EXPANSION CHANGE LOG - By galahir950  
       
 

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37

38

39

40

41

42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61

62

63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82

83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102

103

104

105
106
107
108
109
110

111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126

127

128

129
130
131
132
133
134
135

136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146

147

148

149

150

151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168

169

170
171
172
173
174
175
176

177

178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187

188

189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199

200

201

202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219

220

221

222

223

224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235

236

237

238


239

240

241

242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252

EXPANSION UPDATE 2.0:
> User Interface (consoles and menus)
> HUD Control Menu
- Graphics 'noise' removed/reduced for a cleaner look and improved legibility.
- Clickable options now display mouseover highlighting.
- Target, Order, Deploy, and Build menu options now include highlight buttons and shadows.
> Nav Map
- Zoom option added to in-sector map mode for improved legibility and increased precision.
- Larger icons with more detail.
- Sector borders highlighted in white for easier zooming and selection.
- Menu borders redesigned for cleaner look and clearer divisions.
- Highlight buttons added to destination fields.
- Panning/Scrolling system added to let player slide map around.
- Alternate text movement system to support map slide mode.
> Inventory Console
- Current/Available Contract(s) and Items for Sale button moved to list frame.
- Confirmation prompt when selling items to stations, cities, and carriers added.
- Confirmation message and red highlighting added to cargo items to confirm discarding in open space.
- Text descriptions added for equipment items, weapons, and commodities when highlighted.
- Menu borders redesigned for cleaner look and clearer divisions.
- Jettison button moved from 'Other Options' menu to cargo bay menu.
> Trade Console
- 'Request Information' button added for info from AI ships.
- Player-to-player contract options added.
> Ship Systems (cockpit, HUD, weapon, and flight systems)
- Graphics 'noise' on cockpit displays removed/reduced for improved legibility.
- Readout brackets improved for a cleaner look and fewer 'blue' color tones.
- Readout labels spelled out with more characters rather than only one character.
- Radar display field size increased for improved legibility and less obstruction.
- Ship status and target status displays increased in size for improved legibility.
- New gunsight added for a cleaner look and lower level color tones for less obstruction.
- Pitch ladder cylinder mesh detail increase for smoother panning and a more consistent display surface.
- MDTS system updated to reduce jittering and improve accuracy.
- Flight time clock added to provide a 'Hobbs Meter' style display (format DD:HH:MM:SS).
- Weapon impact direction indicators added to HUD gunsight (red flash for impact direction).
- Flight/event log added (inventory console), logs most important player-specific events.
- Beam weapon system now operates independently from particle cannon system (including separate cycle rates).
- Maneuvering thruster system now more realistically operates in atmospheres under drag conditions (continually firing to maintain rotations).
- Revised direction indicators for improved legibility and adjusted scaling/positioning to eliminate clipping at the edges of the screen.
- Formation system now tracks and matches friendly/linked ship's jump system in multiplayer (and will automatically re-target the ship when it arrives after a jump).
- Text readouts for gun turrets (and now terrain walkers) color coded to displayed low (red), medium (yellow), and high (green) values.
- Formation system now maintains distance of around 200 from targeted ship to reduce shield collisions.
- Station names now displayed in multiplayer when a detonator is activated.
- Underwater image enhancement system added for terrain walkers.
- New cockpit models and textures added (two selectable types).
- Gravity displays updated for a more velocity relative value.
- Incoming gunfire alert indicator added to Heads-Up-Display.
- HUD target highlight indicator updated to include velocity.
- Countermeasure system now has its own dedicated timer.
- Heat signature indicator added to Heads-Up-Display.
- Alert indicators all flash on and off.
> AI System
- Passive hostile threat level system added. Proximity based, >5K will generally leave player alone.
- Capital ship jump drive navigation updated to prevent near misses with stations upon arrival.
- Capital ships can now turn during combat to stay within weapon range and while navigating near stations.
- Traffic pattern system added to accommodate new hangar entrances and enclosed structure.
- AI ships can now fly faster and evade more effectively.
- Combat intelligence/accuracy increased.
> Gameplay
- Weapon impacts now produce higher kinetic effects for higher challenge with MDTS use.
- 'Request Information' list system added for new trade console option (includes occasional payment requirement).
