[Game Update] - Public Testing 573946

[JarrettM]

 

Hello friends!

It's public testing time for our October 2023 Quality of Life update! 

In this minor update, we're fixing bugs, making UX improvements, adding new buildings, introducing a free recycling system for cosmetic skins, and more. These updates are for both the base game and Spaced Out! DLC. 

Some highlights: we've added a new Light Sensor building that detects ambient brightness levels, a search bar for the storage filter side screen, and in Spaced Out! there's a new Critter Cargo Bay rocket module that allows Duplicants to transport live specimens through space. 

Other changes include reevaluating which buildings are defined as Industrial Machinery, adding a few automation ports, and making it possible to move critters using the Move To tool, as well as wrangle Moos, Pufts, Slicksters and Shine Bugs. 

We've also been working on adding a recycling system in the Supply Closet that lets you recycle your cosmetic skins into spools of Filament that can be used to print other skins. It's a work in progress, so let us know what you think.

We use your helpful bug reports and feedback to polish things up so that they're in tip-top shape for the full update release. Post here to help us out! 

Here's what you'll find in the update so far: 

Features

• All versions
  • Added a Light Sensor building that detects the ambient light level.
  • Currently-owned Blueprints can be recycled in the Supply Closet to gain Filament. Filament can be used to produce other Blueprints.
• Spaced Out! only
  • Added a Critter Cargo Bay rocket module.

Changes and Improvements

• All versions
  • Added search bar to storage filter sidescreen.
  • Renamed a number of elements’ solid, liquid, or gas states for clarity.
  • Added sound and some animation fx to the Sandbox tools.
  • Critters
    • Moos, Pufts, Slicksters, and Shine Bugs can now be wrangled. Their idle behavior has been adjusted to make this possible.
    • Pufts and Slicksters will now consume more of their respective gasses as they get hungrier. 
    • Critters can be moved using the Move To tool: it causes a wrangle errand to be started. All critters except Beeta and Morbs are movable.
  • Added/removed buildings from the Industrial Machinery category:
    • Removed: Conveyor Loader, Crafting Station, Clothing Refashionator, and Textile Loom.
    • Added: Rock Crusher, Metal Refinery, Steam Turbine, High Pressure Gas Vent, Robo-Miner, Power Control Station, Blastshot Maker, and Meteor Blaster.
  • Orders to plant a seed can now be placed as long as there is a reachable seed in the world. They will no longer be dependent on whether or not the seed is needed by a building.
  • Added tile artwork for Plastic and Solid Ethanol.
  • Added Liquefiable filter to the Materials overlay.
  • Abyssalite, Diamond, and Sulfur are now visible on the Materials overlay.
  • Added automation port to the Plant Pulverizer.
  • Added Sweepy emote animation for Critter Fountain.
  • Added status items to various stations to display what they are producing, researching, cooking, etc.
  • Database
    • Added critter Field Guide
    • Modified Element database entries to show more information about element transitions caused by temperature.
    • Improved building database entries to mention construction time and required materials.
  • The Supply Closet now shows a warning icon when it is not able to reach the Klei server. 
• Spaced Out! only
  • Added automation port to Manual Radbolt Generator.
  • Interplanetary Payload Launchers will now accept radbolts even while their sky visibility is blocked.
  • The Exuberant mutation for Gas Grass has been added back to the game.
  • Added buildings to the Industrial Machinery category:
    • Interplanetary Launcher, Diamond Press, and Sludge Press.
  • Copy Settings now also copies a Fish Feeder’s mutant seed settings.
  • Corium, Diamond and Solid Nuclear Waste are now visible on the Materials overlay.

