Welcome to Week 145.

This week, we’re introducing two new biome-specific saddles with relevant temperature resistances to give your mounts extra support while traversing Icarus.

Seeding Carts have also been overhauled, with tiered plow attachments that bring their statistics and buffs in line with those of the tiered shovels introduced in Week 136.

We’ve also got a sneak peek at what’s to come next week and why you’ll want to return to Olympus to check it out.

Jump in and have a read.

• Added the ability to modify the crosshair, its size, shape, and color
  
• Fixing issue where all throwables (grenades, molotovs etc) where not able to be thrown
  
• Tooltips after highlighting a crop plot, then looking at other items now force an update, preventing lag when swapping between items
  
• Guano Recipes for Biofuel, Basic Fertilizer & Volatile Substance, now use far less Guano - this works better balance wise with the rarity of the Vesper Nests
  
• Fixed being unable to upgrade buildings to steel roofing

---

This week's feature items are two new basic saddles - in Arctic and Desert variants. These provide your mount with temperature resistance buffs in the saddles' respective biomes. Both are unlockable in Tier 2 and craftable at the Ranching Station.

In addition, some saddles present in the Creature Comforts Pack have also received some stat increases to bring them in line with their standard counterparts.

https://gtm.you1.cn/storesteam/app/2790990/Icarus_Creature_Comforts_Pack/

---

Back in Week 136, we introduced a range of tiered shovels that provided tiered dirt mounts with added buffs and resistance to different weather and biomes. This rendered Seeding Carts relatively obsolete on a purely statistical basis. Thus, Seeding Carts are well overdue an update, which we’re delivering this week.

Seeding Carts will now have a new layer of customization with interchangeable plows. Different tiers of plows will have equivalent statistics and weather resistances to their comparable tiered shovels, creating the same higher-quality dirt mounds. Ideally, this will make farming with carts no longer a limitation when it comes to growing your crops.

In the future, we’d like to address the harvesting cart also with the same improvements in mind, so watch this space.

---

As mentioned in previous weeks, the NullSector (our Free Prometheus Expansion) will include new Operations, a new exploration mechanic, new mutated creatures, and one new giant creature.

We are still actively working on the NullSector, with some big mission revamps in the works, more narrative, more dialogue, and more missions to provide the experience it deserves.

This region is not for the faint of heart. All the adjustments and differences are geared towards this being a hardcore survival challenge, so make sure you enter it prepared.

If you are interested in reading about what we plan to do with missions in the future, click here.

---

Next week, we plan on converting a few more Olympus operations to missions, allowing some of the older content to be playable in open worlds.

---

https://gtm.you1.cn/storesteam/bundle/40692/Icarus_Pets_Bundle/

https://gtm.you1.cn/storesteam/bundle/35727/Icarus_Complete_the_Set/

---

[expand type=details expanded=false]

• Enabled new plow attachment requirement for harvest cart
  
• Added materials and textures for the Arctic and Desert saddle reskin
  
• Add User Interface setting to change Crosshair style, with 10 additional variations to choose from
  
• Add User Interface settings to modify Crosshair Color and Style with 7 additional colors and 10 additional styles to choose from
  
• Added drop-shadow to all crosshair elements to help in cases where crosshair color closely matches the background
  
• Adding Basic Desert and Arctic Saddles, Items, Blueprints, Recipes, Tags, Saddle Setup Etc
  
• Added Missing C++ Code for the Saddle Data
  
• Adding Stats and Icons for Desert & Arctic Basic Saddles
  
• Adding and unlocking steel, platinum & titanium plow seedincart attachments
  
• Adding and setting up Plow item icons
  
• Fixed bug where the various plough attachments weren't applying the correct modifier on created dirt mounds.
  
• Updated images for various plow modifier states to match new icons.
  
• D_DirtMoundModifications table is no longer exclusively for use by shovels; now takes a TagQuery to match against applicable items
  
• Fixed DNT in Seeding Cart Plow alterations
  
• Adding unique plow attachment destroyed audio, event, and to BP
  
• Fixed bug where the player could activate the seed cart without a plow attached.
  
• Fixed seed cart active modifier not being removed correctly if plow was removed while cart was active.
  
• Fixed bug where seed cart would consume dirt when stationary if activated without a plow attached.
  
