Patch notes

The page references the changelog of all publicly released versions.

Prototype[ | ]

Main article: Prototype

Patch 0.7.6[ | ]

Press prototype was released in March 2014, during Kickstarter campaign.

Patch 0.7.7[ | ]

Prototype was released on 1st September 2014.

Patch 0.7.7.1[ | ]

Added traces to investigate crash at application start.

Patch 0.7.7.2[ | ]

Switched from windowed to full screen windowed or full screen when resolutions are not supported.

Patch 0.7.7.3[ | ]

When windowed mode is not supported, Windows desktop resolution is used in full screen mode.
Large tetrahedric and anti-tetrahedric walls are now limited in size.
The game doesn't crash any more when "windowed mode" is chosen in the option with a small Windows desktop resolution.
It is no more possible to select a full screen windowed with a resolution higher than the desktop resolution.
Visual studio redistributables packages are no more erased at the end of the installation, so that users can launch them if needed.
The game will now be installed in folders without the "cube" special character, but a 3 instead, as it caused installation issues on some systems.

Pre-alpha[ | ]

Main article: Pre-alpha

Patch 0.7.9[ | ]

Pre-alpha was released on 7th January 2015.

Migration of the prototype to Unreal Engine 4.6.
Added many post processing graphical effects.
Added Multiplayer support.
Handmade trees can be found in the world (juniper, birch).
Added quarter pyramidal and anti-quarter pyramidal wall building, to ease the creation of roof corners.
Added different leaves on the ground.
The block the player puts in the world are now merged intuitively with existing blocks.
Improved performance and view distance compared to the previous version, even if there are lots of optimization left to do.
Under water effects have been implemented.
Improved the destruction ghost's rendering.
Added Mac OS X 10.9.2 support.
Added 32-bit support.
Reduced memory consumption.
Added partial French localization.
Finally added SOUNDS!

Patch 0.7.9.1[ | ]

Pre-alpha fix 1 was released on 7th January 2015.

Corrected progress bar going back while loading.
Translated user controls texts into French.
The game is now in full screen windowed by default.
Corrected wrong behavior of wall building when an existing block was merged with the first block of the wall, resulting in creating a wall of cubes instead of a wall of selected shape.
Translated main menu button texts into French
Disabled the jump sound in ghost mode.
Set the max thread count according to the computer total CPU core count.

Patch 0.7.9.2[ | ]

Pre-alpha fix 2 was released on 9th January 2015.

Corrected the crash when starting a second game session.
Removed residual "Connection Lost" window that stayed sometimes on top of the game.
Deactivated Occulus Rift as it was not supported yet.
Set the default movement key mapping to WASD and ZQSD.
Added FPS, network latency and CPU usage indicators on F3 key.
Added an arrow on the destruction ghost to display the digging direction.

Alpha 1 (The Cognitron Mineshaft)[ | ]

Main article: The Cognitron Mineshaft

Patch 0.8.0.2[ | ]

Alpha (The Cognitron Mineshaft) was released on 27th May 2015.

Story[ | ]

Added a brand new story mode
Added a dungeon named "The Cognitron Mineshaft", an introduction to the game, using a semi-procedural dungeon generator, creating a different layout of rooms and corridors for each game
Added interactive NPCs
Added interactive meta-blocks for the dungeon: doors, switches, null-gravity elevators, dungeon map revealer, item distributors, regeneration chamber, information totems, etc.
Added decorative meta-blocks for the dungeon: screens, pipes, crates, various Cognitron robotics equipment, etc.
Integrated various sound effects, musics and ambiances

Combat[ | ]

Added weapons
Added the first alien species: The Cognitrons
Added an AI for creatures and enemies
Player characters can die and respawn now (in story mode)
The different player movements are now animated
Removed the flash light

Exploration[ | ]

New terrain generation algorithm
Added first zone: the moors
Added new animals: caterpillar, monarch butterfly, fennec, hercules beetle, humming bird, tiger, squirrel and peacock. As Spring has come, the hedgehog has come back. But sadly the elephants didn't make it through the winter. But maybe John Parker Hammond will bring them back
Added large sea water bodies, cliffs, lakes
Added new prefab trees and flowers in mini-blocks. They were used to create forests in the moors
Added caves
Added mineral veins in the underground, and different rock compositions depending on the depth
Added a first iteration of clouds (they are not definitive, they will greatly change)
Added a map and a mini-map displaying the exploration state of the current dungeon level

Construction[ | ]

Added new materials
Added new tools
Water is now removable (using tools, not a bucket...), and can be placed in all 6 shapes
You can now stack items up to 999,999 per slot, move item in main inventory in story mode, and split them up using shift while drag&dropping

User interface[ | ]

Added a save button to be able to save while playing
Almost all texts are now translated (including item names, etc) in French and English

Technical[ | ]

The Unreal Engine version used is now 4.7.6
Your character location, inventory, health, etc. are now saved
Enemy and animal states are also saved

Bug corrections[ | ]

Fixed a bug where the underwater effect was sometime still present when going out of water
Fixed a bug where the chunks would not load, and coarse resolution would stay displayed instead, causing holes in the world
Fixed wrong block orientations on prefab trees like the juniper

Some known issues[ | ]

The chat window text shifts up of more and more pixels at the end when too much text is displayed
The multiplayer has been temporarily deactivated, as some residual issues made it unplayable
The player or some NPC may spawn in ground or be stuck in a wall. If this happens to you, you might need to dig to get out of this trap. Wait, what? We can dig in this game???