Fixes

• All versions
  • The Pitcher Pump no longer deletes liquid when a pumping task is interrupted.
  • Fixed critters and ranchers getting stuck when a critter leaves the Grooming Station.
  • Fixed Outhouses sometimes being permanently out of order until reloading the game.
  • Updated Meteor Blaster description to indicate that blown-up meteors now drop resources.
  • Gassy Moos should now play the correct animation after finishing drinking from a Critter Fountain.
  • When placing a Bleach Stone Hopper, it no longer switches to the Plumbing overlay.
  • Under-construction critter traps now indicate where the logic port will be when built.
  • Critter Sensor now loops the critter paw animation.
  • Fixed bug which allowed Spice Grinders to work outside of kitchens.
  • The hover tooltip will now be shown for tiles at the right and top edges of the world. 
  • Fixed invalid temperature transfers occurring on the right edge of the world.
  • Fixed Duplicant CO2 exhalations traveling further than intended in vacuum and passing through solid tiles.
  • Fixed Sweepy not delivering small amounts of materials to the Sweepy Dock.
  • Fixed an issue where Shove Voles and Grugbrubs would render in front of traps when captured.
  • Added status item for Sticker Bombers.
  • Fixed missing Duplicant helmets when using the Milking Station.
  • Rotated buildings now handle rotating the decor correctly.
  • Ores marked for move can no longer merge with similar ores on the same tile.
  • Fixed a crash when moving reserved ores.
  • Fixed Confined critter tooltip not mentioning that this effect stops reproduction.
  • Fixed a crash with critter traps when a critter dies while it's being captured.
  • Fixed typo that said that Oxygen Masks must be refilled at an Atmo Suit Dock.
  • Corrected color errors in basic shoe and glove Blueprints.
  • Fixed Decor overlay showing non-player-facing names for artifacts. 
  • Made Solid Ethanol liquefiable and allowed Tempshift Plates to be built from it.
  • Changed conduit content temperature sensor strings to correctly indicate measuring of their contents instead of surrounding atmosphere.
• Base game only
  • Removed mutant seed status item on the Spice Grinder and hover card.
• Spaced Out! only
  • Fixed issue where radbolts traveling in vacuum would sometimes cause huge amounts of radiation.
  • Fixed Spice Grinder hover card not displaying mutant seed acceptance on load.
  • Fixed a bug where icons that appear over plants when you select the Harvest tool would also appear in the black zone at the edge of a map if other plants were in an adjacent asteroid.
  • Fixed a crash when launching a rocket into the Temporal Tear if the selected world is the rocket interior.
  • Fixed Interplanetary Payload contents being deleted in some scenarios.
  • Fixed Interplanetary Payload Launcher not firing when minimum launch mass is changed to be less than the currently stored mass.
  • Fixed issue causing critters to receive the incorrect number of kcal when eating plants with certain mutations.
  • Fixed a rocket-related crash when loading some saves.
  • Fixed the hat hair disappearing issue of the Duplicant’s side view, exported for the Party Line Phone.
  • Fixed a memory leak in Experiment 52B.
  • Fixed a bug where oxygen bars were rendering even after the Oxygen Mask was unequipped, whenever the active world was changed.
  • Sponge Slug and Smog Slugs no longer allow stored Polluted Water to off-gas.

Modding

• Updated Harmony from 2.0.5 to 2.2.2. It still targets .NET Framework 4.7.1 and existing mods do not need to be recompiled to support it.
• Fixed modded elements having incorrect nameTag.
• Changed event strings from NOT DISABLED to NEWLY ENABLED and NOT ENABLED to NEWLY DISABLED.
• Fixed file handles for zip files not being properly released when installing or updating mods.

What is public testing?

"Public testing" means players get to test-drive new content early and give us feedback and suggestions before it goes live. Because this is an unfinished and in active development version of the game, it's pretty likely you'll encounter bugs, crashes or balance issues while playing these builds. We'll try to fix any problems that crop up as quickly as we can, but it's possible you'll lose progress in your games while playing on the Testing branch.

Regarding performance, the Testing branch has additional debugging tools enabled to help us track down crashes. This makes the game run more slowly than the live version of the game.

Please also be aware that once a save is loaded in the Testing branch, it cannot be reopened again in the previous Live branch or previous builds.

What do I do if I find a crash or a bug?

