Signal Simulator news & patch notes

New

• Colorblind filter in Graphics option
• Color Scheme options for changing the colors of your display text
• Options to change the terminal color
• Option to change the signal strength bar

Fixes :

• Player.log file has been temporary disabled. Using the VHS players / Unity Video Player, the engine starts filling the player.log file with same warning all the time increasing the file size and causing the game to crash. The standard log will be replaced with custom made in future updates.
• Monitor Image UI scale
• When sleep with flashlight it stays on

Resting System changes

• Auto calibration finishes after sleep
• While sleeping the system recharge will move faster / Keep in mind that you can wake up without power :)
• While Sleeping the antenna will rotate based on timescale

Others

• Geometry optimizations for some model
• Ambient light improvement
• Small UI improvements

UPDATE : LOADING PROBLEM HAS BEEN FIXED When loading the game you can experience a freeze. The is not crashing just loading a big amount of textures that are used as monitor animations. It was created to reduce the CPU usage. Right now i am working on a visual loading system that will show you the loading progress. So don't panic when you hit 100% loaded and you wait some time till the game start.

Fixes : - Fix the grass rendering in the rover mode and storm the ares, Now shouldn't be rendered white or missing Changes: - Rover now uses a rigid body as a simulation instead of raytracing. This will help detects the environment better. - All prerendered textures for BOINC, antenna animations, etc. are implemented in the game. With this technique the CPU usage will be decreased, especially using the BOINC. The only downfall will be the increased loading time before starting a new game ( as some of you have already found ).

Fix:

• When using the VHS, the game starts filling the log file with thousands of unnecessary logs.
• Vegetation scale in distance

Optimizations: In the old version the monitor antennas, planets when you detect signals and other animated monitor images were rendered in realtime as textures increasing the CPU usage. I have started to prerender some of the animations as separate textures, removing the camera rendering. The downside of this is a little more Ram usage and loading time, but this will decrease the CPU usage. In the next few weeks expect updates that will replace the old system.

Thanks to D00mD0g for recording some real signals that are added to the game. Here is the tech he used : {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/32575177/0a6122fea9d31f050214601428aa3eb3f19edaf7.jpg

New

• Telescope Added to the game
• VHS - you can now watch movies from your local hard drive - IMPORTANT only .mp4 and .avi files can be played
• Some new secrets :)

Fixes :

• If you click on the laptop and then quickly get out of the chair the laptop screen still opens. During the bug above if you click on the terminal and then exit out it won't return you to the main laptop screen (where you can select from scanner, database .etc) and instead closes you out of the laptop entirely. At this point the mouse cursor is still visible and you won't be able to interact with anything.
• Some lights doesn't show on snow.
• When solar panels are clean from snow and start cleaning again the snow layer resets.
• When using the laptop if you click on the rover, then on logout and then go to the scanner without first closing the laptop does the FPS noticeably decrease while inside the scanner.
• Rover doesn't stop when there is a wall in front of it.
• Rover Camera doesn't render snow, sun and weather effects
• While Antennas are moving and you start auto calibration, the antennas continue to rotate.

Improvements

• Added option for TAA
• Added option for SMAA
• Buttons for purchase an Upgrade or Install a Module are moved in the lower right corner of the screen. Reason is to prevent it from cropping.
• Upgrades and Modules can be scrolled in case of wider screens. Same with the modules
• Transition from legacy to Post Processing v2
• Terrain Improvements

Fixes:

• Fix Crash caused by Power Surge generation.
• Fix Aurora Profile Shader Update error
• Fix when buying a skin doesn't cost you credits.
• Fix an error when in Storm The Area mode the code is still trying to access the tips
• Indoor Ambient Light too bright at daytime
• Fix when Tips disabled to appear randomly
• Fixed Moon blinking glitch.
• Fix Crash when trying to access the Sun Light Intensity
• Fix Crash caused by Space Shooter updating the enemies count.