Patch 0.8.0.5[ | ]

Alpha multiplayer patch was released on 2nd July 2015

Multiplayer[ | ]

Reactivated multiplayer, in story and creative mode
Added a dedicated server (Windows 64-bit only), recommended to host games. See file DedicatedServerManual.html or the Website's FAQ for more details
Public IP is displayed in the main menu

Optimizations[ | ]

Framerate largely improved and stabilized
Saved games from the previous version are not compatible, due to optimizations
The world now loads progressively on high view distances
Added a big pixel on the top left corner of the screen which is green when everything is loaded

Story[ | ]

Added information terminals in the boss and research rooms
The Boss' Cognitrons are now invincible until every player has stepped inside the room, to prevent being stuck in the door or start the fight alone
Integrated real skin of the Vulpine armor
Added chat command /help to list available chat commands
Added chat command /suicide to kill your character, to use when you are stuck

Exploration[ | ]

You will share your exploration map with other players present in the game
The trees are now destructible with tools and weapons in story mode
The trees' trunk are no more empty
The clouds have a new temporary design

Construction[ | ]

Your player character is now invisible in creative mode

Localization[ | ]

The game is now playable in German, thanks to TimoH

Bug correction[ | ]

The laser gun stops its beam when switching weapon while firing
Fixed incorrect spatialization of laser, rocket launcher, gauntlet and zero gravity lift sounds
Fixed a crash when changing options after a recent death
Fixed the placement of the Organic Regeneration Chamber's healing field before the boss
Fixed a light propagation issue with quarter pyramidal and anti quarter pyramidal blocks
Fixed a bug where all planet faces were identical

Alpha 2 (Rokh Camp)[ | ]

Main article: Rokh Camp

Patch 0.8.3.0[ | ]

Rokh Camp (Alpha 2) was released on 14th October 2015.

The game was renamed from Planets³ to Stellar Overload.
Multiplayer was temporarily removed in this version.

General[ | ]

Introduced a new part of the story, taking place after the Cognitron Mineshaft: The Rokh Camp
Renamed the game to Stellar Overload

Crafting[ | ]

Added the crafting system to the game, with 72 recipes
Added crafting stations
Added medkits and food recipes to restore health
Added containers
Added new crafted materials
Added 3 new weapons
Added different types of ammunition to fire with weapons

Environment[ | ]

Added biomes: taiga, tundra, inlandsis, temperate forest, arid desert and grassland
Biomes are now chosen using more realistic rules based on temperature and humidity
Changed the terrain generation algorithm. Added mountains, plains, and so on
Worked on underground zone generation: crystal in caves, mineral lodes, different types of blocks depending on the current underground zone, and so on
Used many new materials and vegetation to populate the new biomes
Added a core to the planet
Added new animals: new hedgehog, white tiger, fox, fennec, glowworm
Added structures with treasure chest across the planet
Added hackable dead robot from which you can learn new recipes

Exploration[ | ]

Added a jetpack
Added a flash light
Added Glowblocks, craftable blocks emitting light
Cactus and magma now deal damage when touched

Sound/music[ | ]

Added many new sounds and replaced old ones
Added new musics
Added new ambiances for each biomes
Smooth transition of ambiances

Combat[ | ]

Added Arkuloids, a new type of enemy, and their infestation nests around the planet
Added tier (from Tier 1 to Tier 3) to zones of the planet, representing the level of the area
Added pickup item when you kill a creature, destroy a chest, break blocks or drop an item from your inventory
Added secondary fire mode to some weapons

Rendering[ | ]

Added detailed textures to blocks, and other cool shader effects
Added an option to activate shadows (this is experimental)
Activated temporal anti-aliasing

UI[ | ]

Added beacons on screen to locate distant point of interests
Added tooltips when rolling over items, or aiming at blocks with a digging tool
Added a first version of the craft window when using crafting stations
Improved first person view
Most of the item icons are now rendered using our engine
We generate the item icons during the loading of the game, but as a consequence the loading time is now increased
Added an autosave every 2 minutes. This can be configured in the option window.

Construction/destruction[ | ]

Added a prototype of blueprints in creative mode, to make copy/paste and import/export models between savegames. This is experimental
You can now build and destroy metablocks
In creative mode, you can now place prefabs we used for the game (trees, bush, and so on)
The digging tools now have an automatic digging mode when you keep the mouse button pressed
You can gather special items when digging the world, eg: berries on bushes
You can now apply a symmetry to the block/blueprint you are placing in the world, using ALT+R / ALT+T / ALT+Y by default.

Multiplayer[ | ]

Temporary deactivated multiplayer. We had some major issues, and chose to reactivate it in the next release.

Bug corrections[ | ]

Trees no longer appear/disappear when changing the level of detail.
Flower and trees don't fly above cave holes anymore.

Known bugs[ | ]

Sometimes some item icons are very dark.

