{"data":{"id":18018,"title":"Star Citizen Monthly Report: February 2021","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/comm-link\/transmission\/18018-Star-Citizen-Monthly-Report-February-2021","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-links\/18018","api_public_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/comm-links\/18018","channel":"Undefined","category":"Undefined","series":"Monthly 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the wake of the explosive XenoThreat event, the developers completed tasks for the upcoming Alpha 3.13, progressed with the content due in Alpha 3.14, and made inroads into the new worlds coming later in the year and beyond. Read on for all the details.\n\nAI (Content)\nThroughout February, AI Content continued with the engineer behavior, which helped identify further low-level improvements that could be extended to other systems to achieve even more complex behaviors (as they did with the bartender). They also started the downstream definitions of the usables required for the engineer, hygiene, and vendor shop extensions. The tier-zero implementations of the hawker, tourist, and tour guide behavior were completed too.\nAI (Features)\nAI Features made improvements to the communication system. First, they enabled a selection of communication variations to be aware of the animation options setup in Mannequin. This allows them to drive randomization in a way that prevents possible repetitions.\nSecondly, they improved the low-level patrol tech code to support the customization of input parameters on the Subsumption logic for each patrol vertex. To achieve this, they extended the serialization code to allow multiple interfaces for variable serializations. So, from the editor code, they can automatically call through the right function for each variable type. Some variable types are plain old data (POD) and the system allows the registration of a global function associated with that type, such as integers and doubles. As with other custom types, the team can now allow calling class member functions to make the code more structured.\nFor usables, the team extended the crafting dictionary used to understand which items a usable can produce to handle multiple tags. This will enable them to understand which operations can produce multiple objects in one interaction. The routing verification in the query system was extended so that usables that provide or accept items can also be retrieved when slotted into other usables. They continued to improve the automatic testing setup for Subsumption, allowing the flowgraph UI to create a specific popup of only available functions instead of manually typing the function name.\nFor Character Combat, improvements were made to the fire cadence skill calculation. This was initially done using a global modifier but now uses skill formulas to ensure different character abilities influence the actual ability to use weapons.\n\nPreviously AI rate of fire was globally controlled by two cvar(s), basically two global values designers could tweak. We now have transformed this into a proper \u201cformula\u201d that takes into account the weapon proficiency to allow each character to have a different confidence of how many bullets to use, how quickly to press the trigger based on their traits (is the NPC confident, a showoff?) and on their actual ability with the specific weapon.\nThe team are currently progressing on the sub-component targeting, extending the targeting system to better filter entity sub-targets. This system will be shared across spaceships and characters. For example, NPCs on foot could target a ship engine with a rocket launcher the same way a ship could target the engine with missiles.\n\nIn this test environment you can see how ships are now able to fully focus on a specific subcomponent of another ship. In this case one of the trusters are blown away and then the next one is targeted.\n\nIn this test environment we setup a character to replenish his magazines. This is a test map to validate the setup of the ammo crates and make sure that the character can correctly find a crate that can provide magazines\/ammos for the weapons he currently has and he can then use the usable correctly.\nAI (Tech)\nLast month, AI Tech supported character EVA movement. The idea is to reuse and extend the 3D pathfinding implemented for spaceships to characters in zero-g. The overall system was designed with this use-case in mind, so current work is to improve and extend the movement system to ensure the right context is available when an EVA or ship control movement is requested. They\u2019re planning to support automatic enters\/exits of ships from zero-g using the usable system too.\n\nThe team are currently extending the navigation system to give more context when in-game run-time regeneration requests are queued. The current system relies on physics events for regeneration, which makes it harder for the system to understand what entity type is causing a navigation mesh regeneration and what threshold can be tolerated. The new system utilizes an extension that enables the team to better understand ship states. For example, even if a ship is \u2018awake\u2019 in physics when landed, unless significant movements occur, they can accumulate modifications and only request a navmesh regeneration when the accumulated difference exceeds a certain threshold.\nThe team also progressed with porting the Subsumption editor into the game editor to better connect the editing interface with the runtime code. This involved adding a more advanced \u2018find\u2019 functionality that globally scans and finds references in Subsumption data.\nAnimation\nThe Animation Team began the month shooting motion-capture for several usables, including vending machines and tourists. They also continued with facial animations for various mission-givers and planned out what was needed to start exploring creatures.\nArt (Characters)\nCharacter Art kicked off February finalizing new assets for the refinery decks, with the majority currently in the hands of QA for testing. They also wrapped-up Subscriber items for April and June.\nAssets for Alpha 3.14 were added into the pipeline, including a new armor set and outfits for hospitals, which entered the modeling stage. The modeling of the team\u2019s Orison assets is nearing completion too and will pass to Tech Art for skinning shortly.\nLastly, the artists finalized the concepts of two armor sets planned for the second half of the year and several backpacks for Alpha 3.14.\nArt (Environment)\nFebruary was a busy month for all the location art teams. The Modular Team completed the final art for the upcoming docking arms, working alongside the Docking Feature Team to finish them to a high standard. Progress was made on the \u2018colonialism\u2019 outposts, with whitebox signed off and work beginning on greybox. For space-scaping, the team populated the recently added gas clouds with new asteroid archetypes provided by the Organics Team. The skybox and star-field for the Pyro system were further developed too.\nThe Landing Zone Team split their time between finalizing the halls for an upcoming event and completing tasks for Orison. Support was also given to the new hacking feature prototype.\n\nArt (Ships)\nThough some time was lost due to the conditions in Texas, great progress was made on the Tumbril Nova Tank. Last month\u2019s work involved preparing it for the upcoming greybox review, where the vehicle is presented to several teams outside of Vehicle Content. The release-prep review gate was also completed for an upcoming new vehicle.\nThe Constellation Taurus reached the final-art phase and is currently tracking for a quarter-two release. The finishing touches were also added to the new tints scheduled for release in Alpha 3.13.\nSupport was also given to docking collars, hull degradation, damage updates, SDF shields, and ship serial numbers and naming.\nIn the UK, the team continued with the Crusader Hercules variants, wrapping-up the final art pass on the jump seats, remote turret seats, armory, and the A2\u2019s MOAB bomb-release mechanism.\nThe greybox was completed for the Aegis Redeemer\u2019s cockpit and rear ramp section, while the exterior, landing gear, and turrets are all approaching the same point. The update pass on the Aegis Gladius is nearly finished, with only the LODs remaining before it can be signed off.\nA ship naming and hull degradation pass started in February with several ships being ticked off, while the Javelin received a docking collar, entrance area, and general lighting pass.\nArt (Weapons)\nThe Weapons Team closed out several tasks last month, starting with the final art for the T0 mounted-gun asset. Work concluded on the MOAB bomb, the first pass on the Volt Parallax energy rifle was completed, and the standalone Greycat Industrial cutting tool went through final art.\nThe team also made a start on a size 7 Behring ballistic Gatling gun and began exploring a mag stripping and loading device. Investigation was made into potential improvements to the weapon-skin pipeline too.\nCommunity\nThe Community Team held the first AMA of the year, inviting the Vehicle Experience Team to answer the community\u2019s top questions. Topics included ship balance and tuning, capacitors, and ship roles in combat. They also announced the winners of the 2951 Coramor card contest and kicked off the \u2018verse\u2019s Lunar New Year equivalent, the Red Festival.\n\nThe Roadmap received further improvements, including a new UI for Release View, while more highlights were covered in the latest Roadmap Roundup.\nThe team gathered the thoughts on the latest patch release from each team and compiled the Alpha 3.12 Postmortem, covering what went well and what will be improved on going forward.\nFinally, they supported the February Free Fly.\n\u201cWe saw lots of activity from player guides, so thank you very much for helping new players feel so welcome! During the Free Fly, the total number of citizens surpassed three million!\u201d -The Community Team\nEngine\nIn February, the Physics Team finished tier one of geometry instancing, which is the second of three. Further optimizations included an improved way to recompute the mass distribution of rigid bodies. Memory fragmentation related to geometry containers was reduced by allocating memory for all arrays from a single contiguous block. For zero-g traversal, Engineering continued their joint effort with Actor Features on the new passive ragdoll mode. Issues with the communication between the game code, animation system, and physics system were found and fixed. Alongside this, a new passive ragdoll mode was added to skeleton physics.\nFor cooperative locomotion, an inconsistency was fixed in the damping of engaged movables. Additional support was given to the Planet Tech Team who were looking to improve vegetation touch-bending on shorter asset varieties.\nTime was spent improving wheeled-vehicle physics, with the team managing to get the lateral Pacejka tire model to work and further improving the longitudinal model. While they fully transition to this, a few improvements were provided for the legacy mode. Contact handling for tanks was improved, while improvements were made to the engine and gearbox code. Prototyping started on the logic for polygon cutting, which is used on physics proxy meshes, and general-purpose work was started on the ISPC math library, with the first results being submitted. This will allow the team to port C++ code to ISPC more easily. A potential fix for ships becoming unresponsive after players leave the cockpit was submitted too.