapped Out Tree Template Purple Quad, DLC Map
  
• Foliage Pass On Green Quad and Swapped BP Mangrove Trees for Prefab Trees , Green Quad, Prometheus
  
• Added BP_MegaTreePrefab to the list of approved actors
  
• Placed breakeable Obsedian and Scoria around p2, Purple Quad, DLC
  
• Cleand up breakeable Obsedian and Scoria, foliage and cliffs around p2, Purple Quad, DLC
  
• Increase Thumper Albedo textures to 4k as device is huge and needs the increased texel density. Add 'On' material variation and removed emissive setup from base material
  
• Fixed generation issues on 2nd layerof Geothermal Splines
  
• Resaved datatable to resolve build validation
  
• Adding Lava Hunter bite attack movement audio and event and anim notify
  
• Deleting old cave template assets
  
• Removed IsEditorOnly from ActorPrefabFunctionLibrary since it had strange warnings during cook
  
• Adding Lava Hunter out of lava movement audio and event and anim notify
  
• Resaved datatable to resolve build validation.. again
  
• Adding lava hunter death anim notify and lay egg audio and notify
  
• Added LC_JoshuaTree with 3 variants, including FTs and BPs and Data Table entries
  
• Adding Lava Hunter general move sounds and event and heavy slam event
  
• Leveling Out Landscape Under Lava Rivers/Lake on P2 Area Purple Quad, DLC Map
  
• Moved Super Kooled ice from all non iced surfaces and Foliage Pass on Blue and Green Quads, Prometheus
  
• Added various scaling mechanics to Thumper spawn events. Thumper spawning is now scaled by the amount of resources that will be regenerated. LandSharks will now spawn at high Thumper event difficulties. Fixed Unity build issue with WorldStatsSubsystem.h missing include. Added extra validation check inside ProspectSubsystem.h to prevent crash when accessing during game init
  
• Painted Reed Flowers and Yeast Plant in Swamp biome, pt2 Purple Quad, DLC
  
• Fixed mega trees generating at 0,0,0
  
• Move BP_MegaTreePrefab from approved class to ignored class so spawned trees in the world aren't doubled
  
• LC Terraces - adjusted material to better blend with surrounding rocks - WIP
  
• Adding lava hunter unique whoosh and unique stabber attack events and sounds and anim notifys
  
• More lava hunter attack sounds and footstep notifiers
  
• Thumper event can now change the resource type of regenerated voxels, but only to resource types that were already supported at that location
  
• Adding Lava Hunter unique lava footstep audio and event
  
• Leveling Out Landscape Under Lava Rivers/Lake on P2 Area Purple Quad, DLC Map
  
• Swaped The Final Megatrees into the Prefabs and Did a Foliage pass on Blue and Green Quads, Prometheus
  
• Geothermal banks - added material and duplicated spline meshes for use at the bottom of the terrace pools
  
• Fixed voxel-related crash when trying to reload old prospects
  
• Made Thumper recipe Dev-only
  

This week we’re re-working our weather systems, adding a forecasting system that gives you up to two hours of insight into approaching weather patterns.

This also adds more storm sequencing, creating up to seven different levels of severity to face and making this severity consistent across the entire map.

This also gives us the ability to customize sequences for specific missions, making more unique challenges applicable to the task at hand.

Finally, we’ve improved our backup system to create a backup save file every 30 minutes and provide more safeguards against accidental data loss.





Our weather systems are getting an overhaul.

Weather Forecasting changes players' relationships with storms. Previously, storms were randomized with the only unique element being the different variations exclusive to different biomes.

In the new system, Weather Forecasting will provide up to two hours of insight into the upcoming weather patterns. These Weather Patterns are applicable across the entire map, so outside of variations (eg, sandstorms in the desert, blizzards in the arctic), all other elements will be predictable and consistent regardless of your movements.

This new system also adds more variety to the severity of storms you will experience. Rather than providing either of two extremes, there are seven different levels ranging from a cosmetic impact to drastic damage.



The other added benefit for our development is it provides us with the ability to preset sequences and severities for specific missions. This new layer of detail will make each mission feel a little more unique and challenging in its own right. For example, the first few missions have lighter showers before introducing base-damaging maelstroms in later missions.

Changes for the player

The infographic shows that more severe storms are highly likely to damage up to Stone buildings.

In Easy difficulty storms won’t only be ‘cosmetic’ - you are more likely to see storms that do deliver some damage, even if at the lower end of the spectrum.

