Star Citizen Alpha 3.20.0 PTU.8671107 Patch Notes

Star Citizen Patch 3.20.0

Alpha Patch 3.20.0 has been released to the PTU, and is now available to test! Patch should now show: VERSION 3.20.0-PTU.8671107.

It is strongly recommended that players delete their USER and Shader folders for the Public client after patching, particularly if you start encountering any odd character graphical issues or crash on loading. The USER folder can be found (in default installations) at C:\Program Files\Roberts Space Industries\StarCitizen\PTU. The Shader folders can be found here C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Star Citizen.

Audience: Waves 1 and 2
Database Reset: Yes
Server Regions: US/EU (Please select one of these instead of BEST or loading will fail)
Long Term Persistence: Enabled
Pledge Copy: Enabled
Starting aUEC: 15,000,000

Known Issues

MISC Hull C – Stanton – Vehicle / Actor Tech – There is no oxygen/breathable atmosphere at the engineering end of the spindle corridor when it is extended
Vehicle Loadout Manager – switching ship components causes all parts of the ship to appear empty
PU – Inventory – Local inventory infinite loading after loadout change in VLM and relogging into the game
PU – Stanton – AI / Locations – Combat AI will teleport / pop in combat
PU – Loot Generation / Interactables – Lootable boxes cannot be opened
PU – Vehicle – MISC Prospector – Door doesn’t work from the inside
AC – Classic Race – Multiple Maps – Maps timeout while loading
Belvic Convention Center Train Station is Missing
Multiple Locations – Inventory – Equipped items are lost after dying in the landing zone
Multivehicle – PU – Vehicles / Actor Feature – Medical / Respawn – Cannot respawn on a ship that has streamed out
Room System / Actor / Locations – Room System does not protect player actor from extreme weather conditions in Lorville Interiors
ASOP – Ships – Vehicles – Clicked to “Store” ship at ASOP but it was “Destroyed”
Vehicles – Players and items can fall through the bottom deck of the Redeemer
Vehicles / Ship Components – Ships that do not have missiles as a standard weapon cannot restock their countermeasures.
Reclaimer – Vehicles – Stanton – Reclaimer bridge elevator interaction missing
Performance – Client Performance drops around Ghost Hollow
Mission Content – UGF – AI Counter will drop to 0 after streaming location in and out again
Vehicles / GFX – Client FPS will drop as long as players are inside of the cockpit of the Drake Cutlass series
The Carrack’s main elevator will get locked in place and begin to spin indefinitely after spamming the floors for a few minutes
GrimHEX – Dumpers Depot – Art / Locations – The Dumper’s Depot within GrimHEX has a VisArea that allows players to clip inside of location.
Vehicle Maintenance Services – Ship repair doesn’t happen but still charges you
Landing Pads – Multivehicle / Shopping – Refuel, repair, and rearm services unavailable when landed
Multiple Locations – ASOP Terminal / Ships – When storing a ship, the ASOP terminal will set the ship status to “Claim” instead of “Retrieve.”
Exploit / Ships / Vehicles / Game Code / Multiplayer – When two Players Salvage a Ships Hull simultaneously the Hull will recover and be infinitely Scrapeable
Inventory / Personal Inventory – Inventory can enter a state of becoming unresponsive, preventing the player from being able to eat or drink
AI / Art – VFX – Hostile AI bullets visually clip through walls

New Features

Locations

Seraphim Station

Bringing the Crusader Port station in line with the other stations and replacing the long standing Port Olisar, Seraphim Station brings many of the amenities needed to accommodate the various features required of a station such as hangars, cargo decks, shopping, clinics, and habs.

Gameplay

Automated Cargo Transfer and New Cargo Packing System

Alpha 3.20 includes the addition of the new automated cargo transferal experience to the PU for the Hull C. The existing cargo transaction system,which other ships will still use for this release, will instantly pop all of the purchased cargo into a ship or instantly remove all sold cargo off the ship after the transaction has completed. The Hull C however requires a new experience where the player after buying or selling the cargo at the commodity kiosk will be prompted to pick it up/drop it off at a loading area. To do so the player retrieves their vehicle then hails the location’s Cargo Services to get assigned a loading area (similar to getting assigned a landing area from ATC). After flying their ship to the loading area they will be prompted to stop moving, and then extend the spindles on their ship. Once the ship is ready cargo will be added onto the cargo grids of the ship over a period of approximately 5 or so minutes, depending on the size of the load. Currently these boxes will just pop into place. If the player moves or someone enters the area the transfer will be interrupted until the disruption is addressed or the loading area is eventually revoked. After transfer is completed successfully the player will be prompted to leave the area, eventually getting a warning for impounding if they do not.

