Stormworks: Build and Rescue News

Dear Stormworkers,

This week is minor update week, and we are introducing some new and reworked audio effects!

We have added new sounds for premade engines and modular engines. These sounds have different layers that blend with each other based on RPS. Similar to the old sounds, there are different sets of sounds for engines classified as "small", "medium", and "large". Commercially available sound samples for engines are surprisingly uncommon and it has been a challenge to rework these sounds, but we are very pleased with the result, and we hail an end to lawnmower engines!

New lightning and thunder sound effects give a more authentic sense to thunder storms, with different layers of sound used based on distance, and better effects overall.



Boat propellers also have new sounds, with new layer blending and different effects based on RPS. As with many Stormworks sound effects, the challenge here is decomposed sounds - the propeller component in Stormworks can only make the sound of the propeller interacting with the water. However, in the real world, propellers are always accompanied with the sound engines so these have also been a big challenge!

And there are more sound effects, including new sirens, buttons, and gearboxes!



As usual, these minor update features are accompanied with many fixes and improvements. Please check the notes below for full details!

We are already working on another audio minor update, as well as all the other updates discussed last week.

We look forward to hearing your feedback on the new sounds!

Much love
The Stormworks Developers



Patch Notes

v1.6.8

Changes that include a #NUMBER relate to fixes or features submitted by the Stormworks community via geometa.co.uk/support/stormworks which can be accessed via the 'Report Bug/Request Feature' button in-game.

Posting a submission to this tracker ensures we review your suggestion/report since we may not see reports submitted via other channels.

Feature - New sound effects and audio updates
Feature - Addon editor component copy and paste support

In this minor update we are including some of the planned audio changes we have been developing;
Engines and modular engines have new sounds with improved blending.
Gearboxes now have a sound when changing ratio to give feedback to the player.
Lightning/Thunder now have a selection of sounds based on the range of the storm.
Marine propellers have new sounds with improved blending.
Key buttons and circuit breakers have new sound effects.
Throttle levers now make a button sound when pressed.
Added a many new sound effects to the buzzer block (Sirens / Horns / Klaxons / Bells)

Rework - #11569 Characters now only drop equipment on death instead of incapacitated
Fix - #15693 Common creature physics crash
Fix - #11619 Removed some unnecessary surfaces from windows that prevented raycasts
Fix - #13348 Winch up and down editor warnings inverted
Fix - Lights sometimes rendering a light flare with 0 power
Fix - #13613 Updated function block to handle very small values
Fix - End effector no longer interacts with manual components
Fix - Improved vehicle editor loading time
Fix - #3196 Increase text length for detailed tooltip nodes
Fix - #14082 Army outfit mesh issues
Fix - #14088 Pilot Seat (Hotas) incorrect control display
Fix - Fixed animal interactions when incapacitated in beds
Fix - #15075 Restored debug.log() behavior
Fix - Creature sync inconsistencies
Fix - Dogs fetching animation issue
Rework - Removed minor healing from normal beds
Rework - Static vehicles electric reworked, batteries on static vehicles have infinite charge, components on static vehicles no longer act as if they infinite electric

Dear Stormworkers,

In this weeks announcement, we discuss specifics on our plans for upcoming minor updates. In this announcement we share our plans and intentions because it is useful for players to have some roadmap for what to expect. However, plans can change, and this information is a guide only. Nothing is certain until it is released!

All minor updates are minor! They will include mostly fixes and improvements, as these are what we spend most of our time on, but also include some small features which we will discuss below.



25th November:

Next week we are planning to release an audio update! We have multiple updates planned, and this is the first. This update will include engine, propeller, siren sound effects and some others.

9th December:

Expanded equipment inventory. We plan to increase the number of items that the player can carry. While only a minor change, this is a popular request and important to many players.



23rd December:

Christmas update! The usual Christmas event will return with decorations and snow, but with animals joining the fun! We plan to take a break over the holiday but are preparing this update ahead of time.

6th January:

Multiplayer optimization! Many players have told us that this is the top priority. We have been making progress on this regularly and several multiplayer improvements have happened in the patch notes that have not been the headline of the week and may have been noticed. On the 6th Jan, we plan to release a bigger improvement that we hope will prevent input delay and lag that many players have reported.



We look forward to sharing these updates along with all the fixes and improvements we are working on soon!

We also continue to work on major updates, and our goal is to release 3 major updates during 2023.

Much love
The Stormworks Developers

Dear Stormworkers,

This week we are releasing a new desalinator component, along with the ususal fixes and improvements in this minor update.

Desalination is the process of removing salts and minerals from water. In sea water, the smallest molecules are the H2O water molecules, and marine desalinators work by pushing salt water through a very fine filter paper which only the smallest molecules can fit through.

