Hey everyone,
Those who are eligible to download the 2.4 beta (PC Players Only) will be able to do so now.
If you have access to the closed beta (those who have previously purchased beta or had access to previous closed betas) you should see it available for download in the Elite Dangerous launcher.
Remember - this beta will work slightly differently to previous betas, as outlined here: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/369071-2-4-The-Return-Beta-Information
Claiming your free community decal - accept and take part in the Community Goal on the beta servers to be eligible for the free decal! It's that simple.
The beta forum segments will be opened for feedback as usual, and the designers will be asking for specific types of feedback too. Look out for their posts in the forums.
Thanks!
Here's the changelog (keep in mind much of the content will arrive at launch and has been left out of the beta changelogs to avoid spoilers). There are also further small edits to this changelog related to tweaks and fixes to ships incoming, so keep an eye out for an edit later today:
New Content & Features (Horizons)
• Holo-Me Save Slots - We have added save slots for different Commander appearances in the Holo-Me system
• Holo-Me: Added 12 new hairstyles
• Holo-Me: Added slots for Eyewear and Outfits
• Synthesis can now create heat sinks, chaff, limpets and top up life support
• Additional planetary bases added to the Colonia region for migration winners
New Content & Features (Non-Horizons)
• Ship Rebuy Penalty – When a player commits the crime of murder (PvP only), an additional cost is added if they swap to a less expensive ship before paying legal costs during the rebuy flow
• Pilot’s Federation Bounty – When a player commits the crime of murder (PvP only), they receive an additional Pilot's Federation Bounty. This bounty is valid in every jurisdiction except anarchies
• Inbox Revamp - Various quality of life improvements and a new look
• New Chained Missions - Which can be longer than two steps
• Hull/Canopy Repair Limpet controllers are now available
• Preview game extras in outfitting - You will now be able to preview paint jobs and other game extras available for purchase
• Stored ships can now be sold from the rebuy screen to cover the rebuy cost
• Updated route plotting system:
• Star systems renamed based on Colonia based on migration winners and new NPC locations
• Additional space stations added to Pleiades region to support civilian expansion narrative
• Mysterious locations added that we’re not going to tell you about
• Added search and rescue contacts to stations across the galaxy
• New and improved salvage scenarios added to support search and rescue gameplay
• Made salvage commodities legal to pick up from wreck sites (will still appear illegal if dropped by ships as that is not salvage)
Fixes and Improvements
Audio System Updates
• Audio Collision Re-factor – the way we trigger audio on collisions is different now. Should sound the same as before
• Music system – is completely replaced! Existing music should behave exactly as before. It is now much more maintainable and enjoyable to use
• Radio chatter – The radio chatter system works differently under the hood now, enabling us to do cool magic chatter based things in the future. Existing chatter lines should function the same as before (around star ports and planet ports)
• Flight controllers – This system also works differently now to be far more flexible and pave the way for future awesomes. Again the player experience should be the same as before for now
Controls
• Fixed a responsiveness issue that could occur when using the D-Pad of a controller on the galaxy map
• Fixed an issue where the driving mode switches were not bound in the Classic Context controls preset
Factions
• Encourage factions to not expand into starsystems that require permits
Fighters/Crew
• Restored the missing descriptions for the GU-97 and Taipan Fighter when viewing their details via the Roles panel
Galaxy/System Map
• Updated some textures in the System Map to reduce memory usage (without reducing the quality)
• Fixed an issue whereby you would not get a failed message when plotting an economical route
• Fixed an issue with how the Gemini Constellation was being drawn on the Galaxy Map
• Corrected an issue whereby the completed mission indicators were not updating correctly on the System Map
• Fixed an issue where ships that have been transferred were not displayed at the correct location on the Galaxy Map after logging out
General Fixes & Tweaks
• Fixed datestamps on inbox messages
• Various text fixes
• Various localisation fixes
Holo-Me Creator
• The Escape key will no longer exit the Holo-Me system
• Fixed a rendering issue that could occur when a Commander's hair overlaid certain environmental fog effects
Missions
• Add distance from starsystem entry to mission destinations
• Ship kills, and actions to complete planetary hack and disable missions will now only contribute to a single mission, this will be the earliest mission accepted
• Refactored mission selection to promote a wider selection of missions on a single board.
