The Orbital Update for No Man’s Sky is one of the most comprehensive and fulfills many of the fans’ wishes
The incredible comeback story of No Man’s Sky after its unsuccessful launch eight years ago is never-ending. Sean Murray and his development team at Hello Games released the latest patch this week
The Orbital Update not only brings a thorough overhaul of the space stations, but also introduces the long-awaited ship building feature.
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This is what awaits you in the new giant update
The space stations, previously one of the few static, i.e. non-procedurally generated elements in the dynamic world of No Man’s Sky, are undergoing a radical change with Orbital. By improving the engine
the interior and exterior areas of the stations have been completely redesigned
Station exteriors are now impressively large and more varied than ever before, while interiors have been transformed into huge, procedurally generated and more varied areas offering new stores, game mechanics and activities. These are now customized by system, race and location.
The second major highlight of the update is the new ship editor, which allows you to customize your ships to your liking and even design entirely new ship types. This feature was one of the most frequently expressed requests from the community. As you explore the universe, you collect parts for your ships, and the necessary components can be salvaged from wrecks and ruins
In addition to shipbuilding, “Orbital” also introduces a revised guild system that makes guild membership and reputation building a much more important part of the game. All players now have the opportunity to own a fleet of freighters and send them on missions, which can include heroic rescue missions.
In addition, the update includes various improvements to the game engine, a refresh of the user interface and much more, ultimately making it one of the most comprehensive updates ever released for No Man’s Sky. The developers at Hello Games have already announced that they have even more planned for this year as the journey continues.
4.6 PATCH NOTES
Space Stations
- Space stations have been completely reworked and refreshed.
- Station exteriors are now available in a variety of procedurally generated shapes and colors, as well as a larger scale.
- Space station interiors are now procedurally generated.
- Space station interiors now have a large number of lighting and visual variations.
- Station interior designs now reflect the race of the local system authorities.
- The various important merchants and interactions in the space station have all been visually refreshed.
- Players can now use the quick menu to change their docked ship while aboard the space station, provided that the ship in question has working launch engines.
Screen space reflections
- A number of optimizations and visual improvements have been introduced to the rendering of screen space reflections.
- The rendering of reflections has been reworked to reduce noise and make the effect more stable.
- The lighting model for reflections has been improved to achieve a more realistic, physically based look.
Fleet MISSIONS
- While on expeditions, frigates can now call home via the starship communicator or the fleet command terminal on the freighter.
- The fleet commander can ask you for advice if he has a tricky situation to deal with, or even ask for direct help.
- Your decisions in these moments or your efforts to come to the aid of your fleet will have a direct impact on the outcome and rewards of your fleet missions.
- Fixed a number of text issues when using the Captain’s Terminal on a frigate.
- The player’s flare is no longer automatically activated when boarding a frigate.
- The frigate’s teleporter can no longer be triggered while the frigate is on a mission.
- Fixed an issue that could cause asteroids to flicker when warping into a system containing a frigate fleet.
- Fixed an issue that prevented outlawed frigates that were not on a mission from warping in to defend the player when attacked by enemy starships.
- Nearby fleets now always deploy fighters to support the player in combat, even if they are on a mission.
- When you land on an outlaw frigate, you will now be greeted by the captain with an appropriate message.
STARSHIP CUSTOMIZATION
- A new interaction, the starship maker, has been added to the space station.
- The Fabricator allows you to build your own starship, be it a battleship, a transport ship or a research vessel.
- When salvaging a ship, you can now search for specific components, e.g. the wings or the engine package. These salvaged components can then be combined to create a brand new ship.
- Buy starship reactors from space station technology traders to determine the stats and class of your new starship.
- The Fabricator also allows you to choose unique colors and paint jobs for your new ship.
- Spaceships you’ve salvaged from the wild or bought from another pilot benefit from universal authentication, which grants them a bonus to future trade-in values.
USER INTERFACE
- The welcome screen and mode selection screens have been visually redesigned.
- The options screens have been redesigned to make them clearer.
- The in-game patch notes have been visually redesigned.
- Purchase and decline buttons on various UI pages have been redesigned.
- The comparison and purchase screens have been redesigned for clarity.
- When using “Transfer More” to add items to a slot, the popup now only shows valid items.
- When highlighting a mission location, the icon now starts briefly in the center of the screen before moving to its usual position, making it easier to track locations off-screen.
- Fixed an issue that caused an additional delay when creating markers for mission events.