Patch 0.8.3.1[ | ]

Bug fixes[ | ]

Fixed a bug where you could not configure key bindings
Fixed duplicated items upon death
Removed weapon placeholders present in creative mode
Fixed the detection of free space in the inventory when crafting an item

Improvements[ | ]

Restored the desktop icon created during installation
Combat music only starts at first damage
Reduced Arkuloid's nest count
Your public IP is now displayable in game using F3 instead of being displayed in the main menu (So that streamers can remain anonymous!)
Added a sound when right clicking on an item in a container

Known bugs[ | ]

We are still working on a crash on the Mac version, and will be releasing this fix on Mac once the problem is fixed.

Patch 0.8.3.2[ | ]

Alpha 2 multiplayer patch was released on 09th November 2015.

General[ | ]

Multijoueur has been reactivated.

Environnement[ | ]

Cognitrons around unknown structures now exist in different kinds (depending on the tier) and are more aggressive.
Robot carcasses are now destroyed after a recipe has been downloaded.
The north pole beacon is now on the ground.
Alive Arkuloids become blocks faster

Performances[ | ]

Reduced world generation time.
Initial loading time has been greatly reduced.
Improved the reactivity when breaking blocks after travelling.

Story[ | ]

Clarified the message displayed when using the HQ communication console.
The HQ communication console is now disabled once the storyline completed.
The secret plans are now deactivated once the data retrieved.
You now always learn a recipe when using a robot carcass. As a result we reduced the number of those carcasses.

Sound improvements[ | ]

The "digging" sound differs depending on the dug volume and gauntlet.
New sound when opening/closing the crafting window.
New sound when switching tab in the crafting window.
Added a new exploration music.
New footstep sound on the clouds

Crafting[ | ]

Ingredient slots of the crafting window are now filled automatically even if there are multiple choices.
Added a new recipe to craft nanites.

Combat[ | ]

The secondary fire of the plasma gun now fires sticky bombs.
The plasma gun only destroys the ground if charged at at least 80%.
Killing blows damage values are now properly displayed.
Area damages are now properly displayed.
The material used as ammo for the block thrower now changes the damage it does.

UI[ | ]

Added a warning regarding the performance degradation when using a high view distance.
A key binding (O by default) enables you to hide the location beacons displayed on the HUD.
Material icons have been modified to better represent the material's family.
A tip has been added in the block thrower's tooltip to indicate how to change its ammo.
Autosave is now every 10 minutes by default (in case of a fresh install, otherwise you will have to set it manually in the options).
The selection block when creating a blueprint is now further by default.

Other[ | ]

Added the possibility to swim in water and the possibility to drown if you stay under water too long.
Reduced the number of pickup items when digging a bush.
Blueprints are now named after the corresponding file on disk.

Bug fix[ | ]

The ghost of the sand blocks is red.
Multiplication of creatures.
Blueprint icon is not refreshed when created.
Mouse cursor and item still displayed when you die during a drag and drop operation.
Error in the rotation of the Cognitron corner pipes when rotating a blueprint.
Metablock alternative lost in the blueprints.
Ingredients and quantity is reinitialized when crafting an item.
The sound used when dropping an item in the action bar is played when an ingredient is automatically selected.
The sound played when closing the inventory window is also played when opening the crafting window.
Wrong sound played when an item is dropped by the player.
The sound of dirt is played when walking on ebony or scots pine wood instead of the wood's sound.
When crafting items in large quantity (more than one stack), only one stack is added to the player's inventory.
FPS drop when firing the plasma gun
Missing reinforced plastic recipe.
The fire in the fireplace, the smoke on the roof and the clone "Max" are not named properly.
Blueprints icons in the belt are all identical to the first blueprint content.
Clouds are dug and have glowworm on them.
Some blocks are too dark in the caves.
Missing footsteps when strafing to the right.
Tools and weapons can still be used when dropped to the ground.
Cognitrons are incorrectly rotated.
When reducing the view distance, the loading distance is not reduced accordingly, and this lowers performances.

Alpha 3 (Blocky Blockade)[ | ]

Main article: Blocky Blockade

Patch 0.8.4.0[ | ]

Alpha 3 (Blocky Blockade) was released on 8th June 2016.

General[ | ]

Revelation of a new piece of the story: Blocky Blockade, or how the rebellion will prevail against the blockade of the Imperium Machina on Merx!
New semi-procedural dungeon generation technique, allowing us to manually design a dungeon with procedural content variation without breaking the dungeon's coherence.
Creation of a semi-procedural dungeon using our new dungeon editor: The Imperium fortress.
Introduction of a first version of in-game vehicles: hoverbikes and their 3 metablocks: cockpit, thruster and power core.

Environment[ | ]

Day/night cycle.
The planets' faces are now correctly linked together.
Creation of planet Merx, and work on its environment.
Creation of placeholder versions of the game's final planets, only a quick version of their general landscape. The content of these planets is absolutely not final.
Added new creatures: rabbit, European mantis, flamingo, frog, snail, and so on.
Added new plants: tall grass, wheat, clovers, daisy, ferns, lichen, rape, spider webs, carrots, mandrake, valerian, and so on.
Added Clones' villages, with their houses and decorations.
Plants clusters for a more natural world generation.
New decorative elements in the world (rocks with lichen, and so on).
New members in the Imperium Machina: Legionaries, Centurions, Imperator, Arkuloids T4 and T5 and automated turrets.
Also new recruits for the Rebellion: Troopers, and story related characters you will discover in the "Outpost 47".