\nFor the renderer, work continued on the Gen12 transition, in particular finalizing the render graph. Support for the remaining secondary vertex streams, such as skinning attributes, velocity, and secondary UV streams, was added. Additionally, the gather-based depth-of-field implementation was optimized. The shaping of volumetric clouds was completed and a first draft is currently with the artists for prototyping and feedback. In the meantime, more improvements to cloud shading and shadowing were implemented. A believable multi-scatter approximation was also added. Cloud shading now includes atmosphere-based ambient light (reflected ground light will be added later), while cloud albedo was reduced at the edges to emphasize shape and light scattering in clouds is no longer monochromatic and now just as flexible as atmospheric scattering. To reduce aliasing when shaping clouds, proper texture LOD values are now computed at each raymarch step, while shadow rays are jittered to reduce aliasing under motion. Research into the efficient skipping of empty space between clouds commenced.\nThe Engine Team continued working on the profiler, adding compatibility for hardware counters and a sampling profiler mode with dedicated Windows and Linux support. Memory tracking data can now be filtered, so issues can be more easily delegated to their respective owners. Work and improvements on the entity component update scheduler continued. For the patcher libraries, time was spent investigating infrequent errors in data patching that resulted in corrupt p4k files (as reported by PU error tracking code); some improvements were implemented and more will be rolled out soon. Vis areas received further code updates and support for animated portals was implemented. Moving forward, the team will support work on the Vulkan backend.\nFeatures (Characters & Weapons)\nOne of the major features worked on in February was mounted-gun gameplay, which involves the player taking control of a pre-placed, large-caliber weapon mounted on a 360-degree pivot. This offers an alternative to the rocket launcher or railgun for anti-vehicle combat along with highly effective firepower against infantry. The decision was made early on to opt for a control mechanic like on-foot weapon handling \u2013 this gives the most natural feeling yaw and pitch control that\u2019s only slightly constrained by the rotation speed of the weapon. This control scheme also allows the player to enter an aim-down-sight (ADS) state for a better targeting view. On the character-side, several motion-captured idle and moving assets were blended to pose the gunner relative to the weapon based on current pitch and rotation speed. There was some back-and-forth between the content and tech teams to get realistic-looking posing while maintaining a strong first-person camera view. To ensure the character\u2019s hands stay on the weapon grips and fingers squeeze the triggers at the right time, the team leveraged the same IK solver as the food consumption feature released last year. The team is now working on ironing out the last kinks before the next release.\n\n\n\nOn the technical side, the team looked at character avoidance, which they started by adding additional use-cases for situations seen in the live environment to a simplified test level. The focus was on NPC-to-NPC avoidance without the influence of the player, primarily looking at situations where three or more NPCs cross paths simultaneously or an NPC moves around a corner while avoiding an obstacle. The algorithm used is based on \u2018optimal reciprocal collision avoidance\u2019 (ORCA) with some custom code. In this iteration, the team rewrote the custom code along with the response handling to better align with the underlying ORCA logic. Significant time was spent re-reading the ORCA research papers. On top of that, the team revisited the character animation flow to ensure body twist is triggering both at the correct moment and for the right duration. The overall result is much better avoidance resolution for both the old and new use-cases and better-looking body posing. Based on the result, the decision was made to capture additional avoidance animation assets to increase response variation.\nFeatures (Gameplay)\nThe Gameplay Features Teams spent time in February preparing features for the upcoming Alpha 3.13 release, fixing critical bugs, and planning for future initiatives.\nThe US-based team further developed the mobiGlas apps mentioned in last month\u2019s report: The engineers continued to implement the reputation app and the designers added UI visuals into the Building Blocks canvases. Design iterations were made on the Asset Manager app, which is planned for launch in Alpha 3.13.\nThey also began to plan for the upcoming cargo refactor, which aims to physicalize items within cargo grids. This requires the team to reevaluate how they deal with volatile cargo, mining, refining, and several other intertwined systems. The refactor will also see the commodity kiosk converted from Flash to Building Blocks and tie into the Asset Manager.\nThe EU-based teams focused on polishing and bug-fixing the refinement gameplay, correcting various flaws, clunkiness, and exploits and generally making it run smoother. They\u2019re currently implementing mining components that fit into the same slot as mining consumables. However, the components aren\u2019t consumed on activation and act as a sub-component of the mining laser, allowing the player to mix and match components and consumables as they see fit. At the same time, they added a handful of smaller features to the mining UI that didn\u2019t make Alpha 3.12, including a range indicator and animations on the scanned information.\nFeatures (Mission & Live Content)\nThe Live Content Team completed varying tasks, including polishing new and upcoming missions, prototyping spawn closets, and developing harvestables.\nThe coders enhanced the bounty system so that bounties outside of monitored zones will inadvertently (or purposefully) give away their location through a variety of actions. The aim is to give bounty hunters the chance to track bounties in unmonitored zones and ensure bounties always feel like they\u2019re on the run.\nA new system was worked on to allow the devs to \u2018hijack\u2019 advertising screens in locations around the PU to show breaking news or safety alerts. They\u2019re also developing a security system that will allow them to remove the automatic CrimeStats given by trespass zones. Currently in order for the station defenses or security to attack a player they must be given a CrimeStat for trespassing. This is not the intention. The new system will allow players to enter a trespass zone and, as long as they remain, undetected, they will not receive a CrimeStat. In future this will allow us to have security instruct the player to leave and should the player ignore the warning they would be arrested or ultimately killed. Security and automated defenses will engage players without them needing a CrimeStat.\nFeatures (Vehicles)\nVehicle Feature\u2019s February focus was on docking, with the Constellation-to-Merlin docking being polished and ship-to-station docking nearing completion. The team also added docking filter tags to let players allow or block certain ships from docking at specific ports, which involved making messaging and quality-of-life changes to the UI. Players are now informed about various things during the docking process, including when docking clamps disengage. A \u2018match velocity mode\u2019 was also developed for ships to help when docking to a moving vehicle, which is extremely difficult otherwise. Various networking issues with station docking were discovered but were resolved. There are a few things to be finished, including comms-calling stations for docking permission and spawning ships at docking collars, but station docking is making great progress.\nOther things touched on last month include the rework of missile flight dynamics.\n\u201cWe have missile guidance phases that adjust and change the behavior of the missile as it progresses through its flight to the target. This allows us really fine control over the missile and ensures that it\u2019s best able to reach the target as quickly as possible.\u201d -The Vehicle Features Team\nThey also improve thruster dust VFX, which will soon be per-thruster and far more dynamic than before. For example, as VTOL thrusters rotate, dust will correctly follow the wind volumes and match the physics forces associated with the thrusters\u2019 wind blast. MFDs continued to be prototyped as the team finalizes out how they\u2019ll be implemented, and jump points received renewed focus as the team worked through some of the associated issues with bringing them to the PU alongside server meshing.\nGraphics\nLast month, the Graphics Team focused on two main areas \u2013 automated testing and the Gen12 renderer. Various improvements were made to automated testing to better reliability, which is crucial as major changes are rolled out to ensure Graphics don\u2019t break anything implemented by other teams. This included a rework of how the timers are set up in the renderer, ensuring they can pause and re-base the different animation systems used for things like lights, shaders, fog, and water.\nOn the Gen12-front, work continued to reach parity with the old shadow code-path so that it can be enabled by default. Testing of the Vulkan backend was rolled out further across the team to get wider visibility on the new API. Finally, to aid debugging, the font rendering system was ported to Gen12.\nLighting\nLast month, the team built prototypes for interactive lighting elements in player habs. The aim was to test several interaction systems and see how they work with the existing lighting workflows. Results were promising and the team hopes to improve and implement them in the future.\nLighting also helped set up some basic system-wide settings for Pyro. This involves laying out intensity values for the Pyro star, which affects how bright all planets and locations will appear. These settings are then also applied to all construction levels for the planets and moons so they can have their atmospheric settings tweaked under the correct brightness.\nThe team also provided lighting support for Orison, with a focus on the habitation rooms, spaceport interior, and Voyager Bar. A lighting pass was also done on the new larger cave entrances along with ship-to-station docking arms.\n\n\n\n\nNarrative\nAs more locations and environments are developed, the team worked with the environment teams to help define the language of the signs and environmental storytelling to bring another dimension of character to the spaces. They also continued working with the mission teams in the UK and Austin to develop upcoming content. They also organized another voiceover recording session to capture characters for several future landing zones and events and met with Turbulent to explore a new webpage creation system that provides a lot more design opportunities when creating posts.