G’day Console Edition Community,
Adam from Tantalus here, reporting in with an update on the development progress for the previously announced XBox Series X|S and Playstation 5 versions of Stellaris Console Edition.
Our team has 3.12 running natively on both the XBox Series X|S and Playstation 5. This has taken a lot of work over the last couple of months to achieve. For XBox Series X|S, we had to port all existing backend code from XDK to GDKx, as well as implementing a DirectX 12 renderer. As for PlayStation 5, we moved from the PS4 10.5 SDK to the PS5 SDK 10, and implemented a new renderer targeting the new hardware.
While we are still working towards taking advantage of the extra core count made available to us, just doubling the processor speed has shown promising results. The extra memory available should mean fewer late game crashes in larger galaxies (Always surprising to see the year 2700+ in some of the crash dumps), hence making the game more stable. We are still conducting soak testing around this to ensure this is the case. Finally, the move from mechanical to solid state storage will dramatically decrease load times on top of the optimizations we had in place to handle the older style drives from XBox One and PlayStation 4.
The new UI screens (While works in progress) have been implemented and entering a phase of internal testing. Here are the initial, non-final, Synaptic Lathe and Astral Actions views.
"Synaptic Lathe" - Ah, finally plugged the entire population into the Synaptic Lathe. Productivity’s through the roof. Morale? Let’s not ask.
"Astral Actions" - We opened a rift in reality and filled out the proper forms. Twice. Welcome to the Astral Actions menu.
We have continued with our paradigm of staying as true to PC as possible, but both navigable by controller, and readable from your couch.
There are still several other screens to be revealed:
We still have a way to go (there's even a slight spoiler in these screenshots for the keen eyed) and we will soon be entering a compliance and certification stage as we are submitting the upcoming release as a new product to platform partners. To be clear, by "new product", we mean on the technical side - we are still looking into how it will become available. As mentioned a few weeks back in Stellaris: Console Edition Development Diary #76, there are still a couple of moving parts we need to fall in place before we can determine how game ownership and DLC entitlements will work.
That’s all for now - Adam
Adam from Tantalus here, reporting in with an update on the development progress for the previously announced XBox Series X|S and Playstation 5 versions of Stellaris Console Edition.
Our team has 3.12 running natively on both the XBox Series X|S and Playstation 5. This has taken a lot of work over the last couple of months to achieve. For XBox Series X|S, we had to port all existing backend code from XDK to GDKx, as well as implementing a DirectX 12 renderer. As for PlayStation 5, we moved from the PS4 10.5 SDK to the PS5 SDK 10, and implemented a new renderer targeting the new hardware.
While we are still working towards taking advantage of the extra core count made available to us, just doubling the processor speed has shown promising results. The extra memory available should mean fewer late game crashes in larger galaxies (Always surprising to see the year 2700+ in some of the crash dumps), hence making the game more stable. We are still conducting soak testing around this to ensure this is the case. Finally, the move from mechanical to solid state storage will dramatically decrease load times on top of the optimizations we had in place to handle the older style drives from XBox One and PlayStation 4.
The new UI screens (While works in progress) have been implemented and entering a phase of internal testing. Here are the initial, non-final, Synaptic Lathe and Astral Actions views.
"Synaptic Lathe" - Ah, finally plugged the entire population into the Synaptic Lathe. Productivity’s through the roof. Morale? Let’s not ask.
"Astral Actions" - We opened a rift in reality and filled out the proper forms. Twice. Welcome to the Astral Actions menu.
We have continued with our paradigm of staying as true to PC as possible, but both navigable by controller, and readable from your couch.
There are still several other screens to be revealed:
- The new Cosmogenisis Crisis - The riddle ships are wild and access to the Synaptic Lathe… for science!
- Astral Rift story screens - Some weird decisions to make and stories to tell.
- New crisis conversation - Negotiation is optional.
- New empire selection features - Great new portraits with preselection for evolution / ascension variations, and new ships! Swooosh!
We still have a way to go (there's even a slight spoiler in these screenshots for the keen eyed) and we will soon be entering a compliance and certification stage as we are submitting the upcoming release as a new product to platform partners. To be clear, by "new product", we mean on the technical side - we are still looking into how it will become available. As mentioned a few weeks back in Stellaris: Console Edition Development Diary #76, there are still a couple of moving parts we need to fall in place before we can determine how game ownership and DLC entitlements will work.
That’s all for now - Adam
