Features

• Major updates to the way the game manages planetary systems. This is primarily behind the scenes changes in support of Planet Studio, which is currently under development. The game and website now support the uploading and downloading of celestial bodies and planetary systems. Downloading sandboxes with custom planetary systems should now work properly. The 'New Game' dialog now has a planetary system selector.
• Planet Studio development has begun. It has received some changes in this update, but it is still very much just a tool to assist XML modders in developing custom planetary systems and celestial bodies for now. No in-game planet modification can be done yet. Uploading of planetary systems and celestial bodies is now supported in Planet Studio.

Tweaks

• Various improvements to error handling
• Loading screen feedback when planet cubemaps need to be generated
• Added a dev console command for generating equirectangular maps for the celestial bodies.
• Small improvement in flight scene loading performance
• Update our input library
• User interface XML and images can now be overridden by copying files into the "SimpleRockets 2\UserInterface\Overrides\" directory and subdirectories. The directory structure and filenames determine the UI resource path of the resource being added or overridden.
• For modders: Added a generic game loop that runs in the main menu. Supports IStart, IPostStart, IFixedUpdate, IUpdate, ILateUpdate, IEndOfFrameUpdate. These interfaces are also supported in the flight and designer game loops.
• Several file save dialogs now allow periods in the file names.
• Several drag calculation optimizations. Should help reduce lag during stage separations and breaking parts off of crafts.
• Added a mobile file logger (for errors and debug logs) and a game setting to control its behavior.
• Added a dev console command to refresh the UI resource database (RefreshUIResourceDatabase). This can be helpful to those trying to mod the user interface. This will also reload the current scene.
• Added Execute and Close buttons to dev console for mobile.
• Added "Open Dev Console" option to Control Settings context menu for devices that don't have a keyboard to use to open the dev console.
• Enabled mip-maps for custom skyboxes
• Tweaked the pivot of the camera in planet studio to be at the center of the camera.
• Added an XML-only setting to ignore mod-version mis-matches when enabling mods upon startup (for mod creators).
• Added an XML-only setting to skip the main menu.
• Move multi-directional RCS nozzles back to neutral position when disabled.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a small memory leak with planet atmospheres
• Fixed a small memory leak related to UI XML
• Fixed a bug with planet texturing producing strange colors in some situations.
• Fixed the rotation of the drone ship
• Fixed a few bugs with terrain culling, particularly for extreme terrain heights and when below sea level.
• Fixed the issue with the Steam overlay and input keys getting stuck.
• Unpinned inspector panels will disappear now when clicking away from the craft.
• Fixed a null-ref exception in the part inspector window for debris.
• Fixed a Vizzy bug that could cause custom expressions to return a cached result in some cases.
• Fixed autopilot output spikes due to derivative term.
• Fixed a bug that could cause a crash if unloading a celestial body while it is still loading.
• Fixed a few minor memory leaks
• Fixed a rendering issue with large planets viewed from great distances not being visible.
• Fixed a bug that caused the water to show the above ground reflections while under the water.
• Fixed a graphical bug in which the dark side of a planet could be incorrectly illuminated due to its atmosphere under certain conditions.
• Fixed a bug where multi-directional RCS might not work correctly when resuming a craft in flight.
• Greatly reduced the occurence of a camera seam bug in planet studio.

Vizzy

• Added expressions to get another craft's name, ID, position, velocity, altitude, planet, mass, part count, destroyed state, and grounded state.
• Added expression to get a list of Craft IDs from a planet.
• Added instruction to switch to another craft. If the craft is far away, it may cause the program to stop executing.

