No Man's Sky Catch-All 2.0

Holy schnikeys, full cross-platform play is here (tomorrow)!

June 10, 2020.

Hello Everyone!

A couple of weeks ago, we announced that No Man’s Sky was coming to Xbox Game Pass. We can now reveal that it will enter Game Pass TOMORROW on Thursday 11th June.

To coincide with this, we are releasing a Windows 10 version of the game which will also be part of the Game Pass for PC program.

This means that millions of Xbox One and Windows PC gamers who subscribe to the Game Pass service will be able to try No Man’s Sky for the first time.

IMAGE(https://nmswp.azureedge.net/app/uploads/2020/06/Crossplay-Planet-Explorers.png)

Whilst that’s exciting itself, we’ve been busily working on something else in secret for the last few months. Something to allow everyone in the community to benefit from the influx of new players that Game Pass brings.

Do you have a friend on another gaming system with whom you’ve always wanted to explore the great unknown? A legendary base you’ve seen videos of but never been able to visit? A mission that you think would be great to play with friends on other platforms?

We are excited to be able to announce that, starting tomorrow, PlayStation 4 players, Xbox One players and PC players will all be able to explore, journey, survive, build, and trade together. Excitingly, No Man’s Sky is joining what is at the moment a fairly small group of games which support cross-platform multiplayer.

IMAGE(https://nmswp.azureedge.net/app/uploads/2020/06/Crossplay-Planet-Geks.png)

A tremendous amount of work has gone into this update and the underlying technology and systems. We’ve moved to an entirely new networking architecture, with more flexibility for the future, allowing players to play together regardless of platform. I’m very proud of the team that has worked so hard to make this happen.

Meanwhile we are continuing to work hard on new content updates, large and small for the future.

Making No Man’s Sky available to vast new audiences, and allowing those audiences to come together, has been something we’ve been building towards for a long time. We’re lucky to have one of the nicest and most welcoming gaming communities there is, and it’s a delight to be able to allow them to play together. The big question is, who have you always wanted to play with?

Our journey continues.

Sean

Patch Notes

Game Pass
•No Man’s Sky is now available in the Windows Store and is on Game Pass for Xbox One and Windows 10 players.

Cross-Platform Multiplayer
•Replaced the entire network backend, so that players can now make multiplayer connections across all platforms.
•Cross-platform groups can be created or joined in game, or from the frontend.
•Ambient multiplayer on the Space Anomaly, in space, or on planets, can now match you with players from any platform.
•Players from your own platform are identified by your platform’s icon. Players from another platform are identified by a controller icon.

IMAGE(https://nmswp.azureedge.net/app/uploads/2020/06/Crossplay-Invite-to-Group.png)

No Man’s Sky Friends
•When face-to-face with another player, a quick interaction has been added to smoothly create a new group or invite new players to your existing group.
•Once in a group with a player, you can use the same interaction to quickly add them to your No Man’s Sky Friends, allowing you to quickly find and join their game again at another time.
•No Man’s Sky Friends can also be added at any time by means of a unique code.
•No Man’s Sky Friends can be managed on a new screen available from the Network Options page.

IMAGE(https://nmswp.azureedge.net/app/uploads/2020/06/Crossplay-Network-Friends.png)

Chat Options
•Re-enabled Voice Chat on PS4.
•An option to automatically transcribe voice chat has been added to the Network options.
•An option to automatically translate voice chat has been added to the Network options.
•Guidance text has been added to the chat window after typing an unknown command.
•Fixed a number of instances where incorrect auto-chat messages are broadcast.
•Added a system to prevent multiple instances of the same auto-chat message being broadcast.

Quality of Life
•It is now much easier to target other players to see their names.
•Added a warning message when leaving the Anomaly while listed for a Nexus mission that has not started yet.
•Iteration Ares now sells a range of basic upgrade modules.
•Improved the feeding experience when giving bait to large creatures.
•Introduced a small number of general optimisations.
•Introduced some small improvements to load times.