\nNarrative kicked-off discussions with UI and Design on the next steps to transition the vast amount of fictional dispatches into the game. For example, enabling players to receive news updates about events in the system or listen to short stories during long flights. The discussion yielded some great ideas but also a greater understanding of the technical aspects needed to get the feature into the game.\nFebruary also saw the latest installment of the Sid & Cyrus short story, another installment of StarWatch, and new entries to the Galactapedia.\n\u201cThis past month was a very exciting one for the Narrative Team. The XenoThreat incursion kicked off in Stanton after months of hard work alongside a variety of teams. It was great to watch the community band together to repel the threat and get a sense of how we could potentially build similar content in the future.\u201d -The Narrative Team\nPlayer Relations\nPlayer Relations continued to recruit and add to its Wilmslow team. They also continued to triage bugs for Alpha 3.12 and began preparing for Alpha 3.13 and various events beginning in spring.\nProps\nThe Props Team completed their first pass on props for Orison, including furniture and some larger hero assets. Work began on interactable props for homesteads, such as solar panels and battery packs, while geometry templates were completed for a movable gurney and bed for the hospital locations.\nQA\nOn the publishing side, QA supported Alpha 3.12.1 and XenoThreat in early February. Development-wise, they tested content for Alpha 3.13 in preparation for Evocati testing, including ship-to-ship docking, new harvestables, updates to MedPens, and Force Reactions. QA also updated their test plans, processes, and department structure to better align with the releases and events coming this year.\nSystemic Services & Tools\nThe Systemic Services & Tools Team continued developing tooling to allow the backend to control the flow of gameplay. This involved integrating high-speed positional information for AI spawned in the game to better track how content is deployed and used throughout the PTU. Work was also finished that will allow the team to control, see, and modify critical services, which will ultimately allow for direct intervention and prepare for the integration of Quantum.\n\u201cOur art resources are being channeled into a public presentation we plan to give soon. Stay tuned for an update from Tony Zurovec in the near future!\u201d -The Systemic Services & Tools Team\nTech Animation\nFebruary saw Tech Animation cleaning up assets, as a core change to the in-engine animation pipeline invalidated a large number of them. Development of the in-house animation graph toolset continued, which is going through early user-testing to collate feedback and bugs for the next phase of development.\nThe team also worked with external options for skinning decomposition and changed them into working solutions. This toolset forms the basis of the technology that will be used to refactor a portion of the asset-authoring pipeline to expedite the whole process.\nTurbulent\nTurbulent\u2019s Game Services joined forces with several other teams to improve the performance of VOIP & FOIP, which involved implementing a new logging system, adding an improved debug tool, and making minor code centralization.\nCoordinating with devs working on the launcher and directly in-engine, they delivered their first milestone in the server-meshing project. A portion of the team shifted to server-meshing project deliveries, with more to be added as the project progresses. Turbulent also delivered additional USPU features for the reputation system to give players the ability to set preferences, get notified when their reputation changes, and visualize their reputation history.\nThe Live Tools Team solved several bug-fixing issues that were occurring in the error reporting workflow. There were also fixes for the load-testing service that included improvements to logging, support for changing contexts, and assertions.\nVehicle Tech\nVehicle Tech made improvements to the ground vehicle system to support the release of the Tumbril Nova. This involved expanding turreted targeting and weapon usage and implementing realistic tread motion and tread-based vehicle operation.\nFurther improvements were made to the radar and scanning systems, which will be usable both on-foot and within vehicles. The ping system was the main focus point throughout February. To increase player interaction with the environment, improvements to the underlying interaction system began. For example, allowing the player to press a button or turn a dial within a cockpit to trigger contextual actions.\nFinally, support was given to the XenoThreat event, which required new features and bugs to be squashed.\nVFX\nThroughout February, VFX continued their pre-production work on vehicle radar ping effects. They also further developed planetary effects for several locations in Pyro alongside impact effects for a variety of new harvestables.\nA new VFX profiling tool was created, giving the team a much clearer view of important performance-related information in graph format. Work continued on gas cloud interior effects too, including small debris that safely collides with ship hulls. They also continued their work on the Crusader Hercules and another upcoming vehicle, while the rollout of SDF shield impact effects continued.\nWE\u2019LL SEE YOU NEXT MONTH\u2026","de_DE":"Im Gefolge des explosiven XenoThreat-Events haben die Entwickler Aufgaben f\u00fcr die kommende Alpha 3.13 abgeschlossen, Fortschritte bei den Inhalten gemacht, die in der Alpha 3.14 anstehen, und sind in die neuen Welten vorgedrungen, die sp\u00e4ter im Jahr und dar\u00fcber hinaus kommen. Lies weiter, um alle Details zu erfahren.\n\nKI (Inhalt)\nDen ganzen Februar hindurch arbeitete AI Content weiter am Verhalten des Ingenieurs, was dabei half, weitere Low-Level-Verbesserungen zu identifizieren, die auf andere Systeme ausgeweitet werden k\u00f6nnen, um noch komplexere Verhaltensweisen zu erreichen (wie sie es mit dem Barkeeper getan haben). Sie begannen auch mit den nachgelagerten Definitionen der Usables, die f\u00fcr die Engineer-, Hygiene- und Vendor-Shop-Erweiterungen ben\u00f6tigt werden. Die Tier-Null-Implementierungen des Hawker-, Tourist- und Tourguide-Verhaltens wurden ebenfalls fertiggestellt.\nAI (Features)\nDie KI-Features brachten Verbesserungen f\u00fcr das Kommunikationssystem. Zun\u00e4chst wurde eine Auswahl von Kommunikationsvarianten aktiviert, die die Animationsoptionen in Mannequin ber\u00fccksichtigen. Dies erlaubt es ihnen, die Randomisierung so zu steuern, dass m\u00f6gliche Wiederholungen verhindert werden.\nZweitens verbesserten sie den Low-Level-Code der Patrouillentechnik, um die Anpassung der Eingabeparameter der Subsumptionslogik f\u00fcr jeden Patrouillenvertex zu unterst\u00fctzen. Um dies zu erreichen, haben sie den Serialisierungscode erweitert, um mehrere Schnittstellen f\u00fcr die Serialisierung von Variablen zu erm\u00f6glichen. So k\u00f6nnen sie vom Editor-Code aus automatisch die richtige Funktion f\u00fcr jeden Variablentyp aufrufen. Einige Variablentypen sind einfache alte Daten (POD) und das System erlaubt die Registrierung einer globalen Funktion, die mit diesem Typ verbunden ist, wie z.B. Integer und Doubles. Wie bei anderen benutzerdefinierten Typen kann das Team nun den Aufruf von Klassenmitgliedfunktionen erlauben, um den Code strukturierter zu gestalten.\nF\u00fcr Usables hat das Team das Crafting-Dictionary erweitert, das verwendet wird, um zu verstehen, welche Items ein Usable produzieren kann, um mehrere Tags zu behandeln. Dies erm\u00f6glicht es ihnen zu verstehen, welche Operationen mehrere Gegenst\u00e4nde in einer Interaktion produzieren k\u00f6nnen. Die Routing-\u00dcberpr\u00fcfung im Abfragesystem wurde erweitert, so dass Usables, die Gegenst\u00e4nde bereitstellen oder annehmen, auch abgerufen werden k\u00f6nnen, wenn sie in andere Usables eingef\u00fcgt werden. Sie verbesserten weiterhin das automatische Pr\u00fcf-Setup f\u00fcr Subsumption, so dass die Flowgraph UI ein spezifisches Popup mit nur verf\u00fcgbaren Funktionen erstellen kann, anstatt den Funktionsnamen manuell einzutippen.\nF\u00fcr Character Combat wurden Verbesserungen an der Berechnung der Feuerkadenz-F\u00e4higkeit vorgenommen. Urspr\u00fcnglich wurde dies mit einem globalen Modifikator gemacht, aber jetzt werden Fertigkeitsformeln verwendet, um sicherzustellen, dass verschiedene Charakterf\u00e4higkeiten die tats\u00e4chliche F\u00e4higkeit, Waffen zu benutzen, beeinflussen.\n\nZuvor wurde die Feuerkadenz der KI global durch zwei cvar(s) gesteuert, im Grunde zwei globale Werte, an denen die Designer drehen konnten. Wir haben dies nun in eine richtige \"Formel\" umgewandelt, die die Waffenfertigkeit ber\u00fccksichtigt, um es jedem Charakter zu erm\u00f6glichen, eine unterschiedliche Zuversicht zu haben, wie viele Kugeln zu verwenden sind, wie schnell der Abzug zu dr\u00fccken ist, basierend auf seinen Eigenschaften (ist der NPC selbstbewusst, ein Angeber?) und auf seiner tats\u00e4chlichen F\u00e4higkeit mit der spezifischen Waffe.\nDas Team arbeitet derzeit am Sub-Komponenten-Zielsystem und erweitert das Zielsystem, um Sub-Ziele von Entit\u00e4ten besser zu filtern. Dieses System wird \u00fcber Raumschiffe und Charaktere hinweg genutzt werden. Zum Beispiel k\u00f6nnten NSCs zu Fu\u00df einen Schiffsmotor mit einem Raketenwerfer anvisieren, genauso wie ein Schiff den Motor mit Raketen anvisieren k\u00f6nnte.\n\nIn dieser Testumgebung kannst du sehen, wie Schiffe nun in der Lage sind, sich vollst\u00e4ndig auf eine bestimmte Unterkomponente eines anderen Schiffes zu konzentrieren. In diesem Fall wird einer der Truster weggesprengt und dann wird der n\u00e4chste anvisiert.\n\nIn dieser Testumgebung stellen wir einen Charakter auf, um seine Magazine aufzuf\u00fcllen. Dies ist eine Testkarte, um das Setup der Munitionskisten zu validieren und sicherzustellen, dass der Charakter korrekt eine Kiste finden kann, die Magazine\/Ammos f\u00fcr die Waffen, die er gerade hat, bereitstellt und er diese dann auch korrekt nutzen kann.\nKI (Tech)\nLetzten Monat hat die KI Tech die EVA-Bewegung des Charakters unterst\u00fctzt. Die Idee ist, das 3D Pathfinding, das f\u00fcr Raumschiffe implementiert wurde, wiederzuverwenden und auf Charaktere in der Schwerelosigkeit zu erweitern. Das Gesamtsystem wurde mit diesem Anwendungsfall im Hinterkopf entworfen, daher besteht die aktuelle Arbeit darin, das Bewegungssystem zu verbessern und zu erweitern, um sicherzustellen, dass der richtige Kontext verf\u00fcgbar ist, wenn eine EVA- oder Schiffssteuerungsbewegung angefordert wird. Es ist geplant, automatische Ein- und Ausstiege von Schiffen aus der Schwerelosigkeit mit dem System zu unterst\u00fctzen.\n\nDas Team erweitert derzeit das Navigationssystem, um mehr Kontext zu liefern, wenn Regenerationsanfragen zur Laufzeit im Spiel anstehen. Das aktuelle System verl\u00e4sst sich auf Physik-Ereignisse f\u00fcr die Regeneration, was es f\u00fcr das System schwieriger macht, zu verstehen, welcher Entit\u00e4tstyp eine Regeneration des Navigationsnetzes verursacht und welcher Schwellenwert toleriert werden kann. Das neue System nutzt eine Erweiterung, die es dem Team erm\u00f6glicht, Schiffszust\u00e4nde besser zu verstehen. Zum Beispiel, selbst wenn ein Schiff in der Physik \"wach\" ist, wenn es gelandet ist, k\u00f6nnen sie Modifikationen akkumulieren und nur dann eine Navmesh-Regeneration anfordern, wenn die akkumulierte Differenz eine bestimmte Schwelle \u00fcberschreitet.