Stormworks: Build and Rescue News

Dear Stormworkers,

This week is announcement week, with minor updates planned for next week 8th December, and also every two weeks following as normal.

Next week is mostly fixes and improvements, but does include a minor new feature. While we are using the majority of our time for fixes, we are reserving a small amount of time to introduce smaller new features, and plan to add something new on average every 4 weeks.



We are also planning the usual free major updates, and next year should bring 4 of these. We are carefully listening to players, and next years majors will be highly requested features. We have plenty of work to do here, but we are really excited and expect they will make a huge difference to players.

We are not currently planning more DLC for Stormworks in 2024. Our focus will be on quality improvements and highly requested features.



Work continues on 'Not Stormworks 2'. If you are not familiar, 'Not Stormworks 2' is a new game that we are working on. Only one thing is known for sure: it is NOT a sequel to Stormworks! Stormworks will continue for a long time, and isn't affected by this other game. We will announce more info in 2024.

Much love
The Stormworks Developers

Dear Stormworkers,

This week's minor update brings many fixes and improvements to Stormworks!

These are important fixes that players have requested on the issue tracker. Many thanks to all the players who shared their feedback!

In a couple of months, we are planning to merge the dedicated server into the main game installation rather than having a separate Steam product. This simply means that server.exe and server64.exe will be installed with Stormworks, rather than the separate Steam App where they currently exist.

To help server communities, there will be a long transition period and we will be listening to their feedback. As we understand, it should be a simple process to make minor changes to their install scripts. We will let you know when the transition period starts with more info on what to do if you run a server.



The reason for this change is to ensure that the server and the game updates at the same time, removing the risk of an error where the game and the server may have different versions for some period of time.

The other reason is that Valve have released some new security measures requiring 2FA via SMS to update the game on Steam. This means that automated pipelines can no longer push updates, and a person with the right permissions must be standing by with the phone to confirm each release for each app.



I am not convinced this makes any sense. The SMS confirmation isn't required for beta branches or workshop uploads which can also go live directly to players, and its broadly agreed that automated release processes are less prone to errors than those involving humans. However, we love Valve and we appreciate they are just trying to make Steam as safe as they reasonably can.

Please see the patch notes below for full details on this update!

Much love
The Stormworks Developers



Patch Notes

v1.9.18

Balance/Rework - Wide scale adjustments to fluid pressure and flow through doors
Balance - Rebalanced water jet energy conversion to better match old behaviour
Balance - Reduced air scoop reaction to wind and velocity
Balance - #23038 Rebalanced engine cooling and heat
Balance - #22867 #22872 Reduced large firebox and diesel burner coolant capacity and reworked heat transfer to be higher in larger boilers
Fix - #22752 Improved flow in restricted scenarios, apply flow limiting after resolving fluid islands
Fix - Crash when attempting to offset the physics position of a group where not all vehicles were loaded
Fix - Turbojets no longer apply force in space
Fix - #22917 Weapons AI autocannon tanks not firing
Fix - #22510 #23023 Updated weapons AI boats and fixed AI captain raycasts colliding with character physics
Fix - #22191 Resolved default disaster siren not containing a battery (running out of electric)
Fix - #21163 Fixed sharks dragging characters through thin walls
Fix - #20947 Ordnance type default value
Fix - #23109 Keep active block functionality for vehicle groups
Fix - Flush addon script deferred events immediately before triggering initial autosave after onCreate
(Some addon data based on onVehicleSpawn callbacks missing if load initial autosave of a game)

Dear Stormworkers,

Next week we will be releasing another minor update focused on fixes and improvements.

Fixes will be included for the following topics:

Trading add-on, keep active blocks, enemy AI, large fire box, diesel burner, water jets, underwater doors, air scoop, turbo props.

We remain determined to clean up all these issues for good, and there is plenty of other stuff that we are also getting to, that players have reported on the tracker.



Thank you to everyone who have reported issues and helped us resolve these problems!

If you are experiencing an issue with a component not listed above, have not reported it yet, and have a simple example, please do get in touch via the in-game "report a bug" button. We want to make sure we are aware of all remaining issues so we can get them resolved as soon as possible.

With the above said, we have made huge progress, fixed the majority of problems, and fixes are for increasingly rare issues.

We are also working on the unit test system and should have this integrated into our process in the next few weeks.



Fixes and improvements remain the priority, but further ahead we are planning some great new content and features which are highly requested. 2024 should be a great year for updates!

Much love
The Stormworks Developers

Dear Stormworkers,

It is minor update week! As well as a long list of fixes and improvements, there is also a new feature - release rope input for rope anchors!



You can now detach ropes using logic on a vehicle. This new on/off logic node can be triggered to release the rope connections on an anchor for ropes.