VR Improvements and Bug Fixes
•Upgraded the OpenVR implementation to 1.10.30.
•Cockpit exit handles can now be grabbed both ways up.
•Added an option to show the player’s body when playing in VR.
•Camera height now reflects the height of your character in VR.
•Improved the accuracy of hand tracking in VR.

Bug Fixes
•Fixed an issue that could prevent rainbows from appearing on some platforms.
•Introduced some minor visual improvements to GTAO to improve quality and reduce smearing artefacts on moving objects.
•Introduced some improvements to the volumetric fog fading effect on planetary approach.
•Fixed an incorrect icon in multiplayer bone-collection missions.
•Fixed an issue that caused full-strength camera shake and controller vibration to be applied whenever a ship landed in multiplayer, regardless of how near that ship was.
•Fixed an issue that caused parts of the backpack to be visible in first-person mode.
•Fixed a console-only issue that caused additional, incorrect, terrain resource markers to appear near to real terrain resource deposits.
•Fixed an issue that caused a misleading “out of jump range” message when out of warp fuel in Creative mode.
•Improved the accuracy of the error message given when unable to summon your starship because you are in combat.
•Fixed an issue that prevented the Antimatter Reactor from being built on planets without atmospheres.
•Fixed an issue that caused some players to appear to bend their knees backwards when aiming at high angles.
•Fixed a stutter that could occur when summoning the Space Anomaly.
•Fixed an issue that could cause ship audio to play repeatedly in multiplayer.
•Fixed a VR issue that could make it difficult to target players who were near the Nexus.
•Fixed an issue that caused the Community Research update message to appear as soon as a player started a new Creative Mode game.

Neat.
Still looks like they haven't fixed the freighter fleet command room bug.

•Fixed an issue that could prevent rainbows from appearing on some platforms.

Those poor platforms were missing out!

I'm not kidding.

lunchbox12682 wrote:

Neat.
Still looks like they haven't fixed the freighter fleet command room bug.

Hello Games brings their A-game for adding new content and features. Bug fixes are... I don't want to say an after-thought, but definitely something else.

so what time is the Game Pass PC version live? All the other games slated for release today have been released, but not NMS.

EDIT: Currently not showing up unless you search for it.

No Mans Sky is such a great game during the pandemic. Nothing as nice as just mining, selling, learning languages, exploring the universe.

Is there a GWJ group? Would love to be able to visit others worlds, etc. Maybe GWJ the planet?

Ceri

cerithe wrote:

No Mans Sky is such a great game during the pandemic. Nothing as nice as just mining, selling, learning languages, exploring the universe.

Is there a GWJ group? Would love to be able to visit others worlds, etc. Maybe GWJ the planet?

Ceri

Don't think we have an actual group, but you can jump in the GWJ Discord. I haven't had a chance to check out the new patch yet and I'm not sure how cross-platform friends lists works, but I'm 'Vypre' on PS4. Feel free to add me.

Experiencing a weird thing when scrappng ships and I'm curious if anyone else has seen this or if there is a way to fix it. When I scrap a ship it calls in my oldest ship and sets that to the primary, not the ship I currently have at the location.

Specific example: say I own 3 ships A, B, and C. A is the oldest and C is the newest. I fly C into a station, buy a new ship there, scrap that ship. Ship A appears in the station and is now the primary while C is still parked right where I left it and I have to go reselect it.

Is this the normal, intended outcome? In my opinion, it should default back to the most recent ship.

I picked this up again this week and played while my toddler napped. Worked on the Artemis quest line and some specialist quests. Still having the damnedest time finding frost crystals, but made good progress on other projects. I also discovered this super helpful pro-tip:

Spoiler:

Once you can summon the anomaly you can buy another guaranteed inventory space upgrade for your exo suit in every system you go to by summoning it and finding the exo suit upgrade merchant and the upgrade stand just to the right of it.

I also picked it back up again recently. I finally finished up the Atlas Path, and am working on getting one of the living ships.

Frostwort regrows fast, so the easiest way to get frost crystals is by planting frostwort.

More than a little wierd... jumped on the NMS Website to see what the latest patch notes had to say and found out a new update dropped today. Sorry, I can't make it pretty - my work firewall is now sandboxing images and the links I'm seeing won't do anyone any good...