- Raw hydrogen can now be mined from gas giant planets, nebula clouds, and stars when no fuel converter installed.
- Dedicated independent contract mode added for new player contract system (accessible in trade console).
- New 'Weapon Lab' added, allowing players to custom design their own particle, beam, and missile weapons.
- AI ships now also share in the same kinetic weapon impact effects for more accurate consistency.
- Terrain walkers added (includes dedicated cockpit, HUD, controls, physics, models, and animation).
- Dedicated mining system added for terrain walkers, no separate mining beam required and 5X faster.
- Reputation system updated to save earned values with individual factions each time profile is saved.
- Contract pay for mining contracts increased significantly and now vary depending on required material.
- Mining system can now recover individual units of matching material from containers in open space.
- 'Space Debris' system added where items will fall from space and land on planets for later discovery.
- 'Space Debris' multiplayer update system added to synchronize cargo items between players.
- New optional contract objectives for terrain walkers (material recovery and surveying).
- New destroy contraband smuggler contract objective for 'Fair' and 'Moderate' systems.
- New secondary hardpoint items: Fuel Packs, Charge Packs, and Shield Packs.
- New fabrication options added to constructor stations.
- Anti-missile systems are now twice as effective.
> Multiplayer
- Sector and clan text chat modes added to limit incoming and outgoing messages.
- Linked/clan players now have their names displayed on the nav map below their indicators.
- Separate dedicated multiplayer contract linking system added for player-to-player arranged contracts.
- Clan linking now requires both players to accept a link. One player submits the request and the other approves.
- UDP port connection verification system (effort to eliminate partial connection conditions).
- 'FPS' and 'MS' labels added to player list for frames-per-second and ping rates.
- Shadowing added to player list for improved legibility with bright backgrounds.
- Support for custom TCP and UDP port settings.
- General performance improvements.
> Models and Textures
- New capital ship models added (including carriers).
- New station hangar structures added (5 entrances, enclosed, highlighted docking area).
- Small ship sizes increased significantly for improved scaling and visibility.
- New individual models for commodities, weapons, and equipment.
- Emissive texture maps added for civilian and military ships.
- Shape specific collision detection added for capital ships.
- New planetary defense ring model.
- New textures for stations.
> Environment
- Clouds now move around planets that have them.
- Rain and snow now varies depending on cloud cover allowing for variable weather conditions.
- Weapon collision system added for city structures.
- Planet rotation system added (including close proximity object movement system and multiplayer synching).
- New planetary terrain engine (includes elevation based selective texturing, much higher mesh detail, shader based rendering, and greater variety).
- Main menu now features a near orbit background scene and station lobby voice chatter now moved to in-game 'lobby' mode.
- New planet ring effect added with an 'icy particle' look and that shields push out of the way as the player flies through them.
- Improved background nebula effects (including a new cubemap structure for higher detail).
- Improved lens flare effect.
> Graphics/Technology/Effects
- Fixed function rendering systems removed, shader model 2.0 now baseline minimum.
- Anisotropic filtering applied by default and adjustable 'Texture Detail' setting added to Options menu.
- Multiple structure and texturing system added to default cockpit (4 levels X 4 textures each, base, normal, specular, and emissive). Provides a far more detailed and varied appearance.
- New lighting effects for primary weapon flashes (using cockpit, terrain, and object shaders).
- 'Procedural' and 'Pre-Generated' rendering data modes added for new planet terrain engine.
- Capital ships now break apart into pieces when destroyed.
- Anti-aliasing options added to Options menu.
> Sound and Music
- New music by Rich Douglas added.
- New multi-channel and tapering systems added to reduce/eliminate popping with some sound devices.
- Real-time radio speech system added for traffic navigation.
- Many new sound effects and enhanced effects.
> Control and Input
- Axis channels can now be mapped individually by clicking on them, then selecting the control function.
- Conflicting keys/buttons now allowed for multiple functions assigned to individual keys and buttons.
- Conflicting key/button controls now highlighted in red in Configure Controls menu.
- Separate control system and mapping options added for terrain walkers.
- Mouse Look control system updated to provide full range of vertical input without locking.
- Alt-left mouse click on HUD Launch/Jump buttons no longer engages maximum directional jump, now requires Alt-right mouse click.
- Exit menu in multiplayer now has timer delay and access limitations during active nearby weapon fire to counter exploiting.
- Inertial forward/reverse thruster control can now be mapped to an axis channel (including channels used for other controls).
- Mouse flight control input now centers when pressing the ALT key to select options, then releasing it.


