Star Citizen Alpha 3.14.0b PTU.7568635 Patch Notes

Star Citizen Patch 3.14.0b

Alpha Patch 3.14.0b has been released to Evocati, and is now available to test! Patch should now show: VERSION 3.14.0-PTU.7568635.

It is strongly recommended that players delete their USER folder 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.

Database Reset: YES
Long Term Persistence: Enabled
Pledge Copy: Disabled
Starting aUEC: 15,000,000

The current build is under NDA

Please monitor etf-testing-chat in spectrum for updates and testing instructions.

USER.cfg settings: r_displaySessionInfo = 1

Note: This patch does not contain all of the intended features, which will be added iteratively to the notes as they become available. Additionally, some features may be implemented in a partial state and as such are not ready for testing. When those features reach a playable state they will be detailed on the notes and added to the “Testing Focus”. Please issue council all issues related to those in testing focus and in general gameplay.

Current cloud tech is still in active development and not yet final. There’s ongoing work on SDF occlusion which should help alleviate the graphical artifacting (visual dots in the clouds). Additionally, we are working towards having local VFX for the clouds (similar to the gas clouds around rest stops) which will make a big difference in overall quality.

Testing Focus

Crusader
Orison Landing Zone
Law System v2: Surrender
Power Management v2 (Capacitor Gameplay)
Limited ships for test: Aurora MR, Mustang Alpha, Gladius, 300i, Vanguard Warden

In this build we have made Orison the default spawn location as well as temporarily enabled the ability to always select a new spawn when joining the PU.

Known Issues

Gas Clouds on Crusader appear to have moving graphical artifacts that appear as dots. Current clouds are still in development and not final. See note at the top of patch notes
Ship claim will fail with message “[PH] Your claim currently cannot be processed, please try again.” After relogging each claim attempt will result in a duplicate ship showing up in your ASOP
Large/heavy Ships will start to fall when in Crusader’s atmosphere
Large framerate drops in most areas of Orison
ReplaceMe balls can be seen on various consoles in the hospital lobby in Orison
ReplaceMe ball can be seen near transit platform in Orison
Players can fly ships into areas with no collision at the main concourse of the Spaceport in Orison
A strange out of place white texture can be seen all across the Industrial Platform in Orison
“Stow” prompt is missing from commodity items, preventing players from storing them in inventory
All items in the Shop Kiosks and mobiGlas PMA/VMA 3D Previews are Glowing Green
Owned ships are not available to be used in any mode other than Freeflight
Unable to rent ships. Client will briefly freeze and REC taken but no ship rental will be granted.
Missions do not recognize players entering zone and AI are unresponsive or not visible to player during missions
Cave FPS Missions – Mission is Withdrawn when nearing planet / cave
AI Ship Nameplates are missing and show as PLACEHOLDER
Intense fog can be seen in docking port interior at all rest stops with docking
The Player has no Collision when they are Manning the Mining Turret of the ROC-DS preventing damage from Weapons Fire
There is flashing that occurs intermittently when viewing the VMA in the MobiGlas at locations with environmental lighting
Emotes do not work via chat or PIT

New Features

Gameplay

Law System v2: Surrender

The addition of Surrender allows players to be arrested without losing their life, an important feature as the game moves closer to mechanics where the decision to surrender or risk death by fighting / fleeing will carry much more weight. Players will be able to surrender by coming to a halt and powering down their ships when ordered to by security. Security will halt their attack and arrest criminal players (and impound the ship if owned by a criminal). Surrendering will give the player a reduced sentence when sent to prison. All players inside a criminal’s ship at the time of surrender, regardless of criminal status will be sent to prison when the ship is impounded. In the current implementation, players can not surrender to other players.

Feature Updates

Locations

Further polish pass on Orison Landing zone LODs, assets, and lighting

Gameplay

Power Management v2 (Capacitor Gameplay)

Rebalancing the existing power system and integrating Capacitors into it. Players will have the ability to manage the amount of extra energy that goes into the thrusters, weapons and shields, making critical decisions on the distribution of energy in order to defend, attack or pursue/evade. This also includes added keybindings to control these changes. The assignment via keys (F5, F6, F7, F8-reset) or power triangle will set the regeneration speed for thruster capacitor, shield regeneration, and energy weapon ammo regeneration
With the new additions to capacitor gameplay comes wide reworks to ship flight and thruster handling, shield behavior, and weapon damage / ammo counts. This full rework on ships is to bring them closer to their intended roles in the universe. This initial release includes the 1st pass of shield balances and new tunings for flight to support capacitor gameplay and will be iterated on as we continue through development.
Weapons: Weapon fire rates and damage have increased dramatically. Ammo rates have been significantly reduced. Energy weapons now have limited ammo which is automatically regenerated when the weapon is not being used. Changing assignment to weapons will make energy weapon regenerate ammo faster. Throttling and overclocking is disabled for the time being (will be re-evaluated post 3.14). Manned turrets have their isolated weapon capacitor system which will regenerate weapons faster and provide a deeper pool.
Shields: Full balance rework on all shields below Size 3 to turn them into bubble type shields with 1 shield face. Removed hardening (will be redeveloped at a later point).
Thrusters: Added separate regenerable pool for boost (formerly afterburner). Changing assignment to thrusters will make the thruster boost bar fill up faster.
UI: Added thruster fuel boost bar. Added weapon readout on the HUD for each weapon showing ammo state. Slightly changed the meaning of the shield display to reflect power triangle assignment, disallowed throttling on the shield display. Legacy Power triangle functionality is removed (it was just a power priority setting that only worked if the power plant could not supply enough power). Power triangle will now work as a pure regen distribution function for shields, energy weapons and thruster boost.

Ships and Vehicles

Canvas Sliced Ship HUDs

Updating all ship HUDs to use the new Canvas Slice system, providing an improved layout that maximizes screen real estate and provides more info and depth to pilots. Players will now see a universal bearing along the top edge. Pitch ladder has moved from the center of the players vision to along the right side. We’ve added 3D velocity and acceleration meters on the bottom corner.
Claiming a ship no longer restocks missiles / torpedoes
We’ve made missiles and torpedoes no longer restock when a ship is claimed through insurance on the ASOP terminal. Players will now need to restock the ship manually through the landing services after reclaiming. With this change we have reduced the base wait time for all insurance claims.
Increased Inner Thought text size for ship medical bed “Set as preferred ICU”
Adjusted Pilot/Co-Pilot seat animations and height in the Hammerhead

Bug Fixes

Ships should no longer fail to restock ammo and missiles/torpedoes when using restocking services
Glass surfaces should no longer be seen flashing around Orison
Large/heavy Ships should no longer fall when in Crusader’s atmosphere
Fixed multiple ReplaceMe balls can be seen on bases of trees around various hab platforms in Orisons vista
Female Orison tourist NPC hair should no longer be stretched when viewing her from a distance while she is sitting
RSI Mantis Quantum Snare should no longer place criminal charges on self
Fixed a visarea issue that was present when entering and exiting elevator on hab floors in Orison
Fixed an issue causing the Constellation’s landing gear to not function / deploy
Spaceport Security AI should no longer be T-Posing in landing zones
Fixed an issue causing players to see a motion blur effect with multiple lights across the PU
Security patrols should no longer sometimes ignore the player if they have a crimestat or become hostile
SparkJet Pro Power plants should now show the correct size grade the component is
Fixed an issue causing the Pilot’s Weapon HUD to no longer be visible after entering / exiting a Turret
Aztalan Helmets should no longer cause the Player to suffocate when out in space
Turning ship into no fly zones at Area18 should no longer result in auto pilot pulling player to the ground