Stars End

[Asid]

Updated 50 - Available in Beta Testing Mode (Live in 48 hours)
Mon, 14 December 2020



Hey Everyone,

Over the past couple of weeks we had many new players join Stars End, and with a higher player population we`ve received a lot more feedback. So with out 50th update we focused on fixing, polishing and improving various aspects of Stars End based on player feedback, bug reports and suggestions.

In addition we started work on making other planets in the star system more playable – but this is just the first steps, and we still recommend Beta Prairie as the main planet.

...please keep in mind that our 50th update is now only available in Steam`s beta testing mode (right click on the game, click properties, then beta, then opt in), but we expect it to be fully ready tomorrow or Wednesday.

In our next major update we will be finally introducing new characters with much higher visual fidelity, but first we have one more bug fixing and improving update coming up in a few days.

Thanks for your continuous support, and lets take a look has to offer:

Setting up New Planets
•   Planet audio added to Caliban planet and Cassius moon
•   Waypoints, resources, AI and additional fixes on Caliban planet
•   Underwater rocks added on Cassius moon
•   Cassius moon ferry landing enhanced and moved to an island
•   Reworked Brutus planet with terrain fixes and an LOD version added for better orbital views
•   Updated resources and foliage on Nox moon to use new foliage tech + spotter system
•   Waypoints created for some Nox moon resources
•   Fixed falling through Nox moon terrain and on some other players

Fixes and Additions
•   Fixed various bugs with capturing and holding territories
•   Reworked background Audio when spotter ability is active
•   Visual Improvement with LOD shadows
•   Fixed issues with two AIs being spawned in the same region
•   Changed how animals spawn on the planets - with less randomness, and more logic
•   Fixed the camera rendering line showing in the distance when flying in space ships
•   Fixed grass not appearing correctly in a distance when on a vehicle
•   When flying above the planet - can now see trees in a very long distance
•   Greatly increased performance when flying near the ground in a space vehicles
•   Fixed issues with player rotation in the vehicles breaking with passengers
•   Fixed atmospheres not showing for other planets while on moons
•   Fixed various issues with missing vehicles or items
•   Fixed one vehicle turning into another
•   Fixed a large number of exploits and inconsistencies with various items and components
•   Fixed double marker and components appearing in the base
•   Reworked the Options menu - with new layout, still a bit of polishing left
•   More various performance improvements with foliage rendering
•   Fixed terrain sometime glowing during the night on Beta Prairie
•   Fixed issue with Mechs floating in the air or in space
•   Crosshoair cursor is now properly scaled based on window resolution.
•   Crosshoair in the spotter mode appears larger
•   Spotter navpoints adjusted to scale both text and icons better
•   Fixed base containers not showing interaction prompt.
•   /Stuck command to get player unstuck can now be used on players even on the Solo server in the chat

[Asid]

Updated 50 - Big Christmas Update
Sat, 19 December 2020



Hey Everyone,

First of all we wanted to wish everyone great Holidays ahead! Today`s update includes some Christmas themed installation located on Clayton planet in Beta Prairie. Hope everyone has fun and safe holidays ahead. And our team plans to release at least 1 more update over the Holidays.

Over the past couple of weeks we had many new players join Stars End, and with a higher player population we`ve received a lot more feedback. So with out 50th update we focused on fixing, polishing and improving various aspects of Stars End based on player feedback, bug reports and suggestions.

For example we have complete reworked crafting based on overwhelming player requests to make character free to do other stuff while crafting.

In addition we started work on making other planets in the star system more playable – but this is just the first steps, and we still recommend Beta Prairie as the main planet.

In our next major update we will be finally introducing new characters with much higher visual fidelity, but first we have one more bug fixing and improving update coming up in a few days.