• Switched to using the new plow attachment icon

[/expand]

[expand type=details expanded=false]

• Fixing accidental change to actionable that was intended to fix Molotov that broke grenades. fixing them
  
• Improve the Settings menu by increasing the vertical scroll bar thickness so it is easier to target & increasing scroll speed so navigating is less cumbersome
  
• Added Beeswax-improved wood icons
  
• Only alternate between 'Storm Incoming' and StormName for 10s before just displaying StormName for the remainder of the storm. This prevents 'Storm Incoming' from displaying mid-storm
  
• Add LODs to a bunch of Skeletal Meshes that had no LODs. This should allow for better performance, especially with lots of Creatures on screen at once
  
• removed campfire stick mesh, preventing light clip, basic rag torch light strength reduced in line with other fire sources
  
• Subcontainer inventories will not longer be created be created in HAB, fixes a crash when trying to load game with a firearm in meta inventory. Added additional inventory-related checks and validation
  
• Gridbase no longer forces buildings to adhere to grid squares upon reloading a prospect, which means Dev_Transform_Tool can be used to permanently adjust the positions of Building_Base actors
  
• Resaving MA_TREDESTR master material to be used with InstancedStaticMeshes as per automatic request when loading T019. This may resolve any issues with destructible tree visuals
  
• Add LODs to a bunch of Static Meshes that either had no LODs or the final LOD was still high detail. This should help performance
  
• Add an Editor utility to quickly add LODs to SM/SK meshes with a single click. Supports the ability to apply LODs to multiple selected assets at the same time
  
• Updated concrete railing and stair railing to be symmetrical and replaced them in the buildable BP
  
• Add User Interface setting (feature-locked) to change the Crosshair color. Also added an example Feature-Locked setting so that the setting can not be lost/forgotten
  
• Fixed issue with building placement not snapping correctly after grid base change
  
• Removed the negative scaling from all stair-buildable railing sockets
  
• Fixed one more case where buildings weren't being snapped to world grid correctly
  
• Adding new Widgets for a new Mission Objective Display to replace the old, currently its at parity with the old
  
• Change the Color settings option from Switch to Combo for better readability
  
• Added temp SM_Bat_Nest_WIP asset for design to start testing while waiting on final art asset
  
• Change idle pose for 3rd person on the Wood/Rag torches so they're held more correctly instead of horizontally
  
• Add source files for new Crosshair content
  
• Changed internal resource flow brown-out modifier to use RoundToFloat instead of CeilToFloat to prevent issues where minuscule flow deficits were causing -10% crafting speed modifiers
  
• Change all Light-slottable lights from standard shadows to Distance Field, fixing 1st person shadow casting bugs while Light slot items are lit
  
• Move Light-slot FP light re-position from center of screen to the bottom left, away from any FP meshes, to prevent back-lit blow-out
  
• Change Character FP arms to cast shadows (self-only) for improved visuals
  
• Improved fill light visuals/perf on Biofuel Lamp
  
• Removed point light fill on a flashlight that's not needed; bloom from main light handles this task
  
• Added min/max movement for flame mesh on fire-based torches to limit them from skewing too much
  
• Moved SlotImage (Light/Utility ghost icon) so that the icon is rendered behind the item icon when the slot is occupied
  
• Decreased opacity of Light/Utility slot ghost icon
  
• Hide the Classification icon when the object is in its appropriate slot to de-clutter the icon area
  
• Add glow edge to the Light slot when the light item is active
  
• Add a divider between the Light slot and 1st slot to further distinguish the Light slot
  
• Fixes and adjustments to dropship. Some layers were not triggering correctly or at all due to occlusion settings, eq curves, and special settings. fine-tunes and balance adjustments. saving profilers for additional tweaks and work
  
• Fixed bug where creatures using the CreatureSize_+% stat would be turned into bears
  
• Final tweaks of dropship descend and ascend. adjustments to volumes over distance to make sure everything is audible at the correct distances
  
• Adding missing window-trap door audio components to thatch, iron, and clay trap doors
  
• Bumped up resolution on rustic wood asset textures to improve visual quality
  
• Adding additional stats to saddles in creature comforts
  
• Fixing issue in talent editor where the cart was unlockable before the ranching station
  
• Adjusted helmet glass to be opaque
  
• Minor improvement to sentence structure on Dropship inventory screen regarding information about Orbital Exchange Interface
  
