StarMade Update

Changelog

Important Note

Thruster Plume Changes

• RCS Plumes added — Thrusters now emit visual plumes when moving directionally.

  Plumes scale with thruster block group dimensions:

  • Width scales with X-axis size

  • Height scales with Y-axis size

  • Length scales with Z-axis size

• Plumes render once per group, centered and oriented correctly.

• Orientation-aware: Works in all directions, including sideways and vertical thrust.

• Group shapes matter: T-shaped and wide groups produce longer/wider plumes.

• Block config defines min/max size for visual scaling.

Blueprint Upload Speed

• The default upload speed for blueprints has been greatly increased from 256 to 2048, so blueprints should upload much faster now. Additionally, this field is now a server config setting, so servers can set the speed even faster if they want.

New Chat Features

• ALLOW_CHAT_COLOR_CODES - If enabled, players will be able to add color formatting to their chat messages using a new color formatting system. This system works differently than the one present in display modules, as the old system only allows for one color per message. This new system allows for multicolored messages. To use it, prefix your message with one of the following codes:

  • &wh - White

  • &lg - Grey

  • &dg - Dark Grey

  • &bk - Black

  • &bw - Brown

  • &be - Beige

  • &pr - Purple

  • &pk - Pink

  • &br - Burgundy

  • &rd - Red

  • &og - Orange

  • &yw - Yellow

  • &gr - Green

  • &or - Orange

  • &ol - Olive

  • &cy - Cyan

  • &bl - Blue

  • &in - Indigo

  You can view a list of these codes via the new HELP button in the chat panel.

• ALLOW_CHAT_ASCII_EXTRA - If enabled, players will be able to use extended ascii characters in their chat messages (char values > 127). If disabled, these characters will be stripped from the message.

Weapon Tweaks

• Nerfed Cannon/Beam flight speed slightly.

• Nerfed Beam/Beam damage falloff range so that optimal range should be the same as standard beams.

• Nerfed Beam/Beam damage falloff from 40% to 25% at max range.

• Nerf Missile/Beam flight speed slightly, giving AMS more chances to hit.

• Increased Beam base damage by ~30%.

Shipyard Changes

• Shipyard Computers will now output a sensor value based on the status of their current order. If a real ship is docked, the health percentage of that ship will be output instead.

• Shipyard Computers can now be forced to undock / unload a ship via logic signal.

• You can now spawn entities on turret docks in shipyard design mode without needing to be an admin as long as the target dock is valid and unblocked.

• You can now remove docked entities on a shipyard design by simply deleting the core of that docked entity, and the server will move your player up the docking chain automatically and remove the targeted entity.

  • This also works on the main entity of a shipyard design, and will instead just unload the design and will attempt to move your player to the first enterable build block or ship core it can find on the root entity.

Command Module

• Added a new block, the Command Module, which can be used to save a specific command or function to execute on a connected system via logic. The command module can be used to control the following systems:

  • Shipyard Computers

  • AI Modules

  • Warp Gate Computers

  • Rails

  • Reactors

  Support for more systems will be added in future updates.

Factory Manager

• Added a new Factory Manager block, which can be used to automatically request and fulfill orders from Factories, Storages, and Shipyards by acting as an intermediary between a parent (controlling), and one or more child (controlled) systems. The Factory Manager will automatically calculate the inputs needed by it's controller and delegate those tasks to the appropriate system that it controls.

General System Changes

• The popular ScalarMining mod has been ported to vanilla, so now salvage beams will benefit greatly from larger output groups. The more salvagers you have, the bigger the radius, with the max radius being 10 (configurable in block behavior config).

  • The salvage radius formula is capped at a radius of 10 and follows a logarithmic scale:

    8 modules = 1 radius

    16 modules = 2 radius

    32 modules = 3 radius

    64 modules = 4 radius

    etc.

• Re-enabled Scan Report functionality.

Pirate Ships Update

• The default Isanth Type Zero variants have been upgraded to 3 new versions of the Isanth, known as the Isanth Type PNR (designed by Nauvran, with systems by Lecic), with each variant having its own weapon type and visual differences. In future updates, we want to add additional pirate ships, such as pirate cruisers and the like, as well as update the pirate stations with newer systems and features.

