26w24abc/25ab: Better FPS, new instruments bricks, crosshair

So I haven't pushed the last few Experimental builds to the Default branch in the last two weeks, sorry for that! The reason is I tried to implement Virtual Texture to improve FPS but ultimately the ratio complexity/gains became too weak so I scrapped it. One week down the drain!

But fear not, as I still managed to improve the FPS via several shader refactors.

New terrain shader yields FPS Improvements I tweaked and improved the terrain shader: we jumped from 70 to 95 fps (from 50 fps two months ago!). Still sensible gains!

The look will be a bit different, but it will actually look better from afar.

Planet Texture:

I also added a setting for the planet texture generation, which give planets a hd looks when viewed from space.

The new high settings makes the planets looks twice better!

Two new cockpit instruments were added:

[p align="start"]Artificial Horizon:

• this represent the ship roll and pitch, like in modern plane.

• It is made mainly to make your cockpit a bit more lively - but it is actually fully functional!

[p align="start"]Docking Procedure screen:

• will shows an animation of the relative position of the target dock.

• you can actually use this to maneuver manually during docking.

This is actually inspired by the docking procedure screen of one of my favorite movie, 2001 A Space Odyssey!

Stone/Rock color refactor: This builds improve the rocks/stone brick color logic to hopefully clear out some frustration they were provoking.

• now each rocks name will contains their color, so hopefully it will make it clearer on why different rocks cannot be merged for crafting.

• stone can be painted, and will remember to original color when paint is removed.

• stone cannot received metal material (issue fixed)

• the color buckets now uses OKLCH color spaces, so hue variations should be more natural.

**Crosshair refactor: **I continued work on the making the UI more lisible and informative with more work on the crosshair.

• Deleting sensitive bricks now shows more information next to the crosshair.

• The command crosshair now shows contextual action icons.

• The crosshair now adapts its contrast against bright and dark backgrounds.

• The fast delete build option is now a dropdown with separate normal, sensitive-only, and full fast delete modes.

• Cargo pickup crosshair labels now use rarity color.

Changes and improvements

• Space battle editor no longer available in Survival

• Improved activate over-text on warp cores: shows Store or Take Void Pearl with dedicated icons depending on what you are holding.

• #7802 #7751 Stone colors

• #7771 Warning gate works with spaceship events (spaceship -> event gate -> warning gate)

• #7825 #7783 Ship dimension no longer include fields and decals

• Teleport stations can be activated manually to open the Codex teleport tab. Player-built stations open a configure menu to rename the brick and open the teleport tab.

• The linking order for display has been reversed to be in similar to gauge and event gate! Your save will be updated.

• Help messages can now inject translated item names, sprites, and keybinds after translating the base text.

Community Suggestions

• #7719 Shipyards turned OFF with a switch are no longer offered for landing; existing saves migrate pads to ON.

• #7720 Vehicle computer command events now separate remaining power from live power usage.

• #7490 Displays can aggregate up to four compatible tanks or storage units.

• Linking for tanks, life support, and power cells now starts from the source block to the display; old blueprints migrate on load.

• #7702 Can rename Teleport Station

• #7702 Teleport station collider fit the shape now

• #7731 Gizmo is now showing on the blast door.

• #7726 Build preview will show dark over a light background

• #7781 Mouse cursor for ship now uses same contrast shader as cursor

• #6807 Assembler displays component quantity in storage. Missing components appears in red.

Bugfixes:

• #7795 Life support when seated

• #7808 Paint, tools and prefabs can no longer be sold at trading kiosks

• #7820 Void Pearls in player inventory or item bar now block warp

• #7821 Scrolling in a galaxy map dropdown no longer zooms the map

• #7755 #7822 Void pearl can show in the wrong slot of warp system

• #7744 Painting with RMB and LMB goes wild

• #7750 #7772 #7448 Repair tool now fixes damaged bricks on child entities

• #7062 Missing block schematics: glass arch, mug, fan.

• #7569 Repair tool now removes persistent damage decals on fully repaired hull.

• [p align="start"] #7790 Ladders dont work

• #7762 Ship systems no longer stall on depleted power during warp or stargate travel.

• #7838 Assembler no longer stalls when crafting stone slabs from rocks in adjacent storage.

• #7801 Manual undock issues

• #7779 Docking event gate state on blueprint spawn is now reset

• #7710 No Npcs on consortium small stations

• #7724 Fuel delivery missions can now be completed incrementally, with a partial fuel sale option for ships that cannot carry the full contract volume.

• #7730 Codex filter reset button fixed

• #7728 Repair missions now scale to smaller stations and rebuild repair objectives cleanly.

• #7725 World rocks and ore despawn when mined to zero health.

• #7477 Docking port item transfers no longer clog the port when no destination is available.

• #7633 Event Gate percentage thresholds no longer save as 100x the entered value.

• #7695 Targeted item preview not visible with Box Delete tool

• #7696 #7307 #6852 Ladders no longer apply gravity while climbing.

• #7655 Delivered mission cargo is now removed from the item bar.

• #7655 Mission cargo rewards are granted to the player's ship instead of a docked parent entity.

• #7655 Mission warp waypoint distance and autopilot alignment now match the selected target system.

• #7499 Monitor and text screens no longer keep rendering after the brick is heavily damaged.

• #6236 Fuel outpost refuelling missions can now be completed and correctly restored after loading a save.

• Assembler/Furnace can push/pull from others assembler/furnace

• #7736 No computer linked message on linked yoke setup

• #7758 Fixed dismantled ships still being available through shipyard recovery

• #7782 #7330 #7025 #7024 Assembler status tooltip could hijack tooltip if windows was closed when on the status tooltip

• #7760 Deleting children entity now gives bricks back in survival

Thanks for playing!