Drifter 0.5.x Release Notes

The following are the historical release notes for Drifter 0.5.x (code name "Nostromo").

Release Notes

0.5.3

• Drifter 0.5.3 is primarily a bugfix release. For bugs fixed in this build see the bugs section below.
• The docking queue was further refined and the maximum wait time for undocking should be much lower now.
• Refined the way waypoint sets were added to the system waypoint manager. Only missions that have waypoints in the current system will now create waypoint sets. Note: Loading an existing game with a large number of active missions will still show the old waypoint sets but leaving the system and returning will clear them.
• The game will no longer display distant particle effects.

0.5.2

• Drifter 0.5.2 introduces a number of bug fixes and improvements. For bugs fixed in this build see the bugs section below.
• This update finally introduces the long-awaited ship module system. Click your ship and then the gear icon to bring up the module tray where you can activate/deactivate modules.
• The following 3 modules are included in this update (more will be coming in 0.5.3):
  • Cargo Scoop - attracts nearby cargo containers and ore towards your ship while active.
  • Hull Repair Unit - repairs hull damage while active. Ship maneuverability is compromised while the Hull Repair unit is active.
  • Long Range Scanner - locates distant objects and ships.
• The ability to manually dock has been added. Merely fly your ship into the center of a space station's docking bay to automatically dock.

0.5.1

• Drifter 0.5.1 introduces a large number of bug fixes and improvements. For bugs fixed in this build please see the bugs section below
• The game now saves to a special auto-save save file when you dock with a station and arrive in a star system
• You can now adjust the scale of the HUD from the Graphics Settings
• The HUD angle was adjusted slightly
• Added a "Quit Game" button to the main menu
• Added improved log messages to help debug crashing on startup
• The button click confirmation sound has been made less obnoxious
• Adjusted button colors to improve contrast with button text
• Additional groundwork for ship modules

0.5.0

• The biggest change with Drifter 0.5.x is it introduces a fundamental alteration in the galaxy creation algorithm. Now the game creates a cluster of inhabited worlds in one corner of the galaxy with the rest of the stars being uninhabited. This is to lay the groundwork for the exploration mechanics I want to add to the game soon
• I have added a rudimentary tutorial which goes through the basics of how to fly and operate your ship. There is definitely a lot more to be done here but I figured it would be nice to not just completely drop new players off the deep-end when they start
• There have been a number of new weapons added to the game:
  • Energy-based projectile weapons: Muon Blaster, Proton Pulse Rifle
  • Physical projectile weapons: Autocannon, Mass Driver
  • Beam weapons: Gamma Beam, Neutron Lancer
  • Missile weapons: Rocket Pod, Missile Launcher Mk. II, Twin Missile Launcher, Hydra Missile Launcher
• Existing weapons have been re-balanced
• Modified the game's fixed-function lighting model to improve the way planets are lit
• When entering and leaving Slipstream the camera's FOV changes to give a better feeling of space being "warped" by the Slipstream drive
• More screenshake!
• Further groundwork has been laid for the introduction of ship modules. They should be added as a 0.5.x point release

Bugs

The following list of bugs/incorrect behavior is known to exist in the current build. Below that is a list of bugs that are known and have been fixed for the next build.

Please report any bugs you encounter that haven't been noted here either via. the Drifter Backer Forums or via email to contact@celsiusgs.com.

Known Unfixed Bugs

• Drifter does not have very good support for full screen on Retina MacBooks. Until this can be fixed, please try setting the game's resolution in such a way that the window takes up most of the screen.
• Full screen mode on some systems does not correctly register the position of mouse clicks. This appears to be caused by a mismatch between the game's set screen aspect ratio and the screen's aspect ratio.
• The slipstream aspect ratio is not preserved when the game is paused. This is fixed for the next update.

Fixed Bugs

0.5.3

• Occasionally music would not play in certain systems.
• Ship trails would occasionally disappear or render incorrectly.
• The plotted course length in the galaxy map was incorrect.
• The position of docking bays for the purpose of manual docking was incorrect in stations with horizontally rotating docking bays.
• Undocking from stations with more than 16 NPC ships attempting to dock caused delays in undocking.
• Jettisoning cargo while moving slowly would often result in picking that cargo back up almost immediately.
• The player's jump drive would not cool down after docking.
• Waypoints and spawns for in-progress kill and patrol missions were not being handled properly.

0.5.2

• Fixed a memory allocation bug on OS X that should fix a number of crash issues that some players were experiencing.
• Fixed billboard animations on Linux.
• Fixed a bug that would cause the game to crash when attempting to save if the game resolution's width or height was not a multiple of 4.
• Made a change to the station docking queue that should finally fix an issue where players could end up waiting to undock for a long time.
• Fixed a number of control issues related to entering/exiting slipstream and initiating hyperspace jumps.
• Fixed an issue where the tutorial would persist after loading a game while the tutorial was active.
• Fixed a problem where HUD elements would not display properly when the game's aspect ratio was lower than 16:9.

0.5.1

• Delivery missions could sometimes end up with an uninhabited system as their destination
• Saving while your ship was undocking or waiting to undock caused issues when loading that save file. You can now no longer save while the undocking sequence is in progress
• Escape pods come equipped with standard ship equipment, when they should not have. Escape pod equipment is now locked to the escape pod and can not be removed
• You could swap armor on a damaged ship when you shouldn't be able to
• Slipstream did not deactivate properly in proximity of asteroid fields that are very close to their parent star
• Slipstream camera FOV inadvertently affected in-game galaxy and star maps while active.
• Saving the game while waiting for the jump sequence to complete would leave your ship uncontrollable if you loaded from that save game. To mitigate this you can no longer pause the game during the jump sequence
• Loading a save after dying caused a crash
• Initial missions in start system had incorrect destination systems when starting a new game after player death
• Player mission log was not cleared after player death

0.5.0

• A number of issues that were caused by saving the game while docked at a station have been fixed. If you notice any further irregularities after loading a game while docked please let us know
• Fixed a bug that was causing galaxy database corruption in some instances
• Fixed a bug where certain game systems would not be properly reset upon restart after the player dies
• The game's rendering engine has been fixed to allow the game to run on certain Intel GPUs on Windows where it wasn't able to run before
• Fixed a bug that was causing the game to crash on start-up on certain GPUs across all platforms

Upcoming Features

This is a list of features that are being implemented for the next build.