Cool! I'm really looking forward to some of the new issues being addressed in the next update. Ive been playing almost every moment I get and I must say, outstanding job!!! I really am enjoying a lot of the new features and improvements. Especially with the attention paid to the little details while driving around in the rover in third person view. Very nice!!! The ability to delete the doors, using water from the EVA suit as opposed to the water cans, the list goes on! Way to go!!!
Below is a few issues I thought I'd mention. If the following have been addressed in the to-be-released update then please disregard:
-Sometimes the dialog box just completely stops updating with new messages(This is actually my chief complaint by far) I have to exit the game and restart it, and even after doing so sometimes it stops updating again after a couple of minutes
Not sure which dialog you mean. PDA ?-I encountered that 'Death Cycle' issue again where my character keeps dying for no apparent reason. Since it happened before, and I am fairly over the 'New Game' fever, I was prepared to pay attention to every little detail this time. All needs met, (inside the main base only this time) all readings from the scrubber and heater are at habitable limits. l am completely full and hydrated, no raw foods consumed. No human waste to get rid of. No sickness reported after diagnostics at the medical bed. Dialog window kept reading "you feel sick". So what the heck, I took some propodine any way. Nothing. Took more of the same when I could a bit later and waited for it to take effect. Could see the health bar raise a bit, but then it started deteriorating again. Stopped playing for about 20 minutes while I let the game progress on. Dude's still face planting himself. Screen flashing red. On to any other medication, wait for a bit but nothing. Exiting game and restarting it didn’t resolved the issue, so I started a new game, deleting all previous progress. The first time the same exact issue happened, I finally got rid of the death cycle and flashing red screen by transporting to Death place, during a storm no less. This put me under the building. Glitch?
![Huh ???](http://hyperkat.com/scratchbox/Smileys/akyhne/huh.gif)
Cant move now, but at least I'm not dying anymore, hahaha! Manage to get out of being stuck under the life support module and on with the game by accidentally pressing the space bar. Hey! You guys gave the character the jumping ability, how about that! Nice.
This is probably due to the Virus that gets loose in the colony. I tested the sickness and it should clear after a death, does here at any rate, will have another look at it-There is a brief moment (10-15 seconds) of immobility after attempting to take a surface sample where samples can't be taken. You can turn, but not move in any direction.
-Certain sounds are too low. i.e. the alert comms (for missing persons, severe storms etc.)can barely be heard (with the master volume on both the speakers and windows OS at max)
Try using XAudio if you are not already, system likes to switch back to direct sound for some computers.-Items in the rover or in my characters hand appear to be floating upon logging back in. i.e. porta light, tote box
Dont log out with anything in your hand... should have been fixed in that versionThe following are not bugs but features I believe are essential.
-Please add a 'sell all' and 'sell type' button when selling items to the NPCs at the main base. Also an 'add all' and add type' button for storage like adding raw food to the freezer and other similar actions. I love the tote box idea, can carry a lot more, but dragging each item individually is giving me carpal tunnel. Even the ability to click the items(as you do when getting them from the ore storage would be preferable)
-Missing persons or other spontaneous missions/alerts should be sent to the PDA (maybe an alert tab?) so they can be reviewed at a later time (1-5 min). When I got the amber alert for the missing person the last time, I was a little preoccupied with this green chick at the Mars Exotic Entertainment Club. So I forgot what was said over the comms. Im thinking maybe that random green dot that appeared on the map maybe??? (Man that green chick had some tig ol' bitties!)
We have added a quest / story dialog next version will have the first story line in.-Maybe the ability to log/bookmark locations or jot notes (like coordinate already attempted)would be a nice add-in some time in the distant future. I'm always using pen and paper when hunting for high density drill sites from GPR locations. If im going about this the wrong way, I'm all ears. None of the forums or videos really indicate best practices for this.
As for the fuel issue, my bad, but when I'm playing games, I'm relaxing to get away from the rigors of real life. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy the realism in this simulator, and no I don't run out of gas on the freeway in RL (not lately anyhow). However, when I'm so busy trying to find out which mineral I should mine in order to obtain iodine so that I can produce my own medicine, sue me, but I lost track. Actually I believe in RL that some type of beeping/flashing notification would catch an astronauts attention (maybe it does beep in-game but the volume for it is too low???)when something is wrong or their equipment, vehicles or habitats are low on something like Oxygen, or fuel.
One of the things I really like about this simulator, is you are pretty much on your own, and need to not only pay attention to, but keep track of certain things while at the same time figure other things out. This simulator definitely does not spoon-feed the players. I had to watch some YouTube vids to get started with MC Challenge. With the ingredients/recipes however, you may want to consider adding iodine and the mineral it can be extracted from to mineral list window (F1 Menu). Call me silly but I actually did some research on how to obtain iodine on Google. Some of the hits that I got listed fish as a source. So, guess what I took to the chem-table and tried to make??? Still no joy. I won't go into all the details like trying algae, nutrient and other things I tried to populate that iodine slot with. After some more game play, I see now that its procured from the ore processor.
That's it for my findings. I'm sure there are other things, but they either don't annoy me much or I have already figured it out. I'm sure I'll stumble across the mineral needed to procure iodine some time in the near future.