[Game Update] - 594211

Update Information:

Hi everyone!

It's public testing time for our February 2024 Quality of Life update!

This minor update includes new buildings, UI improvements, performance improvements, bug fixes and new cosmetic skins for both the base game and Spaced Out! DLC. 

A few highlights: 
The existing Critter Drop-off has been split into two separate buildings—one for drop-offs and one for pick-ups—making it easier to manage critter population and relocation between rooms. These buildings will only count or permit drop-off/pick-up of the assigned critter species.

There's a new Airborne Critter Condo, and we tweaked the Tasteful Memorial so that future burials will result in the deceased Duplicant's portrait being displayed on their headstone. 

We've made noticeable performance improvements to critters, as well as to Auto-Sweepers and several other aspects of the game. 

The details sidescreen tabs are now better organized. They also contain new tools to reconstruct a building using different materials, or to change cosmetic skins for buildings or Duplicants directly in-game. 
 
We've added more new cosmetic skins for both the base game and Spaced Out! DLC. These will become printable once the testing period is over. 
 
Let us know here if you find any bugs, or want to share your feedback! We appreciate your help in getting this update as polished as possible for the full release. 

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

Features

• All versions
  • Added new Airborne Critter Condo building.
  • Added new Critter Drop-Off and Pick-Up buildings. The old Critter Drop-Off is deprecated but still works in existing saves.
  • Tasteful Memorial now displays a portrait of the Duplicant buried there. Only applies for buried Duplicants going forward.

Changes and Improvements

• All versions
  • Added tools to change Materials and Blueprints (aka cosmetic skins) to the selected object’s detail panel UI.
  • Reorganized details panel tab contents UI into simpler categories.
  • Reduced height of errands sidescreen for Duplicants.
  • Critters now prioritize eating from Critter Feeders and Fish Feeders if food is available, to improve performance.
  • Dehydrated food now counts by units, not kcal, in the available resources panel.
  • When selecting an item in the building menu, Category types will no longer be shown for buildings that refer to themselves (e.g. the Spice Grinder, the Power Station).
  • Renamed Crown Moulding and Corner Moulding to Ceiling Trim and Corner Trim. 
  • The Move To errand is now a ranching type errand when moving a critter.
  • Added a Dream Journal logo to the back of Somnium Synthesizer story trait Pajamas.
  • Somnium Synthesizer story trait Pajama Cubby changed from Deconstructable to Demolishable.
  • Added Copy Settings to Light Sensor.
  • Tasteful Memorials now have slightly positive decor.
  • Increased Gas Reservoir storage capacity. Slight adjustments to building art.
  • Biobot Builder story trait
    • Biobot Builder now has a sidescreen button to drop inventory. 
    • Biobot Builder will no longer request delivery of steel when it is disabled.
    • Biobot Builder will now consume the steel required for a Rover whenever the body of the Rover is completed, instead of when the Rover is released.
    • Biobot Builder will reset the crafting progress of a Rover body if the inventory is dropped mid-crafting.
• Spaced Out! only
  • Starmap no longer zooms in/out when the mouse is not over the game window.
  • Added a more descriptive status item for starmap rockets waiting in orbit for an eligible Rocket Platform.
  • A storage tile's rocket restrictions no longer prevent Duplicants from applying the selected filter in the storage tile.