With effective forecasting, however, players can spend more time preparing rather than having a storm dropped on them unsuspectingly.



The UI in-game will appear in a bar, like above.

The icons and colours represent the severity of storms that could occur, and the lengths of the bar represent the duration of the forecast in which storms can occur and the severity that will be experienced at different stages.

It is important to note that weather events do not occur ‘continuously’ throughout these periods, rather the forecasting bar is showing the sections that predict how bad different periods may be. As with all weather predictions, expect some variation from what is shown.

We will be monitoring feedback for various missions and forecasts for adjustments if needed over the following weeks.





We’re improving our backup system this week, looking to provide more safeguards against accidental data loss caused by corruption, players' computers shutting down unexpectedly or good old human error.

Backups for Character data, Profile data and active Prospects are now created at 30-minute intervals and stored alongside the original file with a ‘.backup’ extension.

In the event of a save file corruption due to an unexpected system shutdown, the latest backup will be automatically restored, reducing the data loss to within a 30-minute interval for players.

Users can manually restore a backup by replacing the original file with the most recent backup and removing the ‘.backup’ file extension.

The save files will be kept for up to five hours of gameplay, allowing you to manually roll back in 30-minute increments within this time frame.





New Content

• Merge WeatherUpdate to Trunk
  
• Re-export datatables after merge
  
• Adding New Weather Patterns for all the Prospects
  
• Fix the parameter type in logs for Weather forecasting
  
• Added GGHost to the list of verified server providers
  
• Fixing Cheat to Trigger Quests
  
• Adding new Text to Objective List when Objectives are loading
  
• New Weather Icons, Adjusting Weather Block Tiers by Player Selected Difficulty and Adjusted UI to fit better in with the other HUD Elements
  
• Added remaining weather events to the All_Weather pool, added a All_Weather_MoreLight pool for use in early missions
  
• Lowered weather intensities maximum to facilitate better difficulty scaling
  
• Changed Open World weather pattern to MidPeak, reducing maximum intensity. (Hard difficulty will still get the maximum intensity weather rarely)
  
• Added a MostlyMild weather pattern, as a middle ground between later patterns and the interoductory pattern
  
• Moved some early missions and all Outposts to MostlyMild weather pattern
  
• Increased average storm severity on exploration missions
  
• Exposed client logging system to code and cleaned up multiple blueprints related to it
  
• Added client logging to connection errors
  
• Fixed some issues with the Error 65 auto-retry system
  
• Tierified storm damage events to ensure building damage is normalized throughout tiers
  
• Fixed invalid susbystem errors in UMG_ConnectingOverlay after renaming LogOverlaySubsystem
  
• Updated weather tier icons
  
• Resaved WeatherTierIcon datatable to update tier 0 storm icon
  
• Added an optional initial forecast to prospects (possible grace period to ease players in on new prospects)
  
• Fixed an order of operations issue that was causing forecast blocks to be skipped on save/load
  
• Fixed a bug where the client would only see the boss icon from 'Crazed Creature' dynamic mission when within a small area
  

Fixed

• Cleanup and improvement on Styx Landscape LODs. Textures were lowest mip due to memory constraints, now fixed for about 45% of the tiles, bug still exists making it difficult to generate correctly. Deleted LOD2 and LOD3 which aren't needed (triangle count is around 500) and caused additional unnecessary texture generation. Further improvements to remaining unfixed tiles to come
  
• Small adjustment to the lowest waterfall height volume / intensity to make sure very small waterfalls feel appropriate
  
• Fixed issue where double trunk trees weren't properly supported by TreeBase.cpp, and were causing crashes when chopped down
  
• Fix remaining Styx landscape LOD textures that failed to generate properly
  
• Fixed bug where SandWorm WorldBoss could sometimes teleport to the centre of the map.
  
• Fixed bug where dead SandWorm WorldBoss icons would re-appear when re-hosting a prospect.
  
