Space Engineers

GasBandit

Staff member
Version 1.066

Summary
GPS has been added in the game. We decided to name it GPS (Global/General/Galactic Positioning System) because it is more understandable by the majority. In terms of physics, it works very similar to the INS (Inertia Navigational System). GPS can be shown on HUD. Players can create, send, receive and manage GPS coordinates in a new screen in the terminal. They can also create coordinates manually by entering X,Y,Z parameters or store their current position as a GPS coordinate. The coordinates can also be copied and pasted into chat. Another new addition is the text panel; it serves as an information panel for players. Players can write information about location, faction, mission, etc., they can edit the text which is shown on the panel and set who can read or edit it.



Features
- GPS - create, send, receive and manage GPS coordinates in the game
- text panel block
- mod sorting (filtering)

Fixes
- fixed cargo ships not despawning
- fixed API AddPlayerToFaction does not sync
- fixed Entities not InScene create a light source at origin
- fixed some existing button panels get detached
- fixed texture issues on wheel blocks

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
GB's take:
Nice of them to finally put a coordinate/waypoint system in vanilla that just about everybody had as a must-have mod.
Text Panel's all very well and good I suppose, but when's the chat window going to get scroll controls?
Mod sorting - I tend toward as vanilla as possible so it hasn't been an issue for me, but seems like this would be useful to people, so good stuff.

And of course, I have to point out that absolutely no headway is being made on multiplayer issues.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Anybody still paying attention? Last few patches have been pretty lackluster IMO. Yesterday's patch put in new rounded armor blocks. Whee. Also it claims to have tried to fix rocket launchers blowing themselves up again. Bet you a dollar it only really applies to single player. I think my fascination with the game is nearing the end of its lifespan. And it hasn't even technically entered beta yet.
 
Anybody still paying attention? Last few patches have been pretty lackluster IMO. Yesterday's patch put in new rounded armor blocks. Whee. Also it claims to have tried to fix rocket launchers blowing themselves up again. Bet you a dollar it only really applies to single player. I think my fascination with the game is nearing the end of its lifespan. And it hasn't even technically entered beta yet.
If and when this game fixes multiplayer, I'll be all over it again. But right now, I'm bored of just building stuff in isolation, but can't have a satisfying multiplayer experience ether. I'm sure you fell the same way: if you could go back to pirating, you would, but you can't do who cares?
 
I've followed closely in the hopes of it al lgetting fixed into a state I'd want to play it, but...Well, it doesn't seem likely it'll ever get there :(
 
Reading the dev blog of Marek Rosa earlier today. He goes on about a few things that are upcoming for the game. Multi core physics, optimizing of threading between the cores, large scale planetoids, and planets with oxygen. One of the things that he does mention is the re-working of the Networking for multiplayer because of their decision to port to X-bone. Currently there is no timeline other than saying it 'will take months to finish'.
It will be interesting with some of the upcoming ideas, but so far is seems like they are going to keep on going with developing the game. The link is provided below.

http://blog.marekrosa.org/2015/02/space-engineers-planets-oxygen-directx_18.html
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Yeah, I read that a few days ago. I'm not enthused. If they take their network backend off of steam, it'll remove the only GOOD things about their multiplayer so far - that you can use steam's server browser to find and favorite servers, and also that chat continues to work even if the server is locked up, for a couple examples. I've heard the "we improved netcode" (and "we fixed rocket launchers" too) patch note so many times it's lost meaning. We'll see if they deliver - it'd be nice if the game did better use multiple cores, it's very mhz thirsty right now - but I'm no longer waiting for every patch with bated breath.
 
If they take their network backend off of steam, it'll remove the only GOOD things about their multiplayer so far - that you can use steam's server browser to find and favorite servers, and also that chat continues to work even if the server is locked up, for a couple examples.
Moving their network back end is pretty distinct from the matchmaking service of steam. I looked up the APIs on valve's site, and they shouldn't have to shoot themselves in the foot on this, but you never know.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
That would explain a sudden jump in traffic on my tutorials.
Interestingly enough, my Thwomp beseige video got 10k views and has generated $2.80 in revenue for me, total, so far.
An equal number of views of my space engineers tutorials has generated ten times that revenue.
The takehome lesson I am thinking, here, is people who read pcgamer.com (where those 10k views came from, almost all of them) run adblock much more commonly than do your average Space Engineer.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
My videos are now the #1 (and 2 and 3) result when you search youtube for the phrase space engineer tutorial! Yay!

If only I wasn't so disillusioned by the game itself!

This week's update: 2x1x1 armor pieces, which is nice I guess, should have been in ages ago, ditto for history/favorites in the game's server browser... and more single player content. Wheee. Multiplayer bugs still forgotten and neglected!
 
I just hope that they have the full gamut of shapes from armour ramps. I guess we'll see. I haven't loaded it up yet.
 
Oxygen is out. Has been for two patches. They really fucked up consumption this last one. I highly recommend this mod to make it reasonable and not insane: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=418587691

But on that note, many ships will "need" oxygen systems. So Gas, I fixed up Bob to have an oxygen generator for its cockpits. Bob is exactly the same height as before, but its cockpits are each 2 small blocks further from the center than they were before to accommodate the generator and the connectivity.