\nDas Team machte auch Fortschritte bei der Portierung des Subsumption-Editors in den Game-Editor, um die Bearbeitungsoberfl\u00e4che besser mit dem Laufzeitcode zu verbinden. Dies beinhaltete das Hinzuf\u00fcgen einer erweiterten 'Find'-Funktionalit\u00e4t, die global scannt und Referenzen in Subsumption-Daten findet.\nAnimation\nDas Animationsteam begann den Monat mit Motion-Capture-Aufnahmen f\u00fcr verschiedene Nutzgegenst\u00e4nde, darunter Verkaufsautomaten und Touristen. Sie setzten auch die Gesichtsanimationen f\u00fcr verschiedene Missionsgeber fort und planten, was f\u00fcr die Erforschung von Kreaturen ben\u00f6tigt wird.\nArt (Charaktere)\nCharacter Art begann im Februar mit der Fertigstellung der neuen Assets f\u00fcr die Raffinerie-Decks, wobei der Gro\u00dfteil derzeit in den H\u00e4nden der QA zum Testen liegt. Au\u00dferdem wurden die Abonnentenartikel f\u00fcr April und Juni fertiggestellt.\nAssets f\u00fcr Alpha 3.14 wurden in die Pipeline aufgenommen, darunter ein neues R\u00fcstungsset und Outfits f\u00fcr Krankenh\u00e4user, die in die Modellierungsphase gingen. Die Modellierung der Orison-Assets des Teams steht ebenfalls kurz vor dem Abschluss und wird in K\u00fcrze an Tech Art zum Skinning \u00fcbergeben.\nZu guter Letzt haben die K\u00fcnstler die Konzepte f\u00fcr zwei R\u00fcstungssets, die f\u00fcr die zweite Jahresh\u00e4lfte geplant sind, und mehrere Rucks\u00e4cke f\u00fcr Alpha 3.14 fertiggestellt.\nKunst (Umgebung)\nDer Februar war ein arbeitsreicher Monat f\u00fcr alle Location Art Teams. Das Modular Team stellte die finale Grafik f\u00fcr die kommenden Andockarme fertig und arbeitete mit dem Docking Feature Team zusammen, um sie zu einem hohen Standard fertigzustellen. Die Arbeiten an den Kolonialismus-Au\u00dfenposten wurden vorangetrieben, die Whitebox unterzeichnet und die Arbeit an der Greybox begonnen. F\u00fcr das Space-Scaping bev\u00f6lkerte das Team die k\u00fcrzlich hinzugef\u00fcgten Gaswolken mit neuen Asteroiden-Archetypen, die vom Organics-Team zur Verf\u00fcgung gestellt wurden. Auch die Skybox und das Sternenfeld f\u00fcr das Pyro-System wurden weiterentwickelt.\nDas Landing Zone Team teilte seine Zeit zwischen der Fertigstellung der Hallen f\u00fcr ein kommendes Event und der Erledigung von Aufgaben f\u00fcr Orison auf. Auch der Prototyp f\u00fcr das neue Hacking-Feature wurde unterst\u00fctzt.\n\nKunst (Schiffe)\nObwohl einige Zeit aufgrund der Bedingungen in Texas verloren ging, wurden gro\u00dfe Fortschritte am Tumbril Nova Tank gemacht. Die Arbeit des letzten Monats bestand darin, ihn f\u00fcr das bevorstehende Greybox-Review vorzubereiten, bei dem das Fahrzeug mehreren Teams au\u00dferhalb des Fahrzeuginhalts pr\u00e4sentiert wird. Das Release-Prep-Review-Gate wurde ebenfalls f\u00fcr ein kommendes neues Fahrzeug abgeschlossen.\nDer Constellation Taurus hat die Final-Art-Phase erreicht und ist derzeit auf dem Weg zu einem Release im zweiten Quartal. Der letzte Schliff wurde auch an den neuen T\u00f6nungen vorgenommen, die in Alpha 3.13 ver\u00f6ffentlicht werden sollen.\nAu\u00dferdem wurden Docking Collars, H\u00fcllenverschlechterung, Schadensupdates, SDF-Schilde und Schiffsseriennummern und -benennungen unterst\u00fctzt.\nIn Gro\u00dfbritannien arbeitete das Team weiter an den Crusader Hercules Varianten und beendete den finalen Art-Pass f\u00fcr die Sprungsitze, die ferngesteuerten Turmsitze, die Waffenkammer und den MOAB-Bombenabwurfmechanismus der A2.\nDie Greybox wurde f\u00fcr das Cockpit und die hintere Rampensektion des Aegis Redeemer fertiggestellt, w\u00e4hrend das \u00c4u\u00dfere, das Fahrwerk und die Gesch\u00fctzt\u00fcrme sich dem gleichen Punkt n\u00e4hern. Der Update-Pass f\u00fcr die Aegis Gladius ist fast fertig, es fehlen nur noch die LODs, bevor sie abgezeichnet werden kann.\nEin Schiffstaufe- und H\u00fcllenverschlechterungspass hat im Februar begonnen, wobei mehrere Schiffe abgehakt wurden, w\u00e4hrend die Javelin einen Dockingkragen, einen Eingangsbereich und einen allgemeinen Beleuchtungspass erhalten hat.\nArt (Weapons)\nDas Waffenteam schloss im letzten Monat mehrere Aufgaben ab, angefangen mit der finalen Grafik f\u00fcr die T0 Mounted-Gun Anlage. Die Arbeiten an der MOAB-Bombe wurden abgeschlossen, der erste Durchgang des Volt-Parallax-Energiegewehrs wurde vollendet und das eigenst\u00e4ndige Greycat Industrial-Schneidewerkzeug durchlief die finale Grafik.\nDas Team begann auch mit der Entwicklung einer ballistischen Behring Gatlingkanone der Gr\u00f6\u00dfe 7 und begann mit der Erforschung einer Mag-Stripping- und Ladevorrichtung. Auch die Pipeline f\u00fcr die Waffenhaut wurde auf m\u00f6gliche Verbesserungen hin untersucht.\nCommunity\nDas Community Team hielt das erste AMA des Jahres ab und lud das Vehicle Experience Team ein, die wichtigsten Fragen der Community zu beantworten. Zu den Themen geh\u00f6rten Schiffs-Balance und -Tuning, Kondensatoren und Schiffsrollen im Kampf. Au\u00dferdem wurden die Gewinner des Coramor-Kartenwettbewerbs von 2951 bekannt gegeben und das Rote Fest, das \u00c4quivalent zum Mondneujahr, eingel\u00e4utet.\n\nDie Roadmap erhielt weitere Verbesserungen, darunter ein neues UI f\u00fcr die Release-Ansicht, w\u00e4hrend weitere Highlights im neuesten Roadmap-Roundup behandelt wurden.\nDas Team sammelte die Gedanken zum letzten Patch-Release von jedem Team und stellte den Alpha 3.12 Postmortem zusammen, der aufzeigt, was gut gelaufen ist und was in Zukunft verbessert werden soll.\nAbschlie\u00dfend unterst\u00fctzten sie den Februar Free Fly.\n\"Wir sahen eine Menge Aktivit\u00e4t von Spielerf\u00fchrern, also vielen Dank, dass ihr neuen Spielern geholfen habt, sich so willkommen zu f\u00fchlen! W\u00e4hrend des Freiflugs \u00fcberschritt die Gesamtzahl der B\u00fcrger die Drei-Millionen-Grenze!\" -Das Community Team\nEngine\nIm Februar beendete das Physik-Team die erste Stufe der Geometrie-Instanzierung, die zweite von drei. Weitere Optimierungen beinhalteten einen verbesserten Weg zur Neuberechnung der Massenverteilung von Rigid Bodies. Die Speicherfragmentierung im Zusammenhang mit Geometriecontainern wurde reduziert, indem der Speicher f\u00fcr alle Arrays aus einem einzigen zusammenh\u00e4ngenden Block zugeteilt wurde. F\u00fcr das Zero-G-Traversal setzte das Engineering die gemeinsame Arbeit mit Actor Features an dem neuen passiven Ragdoll-Modus fort. Es wurden Probleme mit der Kommunikation zwischen dem Spielcode, dem Animationssystem und dem Physiksystem gefunden und behoben. Au\u00dferdem wurde der Skelettphysik ein neuer passiver Ragdoll-Modus hinzugef\u00fcgt.\nF\u00fcr die kooperative Fortbewegung wurde eine Inkonsistenz in der D\u00e4mpfung von eingekuppelten Movables behoben. Zus\u00e4tzliche Unterst\u00fctzung erhielt das Planet Tech Team, das sich um die Verbesserung des Vegetations-Touch-Bending bei k\u00fcrzeren Asset-Varianten k\u00fcmmerte.\nEs wurde Zeit damit verbracht, die Radfahrzeugphysik zu verbessern, wobei es dem Team gelang, das seitliche Pacejka-Reifenmodell zum Laufen zu bringen und das L\u00e4ngsmodell weiter zu verbessern. W\u00e4hrend sie vollst\u00e4ndig darauf umsteigen, wurden einige Verbesserungen f\u00fcr den Legacy-Modus bereitgestellt. Das Kontakthandling f\u00fcr Tanks wurde verbessert, w\u00e4hrend Verbesserungen am Motor- und Getriebecode vorgenommen wurden. Es wurde mit dem Prototyping der Logik f\u00fcr das Schneiden von Polygonen begonnen, die auf Physik-Proxy-Meshes verwendet wird, und es wurde mit der allgemeinen Arbeit an der ISPC-Mathe-Bibliothek begonnen, wobei die ersten Ergebnisse eingereicht wurden. Dies wird es dem Team erm\u00f6glichen, C++ Code leichter nach ISPC zu portieren. Ein m\u00f6glicher Fix f\u00fcr Schiffe, die nicht mehr reagieren, nachdem Spieler das Cockpit verlassen haben, wurde ebenfalls eingereicht.\nBeim Renderer wurde die Arbeit an der Gen12-Umstellung fortgesetzt, insbesondere die Fertigstellung des Rendergraphen. Unterst\u00fctzung f\u00fcr die verbleibenden sekund\u00e4ren Vertex-Streams, wie Skinning-Attribute, Geschwindigkeit und sekund\u00e4re UV-Streams, wurde hinzugef\u00fcgt. Zus\u00e4tzlich wurde die Gathering-basierte Tiefensch\u00e4rfe-Implementierung optimiert. Das Shaping von volumetrischen Wolken wurde vervollst\u00e4ndigt und ein erster Entwurf befindet sich derzeit bei den K\u00fcnstlern zum Prototyping und Feedback. In der Zwischenzeit wurden weitere Verbesserungen der Wolkenschattierung und des Schattenwurfs implementiert. Eine glaubw\u00fcrdige Multi-Streuung wurde ebenfalls hinzugef\u00fcgt. Die Wolkenschattierung beinhaltet nun atmosph\u00e4renbasiertes Umgebungslicht (reflektiertes Bodenlicht wird sp\u00e4ter hinzugef\u00fcgt), w\u00e4hrend die Wolkenalbedo an den R\u00e4ndern reduziert wurde, um die Form zu betonen und die Lichtstreuung in Wolken ist nicht mehr monochromatisch und nun genauso flexibel wie die atmosph\u00e4rische Streuung. Um Aliasing bei der Formgebung von Wolken zu reduzieren, werden nun bei jedem Raymarch-Schritt korrekte Textur-LOD-Werte berechnet, w\u00e4hrend Schattenstrahlen gejittert werden, um Aliasing bei Bewegung zu reduzieren. Es wurde mit der Erforschung des effizienten \u00dcberspringens von Leerr\u00e4umen zwischen Wolken begonnen.\nDas Engine Team arbeitete weiter am Profiler und f\u00fcgte Kompatibilit\u00e4t f\u00fcr Hardwarez\u00e4hler und einen Sampling Profiler Modus mit dedizierter Windows und Linux Unterst\u00fctzung hinzu. Speicherverfolgungsdaten k\u00f6nnen nun gefiltert werden, so dass Probleme leichter an ihre jeweiligen Besitzer delegiert werden k\u00f6nnen. Die Arbeit und Verbesserungen am Entity Component Update Scheduler wurden fortgesetzt. F\u00fcr die Patcher-Bibliotheken wurde Zeit damit verbracht, seltene Fehler beim Daten-Patching zu untersuchen, die zu korrupten p4k-Dateien f\u00fchrten (wie vom PU-Fehlerverfolgungscode gemeldet); einige Verbesserungen wurden implementiert und weitere werden bald ausgerollt. Vis-Bereiche erhielten weitere Code-Updates und Unterst\u00fctzung f\u00fcr animierte Portale wurde implementiert. In Zukunft wird das Team die Arbeit am Vulkan-Backend unterst\u00fctzen.\nFeatures (Charaktere & Waffen)\nEines der wichtigsten Features, an denen im Februar gearbeitet wurde, war das Mounted-Gun-Gameplay, bei dem der Spieler die Kontrolle \u00fcber eine vorher platzierte, gro\u00dfkalibrige Waffe \u00fcbernimmt, die auf einem 360-Grad-Drehpunkt montiert ist. Dies bietet eine Alternative zum Raketenwerfer oder der Railgun f\u00fcr den Kampf gegen Fahrzeuge und eine sehr effektive Feuerkraft gegen Infanterie. Die Entscheidung f\u00fcr eine Steuerungsmechanik, die dem Waffenhandling zu Fu\u00df \u00e4hnelt, wurde schon fr\u00fch getroffen - dies gibt das nat\u00fcrlichste Gef\u00fchl f\u00fcr die Gier- und Neigungssteuerung, die nur geringf\u00fcgig durch die Rotationsgeschwindigkeit der Waffe eingeschr\u00e4nkt wird. Dieses Kontrollschema erlaubt es dem Spieler auch, in einen \"aim-down-sight\"-Zustand (ADS) zu gelangen, um eine bessere Zielansicht zu erhalten. Auf der Charakterseite wurden mehrere Motion-Capture-Assets im Leerlauf und in Bewegung gemischt, um den Sch\u00fctzen relativ zur Waffe zu positionieren, basierend auf der aktuellen Neigung und Rotationsgeschwindigkeit. Es gab ein gewisses Hin und Her zwischen dem Content- und dem Tech-Team, um ein realistisches Posing zu erreichen und gleichzeitig eine starke First-Person-Kameraansicht zu erhalten. Um sicherzustellen, dass die H\u00e4nde des Charakters an den Waffengriffen bleiben und die Finger die Trigger zum richtigen Zeitpunkt dr\u00fccken, nutzte das Team den gleichen IK-Solver wie bei der Essensaufnahme, die letztes Jahr ver\u00f6ffentlicht wurde. Das Team arbeitet nun daran, die letzten Macken vor dem n\u00e4chsten Release auszub\u00fcgeln.