Ostranauts v0.7.0.4 is now available on Steam, and your clients should be updating shortly.
This patch changes the way save files are structured to make them multi-file, and should help users who regularly experienced save failure issues.
Saves from 0.7.0.3 should work, but due to the change in save file structure, all backup saves will be deleted when the new save is created. So if you have precious info there, you should make a copy of those before saving again.
Changed the way save game files are structured, to be multiple json files instead of a single, large json file.
The only change in this patch is to the file structure of save games. Instead of a giant (often approaching 100MB) json file, it is now a series of smaller json files in a folder matching the captain's name.
The main benefit of this change is to reduce the frequency of save failures some players were seeing. I.e. clicking "Save" stops working after a while, usually in cases where the save file was getting very large
Users who previously experienced this bug have so far reported that saves work normally again, so hopefully this solves the issue for you, if you had it!
The multi-file save format might also make searching through the save jsons a bit easier, for those of you interested in modding/editing your saves.
Also note that, for now, the game will load both the old and new save formats as we make the transition. Eventually, we'll phase out the old format and it will only read the new multi-file save structure.
As always, there's plenty more for us to fix, change, and add! And we'll be continuing in roughly that order. In the meantime, let us know if this patch helps you out, as well as if it reveals new problems!
Best, Daniel Fedor Founder, Blue Bottle Games, LLC
Ostranauts Early Access Roadmap
Hey Folks!
A little over a year ago, we launched Ostranauts on Steam Early Access. And over the course of the past year, we've had a number of stability fixes, quality of life changes, new features and content added to the game. We've also had a year of chatting with fans to get a better sense of what they're expecting out of Ostranauts, and a better idea of how fast we can work.
So we came together recently as a team to more concretely discuss the road to launch. Which features do we still want? Which ones do we have the time (and ability) to produce? Are any of them needed before others can be complete?
And most importantly of all, this roadmap is designed to help you (the customer) in deciding if this is a game for you!
How does the version numbering work? Where is 1.0?
One of the first things you might notice is our new version numbering system. Going forward, we'll be using version numbers like 0.X.Y.Z, where:
X - A major feature or update.
Y - A significant change within the major update.
Z - A hotfix or patch.
And notably, versions like 0.8 don't directly correspond to "80% done." Ostranauts will leave Early Access sometime after 0.16, likely late 2022, or early 2023. At that point, we'll change the leading "0" to a "1." And we are approximately expecting about one of these major version updates per month. (Though some are definitely bigger than others, and therefore slower.)
Where is the ____ feature? Will it ever be added?
A FAQ is forthcoming for specifics, but for now, the answer is "it depends."
The list of features we want to build is extremely long. And we only had a limited amount of time to fit it into. Furthermore, some features just cannot be added until others are already done. So for now, a number of those features are in the "if we have time for it" bucket at the end of the list.
Maybe it'll get added before 1.0. Maybe even after 1.0. But for now, consider the above roadmap to be the stuff we have planned for 1.0.
Will this roadmap change?
it might! We're pretty sure this roadmap is how it's going to play out. But we could be wrong! Something could interrupt us. Someone might be called away. Or on the other hand, maybe Ostranauts goes viral and we can hire more help!
The roadmap will update as time goes by, and we will do our best to keep it accurate.
Will there be another feature vote?
Maybe? But probably not.
The first vote was really helpful, and we learned a lot from it about what the players want. It gave us a clear list of priorities from the community, and helped us shape the order of this roadmap. You'll probably notice just about everything from the last feature voting round is here.
The order in which they have to be done, however, is now fairly well-known to us. So even if players want, say, combat to be first, it has systems like wounding which need doing first. And likewise, long range travel is going to require some ship-board systems be finished.
We're always chatting with fans, though. And always open to feedback! Part of what makes Early Access such a success is that it allows us to develop with the benefit of timely feedback, resulting in a better game for the people playing it.
I have questions!
Great! We (might) have answers!
If you want to ask us anything, feel free! We'll be keeping an eye on our Steam and BBG website forums, Discord, Reddit, and all the other places you see us active.
Thanks for reading, as always. And hope you're as excited about what's to come as we are!
Best, Daniel Fedor Founder, Blue Bottle Games, LLC
Patch 0.7.0.3 "The Gig Economy" Update Is Live!