• Refactored mission selection to promote a better spread of missions across factions
• Refactored mission selection to heavily promote selection of conflict missions for both sides involved
• Refactored mission selection to more reliably generate permit, engineer, and rank missions at eligible stations.
• Slightly rebalanced micro resource reward selection probabilities
• Added an inbox message when passengers alight from the ship
• Follow-on missions can include more data about previous missions in the chain
• Added support for missions allocating additional rewards based on station distance from the jump-in point
• Optimisations to how system data caching for secondary sites is stored and requested
• Significantly improve mission board loading, especially for those on high-latency networks
• Fixed message text when trying to accept missions past the mission limit (No longer says "... of this type" when it means total missions)
• Fixed passengers on tourism missions not realising the player hadn't gone to the right beacon when on multiple-site trips
• Fixed localisation text for certain parts of Ram Tah's ruins mission in languages other than english
NPCs
• Fixed an issue whereby forgetful Military NPCs could sometimes have left their weapons at home
• Shooting a capital ship in a scenario where they are the bad guys no longer lands you with a bounty on your head
• Trigger-happy NPCs will now only shoot missiles once the target's shields have dropped
• Fixed the falling skimmer issue that could occur on planet surfaces
• Fix for capital ship movement issues
Outfitting
• Fixed an issue that sometimes prevented players from selecting stored modules in Outfitting
• Fixed an issue where livery items would not appear the first time they are clicked upon
• Various outfitting items have had their descriptions fixed
Player Journal
• Added "Luminosity" property to "Scan" event for a Star
• Added "MissionRedirected" event
• Added "SearchAndRescue" event
• Added "SellShipOnRebuy" event
• Include Latitude and Longitude info in Screenshot event if appropriate
• Include transfer time to FetchRemoteModule
• Include info about online friends at startup
• The 'Scan" event is generated for all bodies in a system, when scanning a navigation Beacon
• Added "RepairDrone" event
• Added "Music" event
Render
• Fixed an OSX specific issue with asteroid decals having bright textures when mining
• Fixed an OSX specific issue that saw station lights rendering through your ship's geometry
• Made some tweaks to prevent certain landing pads from being visible when using the vanity camera when docked in a hangar on a planet
• Fixed an issue that could lead to other Commanders mysteriously floating around the screen when inspecting a fighter or SRV
• We have made some improvements to the planetary surface textures to prevent it from 'jumping' when driving an SRV
• Improvements made to station LOD (level of detail) when in a Wing
Server
• Fix a cause of stored ships shown on the galaxy map, but were inaccessible from the shipyard
• Fix a transaction server error when transferring stolen cargo between SRVs and Ships
• Fix displaying the wrong language labels for Community Goal reward tiers
• Fix displaying the wrong language in multi-crew session reports
• Fix some incorrect faction superpower allegiance and government types used for the galaxy map, system map, commodities and outfitting services
• Stop displaying 'main menu' as a last location in top bounty local news reports
• Fix some occurrences of Cmdr Validating when displaying xbox commander names
• Fix a transaction server error when passengers leave ship cabins
• Fix a transaction server error in outfitting
• Various reliability and performance improvements
Ships
Anaconda
Diamondback
Diamondback Explorer
Dolphin
Eagle
F63 Condor
Federal Corvette
Federal Dropship
Imperial Courier
Imperial Eagle
Lakon Type 6
Lakon Type 7
Lakon Type 9
Python
Viper MkIII
Viper MkIV
SRV
• Fixed a text overlay issue with the Surface and System map buttons in the Navigation Panel when driving an SRV
• Fixed an issue that caused the mouse direction cursor to not appear when driving an SRV
Stability Fixes
• Fixed a crash that could occur when a nearby NPC ship was docking in a station
• Fixed a crash that could occur when saving and exiting back to the main menu
• Fixed a crash that could occur when reviewing Multicannon hardpoints in Outfitting
• Fixed a memory crash that could occur in various situations while playing
• Fixed a memory leak
• Fixed a crash that could occur when entering an Unidentified Signal Source
• Fixed a crash that could occur when dropping in to a Civilian Installation
• Fixed a crash that could occur when entering Supercruise
Stations and Outposts
• Outpost weapons platform has been completely updated with new art
• All Outposts have had an art pass to fix minor issues and improve visuals
• Outpost schematic rendering is now fixed to show all the extra modules, not just the core outpost