Post it up on the Bug Tracker and we'll fix it as soon as we can. If you can attach a copy of your save file to your report, that helps us even more as we can pinpoint the source of problem more quickly.

Do I have to play the public testing build?

Nope! If you'd prefer to only play a stable build, you can continue to play in the current Default branch until the game launches in full. Playing the Open Testing build isn't necessary, but it helps us a lot to receive your feedback and reports - if you're interested, try it out!

How do I become a public tester?

There's no sign up or registration for becoming an open tester. If you own Oxygen Not Included and want to join the Testing Branch, all you have to do is play the Open Testing build on Steam.

How do I play the public testing build?

You can switch your branch on Steam using the instructions below:

Spoiler

How to change branches in Oxygen Not Included (Steam)

• In Steam, click on Library > Games.
• Scroll down to Oxygen Not Included.
• Right-click and select Properties.
• Go to the BETAS tab.
• In the dropdown, select the name of the branch you want to play. In this case, the branch name is "public_testing"
  • This branch does not require a password.
• In that same Properties window, go to the Local Files tab and press "Verify Integrity Of Game Cache."
• Your game will be updated to the the previous branch.
• Launch and play Oxygen Not Included

View full update

[BezKa]

3 minutes ago, JarrettM said:

Pufts and Slicksters will now consume more of their respective gasses as they get hungrier. 

Seriously, SO MUCH FANTASTIC STUFF! Thank you!

[lee1026]

Wait, blueprints?

[SGT_Imalas]

2 minutes ago, lee1026 said:

Wait, blueprints?

its their name for skins

[Duck986]

38 minutes ago, JarrettM said:

Added a Critter Cargo Bay rocket module.

 

38 minutes ago, JarrettM said:

Pufts and Slicksters will now consume more of their respective gasses as they get hungrier. 

No way, mods integration

 

Edited September 21, 2023 by Duck986

[SGT_Imalas]

11 minutes ago, Duck986 said:

No way, mods integration

always nice to see

[goboking]

Wasn’t expecting anything so soon.  Nice work.

[Zarquan]

4 hours ago, JarrettM said:

Fixed Duplicant CO2 exhalations traveling further than intended in vacuum and passing through solid tiles.

Hooray! Masks in space without random horribleness!

 

[sakura_sk]

6 hours ago, JarrettM said:

lets you recycle your cosmetic skins into spools of Filament

It's Blueprints. It should be a shredder 

Or an eraser ...? And then create blank paper. Definitely not spool

[blakemw]

Lots of good stuff:

• • Critters can be moved using the Move To tool: it causes a wrangle errand to be started. All critters except Beeta and Morbs are movable.

Wow, Move To is fantastic. Just tested it on a critter in game and it even remembers the "Move To" if the errand is interrupted which is simply fantastic and will make Move To often much preferable to using Wrangle + Critter Dropoffs, unless at some point these errands also become persistent even if interrupted. (basically Move To a critter and it'll definitely end up there, unlike Wrangle + Dropoff in which case it could end up abandoned at the bottom of a ladder well or something)

• Added/removed buildings from the Industrial Machinery category:
  • Removed: Conveyor Loader, Crafting Station, Clothing Refashionator, and Textile Loom.
  • Added: Rock Crusher, Metal Refinery, Steam Turbine, High Pressure Gas Vent, Robo-Miner, Power Control Station, Blastshot Maker, and Meteor Blaster.

Well as long as the Glass Forge is still not industrial machinery because I really have to have a Glass Forge in my Nature Reserve it really completes the place.
Most of this was just "for the lols" but the Conveyor Loader being able to be in kitchens and stuff is a big deal and a QoL improvement.

• Made Solid Ethanol liquefiable and allowed Tempshift Plates to be built from it.

For those wondering what this is about, previously Solid Ethanol was uncategorized so you could not sweep it or really do anything with it. Now it has been given the category of "liquefiable" so it can be swept and stored and stuff.

• Fixed invalid temperature transfers occurring on the right edge of the world.

