Elite Dangerous | Update 13 Notes

Greetings Commanders.

And so, Salvation is nigh…Update 13 and the conclusion of the Azimuth Saga are only a short number of hours away and we’re on the edge of our cockpit seats.
Before we get down to the business of update notes ahead of downtime and deployment, let’s recap today’s release deployment schedule.

We are still very much on track and working to the following itinerary:

Time Approximations (BST)
09:00	Server downtime begins for all Elite Dangerous Odyssey and Horizons players, on all platforms.
13:00	Elite Dangerous servers will be back online across all platforms. Update 13 will be available.

The update notes will be delivered here in two sections of this post.

• The first will be specific to Odyssey only, with the second specific to Horizons only.

Great! So without further ado, please see below for Update 13’s release notes, starting with Elite Dangerous Odyssey.

 

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Elite Dangerous Odyssey Update 13 Notes.

 

Features Of Note

• Scenarios and features added to reflect the finale of the Azimuth Saga in game.
  • Nothing further to add on these other than...well, see for yourself. The time is almost upon us!

 

Issues Of Note Addressed

• Commanders were experiencing a high frequency of crashes and stability issues around planetary surface settlements and POIs. The issue behind these stability problems have now been addressed.
• An issue has been fixed whereby Commanders have been unable to access ship functions/panels whilst Station Services is open.
• An issue has been fixed whereby attempting to play CQC would cause a crash.
• An issue has been fixed whereby the frameshift countdown would hang at 00.00 and keep you guessing.
• An issue has been fixed whereby severe shadow flickering would occur, most notably at settlements during sunrises and sunsets.
  • This was also noted as being an issue from in ship too. We just want the glorious views.
• Pioneer suits have now been reinstated and will be available to adorn your wonderful selves with once again.
• An issue has been fixed whereby covert theft missions failed to count toward Terra Velasquez's prerequisite.
• An issue has been fixed whereby Guardian Sentinels were failing to fire their missiles.
• An issue has been fixed whereby players could find themselves being stopped from disembarking from a Frontline Solutions ship after landing at a Star Port.
  • For example once completing a combat zone on foot, there was no option to disembark from the ship. The only way it was possible to do so was via the lower panel.
• An issue has been fixed whereby Terra Velasquez/Rascal's Choice's bookmark appeared in Systems instead of Settlements.
• An issue has been fixed whereby ship kit pieces were blocking weapons from firing.
  • This was partly in relation to the Cutter and Corvette Raider Ship kits specifically, blocking Gauss railguns (on the Corvette) and beamlaser (on the Cutter).
• An issue has been fixed whereby the transaction tab did not accurately represent what mission cargo you have on your ship in Odyssey like it would in Horizons.
• An issue has been fixed whereby commodities would not transfer from a Commander’s Fleet Carrier to their ship.
  • A player example of this was when a Commander reported being unable to unload Food Cartridges and Uranium from their Fleet Carrier to their cargo racks.
  • Issues related to other mission related cargo types being unable to be transferred or purchased from Fleet Carriers have been addressed.
• Issues have been fixed in relation to the BGS, caused by mission antagonists being part of the mission giving faction in salvage and illegal defense missions.
  • I won’t dare to write out the extent of it here, but luckily there is an in depth write up of the issue here in the Issue Tracker.
• An issue has been fixed whereby mining fragments/materials were continuing to become stuck to asteroids result in limpets being unable to collect them.
  • This has been explored multiple times in the past and further improvements are being made as such, as the team hit them.
• The free camera now moves smoothly even when the ship is moving rapidly in Supercruise.
  • This will also address improvements to tether range.
• An issue has been resolved whereby players could erroneously be assigned bounties when other ships were destroyed around them.
  • We stand by your innocence.
• An issue has been fixed whereby on-foot inbox notifications were incorrectly displaying.
  • The display of the number of outstanding messages on the inbox itself was missing and only updated on receiving a new message. This has been addressed.
• An issue has been fixed with the Proximity Warning lights on the Anaconda incorrectly triggering.
  • For example they would remain active even in Supercruise and when the landing gear is raised.
• The following issue with the Crash reporter has now been fixed: Crash Reporter reports an Object Reference Not Set to an instance of an Object error.
  • Issue tracker link for reference.

 

Update General.

