Howdy, Exofarmers!
Do you like trying out new things? Do you enjoy seeing weird bugs? Well have we got just the thing for you!
We will be holding a beta test for the next update, where you will be able to try out new features and content. This helps us squash bugs and fine-tune the experience!
How do I participate in the beta test?
You can participate in the beta test by playing on the “beta” branch on Steam.
To play on the “beta” branch, do this:
Right-click on Lightyear Frontier in your Steam library, then click "Properties"
Go to the "Betas" tab
Select “beta” in the dropdown menu of “Select the beta you would like to opt into:”
Close the Properties window
And you're done! You may have to restart Steam to download the new build.
If you want to switch back to the normal version of the game, select “None” in the dropdown menu of “Select the beta you would like to opt into:”.
Participating in the beta test requires owning Lightyear Frontier on Steam.
We strongly recommend making copies of any save files you want to use on the beta branch. If you do not, you run the risk of save file incompatibility, loss of progress, loss of access until the update release, and other unfun stuff. Please read the "What about my save files?" section further below for more info.
What’s in the beta test?
This update is all about making your farmer life easier - from automating tasks to making building easier and improving performance.
We will be updating the beta over time with more content and features as they come in, but to start off with we have:
Automation
Tired of running back and forth between different Crafting Constructs? Having trouble keeping track of what’s made where? Not enough hours in the day to craft what you need? No more! You can now automatically craft items in many Crafting Constructs using the new Automator.
To automate crafting, follow these steps:
Build an Automator
Connect an Automator to a compatible crafting construct with a Connector Pipe
Choose a recipe inside the crafting construct and set it to Auto-craft (default key H/Right Stick Click)
Put the resources required for the recipe in the Automator's storage
The Automator will keep automatically keep crafting the set item as long as it has enough resources.
Inputs that receive resources and Outputs that eject resources have been added to many Constructs. Use the Connector Pipes with these to send resources to and from Constructs, including some storage.
The first automation Constructs are unlocked at Milestone 9, with more unlocked all the way up to Milestone 12.
Here's the compatible Constructs:
Construct
Input
Output
Milestone Unlock
Automated Water Pump (New!)
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12
Automator (New!)
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9
Automator II (New!)
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12
Combustion Generator (New!)
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5
Combustion Generator II (New!)
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8
Combustion Generator III (New!)
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10
Compost Box
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Flower Press
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Fodder Oven
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Furnace
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Furnace II
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Grinder
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Grinder II
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Loom
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Medium Feed Through
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Medium Water Trough
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Mineral Crusher
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Oil Mixer
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Oil Presser
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Oil Presser II
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Sawmill
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Seed Extractor
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Seed Extractor II
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Seed Extractor III (New!)
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10
Seed Splicer
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Silo
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Silo II
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Small Shed
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Storage Box II
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Storage Shed
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Water Reservoir (New!)
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8
Watering Drone Station
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Watering Drone Station II
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Connector Pipes, Splitters, Mergers
Connector Pipes are used to connect Constructs to each other.
Splitters allow you to split the output of a Connector Pipe into multiple directions.
Mergers allow you to combine the input of multiple Connector Pipes into the same output.
Water Pump
Automated Water Pumps can be used to pump water from rivers, lakes, and the ocean directly into Watering Drone Stations and Water Troughs using Connector Pipes - no Irrigation Hose required! This means that you can fully automate your watering! There's also the new Water Reservoir construct for storing large amounts of water.
Energy
Energize your production with the new energy system. Build Generators to keep your production superpowered for a crafting speed boost!
Energy is intended to streamline power consumption for large farms and help you to scale up your production.
Advanced Constructs- such as the Seed Maker II - will now consume Energy, which can be produced using Generators.
While you meet or exceed your minimum required amount of Energy, Constructs and Drones will be Energized, meaning they work 2,5x faster. If your Energy needs exceed your available Energy, your Constructs will stop being Energized until you increase your Energy above the minimum required amount. They’ll keep working at normal speed though! We wanted a system that rewards players for building infrastructure without punishing those who want to focus on other things.
Combustion Generators need Fuel to produce Energy. Work your way up to the Solar Generator in Milestone 12 for free Energy!
Energy is produced and used globally, meaning Generators and Crafting constructs don’t have to be in Farm Range to count. This means you can put your Generators wherever you like - solar park, anyone?
Drone Stations no longer need Fuel to operate and can instead be Energized. Less running around re-fueling, more farming and crafting!
The first Generator is unlocked at Milestone 5, with more unlocked over the following Milestones.
Exofarmer Jetpack
The Exofarmer now has a Jetpack, vastly improving your ability to get around your farm! The Jetpack will allow you to fly freely within Home Areas, as well as give you some extra air time while outside.
The Jetpack is available from the start of the game as a new part of the Exofarmer’s core kit. Here's the controls:
Press and hold Space/A Button while on the ground or press Space/A Button while in mid-air to activate
Press or hold Space/A Button to ascend
Press or hold CTRL/B Button to descend
Double press CTRL/B Button or land on the ground to deactivate
Tools and Build Mode can be used while the Jetpack is active.
Our main goal with this is to make building and painting easier, but we’re looking forward to seeing what other creative uses y’all find for it.
Performance improvements
We have optimized various parts of the game logic, UI, and animation, resulting in a massive improvement to overall CPU performance. While we expect this to be noticeable for pretty much all of you, late-game save files with lots of stuff in the game world will see the most drastic improvement. In our testing, we have seen FPS improvements of around 50-65% on average. Depending on your hardware, settings, and save file, you may see smaller or larger gains than this - in some cases we have observed improvements as large as 90%.
