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No Man’s Sky Synthesis Update – Biggest VR Update Yet

November 27, 2019

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No Man’s Sky launched back in August for virtual reality, but the game has been out on the PC for over three years. Tomorrow, the game will be receiving one of its biggest updates of the last few years. This update will be coming to both VR and non-VR gamers. It is full of community requests and bug fixes, some of which are long overdue.

There is a lot to unpack in the release notes, and you can find the biggest enhancements as well as the smallest patches on the official game website. Below, we will be including the entire patch notes. From what we read, we believe the best and biggest updates on the game are:

Ability to upgrade starships
Starship salvaging abilities
New terrain editing system
Protected terrain edits
Saving custom outfits
First-person Exocraft
Photo mode and Creature Riding enabled in VR
Overhauled and improved space map inside of the spaceship
Quality of life (gameplay) improvements
Easier inventory management
New obtainable technologies
New base parts for builders
More storage
Personal refiner for Exosuit
Own multiple multi-tools

There is a lot of great things mentioned above, and that is jus the basic highlights. If you have been asking for something for a while, chances are the game developers adopted the idea and put it inside of the game. The entire patch notes will be listed below. For more VR news and community updates, make sure to check back at VRGear.com.

Full Synthesis Patch Notes

SHIP SALVAGE

Introduced a new ship salvaging mechanic. Visit the ship salvage module at a space station to perform a number of ship operations, including salvaging a ship for scrap.
Scrap includes valuable products, new technologies and an inventory augmentation, allowing the expansion of another starship’s inventory.
Starship inventories can also be upgraded for a significant amount of units.
The starship outfitting station also has the ability to upgrade the class of starships that are not yet S-Class. This upgrade requires a significant amount of nanites.

TERRAIN EDITING

Significantly optimised the Terrain Manipulator for smoother planetary editing.
Improved the visual effects when editing terrain with the Terrain Manipulator.
Added a flattening mode to the Terrain Manipulator to allow quick and easy flattening of a large area.
Added a ‘Restore’ mode to the Terrain Manipulator, allowing edits to be undone and the terrain restored to its previous state.
Edits made using the Terrain Manipulator within the bounds of a base are now protected in the same way as edits made by base parts, preventing them from being removed by further editing outside the base.
Fixed a number of issues where protected base part edits were being used up by things that did not need protection, causing bases to run out of available terrain edits too early.
Fixed a range of issues that made using the Terrain Manipulator difficult in VR.

MULTI-TOOLS

Added the ability for players to own more than one Multi-Tool. When purchasing a new Multi-Tool, there are now options to trade in or to outright purchase the tool.
Purchased Multi-Tools will be added to the Quick Menu for easy swapping.

VR / NON-VR PARITY

Photo Mode is now available in VR.
Creatures may now be ridden in VR.
First-person cameras for the Exocraft are now available in non-VR.

PERSONAL REFINER

Added a new technology, the Personal Refiner. This technology allows for elements to be refined directly within the Exosuit, without having to place a portable refiner on a planetary surface.

CUSTOMISER

Added the ability to save a range of custom outfits in the Customiser, allowing for quick changes between a range of appearances.

SPACE MAP

Improved the Space Map to bring greater clarity as to the position of other ships and planets.
Improved the compass while piloting in space, so it no longer displays objects in the centre of the compass if they are behind the starship.

