The Orville: Interactive Fan Experience
Incoming Comms -- Alive and Kicking (and Developing!)
It's been more than a year since our last release, and I'm sure that's led to a lot of speculation about the status of the project, especially since the PREVIOUS year saw several releases corresponding with the ramp up to New Horizons.
In short -- life happens. Several of our team have taken on new professional endeavors within the industry. They are definitely still with us, and help out as their schedules permit...we save the really hard stuff for them! ;)
The other thing that happened was the series itself going on hiatus. Without a new season deadline, the urgency fell off, meaning we can take our time to ensure quality, AND all have better balance with our lives. (Bear in mind, this is a passion project -- we're all volunteers!)
But even at a slower pace, v18 development has continued. Among the big things that's making it take so long was making the move to UE5. That was a huge adjustment for us, and broke literally everything. The good news is that it's almost all completely back together (just one big thing left on the major issues list at this point).
We've also added a bunch of new stuff for v18. I won't spoil it by listing it all, but suffice to say, we're adding more to DO aboard the ship, more places to GO, and more to SEE. Our goal has always been to bring the Orville to life, and our hope for v18 is that the ship will feel fairly complete, as a living, breathing entity. There's a rhyme and reason to how things are laid out, and while we've taken educated guesses, we think what we have makes sense.
With any luck, the new features we added will make you want to revisit it again and again, not just immediately after an update.
So please continue to bear with us. If you want to know when beta hits, join us over at our Discord. Or follow our socials, and this feed, as we'll be making announcements in all the usual places.
V1.0.17.6 September 2022 Update for New Horizons
- Boosted helm performance to improve donkey hugging at normal power allocation
- Fixed issues within the bridge navigation station affecting Quantum Drive usage
- Fixed room loading/unloading issues, NPC spawn issues, and external window issues
- Improved lighting (including alert lighting) throughout the ship
- Fixed repair system issues, and improved the overall repair mini game experience for low graphic settings
- Fixed e-sim chip functionality issue
- Fixed music not obeying volume controls in certain circumstances
- General cleanup of the mini map and room labels to make finding things easier
- Cleaned up a variety of mesh and panel issues throughout the ship
What's next? We're on to v18, which includes an update to UE5.0!
THE NEW HORIZONS UPDATE!
The Orville: New Horizons introduced a completely overhauled look for the interior of the starship.
This is our interpretation of those changes, including –
- A simplified internal layout. Were you getting lost? Didn’t know where to go? Well now it should be a little easier to get around, and a little harder to hide away from Admiral Christie!
- Entirely New Engineering room, including the wondersome Quantum Core. Bask in the glory of the rotating sphere of beauty!
- Astrophysics Lab. It seems that Isaac outgrew his old lab and now spends most of his time in the beautiful new Astrophysics lab down on the lower decks of Deck K.
- The Main Bridge didn’t escape an overhaul, more blue lights! New command chairs! New display panels! What more could you want?
- The Shuttlebay and new Shuttle! We bid adieu to the bubble-shuttles of olde, and welcome the expertly designed new Planetary Union shuttles. Why not take one for a spin?
- No more carpet and padded square walls in the hallways! We’re all about that metallic look now!
v17 Update!
Click here to read more - https://www.orvillefangame.co.uk/v17-update/
And soon, we'll set course for New Horizons!
The Orville Fan Experience - Release v1.0.16
v16 Features:
COMBAT TRAINING
Test your mettle against an alien invasion force! Play as either the Planetary Union or the Krill in either Deathmatch or Capture the Flag mode. Includes seven maps (Union Highrise, Refinery, Alien Mothership, the derelict USS Avalon, Krill warship and Freighter)
QUARTERS CUSTOMIZATION
Join the crew, complete with your own customized crew quarters! Claim your choice of vacant quarters on Deck D, choose a floorplan, and consult your trusty datapad to select from a large assortment of furniture, decor, and more. Lay them out to fit your personal style, and save your creations for recall in a future game session! We've even added a handy-dandy tutorial to help you get started. We've thought of everything!
NEW AND IMPROVED E-SIM!
The Environmental Simulator has been completely restyled, with new UI that supports loading and unloading programs from outside AND inside the simulator room. Choose from a library of available titles, or find and install custom sims via Bortus-style using the interior panel (using our brand-new inventory system)! We've also added two additional Simulator locations around the ship, and a couple of new programs for you to enjoy as well (one of which you'll have to find)
STEAM ACHIEVEMENTS
You can now earn achievements (and in-game rewards). To start you off, we've added three achievements we're calling "Hugging the Donkey", "Ambush", and "Firestorm", plus a special hidden achievement!
PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS
We've added support for NVIDIA's Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) and RTX Global Illumination (RTXGI) technology for cards so equipped. We're bleeding edge! If you're not, don't worry - we've improved our level streaming and added a ton of optimizations to keep FPS as high as possible.
MORE TO EXPLORE
We've added lots more Orville-y goodness to the ship, including:
* Enhancements have been made to Isaac's lab on Deck B. Exercise caution -- the fate of Earth is on your shoulders!