Planet Studio

• Planet Studio can be accessed by the 'PlanetStudio' dev console command (no more specifying which solar system).
• The planetary system and celestial body list views have some filter option in the '...' menu in the upper right of the dialogs.
• There is no visualization for planetary systems yet.
• Planet Cubemaps now work in Planet Studio. These are the textured spheres used when viewing the planet from a great distance.
• Planet rings now work in Planet Studio.
• Structure nodes (launch pad) now work in Planet Studio
• Settings and photo library are now accessible in Planet Studio
• An exit button has been added to return you to the main menu.
• The difference between the 'Build (full)' and 'Build (fast)' buttons is that the full build regenerates the planet's cubemap and build fast does not.
• Edits to the XML file from which the planet was loaded should be automatically detected when SR2 regains focus, cause the planet to be reloaded and reflect the changes.
• When working with Planet Studio & XML, files should typically be stored here: LocalLow\Jundroo\SimpleRockets 2\UserData\CelestialDatabase\
• When downloading custom systems and bodies, they should end up here: LocalLow\Jundroo\SimpleRockets 2\GameData\CelestialDatabase\
• Stuff in GameData is typically linked via file hashes. Directly modifying XML there probably won't end well. Stuff in UserData typically uses file based references.
• To get started modifying a celestial body, I'd recommend opening an existing one, saving it, re-open it from the newly saved file, then try editing that file's XML.
• Mod support for custom planet modifiers has been added. (Added a "SimpleRockets 2/Planets/Modifiers/Vertex Data Common Pass Planet Modifier" menu item to the mod tools)

Planet Studio - Celestial Body Controls

• W/A/S/D translates the camera
• Q/E adjusts altitude
• I/J/K/L rotates the camera around the planet
• U/O rotates the camera around its forward axis
• F/H rotates the planet
• R/Y rotates the planet and the camera at the same time
• T/G ajdust the sun's angle above/below the planet. (the lighting does not apply to the scaled space cubemaps). 'B' Resets the sun angle.
• Space toggles snapping the camera to the surface
• Holding Shift speeds up most of the rotation/translation controls
• Holding Control slows down most of the rotation/translation controls
• Keypad +/- increases or decreases the speed multiplier for the rotation/tranlation controls

Planetary System and Celestial Body XML

• Planet rings now support custom textures
• Default launch locations are now stored in the planetary system XML.
• Structure nodes (launch site) are now stored in the celestial body XML (and they work in Planet Studio now).
• Custom planetary systems now support custom skyboxes. Custom skyboxes consist of 6 separate images. These must be referenced in the file references section of the XML (for example: <File id="TestX+" path="UserData/CelestialDatabase/SupportFiles/TestX+.png" />). The skybox is then defined by a "Skybox" element (typically placed between <Scale> and <CelestialBodies>). It would look something like this:
  
  
  
  • <Skybox xpositiveTextureId="TestX+" xnegativeTextureId="TestX-" ypositiveTextureId="TestY+" ynegativeTextureId="TestY-" zpositiveTextureId="TestZ+" znegativeTextureId="TestZ-" exposure="1" rotation="0" tint="FFFFFF" />
  
  
• Added support for 'conditional symbols' for planet modifiers. This allows you to enable/disable modifiers based on a set of string 'symbols' that have been defined for the terrain data. Cubemap/equirectangular map provide their own symbols as well so modifiers can be conditionally ran depending on if the terrain generator is being used to create a map.
  
  
  
  • Conditional symbols can be defined on the <Terrain> element with the "conditionalSymbols" attribute as a comma separated list of strings.
  
  
  • Planet modifiers can provide a "enabledWithSymbols" attribute with a comma separated list of strings, all of which must be defined for that modifier to be enabled. They can also provide a "disabledWithSymbols" attribute with symbols, any of which can be defined for that modifier to be disabled.
  
  
  • Two built-in symbols used right now are "CUBEMAP" and "EQUIRECTANGULARMAP"
  
  
• Added a ColorBlend vertex data modifier.
  
  
  
  • Example: <Modifier type="VertexData.ColorBlend" enabled="true" name="ColorBlend" hierarchy="PlanetModifiers/ColorBlend" order="0" pass="Final" color="1,0,0,0.8" source="SourceAlpha" destination="OneMinusSourceAlpha" dataIndexAlpha="-1" />.
  
  
  • The "source" and "destination" attributes support the following values: One, Zero, SourceColor, SourceAlpha, DestinationColor, DestinationAlpha, OneMinusSourceColor, OneMinusSourceAlpha, OneMinusDestinationColor, OneMinusDestinationAlpha.
  
  
  • Should work similar to this.
  
  
• Updated terrain generation to support a 'Water' pass, providing the ability to adjust water colors based on planet modifiers. This runs after the 'Final' pass.
• Updated the VertexDataNoise planet modifier so that whenever fractal amplitudes or lacunarity are manually specified for each octave, but too few values are specified, a warning will be logged and the behavior should no longer be random/undefined.
• Updated the ColorBands planet modifier to clamp the band index value when it goes out of range.
• Improved the error logging when a planet terrain texture could not be found.

