New Launcher Release

Greetings, Citizens ~ 

Terra here. After many months of working on the new launcher, I’m excited to finally announce its release! 

The new launcher is a pleasant departure from our previous, rather utilitarian version. It’s beautiful, very user-friendly, and should help resolve many issues. (Though, should you prefer using the legacy launcher for any reason, you may still do so.) 

Please note that we are only releasing the launcher on Steam at present. 
A standalone version will follow soon. 

If you want to use the new launcher outside of Steam now, head over to our downloads page and hit the “DOWNLOAD NEW LAUNCHER” button http://www.star-made.org/download . 

Here are a few of the major points: 

Bundled Java

One of the primary benefits of the new launcher is that it comes already bundled with Java. Not only will this allow users to launch the game on systems without Java installed, it also ensures the correct bit version for their system. (While using 32bit Java on a 64bit OS is possible, doing so causes significant performance issues.) Furthermore, we specifically picked the Java version we’ve bundled for its better performance, so using the new launcher should improve gameplay experience, at least slightly, for most players. (Should you prefer to use your own installed Java version instead, you may specify it within the launcher options.) 

On a related note, there’s a relatively rare but difficult-to-troubleshoot problem that has plagued many players in StarMade and other Java games alike: the _JAVA_OPTIONS environment variable. When present, it overrides any settings passed to Java, often causing crashes or extremely poor performance. The new launcher warns you when it is present and allows you to alter its value if desired. 

These two features should resolve the majority of pre-launch issues. 

Steam Linking

Steam linking is considerably easier now: when running the launcher via Steam, it will ask if you want to link your Steam account after you’ve logged in. The option is also available in the launcher options. 

Memory Settings

Continuing with the theme of thwarting potential problems, the memory settings window will not allow you to choose invalid memory values, and has sensible defaults. The input boxes allow fine control over values, while their spinners and the slider allow you to change values quickly. 

Moving Forward

As the launcher is freshly out of beta, there may be some lingering bugs. If you discover any, please restart the launcher with the --verbose option (via the console, or within Steam via “Properties > Set launch options…”), reproduce the behavior, and attach launcher.log to the bug report along with the usual information. I will be happy to squish them for you. 

Speaking of options, passing --help to the launcher will give you a list of options that change its behavior, including bypassing the autoupdate feature, or capturing the game’s output for troubleshooting purposes. 

I will continue updating and improving the launcher, and already have several additional features planned. Furthermore, we here at Schine are planning on releasing the launcher’s source in the coming weeks, so if you’re keen on forking it or helping out, you can! If you just want to poke around, that’s fine, too. 

Stay tuned for more updates! 

And as always, thanks for playing StarMade 
~ The Schine Team