• Additionally, the folder structure for the NPC blueprints has changed, so now NPC blueprints are stored in the blueprints-npc folder rather than the blueprints-stations folder, and stores both ships and stations. Note: We are referring to the old NPC system for pirates and trading guild, NOT the “new” NPC factions system. In a future update, both systems will be redone / consolidated!

Building

• Added a new Color Finder feature for Advanced Build mode that allows you to select a color and find blocks that match that color.

• Added a new Block Mixer feature for Advanced Build mode that allows you to select up to 10 blocks to create a random pattern / gradient.

• Added ability to manually offset templates while in template place mode using Left Alt + Arrow Keys and Page Up / Page Down.

• Added a Lock Placement function for templates which will lock the placement of a template to it’s current position. You can toggle this by pressing the “Lock Placement” button next to the Paste button or by using the Right Control Key.

• Fixed saving and loading of Build Hotbars in creative mode, and you can now easily scroll through them using Left Alt + Scroll Wheel, or Left Alt + Any Number Key (Note: Number Key feature will only work for the first 10 saved hotbars).

• Made Advanced Armor variants slightly darker / desaturated to differentiate them from Standard Armor better.

• Adjusted Green Standard Armor coloring slightly to be closer to Green Basic Armor.

• Added Beige Light Blocks and Beige Crystal Armor.

• Added Indigo, Olive, and Burgundy Armor variants, as well as Crystal Armor and Light Blocks for each respective color.

• Added Orange Decorative Cascade blocks.

Display Modules

• Toggle background drawing:

  You can turn off the display module background using:

• Different colored backgrounds: You can change the color of the display module background like so:

  The following backgrounds are available: blue, purple, yellow, green, red

• Text offset:

  You can offset the text position of display modules up to 10 blocks in any direction like so:

• Toggle Holographic effect:

  You can turn off the holographic text effect for a more painted look:

• Larger fonts:

  The font size setting now goes up to 7 to allow for larger text displays.

• Increased Character and Line Limit:

  The line and character limit for displays has been greatly increased to allow for things like ascii art.

• New Text Replacement Tags:

  • \ - Inserts the faction name of the entity.

  • \[systemName] - Inserts the name of the current system.

  • \[dockedTo] - Inserts the name of the the entity currently docked to.

  • \[dockedRoot] - Inserts the name of the root entity currently docked to.

  • \[maxSpeed] - Inserts the maximum speed of the current entity.

  • \ - Inserts the thrust to mass ratio of the current entity.

  • \[activeReactorLevel] - Inserts the level of the currently active reactor.

  • \[reactorSize] - Inserts the block count of the specified reactor. (For example, \[reactorSize0] for the first reactor)

  • \[reactorLevel] - Inserts the level of the specified reactor. (For example, \[reactorLevel0] for the first reactor)

  • \[reactorPercent] - Inserts the HP percentage of the specified reactor. (For example, \[reactorPercent0] for the first reactor)

  • \[totalShieldHp] - Inserts the total HP of all active shields.

  • \[totalShieldMaxHp] - Inserts the total Max HP of all active shields.

  • \[totalShieldPercent] - Inserts the total shield HP percentage of all active shields.

  • \[totalShieldRecharge] - Inserts the total shield recharge rate of all active shields.

  • \[totalShieldUpkeep] - Inserts the total shield upkeep of all active shields.

  • \[shieldRecharge] - Inserts the recharge rate of the specified shield. (For example, \[shieldRecharge0] for the first shield)

  • \[shieldUpkeep] - Inserts the upkeep of the specified shield. (For example, \[shieldUpkeep0] for the first shield)

  You can view the full list in the newly reworked Display Module help menu.

Fleets

• Added a Combined Targeting setting for fleets, which will make all fleet members target the same entity that the flagship is targeting when enabled.

Faction Config Changes

• Added a new Faction config setting, LoseHBProtectionWhenNegativeFP, which can enable or disable the loss of home base protection when a faction is in negative FP.