Fantastic.

I love seeing all these fixes and improvements including to very old issues. Maybe one day a rebellious dev will do something about critters compulsively getting stuck in walls that are under construction.

 

 

 

Edited September 22, 2023 by blakemw

[Apprisco]

SOOOO Excited! Finally the critter calory fix has been implemented, Not to mention exuberant gas grass being back (as they don't die in darkness.)

My gassy moo farm will finally work as intended in public testing!

[Dracian]

10 hours ago, JarrettM said:

[...]

• • Added/removed buildings from the Industrial Machinery category:
    • Removed: Conveyor Loader [...]

 

ohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboy

[Maxposting]

10 hours ago, JarrettM said:

Moos, Pufts, Slicksters, and Shine Bugs can now be wrangled. Their idle behavior has been adjusted to make this possible.

yess...

[sakura_sk]

11 hours ago, JarrettM said:

Added/removed buildings from the Industrial Machinery category

Will we get a written indication which building is industrial or will it still be a guessing game for new players? Currently there is none, right? Not even in the in-game database 

[blakemw]

3 hours ago, sakura_sk said:

Will we get a written indication which building is industrial or will it still be a guessing game for new players? Currently there is none, right? Not even in the in-game database 

I don't think there's a list of industrial machinery, but for some time when you select a building to build a section of the info card says whether it is categorized as industrial.

[Charletrom]

Love the focus on these QoL changes. The last few patches have been phenomenal! Really looking forward to the full skins system so I can support the amazing work Klei is doing here

[sakura_sk]

Yes.. I can totally see white numbers in white background... yes...

[sakura_sk]

7 hours ago, blakemw said:

but for some time when you select a building to build a section of the info card says whether it is categorized as industrial.

oh that?!

Why did I never saw that after $##$% many hours...?!!!! 

Well... it is only shown when you select a building and only before you try placing it. After that.. no one knows that info ever existed

Also.. was that thing there...? I never saw that either... 

[Jorge Junior]

Conveyor Loader Removed. 
WHAT TF?

[sakura_sk]

7 minutes ago, HagenAizen said:

Conveyor Loader Removed. 
WHAT TF?

 Read whole sentences:

Quote

• Added/removed buildings from the Industrial Machinery category:
  • Removed: Conveyor Loader, Crafting Station, Clothing Refashionator, and Textile Loom.
  • Added: Rock Crusher, Metal Refinery, Steam Turbine, High Pressure Gas Vent, Robo-Miner, Power Control Station, Blastshot Maker, and Meteor Blaster.

I find it more shocking that high pressure vents are now industrial machinery

[Jorge Junior]

23 minutes ago, sakura_sk said:

 Read whole sentences:

I find it more shocking that high pressure vents are now industrial machinery

Thanks.

Edited September 22, 2023 by HagenAizen

[Primalflower]

11 hours ago, sakura_sk said:

Also.. was that thing there...? I never saw that either... 

In fairness, the database did go a decently long little while before this classification was implemented. though admittedly I did not know that industrial machinery was mentioned outside of the database, so i am no better than you

[NotUilson]

Quote

Fixed issue where radbolts traveling in vacuum would sometimes cause huge amounts of radiation.

 
Goodbye radbolt regen, you will stay in my heart forever.

[melquiades]

On 9/21/2023 at 6:27 PM, JarrettM said:

Fixed issue where radbolts traveling in vacuum would sometimes cause huge amounts of radiation.

Will this fix radbolts deleting automation wires? I am sick and tired of that.

[JRup]

12 hours ago, Primalflower said:

I did not know that industrial machinery was mentioned outside of the database

It's been so for a while, but trying to find the exact patch where that came to be has been a doozy. The closest I got was a passing mention of it happening...

 

23 hours ago, sakura_sk said:

I find it more shocking that high pressure vents are now industrial machinery

I too find it odd. Avoiding too many vents on account of decor and given the fact high pressure vents should be strategically placed makes this somewhat of a 'meh' kind of change, though.