Hey Folks!
Ostranauts v0.7.0.3 is now available on Steam. Named "The Gig Economy" Update, it represents a major feature update, hence the change from 0.6.x to 0.7.x. (Be on the lookout for a post soon with our new roadmap!)
It includes a new Gig Nexus kiosk where captains can take contract work, several new perimeter stations around K-Leg, accidental debris collisions, and even a new music track from Josh Culler!
For best results, you are encouraged to start a new character.
Old saves might still work, but there's a decent chance they'll cause bugs. And will definitely miss new content.
It's a pretty significant patch, so we've broken down the change list into sections.
Added new job kiosk called Gig Nexus to all major station areas, allowing players to take short term contract jobs.
Added Gig Nexus app to PDA.
Added K-Leg ATC Station, Security Station, Nav buoy, Mooring buoy, and Flotilla ships to game.
Added occasional chance of damage from hypervelocity debris/micrometeoroid in boneyard.
Added procedural graffiti and grime to Gig Nexus kiosks.
Changed pricing on food, drink, and jobs.
Added more colored wall lights to game. (Some only in editor so far.)
Added new audio track from Josh Culler!
Changed NPC ships to also spawn from all nearby stations.
Changed NPC ships to occasionally choose nearby stations as destinations instead of derelicts.
Changed NPC ships to occasionally dock with nearby stations instead of the main regional station.
Changed code to make NPCs occasionally use transit when available.
Changed AI to interrupt player less when in UIs and social combat.
Changed lighting to look a little softer now.
Changed powered items to prefer using external power before internal power.
Changed item power overlay to always show input location even when it is powered.
Changed alarm and other LED indicator lights to emit low illumination.
Fixed a bug that did not shield players from AI-caused collisions correctly.
Fixed a bug that caused OKLG salvage permit to expire too early.
Fixed a bug that caused captain to ignore player if they were directed manually to walk through an airlock without a helmet.
Fixed a bug that caused sparks to get stuck on crew if they were interrupted while installing.
Fixed a bug that caused sparks to only appear at beginning of install action, instead of during entire action.
Fixed some ship designs which were using old air pumps that didn't have PDA install order support.
Fixed a bug that caused AI ships without any pilots to continue last maneuver forever.
Fixed a bug that prevented powered items from reducing their charge when drawing power from themselves.
Fixed a bug that causes null exception when reactor is charging and rechargeable is deleted.
Fixed a bug that generates a power icon at an object's center if it has no output defined.
Fixed bug that caused selected part to use wrong control panel image in editor.
Fixed an overlapping text layout issue in roster and duties UIs.
Fixed a bug that caused dead or sleeping NPCs to use station transit.
Fixed a bug that caused K-Leg Commercial district power to blip off and on again when first loading.
Fixed the friendly name of the toilet item.
As you can see, quite a bit was packed into this update! The new stations around OKLG are pretty far out, and require a bit more planning to reach. And with the new Gig Nexus kiosk, some jobs are going to take you out there. Plus, more NPC movement means more traffic, and your target may move before you get there. Combined with hazardous cargo, debris hazards in the boneyard, and bonuses for early completion, you should hopefully have some new fun ways to put your ship (and captain) to the test.
The lighting system had a bit of work done, and you'll hopefully notice that lights look a bit nicer now. Particularly the indicator and other colored lights. And speaking of color, you may start to see some colored wall lights appear in game! (We're still in the process of adding all colors, but you can preview them in the editor if you wish.)
Several fixes went into the power and recharging systems, installation sparks, and the way NPCs use transit and travel.
Plus, one of Josh Culler's new tracks is finally hooked-up! And anyone with the OST product in Steam should also see it appear there. It's called The Sky Kings, and is a reference to the namesake for Ogiso's Register in the game.
And as always, we love hearing what you think! Tell us how your run goes. What works for you? What is or isn't fun? What do you want to see next?
Thanks for reading, and fly safe!
Best, Daniel Fedor Founder, Blue Bottle Games, LLC
Ostranauts Mission System: Sneak Preview Available Now
Hey Folks!
We're preparing our next big feature update for Ostranauts (v.0.7.0.1), and it's a pretty big one. We're pretty happy with how it's turning out, but we could use a hand stress-testing it for bugs and balance. So we're opening it up as an opt-in beta branch, for those who want a sneak preview.