AI

• The ambient traffic system has been updated in order to broaden the range of ships that can spawn.
• Thargoid Interceptors no longer drift off target whilst scanning player ships (stay with me, guys. Focus)
• Thargoid Scavengers at Surface Sites now require line of sight before going hostile.
• Removed exploit that allowed more than one NPC ship launched fighter to enter combat at a time.
• Landed ships can now only be scanned by one NPC ship at a time.
• On-foot assassination missions no longer fail as soon as the target boards a ship (Yeah that's right, going home doesn't mean you're safe anymore, bad guys!)
• Guardian Sentinels are no longer impeded from using their missile launchers.
• Ship launched fighters inform their mothership of their target to ensure kills get correctly attributed.
• Hostility between teammates can no longer be affected by other combatants (so stay out of it).
• NPC crew in SLFs can now correctly use Guardian weapons against Thargoids.

 

Multiplayer

• An issue has been fixed whereby Commanders part of a multicrew session would sometimes become stuck in the Supercruise warp tunnel.
• Inconsistencies within the Thargon swarm behaviour between Commanders engaged in same instance combat have been addressed.

 

Audio

• Fixed Missing audio of the Taipan fighter deploy and stow animations.
• Fixed Missing reverb on Thargoid Sensors.
• Fixed fire sounds from rapidly turning on and off at Thargoid wrecks.

 

Character

• Improved NPC eye movement as their head moves (None of these guys were actual Pilots with this ailment, right?).

 

Ships/SRV

• Players can no longer access impounded ships.
• When viewing a passenger lounge, the player info panel now highlights available passenger seats.
• Docking can no longer be requested if the docking service is not available.
• Ships in Supercruise toward a planet's tourist beacon will no longer skip the glide descent phase.

 

Server

• A fix has been implemented to address a "Yellow Adder" server error when converting a legacy engineering modification.
• Added Exobiology ship decals which were previously missing.
• Players in training simulations are displayed as such in friends and Squadron member lists.
• An issue has been fixed whereby attempting to take control of a fighter that had been deployed then abandoned by another team member ,would cause the game to soft lock aka become unresponsive (but not crash).

Rendering

• Fixed lights sometimes jittering when attached to moving objects. 
  • This was noticed mildly (but wasn't limited to) with the Hazard kit lighting, as an example.
• Fixed some issues with trailing behind moving objects.
  • This was causing a black outline to appear around some objects.
• Fixes added to address some visual effects and UI dropping in brightness for a frame when transitioning to/from Supercruise or Hyperspace.
• Some shadows appeared to flicker on approach to settlements. Instances where this would occur have been addressed.
• Fixed visual disturbances occurring in fog when entirely in shadow.
  • For example fog around planet rings.

Interactions

•  A reputation update will now trigger when an engineer unlocks, rather than waiting until later.

 

Engineers

• Engineers will now offer non-Engineering services to all Commanders when they have invited status.
  • Commanders will no longer need to unlock the Engineer Workshop to gain access to other services.

 

Fleet Carriers

• Fleet Carrier livery options are now available whilst on foot.
• The fade to black is transition has been improved for when moving players to the Bridge for Fleet Carrier jumps.

 

Stability

• Commanders were experiencing a high frequency of crashes and stability issues around planetary surface settlements and POIs. The issue behind these stability problems have now been addressed.
• An instance of an occasional crash has been fixed which could be encountered when exiting to main menu after joining a team in an on foot conflict zone.
• An instance of an occasional crash has been fixed which could be encountered when multicrew members would use the FSS.

 

Art

• Fix implemented to address some spurious extra lights which were appearing on the Scorpion SRV, when the vehicle was positioned near a Commander’s ship.
• Fixed an issue with oversized light-blocking geometry protruding through the hull of dockable megaship.
• Fixed some cases of visual errors/flickering on several Agricultural buildings.
• Areas of collision have been improved around Thargoid Surface sites.
• Textures have been improved around Thargoid Surface sites (hope they appreciate this after everything that's been going on...)
• Further improvements have been made to the Azure paintjobs for Odyssey to better reflect their visual in Horizons.
• Further improvements have been made to Razor paintjobs, to be more metallic and a closer match to those in Horizons.
• Improvements have been made to the Type 9 ship model, where some paintjobs were experiencing visual issues.
• Fixed two holes that appeared on the underside of the DiamondBack Explorer (Have you checked on your cargo/crew lately?).
• Improvements made to the Hazard ship kit bumper for the Cobra Mk III, namely preventing the front bumper from protruding into the cockpit.
• Improved elements of the Anaconda ship model to further improve the look of paint jobs.
• Improvements made to the Imperial Courier model in regards to collision.
• Improvements made to damage on Empire Capital ships.
• Improved elements of the Python ship model to further improve the look of paint jobs.
• Improved the Thargoid Device at Surface Sites, as it was sometimes prone to losing detail.
• Fixed a number of flickering decals seen at entrances to Thargoid Surface Sites.
• Improved elements of the Imperial Clipper ship’s heat vents so that they are more predictably coloured for paintjobs.
• Improved elements of Fer De Lance ship kit pieces to prevent some paintjob smearing.
• Improvements made to prevent floating objects further at Guardian sites.
• Some adjustments have been made to the Python Hazard ship kit, as nameplates were being obscured.
• Improved elements of the Imperial Cutter ship model, which caused some visual issues on paintjobs.
• Improvements made to the Imperial Cutter debris, which is now working correctly.
• Improvements made to the Type 9 Hazard ship kit and fixed whereby some kit pieces would protrude into the cockpit.

