ASTRONEER News

This update has a little of everything, new content, bugfixes, QOL changes, and performance optimizations! We plan on rolling it out early next week assuming everything goes well in with the Exo Fight Test!



Extra Large Shredder has been added to the game! Tired of wrecked Rovers and smashed Research Chambers littering the landscape? Changed your mind about that fourth Smelter in your base? Worry no more, because the new EXO Dynamics Extra Large Shredder is here to clean up the mess! This powerful machine takes on your larger pieces (or many smaller items) with the greatest of ease. Just be sure to have a big enough platform to fit this beast - only the Extra Large will do. The Extra Large Shredder will recycle the following objects into Scrap:

• Atmospheric Condenser
  
• Chemistry Lab
  
• EXO Dynamics Research Aid expended pyramid top
  
• Large Printer
  
• Large Seat (3-seat)
  
• Large Shredder
  
• Large Storage
  
• Partially Wrecked Medium Platform
  
• Research Module
  
• Smelter
  
• Soil Centrifuge
  
• Trade Module
  
• Wrecked Medium Platform
  
• Wrecked Research Module
  
• Wrecked Rover
  
• Wrecked Smelter
  

- Printed from: Large Printer
- Resource Cost: 2 Tungsten Carbide, 2 Steel
- Byte Cost: 5000

Extra large Platform C has been added to the Catalog.  This new platform is the largest one currently available from EXO Dynamics. It is able to fit either 4 Large items or 1 Extra Large item PLUS 2 Large items. Hook up a pair of Smelters and fill up an Extra Large Storage, or slap on a new Extra Large Shredder and a Large Storage and Trade Platform - ready to trade some Scrap for useful resources!



- Printed from: Large Printer
- Resource Cost: 2 Iron, 2 Steel
- Byte Cost: 5000

We have updated the Mantle layers of Vesania, Calidor, and Glacio with beautiful new flora, as well as Research Samples and Research Items. This shouldn't impact your current bases much, except you might have to dig up a few new plants or harvestables! Be sure to check out these planet'ss new underground layers!



Added a customization preview to the main menu! Players are now able to preview suits, color palettes, and emotes before starting a new game or joining another player. 

• Players will be able to preview both locked and unlocked items. 
  
• Locked content now have tooltips that help guide players on how to unlock those items. 
  
• Preview will highlight newly unlocked content after the criteria has been met.
  

 
We have increased the byte costs of all “non-starter” Catalog items by 25%. This is in response to the adjustments made to lower research times and raise the byte value of all Research items across the game. Overall we find that getting bytes faster means that you can unlock the things you want quicker, but this ensures you don't just breeze through and unlock everything!

This includes: 

• All Augments
  
• All Drills
  
• Atomspheric Condenser 
  
• Chemistry Lab
  
• Crane
  
• Drill Mods 2 & 3 
  
• Dynamite
  
• Extra Large Platforms A & B
  
• Extra Large Storage  
  
• Fireworks 
  
• Hydrazine Thruster 
  
• Large Platform C 
  
• Large Rover Seat  
  
• Medium Generator 
  
• Medium & Large Rover 
  
• Medium & Large Shuttles
  
• Medium Solar
  
• Medium & Large Shredders
  
• Medium Wind 
  
• Oxygen Tank, T1 Oxygenator 
  
• RTG
  
• Small & Medium Battery
  
• Solar Array  
  
• Trade Platform 
  
• Winch 
  

• Rover Auxiliary slot controls now correctly adapt to the direction the Rover seat is facing.
  
• Client Players in Multiplayer games can now impact Zebra, Leo, and Checker Balls with rovers.
  
• Structures in the center of every planet and moons now supply free oxygen
  
• Tuned transition speed of getting in and out of all kinds of seats to feel better
  

• [AS-6624] - Implemented an object spawning optimization that will make objects more performant overall.
  
• [AS-6546] - Optimized our foliage system to improve performance for planet decorators and resource deposits
  
• [AS-6545] - A slew of optimizations for the power system. Power infrastructure will perform much better as it scales up!
  
• Continued work on the tether system! Significantly optimized tether lines to reduce their impact on performance when large tether networks are present
  
• [AS-6840] - The loading screen would sometimes fail to stop playing in the background, causing performance to drop overall. This has been fixed!
  

The following bugs have been fixed as of version 1.1.0.0:


After a long absence, mysterious sphere variations have returned to the solar system! But beware, a few may have been hiding in plain sight all along among previously collected versions. These Heretics have been revealed. 

• [AS-5990] - Fixed a major issue in the Terran 2.0 code that caused seams to appear between biomes of different hardness levels. Seams that have already been exposed in saved games may persist, but new ones will not be created.
  
• [AS-4344] - Fixed a bug where Tether lines are always lit for Client players in Multiplayer games. 
  
