We are putting finishing touches to the major new update that we expect to complete by Saturday February 27th.
Today`s update includes a large number of new features - like barbershop and plastic surgery, as well as total rewamp of Clayton town, improvements to GUI and space flight controls, as well as major changes to how the game world looks during day and nighttime.
We are continuing work on the new Prologue - that we expect to be ready later in March. Sorry for the delay, but we keep on prioritizing various fixes and improvements.
Thanks for your continuous support!
Visual Improvements
Various improvements to look of NPCs across the system
Visual improvements on BP during daytime and nightime
Moonlight added with moons shining light at night on planets
Adjusted BP night time colors, made them darker in far distance, but brighter up close
Made BP nights brighter and gave it a bit more blue
Decreased BP daylight
Adjusted the atmosphere so you can see the stars at night
Integrated 3rd variation for Asian and African faces
GUI Changes
Rescaled main menu elements to work better on different resolutions
Main menu UI style added to Options
Main menu UI style applied to the Escape Menu and various UI popups ingame
Adjusted TPS camera zoom range and TPS camera controls
Implemented loot navpoint for containers.
Major Additions
<*>Redesign of Clayton - fixing all the previous issues, and adding a lot of new locations and store <*>Plastic Surgery store added to Clayton - Jase's Quick Lifts <*>Barbershop store added to Clayton - Duck's Barbershop <*>Big upgrade for vehicle interiors - allowing walking, running, jumping e.t.c while inside the spaceship <*>Major rework to how Nav Points work - it`s now a toggle
Fixes & Additions
All loot locations now have a proximity nav icon that`s disable after looting
NPCs in Hera, Kallus, Shoden are killable. Also some updates to their appearance.
Enabled H key working so start spaceship in all situations - including in space
Cleaned up grass and terrain patches around Fomenkos Diner area of Clayton
Smoothed out big mound on the edge of the shire, left over from an old POI
Added Cliffs around Solomans Redemption area to bring the quality up
Fixed wrong descriptions in claimable vehicles and horses
Ship rotation with keyboard and mouse now have consistent speeds.
Fixed some characters in Clayton that were sunk into the ground.
Water drops effect reduced.
New stables added to Clayton town with various fixes applied to that area of town
Stables NPC waypoint fixed
Updated NPCs and Captain Danvers in the intro.
While in boost mode, air vehicles now have 3x the yaw, pitch and roll rate
Fixed overwhelming smoke during landing pod sequence
Mini Update 54.1
Minor update today with a few fixes: -Removed requirement to kill invisible mech to capture a territory hub -New improved way to show NPC dialogues -Polish to the main menu -Included two new face models for character creator
Update 54 - Fixes and Improvements
Hey Everyone,
We have a smaller follow up update today fixing various minor issues and improving various aspects after the big update 53 earlier this week. We had a number of performance issues, minor visual bugs, and other issues that came up after such a big update, but we are now well on our way to having a nicely polished build.
Please keep in mind that the current look of NPCs is still very WIP. We`ll have a second followup update next week, that will finally get NPCs to look great. They`ll also start wearing gear - like weapons, hats e.t.c
Meanwhile work continues on adding new Prologue with waking up aboard a generation spaceship and making your way to the first playable planet. We are expecting this update to be ready towards end of the month - though looks like it will be the 56th update by numbering.
Now lets take a look at what today`s Update 54 includes:
Fixes & Additions
Enabled Mechs in the game world again - should be working problem free now
Added more variations of hair colours and other details for NPCs. More changes are coming soon that will greatly improve how the NPCs look
Disabled major lagspike and possible a freeze when changing Visual Options presets
Fixed all the performance issues created with the last update
Performance improvement of about 10-15 FPS on average
Improved the look of grass
Default brightness increased for brighter nighttime and daytime environments
Fixed various issues when reloading weapons
Fixed major visual bug when reloading weapons in FPS mode
Fixed issues with 5th and 6th passenger sit in space vehicles bugging out
Improved the look of different eye colours with larger colored iris
Pressing F with container open will now again loot all and close the container
Fixed very rare issue that would not allow some players to load the game
Various stability fixes for the main menu
Update 53 - New Characters is Live!