• Add ProjectionLocation component to Deep Ore Deposits so that you can still see the in-world tooltip when standing on top of it
  
• Adjusting item descriptions for plows
  
• Added inventories to bookshelves that did not have them (items not visually shown on the shelves)
  
• Fixed oxygen/waterskin placement in T2 tech tree
  
• Fixed being unable to upgrade buildings to steel roofing
  
• Moved steel roofing out of concrete roof setup, now only found in steel roofing
  
• Cleaned up unused building upgrade logic
  
• Fixed shovel right/left click activating in addition to the alternate if you use the menu with a shovel equipped
  
• Guano Recipes for Biofuel, Basic Fertilizer, & Volatile Substance, so they use far less Guano - this works better balance wize with the rarity of the Vesper Nests
  
• Readded inverted concrete ramp piece to concrete ramp option
  
• Fixed aluminum trap door's flickering issue by updating bounds extension on mesh asset
  
• Fixed bug where refrigerator's spoil time modifier wasn't being removed correctly when the device ran out of power (or wasn't connected in the first place)
  
• UMG_ModifierPopup no longer shows stats marked as hidden
  
• Update saddles to use generic box mesh when dropped
  
• Projection components now force update when the widget class is changed; this should remove any lag when updating the tooltip after highlighting a crop plot -> something else

[/expand]

[expand type=details expanded=false]

• Update to Medical Scanner In world widget to prompt users to scan for a detailed scan
  
• Fixed speaker for rescue outro dialogue entry
  
• Added CPT church lines for RESCUE mission
  
• Cliff Placement Pass and Macro Cliff Pass, Outpost 11
  
• Adding 2 new NPC's to CRISIS: ASHLANDS
  
• Adding new Stasis Bag Mesh and backset
  
• Adding new Animations and state machine to NPC animations
  
• Rew Relevant Persistence Quest Actor Array now replicates correctly
  
• Added new Logic to Remove NPC4/5 upon start of RESUPPLY: ASHLANDS
  
• Added sandworm building piece icons to data tables
  
• Added sandworm icons in the editor. Not hooked up to the data table yet
  
• Adding in retargeted NPC animations to work with our character skeleton
  
• Adding in whiteboard texture for Bunker Assets
  
• Adding footstep notifs for NPC character animations
  
• Adding all church lines to the dialogue table
  
• Adding all dialogue lines for null sector NPCs. Audio and events. No data table setup yet
  
• Adding Crisis NPC bark dialogue to the table
  
• Cliff Placement Pass and Macro Cliff Pass, Outpost 11
  
• Add a toggle on lavafall base to turn on and off smoke
  
• Added text for Sandworm building pieces
  
• Removing variation from NPC FMOD events that would cause issues with subtitles
  
• Added local/world coordinate toggle button to Dev_Transform_Tool
  
• Fixing Bunker Locker normals
  
• Added finished blocking out Volcano & Cliff Placement in progress on Outpost 9, on Red Quad
  
• Cliff Placement Pass and Macro Cliff Pass, Outpost 11
  
• Making broken glass on bunker windows easier to see by adding a second version of the glass material
  
• Removed shadow geo 63 from Prometheus
  
• Fixing Medic Scanner hold position and adding in animation to fix it being upside down in 3rd person, widget will need fixing in 3RD person, anim montages can also be used to fix other scanners on a case-by-case basis
  
• Cliff Placement Pass and Macro Cliff Pass, Outpost 11
  
• Blocking out Volcano Cave & Cliff Placement in progress on Outpost 9, on Red Quad
  
• Tweaked how feature level flags affect the generated UserSettings; should now correctly remove settings from UI if the flag is not met
  
• Remove Feature Level stuff from SettingsSchema to hopefully fix the validation error
  
