Avorion News

Community members can now apply to have their server marked as a "Verified Server"! All verified servers will get a blue checkmark next to the server name in the list. The "Verified Server" checkmark is used to mark servers that we, Boxelware, recommend as great to play on. We want to highlight servers of passionate community members and reward those who are doing an amazing job running their own dedicated servers.

Since the verified server checkmark is a quality seal, a verified server must follow certain guidelines (see link below). This gives verified servers better visibility and increased server traffic. Additionally, we will provide a direct connection for verified server owners to us to provide high priority support!

You can find the complete list of rules & prerequisites on our forum: https://forum.avorion.net/index.php?/topic/6846-verified-servers-ruleset-prerequisites/

Here are some of the most important points:
- The server specs must meet certain requirements to ensure smooth gameplay
- The server must be public and accessible without password
- The server admin must be reachable by us
- The server admin must have at least one month of experience running similar servers
- The server main language must be German or English

To apply with your server, please send us an e-mail to [email protected]. Make sure to check out the forum post first, though!

We are looking forward to your applications!

Hello everyone!

As many of you know, the Steam Awards 2020 are currently running! Today is the last day to submit your vote and it would mean a lot to us if you could support Avorion with your vote. The whole Boxelware team consists of passionate Steam players and to get an award in one of the categories would literally blow us away!

So we are happy about every single vote of you that chooses to support Avorion.
Unfortunately, you can only vote in one category, so we propose the Labor of Love Award. Of course, you are free to vote for Avorion in any other category if you want to.
To vote, just click on the link at the top of this posting or directly from the Avorion store page.

Thanks for your support and time!

[h2]Gameplay[/h2]

• Object detector no longer highlights valuable objects docked to the current ship

[h2]Balancing[/h2]

• Reduced drop chance for Internal Defense System Upgrades relative to the other upgrades

[h2]Client & UI[/h2]

• Building Mode: Special folders in "Saved Designs" window are now sorted to the front
• While on beta branch, version is shown on the bottom left of the screen
• Improved responsiveness of the game during loading screen
  • This fixes Windows thinking that the game crashed when it's actually just loading
• Added some loading screen tips that explain size relations in the game
• Added small question marks to indicate that scrapyard dismantling doesn't guarantee goods

[h2]Scripting API[/h2]

• Added documentation for displaying dialogs

[h2]Server[/h2]"We made some serious progress over the past 2 weeks on the server side, and now it's time to share it!"

• Implemented several important performance optimizations

[h2]Bugfixes[/h2]"As always, user bug reports are marked with [UBR]. Thanks for helping us improve the game and keep it up! :)"

• [UBR] Fixed a crash when hiring a spy
• [UBR] Fixed massive performance issues when changing the sliders for volume or scale in shipyard or station founder
• [UBR] Fixed problems with hermit mission not updating when talking to adventurer
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where selling of all trash didn't work at a fighter factory
• [UBR] Fixed IHDTX attacking during dialog on re-enter of sector
• [UBR] Fixed a crash when using /playerinfo chat command
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where log would be filled with "Skipped queued callback because filter said no"
• [UBR] Fixed "Show Hints" setting not doing anything
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where some blocks would drop resources even though they shouldn't
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where players wouldn't be written out properly on servers
• [UBR] Fixed several issues with tooltips on the galaxy map
• [UBR] Fixed several issues with ships bumping into each other when ordered to escort
• [UBR] Fixed several issues where jump orders on the galaxy map wouldn't get executed properly
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where flight assist would use up more and more energy after docking
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where traits of DLC syndicates wouldn't show up properly
• Fixed an issue where docked containers would turn invisible
• Fixed several UI elements reacting even if the mouse is blocked by other windows
• Fixed descriptions of missions flickering while changing sectors
• Fixed several issues in black market story missions
• Fixed several issues in scripts
• Updated texts
• Updated localizations

Beta Branch Note: These changes are currently available on the beta branch. The beta branch is for testing experimental changes and for finding and fixing errors.

This is how you get access to the beta branch (USE AT YOUR OWN RISK):
Right-Click on Avorion in your Steam list, Properties -> Betas -> Select branch 'Beta Branch - Newest Changes & Experimental Features'.

[h2]Changelog 2020-11-17[/h2]

• Scripting API: Added documentation for displaying dialogs
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where some blocks would drop resources even though they shouldn't
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where players wouldn't be written out properly on servers
• [UBR] Fixed several issues with tooltips on the galaxy map
• [UBR] Fixed several issues with ships bumping into each other when ordered to escort
• [UBR] Fixed several issues where jump orders on the galaxy map wouldn't get executed properly
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where flight assist would use up more and more energy after docking
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where traits of DLC syndicates wouldn't show up properly
• Fixed some issues in scripts

[h2]Gameplay[/h2]

• Object detector no longer highlights valuable objects docked to the current ship

[h2]Balancing[/h2]

• Reduced drop chance for Defense System Upgrades relative to the other upgrades

[h2]Client & UI[/h2]

• Building Mode: Special folders in "Saved Designs" window are now sorted to the front
• While on beta branch, version is shown on the bottom left of the screen
• Improved responsiveness of the game during loading screen
  • This fixes Windows thinking that the game crashed when it's actually just loading
• Added some loading screen tips that explain size relations in the game

[h2]Server[/h2]"We made some serious progress over the past 2 weeks on the server side, and now it's time to share it!"

• Implemented several important performance optimizations

[h2]Bugfixes[/h2]"As always, user bug reports are marked with [UBR]. Thanks for helping us improve the game and keep it up! :)"

• [UBR] Fixed a crash when hiring a spy
• [UBR] Fixed massive performance issues when changing the sliders for volume or scale in shipyard or station founder
• [UBR] Fixed problems with hermit mission not updating when talking to adventurer
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where selling of all trash didn't work at a fighter factory
• [UBR] Fixed IHDTX attacking during dialog on re-enter of sector
• [UBR] Fixed a crash when using /playerinfo chat command
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where log would be filled with "Skipped queued callback because filter said no"
• Fixed an issue where docked containers would turn invisible
• Fixed several UI elements reacting even if the mouse is blocked by other windows
• Fixed descriptions of missions flickering while changing sectors
• Fixed several issues in black market story missions
• Fixed several issues in scripts
• Updated texts
• Updated localizations

As you may know, some time ago we started the experiment with the “Official Community Servers”. During the Covid-19 lockdown, we provided some servers for free, to be run by the community. We marked them as “Official Community Servers”, to indicate that these are special, always-on servers managed by the community. After evaluating your feedback and all the statistics, we, unfortunately, came to the conclusion that it did not work out the way we planned it. We’re still working on some performance issues, and we realized that we gave a wrong impression by marking them with the word “Official”. Additionally, we had quite a few requests from passionate dedicated server hosters, saying they wanted to be part of the program as well, but with their own, private servers.

After having evaluated everything, we came to the conclusion that there is another, better way! So here is a little preview of our future plans.

In the next few weeks, we will transfer the "Official Community Server" program into a "Verified Servers" program. We have many dedicated hosters who host private, well-functioning servers at their own costs. We want to reward these people for their efforts and give them the opportunity to get a blue checkmark as well.

The current "Official Community Servers" will remain online and with the current hosters, but for the time being the blue checkmark will be removed. Alternatively, we will give everyone (who runs a server) the opportunity to apply for the “verified” checkmark. All of you, who have already invested hours in their own servers and gained experience are invited to apply for the “Verified” checkmark once the program starts over the next weeks. Of course, this also includes the servers now marked as "Official Community Servers".

We are still working on how exactly and under which conditions this will be possible. More detailed information will be available soon. So stay tuned!