Gameplay[ | ]

The number of tiers has been increased to 5 resulting in a complete rebalancing and redistribution of all the recipes, ingredients, materials and items.
The Imperium Machina's fortress can be captured to transfer its control to the rebellion which will then invade it and help us "clean up the mess"!
You now need to break enemies' metablocks (like doors) using weapons or explosives in order to be able to collect them using a digging gauntlet.
You can now craft armor items and then equip them in the character sheet.
Some interactive metablocks, like the Imperium Machina's new doors or containers, can be locked. You will need to find an id chip to unlock them.
Added new types of containers, it is now possible to name them in their inventory window. Their name is then visible in the 3D view.
Added short (NeXus T1, inside dungeons) and long (NeXus T3, between planets) distance teleporters with a teleportation animation.
Added cloning tanks to which you can bind yourself in order to respawn there if you die.
Added new crafting station types.
Added a lot of new functional and decorative metablocks (pictures, lights, Tesla pylons, and so on.).
Warning, you can now die of asphyxia in space!
The player character has been granted a second inventory page.
Arkuloids are now easier to kill and reduced in number. Their nest are composed in majority of inactive arkuloids, and only some fighters.

Combat[ | ]

Added new multi-ammo weapons: pistol and rifle. You can switch ammunition using the x key by default.
Added grenades.
Improved the humanoid and android enemies' AI.
Added a special ability to the enemies (the "Dash", a quick jump on the side).
Added a damage localization indicator to know where the damage is coming from.
The cross-hair is now dynamic, and gives you a feedback on your precision.
Added different kinds of damages on targets. So a type of ammunition is more or less efficient on a certain type of target.

UI[ | ]

Improved the rendering of items' icons.
Added a character sheet, which enables you to see the statistics of your character, and to equip an armor (c by default).
Added an in game help, explaining in detail how the game works (F1 by default).
Revamped the presentation of the key bindings in the control tab of the options.

Rendering[ | ]

Improved the voxel lighting engine.
Improved the application of the voxel lighting on metablocks.
Added post-processes (Color grading) to improve the rendering of the sunrise and sunset.
A color code has been defined to better distinguish the different tiers.
Improved the first person view.
Rendering is now less dark on lower graphic quality.
Increased performances when dynamic shadows are disabled. However the world being more developed than before, it requires more resources to render, therefore you might not notice this improvement.

Sound/music[ | ]

A lot of new musics, jingles, sounds and ambient sounds have been added and are waiting for you to discover them during your exploration.
Improved transitions between music and ambient sounds.
Global sounds mixed to render them less dull.
Sound compatibility with 5.1.

Construction[ | ]

Added letter blocks with 4 different fonts.
Added the v key binding to toggle the "snap to grid" tool.
Added the "shift+V" key binding to change the alignment grid.
Increased the maximum wall size to 126 blocks in creative!

Optimizations[ | ]

Improved the universes' saving and loading time.
Some network optimization to reduce the latency when there is a lot of elements in the game.

Bug fix[ | ]

Reduced fps on the long run when digging a lot.
Game crash when putting a block in space.
Trees that can be seen from afar but disappear when getting close.
The game crashes on some Mac computers after 1 to 2 minutes.
Fixed bugs regarding the spawning of creatures.
Fixed an issue regarding the invert mouse setting.
A lot of other bugs.
Pressing Enter in the chat window on an empty line has no effect.

Major known issues[ | ]

Sometimes, while exiting a teleporter, the player camera is stuck in the wrong orientation. Until we fix it, go back inside the teleporter in order to get the camera back to its normal state.
Some stellar gates (NeXus T3) are spawned underground.
Depending on the Computer's configuration (mostly with AMD CPUs), the game might freeze when using the 'Alt+Tab' key combination.( https://answers.unrealengine.com/questions/241358/amd-cpu-very-low-performance-because-ixaudio2sourc.html )
Vehicles sometimes tremble abnormally in multiplayer games.

Patch 0.8.4.1[ | ]

Alpha Blocky Blockade fix 1 was released on 16th June 2016.

Bug fix[ | ]

The rotation of the metablocks' ghost is incoherent when you aim at a vehicle and then at a planet, or while switching the aimed planet face.
The characters are not placed correctly on the vehicle's cockpits in multiplayer.
Placing a large blueprint in the world freezes the game a long time.
Grenade movement is erratic on clients.
The items dropped on the ground are not spawned from the correct location.
The color grading changes too close from planet surface, and too fast.
In multiplayer, the map exploration state is sometimes reverted.
The cross-hair is not colored on clients.
No more music when relaunching the game while in a death screen.
The player spawns sometimes horizontally after a teleportation.
Vehicle is moving too fast on the server.
Chests can not be opened if placed on a vehicle.
Arkuloïdes don't jump out of their nest on Istara.
The tooltips on the "Create new universe" window's buttons display "Text".
Clicking on the prevous/next page buttons of the inventory while disabled uses the currently selected item in the action bar.
Some items in the inventory in creative mode are not named.
The building ghost is displayed while driving a vehicle.
Glowblocks present in the inventory by default can't be removed once played in the world as they are T3.
The clones stay still when they are shoot at continuously.
Davy Rocket and scientists clones don't have the good animations.
Time of day is displayed with decimal numbers.
In multiplayer as a client, the player does not look forward when he enters a vehicle.
There is a gap between the projectile and the end of the weapon when the player fires upwards or downwards.
Text #Cloneprisonner# is not translated.
When dying with the main menu open, the game takes the focus.
Crash when aiming at the light metablock of the Imperium Machina's hoverbikes.
Interaction stuck until escape is pressed or the inventory is opened.
The blocs of the blockthrower stick on the ground and rotate.
Pressing F6 two times does not reset the UI correctly.
The interaction key displayed on the death message is not refreshed if rebound.
Inconsistency in the tier of synthetic polymers (T2/T3).
Dying with the main menu open stucks the U.I. the next time the player fires.
Breaking a power core with a grenade doesn't destroy the vehicle.
The undersea post process is lost when changing planet face while swimming under water.
Slight improvement of network performances.
NPC don't change their dialog when the player activates the stellar gate before speaking to them.
The armor disappears when we get out of a vehicle.
F12 (screenshot) does not work while in a craft station.
Rendering bugs when a stack is split in the second page of inventory.
Dahlia seen from afar don't have correct color.
Inventory cells are sometimes highlighted even when not rolled over.
Crash of the dedicated server when putting a prebuilt-tree or using flood fill from a client.
Missing ResetConfig.sh script for Linux and Mac.

