[Game Update] - DLC Beta 616718 (2024)

Hi everyone,

We're ready to start beta testing our upcoming DLC, The Frosty Planet Pack!

This paid DLC centers around a glacial new starting world complete with brand-new biomes, critters, buildings, elements, plants, foods, a new trait and a new Duplicant. We've also tweaked Duplicants' and critters' reactions to extreme temperatures.

Be among the first to explore it all by playing on the public_testing branch on Steam. This free testing period is open to anyone who owns the base game on Steam.We expect it to last at least three weeks, and will make an announcement about the full release timeline and pricing when we have more info.

New biomes
The new Ice Cave starting biome presents immediate thermal regulation and resource harvesting challenges, as elements are frozen solid. (The Duplicants aren't feeling so hot in there either.) The chilly Cool Pool biome nearby is peppered with craters full of Ethanol, while the snowy Nectar biome features a sweet new liquid resource that can be used as an alternative ingredient in Plastic production.

New critters, a Duplicant, and other cool stuff
New critters include the Flox—whose antlers can be harvested for Wood—and the rotund Spigot Seal. The latter provides Ethanol and a new element called Tallow, which can be used in the new Deep Fryer to produce one of the deep-fried meals we've added. We've also introduced the Bammoth, a woolly behemoth that produces shearable Reed Fiber.

A new Duplicant named Freyja comes with the Frost Proof trait, and is better able to tolerate the frigid environment. Newly printed Duplicants from the existing cast may also possess this trait.

Other notable new items include: an Ice Liquefier building, Wood Heater, snow and wood tiles, a new element called Cinnabar, edible and decor plants, plus a unique Printing Pod skin.

DLC mixing
We're introducing the ability to remix this DLC content into other asteroids when you start a new game. These settings can be customized in the "Scramble DLCs" tab in the destination selection screen.

Anything else?
Some content is still in the works and won't be accessible until the DLC's full release. A selection of the updated mechanics and improvements are being added to the base game (see patch notes for details). Lots to look forward to at every stage!

Thanks for helping us test and tweak this new DLC before it goes on sale. You can submit your feedback here and report bugs here.

Here's what you'll find in the beta so far:

New Features in “The Frosty Planet Pack”

• New starting asteroid option called Ceres.
• New Biomes
  • Ice Caves Starting Biome
    • New Critter: Flox
    • New Resource Plant: Pikeapple Bush
    • New Resource Plant: Alveo Vera
    • New Forage Plant: Sherberry Plant
    • New Decor Plant: Idylla Flower
    • New Element: Cinnabar
  • Cool Pool Biome
    • New Critter: Bammoth
    • New Resource Plant: Plume Squash Plant
    • New Decor Entity: Lumen Quartz
  • Nectar Biome
    • New Critter: Spigot Seal
    • New Resource Plant: Bonbon Gourd
    • New Element: Nectar
• New Buildings
  • Wood Heater
  • Ice Liquefier
  • Snow Tile
  • Wood Tile
  • Deep Fryer
  • Wood Block
• New Foods
  • Squash Fries
  • Fish Taco
  • Deep Fried Steak
  • Shellfish Tempura
  • Pikeapple and Pikeapple Skewer
  • Sherberry
  • Plume Squash
  • Pemmican
• Other new features
  • Added a new Duplicant named Freyja.
  • Added "Frost Proof" trait to make Duplicants immune to the "Chilly surroundings" effect.
  • Added Icy Nectar Meteor Shower.
  • Added Aurora borealis visuals to the backgrounds of Ceres worlds.
  • New music “Ice Planet” and Ceres themed day and night stinger.
• New Points of Interest
  • Frosty Planet Starting Base
  • Research Portal
  • Tiny Cottage
  • Ceres Showroom
  • Geo Vents
  • Geothermal Heat Pump