• Reduced performance impact of SandWorm world bosses active in the world when players aren't nearby
  
• Improve Olympus distant landscape LODs (part 1), settings update, extracting assets individually and regenerating, deleting LOD2/LOD3
  
• Disabled skeleton ticking/refresh on SandWorms in the level that aren't currently relevant
  
• Fixed steam offline issues by forcing sessions to be configured for Lan
  
• Fixed a typo in a mission description
  
• Fixed a few typos in mission objectives
  
• Fixed a few typos
  
• Add some more logging around server suspend/resume
  
• Missions no longer start until a dropship has landed
  
• Fixing Dropship Dialogue so it players correctly before the quest dialogue
  
• Refactor and apply various optimisations to the multi point audio system to improve performance at scale. Should reduce the CPU cost of weather and fire audio systems, especially when applied to very large structures made of many grid bases, and refactor will make it easier to apply further optimisations
  
• Fix an issue where the UI does not refresh buffs when mounted
  
• Fix a merge bug in logging (internal only)
  
• Resubmitting file that didnt save properly
  
• Fixed crash caused by being able to click the cancel queued recipe item button in auto-crafting deployables (campfires/composters/etc)
  
• Added a FOV reset on destruction of firearm objects
  
• Fixes a bug where if you die while zoomed in with a rifle, you would stay zoomed in when you get revived
  
• Reworked how character/profile/prospect backups work; Backup files are now generated every 30 minutes of game time and up to 10 are stored at a time. Added functionality to attempt auto-repair of corrupt save files in the case of computer shutdown during save operation
  
• Changed order of ops for when grace period is applied due to UI refresh issue
  

New Content

• Cleaned up resources and painted LC foliage, in P2 Purple Quad, DLC
  
• Added art assets for ITM_Super_Cooled_Ice to project
  
• Added base rock asset for meta tree and updated meta tree blueprint with new assets
  
• Exotic Tree Device - added backpack mesh + material, edited textures
  
• Optimisation removing tick function from audio occlusion components
  
• Create an audio reflector interface to enable overriding of surface-based reflection values on specific actors. Apply to hollow trunk blueprints to enable appropriate audio delay effects when players are using them
  
• LC Terraces - added collision to terrace meshes
  
• Added ALN_Exotic_PlanA_Var1 wild version
  
• Adjustments to lava river. Adding flow parameter and adjustments to the sound and pitch of the speed
  
• Adding the predator bird attack vocal to the swoop animation. Not currently in use
  
• Added Mage Tree Roots & Genreal Clean Up on Blue Quad, DLC Map
  
• Added Geothermal Lakes and Foliage Pass of LC foliage, in P2 Purple Quad, DLC
  
• Clean up resources and painted LC foliage, in P2 Purple Quad, DLC
  
• Adjusted Frozen Rive Shader to use WP and replace default shader on SM
  
• Fixing 1.3.0. dialogue
  
• Adding in Dialogue for Promethus Main Mission Chain 1-5, Updating Quest Objectives and Item names to match dialogue
  
• Added Deep Ice Deposit Spawns to Artic on Green/Blue Quad, DLC Map
  
• Added growth stages for ALN_Exotic_PlantA
  
• Adding texture files that didn't get submitted properly for ALN_Exotic_PlantA
  
• Adjustments to swamp quad footsteps. Adding more mud layer and dirt grit
  
• Fixing Promethus Progression by granting account flags when players finish missions 1,2,3
  
• Fixing Deployable Varitation Spawning in Prebuilt structure code
  
• Updating Prometheus Story 2 so the prebuit structure spawns correctly and adding new structure json
  
• Removing Removed Flags from being references into the Talents Table
  
• Updating Prebuild Structure for the Treehouse as well as updating the base structure icons
  
• Updating Promethus Story 1 & 2 to use a better flow for prebuild structures
  
• First pass on lights support for lava rivers, disabled by default
  
• Clean up resources and painted LC foliage, in P2 Purple Quad, DLC
  
• Added cave with lava Cave_LC_SML_004
  
• Foliage Pass on LC biome, clean up decals and resources, P2 Purple Quad, DLC
  
• First pass on volcano mesh and textures
  
• Updating Prometheus Story 3 quest steps and adding quest markers into the prometheus terrain
  
• Updating Fish data to include 04, 05 and 06 variations. Suffixing BP with names and uniforming DT row names
  
• LC Stones - added mesh, textures, FTs, BPs and data table entries
  
• Volcanic Rocks - assigned correct PMs to materials
  
• Adding in 3rd person Sledge hit animation and custom focusable for the sledgehammer to give more control over attachement offset etc
  
• Implementation Of Volcano Mesh, Building Rest Of Volcano & Removed Old Impassable Meshes on Yellow/Red Quad, DLC Map
  
• Swamp Rocks - assigned correct PMs to materials
  
• Grasslands Rocks - assigned correct PMs to materials
  
• Adding Sols Arctic Hideout Base
  
• Updating Prometheus Mission 4, adding Sols Hideout, Swaping Boss Creature to be a Snow Stalker and Updating Questmarkers and locations for Quest
  