Hey Everyone,
After weeks of work our new character updater is finally here. This update takes the first major steps in updating our character art – including character and clothing. We still have quite a few things to improve and add here – but the difference is quite noticeable. This update also includes reworked main menu, and a dozen of other fixes and improvements across the board.
Please keep in mind - that with update of this magnitude it would take use a few more days to polish and fix the last issues. Known issues being worked on are: -Drop in performance (about 10 FPS everywhere) -Some of older player characters have a different skin tone (darker, lighter) or hairstyle -NPCs new look is WIP - right now everyone is blond and doesn`t fully showcase new character quality yet -Few other things across the board to be corrected shortly
After fixing everything up in the next few days, we will continue later this month with introducing new intro sequence in the 54th update. Taking place on the Titan Generation Ship, with player waking up from stasis onboard of this capital ship, interacting with NPCs, getting some backstory and making his way down to the Beta Prairie planet in the landing capsule.
As always - thanks for your continuous support everyone, and please consider taking a moment to review Stars End. Fresh reviews really help attract new players and for the game to grow and evolve. With that said - lets take a look at the patch notes:)
Important Fixes & Additions
New main menu background scene with 3D rendering and background animations
Adjusted PvPvE to be a lot less exploitable to kill or steal from other players
Added new visual effects - water drop under water and when it`s raining
Add new visual effects - sun rays and sun flares
Fixed major issue - that commonly would prevent AI from spawning
New Character Art
All characters across the star system updated to use new NPC art
New character creation menu
Auto updated current player accounts to have character in the new format (somewhat random)
Created dozens of new clothing styles and renders for the new characters
Updated all the hair styles
Added ability to adjust players eye colour
Added ability to adjust facial hair
Fixes & Additions
Claimable vehicles no longer show the expiry timer
Added a smaller Alt Pan rotation while holding an item/weapon in your hands.
Camera zoom moved to default position now that we have higher detail on characters
Updated grass model to look much better on Beta Prairie
Can no longer craft and place makeshift Mines in the PvPvE server
Other landmines do not damage to players outside of PvP areas on PvPvE server
Players no longer do squashing damage (jumping or dropping things) on top of top of other player on PvPvE server
Reworked various menus in the main menu - still some work left
Pickaxe audio reduced by 9db
Rebalance the cost of all weapons and ammo at Merchants - a lot higher now
Deluxe bed moved to Housing (building) category
Added new spotter icons for wood and mining for Kon.
Fix for ammo null on reload when makeshift weapon breaks, causing client to freeze.
Temporary fix for makeshift weapon breakage during muzzle flash animation.
Fixed errors in player collision detection.
Fixed missing nav points in metallic structures.
Fixed having to fully stop being being able to gather from bushes
Update 52 - Performance
Hey Everyone,
As we are putting finishing touches on the new Characters, we have another solid update today. Our 52nd update represents weeks of work that were spend on optimization and performance improvements.
This update focused on two main areas - improving overall FPS everywhere in the game world, as well as fixing all the memory drains e.t.c effecting performance over time. You might have noticed before you would start the game with solid FPS, but within a few minutes FPS would greatly drop.
On average you should expect to see +10 to +20 FPS depending on visual quality settings. In addition FPS should not degrade as you continue to play the game.
We can`t wait to share the new characters with you - hopefully by Monday we`ll be good to go - worst case - end of next week.
And for this update - we are going to skip the lengthy patch notes, as it would include dozens of very technical changes, so lets keep this simple:)
Fixes & Additions
Major improvements to performance
Fixed performance degrading over time
Fixed memory leaks effecting performance
Fixed issue with players inventory being empty for a while when logging in
Update 51.5 - Follow Up
Hey Everyone,
We have a smaller update today, to wrap up and polish some features from the Update 51 that we released last weekend.
This update improves landing and takeoff functionality and fixes various smaller issues across the board. We have also looked into resolving new character gathering bugs, and shortcuts.
We are working full speed on adding the new characters to the game, with finishing touches now, and expect this major update to go live in a few days. All the characters in-game, including player character will be updated to new high resolution model and textures, with additional options like facial hair, race, and a lot of new clothing.
Fixes & Additions
Fixed the bug that would create a fire effect when collecting resources
Fixed trees sometimes not falling when chopped down
Updated Landing gear on and off audio
Ship landing and takeoff now use the H key
Fixed dismounting or standing up from the vehicle sit when typing F in the chat.