Improvements:

• Foliage details improved
• Foliage will be rendered only when visible, before was based on patches and was rendered even if there is a wall in front of the camera.
• Rover sound while doing some action like moving, analyze etc.
• Ambient light will change when player is indoor or outdoor. This way when outdoor the sun shadows won't be so dark, but when you are inside the ambient light will be less intense, so you will not get too bright walls when you turn off the lights.

FIXES:

• Transition between day and night. The sky will no longer be black without stars. The stars will slowly appear as expected
• Door locks will respond correctly when used
• Artifacts caused by screen space reflections
• Rover UI stretch on different resolutions
• Database exit button cropped on specific resolutions
• Incorrect Azimuth calibration information. The bug doesn't inform you that you have to calibrate Azimuth
• Fixed Del button for player reset position. Now should be used every 60 minutes
• Antenna Outdoor lights still emits even when off

ADD:

• Wind System. Based on the weather, rain, thunder, clouds etc. the game will generate a wind that will affect the antennas position. This may change the antenna coordinates causing problems detecting a signal in bad weather.
• Add a Pop Up to ask if you want to go to the main menu
• Added a close button for the panel for the new radio. Before you had to add a radio to be able to close it.
• New skin page in the laptop. From there you can unlock and install all the skins you like.
• In Gameplay Options added a Local Time option. This will switch between local and Ingame Time.

IMPROVEMENTS AND CHANGES

• Sun rotation is changed. When you sit on the desk the direction you watch is South, so the Sunrise should be from left to right, not as before.
• Sky colors will no longer be super saturated.
• The tech tree resources will be provided by the helicopter. You will no longer need to buy them. Just focus on the upgrades :)
• Reduce the time when reboot one server in an antenna.

FIXES

• Database selected signal is white causing unreadable text
• Radar signal position icon missing texture
• Rover detects object even if the object is not visible
• Terminal misspell
• Missing icon on laptop UI
• Mother Ship animation activation on start of a game
• Database exit icon missing at 16:10 monitors. Part of the UI was cropped

ADD

• At September 20th the is an event to storm Area 51, so i have added something to pass some time where aliens will storm your base. Separate from the main game you can access it from the main menu.
• Alarm when rover detects objects, won't be necessary to watch it all the time.
• Add small meteors and minerals on the ground. There can be only one spawned at the time. Spawned meteors can be scanned with the rover for data that will give you 150 credits. Once scanned the meteor will generate again to a new place on the map
• Add music slider in Audio Setting. Will affect the radio, and the music in the Storm the Area mode.

IMPROVEMENTS

• Radio text will update only when the radio UI is opened, reducing unnecessary calculations
• Door Lock will not update every frame, but only when it is activated.
• Speed of the rover is doubled
• Sky saturation has been reduced.
• LOD optimizations
• Shader roughtness and glossiness improvements. Added to some of the models and the floors.

Signals:

• More signals suggested from the community
• More event signals
• One event that can be activated using the rover

Curiosity Rover:

• A new UI in the laptop where you can control the rover
• The rover is programmable, you can choose between forward, backward, left, right, analyze.
• Commands can be stacked so you can execute up to 20 commands
• Analyzing the ground can give you science data, like chemical elements that can be converted to resources as credits, electronics, transmitters, etc.
• Rover detects radiation and temperature, higher radiation means there is something hidden somewhere. Closer you are higher radiation.

Radio:

• UI changes
• You now can remove or add a radio from the game.
• Generated JSON file in the save folder will stay, so you can do it from there too.

Fixes:

• Shadow artifacts through transparent objects
• Observatory shader too dark when lights off
• Alpha channel rendered before the fog causing graphical black spots at distance.