• [AS-6703] - Fixed a bug which caused Tethers to continue to supply oxygen even when the platform they are connected to was disconnected from an oxygen source.
  
• [AS-5307] - Printing animation for the backpack should now accurately match the speed of resource consumption for all items.
  
• [AS-5958] - Fixed a bug that caused Small Generators to lose their hologram after the first resource was consumed.
  
• [AS-6170] - Fixed a bug where the Client player wasn’t able to see ditches in the terrain that the Host could see on Exotic
  
• [AS-6539] - Fixed a bug where the Client player could not interact with any object after quitting the game while in a vehicle.
  
• [AS-6579] - The printing head for the medium printer will no longer continue to print after a large storage has been successfully printed. 
  
• [AS-6588] - Fixed a customization bug with the Bio Suit which would cause missing elements to appear when using the Galactic Palette
  
• [AS-6642] - Fixed a tagging issue where the Puzzle Box tops were labeled incorrectly as “Detritus.”
  
• [AS-6651] - Power Columns on the medium battery now correctly reflect battery charge
  
• [AS-6694] - Client players should now be able to see Chambers when in orbit of any planet. 
  
• [AS-6695] - Added the correct icon to Exo Crates that require Nanocarbon Alloy. 
  
• [AS-6701] - Fixed a Multiplayer bug that occured when Client players deformed under Tether posts. The Tether lines would appear disconnected from the Client players’ point of view. 
  
• [AS-6703] - Fixed a bug where tether networks were not being automatically supplied with oxygen after connecting the oxygenator.
  
• [AS-6697] - Terrain tool should no longer cause nearby decorators to fall through the terrain. 
  

Audio Bugfixes

• [AS-4319] - Fixed a bug that halted SFX when loading soil into the Soil Centrifuge. 
  
• [AS-4775] - Rover sound effects should now scale and transition more smoothly.
  
• [AS-4866] - Research Items should now have audio when being picked up, dropped, and when hitting the ground. 
  
• [AS-4900] - Fixed a bug with single Tether not having audio when being dropped.
  
• [AS-5279] - Players should now hear audio when standing in front of a geyser on elevated terrain. 
  
• [AS-5704] - Wind SFX now smoothly transitions when moving into a new biome on Glacio. 
  

Wow this is a long one! Really happy with the amount of balance, content, optimizations and bugfixes that are shipping in this update, and am happy to say that our next one will have a bunch of the same, with an emphasis on new content! We will reveal more details about that in the coming weeks!(vlog anyone?) Also THANKS SO MUCH to everyone who voted for us in the Webbys! We managed to snag SEVEN awards, including all five People's Voice categories, and two full on Webby wins!

Cheers and talk to you soon!

-jt

Patch 1.0.15 should be live now on Steam!



This patch includes a large update to networking code to improve performance in multiplayer sessions. Hosts should no longer see huge performance drops when clients join their games!

General Updates

• [AS-6597] - Code redemption is now available in Astroneer. Redeem your Recruit Bundle codes now!
  
• [AS-6301] - Gateway Engines no longer require oxygen management from Astroneers.
  
• [AS-6181] - Emote selections are now persistent account-wide - like all other customization options - rather than just per individual save.
  
• [AS-6302] - The Gateway teleportation exit point has been changed so that the player no longer takes fall damage when exiting it.
  
• [AS-6404] - The Scrap value of Graphite has been fixed from a high 0.75 to the intended 0.25. This also addressed a minor exploit which allowed players to trade 3 Graphite nuggets for 4 Graphite nuggets via the Scrap mechanic.
  
• A number of balance and distribution changes to Hazards and Research Samples are included in this patch.
  

• [AS-6017] - Increased Research Sample spawn probability on Sylvan forest biome by 25%.
  
• [AS-6022] - Increased the density of Research Items and Samples in Sylvan subterranean biomes.
  
• [AS-6306] - Respawn times for Research Samples have increased 25%. Also increased the value of Research Items by at least 25%, and reduced their research time by a similar margin.
  

• [AS-6020] - Where there previously was a single growth, now a trio of Volatile Cataplants have sprouted on Glacio’s ice sheets.
  
• [AS-6021] - Delayed Bouncevine explosion from .5 to 1.5 seconds after being uprooted.
  
• [AS-6024] - Adjusted both the Noxious and the Elegant Spewflower to have a stronger toxin (especially the latter, which only occurs underground). Astroneers visiting Atrox are cautioned to avoid their fume clouds, which are at least 25% more deadly than previously recorded.
  

• We have addressed an issue with a performance optimization which was causing intermittent crashes in version 1.0.14.0.
  
• [AS-3085] - Fixed a long standing bug which would cause the Shelter tooltip to not reappear if Players exited the Shelter while mousing over it.
  