• Tundra Rocks - assigned correct PMs to materials
  
• Replaced Crevasse Static Meshes with BP Versions & Shorten Waterfalls that are too Long on Green/Blue Quad, DLC Map
  
• Landscape Pass On Lava Rivers In Phase 1 and 2 Areas and Foliage Pass on Lava biome, clean up decals and resources, P2 Purple Quad, DLC
  
• Regenerated Landscape LOD textures for Olympus to fix blurry low quality assets
  
• Added foliage in LC biome, cleaned up decals and resources, P2 Purple Quad, DLC
  
• Further small adjustment to small waterfalls volume curve (small vs big)
  
• Setting up Voxel Distributions for Prometheus
  
• LC Cliffs - added proper convex hull collision
  
• Adding footstep crack ice sweetener event and sounds. Not currently hooked up. To use footstep override
  
• Fix Striker GFur settings and add LODs
  
• Add or fix LOD settings on various assets
  
• Adding Correct Resource Collection to the various new plants added to prometheus
  
• LC LavaCold meshes - added convex hull collision
  
• Fix GeodeLamp asset settings, textures, LODs, etc
  
• Finish Volcano Blockout Red Quad, DLC Map
  
• Add Hyena, Cougar, Elephant, Jaguar, Piranha and SnowLeopard decoration statue data (not yet available to craft). Icons and recipes still need creating
  
• Adding System for spawning Exotic Plants
  
• Geothermal Pools - added convex hull collision to meshes LC_Geotherm_03-07, disabled RVT on their materials
  
• Added Cave with Lava Cave_LC_MED_005
  
• Landscape Pass On Lava Rivers In Phase 1 and 2 Areas and Foliage Pass on Lava biome, clean up decals and resources, P2 Purple Quad, DLC
  
• Seperating Out Fishing Bench and allowing 2 devices to be placed on one deploy
  
• Fishing bench can now craft rods and lures on one side and fillet fish on the other
  
• Changed popping log array from front and re-appending from the back to a circular buffer
  
• Removed ELogCategories enum and moved it to a data table
  
• Array doesn't change size after initialization anymore
  
• Removed unnecessary functions
  
• Changed BPs to use new DT enums/text
  
• Changes were suggested from an upsource review
  
• Reconciling offline work. fixing build validation
  
• Went through all relevant files and refreshed all nodes and force saved the DT
  
• Exotic Tinted Plants Resource Placement on Green/Blue Quad, DLC Map
  
• Volcanic Rocks - Convex hull collision on LRG and MED rocks
  
• Volcanic Rocks - Convex hull collision on MAC rocks
  
• Exotic Tinted Plants Resource Placement on Purple Quad and A Foliage Pass, Purple Quad, DLC Map
  
• Adding t3 and t4 communicator computer audio and events and BP addition
  
• Finished Cave with Lava Cave_LC_MED_005
  
• Volcanic Rocks - convex hull collision on cave entrance meshes
  
• General clean up of foliage, decals and riverbanks in Grasslands and Tundra, Green Quad, DLC
  
• Replicating the RunQuest Variable
  
• Fix missing uproperty specifiers in MultiPointAudioNodeArray members
  

Week Fifty Nine is here, and we’ve focused this update on multiple dedicated server and core game bugs and improvements that have been reported and ticketed over the New Year period.

The Dedicated Server search functionality has received an overhaul, with new ways to tag and sort your favourite servers, and faster load times with more details to make scanning results simpler and more efficient.

A large number of core game bugs were reported to us by our player base, and we’ve addressed the majority of them this week. Check out the long list below, with more in the patch notes.

Finally, we’ve gone into depth about our strategy for dealing with ongoing performance issues and the five key areas that build our approach.





We’re improving the Dedicated Server search results functionality this week, taking on considerable community feedback and data to improve the UX for players.

• Added the ability to search for servers via IP address, with its own ‘Direct Connect’ tab
  
• Disabled the engine LAN search option for Steam's LAN searching instead due to the game crashing while switching search types
  
• ‘Game Version’ on Dedicated Server results that are out of date are now easier to read
  
• Added ‘Friend' and 'History’ tabs to the server browser - Joining a server will now add it to the History tab
  
• Increased max server results to 10,000
  
• Servers will now show up as they appear without the need to refresh the list or restart the game
  
• Servers can be marked as ‘favourites’ and will show up in a ‘favourites’ tab
  
• Added ability to connect via ‘Lan’ for local connections, with its own ‘Lan’ tab in the table
  
• Server tabs are now ordered ‘Internet - Favourites - History - Lan - Friends - Direct Connect’
  

Alongside our Dedicated Server search results improvements, we’re addressing a range of core game issues that were raised over the Christmas period.