BASE BUILDING

Significantly optimised freighter base building to increase the complexity limit, allowing more parts to be placed.
Optimised a number of standard base building parts, allowing more objects to be placed within the complexity limit.
Improved the accuracy of suggested snap points when placing base parts.
Improved the clarity and contrast of the base building part preview holograms.
Faded out the holograms of suggested snapping locations when placing base parts.
Added a range of new triangular basic building parts, opening a wide range of building possibilities.
Added an automatic harvester interaction to the Bio-Dome, allowing all plants to be collected at once.
Fixed a rare issue that could cause freighter bases to be reset to the default layout when summoning a freighter in a system that already had other freighters.
Fixed an issue that caused powered doors not to work even when powered.
Fixed an issue that caused decals to be invisible when viewed as a preview hologram.
Fixed an issue that limited some parts to snap rotation, preventing them from being smoothly rotated.
Fixed an issue where snapping audio would play repeatedly when placing base parts.
Fixed an issue on PC that caused the tip for how to scale/rotate parts to be wrong.
Fixed an issue that could occasionally prevent any objects being placed in a freighter base.
Fixed an issue affecting pre-Beyond saves that could cause their storage containers to stop working.
Fixed an issue that caused corridor pieces not to transmit power to parts placed within them.
Fixed a number of audio and snapping issues with the Terrarium and Aquarium base parts.
Fixed an issue that made plants difficult to place within planters and Bio Domes.
Improved the snapping of the fleet command rooms.
Fixed an issue that caused specialist terminals (Overseer, Scientist, etc) from snapping correctly.
Fixed an issue that caused the Light Table to be hard to position inside a base.
Fixed an issue where predators would attack players using the Building Camera.
Reduced the cost of building biofuel generators and solar panels.
Reduced the costs of several base parts, including the Base Computer, underwater rooms, Short-Range Teleporters, core rooms and basic pieces.
Moved the Short-Range Teleporter and its cabling to the appropriate technology groups in the Build Menu.
Fixed an issue that caused missing geometry when building foundations for Cuboid Rooms.
Fixed an issue that caused the roof hatch to be missing when building a ladder in a Cuboid Room.
Fixed an issue that prevented Cuboid Roof pieces from snapping correctly to Cuboid Rooms.
Added a plug socket to the Standing Lights, allowing them to be powered.
Fixed an issue that caused missing or bad icons to display in the mineral and gas extractor UIs.
Improved the camera when interacting with the Supply Depot.
Fixed a collision issue with the Gold Blob statue.
Removed Shutter Doors from the Construction Research Unit as these parts are no longer functional.
Removed Large Power Doors from the Construction Research Unit as these were not intended to exist as a placeable object.
Coloured lights now have specific individual names, so they are more clearly identifiable.
Fixed a number of VR-only issues with using the advanced rotational tools for base parts.
Fixed an issue that allowed players to delete a fleet command room that they were inside, plunging them into deep space.
Fixed an issue that could cause bases to appear slightly tilted when constructed on moons.

INVENTORY / UI REFINEMENTS

Items can now be picked up and dropped onto a piece of technology to repair or install it.
When moving items around the inventory, dropping an item onto another item will now cause them to swap positions.
When charging a piece of technology, it is now possible to adjust the size of the stack being used.
When transferring items to other players, it is now possible to adjust the size of the stack being sent.
Hazard protection upgrades that are not relevant to the current environment are now hidden from the quick recharge menu.
Increased the amount of available storage in a Storage Container from 5 to 20 slots.
Allowed Storage Containers to be given custom names.
The Galactic Trade Terminal interaction now opens directly to the shop interface.
Improved the clarity of the positive and negative percentages on the shop interface.
Shop amounts now wrap, so that selecting an amount smaller than 1 will wrap around to the max stack size.
On PC, enabled the adjustment of shop amounts with keys.
Fixed an issue that caused shop items to reorder themselves unexpectedly while buying and selling.
The Exosuit backpack displayed in the UI now matches the players’ chosen backpack customisations.
Increased the speed at which dialog text prints out if players choose to skip the dialog.
Unified many of the background colours for product icons so that colours correspond to the broad function or purpose of the product.
Fixed an issue that could cause players to accidentally change subinventory if interaction buttons were mapped to the same key as an inventory toggle (for example, cycling to another inventory when attempting to analyse a geode).
Repeated interactions with Traveller Iteration Ares now use a short form of the conversation, to make batch hand-ins faster.
The stat bars displayed when viewing a starship have been tweaked so that they better reflect the true status of the ship’s base stats and upgrades.
The popup for weapons installed in the starship show the peak potential damage for that weapon, accounting for all installed upgrades.
The Space Station Cartographer has been changed to use the full trade interface, allowing players to buy as many charts as they like, as well as choosing specific charts.
When collecting items, they will now be added to any preexisting stacks if those stacks are in the Cargo inventory.
Fixed an issue that prevented some gathered resources from being stored in the cargo inventory, causing the inventory to be reported as full when it was not.
Fixed an issue that caused items to be lost when transferring partial stacks to an inventory with a different stack limit.
Fixed an issue that could close the refiner UI when changing stack sizes.
Fixed an issue that prevented the correct currency from displaying in the top left when using various research/unlock UIs such as the Construction Research Unit.
Improved the display of the Currency Received alerts.
Improved the information in the Analysis Visor when looking at other player’s ships.
Fixed an issue that prevented the correct Analysis Visor information from displaying when used on the Space Station or Space Anomaly.
When collecting rewards from an expedition, the ‘Inventory Full’ message now makes it more clear which inventory is full.
Increased the padding between the start and end of a sentence when text wraps around.
The Catalogue now uses the full popup detail, showing the stats and requirements of products and technologies.