The fixes list includes some important changes, including some fluid rebalances. These rebalances are tending to be smaller and finer in magnitude as the system is generally backwards compatible in most situations. Thank you to all the players who helped by posting issues on the issue tracker!



Much love
The Stormworks Developers



Patch Notes

v1.9.17

Feature - Rope anchor "release rope" logic node

Fix - #22825 Resolved door/turret-ring flow and pressure issues
Fix - #22287 Default missions tow mission spawning error without DLC
Fix - #22483 Default missions repair missions using outdated function call
Fix - #21092 Crash when attempting to carry a creature-dragged character
Fix - #20876 Fix pressVehicleButton behaviour for toggle buttons
Fix - Predators no longer attacking
Fix - #20988 Default secondary equipment binding to R (prev B)
Fix - #21069 Fix buzzer audio layer volume initialization
Fix - #21117 Prevent vehicle fire damage ignoring vehicle damage setting when enabled
Balance - #21843 #21853 Balanced heat sources (Firebox no longer kills you, heaters twice as effective, burn damage and radius balanced)
Fix - Crash which rarely occurred when creating ropes
Balance - #21952 Adjusted liquid rocket fuel consumption
Balance - #22120 #22803 Rebalanced RCS thrust and consumption and clamped flow
Fix - #22799 Antennas not highlighting when in logic placement mode
Balance - #22849 Rebalanced diesel burner consumption and max temperature
Rework - #22911 Rescaled maximum ocean pressure to 30atm

Dear Stormworkers,

Today we are releasing a hotfix (v1.9.16) with some improvements in response to player feedback. This is the 5th such update this week as our focus has been improving the balance of the fluid system for the best compatibility with existing creations. Check below for patch notes and check the news feed for info on the dozens of other fixes we have released this week.

This is part of our plan to improve the fluid system performance for old creations. Lets talk more about where this started and where it is heading:

The Situation

It's time for some RP. Imagine that you are a Stormworks developer and the Space DLC released about 24 hours ago.

The space update negatively impacted many existing player creations. This is Stormworks. Many of these creations took hundreds of hours to make. This is a huge deal.

Firstly, and most obviously, some ships (particularly large ships) computed their mass slightly differently which meant they might sat differently in the water. Fortunately, this was just one line of code to update and you have already fixed this.

Secondly, it turns out that you didn't test the new compressed gas fluid system on enough workshop creations. A lot of steam powered vehicles, water jets, and some others didn't behave the same with the new fluid system. You had been working hard on our quality processes over the last couple of years, so, to make such a mistake is really disappointing. And so avoidable.

While you did discuss the fluid system rework and the potential impact with players long before the update, it was the intention that creations generally continued to work. This impact is far greater than you intended and too many player creations are impacted.

The Space DLC is now live, and it depends on these fluid changes, and the space portion of this update is well tested and working. In the past, you may roll back a change, but in this case, with most of your players currently in orbit, that would make the situation so much worse.

The player backlash is gaining momentum, to the point where players are getting involved who have not played the update or are unaffected.

Discord is out of control. There is at least a dozen people posting threats and your actual location. They are probably just kids, right?

The last time you checked, there were 500 negative Steam reviews. You decide not to look again, it isn't helping. You are feeling the pressure.

A new email, its from a youtuber. "Sorry to hear about the backlash!" it reads. "Just keep doing what you do and things will work themselves out". What a kind message to receive. It is good advice.



The Solution

I think that in life, these stressful times come along once in a while, and for some people, the situation can be much worse than this. How you respond to the situation matters a great deal.

You cannot change what is done, so you must look ahead for the best path forward. You need a clear head to see the best solution, and you can't allow the pressure to affect you.

For us, it is about pressing on with development, reading the player feedback, understanding the problem, and working through it in a pragmatic way.



This is what we have been doing. The game is in a much improved place thanks to the player feedback and the dozens of changes we have released. We have made huge progress on reworking the fluid system, working with players directly on experimental branch, hot fixing issues, and the new unit tests system is in development so that we can record metrics on vehicle behaviour and compare each game version.

Learning involves making these changes to avoid the same issues in the future. We are now in year 7 of live Stormworks development, with years yet to come, and exciting times ahead!

Much love
The Stormworks Developers




Patch Notes

v1.9.16 HOTFIX

Rework - diesel burner now works much better due to changes to air flow, exhaust, diesel flow
Rework - fluid labels now show pressure in atmospheres rather than storage to better explain pressure driven system
Rework - increased max effective pressure delta from 10 to 20 atmospheres
Rework - fluid resolves slightly differently at low pressure to improve flow at low pressure
Fix - water jets no longer produce force from negative rps