Changes:

• Sun shafts are now connected with the fog
• Fog and Sun Shaft resolution is connected to volumetric effects. In 1.7.1 the fog resolution was around Medium, so High and Ultra can cause you a FPS drop

IMPORTANT - With the changes of the volumetric effects you may have a fps drop. The main reason is that in the last update the fog resolution was lower than this one. In graphics -> volumetric effects lower it to medium and you will get the same quality as before with better fps. - If you have a high CPU usage you can lock you FPS in graphic option to 30 or 60 fps. This will reduce the calculation per second and will reduce your CPU usage. High end CPUs shouldn't have any problems.

Curiosity Rover:

• A new UI in the laptop where you can control the rover
• The rover is programmable, you can choose between forward, backward, left, right, analyze.
• Commands can be stacked so you can execute up to 20 commands
• Analyzing the ground can give you science data, like chemical elements that can be converted to resources as credits, electronics, transmitters, etc.
• Rover detects radiation and temperature, higher radiation means there is something hidden somewhere. Closer you are higher radiation.

Radio:

• UI changes
• You now can remove or add a radio from the game.
• Generated JSON file in the save folder will stay, so you can do it from there too.

Fixes:

• Observatory shader too dark when lights off
• Alpha channel rendered before the fog causing graphical black spots at distance.

• Sun shafts are now connected with the fog
• Fog and Sun Shaft resolution is connected to volumetric effects. In 1.7.1 the fog resolution was around Medium, so High and Ultra can cause you a FPS drop

The final version will include also more signal variety and some Event Signals Known issues

• Rover wheel detection can sometimes rotate in wrong direction, after the rover is stopped it will reposition ( It is vary rare, but possible )
• Rover start position is wrong - there is a button to reset its position.

https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32575177/550b3bdb186688cd6edb03e1f1ce9b0259fef771.png

For those who are not in Discord and missed what is coming next and it is in progress : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN04-q2SvZs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mr56uW0rIg4

There were some errors switching from Unity 2018 to Unity 2019 causing missing Game Models. All the assets are visible now and should work as expected. I am really sorry for the inconvenience that i have caused. Hope you understand. For a lone developer it's a difficult task to catch every bug in the game. Once again i apologize !

The game is updated to Unity Engine 2019 Fix : Online Radio turning on/off. Fix : Moving towards walls in the observatory causing audio distortion Fix : Moving towards wall in the observatory causing around 50% fps drop Fix : Reflection probes random performance drop Fix : FPS shuttering every second when not sitting down on the desk.

Fix : Camera rotation when laptop is oppened Online Radio : When the games starts, it will generate a RadioList.json file in the save folder. You can open it with any editor and remove or add radios if you want. I have adding a Reload button in the game when opening the radio to update the changes inside the game. If you mess something with the file just delete it and it will generate again as default. - Added Cart Radio Button / Check controls - Once in the vehicle you can start/stop the radio using the default key "R" (you can change it if you want).

First lets start with a community contribution. Spetial Thanks to Minka for the great Alien art witch is included in the game ( Check the cork board ) Next the game : - Implemented Online Radio, for now i have added 37 radio stations. The old one NASA archives is still in the game. You can change the stations through the laptop. I have added an radio UI to choose a station. In case you need to add you can always ask for a specific station to add. - Resolution menu shows refresh rate. FIX:

• Type errors.
• Objects LOD using higher FOV.
• Coffee cup invisible in some cases.

For the last 10 months i was working almost without a rest, so just to let you know that from 5.07 - 12.07 i am planing to take some rest. Till then will work on small optimizations and improvements. After that will continue to work as hard as i can to please everyone and add more to the game. Thank you all !

- Lights with realtime shadows will now generate shadows only when the player is in close to the light source. This will reduce the shadow casters and improving the performance. Sun light stays the same as before. - Volumetric fog resolution reduced - improving the performance. - Sitting on the desk will disable most of the game objects to reduce unnecessary calculations, it will also disable all the shadows except the sun and the light over the desk. - Displays with animated textures like Weather App, Boinc, Outdoor Camera , etc will render only when necessary. When you are outside they will be fully disabled. - Graphic Option for animated textures setting the animation framerate. - Smaller rocks around the terrain except the bigger ones will not affect the Cart speed anymore. - In case you are close to the Cart respawn point, the respawn coordinates will change, so it won't respawn on your head anymore :) - Cart will now detects if it is under the terrain (Just in case something breaks) and will automatically respawn to the respawn point.