With the changes for the Hull C comes a complete rewrite of how the cargo system places cargo into ships (any ships, not just the Hull C). Previous versions of the system only dealt with 1 SCU containers, and could use fairly simple logic for placement or removal. We are now supporting various sized boxes to be placed in the cargo holds (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 24, and 32) as well as supporting various orientations of placement in the grid to work around grid obstructions. This also includes temporary tractor beam strength changes to support the attachment/detachment of those various sized boxes using the tractor beam. Cargo grids have also been extended to support non-cargo box attachments and also the smaller mission hand held boxes.

New Mission: Illegal Salvage Coverup Mission

Salvage Coverup is a new variation on the salvage missions. These new missions come as a new, illegal mission contract called The Tar Pits to cover up for the perpetrator of a crime, in this case NineTails, who want to keep their involvement under the radar. You are tasked to hull scrape their entire ship, to remove the NineTails paintjob before the ship evidence is discovered by security. If security forces arrive before you manage to perform the coverup, the security ships spot the hull colors, report back, and you will fail and be attacked if at the location. Do it in time, and the Tar Pits will pay you handsomely for your efforts, and your silence.

Ships and Vehicles

New Ship: MISC Hull-C

Feature Updates

Locations

Underground Facilities – Rastar Update

Rastar is a tool which is used to quickly build POI’s on planet surfaces by combining pre-built modules together at the click of a button. They also change the way which mission locations are setup and streamed in, essentially, they are the future of creating planetary locations. This update moves all our original UGF’s over to the new Rastar tool workflow. All UGF’s have been replaced in the same positions as they were previously, with the settings they previously had applied to them reapplied where appropriate. This means functionally the current locations should be no different than they were before on the mission side of things and also art wise should be the same barring some minor adjustments to the exterior layout of each location.

Gameplay

Wheeled Vehicle Handling Improvements

Updates and improvements to current ground vehicle movement parameters and simulation, allowing for more robust tuning and identity between various ground vehicles.

AI Ship Difficulty Rebalance

Until now, there has been a very small pool of ships available for use as AI in missions. With this new change we have included every ship able to QT into the mix for both Criminals and Civilians, though some that didn’t make sense for Criminals have not been added, like Cutlass Blue for instance. This update includes a full AI Ship Rebalance of difficulties. Ships have been divided into difficulty bands which have mainly been derived from large data sets based on PVP analytics. Finally, we have also made a new ship difficulty band of Very Hard which is now reflected in the Very Hard bounty/assassination missions.

Vaulting & Mantling – Air Ledge Grab Improvements

Implementing updated Vaulting & Mantling improvements that make the process much more smooth and intuitive for players. This update allows players to now be able to grab ledges while running and jumping, low/high vault while running and/or in mid-air, and allows low/high mantle while running and/or in mid-air.

Mining Stability and Polish

Enhanced lifetime of ROC coolers to help adjust them overheating while in use and breaking down too quick.