Patch Notes URL: here

DESOLATION: INTRODUCING UPDATE 2.6
Scavenge and survive in the haunted wreckage of derelict freighters with the Desolation update. Introducing procedurally-generated freighters, more story content, combat improvements, freighter customisation and more!

DERELICT FREIGHTERS
The remains of hastily abandoned freighters float adrift through space. Those who dare to explore these haunted corridors will find great reward – and great danger!

Derelicts are found all across space, but Travellers seeking salvage opportunities can acquire specific coordinates from a local scrap dealer – for the right price.

PROCEDURALLY GENERATED INTERIORS
Derelict freighters are procedurally generated, with no two interiors the same. The only way to learn the fate of the crew is to step through the airlock door and find out for yourself…

ATMOSPHERIC DANGER
Uncovering the freighters’ secrets won’t be easy, as these derelicts are full of danger. As the crews fled, systems failed: the lights are off, life support and gravity are offline, and the security AI has gone haywire…

DEADLY INFESTATIONS
Some freighters have been infested with a sinister alien presence. Whatever you do, do not disturb the nests…

PROCEDURAL STORIES
Each derelict freighter has a unique story to tell. Uncover hints about each crewmember’s fate by retrieving ship logs and personal effects, and ultimately gain access to the captain’s log for insight into the vessel’s final hours.

IMPROVED BLOOM EFFECTS
A new technique for bloom lighting has been implemented, resulting in enhanced colour vibrancy and a softer ambience around light sources.

IMPROVED LENS FLARE
The intensity and quality of lens flare has been revisited, and the sun is now an additional source of lens flare. Lens dust is much more evident, and the halo effect surrounding bright light sources is subtly animated.

NEW LIGHTING EFFECTS
New volumetric light sources have been added, and the Exosuit torch beam is now textured with realistic lens artefacts, enhancing the atmosphere of derelict freighters.

SALVAGE FREIGHTER TECHNOLOGIES
Extract upgrades from derelict freighters and use these personalised, unique items to both upgrade your freighter and make it reflect the history of ships you’ve scavenged.

As well as improvements to your capital ships’ warp drive, new fleet upgrades can be found and fitted to your freighter. These boosts will permanently improve the abilities of your frigates as they explore the universe.
In addition, freighter upgrades are no longer restricted to the technology inventory, and may be installed in the general freighter inventory.

FREIGHTER INVENTORY UPGRADES
Salvage Auto-Expanding Freighter Modules from derelicts and graft additional inventory space onto your capital ship’s cargo hold.

FREIGHTER CUSTOMISATION
Your capital ship can now be recoloured from the Upgrade Control terminal on the freighter bridge.

FREIGHTER INVENTORY MANAGEMENT
Freighter storage boxes can now be accessed directly from the inventory screen tabs.

FREIGHTER TELEPORTER
Teleport Modules may now be built aboard freighters, allowing direct teleportation between bases, space stations, and your capital ship.

IMPROVED COMBAT MECHANICS
Multi-Tool weapons have been rebalanced with a focus on a faster-paced, more dynamic, and more satisfying combat experience. Sentinel health and weapons have been tweaked, and combat reinforcements now spawn in greater numbers.

Weapon visuals, including crosshairs, muzzle flash, camera shake and projectile visibility have all been improved.

SPACE ENCOUNTER GUIDANCE
Mining asteroids in space now has the chance to reveal an Anomaly Detection Beacon. These single-use devices can probe local space and detect nearby anomalous objects for investigation and potential rewards.

PLAYER TITLES
Celebrate milestones and express individuality with hundreds of unique player titles.

NEW NEXUS MISSIONS
More varieties of multiplayer mission are available at the Nexus on the Space Anomaly. Group up with other Travellers to survey the life and geography of exotic planets, or assist lost souls whose starships have met an unfortunate fate.

2.6 PATCH NOTES
Added a new category of space encounter, the Derelict Freighter. These can be landed on and explored.

Derelict freighters are procedurally generated, with an infinite array of potential layouts.