TRADING, REPUTATION AND GUILDS
- Space station technology traders now have a wider choice of upgrades, with more high-quality modules available.
- Space Station Technology vendors now offer a discount depending on your reputation with their faction.
- The starship economy scanner can now be activated both in the ship’s inventory and in the quick menu.
- In addition to detecting planetary outposts, the economy scanner can now also detect nearby trade flows.
- Trade surges are temporary events in nearby systems that offer an increased profit margin on important goods. Find a source for the trade goods you need to profit from these surges.
- The economic description of a system on the galaxy map now uses a standardized name for the goods it buys and sells.
- The Guild Envoys of the Merchant, Mercenary and Explorer Guilds now offer a wide range of items to their members.
- Find the guild envoys on board space stations.
- Each Emissary offers a range of free supplies and heavily discounted items, the eligibility of which depends on your current status in the respective guild. The exact items vary from system to system, but are tailored to each individual guild.
- Envoys will also accept donations for guild supplies in exchange for increasing your standing in their guild.
- Slaughtered pirate ships now provide pirate transponders that can be donated to the mercenary guild to increase reputation.
- The clarity and display of the buttons for displaying travel milestones and faction status in the catalog has been improved.
- Fixed a problem that caused the status button in the catalog system to lead to the wrong page.
- A number of new foreign words have been added that can now be learned and translated.
- The trading terminal on space stations now has a clearer name and subtitle.
BASIC PARTS
- A large number of new base parts have been added, based on the decoration style of the space station.
- Research these parts with the salvaged data at the Construction Research Terminal on the Space Anomaly.
BUG FIXES
- Fixed an issue that caused some shuttle wings to be misaligned.
- Fixed a number of visual issues with the hologram on the multi-tool recovery terminal.
- Fixed an issue that caused spaceship icons to be used on the multi-tool recovery terminal.
- Fixed an issue that could cause doors to open too slowly, resulting in a collision event between the door user and the door structure.
- Fixed a number of visual issues that could occur when attaching autophage heads to other bodies in the Customizer.
- Fixed an issue that could cause some planetary cultures to flicker.
- Fixed a number of memory leaks related to texture generation and streaming.
- Fixed a memory leak related to holograms.
- Fixed a memory leak related to planetary missions.
- Remedy of a memory leak in connection with discoveries.
- Fixed a memory error related to player bases.
- Fixed a memory error related to claiming rewards at the end of an expedition.
- Fixed a memory error related to planet generation.
- Fixed a number of memory issues that could occur when dying.
- A significant performance optimization has been introduced when in non-combat locations, such as space stations or the anomaly.
- Fixed a number of multiplayer connectivity issues on Xbox.
- Improved the audio for the Starborn Runner landing effects.
- The Starborn Runner can now actually hover when flying on a planet.
- Solar class starships now retract their sails when engaging hyperdrive.
- Fixed a number of issues that could prevent starships from properly attaching to their dock or landing pad.
- Fixed an issue that could cause the galaxy map to not mark the correct path type for the current mission.
- Fixed a rare issue that could cause some NPCs or objects aboard a criminal station to use the wrong dialog type when loading a save created aboard the station.
- Fixed a number of text issues in missions that promote space combat.
- Fixed a number of items and technologies that were missing from the list of known recipes when starting a new game in creative mode.
- Fixed an issue that could incorrectly cause additional base specialists (such as the Overseer or Farmer) to appear in space stations, even if one had already been hired.
- Fixed a softlock that could occur if a message box was closed while it was still displayed.
- Fixed an issue that could cause an expedition to accidentally end prematurely before all milestones were reached.
- Fixed a series of rare display issues in the Space Anomaly Expedition Terminal.
- Fixed an issue that allowed players to place damaged technologies in the cargo area of the Expedition Terminal.
- Fixed a rare issue that could cause the preview of some starships received as rewards to not show charged slots.
- Fixed an issue that could cause a missing texture to be displayed in the expedition terminal when no expedition was in progress.
- Fixed a rare issue that could cause a player’s inventory to slowly fill with distress signal scanners after an active scanner was placed in an inaccessible inventory.
- Fixed an issue that could make it difficult to delete items from the inventory using the directional pad without simultaneously scrolling the inventory away from the item in question.
- Fixed a rare issue that could cause the camera to not be placed correctly after receiving a reward.
- Fixed a series of incorrect data in bait recipes.