• Fixed an issue where clients were unable to place or rotate wall signs
  
• Fixed an issue where clients using the glassworking bench, were not being correctly displayed the ‘yellow’ border around an item when water was added, signally the item would be ‘reinforced’
  
• Fixed 'Out-of-bounds' check not occurring when the player was seated on mount
  
• Investigated and Fixed Issues with Healing Module not always applying the Aura
  
• Fixed an issue where enzymes geysers were spawning each time you started a session making it seem like their count was resetting
  
• Fixed an issue where killing animals with your mount could fail due to a bug
  
• Fixed an issue where the UI was allowing players to deploy items in the space station
  
• Fixed an issue where the fridge/icebox were displaying incorrect spoilage timers for clients and causing issues with spoilage
  
• Fixed a bug that was causing sort options to not work on containers
  
• Fixed an issue where modifiers would sometimes fail to clear in the UI when timed out
  
• Fixed a bug where players would unexpectedly lose an attachment when removing multiple from an item
  
• Fixed an issue where people could lose items in space by ‘control-clicking’ in some circumstances
  
• Fixed an issue where the grace period was not being applied while seated in the dropship for some players
  
• Fixed an issue where item spoil timers wouldn't take into account the proper multiplier stats when combining stacks or removing from stacks. ‘Sturdy Stalks’ talent, for example, should now work as expected.
  
• Damage Types and Colors have been revamped, with new damage types being added for future content. Felling damage is now displayed when cutting down trees instead of melee damage.
  

For new players and old, performance is a frequent topic of conversation, and we’re aware of how important it is to you all. At this time, we have half of the Icarus Tech Team dedicated to this task.

While we are doing our best to get these fixes to you as fast as we can, changes related to performance require thorough investigation and careful consideration before any decisions are made. Rushing headfirst in often causes more damage than good.

We are currently focusing our efforts on five main areas:

Engine Performance

Many of the systems we use in Icarus are provided to us as part of Unreal Engine. Our philosophy has always been not to fight the engine, but at times we have found it necessary to tweak the way some of the systems work in order to achieve some of our goals.

Game Systems

In many of our weekly updates, we do our best to bring you new gameplay features that add dozens of hours to your gameplay experience in Icarus. At the same time, we are doing our best to continue to profile the game, in order to minimize the number of operations that need to occur on each frame.

Memory

Loading gameplay features into memory has a knock-on effect - the loading of one object can trigger a long chain of other objects to load alongside it. In order to prevent this chain reaction from using up too much memory, one of our focuses is to scrutinize the dependencies that form between objects and remove them wherever we can.

Stutters & Garbage Collection

One of the many features of Unreal Engine is automatic garbage collection. Convenient as it is, it can sometimes result in stutters during gameplay when large amounts of memory are reclaimed at once. We are investigating different ways to work with the engine to better minimize the impact of this step.

Connection

There is no “silver bullet” when it comes to optimizing networking - it mainly comes down to the continued efforts to profile the multiplayer experience, reduce the size of the network packets we send, and reduce the number of packets we need to send each frame.


As we continue forward we will continue to make small improvements every week to address all the issues mentioned above. These fixes and optimizations are cumulative, with the improvements in performance in the last 12 months a reflection of this ‘piece by piece’ approach.





Fixed/QoL

• Fixed a few typos in names and descriptions
  
• Update dropship text to clarify that workshop items in inventory are returned to the station as well
  
• Remove old Waternode assets
  
• Delete unused mountain heightmap images
  
• Move PFS out of root content folder into FOL/Spawners folder. Left redirector in place for now
  
• Move AC_Plant assets out of root FOL folder and into AC sub folder. Fixed filenames
  
• Clean up FOL folder assets
  
• Move MF out of random ENV/GEN folder and into MAT/MF folder
  
• Fixed a few typos in dialogue subtitles
  
• Adding new music cues to the correct group routing so the music slider adjusts their volume
  
• Fixes for Grass filenames and texture settings, deleted unused content
  
• Fix proxy meshes for Drying Rack not showing for Giant Steak or Leather. Fixed asset filenames. Fixed recipe name typo
  
• Adding custom shield break audio
  
• Add GFur to Shield
  
• Fix Shield LODs
  
• Delete Shield BP from ITM folder
  
• Added new 'Bounds Mask' EQS test that can be used to query whether a generated EQS location is outside of current Terrain/Prospect bounds mask if applicable
  
