We're happy many of you like the new Secondary Block Colors and the Photo Mode. A few issues sneaked past beta testing, so here's a bugfix patch!

Beta Branch Note: These changes are currently available on the beta branch. The beta branch is for testing experimental changes and for finding and fixing errors.

This is how you get access to the beta branch (USE AT YOUR OWN RISK):
Right-Click on Avorion in your Steam list, Properties -> Betas -> Select branch 'Beta Branch - Newest Changes & Experimental Features'.

• [UBR] Fixed an issue where Cargo Bay patterns were too dark with default secondary color
• Fixed an issue where Alternate Hull patterns and Armor patterns were too bright with dark primary color and default secondary color

• Field of View slider can now be set in steps of 5 instead of 10
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where the Field of View slider could be set to zero.

• [UBR] Fixed an issue where rift missions would not be initialized correctly
• [UBR] Fixed an issue with color identification which led to travel hub not working correctly
• Fixed an issue where the Chameleon Subsystem did not highlight ships anymore
• Fixed an issue where Creative Mode Command Center wouldn't work for alliance ships

Update 2.5 with secondary block colors and a photo mode is now live for everyone! With this update we introduce the long awaited secondary block colors! Most blocks now have the option to color their patterns independently from the main block color. And to top it off we added a photo mode so you can show off your building (and coloring) skills!

Secondary block colors are here! With these you can color in the blocks' patterns just as you like it. Look at this example of devs trying to show off their artsy talents ¯\_(ツ)_/¯:

I'm sure that you can do much better than us!

And to highlight some of the effects of the secondary color, here is a short list of the main changes:
All generator-type blocks (Energy Containers, Energy Generators, Shield Generator, Hyperspace Core...) can have their glow color replaced. Before the glow color was depending on their material, but now you have the option to color them in any color you like.

The same applies for the engine glow and the thruster flames. Before you had to change the material, now you can color them with the secondary color!

And for a bunch more blocks you can now color the pattern. Before these patterns always had the same color and you had to adjust your block color until they matched. Now you can color the pattern to fit your vision instead!

These are just some examples, you'll find more changes in game! If you want to know exactly which blocks are changed take a look at the patch notes down below.

Making screenshots has always been kind of a pain-in-the-butt-type thing in Avorion. And this is why we now implemented the perfect tool for that: Our photo mode! Now you no longer have to find the perfect sector with the perfect lighting and the perfect planet you want to have in the background. Just use the photo mode to switch sector styles, and once you've found a style to your liking, adjust all the other things right there! Reposition the sun and the planet, recolor the sector, add more stars, and many other things!

Additionally you can add a vignette effect or apply one of the filters until you've found the perfect visuals for your build. Or you can apply rift visuals for the eerie feeling. Have fun!


For everyone craving more details, here are the full patch notes:

• Update 2.5
  
• Patch 2.5.1

And last but not least: Thank you everyone who participated in the beta and gave us feedback! You guys rock!

Beta Branch Note: These changes are currently available on the beta branch. The beta branch is for testing experimental changes and for finding and fixing errors.

This is how you get access to the beta branch (USE AT YOUR OWN RISK):
Right-Click on Avorion in your Steam list, Properties -> Betas -> Select branch 'Beta Branch - Newest Changes & Experimental Features'.

• Secondary colors for armor and hull blocks with alternate patterns now have the same brightness as the primary color
• You can now build armor blocks without camo pattern by choosing the same color for primary and secondary color
• To match the default primary color, look for a colors named "Iron Ore", "Titanium Ore", etc.

• Armor blocks now use separate texture files again, so that they can be modded independently of hull blocks
• Texture mods still need to be updated
• Armor blocks of different materials no longer share the same mask

• Disabled mouse over sounds for empty places in color window (build mode)

edit 2024-06-12:

• Fixed camera speedup not working for some directions
• Made camera controls independent of current steering mode

Hey everyone. The next Avorion update is finally ready for beta testing!
In this update we introduce the long-awaited secondary block colors and - so everyone can properly show off their awesome coloring skills - a photo mode!

We wish you loads of fun with the new features and happily await your feedback! Let us know if you miss anything, if some things aren't as smooth as they could be or if you (simply) loved it! And let us see your awesome screenshots!

Beta Branch Note: These changes are currently available on the beta branch. The beta branch is for testing experimental changes and for finding and fixing errors.

This is how you get access to the beta branch (USE AT YOUR OWN RISK):
Right-Click on Avorion in your Steam list, Properties -> Betas -> Select branch 'Beta Branch - Newest Changes & Experimental Features'.