• Added LC_Cliff 23,24,25 - originally made for PHNX
  
• Added Green camo materials for BP_Mission_NPC_Base
  
• Adding Audio & Dialogue for 3 Ashlands Sidequests
  
• Fixing up 2 Ashlands Subquests mission flow
  
• Adding Spawnblocker (invisible) in mission around the Ashlands Recovery area
  
• Blocking out Volcano crater, Cave & Cliff Placement on Outpost 9, on Red Quad
  
• Cliff Placement Pass and Macro Cliff Pass, Outpost 11
  
• Added 3 more color variants for the NPC Camo materials, Brown, Blue, and Red
  
• Delete unused Lantern_Battery BP
  
• Cliff Placement Pass and Macro Cliff Pass, Outpost 11
  
• Add health regeneration stats for new atmospheres
  
• Add additional shatter stats for attachments
  
• Add WITH_EDITOR guards to the foliage tool, include
  
• Adding interaction as well as actionable to stasis bags and medical scanner
  
• Adjusting craft stasis bag quests so they can just exist in inventory and not be crafted
  
• Adding 5 Second cooldown to interacting with NPC's so dialogue can't be spammed
  
• Fixing Ashlands Rescue so the NPC's buildings spawn if required
  
• Fixing Churches Monologue at the end of the Rescue mission so it plays until completion
  
• Fix an issue with bounds logging (only) when running the WorldGeneration commandlet
  
• Add a tool to pick up duplicate instanced foliage instances (same type, same position). The tool will also assign foliage to the correct developer level based on position
  
• Adding Concept of Quest Info that can be added to quests and displayed in a different location
  
• Adding Info Text to some Ashlands Quests
  
• Adjusting Ashlands mission step so you just need to have the medical device in your inventory and not specifically craft it
  
• Cliff Placement & Landscape Painting pass progress on Outpost 9, on Red Quad
  
• Remove some duplicate foliage instances in OLY and reassign to the correct developer level based on position
  
• Added a fix for NPC LookAt control rig 'popping' when parent Skeletal Mesh LOD changes
  
• Removed debug stability testing code from NPC AnimBP
  
• Improvements to NPC look at animation. Temporarily fixed NPC_Injured_Idle's head rotation. Fixed D_FactionMissions validation error
  
• Fixed issue where restoring prebuilt buildings using the new system broke when trying to restore the grid with a non-zero rotation
  
• Adding new Prebuilt Structures for Icesheet and the Ashlands Bunker
  
• Redoing first Ashlands missions to include new quest steps, more quest info, and include the destruction of a blocker
  
• Restructured Ashlands Story Mission
  
• Fixed lava lake lights blooming in volumetric fog by decreasing Volumetric Scattering from 1.0 to 0.1x, dropped 5m elevation of lights down to the surface and decreased gap between lights from 2.75m to 2.5m
  
• Change 'Undiscovered' text for field guide entries to be italic to separate them from the discovered entries a bit better
  
• Add hover tooltip text to small icons in Space menus
  
• Correcting Ashlands Bunker Orientation
  
• Adding flag pole audio loop audio event and BP
  
• Cliff Placement Pass and Macro Cliff Pass, Outpost 11
  
• Reduction in reverb for NPCs and fixed dip in churches volume at 19 meters in between 2d and 3d audio
  
• Started Set Dressing Lakes & Landscape Painting on Outpost 9, on Red Quad
  
• Re-saved D_Stats to fix validation error. Updated custom prospect settings struct to make it easier to modify in json
  
• Added new system (dev-locked for now) that allows modifying and configuring specific world stats on a per-savegame basis via an in-game settings menu
  
• Fixing dialogue routing that was causing reverb to sound 10db louder than the dialogue itself. Routed barks out SFX bus and used a preset gain reduced to match volume.
  
• Reduced Churches reverb send on each event to match but still keep his lines audible and important
  
• Fixed some instances of text not being localised
  
• Updated textures for Hammerhead_Slug_Grenade
  
• Updated materials and textures for Shotgun_CHAC
  
• Add functionality to DeployableBase to tag mesh components with 'Highlight' so that all components highlight collectively instead of individually
  
• Fixed needles being left behind on Metal Oxite Dissolver and moved them to Electric Oxite Dissolver plus rotation functionality
  
• Removed Shadow Proxy meshes from some deployables as this approach is being deprecated
  
• Resaved MA_ICE shader which is being used with SK meshes now
  
• Removed 4x LODs on Charger light mesh which is 200 tris
  
• Hid proxy meshes which were visible by default on some benches, causing them to not update until inventory was updated
  
• Removed some erroneously (not matching) applied DestructibleMeshes from certain deployables
  
• Enabled shadow casting on some proxy meshes
  
• Disabled collision on some meshes which didn't need it (inside aquariums, trophy cases, etc)
  
• Adding Icons for all bunker assets
  
• Adding proper descriptions to all bunker assets
  
• Adding Toilet and Teddy Bear Bunker Deployables
  
• Adding carrying audio and pickup for stasis bags

[/expand]

Welcome to week 144.