NEW:

• AutoCalibration - a system that can be activated from the terminal. It will disable antenna rotation while calibrating the antennas. It will be slower than manual calibration, but you can manually calibrate the antennas to speed up the process.
• Changes to the antenna position to look like the Very Large Array, in Socorro, NM, USA . Also the number of the antennas is increased.
• Antenna activation/deactivation changes. Instead of using separate switches to deactivate the antennas, will be added a rotational button to change between power usage and antenna detection.
• Command Line Memory - Arrow Up/Down switch between written commands
• Aurora Borealis Generation - not every night, but there is a big chance to be visible.
• The BOINC Project
• New signal and Ambient sounds - Credits to Tokyo
• A Community paragraph in Credits Page to credit everyone helping improving the game. ( Community Help )
• Terrain Size increased
• Optimize animated textures like antennas, planets, etc. - Right now they are always active reducing the current framerate with around 10%. Not much, but it is something.
• Power Surge - In power surge there is a 5% chance of antenna to shutdown. Every antenna has a control panel where you can reactivate it. When an antenna is deactivate it will block to movement to every other antenna.
• Using Second Mouse Button, you can now push the vehicle. Just in case it stuck somewhere.
• Added additional physics restriction to the vehicle. Now should be more stable.
• Add Ultra Option For Foliage Details, increasing the density of the grass.
• Volumetric Fog - Check the Graphics option
• Improved Sun Lights and Sun Shafts
• New terminal Commands : CalStart / CalibrationStart - Start Auto Calibration CalStop / CalibrationStop - Stop AutoCalibration BOINCSTART / BOINCSTOP - Start/Stop Boinc Project

Server freeze chance decreased wtih 100%

Analyzing an anomaly will show a pixelated planet that will refine it time.

Exiting the scanner will reset all the current data except it a signal is detected.

New Upgrade - Boinc Speed

New Upgrade - Boinc Module Chance

New Upgrade - Calibration Speed The BOINC Project: The System will activate a computing jobs that will try to unlock modules for you. You can check the progress to the Signal Main Monitor. When signal is detected the monitor will switch to normal. When the project is active will increase server heat generation and energy consumption. FIXES:

• Rest System Camera position / Rotation
• Rest System timescale
• Terrain Sound Detection
• Terrain Reflection when cloudy
• Radio Button Volume Rotation
• Weather detection wrong icons
• Skyscanner sky/target offset
• Skyscanner audio is trying to play even when the scanner is closed.
• Kitchen Chair colliders
• Vehicle Rotation on Reset
• Sitting on bench and driving the vehicle at the same time
• Outdoor Sound entering the Antenna Server Room are still playing
• If Player is on the antenna at start of the game didn't Activate the Outdoor sounds
• Some typo errors
• Power Button Material on reboot
• Duplicated resolutions in Graphics when using more than one monitor
• Starting a new game (for a second time/Deleting the old save) in some rare is cases causing a crash.

Just a small Trailer for the next update, planned to be released in the next 2 weeks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCtCkK_AtAk

ADD : Weather report

• Cloud Map
• Weather will be based on the cloud map
• Current weather will be saved and load.
• Weather prediction
• Monitor showind all weather reports
• The weather transition is smoother and slower than before. The goal was more realistic approach

- Most of the doors can be locked and unlock now. CHANGES

• New Mouse Model :)
• Improved detection of objects when exiting the vehicle.
• Sky scanner frequency detection will be called : pollarisation of the electromagnetic waves

FIXES

• Switches sometimes activates the Graph Coordinate detection.
• Performance drop while resting and it is raining at the same time.
• Outdoor ambient sounds can be heard in the observatory when standing next to doors
• Audio options doesn't affect the radio
• Vehicle rotation on Reset Position
• Vehicle delay trying to drive forward or backward.