Fixed frigate position when landing - so it doesn`t hang in the air
Landing and takeoff popup moved much lower on the screen
Also made the window opacity much lighter
Update 51 - Landing, Performance, Fixes
Hey Everyone,
We got very exciting three weeks ahead! Having completed several major projects that were in the works for months, we are ready to finally take Stars End to the Alpha milestone later this month.
Today`s update includes few dozen fixes to various issues that were still plaguing Stars End, as well as a major rewrite of the space vehicles. You will be able to do horizontal lift of and landings now, with auto-pilot options for both take off and landing.
Next week with our 52nd update we are finally releasing the brand new characters. These would be used both for the player character, and all the NPCs. You can see a small preview of the new characters here:
We`ll follow up with introducing new intro sequence in the 53rd update. Taking place on the Titan Generation Ship, with player waking up from stasis onboard of this capital ship, interacting with NPCs, getting some backstory and making his way down to the Beta Prairie planet in the landing capsule.
NOTE: There are two known bugs effecting only new characters (reload fixes this) - new characters might experiences tree trunk not falling, or a fire effect appearing when collecting resources - we expect this to be fixed within 24 hours
Thanks for your continuous support, and lets take a look at the patch notes
Important Fixes & Additions
Major performance boost across all systems and specs
Additional performance improvement when playing in 4k
Started work on fixing the big performance drain – after playing for 10+ minutes - FPS dropping
Fixed various issues with vehicles disappearing and expiring too fast
Fixed various issues when canceling production in crafting ques
Takeoff and Landing
New landing/takeoff system which is activated with a space bar
Vehicles remember the last landing state and allows you to 'take off'
Press Space to land when the prompt shows either on terrain or claim
Vertical thrusters added and work when using vertical thrusters or when landing/taking off
Landing gears now show on all ships automatically when within landing range
The player also gets some info on where you are landing about vehicle expiry
Ships now align to the surface of planets and landing pads when selecting auto landing
Fixes & Additions
Fixed trees waypoints not appearing at the appropriate height, sometimes even being underground.
Rock and Trees now always show gathering symbol when near them with the correct tool
Fix for items issue when placing/dropping them on the ground
When using Pick Axe in FPS mode the animation was reworked so camera no longer goes up and down
When riding horse in FPS mode the animation was reworked so camera no longer shakes
Fixed issues with some sits in space ships not working
Improved visual quality of some of the trees
Fixes various issues when trying to use beds
Fixed issues when on dedicated server if a player had a radio on
Fixed exploit with players not in crew placing items to gain access to another crew
Reworked all the in-game interaction to the new system
Added landing to claim as a separate type of action
Balance Changes
Added new Bed item to crafting
Major rebalance of all AI creatures – with different attack values
AI is now much easier to fight, especially with smaller creatures
Rescalled the fox creature
Fixed issues with new players starting at locations without bushes
Plant resources added around all pod wreckage on BP
Edited the pod crash site to remove the wood from the rock foundation
Disabled Christmas park in Clayton.
Major Updates Incoming
Hey Everyone,
We got very exciting three weeks ahead! Having completed several major projects that were in the works for months, we are ready to finally take Stars End to the Alpha milestone later this month. Here`s a preview of the upcoming updates.
Update 51 - Fixes & Space vehicle updates
This week we are releasing major update 51 - that includes few dozen fixes to various issues that were still plaguing Stars End, as well as a major rewrite of the space vehicles. You will be able to do horizontal lift of and landings now, with auto-pilot options for both take off and landing.
Update 52 - New Characters
Next week with our 52nd update we are finally releasing the brand new characters. These would be used both for the player character, and all the NPCs. Here`s a small preview (note it`s a low quality editor screen)
Update 53 - Prologue Sequence
As we continue with our 53rd update - we will be revealing new intro sequence taking place on the Titan Generation Ship, with player waking up from stasis onboard of this capital ship, interacting with NPCs, getting some backstory and making his way down to the Beta Prairie planet in the landing capsule.
Update 54 - Alpha Milestone
And finally with the 54th update - tying up some loose ends, adding more visual improvements and completing work on making other planets more playable - we`ll finally reach the Alpha milestone.