Thanks for your continuous support, and lets take a look has to offer:

Christmas Updates
•   Christmas celebration area is setup in the middle of Clayton
•   Christmas area comes complete with lootable gifts with cake ingredients
•   New Christmas gift crafting recipe enabled

Reworked Crafting
•   Crafting no longer restricts player movement - close crafting window to move
•   Unless inside the vehicle player speed is reduced to walking only while crafting
•   It`s now possible to craft at multiple workstations at once - but using the same crafting ques
•   Player can no ride in vehicles, sleep, and perform any other action while crafting at workstations or refinery

Setting up New Planets
•   Planet audio added to Caliban and Cassius
•   Waypoints, resources, AI and additional fixes on Caliban
•   Underwater rocks added on Cassius
•   Cassius ferry landing enhanced and moved to an island
•   Reworked Brutus planet with terrain fixes and an LOD version added for better orbital views
•   Updated resources and foliage on Nox to use new foliage tech + spotter system
•   Waypoints created for some Nox resources
•   Fixed falling through Nox terrain and on some other players

Fixes and Additions
•   Major performance improvements
•   Fixed being unable to setup Crews on solo
•   Player can now see waypints to all his spawn points even in other systems
•   Can now respawn on any claim, and not just in the system in died in
•   Fixed various issues with waypoint appearance in space (minable nav points are to be fixed in a follow up update tomorrow)
•   Changed how horse stamina recovers, horse takes 30 seconds to start recovery when parked
•   Fixed a bunch of bugs related to resolution and full screen changing
•   You can no longer open looted container - makes it easier to keep track of looted once
•   All NPCs in the game use new interaction system stated above
•   Fixed container sounds not being effected by volume control sliders
•   Fixed various bugs with capturing and holding territories
•   Stealing will always give at least some items.
•   Reworked background Audio when spotter ability is active
•   Visual Improvement with LOD shadows
•   Fixed issues with two AIs being spawned in the same region
•   Changed how animals spawn on the planets - with less randomness, and more logic
•   Fixed the camera rendering line showing in the distance when flying in space ships
•   Fixed grass not appearing correctly in a distance when on a vehicle
•   When flying above the planet - can now see trees in a very long distance
•   Greatly increased performance when flying near the ground in a space vehicles
•   Fixed issues with player rotation in the vehicles breaking with passengers
•   Fixed atmospheres not showing for other planets while on moons
•   Fixed various issues with missing vehicles or items
•   Fixed one vehicle turning into another
•   Fixed a large number of exploits and inconsistencies with various items and components
•   Fixed double marker and components appearing in the base
•   Reworked the Options menu - with new layout, still a bit of polishing left
•   More various performance improvements with foliage rendering
•   Fixed terrain sometime glowing during the night on Beta Prairie
•   Fixed issue with Mechs floating in the air or in space
•   Crosshoair cursor is now properly scaled based on window resolution.
•   Crosshoair in the spotter mode appears larger
•   Spotter navpoints adjusted to scale both text and icons better
•   Fixed base containers not showing interaction prompt.
•   /Stuck command to get player unstuck can now be used on players even on the Solo server in the chat
•   No longer allowed to place a claim marker in a PvP area (aka hubs).

[Asid]

Updated 50.2 - Major Fixes & Happy New Year!
Tue, December 29, 2020

Hey Everyone,

Over the past 10 days we had a perfect storm with various factors outside of our control resulting in a pretty bad build that ended up live. To make long store short - the development tool we use to upload files to Steam had two big issues - once Steam disabled http string, and later Steam updater started skipping updating certain files.

We had been working with Steam support to resolve this issue, and after a very long and frustrating week - we are back, with ability to properly update Stars End, and fix the build.

We would like to with everyone the best best for the New Year ahead. Really hoping things will pick up for everyone soon!

You will find a lot of new in today`s update, as it also included the progress made for the Christmas update, that never got properly released.

Aside from fixing all the bugs - like cutting trees, or placing objects, we have complete reworked crafting based on overwhelming player requests to make character free to do other stuff while crafting.

In addition we started work on making other planets in the star system more playable – but this is just the first steps, and we still recommend Beta Prairie as the main planet.

In our next major update we will be finally introducing new characters with much higher visual fidelity, but first we have one more bug fixing and improving update coming up in a few days.