New Features in All Versions

• Added Scramble DLC worldgen options, allowing the ability to mix in DLC biomes, outer asteroids, and other content into non-DLC clusters when making a new game.
• Revised Duplicant temperature mechanics:
  • Hyperthermia and Hypothermia diseases have been removed. Instead, Duplicants are now more vulnerable to Chilly Surroundings and Toasty Surroundings debuffs at temperatures outside their comfort range.
  • Duplicant comfort range has been adjusted to approximately 0°C - 45°C in standard oxygen conditions.
  • Duplicants now receive “Cold Scolding” damage when exposed to extremely cold external temperatures (approximately -90°C).
  • High body heat loss will now disturb a sleeping Duplicant.
  • Duplicants will now seek warming stations to remove the Chilly Surroundings status effect.
  • Duplicants will now seek cooling stations to remove the Toasty Surroundings status effect.
  • Warming stations remove and provide temporary immunity to Chilly Surroundings and Soggy Feet status effects.
  • Cooling stations remove and provide temporary immunity to the Toasty Surroundings status effect.
  • Space Heaters now function as Warming Stations.
  • Water Coolers now function as Cooling Stations.
  • The Warm Sweater has been replaced by the Warm Coat, which has a more effective insulation property.
  • The Cool Vest has been removed from the game.
  • Atmo suits now provide immunity to Chilly Surroundings and Toasty Surrounding effects.
• Revised critter temperature mechanics
  • Rebalanced all critter comfort and livable temperature ranges.
  • Critters with an internal temperature outside of their comfort ranges suffer a happiness penalty.
  • Critters experiencing an external temperature outside of their livable range will gradually take damage.
  • Critters now spawn at a comfortable internal temperature.
  • Critters now show thought bubbles when they feel too cold or too warm.
• Temperature Overlay Improvements
  • Added Heat Source and Heat Sink icons.
  • Added a visual effect to objects with significant heat production.
  • Added a slider-adjustable "Relative Temperature" sub-overlay to the Temperature Overlay screen.

Changes and Improvements

• All versions
  • Critters
    • The Grooming Station now restores critter health.
    • The Shearing Station now requires Raw Metals to be built, instead of Raw Minerals.
    • Critters that eat plants directly can now eat plants planted in a Planter Box.
    • Critters will now face the food they eat.
    • Critters now remember which way they were facing when loading a save.
  • Plants
    • Harvest Ready plants will no longer change their animations to wilted even if their growth requirements are no longer met.
    • Tree branches "Harvest Ready" status item tooltip now mentions "branch" instead "plant"
  • UI
    • Buildings melting will now trigger a notification.
    • Some materials, such as Lead, are now deprioritized for automatic building material selection, even if they have the highest quantity in supply.
    • Small adjustments to UI layout of overlay legends, including addition of tooltips.
    • Changed the "All" header in storage bins to "All Standard." Certain special resources are moved to a different header below to prevent unintentional automatic storage when discovered.
    • Added copy settings feature to the Rehydrator.
    • A building's information screen now displays a description of the base version of the selected building, rather than the selected blueprint. The selected blueprint's description is viewable in the Blueprint tab of the sidescreen.
    • The Research screen now resets its search filter each time it is opened.
    • Clearing the Research screen filter will now also clear "All" and "Next" filters.
    • Added a button to the details screen of selected resources to quick-open that resource in the Resources menu.
    • Revised Planter Box side screen to show more options at once. Added tooltips.
    • Added building description to the tooltip for the default blueprint of a building.
    • Added the Very Dim illumination threshold between Pitch Black and Dim. Removed Dark.
    • Added some text feedback when build material is automatically changed due to insufficient resources.
    • Added The Frosty Planet Pack DLC logo to the main menu.
    • Replaced the Enable/Disable DLC button with a smaller toggle.
    • Database
      • Changed the name for Lumber to "Wood."
      • Removed Wood from the Elements category and merged its contents into the Wood entry in the Industrial Ingredients category.
      • Added "Produced By" and "Applications" info for Reed Fiber and Balm Lily Flower.
      • Added Shearing Station info to critters & resources that generate them (e.g. Bammoths sheared to produce Reed Fiber, Floxes sheared to produce Wood, etc.)
      • Added image and Applications info to Tonic Root page.
      • Changed how the database shows the diet of critters that consume plants directly to now show the percentage of the growth of the plant being consumed per cycle instead of "the units of the plant being consumed per cycle."
      • Added links between related Tip and Video entries.
      • Plants in the database now show their product produced in "mass per cycle or calories per cycle"
  • Duplicants
    • Sleeping Duplicants will now tolerate up to 500 lux before being disturbed by the brightness.
    • Duplicants who fall asleep due to their stamina reaching zero will now show an Unscheduled Nap status item.
    • Duplicants with zero stamina will now prefer to go to their assignment bed instead of passing out on the floor.
    • Duplicants will now consider additional items to pull from nearby storages for fetch errands. (This will improve quality of life for non-absorbing items like dried food packages).
    • Duplicants no longer do a "gross food" emote after eating food with germs on it, as it was often misinterpreted as a response to the quality of the food.
    • Handy and Unconstructive traits are now mutually exclusive.
  • Buildings
    • The Polymer Press now accepts Nectar as an input equivalent to Petroleum.
    • Increased the Decor value of ice sculptures.
    • Insulated Super Computer, Water Cooler, and Electrolyzer storages to prevent contents from freezing in cold environments.
    • Ladder, Cot, Outhouse, and Drywall can now optionally be built out of Wood.
    • Storage Bin, Liquid Conduit, Gas Conduit, and Wash Basin can now optionally be built with raw metals.
    • It is now possible to specify which kind of food a Rehydrator can rehydrate in the sidescreen.
    • Liquid Vents now show animated drips in the color of liquid they are outputting.
  • Elements
    • Added Cinnabar element.
    • Added Nectar element.
    • Added Tallow element.
    • Mercury is no longer disabled.
    • Moved Sucrose from Spaced Out! to the base game.
    • Removed several unused and/or unintentional elements from the database and sandbox tool.
• Spaced Out! only
  • Asteroid details panel now displays a more accurate representation of biomes in the world. Only applies to new saves.
    

