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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. |