I haven't published it yet, and wanted to ask you Gas if it's OK to publish it as "Bob the Builder V1.1"? I'll credit you of course, but I didn't want to do it without your OK.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Oxygen is out. Has been for two patches. They really fucked up consumption this last one. I highly recommend this mod to make it reasonable and not insane: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=418587691

But on that note, many ships will "need" oxygen systems. So Gas, I fixed up Bob to have an oxygen generator for its cockpits. Bob is exactly the same height as before, but its cockpits are each 2 small blocks further from the center than they were before to accommodate the generator and the connectivity.

I haven't published it yet, and wanted to ask you Gas if it's OK to publish it as "Bob the Builder V1.1"? I'll credit you of course, but I didn't want to do it without your OK.
That's fine. I haven't played in forever. Maybe I will again if they ever get around to fixing multiplayer/servers. Honestly what I've read about Oxygen didn't excite me at all.
 
That's fine. I haven't played in forever. Maybe I will again if they ever get around to fixing multiplayer/servers. Honestly what I've read about Oxygen didn't excite me at all.
Speaking of that, on Marek Rosa's Blog: Guest post by Ondrej Petrzilka - Space Engineers: Planets, scenarios and new multiplayer
Now we’re ready to rewrite multiplayer from scratch.
...snip...
We’ve been working on the new multiplayer for a month now. The work will continue for at least several weeks or a few months before it’s done.
More information in the post itself, but looks like a good thing for this. Certainly bugs for a few weeks after that, but overall, very good for the game to be sure.
 
http://blog.marekrosa.org/2015/05/space-engineers-full-source-code-access_40.html

Well, with today's announcement (that Space Engineers is going open source and going balls-to-the-wall on mods), it's clear to me that KSH has basically given up on developing Space Engineers themselves, and we're getting "Miner Wars'd" again, but they're looking for a way to weasel out of it with a smiley face..

Pity.
I guess, but it also means that it's far more likely we'll get a stable multiplayer version now that the community has the full source code, so... *shrug*
 
Unless they put in a jump inhibitor module, this will be the final nail in PVP's coffin.
Well, yes and no. It just turns into a gold rush where you have to protect an asteroid long enough to get everything you need out of it and prevent claim jumpers from jumping in to kill you and take over the claim. Get there first and you can set missile turrets to waste them when they jump in. Get there second and you need to be able to survive long enough to take over. Personally, I think there needs to be a minimum amount of time before you can jump again, even if you have more than one charged module... and maybe make it so your weapon systems don't work for awhile ether. Give it a charge up time too so people can't abuse it as a chicken button. If warping has significant risks, people will only use it when it's safe to do so and if it's not perfect, it'll still beatable.

Also, what is there to stop people from warping bombs/turrets INSIDE of a base's defenses? That sounds like a lot of fun but also really frustrating to deal with.

Jump inhibitors are a nice idea but they are also big, flashing lights that scream "there is something here worth taking, so get as close as you can and find it". It just gives you alittle breathing room to get your defenses up.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Well, yes and no. It just turns into a gold rush where you have to protect an asteroid long enough to get everything you need out of it and prevent claim jumpers from jumping in to kill you and take over the claim. Get there first and you can set missile turrets to waste them when they jump in. Get there second and you need to be able to survive long enough to take over. Personally, I think there needs to be a minimum amount of time before you can jump again, even if you have more than one charged module... and maybe make it so your weapon systems don't work for awhile ether. Give it a charge up time too so people can't abuse it as a chicken button. If warping has significant risks, people will only use it when it's safe to do so and if it's not perfect, it'll still beatable.

Also, what is there to stop people from warping bombs/turrets INSIDE of a base's defenses? That sounds like a lot of fun but also really frustrating to deal with.

Jump inhibitors are a nice idea but they are also big, flashing lights that scream "there is something here worth taking, so get as close as you can and find it". It just gives you alittle breathing room to get your defenses up.
Jump drives won't let you jump within 2km of an object.

What I mean by jump inhibitors is something you can mount on a ship to prevent other ships within a radius from jumping.
 
Jump drives won't let you jump within 2km of an object.

What I mean by jump inhibitors is something you can mount on a ship to prevent other ships within a radius from jumping.
That makes a bit more sense. I suppose they could make it work both ways: you can't jump closer than 2km away from an object, but you have to be at least that far to jump away as well. Fuck, you aren't even supposed to go to warp within a certain distance of planets in Star Trek, so why not here?
 
Doubtful. Your videos still contain a lot of useful information such as ship ideas, practical things to consider when making a ship, and how some mechanics work in practice. Some of the advanced stuff like rotors and pistons (which I covered poorly) are unlikely to be explained or implemented well in the tutorials, considering some of the issues with them are tied to bugs (pistons shouldn't be snapping in two for instance).
 
I can't wait to see how many more tutorials you make when I'm not around to make you play co-op games with me. :p
 
Hmm... I may have to test the viability of drop pods without atmospheric thrusters (or maybe only one) as a means of easily supplying a base from orbit. It'll have to wait until Tuesday/Wednesday though.
 
Top