Core Tech

Updated EAC SDK to 1.15.5

Bug Fixes

Fixed – Stanton – AI / FPS – Enemy combat AI is slow to respond or react
Fixed – Art / VFX – Esperia ships with activated viewports (Talon, Prowler) have opaque glass material blocking vision
Fixed – ASOP / Fleet Manager – Locations – Unable to deliver any vehicles from an ASOP terminal
Fixed – Mouse – Controls / Game Code – The Screen will constantly Re-centre when in Interaction Mode
Fixed – Multiple Locations – Social AI – AI Standing / Crouching on Benches Throughout The PU
Fixed – UI – Starmap – No planets are visible the first time the player opens the Starmap
Fixed – PES / Inventory – Cannot equip looted items after restarting game session
Fixed – Ships – ASOP Terminal – Spawning ships causes the requested ship to spawn outside of the hangars
Fixed – Ships / Vehicles – VMS / CryAstro Services – CryAstro services does not offer the option to repair/refuel/restock ships
Fixed – Ships / UI – mobiGlas – VMA – Vehicle Components – The Vulture default Baler salvage heads cannot be re-equipped in VMA
Fixed – Transit – Area18 – Orison – Shuttles/Trains/Trams – Players are falling through sometimes disappearing trams and shuttles to their deaths
Fixed – UI – mobiGlas – VMA / Ship Components – Equipping more than 5 components in a single “Save Changes and Equip” VMA transaction will fail
Fixed – Vehicles / UI – mobiGlas – VMA – Ships will not load in VMA
Fixed – Actor / Respawn – Players may load in with their character dead T-Posing partially submerged into the hab floor
Fixed – Character – The player can sometimes initially spawn or fall outside of the bed in habs or hospitals
Fixed – Character – When attempting to equip the Greycat Salvage Backpack, sometimes the backpack won’t equip correctly
Fixed – Character – UI – Medical Screens – Female player character can’t fully reach the medical bed terminal screen in various ships
Fixed – Art – Artimex Helmet’s respiratory tube is unattached on both male and female player characters
Fixed – Physics / Ships – Planets / Multiship – Ships Cannot Land And Will Float Away
Fixed – Actor Feature – Player Status / EVA – Players are instantly downed when transitioning from EVA to Gravity with a Tier 1 leg injury
Fixed – AI / FPS – Enemy combat AI is slow to respond or react
Fixed – Deadbolt V Cannon – Vehicles / Vehicle Tech / UI – Cannon fire is inconsistent in its damage to players on foot.
Fixed – Multivehicle – Locations – Medical Bay Bed and Screen Obstruction in Hangars
Fixed – Locations – Aberdeen – Klescher Rehabilitation Facility – Missions – Ursa rovers can sometimes spawn under the garages, preventing prisoner escape
Fixed – Locations – Aberdeen Moon / Klescher Rehabilitation Facility – Prison Kiosk / Ore Sale – Game Code / Transaction – Transaction failure occurs when attempting to deposit Harvestables
Fixed – Locations / ASOP / ATC – ASOPs and ATC reporting all landing pads full despite empty hangars
Fixed – Locations / Terminals – Lorville – New Deal and Vantage Rental Kiosks Are Missing
Fixed – Mining – Game Code / Weapons / Mining – Mining Deposits Fracture Difficulty can randomly change
Fixed – Shopping / Mining – Refinery terminal endless message “Processing Your Request” and does not load interface
Fixed – Shopping – The total transaction cost of renting ships/vehicles that’s displayed on rental kiosks is incorrect to what the player is actually charged
Fixed – Vehicles – Players can enter the ANVIL Carrack via interacting with the manned turrets on foot or via EVA
Fixed – Vehicles – Drake Vulture – Greycat Multitool rarely stays in weapon rack ; will teleport back into players hand
Fixed – Vehicles – Art / GFX – Materials – Components – Paints – Multiple paints cause the captain and crew quarters windows to be opaque in the 400i
Fixed – Ships – Ship Features – Art / Graphics / Lighting / Shadows – The cockpit door of the Valkyrie is very darkly shadowed any time the door is not animating
Fixed – RSI Constellation Multivariant – Vehicles / Ships / Docking – The snub fighter lacks interaction prompts to enter it, making it unusable
Fixed – Multivehicle – Cargo Grid / Commodities – Cargo that has been moved off-grid and out of vehicle persists on-grid at the commodity kiosk, which prevents purchases from filling those empty cargo on-grid slots
Fixed – Graphics / UI – Inventory – Ultrawide resolutions inhibit cursor movement, cannot click Close button
Fixed – Interactable – Lootable Container displays a Red Loot Prompt that is non-interactable
Fixed – EXPLOIT – Inventory – Ammo duplication when picking up from floor
Fixed – EXPLOIT – Physics – Emotes – Players can use emotes to attach themselves to a ships hull

Technical

Fixed 6 Client Crashes
Fixed 9 Server Crashes

Arena Commander 3.20 Update

3.20 marks a major content and tech update to Arena Commander and Star Marine, combining them into 1 cohesive game mode, and updating many classic maps up to the latest tech and standards as well as bring in many new maps and game modes for a more exciting and diverse experience.

