Release Notes for SpaceEngine

Update v0.990.47.2015 (18/04/2024)

• Added AgX tonemapping mode
• Added Gaia BH2 and BH3 black hole systems
• Updated rotation models for moons in our solar system to be more precise (DE436 model for Earth's moon, and IAU rotation for other moons in the Solar system) ○ Known issue: rotation begins to drift at the distant past or future (around the 20,000 year mark from the present)
• Date/time field on the Navigation toolbar now accepts input in Julian date format
• Added a new stellar limb darkening function (WIP)
• Updated spectral types for 60,000+ catalog stars
• Updated distances for 100,000+ catalog stars, as well as some black holes and their hosts (mostly minor, only a few thousand are more significant)
• Added 810 new brown dwarfs
• Added a few dozen new exoplanets/host stars
• Added some missing 'B' components of exoplanet-hosting binaries
• Updated naming conventions for some stars and nebulae
• Added an accretion disk to T CrB B (aka, The Blaze Star)
• Updated Uranus and Neptune's new moons, and tweaked their atmosphere colors to be more accurate
• Improved the appearance of Eris, Dysnomia, and Sedna
• Updated greenhouse gas concentrations in Earth's atmosphere
• Adjusted shadow and totality mask of the recent eclipse
• Tweaked atmosphere visuals for Galilean satellites
• Fixed Europa's classification/composition (it's a terra, not an aquaria)
• Updated albedo of Dione
• More climate model bug fixes, largely related to wind speeds
• Fixed eclipse shadow sizes being larger than they should
• Fixed carbon star spectral types for catalog planets always presenting as C-R
• Updated the asteroid (16) Psyche
• Fixed visibility distance of star cluster particles
• Removed flags from the language selection list
• Pruned duplicate catalog entries
• Removed auto-patching sprite nebula model configs with model stats
• Galaxy and nebula sprite model configs are renamed from .cfg to .pst

Update v0990.45.1940 (18/12/2022)

• OpenVR SDK and Oculus SDK have been updated to the latest versions
• Fixed a crash when starting the game in OpenVR mode
• Fixed behaviour of the Watermark command (default is now "Visible true")
• Fixed bug with missed "loading screen" skybox in VR
• Fixed issue with galaxy numbering shift if new galaxies were added to the catalog (again): User names database is updated to the new galaxy ID after loading some location in that galaxy

Update v0.990.45.1935 (16/12/2022)

Improvements and New Features

• Realistic General Relativity effects:
  ○ Kerr-Newman ("rotating") black holes
  ○ Ellis wormholes (traversable for camera and ships)
  ○ Alcubierre warp bubble
  ○ Volumetric accretion disks
• Faster program startup (multi-threaded loading of shaders and some data)
• Engine performance improvements (fixed various periodic lag spikes):
  ○ Scanning for nearest galaxies and planetary system was moved to worker threads
  ○ Faster updating of planet/moon lighting color, which allows improving the frequency of color updates in the “high” planet shine mode
  ○ Faster updating of previews in the Solar system browser
• Improved handling of galaxy numbering shift if new galaxies were added to the catalog:
  ○ Saved locations in catalog galaxies are loaded despite the ID change, using coordinates
  ○ Loaded locations are automatically updated with the new galaxy ID and saved on the disk
• Improved precision of axial rotation for quickly spinning objects like neutron stars
• Faster AMD CAS implementation for upscaling volumetrics
• Added lanczos filter for upscaling volumetrics
• Added frame-time graph to debug mode
• Tweaked all graphics quality presets, and added a “potato” preset at the extreme low end (for comparison, the old “low” preset was somewhere between the new “potato” and “low” presets in quality)
• Added warning messages during “cold startups” if the operating system, RAM, VRAM, and/or GPU vendor do not meet SE’s system requirements
• Better default acceleration/deceleration curve for "Go to" automatic camera flights
• Camera "Go to" timing values are SE variables now
• Updated catalog of exoplanets (November 11, 2022): over 3000 new or updated objects
• Updated catalog of relativistic objects:
  ○ 15 new magnetars, 15 new low-mass x-ray binaries, 45 new high-mass x-ray binaries
  ○ 74 new black holes to the center of galaxies (16 existing galaxies, and 58 new galaxies)
  ○ 3914 new isolated white dwarfs, 52 new binary white dwarfs
• Updated catalog of brown dwarfs:
  ○ 1936 updated isolated brown dwarfs
  ○ 668 new isolated brown dwarfs
  ○ 66 new binary brown dwarfs
• Ability to edit RA/Dec/Dist of a catalog star
• Updated localizations
• Added Armenian localization

Bug Fixes

• Fixed compatibility with Oculus Quest, and added Oculus Quest controller support
• Fixed issue with change from controller flight direction to gaze flight direction if VR controller tracking was lost
• Fixed barycenter billboard rendering
• Fixed black stars artifact caused by too much absorption by nebulae
• Fixed velocity value display in spacecraft and aircraft camera modes
• Fixed bug with spacecraft lighting in interstellar space
• Fixed some bugs in the Wiki text editor
• Fixed Venus texture orientation
• Fixed visibility of labels of asteroids/comets which use custom 3D models (e.g. 67P, Eros)
• Fixed console rendering when its buffer is overflown
• Fixed 2D main menu background
• Fixed image corruption in stereoscopic 3D modes (hopefully)
• Fixed temperature values erroneously persisting between cells in the solar system browser in some cases
• Fixed a memory leak when generating procedural galaxies
• Fixed stars illumination bug with supermassive black hole systems
• Fixed a bug with the slow drifting of fixed cloud layers over large periods of time
• Fixed the "trash bag" shape of asteroids and comets
• Fixed reflections on non-PBR ships in auto-exposure mode
• Fixed spline path remaining time display
• Fixed ESI equation
• Fixed planets disappearing near black holes or binary white dwarf systems
• Fixed terrain discontinuities (buggy-looking cliffs) in equatorial ridges
• Fixed rayed craters being extremely deep when generated on top of equatorial ridges

Changes since last beta update

• Fixed ESI equation
• Fixed planets disappearing near black holes or binary white dwarf systems
• Fixed terrain discontinuities (buggy-looking cliffs) in equatorial ridges
• Fixed rayed craters being extremely deep when generated on top of equatorial ridges
• Fixed warp bubble not scaling to the ship's size

Update v0.990.45.1930 (29/11/2022)

• Improved handling of galaxy numbering shift if new galaxies were added to the catalog:
  ○ Saved locations in catalog galaxies are loaded despite the ID change, using coordinates
  ○ Loaded locations are automatically updated with the new galaxy ID and saved on the disk
• Updated localizations
• Updated catalog of relativistic objects:
  ○ 15 new magnetars, 15 new low-mass x-ray binaries, 45 new high-mass x-ray binaries
  ○ 74 new black holes to the center of galaxies (16 existing galaxies, and 58 new galaxies)
  ○ 3914 new isolated white dwarfs, 52 new binary white dwarfs
• Updated catalog of exoplanets (November 11, 2022):
  ○ 1977 updated planets
  ○ 114 new planets
  ○ 942 updated host stars
  ○ 76 new host stars
• Updated catalog of brown dwarfs:
  ○ 1936 updated isolated brown dwarfs
  ○ 668 new isolated brown dwarfs
  ○ 66 new binary brown dwarfs
• Fixed compatibility with Oculus Quest, and added Oculus Quest controller support
• Fixed issue with change from controller flight direction to gaze flight direction if VR controller tracking was lost
• Fixed a memory leak when generating procedural galaxies
• Fixed stars illumination bug with supermassive black hole systems
• Fixed a bug with the slow drifting of fixed cloud layers over large periods of time
• Fixed the "trash bag" shape of asteroids and comets