Space Engineers Leaves Early Access After 5 Years.

Space Engineers, a sandbox game developed and published by the Czech Republic developer Keen Software House since 2013. Ever since its Initial release date in 2013 where it stayed in Early Access for all this time, The Game Studio has finally announced that the game is out of Early Access with February’s patch. This is huge news for fans of the game that have been playing it since it first launched in Early Access.

You can Engineer, Construct, Explore and Survive and Space and on Planets in this Sandbox game. Build Space ships, Space stations, and Planetary outposts. Travel through space to explore planets and gather resources to survive in the dark harsh depths of space. Jump into Survival mode to test your wits or switch it up and go to Creative mode to make fun prototype ships to joy ride in space with. You can build anything, anywhere, to any amount. All that limits you is – you.

The Games History

When the game first released, It was not the most polished of games. Physics were wonky, the gameplay was not that good, certain mechanics felt broken, and some aspects just seemed to be missing from the game altogether. They have since worked on game consistently improving and adding things to the game each year with player feedback all to develop this game from a concept to a feature complete space engineering sandbox.

In 2015 they added Planets to the game which users could Explore, Survive, Build, Discover, Fight, and create their own home planets and not just float and build around in space but different Balls of masses now. In 2017, Physics of the game was reworked to improve the feel and stability of the game and the creations. In 2018 the Multiplayer got improved where the Netcode was reworked and Dedicated servers were added among other things to improve the Multiplayer experience of the game. Lastly, February 2019, They have now released the Survival Overhaul and the game is out of Early Access.

Update Details

The new update that dropped today on February 28th, 2019, has officially put the game out of Early Access with a long list of changes, bug fixes, and a Survival Overhaul. The games price has also been changed and is now set to 19.99$. The game is currently free for the weekend, so check it out.

The Survival Overhaul:

With the sandbox and core elements of the game covered the Survival aspect of the game needed a much-deserved rework, which it gets. There are a ton of survival elements added to the game that shall keep the player busy. Power producing sources have been added to the game like Wind Turbines and a Small Battery. A Hydrogen Engine that runs on water (obviously) has been added. A survival kit has also been introduced with a plethora of other changes to the game and the survival aspect of the game.

Patch Notes:

Main Features

• New blocks – Ladder, Basic Assembler, Hydrogen Engine, Small Battery, Wind Turbine, Survival Kit
• Survival gameplay improvements
• Learning to Survive scenario
• Never Surrender scenario
• Progression Tree
• Survival respawn mechanics
• New chat features
• New encounters

New Features

• Ladder
• Basic Assembler block
• Hydrogen Engine block
• Survival Kit block
• Wind Turbine block
• Small Battery 1x1x1
• Responsive block’s LCD panels (cockpit, medical room, respawn kit..) have correct state based on the state of the block
• LCD panels on all blocks have new pictures
• Progression Tree and progress sharing in the faction
• Progression UI in G-Screen with search and support for categories
• Processing stone gives ingots (iron, nickel, silicon) and gravel
• Improved chat with more features (channels, timestamp, gps, emotes)
• Help for chat in F1 screen
• Preloading voxel materials and textures when loading world
• Veteran Mark 2 skin (Promoted Engineer achievement reward)
• You can choose a faction before spawning
• Temperature for environment
• Voxel trash removal tool for administrators
• Search in production tab
• New tooltip info in respawn screen
• Players spawn near each other, you can set optimal distance in the world settings
• New Main Menu videos and overlay
• Assembler skips item if there is not enough resources to finish it
• New respawn pods, one for space, one for planets and one for the moon
• Redesigned and added encounters
• New visuals for trees
• New textures for voxels
• New achievements for Learning to Survive and Never Surrender scenarios
• New inter-grid communication system for Programmable block. Allows broadcast or unicast communication for scripts
• Added Current ship filter option to inventory screen
• Added temporary ban feature for player hosted multiplayer
• Added PCU pool for Space Pirates faction
• Increased regeneration speed for Medical Room
• Reintroduced character ragdoll
• Pasted enemy grids do not automatically change ownership to you. This is new feature is for administrators
• New survival tutorial video in F1 screen