Derelict freighters contain large volumes of valuable salvage, as well as special new rewards.

Each star system has one derelict freighter style, allowing Travellers to share the portal address of systems with particularly interesting wrecks.

Derelict freighters are home to several new hostile entities, including security turrets, aggressive drones, and a new variety of biological horror.

Derelict freighters contain procedurally generated stories, with data logs to be found and the crew’s fate to be unravelled.

New lore and story content can be found when retrieving the captain’s log.

Derelict freighters are occasionally detected by the starships’ subspace radar while using Pulse Drive.
However, they can be specifically sought out by purchasing an Emergency Broadcast Receiver from the Space
Station’s new Scrap Dealer.

Emergency Broadcast Receivers are expensive and may escalate in accordance with demand. Prices reset each day.

Each week, Iteration Helios offers a free Emergency Broadcast Receiver.

Derelict freighters offer many lucrative rewards:

Valuable items and a large number of nanites.

The opportunity to sell the data logs for nanites or standing.

The ability to use the derelict freighter’s engineering system to extract a piece of the freighter’s technology to fit into your own capital ship.

The ability to use the derelict freighter’s engineering system to generate new inventory slots for your capital ship. Take new expandable bulkheads to the Upgrade Station on your freighter bridge to apply them.

The Upgrade Station on the freighter bridge can be used to recolour your freighter. Unlock new available colours with nanites. Unlocked colours are permanently available and can be reapplied for free.

Storage Containers built upon a freighter base now add tabs to the freighter’s inventory page, allowing quick management of freighter inventory contents.

Fixed an issue that prevented the installation of technology within a freighter’s general inventory.

Improved the display and clarity of the stats displayed on the freighter inventory screen.

Teleporters can now be built aboard Freighter Bases. These variants do not require power. They can be used to teleport to other teleporters, or to the Space Station.

Capital ships now contribute stats to the success of fleet expeditions. Different freighters have different base levels of Fleet Coordination. This stat can be improved with new procedural technologies salvaged from derelict or abandoned freighters.

The expedition UI now shows the difference between stats contributed by the fleet and stats contributed by temporary frigate upgrades or any capital ship technologies.

Fixed an issue that could cause an expedition to be started while adding or browsing available temporary frigate upgrades.

Added hover text to all colour, texture and armour style options to the buttons in the customiser, allowing players to know ahead of time what option they are selecting.

Added a new item, the Anomaly Detector, occasionally found when mining asteroids. This strange device will help locate an anomalous space object.

Added the ability to add a custom Title to your player name.

Titles can be selected at the Customiser.

Titles are earned for a large variety in in-game achievements.

Sentinel health has been lowered, but once alerted and hunting the player, they now spawn in larger groups.

Sentinel weapon speeds have been adjusted to improve the feel of combat.

Player projectiles and aiming have been adjusted to improve the feel of combat.

In general, player weapon reload speeds have been reduced and clip sizes increased.

The base damage of the Boltcaster has been increased.

Ricochet is no longer in the pool of procedural upgrades. Specific technologies have been added to the research tree on the Space Anomaly that will add ricochet functionality to weapons if desired.

The Boltcaster and the Scatter Blaster now fire in bursts. Holding down fire will trigger short gaps between salvos. These can be adjusted with new technologies.

Increased the speed of Boltcaster and Scatter Blaster projectiles, making it easier to hit targets.

Added tracer lines to the Boltcaster projectiles.

Increased the minimum damage of the Blaze Javelin if firing without charging.

Decreased the cooldown time for the Blaze Javelin.

Tightened the FOV while in combat.

Added custom reticles for each weapon mode.

Impact effects and targeting status is now shown on the reticle.

The Blaze Javelin charge status is now shown on the reticle.

Increased the speed of the FOV zoom when using the combat scope.

Improved the impact effects and muzzle flashes of all weapons.

Improved the camera shake and pad vibration during combat.

Improved the clarity of the incoming damage indicator on the player HUD.

Fixed an issue that caused the secondary weapon mode to be deselected when loading a save.