Note: Saves created in this version may break as we fix issues.
If you've been waiting for missions to fly, now is your chance! Introducing: Gig Nexus, your one stop shop for buying and selling contract gigs in the Ostranauts universe.
Gig Nexus is a procedural job generation system that sends intrepid spacers out on unique missions, from recon jobs to item delivery and even, if you're feeling flirty, <3 romantic entrapment <3. It's a way to make money in the game outside of scavenging and salvaging, and a good excuse to put that super sick ship you built (and maybe even your captain's skills) through their paces.
Before we go live with the feature, though, we'd like to widen our test group to test it for crashes and save errors.
The bugs we’re on the look out for are specifically Out of Memory crashes, and File Saving failures. Truthfully, we can’t seem to reproduce them on our machines here at BBG HQ, and we’re not sure we have enough data to know how common they are, and what could be causing them.
That's where you come in! If you'd like to give it a go, opt-into the "public_test" beta branch via Steam and start a new character and save file.
To opt in to the beta:
Right-click Ostranauts in Steam
Choose Properties…
Click BETAS
Choose public_test
Your client should download and update your build within minutes.
Once you're in, take some gigs and let us know how it goes! Either on the Steam forums, or over at our Discord.
If you run into a crash in-game, or the game fails to save, we'd be interested in any data you can provide about how it happened. And if possible, we ask that you upload your save and any crash files somewhere for us to take a look.
To get your game’s save data, go into OPTIONS, FILES, and SAVES:
Your character’s save data will be in either Save1, Save2, or Save3 depending on the slot.
We would like as many of the following files as are present:
saveInfo.json
PlayerName.json (This will be different depending on your character’s name)
output_log.txt
error.log
crash.dmp
The log and crash files above may only appear if your game crashes, and Unity detects it. You'll be presented with a dialog box asking if you want these files. But the first two save files will exist for any character you successfully saved.
(Also, unless we follow up asking for backups, please do not send any .bak files as these will be large and likely contain duplicate info we don't need).
Please zip all your files up and upload them as one .zip or .7z folder if possible, then send us a link to the file. This makes it easier for us to keep related files together, and will make the overall size smaller. You might be able to upload directly on Discord.
If you have any trouble locating/sending files ask in the bugs channel and one of the dev team or mods may be able to offer assistance/alternative methods of submitting files. Thank you!
Ostranauts Patch 0.6.12.8 Is Live!
Hey Folks!
Ostranauts v0.6.12.8 is now available on Steam, and your clients should be updating shortly.
This patch addressed a few older AI issues and annoyances, as well as a recent door bug.
Saves from 0.6.12.7 should work, but saves that previously experienced issues may continue to experience those issues, requiring starting a new game.
Fixed a bug that caused airlock to not open when player attempted to manually open it.
Fixed a bug that caused disgruntled employees of other companies to take it out on player, often interrupting them.
Changed police ships to hover at a safe distance until player undocks, instead of bumping them occasionally.
Fixed a bug that left boarding permission on police after they return to OKLG, causing them to visit player ship.
Fixed bug that let player name drop Fixer to Fixer as a voucher.
There was a bug that could cause airlocks to ignore player input, trapping them on a ship. Usually caused by an NPC attempting to open a door as the ship undocked. And this should now be fixed.
NPCs also had a long-standing bug of taking out their frustrations specifically on the player, even when not on the player's crew. They should no longer regard the player as the "boss" in such cases.
Police flight AI should now loiter at a safer distance when waiting for the player to undock, resulting in fewer cases of being pushed out of the area.
Police AI also had their permissions updated to stop allowing them to casually board the player's ship when at K-Leg.
And finally, the Fixer no longer accepts themselves as a reference.
As always, there's plenty more for us to fix, change, and add! And we'll be continuing in roughly that order. In the meantime, let us know if this patch helps you out, as well as if it reveals new problems!
Best, Daniel Fedor Founder, Blue Bottle Games, LLC
Ostranauts Patch 0.6.12.7 Is Live!
Hey Folks!
Ostranauts v0.6.12.7 is now available on Steam, and your clients should be updating shortly.
This patch is another hotfix for issues discovered in 0.6.12.4, specifically addressing the K-Leg license not working after the first one expires, adding the missing air vents to the PDA build menu, and some AI ship spawning tweaks.