• Modular Stations have had an art pass to fix minor issues and improve visuals in some areas
• Various station schematic models have been updated to improve quality and fix orientation issues
• Physics mesh optimisation in the newer station interiors to improve framerate
• Various updates to station interiors to fix minor art issues and improve LODs
UI
• Fixed an issue where the fuel scooping UI element would overlap with the jump charging element
• Fixed an issue that could cause your inbox to become garbled when deleting messages
• Fixed an issue where gunsights were not rendering correctly
• Fixed some icons that were missing in the Multi-crew role switch panel
• Fixed an issue where the Multi-crew session report could overlay incorrectly and not be closed when opened in the Gunner Cam mode
• The Insurance screen will now show the last ship you were flying by default
• Livery items you own will now be indicated with a tick
• Removed a mysterious invisible button to nowhere from the Station Services menu
• Corrected the Commander portraits appearing at a lower resolution in the Station menu
• We have made some cosmetic improvements to the layout of the Insurance screen
• Fixed an issue where a Wingman's target marker could disappear when they target a subsystem
VR
• We have made some adjustments to mouse behaviour when viewing the Holo-Me menu in VR so that it matches other UI screens
• We have disabled the bloom effect when using the VR graphical presets by default, as it could be a bit hard on the eyes
Weapons
• We have made some improvements to the animations on railgun
Those who are eligible to download the 2.4 beta (PC Players Only) will be able to do so now.
If you have access to the closed beta (those who have previously purchased beta or had access to previous closed betas) you should see it available for download in the Elite Dangerous launcher.
Remember - this beta will work slightly differently to previous betas, as outlined here: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/369071-2-4-The-Return-Beta-Information
Claiming your free community decal - accept and take part in the Community Goal on the beta servers to be eligible for the free decal! It's that simple.
The beta forum segments will be opened for feedback as usual, and the designers will be asking for specific types of feedback too. Look out for their posts in the forums.
Thanks!
Here's the changelog (keep in mind much of the content will arrive at launch and has been left out of the beta changelogs to avoid spoilers). There are also further small edits to this changelog related to tweaks and fixes to ships incoming, so keep an eye out for an edit later today:
New Content & Features (Horizons)
• Holo-Me Save Slots - We have added save slots for different Commander appearances in the Holo-Me system
• Holo-Me: Added 12 new hairstyles
• Holo-Me: Added slots for Eyewear and Outfits
• Synthesis can now create heat sinks, chaff, limpets and top up life support
• Additional planetary bases added to the Colonia region for migration winners
New Content & Features (Non-Horizons)
• Ship Rebuy Penalty – When a player commits the crime of murder (PvP only), an additional cost is added if they swap to a less expensive ship before paying legal costs during the rebuy flow
• Pilot’s Federation Bounty – When a player commits the crime of murder (PvP only), they receive an additional Pilot's Federation Bounty. This bounty is valid in every jurisdiction except anarchies
• Inbox Revamp - Various quality of life improvements and a new look
• New Chained Missions - Which can be longer than two steps
• Hull/Canopy Repair Limpet controllers are now available
• Preview game extras in outfitting - You will now be able to preview paint jobs and other game extras available for purchase
• Stored ships can now be sold from the rebuy screen to cover the rebuy cost
• Updated route plotting system:
- maximum route plotting range is now 20Kly
- route plotting is much faster
- there is now an option to make use of neutron star boost when plotting routes
- an icon is displayed on the route to show the last scoopable star before running out of fuel
• Star systems renamed based on Colonia based on migration winners and new NPC locations
• Additional space stations added to Pleiades region to support civilian expansion narrative
• Mysterious locations added that we’re not going to tell you about
• Added search and rescue contacts to stations across the galaxy
• New and improved salvage scenarios added to support search and rescue gameplay
• Made salvage commodities legal to pick up from wreck sites (will still appear illegal if dropped by ships as that is not salvage)
Fixes and Improvements
Audio System Updates
• Audio Collision Re-factor – the way we trigger audio on collisions is different now. Should sound the same as before
• Music system – is completely replaced! Existing music should behave exactly as before. It is now much more maintainable and enjoyable to use