\n\n\n\nAuf der technischen Seite schaute sich das Team die Charaktervermeidung an, die sie durch das Hinzuf\u00fcgen zus\u00e4tzlicher Anwendungsf\u00e4lle f\u00fcr Situationen, die in der Live-Umgebung gesehen werden, zu einer vereinfachten Testebene begannen. Der Fokus lag auf der NPC-zu-NPC-Vermeidung ohne den Einfluss des Spielers, wobei vor allem Situationen betrachtet wurden, in denen drei oder mehr NPCs gleichzeitig den Weg kreuzen oder ein NPC sich um eine Ecke bewegt, w\u00e4hrend er einem Hindernis ausweicht. Der verwendete Algorithmus basiert auf 'optimal reciprocal collision avoidance' (ORCA) mit etwas angepasstem Code. In dieser Iteration hat das Team den benutzerdefinierten Code zusammen mit der Reaktionsbehandlung neu geschrieben, um ihn besser an die zugrunde liegende ORCA-Logik anzupassen. Es wurde viel Zeit damit verbracht, die ORCA-Forschungsunterlagen erneut zu lesen. Dar\u00fcber hinaus hat das Team den Animationsfluss des Charakters \u00fcberarbeitet, um sicherzustellen, dass die K\u00f6rperdrehung zum richtigen Zeitpunkt und f\u00fcr die richtige Dauer ausgel\u00f6st wird. Das Gesamtergebnis ist eine viel bessere Ausweichaufl\u00f6sung sowohl f\u00fcr die alten als auch f\u00fcr die neuen Anwendungsf\u00e4lle und ein besser aussehendes K\u00f6rperposing. Basierend auf dem Ergebnis wurde die Entscheidung getroffen, zus\u00e4tzliche Ausweichanimationen aufzunehmen, um die Reaktionsvariation zu erh\u00f6hen.\nFeatures (Gameplay)\nDie Gameplay Features Teams verbrachten im Februar Zeit damit, Features f\u00fcr die kommende Alpha 3.13 vorzubereiten, kritische Bugs zu beheben und zuk\u00fcnftige Initiativen zu planen.\nDas in den USA ans\u00e4ssige Team entwickelte die im letzten Monatsbericht erw\u00e4hnten mobiGlas-Apps weiter: Die Ingenieure setzten die Implementierung der Reputations-App fort und die Designer f\u00fcgten UI-Visuals in die Building Blocks Canvases ein. Design-Iterationen wurden an der Asset Manager App vorgenommen, die f\u00fcr die Einf\u00fchrung in Alpha 3.13 geplant ist.\nSie begannen auch mit der Planung f\u00fcr den bevorstehenden Refactor der Fracht, der darauf abzielt, Gegenst\u00e4nde in Frachtgittern zu physisieren. Dies erfordert vom Team eine Neubewertung des Umgangs mit fl\u00fcchtiger Fracht, Bergbau, Raffinerie und einigen anderen miteinander verflochtenen Systemen. Im Zuge des Refactors wird auch der Warenkiosk von Flash auf Building Blocks umgestellt und mit dem Asset Manager verbunden.\nDie in der EU ans\u00e4ssigen Teams haben sich darauf konzentriert, das Gameplay der Raffinerie aufzupolieren und Fehler zu beheben, verschiedene Fehler, Unzul\u00e4nglichkeiten und Exploits zu korrigieren und es generell fl\u00fcssiger zu machen. Sie implementieren derzeit Mining-Komponenten, die in denselben Slot wie Mining-Verbrauchsmaterialien passen. Die Komponenten werden jedoch bei der Aktivierung nicht verbraucht und fungieren als Unterkomponente des Bergbaulasers, was dem Spieler erlaubt, Komponenten und Verbrauchsmaterialien nach Belieben zu kombinieren. Gleichzeitig wurde die Mining UI um eine Handvoll kleinerer Features erweitert, die es nicht in die Alpha 3.12 geschafft haben, darunter eine Reichweitenanzeige und Animationen auf den gescannten Informationen.\nFeatures (Mission & Live Content)\nDas Live Content Team hat verschiedene Aufgaben erledigt, darunter das Polieren neuer und kommender Missionen, das Prototyping von Spawn-Schr\u00e4nken und die Entwicklung von Harvestables.\nDie Coder verbesserten das Kopfgeldsystem, so dass Kopfgeldj\u00e4ger au\u00dferhalb von \u00fcberwachten Zonen ihren Standort durch eine Vielzahl von Aktionen versehentlich (oder absichtlich) verraten. Das Ziel ist es, Kopfgeldj\u00e4gern die M\u00f6glichkeit zu geben, Kopfgelder in nicht \u00fcberwachten Zonen zu verfolgen und sicherzustellen, dass Kopfgelder immer das Gef\u00fchl haben, auf der Flucht zu sein.\nEs wurde an einem neuen System gearbeitet, das es den Entwicklern erm\u00f6glicht, Werbebildschirme an Orten rund um die PU zu \"kapern\", um aktuelle Nachrichten oder Sicherheitswarnungen anzuzeigen. Sie entwickeln auch ein Sicherheitssystem, das es ihnen erlaubt, die automatischen CrimeStats zu entfernen, die von den \u00dcbertretungszonen ausgegeben werden. Zurzeit muss ein Spieler eine CrimeStat f\u00fcr unerlaubtes Betreten erhalten, damit die Stationsverteidigung oder die Sicherheit einen Spieler angreifen kann. Dies ist nicht die Absicht. Das neue System wird es den Spielern erlauben, eine Unbefugtenzone zu betreten und solange sie dort unentdeckt bleiben, werden sie keine CrimeStat erhalten. In Zukunft wird es m\u00f6glich sein, dass die Sicherheitskr\u00e4fte den Spieler auffordern, die Zone zu verlassen und wenn der Spieler die Warnung ignoriert, wird er verhaftet oder letztendlich get\u00f6tet. Sicherheitskr\u00e4fte und automatische Verteidigungsanlagen werden den Spieler angreifen, ohne dass er eine CrimeStat ben\u00f6tigt.\nFeatures (Fahrzeuge)\nDer Fokus der Fahrzeug-Features lag im Februar auf dem Andocken, wobei das Andocken von Constellation zu Merlin poliert wurde und das Andocken von Schiff zu Station kurz vor der Fertigstellung steht. Das Team f\u00fcgte au\u00dferdem Andock-Filter-Tags hinzu, mit denen Spieler bestimmten Schiffen das Andocken an bestimmten H\u00e4fen erlauben oder blockieren k\u00f6nnen, was auch \u00c4nderungen an der Benutzeroberfl\u00e4che in Bezug auf Nachrichten und Lebensqualit\u00e4t mit sich brachte. Die Spieler werden nun \u00fcber verschiedene Dinge w\u00e4hrend des Andockvorgangs informiert, unter anderem dar\u00fcber, wann sich die Andockklammern l\u00f6sen. Au\u00dferdem wurde ein 'Match Velocity Mode' f\u00fcr Schiffe entwickelt, der beim Andocken an ein sich bewegendes Fahrzeug hilft, was sonst extrem schwierig ist. Verschiedene Netzwerkprobleme beim Andocken von Stationen wurden entdeckt, aber behoben. Es gibt noch ein paar Dinge, die fertiggestellt werden m\u00fcssen, wie z.B. das Anrufen von Stationen per Comms f\u00fcr eine Andockgenehmigung und das Spawnen von Schiffen an Andockkollern, aber das Andocken von Stationen macht gro\u00dfe Fortschritte.\nAndere Dinge, die im letzten Monat angesprochen wurden, sind die \u00dcberarbeitung der Raketenflugdynamik.\n\"Wir haben Raketenleitphasen, die das Verhalten der Rakete w\u00e4hrend des Fluges zum Ziel anpassen und ver\u00e4ndern. Das erlaubt uns eine wirklich feine Kontrolle \u00fcber die Rakete und stellt sicher, dass sie das Ziel so schnell wie m\u00f6glich erreicht.\" -The Vehicle Features Team\nSie verbessern auch die Thruster-Staub-VFX, die bald pro Triebwerk und viel dynamischer als bisher sein werden. Wenn sich zum Beispiel die VTOL-Thruster drehen, wird der Staub korrekt dem Windvolumen folgen und den physikalischen Kr\u00e4ften entsprechen, die mit dem Windsto\u00df der Thruster verbunden sind. MFDs wurden weiter prototypisiert, w\u00e4hrend das Team herausfand, wie sie implementiert werden sollen, und Sprungpunkte wurden erneut in den Fokus ger\u00fcckt, da das Team an einigen Problemen arbeitete, die damit verbunden sind, sie neben dem Server-Meshing in die PU zu bringen.\nGrafiken\nIm letzten Monat konzentrierte sich das Grafikteam auf zwei Hauptbereiche - automatisierte Tests und den Gen12-Renderer. Es wurden verschiedene Verbesserungen am automatisierten Testen vorgenommen, um die Zuverl\u00e4ssigkeit zu erh\u00f6hen. Dies ist entscheidend, wenn gr\u00f6\u00dfere \u00c4nderungen ausgerollt werden, um sicherzustellen, dass die Grafik nicht irgendetwas kaputt macht, das von anderen Teams implementiert wurde. Dazu geh\u00f6rte auch eine \u00dcberarbeitung der Timer im Renderer, um sicherzustellen, dass die verschiedenen Animationssysteme, die f\u00fcr Dinge wie Lichter, Shader, Nebel und Wasser verwendet werden, pausieren und neu basen k\u00f6nnen.\nAn der Gen12-Front wurde weiter daran gearbeitet, die Parit\u00e4t mit dem alten Schatten-Codepfad zu erreichen, sodass dieser standardm\u00e4\u00dfig aktiviert werden kann. Das Testen des Vulkan-Backends wurde weiter auf das gesamte Team ausgeweitet, um eine breitere Sichtbarkeit der neuen API zu erreichen. Schlie\u00dflich wurde das Font-Rendering-System auf Gen12 portiert, um das Debugging zu erleichtern.\nBeleuchtung\nIm letzten Monat baute das Team Prototypen f\u00fcr interaktive Beleuchtungselemente in den Spieler-Habs. Das Ziel war es, verschiedene Interaktionssysteme zu testen und zu sehen, wie sie mit den bestehenden Beleuchtungsworkflows funktionieren. Die Ergebnisse waren vielversprechend und das Team hofft, sie in Zukunft verbessern und implementieren zu k\u00f6nnen.\nLighting half auch dabei, einige grundlegende systemweite Einstellungen f\u00fcr Pyro einzurichten. Dies beinhaltet das Festlegen von Intensit\u00e4tswerten f\u00fcr den Pyro-Stern, die beeinflussen, wie hell alle Planeten und Orte erscheinen werden. Diese Einstellungen werden dann auch auf alle Bauebenen f\u00fcr die Planeten und Monde angewandt, damit sie ihre atmosph\u00e4rischen Einstellungen unter der korrekten Helligkeit haben k\u00f6nnen.\nDas Team lieferte auch Beleuchtungsunterst\u00fctzung f\u00fcr Orison, mit einem Fokus auf die Wohnr\u00e4ume, das Innere des Raumhafens und die Voyager Bar. Ein Beleuchtungspass wurde auch f\u00fcr die neuen gr\u00f6\u00dferen H\u00f6hleneing\u00e4nge zusammen mit den Schiff-zu-Station-Andockarmen gemacht.\n\n\n\n\nNarrative\nDa immer mehr Orte und Umgebungen entwickelt werden, arbeitete das Team mit den Umgebungsteams zusammen, um die Sprache der Schilder und des Environmental Storytellings zu definieren, um den R\u00e4umen eine weitere Dimension des Charakters zu verleihen. Sie arbeiteten auch weiter mit den Missionsteams in Gro\u00dfbritannien und Austin zusammen, um kommende Inhalte zu entwickeln. Sie organisierten auch eine weitere Voiceover-Aufnahme-Session, um Charaktere f\u00fcr mehrere zuk\u00fcnftige Landezonen und Events zu erfassen und trafen sich mit Turbulent, um ein neues System zur Erstellung von Webseiten zu erkunden, das viel mehr Designm\u00f6glichkeiten bei der Erstellung von Posts bietet.\nNarrative startete Diskussionen mit UI und Design \u00fcber die n\u00e4chsten Schritte, um die riesige Menge an fiktionalen Depeschen ins Spiel zu \u00fcbertragen. Zum Beispiel, den Spielern zu erm\u00f6glichen, Nachrichten-Updates \u00fcber Ereignisse im System zu erhalten oder Kurzgeschichten w\u00e4hrend langer Fl\u00fcge zu h\u00f6ren. Die Diskussion brachte einige gro\u00dfartige Ideen hervor, aber auch ein gr\u00f6\u00dferes Verst\u00e4ndnis f\u00fcr die technischen Aspekte, die n\u00f6tig sind, um das Feature ins Spiel zu bringen.\nIm Februar gab es au\u00dferdem die neueste Folge der Sid & Cyrus Kurzgeschichte, eine weitere Folge von StarWatch und neue Eintr\u00e4ge in der Galactapedia.