Saves from 0.6.12.6 should work, but saves that previously experienced issues may continue to experience those issues, requiring starting a new game.
Fixed a bug that caused captain to deny self permission at licensed trade kiosk because they felt bad.
Changed AI ships to still be allowed spawning if player is currently docked to station or in one.
Fixed a bug that would destroy all scavenger ships when loading a save file.
Fixed a bug that would create new NPCs on K-Leg for scavenger ships instead of reusing old ones, resulting in population growth.
Fixed a PDA build menu missing air vents.
Fixed a bug that caused OKLG permit UI to change listed expiration hour during final hour.
The main fix here is for expiring K-Leg salvage licenses. Some players reported the first license working fine, but subsequent ones always failing. This appears to be due to the avatar feeling bad about succeeding in using the license before, so they were choosing to fail using the kiosk. The interaction for this has been fixed to force success if the license is valid.
The ticket's listed expiration time is now more accurate, as well. Showing minutes and seconds, instead of just hours.
The other major change is to the way AI ships spawn. There were some issues preventing them from spawning while the player was on-station. And another issue that would sometimes destroy them all if loading a save while on the station. Both of these issues have been fixed, as well as some tweaks to help prevent population explosions on OKLG. (Still work to do there, though.)
Finally, air vents were missing from the PDA's build menu, and have been added.
As always, there's plenty more for us to fix, change, and add! And we'll be continuing in roughly that order. In the meantime, let us know if this patch helps you out, as well as if it reveals new problems!
Best, Daniel Fedor Founder, Blue Bottle Games, LLC
Ostranauts Patch 0.6.12.6 Is Live!
Hey Folks!
Ostranauts v0.6.12.6 is now available on Steam, and your clients should be updating shortly.
This patch is a hotfix for a few issues discovered in 0.6.12.4, specifically addressing transit not working, crashes while saving/loading on K-Leg, and a bug where captain ignored player input.
Saves from 0.6.12.4 likely still work, but if you encountered transit not working, it will continue to be broken in 0.6.12.6, requiring either restoring an earlier save backup, or a new game.
Fixed a bug that would destroy K-Leg and/or make transit stop working if an NPC had a bad behavior info on them when it loaded or saved.
Fixed a bug that caused save files to have bad helmet and space suit behaviors on NPCs.
Fixed a bug that would cause PC to ignore player commands if already in the middle of a multi-step task, like walking somewhere to fix something.
Fixed a bug that would crash the game if nav station was installed and used while on Mescaform or Old Emporium.
The big fix here is for the bug that caused people to get stranded on Mescaform or the Old Emporium. Unfortunately, people already stuck there cannot escape unless you revert to a save before you got stuck, as K-Leg was destroyed in those cases.
However, the bug that led to that destruction and broken transit is now fixed, so new games (and saves that haven't encountered the bug yet) should be safe.
There was also a fix for captains ignoring the player if the captain had a multi-step queue in progress (e.g. walking to an item and using/fixing it).
As always, there's plenty more for us to fix, change, and add! And we'll be continuing in roughly that order. In the meantime, let us know if this patch helps you out, as well as if it reveals new problems!
Best, Daniel Fedor Founder, Blue Bottle Games, LLC
Ostranauts Patch 0.6.12.4 Is Live!
Hey Folks!
Ostranauts v0.6.12.4 is now available on Steam, and your clients should be updating shortly.
This patch improves AI handling of low O2 environments, adds the salvage license, new conversation options, some new content, background stars, and more!
Saves from 0.6.11.0 and earlier may still work, but it is recommended to start a new game.
Added basic O2 survival skills to AI.
Added code to AI to act if room is low O2, even if not yet asphyxiating.
Added code to make AI seek space suit and helmet if it fails pathfinding due to airlocks and having no suit.
Added pledge to equip helmet again after AI takes helmet off for breathing.
Added code to reduce AIs chances of wandering into low O2 areas without a helmet.
Added code to allow AIs to debark and open airlocks when addressing their own O2 survival, regardless of permissions.
Added code to stop fast-forwarding if pressure suit helmet O2 alarm starts.
Added OKLG salvage permit to game, and OKLG kiosk exclusively for permit.
Added license info interaction to licensees kiosk on OKLG for info on how licenses work.