2.108
- Player-to-player contract system now uses a one stage 'Accept' option for arranging contracts.
- Fix for items and credits getting lost if two players are in different trade console modes and both click submit.
- Initial weapon power supply for lower class civilian ships increased to make it easier to destroy drone ship in training.
- Target MDTS lead indicator shadow better calibrated with primary indicator at edges of screen.
- Multiplayer text chat frame relocated to appropriate location in weapon lab templates menu.
- Quick accept option added to the confirm sale of item prompt, use Enter key.
- Asteroid mining now functions properly in nebula clouds and planetary rings.
- Added option to manually disable water shader dynamic cube mapping.
- 'Max Vsync' screen mode options renamed to 'No Vsync'.

2.128
- Escape pod and certain lost item contracts now properly limited to sectors with stations.
- Beam cannon now provided to player's ship in training mode to make destroying drone ship easier.
- One wormhole pathway to Rucker would result in arrival close enough to the planet the player would burn up in atmosphere, adjusted for a save arrival distance.
- On rare occasion, a player could be kicked for detected cheating due to perceived invalid damage level status changes during high speed atmosphere descent/maneuvering, now fixed.
- Fix for rare freezing issue when transitioning from sector to sector in chase view mode with an active contract or when contract pool updates.
- Earned reputation level could reset to default value when player spawned until they relocated to a different system and returned, now fixed.
- More audio channels added to particle cannon sound effect system to better support rapid fire weapons without clicking/popping.
- Waypoint range limits in-sector narrowed to help reduce potential contract failure due to sector departure.
- Wing/Thruster selection (civilian ships) now has a more significant impact on inertial thruster performance.
- Station building and detonating would intermittently fail in systems with existing trade stations, now fixed.
- Click range for 'Cancel Contract' button in inventory console expanded to match highlight bar.
- Improved multiplayer event message queue system in an effort to eliminate lost event data.
- Mining inside the ice particles of planetary rings now allows for asteroid mining as well.
- Target direction indicators would often drift when a console was open, now fixed.
- Player name and launch distance added to Fulcrum Torpedo launch alert message.
- Fix for cause of rare teleportation of player when entering a planet atmosphere.
- Fix for player spawning inside a capital ship due to fleet ID mistmatch.
- Arming sequences added to Fulcrum Torpedoes and Proximity Mines.
- Locking Alt press option added, activate by pressing both Alt keys.
- Heat signature value added to 'savedata' export option.

2.158
- Trade console now closes after one player accepts a player-to-player trade console contract.
- Under very rare circumstances, a pending contract could have its pay value set to zero, now fixed.
- Runtime error 7008 at line 64060-64090 message that could rarely occur at around the 50% loading point (in multiplayer only) now fixed.
- Player built stations made in single player would sometimes be removed from a profile if the player was in a matching sector in single player, then joined multiplayer, saved, then later returned to single player. Now fixed.
- Dropped cargo containers would not always contain the correct unit count or other parameters, now fixed.
- A few other minor cosmetic bug fixes are also included.

2.188
- Status updates for player built stations now broadcasted faster.
- Local station counts in multiplayer can now be monitored in the news console.
- Fix for potential short term framerate stuttering due to player built station status updates that could occur as a player entered a new sector.
- Fulcrum Torpedoes and Station Detonators now have locked auto-saving applied in multiplayer to limit them from being chronically reused after respawning.
- Arming sequence for Fulcrum Torpedoes and Proximity Mines shortened to about 10 seconds.
- Expanded text notifications for station building and destruction events.
- Improved integrity checking at build points for stations.
- Planetary mining with mining probes fully enabled.
- Fix for occasional freeze in multiplayer.

2.298
- Improved rendering performance for most systems.
- Mod placement options added for text chat/message log.
- Improved activation performance for the dynamic cube mapping system for planetary water (eliminating the 0.5-1 second pause on planetary descents).
- New loading mechanism applied to planet meshes and city meshes to better support systems with limited/restricted hard drive performance/functionality (ie file error 105).
- Fix for loading issue causing stored custom weapons in hangars to have removed stats.
- Updated collision system for planetary terrain to reduce overall memory use.
- Training mode can now be completed using profiles saved in other systems.
- Adjusted click ranges in configure controls menus.
- Improved lens flare masking for capital ships.

