Surviving Mars
PDX Con Remixed: Surviving Mars Schedule
We have some exciting events and activities scheduled, you can view the full Surviving Mars event list here:
Friday May 21st
22:00 CEST - Reviving Mars: Meet the New Team - Discord
Get your ass to Discord and meet the folks at Abstraction Games, the new developers of Surviving Mars! Find out what it takes to bring a breath of fresh air to the red planet and ask your questions!
Saturday May 22nd
10:50 CEST - Meet the New Mars: Abstraction - Twitch
Welcome back to Surviving Mars! We’ve got the team from Abstraction here to discuss what it’s been like working with your favorite interplanetary survival game. Join us for a look at where the game has been, and where it’s headed next!
11:55 CEST - Is there life on Mars? Surviving Mars Quiz - Discord
Are you a true Survivor? Challenge yourself with this quiz about Mars, Survival, and Surviving Mars, and win prizes!
We hope to see you there!
Small Hotfix
While our team is working hard on [redacted], today we have a pocket-size patch for you with some small adjustments and fixes.
Version: 1001586
- Fixed for In-Dome Buildings Pack DLC to apply Assistive Technology upgrades.
- Added a missing Upgrade in the TechPreset.
- Removed Rain Man story bit.
- Fixed tourism reward screen soft lock.
- Fixed upgrade name.
Tourism Update - Hotfix 3
Bug fixes
- Fixed dome filtering issue - colonists should now only live where they are allowed to
- Fixed Hotel issue - the door should no longer require Space Race DLC to let the colonists leave
- Fixed Safari sight bug - sights now work even if the player does not have the Green Planet DLC
Known issues
- Clicking the Tourist Overview button on a Rocket will cause a soft lock
- Existing Hotels will load with a graphical issue on pre-hotfix saves - Rebuilding the Hotel resolves the issue
Tourism update hotfix 2 - patch notes
Game Version: 1001551
Bug fixes
- Fixed Xbox One Paradox Account login
- Fixed tourist expedition exploit
- Fixed In-Dome building pack localization
- RC Safari visiting tweaked
- The RC Safari should show it has a maximum of 10 passengers
- Increasing the wait time before departing
Known issues
- Windows 7 always starts in windowed mode
- Rocket Naming does not stick on saves created before the hotfix. Renaming functions correctly with new games.
Tourism update hotfix - patch notes
Bug fixes
- Fixed Windows 7 startup crash
- Fixed crash that often occurred on Mega Dome completion in existing save games.
- Fixed an issue where colonists suddenly committed suicide in large numbers.
- Fixed an issue where colonists stopped aging and tourists didn’t want to leave Mars after 5 sols.
- Fixed an issue where the Low-G Amusement Park awarded a lot more satisfaction than intended.
- Fixes Rocket naming issue
- Terra Tourism text change in English only (for now) to fit with the new tourism reward mechanic.
Known issues
- Windows 7 always starts in windowed mode
In-Dome Building Pack - Dev Diary by Silva
I am happy to see you again, and it is with great enthusiasm that I present to you this Content Creator Pack that I created. For those who don’t know me, I’m Silva, and I started modding strategy and RPG games in 1997. After a very long break, when the excellent Surviving Mars (2018) was released, I resumed modding. I had very little knowledge of 3D and programming, but that didn’t discourage me from making a large number of mods that were very well received by the gaming community. Modding has allowed me to improve my 3D modeling and programming at lightning speed.
And today Paradox contacted me to create this Content Creator Pack, giving me the freedom to choose the theme, the features to be added, and any other content. My specialty as a modder is to create new buildings, so I chose this type of content for this Pack. You see, they are not just new building skins but entirely new buildings, with new gameplay features for some of them.
[CCP trailer on YT]
The design of this Pack was done in two phases: in the first one, I wrote the game design and created each asset to make a mod. The second one was handled by Abstraction Games for the integration of my work into the game as true DLC.
I decided to focus on simple but interesting gameplay elements for the players and to limit asset animations to ensure final quality. I chose to make exclusively 8 new buildings to place in the Domes, trying to be faithful to the graphic style of the game.
I was inspired by the requests of the players, but also by my own experience, to add to the mechanics of the game and bring novelty and fun. Big settlements pose a lot of problems when the population becomes very large and the current buildings are not adapted to accommodate so many people. For example, the kindergarten is too small, so I decided to make a bigger one as well as a big school that has the feature of being a Spire, plus an improvement to give the trait of Genius to a small percentage of students.
