Stormworks: Build and Rescue News

Dear Stormworkers,

Our thoughts and wishes to everyone in this challenging and extraordinary time.

Two weeks ago we announced the upcoming game mode scripting. In this announcement, we want to discuss the practical effect of the new scripting, and some of the new features we are looking at building with it.

Our current focus is career and developing new, engaging things to do in Stormworks. First and foremost, this is a Search and Rescue game, and the new game mode scripting allows us a lot of power to develop new interactive, procedural emergencies for players to solve.

The new game mode scripting allows both us and players to build custom scripts that controls various systems within the game. For example, we are looking at new SAR missions using the system.

Within our SAR missions script, we can mark search areas for the player to search and randomly place a lost ship within that zone. If the player does not find the ship in distress within time, or if the weather becomes worse, the ship could begin to sink, fires could start, survivors could perish, and the parameters of the mission could change. All of this can be built up within the script, and could be entirely procedural so that players will never face the exact same mission twice, and will never know what is going to happen next.

And there is much more possible with the new scripting system. We are also looking at building a cargo delivery system, where we can build cargo terminals with cranes and cargo handling equipment within the environment mod system, then use the new scripting to spawn and track containers, with the required UI to tell the player where the destination is for each piece of cargo.



But by far the best aspect of this new system is that anyone can build these scripts. While we are designing the system with SAR missions in mind, there are unlimited possibilities of what can be built with these scripts, and we are aware of the power for players to build anything from their own, much improved search and rescue disasters, to whole game modifications. When you consider that you are not an average gaming community, but in fact, many of the most creative, capable, and brilliant players out there, this is very exciting indeed.



So, what stuff can you control via the new scripts?

• Multiplayer server management - get information about players, kick, ban, auth, send messages, teleport
  
• Game settings - change game settings such as damage, third person, creative options, etc.
  
• Vehicle management - get information about vehicles, spawn, despawn, teleport
  
• Mission management - manage environment mod objects, manage objects from mission locations, trigger fires, vehicle buttons, etc.
  
• NPC management - get information about survivors, spawn, despawn, set health data
  
• Map management - draw areas, markers and icons on the map with per-player control
  

We want to share the above information so you can tell us what we are missing! If there are script functions you think we should add, let us know in the comments or with feature requests!



We have much more planned and already in development and can't wait to share information on the other much requested features that are on the way :-)

Much love
The Stormworks Developers

Dear Stormworkers,

It's happened! We have added search bars to the open dialogs and multiplayer server browser!

This is something you have been asking for, for years. Our updates rely on your ideas and requests, and this feature is no exception.

How It Works

There are new search boxes at the top of the server browser, load vehicle, and other open item dialogs.

Type in any text into the search box, and the results will be filtered down to only items containing that text. The filter is not case sensitive.

This makes it a lot easier to find the item you are looking for by name, quickly and easily, when you may have many items subscribed on the workshop.



With 50,000 of your creations now available on the workshop for download, your subscription library can get very full so this has been an increasingly important feature.

We have also made some fixes and improvements in response to issues you have reported using the bug tracker.

In the mean time, we are using the extra time saved from releasing minor updates every other week (as opposed to every week) to work on more major update features, and we have loads of exciting stuff to announce in the coming weeks.



Please do keep sharing your ideas and letting us know what you want for the game and help us shape the future of Stormworks!

Much love
The Stormworks Developers

Patch Notes

v0.10.10

Fix - Player list now focuses correctly
Fix - Several crashes

v0.10.11

Feature - Search bars for Server lists, Saves and Vehicles
Feature - ?save can now OPTIONALLY take a savename parameter eg. ?save my_save

Fix - Crash on despawning mission with claimed loot box
Fix - Local multiplayer games overwriting server config
Fix - Server overwriting config after encountering a parsing error
Fix - Lootboxes and flares duplicating with environment mod missions
Fix - Quick chat continuously blocking Player list
Fix - Several crashes
Fix - Player death upon loading a deceased NPC

Dear Stormworkers,

One of your most frequent requests are more tools to mod Stormworks, with more control and power over what you can do.