This patch is the largest Arena Commander has seen since it’s creation. Below you’ll find all the details for all we’ve been up to during Stage 1 of our revitalization of Arena Commander. This is an important stage in our plan as it sets Arena Commander up for success, though it does deliver a lot of content it unlocks even more. We’re all excited to unlock Arena Commander’s potential and bring it to new heights with each patch. We hope you enjoy everything this patch delivers, if you’d like to share your thoughts head over to the Spectrum Feedback forums!

Thank you,
Original Systems, Arena Commander Feature Team.

Unified Frontend & Lobby System
Electronic Access, Arena Commander and Star Marine have merged under a single “Arena Commander” frontend menu. This new frontend, powered by Building Blocks, unifies the various simulation module brands and menus into a single easy to use interface. Included in this significant refactor is a complete rewrite of Arena Commander’s lobby system allowing you to squad up with people directly from your friends or party list with new squad limits per game mode, which can be seen from the game mode selection tiles. This refactor sees Singleplayer, Multiplayer and Private renamed to Offline, Online and Custom respectively.

Spawning & Loadout Module Refactor
A rewrite of Arena Commander’s Spawning & Loadout Modules has the legacy code updated to modern standards, utilizing Persistent Entity Streaming, new entitlement service and a new spawn screen being introduced to most modes allowing players to select their vehicle from within the game in most game modes. This is the first part of a series of updates to how spawning & loadouts are handled in Arena Commander, laying the foundations for exciting new additions like in-game loadout customization, multicrew and spawn locations.

New Rewards
Alongside this content drop is several new rewards to obtain from playing Arena Commander! Rewards can only be obtained in Online matches once 3.20 goes onto the LIVE environment.
The following badge rewards have been added, you can view your acquired badge on your Spectrum Profile.

2953 Pirate Aggressor – Complete Pirate Swarm

Unlocking 2953 Pirate Aggressor also grants access to The Pirate Gladius and The Caterpillar Pirate Edition pledge store pages.

2953 Vanduul Aggressor – Reach Wave 25 of Endless Vanduul Swarm
2953 Master of Arms – Win a match of Gun Rush
2953 Tank Commander – Win a match of any Tank game mode
AC – Experimental Tester – Finish any Experimental Mode

AC Game Modes

New Feature – Experimental Game Modes

An exciting new initiative for Arena Commander has “Experimental Modes” rotate for a limited time throughout a patch cycle. These modes range from simple variants of existing modes like Single Weapon Elimination to brand new modes that explore new mechanics, locations or even in-development features before they reach the Persistent Universe like part of the new flight model, Master Modes.

The Current Experimental Game Modes as of this release will be:

Gun Rush
Tank Royale
Team Tank Battle
Single Weapon Elimination
Duel: 2 Fury 2 Furious
Master Modes: Free Flight, Duel & Endless Vanduul Swarm

Experimental Mode: Master Modes
Experimental Versions of Free Flight, Duel, and a special Endless version of Vanduul Swarm will play host a collection of features that update our flight model – the original game modes will be unaffected & remain playable. Dubbed “Master Modes” this feature encompasses many changes to our flight systems, detailed below.
Note below will detail default keybinds.

“Master Modes” includes several new features: Aiming v2 (New gimbal behaviours, new aiming UI for pips, auto-gimbal, crosshairs etc), Targeting v2 (New targeting behaviours with new keybinds, auto-targeting, targeting brackets), Flight tuning, and a newly updated UI that comes with that.

Speed is now limited when in SCM mode
Use of afterburner can push slightly beyond SCM speed as long as players have boost capacitor, with greater “push” in the forward vector
New “NAV” mode that disables weapons and shields, but gives access to higher top speed. Swapping between modes has a spool up period.
Gladius has updated ship tunings to go with this mode
Weapon capacitor pool is increased in baseline but regen is less impacted by priority triangle
Ammo for the Mantis is higher
Old gimbal system of weapon size going down one to accomdate gimbals has been replaced with a flat 20% reduction in firerate on the same weapons, allowing fixed and gimbal on size 3 for the Gladius
Targeting bracket has been updated
Central HUD symbology for targeting has changed including boresight, orientation arrow, gimbal designation, and PIPs.

