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First No Man's Sky update detailed, early copy players recommended to delete saves

First patch for Hello Games' No Man's Sky has new features, makes galaxies bigger, removes a big exploit.

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No Man's Sky developer Hello Games has revealed what the game's first patch will include. Posting on the game's official website, studio founder Sean Murray said anyone who played the game prior to installing this patch will need to delete their save. Although the game will continue to function without the patch, these players will "miss out on new content and experiences" if they don't update.

"We highly recommend deleting your save if you have played before updating your game (we won't do this in future, but it's a day zero update)," the post says.

According to Murray, servers will be wiped on Sunday (August 7) and then again on Monday (August 8). The update will be available on Monday (August 9) for reviewers once it exits submission. The general public playing on PC and PS4 will be able to download and patch their game at launch.

It looks like Hello Games has introduced a number of new features to the game, including three paths players can follow, changes to the way terrain generation works, and tweaked combat mechanics. Additionally, the size of the game's galaxies are now ten times larger. The exploit that allowed early players to complete the game in around 30 hours has also been removed.

Looking ahead, Murray said Hello Games is working on introducing "the ability to build bases and own giant space freighters."

He added: "Temporal AA and my new cloud rendering tech should be coming soon too. It will really change the game again, and enhance it visually. This universe we've built is a pretty large canvas, we've got a lot of ideas. This is the type of game we want to be."

Here's the full patch notes, courtesy of Hello Games.

Beware these notes contain some spoilers.

  • The Three Paths -- there are now new, unique "paths" you can follow throughout the game. You must start the game on a fresh save, with the patch, as early choices have significant impact on what you see later in the game, and the overall experience.
  • The Universe -- we changed the rules of the universe generation algorithm. Planets have moved. Environments have changed biomes. Galaxies have altered shape. All to create greater variety earlier. Galaxies are now up to 10x larger.
  • Diversity -- Creatures are now more diverse in terms of ecology and densities on planets.
  • Planets -- we've added dead moons, low atmosphere and extreme hazardous planets. Extreme hazards include blizzards and dust storms.
  • Atmosphere -- space, night time and day skies are now 4x more varied due to new atmospheric system, which refracts light more accurately to allow for more intense sunsets.
  • Planet rotation -- play testing has made it obvious people are struggling to adjust to this during play so its effects have been reduced further.
  • Terrain generation -- caves up to 128m tall are now possible. Geometric anomalies have been added. Underwater erosion now leads to more interesting sea beds.
  • Ship diversity -- a wider variety of ships appear per star system, and are available to purchase. Cargo and installed technology now vary more, and ships have more unique attributes.
  • Inventory -- ship inventories now store five times more resources per slot. Suit inventories now store 2.5 times more per slot. This encourages exploration and gives freedom from the beginning. We're probably going to increase this even further in the next update, for people in the latter game phases, and will allow greater trading potential.
  • Trading -- trading is deeper. Star systems and planets each have their own wants and needs, based off a galactic economy. Observing these is the key to successful trading. We still working on adjusting this based on how everyone plays, but all trading values have been rebalanced across the galaxy, giving a greater depth. A bunch of trade exploits were uncovered and have been removed
  • Feeding -- creatures now have their own diet, based on planet and climate. Feeding them correctly will yield different results per species, such as mining for you, protecting the player, becoming pets, alerting you to rare loot or pooping valuable resources.
  • Survival -- recharging hazard protection requires rare resources, making shielding shards useful again. Storms can be deadly. Hazard protection and suit upgrades have been added. Liquids are often more dangerous.
  • Graphical effects -- Lighting and texture resolution have been improved. Shadow quality has doubled. Temporal AA didn't make it in time, but it's so close.
  • Balancing -- several hundred upgrades have had stat changes (mainly exo-suit and ship, but also weapon), new upgrades have been added.
  • Combat -- Auto Aim and weapon aim has been completely rewritten to feel more gentle in general, but stickier when you need it. Sentinels now alert each other, if they haven't been dealt with quickly. Quad and Walker AI is now much more challenging, even I struggle with them without a powered up weapon.
  • Space Combat -- advanced techniques have been introduced, like brake drifting and critical hits. Bounty missions and larger battles now occur. Pirate frequency has been increased, as well as difficulty depending on your cargo.
  • Exploits -- infinite warp cell exploit and rare goods trading exploit among other removed. People using these cheats were ruining the game for themselves, but people are weird and can't stop themselves.
  • Stability -- foundations for buildings on super large planets. Resolved several low repro crashes, in particular when player warped further than 256 light years in one session (was only possible due to warp cell exploit above).
  • Space Stations -- interiors are now more varied, bars, trade rooms and hydroponic labs have been added.
  • Networking -- Ability to scan star systems other players have discovered on the Galactic Map, increasing the chance of collision. Star systems discovered by other players appear during Galactic Map flight.
  • Ship scanning -- scanning for points of interest from your ship is now possible. Buildings generate earlier and show up in ship scans.
  • Flying over terrain -- pop-in and shadow artifacts have been reduced. Generation speed has been increased two fold (planets with large bodies of water will be targeted in next update)
  • Writing -- The Atlas path has been rewritten by James Swallow (writer on Deus Ex) and me. I think it speaks to the overarching theme of player freedom more clearly now. Early mission text has been rewritten to allow for multiple endings.

No Man's Sky's release date has been confirmed as August 9 for PS4 and August 12 for PC. One person managed to get a leaked copy of No Man's Sky and claims to have "beaten" the game in about 35 hours.

You can check out more of GameSpot's No Man's Sky coverage through the links below.