• Radio chatter – The radio chatter system works differently under the hood now, enabling us to do cool magic chatter based things in the future. Existing chatter lines should function the same as before (around star ports and planet ports)
• Flight controllers – This system also works differently now to be far more flexible and pave the way for future awesomes. Again the player experience should be the same as before for now
Controls
• Fixed a responsiveness issue that could occur when using the D-Pad of a controller on the galaxy map
• Fixed an issue where the driving mode switches were not bound in the Classic Context controls preset
Factions
• Encourage factions to not expand into starsystems that require permits
Fighters/Crew
• Restored the missing descriptions for the GU-97 and Taipan Fighter when viewing their details via the Roles panel
Galaxy/System Map
• Updated some textures in the System Map to reduce memory usage (without reducing the quality)
• Fixed an issue whereby you would not get a failed message when plotting an economical route
• Fixed an issue with how the Gemini Constellation was being drawn on the Galaxy Map
• Corrected an issue whereby the completed mission indicators were not updating correctly on the System Map
• Fixed an issue where ships that have been transferred were not displayed at the correct location on the Galaxy Map after logging out
General Fixes & Tweaks
• Fixed datestamps on inbox messages
• Various text fixes
• Various localisation fixes
Holo-Me Creator
• The Escape key will no longer exit the Holo-Me system
• Fixed a rendering issue that could occur when a Commander's hair overlaid certain environmental fog effects
Missions
• Add distance from starsystem entry to mission destinations
• Ship kills, and actions to complete planetary hack and disable missions will now only contribute to a single mission, this will be the earliest mission accepted
• Refactored mission selection to promote a wider selection of missions on a single board.
• Refactored mission selection to promote a better spread of missions across factions
• Refactored mission selection to heavily promote selection of conflict missions for both sides involved
• Refactored mission selection to more reliably generate permit, engineer, and rank missions at eligible stations.
• Slightly rebalanced micro resource reward selection probabilities
• Added an inbox message when passengers alight from the ship
• Follow-on missions can include more data about previous missions in the chain
• Added support for missions allocating additional rewards based on station distance from the jump-in point
• Optimisations to how system data caching for secondary sites is stored and requested
• Significantly improve mission board loading, especially for those on high-latency networks
• Fixed message text when trying to accept missions past the mission limit (No longer says "... of this type" when it means total missions)
• Fixed passengers on tourism missions not realising the player hadn't gone to the right beacon when on multiple-site trips
• Fixed localisation text for certain parts of Ram Tah's ruins mission in languages other than english
NPCs
• Fixed an issue whereby forgetful Military NPCs could sometimes have left their weapons at home
• Shooting a capital ship in a scenario where they are the bad guys no longer lands you with a bounty on your head
• Trigger-happy NPCs will now only shoot missiles once the target's shields have dropped
• Fixed the falling skimmer issue that could occur on planet surfaces
• Fix for capital ship movement issues
Outfitting
• Fixed an issue that sometimes prevented players from selecting stored modules in Outfitting
• Fixed an issue where livery items would not appear the first time they are clicked upon
• Various outfitting items have had their descriptions fixed
Player Journal
• Added "Luminosity" property to "Scan" event for a Star
• Added "MissionRedirected" event
• Added "SearchAndRescue" event
• Added "SellShipOnRebuy" event
• Include Latitude and Longitude info in Screenshot event if appropriate
• Include transfer time to FetchRemoteModule
• Include info about online friends at startup
• The 'Scan" event is generated for all bodies in a system, when scanning a navigation Beacon
• Added "RepairDrone" event
• Added "Music" event
Render
• Fixed an OSX specific issue with asteroid decals having bright textures when mining
• Fixed an OSX specific issue that saw station lights rendering through your ship's geometry
• Made some tweaks to prevent certain landing pads from being visible when using the vanity camera when docked in a hangar on a planet
• Fixed an issue that could lead to other Commanders mysteriously floating around the screen when inspecting a fighter or SRV
• We have made some improvements to the planetary surface textures to prevent it from 'jumping' when driving an SRV
• Improvements made to station LOD (level of detail) when in a Wing
Server
• Fix a cause of stored ships shown on the galaxy map, but were inaccessible from the shipyard
• Fix a transaction server error when transferring stolen cargo between SRVs and Ships