This week we want to announce a new upcoming feature that we have been working on:

LUA scripting for game, player, mission, and/or multiplayer management!

In a major future update, we are adding a LUA editor that allows you to create, share and download game mode scripts!

Adding the ability to create stuff is what Stormworks is all about. We are particularly excited about this one because of the wide scope to mod the game, create new gameplay and new experiences. The possibilities will be very broad and as usual, you players will surprise us with your amazing creations and ultimately surpass what we are able to do ourselves.

So, what will be possible with the new LUA game mode modding?

Create Your Own Mission Systems!

Spawn cargo at cargo terminals, track delivery and reward the player? Create complex search and rescue operations with search areas marked on the map, track delivery of survivors to any of a number of hospital facilities? Trigger fires, trigger vehicle logic and more, with many new powers to author your missions.



Create Your Own Game!

With the ability to programatically position players, spawn vehicles, and present information to the players on their UI, you can create new rule sets for games. Set up team role-play games? Track vehicles racing around a track, implement rules and reset the track to start a new race?



Server Bots!

Want to automate your multiplayer server? The LUA script can detect when players join, leave, spawn vehicles or take other actions allowing you to respond to these actions. This will allow some automated moderation, or other server side systems that you can install on your server.



This is all part of a theme that we have discussed before - expanding what you do in the simulation part of the game, including improving the search and rescue gameplay. We have not forgotten about this, and in fact, this part of the development has grown to a much larger component and much larger update that we are very excited about. This is just one part of a huge update we have planned.

Want to help? Let us know what you might like to create and what API you would need to do it!

Much love
The Stormworks Developers

Dear Stormworkers,

This week we have released the further multiplayer improvements that we discussed last week!

Responsive Inputs

The client now has much lower delay between sending inputs to the server and the vehicle moving. This means you can fly the most agile aircraft in multiplayer without issues.

Authorised Players

Something you have been asking us for is the ability to control which players have the power to spawn vehicles, return to workbench, change time and weather, etc. This is because the ability to do these things can have significant effect on a server and other players. Now, in multiplayer, an admin must authorise a player to have the power to spawn vehicles on that server. This means public servers without passwords are now possible. This is done using simple type-in commands, see the patch notes for full details.

Server List

You can now browse Stormworks servers in the Steam server browser! Simply select the internet tab, set the filter to game:Stormworks, and it will show you the list of active servers!

Dedicated Server Providers

Dedicated server companies can now specify the user data folder and ip binding for game servers, which is a request several game server companies have made to us in the last couple of weeks.

Fixes and Improvements

We have been focused on improving the quality of the multiplayer and the game in general, and have made big improvements to a long list of issues. Thanks to everyone who helped let us know what needed improving on the issues site and using the "report bug" in-game button! Please see the patch notes for the full updates.

For server admins running servers, we hope these tools help with running your communities, but please keep letting us know how we can improve the game using the issue tracking website, with the ingame buttons. Please remember to authorise only your trusted community members who will spawn vehicles responsibly and remember to clean up vehicles before they leave the server! You can also create un-manned servers with pre-defined sets of vehicles using the missions and environment mod features.

Much love
The Stormworks Developers

Patch Notes

v0.10.3-v0.10.5

Fix - Mission timers being updated to 0
Fix - Crash with network compression on particularly large vehicles
Fix - Client vehicles never loading due to packet discrepancies
Fix - Crash when detecting null peers while spawning a new player
Fix - Removed various unimportant and misleading logs from dedicated server console
Fix - Server TPS varying based on machines in a state where clock accuracy is reduced
Fix - Magall crash
Fix - Magall not grabbing static physics
Fix - Dedicated server not clamping setting values correctly

v0.10.6

Fix - Mac crashes due to resource destruction order

v0.10.7

Feature - Dedicated server Authorized list
Only Authorized/Admin players can spawn vehicles and access the creative menu
Whilelisted players are automatically Authorized