PERFORMANCE AND VISUALS

Fixed an issue that caused the planetary cloud layer to intersect with asteroids and freighters.
A large number of stutters and hitches on the starfield and warp tunnel loads have been smoothed out.
In PSVR on base PS4s, removed incorrect water reflection effects.
Fixed an issue that could cause significant visual jitteriness on PS4.
Introduced a significant shadow rendering optimisation.
Fixed an issue that caused a significant performance problem when viewing shop pages.
Improved performance while building freighter bases.
Improved the display of textures when low on graphics memory.
Introduced a number of shader, terrain and water rendering optimisations.
Improved the appearance of asteroids.
Introduce a number of minor optimisations to terrain generation.
Fixed a number of LODing issues with trees and grass, improving the visuals on some specific lush planets.
Fixed an issue that caused particles to flicker when directly in front of the camera.

UPGRADES AND TECHNOLOGY

Grenade style weapons now require the Multi-Tool to be unholstered before firing, reducing the chance of accidental detonation while navigating the UI.
Improved the combat performance of the starship Phase Beam.
Improved the combat performance of the starship Rockets.
Improved the performance of the Infra-Knife Accelerator.
Increased the base speed of the Pulse Drive for faster interplanetary travel.
Added new Pulse Drive upgrades that improve the fuel efficiency and speed of the Pulse Drive.
When on a frigate, the jetpack now recharges faster.
Added new technologies that improve the recharge rate and duration of sprint.
Added a jetpack upgrade that allows the jetpack to recharge while the player is falling.
Added an Emergency Warp upgrade that can be accessed from the Quick Menu. This technology allows for an instantaneous escape from space combat, at the cost of breaking the technology and warping you to an unknown destination.
Increased the size of the freighter technology inventory.
Added a new freighter technology, the Matter Beam. This allows items to be sent to and from the freighter from anywhere in the system.
Freighters no longer have unlimited access to all star classes and must have their hyperdrives upgraded in the same manner as a starship. New freighter hyperdrive technologies are available to research on the bridge.
The torch is now turned on automatically when entering a dark area.
Fixed an issue where the upgrade for the Infra-Knife accelerator had the same name as the upgrade for the Photon Cannon.

GENERAL QUALITY OF LIFE AND POLISH

Creatures can now be mounted after feeding them creature pellets. Harvesting and/or milking creatures still requires specific bait.
The stack size for creature pellets has been increased.
Enabled the riding of blob-style creatures.
Improved the riding animations for diplos and proto-Gek creatures.
Added audio events to the dialog system to enrich the text experience.
Allowed players to permanently accumulate teleport destinations outside of their home (ie furthest progress) galaxy. Teleport destinations are no longer removed when leaving other galaxies.
In space combat, players who evade enemy fire for long enough will be able to activate the Pulse Drive and escape.
When mission markers lead to a point inside a building, the marker is now placed on the door of the building until the player is inside.
If players die in space outside of their ship, their inventory is no longer removed or damaged.
Fixed an issue that caused NPC ships to land at landing pads where the player ship was being summoned.
NPC ships may no longer land at the last unoccupied landing pad at a player base.
The feedback received when shooting an object with an ineffective Multi-Tool mode (using the mining laser against armoured doors, for example) has been improved.
Fixed an issue with mouse sensitivity when using ship free look, if the flight settings used Locked rather than Tethered controls.
Made a number of improvements to the system of practising language with NPCS.
Improved the rewards for practising language with NPCs.
Increased the variety of responses when practising language with NPCs.
Improved the turning animations of flying lizards.
Improved the dialogue of the Guild Envoy NPCs.
The tutorial for learning Antimatter has been streamlined.
The sell price of cooking products has been increased.
The nanite rewards from Iteration Cronus have been increased.
The effects of eating cooked products are now slightly more diverse.
Reduced the repair cost of crashed freighter containers.
Reduced the repair costs of various items of debris found on planet surfaces.
Sped up a number of often used interactions with technology merchants and ship traders.
When starting a new game, the Personal Forcefield is in the list of pre-known technologies.
The colour of the mineral deposit and buried technology icons in the Analysis Visor has been tweaked slightly, so that they stand out from other planetary landmarks.
The fuel cost to charge a Biofuel Reactor has been reduced.
The cost to charge a HoloTerminus while searching for Artemis has been reduced.
The cost to activate Portal Glyphs has been reduced.
When starting a new game, players will begin with two cargo slots available.
The cost of upgrading the first few cargo slots has been reduced.
Improved the icons for planetary charts, so it is more clear which chart leads to which destination.
Improved the icons and descriptions for procedural upgrade modules.
Hints about geodes are now only displayed in the appropriate environment for that geode.
Reduced the health of Metal ‘Fingers’.
Improved the text description when a player is killed by jellyfish or abyssal horrors.
Other miscellaneous text improvements.