• Fix displaying the wrong language labels for Community Goal reward tiers
• Fix displaying the wrong language in multi-crew session reports
• Fix some incorrect faction superpower allegiance and government types used for the galaxy map, system map, commodities and outfitting services
• Stop displaying 'main menu' as a last location in top bounty local news reports
• Fix some occurrences of Cmdr Validating when displaying xbox commander names
• Fix a transaction server error when passengers leave ship cabins
• Fix a transaction server error in outfitting
• Various reliability and performance improvements
Ships
Anaconda
- Fixed error that could occur when attempting to change the Anaconda's livery when an Engineer's modified shield generator is equipped
- Fixed a LOD issue with Anaconda Paintjobs
- Tidied up some textures
Diamondback
- Fixed some LOD issues
Diamondback Explorer
- Fixed some lighting issues
Dolphin
- Fixed some texture issues with the Excursion Paint Job
- Flipped some text on the cockpit fire extinguisher
- The Dolphin now casts a shadow correctly when in the hanger
Eagle
- Fixed some texture issues
F63 Condor
- Adjusted lighting in the livery screen
Federal Corvette
- Made adjustments so that the bumper Ship Kit works better with Paintjobs
- Fixed some clipping that could occur with a Class 1 Cannon in the small size 1 hardpoint
Federal Dropship
- Patched a hole in the geometry
Imperial Courier
- Made adjustments to the decals to prevent clipping
- Adjusted decal 1's camera angle to prevent clipping when using VR
Imperial Eagle
- Removed some stray geometry that was in the cargobay area
- Fixed some stretched textures that could be seen when your canopy ices up
- Minor texture and geometry fixes
Lakon Type 6
- Added new hanger cameras for the Lakon Type 6 for the rear Ship Kits and the wings
Lakon Type 7
- Fixed a LOD shadowing issue on the top of the Lakon Type 7
- Fixed some missing cockpit textures when viewed using the Vanity Camera
Lakon Type 9
- Added lights to the wings of the Lakon Type 9 so that nameplates can be seen
Python
- Corrected several vanity camera orientations
Viper MkIII
- Fixed some clipping that could occur when equipping a spoiler Ship Kit
Viper MkIV
- Changed the hanger cameras with rear facing cameras for the spoiler and tail Ship Kits
SRV
• Fixed a text overlay issue with the Surface and System map buttons in the Navigation Panel when driving an SRV
• Fixed an issue that caused the mouse direction cursor to not appear when driving an SRV
Stability Fixes
• Fixed a crash that could occur when a nearby NPC ship was docking in a station
• Fixed a crash that could occur when saving and exiting back to the main menu
• Fixed a crash that could occur when reviewing Multicannon hardpoints in Outfitting
• Fixed a memory crash that could occur in various situations while playing
• Fixed a memory leak
• Fixed a crash that could occur when entering an Unidentified Signal Source
• Fixed a crash that could occur when dropping in to a Civilian Installation
• Fixed a crash that could occur when entering Supercruise
Stations and Outposts
• Outpost weapons platform has been completely updated with new art
• All Outposts have had an art pass to fix minor issues and improve visuals
• Outpost schematic rendering is now fixed to show all the extra modules, not just the core outpost
• Modular Stations have had an art pass to fix minor issues and improve visuals in some areas
• Various station schematic models have been updated to improve quality and fix orientation issues
• Physics mesh optimisation in the newer station interiors to improve framerate
• Various updates to station interiors to fix minor art issues and improve LODs
UI
• Fixed an issue where the fuel scooping UI element would overlap with the jump charging element
• Fixed an issue that could cause your inbox to become garbled when deleting messages
• Fixed an issue where gunsights were not rendering correctly
• Fixed some icons that were missing in the Multi-crew role switch panel
• Fixed an issue where the Multi-crew session report could overlay incorrectly and not be closed when opened in the Gunner Cam mode
• The Insurance screen will now show the last ship you were flying by default
• Livery items you own will now be indicated with a tick
• Removed a mysterious invisible button to nowhere from the Station Services menu
• Corrected the Commander portraits appearing at a lower resolution in the Station menu
• We have made some cosmetic improvements to the layout of the Insurance screen
• Fixed an issue where a Wingman's target marker could disappear when they target a subsystem
VR
• We have made some adjustments to mouse behaviour when viewing the Holo-Me menu in VR so that it matches other UI screens
• We have disabled the bloom effect when using the VR graphical presets by default, as it could be a bit hard on the eyes
Weapons
• We have made some improvements to the animations on railgun
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