Changes

• Default toolbar changed to be up-to-date with new blocks and survival changes
• Default inventory multipliers changed to 3x for astronaut and 1x for blocks. New blocks inventory multiplier added to the settings.
• Wheels power requirements depends on the settings and speed
• Unified state of emissive colors for all blocks
• Changed explosion impulse force so it’s lower
• PCU safe value changed from 100.000 to 600.000
• Players spawn on the lit side of planets
• Voxel hand is a safe feature now (removed from experimental)
• Tuned jetpack so it’s harder to kill yourself
• Larger inventories for Assemblers
• No Uranium on planets and tweaks in distribution of ore on asteroids
• Thrusters are 20% more powerful
• Changed power usage for Air Vent block
• Solar panels need less solar components
• Blocks has default PCU cost of 1 on build and full PCU cost in functional state
• Changes to ranks
  • Renamed Moderator to Observer
  • Added teleport to Space Master role
• Replaced checkboxes in Battery block terminal panel with one combo box
• Changed GPS name for body location to show death time instead of id
• Renamed custom worlds
• Performance changes to voxel streaming. Player can join server faster.
• Changed lodding technique for voxel textures
• Changed overlays for turret and camera
• Changed initial power for batteries built from projection
• Respawn pods are no longer deleted by default in survival
• Landing gear assembly guidelines changed, no longer needs large steel tubes
• Block placement modes:
  • Free
  • Gravity-aligned
  • Local-grid
• Skin containers now have batteries instead of reactors
• Custom names for Respawn points in respawn screen
• Tweaked sunlight on planets
• Arc Furnace renamed to Basic Refinery and changed parameters
• All blocks have rebalanced components requirements
• All blocks have rebalanced building times
• Astronaut body is no longer lootable, only the backpack is
• Removed drones and random encounters from experimental mode
• Encounter drones use different AI now
• Rebalanced production costs of tools and bottles
• Batteries only have an initial charge on the first build now
• Medical room recharges health and energy 5 times as fast as before
• Reduced wolves and meteorites spawn times

Gameplay Fixes

• Fixed Rotor Head not triggering PCU limit reached message
• Fixed The Harder They Fall Achievement
• Fixed Crayon box Achievement
• Fixed Going Green Achievement
• Fixed Connector Throw out function at far away coordinates
• Fixed Item spawning at far away coordinates
• Fixed unpredictable grid behavior at far away coordinates
• Fixed Warheads not detonating at distant coordinates
• Fixed Drills not drilling blocks at distant coordinates
• Fixed uncollected components dropping at incorrect position at distant coordinates
• Fixed Jump Drive not being accurate at distant coordinates
• Fixed obstacle detection when leaving Cockpit
• Fixed Gatling turrets not shooting at targets
• Fixed Gyroscopes not slowing grid rotation in certain cases
• Fixed crash in Main Menu when opening Good.bot tips
• Fixed Welder not welding anything when missing components for one of the welded blocks
• Fixed Programmable blocks being able to cheat in items into Inventories
• Fixed Remote Control Block respect of ownership settings
• Fixed errors not appearing when really old worlds couldn’t be loaded
• Fixed Programmable blocks having access to potentially dangerous types
• Fixed bug where you could be a member in two factions at once
• Fixed Remote control kicking player out when rotors on grid were detached
• Fixed Rotor Heads causing negative PCU in certain cases
• Fixed wrong PCU cost of Rotor head
• Fixed bug in Programmable Block constructor
• Fixed Missile Turret prediction overshooting targets
• Fixed Solar Panels working on planets at night in certain cases
• Fixed exploit where Programmable Block could turn off enemy grid
• Fixed several issues happening when un/merging two grids
• Fixed Small Collector collection phantom being on the wrong side
• Fixed relative dampening parenting to parts of certain blocks instead of grids in some cases
• Fixed Armor corner 2x1x1 missing one mountpoint
• Fixed H2/O2 Generator producing oxygen even when oxygen is disabled in world settings
• Fixed grid mass not being recomputed when inventory content changes
• Fixed Seats/Cockpits not dropping inventory content when destroyed
• Fixed Collectors collecting when they shouldn’t (unpowered or in construction stages)
• Fixed rooms not depressurizing when all air vents have been removed
• Fixed bug where blueprints can be pasted into voxels and other grids in certain cases
• Fixed crash in Collectors
• Fixed Missiles spawning at position where grid was one frame ago
• Fixed not being able to turn power on for unowned grids even with “Can use all terminals” settings
• Fixed initial Campaign mission autosaves not having working scripts after load