MULTIPLAYER

Fixed a number of issues that could cause players in multiplayer to desync.
Fixed a number of issues that could cause players in the same multiplayer session to be unable to see other.
Fixed a rare issue that could cause players never to see others in multiplayer.
Fixed a number of issues where players would be locked out of interactions while in multiplayer or the Space Anomaly.
Fixed an issue that could cause single player mission markers to all move to the current system when entering the Space Anomaly.
Reduced the number of base parts required when building bases for Nexus missions.
Added more information to multiplayer chat alerts about where players are flying to.
Added chat alerts to other members of your group when you take damage.
Added more chat alerts to let other players in group know about your mission progress – for example, collecting an item or requiring more of a substance to build a part.
Reduced the number of chat messages sent when engaging pirates in a multiplayer mission.
Fixed an issue where some multiplayer chat alerts were being seen in single player.
Added a confirmation when beginning a multiplayer mission from the Nexus on your own.
Added a confirmation when using the Space Anomaly teleporter while in the ready-up phase of a Nexus mission.
Improved the clarity of the text message when saving progress in multiplayer.
Fixed an issue that could cause Sentinel drones to vanish in multiplayer after a player had died.
Fixed an issue that caused vehicle damage to ignore multiplayer permissions, permitting player damage against players with PvP disabled.
Fixed an issue that could cause players to be incorrectly listed as part of a multiplayer session after they had left a mission.
Terrain edited around key community goals can now be undone by any player.

DISCOVERY PAGE

The Discovery Page system view now opens to the right section for your current system.
When opening the Discovery Page, the planet page is now opened first if you are currently on a planet.
Fixed an issue that prevented the ‘Upload All’ button from working in the Discovery Page.
In the Discovery Page system view, planets can be hovered over to quickly see their available resources.
Discoveries in the Discovery Page can now be rotated.
Added a marker to the system view on the Discovery Page that shows the player’s current planetary location.
Undiscovered planets in the Discovery Page are now desaturated, making it more clear which planets have been mapped.
Improved the text on the Discovery Page that describes the habitat of a creature.
Fixed several issues that caused variable names to display on the Discovery Page instead of the correct text.
Improved the animation of discoveries in the Discovery Page.
A creature’s desired bait is now featured with its other information on the Discovery page.
The tabs that cycle discovery type in the Discovery Page are now directly clickable.
When opening the Discovery Page immediately after discovering a creature, the page is opened directly on that creature.
Improved the appearance of the Discovery Page on dead planets.
Fixed an issue that caused bone and scrap to be displayed incorrectly on the Discovery Page.
Fixed an issue that caused text clipping in the Discovery Page.
Fixed an issue that could cause the Multi-Tool, starship or Exosuit backpack to appear in the Discovery Page.
Fixed an issue that caused untranslated text to appear in the Discovery Menu popups.
Fixed an issue that caused fish to be described as if they were land creatures when reading their full descriptions on the Discovery Page.
Fixed a number of scaling issues when viewing creatures in the Discovery Page.
Fixed an issue that caused the discovery progress gauge to display incorrectly in non-standard resolutions.
Fixed an issue that caused flying creatures to be listed as ground-based in their discovery hint.
Fixed an issue that could occasionally cause flying creatures to be described as ground-based in their full descriptions.

