If you’ve been playing or watching streams of No Man’s Sky over the past few days, you should know that things are about to get very different.
On the No Man’s Sky website, director Sean Murray posted a list of the changes that will hit the game when the day-one patch goes live on Monday. In addition to altering the story, this patch will expand inventory space (whew!), re-balance combat, and change the way planets are formed. Based on the patch notes, this is a massive update.
If you plan to get the game on Tuesday, you’ll get the patch as soon as you log in. If you bought an early copy, however, Murray recommends that you delete your file before you update the game.
“If you had an early copy somehow, your save game will technically work post update, but you will miss out on new content and experiences if you don’t delete your save before updating (should be obvious why from notes below),” Murray wrote. “We highly recommend deleting your save if you have played before updating your game (we won’t do this in future, but it’s a day zero update).”
Murray also noted that they plan to wipe the servers on Monday and again on Tuesday (Australian time). Here are the full patch notes:
- The Three Paths — there are now new, unique “paths” you can follow throughout the game. You must start the game on a fresh save, with the patch, as early choices have significant impact on what you see later in the game, and the overall experience.
- The Universe — we changed the rules of the universe generation algorithm. Planets have moved. Environments have changed biomes. Galaxies have altered shape. All to create greater variety earlier. Galaxies are now up to 10x larger.
- Diversity — Creatures are now more diverse in terms of ecology and densities on planets.
- Planets — we’ve added dead moons, low atmosphere and extreme hazardous planets. Extreme hazards include blizzards and dust storms.
- Atmosphere — space, night time and day skies are now 4x more varied due to new atmospheric system, which refracts light more accurately to allow for more intense sunsets.
- Planet rotation — play testing has made it obvious people are struggling to adjust to this during play so it’s effects have been reduced further…
- Terrain generation — caves up to 128m tall are now possible. Geometric anomalies have been added. Underwater erosion now leads to more interesting sea beds.
- Ship diversity — a wider variety of ships appear per star system, and are available to purchase. Cargo and installed technology now vary more, and ships have more unique attributes.
- Inventory — ship inventories now store 5 times more resources per slot. Suit inventories now store 2.5 times more per slot. This encourages exploration and gives freedom from the beginning. We’re probably going to increase this even further in the next update, for people in the latter game phases, and will allow greater trading potential.
- Trading — trading is deeper. Star systems and planets each have their own wants and needs, based off a galactic economy. Observing these is the key to successful trading. We still working on adjusting this based on how everyone plays, but all trading values have been rebalanced across the galaxy, giving a greater depth. A bunch of trade exploits were uncovered and have been removed
- Feeding — creatures now have their own diet, based on planet and climate. Feeding them correctly will yield different results per species, such as mining for you, protecting the player, becoming pets, alerting you to rare loot or pooping valuable resources.
- Survival — recharging hazard protection requires rare resources, making shielding shards useful again. Storms can be deadly. Hazard protection and suit upgrades have been added. Liquids are often more dangerous
- Graphical effects — Lighting and texture resolution have been improved. Shadow quality has doubled. Temporal AA didn’t make it in time, but it’s so close
- Balancing — several hundred upgrades have had stat changes (mainly exo-suit and ship, but also weapon), new upgrades have been added.
- Combat — Auto Aim and weapon aim has been completely rewritten to feel more gentle in general, but stickier when you need it. Sentinels now alert each other, if they haven’t been dealt with quickly. Quad and Walker AI is now much more challenging, even I struggle with them without a powered up weapon.
- Space Combat — advanced techniques have been introduced, like brake drifting and critical hits. Bounty missions and larger battles now occur. Pirate frequency has been increased, as well as difficulty depending on your cargo.
- Exploits — infinite warp cell exploit and rare goods trading exploit among other removed. People using these cheats were ruining the game for themselves, but people are weird and can’t stop themselves ¯_(シ)_/¯
- Stability — foundations for buildings on super large planets. Resolved several low repro crashes, in particular when player warped further than 256 light years in one session (was only possible due to warp cell exploit above).