Thanks for your continuous support, and lets take a look has to offer:

Holiday Updates
•   Christmas celebration area is setup in the middle of Clayton
•   Christmas area comes complete with lootable gifts with cake ingredients
•   New Christmas gift crafting recipe enabled

Reworked Crafting
•   Crafting no longer restricts player movement - close crafting window to move
•   Unless inside the vehicle player speed is reduced to walking only while crafting
•   It`s now possible to craft at multiple workstations at once - but using the same crafting ques
•   Player can no ride in vehicles, sleep, and perform any other action while crafting at workstations or refinery

Setting up New Planets
•   Planet audio added to Caliban and Cassius
•   Waypoints, resources, AI and additional fixes on Caliban
•   Underwater rocks added on Cassius
•   Cassius ferry landing enhanced and moved to an island
•   Reworked Brutus planet with terrain fixes and an LOD version added for better orbital views
•   Updated resources and foliage on Nox to use new foliage tech + spotter system
•   Waypoints created for some Nox resources
•   Fixed falling through Nox terrain and on some other players

Fixes and Additions
•   Greatly improved appearance of foggy and rainy weather on beta prairie
•   Fixed last remaining bugs with
•   Spotter mode that shows nav points now has a new mode - double click the middle mouse button to toggle it permanently on or off
•   Fixed using respawn pill while in a vehicle removing the vehicle
•   Various fixes for AI sometimes not spawning
•   Pressing F now Takes All loot in the open container
•   Fixed being unable to setup Crews on solo
•   Player can now see waypints to all his spawn points even in other systems
•   Can now respawn on any claim, and not just in the system in died in
•   Fixed various issues with waypoint appearance in space (minable nav points are to be fixed in a follow up update tomorrow)
•   Changed how horse stamina recovers, horse takes 30 seconds to start recovery when parked
•   Fixed a bunch of bugs related to resolution and full screen changing
•   You can no longer open looted container - makes it easier to keep track of looted once
•   All NPCs in the game use new interaction system stated above
•   Fixed container sounds not being effected by volume control sliders
•   Fixed various bugs with capturing and holding territories
•   Stealing will always give at least some items.
•   Reworked background Audio when spotter ability is active
•   Visual Improvement with LOD shadows
•   Fixed issues with two AIs being spawned in the same region
•   Changed how animals spawn on the planets - with less randomness, and more logic
•   Fixed the camera rendering line showing in the distance when flying in space ships
•   Fixed grass not appearing correctly in a distance when on a vehicle
•   When flying above the planet - can now see trees in a very long distance
•   Greatly increased performance when flying near the ground in a space vehicles
•   Fixed issues with player rotation in the vehicles breaking with passengers
•   Fixed atmospheres not showing for other planets while on moons
•   Fixed various issues with missing vehicles or items
•   Fixed one vehicle turning into another
•   Fixed a large number of exploits and inconsistencies with various items and components
•   Fixed double marker and components appearing in the base
•   Reworked the Options menu - with new layout, still a bit of polishing left
•   More various performance improvements with foliage rendering
•   Fixed terrain sometime glowing during the night on Beta Prairie
•   Fixed issue with Mechs floating in the air or in space
•   Crosshoair cursor is now properly scaled based on window resolution.
•   Crosshoair in the spotter mode appears larger
•   Spotter navpoints adjusted to scale both text and icons better
•   Fixed base containers not showing interaction prompt.
•   /Stuck command to get player unstuck can now be used on players even on the Solo server in the chat
•   No longer allowed to place a claim marker in a PvP area (aka hubs).

[Asid]

Major Updates Incoming
Wed, January 13, 2021



Hey Everyone,

We got very exciting three weeks ahead! Having completed several major projects that were in the works for months, we are ready to finally take Stars End to the Alpha milestone later this month. Here`s a preview of the upcoming updates.

Update 51 - Fixes & Space vehicle updates
This week we are releasing major update 51 - that includes few dozen fixes to various issues that were still plaguing Stars End, as well as a major rewrite of the space vehicles. You will be able to do horizontal lift of and landings now, with auto-pilot options for both take off and landing.


Update 52 - New Characters
Next week with our 52nd update we are finally releasing the brand new characters. These would be used both for the player character, and all the NPCs. Here`s a small preview (note it`s a low quality editor screen)



Update 53 - Prologue Sequence
As we continue with our 53rd update - we will be revealing new intro sequence taking place on the Titan Generation Ship, with player waking up from stasis onboard of this capital ship, interacting with NPCs, getting some backstory and making his way down to the Beta Prairie planet in the landing capsule.

Update 54 - Alpha Milestone
And finally with the 54th update - tying up some loose ends, adding more visual improvements and completing work on making other planets more playable - we`ll finally reach the Alpha milestone.