In the advanced settlements, the number of retiring settlers also becomes a housing problem as they take essential housing for workers. This situation can cause labor problems in some Domes. This is why I have integrated a new type of residence exclusively reserved for retirees. Health can also become a big problem when there is a large population; infirmaries are too small, and medical Spires are not a priority in the choices of players. To solve this problem, I included the design of a Martian Hospital that will be able to cope with the influx of many patients.
The smaller Domes, where the choice of buildings is important because of their reduced space, are often without security or health facilities. This is why I created the Medical Post and the Security Post occupying a single box but with smaller capacities.
Another interesting building is the TV Studio, which is a new workshop where your settlers will produce Reality Shows for the Earthlings. Each broadcast will increase your funds. Finally, I added “Smart Apartments,” a new residential building halfway between the “Apartments” and the “Smart Complex.”
Most of the buildings are unlockable by technologies and have upgrades.
To create all these assets, I used the same tools as for modding, namely: Blender for 3D modeling, Substance Painter for texturing, and the Mod Tools from Surviving Mars to add assets to the game.
After I wrote the game design of the Content Pack, it was validated by Paradox. I didn’t make any sketches or concept art to start the 3D modeling of the buildings. I had a very precise idea in my mind of the general design of my models.
Once the 3D was finished, I created the textures, respecting the graphic style of the game. Then again on Blender, I had to configure the scene for export to the game, i.e. configure the materials, the lights, and the collision boxes, as well as indicate the position of some decorative objects (benches, trees, etc.), the access paths to the building for the settlers and the door animations.
Once everything was set up correctly, I exported my asset so that it could be used by the game. I still have to create the templates and some programming to make the buildings playable for the players.
I would like to close by thanking Paradox for the trust they put in me to create this “Content Pack Creator.” It’s a great experience for a modder, and it’s an excellent approach by Paradox to want to promote modding for their games and reward the most active creators.
See you soon in the Surviving games!
Silva
Tourism and "In-Dome Building Pack" CCP patch notes
“Tourism” free update
Game version
PC: 1001514
Changes to tourists
- Tourists have a new Satisfaction stat, which tracks how much each tourist is enjoying their holiday.
- Tourists no longer pay 10M funding upon arrival. Instead, they pay funds when departing from Mars based on how much they liked their holiday, shown in the Satisfaction stat, rated between 1 and 5 stars.
- Tourists now board any nearby rocket when they are looking to go home (instead of only boarding rockets that just landed).
New Feature: RC Safari - The new RC Safari allows you to create sightseeing tours around your colony for tourists to enjoy.
- Set waypoints near domes, wonders, vistas, rock formations, and many other sights to increase the satisfaction bonus tourists get from the safari.
- Order the new RC Safari from earth, or complete the Rover Printing research to build these yourself.
New Tourist Buildings - Hotel: Provide tourists a luxurious place to stay on Mars; spending the night increases their Satisfaction. Hotels can be built after completing the Smart Homes research.
- Low-G Amusement Park: Provide tourists with the best ways to experience the low gravity environment. Visiting tourists get an extra bonus to their Satisfaction.
Other changes - Adjusted the deadlines for the Tourist Trap challenge, which now also gives 20 tourist applicants at the start.
“In-Dome Building Pack” CCP
- Smart Apartments: Apartments that provide the same luxuries as smart homes.
- Senior Residence: A lovely place for your senior residents to retire.
- Large Nursery: A larger version of the nursery, able to house more children.
- Medical Post: For when you need a smaller infirmary in the area.
- Hospital: A larger, more relaxing version of the infirmary. It also comes with the exclusive Remote Medic upgrade, which reduces the number of colonists required per shift.
- Security Post: A more compact version of the Security Station.
- TV Studio Workshop: A new workshop building which also generates funding.
- School Spire: Build the school as a spire building. It comes with the exclusive Superior Education upgrade, which has a small change to give the Genius trait.
- 2 new colony logos: Colonization Effort, Red Target
Go to Mars and support the fight against COVID-19!
Go to Mars and support the fight against COVID-19! In an effort to support WHO in their efforts against the COVID-19 pandemic, Paradox is holding a fundraiser sale on Steam!
Surviving Mars is included in this sale, together with Hearts of Iron IV, Cities Skylines, Age of Wonders Planetfall, BATTLETECH, Shadowrun, Tyranny, Pillars of Eternity, and Knights of Pen and Paper 2.
