Thanks for the Beta testing, folks!

The highly anticipated Climate Model improvements are ready to go live! Thank you to all of our beta testers and community members for your useful feedback. We particularly enjoyed seeing all of the fun Earth-like terrae you have found in your exploration.

In this update, we improved the relationship between temperature and windspeed, and updated the equator-to-pole temperature calculations. This included fixing a bug in the calculation of mean temperature, which was previously too low for many planets with high windspeeds, and also changed with windspeed. Mean temperature now remains constant, unless overrides are set in the Planet Editor or catalogs.

We also fixed a few other minor bugs, including a temperature discontinuity in regions experiencing polar night, and a bug that incorrectly calculated the minimum or maximum temperature when both were set in the Planet Editor or through catalog inputs. Now the Planet Editor won’t ignore your inputs! But as always, keep in mind that extreme inputs can result in extreme outputs.

Please also take note of the known issues below the changelog, as your custom planets/systems may be impacted!

• Added a seizure warning screen when the program is starting. Pressing ESC will end the screen early.
  
• Climate Model Update: Improved the relationship between temperature and windspeed; updated the equator-to-pole temperature calculations.
  
• Fixed a bug in the calculation of mean temperature, which was previously too low for planets with high windspeeds, and also incorrectly changed with windspeed.
  
• Fixed a planet surface temperature discontinuity in regions experiencing polar night. This also fixed a related bug for planets with axial tilts greater than 45 degrees.
  
• Fixed a bug that incorrectly calculated the minimum or maximum temperature when both were set in the Planet Editor or through the catalogs.
  
• Fixed a bug in the Star Browser where binary planets and binary moons were not correctly identified in a temperature-based search.
  
• Updated the exoplanet and host star catalog (this may include updated names for some objects)
  
• Updated asteroid catalog

• Entering a minimum temperature sets the theoretical temperature at the winter pole for maximum possible subsolar latitude at maximum distance from the star - however, maximum subsolar latitude may not actually correspond to apoapsis, so your custom planet may not quite achieve the minimum temperature entered in the Editor/catalogs.
  
• When rate of time is set very high, there is a distance-calculation bug that results in incorrect temperatures (planets and stars move faster than the temperature calculation is performed within SE).

Hey folks!

With magnitudes fixed, we're giving the Climate Model some more love! You can expect better accuracy with regards to temperatures and wind speeds (see the Changelog for specifics) among the usual bug squishing efforts! As always with Betas, we're looking for bugs and inconsistencies that slipped through the cracks during internal testing, so be thorough on reporting any that you find!

For the uninitiated, you can opt in to Beta builds by right clicking SpaceEngine in your Steam Library, clicking Properties, then Betas, and selecting public beta branch from the dropdown menu. Report bugs and inconsistencies either in the Troubleshooting and Bug Reports discussion page, or in #bug-reports on the official Discord server.

• Added a seizure warning screen when the program is starting. Pressing ESC will end the screen early.
  
• Climate Model Update: Improved the relationship between temperature and windspeed; updated the equator-to-pole temperature calculations.
  
• Fixed a bug in the calculation of mean temperature, which was previously too low for planets with high windspeeds, and also incorrectly changed with windspeed.
  
• Fixed a planet surface temperature discontinuity in regions experiencing polar night. This also fixed a related bug for planets with axial tilts greater than 45 degrees.
  
• Fixed a bug that incorrectly calculated the minimum or maximum temperature when both were set in the Planet Editor or through the catalogs.
  
• Fixed a bug in the Star Browser where binary planets and binary moons were not correctly identified in a temperature-based search.
  
• Updated the exoplanet and host star catalog (this may include updated names for some objects)
  
• Updated asteroid catalog

• Entering a minimum temperature sets the theoretical temperature at the winter pole for maximum possible subsolar latitude at maximum distance from the star - however, maximum subsolar latitude may not actually correspond to apoapsis, so your custom planet may not quite achieve the minimum temperature entered in the Editor/catalogs.
  
• When rate of time is set very high, there is a distance-calculation bug that results in incorrect temperatures (planets and stars move faster than the temperature calculation is performed within SE).