Road to the Beta Milestone
From that point on for rest of the year we`ll be working on adding a lot of additional content and features, having the base foundation of the game more or less complete, and hopefully reach be beta milestone towards end of the year.

Thanks for your continuous support, and we can`t wait to share all these exciting updates with you!

[Asid]

Update 51 - Landing, Performance, Fixes
Sat, 16 January 2021


Hey Everyone,

We got very exciting three weeks ahead! Having completed several major projects that were in the works for months, we are ready to finally take Stars End to the Alpha milestone later this month.

Today`s update includes few dozen fixes to various issues that were still plaguing Stars End, as well as a major rewrite of the space vehicles. You will be able to do horizontal lift of and landings now, with auto-pilot options for both take off and landing.

Next week with our 52nd update we are finally releasing the brand new characters. These would be used both for the player character, and all the NPCs. You can see a small preview of the new characters here:




We`ll follow up with introducing new intro sequence in the 53rd update. Taking place on the Titan Generation Ship, with player waking up from stasis onboard of this capital ship, interacting with NPCs, getting some backstory and making his way down to the Beta Prairie planet in the landing capsule.

NOTE: There are two known bugs effecting only new characters (reload fixes this) - new characters might experiences tree trunk not falling, or a fire effect appearing when collecting resources - we expect this to be fixed within 24 hours

Thanks for your continuous support, and lets take a look at the patch notes

Important Fixes & Additions
•   Major performance boost across all systems and specs
•   Additional performance improvement when playing in 4k
•   Started work on fixing the big performance drain – after playing for 10+ minutes - FPS dropping
•   Fixed various issues with vehicles disappearing and expiring too fast
•   Fixed various issues when canceling production in crafting ques

Takeoff and Landing
•   New landing/takeoff system which is activated with a space bar
•   Vehicles remember the last landing state and allows you to 'take off'
•   Press Space to land when the prompt shows either on terrain or claim
•   Vertical thrusters added and work when using vertical thrusters or when landing/taking off
•   Landing gears now show on all ships automatically when within landing range
•   The player also gets some info on where you are landing about vehicle expiry
•   Ships now align to the surface of planets and landing pads when selecting auto landing

Fixes & Additions
•   Fixed trees waypoints not appearing at the appropriate height, sometimes even being underground.
•   Rock and Trees now always show gathering symbol when near them with the correct tool
•   Fix for items issue when placing/dropping them on the ground
•   When using Pick Axe in FPS mode the animation was reworked so camera no longer goes up and down
•   When riding horse in FPS mode the animation was reworked so camera no longer shakes
•   Fixed issues with some sits in space ships not working
•   Improved visual quality of some of the trees
•   Fixes various issues when trying to use beds
•   Fixed issues when on dedicated server if a player had a radio on
•   Fixed exploit with players not in crew placing items to gain access to another crew
•   Reworked all the in-game interaction to the new system
•   Added landing to claim as a separate type of action

Balance Changes
•   Added new Bed item to crafting
•   Major rebalance of all AI creatures – with different attack values
•   AI is now much easier to fight, especially with smaller creatures
•   Rescalled the fox creature
•   Fixed issues with new players starting at locations without bushes
•   Plant resources added around all pod wreckage on BP
•   Edited the pod crash site to remove the wood from the rock foundation
•   Disabled Christmas park in Clayton.

[Asid]

Update 51.5 - Follow Up
Tue, 19 January 2021

Hey Everyone,

We have a smaller update today, to wrap up and polish some features from the Update 51 that we released last weekend.

This update improves landing and takeoff functionality and fixes various smaller issues across the board. We have also looked into resolving new character gathering bugs, and shortcuts.

We are working full speed on adding the new characters to the game, with finishing touches now, and expect this major update to go live in a few days. All the characters in-game, including player character will be updated to new high resolution model and textures, with additional options like facial hair, race, and a lot of new clothing.

Fixes & Additions
•   Fixed the bug that would create a fire effect when collecting resources
•   Fixed trees sometimes not falling when chopped down
•   Updated Landing gear on and off audio
•   Ship landing and takeoff now use the H key
•   Fixed dismounting or standing up from the vehicle sit when typing F in the chat.
•   Fixed frigate position when landing - so it doesn`t hang in the air
•   Landing and takeoff popup moved much lower on the screen
•   Also made the window opacity much lighter

[Asid]

Update 52 - Performance
Thu, January 21, 202


Hey Everyone,

As we are putting finishing touches on the new Characters, we have another solid update today. Our 52nd update represents weeks of work that were spend on optimization and performance improvements.

