Subscribe to my channelDear Stormworkers,
This week, by popular request, we are releasing an update focused on optimization and bug fixes.
What is in the Optimization Update?
The new physics detail setting allows players to reduce the detail of physics calculations in exchange for more performance! In our tests we saw performance could double in some physics-intensive situations, when changing the detail from full to low. The setting is in Options -> General.
We recommend setting physics detail to “Full”, because with reduced detail, the simulation can struggle with small or narrow objects. However, if you want to spawn in very large or complex creations, or if you just play Stormworks on a potato, reducing the physics detail setting can be a game changer.
Physics is further improved by a new system that pauses updating of objects that are not moving or interacting with other physics objects. This means in many situations, vehicles parked up or lying on the bottom of the ocean floor have a very low physics computation cost.
A new red warning system lets you know if an unsupported vehicle has been spawned (modded workbench). We don’t control what content players upload to the Steam workshop, and some creations are made in a modified version of Stormworks rather than the version we created. Many of these creations are awesome, but can also cause issues for some players, and the red warnings are designed to explain this.
There are also new yellow warnings if a vehicle has excessively complex physics or too many lights. The intention is to provide players with more information on how vehicle design impacts the frame rate of the game with particularly complex creations.
Minimum Specs
Players considering getting Stormworks must carefully review the minimum spec requirements. Stormworks is a CPU intensive game and you do need to meet all the min specs, including the CPU requirements. We know many players play without having the minimum hardware, and we ask these players to have realistic expectations about their frame rate. We love that you play the game, but it’s not meant to work on your hardware. We would like to help, but there are limits to what is possible.
Bug Fixes
We have addressed a huge number of issues in this update! Please see the full list below in the change log. Many thanks to everyone who reported issues – it is a huge help to us and we thank you for your patience as we address them.
Questions & Answers
We are going to do a new Questions & Answers video soon! Submit your questions here and we will answer as many as we can. To help us give the most complete answer, keep your question short and also be specific.
As always, we can’t wait to hear what you think about this new update! It has been a lot of work, and we are very excited to hear your feedback!
Much love <3,
The Stormworks Developers
Patch Notes
v1.1.23-24
Feature – Physics detail level (Found in general settings. Override for dedicated servers in server_config; acceptable values are 60, 120, 180.)
Feature – Default script performance increases (2ms -> 0.5ms average)
Feature – Physics Engine now allows more objects to sleep
Feature – ‘Low performance’ warnings on intensive vehicle load
Feature – Improved performance for lua functions that search through vehicle components
Feature – Small Sonar (Released with 1.1.18)
Rework – First person surface swimming camera tracking improved
Rework – Rescued survivors now have a 3s grace period when entering a hospital before becoming an NPC
Rework – Tutorial QOL changes: Named tutorial survivors, Extra info on popups, Changed some popups to screenspace
Rework – Limited maximum number of vehicle fire spreads per tick (Greatly reduce lag)
Rework – Tutorial can only be started in first 7 days
Rework – Several component editor warning updates
Rework – 1×1 Gearbox defaults to unlocked in Classic Career
Rework – Updated tutorial boat to prevent players getting stuck on the back
Rework – Removed default elevators
Fix – Vehicle state is now fully reset when returning to workbench
Fix – Transponder signal not despawning with the equipment
Fix – Tutorial missing popups on final stage after reloading
Fix – Handheld radio and remote control range being larger than described
Fix – Vehicle component damage being attenuated to 0 for large components
Fix – Pipes rotating when dragging in the editor
Fix – Dynamic objects / characters not saving their time alive
Fix – Handheld transponders overwriting each others locations
Fix – Prevent lightning playing in the vehicle editor
Fix – Sharks dealing very little damage
Fix – Equipment duping when dropping unconscious characters
Fix – Crash when linking from a deleted component
Fix – Crash when dragging from a deleted MC component
Fix – Modular engine composite data for fluid volumes now reflects the display value (x10)
Fix – Rope buoyancy in internal volumes
Fix – Crash using invalid unicode characters from lua functions
Fix – Skis, Cameras, Water Cannons draining electric when motor is not active
Fix – Vehicle fires ignoring environment audio slider
Fix – Trees ignoring environment audio slider
Fix – AMD vega fire graphics glitch
Fix – Linear track input values not working
Fix – Several occasional crashes
Fix – Ocean foam clipping inside buoyancy volumes
Fix – Improved water surface transition for camera
Fix – Prevent survivors taking damage on attach and detach from ladders
Fix – Player equipment not dropping correctly while dying during a ragdoll (Shark drag)
Fix – Torque components showing full detail labels by default
Fix – Electric relay not showing state on normal detail label
Fix – Cost tooltip for hotbar components not showing in custom mode
Fix – Powered linear rails being connectable on the backside face
Fix – Multi-target radar can now detect 8 targets instead of 7
Fix – Cut/Paste sometimes disconnecting logic nodes on components
Fix – Several components not placing correctly in mirrored mode
Fix – Dropped moveable transponders all sharing the same transponder ID
Fix – Air ram and Air filter unable to transfer fluid from the environment
Fix – Vehicle markers now use the center of the primary body instead of the center of the build zone
Fix – Equipment hotbar UI not updating correctly when running out of charges
Fix – Underwater camera mode not activating when inside filled volumes above ocean level
Reworked/Redocumented AI info
server.getVehicleData() now returns .mass and .characters
.mass = vehicle mass
.characters = a table of object_ids attached to the vehicle { id_1, id_2 ..etc }
Removed “Vehicle Button” addon component
Consolidated “Zone” and “Cargo Zone” component types:
Spawning a zone with spawnAddonComponent() will now add it to the list of active zones (that are seached with getZones())
Removed misleading “name” field from spawnAddonComponent() and getLocationComponentData()
Added .tags table to spawnAddonComponent()
Added .tags table to getVehicleData()
Added .tags_full string to all the functions that return .tags for custom parsing
vehicle_id = server.getCharacterVehicle(object_id) — To get the vehicle a character is currently in
is_dev = server.isDev() — To check if the game host is a Developer
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/573090/view/3081002160241579369
