🧹 Visual Feedback 2.2.4

🧹 Visual Feedback 2.2.4

This update focuses on polish, stability, and visual feedback, especially around lighting behavior, UI interactions, and background-thread crashes introduced in recent versions.

Content

• Added two types of Metal Foundation, both unlocked after completing Constructor research.

Graphics

• Added a burn mark effect to the Mining Laser.
• This effect is experimental, its appearance currently varies depending on your pc, and may be adjusted or removed.
• Added the Star Nest shader by Pablo Roman Andrioli as the background for the menu stages: Intro, New Game, Load Game, and Options.
• Destroyed enemies now shatter into pieces and drift away into space.

Lighting

• Activating a Light Source (BatteryLight / ElectricLight) now immediately reveals Fog of War.
• Placing or removing a Machine now triggers an updated light and shadow recalculation.

These changes make lighting behavior more predictable and reduce visual desync during fast base edits.

User Interface

• On slow CPUs or hard drives, newly created save games could briefly appear as broken if the screenshot had not yet finished saving.
• This has been improved: saves are no longer marked as broken.
• The game now retries loading the screenshot while viewing the save and displays “No Screenshot” if necessary.
• Added FPS View to the Intro Stage.
• Added shortcuts for Light Preview and Laser Tower Preview to the Controls menu.
• Improved the Conveyor Window:
• Placing a Conveyor via the Conveyor Window now shows a Conveyor Preview.
• Right-clicking deselects the currently chosen tile.
• Losing window focus also deselects the chosen tile.
• Selecting a conveyor now clears the item in your hand or cancels the current active action.
• Clicking a used Battery while holding another used Battery now swaps their positions.
• Updated the info screen title text to use shadowed text for better readability.

Fixes

A wide range of **background-thread issues, UI crashes, and visual edge cases** were fixed, including:

• Fix: Pressing M (unit debug info) no longer causes a crash.
• Fix: Machine progress bars no longer exceed 100%, completed processes now display correctly.
• Fix: Changing the resolution** while on the Space Map no longer causes asteroids to be cut off.
• Fix: Opening the connect menu** in the Drone Port configuration window no longer crashes the game.
• Fix: Removing an active Light Source now immediately removes its light.
• Fix: Destroying a Tower in a background thread no longer causes a crash.
• Fix: Destroying a BatteryLight or ElectricLight now correctly removes it from the Light Preview.
• Fix: Destroying an active Light Source in a background thread no longer crashes the game.

Debug

• Added a module to cycle through 60 color presets (Debug Mode only, primarily for development and testing).
• NumPad 5: previous preset
• NumPad 6: next preset

This cleanup keeps moment-to-moment play feeling tighter, clearer, and more stable as development moves forward, especially during building, combat, and base expansion.

As always, thanks for playing and for all the feedback, it directly shapes the next steps.

— **MechanicusKai**