• [AS-4338] - Fixed the messaging on the Research Chamber for non-researchable items until the save is reloaded.
  
• [AS-4650] - Fixed a bug in the customization system where suit palettes with non-default materials incorrectly change backpack slot colors.
  
• [AS-6179] - Fixed a bug where players were unable to drive Large Rover trains of more than two Rovers.
  
• [AS-6188] - Fixed the glitch (and by that we mean hilarious exploit) which occurred when entering a shuttle and picking it up simultaneously allowed the client player to fly around.
  
• [AS-6211] - Client Players can no longer carry platforms when they enter the shuttle and carry the those platforms to other planets.
  
• [AS-6225] - Fixed a bug causing small printer functionality to become suppressed when instructed to print the thruster until the correct cable is connected.
  
• [AS-6337] - Astronium nugget now uses the correct texture.
  
• [AS-6352] - Text boxes no longer overlap when collecting more than one kind of resource in quick succession: instead they now conveniently stack alongside the backpack.
  
• [AS-6360] - Fixed a bug causing batteries to send out power on directional power connections even when they have no excess power to send out.
  
• [AS-6514] - Fixed an incorrect research Byte value and research time on a some hazards.
  

Also if you haven't heard already, Astroneer is nominated for FIVE Webby awards! We could use your vote to bring the awards home, so head over here (VOTE HERE) for more details about what categories and how to vote!

Thanks for reading and I look forward to kickstarting the youtube channel back up soon with a new post 1.0 vlog with more details about our next update!

-jt

Amazing news! Astroneer has been nominated for FIVE Webby awards! We are honored to be included, but now we need your help!

We need our community to head over to the below links and vote for Astroneer in all the categories we have been nominated:

Best Game Design VOTE HERE
Best Art Direction VOTE HERE
Best Visual Design VOTE HERE
Best User Experience VOTE HERE
Best Adventure Game VOTE HERE

We are beyond excited and hope that with your help, we can bring these awards home! Voting ends Thursday April 18th, so vote now!

Also stay tuned for details on a patch for later this week to address multiplayer performance, more crash fixes, and performance upgrades!

Thanks!

-jt

Patch 1.0.13.0 Release Notes

The primary focus on this patch was to continue addressing the most pressing performance concerns! When comparing with exisiting saves, we saw significant framerate improvements. Some more big performance changes are being tested and worked on right now, which should further help with performance, especially in multiplayer sessions. We are definitely not done optimizing, but this was a much needed big first step.



This patch includes a rework of the algorithm that drives the placement of new tethers in a network. The new algorithm should greatly reduce the hitches players see when placing tethers in a big network across all platforms, leading to improved performance in single player and multiplayer games. This is the first part of a two-step fix to this system, the next portion coming in a future patch.

The rework of the algorithm has somewhat changed the connection behavior of tethers. The impact of this change is not only on performance, but also in far more predictability and control over what will happen when you drop or pick up a tether.

Here is a summary of what’s changed and what remains:

• Vehicles, base platforms and characters should behave the same as before. You should not see any difference in how they make tether connections.
  
• Connections between tether posts that have changed. When placing a new tether post, it will now connect to the closest tether post of each distinct tether network in range. A tether network in this case being a set of connected tether posts.
  
• Tether networks are no longer self-healing! When you pick up a tether post it will trigger a network split of all the other tethers it was attached to. A tether post being disconnected will not cause any other tether post connections to change.
  

A number of overall performance improvements are included in this patch.

• Make debris objects despawn when they leave relevance
  
• Generally reduce object count by cleaning up stateless objects that are far away from players.
  
• Sped up transform updates for all objects.
  
• Updated timeslicing settings for expensive objects that did not previously take advantage of timeslicing.
  
• Optimized terrain geometry generation throughput.
  
• Do not update animations that are out of the player's view and not in their immediate vicinity to save time.
  
• Cached audio parameter values to avoid time spent updating them when they haven't changed.
  

Fixed several of our commonly reported crashes increasing overall stability.

• [AS-6342] - Fixed a bug introduced in the last update, where digging up Hazards with research samples attached cause the research to pop into the air and become stuck.
  
• [[AS-6351] - The achievement “Journey to the Center of the Thing” now unlocks when its requirements are met.
  
• [AS-6353] - Fixed a bug which caused objects to become unusable for client players when unpacked or repackaged while outside the host's field of view in Multiplayer games.
  
• [AS-6390] - Fixed a bug Moving wrecked rover seat means Player is unable to interact with debris POI after save.
  
• 
  

Sorry that this one took a little longer than expected, there are some big changes to some core systems here and we needed more time to test! We are going to be at SXSW, GDC, and PAX East this month so if you are going, come say hi to us!

Also, ICYMI, the wonderful people at Noclip came to the studio to talk about Astroneer's history, you can watch the full documentary here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfUjl4owxTQ
Cheers!