Hey folks!

We didn't see any new issues pop up in the Beta, so the previous JuMBO catalog update is back, sans magnitude issues! For anything that slips through the cracks, please continue to report bugs and issues on the Discord and Steam page!

In case you missed it: we implemented what was supposed to be an accuracy improvement to magnitude values in SpaceEngine, but it clashed with the existing code, generating wildly incorrect results. A proper integration would require changes to procedural generation, which is reserved for major updates and avoided where possible. It's working, but on the shelf for a future update.

Please see the previous patch notes for a reminder of what's being reinstated with this hotfix!

• Removed apparent magnitude fix that was causing multiple bugs

Hey folks!

We have reverted the bug that was causing magnitudes to display wildly incorrect values. The change was intended to be an accuracy improvement, but it wasn't playing nice with existing calculations. While fixing the bug, we determined that proper integration will affect SpaceEngine's procedural generation, so to preserve your locations and keep the universe stable, we will delay releasing that improvement until a future major version.

The purpose of this Beta is to ensure magnitudes have been returned to the values you currently see on the public branch. Please file bug reports in the usual channels (Bug Reports on the official Discord and Troubleshooting and Bug Reports on the Steam forums) with any inconsistencies you find!

• Removed apparent magnitude fix that was causing multiple bugs

We have received a lot of reports of issues with the display of magnitudes for planets and other non-Star objects after the last release. We have rolled back to the previous version on the main branch while we work on a fix. Thank you for your patience!

The JuMBO update is still available on the Beta branch, if you would like to explore it in the interim:
https://spaceengine.org/opt-in-to-beta/

Hey folks!

We're bringing your monthly dose of catalog updates, featuring several recently discovered JuMBO's in the Trapezium cluster!

If your first thought was of overly large trapeze swings, you're not alone. Dr. Megan has written up a blog post explaining these rogue pairs and featuring one among the recent discoveries! Read all about it here: https://spaceengine.org/news/blog240924/

• Updated the exoplanet and host star catalog (new planets and hosts), including new Jupiter Mass Binary Objects (JuMBOs)
  
• Fixed duplicates in the white dwarf catalogs, so white dwarf binaries won’t have an extra white dwarf at the barycenter
  
• Fixed an assortment of one-off errors in object properties in the catalogs
  
• Fixed a bug where planemo displayed large numbers for daylight hours at equator and an annual fraction of polar day at current latitude
  
• Fixed an issue with AgX tonemapping name

Hey folks!

Thanks again for your diligent Beta testing! Today we're bringing the High-Resolution Screenshot Tool to public, enabling you to take a screenshot of any reasonable (or unreasonable!) resolution, even if you have less than stellar hardware! The new tool can be found on the left tool bracket and shares an icon with the default screenshot button.

In case you missed it: we celebrated five years on steam with the Beta launch of the new tool; the accompanying blog post includes a brief look back on our development as well as a guide on using said tool. Read up on it here: https://spaceengine.org/news/blog240611/

We're still on the lookout for any bugs that sneak through. Keep us posted in the Troubleshooting Discussion threads!


[h4]New Additions[/h4]

• Fixed a bug in the Star Browser where planet/moon temperature and temperature class results didn't match the actual system when visited
  
• Fixed several bugs and issues with the high-resolution screenshot tool

[h4]Additions from Beta[/h4]

• Added high-resolution screenshot tool (See linked blog post for a how-to!)
  
• Improved integration of Settings and Tools windows with the main menu
  
• Updated exoplanet and host star catalog
  
• Updated binary asteroid catalog
  
• Improved the appearance of Eris and Sedna (for real this time!)
  
• Miscellaneous catalog fixes, such as the distance to galaxy and black hole S5 0836+71
  
• Added button to video capture dialog to open the output folder
  
• Added missing gamma correction to several tone mapping options
  
• Added new tone mapping options: AgX Punchy, Reinhard SE, Rec 709, and sRGB
  -Rec 709 and sRGB are mainly for reference, they are not designed for HDR content and clip harshly with bright pixel values; manual exposure adjustment recommended for best results.
  
• Fixed some settings not saving while in the main menu