Blocks can now have a secondary block color. The secondary block color is dependent on the block type and can even change the light effects.

• Added secondary colors for the color brush of the build mode
• Open the color selection window to switch on secondary colors
• Switching back to one-color mode resets the secondary color to its original, pre-update status
• Added new preview element in the color selection window that shows in detail which colors are used
• New blocks will be built using the previewed colors
• Added a second color picker that picks the secondary color
• Added a 'No Change' color
• Use this when selecting blocks and you don't care which color they have
• Use this to apply a primary or secondary color without changing the other color
• Block info tooltips in the lower right corner show which colors are used for the block
• Block types with secondary colors:
• Crew Quarters - windows can now be colored
• Cargo - dark parts of the block can now be colored
• Armor - ever wanted to be a chameleon? Try coloring in your camouflage patterns according to the sector you're in.
• Engine - Engine glow can now be colored
• Thruster - Thruster particle flames can now be colored
• Dock - Stripes of dock-doors can now be colored
• Flight Recorder - yellow stripes can now be colored
• Torpedo Storage - orange stripes can now be colored
• Assembly - vents can now be colored
• Turret Base - patches can now be colored
• Hangar - hangar doors can now be colored
• Shield Generator - glowing pattern can now be colored
• Energy Container - glowing pattern can now be colored
• Generator - glowing pattern can now be colored
• Integrity Field Generator - glowing pattern can now be colored
• Computer Core - glowing pattern can now be colored
• Hyperspace Core - glowing pattern can now be colored
• Transporter Block - glowing pattern can now be colored
• Academy - blue pattern can now be colored in any color
• Cloning Pods - green pods can now be colored in any color
• Rich and Super-Rich Stone - glowing pattern can now be colored
• Ship Name Block - name is now colorable
• Alternate Hull Patterns - dark patterns can now be colored in any color
• Dark / White Stripes - now in color!
• Light blocks: Light is colored according to the secondary color unless the secondary color isn't set. Without a secondary color light blocks will behave like before the update.

We created a new mode to make awesome screenshots! You'll find a new 'Photo Mode' button in the pause menu.

The new Photo Mode features:

• A sector style selection: Either random or with an explicit style ID
• you can even share this ID with your friends!
• Free setting of sector visuals:
• rift or no rift visuals
• sun type and position
• planet position
• background star density
• sector color
• sector dustiness
• Change the Field of View to find the perfect view
• several filter effects:
• Greyscale
• Sepia
• Desaturated
• Saturated
• A scalable vignette effect
• A 'Take Screenshot' button to take screenshots without UI
• Added a short flash to white to indicate saving of screenshot
• An 'Open Screenshot Folder' button
• Improved free camera movement
• A new keybind option 'Photo Mode'

• Allowed direct switching to your other crafts when controlling a fighter
• Switching to a different craft within a sector is now always possible as long as you're allowed to enter it
• Mothership in pirate encounter is now visibly connected to invincibility giving pirate ships
• Fulfilled (done) objectives no longer show up in the on screen tracked mission displayer
• However they still do show up in the missions tab
• Build Mode: Transformation Brush no longer changes block colors

• Unknown colors are shown as hex-codes in block info tooltips
• 'No color' items in color selection have been removed
• 'Show Used Colors First' now shows duplicates of color items

• ScriptBlock::addBlock now takes an additional optional parameter to set a secondary color for the new block
• existing Mods using the old addBlock-call are not affected by this
• ScriptPlanComponent::setColor now takes an optional parameter secondaryColor
• Added documentation for ScriptPlanComponent::setColor
• Added ScriptPlanComponent::setSecondaryBlockColor
• Added ScriptBlockPlan::setSecondaryBlockColor
• Changed ScriptColor.toHtml to always print 6 hex digits led by a '#', i.e. '#000000' for black

• Fixed a rare crash in flight physics of fighters
• Fixed an issue where hangars would be rendered way too bright in some cases
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where Xsotan waves started spawning in a rift sector right after accepting the corresponding mission and before the player entered the sector
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where the player wouldn't be warned of their ships destruction when switching to another sector while in a rift sector
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where part of the ServerRunner window was not visible
• [UBR] Fixed an issue where no warning was displayed when leaving ships behind in a rift sector

After performing well on the beta branch, patch 2.4.3 is now live on the default main branch.

We've fixed a few bugs (like the station-says-I'm-docked-but-I'm-not-actually-docked-what-the-hell-is-happening-bug) and implemented a workaround for an AMD driver crash.