-jt

Patch 1.0.9.0 Release Notes

The primary focus of this release was to address more of the key gameplay issues and stability issues that we’ve been encountering in live.

- Fixed even more of our most commonly reported crashes increasing overall stability.

- Deployed fixes for a number of our most commonly reported gameplay bugs:

• [AS-6208] - Made the first fix to the issue which is causing players to be randomly launched into the air while walking around, especially on planets other than Sylva. Now if this error occurs, the player will be only slightly bumped and should no longer take lethal damage. We are investigating a deeper fix to Terrain 2.0 that would fully address this issue, as well as some others, but will require more implementation and testing.
  
• [AS-6162] - Made several fixes to Terrain 2.0 which would cause Client players to see seams where Host players have deformed terrain around resource deposits.
  
• [AS-6196] - The Achievement "Delve Greedily and Deep" will now be appropriately unlocked when reaching the mantle of any planet. Unfortunately, this is not a self-healing fix, meaning that you will have to go back to the mantle of a planet to earn this.
  
• [AS-6212] - The exploit that allowed players to generate infinite Scrap by removing Small Batteries placed on the Shredder and replacing them has been fixed. You will now have to go back to collecting Scrap the good ‘ol fashion way.
  
• Made changes to how our backend service checks for Achievement progress in order to address the issue of players no longer seeing customization items they unlocked by completing achievements. If you are still experiencing missing items in your inventory, please keep reporting it to us.
  

-Cranes and Drills have received several fixes and adjustments:

• [AS-6234] - Fixed the bug causing the Crane and Drills mounted on vehicles to not collect soil into canisters attached to them.
  
• [AS-6270] - Fixed a bug which caused Crane-mounted Drills to stop digging a short ways past the surface.
  
• [AS-6271] - Fixed a bug which caused a lower strength Drill to fail to activate if a higher strength Drill is detached from its slot.
  
• The deformation rate has been made uniform across all Drill hardness tiers when drilling soft terrain.
  
• Additional power will now be drawn when multiple Drills are attached to one vehicle.
  
• Buffed the deformation size for Crane-mounted Drills.
  

-A number of most commonly occurring Tutorial issues have been addressed in order to smooth the experience for first time players:

• [AS-6101] - Fixed a bug where the UI prompt for the tutorial dropship does not appear again after a player dies.
  
• [AS-6111] - Fixed a usability issue which occurred if a player stowed a research sample in their backpack, there would be no prompt open the backpack.
  
• [AS-6112] - Fixed an annoying issue with the small printer where it would lose the Use key and could not be used to print a thruster and progress the objective.
  
• [AS-6113] - Fixed an issue where slotting the solid-state thruster to the oxygenator slot on the shuttle mistakenly advanced the objective.
  

-A number of issues have been fixed regarding quick stow and tier two object carrying.

• [AS-6160] - Fixed a bug that would cause carried objects to clip through terrain and become lost when a player enters a slide or deploys terrain tool.
  
• [AS-1070] - As part of the above fix with carrying objects, addressed an old bug where resources would sometimes fall through the terrain when their model was below the surface at the time they were ejected from the back of the Terrain Tool.
  
• [AS-5038] - And while we’re there, fixed a visual issue where attempting to quick stow a large item while holding it would trigger the “Backpack Full” UI warning
  

- [AS-6206] - The RTG can now be shredded in the Shredder.

• Client desync and performance drops on all platforms. (Update: Further profiling has helped us identify the biggest offenders for performance, and some fixes are being tested currently for deployment in our next patch)
  
• Some modified terrain nodes will sometimes lose collision, causing players to quicksand into them. (Still debugging this issue. Seems like deformation is causing terrain node math to get into a weird state on lower end hardware. Working on a fix)
  
• If you crash while in a shuttle in orbit, the shuttle will remain in orbit and your starting point might get broken. We have a solid repro of this and are tracking a fix.
  
• Rovers with front mounted drills will sometimes cause the rover to lose control when operating the drill for extended periods.
  
• Exiting Tractors will sometimes cause clients to catapult into space and subsequently suffocate. (Update: Verified that is happens when pressing "enter" twice before entering. Should be fixed in next week's update)
• Vehicles will sometimes not respond to input, causing repeated enters and exits before resuming normal operation (Update: turns out this might happen when other inputs are held while entering. Should be fixed in next week's patch)
• Crashing on loading before the start menu (This should have been addressed in this update, please keep us updated if you continue running into this issue.)
  

Lots of the most egregious bugs are cleaned up in this patch! Next weeks patch will begin the most meaningful performance upgrades to date for all platforms and hardware. Thanks for hanging in there while we work through alleviating the performance problems in single and multiplayer sessions!

See you next week!

-jt