This week introduces the new Arctic Vesper, which is found in nests spawning in the frozen expanses of Icarus.

The Arctic Vesper is a dangerous foe, flying low to the ground and fiercely defending its nests, where you’ll be able to find the new ‘Guano’ resource that can be used in bio-fuel alternative recipes.

We also briefly mention the new cart attachments coming next week.

• Recipes that produce resources such as water or biofuel, will now display the amount of that resource produced on the recipe (See Composter)
  
• In place of stack count in item tooltips, items with a resource contained within (water / biofuel / electric charge) will show their current units and total capacity instead
  
• Mount tooltips will no longer show 'Owned by Nobody' when the owner logged out
  
• Removing dirt mound recipe and blueprint from the tech tree as it is no longer required since the introduction of different tiered shovels, blueprints points are refunded if they were allocated

---

The Arctic Vesper has landed in Icarus.

New nests are spawning across the arctic regions of Icarus, where these bat-like mutations can be found. Vespers fly at low altitudes - roughly head height - and attack when threats come too close to their nests. Vespers will provide some needed variety to the arctic zones, now requiring you to keep your eyes on the sky as well as on the ground where familiar polar bears, wolves, and other carnivores roam.

Arctic Vesper nests can also be looted for a new resource, Guano. This can be used in some new high-volume biofuel recipes, an alternate recipe to volatile acid, and another recipe for farm fertilizer.

Guano as a resource is part of our wider intention to provide many alternative recipes for high-use products while also providing high rewards for hard-to-find resources. A good in-game example is the Mammoth Tusk, which can be ground down in a Mortar & Pestle to generate a large amount of epoxy compared to the standard bone recipe.

---

As mentioned in previous weeks, the NullSector (our Free Prometheus Expansion) will include new Operations, a new exploration mechanic, new mutated creatures, and one new giant creature.

We are still actively working on the NullSector, with some big mission revamps in the works, more narrative, more dialogue, and more missions to provide the experience it deserves.

This region is not for the faint of heart. All the adjustments and differences are geared towards this being a hardcore survival challenge, so make sure you enter it prepared.

If you are interested in reading about what we plan to do with missions in the future, click here.

---

Since the introduction of different shovels, Farming Carts have become relatively obsolete in the world of farming, only producing mounds equivalent to the quality delivered by the Iron Shovel.

Next week, we’ll address this by adding attachments that can be socketed into Farming Carts to improve the quality of the dirt mounts they produce.

---

https://gtm.you1.cn/storesteam/bundle/40692/Icarus_Pets_Bundle/

https://gtm.you1.cn/storesteam/bundle/35727/Icarus_Complete_the_Set/

---

[expand type=details expanded=false]

• Add the ability to play directional dialogue at world locations by registering dedicated audio components for individual dialogue speakers
  
• Adding and Enabling the Arctic Bat (Arctic Vesper) nest spawning in arctic zones
  
• Adding Guano item, icon and alternate recipes for biofuel, volatile acid and fertilizer
  
• Adding Arctic Bat Trophy and Vestiage, items, icons and recipes
  
• Adding base class for nests and common reward granting logic
  
• Adding Arctic Bat Vestiage and Trophy Icons
  
• Fixed texture group for bat creature's textures, bats are no longer 4k
  
• Disabled friendly fire on bat dive attacks
  
• Fixed a typo in the Vesper trophy item description

[/expand]

[expand type=details expanded=false]

• Adjusting the BP of water jerrycans to use updated parameter. Works the same - just simplifying setup
  
• Updates and fixes to grenades to help audio make sense.
  
• Fixed grenade throws not having unhide actor component on grenade throw animation resulting in only the first grenade being visible
  
• Adding more rock falls for the cave. More verbed rock falls to add more dimension to the environment. tweaks to spawn rates etc. also adding slow modulated eerie wind
  
• Fixing placement of notify on grenade montage. Adjustment to grenade bounce audio to make additional bounces feel smaller. correcting wrong grenade fix
  
• Added datatable validation to catch drop chances under 1%
  
• Fixed frag grenade effects not being played if the grenade never hits anything
  
• Added the reworked iron buildables, Railings, Doors, trap door hatch
  
• Changed MA_GLS_BLD's Opacity Mask Clip Value to 0.01, this should fix the issue where highlighting glass building pieces/deployables had a very noisy appearance
  
• Adjusted collision around horse's neck to significantly reduce how much the hair sticks out to the side when the head is turned, as well as fixed some bad skinning in some areas, most notably around the neck and tail.
  