 

UI

• New conflict zone panel added to the top right info panel in the cockpit, for the purpose of anti-Xeno conflict zones.
• UI during pre-jump sequence now provides destination information.
• Cockpit nav panel filters no longer carry over to on-foot nav panel.
• Interaction markers now show a mission icon for mission relevant micro resources.
• Missions that involve transporting cargo now display the amount collected and the amount delivered.
• The Galaxy map now uses the correct plotting method when system connectors are disabled.
• Refuel, repair and restock buttons in the service panel now animate whilst waiting for a server response.
• Avatar thumbnails no longer appear unlit or blurry.
• Improvements made to the System Map to prevent it from potentially getting stuck when loading details of systems with unexplored, non-landable planets.
• Combat bond notifications can now be received by crew members and players in ship launched fighters.
• The duplicate key binding popup for the semicolon key now displays text correctly.
• The nameplate and icon above a vendor's head in social spaces will no longer overlap.
• Settlement bookmarks added from the nav panel or system map are no longer misclassified as Systems.
• On-foot missions will now show the destination in the mission journal and will update it when relevant events occur.
• Commander names are no longer able to start or end with whitespace characters.
• A garbled container keycode will no longer be provided in cases when no keycode is required.
• Added the text glitch effect back into the station services UI when a station is burning.
• Added missing settlement icons to the Squadron Faction viewer UI so there are no longer empty boxes in some places.
• Added missing tooltips and icons to the comms panel inbox message buttons, these should now always have both an icon and a tooltip.
• Added better protection from malformed strings entered into the social menu search bar.

 

VFX

• Fix implemented for missing VFX on damaged Imperial Couriers.
• Fix implemented for visual disturbances that could appear in large hangars.

 

Key Known Issues:

This list is a selection of top noted issues for Commanders following previous updates, as well as some new we wish to alert you of. By no means is this list considered the final list of issues to address moving forward, this is simply a top selection.

• [NEW!] Skimmer movement audio currently fails to sound.
• Navlock is currently not working as expected in Odyssey as it does for Horizons players.
• Ship Lateral and Vertical thrusters are reported weaker.
  • Issue tracker link for more details.
• CG Galaxy Map icons fail to appear.
• Settlement raid and massacre missions require more targets than are present.
  • Issue tracker link for more details.
• Some missions reported as giving incorrect rewards.
  • Issue tracker link for more details.
• [NEW!] When a system enters Incursion from Incursion Pending, Starports are not currently catching fire.

 

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Elite Dangerous Horizons Update Notes.

 

Issues of Note Addressed

• An issue has been fixed whereby attempting to play CQC would cause a crash.
• An issue has been fixed whereby Guardian Sentinels were failing to fire their missiles.

 

Audio

• Fix implemented for fire sounds turning on and off at burning Stations.
• Fix implemented to stop fire sounds from rapidly turning on and off at Thargoid wrecks.

 

Art

• Improvements made to the Type 9 Hazard ship kit to stop some pieces protruding into the cockpit, as well as fixed visual flickering.
• Fix implemented to stop the Hazard ship kit bumper for the Cobra Mk III from protruding into the cockpit.
• Fixed visual flickering present on the Python Hazard ship kit.
• Fixed some visual flickering on various decals used on the damaged Empire Capital ship.
• Made improvements to the Anaconda ship model to better represent paintjobs.
• Made improvements to the Fer De Lance ship kit pieces to prevent some paintjob smearing.
• Made some adjustments to the Python Industrial ship kit as nameplates were being obscured.
• Made some improvements to Imperial Cutter debris so that they work correctly, as intended.

 

Server

• Fixed players being unable to request to join private groups.

 

UI

• Added better protection from malformed strings entered into the social menu search bar.

 

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And with that, Commanders, here's to an exciting release of Update 13 and the finale of The Azimuth Saga as it draws to a close.

We're excited to share these moments with you!

See you in the black o7