Here are some comparisons on a mid-game save file in single-player, running on an Intel Core i9-13900KF and Nvidia RTX 4070 SUPER, using very low graphical settings to minimize GPU bottlenecking:
Before
After
163 FPS
249 FPS
159 FPS
253 FPS
152 FPS
250 FPS
In addition to this general optimization, we have done extensive work on multiplayer performance, particularly when hosting a session. The more players are in your session, and the more elements need to be replicated, the bigger the performance increase will be. While we can’t guarantee a locked 60 FPS across the board, the experience should be on a completely different level of smoothness.
Mech traversal improvements
We wanted to make the mech more fun to move around in during moment to moment gameplay, especially across long distances. To do this, we’re introducing some new movement tech for more skilled play.
Sliding will no longer slow you down as much, and if you were running before a slide you will now keep running afterwards. You can now also cancel out of slides early to maintain your momentum by pressing the sprint button at the right time.
When sprinting at max speed with your thruster bar full, you can do a thruster boost. Press the jump button to use up your bar and quickly blast upwards and forwards. To balance this, we have changed the thruster recharge rates.
Furthermore, thrusters are now better at breaking falls!
These additions should make moving around in the mech feel more awesome.
Build improvements
We know y'all love to build, so we're making improvements to the system.
You can now hold down the button to keep removing Constructs.
Snapping has been improved to handle large Pieces better - meaning fewer instances of snapping halfway down Foundations or not aligning properly.
Several Build Pieces are now more contextually smart - Doors will snap to doorways, Windows in window holes, and Roofs to the tops of walls.
These are just the beginning - we're aiming to make more improvements to building during the beta, including adding some features y'all have been asking for for a long time!
Other
We've made a bunch of other adjustments and will have full patch notes when the update releases. For now, here are some noteworthy goodies:
Buffed Large Object Trailers
Large Object Trailer Hauling Capacity: 12 -> 16
Large Object Trailer HP: 150 -> 200
Large Object Trailer II Hauling Capacity: 24 -> 32
Large Object Trailer II HP: 200 -> 500
Buffed Storage Trailers
Storage Trailer Inventory Capacity: 200 -> 400
Storage Trailer HP: 150 -> 200
Storage Trailer II Inventory Capacity: 500 -> 1000
Storage Trailer II HP: 200 -> 500
Iron hauling size lowered: 3 -> 2
Tweaked Fuel costs
Increased max amount of Lock-Ons for Lvl. 2 & 3 Lock-on Targets Mod Chips
Changed Power Armor to be new progression set
Reduced wind-up time when throwing large objects
How long will the beta test last?
The beta test will start today, 2 February, and will continue until the next update releases (TBA!).
The end of the beta test will transition into the release of the next update so you can keep right on playing. This includes converting your beta branch save files back to the main branch.
We’re trying something new with this type of release, so we appreciate your understanding and patience as we deal with any bugs or issues that may occur during this process.
Should I participate in the beta test?
If the following applies to you:
You like to try new things, including things that are not explained
You enjoy experiencing weird glitches
You want to help improve Lightyear Frontier and can give healthy and constructive feedback
You looove finding and reporting bugs, ideally with clear steps on how to reproduce them
You are not scared of crashes or lost progress
Then you should join the beta! If not, you should stick to the main branch and wait until each update is done.
You will be interacting with unfinished, work-in progress features and content. You may encounter errors and bugs and the game may crash.
What about my save files?
You will be able to use your existing save files on the beta branch. Our intention is for them to carry over to the main branch once the new update is officially released.
We strongly recommend making copies of any save files you want to use on the beta branch. If you do not, you run the risk of save file incompatibility, loss of progress, loss of access until the update release, and other unfun stuff.
Warning: If you load a save file on the beta branch, you will not be able to play on that save file again on the main branch until the update comes out. DO NOT play on the beta branch if you are not okay with this.
Since you will be interacting with unfinished features in the beta branch, we can’t guarantee the integrity of your save files.
How do I copy my save files?
In the Select Saved Game menu, hover over a save file and press F on keyboard or Y on controller (default bindings) to create either a Standard or Shared copy of that save file.
Should I make a new save file for the beta?
You don’t have to - we design updates to be compatible with and build on top of existing saves. Most of the new content in this beta is for the late-game. Playing from the start might give you a more natural experience due to the changes we've made to milestone progression, but it's gonna take a lot of playtime to reach the new stuff.
Playing on a new save file (or a copy of an existing save file) is a good idea if you are scared of losing access to or progress on your existing save files.
What about Shared saves?
Shared saves will still work on the beta branch. However, to play on a Shared save, all players will have to be on the same branch - you can’t have one player on the beta branch and one on the main branch, for example.
If a player starts a Shared save file on the beta branch, that save file will be converted into a beta branch save file from then on. It will continue being a beta save file until the beta is over and the update is released, where it will be converted back into a normal main branch save file. We can’t guarantee that things won’t go wrong, so make sure you have copies!
Where can I give feedback and report bugs?
We have a channel dedicated to beta branch feedback, bug reports, and discussion on our Discord server.
We have also made a subforum for it on Steam.
As always, you can also use the in-game feedback tool by pressing “Give feedback” in the pause menu to share your thoughts and report bugs.
Please keep discussion about the beta branch limited to the places mentioned above. We reserve the right to remove posts related to the beta branch that are posted in the wrong places.
Is the beta available on Xbox? Can I play it with crossplay?
No. We are only able to offer the beta branch of the game on Steam, meaning it will not be available on Xbox platforms and crossplay will not work.
Will the beta be localized in my language?
The beta will only be available in English. We want to get this beta into the hands of y’all as early as possible, so it has not yet had the time to go through the translation and localization process. This means that any new features and content will only be available in English (older content will still be localized). Rest assured, it will be localized for the full release later this year!