2.308
- Solar array mesh structure updated.
- AI system updated to direct computer controlled ships to properly avoid solar arrays.
- New passive/safety target MFD mode added to turn off ship specific targeting completely on the display.
- Matching material types in other cargo slots would sometimes be transferred in a ship-to-ship trade when the unit count was different, now fixed.
- Delivery contract waypoint system updated to prevent placement near sector border which could result in contract failure as player approached capital ship.
- AI physics and control systems updated to better account for relative frame weight, thruster power, and maneuvering parameters.
- Racing AI velocity and thruster skill reduced to make passing second IMG quest contract easier.
- Atmosphere system updated to provide a thinner look with less ambient/horizon brightness.
- Atmosphere haze effect updated to provide a smoother transition from space to surface.
- Ship formation system updated to manage throttle better to reduce shield collisions.
- Altimeter would occasionally jump at various points above terrain, now fixed.
- Server status check will now return to multiplayer menu if connection fails.
- Capital ships now hold their position at waypoint for delivery contracts.
- Leech EMP missiles now work correctly when used on terrain walkers.
- Flak effects added for AI ships flying close to hostile capital ships.
- Capital ship anti-shield torpedoes now inflict more damage.
- Flyby sound effect proximity activation range reduced.
- Mod options added for certain atmosphere effects.
- Option to specify a unique framerate cap added.
- Several minor bug fixes.

2.408
- More friendly AI ships added for support in single player war zone missions.
- AI combat tactics systems updated to unify target selection and maneuvering behavior between single player and multiplayer.
- New AI tactics systems allowing hostile ships to selectively establish attack and defend patterns based on objective type (ie order specific ships to attack capital ship during escort contracts).
- Rate of movement in 3rd person chase view reduced to better keep player ship in view when performing high speed maneuvers.
- Planetary atmosphere system updated to provide variable friction/burn levels based on atmospheric density at different altitudes.
- Friendly AI ships will generally join in to defend player and attack hostiles while on a contract if they are in range.
- Gravity system updated to provide a more realistic acceleration effect in zero atmosphere environments.
- Sector and Clan only text messages now labeled for each message type when received.
- Waypoint for escort contracts/missions now placed at friendly capital ship location.
- Gravity gauge system updated to provide a 1:1 relevant velocity offset value.
- New 'total velocity' indicator added to lower left cockpit display.
- Capital ships given moderate increase in defensive capabilities.
- Capital ship flak cannon damage level increased.

2.488:
- New quadrant maps with improved system placement accuracy and image quality.
- Option to change gunsight and display coloring (hue and RGB) added to Options menu (HUD Configuration).
- New frame graphics added for navigation, inventory, and trade consoles (better aligning them with other menus).
- Under some conditions, planet terrain could be rendered at multiple detail levels simultaneously, occasionally causing subtle flickering, now fixed.
- If the game is interrupted during gameplay to the point media resources are deleted/lost from memory, it will now to auto-save the profile and attempt to reload all media assets automatically.
- If the game is interrupted during a file extraction and/or loading process by external interference or system problems causing file corruption/damage, it can now automatically attempt to clean and repair the damage next time it is launched.
- HUD Flight Path Marker updated to better indicate offset course and to account for additional factors including gravity.
- Optional Horizontal and Vertical Velocity Marker added to the HUD Configuration menu to provide legacy functionality.
- Friction factor based on velocity and atmospheric density now applies to hull burn glow effect for a better visual cue.
- Overall reputation level changing when travelling from sector to sector in the same system fixed.
- Options to set a custom value for CvC kills and clan linked contracts in multiplayer added.
- TrackIR, padlock, and mouse look view modes updated for a wider vertical viewing range.
- 400% increase in multiplayer terrain control credit for CvC kills (default value).
- Sound effect volume setting now applies to mouse clicks in main menu as well.
- MDTS auto-aiming prediction system updated for smoother movement.
- HUD indicator positions adjusted to better support stereoscopic 3D.
- Scaling option for pitch ladder added (details in customizing kit).
- Position option for compass added (details in customizing kit).
- Flight Path Marker added to 3D radar.
- Wind sound effect volume reduced.
 

--- Back to Top ---