• Improved consistency of subsystem tooltip descriptions

• Fixed an issue where client and server disagreed about docking state (This should resolve cases where the ship was shown as docked but various menus sent errors about not being docked)
• Implemented a workaround for an AMD GPU driver issue
• Fixed an issue where ancient gates could be connected to world boss sectors
• Fixed an issue where it was possible to give orders meant for ships to stations
• Fixed a crash when a station was ordered to support a ship and the ship left the sector
• Fixed an issue where boss health bars were visible in build mode
• Fixed a crash related to destroyed entities in scrapyard sectors
• Fixed an issue where a tooltip obstructed the confirmation dialog when removing a subsystem with shift-click

More details about the AMD driver situation can be found in the previous Beta-Branch Announcement

Beta Branch Note: These changes are currently available on the beta branch. The beta branch is for testing experimental changes and for finding and fixing errors.

This is how you get access to the beta branch (USE AT YOUR OWN RISK):
Right-Click on Avorion in your Steam list, Properties -> Betas -> Select branch 'Beta Branch - Newest Changes & Experimental Features'.

• Improved consistency of subsystem tooltip descriptions

• Fixed an issue where client and server disagreed about docking state
• This should resolve cases where the ship was shown as docked but various menus sent errors about not being docked
• Implemented a workaround for an AMD GPU driver issue
• Fixed an issue where ancient gates could be connected to world boss sectors
• Fixed an issue where it was possible to give orders meant for ships to stations
• Fixed a crash when a station was ordered to support a ship and the ship left the sector
• Fixed an issue where boss health bars were visible in build mode
• Fixed a crash related to destroyed entities in scrapyard sectors
• Fixed an issue where a tooltip obstructed the confirmation dialog when removing a subsystem with shift-click

Some users reported crashes with AMD cards when creating or loading a galaxy using AMD driver version 23.12.1 or 24.1.1. We have implemented a workaround that hopefully addresses this issue. If you had this issue, please report in the comments if this patch fixes the issue for you (on driver 24.1.1). If the problem still exists we recommend a downgrade to driver 23.11.1.

Some background on the status of this issue, by one of our devs:

"This problem is particularly difficult to debug. Originally none of our office PCs with AMD cards were affected. However, we managed to build a PC where we can reproduce the issue, but even with this PC, the crash doesn't happen reliably.

On a technical level, the crash happens in a thread run by the AMD driver in the Avorion process. This should not be possible unless there is a bug in the driver. For those who don't know: a driver *must not crash*. We have verified multiple times that our code is correct and doesn't raise any errors. We've contacted AMD multiple times over different channels but have not received a helpful answer, yet.

Warning, technical: To analyze the cause, we tried to disable various parts of the engine. When the crash disappeared we always had to test many times, as it wasn't 100% reliable. No crashes a few times in a row can just be plain (bad?) luck and lead down the wrong path. We finally found different, independent functions we could disable, that individually stopped the crash. None of them look like they made sense as a cause for a crash. Just leaving them disabled was no option either, we had to find a solution without impacting the content of the game. We settled on restructuring a small part of preparatory texture work so we give the driver less work while loading the game, and forced the driver to complete some of its work on our schedule instead of its own."

We're very sorry for the inconvenience. We hope that the workaround we've screwed into our engine fixes the issue for you fine AMD folks, and we hope we can remove it once the driver crash was fixed by AMD.

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Hello dear spacefarers,

good news awaits as the latest patch 2.4.2 is now live on the default branch! After performing well on beta we're moving it onto default so you can enjoy the latest improvements over the holidays.

Check out the exact patch notes here:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/445220/announcements/detail/3884981746112663883

Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

- The Boxelware Team

Beta Branch Note: These changes are currently available on the beta branch. The beta branch is for testing experimental changes and for finding and fixing errors.

This is how you get access to the beta branch (USE AT YOUR OWN RISK):
Right-Click on Avorion in your Steam list, Properties -> Betas -> Select branch 'Beta Branch - Newest Changes & Experimental Features'.

• Increased bonuses of Behemoth Civil Turret Control System
• Increased bonuses of Behemoth Military Turret Control System
• Behemoth Carrier Control System production speed is now a percentage bonus
• Behemoth Carrier Control System now also counts mining and shield subsystems for bonuses
• Tweaked a few subsystem tooltips to clarify their relevance for Behemoth System Bonuses

• Fixed a crash when attempting to open a remote ship window for an unnamed craft (e.g. for a fighter)
• Fixed an issue where limit of at most one behemoth hyperspace system was not enforced
• Fixed an issue where behemoth upgrade systems counted temporary installed subsystems as permanently installed ones for bonuses