VR BUG FIXES

Fixed a VR issue that caused the Multi-Tool to be instantly holstered while looking at the Multi-Tool menu.
Fixed an issue that prevented VR players from being able to choose the warp position of their freighter when summoning it from the Quick Menu.
Fixed an issue that caused the player’s right hand to be incorrectly aligned when using the DualShock4 in PSVR.
In VR, the hands are now hidden when hand controls are not being used.
Fixed an issue that caused the player’s left hand to constantly make a whooshing sound when using a DualShock4 in PSVR.
Fixed a visual corruption issue in the warp tunnel effect in VR.
Fixed an issue that caused the HoloController (visible when using the DualShock4 in VR) to be incorrectly aligned.
Fixed an issue that caused melee attacks to be activated too easily on Index controllers.
Fixed an issue that caused the Analysis Visor tip text to contain information that was inaccurate in VR.
Fixed an issue that prevented VR players from handing in delivery missions at trade outposts.

GENERAL BUG FIXES

Fixed an issue that prevented objects from being interacted with while the Terrain Manipulator menu or the Quick Menu were open. Interacting will now close the menu.
Fixed an issue that could prevent item names from displaying when looking for objects with the Analysis Visor.
Fixed an issue that caused Guild Envoys to give invalid products as rewards.
Fixed an issue that cause Vortex Cubes and oxygen plants to leave collision behind when they were collected.
Fixed an issue that caused the Nutrient Processor to have the icon of a pile of dung when viewed through the Analysis Visor.
Fixed an issue that could make it difficult to pulse drive towards mission markers.
Fixed a rare issue that could cause buildings to be missing when loading a game.
Fixed an issue that caused the starfield system labels to be in the wrong place at non-standard resolutions.
Fixed an issue that could cause the text in the loading starfield to flicker.
Fixed an issue that could cause the interact label to flicker.
Fixed an issue that caused a white square to flicker on screen when HUD markers are first drawn.
Fixed a number of UI alignment issues at non-standard resolutions.
Fixed an issue that caused multiple copies of other player’s bases to spawn.
Fixed an issue where NPCs on the Space Anomaly would change scale when turning.
Fixed an issue that could cause starships to become stuck in buildings shortly after takeoff.
Fixed an issue that caused repeated audio triggers when using the Analysis Visor.
Fixed an issue that caused rain audio to play while inside the Marine Shelter.
Fixed an exploit that allowed for infinite creation of stellar metals.
Fixed an item duplication exploit.
Fixed an issue that could cause markers on Beacons and other objects to vanish after using the Survey Device.
Fixed an issue that caused the torch to toggle incorrectly while the Terrain Manipulator is equipped.
Fixed an issue that prevented custom markers from being visible on the compass.
Fixed an issue that caused the VR ship cockpit handles to be lit up in non-VR.
Fixed an issue that caused the orientation of the starship to be incorrect after reloading.
Fixed an issue that caused glitchy player movement when using third-party Xbox controllers.
Prevented the ‘Initialise’ option at the start of the game from being unbound (and thus blocking people permanently).
Fixed an issue that caused the binding prompt to be reopened when rebinding something to the select button.
Fixed an issue that caused the Terrain Manipulator material selection menu to open without being selected.
Fixed an issue with the Exocraft Customiser that caused the camera to be far too close.
Fixed an issue that caused item stacks in the inventory to be boosted to their maximum size when warping in Creative Mode.
Fixed an issue that caused every orb on the Atlas Station to trigger after picking up one word stone.
Fixed an issue that caused already harvested planetary objects to reappear on load.
Fixed an issue that caused players to be warned about extreme Sentinels when in creative mode.
Fixed an issue that caused all ship pilots on an outpost or space station to look the same.
Fixed a rare issue that could cause new games to start outside of the Euclid galaxy.
Fixed a glitch in the gathering animation.
Fixed an issue that could cause lighting settings from exotic planets to be present when on a freighter, frigate or Space Station.
Fixed an issue that caused building markers to be all be transferred to a new system when boarding the Space Anomaly.
Fixed an issue that could cause starships to be forcibly docked with the Space Anomaly while flying freely around space.
Fixed an issue that could cause ships to stop land in midair without any input from the player.
Fixed an issue that could cause holes to appear in the terrain.