* New Science Spaces, including a Medical recovery room, Soil Analysis, Sensor Control Lab, and a Biolab complex for studying alien creepy crawlies
* New Engineering Spaces, including Plasma Injection, and Plasma Cannon Control & Firing Chambers
* Primary Airlocks added to match the ship design, along with nearby security stations, and EV Equipment Rooms (EVA not included)
* Deck D Buildout to support Quarters Customization
* Expanded family spaces on Deck C including childcare facilties, primary school and multipurpose classrooms, and a teacher's lounge
* Additional lounges and recreation spaces for the crew
* Expanded Deck J and extended to Deck K towards our goal of a fully realized, interactive environment.
NEW MUSIC
* New Combat Training music guaranteed to get your heartrate up.
* New music added for the Krill Ship
The Orville Interactive Fan Experience | v1.0.15.5 Halloween Update!
Hey folks! The v1.15.5 Halloween Update is now live on Steam!
To start the event, simply go to the Quantum Control console on the Bridge and go to the 'Tuhroz Ghul' location.
One word of warning though, if you're in any way arachnophobic, stay out of the Briefing room while the event is happening.
Also, this is intended to be a single-player event, and we can't guarantee that the event will function correctly in multiplayer, as it isn't designed to do so.
We've also fixed some more of the high-priority general bugs in this release, so even if you're not interested in the Halloween event, you get updates anyway! Go you!
With all that said, go check it out. He's waiting for you!
The Orville Interactive Fan Experience | v1.0.15 Release!
We're back! With another huuuuuuge update. Multilingual translations! A Minimap! The E-Sim! and waay more.
New Features!
- Added an in-game map to help you find your way. Our #1 most requested feature!
- Multi-language support, with SIX initial languages, and more on the way. Thanks to our awesome community volunteers!
- E-Simulator is now functional!! We've loaded in three simulations -- Ed's Earth apartment, Leviathan Bridge, and the Bowling Alley (as seen in S2E06: A Happy Refrain), plus a bonus one you'll need to play detective to find.
- You can now spawn Kaylon ships from the session host menu. Epic space battles commence! Pairs well with our beautiful new Nebula space location.
- Upgraded the shipboard damage system to allow players to go around repairing the ship! Check out the Damage Report at Bortus' bridge console to see what's amiss.
Our designers have been busy building out the ship and bringing it to life!
- New simplified deck labels (A-J)
- Lots of new and reworked corridors and stairs let you walk from bow to stern. To making getting around easier, we've activated the lifts throughout the ship and added some comfy lounge areas to stop and catch your breath.
- Mess hall has been relocated to C Deck Aft to match the actual ship's design (vs. set). Also moved Yaphit's and officer/family quarters here, and added a number of additional officer quarters variants to check out.
- New offices, break area and an Officers Lounge added to Deck A. Lookin' buff, A Deck!
- New multi-level Quantum Control room added aft of engineering, for those who like to tinker.
- Space Bathrooms! Now you don't have to hold it like Bortus.
Additional Enhancements:
- Improved ray-tracing capability detection and support for users thusly equipped.
- Color tone and several materials updated to more closely match the show aesthetic.
- New menu, battle, and simulator music cues from the amazing Patrick!
- New Character Customization backdrop in the main menu
- New door system and level loading approach in use throughout the ship. RIP, original door blueprint -- we hardly knew ye!
- Fully retired our janky old NPCs. You'll find a few newer NPC crew wandering around D Deck. We'll expand on these in future releases.
- Literally hundreds of bug fixes, and performance enhancements to maximize your FPS.
Some Known Issues:
- Bowling alley E-Sim program doesn't let you actually bowl (yet). Stay tuned!
- Multiplayer guests can't control the external camera while piloting
Are you having problems with the latest update? Read this.
since the release of the latest update yesterday, we started hearing reports about folks having issues running the game, so here's some suggestions to try and help with the most common problems :
- If you're not running on Windows 10, you must select the 'DirectX11' option when launching the game through Steam. Our newest features are taking advantage of DirectX 12 and so the game defaults to this, but you can override this when launching through Steam.
- Additionally to the above, if your graphics card isn't listed on either of these pages, launch in DirectX11 mode through Steam.
https://www.geforce.co.uk/hardware/technology/dx12/supported-gpus
https://wccftech.com/nvidia-amd-directx-12-graphic-card-list-features-explained/5/
- If the above doesn't help, try launching in DirectX11 mode anyway, because this is the same DirectX version that all previous releases of the game defaulted to. If it worked for you then, it should work for you now.
- if it's still looking disastrous, perhaps give the Vulkan version a try also, but please bear in mind that you might need to get the latest drivers for your GPU from either of these pages -
https://developer.nvidia.com/vulkan-driver
https://gpuopen.com/vulkan/
- Finally, it may be that you need to install some prerequisites to run the game. You'll find the installer for these in the folder where you installed the game in Steam, in "\WindowsNoEditor\Engine\Extras\Redist\en-us". Run the file named "UE4PrereqSetup_x64.exe".