Rework - Resized several ui elements, including server list and player list
Rework - Server now shows seed
Balance - Buffed Arctic Outfit temperature boost

Fix - Servers allowing only max_players -1 to join
Fix - Multiplayer shaking and sliding on vehicles
Fix - Unlock all components on dedicated server
Fix - Sleeping on dedicated servers
Fix - Vehicle rendering jitter
Fix - Nameplate rendering
Fix - Jumping issues
Fix - Players capsule not recognising that they are touching the ground
Fix - Host fps display in player list always reading 60
Fix - Player list not scrolling 100% of the time
Fix - Door sound and water particle issues
Fix - Admins being able to ban/kick other admins
Fix - Environment mod object and vehicle functionality as part of missions
Fix - Video feed sometimes persisting through connectors
Fix - Some inconsistencies with steam rich presence
Fix - Magall issues in multiplayer
Fix - Survivors not taking damage
Fix - CTD when returning a transmitting lua-video vehicle to workbench
Fix - Loading and saving now both leave '_' intact for game save names
Fix - Research timers desyncing in multiplayer
Fix - Several infrequent CTDs

Dedicated servers now appear in the Steam server browser
Dedicated servers are now sorted by Status and Number of players

Dedicated server new commands:
?add_admin
?remove_admin
?add_auth
?remove_auth

Dedicated server new settings:
despawn_on_leave : Whether to despawn player survivors upon disconnecting from the server (Default false)

Dedicated server new command line arguments:
+server_dir : Server working and config directory, default: Same as Game directory (OS specific appdata path)
+ip_bind : Local ip bind : defaults to all local IPv4 addresses

v0.10.8

Fix - Server commands not working for local games
Fix - Auth access to mission editor

v0.10.9

Added some feedback messages for server commands

Fix - Crash caused by magall while a vehicle is loading
Fix - ?save being useable on local games
Fix - Remove mission button not sending event to server
Fix - Client side water leaks occurring through sealed doors
Fix - Auth list allowing addition of duplicate ids
Fix - Other player nameplates failing to render if they reconnect

Dear Stormworkers,

Last week we release the huge new multiplayer update! Since then we have been playing with you on dedicated servers, reading your comments, issue reports, discussion on discord, watching Camodo, NJersey videos and even watching Raptor's 3 hour long stream!

It has been great fun, and really exciting to launch this next chapter of playing Stormworks together. We have been carefully listening to your comments and next Friday, we will be releasing a multiplayer minor update to address these issues.

Input Latency

In some situations, input latency can build up when players are using a fast vehicle, and the server slows down for a brief moment every now and again, for example when loading tiles. This can make it difficult to control aircraft with sensitive controls, and was a major concern for many players. We have re-written the timing code so that clients now stay very close to the timing of the server. This reduces input latency to very low values, making it possible to fly nimble aircraft with great responsiveness!

Authorised Players

Many of you are concerned about any and all players being able to join and start spawning vehicles immediately. This can cause problems where players spawn vehicles inside other vehicles, spawn flare factories, or other behavior which can negatively impact the server. Most servers have become passworded to control who can join. We are adding admin controls to authorise specific players with the ability to spawn vehicles, as well as return vehicles to workbench and the creative menu. We are also adding a setting to despawn players who have left the game. These changes will greatly ease the practicalities of running a public server.

Dedicated Server Providers

Many of you want to be able to rent servers, so we have been talking to some server companies about the support they need. We are adding new dedicated server command lines to set the working directory and IP binding when starting a server.



We also have a very long list of fixes, including some really important changes, and are adding more fixes every day.

Thank you for helping with all your thoughts and feedback, it is greatly appreciated. We can't wait to share the new updates with you next week as we continue to improve the quality of the game experience!

Much love
The Stormworks Developers