Changed illegal salvage fine from $2000 to $15000 now that licenses are available.
Added option to show salvage license to police when they board.
Added air vents to most ship layouts.
Added two new ship layouts.
Added new social contacts UI to PDA.
Added background stars.
Added special conversations for enemies.
Added code to make derelicts have better condition when player has had bad luck for a while.
Added ability to open various game folders from the options menu.
Added effects to drinking caffeine.
Added more physical status effects to the list that is allowed to be seen on inventory UI screen.
Changed locked crates to have better loot on average.
Fixed a bug that could cause AIs to lose track of what they were doing, leaving them in endless animation loops.
Fixed a bug that caused AI ships to constantly loiter outside OKLG and not fly anywhere.
Fixed a bug that caused Mescaform intro encounter to get skipped.
Fixed a bug that caused items picked up from ground in inventory to be unplaceable in same grid square.
Fixed a bug that prevented drop-swapping an item in the ground inventory window.
Fixed a bug that prevented relationships to develop into love affairs.
Fixed a bug that prevented relationships to develop into enemy.
Fixed a bug that sometimes caused disgruntled NPCs to lash out at player through walls and from far away.
Added code to reduce framerate lagging when a large number of work tasks are assigned with a large number of spare parts involved.
Changed air pump and air vent objects to always allow overlapping with other objects on intake and output sides.
Changed doors to allow installation in places where either side of doorway has obstacles.
Fixed closed doors having wrong z-height.
Fixed a bug that could cause null errors if police were tracking a target that gets destroyed.
Fixed a bug that allowed anyone to catch up with friend in police shakedown.
Fixed a bug that caused Sample Text to appear if any NPCs spawned on a derelict.
Fixed a bug that caused red footprints to appear on screen after loading save file.
One big change with this build is better AI handling of low O2 situations. They'll now do at least a minimum effort to preserve themselves when O2 gets low. This includes running for rooms that have O2, and finding a helmet and suit. They'll also seek out space suits if they intend to cross through low-O2 areas on their way to another task. And those already wearing a helmet will refresh the O2 inside it by taking it off when in a safe area.
We also added salvage licensing to OKLG, along with a Licensees Only kiosk for license holders. This kiosk buys all valuable salvage items 24/7 at rates slightly better than the usual supply kiosk (but still lower than the fixer). Licenses are $5000 per day, and can be purchased at the Licensees kiosk. Also, police will now fine you more for illegal salvage, but you can present your (valid) license to avoid the fine.
We also added a bunch of new stuff to the game! Air vents, caffeine effects, two new ship types, and better loot in locked crates. The options menu now has buttons to open various game folders. We have several new conversation options, especially for close relations and enemies.
Also, background stars! We are starting work on ways to show the environment the spaceship is in currently, and stars are our first test case. Expect more here as we refine it.
And finally, we have a new social contact UI on your PDA: Spacebook. It's a way to help you keep track of your friends (and enemies), where they are, and what they look like.
That, and a load of bug fixes.
As always, there's plenty more for us to fix, change, and add! And we'll be continuing in roughly that order. In the meantime, let us know if this patch helps you out, as well as if it reveals new problems!
Best, Daniel Fedor Founder, Blue Bottle Games, LLC
Ostranauts Patch 0.6.11.0 Is Live!
Hey Folks!
Ostranauts v0.6.11.0 is now available on Steam, and your clients should be updating shortly.
This patch improves NPC ship spawning and flying to reduce the number of collisions and police interdictions, adds an intro conversation to the fixer, and fixes several bugs.
Saves from 0.6.10.0 and earlier should be compatible, but if you were seeing bugs or other issues in the old save, they may continue and it may be necessary to start a new game.
Added intro conversation to OKLG fixer.
Changed police interventions to be much less often.
Added code to prevent NPC ships from undocking if player is very close to station.
Changed NPC ship AI to fly away from OKLG a bit after undocking before turning to target.
Fixed a bug that could cause game to crash when loading a save file where game was saved shortly after midnight.
Fixed a bug that caused Unconscious to remain on players if they were awakened by the First Untime encounter screen.
Fixed a bug that caused OKLG boneyard to gradually drift away from OKLG.
Fixed a bug that caused full stack of items over empty space to become glitched if player attempted to drop another ground item on them via inventory.