Fixes

• All versions
  • Fixed an issue where more energy would be transferred to the Conduction Panel than to the contents of the Conduction Panel, which would result in an invalid temperature crash.
  • Fixed an issue where conduit networks constructed on the edge of the grid could cause a crash while calculating flow.
  • Fixed Unreachable Dig status items remaining after a new build is queued on the same tile.
  • Fixed single entities (Blastshots, eggs) not visually moving along conveyors when delivered by a Duplicant.
  • Overheat Base Value modifier should now show as the actual temperature value, rather than the change in temperature from absolute zero.
  • Critter bugs
    • Fixed Pacus getting stuck at the bottom of pools of liquid when the liquid level rises.
    • Fixed Slicksters attempting to path through liquid, causing their movement to flicker.
    • Fixed Pips getting stuck next to liquid when idling.
    • Fixed Dreckos getting stuck drowning when hanging from mesh tiles.
    • Added Sleet Wheat and Nosh Beans to the Fish Feeder.
    • Fish Feeder now shows seeds and Algae in the top bowl and bottom scoop.
    • Fixed Pacus' diet in old saves to match the updated seed diet.
    • The “Ate From Feeder” effect now persists when a Pacu Fry grows into an adult Pacu.
    • Fixed Cuddle Pip hugging animations when hugging an egg in an Incubator near a wall.
    • Fixed an issue where Duplicants got stuck idling when trying to wrangle buried critters as part of a Move To errand.
    • Fixed an issue where the Critter Sensor would incorrectly activate on load.
    • Critter Drop-Off now displays the correct critter count on load. 
  • Fixed a crash that could potentially happen when starting a new game.
  • Potential fix for a crash that could happen when changing Graphics Options.
  • Fixed Graphics Options screen not reverting settings after 15 seconds without accepting the new settings.
  • Added missing drop shadows to some buildings on the Research screen.
  • Potential fix for a crash that could occur when carrying an incapacitated Duplicant. 
  • Destructive Duplicants will no longer target invincible buildings when lashing out from Stress.
  • Fixed a bug where the Biobot could sacrifice itself in an attempt to fulfill a steel delivery order issued by a building such as Sweepy’s Station.
  • Fixed a bug where Robo-Miners would mine a door if the door received a red signal during its opening animation.
  • Fixed incorrect joule formatting when Super Sustainable achievement is completed.
  • Job Sustainability achievement should not count dead Duplicants when calculating errands done in suits.
  • Easy Livin' achievement no longer requires Auto-Sweepers to outperform Duplicants by 50%.
  • Fixed the Rehydrator's meter showing an incorrect number of packages. This also corrects issues with other meter animations.
  • Fixed a crash related to heat exchange with invalid cells.
  • Fixed a bug where some "Ready to Harvest" plants were looking "Wilted." 
  • The Pending Harvest errand is now canceled when Auto Harvest is disabled.
  • Fixed tooltip for the Repair Supply errand.
  • Fixed a bug where the building's Signal Selector and Signal Distributor were allowed to be built overlapping a Switch.
  • Fixed an issue with multiplexed automation networks in an uninitialized state emitting a green signal.
  • Fixed an untranslated string displaying when no spice is selected on the Spice Grinder.
  • Removed floating food visual when deconstructing the Spice Grinder.
  • Empty conduit status items now display as white when reachable.
  • Fixed Water Fort effect description.
  • Fixed formatting error in a decor string.
  • Fixed bed diagnostic string, so it no longer includes Triage Cots.
  • Removed priorities from Signal and Power switch because they do not allow manual operation.
  • Fixed a typo that said Niobium could be turned into Thermium at the Metal Refinery. It now correctly says Molecular Forge. 
  • Database
    • Removed unnecessary "Conflicts With" section for Rocket Interior buildings in the Building / Category database entry. 
    • Fixed a broken link in Rooms / Sleep / Barracks database entry. 
    • Fixed spacing on the room requirement class category in the database for the "Conflicts With" and "Required In" sections. 
    • Removed unbuildable buildings and dev buildings from the Building / Materials database entry.
    • Vacuum and Void elements now show a question mark icon in UI instead of a blank square.
    • Fixed a bug in the database where Blastshot was displaying missing strings under the Rocketry category.
• Spaced Out! only
  • Fixed Water Asteroid being discovered on load when a Rover is stored in a rocket in space.
  • Fixed rocket ports deleting liquids and gasses in certain situations.
  • Fixed some inconsistencies with how rocket range was being calculated.
  • Fixed a crash that could sometimes happen when Beetas die.
  • Fixed a crash that can occur if a hive has been destroyed when a Beeta is trying to deliver ore to it.
  • Fixed trying to load Spaced Out! when the DLC is not installed.
  • Fixed a bug in the database where Interplanetary Payloads were shown as a missing string under the Rocketry category.
  • Fixed crash when landing a rocket with a Drecko inside a Critter Cargo Bay. 
  • Fixed broken links for Radiation Containment, Materials Science Research and More Materials Science Research.

Performance

• Significantly optimized critters trying to find food.
• Optimized critters searching for Critter Condos, Water Forts, Critter Fountains, and critter traps.
• Improved calculating critter moods.
• Optimized critters and Duplicants seeking threats.
• Improved performance of Auto-Sweepers.
• Improved Research Reactor performance in Spaced Out!
• Improved performance of liquid and gas conduits.
• Optimized Cuddle Pips looking for eggs to hug.
• Optimizations to how entities are displayed in the world.
• Improved performance of Grub Grub segments in Spaced Out!.
• Improved performance relating to some errands.
• Improved performance when unpaused and not viewing expanded resource or diagnostic screens.
• Reduced memory allocations of initializing decor.

Modding

• Added PreBrainUpdate method to GameStateMachine. It works similarly to Duplicant Sensors by only running on the frame where a brain update occurs.
• Refactored DetailsScreen and associated scripts
  • TargetScreen/TargetPanel
  • SimpleInfoScreen
  • MinionPersonalityPanel
  • AdditionalDetailsPanel
• Wait for mods to finish downloading before installing them.
• Fixed loading modded saves when a mod that adds skills has been removed.

Supply Closet

• Added many new Blueprints in various categories.
• Added new background dioramas in the Blueprints screen for building categories.
• Added some animation transitions.
• Fixed wrong icon displaying for storage building category.
• Fixed paintings being inconsistent sizes in the Blueprints screen.
• Fixed issue where cuffless gloves would hide the lower sleeve of the default shirt.
   

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: