This is PART 1 of the pressurization update

It includes the following main features:

• Water culling (not seeing the ocean surface through your vehicle while inside an airtight volume)
• Ability to use any enclosed compartment of arbitrary shape and size as a fuel tank
• Improved buoyancy physics and hydrodynamics
• A new special component called "Volume" to let you know if it's airtight or if there's a leak.

This means you can now build airtight submarines, pressurized space ships, and zeppelins. The dockable door is airtight and can be used to dock and walk between two pressurized environments. You may also use Hinges and Pivots for custom doors and they can be sealed when their value is at 0. To make your entire vehicle airtight (or any enclosed compartment), you will need to create a pressurized volume by adding a "Volume" component on an inside wall of the compartment, then click the "Scan" button.
This component is similar to the Ownerpad in style, and after the Scan it will let you know if your compartment is Airtight, and its volume. The scan should only be performed once, then it will automatically change state when you make edits (add/remove blocks, open doors,...). The component also has a data port so you can grab the level if you're using it as a fuel tank.

Important note:

Components don't float anymore (except empty tanks) so vehicles will tend to sink unless they're pressurized or are made mainly of composite blocks. Also, included with this update is a setting for nbody gravity. It is disabled by default, but if enabled your space crafts will be affected by the gravity of all celestial bodies instead of just the most influential one. The setting is located in a new config file on the server side "Archean-data/server/ARCHEAN_celestial.ini"

Upcoming features:

• Visual and audio effects when pressurizing/depressurizing
• Survival mode where the player can breathe the air
• Visible liquid level inside volumes

Full changelog:

• Implemented Pressurized Volumes to make an enclosed volume airtight with any composition
• Implemented Water Culling (not seeing the ocean water level from inside an airtight volume)
• Added "Volume" component (wall-mounted tablet) to scan/initiate pressurization
• Improved physics BVH symmetry
• Fixed zero-drag issue when vehicle is very aerodynamic
• Buoyancy: Improved server-side performance
• Buoyancy: computation is now stochastic, making it more accurate and adding a bit of randomness in the movement on water
• Buoyancy: Components are now NON-BUOYANT except for tanks
• ThrottleLever - Added Min/Max range with snap-to-center option in GetInfo (V)
• BigWheel - Increased suspension stiffness and damping
• Added SmallContainer component
• Updated FluidJunction and ItemJunction dimensions and shapes to match with blocks
• Fixed CTD in rare circumstances when deleting a wheel component while it's bouncing
• Fixed Propeller ability to start rotating with no power
• XenonCode: Added ternary if operator
• XenonCode: Added isnumeric function
• Removed underwater_light_rays setting (looked worse for worse performance)
• Tanks GetInfo (V) now displays composition percentages as a normalized ratio instead of by capacity
• Added nbody server setting defaulted to false (vehicles affected by gravity from all celestial bodies when this setting is enabled)

[ 2025-01-02 02:41:30 CET ] [ Original post ]