Steam early access[ | ]

Main article: Steam early access

Patch 0.8.5.0[ | ]

Steam EA 1 version was released on 12th October 2016.

General[ | ]

Total revamp of the user interface.
Added real quests mechanics.
Implemented the start of the final story on Merx.
The game is now available on Steam!

User interface[ | ]

We now see the planet surface on the mini-map.
New map interface to navigate on the different faces of the planet.
On Alt+Tab, if in solo, the game is now paused.
Rolling over an ingredient in the craft window, highlights the compatible items in the inventory.
Added a button to sort the inventory.
The game is now also available in German and Portuguese (Brazil).
Added an intro cinematic.
Added a slider to adjust the volume of ambiances.
Improved item icons (larger and more understandable).
As our world is made of 25cm blocks, we started to use blocks as unit instead of meters!

Network[ | ]

Slight improvement of network traffic.
Added server remote administration.
Added basic administration tools (/kick, /ban, /unban, /shutdown).

Environment & dungeons[ | ]

Added new block materials and removed deprecated ones.
Redistribution of materials, minerals, crystals and resources on Merx and Istara.
Added the Verdant garden.
Added secondary places on Merx to explore (we won't tell anymore, no more spoil!)
Totally revamped the boss fight in the fortress: there's now phases and the boss has skills.
Added new dungeons: the observatories. They allow to reveal the map of one planet's face.

Gameplay[ | ]

To clarify, the tiers "t1, t2, ..." and marks "mk1, mk2, ..." no more exist and have been replaced by "level".
Balanced the jetpack (it is now less powerful) to match the new gameplay.
Totally revamped recipes to clarify the crafting.
The secondary fire of the Block-thrower (right click) throws blocs that stick to the terrain!
We can now equip ammo in the Block-thrower by dragging and dropping it (or right clicking) in the new slots next to the action bar.
New appearance for the Block-thrower.
New tool: The Swapper, allows to swap terrain blocks with others, in story or creative mode. In creative mode, it allows to remove blocks of the same material.
New tool: The Recorder, allows to create blueprints, in story or creative mode.
Added the ability to customize your avatar (gender, color and name).
Added energy material: watch out where you walk!
Added laser blocks: you won't stay in their way for long.
Added explosive material. It explodes when you fire on it or when another block explodes next to it.
We can now only find level 1 recipes on Merx.
Added low level glowblocks with high light range.

Creatures & fighting[ | ]

Improved AI. Ex: enemies move during the fight, use skills (throwing grenades), etc.
NPC don’t move anymore when you talk to them.
The red armored Cognitrons with their ray of death are back!
NPC face the player and talk when we interact with them.
Plasma explosive projectiles now create holes in the terrain.

Construction[ | ]

New metablocks for the story.
Improved the P3B format. In consequence, the old P3B are not directly compatible. For more information, see this page on the forum: http://www.stellar-overload.com/forum/topic/2168/
The grid snapping offset shortcut is now v instead of Shift+v.
We can now destroy walls with a drag and drop like for building them but with right click.
The action bar is now saved in creative mode.

Bug fix[ | ]

In creative mode you can now join a server which has blueprints.
Corrected bugs related to wrong fighting music sequences.
Solved a lot of UI bugs with the revamp.
Corrected bugs linked to the teleportation.
Corrected a bug where the wrong type of ammunition was displayed on a client with the pistol or rifle.
Corrected a bug where non cubic block size displayed was 3x3x3 instead of 1x1x1.
Binding some keys (like u, o) had no effect.
The ghost of sloped blocks during a drag and drop was incoherent on vehicles depending on their rotation.
Vehicle could sometime become remotely controlled.
On a client, the blocks of a vehicle could visually disappear.
Adding lichen a 5th time blocked the undo list in creative mode.
The vegetal placement ghost was not contractual.
When firing with a weapon, you don’t shoot the wall on the right anymore while aiming at a clear spot newt to the wall.

Patch 0.8.5.1[ | ]

Patch 0.8.5.1 (Steam EA1 fix 1) was released on 19th October 2016.

It is accompanied by a free DLC with a music selection of 24 tracks that can be heard in the game (under Steam\steamapps\common\Stellar Overload\Sound Selection.