Road to the Beta Milestone
From that point on for rest of the year we`ll be working on adding a lot of additional content and features, having the base foundation of the game more or less complete, and hopefully reach be beta milestone towards end of the year.
Thanks for your continuous support, and we can`t wait to share all these exciting updates with you!
Updated 50.2 - Major Fixes & Happy New Year!
Hey Everyone,
Over the past 10 days we had a perfect storm with various factors outside of our control resulting in a pretty bad build that ended up live. To make long store short - the development tool we use to upload files to Steam had two big issues - once Steam disabled http string, and later Steam updater started skipping updating certain files.
We had been working with Steam support to resolve this issue, and after a very long and frustrating week - we are back, with ability to properly update Stars End, and fix the build.
We would like to with everyone the best best for the New Year ahead. Really hoping things will pick up for everyone soon!
You will find a lot of new in today`s update, as it also included the progress made for the Christmas update, that never got properly released.
Aside from fixing all the bugs - like cutting trees, or placing objects, we have complete reworked crafting based on overwhelming player requests to make character free to do other stuff while crafting.
In addition we started work on making other planets in the star system more playable – but this is just the first steps, and we still recommend Beta Prairie as the main planet.
In our next major update we will be finally introducing new characters with much higher visual fidelity, but first we have one more bug fixing and improving update coming up in a few days.
Thanks for your continuous support, and lets take a look has to offer:
Holiday Updates
Christmas celebration area is setup in the middle of Clayton
Christmas area comes complete with lootable gifts with cake ingredients
New Christmas gift crafting recipe enabled
Reworked Crafting
Crafting no longer restricts player movement - close crafting window to move
Unless inside the vehicle player speed is reduced to walking only while crafting
It`s now possible to craft at multiple workstations at once - but using the same crafting ques
Player can no ride in vehicles, sleep, and perform any other action while crafting at workstations or refinery
Setting up New Planets
Planet audio added to Caliban and Cassius
Waypoints, resources, AI and additional fixes on Caliban
Underwater rocks added on Cassius
Cassius ferry landing enhanced and moved to an island
Reworked Brutus planet with terrain fixes and an LOD version added for better orbital views
Updated resources and foliage on Nox to use new foliage tech + spotter system
Waypoints created for some Nox resources
Fixed falling through Nox terrain and on some other players
Fixes and Additions
Greatly improved appearance of foggy and rainy weather on beta prairie
Fixed last remaining bugs with
Spotter mode that shows nav points now has a new mode - double click the middle mouse button to toggle it permanently on or off
Fixed using respawn pill while in a vehicle removing the vehicle
Various fixes for AI sometimes not spawning
Pressing F now Takes All loot in the open container
Fixed being unable to setup Crews on solo
Player can now see waypints to all his spawn points even in other systems
Can now respawn on any claim, and not just in the system in died in
Fixed various issues with waypoint appearance in space (minable nav points are to be fixed in a follow up update tomorrow)
Changed how horse stamina recovers, horse takes 30 seconds to start recovery when parked
Fixed a bunch of bugs related to resolution and full screen changing
You can no longer open looted container - makes it easier to keep track of looted once
All NPCs in the game use new interaction system stated above
Fixed container sounds not being effected by volume control sliders
Fixed various bugs with capturing and holding territories
Stealing will always give at least some items.
Reworked background Audio when spotter ability is active
Visual Improvement with LOD shadows
Fixed issues with two AIs being spawned in the same region
Changed how animals spawn on the planets - with less randomness, and more logic
Fixed the camera rendering line showing in the distance when flying in space ships
Fixed grass not appearing correctly in a distance when on a vehicle
When flying above the planet - can now see trees in a very long distance
Greatly increased performance when flying near the ground in a space vehicles
Fixed issues with player rotation in the vehicles breaking with passengers
Fixed atmospheres not showing for other planets while on moons
Fixed various issues with missing vehicles or items
Fixed one vehicle turning into another
Fixed a large number of exploits and inconsistencies with various items and components
Fixed double marker and components appearing in the base
Reworked the Options menu - with new layout, still a bit of polishing left
More various performance improvements with foliage rendering
Fixed terrain sometime glowing during the night on Beta Prairie
Fixed issue with Mechs floating in the air or in space
Crosshoair cursor is now properly scaled based on window resolution.
