Improvements, Tweaks and Bug Fixes news

Hi Galactic Survivalists!

Everyone who tried the experimental version of update 3.4 may already have noticed it: we dedicated most of the time for fixing bugs and working on some backend issues and game-mechanic improvements. For example, to reduce vessel loss, we added security check for playfield transfers and we changed the way how playfield servers save player and vessels. We hope this will improve the overall situation.

Besides bug fixing, we added a few new items and some smaller feature updates. For example, we reworked the landing gear mechanics. You can now dock your vessel in any direction and vessels remain docked when resuming a game (before vessels were not docked for the first couple of seconds after resuming a game which could lead to leaving-your-vessel-behind situations). However, the changes in docking mechanics have the following consequences:
1. You have to manually dock all your docked vessels once again when you resume a save game.
2. We had to change how the (i) Landing Gear T2 and (ii) Heavy Landing Gear T1 are orientated. If you load up your savegame after the update 3.4 you need to remove and replace those two to get the correct orientation again. These are the two affected landing gears:

Please note that workshop blueprints are not affected! We programmed a converter that automatically rotates the landing gears when spawning workshop blueprints.

3. All landing gears now have a docking point at their base, which means that you should not place them upside down anymore. We have seen that there are several blueprints out there that use landing gears upside down, as in this example:

Unfortunately, this will not be possible anymore because landing gears placed upside down will not dock anymore.

We are sorry for these inconveniences!

Moreover, we also changed the way how savegames are created: no ever-increasing savegame names anymore! The new mechanism will simply use the savegame name given when you first started your savegame and then just add or replace the suffix with the current the time and date. This works when making a copy or backup in the Resume Game menu and of course when saving the session from in-game!

We have also made the Vsync option more flexible. You can now set your desired framerate individually!.

Last but not least, we added several new deco items like benches, tables, storage containers and more. Give them a try and show us your designs!

We also added some animal bones as deco on planets:

.... and we added a new plant to Zeyhines:

Have fun playing! :)

CHANGELOG: Alpha 3.4.0 (Build 603)

General:
- Switched game engine to Unity 5.4

Improvements to avoid vessel loss:
- Added security check for playfield transfers as an interim measure to reduce vessel loss (player/vessel is set back to the old playfield if the destination playfield is not ready yet)
- Changed the way how playfield servers save player and vessels to avoid loss of vessels
- Improved spawn-to-surface if player or player-in-vessel falls through the ground

Landing gear:
- Docking is now possible in all directions
- Single and double landing gears (SV) are now placeable in all directions
- Heavy landing gear (previously only CV) can now also be placed on SV
- Re-balanced HP on landing gears

World:
- Added more deco blocks which can be found under block groups "Deco Blocks" and "Artificial Indoor Plants"
- Added animal bones as deco on some planets (for now: Akua and Omicron)
- Added new Alien Desert Plant

Game Settings:
- Changed name creation of in-game backups and manual copies: to avoid game names becoming too long, those backups / copies now have date and time at the end
- Changed: NEW GAME default difficulty set to EASY instead of MEDIUM
- Changed: DECAYTIME 0 means OFF instead of instant (see dedicated.yaml)
- Changed Shadow Setting: De-activate light shadows in "Medium" setting
- Changed: Player can now set the maximal allowed frame rate
- Set Video Options to use negative progression (Low -> Medium -> High instead of High -> Medium -> Low)
- Added info to dedicated yaml that some difficulty changes only take effect for a NEW game

Changes / Improvements:
- Not showing 'No build' icon nearby ore deposits any more in Single Player
- Tweaked emissive of cockpits SV: screens are now black without power
- Default color of cockpits SV is now grey (instead of blue)
- Tweaked particles when drilling (reduced particle count and size of stone particles)
- Tweaked drill particle effect (improved texture of stones that drop)
- Removed glass from RCS block
- Added improved model for antenna
- Added more experience points for higher unlock levels

New Starter Blueprints:
- Added new Starter BA Tier 1 and 4 (thanks to Haroden). Old BA Tier 4 is now Tier 5
- Added new Starter SV Tier 3 (thanks to Vexray and gahro_nahvah) and SV Tier 5 (thanks to Vexray)
- Added Starter HV Tier 2 (thanks to |ANIMA|_|ULTRIX|) and HV Tier 3 (thanks to Tina_Pedersen)

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed: Placing an O2, H2 or O2/H2 generator no longer relocates the Survival Constructor map icon
- Fixed: Vessels are not docked when resuming a game for a couple of seconds
- Fixed: Placing blocks leads sometimes to lags
- Fixed: Endless loading screen in some use cases - you will now be able to enter the game
- Fixed: Backpacks falling through the world if player is too high up in the air or dying in a moving vessel
- Fixed: Turrets on Public structures (CV, BA) do not attack
- Fixed: Leaving a faction makes the Motorbike unusable
- Fixed: Strong FPS drop when mining terrain / mining meteorites
- Fixed: Tree trunc LOD culling immersion breaking on Fast
- Fixed: PDA Mission "Akua Huntsmen" does not work on MP (PDA action "SubjectKilled" didn't work on MP clients)
- Fixed: Weapon Range info on SV / CV does not update when switching playfield
- Fixed: Preview uses upside down orientation when adding a landing gear to a vessel
- Fixed: Switching Options with RMB does not unlock the APPLY button - Disabled RMB Activation for Menu Buttons
- Fixed: Space Durians Item still yellow instead of blue
- Fixed: Drilling in the snow brings up red particles in multiplayer
- Fixed mission trigger: Explosion splash damage was not considered in MP (e.g. you could not destroy a block with rocket launcher in MP)
- Fixed: Prevent Drones/Players glitching into Building Blocks
- Partially fixed: Sound clicks and cracks when turning vessels (Thrusters)
- Fixed Graphic settings: Shadow Quality & Sky Reflections Quality do not save (Visual issue only)
- Fixed: VSync does not work with BEST and FAST without manual action
- Fixed: Change Vsync on/off into a setting with different values
- Small fix for animator settings on doors
- Fixed: Error linked to dynamic collider (reported on support email)
- Fixed: Texture resolution change not working
- Fixed: Problem that escape pod is not moving after landing with it on a planet
- Fixed: Clipping of RCS block
- Possible fix: Empty Control Panel and Error Spam in Console