Hello players,

HOTFIX #1 (v0.19171):

Server Console input using /chat will now be sent to the general channel. The /chatchannel "channelname" "message" command can be used to send to specific channels. Chat output in log has been restructure to be easier to parse for server admins. Skin validation has been fixed, so skin distribution should now work again Skin upload/download rates can now be defined in the server.cfg

Client Fixed window not scrolling to the bottom on multilined chat



HOTFIX #2 (v0.19173):

Server fixed server crash on specific skin upload requests fixed server crash and general problems of the unique id of entities being too big (DATABASE TRUNCATION) fixed log output spam from requesting zones



another update has just been uploaded. While work is still going on on all the new gameplay features, which will hopefully come out in short succession to each other, here is an update that will make chatting ingame a lot more comfortable to use and manage.

Redesigned Chat

Since we didn’t want to go for an only slightly better chat, we tried to go for the full package: That means a full channel systems with passwords, moderators, auto-rejoin, and on-hud-customization.

Channels

The chat is now structured in channels. There is a general output always on your hud where all messages from systems, and channels you have joined but aren’t currently open for hud are displayed.

But of course if you open the channel and fix it to the hud, the messages will only display there.

There are a few default channels that are autocreated. These channels also can’t be left and there is no moderation. The General channel, and the Faction channel (which is auto-created for each faction). Moderation in the General chat is equal to moderation of admins in general. Moderation for faction channels can be done by removing someone from a faction.

But the most important channels are the custom channels. Any user may create temporal channels. These channels exist as long as there is at least on online player in it, and will automatically be removed otherwise (to prevent channel spam and abuse).

Furthermore admins can create permanent channels, which exist as long as an admin doesn’t delete it. It will also still exist if the server restarts. The channels password/options are saved.

Each channel has moderators. They have the ‘@’ sign in front of the name. Furthermore you can now identify server admins have the ‘§’ sign additionally. Admins always have moderator powers, and can join any password protected channel.

Also all messages are still logged on server in ./chatLogs, now by channel. The protection against other clients has been improved significantly. It is now impossible to hack a client to read other players PM’s and messages of a channel the client isn’t in. This is done by single casting messages only to the clients that are supposed to get it. It’s a more complicated system to design, but has many other advantages also, like less bandwidth used.

You can private message now with any player conveniently by just right clicking on his name in any chat. A private message channel is handled like a temporal channel and will only exist as long as both players are online (in fact the channels exist on the clients only, as the server just forwards the message to the specific clients).

On-Hud-Customization

Also all chat panels can now be pinned to the hud. that means multiple chat windows can be displayed at all times exactly where you want them to be. This will get some additional improvements in the future like color coding of the background, and more.

Auto-Rejoin Channels

Channel positions and options are also saved on logout. While a client will also never receive a password of a channel, the system saves the last password the client has used.

This means on rejoining (each by server of course), the system will automatically attempt to rejoin all channels that were open.





ATI and Intel problems

There have been some bugfixes for both Intel and ATI cards. If there are further problems, please create a ticket and we will try to solve the problem asap.

Other stuff

I feel a little bad for not bringing any gameplay features lately, so I will work extra hard to get new shiny things to you as fast as possible!





Thanks for playing StarMade,

- schema and the Schine Team