Added a new style of Nexus multiplayer mission focused on exploration.

Added a new style of Nexus multiplayer mission focused on rescuing stranded Travellers.

Reworked the digsite Nexus multiplayer missions to allow progress from any type of bone, rather than requiring only very rare bones.

Summoning the Space Anomaly while in Pulse Drive will now correctly disengage the Pulse Engine.

Added a new item, the Repair Kit. This can be used to repair any damaged subcomponent, in place of its required materials. The kit is consumed upon use.

Fixed a rare crash that could occur when using a shop in multiplayer.

Introduced a minor optimisation to terrain generation.

Introduced a new implementation for bloom post-processing effects.

Improved lighting for bright and/or emissive props.

Improved the quality and brightness levels of lens flare effects.

Selected spotlights, such as the player torch, now make use of textured light patterns.

Selected spotlights now display volumetric properties.

When joining a multiplayer game from the frontend, if the player you are joining is on the Space Anomaly then you will spawn directly aboard the Anomaly with them.

Fixed an issue that could cause flickering text on the Galaxy Map.

Multiplayer player names are now shown when hovering over systems in the Galaxy Map.

Fixed an issue that could cause players to start in an unsafe system when starting a new game in multiplayer.

Fixed a number of network stability issues.

Fixed an issue where player marker names would clash with their interaction prompt.

Fixed a number of cases of chat message spam when entering or leaving the Space Anomaly.

Fixed a number of issues that could cause missions to find incorrect targets when undertaking multiplayer missions from the Nexus.

Fixed an issue that prevented photo missions working correctly on Xbox.

Fixed an issue that could prevent players from summoning their freighter to RGB systems.

Fixed a number of issues that could occur if players deleted the Void Egg before speaking to the Living Ship for the first time.

Fixed a number of resolution scaling problems, including the discovery information popup, and damage and nearby Sentinel indicators.

The HUD now correctly shows a damage indicator when the jetpack is broken.

Fixed an issue with VR camera positioning when the player body is enabled.

Added an option for VR head bob when the player body is enabled.

Fixed an issue where VR weapon shadows would display outside of VR.

Fixed an issue that could cause a moon to be labelled ‘of an unknown planet’ even after discovery.

Fixed a number of incorrect or missing icons in the Guide.

Asteroid placement is now deterministic.

This game is eventually going to evolve into that all-encompassing VR environment that dominates so many sci-fi stories, isn’t it?

That looks awesome and certainly not the direction that I imagined them going.

Well, time to get back into No Man's Sky, I guess.

ruhk wrote:

This game is eventually going to evolve into that all-encompassing VR environment that dominates so many sci-fi stories, isn’t it?

No need to worry until they announce the title change to "No Man's Sky Art", "Sean Murray's 'Matrix'", or "Hello Kitty".

I completely slept on this until it hit Xbox Game Pass; geez, how did I miss this? I'm completely hooked. Spent a night fixing up a B-class Explorer I found, and right after found a C-class Fighter that's got even more space. I'm up to 8-9 frigates, I keep meandering around planets and finding stuff, and, at some point, I should probably acknowledge the existence of a storyline . . .

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

I completely slept on this until it hit Xbox Game Pass; geez, how did I miss this? I'm completely hooked. Spent a night fixing up a B-class Explorer I found, and right after found a C-class Fighter that's got even more space. I'm up to 8-9 frigates, I keep meandering around planets and finding stuff, and, at some point, I should probably acknowledge the existence of a storyline . . .

Because it sucked on launch. But they have been patching and upgrading the hell out of it since then.

Yeah I think it's time for me to jump back in to this too, it's been over a year since I've checked it out. This exploring derelict spacecraft stuff is so much up my alley.

vypre wrote:

IMPROVED LENS FLARE
The intensity and quality of lens flare has been revisited, and the sun is now an additional source of lens flare. Lens dust is much more evident, and the halo effect surrounding bright light sources is subtly animated.

I mean, this is what put it over the top though

vypre wrote:

FREIGHTER CUSTOMISATION
Your capital ship can now be recoloured from the Upgrade Control terminal on the freighter bridge.

