Beyond Development Update 5 – ByteBeat

December 16, 2019.

Hello Everyone!

Hopefully this is a bit of a nice festive surprise for folks. We have released a neat update today, adding a full audio creation application to No Man’s Sky. We’re calling it the ByteBeat Device!

We’ve made a brief trailer to demonstrate the potential of the feature, but as always, we’re sure that you the community will take it and run with it in all sorts of unexpected directions.

Credit to community creators DjMonkey, G_Man_D, Nukie000, Whimblo and ActionPantsGaming for the bases featured in this trailer.

Base building is a big part of what people spend their time doing in our game, and a frequent request is for the ability to add sounds and music to their construction. Our team always likes a creative challenge, and audio is one of our big passions. Over the last few weeks one of our coders got obsessed with making an audio creation tool for the community, we were so excited about it we thought it’d be a nice surprise to release it.

We love playing around with music toys like Teenage Engineering Synths or FruityLoops, and we like the idea of creating something that can encourage anyone to make cool audio.

Once placed in your base and powered, the ByteBeat will immediately begin to produce sound. ByteBeat formulas are made out of simple waveforms that are manipulated through maths – but by default, the device handles all of the mathematical heavy lifting, procedurally generating random presets for you to play with. Dedicated audiophiles have the option to explore deeper, manually sketching out note sequences, rhythms, and even manipulating the raw sounds.

Audio enthusiasts interested in reading more about the original concept of ByteBeat music may find this article a good starting point.

 

The ByteBeat Device

Learn the module blueprints from the Space Anomaly, then construct and power your ByteBeat Device within your base. It will immediately begin to play a unique pattern of procedurally-generated music.

Example ByteBeat loop by No Man’s Sky audio director Paul Weir (@earcom)

The Sequencer UI lets you customise your track, allowing you to modify the melody and drums. If enabled, the arpeggiator will fill in notes automatically, and other panels allow you to adjust the octave, key and tempo.

Players who want to dive deep into the maths behind the waveform can use the Advanced Waveform UI to fine tune the mathematical operators at the heart of their sound. Or simply randomise the function and generate an entirely new sound!

The ByteBeat Device can be synchronised by snapping it to other ByteBeats, or connecting the devices with a new type of cable. This allows you to layer multiple tracks and create more complex arrangements.

Finally, a new ByteBeat Switch allows players to power other devices, such as lights, with bursts of power that sync up to the rhythm of your track.

 

Example ByteBeat loop by No Man’s Sky audio director Paul Weir (@earcom)

Of course, as a base part, all your creations are fully shareable – we look forward to hearing what you come up with!

 

Featured Bases

A new set of community bases has been selected for the Featured section of the Space Anomaly teleporter. Directly experiencing the community’s creativity up-close like this has been a fascinating and strangely intimate experience for the team. We hope you enjoy the set we’ve highlighted, and we intend to keep rotating the selection on a regular basis.

(Choll-Nuthe Outpost by Junglist_)

If you share your base online and would like to see it featured at the Anomaly, please remember to include your portal coordinates, current galaxy, username and platform when you post it.

 

Community Research

It was tremendous to see the surge in community research progress following the release of Synthesis! The Helios, Hyperion, and Eos visages are now available for purchase at the Quicksilver Synthesis Companion, and progress has begun to unlock the visage of Iteration: Tethys.

Progress may be tracked from your Mission Log in No Man’s Sky, or from the Galactic Atlas.

 

Weekend Missions

Mysterious planetary disturbances continue to destabilise the universe. Nada and Polo are monitoring the situation, but request as many travellers as possible investigate these incidents directly.

The Anomaly’s spacetime loom detects a new disturbance forming within an ancient Korvax monolith, on a haunted green planet with rich ocean resources. This weekend, Travellers may sign up at the Nexus to participate in the event, and earn generous Quicksilver rewards.

 

Community Spotlight

The artistic output of the community continues to amaze us.

We loved these beautifully-presented faction pages by /u/jrdimpfl…

 

This traditional media painting by /u/CJGladwin…


 

This festive monolith by /u/charliembbanks…


 

And as always – thank you for sharing your screenshots!