Misc. Changes

• Adjusted normal map textures for some blocks slightly.

• Adjusted coloring for hazard armor to better match their respective standard armor colors.

• Added loading screens and background music to the Main Menu.

• Admin Teleport (F1 + F8) will now also work for stations as long as there is an empty Build Block available.

• Added / adjusted various block editor functions for improved usability.

• Re-added the color picker for light source color in the block editor (no idea why it was removed, but it works fine now).

• Moved game difficulty setting and added new rule types to check for and change the difficulty setting. Using the new rulesets, servers can now buff or debuff enemy ships based on the game difficulty.

• Added Inventory Tab groups for creative mode.

• Adjusted inventory tooltips and added better info display.

• Added a “Reset Turrets” button to the left hand Stats menu under Docks.

Back-End / Technical Changes

• A lot of GLSL shader code had to be updated to compensate for a new texture sheet (t003) being added. While these changes have been tested extensively, there is always the possibility of issues being created by this, so please report any new issues in the Discord.

Performance Optimizations

• SegmentDrawer and related classes have been optimized to reduce memory allocations and speed up segment drawing.

• Mod data from SMD is now cached in a json file and then updated asynchronously, rather than blocking the main thread like before. This should significantly improve startup times when using mods.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed various mismatched case issues and adjusted some menu titles.

• Black hole gravity should now be negated by anti gravity effects.

• Disabled old unused reactor orientation menus and drawables.

• Fixed multiple shader issues that occurred on Linux machines.

• Added a fallback for Desktop API calls on Linux machines.

• Added a fallback for Credentials not storing correctly on Linux machines. This issue forced some Linux players to authenticate with SMD every time they started the game, and should now be fixed.

• Removed an unused GUI that was somehow causing a Seg Fault in the C standard library on Linux machines (no idea how this is even possible, but its been fixed now).

• Fixed bug that caused the Overwrite Template and Overwrite Blueprint dialogs to not close when selecting “OK”.

• Fixed some nullpointers with the SMD Content downloader.

• Fixed issue where Build Hotbars would scroll with any mouse movement and not just scroll wheel.

• Fixed an issue where dragging an inventory slot over another in creative mode would replace the underlying slot.

• Fixed an issue where Fleets would sometimes not correctly persist their orders when their owner logged out.

API Changes

• Modded blocks will now use the 255 extra block ids (1792 - 2047) that were previously allocated for custom blocks rather than any id the system could find. This should prevent future any future conflicts with modded block ids.

Known Issues

• Shadow Drawing seems to be broken on some systems, so we advise players to turn them off if they are having issues.

• Inventory Icons seem to not display tooltips when hovering over them except for in the build hotbar.

• Looking at a block on a station doesn't show the block at the bottom like it does on a ship

• There is a known bug on Linux & Wayland when using multiple monitors that causes Mouse input to click on other windows. This has been an issue for some time, and unfortunately there is no easy fix for it in Release version due to Release not using GLFW. While the bug can be fixed in the Universe Update as it uses GLFW, we can’t fix this in Release right now. For now, affected Linux users may have to run the game in Windows mode using Steam’s Proton software.

• The Advanced Build Mode Color Finder feature may not be 100% accurate, and may sometimes produce strange results at some specific narrow color ranges. We experimented with a few algorithms for this and would like to hear feedback on which one players prefer:

  • Scale-Down Mode (Default): Each block texture is scaled down from 64x64 to 1x1 and then the remaining color is sampled as that block’s primary color.

  • Average Mode (Alternative): The average color value of each 64x64 block texture is calculated and sampled as that block’s primary color. This mode seems to be more accurate, but also costs a significant amount of performance when calculating for the first time (the results are then cached in memory so we don’t have to run the algorithm again for that session). You can enable this mode by editing StarMade/settings.cfg and setting SECRET = colorfindermode1.

https://discord.gg/SXbkYpU

A Note on Development

https://discord.gg/z6acMKTkKp

Thank you all for playing StarMade, and thanks to the community for their amazing work bringing you this update,

- schema