Flight Model changes:
– Trichording is not possible anymore, the strongest acceleration axis is forward
– Pitch and Yaw cannot be combined anymore
– Gladius agility was increased
– Boost and regen were adjusted

Master Modes:
– Master Modes added (press B to swap) between NAV and SCM
– SCM allows high capacitor regen rates, shields and weapons but restricts max speed
– Thruster boost / afterburner will temporarily allow you to extend beyond the SCM boundary
– NAV allows high speed but no shields and weapons. It also heavily restricts regen rates.
– Swapping between master modes in not immediate
– Shield face health is stored in a buffer up to a certain ratio when going from SCM to NAV. When going from NAV to SCM that buffer will be quickly pushed back into the faces. The shield face generation from that buffer cannot be interrupted by incoming fire.

Gunnery changes:
– New aiming system is enabled
– Combined fixed assist was removed.
– Fixed assist per gun was added.
– Auto gimbal mode: Instead of keeping of keeping the target in a 8 degree cone you only need to keep the target roughly around your aim point and your gimbals will track. When auto gimbals are not tracking they will act like manual gimbals.
– Fixed mode: there is one PIP per projectile speed group (you will see one PIP for the KLWEs and one for the GATS).
– Manual gimbal mode now also has fixed assist for each gun.
– Added option: show precision lines (for fixed and manual gimbal mode)
– Added option: Auto gimbal display (focused on average PIP or focused on target with gimbal position indicators)
– New target bracket
– Drastically increased ballistic ammo
– Removed N-1 system: An S3 gimbal will now hold an S3 gun
– Custom weapon stats for the Gladius weaponry
– Shield layout for the used Gladius is now Front / Back

Targeting changes:
– Button changes: R: Closest Hostile, T: Cycle Hostiles in view, 5: Cycle all in view
– Auto targeting: If no target is present or if you press LALT+R the closest visible hostile will be targeted. Targets will automatically swap if better targets are in view. Any manual target control will cancel that process.
– Added bindings to allow setting the default convergence distance directly from an input axis, however there is no UI for this yet
– Added binding to suppress aim assists if the button is held. Use it when you feel that aim assist works against you.

New Experimental Game Modes: Team Tank Battle & Tank Royale
The Nova tank is finally here in Arena Commander! You’ll be able to fight in both team based and free for all gamemodes where the goal is to successfully eliminate more tanks than anybody else.
Both gamemodes support up to 16 players and are points based, either reach the score limit or simply have the highest score at the end of the game to win.

Initial Game rules

Team-based Elimination (Squadron Battle)
Player Count: 16
Max Squad: 8
Required Players: 2
Time Limit 15: Win with Highest Score at Time Limit or Getting Past the60000 Score Limit

Maps
With this new Arena Commander Update for 3.20 comes some major updates and additions to maps to make locations more unique, engaging, and up to date.

New FPS/Dogfighting Map – Security Post Kareah

One of the new additions to Arena Commander from the Persistent Universe, Security Post Kareah will host all of Arena Commander’s game modes, both FPS and Dogfighting (except for Classic Race).

New Dogfighting Map – Jericho Station

Stanton’s INS Jericho debuts as the newest location for all dogfighting game modes in Arena Commander. This true zero-g open space environment has players face off with few distractions and high performance in the lightest of all our maps.

New Dogfighting Map – Winner’s Circle

Alongside the reworked New Horizon Speedway Maps comes a long-requested atmospheric map for dogfighting modes. Battle in the earth-like atmosphere above the beautiful planet Green, the 3rd planet of the Ellis System.

New Racetracks

Test your racing prowess in Euterpe Icebreaker, Miners Lament, The Snake Pit and Yadar Valley as some of the first persistent universe locations enter Arena Commander, alongside Halloran Circuit, a brand new racetrack on the New Horizon Speedway.

New Elimination Map – Echo11

The FPS map Echo11, previously exclusive to the game mode Control, has a new variant tailored for Elimination.

New Horizon Speedway Rework

One of Star Citizens oldest locations sees it updated to include a real, full, planet – Green, the 3rd planet of the Ellis System. Including full atmosphere and refined track layout these new tracks bring a new challenge to Arena Commander’s Classic Race game mode. In addition to the three revamped maps: Old Vanderval, Rikkord Memorial Raceway and Defford Link. A 4th addition to the New Horizon Speedway Collection, Halloran Circuit, introduces unique challenges with difficulty rivaling Defford Link, the hardest of all the tracks.

Technical