Cosmoteer Official Forum

Cosmoteer "unstable" release candidate 0.14.13 RC1 is now available for testing! This is a small quality-of-life update whose most important new feature is peer-to-peer networking which will hopefully significantly reduce multiplayer latency and improve connection stability for many players, especially players located far from the server (which is in New York, USA).

Download 0.14.13_rc1

Changelog:

• Multiplayer Performance:
  • When possible, playing online multiplayer (i.e. on a server) will now use "peer-to-peer" connections to directly connect your computer with the host's computer or, if you are the host, the other players. This is as opposed to routing all network traffic through the server. For players who are located far from the server, this can greatly reduce latency. If for some reason you do not want to use peer-to-peer connections (such as if you want to keep your I.P. address private), you can disable this in Settings->Multiplayer.
  • Peer-to-peer connections can be made through most home routers but may have trouble on some networks, such as school, work, and mobile networks. When a peer-to-peer connection can't be established, you may notice that it takes longer to connect to the game's host. The game will still be playable, but all communication will be routed through the server, increasing latency.
  • When using peer-to-peer connections, losing connection with the server will no longer end the game. (Any players not use peer-to-peer will get disconnected.)
  • Significantly reduced bandwidth usage when in the server lobby or pre-game setup screen.
  • In most cases if your I.P. address changes during a multiplayer game (such as if you're on a mobile network or switch wifi networks) then the connection will no longer be lost.
• User Interface:
  • Added a dropdown to sort the list of multiplayer games. By default, multiplayer games are sorted with joinable games at the top ("Status"). The other sort options are "Name", "Ping", "Game Mode", "Ruleset", "Credits", "Players", "Max Players", and "Teams".
  • Added a dropdown to filter the list of multiplayer games. You can filter for joinability, no-password, game mode, uses official ruleset, credits, and ping.
  • Added a text box to search the list of multiplayer games. This searches for both game and host name that matches the entered text.
  • The "Connect via I.P." option is now available when Online is selected in addition to LAN.
  • Removed the ping meter for servers because in most cases (when using peer-to-peer connections) server ping no longer has any impact on in-game latency.
  • Moved the Join Game and Host Game buttons to beneath the game info panel to make more room in the games list.
  • Improved legibility of text and buttons in the multiplayer lobby and pre-game setup screens.
  • Receiving a chat message or having a player join your game while the game window is not in focus will now cause the game's taskbar icon to flash.
  • The list of players in the lobby is now displayed in the pre-game setup screen when the Lobby Chat tab is selected.
  • Part category tabs that have a lot of parts will now transition in much more quickly.
  • The "Trap Mouse Cursor" setting no longer has any effect in menus when using Resizable Window mode.
• Balance:
  • Increased mine shrapnel from 8 to 16.
  • Increased shrapnel range from 20 to 40. (Detonation range is unchanged.)
  • Increased repulsion range from 15 to 22.5.
  • Increased tractor beam push and pull force by 50%.
  • Tractor beam pull force now depends only on the range to the target and not upon the range of the target at the time the beam was activated.
  • Explosive charges no longer leave behind a structure tile when detonated on an invulnerable ship.
• Bug Fixes:
  • Occasional "Wrote invalid input to outgoing stream" and related crashes during multiplayer creative mode games.
  • Rare "Door to remove doesn't exist" and "Blueprint door to remove doesn't exist" crashes in multiplayer creative mode when multiple players are modifying the same area of a ship at the same time.
  • Crash on non-host computers if the game mode is changed to Domination or Creative Mode while there are any A.I. players with ships assigned to them.
  • In multiplayer creative mode, it was possible to load a creative mode game that had been saved in single-player while an FTL course had been plotted, which would then crash if the FTL jump was actually attempted. It is no longer possible to engage an FTL jump in multiplayer creative mode.
  • Crash in some situations when deleting a ship library folder with its own sub-folders.
  • Crash when clicking on a ship in the minimap on the same frame that it is removed from the game.
  • Multiplayer desyncs caused by targeting asteroids.
  • Changing a ship's name, author, or description wouldn't change it for any other players in multiplayer creative mode.
  • After a ship splits into multiple pieces, any shield physics objects would stay attached to the old ship until the shield generator was turned off and back on again.
  • Auto-fired missiles were able to home towards their target even beyond their normal targeting range.
• CosmoServer:
  • Greatly reduced bandwidth usage from broadcasting game status to all players.
  • Nearly eliminated bandwidth usage for players using peer-to-peer connections.
  • Increased default maximum number of players to 1000.
  • Added '--log-verbose' and '--log-chat' command-line options that turn on verbose debug logging and chat message logging, respectivelly.
  • Removed the '--log-connections' and '--log-packets' command-line options.