\n\"Der vergangene Monat war ein sehr aufregender Monat f\u00fcr das Narrative Team. Die XenoThreat Incursion startete in Stanton nach monatelanger harter Arbeit zusammen mit einer Vielzahl von Teams. Es war gro\u00dfartig zu sehen, wie sich die Community zusammengetan hat, um die Bedrohung abzuwehren und ein Gef\u00fchl daf\u00fcr zu bekommen, wie wir in Zukunft m\u00f6glicherweise \u00e4hnliche Inhalte erstellen k\u00f6nnen.\" -Das Narrative Team\nSpielerbeziehungen\nDas Team von Player Relations rekrutierte und erweiterte sein Team in Wilmslow weiter. Sie s\u00e4uberten auch weiterhin die Bugs f\u00fcr Alpha 3.12 und begannen mit den Vorbereitungen f\u00fcr Alpha 3.13 und verschiedene Events, die im Fr\u00fchjahr beginnen.\nRequisiten\nDas Requisitenteam schloss den ersten Durchgang an Requisiten f\u00fcr Orison ab, darunter M\u00f6bel und einige gr\u00f6\u00dfere Helden-Assets. Es wurde mit der Arbeit an interaktiven Requisiten f\u00fcr die Geh\u00f6fte begonnen, wie z.B. Solarzellen und Batteriepacks, w\u00e4hrend Geometrievorlagen f\u00fcr eine bewegliche Trage und ein Bett f\u00fcr die Krankenhausstandorte fertiggestellt wurden.\nQA\nAuf der Ver\u00f6ffentlichungsseite unterst\u00fctzte die QA Anfang Februar die Alpha 3.12.1 und XenoThreat. Auf der Entwicklungsseite wurden Inhalte f\u00fcr Alpha 3.13 getestet, um die Evocati-Tests vorzubereiten, darunter das Andocken von Schiff zu Schiff, neue Erntematerialien, Updates f\u00fcr MedPens und Force Reactions. Die QA hat au\u00dferdem ihre Testpl\u00e4ne, Prozesse und Abteilungsstruktur aktualisiert, um sie besser auf die in diesem Jahr anstehenden Ver\u00f6ffentlichungen und Ereignisse abzustimmen.\nSystemische Dienste & Tools\nDas Systemic Services & Tools Team setzte die Entwicklung von Werkzeugen fort, die es dem Backend erm\u00f6glichen, den Spielfluss zu kontrollieren. Dies beinhaltete die Integration von Hochgeschwindigkeits-Positionsinformationen f\u00fcr im Spiel gespawnte KI, um besser verfolgen zu k\u00f6nnen, wie Inhalte im gesamten PTU eingesetzt und genutzt werden. Es wurden auch Arbeiten abgeschlossen, die es dem Team erm\u00f6glichen, kritische Dienste zu kontrollieren, zu sehen und zu modifizieren, was letztendlich ein direktes Eingreifen erm\u00f6glichen und die Integration von Quantum vorbereiten wird.\n\"Unsere Kunstressourcen werden in eine \u00f6ffentliche Pr\u00e4sentation gelenkt, die wir bald geben wollen. Bleib dran f\u00fcr ein Update von Tony Zurovec in naher Zukunft!\" -Das Systemic Services & Tools Team\nTech Animation\nIm Februar hat Tech Animation die Assets aufger\u00e4umt, da eine grundlegende \u00c4nderung der In-Engine-Animationspipeline eine gro\u00dfe Anzahl von ihnen ung\u00fcltig gemacht hat. Die Entwicklung des hauseigenen Animationsgraphen-Toolsatzes wurde fortgesetzt, der sich in einem fr\u00fchen User-Testing befindet, um Feedback und Bugs f\u00fcr die n\u00e4chste Entwicklungsphase zu sammeln.\nDas Team arbeitete auch mit externen Optionen f\u00fcr die Skinning-Dekomposition und wandelte diese in funktionierende L\u00f6sungen um. Dieses Toolset bildet die Grundlage f\u00fcr die Technologie, die verwendet wird, um einen Teil der Asset-Authoring-Pipeline zu refaktorieren, um den gesamten Prozess zu beschleunigen.\nTurbulent\nDie Game Services von Turbulent haben sich mit mehreren anderen Teams zusammengetan, um die Leistung von VOIP & FOIP zu verbessern, was die Implementierung eines neuen Logging-Systems, das Hinzuf\u00fcgen eines verbesserten Debug-Tools und kleinere Code-Zentralisierungen beinhaltete.\nIn Abstimmung mit den Entwicklern, die am Launcher und direkt in der Engine arbeiten, lieferten sie ihren ersten Meilenstein im Server-Meshing-Projekt. Ein Teil des Teams hat sich auf das Server-Meshing-Projekt verlagert, weitere werden im Laufe des Projekts hinzukommen. Turbulent lieferte auch zus\u00e4tzliche USPU-Funktionen f\u00fcr das Reputationssystem, um den Spielern die M\u00f6glichkeit zu geben, Pr\u00e4ferenzen zu setzen, benachrichtigt zu werden, wenn sich ihr Ruf \u00e4ndert, und ihren Rufverlauf zu visualisieren.\nDas Live Tools Team l\u00f6ste mehrere Fehlerbehebungen, die im Fehlerberichtsworkflow auftraten. Au\u00dferdem gab es Korrekturen f\u00fcr den Lasttest-Service, die Verbesserungen f\u00fcr das Logging, die Unterst\u00fctzung f\u00fcr wechselnde Kontexte und Assertions beinhalteten.\nFahrzeugtechnik\nVehicle Tech hat Verbesserungen am Bodenfahrzeugsystem vorgenommen, um die Ver\u00f6ffentlichung des Tumbril Nova zu unterst\u00fctzen. Dies beinhaltete die Erweiterung des Turmziels und der Waffennutzung und die Implementierung von realistischen Lauffl\u00e4chenbewegungen und lauffl\u00e4chenbasiertem Fahrzeugbetrieb.\nWeitere Verbesserungen wurden an den Radar- und Scan-Systemen vorgenommen, die sowohl zu Fu\u00df als auch im Fahrzeug nutzbar sein werden. Das Ping-System war der Hauptfokuspunkt im Februar. Um die Interaktion des Spielers mit der Umgebung zu erh\u00f6hen, begannen Verbesserungen am zugrundeliegenden Interaktionssystem. So kann der Spieler zum Beispiel einen Knopf dr\u00fccken oder ein Rad innerhalb eines Cockpits drehen, um kontextbezogene Aktionen auszul\u00f6sen.\nZu guter Letzt wurde das XenoThreat-Event unterst\u00fctzt, bei dem neue Features und Bugs ausgemerzt werden mussten.\nVFX\nIm Februar setzten die VFX ihre Vorproduktionsarbeit an den Radar-Ping-Effekten der Fahrzeuge fort. Au\u00dferdem wurden die Planeteneffekte f\u00fcr mehrere Orte in Pyro weiterentwickelt, ebenso wie die Einschlagseffekte f\u00fcr eine Vielzahl neuer Ernteg\u00fcter.\nEs wurde ein neues VFX-Profiling-Tool erstellt, das dem Team einen viel klareren Blick auf wichtige leistungsbezogene Informationen im Grafikformat erm\u00f6glicht. Die Arbeit an den Inneneffekten der Gaswolke wurde ebenfalls fortgesetzt, einschlie\u00dflich kleiner Tr\u00fcmmerteile, die sicher mit Schiffsr\u00fcmpfen kollidieren. Au\u00dferdem setzten sie ihre Arbeit an der Crusader Hercules und einem weiteren kommenden Fahrzeug fort, w\u00e4hrend der Rollout der SDF-Schildaufpralleffekte weiterging.\nWIR SEHEN UNS N\u00c4CHSTEN MONAT...","zh_CN":"In the wake of the explosive XenoThreat event, the developers completed tasks for the upcoming Alpha 3.13, progressed with the content due in Alpha 3.14, and made inroads into the new worlds coming later in the year and beyond. Read on for all the details.\n\nAI (Content)\nThroughout February, AI Content continued with the engineer behavior, which helped identify further low-level improvements that could be extended to other systems to achieve even more complex behaviors (as they did with the bartender). They also started the downstream definitions of the usables required for the engineer, hygiene, and vendor shop extensions. The tier-zero implementations of the hawker, tourist, and tour guide behavior were completed too.\nAI (Features)\nAI Features made improvements to the communication system. First, they enabled a selection of communication variations to be aware of the animation options setup in Mannequin. This allows them to drive randomization in a way that prevents possible repetitions.\nSecondly, they improved the low-level patrol tech code to support the customization of input parameters on the Subsumption logic for each patrol vertex. To achieve this, they extended the serialization code to allow multiple interfaces for variable serializations. So, from the editor code, they can automatically call through the right function for each variable type. Some variable types are plain old data (POD) and the system allows the registration of a global function associated with that type, such as integers and doubles. As with other custom types, the team can now allow calling class member functions to make the code more structured.\nFor usables, the team extended the crafting dictionary used to understand which items a usable can produce to handle multiple tags. This will enable them to understand which operations can produce multiple objects in one interaction. The routing verification in the query system was extended so that usables that provide or accept items can also be retrieved when slotted into other usables. They continued to improve the automatic testing setup for Subsumption, allowing the flowgraph UI to create a specific popup of only available functions instead of manually typing the function name.\nFor Character Combat, improvements were made to the fire cadence skill calculation. This was initially done using a global modifier but now uses skill formulas to ensure different character abilities influence the actual ability to use weapons.\n\nPreviously AI rate of fire was globally controlled by two cvar(s), basically two global values designers could tweak. We now have transformed this into a proper \u201cformula\u201d that takes into account the weapon proficiency to allow each character to have a different confidence of how many bullets to use, how quickly to press the trigger based on their traits (is the NPC confident, a showoff?) and on their actual ability with the specific weapon.\nThe team are currently progressing on the sub-component targeting, extending the targeting system to better filter entity sub-targets. This system will be shared across spaceships and characters. For example, NPCs on foot could target a ship engine with a rocket launcher the same way a ship could target the engine with missiles.\n\nIn this test environment you can see how ships are now able to fully focus on a specific subcomponent of another ship. In this case one of the trusters are blown away and then the next one is targeted.\n\nIn this test environment we setup a character to replenish his magazines. This is a test map to validate the setup of the ammo crates and make sure that the character can correctly find a crate that can provide magazines\/ammos for the weapons he currently has and he can then use the usable correctly.\nAI (Tech)\nLast month, AI Tech supported character EVA movement. The idea is to reuse and extend the 3D pathfinding implemented for spaceships to characters in zero-g. The overall system was designed with this use-case in mind, so current work is to improve and extend the movement system to ensure the right context is available when an EVA or ship control movement is requested. They\u2019re planning to support automatic enters\/exits of ships from zero-g using the usable system too.\n\nThe team are currently extending the navigation system to give more context when in-game run-time regeneration requests are queued. The current system relies on physics events for regeneration, which makes it harder for the system to understand what entity type is causing a navigation mesh regeneration and what threshold can be tolerated. The new system utilizes an extension that enables the team to better understand ship states. For example, even if a ship is \u2018awake\u2019 in physics when landed, unless significant movements occur, they can accumulate modifications and only request a navmesh regeneration when the accumulated difference exceeds a certain threshold.\nThe team also progressed with porting the Subsumption editor into the game editor to better connect the editing interface with the runtime code. This involved adding a more advanced \u2018find\u2019 functionality that globally scans and finds references in Subsumption data.