- Space Stations — interiors are now more varied, bars, trade rooms and hydroponic labs have been added
- Networking — Ability to scan star systems other players have discovered on the Galactic Map, increasing the chance of collision. Star systems discovered by other players appear during Galactic Map flight
- Ship scanning — scanning for points of interest from your ship is now possible. Buildings generate earlier and show up in ship scans
- Flying over terrain — pop-in and shadow artefacts have been reduced. Generation speed has been increased two fold (planets with large bodies of water will be targeted in next update)
- Writing — The Atlas path has been rewritten by James Swallow (writer on Deus Ex) and me. I think it speaks to the over-arching theme of player freedom more clearly now. Early mission text has been rewritten to allow for multiple endings.
Comments
61 responses to “No Man’s Sky’s Day-One Patch Will Make Some Huge Changes”
Well, I have avoided all of the videos and early player impressions sooooo…
Changes sound good?
One day, there will be a time, when a game will be released that is ready to play without a day 1 patch…
Anyone know why we here in Oz don’t get the game until the 10th?
I dont think we get it til the 12th now?
It’s the 10th for PS4, 13th for PC. 🙁
Only PC is delayed til the 12th
its the 12th in the US, for us may as well be the 13th
I think you mean 10th and 12th not 13th, cause 13th is Saturday. I was gonna get it on Ps4 but any reasons to consider PC? (My PC is old, it can run Ark on Medium to low settings without struggling)
13th is on NMS steam page.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/275850/
Because we live in tomorrowland according to the US
Worldwide release date, so 9th in US is 10th for us. Same with the PC version, listed as 12th US so 13th for us.
Yep I have been avoiding everything as well, still super hyped
The list of changes make it sound like theres a ton of stuff to do and explore.
What do you mean one day?
Those days are the days of old.
Ahhhh, indeed. Insert cartridge and play.
I get that patches *can* make improvements, but I think testing in now a minor part of the development process.
No, testing is still a massive part of development, its just we are the testers…
you can’t get it earlier because it comes out at the same time as America because they are like a day behind and can’t you wait 2 days
I dont really mind Day 1 patches all that much. It takes a while to get a game from master print to the stores, and there are usually things they dont think about until too late in the process to change.
So rather than delay while they make those changes, get it off to the printers while they code them. The alternative is to delay the game another month while they code them, put them in, test them, etc etc. Which would then need even more time before it got off to the printers, and hence more delays.
I’d rather a day 1 patch than that sort of delay.
“One day, there will be a time, when a game will be released that is ready to play without a day 1 patch…”
The 80’s & 90’s was a good time to be gaming…..
Because it will be the 9th in America I assume, they might actually try and launch it at the same time(roughly), also an assumption
I’ve read lots about NMS and am tempted to get a PS4 to play it. But do I need an internet connection to play it? Most things I’ve read suggest yes but I haven’t found a definitive answer.
No you don’t. There IS an offline mode. Your discoveries just don’t get uploaded to the game’s server.
I’d say you at least need an internet connection to apply the patch referred to in this article. It sounds like it will make a big difference to the game.
From what I have read, no you do not need a constant connection. But obviously you will miss out on some of the features.
Isn’t that just the download for the game itself?
and at the bottom he said base building and owning freighters is their next big thing woohoo!!!
Next up we’re adding the ability to build bases and own giant space freighters. Temporal AA and my new cloud rendering tech should be coming soon too. It will really change the game again, and enhance it visually.
Wait……………………………so essentially they DID release an alpha game? Gawwwwwwwwwwd.
i guess you could call it an early access lol or just like heaps of games itll have dlc
Long term player of DayZ here since the first month of the original Mod and had ARK since like, week 2… so eh this isn’t anything new to me lol. Plus the core game looks highly playable anyhow. So I’m in *shrug*.
Also, what’s the bet real Multiplayer really IS on the horizon, it’s just not fully implemented yet lol
im not fussed about mp personally because i dont see it as that kind of game but each to their own, i just really want big ships i can keep in orbit as a base while i shuttle down to explore
I’d like Multiplayer but the option to say, go ‘peaceful multiplayer’, where you can interact, but not necessarily destroy each other or each others things. To stop griefing etc perhaps? My son and I are both getting the game and we’re going to try to find each other in the universe at some point, probably a vain hope lol
id like multiplayer as in finding people and all that involves, i just dont really agree with people wanting to instantly warp to others, kind of seems to take away from the scope of the game but if they added it those of us that dont want it can just decide not to use it so no biggie
Indeed. I like the idea of laying beacons and travelling to each other, that would be fun and I totally agree with you. I think if they give some sort of half way point with that, maybe the ability to highlight the coordinates of a friend, showing where to travel (once they build a beacon they can place on themselves of course) or something?
beacons would be a great idea or even seeing your friends paths and if you are close to there path you head to the closest system they have been to and the persons whos path it is can warp back to any system they have visited, you both then head off from there. No one gets a free express trip forward, only back
Yeah, I was going to check this out anyway, just because.