• Swapping Enzyme Geyser to be a FindOnly Reload Resolve Policy, prevent duplicate geysers from spawning and preventing the resetting of the completion count on load
  
• Fixed issue where animals would bug out when killed by a client's mount while they were riding it
  
• Fixed 'Out-of-bounds' check not occuring when player seated on mount
  
• Enable logging in UnrealTargetConfiguration.Test (internal dev change only)
  
• Changed space loadout tab to be view only. This fixes the case of control clicking items into a non-existent player loadout from your space inventory. The regular loadout screen is unaffected
  
• Can no longer sort inventories marked as 'remove-only' (Overflow bags, NPC corpses, etc.), fixes bug where trying to sort one of these inventories would remove all contents
  
• Attachments that are removed from items on the Alteration bench are now moved to main inventory when modified item is shifted
  
• Fixed a bug where in certain circumstances the shield wouldn't be deleted and would be stuck to the players arm
  
• Fixed bug where initial name given to mount wasn't displayed until closing then re-opening mount inventory screen. Fixed bug where clients aren't able to set name or access behaviours of tamed mount they've just claimed without re-opening mount inventory screen
  
• fixed validation error. meshable unsaved changes
  
• Ensure that modifiers that are in the process of being garbage collected are factored in to removal logic
  
• Rework modifier UI to be event driven (and not to fire every frame) for performance
  
• Ensure mission timers show the correct value when previewing a local save (load button UI)
  
• Removed unncessary eating GOAP action from Juvenile setup, fixes log spam regarding missing 'FoodContainer' BB Key
  
• Player footstep noises are now tagged correctly so NPCs can differentiate them from other noises
  
• Fix sorting by tag on containers
  
• Moved inventory tag queries from an array on BP_IcarusPlayerControllerCharacter to a new datatable SortTypePriority
  
• Change EnzymeGeyser ToggleEditorLocator function into separate Enable/Disable functions for multi-select purposes. Hide locators in Styx
  
• Added code include to AfflictionChance to fix compile errors
  
• Added QueryPort value to session result data to retain any needed information to favorite a server on steam
  
• Added OnFindSessionResult callback to engine code so servers can be displayed on screen as they are received instead of waiting for thousands of results
  
• Steam server searching can now accept filter queries, allowing players to specify a specific IP to search
  
• Added server browser tabs for Favorites/LAN/Direct Connect
  
• Fixed a bug where deployable placement would become desynced between server/client sometimes
  
• Fixed issue where deployables supporting custom rotation weren't guaranteed to have the same custom rotation when trying to deploy on server/client
  
• Removed Server versioning debug logging from Matchmaking Subsystem
  
• Changed server result logging in Matchmaking Subsystem to verbose
  
• Removed old Crafting Recipes for the old fishing rod and trap as these are now no longer valid
  
• Disabled the engine LAN search option for Steam's LAN searching instead due to the game crashing while switching search types
  
• Fixed clicking on server results not opening the join prospect window after favorites system was added
  
• Game Version on Dedicated Server results that are out of date are now easier to read
  
• Added Friend and History tabs to the server browser
  
• Joining a server will now add it to the History tab
  
• Increased max server results to 10000
  
• Added user facing log overlay
  
• Fixed a bug where clicking on 'deploy' in space will softlock the UI/game. Deploy button no longer appears in space
  
• Improved stability of several account migration steps
  
• Re-balanced how footstep noises are perceived by aggressive NPCs; footstep noise slowly builds up NPC aggression based on distance rather than triggering detection on the first footstep heard.
  
• Balance changes to aggressive AI slightly increasing time to detect players.
  
• Corpses currently held by player are no longer valid targets for carnivorous NPCs looking for food
  
• Inventory spoil rate is now replicated to clients correctly, fixing issue where remaining seconds before spoil wouldn't update correctly for clients
  
• Fixed issue where item spoil timers wouldn't take into account the proper multiplier stats when combining stacks or removing from stacks; Sturdy Stalks talent should now work as expected
  
• Split Peer to peer and dedicated server searching so one can run without the other, allowing peer to peer players to never query dedicated server until needed
  
• Added localization text for server browser
  
• Added possible crash fix during server browser displaying servers as they appear
  
• Removed friend count/filter on server browser since that's now managed by it's own tab
  
• Fixed compile errors in old tutorial screen
  
• Fixed a bug where when using a glassworking bench with a connection to water, the client would not get the updated icons for altered glass objects
  