\nAnimation\nThe Animation Team began the month shooting motion-capture for several usables, including vending machines and tourists. They also continued with facial animations for various mission-givers and planned out what was needed to start exploring creatures.\nArt (Characters)\nCharacter Art kicked off February finalizing new assets for the refinery decks, with the majority currently in the hands of QA for testing. They also wrapped-up Subscriber items for April and June.\nAssets for Alpha 3.14 were added into the pipeline, including a new armor set and outfits for hospitals, which entered the modeling stage. The modeling of the team\u2019s Orison assets is nearing completion too and will pass to Tech Art for skinning shortly.\nLastly, the artists finalized the concepts of two armor sets planned for the second half of the year and several backpacks for Alpha 3.14.\nArt (Environment)\nFebruary was a busy month for all the location art teams. The Modular Team completed the final art for the upcoming docking arms, working alongside the Docking Feature Team to finish them to a high standard. Progress was made on the \u2018colonialism\u2019 outposts, with whitebox signed off and work beginning on greybox. For space-scaping, the team populated the recently added gas clouds with new asteroid archetypes provided by the Organics Team. The skybox and star-field for the Pyro system were further developed too.\nThe Landing Zone Team split their time between finalizing the halls for an upcoming event and completing tasks for Orison. Support was also given to the new hacking feature prototype.\n\nArt (Ships)\nThough some time was lost due to the conditions in Texas, great progress was made on the Tumbril Nova Tank. Last month\u2019s work involved preparing it for the upcoming greybox review, where the vehicle is presented to several teams outside of Vehicle Content. The release-prep review gate was also completed for an upcoming new vehicle.\nThe Constellation Taurus reached the final-art phase and is currently tracking for a quarter-two release. The finishing touches were also added to the new tints scheduled for release in Alpha 3.13.\nSupport was also given to docking collars, hull degradation, damage updates, SDF shields, and ship serial numbers and naming.\nIn the UK, the team continued with the Crusader Hercules variants, wrapping-up the final art pass on the jump seats, remote turret seats, armory, and the A2\u2019s MOAB bomb-release mechanism.\nThe greybox was completed for the Aegis Redeemer\u2019s cockpit and rear ramp section, while the exterior, landing gear, and turrets are all approaching the same point. The update pass on the Aegis Gladius is nearly finished, with only the LODs remaining before it can be signed off.\nA ship naming and hull degradation pass started in February with several ships being ticked off, while the Javelin received a docking collar, entrance area, and general lighting pass.\nArt (Weapons)\nThe Weapons Team closed out several tasks last month, starting with the final art for the T0 mounted-gun asset. Work concluded on the MOAB bomb, the first pass on the Volt Parallax energy rifle was completed, and the standalone Greycat Industrial cutting tool went through final art.\nThe team also made a start on a size 7 Behring ballistic Gatling gun and began exploring a mag stripping and loading device. Investigation was made into potential improvements to the weapon-skin pipeline too.\nCommunity\nThe Community Team held the first AMA of the year, inviting the Vehicle Experience Team to answer the community\u2019s top questions. Topics included ship balance and tuning, capacitors, and ship roles in combat. They also announced the winners of the 2951 Coramor card contest and kicked off the \u2018verse\u2019s Lunar New Year equivalent, the Red Festival.\n\nThe Roadmap received further improvements, including a new UI for Release View, while more highlights were covered in the latest Roadmap Roundup.\nThe team gathered the thoughts on the latest patch release from each team and compiled the Alpha 3.12 Postmortem, covering what went well and what will be improved on going forward.\nFinally, they supported the February Free Fly.\n\u201cWe saw lots of activity from player guides, so thank you very much for helping new players feel so welcome! During the Free Fly, the total number of citizens surpassed three million!\u201d -The Community Team\nEngine\nIn February, the Physics Team finished tier one of geometry instancing, which is the second of three. Further optimizations included an improved way to recompute the mass distribution of rigid bodies. Memory fragmentation related to geometry containers was reduced by allocating memory for all arrays from a single contiguous block. For zero-g traversal, Engineering continued their joint effort with Actor Features on the new passive ragdoll mode. Issues with the communication between the game code, animation system, and physics system were found and fixed. Alongside this, a new passive ragdoll mode was added to skeleton physics.\nFor cooperative locomotion, an inconsistency was fixed in the damping of engaged movables. Additional support was given to the Planet Tech Team who were looking to improve vegetation touch-bending on shorter asset varieties.\nTime was spent improving wheeled-vehicle physics, with the team managing to get the lateral Pacejka tire model to work and further improving the longitudinal model. While they fully transition to this, a few improvements were provided for the legacy mode. Contact handling for tanks was improved, while improvements were made to the engine and gearbox code. Prototyping started on the logic for polygon cutting, which is used on physics proxy meshes, and general-purpose work was started on the ISPC math library, with the first results being submitted. This will allow the team to port C++ code to ISPC more easily. A potential fix for ships becoming unresponsive after players leave the cockpit was submitted too.\nFor the renderer, work continued on the Gen12 transition, in particular finalizing the render graph. Support for the remaining secondary vertex streams, such as skinning attributes, velocity, and secondary UV streams, was added. Additionally, the gather-based depth-of-field implementation was optimized. The shaping of volumetric clouds was completed and a first draft is currently with the artists for prototyping and feedback. In the meantime, more improvements to cloud shading and shadowing were implemented. A believable multi-scatter approximation was also added. Cloud shading now includes atmosphere-based ambient light (reflected ground light will be added later), while cloud albedo was reduced at the edges to emphasize shape and light scattering in clouds is no longer monochromatic and now just as flexible as atmospheric scattering. To reduce aliasing when shaping clouds, proper texture LOD values are now computed at each raymarch step, while shadow rays are jittered to reduce aliasing under motion. Research into the efficient skipping of empty space between clouds commenced.\nThe Engine Team continued working on the profiler, adding compatibility for hardware counters and a sampling profiler mode with dedicated Windows and Linux support. Memory tracking data can now be filtered, so issues can be more easily delegated to their respective owners. Work and improvements on the entity component update scheduler continued. For the patcher libraries, time was spent investigating infrequent errors in data patching that resulted in corrupt p4k files (as reported by PU error tracking code); some improvements were implemented and more will be rolled out soon. Vis areas received further code updates and support for animated portals was implemented. Moving forward, the team will support work on the Vulkan backend.\nFeatures (Characters & Weapons)\nOne of the major features worked on in February was mounted-gun gameplay, which involves the player taking control of a pre-placed, large-caliber weapon mounted on a 360-degree pivot. This offers an alternative to the rocket launcher or railgun for anti-vehicle combat along with highly effective firepower against infantry. The decision was made early on to opt for a control mechanic like on-foot weapon handling \u2013 this gives the most natural feeling yaw and pitch control that\u2019s only slightly constrained by the rotation speed of the weapon. This control scheme also allows the player to enter an aim-down-sight (ADS) state for a better targeting view. On the character-side, several motion-captured idle and moving assets were blended to pose the gunner relative to the weapon based on current pitch and rotation speed. There was some back-and-forth between the content and tech teams to get realistic-looking posing while maintaining a strong first-person camera view. To ensure the character\u2019s hands stay on the weapon grips and fingers squeeze the triggers at the right time, the team leveraged the same IK solver as the food consumption feature released last year. The team is now working on ironing out the last kinks before the next release.\n\n\n\nOn the technical side, the team looked at character avoidance, which they started by adding additional use-cases for situations seen in the live environment to a simplified test level. The focus was on NPC-to-NPC avoidance without the influence of the player, primarily looking at situations where three or more NPCs cross paths simultaneously or an NPC moves around a corner while avoiding an obstacle. The algorithm used is based on \u2018optimal reciprocal collision avoidance\u2019 (ORCA) with some custom code. In this iteration, the team rewrote the custom code along with the response handling to better align with the underlying ORCA logic. Significant time was spent re-reading the ORCA research papers. On top of that, the team revisited the character animation flow to ensure body twist is triggering both at the correct moment and for the right duration. The overall result is much better avoidance resolution for both the old and new use-cases and better-looking body posing. Based on the result, the decision was made to capture additional avoidance animation assets to increase response variation.\nFeatures (Gameplay)\nThe Gameplay Features Teams spent time in February preparing features for the upcoming Alpha 3.13 release, fixing critical bugs, and planning for future initiatives.\nThe US-based team further developed the mobiGlas apps mentioned in last month\u2019s report: The engineers continued to implement the reputation app and the designers added UI visuals into the Building Blocks canvases. Design iterations were made on the Asset Manager app, which is planned for launch in Alpha 3.13.\nThey also began to plan for the upcoming cargo refactor, which aims to physicalize items within cargo grids. This requires the team to reevaluate how they deal with volatile cargo, mining, refining, and several other intertwined systems. The refactor will also see the commodity kiosk converted from Flash to Building Blocks and tie into the Asset Manager.