 

Changes in 0.9.300.1

• Small improvement in flight scene loading performance
• Fixed the rotation of the drone ship
• Structure nodes can now be positions by altitude above ground level, altitude above sea level, or altitude above sea floor.

Changes in 0.9.300.2

• Fixed a few bugs with terrain culling, particularly for extreme terrain heights and when below sea level.
• Update our input library
• Fixed the issue with the Steam overlay and input keys getting stuck.
• User interface XML and images can now be overridden by copying files into the "SimpleRockets 2\UserInterface\Overrides\" directory and subdirectories. The directory structure and filenames determine the UI resource path of the resource being added or overridden.
• For modders: Added a generic game loop that runs in the main menu. Supports IStart, IPostStart, IFixedUpdate, IUpdate, ILateUpdate, IEndOfFrameUpdate. These interfaces are also supported in the flight and designer game loops.
• Added current latitude/longitude to the info panel in planet studio.
• Planet studio's info panel is now hidden when taking photos.
• Added a button in planet studio to refresh the celestial database as a temporary workaround for needing to restart the game for it to recognize new custom textures.
• Planet studio update to allow R/Y keys to rotate the planet and the camera together.

Changes in 0.9.300.4

• Several file save dialogs now allow periods in the file names.
• Improved some error handling in planet studio
• When uploading planetary systems, celestial bodies will now be sorted by semi-major axis. This will not effect existing posts.
• Fixed a bug with some unnecessary code running when entering flight scene.
• Custom planetary systems now support custom skyboxes. Custom skyboxes consist of 6 separate images. These must be referenced in the file references section of the XML (for example: <File id="TestX+" path="UserData/CelestialDatabase/SupportFiles/TestX+.png" />). The skybox is then defined by a "Skybox" element (typically placed between <Scale> and <CelestialBodies>). It would look something like this:
  
  
  
  • <Skybox xpositiveTextureId="TestX+" xnegativeTextureId="TestX-" ypositiveTextureId="TestY+" ynegativeTextureId="TestY-" zpositiveTextureId="TestZ+" znegativeTextureId="TestZ-" exposure="1" rotation="0" tint="FFFFFF" />
  
  
• Added support for 'conditional symbols' for planet modifiers. This allows you to enable/disable modifiers based on a set of string 'symbols' that have been defined for the terrain data. Cubemap/equirectangular map provide their own symbols as well so modifiers can be conditionally ran depending on if the terrain generator is being used to create a map.
  
  
  
  • Conditional symbols can be defined on the <Terrain> element with the "conditionalSymbols" attribute as a comma separated list of strings.
  
  
  • Planet modifiers can provide a "enabledWithSymbols" attribute with a comma separated list of strings, all of which must be defined for that modifier to be enabled. They can also provide a "disabledWithSymbols" attribute with symbols, any of which can be defined for that modifier to be disabled.
  
  
  • Two built-in symbols used right now are "CUBEMAP" and "EQUIRECTANGULARMAP"
  
  
• Added a ColorBlend vertex data modifier.
  
  
  
  • Example: <Modifier type="VertexData.ColorBlend" enabled="true" name="ColorBlend" hierarchy="PlanetModifiers/ColorBlend" order="0" pass="Final" color="1,0,0,0.8" source="SourceAlpha" destination="OneMinusSourceAlpha" dataIndexAlpha="-1" />.
  
  
  • The "source" and "destination" attributes support the following values: One, Zero, SourceColor, SourceAlpha, DestinationColor, DestinationAlpha, OneMinusSourceColor, OneMinusSourceAlpha, OneMinusDestinationColor, OneMinusDestinationAlpha.
  
  
  • Should work similar to this.
  
  
• Updated terrain generation to support a 'Water' pass, providing the ability to adjust water colors based on planet modifiers. This runs after the 'Final' pass (which has been renamed to 'TerrainFinal', though 'Final' should still work).
• Fixed a bug with duplicate file entries showing up in the celestial database differing in file path casing only.