Fixed a bug that could prevent player from installing items on a docked ship when standing very close to the edge between ships.
Fixed a bug that caused game to crash if player ship was being tracked by police while it unloaded from scene (e.g. using transit).
Added code to stop fast forwarding if important encounter screen appears.
Fixed missing social item names in message log.
Changed loose cooler item to be shallower, so it isn't as tall as a player avatar.
One of the bigger changes this patch is to NPC ships. The frequency of police stops should be much lower now. And ships won't undock from OKLG when you are very close to it. Also, NPC ships undocking from OKLG should fly out a while before turning, to reduce congestion near station.
The OKLG fixer now has an intro conversation in new games, which requires that you earn their trust before they begin trading with you.
Finally, a range of bugs were fixed in this build, many of which could cause corrupt saves or crashes. And one which caused every boneyard derelict visited by another ship to gradually drift away from OKLG.
As always, there's plenty more for us to fix, change, and add! And we'll be continuing in roughly that order. In the meantime, let us know if this patch helps you out, as well as if it reveals new problems!
Best, Daniel Fedor Founder, Blue Bottle Games, LLC
Ostranauts Patch 0.6.10.0 Is Live!
Hey Folks!
Ostranauts v0.6.10.0 is now available on Steam, and your clients should be updating shortly.
This patch has several improvements to ship collisions and crew AI, some new content, and some significant bug fixes. It is also the first patch to use our new (and hopefully more useful/meaningful) version numbering system:
E.g. Version W.X.Y.Z, where: W = Release Version, where 0 is Early Access, and 1 is released. X = Major Version, changes when a significant milestone in the game's development. Y = Feature Version, changes when a significant new feature is added. Z = Hotfix Version, for each hotfix within a Feature Version.
And numbering of XYZ can now go beyond 0-9, such as in today's build!
Saves from 0.6.9.8 and earlier should be compatible, but if you were seeing bugs or other issues in the old save, they may continue and it may be necessary to start a new game.
Added air vents to game.
Added new encounter art to OKLG.
Changed container pod starting ship to have no mortgage.
Fixed a bug that caused crew to ignore tasks unless player manually assigned crew to do them.
Fixed a bug that caused NPCs to forget actions they were doing between saves. E.g. police questioning
Changed AI collisions to be less severe when player has recently undocked.
Changed AI collisions to be less severe when player is docked to something.
Changed AI collisions to be less severe when player is away from the nav station.
Changed overall collision damage to be lower.
Added more conversation options to police shakedown encounter.
Changed versioning system to support multi-digit sub-versions.
Added code to prevent docking with target in docking UI if another ship docks there first.
Fixed a bug that would corrupt saves if a loot spawner had a missing count value.
Added code to limit docking ships to player if loading a save file that has too many ships docked to player.
Fixed a bug that caused NPCs from other ships in the system to sometimes load into the current scene and die when loading a save file.
Fixed a bug that caused some items to be inaccessible when over the reactor or other sight-blocking objects.
Fixed a bug that could cause null exception if hired crew was ordered to return to ship but lacked airlock permissions.
Added log messages for items gained in an interaction.
We now have air vents! They allow air to pass between compartments without an open door. They're pretty basic right now, and have to be manually opened and closed. But as we learn more about how we want to use them, we can expand their features.
There's also some juicy new encounter art for your first visit to OKLG, if you want to see Charlie's latest work :)
Ship collisions got some major work done, which should hopefully reduce the severity of collision damage when caused by AI pilots. It's not fun to be obliterated when you didn't see them coming, so let us know if these changes help!
Similarly, crew AI had a bunch of work done, and they should once again tackle work tasks without you having to manually order them each time they finish one. They also once again remember what they were doing from save-to-save.
Also, the container pod starter ship has no mortgage anymore! While we get the economy to be better balanced, we thought we'd offer at least one chance to start the game without crushing (and mounting) debt. And it also takes us one step closer to having a range of choices in starting ships and scenarios, each with trade-offs.
Finally, a range of bugs were fixed in this build, many of which could cause corrupt saves or crashes.
As always, there's plenty more for us to fix, change, and add! And we'll be continuing in roughly that order. In the meantime, let us know if this patch helps you out, as well as if it reveals new problems!
Best, Daniel Fedor Founder, Blue Bottle Games, LLC