This new Stormworks component converts sea water to fresh water.



This is just a small feature update, as we return our focus back to bug fixes and improvements. We have been very active in releasing new features recently (with the new Industrial Frontier, Zombies, etc). However, players have continued to help us identify issues that need fixing, and we have a great list of stuff that we can improve in the coming weeks and months. We plan to continue making steady progress working though any issues, as well as regularly adding minor features.

Progress here is going well and we have a lot of fixes and improvements in production, many of which will hopefully have a big impact for many players. While development continues at the same pace, we are now giving more time to testing so there is a longer lead-in time as we take care to make sure the updates are to a higher quality. These upcoming fixes are very important and we will go into more detail about our plans in a future announcement.



Please see the patch notes below for full details on all changes.

We look forward to your thoughts and feedback!

Much love
The Stormworks Developers



Patch Notes

v1.6.6

Fix - Negative integer table indices are now supported when saving addon script data

v1.6.7

Changes that include a #NUMBER relate to fixes or features submitted by the Stormworks community via geometa.co.uk/support/stormworks which can be accessed via the 'Report Bug/Request Feature' button in-game.

Posting a submission to this tracker ensures we review your suggestion/report since we may not see reports submitted via other channels.

Feature - Desalinator (#6859 #8557 #8575)
Feature - Addon editor creature support and localization (#14990)

Fix - Repaired various train-line issues (#14877 #14942 #14976 #15064 #15275 #15300 #15350)
Fix - #15494 Custom tanks without a fluid spawner now correctly add their contents to workbench inventory on vehicle despawn
Fix - #14461 Modular starter audio sfx crash/memory leak
Fix - #11629 Sonar missile output failing when sampling multiple bodies
Fix - Tutorial DLC disabling not working as intended when hosting MP games
Fix - Improved some thread safety to avoid lockup situations
Fix - #13075 Rotor end fold/unfold raycast
Fix - #11572 Scuba outfit un-paintable
Fix - #1335 Incorrect ui highlight when re-entering map
Fix - #13462 Updated purchase dialogs to use property instead of island
Fix - #13469 Missing localization strings for bindings menu
Fix - #13591 E/Q camera controls in editor are inverted
Fix - #13689 Hand cranks now consider damping
Fix - #13731 SGK Outpost physics mesh issues
Fix - #13732 Oil refinery stairs hitbox
Fix - #14854 Nuclear plant mesh issues
Fix - Campbell lighthouse light rotation speed
Fix - several small terrain fixes for arid island
Fix - #14823 Monkey Brain typo
Fix - #14829 Sharpspoonful typo
Balance - Improved rocket fin control surfaces underwater
Balance - #13275 Rebalanced leak flow rate to compensate for leak spawning bugfix (reduced 3x)

Added a preset torpedo example
Removed the default zombies addon

Dear Stormworkers,

This week is upcoming announcement week, with content updates releasing last week, and also next week. Our schedule alternates every other week between game updates and upcoming announcements.

In this announcement, we discuss our plans for future updates! We are working on several minor updates, starting on some new future major update content, and looking for new ideas as we plan out development for 2023.

We are planning minor updates every 2 weeks (as usual), which will be mostly fixes and improvements, but also with some new components and features too.



These minor updates include some very frequently requested changes and improvements. The first of our audio updates will arrive before the end of the year, as well as other common requests.

However, these updates will be predominantly bug fixes and improvements, with each update having useful fixes for all players. These are well planned out and we are constantly reviewing the issue tracker and planning more work and tasks, and planning more updates.

We are also talking about major updates at the moment. No final decisions have been made yet for what the 2023 major updates will be, so now is a great time to let us know your thoughts, ideas, and requests. Drop your ideas in the comments, or if you want to go into more detail, make a feature request on the issue tracker! As always, we love to hear feedback from players, and this feedback is a big influence to the direction of the game, as has always been the case in the past! Almost all of the updates we make to the game are direct responses to requests from players.



Thank you to everyone who has already given feedback! It is appreciated. And also, thank you to everyone who has supported us by getting the game or the DLCs! Stormworks continues to be a great success on Steam. We really enjoy developing and supporting this game and its players, and we are delighted to be planning support into the future.

Much love
The Stormworks Developers

Dear Stormworkers,

It is Steam Scream Fest!

Today we add zombies, and animal fancy dress!

The Stormworks undead wander around aimlessly, until they hear or see the player. If they hear a sound or catch a glimpse, they may investigate and wander in your direction. If they get a better look of a player, they will break into a sprint and if they get close enough... attack! This behaviour is actually a general improvement to all predator creatures and it is now possible to avoid detection through remaining quiet and out of sight.