New

• Living quarters in the observatory
• Resting, every 20 minutes you can use the bed. This will forward the time in the game.
• Coffee is now drinkable.
• A Coffee machine in the kitchen to prepare you coffee.
• Rain and Snow Collision Particles
• Storage doors can be closed and opened
• Added the default terminal password to be visible. Easier to be found.
• Preparation for some random things :)

Fixes

• Mouse Rotation on X Axis
• Tracking light is not active even if you are able to use tracking

PS : I couldn't add some of the requests as locking doors for example, but will be there in the next update. I am working as fast as i can and try to keep up with all the request. https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32575177/09bbab982d1e30307f6cd77e26d85889226cebd0.png

In case you're wondering what is hidden in the new room : https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32575177/09bbab982d1e30307f6cd77e26d85889226cebd0.png https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32575177/fabb9fc9a0eb917546e9083b28dacc9ec462533a.png https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32575177/d0b4fa1c6fb8be8368ea3c5291f5cf4e00da248f.png https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32575177/30aa4445d3ff78b4a64286b770bc544e13e25dfa.png

ADDS :

• Menu where you can choose the difficulty level.
• Easy Mode - In this mode the strength detector will update in realtime. Reduced credits earn by 30%.
• Normal Mode - In this mode the strength detector will update once the antennas stop moving.
• Hard Mode - In this mode the strength detector will update once the antennas stop moving. Increased Credits earn by 30%. Decreased antenna detection by 30%.
• Audio Visualization - Based on the audio there will be a different graph like equalizer
• UPS Upgrade - DECREASE THE CHANCE OF POWER OUTAGES
• Calibration Upgrade - Decrease the antenna calibration error
• Energy DIstribution Upgrade - Increase the energy distributed to the systems. Affects only the reduced ones.
• A panel where you can reroute the energy to different systems
• You can now switch Graph View for the coordinate detection
• In Laptop DOCS, documentation for all the systems.

TERMINAL :

• LogIn Screen before entering the terminal. Default password is ADMIN.
• You can change the image of the login screen by adding your image in the save folder of the game. The image should be in .png or .jpg with name 'profileImage'.
• 'SETUSER' Change username -> SETUSER NEWUSER
• 'SETPASS' Change password-> SETPASS NEWPASS . Default pass will stay.
• SHOWAZIMUTH or SHOWA fetch and display current azimuth alignment
• SHOWAELEVATION or SHOWE fetch and display current elevation alignment
• CURRENT fetch and display current azimuth and elevation
• STATUS list values from status screen (efficiencies, speeds, detections, temperature)
• TIME report current date and time
• CHECKTEMPEXTERNAL or CHECKTEMPE report external temperature
• POWER list values from power screen (efficiencies, rates)
• COORDINATES report current min/max/averages for azimuth and elevation, if these values exist
• Add reboot sequence when servers are rebooted

IMPROVEMENTS

• When Efficiancy is 0 call for Stop Rotation Antenna
• Graphics option to tune ambient light at night
• Door Opens Based on Player Position
• ESC close the Console
• 0.01 tuning for the antenna in Antenna Control panel
• Controller control and Keyboard Controls are separated now. You have options to enable the controller Axis from the Controls -> EnableController
• Database visual changes
• A lot of retexturing and model improvements

FIXES

• Str Detector Progress flickering
• UI background offset on pages like Upgrade, Database, Modules
• Based on screen size some UI elements overlap and can't be clicked
• In pause state the HUD UI will hide properly
• Smoke particle alpha for some events and vehicle
• When exiting the game in a animation state, in some cases the camera position is broken.
• Using coffee cup multiple time eventually breaks cup position and rotation.
• Pressing multiple times Use button, using the coffee cup breaks the animation. While drinking the coffee the HUD will be hidden.
• Small rotation offset while repeatedly using Desk, Bench ,Vehicle.
• Mouse movement when the game is paused
• Fix a bug where in very rare cases main Camera can't be found causing a crash.
• Laptop can be open only when sitting on the desk.
• Terminal ESC button doesn't work while accessed on the desk
• Some models LODs
• Calibration Buttons Rotation