(Credit to /u/AnalysisVisor, /u/TheVillageldiot, /u/Sentient_Cosmic_Dust and /u/chrismarinoccio)

 

Development Update

Update 2.24 is live on all platforms now. As well as the ByteBeat device, it includes a number of fixes and improvements. The full list of patch notes is below.

Thank you so much for your continued support of No Man’s Sky this year. It has been one of our biggest yet in all sorts of ways. We hope you all have a great holiday and we look forward to sharing more in the New Year.

Our journey continues.

Thank you so much,
Sean

 

2.24 Patch Notes

  • Added a new base prop, the ByteBeat Device. ByteBeat allows players to generate and compose their own procedural music. Switches and cabling have been added to allow this music to control other base features.

 

  • To prevent accidental selling, the Galactic Trade Terminal in the Space Station now defaults to buying, rather than selling.
  • The ability to edit terrain in a multiplayer game is now its own permission setting, alongside the permission to edit a base.
  • Restored the ‘Friends Only’ multiplayer permission setting, distinct from people in your group but not in your friends list.
  • Fixed an issue where freighters bought before the Synthesis Update would be limited to 4 tech slots.
  • Fixed a hang that could occur when comparing freighters.
  • Fixed an issue where upgraded starships always rolled the worst possible stat ranges for their class. The chosen stat is now based on the unique seed for that ship.
  • The upper bounds for some starship stats has been increased on haulers, fighters and exploration starships, so that exotic ships are no longer guaranteed to the best at each specialisation.
  • Added the ability to see a starships’ stats through the Analysis Visor, including the difference between ‘core’ and ‘upgraded’ stats.
  • Fixed an issue that caused the displayed shield strength stat of a starship to be incorrect.
  • Fixed an issue that added one shell to the Position Ejector’s clip size when adding reload speed upgrades.
  • Fixed an issue with GTAO that caused many planets to appear slightly too dark.
  • Added a new ‘Ultra’ setting for GTAO on PC.

 

  • Plants placed in a base now get slightly bigger as they grow.
  • Interactive objects that have been used are now hidden on the compass and in the Analysis Visor.
  • Fixed an issue that could prevent players from using their secondary weapon if they only have one secondary weapon installed.
  • Fixed an issue that allowed players to equip weapons in a number of circumstances where weapons are not allowed.
  • Made a number of fixes to Nexus missions, including: reducing message spam during pirate-hunting missions; preventing missions from marking depots that have previously been destroyed; and preventing base-building missions from selecting planets with extreme Sentinels.
  • Added a multiplayer message when collecting mission-critical objects.
  • Vortex Cubes and Submerged Relics are no longer destroyed by the Terrain Manipulator.
  • Fixed an issue with the Exocraft camera that made it difficult to aim weapons.
  • Fixed an issue that caused newly installed Exocraft weapons to be unavailable until cycling weapons.

 

  • Unavailable options in the build menu are now greyed out rather than removed.
  • Fixed an issue that prevented players from deleting base parts while a wire is being placed.
  • Fixed a number of animation issues with the solar panel.
  • Improved the icon for the Teleport Cable.
  • Fixed an incorrect icon in a mission from the Abyss update.
  • Fixed an issue that caused some hostile plants to have incorrect HUD labels.
  • Fixed a number of issues with warning arrows and health bars in non-HD resolutions.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause players not to receive the correct rewards from Apollo’s contact.
  • Fixed an issue that caused the planetary hazard reading to be in degrees when on an anomalous world.
  • The amount of rust and other junk substances found in damaged planetary machine has been reduced.

 

  • Fixed a rare crash in the Build Menu.
  • Fixed a rare crash in the planet generation system.
  • Fixed a PC-only crashed related to getting player names for base parts.
  • On PS4, fixed a crash when redeeming pre-order bonus content (this fix was already live on other platforms).
  • On PS4, fixed an issue where falling off a frigate could lead to players continuing to fall after respawning (this fix was already live on other platforms).
  • Made a number of minor optimisations to the texture caching system.
  • Fixed a minor visual issue with water reflections in PSVR.