But now I think I might just wait a few months till they get their shit together
Cobra TV mentioned how one of the updates are the ability to see where users have discovered systems on the star map. Which is super cool. You can cruise around on the map and see how far off you are from people at least.
Nice. It won’t be long til they introduce a proper way to find your friends at least, that’ll be awesome to have.
I am very happy to wait until the 12th, this update sounds promising.
Didnt realise there was a semi pet system on the planet. Wonder the extent of how deep things work in the sense of taking animals off planet and/or plants see how things are reacted to a different atmosphere.
This Friday… 60$ could be very very well spent
cant take things off planet yet but maybe when freighters are released
Hmm, could be very interesting for future updates.
Still looking forward to it either way. Is there a confirmation on vehicles on planets or is it currently just the ship you have?
just the ship so far and your jetpack but its another thing that could be brought in with freighters, an orbital vehicle drop but thats wild speculation
awesome! thanks for the info. I know pretty much next to nothing and reading the update, I’m pretty impressed so far.
Not too much longer for us PC’ers
Where are you getting it for $60?
Steam has it for 60$ unless its changed since i last checked
Not really… The price on Steam is in USD, convert it and it’s over $80. I paid $82 for it a fortnight ago.
GOG has it for $63AUD.
oh shit, in all my years i have never looked at the currency at the prices.
what a massive LOL!
Gog saying A$61.99 at the moment, so $62 basically. Nice deal – especially as it’s also DRM-free.
This is hilarious. Wasn’t the game delayed a few months? And now on the eve of release they release this huge day 1 patch?
Name a game these days that doesn’t have a day one patch?
I understand day one patches. But this looks more than a mere patch. Its a significant upgrade.
Most Day 1 patches are fairly substantial in the way of balancing and fixes.
It’s likely that the developers had this all planned anyway and they got it ready before the day1 release.
won’t hear me complaining
What busa91 said. Add to this, that most games don’t run from disc these days, barely any do. We live in a world now where games predominantly (read: pretty much all) run from your hdd. If devs hold back content for day 1 that ISNT charged for, then I have no issue with it personally as it’s accessible over steam etc. It’s a mountain out of a molehill really.
It seems like they went gold a little early with this one while they were still working on fixes, so now that it’s ready to release (the fixes are ready for the day 1 patch), they’ve had time to also add a ton of new content/improvements.
yeah the game went gold like a month ago, really they shouldnt have done anything for that month until the game released and then started work on new content and balancing. There is an article about day 1 patches on poly, good insight, i suggest you should take a look
Good article. Thanks.
Would you rather they didn’t update the game with improvements? I’m struggling to see the problem here…..
Physical distribution of discs takes a LONG time. The alternative would have been to delay the game again.
I agree, but for we internet challenged folks, day 1 patches mean playing the game on day3 by the time it downloads.
I hear ya Poita. I swear by copper line is hanging on by a single thread.
Unless you have preordered it on PSN. In which case, you will already have the game and patch downloaded, ready for activation on the 10th.
This sounds like Assassin’s Creed French Version all over again. Release broken game, patch the hell out of it. I hate to think how big this patch would be size wise.
800mb according to sean murray
Sean Murray @NoMansSky
@Parzival1423 @danthat its about 800mb – sorry
See here’s the difference:
AssCreed was broken from the get go – i.e You couldn’t play it.
NMS was playable from start to finish as demonstrated by a guy getting an early copy.
Ubisoft have a proven record for releasing broken games and being general shitty when it comes to business.
HelloGames have a proven track record of releasing fun and enjoyable games, whilst trying to do right by the consumer.
So in other words they are admitting to releasing an unfinished game so they just decided to patch the rest in instead of finishing the game…..wow thats just stupid as fuck.
The game wasn’t unfinished. It was playable, from start to end. Albeit with a few bugs. They added these features in to increase the enjoyment for players. For free. With continued updates coming soon that are free also.. To me that’s pretty smart.