No Man's Sky 1.3 (Atlas Rises) is out on PC and PS4

Just look at that beautiful video! I got about 20 minutes with it earlier and even in that small window, it feels like a very different game now. It reminds me (fittingly) of Terraria 1.3 with how much the game has changed.

Here's a brief rundown:

A new story. the lore of Atlas continues and the path has been reworked some. The NPCs you could have in your home have changed dialogue to fit the new story. Apparently, there's 30 hours worth of story content here. The long-rumored fourth race is here!

The galaxy has been redone again. Your home planet may look completely different now. The variety has been significantly increased.

They've added economy, wealth, and conflict ratings to each system, and those ratings affect what you can find.

You can now find crashed freighters on planets and loot them.

You can manipulate terrain with a multitool upgrade.

There's a mission board in every galaxy with procedural missions.

The amount of items you can craft and find have increased dramatically.

The visor looks very different, and scanning can help you find rare items.

The menu UI has been overhauled, to accommodate a new ship inventory system (you now have separate areas for equipment and cargo) and a more in-depth reputation system.

Portals are now functional! You can input the coordinates of planets to transport to them. Which helps with...

Multiplayer! In a sense. "Glitches in the simulation" are causing fragments of other participants to show through, and voip works within a certain radius. Basically, it's the Fable 2 take on multiplayer where everyone else is a floating orb. BUT it's the start of more to come, and still neat.

You now have the ability to fly low to the ground instead of hitting an invisible barrier far above the surface.

There are new ship models, some of which are only available in high-wealth systems.

Tons, tons more. But those are the big ones.

Full patch notes with screenshots here: http://nomanssky.com/atlas-rises-update/

And just a reminder, No Man's Sky is $25 on PSN, GOG, Steam, and Humble right now so if you don't have it, now's a good time to get it!

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 08/11/2017 at 08:53pm

I might have to check this out this weekend...

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/11/2017 at 11:09pm

Sweet!

jdodson Admin wrote on 08/12/2017 at 02:37am

Awesome news. I DEMAND MORE THOUGHTS AFTER YOU PLAY IT MORE!

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 08/12/2017 at 05:21am

OK after a couple hours, it's immense. Before it felt like there was little to do aside from explore, but now it feels like TOO much.

A significant chunk of that is due to the fact that save files from previous versions are a bit bugged. You lose all your NPCs at your base and when you get them back (by rehiring them) they are at the end of their quest line, but in this new update they teach you new blueprints... which you can't get because they won't give you any quests... but you need those blueprints for other quests.

So my plan for now is to let it sit for a while and maybe 1.3.1 will work out some bugs. They've been good in the past about the first round of fixes coming out soon after release. I just feel certain that if they tested 1.3 with a 1.2 save file they would have seen this already-- it seems to be universal.

BUT for people starting fresh it seems to be a good experience all around. Well-balanced, nice progression. It may be time to start over, but ships are expensive!

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 08/12/2017 at 05:22am

But on the plus side, the new stuff is great. The lore-building quests are intriguing and handled well.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/12/2017 at 05:51am

That sucks about the NPC issue. But, yeah, there were things with this update that made me think that it might be a good time to restart. I don't think I spent much time playing the previous update. I was disappointed that you can only use vehicles on one planet. I thought they should have made it so you could take them with you to other planets, perhaps by freighter. I imagined landing a freighter and then being able to roll out your vehicle. That's something I'd like to see.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 08/12/2017 at 02:10pm

> I was disappointed that you can only use vehicles on one planet. I thought they should have made it so you could take them with you to other planets

1.2.something addressed that. You can make them anywhere now

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/12/2017 at 07:51pm

Yeah, you can make them whereever, but that requires you gather the necessary materials on each planet you want to use it. I like the idea of building one and taking it with you. Even if a freighter doesn't land, it'd be cool to get it some distance above the surface and just ride out of it with your vehicle and land on the surface. That would be fun.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 08/12/2017 at 09:38pm

It had been so long since I played, I decided to sttart a new game. I have to say, compared to when this game first came out, it looks beautiful! And it started out beautiful, so it's even better now.
I started on a planet that doesn't have many resouces, so I spent an hour or so just trying to repair all my equipment. I am just wandering around the planet now and haven't flown my ship once. There definitely is more on a planet, I think I'm going to like it again.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/12/2017 at 10:13pm

@Adam did you make it to the center of the galaxy in your old save? I'm tempted to start a new one, too, now especially since Travis brought that issue to our attention. It's been so long, I can't even seem to remember what starting out was like.