This update focused on two main areas - improving overall FPS everywhere in the game world, as well as fixing all the memory drains e.t.c effecting performance over time. You might have noticed before you would start the game with solid FPS, but within a few minutes FPS would greatly drop.

On average you should expect to see +10 to +20 FPS depending on visual quality settings. In addition FPS should not degrade as you continue to play the game.

We can`t wait to share the new characters with you - hopefully by Monday we`ll be good to go - worst case - end of next week.

And for this update - we are going to skip the lengthy patch notes, as it would include dozens of very technical changes, so lets keep this simple:)

Fixes & Additions
•   Major improvements to performance
•   Fixed performance degrading over time
•   Fixed memory leaks effecting performance
•   Fixed issue with players inventory being empty for a while when logging in

[Asid]

Update 53 - New Characters is Live!
Thu, 11 February 2021

Hey Everyone,

After weeks of work our new character updater is finally here. This update takes the first major steps in updating our character art – including character and clothing. We still have quite a few things to improve and add here – but the difference is quite noticeable. This update also includes reworked main menu, and a dozen of other fixes and improvements across the board.





Please keep in mind - that with update of this magnitude it would take use a few more days to polish and fix the last issues. Known issues being worked on are:

-Drop in performance (about 10 FPS everywhere)
-Some of older player characters have a different skin tone (darker, lighter) or hairstyle
-NPCs new look is WIP - right now everyone is blond and doesn`t fully showcase new character quality yet
-Few other things across the board to be corrected shortly

After fixing everything up in the next few days, we will continue later this month with introducing new intro sequence in the 54th update. Taking place on the Titan Generation Ship, with player waking up from stasis onboard of this capital ship, interacting with NPCs, getting some backstory and making his way down to the Beta Prairie planet in the landing capsule.

As always - thanks for your continuous support everyone, and please consider taking a moment to review Stars End. Fresh reviews really help attract new players and for the game to grow and evolve. With that said - lets take a look at the patch notes:)

Important Fixes & Additions
•   New main menu background scene with 3D rendering and background animations
•   Adjusted PvPvE to be a lot less exploitable to kill or steal from other players
•   Added new visual effects - water drop under water and when it`s raining
•   Add new visual effects - sun rays and sun flares
•   Fixed major issue - that commonly would prevent AI from spawning

New Character Art
•   All characters across the star system updated to use new NPC art
•   New character creation menu
•   Auto updated current player accounts to have character in the new format (somewhat random)
•   Created dozens of new clothing styles and renders for the new characters
•   Updated all the hair styles
•   Added ability to adjust players eye colour
•   Added ability to adjust facial hair

Fixes & Additions
•   Claimable vehicles no longer show the expiry timer
•   Added a smaller Alt Pan rotation while holding an item/weapon in your hands.
•   Camera zoom moved to default position now that we have higher detail on characters
•   Updated grass model to look much better on Beta Prairie
•   Can no longer craft and place makeshift Mines in the PvPvE server
•   Other landmines do not damage to players outside of PvP areas on PvPvE server
•   Players no longer do squashing damage (jumping or dropping things) on top of top of other player on PvPvE server
•   Reworked various menus in the main menu - still some work left
•   Pickaxe audio reduced by 9db
•   Rebalance the cost of all weapons and ammo at Merchants - a lot higher now
•   Deluxe bed moved to Housing (building) category
•   Added new spotter icons for wood and mining for Kon.
•   Fix for ammo null on reload when makeshift weapon breaks, causing client to freeze.
•   Temporary fix for makeshift weapon breakage during muzzle flash animation.
•   Fixed errors in player collision detection.
•   Fixed missing nav points in metallic structures.
•   Fixed having to fully stop being being able to gather from bushes

Thu, 11 February 2021

[Asid]

Update 54 - Fixes and Improvements
Fri, February 12, 2021


Hey Everyone,

We have a smaller follow up update today fixing various minor issues and improving various aspects after the big update 53 earlier this week. We had a number of performance issues, minor visual bugs, and other issues that came up after such a big update, but we are now well on our way to having a nicely polished build.