Unfortunately this is currently borked, but expect they will hotfix it soon. I hope.

I just hope they've fixed the public events stability... The last several times I've logged in to try to do public events to earn Quicksilver for my Living Ship (Void?) egg, I get about 5/6 of the way through the mission, the game crashes, and I lose all progress on the event and have to start over again.

vypre wrote:

I just hope they've fixed the public events stability... The last several times I've logged in to try to do public events to earn Quicksilver for my Living Ship (Void?) egg, I get about 5/6 of the way through the mission, the game crashes, and I lose all progress on the event and have to start over again.

I'm still mad about the frieghter command room bug.

lunchbox12682 wrote:
vypre wrote:

I just hope they've fixed the public events stability... The last several times I've logged in to try to do public events to earn Quicksilver for my Living Ship (Void?) egg, I get about 5/6 of the way through the mission, the game crashes, and I lose all progress on the event and have to start over again.

I'm still mad about the frieghter command room bug.

Which command room bug?

My biggest annoyance right now is the regrowing terrain issue. Anything you dig/flatten/etc on a base WILL come back. Seriously distinctiveness building cool underground or mountain bases.

Halsariph wrote:
lunchbox12682 wrote:
vypre wrote:

I just hope they've fixed the public events stability... The last several times I've logged in to try to do public events to earn Quicksilver for my Living Ship (Void?) egg, I get about 5/6 of the way through the mission, the game crashes, and I lose all progress on the event and have to start over again.

I'm still mad about the frieghter command room bug.

Which command room bug?

My biggest annoyance right now is the regrowing terrain issue. Anything you dig/flatten/etc on a base WILL come back. Seriously distinctiveness building cool underground or mountain bases.

A command room could get blocked off, so it was inaccessible and undeletable.

lunchbox12682 wrote:
Halsariph wrote:
lunchbox12682 wrote:
vypre wrote:

I just hope they've fixed the public events stability... The last several times I've logged in to try to do public events to earn Quicksilver for my Living Ship (Void?) egg, I get about 5/6 of the way through the mission, the game crashes, and I lose all progress on the event and have to start over again.

I'm still mad about the frieghter command room bug.

Which command room bug?

My biggest annoyance right now is the regrowing terrain issue. Anything you dig/flatten/etc on a base WILL come back. Seriously distinctiveness building cool underground or mountain bases.

A command room could get blocked off, so it was inaccessible and undeletable.

I have thankfully NOT seen that yet, but I did somehow delete a section I was standing in one time and got trapped in the nether regions of the ship and couldn't move so I now make sure I have a save point and save periodically during base edits in case I screw it up somehow.

Wasn’t a weekly, but Nexus mission crashes are still very much a thing.

Spent most of last night in the system with my main base just using up some of my drop pod coordinates to expand my cargo section in my exosuit by about 12 slots last night. Thinking I should have bought all 137 drop pod coordinates when I saw them instead of just 20-something, and just handed them out like candy in the Anomaly once I maxed my suit. I certainly am ahead in terms of units spent considering they were going for -35%, at about maybe 100k units each vs 1m.

Forgot to mention I found another bug last night. Right now, you are able to completely upgrade your freighter’s storage - both cargo and tech - for the cost of a single upgrade module.

Sounds neat, guess it's time to check this out on GamePass.

vypre wrote:

Forgot to mention I found another bug last night. Right now, you are able to completely upgrade your freighter’s storage - both cargo and tech - for the cost of a single upgrade module.

Seeing as how that is something I do not want to be bothered chasing down, I need to figure this out and do it now.

mrtomaytohead wrote:
vypre wrote:

Forgot to mention I found another bug last night. Right now, you are able to completely upgrade your freighter’s storage - both cargo and tech - for the cost of a single upgrade module.

Seeing as how that is something I do not want to be bothered chasing down, I need to figure this out and do it now.

Go do your first derelict. You kick it off by visiting the new vendor in the space station. As you go through the derelict, loot everything as you go. You should end up with one or two freighter bulkheads by the time you are done - those are used to upgrade freighter storage.