Fixes

• All versions
  • Performance
    • Improved sound performance.
    • Improved performance of plants vulnerable to atmospheric pressure.
  • Rehydrator
    • Rehydrated food no longer ignores consumable restrictions.
    • Duplicants can now pull more than 1 dried food package from a storage per fetch chore (max 10, also applies to eggs).
    • Duplicants will no longer ignore available Dehydrators in situations where the nearer Rehydrator is unavailable (either reserved, in use or out of resources).
    • Fixed issue where Rehydrator could get stuck in situations such as a power outage.
  • Prioritize critter brain updates when they are spawned in order for them to have gravity applied.
  • Fixed Biobot continuing to work when their battery runs out.
  • Biobots now drop their inventory when their in-progress chore is interrupted, if that current chore involves them adding an item to their inventory.
  • Fixed attack tool toggling priority when used on a critter that has already been marked for attack.
  • Fixed a bug affecting the precision of meter bars on buildings.
  • Fixed issue causing Research screen to sometimes cancel the wrong research tasks when clicking on a mid-tier item.
  • Fixed issue causing element consumption status items to sometimes fail to appear.
  • Fixed an issue where saves with a large number of plants would incorrectly calculate their atmospheric conditions.
  • Fixed a bug where using the Harvest tool to mark a plant with "Disable Harvest" was not canceling an ongoing harvest.
  • Fixed a bug preventing Duplicants from equipping their assigned clothing or suits when they were interrupted en route.
  • Fixed a bug where Pips eating a fully grown branch were causing the user's "Harvest when ready" setting to become false.
  • When a critter is injured it now says "Critter" instead of "Duplicant" in their status item tooltip.
  • Art buildings completed and painted/sculpted no longer show "Needs to be worked by a duplicant" in their description if a Duplicant already worked on it.
  • Fixed a bug where paintings, sculptures and the Fossil Quarry stopped updating their description properly after the art was completed or the Ancient Specimen story trait was completed.
  • Fixed strings for construction materials that weren't showing up correctly in the database for Buildings/Furniture. This includes: Obsidian, Ceramic, Plastic and Diamond.
  • Fixed Slicksters navigating certain paths incorrectly after tile deconstruction.
  • Fixed a crash that could happen loading a save with a move errand.
  • Fixed issue preventing a Duplicant's default clothing from actually insulating them until some non-default clothing was unequipped.
  • Fixed issue causing Ice Blocks to instantly melt when placed in Sandbox mode.
  • Fixed crash that could happen if a Duplicant vomits in an invalid location.
  • Pokeshells are no longer required to move to new cells in order for them to decide whether they can molt or not.
• Spaced Out! only
  • Removed repeated entry for Plug Slugs in Critter Flux-o-Matic story trait.
  • Fixed Rover continuing to work when their battery runs out.
  • Biobots now drop their inventory when their in-progress chore is interrupted, if that current chore involves them adding an item to their inventory.