The dogs and farm animals are also celebrating the Halloween festival, and are wearing fancy dress!

The animals and creatures is a new system introduced in the Industrial Frontier DLC. The zombies use this system, and that is why the Industrial Frontier is required for zombies.



Zombies are very dangerous, and our survival style add-on also involves spawning loot, including guns. Because of this, our zombie add-on (the bit that spawns the zombies and loot) is only active when both DLCs are present.

And of course, Stormworks isn't actually a zombie game, so our Undead Survival add-on is only active during Halloween. However, our add-on can be modified and uploaded to the workshop if players wish, and we are sure that many creators will want to make their own zombie add-ons which could be active all year round.



This is a minor seasonal update, and just a bit of fun. We hear those players who have other priorities for the game, but this won't stop us releasing fun content for the players who want it!

While the headlines are above, this update also includes lots of important fixes and improvements that will be useful to everybody. Please see the notes below for full details.

We hope you enjoy this new update and look forward to your thoughts and feedback!

Much love
The Stormworks Developers



Patch Notes

v1.6.3-5

Changes that include a #NUMBER relate to fixes or features submitted by the Stormworks community via geometa.co.uk/support/stormworks which can be accessed via the 'Report Bug/Request Feature' button in-game.

Posting a submission to this tracker ensures we review your suggestion/report since we may not see reports submitted via other channels.

Halloween Seasonal Event:
Feature - Stormwoofs seasonal outfits
Feature - Added several zombie creature types
Feature - Aggressive creatures advanced AI
Feature - Zombie Apocalypse Addon (#5689)
Feature - Fluid tanks improved detailed tooltips
Feature - Add Workbench for ground vehicles at North Meier Outpost (#14888)

In this spooky update along with various bugfixes we have some new additions to our regular seasonal Halloween period:

Stormwoofs will temporarily have fun Halloween themed outfits on, with each breed having their own unique costume. (Let us know your favorite!)

Zombie Apocalypse mode is a new Addon which will be enabled over the Halloween period for players with both 'Search and Destroy' and 'Industrial Frontier' DLCs enabled.
We recommend disabling the dlc weapons ai script as minimum when playing with this addon and if players wish to turn off this addon they can disable it as usual in the addon selector on the new game menu.

The zombies addon has various settings to balance the mode to your own preference, so make sure to check them out in the addon settings when creating a new world.
With Default settings Stormworks will be plagued with undead lurking across the sawyer and arid biomes, with new aggressive creature advanced AI that respond to sounds like player footsteps or gunshots.
Players can go guns blazing or opt for stealth and avoid zombie vision cones as they search buildings for randomly generated loot, breaking line of sight will cause the zombies to lose interest after a while.
Loot (and zombies) will respawn after ~5 mins of a tile being unloaded, and random loot is themed to the location (Hospitals more likely to drop medical supplies etc).

Some of the following fixes are updates to default addon content or terrain, which may not be updated/fixed on pre-existing saves.

Fix - #14827 Updated default resource storage vehicle to fix an issue with pumping air after it runs out of fuel
Fix - Repaired several trainline rail/mesh issues
Fix - #14938 Workbench not working at benzin gas station
Fix - #14989 'Invisible walls' / for-sale sign physics not despawning correctly
Fix - #14866 Weapons outfits ids have now been corrected for inventory components
Fix - #10358 Increased async network buffer size for vehicles
Fix - #13695 Weather De-sync on load/join
Fix - #12053 Winch audio persisting at max length
Fix - #13319 Disabled some developer debug logs
Fix - #12318 Fix syntax error in lua docs
Fix - #13911 Oxygen tank and parachute animation issues
Fix - #14857 Unable to use scene ladders when carrying creature
Fix - Tooltip not appearing on workbench when carrying creature
Fix - #13382 Environment slider affecting voice volume
Fix - #14297 Fix charger component not providing power to grids connected directly to output without a charge reservoir
Fix - #14854 Mesh fixes for the Nuclear Plant
Fix - #15069 Bear attack mission description appearing incorrectly
Fix - #12943 Spawned structures should now count as static
Fix - Creature attacks dealing 3x damage to clients
Balance - #14860 Rebalanced initial workbench fuel resource amounts (5000L Diesel, 2000L Jet, 100 Coal)

Lua Api:

Due to the changes to equipment IDs for weapons armor outfits players may need to update scripts with the new id values:
Dog Whistle was inserted at 73, dlc weapons outfits have been shifted up by one

Added spawnNamedAddonLocation
Added getSeasonalEvent
Added spawnEquipment
Added onCharacterPickup
Added onCreaturePickup
Added onEquipmentPickup
Added onEquipmentDrop
Aliased getCharacterData to getObjectData
Added creature_type and scale to object data