User interface[ | ]

Added a research field in the inventories and containers.
Publication of travelling tools in creative mode. See the following commands: /addTravellingWP, /addTravellingTimedWP, /startTravelling, /resetTravelling, /saveTravelling et /loadTravelling.
You can now directly use healing items in the action bar using the (0-9) shortcut.
Added a “cross” button in all the big windows to allow the user to close them using the mouse.
Add an icon on the map to locate the vehicles.
The minimap now displays the absolute coordinates of the player.
Quests POI are now a bit darker.
Clicking on a slot of the action bar selects it.
Added and changed sounds in the UI.

Bug fix[ | ]

Fixed the big freezes (a few second long) on some computers caused by an incompatibility between Windows thread scheduler and the parallelization of the actors’ simulation in the Unreal Engine.
Fixed loading freezes when getting close to structures with enemies / metablocks which haven’t been loaded yet.
Fixed little FPS drops due to geometry creation. This might cause holes in the world’s geometry during a frame on slow computers.
Fixed minor notification that didn’t disappear.
Fixed the creation of universes when the OS user name contained an @ or an &.
Fixed the possibility to split stacks in an inventory (using shift + left mouse button drag & drop).
Fixed an issue where players were stuck inside the boss room of the Fortress because the doors stayed locked.
Removed the travelling tools in story mode.
Fixed the possibility to change the select item in the action bar using the mouse wheel while the character sheet is open.
Fixed an issue that appeared while drag & dropping during a metablock placement.
Fixed an issue where players were stuck in each other when respawning at the same time on the same Cloning Tank.
Added the possibility to click on items of the main menu while the new game mode selection is open.
Removed the blinking of the selected slot item in the action bar while the inventory is closed.
Fixed an issue where the heart is not full even if full life.
Added an error message if the creation or loading of an universe fails.
Fixed missing levels on recipe item tooltips.
Fixed deformed arrow image under the ammo bar.
Fixed legionnaire unable to fire at characters who are too high.
Fixed stuck legionnaires when they are in a small hole.
Fixed combat music not starting for clients when fighting Arkuloïds.
Fixed deaf legionnaires in dungeons.
Fixed location on the map not refreshed when client dies.
Fixed display of air breathing gauge in creative mode.
Fixed invalid destructions of vegetal with grenades, had a square shape.
Fixed invalid selection when clicking inside the text of the chatbox.
Fixed incoherent damage stats in character sheet for the Block-Thrower.
Fixed missing sound when using a map revealer.
Fixed units still being in meters (in F3 and in distance to a player).
Fixed wrong killer displayed in the chatbox.
The wheel now skips empty recipes in the craft window.
Fixed scrollbar not scrolling to the start when changing tab in the craft window.
Fixed wrong category icons in the craft stations' tabs.
Shortcut displayed in hotbar for "1" is the only one to be "&". This fix will have no effect on new installation.
You can now craft Plywood.
Fixed a bug where players sticking too close to a switch could be stuck in it.
Added display of alternative keys (ZQSD or WASD) in the movement tutorial.
Vehicles can now be crafted on Merx, as the cockpit and the thruster are now level 1.
Fixed missing level 2 (or more) recipes on Istara.
Fixed focus loss when typing text in chatbox.
Arkuloïdes don't wake up fast enough.
Fixed a crash when breaking a vehicle cockpit when at the quest of capturing the stellar gate.

Patch 0.8.5.2[ | ]

Patch 0.8.5.2 (Steam EA1 fix 2) was released on 26th October 2016.

Bug fix[ | ]

Fixed a crash when loading or saving a game.
Updated the game's icon.
Fixed an issue preventing to loot level 2 recipes and above.
Removed access to /settime command in story mode.
Removed green flashes when looking at a vehicle's cockpit or thruster.

Patch 0.8.6.0[ | ]

Patch 0.8.6.0 (Steam EA2) was released on 2016-12-14.

General[ | ]

Added Workshop support for the blueprints.
Added secondary quests.
Design of planet Istara's landscape.

User interface[ | ]

Added the quest log window. Allows you to track the current and past state of the quests, browse the secondary quests and choose to track one of them or not.
Revamp of the help window: new layout and content update.
Added a Workshop window, allowing you to get and share blueprints on the community HUB.
The blueprint sharing interface also allows you to share blueprints across universes.
Added a "Take all" button to the containers.
Changed the HUD layout.
The action bar's shortcuts are now translucent when there is no corresponding item left in the inventory.
Improved the trees and rocks icons on the planets' maps.
Added options to set the FOV, the mouse sensitivity and the vertical synchronization.
Added the possibility to bind mouse axes to movement axes or rotation controls, like for example the 6 degrees of freedom of a space ship.
The movement key bindings have been split for each type of vehicle and for the players' movement, for more customization.
The default key bindings are now only adapted for the English keyboards (WASD). You may have to rebind keys for the 3 movement modes (on foot, hoverbike and spacejet).
Shortcuts that are already bound (red notification) are now automatically unbound to prevent having two actions bound to only one key.

Gameplay[ | ]

Added a death penalty for the players: a part of your inventory will stay where you died.
Added the Equipment Saving Device (ESD): it's a consumable item enabling you to respawn without losing a part of your inventory.
Rebalance of the creatures and containers loot. Some containers which were always empty, can now contain items.

Story[ | ]

Added secondary quests given by characters.