• Direct Connect no longer shows all servers if no IP was entered
  
• Improved the look of the server name search box to make it more obvious that it's a search box
  
• Fixed crash when refreshing results in the server browser
  
• Fixed issue where the dedicated server browser wouldn't clear it's results before refreshing, causing duplicate results
  
• Changed steam listing parameters from Unreal Test to Icarus so server results can be viewable in the steam client browser
  
• Exposed Steam AsyncTaskTimeout as an OnlineSubsystemSteam engine config, so servers can increase the default 15 second timeout if needed
  
• Changed the item mesh in 'Mesh_Item_Shield_Wooden' from a static mesh to a skeletal mesh
  
• Removed the old 'back context' mesh and EquipBackMesh BP
  
• This fixes the BP code not being called, therefore fixing the hit audio not playing and also the shield mesh not being deleted
  
• Fixed repair actions not being available on space inventory screen
  
• Added extra logging to steam package flag fetching process, should help debug issues players are having when unsuccessfully trying to access Supporter's Edition content.
  
• Package flag fetching process will continually retry while in the main menu in the event of a failure.
  
• Added additional Sentry Event tags to help with searching for specific bugs in web interface
  

Future Content

• Adding 2 Fishing rods, 2 Fishing Traps, 1 Lure, 1 Wall Mount, 1 Aquarium, and the Fishing Bench Talents, Blueprints, Recipes and Unlocks
  
• Setting up Fishing Alterations and Lures, adding new gameplay tags and fishing inventory setup
  
• Setting up new fishing deployables
  
• Setdressing Pass On New Large Ice Cave, AC_MED_010, Prometheus
  
• Placed Cliffs around lave river in Phase 2 Area on Purple Quad, DLC Map
  
• Created extra rock formations and placed Cliffs around lave lakes/rivers in Phase 2 Area on Purple Quad, DLC Map
  
• Landscape and Decal Pass in pt2, added cliffs and riverbanks, Part2, Purple Quad, DLC
  
• Adding spider events and anim notifiers. Unique whoosh sound and data table entries etc
  
• Replace SW_GroundCoverB references to use v2 models
  
• Adding spider attack audio
  
• Adding spider death vocalisation and flinch also short attack whoosh
  
• Setdressing Pass On New Large Ice Cave, AC_MED_010, Prometheus
  
• Created Transition Caves Entrances to Red Quad from P2 Area & Add Transition Caves from P1 to P2 Area on Purple Quad, DLC Map
  
• Landscape and Decal Pass in pt2 around cliffs and riverbanks, Part2, Purple Quad, DLC
  
• Adding spider roar / spot sound
  
• Adding Lava River audio and data table entry
  
• Landscape/Decal Painting in P2 Area & Added Terrace Pools in P2 Area on Purple Quad, DLC
  
• Setdressing, CaveWorm and Voxel Pass On New Large Ice Cave, AC_MED_010, Prometheus
  
• Adding spider move sound and other small adjustments ot the spider distance filtering for the footsteps
  
• Landscape and Decal Pass in pt2 around cliffs and riverbanks, Part2, Purple Quad, DLC
  
• More updates to the spider. More vocalisations added to anims and also added a shoot web sfx
  
• Added proper Destructible mesh for CF_Berry_Bush_01 as it was originally using BushA_01
  
• Small reduction in volume of spider and other balance tweaks
  
• Adjust Lava Lake material and tweak colors to match Lava River Material
  
• Adding Rockdog enrage sizzle layer
  
• Add Prometheus AI spawn setup. Reorganized AISpawnZones DT
  
• Added Exotics to All New Ice and Tundra Caves and Did a Polish Pass On AC_MED_007, Prometheus
  
• Landscape/Decal Painting in P2 Area & Added Terrace Pools in P2 Area on Purple Quad, DLC
  
• Landscape and Decal Pass in pt2 around cliffs and riverbanks, Part2, Purple Quad, DLC
  
• Balance adjustments to needler and a few other creatures. Slightly lower volume. Less spawn rate
  
• Adding another swamp ambient creature and fine tune and adjustments to spawn rates of other creatures
  
• Added option to turn on/off geothermal vfxs on BPs
  
• Assigned correct Destructible meshes for both GL and TU Tussock Assets, which included creating the associated DM BPs and materials
  
• Small adjustments to spider balance. Also added click ambient creature to lava biome when around foliage
  
• Adding new Damage Types (Shatterring, Felling, Frost, Electric, Explosive, Wind)
  