Please keep in mind that the current look of NPCs is still very WIP. We`ll have a second followup update next week, that will finally get NPCs to look great. They`ll also start wearing gear - like weapons, hats e.t.c

Meanwhile work continues on adding new Prologue with waking up aboard a generation spaceship and making your way to the first playable planet. We are expecting this update to be ready towards end of the month - though looks like it will be the 56th update by numbering.

Now lets take a look at what today`s Update 54 includes:

Fixes & Additions

•   Enabled Mechs in the game world again - should be working problem free now
•   Added more variations of hair colours and other details for NPCs. More changes are coming soon that will greatly improve how the NPCs look
•   Disabled major lagspike and possible a freeze when changing Visual Options presets
•   Fixed all the performance issues created with the last update
•   Performance improvement of about 10-15 FPS on average
•   Improved the look of grass
•   Default brightness increased for brighter nighttime and daytime environments
•   Fixed various issues when reloading weapons
•   Fixed major visual bug when reloading weapons in FPS mode
•   Fixed issues with 5th and 6th passenger sit in space vehicles bugging out
•   Improved the look of different eye colours with larger colored iris
•   Pressing F with container open will now again loot all and close the container
•   Fixed very rare issue that would not allow some players to load the game
•   Various stability fixes for the main menu

[Asid]

Mini Update 54.1
Tue, February 16, 2021

Minor update today with a few fixes:
-Removed requirement to kill invisible mech to capture a territory hub
-New improved way to show NPC dialogues
-Polish to the main menu
-Included two new face models for character creator

[Asid]

Update 55 - Major Improvements
Fri, 26 February 2021



Hey Everyone,

We are putting finishing touches to the major new update that we expect to complete by Saturday February 27th.

Today`s update includes a large number of new features - like barbershop and plastic surgery, as well as total rewamp of Clayton town, improvements to GUI and space flight controls, as well as major changes to how the game world looks during day and nighttime.

We are continuing work on the new Prologue - that we expect to be ready later in March. Sorry for the delay, but we keep on prioritizing various fixes and improvements.

Thanks for your continuous support!

Visual Improvements
•   Various improvements to look of NPCs across the system
•   Visual improvements on BP during daytime and nightime
•   Moonlight added with moons shining light at night on planets
•   Adjusted BP night time colors, made them darker in far distance, but brighter up close
•   Made BP nights brighter and gave it a bit more blue
•   Decreased BP daylight
•   Adjusted the atmosphere so you can see the stars at night
•   Integrated 3rd variation for Asian and African faces

GUI Changes
•   Rescaled main menu elements to work better on different resolutions
•   Main menu UI style added to Options
•   Main menu UI style applied to the Escape Menu and various UI popups ingame
•   Adjusted TPS camera zoom range and TPS camera controls
•   Implemented loot navpoint for containers.


Major Additions
•  Redesign of Clayton - fixing all the previous issues, and adding a lot of new locations and store
•  Plastic Surgery store added to Clayton - Jase's Quick Lifts
•  Barbershop store added to Clayton - Duck's Barbershop
•  Big upgrade for vehicle interiors - allowing walking, running, jumping e.t.c while inside the spaceship

• Major rework to how Nav Points work - it`s now a toggle

Fixes & Additions
•   All loot locations now have a proximity nav icon that`s disable after looting
•   NPCs in Hera, Kallus, Shoden are killable. Also some updates to their appearance.
•   Enabled H key working so start spaceship in all situations - including in space
•   Cleaned up grass and terrain patches around Fomenkos Diner area of Clayton
•   Smoothed out big mound on the edge of the shire, left over from an old POI
•   Added Cliffs around Solomans Redemption area to bring the quality up
•   Fixed wrong descriptions in claimable vehicles and horses
•   Ship rotation with keyboard and mouse now have consistent speeds.
•   Fixed some characters in Clayton that were sunk into the ground.
•   Water drops effect reduced.
•   New stables added to Clayton town with various fixes applied to that area of town
•   Stables NPC waypoint fixed
•   Updated NPCs and Captain Danvers in the intro.
•   While in boost mode, air vehicles now have 3x the yaw, pitch and roll rate
•   Fixed overwhelming smoke during landing pod sequence