I'm glad you say the game looks beautiful. That's a part of it I definitely want to check out!

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/12/2017 at 11:22pm

I started a new save, after backing up my old one. The only issue I've run into so far (after a few minutes or so) was that a question mark still appears on a waypoint after I've discovered it. I tried to get a screenshot in time to show this bug. http://steamcommunity.com/id/gregopeck/screenshot/848219940810532147

*Update* Reloading the game seems to have resolved this.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 08/12/2017 at 11:36pm

I never did make it to the center. I never really followed that path, and when I wanted to, it was super difficult to get back on track lol

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 08/13/2017 at 04:15am

Greg, I'd say the reason they didn't make the exocraft platforms work that way is because they want there to be some effort involved so you couldn't just spam them everywhere. BUT, it's as simple as destroying the platform (to get all your materials back) and then rebuilding it on a new planet.

There are some workarounds for the various problems people are having with old saves and quest progress. Hopefully they'll fix those soon.

And, there's already a 1.3.1 to address some of the worst game crashing bugs! Some were getting hard crashes to desktop under certain conditions.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/13/2017 at 04:45am

Yeah, I agree with your reasoning regarding exocraft. I thought destroying the platform only gave a fraction of the materials needed. If it gives all, then that's cool.

I like starting out fresh, because of the new stuff like missions. I'm having trouble locating a "secret depot" where I'm supposed to deliver some resources. I think it may be because I don't have a signal booster. I need to look into it.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/13/2017 at 08:27pm

I found this to be a good list of current issues and bugs people are having. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm supposed to locate a secret depot for a secondary mission I'm on. I've collected enough Heridium and the map points me in the current system, but otherwise I have no other navigational guidance. I've already completed a few similar secondary missions, but "A Cog in the Machine" doesn't seem to be letting me complete it. I may be missing some tech.

https://www.reddit.com/r/NoMansSkyTheGame/comments/6t5bys/atlas_rises_helpbugsqa_feedback_no_mans_sky/

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 08/14/2017 at 09:39pm

Has the day/night cycle always been part of the game? I don't remember it ever being so dark lol

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/15/2017 at 12:10am

@Adam I seem to think I recall an issue about the game being too dark and there was some kind of video setting for it. I did a quick Google search, check it out and see if any of it helps.

https://www.google.com/search?q=no+man%27s+sky+too+dark&oq=no+man%27s+sky+too+dark&aqs=chrome..69i57.5887j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 08/15/2017 at 12:45am

The whole game isn't too dark, it's just really dark at night lol. Hopefully there's a light upgrade to my exosuit or flashlight upgrade to my multi-tool. I just don't remember a day/night cycle at all :)

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 08/15/2017 at 02:44am

There was always a day/night cycle but they darkened the nights to make things more immersive. The flashlight is now useful! (and you already have one-- press T!)

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 08/15/2017 at 03:15pm

Oh! Lol, awesome. Thanks!

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/23/2017 at 06:48am

We have some new patch notes! I'm still reading to see if the issue I had was resolved. I did try starting a new game (again), take things slower, and not have more than one active side mission at the same time. I haven't played in a while, so I'll just have to play more to see if my issue is resolved.

https://www.nomanssky.com/2017/08/5442/

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 08/23/2017 at 09:58pm

Read back for 1.31 and 1.32 as well, those might have fixed your issue.

Or today's experimental 1.34 if you're on the experimental branch (I recommend it)
https://steamcommunity.com/app/275850/discussions/0/1471967615872925676/

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