Crosshoair in the spotter mode appears larger
Spotter navpoints adjusted to scale both text and icons better
Fixed base containers not showing interaction prompt.
/Stuck command to get player unstuck can now be used on players even on the Solo server in the chat
No longer allowed to place a claim marker in a PvP area (aka hubs).
Updated 50 - Big Christmas Update
Hey Everyone,
First of all we wanted to wish everyone great Holidays ahead! Today`s update includes some Christmas themed installation located on Clayton planet in Beta Prairie. Hope everyone has fun and safe holidays ahead. And our team plans to release at least 1 more update over the Holidays.
Over the past couple of weeks we had many new players join Stars End, and with a higher player population we`ve received a lot more feedback. So with out 50th update we focused on fixing, polishing and improving various aspects of Stars End based on player feedback, bug reports and suggestions.
For example we have complete reworked crafting based on overwhelming player requests to make character free to do other stuff while crafting.
In addition we started work on making other planets in the star system more playable – but this is just the first steps, and we still recommend Beta Prairie as the main planet.
In our next major update we will be finally introducing new characters with much higher visual fidelity, but first we have one more bug fixing and improving update coming up in a few days.
Thanks for your continuous support, and lets take a look has to offer:
Christmas Updates
Christmas celebration area is setup in the middle of Clayton
Christmas area comes complete with lootable gifts with cake ingredients
New Christmas gift crafting recipe enabled
Reworked Crafting
Crafting no longer restricts player movement - close crafting window to move
Unless inside the vehicle player speed is reduced to walking only while crafting
It`s now possible to craft at multiple workstations at once - but using the same crafting ques
Player can no ride in vehicles, sleep, and perform any other action while crafting at workstations or refinery
Setting up New Planets
Planet audio added to Caliban and Cassius
Waypoints, resources, AI and additional fixes on Caliban
Underwater rocks added on Cassius
Cassius ferry landing enhanced and moved to an island
Reworked Brutus planet with terrain fixes and an LOD version added for better orbital views
Updated resources and foliage on Nox to use new foliage tech + spotter system
Waypoints created for some Nox resources
Fixed falling through Nox terrain and on some other players
Fixes and Additions
Major performance improvements
Fixed being unable to setup Crews on solo
Player can now see waypints to all his spawn points even in other systems
Can now respawn on any claim, and not just in the system in died in
Fixed various issues with waypoint appearance in space (minable nav points are to be fixed in a follow up update tomorrow)
Changed how horse stamina recovers, horse takes 30 seconds to start recovery when parked
Fixed a bunch of bugs related to resolution and full screen changing
You can no longer open looted container - makes it easier to keep track of looted once
All NPCs in the game use new interaction system stated above
Fixed container sounds not being effected by volume control sliders
Fixed various bugs with capturing and holding territories
Stealing will always give at least some items.
Reworked background Audio when spotter ability is active
Visual Improvement with LOD shadows
Fixed issues with two AIs being spawned in the same region
Changed how animals spawn on the planets - with less randomness, and more logic
Fixed the camera rendering line showing in the distance when flying in space ships
Fixed grass not appearing correctly in a distance when on a vehicle
When flying above the planet - can now see trees in a very long distance
Greatly increased performance when flying near the ground in a space vehicles
Fixed issues with player rotation in the vehicles breaking with passengers
Fixed atmospheres not showing for other planets while on moons
Fixed various issues with missing vehicles or items
Fixed one vehicle turning into another
Fixed a large number of exploits and inconsistencies with various items and components
Fixed double marker and components appearing in the base
Reworked the Options menu - with new layout, still a bit of polishing left
More various performance improvements with foliage rendering
Fixed terrain sometime glowing during the night on Beta Prairie
Fixed issue with Mechs floating in the air or in space
Crosshoair cursor is now properly scaled based on window resolution.
Crosshoair in the spotter mode appears larger
Spotter navpoints adjusted to scale both text and icons better
Fixed base containers not showing interaction prompt.
/Stuck command to get player unstuck can now be used on players even on the Solo server in the chat
No longer allowed to place a claim marker in a PvP area (aka hubs).