• Also fixed skinning on the mane and tail to properly match the body skinning
  
• Fixed small candles setting things on fire aggressively. Some candles were using flammable campfire and some werent using anything. Made this consistent with all candles
  
• Removing dirt mound recipe and blueprint from the tech tree as it is no longer required since the introduction of different tiered shovels
  
• Adjustment to spear impact audio - making it slightly longer than standard arrows to accomodate for boss throwing spears
  
• Blend out and disable PostProcess volume on RespawnPod after it has landed. This fixes the lighting being darkened when walking near the seat of the ship
  
• Turn off Light on Machining Bench by default, otherwise Light will be on permanently until machine is first used. Will toggle automatically when recipes start/stop processing
  
• Updated Last few iron buildables to use the kit textures. full LOD pass on all iron builddable with custom LODs for assets using corrigated geo. Updated iron Door, Hatch, Window and gate BPs with new buildables
  
• Fixed bug where mount tooltips would show 'Owned by Nobody' when the owner logged out.
  
• Fixed bug where long player names wouldn't fit on mount tooltip 'Owned by' section
  
• Fixed typo in Portable Beacon flavor text
  
• Adding missing data table setups for molotov for the audio I did 2 years ago. Removed animations from the frag grenade that were pulling the pin etc
  
• COMPOSITION: Fixed end timer being too long and not providing feedback to players
  
• Adjustments to spear flying audio to accomodate better for variances in speed.
  
• Adding pickup spear wood and metal events and applying to data table entries. adjusted audio timing of spear whoosh on anim
  
• Fixing accidental change to spear notify to wrong place
  
• Fix turret targeting isn't working as desired for some deployment angles
  
• Fix a race condition crash reported in Sentry relating to terrain anchor async tasks and shutting down the level

[/expand]

[expand type=details expanded=false]

• Added dialogue entries for Cpt Church
  
• Added BLD_Floor_Metal_Grate, BLD_Floor_Half_Metal_Grate, BLD_Stairs_Metal_Grate and BLD_Stairs_Half_Metal_Grate
  
• Medic scanner and body bag added, medic scanner needs tweak to ore holding animation, should also fix all the flipped scanners in 3RD person at the same time too, body bag just needs carry hookup
  
• Fixed issue where NPCs using the CreatureSize_+% stat would stretch and warp when ragdolled
  
• Adding test event and audio for 2d 3d vocalisations
  
• Added Volcano & Cliff Placement in Outpost 9, on Red Quad
  
• Cliff Placement Pass and Macro Cliff Pass, Outpost 11
  
• Removed sublevels in ice mammoth arena and placed everything into the persistent level
  
• New Medical Device Mesh & inworld widget when held in the players hand, Setting up New Mission NPC''s
  
• Add buildable setup for metal grate pieces
  
• Added test meshes, and bp, for t5 kit
  
• Cliff Placement Pass and Riverbank Pass, Outpost 11
  
• Added items and DT entries to support new harvest cart blade mechanic. Added new stat 'IsSprintDisabled_Bool' to disable ability to sprint via stat
  
• Ice Breaker added footprints to walk and stomp animations, fix parallex decal projection, added VFX to stomp and basic walk
  
• Added Field Guide Items title icon
  
• updated Field Guide Items image
  
• Cliff Placement Pass and Macro Cliff Pass, Outpost 11
  
• Add dialogue speaker implementation to Mission NPC base so that directional dialogue can be implemented when ready
  
• Added Ape armor 1ST& 3RD, sk meshes, material, bp gfur and textures and updated D_Armour
  
• Added tooltips to field guide buttons
  
• New plough attachments are now called Steel, Platinum, and Titanium ploughs instead of Basic and Advanced
  
• Fix weather occlusion on whiteout effect
  
• Disabled storm wall FX actor until a pass is done on it to look better

[/expand]