RELEASED FrackinUniverse 6.4.22

Firstly, I want to thanks you for this mod that increased my gaming experience so much It's mandatory for me to have it.

Secondly, can I make suggestion here? (I'm asking because I don't want to bother you if it's not the case)

And Thirdly, The wiki says it's going to "move" somewhere else, so can we know how much this is progressing?

 

You're welcome.

Suggestions generally just spew out. No guarantee anyone will pay much attention, we've generally heard most ideas But it cant hurt.

As for wiki: new one is already up, just mostly empty.

 

I had a question: Once you have chosen the option "Default ship" (instead of "BYOS ship") at the beginning. Is there a way to switch to BYOS?
(Currently I unlocked the last ship upgrade card(lvl5), but didn't upgraded the ship yet).

 

sayter updated FrackinUniverse with a new update entry:

5.6.382

Read the rest of this update entry...

 

nope. That's why we give the choice at character start. Its permanent.

 

Ok. Thanks for the reply, and truely great work from you and all the modders involved in the FU project.
It sometimes feels weird to remember by this mod some mechanics/pnj,monster (etc...) that were already in the game, then later have been removed for no apparent reason and realise that Chucklefish peeled their game of a lot of things that were really nice ; and that in the end, the more polished version of the game feels less enjoyable than two version before... (on the game combat mechanics for exemple, or before the appearance of the bug that make frequent freezes in the game making the fights/falls/quite-anything frustrating with health/life losses).

So once again, thank you all for everything this mod brings back/add ! =D

Please keep up all with this awesomeness !

 

This is patently false. The final version is, in every way, superior to beta. Virtually everything stripped was beta content, most of which was never intended to reach final release in the first place. Half that content was thrown together hastily in order to prototype ideas. This is part of the development process. Nothing is removed for "no apparent reason" : Every change was made for a reason. You simply are not aware of what that reason was, and you shouldn't be since you aren't on the dev team and aren't making the game. You aren't owed an explanation. Ordinarily you simply would never see the content that was removed. Early access simply makes them more visible. Almost any game you ever play has had a ton of content pulled before it ever reached publish readiness.

That 'bug' is not a bug. It is, however, a lack of optimization that has always existed in all versions of the game. Much like chunk-loading can cause similar slowdowns in the event that you are moving too fast.


Now, all that said, don't take this as me being rude or angry. You're welcome to your opinion, but I vehemently disagree with it based on plenty of evidence as well as knowledge of how gamedev works in practice, not just theory. Think of it this way: Early Access Beta is like an Alpha prototype you get to play-test as it is made. Expecting *any* of it to be final is foolish, because virtually everything can change by the time the game is done. Art will be cut, as will mechanics. Entire sections may never be completed. Sometimes you start with a puzzle game...and end up with a dual-stick shooter by the time you're done and it just plays better in every way.

Anyhow, kinda got rambling there! Glad you're enjoying the mod. It's been my mission to improve what is available and provide tons more for people to do.

 

So I've got some things to say about the frozen waste mission (WARNING SPOILERS)

- First of all, the cold 4 weather effect makes it impossible to do the mission with some races (like the slimes), now I'm sorry but that's straight up fake difficulty, you should just make the monsters and the traps difficult, not making an arbitrary global death effect that utterly limit what you can actually do here. (besides, how is the shoggoth, or even any of the creatures here, alive if none of them can resist this cold? That make no sense.)

- Secondly, I don't really like the new boss layout. I think it was better when it was big and empty, giving it a sense of dread. You should even make the shoggoth bigger and add him some powerful damaging contact debuff (in many games, shoggoths are stated to be extremely acidic).

- Thirdly, none of the monsters seems to resist insanity. Which means they loose armor and takes damage when walking on the...goo...stuff on the ground that gives you the insanity debuff.

- Fourthly, I think rearranging the lab layout so that you can't see the infected scientist would be cool and makes some sort of horrific revelation.

- And finally, I preferred when the transmission with the science outpost cut out at the elder ruins entrance and so SAIL would pick up. You could make some visual glitch when the "voices" are overtaking it.

THERE! Phew.