Supply Closet

• Previews of many new blueprints are available in the supply closet. These (and more) will be available in the full release.
• Fixed issue on the blueprint opening screen where clicking on rarity text did not advance to the next blueprint.

Other Worldgen Changes

• All versions
  • Removed Neutronium geodes from the Geodes world trait.
• Spaced Out! only
  • Adjusted minimum count of the Tundra biome on the Flipped Asteroid. This may affect some seeds.

Modding

• Added modding support for mixing worlds and subworlds (i.e. biomes).
  • Worlds can define where subworlds can be mixed by defining subworldMixingRules. Rule names must include parentheses such as “(Mixing1)”.
  • Subworld mixings are defined in the subworldMixing folder.
  • World mixings are defined in the worldMixing folder. All clusters have been configured to allow for replacing outer asteroids. Important POIs, subworlds, and meteor showers are added to the new world.
• Content from loaded planet packs are filtered out of the Db when loading into a save without the DLC enabled.
  • To check if content is loaded: DlcManager.IsContentSubscribed
  • To check if content is available in a save: SaveLoader.Instance.IsDLCActiveForCurrentSave
• Fixes
  • Skip installing mods which failed to download instead of crashing.
  • Fixed crash loading saves with modded Artables if the mod is disabled.
  • Asteroid and cluster name and description keys no longer crash when missing strings.
  • Fixed crash when a worldgen mod is removed that added an asteroid icon by using the default asteroid icon.
• Worldgen
  • Added welcomeMessage to cluster config to override the default welcome message when starting a new game. It can be a string key or plain text.
  • Deprecated cluster config requiredDlcId and forbiddenDlcId. Use the string arrays requiredDlcIds and forbiddenDlcIds instead. Worldgen mods using the deprecated fields will be translated to the new format on load.
  • clusterCategory can be specified using enum values in addition to numbers.
  • Added allowNearStart to template rules which allows placement near the start. It does not allow overwriting features as they are often important to the starting area.
  • Added new template rules TryRange and GuaranteeRange which picks a random value from a defined range.
  • Fully mature plants found in POI templates are no longer randomized after worldgen.

What is public testing?

"Public testing" means players get to test-drive new content early and give us feedback and suggestionsbefore it goes live.Because this is an unfinished andin active development versionof the game, it's pretty likely you'll encounter bugs, crashes or balance issues while playing these builds. We'll try to fix any problems that crop up as quickly as we can, but it's possible you'll lose progress in your games while playing on the Testing branch.

Regarding performance, the Testing branch has additional debugging tools enabled to help us track down crashes. This makes the game run more slowly than the live version of the game.

Please also be aware that once a save is loaded in the Testing branch, it cannot be reopened again in the previous Live branchor previous builds.

What do I do if I find a crash or a bug?

Post it up on the Bug Trackerand we'll fix it as soon as we can. If you can attach a copy of your save file to your report, that helps us even more as we can pinpoint the source of problem more quickly.

Do I have to play the public testing build?

Nope!If you'd prefer to only play astable build, you can continue to play in the current Default branchuntil the game launches in full. Playing the Open Testing build isn't necessary, but it helps us a lot to receive your feedback and reports - if you're interested, try it out!

How do I become apublictester?

There's no sign up or registration for becoming an open tester. If you own Oxygen Not Included andwant to join the Testing Branch, all you have to do is play the Open Testing build on Steam.

How do I play the public testing build?

You can switch your branch on Steam using the instructions below:

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