\nThe EU-based teams focused on polishing and bug-fixing the refinement gameplay, correcting various flaws, clunkiness, and exploits and generally making it run smoother. They\u2019re currently implementing mining components that fit into the same slot as mining consumables. However, the components aren\u2019t consumed on activation and act as a sub-component of the mining laser, allowing the player to mix and match components and consumables as they see fit. At the same time, they added a handful of smaller features to the mining UI that didn\u2019t make Alpha 3.12, including a range indicator and animations on the scanned information.\nFeatures (Mission & Live Content)\nThe Live Content Team completed varying tasks, including polishing new and upcoming missions, prototyping spawn closets, and developing harvestables.\nThe coders enhanced the bounty system so that bounties outside of monitored zones will inadvertently (or purposefully) give away their location through a variety of actions. The aim is to give bounty hunters the chance to track bounties in unmonitored zones and ensure bounties always feel like they\u2019re on the run.\nA new system was worked on to allow the devs to \u2018hijack\u2019 advertising screens in locations around the PU to show breaking news or safety alerts. They\u2019re also developing a security system that will allow them to remove the automatic CrimeStats given by trespass zones. Currently in order for the station defenses or security to attack a player they must be given a CrimeStat for trespassing. This is not the intention. The new system will allow players to enter a trespass zone and, as long as they remain, undetected, they will not receive a CrimeStat. In future this will allow us to have security instruct the player to leave and should the player ignore the warning they would be arrested or ultimately killed. Security and automated defenses will engage players without them needing a CrimeStat.\nFeatures (Vehicles)\nVehicle Feature\u2019s February focus was on docking, with the Constellation-to-Merlin docking being polished and ship-to-station docking nearing completion. The team also added docking filter tags to let players allow or block certain ships from docking at specific ports, which involved making messaging and quality-of-life changes to the UI. Players are now informed about various things during the docking process, including when docking clamps disengage. A \u2018match velocity mode\u2019 was also developed for ships to help when docking to a moving vehicle, which is extremely difficult otherwise. Various networking issues with station docking were discovered but were resolved. There are a few things to be finished, including comms-calling stations for docking permission and spawning ships at docking collars, but station docking is making great progress.\nOther things touched on last month include the rework of missile flight dynamics.\n\u201cWe have missile guidance phases that adjust and change the behavior of the missile as it progresses through its flight to the target. This allows us really fine control over the missile and ensures that it\u2019s best able to reach the target as quickly as possible.\u201d -The Vehicle Features Team\nThey also improve thruster dust VFX, which will soon be per-thruster and far more dynamic than before. For example, as VTOL thrusters rotate, dust will correctly follow the wind volumes and match the physics forces associated with the thrusters\u2019 wind blast. MFDs continued to be prototyped as the team finalizes out how they\u2019ll be implemented, and jump points received renewed focus as the team worked through some of the associated issues with bringing them to the PU alongside server meshing.\nGraphics\nLast month, the Graphics Team focused on two main areas \u2013 automated testing and the Gen12 renderer. Various improvements were made to automated testing to better reliability, which is crucial as major changes are rolled out to ensure Graphics don\u2019t break anything implemented by other teams. This included a rework of how the timers are set up in the renderer, ensuring they can pause and re-base the different animation systems used for things like lights, shaders, fog, and water.\nOn the Gen12-front, work continued to reach parity with the old shadow code-path so that it can be enabled by default. Testing of the Vulkan backend was rolled out further across the team to get wider visibility on the new API. Finally, to aid debugging, the font rendering system was ported to Gen12.\nLighting\nLast month, the team built prototypes for interactive lighting elements in player habs. The aim was to test several interaction systems and see how they work with the existing lighting workflows. Results were promising and the team hopes to improve and implement them in the future.\nLighting also helped set up some basic system-wide settings for Pyro. This involves laying out intensity values for the Pyro star, which affects how bright all planets and locations will appear. These settings are then also applied to all construction levels for the planets and moons so they can have their atmospheric settings tweaked under the correct brightness.\nThe team also provided lighting support for Orison, with a focus on the habitation rooms, spaceport interior, and Voyager Bar. A lighting pass was also done on the new larger cave entrances along with ship-to-station docking arms.\n\n\n\n\nNarrative\nAs more locations and environments are developed, the team worked with the environment teams to help define the language of the signs and environmental storytelling to bring another dimension of character to the spaces. They also continued working with the mission teams in the UK and Austin to develop upcoming content. They also organized another voiceover recording session to capture characters for several future landing zones and events and met with Turbulent to explore a new webpage creation system that provides a lot more design opportunities when creating posts.\nNarrative kicked-off discussions with UI and Design on the next steps to transition the vast amount of fictional dispatches into the game. For example, enabling players to receive news updates about events in the system or listen to short stories during long flights. The discussion yielded some great ideas but also a greater understanding of the technical aspects needed to get the feature into the game.\nFebruary also saw the latest installment of the Sid & Cyrus short story, another installment of StarWatch, and new entries to the Galactapedia.\n\u201cThis past month was a very exciting one for the Narrative Team. The XenoThreat incursion kicked off in Stanton after months of hard work alongside a variety of teams. It was great to watch the community band together to repel the threat and get a sense of how we could potentially build similar content in the future.\u201d -The Narrative Team\nPlayer Relations\nPlayer Relations continued to recruit and add to its Wilmslow team. They also continued to triage bugs for Alpha 3.12 and began preparing for Alpha 3.13 and various events beginning in spring.\nProps\nThe Props Team completed their first pass on props for Orison, including furniture and some larger hero assets. Work began on interactable props for homesteads, such as solar panels and battery packs, while geometry templates were completed for a movable gurney and bed for the hospital locations.\nQA\nOn the publishing side, QA supported Alpha 3.12.1 and XenoThreat in early February. Development-wise, they tested content for Alpha 3.13 in preparation for Evocati testing, including ship-to-ship docking, new harvestables, updates to MedPens, and Force Reactions. QA also updated their test plans, processes, and department structure to better align with the releases and events coming this year.\nSystemic Services & Tools\nThe Systemic Services & Tools Team continued developing tooling to allow the backend to control the flow of gameplay. This involved integrating high-speed positional information for AI spawned in the game to better track how content is deployed and used throughout the PTU. Work was also finished that will allow the team to control, see, and modify critical services, which will ultimately allow for direct intervention and prepare for the integration of Quantum.\n\u201cOur art resources are being channeled into a public presentation we plan to give soon. Stay tuned for an update from Tony Zurovec in the near future!\u201d -The Systemic Services & Tools Team\nTech Animation\nFebruary saw Tech Animation cleaning up assets, as a core change to the in-engine animation pipeline invalidated a large number of them. Development of the in-house animation graph toolset continued, which is going through early user-testing to collate feedback and bugs for the next phase of development.\nThe team also worked with external options for skinning decomposition and changed them into working solutions. This toolset forms the basis of the technology that will be used to refactor a portion of the asset-authoring pipeline to expedite the whole process.\nTurbulent\nTurbulent\u2019s Game Services joined forces with several other teams to improve the performance of VOIP & FOIP, which involved implementing a new logging system, adding an improved debug tool, and making minor code centralization.\nCoordinating with devs working on the launcher and directly in-engine, they delivered their first milestone in the server-meshing project. A portion of the team shifted to server-meshing project deliveries, with more to be added as the project progresses. Turbulent also delivered additional USPU features for the reputation system to give players the ability to set preferences, get notified when their reputation changes, and visualize their reputation history.\nThe Live Tools Team solved several bug-fixing issues that were occurring in the error reporting workflow. There were also fixes for the load-testing service that included improvements to logging, support for changing contexts, and assertions.\nVehicle Tech\nVehicle Tech made improvements to the ground vehicle system to support the release of the Tumbril Nova. This involved expanding turreted targeting and weapon usage and implementing realistic tread motion and tread-based vehicle operation.\nFurther improvements were made to the radar and scanning systems, which will be usable both on-foot and within vehicles. The ping system was the main focus point throughout February. To increase player interaction with the environment, improvements to the underlying interaction system began. For example, allowing the player to press a button or turn a dial within a cockpit to trigger contextual actions.\nFinally, support was given to the XenoThreat event, which required new features and bugs to be squashed.\nVFX\nThroughout February, VFX continued their pre-production work on vehicle radar ping effects. They also further developed planetary effects for several locations in Pyro alongside impact effects for a variety of new harvestables.\nA new VFX profiling tool was created, giving the team a much clearer view of important performance-related information in graph format. Work continued on gas cloud interior effects too, including small debris that safely collides with ship hulls. They also continued their work on the Crusader Hercules and another upcoming vehicle, while the rollout of SDF shield impact effects continued.\nWE\u2019LL SEE YOU NEXT MONTH\u2026"},"links_count":11,"comment_count":35,"created_at":"2021-03-04T00:00:00+00:00","created_at_human":"5 years ago"},"meta":{"processed_at":"2026-05-07 20:22:29","valid_relations":["images","links"],"prev_id":18017,"next_id":18019}}