News
StarMade 0.0937: Crtitical Physics Bug-Fix
Hello,
another bug fix and optimization update.
Phyical objects sometimes seemed to randomly wiggle around to the point where players couldn't even enter their ships.
I spent 12 hours searching for the cause of this bug to find out to my surprise that it was actually a bug in the (pretty popular) VecMath Library. The Matrix to Quaternion conversion (used to interpolate rotations and to compress data sent over the network) had a bug where it would in some cases not result in the correct components, leading to a completely different rotation matrix, causing random display and physics errors.
This bug could have been the reason to many other bugs too.
The ship-exit spawning algorithm has been slighly improved and will hopefully resullt in better exit locations.
Furthermore, common physics functions have been improved, improving overall physics performance.
The tutorial has been slightly improved, and the sector-map key default has been remapped not to overlap with the skip key.
Thanks for playing StarMade,
- schema
StarMade 0.09362: more fixes & optimizations
Hello,
Quick update:
- improved method to calculate block grouping by a lot (big cause for server lag)
- keyboard duplicate key assignment is now allowed (it can be switched back in the options)
- slight NTprotocol performance optimization
- slight physics performance optimization
- fix for weapon info panel lazy update
- fix for weapon info panel being updated from changed ships other the one the player is in
Please do not panic if the game crashes. The network performance optimization is not yet full tested but should work fine. Admins: if it crashes, please send me a report and an email to schema at star-made.org and I'll work on a fix immediately.
(Technical: In an abstracted view of a NetworkObject I replaced the map for fields that need synchronizing with a map that doesn't use reflection every synchronization step, but instead caches the instance in the fields directly. I also eliminated a lot of cast checks, that happened each loop)
Thanks for playing StarMade,
- schema
StarMade 0.0936: Sound Core Switch & more fixes (+docking fix) (+NullPointerFix)
Hello and welcome to StarMade,
this version hopefully fixes several issues with sound.
New Sound Library
I switched for the the slick library to the paulscode libraries. They seem to be much more robust and faster. This already shows as the load time of the game did decrease by a lot (with sound on). Please check for eventual crashes the integration of the new system into starmade might cause, and report them so I can fix them as soon as possible.
Fixes and other optimizations
- catalog upload should be fixed (please test)
- AI nullpointer should be fixed
- optimization by removing some debug methods, and caching some calls
- symmetry planes can now always be set in advanced build mode
Docking Fix
An object, that is being writing to disk will now check if it is queued for docking but not yet docked. Before, this state could happen when AI, or something brushing by the sector could cause the object to load, queue up its previous dock, and then get written to disk immediately without actually executing the dock, effectively voiding the dock, so it would be undocked next time it gets loaded. It will in this case now save the queue and load it next time.
Sorry for uploading the additional update so fast. I just had a flash in my mind what might have been causing the random undocking, so I had to implement that immediately.
Thanks for playing StarMade,
- schema
EDIT: hotfix for a NullPointer crash that happens with some debug output pointing to a possible null object's toString function (notice: this update does not need a server update)
StarMade 0.09359: Crash fixes, Enter/Exit ship method redesign *crah hotfix*
Hello,
just a little update to fix crashes happening on several servers.
Also, the methot to exit/enter ships has been recoded, so that hopefully the teleporting bug will be finally gone (let me know if that is indeed the case).
Here are some small other additions:
- Sound initialization failure now throws readable error message
- Mouse buttons for building/removing can now be switched in the options menu
- Tutorial now has "show next time" check box when closing
Thanks for playing StarMade,
- schema
EDIT: A nasty crash on startup was happening when more then 1 player wanted to join a server. A fix is uploading.
StarMade 0.09358: Physics/Loot options for servers & new breaks
Hello and welcome to StarMade,
this update has some more customization options for StarMade servers.
All the new options will be available in server.cfg after the game was started with the new update once. You then have to restart for changed options to take effect.
Customize physical damping
Physics damping is the "resistance" a physical object gets by default. Normally in space there is no force slowing objects down (well, there could be particles etc). In my opinion have a little damping helps gameplay, since without it, ships will float away endlessly. But this is now an option for admins to decide. In the future there will be atmospheric damping also depending on where the object is.
PHYSICS_LINEAR_DAMPING and PHYSICS_ROTATIONAL_DAMPING are the options for that in the server.cfg. A value between 0 and 1 can be set. Setting both to 1 makes them behave like they would be in very thick fluid. A value of 0 makes objects not slow down.
New Breaks
Breaking will now directly depend on thrusters, and also take power (if the speed is bigger then 0)
Loot customization
Admins have now the option to decide how much loot spawns from destroyed AI ships and in generated chests (like in pirate bases).
The server.cfg options are:
AI_DESTRUCTION_LOOT_COUNT_MULTIPLYER
AI_DESTRUCTION_LOOT_STACK_MULTIPLYER
CHEST_LOOT_COUNT_MULTIPLYER
CHEST_LOOT_STACK_MULTIPLYER
values of 1 are what was default before this update. If you want no loot to spawn, just set the values to 0. Very small loot would be something like 0.05
Better item pickup method
A bug where items would not spawn is fixed. You can now pick up items in space with the full size of the ship you are in.
Thanks for playing StarMade,
- schema
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