CONTROLLER ISSUES I have made some changes of the code splitting the keyboard/mouse code from the controller code. An option to ignore controller axis is added in the Options menu where you can fully disable the controller axis. The update also includes preparations for future updates

Haven't update the game for 2 weeks, but be sure there will be a new one :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zoxsy5PSnb0

IMPROVEMENTS - Overall terrain improvements - retexturing, foliage, etc. - Terrain texture detection. This allows me to activate different walk sounds based on the texture you are. - Walking on the metal floor of the antennas will produce different step sounds. - Ambient light changes - Rain effect improvemets - Cloud improvemets - Skybox color improvemts OTHER - When in the game Space Shooter in the Settings or Upgrade Menu pressing ESC will now close the current menu, this will prevent from stucking in the menu. Just a backdoor while i found the bug causing it. - Controller Deadzone changes and some code improvements. Some players reported that they have experienced player and camera movement without pressing any keys. Most of the time this is caused by plugged controller. I hope this will prevent it. Still wait for a feedback. - Metal materials now look more metalic and realistic. - Fixed light passing through the observatory wall. - Fixed rain and snow visible indoors.

This updates adds ten new event signal in the game. - Ambient light at night is increased as suggested. Not the buildings and the antennas will be more visible. - Increased the range of the outdoor lights of the antennas. - When camera is not looking at an object it will be disabled and not rendered increasing the performance of the game a little. - When there is a storm or thunders and lightnings there is a chance of a electric shock that will reboot your systems. This update is the final small update. I am starting working on the new 1.6 Update adding more features and will try to add more of your suggestions in the game. Once again thank you for the feedbacks and the reviews. Even some of them to be negative, it helps me improve the game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gj3_pg3oRxA

As you have noticed there were small updates in last few days. All of them are small fixes and mostly i am adding more event signals. Till the end of the next week i plan to add 7 more event signal. After that i am start working on a new futures and improvements for the next big update.

Changes and Improvements :

• Improved Sky Scanner System
• Generator will now add energy and will not be based on the energy consumption. With fully upgraded Generator, Module System and Energy Consumption can even recharge the systems a little.
• Turbo temperature reduction changed from -1 per second to -0.2 per second.
• Day Night Circle will be separate from the time of the local clock, and pausing the game will also pause the Circle.
• Current Time will be saved and loaded when you continue the game.
• Local Time Minutes will not affect the events. If it is night they will be generated it it is night time. This will increase a little the range of time when event signal is generated.
• Desk material illuminating in the dark. Green ambient light near the monitors when lights are off.
• Interaction with the coffee cup. It is simple for now, but will be improved in future.
• Laptop new stuff and small changes

Fixes

• Set Azimuth and Set Elevation explanation error
• Corridor light switch not saved
• Server room fluorescent tubes material not updated.
• Sun illumination through walls

FIXES - Missing walking sounds - Antenna 10 can't be rebooted with "REBOOT" command IMPROVEMENTS - Weather system optimisation - Lightning optimisation - More stable FPS - in the last version there was a fps drop with about 50% when it was a day, not there is almost no difference between day and night - Improved fog and sunshafts optimization. There is almost no performance hit when active

FIX - Brocken font using the terminal NEW - New Improved Signal Strength System with hope it will not misleads you anymore :) - EASY MODE option on start screen - this will enable signal strength to refresh in realtime while moving the antenna. Using Easy Mode will decrease the amount of credits earned when detecting a signal. Using Easy Mode can be disabled in any time and you can use it with the old save file. - New Ultra Option for Shadows. On High settings will only decrease the shadow details of the sun. - More optimizations.