 

False. Every single race can finish it. Some just need to be much more clever. You simply haven't figured it out, or tried the correct combination of things. That doesn't mean it isn't possible. Now, with that out of the way, we *are* revamping the mission in the near future to address this in other ways. More on that when it happens.

As for "makes no sense" : These things don't care about cold or they wouldn't have built a base on a world completely composed of deadly ice storms and impossibly cold temperatures. Common sense, dude.

A flat, empty room is not fun, nor entertaining, nor does it in any way provide dread...just a long and uneventful walk. Mysteriously placed platforms and openings, places to dodge and hide, on the other hand, tells you something weird is coming and that those surfaces will be useful. It's also better level design. Otherwise It's just a boring, essentially unavoidable, bullet sponge.

With the new setup you need to dodge, plan, and prepare. Having nooks and crannies to hide in gives you a fighting chance, especially when he starts with more serious effects later in the fight. Additionally, todays' afternoon update reworks his attacks a bit, as well as his max range, so that he is a bit more aggressive.

As for "Making him even bigger": You go ahead and re-sprite, animate, test, code, implement and adjust/balance a replacement. Seriously though, this is weeks worth or work and not optimal without a complete art replacement.

Most of the monsters are immune to insanity, actually. I know this because I hand-coded them to do so and verified by checking their files. Some are not immune, and that is by design.

Easier said than done, and would require reworking 50% of that section just to do so. I have other plans, anyhow.

And I didn't, which is why it was changed. Thematically this is more in-line with the rest of the game, and mod.


I appreciate the feedback, but you need to think more critically about things when considering them

 

When updating FrackinUniverse to the latest release, and starting a fresh character + Universe, the Personal Tricorder still seems to have its old functions (Character Status, Quests, Configure MM), and doesn't have the new Mech and Tech functions. The quests where you used to get the Mech and Tech tablets no longer give them to me. Is this a bug, or is the new functions of the Personal Tricorder given from the beginner quest not unlocked until later? I'm using no other mods except Frackin Races and Job Offers, and I have a Nightar character with a default ship.

EDIT: Oddly enough, after playing for a while, it eventually started working properly; I don't remember doing anything specific to trigger it. I'm not sure what the issue might be; just making you aware.

 

First, i totally admit that I was a bit crude and harsh against the game on the moment. I just was a bit frustrated because I tend to see the potential in things I appreciate, and I had false hopes on things on this game. It's still a great one nonetheless. ^^

I can't agree that it is false that the game was stripped off a really big amount of nice big features just because it was beta-ideas however. It is true that the mechanics changed during the evolution of the game, coming straight from Terraria's mechanics to something different with a new atmosphere and gameplay feeling, but it wasn't what I was talking about.
I was talking about the fact that the switch from beta to v1 have been made hastly, and that the depart of some core members of the dev team can be felt.
(Details on the "spoiler")

I talk about things like:

-the lore being overly reduced and simplified (the mod "gensou's legacy lore" brings back & adapt the most of this aspect from codexes)
-the intro mission, simplified to just "begin at earth's destruction" instead of a mission depending on the race as it was announced by the devs at the time (and could easily refer to earth destruction or protectorate on the way to stay true with the main lore evolution about the "Ruin" thing)
-the IA became just poor (humanoids hostiles friendly with random savage beasts, without even "friendly fire" towards neutral monsters? NPC & crew happily jumping in lava? still aren't affected by traps? (they were at some point, and wanted to just temporaly making them immune the time for them to fix their behavior, but it was never done and stayed like this), any hostile just rushing to PJ to do damages instead of some unique behaviours that some had before? (a bit like some poptops in your mods throwing projectiles... that's just a great thing and add diversity & immersion!)
-the amount of limitations on the techs (changed by mods like "Freedom of Movement"): at this point it isn't only a matter of balence, it's just the mechanic simplified to not fix little things that could occur otherwise. The result is just having a gameplay more basic, less personal and so less fun.​

And i was just summing the main points i can quickly think of (and I just talk about what WAS in the game or announced as supposed to be in, but changed midway).

