Greetings Commanders,
With the end of July closing in on us faster than a getaway Mamba with illegal cargo, we wanted to share our second monthly developer update with you now.
As mentioned in
David Braben’s recent post, we have adjusted our planning to retain our development focus on the PC version of Odyssey before revisiting our plans for console. This change in planning will mean we are able to deliver more bug fixes, performance improvements, as well as some new features and content.
Issue Tracker
Similar to last month, we would like to update you on key issues as voted for by our community on the Issue Tracker. You can
visit the Issue Tracker and vote for your top issues or make a report.
1. Lighting and Illumination in Odyssey
- Changes in Update 6 will address lighting issues, however we’ll continue to monitor any feedback and make adjustments if necessary.
2. Degraded terrain textures compared to Horizons
- Update 6 will bring significant improvements in this area, however we’ll keep the issue open for further feedback and make adjustments if necessary.
3. FPS performance in Odyssey
- Further improvements and optimisations have been made which will be deployed in Update 6. Significant work is underway to improve this further.
4. Cargo Canisters get stuck in the Megaship
- Fixed for release in Update 6.
5.Hyford's Cache missing Scannable Data Point
- Fixed – awaiting deployment (Update 6 / maintenance).
6. Retrieval from crash site mission POIs no longer appear
- Fixed – awaiting deployment (Update 6 / maintenance).
7. Odyssey sticks at “Loading Game” when launch
- Fixed for release in Update 6.
Upcoming Updates and Content
As promised, we also wanted to share with you work in progress content and improvements which will arrive in future updates.
While bug fixes and performance improvements remain a priority and activities such as narrative, events, and community goals will continue. However, our new approach allows us to add further content and features.
This month, we would like to share some of the content currently in development. Please note these are at varying stages of progress, and other content is also being considered. Please also note they are not final and are subject to change. We will keep you updated with news and details as they progress and we expect the content to release over the coming few updates.
Planned for later this week (Update 6)
Planetary Colour Improvements
Planetary bodies will see a number of improvements. Explorers will find new planetary colouration which will increase vibrancy and variety. These improvements will still be grounded with real science, but will offer a much richer experience for those looking to forge their own path through the black. Here are a few examples:
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There will also be further variation with the addition of earthy, gritty, and dirty ice worlds. These new textures will add even more variety. Here we can see a frozen CO2 and a tholin rich ice planet.
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Planetary Surface Improvements
Planet surfaces will also be getting an uplift with the following:
Improved surface texture detail, improved Ice materials, increased volcanism, improved lighting and the integration of new AMD technology FSR (which works on all GPUs) will bring a significant improvement to planetary surfaces visuals and allow for some improved performance.
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Camera Suite
Nothing would accompany all of these visual upgrades better than improvements to our camera suite. On the surface, we’ve reduced blackout intersections in the vast majority of scenarios. However, under the hood, we have actually implemented a whole new collision detection system which will allow you to move the camera freely around a settlement or social space and avoid bumping into those problem blackout spots.
Rocket Troops at Military Installations
AI rocket troops will be added to military bases providing a greater challenge for Commanders approaching in SRVs.
Please note these features will be accompanied by a vast number of other improvements, tweaks and fixes which will be detailed in a dedicated forum post ahead of release.
Future Updates
Here are other features currently in development, which are planned for future updates. As we get closer to their release, we will announce which of these will be included in each update with further details:
Four Player Multicrew
Four Commanders will be able to board ships together for the first time, with a number of ships set to be equipped with a fourth cockpit seat, including several Commander favourites.
New Odyssey Engineers in Colonia
This is a much requested community feature and we’re pleased to oblige. We’ll be revealing more detail around these engineers soon.
Air Defence Turrets in Conflict Zones
We recognise that further balancing is required between on foot commanders and ships entering Conflict Zones. As such, further defence turrets will be added to Conflict Zones with associated on foot gameplay.
Increased Stored Module Capacity and Bookmark Numbers
These are long requested community features which will arrive in the near future.
Mission Feature Extensions
We will be expanding mission features for Odyssey with the aim to increase mission diversity and also create stronger links between the in-cockpit and on foot game.
Apex Redirect
This will allow passengers to redirect their Apex shuttle mid-flight, to return to the port of departure, or divert their Apex shuttle to another location, fuel permitting.
As mentioned, this list is not exhaustive and we will be sharing more details on the content mentioned above and future, unannounced content in further monthly development updates and across our other channels.
Thank you as always for your continued feedback and support.
-Arf