The First Jump Scenario Fixes

• Fixed initial Cryo Chamber having oxygen for only 2 minutes
• Fixed bug where dropping Oxygen Bottle at certain points would make it highlighted
• Fixed “crouch” subquest not being marked when character crouches
• Fixed character being able to get stuck in ship and get carried away
• Fixed “Report to Ship’s Bridge” quest not marking its subquests when completed
• Fixed player having Flashlight enabled by default
• Fixed player having broadcast enabled by default
• Fixed warnings appearing during or immediately after Mission 1 cutscene
• Fixed missions having “Remote block removal” option turned on
• Fixed “Flashlight” step of quest “Locate excavation site”
• Fixed Mission 3 ship not having enough hydrogen

UI Fixes

• Fixed other characters blocking third person camera of player in cockpit and forcing him/her into first person camera
• Fixed incorrect positioning of UI elements in resolution 4:3
• Fixed missing names of blocks and controls in Gamepad hints
• Fixed HUD not being hidden when terminal was open through Control Menu
• Fixed Elevator button panel in Mission 2 missing highlight
• Fixed Campaign highlights being visible even when quest is completed
• Fixed button panel hints being offset from actual position
• Fixed certain scrollable UI elements being clickable outside of their area
• Fixed random crash in DS configurator
• Fixed camera clipping through certain hand tools
• Fixed GPSs being unremovable through Cycle object in admin menu
• Fixed HUD not being hidden when opening terminal screen using Gamepad controls
  Fixed HUD marker scale for 4K screens
• Fixed control hints for Ladders for Xbox controller
• Fixed crash in DS configurator when switching settings
• Fixed third person camera being zoomed out after respawning
• Fixed player being kicked out of terminal after selecting blueprint for terminal
• Fixed GPSs created through chat command at distant coordinates having wrong position
• Fixed Lock/Unlock button not being refreshed in Connector’s terminal
• Fixed HUD being visible in Respawn Screen in certain cases
• Fixed being put into spectator camera after being kicked from customization screen of Medbay by turning off the power
• Fixed being put into spectator camera after being kicked from customization screen of Medbay by damaging it
• Fixed camera movement in respawn screen when grid is located on far away coordinates
• Fixed camera position in respawn screen when grid is located on far away coordinates

Visual Fixes

• Fixed highlight being visible through character after reconnect on DS
• Fixed Merge blocks being white in certain cases when they should be green
• Fixed Spotlights turning emissivity on in certain cases after splitting grid
• Fixed texture alignment of Heavy Rounded Armor Corner
• Fixed texture alignment of Rounded Armor Corner
• Fixed misplaced drill particles
• Fixed persistence of Jetpack state after reconnection on DS
• Fixed Turret subparts being misplaced when pasting blueprint while moving
• Fixed ore deposits being visible on surface of planets
• Fixed crash when cycling through objects in Cycle Object screen of Admin menu
• Fixed vines not being transparent on projected Oxygen Farms
• Fixed hole in Passenger seat
• Fixed shadow of the Cockpit interior
• Fixed distances on which Grid x Voxel collisions could be heard
• Fixed random crash in render when spawning large amount of blocks
• Fixed Armor Block color and normal maps not being aligned
• Fixed Drill metal particles orientation
• Fixed Grinder spin acceleration
• Fixed Boots peeking out of Small Cockpit’s floor
• Fixed emissivity of modules not entering black state when turned off and damaged
• Fixed blinking spotlights not turning of Billboards (cones)
• Fixed Solar Panels damaged particle effect
• Fixed some voxel materials having incorrect LODs
• Fixed Voxel hand creating voxels with holes
• Fixed missing separation edges between light and heavy Armors
• Fixed stone boulders changing color after reloading
• Fixed Medbay emissivity after its placement
• Fixed H2/O2 Generator to not have blue emissivity when only bottles, not ice, are inside
• Fixed Fixed LODs of Refinery’s control panel
• Fixed LODs of Rocket launcher (on high settings)
• Fixed Fighter cockpit building stages
• Fixed wrong LODs of small block Atmospheric thrusters
• Fixed texture of Inverted armor corner
• Fixed IceEuropa2 material icon
• Fixed wrong emissivity of Modules
• Fixed emissive parts of Space Ball LODs
• Fixed spawning of dead body and its backpack on far away coordinates

