After an admittedly rough launch, and an even more rocky post-release period, No Man's Sky and its creative team have buckled down to make 2017 the year of redemption. The introduction of multiplayer-like gameplay that could develop into a full-fledged experience, along with the addition of new worlds, features, and a massive 30+ hour story in the Atlas Rising update, have helped push the title back into good standing.

Today, developer Hello Games has continued on this positivity-garnering streak by releasing a new update for No Man's Sky that implements an overhauled save system. The patch, entitled Atlas Rises patch 1.38, promises to make managing saves between game modes easier and more seamless than ever before, saving fans from any frustration they may experience when preserving their gameplay.

How the new Atlas Rises update does this is by offering players five different save-game slots. Existing saves will be mapped into these slots, each of which can be used for any mode within the game. Choosing an empty slot will boot up a new game, allowing players to then pick the game mode they would like to play from in the mode select menu. Starting a new game without having any saves stored within the slots will automatically direct players to select a mode.

Additionally, the patch introduces two sub-slots for each save game. One is used for automatic saves, and the other is reserved for manual saves. Automatic saves occur when players exit their ships, purchase a space-freighter, claim a base, or, unfortunately, die. Manual saves, on the other hand, happen when players interact with a save point or find a beacon while walking on the surface of a planet.

A ton of improvements, changes, and bug fixes are also addressed in Altas Rises patch 1.38. This includes tweaked mouse sensitivity and control inversion settings in regards to the Galactic map, the added ability to rebind the discard key, improved trading, and modified environments that reduce toxicity.

Thus far, the Atlas Rises update has served as a way to improve the reputation of No Man's Sky. Where the game and developer Hello Games was once embroiled in legal battles and saw its active player base plummeting – with some even requesting refunds after feeling let down by the game – No Man's Sky has rebounded in a big way. The release of Atlas Rises catalyzed a major No Man's Sky Steam user boost, so hopefully, this new patch will keep the game on an upward trajectory.

The full patch notes (save for the already-detailed new save system) are detailed below:

Improvements & changes

  • Made the temperature range of dead planets more varied
  • In-flight weather effects now vary in strength based on height
  • The Analysis Visor can now be used to scan farm plants and see the remaining growth time
  • Analysis Visor can scan ships to determine their class, type and value at a distance
  • The Analysis Visor can be used to see the approximate distance of resources discovered with the Scanner
  • Added error message when no outpost is found by the economy scanner
  • Added the ability to skip black bars when discovering a planet or solar system
  • Prevented the cursor being reset to the center of the page as you switch between pause menus
  • Trade outposts now provide hazard protection
  • Added a chance for pirates to spawn earlier than usual when a player warps into a certain systems, to add more variety to exploration and trading
  • Galactic map now respects user mouse sensitivity settings
  • Galactic map now respects user control inversion settings
  • Prevented trade terminals having a negative quantity of stock
  • Made trading terminal stock values replenish over time
  • Separated stock levels for trading posts and space stations in the same system
  • Lush biomes in survival mode now occasionally exist without an aggressive sentinel presence
  • Reduced cursor UI slowdown when using a pad
  • Improved NPC ship target selection in space battles, prevented them reacting to accidental player fire
  • Added exotic ship audio for AI and NPC ships
  • Added ability to transfer items to and from containers in your base or freighter
  • Added tooltip text to explain the planet icons on the discovery page
  • Added ability to sell items from ship cargo slots at terminals
  • Storms on humid/lush planets are no longer toxic; humid/lush planets now have a chance of their rain being very hot. Note: no new storms have been added, and the frequency of storms has not been adjusted. Humid planets that previously had freezing rain storms in 1.3 have had that storm type changes to heated rain.
  • Added ability to transfer items from cargo slots during maintenance interactions
  • Improved trading by giving NPCs independent stock levels
  • Made NPCs who give directions refer to a wider spread of locations
  • Added ability to rebind the discard key

Bug fixes

  • Fixed an issue where some delivery missions would continuously tell players to visit other systems
  • Fixed an issue where the requirements to complete some missions could change as you spoke to NPCs
  • Fixed scaling issues with creature feeding icons
  • Fixed an issue where mining units would occasionally incorrectly produce Heridium
  • Prevented mining units being placed inside each other
  • Fixed an issue where base parts, including storage containers, built outside the base building radius in unlimited building mode would not be transferred when the player moved to a new base
  • Fixed an issue where storm-prone planets could be labelled as ‘Mild’. Storm frequency has not been adjusted – the text should now more accurately describe weather conditions.
  • Fixed an issue where the terrain manipulator audio would occasionally continue after terrain editing completed
  • Fixed an issue where the terrain manipulator hologram would remain in one location after subtracting from the terrain
  • Fixed an issue where the terrain manipulator would occasionally create longer lines than intended
  • Fixed an issue where the ship crosshair would appear at incorrect times
  • Fixed the Upload All button on the discovery page not deactivating after being used
  • Corrected button prompts in the ship combat wiki
  • Restored Spectral Class to the galaxy map text
  • Prevented users occasionally falling outside the trading post platform when exiting their ship
  • Prevented traders from attacking pirates which are far out of their range
  • Fixed an issue where NPC ships would stop outside the entrance of freighters and space stations in systems with no trade routes
  • Fixed an issue where smaller freighters and containers could not be destroyedCorrected Roamer and Rover inventories appearing incorrectly in the transfer window
  • Added protection to allow the Mind Arc step of the Artemis story to be completed even if a player deletes their base
  • Fixed issue where a blue eye icon would occasionally appear over the crosshair
  • Fixed an issue where the Space Anomaly could remain in the player’s home system indefinitely
  • Fixed an issue with dismantling tech on ship compare screens not correctly destroying the tech
  • Fixed an issue where unbinding a key would exit the control menu
  • Fixed an issue where selecting a new key binding could accidentally result in it being set to a mouse button
  • Fixed an issue where the Space Anomaly mission had no objective text in the log.
  • Fixed an issue where some players who should have been able to restart distant missions were unable to do so
  • Fixed an issue which could cause excess stacked inventory items to be lost

No Man's Sky is out now for PC and PlayStation 4.

Source: No Man's Sky