• Seperating Melee & Projectile Damage types from Physical (Still Stat Driven)
  
• Added a new datatable to define various damage information such as damage stats, resistance stats and various tag queries
  
• Replaced various damage calls to use the new damage types
  
• Adding new stats, both damage and resistances for each of the new damage types
  
• Adding Sledgehammer description & lore
  
• Fixing up payloads which where using old damage types
  
• Small volume adjustments to grasslands and swamp biome. Increasing slightly to keep in closer line with other biomes while still maintaining unique feel
  
• Small increase to overall tundra biome volume and subtleties
  
• Fixing up Shattering Stat Calculations
  
• Fixing Hittable Rock Behaviour so Breakable rocks only take shatter damage
  
• Landscape/Decal Painting in P2 Area, Enabled Stream Geo Pools in P2 Area & Blocked Out Transition Cave on Purple Quad, DLC
  
• Finished Two New Small Ice Template Caves and Added 3 Large Caves to Blue Quad for Inital Testing, Blue Quad, Prometheus
  
• Delete unused Spider assets
  
• Fix Spider texture filenames and settings
  
• Unified Spider GFur settings
  
• Added Lava VFXs, Bubbling/Smoke/CoolDown/Splash/Lavafall
  
• Adjustments to Lavafall Material and WT
  
• Landscape and Decal Pass in pt2 around cliffs and riverbanks, Part2, Purple Quad, DLC
  
• Adding spider shake booty sound and adjustments to snow striker animation notifier timings
  
• Adding sledgehammer whoosh to animation and also various new creature reverb adjustments and spacial tweaks
  
• Submitting Mini Lava Bomber and textures
  
• Setting Meshes for Raw and Clean Exotic Resources
  
• Adding Recipes & Talents for Exotic Harvester and Processor
  
• Setting up Exotic Tree Node and Harvesting Device
  
• Adding Exotic Processor Mesh and Setting up Actor States
  
• Setting up t3/t4 Mission Communicator Meshes and Setting up Actor Camera Views
  
• Setting up Prometheus Open World and enabling selection in the menu (Feature Locked)
  
• Removed whoosh from sledhgehammer impact sound and added unique whoosh to sledgehammer animation. Slight adjustment to sledgehammer impact spacial
  
• Fixing Raw Exotic Resource Mesh
  
• Added description and flavour text for brick tier items
  
• Added Exotic and Mission Communication Icons for 1.3.0 and added to datatable
  
• Adding Deployables to the prebuilt structure system
  
• Fixing Electric Extractor Mesh which was swapped out accidentily in a previous commit
  
• Adjustment to striker reverb send, fixed wrong fooptstep anim notify on leopard / snow leopard and fixed timing of anim notify
  
• Landscape/Decal Painting in P2 Area & Blocked Out Transition Cave on Purple Quad, DLC
  
• Setup 3 new caves for Inital Testing, Blue Quad, Prometheus
  
• Clean up of spawned resources and painted LC foliage, in P2 Purple Quad, DLC
  
• Placed Procedural foliage volumes and spawned resources, Pt2 Purple Quad, DLC
  
• Adding Basic Fishing Data Structures, Stats, Spawn Config and Zones, and Library functions to catch Fish
  
• Adding Cheat to quickly catch fish without the required items for testing various spawn zones, weightings and stat assignments
  
• Adjustment to spider whoosh
  
• Adding new Fishing Cheat for Quickly Fishing in Different Zones & Other Functions to the Fishing Library
  
• Added Basic Fish and Fish Chunks Items for Testing, these are seperate from the existing fish items
  
• Fixed Fish Weight & Length stats being the opposite of what they where
  
• Add FarShadow settings to Styx persistent blockers to improve distance shadow casting visuals
  
• Adding new stats which effect various stats of fish which are caught
  
• Modified Fishing Library functions to take in a generic actor as the 'fisher' so objects other than the player can fish (Fishing Traps for example)
  
• Added basic stats to the Fishing Rod
  
• Building Transition Cave from P1 to P2 Area on Purple Quad, DLC Map
  
• Added ITM_Ingot_Obsidian to replace DEP_Furnace_IngotObsidian
  
• Delete V1 brick kit assets deprecated by V2 assets
  
• Added Color control to NS_Meta and Emission Colorto MA_meta
  
• Fixed waterfall seam on Green Quad, Added Mage Tree Roots on Blue Quad, DLC Map
  
• Foliage Pass of LC foliage, in P2 Purple Quad, DLC