Fixed an issue that could cause players to become stuck after reloading a save aboard an Atlas Station.
Fixed an issue where an interaction camera could clip inside the geometry of ancient ruins.
Fixed an issue where mission steps that involve going through a portal would fail to display any text.
Fixed an issue that hid the ‘Low Standing’ warning when trying to accept a mission board mission you were not eligible for.
Fixed an issue that caused the large mission detail popups to be visible when using the Analysis Visor.
Fixed an issue that prevented players from finding a story-critical crashed freighter if they left the crash site.
Fixed an issue that prevented players from finding story-critical portals if they left the portal while it was in its active state.
Fixed a number of rare issues where core story missions would not trigger the next mission.
Fixed an issue that could prevent missions involving specialist NPCs from working if the NPCs were placed on a freighter.
Fixed a rare issue where players would not learn the hyperdrive blueprint at the correct point of the tutorial.
Fixed an issue that could cause hints about planetary charts to persist after using a chart.
Fixed a bug that caused mission tips to cycle rapidly if the hazard protection was charged by going into a cave at the start of the game.
Fixed a rare issue where some players with very old save games would never know the recipe for the Construction Research Unit.
Fixed a rare issue that could block mission progression at Artemis’ crashed ship.
Fixed an issue that caused the wrong text to appear when unable to afford a blueprint from a technology researcher on the Space Anomaly.
Added some mysterious text.
Fixed an issue where the first Atlas Station in the Artemis story had incorrect text.
Improved the messages when the starship is unable to activate the pulse drive, so that they are more informative about the reason.
Fixed some incorrect text in a Vy’keen NPC interaction.
Fixed an issue that caused overlapping text in the Surveying UI.
Improved the variety in the names and requirements of damaged objects that block inventory slots in damaged starships and Multi-Tools.
Fixed an issue that prevented the ‘Storm Clearing’ message from triggering.
Fixed an issue where inaccurate growing times were listed for plants placed in an unpowered planter.
Fixed an issue that caused the number of items ‘Available to Build’ in the building part information to be inconsistent or incorrect.
Fixed an issue that caused an audio trigger to play twice when opening doors on the Space Anomaly.
Added audio to the Mineral and Gas Extractors.
Fixed an issue that caused freighter captains to think players had purchased their freighter after the purchase was declined.
Fixed an issue that allowed research frigates to grant infinite system scans.
Fixed an issue that prevent the Fuel Oxidiser expedition upgrade from actually reducing expedition time.
Fixed an issue that prevented expedition upgrade descriptions from scrolling on the expedition details page.
Fixed an issue that caused player-owned ships not to be aboard their freighter after reloading.
Fixed an issue that prevented technology from being correctly installed in freighters after partially completing the installation.
Fixed an issue that prevent new expeditions from being started even though there were spare Fleet Terminals available.
Fixed an issue that caused C-Class frigates to be damaged more frequently than intended.
Fixed a rare issue that caused damage details to not be correctly displayed when viewing expedition results.
Fixed an issue that caused save problems when getting out of the starship onto a frigate.
Fixed an issue that caused expedition commanders to be invisible after returning from the freighter hanger.
Fixed an issue that caused diplomatic frigates to give the wrong reward.
Fixed an issue that could result in players becoming stuck in the freighter Navigator interaction after starting an expedition.
Fixed an issue that caused the freighter hanger to be invisible while performing operations on the starship from inside the freighter base.
Fixed an issue that caused the starship hyperdrive range to be used to plot freighter hyperdrive routes.
Fixed an issue that could cause freighters to spawn but not be visible.
Fixed an issue that caused placeholder text to appear in the UI for transferring items to a freighter.
Fixed an issue that caused the freighter bridge / hanger to be incorrectly turned on and off while docking.
Fixed a rare crash in the inventory system.
Fixed an issue that could cause an out of memory crash on Vulkan GPUs.
Fixed a crash in the Xbox networking system.
Fixed a crash in the waypointing system.
Fixed a crash that could occur when interacting with another player’s freighter storage containers.
Fixed a rare crash in the projectile system.