The sale ends on April 3rd, 7 PM CEST, and all of the proceeds will go to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for WHO.
Check it out here: Paradox Interactive Covid-19 Fundraiser
Surviving Mars “Evans” Update Changelog
We just deployed the Evans Update, which brings fixes for some of the reported issues for both Surviving Mars and Green Planet. It will also solve issues in Space Race and Project Laika.
Surviving Mars:
- Fixed an issue that caused colonists' suffocation when moving between domes. This issue was reported here.
- Fixed an issue that would cause the game to freeze when a drone is trying to create a stockpile at an invalid location.
- Fixed an issue that caused colonists to roam outside their domes when dehydrated.
Green Planet:
- Fixed an issue that causes the colonists to roam outside when dehydrated.
OSX Version:
- Fixed an issue that caused noticeable frame drops when displaying a lake. This issue was reported here.
Cernan Update - Patch Notes
Surviving Mars: "Cernan" Update Patch Notes
Thank you all for giving us a tremendous release for Green Planet - which has thrust Surviving Mars into the spotlight all across the internet and on Steam. We've had so many players come back to the game for this expansion!
We know there were some bugs, as is usual for any release, and we're happy to have squashed a bunch of them. If you're still having trouble playing the game, please go to our support forum or just click CTRL + F1 to send us a report from directly within the game!
Green Planet:
- Fixed several game freezes (reported by the community, related to RC transports in savegames, and Dozers)
- Fixed terraforming info showing in infopanels in savegames started without Green Planet
- Fixed Transport Optimization tech applying to RC Dozer
- Fixed Lakes to check local (actual) temperature to determine frozen state (not global temperature)
- Fixed terraforming buildings' Amplify upgrades to take into account Overcharge Amplifications breakthrough
- Fixed RC Transport interacting with Open Farm crops
- Fixed endless (toxic or water) rains
- Fixed Outdoor Farms harvest not being collected by Drones
- Added harvest information in tooltip of Open Farm
- Added check for breakthrough availability when terraforming is disabled
Space Race:
- Fixed flying Drones coming back to life after destruction
- Fixed flying Drones affected by explosions when too high
- Fixed Advanced Stirling Generator heat output in a cold area/during cold wave
Project Laika:
- Added Encyclopedia entries for Ranch and Outside Ranch
Main Game:
- Fixed crash when constructing buildings at the map border
- Fixed several game freezes related to wisps (St Elmo's Fire Mystery)
- Fixed game freeze occurring when a Drone is destroyed while embarked on a Rover
- Fixed old savegames not applying current logic when accepting trade offers/converting Landing Pads
- Fixed savegames displaying Seeds as farm crops in games without Green Planet
- Fixed Drones unloading resources from Expedition Rocket when resources are loaded by RC Transport
- Fixed events effects continuing when the event is completed (broken Drones in "Drone Prototypes")
- Fixed display of tooltip in "Clear" button in Infopanel
- Fixed display of dome radius
- Fixed camera issue while zooming out during an ongoing marsquake
- Fixed Drone behaviour when changing priority during construction (building is no longer cancelled)
- Fixed resource allocation when destroying buildings
- Fixed scripting logic choosing invalid events from planetary anomalies
- Fixed colonists living in the nursery (it's time to grow up!)
- Fixed Rocket cargo display when returning from expedition
- Fixed Landing Pads becoming unusable after rocket construction
- Fixed Trade Rockets accepting wrong amount of resources in automated mode
- Fixed Large Dumping Site infopanel slider behaviour for desired amount of waste rock (controller-only)
- Fixed UI scale not allowing passenger selection when set to maximum
- Added hover and click sounds to main menu news feed
- Added separate spots and fixed orientation of drones when constructing Rockets
- Latitude and longitude coordinates are no longer translated to allow coordinates sharing in non-English versions of the game
Modding:
- Added modding functionality for FX elements (sound, decal, light, colorization, particles)
- Added modding functionality for Animals & Vegetation
- Added Tech Field ModItem
- Added message to indicate if a detected scripting error is related to a mod
- Tables for Rival Colonies converted to global for easier modding
- Updated modding documentation
PS4 version specific:
- Fixed linking PDX account when exiting PSN and restarting console
Art asset fixes for the following additional content:
- Green Planet
- Space Race
- Project Laika
- Digital Deluxe Edition
- Colony Design Set