Changes in 0.9.300.5

• Fixed gas giants broken in the previous release (ColorBands modifier was running in the wrong pass).
• Rolled back the renaming of the 'Final' pass to 'TerrainFinal'. It is now 'Final' again (but still runs before the 'Water' pass).

Changes in 0.9.301.1

• Bug fixes to support mobile release
• Tweaked the Url handling success callbacks for downloading planetary systems and celestial bodies.
• Several drag calculation optimizations. Should help reduce lag during stage separations and breaking parts off of crafts.
• Unpinned inspector panels will disappear now when clicking away from the craft.
• Fixed a null-ref exception in the part inspector window for debris.
• Fixed a Vizzy bug that could cause custom expressions to return a cached result in some cases.
• Fixed a serious bug where game states prior to the 0.9.3xx release would fail to update their planetary system reference correctly if using the default solar system.
• Fixed autopilot output spikes due to derivative term.

Changes in 0.9.301.2

• Minor tweak to planetary system/celestial body upload process.

Changes in 0.9.302.0

• Fixed a bug that caused games to fail to load if they had craft orbiting the sun.

Changes in 0.9.303.0

• Fixed the game failing to download a planetary system or celestial body if the game is not already started when the user clicks the download button.
• Fixed an bug causing crashing on some Android devices.

Changes in 0.9.304.0

• Fixed a bug that could cause a crash if unloading a celestial body while it is still loading.
• Fixed a few minor memory leaks
• Added a mobile file logger (for errors and debug logs) and a game setting to control its behavior.
• Fixed a potential crash trying to load a downloaded planetary system.
• Planetary system and celestial body list views now prevent the deletion of stock files.
• If a planetary system is missing files when being loaded on the main menu, the missing file references will be logged.
• Fixed a rendering issue with large planets viewed from great distances not being visible.
• Added a dev console command to refresh the UI resource database (RefreshUIResourceDatabase). This can be helpful to those trying to mod the user interface. This will also reload the current scene.
• Fixed a bug which would backup the UI overrides folder after a game update, even if it was empty.
• Removed Vulkan support... for now.
• Fixed a bug that caused the water to show the above ground reflections while under the water.
• Improved the error logging related to invalid launch locations.

Changes in 0.9.304.1

• Fixed a rendering issue with the sun.

Changes in 0.9.305.0

• Refactored celestial file hashing, allowing for the normalization of text content. Now the text content can differ in some unimportant ways while still generating the same ID. This normalization should handle line endings, byte order marks, and encoding.
• Fixed a bug with the planetary system and celestial body list views not loading when the celestial database contains invalid XML.
• Updated the VertexDataNoise planet modifier so that whenever fractal amplitudes or lacunarity are manually specified for each octave, but too few values are specified, a warning will be logged and the behavior should no longer be random/undefined.
• Updated the ColorBands planet modifier to clamp the band index value when it goes out of range.
• Fixed a bug in planet studio in which trying to rotate a planet with zero angular velocity would completely break things.
• Resetting the sun angle in planet studio has been remapped from 'R' to 'B'
• Planet studio WASD movement speed is initially set based on the loaded planet radius.
• Improved the error logging when a planet terrain texture could not be found.

Changes in 0.9.306.0

• Fixed a graphical bug in which the dark side of a planet could be incorrectly illuminated due to its atmosphere under certain conditions.

Changes in 0.9.307.0

• Fixed a bug where the player could not win the Escape Droo challenge.
• Fixed a bug where multi-directional RCS might not work correctly when resuming a craft in flight.
• Greatly reduced the occurence of a camera seam bug in planet studio.
• Added Execute and Close buttons to dev console for mobile.
• Added "Open Dev Console" option to Control Settings context menu for devices that don't have a keyboard to use to open the dev console.
• Enabled mip-maps for custom skyboxes
• Tweaked the pivot of the camera in planet studio to be at the center of the camera.
• Added an XML-only setting to ignore mod-version mis-matches when enabling mods upon startup (for mod creators).
• Added an XML-only setting to skip the main menu.
• Move multi-directional RCS nozzles back to neutral position when disabled.
• Added expressions to get another craft's name, ID, position, velocity, altitude, planet, mass, part count, destroyed state, and grounded state.
• Added expression to get a list of Craft IDs from a planet.
• Added instruction to switch to another craft. If the craft is far away, it may cause the program to stop executing.