Stormworks: Build and Rescue News

Dear Stormworkers,

This week is announcement week, with the new Christmas minor update due out next week!

Christmas mode has already activated in Stormworks! During the holiday period, there is a time-activated winter wonderland mode where rain always appears as snow, trees are the snow type, and some locations have seasonal decorations.



Next week, this will be further enhanced by many of the animals joining the fun with their own decorations! These cosmetic changes are just a bit of fun, but next weeks update also includes lots of fixes and improvements which are worth checking out.

On 6th January, we are also planning a multiplayer optimization update which we expect to be a big improvement for a lot of players.



We are excited about sharing the next few minor updates, and are deep into work on the upcoming major updates!

We asked for player feedback on what is most desired for upcoming major updates a month or so back. Thanks to all the players who gave their feedback, this has been really useful and we have some great updates in the works.



Much love
The Stormworks Developers

Dear Stormworkers,

It is minor update week! This week we are increasing the number of inventory slots for carrying first person items.

This is a long requested feature, from almost immediately after the release of first person items! Carrying more items has become increasingly important as we have added new items and increased their importance over the last year.



This update also includes loads of fixes and improvements! Please see the change notes below for full details, as it is these fixes that we have been spending most of our time on!

We will continue working through the mini roadmap that we recently announced! We have loads in progress and in testing and we look forward to sharing more updates.



We look forward to hearing your thoughts and feedback on this new update!

Much love
The Stormworks Developers



Patch Notes

v1.6.9

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 - #15692 Increased number of small equipment slots
Feature - #15213 Weapons addon Arid base locations
Feature - #14388 Particle effects graphics option

Fix - #14677 #14784 #14751 Added editor arrows to steam train drive pistons to help place them correctly
Fix - #13910 Character editor skin tone issue
Fix - #13948 Fix controller move axes not working for noclip mode
Fix - #14313 Camera Set Origin Broken In Selection Grid
Fix - Dogs picking up non-equipment items
Fix - #12627 Moved overlapping train edit grid
Fix - #14607 Prevent crash when changing to an invalid resolution from fullscreen
Fix - #14730 Submarine island workbench physics mesh
Fix - #14762 Add delay between dropping equipment / using equipment boxes to prevent equipment duplication
Fix - #14843 Creatures not spawning blood effects when hit by rotors
Fix - #14847 Arid train terminal road geometry
Fix - #14852 Floating bridge geometry
Fix - #14876 Light on bridge not moving
Fix - #14880 Clipping through stairs on bridges
Fix - #14894 FJ warner boat dock physics mesh issues
Fix - #14907 Mineral funnel sound stuck after running out of material
Fix - #14909 Fixed physics mesh for ladder in Olli switch yard
Fix - #15249 Addon lua docs formatting
Fix - #15014 Fix characters falling through floor after being released by a dragging animal
Fix - #15017 Invisible train barrier at Serpentine Trainyard
Fix - #15096 Thin physics at Beginner Base Fence
Fix - #15208 Brainz Train Yard Doorway Collision
Fix - #15272 North harbour lighting issues
Fix - #15308 Fix crash when despawning creature being carried / carrying equipment via LUA
Fix - #15313 Fixed overlapping terrain at kobold quarry
Fix - #15372 Prevent rope connections from disconnecting when entering 3rd person mode in seats
Fix - #15407 JSI dock teleport location
Fix - #15462 Fixed some trainline terrain issues
Fix - #15470 Not transparent windows
Fix - #15500 #15501 Brainz terminal lights
Fix - #15581 Road geometry issue

Addon Lua:
Please take note that functions which interact with character inventories will need updating in accordance with new slots.
SLOT_NUMBER |
1 = Large Equipment Slot,
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 = Small Equipment Slot,
10 = Outfit Slot

Dear Stormworkers,

Nvidia have been in touch with us to add Stormworks to Geforce NOW, and this has just launched in their December update!

You can now play Stormworks on the Geforce NOW cloud streaming service. Simply launch the Geforce NOW software and you should see Stormworks if you have your Steam library connected. The those who have lower spec PCs, but don't have Geforce NOW, I believe there is a free account type to try it out, with limited session lengths.



Players have been asking for Stormworks to be available on Geforce NOW for years, so we are very pleased to finally join the service. Contrary to what you might expect, we don't have direct contact or behind-the-scenes access to all the big hardware manufacturers, but credit to Nvidia to reaching out and getting in touch with a smaller business like ours.

As previously discussed, we are continuing work on minor and major updates, with the Inventory Slots Update due next week with many other fixes and improvements.



We hope this new launch on Geforce NOW is useful to some players, and we look forward to more updates over the coming weeks and months!

Much love
The Stormworks Developers

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