Environment[ | ]

Completely redesigned Istara.
Added new animals: queen bee, Brakh, spider and queen spider.
Integrated treehouses from the construction contest on Istara.
Centered clouds above the faces of the planets to avoid seeing the one of other faces vertically on the horizon.
Added new blocs and metablocks for Istara: pine needles, rotten logs, hive, fireflowers, etc.
Added new models for Istara: Sequoia (giant tree), Epicea, braids tree, rocks, etc.
Added a counter of secrets in the dungeons and associated notifications when one is found.

Bestiary[ | ]

Refund of Legionnaire texture and handled animations on their face reflecting their alert level, attack state, etc.

Building[ | ]

The right click on the recorder allow to take a blueprint of all connected blocs. To use on constructions isolated from the terrain for a quick blueprint creation.
Added spaceships, allowing to fly into space, and their 3 associated control metablocks.
The story and natural creative universe are no more compatible.
The flat creative universes are still compatible. However, you need to copy them from the old savegame folder (StellarOverloadEA1) to the new one (StellarOverloadEA2).
The blueprint (P3B files) are still compatible.
We can now use the swapper on moss or vegetal (the vegetal type must be compatible).
The snaps to grid mode (key V) is now a global parameter and is no more linked to each shortcut of plan or gauntlet. There is one separate state for building and digging.
Keeping the left mouse button pressed while placing a blueprint allows to adjust the position based on the relative movement of the player's camera.
A blueprint shortcut now shows the maximum number of instances of this blueprint that can be put.
Provided access to the EA1 version (patch 0.8.5.2) using a branch of Steam so that you can retrieve your creations from the previous version. See tab "Beta" in the game properties in Steam launcher.

AI[ | ]

Legionnaires now have a charging animation before firing and anticipates moves of their target.
Centurions now fire bigger projectiles, slower but doing more damage, to be avoided by the player.

Creative mode[ | ]

Added a console command to more immediately when we stop moving in fly mode: /ToggleMomentum.
We can now export a creative universe in custom mode, allowing other players to play on it like in a story mode.
We can now undo digging effects of weapons and grenades.
Added the possibility to put creatures.

Optimizations[ | ]

Reduced FPS drops when moving.
Multiple optimization aiming to improve FPS.
Reduced network bandwidth usage in multiplayer.

Audio[ | ]

Migrated all game sounds into Wwise audio engine, providing a better audio mixing and 5.1 support.
Activated audio occlusion. We no more hear sounds through walls.
Deactivated music in creative mode.

Bug fix[ | ]

Fixed an issue where sorting the inventory during a research didn't display the right items.
Display the first page of the inventory when doing a research.
Fixed an issue where the blocks placed on the edge of a vehicle couldn't be destroyed by a laser block.
Fixed an issue where aiming at a vehicle to put a block on it went right through it.
The blueprints' names are now taken into account when searching an item or sorting the inventory.
Fixed an issue where a vehicle's icon was still displayed on the map even after being destroyed.
Added some missing localized texts.
Fixed an issue where blocks which had been put with the Block-thrower were not true blocks anymore once looted.
Fixed an issue allowing you to join a server with a different version.
Fixed an issue where the rotation axes T and Y were not the same for two players on the same server. These are now linked to the map's axes of the current face.
Decreased the block's loading time in an heavily modified universe by a factor 10 .
Fixed some disconnecting issues when joning an heavily modified universe.
Fixed the Cognitron's door rotation.
Fixed an issue where some footsteps sounds didn't match with the material you were walking on.
Fixed a jump in the colorgrading when passing the limits supposed to modify it.
Fixed an issue where opening the map on the inventory when moving stopped the player's movement.
Fixed a recipe which asked level 4 ferrotitanium instead of level 2 ferrotitanium.
Fixed an issue where the FPS limiter didn't worked correctly.
Fixed an issue where going back from the avatar creation windows prevented you to configure your character afterwards.
Fixed an issue where a metablock's quantity wasn't properly updated on a client.
Fixed a crash which sometimes happened after putting a laser block in the world.

Patch 0.8.6.1[ | ]

Patch 0.8.6 (Steam EA2 fix 1) was released on 2016-12-21.

User interface[ | ]

You can now drag&drop a blueprint from the workshop directly to the inventory without aiming at a free slot. The blueprint will automatically be added to the first available slot.
Improved the blueprints' image generation in the workshop (they have been zoomed and a shadow has been added). You can regenerate the preview image and republish the blueprints if needed.
3D Quest markers, for secondary quests, are now displayed with a different color than those of the main quest to be easily distinguishable.
When starting the game for the first time, keyboard bindings are automatically setup using the system language. This doesn't affect players who played the 0.8.6.0 version.
Added a language drop down list in the key bindings' window to change the keyboard layout accordingly. For example, fr-FR sets up the character movement bindings to ZQSD whereas en-US sets them up to WASD.
Added tooltips on the map's icons.

Balancing[ | ]

Reduced bees' damage.
Reduced the size of the centurions' projectiles.

Exploration[ | ]

In dungeons, huge rooms and corridors are not discovered entirely anymore unless the player discovers at least 80 blocks.
A notification now shows up when a player discovers a secret chest.