We hope the above helps, and there are a few other tips and tricks to help solve issues, so if you're still having trouble, join our Discord at https://discord.gg/messydesk and we'll try and help.
Thanks! The Messy Desk Team
The Orville Interactive Fan Experience | v1.0.14 Release!
In our biggest update yet, The Orville Interactive Fan Experience brings you all the cool things!
More detailed information can be found on our website update page here
https://www.orvillefangame.co.uk/v14-update/
Game Mechanics:
- Engine update and tons of optimizations to improve performance
- Added support for dynamic upscaling and Anti-Aliasing options to further improve FPS
- Initial support for RTX!
- A new ship-wide damage system, for when things get 'splody. Some systems may short out when damaged. Don't worry -- server host can reset damage in the Session menu.
- New NPCs with custom animations that are both more realistic AND easier on performance; we will be phasing out the old NPCs over time
- Added Emotes! Use middle-mouse button to properly express your happiness at this new release.
- You can now inspect items. Thanks, Adam!
- Improved System menu, including Alan's new "sorted by deck" Teleport UI. Slick!
New Spaces:
- LOTS of new corridors to explore, courtesy of tenko. To help you find your way, main stairwell is now labeled by deck, and HUD displays current Deck and room.
- Added Fritz's awesome Arboretum to E Deck. You can also check on the seedlings in the nearby Botany...lab.
- Added a shipboard gym with MartianDays' space-age equipment. Do you even lift, brah?
- Added the Cargo Bay on E Deck, for supplies, spare bits, and visiting Krill shuttles
- Welcome back to brainbox's beautiful shuttle interior!
- Added Communications Array Room, as seen on TV!
- Added Kelly's quarters, and adjusted command quarters to a more realistic location.
- Added airlocks on C Deck. Watch your step.
- Added engineering corridors and maintenance bays on F Deck
Other New Features:
- Hooked up the synthesizers on Deck C, and installed cool new lab equipment on B Deck.
- New music from the amazing Patrick, and improvements made to music management, just to set the right scene.
- Added a few righteous friends around the ship for you to play, find, and enjoy!
- Added ability for server host to activate the main viewscreen. Suitable for RP sessions and reviewing B-Roll.
- LEVIATHAN! But wait, what's wrong with her....?
The Orville | Interactive Fan Experience | V1.0.13 Update
We're happy to announce the release of The Orville Interactive Fan Experience version 1.0.13!
With a ton of core foundational changes (most of which you probably won't notice, but we know they're there) that will give us a lot more flexibility when adding cool new features later, and a bunch of fun stuff to check out.
IMPORTANT NOTE: VR support has been removed from the project for the time being. We're a very small team, and supporting both desktop and VR versions has been incredibly troublesome, so for the time being we're removing VR support. We have every intention of bringing this back as and when we have the capability to support it properly.
NEW FEATURES
* Added Quantum Drive! Access it from the navigation console next to the helm.
* Added forward-facing weapons systems to The Orville, controllable via the helm. Fire away!
* Changed the way shuttles launch from the bay, which should cut down on the need to re-paint. Note you cannot launch a shuttle while the ship is in Quantum Drive, and you must return to the bay before the ship can Jump.
* Shuttles are not permitted to fire directly at the Orville. Why would you want to do that?
* Asteroids in the Asteroid Belt space location now explode when hit, which is super pretty. Makes a huge mess though.
* Added a new *spooky* space location. Not for the faint of heart, although we've equipped The Orville with some temporary protections.
* Increased the ship's speed to make hugging the donkey a more loving experience.
* New music cues from the super-talented Patrick!
* Added Space Location images in for each location on the main menu.
ROOM UPDATES
* Mooska's Restaurant is on Deck C-Upper, perfect for some relaxation and a glass of wine, or 5.
* Enlisted Crew Quarters added to Deck C. Suitable for 28 enlisted crew members. Quarters all need customising so they have unique furnishing. Currently all the same.
* Yaphit and his quarters are now available on Deck C-Upper. He'll be sleeping though, and waking him up would just be rude.
* Added a new Power Down/Up button to the bridge for the lights so you can turn the lights off completely.
* You can now toggle shuttlebay door on Session Settings.
GAME MECHANICS UPDATES
* Lighting system completely rebuilt to use dynamic LED lighting rather than baked lighting. This has a performance impact, but gives us a ton of flexibility for future interactivity.
* Improved multiplayer performance.
* Changed the way the interior of the ship interacts with the exterior, eliminating mesh poke-throughs, because no one wants that ugliness.
* All the prop lights in rooms can now be interacted with, and shot. It's the little thing.
* Player view will only now fade in when the room they spawn in has loaded. There still might be quirks in multiplayer, until the client has been assigned their character.
* Project version number now shows in bottom right during play. This is to help us match screenshots to version for bug tracking.
And much more! By more, it's mostly bug fixing, because there are always lots of bugs which keep us busy. We're always excited (well kinda) when we get new bug reports.
please join us on our Discord channel at www.discord.gg/messydesk and let us know what you find. We're very active on there and our Discord members get access to our early Beta builds, long before the final updates go live.