About the freezes, you are absolutely right, i hastily qualified it as "a bug", but technically it is indeed only a lack of optimisation, and it is true that SB always lacked optimisation (it was a beta after all)...
...but it became quite a big one given that it makes in-game freezes/lags on an almost constant basis for a 2D sidescrolling game on computers able to turn Crysis 2 in full quality and the last Star Wars game in medium. (I know that Starbound consume more CPU than GPU, but even good CPU can't keep up).
When such things goes past this point, it become an issue and should have been the top priority since it affect the whole game experience most of the time (and make quite risky to try the hardcore difficulty... why playing this mode when the life of your character & your save depend not only on your skills & gameplay, but just on bad luck due to technical aspect of the game?).

All that said, I have some knowledge in game dev too (maybe not as much as yours, I don't know and it's not really relevant, I just tend to learn about things I like ).
I totally agree that the actual state of the game is more polished and technically more complex than it has ever been (just looking at the addition of mechs, how space-traveling have become efficient & smooth, bounty system linked to it and plenty of other things shows that fact).
In the end I was just a bit sad/nostalgic about some features/mechanics in the game and how it could have turned if they have been polished too instead of just cut off. I do said it a bit bluntly on the moment, but i really didn't meant to be offensive towards anyone (especially not toward the devs. i perfectly understand that things can happens during the development of a game).

All this to say that this mod put a lot of things right again (this mod and others, even more when combined, but this one in particular) and gives a huge amount of new stuff that gives a new life to the game and a reason to create new characters and continuing playing Starbound.
Moreover, I commend you and the other modders for pursuing creation & improvements on the game from all this time. Creating something is truely nice, but cultivating & polishing on the long run is just awesome.
In one word: thanks!

 

No, its cool. Im just sick of the nostalgia shit claiming content that was "okay" at best, was superior. It wasn't. It was simply "there", and useable.

Removed lore was removed for many reasons. It was grimdark, the author left the company in whatever capacity they had contributed in the first place, the game was made more family accessible and less dark and gritty, etc. Most of the grimdark lore was okay, sure, but not great.

Starting mission simplified works fine, and they likely simply didnt have time to devise 7 different startings in the time they had before release. Happens all the time.

AI: its the same as it always was, but improved. It's never been amazing. But it does what they, by and large, needed it to do. And there is a flexible behavior system in place that improving it is definitely possible. But, they have moved on to other projects that will prove a more profitable venture. Such is life.

Techs: meh. I never had any issue with them, and the cut ones were by and large a bit over-powered compared to others...so I get their removal even if I don't necessarily see it as worthwhile to bother when they simply offered alternative means for movement. (btw is Freedom of Movement even compatible with FU? Im pretty sure it might not be...no idea though since I've never used it)


anyhow, your points aren't invalid or *wrong*... most are just made from a position that does not take other factors into account that are simply not avoidable in the industry from time to time. Manpower, development time, release schedules, money, etc.

 

After some hours of googling and looking in the game files I found out that the ability of the WHIP to grip on torches and other light sources comes from FU so I guess that I have to post here the BUG report.
When holding the mouse button on a torch with a whip you'll usually attach on it and swing like Indiana Jones, but with that "something" happening, the rope just go invisible and your arm stretched with it.
In the log between the 454 and 490 I guess that something is happening but I don't know what is it, I think that's the error maybe?
https://pastebin.com/0WYrBaFs

 

does it only happen with the slime whip? could be related to that whip specifically, if its missing assets or info in its file. Give it a try with the leather whip and see what happens.

 

that actually sounds like a handy ability for the whips!

 

It's always been there (or at least, has been for several years)

 

There is a way to fix it? Or it's the type of problem, that if you try to fix, it will break the entire thing?

 

Tried with other whips and races but still appear "broke".
And I was questioning myself about the Tricorder stuff, until the update I knew that the Tech Tablet always spawned in the first cave in the first table you find and the Mech Tablet one is given you by Dr. Akaggy after the first quest to obtain a mech but still he didn't gave it to me. (I saw some screens about the new tricorder but my tricorder is still the old one).

 

Mech Tablet and Tech Tablet no longer appear. Their functions are all on the Tricorder now. This is directly mentioned in the update notes.

 

Okay, the Steam version isn't fully updated because i wanted to try the easy way to play and still had the old Tricorder stuff, even uninstalling and reinstalling it didn't much work.
I guess it is time for me to learn how to GIT (gud).