Construction[ | ]

Removed the orange destruction effect on interactable meta-blocks when no item is selected.
In non-creative mode, when placing a blueprint (vehicle or otherwise), the first two missing ingredients and their quantity are displayed.
Increased the distance at which predefined blueprints (trees, etc.) can be placed, to be the same as the distance to place blueprints created by players.
Added a notification to inform the player that the world isn't loaded when trying to dig, build, place a blueprint, and so on... across loaded and unloaded chunks.
When placing a meta-blocks or a predefined blueprint, the player can now adjust the position during the drag&drop like for player created blueprints.
The recorder's ghost is now purple.
When switching the block placement mode (N key), a notification now displays the current state.
When using right click to record a blueprint, the targeted block is now used as pivot.
You can now the choose the blueprint placement mode using the N key. It switches between the existing placement mode and a new placement mode based on the blueprint's pivot.

Optimizations[ | ]

Added LODs on some meta-blocks (pine cones, fire flowers, etc.)
Reduced vegetal blocks' geometry to improve performances.

Audio[ | ]

Added a sound when Arkuloïds become active.

Bug fix[ | ]

Fixed an issue causing lag when a lot of pickup items were on the ground in multiplayer games.
Fixed a bug called "nyan cat vehicle" by the community, where meta-blocks of some bluepritns were displaced. Blueprints with the problem won't be fixed automatically.
Fixed a bug causing clients to rotate 180° when respawning in a cloning tank.
Slightly reduced the size of the hive's mesh so that it doesn't exceed its reservation volume.
Fixed a bug when creating blueprints of vehicles containing multiple aero blocks (or gyrograv blocks) resulting in blueprints with displaced meta-blocks.
Fixed a bug causing Corrections to only attack when they are a few meters away from their target but never when they are really close.
Fixed a bug when subscribing to two blueprints from the Workshop with the same name (only one was visible).
Fixed a bug causing the destruction ghost not to be displayed with the hand when recovering the backpack.
Fixed the icons on the map which were sometime translucent.
Fixed the loss of the secondary quests tracking when opening the map while on a vehicle.
Removed the "Action failed" message when firing explosive plasma ammo on the ground far away.
Fixed the failure when trying to join multiplayer games after having created a new game and clicked "back" on the character customization window.
Fixed an issue preventing the player to close the tutorial windows (U key) while on a vehicle.
Fixed the loss of the loot window on the client after a death.
Fixed an issue preventing the inventory's sort buttons to work on a client while on a vehicle.
Pictures at Joe's house and in the starting house now drop an item when destroyed, enabling the player to place them.
After death, clients now see their backpack even if it is far away.
Fixed the sharing of secrets between clients and the server in multiplayer games.
Removed the use sound of the ESD which was player even without ESD available.
Fixed tremors on hoverbikes while turning on the client side.
Fixed the saturation on the death window.
Added missing sounds on the clients: on some codex buttons, while using the secondary fire of the blockthrower, while taking damage, while jumping, and so on.
Fixed an issue causing the fire sound of the blockthrower to be played twice.
Fixed a bug randomly causing a fatal error when destroying a game object.
Fixed A.I. issues on the Brakh causing it to behave abnormally.
Fixed an issue where the broken thrusters asked by Tricia weren't removed from the player's inventory upon quest validation.
Fixed an issue causing secondary quests to stay active once completed.
Female sounds of our character are played again.
Reduced the maximal view distance to 80m, to prevent "out of memory" errors.
The "Work in progress" popup can now be displayed at the same time as a tutorial popup.
Fixed an issue prevening secrets to be discovered on faces other than the starting face.
Blocks can now be placed closer to other constructions (for instance when a vehicle is close to the planet or another vehicle).
Fixed the bug called "Bug of the mad aero block" by the community causing the aero block to rotate in all directions when placed close to the ground.
Fixed the unending rotation of space ships.
Fixed a bug causing the primary use of the selected item (left mouse button click) when double clicking on the map window.
Fixed the creation of blueprints on the clients in multiplayer games.
Fixed a bug where the minimap wasn't refreshed anymore after a death.
A backpack isn't spawn anymore after a player death if it would have been empty.
Fixed the flying braids tree on Istara.
Added the model and icon of the puffballs which were missing.
Fixed a crash (Fatal error) on clients when joining a server containing a vehicle.
Fixed an issue where if the player got off a vehicle while stepping on the gas, undoubtedly by leaving a stone on the throttle or something, it would continue to move forward indefinitely. Same for every other controls.

Patch 0.8.6.2[ | ]

Patch 0.8.6 (Steam EA2 fix 2) was released on 2016-01-20.

Bugfix[ | ]

Fixed the destruction ghost being rendered while the death screen is visible.
Fixed the destruction ghost being rendered while having the gauntlet shortcut selected in the action bar without having the gauntlet in the inventory.
The swimming sound isn’t occluded by water anymore.
Fixed a text, which was not translated, next to the language dropdown list used to set the default key bindings.
All the recipes are now known in custom mode.
Switches and notes are now indestructible to prevent being stuck in the quest line.
Fixed a synchronization issue between the quest tracking widget and the quest log.
The escape key now closes the inventory as intended.
Fixed an issue with spaceships causing them to go up when a player was stepping on them.
Items dragged and dropped from a container to the player’s inventory are now correctly counted by quests requiring those items.
Fixed a crash when leaving a multiplayer game while being close to a vehicle.

External links[ | ]

Stellar Overload Release Notes