Multiplayer Fixes

• Fixed infinite “Waiting for server to respond” issue after unbanning player
• Fixed synchronization issue for blue state of connector
• Fixed relative dampener icon wrong state after reconnect
• Fixed synchronization of Battery, Inventory and Reactor status
• Fixed Antenna being still visible after remotely turning off broadcasting
• Fixed trees not falling on client after server restart and client auto-join
• Fixed position synchronization issue for grids
• Fixed crash for entities with the same ID
• Fixed hacking of the blocks
• Fixed synchronization issue for character when standing on the server and falling on the client
• Fixed building preview color synchronization
• Fixed color emissivity synchronization of button panel
• Fixed particle effect synchronization of collector
• Fixed synchronization issue for Piston with Landing Gear
• Fixed distant planets synchronization issue

Audio Fixes and Changes

• Fixed sound of the Welder when player does not have enough components
• Changed the sound for Good.bot in the scenario
• Fixed sounds and particles when welding finished block
• Fixed issue when turning off damage effects turned off sounds too
• Fixed no sound and message issue for unsuccessful block placement

Mod API and Scripting Changes

• New .sbc files for Progression Tree, ResearchBlocks.sbc and ResearchGroups.sbc
• New version of Visual Scripting Tool with better UI and support for default scenario template
• Added description to all Visual Scripting functions and events
• Refactored inventory API
• Changes to IMyBatteryBlocks to reflect removed bool states, replaced by enum ChargeMode
• Added HudText to IMyRadioAntenna and IMyBeacon
• Added in-game performance profiler for Programmable Block (Modding build)
• Added PDB and source code loading for both Programmable Block and Modding scripts. Attach VS to SE process and debug your scripts live (Modding build)

Solved Issues from Support Site

• Wrong tooltip on “Adaptive simulation quality” if you have experimental settings disabled
• Turrets don’t target Missiles
• Fov slider shows 0
• Toolbar cleared on reload
• Random sounds looping constantly – coming from nowhere – Can be fixed by rejoining game
• Inventory UI transfer bug
• Cloud saved Blueprints don’t have a preview image
• Comms tab comms scroll viewport always jumps to top at new message
• Activating sorters/ejectors on a mining ship causes ship mass to display as 0 kg
• Rotor lock issues on reload
• Interior Turret wrong model rotation
• Button name stays on HUD after respawn
• Gyroscope causes thruster sound
• Menu/HUD does not show up in screenshots
• Gatling Turrets damage own grids
• Gravity on ships is calculated from the pivot point
• LCD center alignment is not aligned
• Can’t see custom planets
• Visual bug pistons
• Wheels are randomly exploding at higher speeds (vanilla)
• Physics begins to break down at a certain point on a world of mine
• [ModAPI] Terminal Controls can no longer be attached to base IMyTerminalBlock
• Screenshots are made with 50% transparency/alpha
• Audio and Pressurization Bugs Far From Origin
• Lights flashing randomly
• Small-grid Rocket Launchers LODs are broken
• Bullets have way too much momentum in creative
• Turrets continue firing despite setting changes
• Medical Bay stops providing health/O2/H/energy randomly
• ‘Toolbar Config / All Blocks’ gets reordered when clicking again on ‘All Blocks’ category
• Remote Control disconnecting at docking/undocking
• Memory leak when mining with ship mining drills
• LOD model for Small Ship Battery covers up charge meter
• Rotor Hitbox Issue
• Sensor Block can’t detect voxels
• Player Report: SE: Some planets cannot be seen: Europa, Moon, Alien, and Titan moon
• Third person camera view lock
• Dropping 5000 stack of ice into small ship collector causes crash
• Turret shooting neutral grids OFF by default
• Multiplayer or dedicated server doesn’t sync correctly Oo/off state for all blocks
• Grids over world border do not get removed
• Turret reticle still shows while using Spectator mode
• Broken mirroring on various blocks
• No tracers/sound on Modded Turret while MP client
• Stuck as spider!!
• Rotors Current angle doesn’t update
• Can’t show grid pivot or centre of mass
• Merge blocks disabling smaller large grids power
• Performance Optimization on Disconnected Static Grids should be in Adaptive Simulation