Dev Notes October 2026

Hey SpacePilots,

Some weeks ago, we did a survey in our player community and among other topics, we asked about the major problems in DarkOrbit. One of the important issues mentioned by a lot of participants was the server stability.

Today, we would like to share some information with you about DarkOrbit client improvements that we have done lately, and which are now live. The development team delivered a list of improvements that have been applied on our Flash client and the Unity client.

Flash & Unity
We have made improvements to both the Flash and Unity clients to support smoother large-scale battles, more consistent visual and special effects, and better stability during extended play sessions. The sections below explain what has changed in each client and what you may notice in-game.

Flash Client Improvements
You are most likely to notice these changes during large battles, extended NPC farming and map travel, and routine interactions when your inventory contains many items. Improvements may be less noticeable in quieter areas with fewer visual effects.

1. Large-Scale Battles: Smoother, More Responsive Gameplay

When many players and drones are on screen and laser fire and ability effects overlap, the client has to render a large amount of information at once. This can lead to frame drops, brief freezes, or less responsive-looking actions.

We have reduced the rendering workload in these situations so the client can devote more resources to the ongoing battle.

• More consistent visuals when multiple ships enter view.
• Fewer brief stutters during concentrated fire or repeated ability use.
• Smoother visual feedback while moving, chasing enemies, and switching targets.

These improvements are most relevant to crowded, intense battles. Performance gains will not be identical in every situation.

2. Extended Play Sessions: Reducing Slowdowns Over Time

Moving between maps, farming NPCs, and fighting battles continuously generates lasers, explosions, and ability animations. If effects that have already finished are not cleared promptly, they can gradually increase the client’s workload.

This update improves how these visual elements are reused and cleaned up, with the aim of keeping the client more stable during longer sessions.

• More consistent smoothness after several battles in a row.
• Less chance of stuttering becoming progressively worse during extended farming or frequent map changes.
• Fewer resources are being used by visual effects that are no longer visible after combat.
• The results depend on your PC and the gameplay situation. This update cannot guarantee the complete elimination of slowdowns during extended sessions.

3. Distant Objects: Simplified Visuals in Crowded Areas

Displaying every ship, drone, and distant effect in full detail can put considerable strain on the client when many players are nearby. To reduce this load, some distant objects now use simplified visuals.

In 2D mode, within a range of 800, drones are displayed for up to 30 players, with their visuals restored across multiple frames. In 3D mode, within a range of 900, up to 50 players can retain full ship visuals; additional players are represented by gray directional icons.

• Some distant player ships may appear as gray directional icons.
• Fewer drones belonging to distant players may be displayed.
• Some distant laser, explosion, and ability effects may be reduced.
• Visual effects may look simpler during especially crowded battles.

These trade-offs prioritize your own ship and elements most relevant to the current fight. They are display-only changes: a distant player has not left the map, and a simplified effect does not mean an ability failed to activate. Full ship visuals may return as a distant ship moves closer.

4. Laser Combat: More Consistent Firing and Hit Effects

We have adjusted the visual presentation of certain lasers—their firing, travel, and impact—to make combat effects more consistent across display modes.

• More consistent visual timing when lasers fire.
• Laser impacts that align more closely with the target ship.
• More natural transitions during repeated laser volleys.
• More consistent laser visuals when ships are moving.

These are visual changes only. They do not increase damage, actual firing speed, or ammunition consumption. Smoother-looking lasers do not provide a combat advantage.

5. Drone Display: Fewer Missing Drones and Immediate Setting Changes

Previously, a ship could occasionally appear without its drones when it first entered view or after a map change. We have improved the order in which these visuals appear so drones are displayed more reliably alongside their ships.

• Fewer instances of drones being unexpectedly absent when another ship appears.
• More reliable drone visuals after switching maps.
• Immediate visual updates when you enable or disable drone display in Settings.

In crowded areas or at longer distances, drones may still be intentionally hidden under the performance-related display rules. This is different from drones failing to appear due to a display issue.

6. Settings Window: Preserving Your Graphics Preferences

We fixed an issue where opening the Settings window could unintentionally affect your existing configuration.

Your graphics settings should now remain unchanged when you open the window simply to review the available options. Some sliders also more accurately reflect their current values, reducing mismatches between the displayed setting and the actual result.

You can review your settings and make changes only when you choose to.

7. Network Data: More Efficient Transfers and Message Processing

When supported by the server, these network optimizations can reduce the amount of certain game data transferred and lower the workload involved in processing large numbers of messages on the client.

This can improve data-transfer and processing efficiency in crowded, message-heavy situations.

However, latency also depends on connection quality, distance to the server, and server load. This update does not mean every player will experience lower ping, nor does it guarantee a fix for all disconnections or network fluctuations.

8. Results May Vary by PC

We have also adjusted how graphics are drawn in 2D mode, so results may differ depending on your hardware.



Unity Client Improvements

The Unity client has received the following performance, visual, audio, and stability improvements:

Smoother Large-Scale Battles — Improved performance when many ships, drones, lasers, smoke effects, and other visual effects appear at the same time, helping reduce stuttering during intense combat.

Better Combat Effect Cleanup — Improved the reuse and cleanup of combat effects to reduce lingering visuals after a target disappears, a unit is destroyed, or a scene changes.

More Consistent Laser, Rocket, and Projectile Visuals — Laser effects now play in sequence across weapon groups at intervals of approximately 200 ms and track moving targets. If an attack stops or a target disappears, no additional effects are generated. Rockets and projectiles are also cleared promptly when their targets become invalid, reducing misalignment, jitter, and lingering effects.

Improved 2D Effects — Optimized engine trails, smoke, and drone visuals in 2D mode to reduce flickering, misalignment, and lingering objects.

Clearer Audio Priorities in Busy Battles — Optimized sound playback during crowded fights. Up to five distant combat sounds can play at once, while sounds related to your own ship are prioritized.

More Efficient Asset Loading and Memory Use — Improved the loading and reuse of ships, materials, assets, and texture atlases to reduce memory usage and stutters caused by frequent loading.

More Efficient Gameplay Data Updates — Optimized updates for movement, HP, shields, and the minimap to reduce redundant processing from high-frequency network messages.

Faster Interface Updates — Improved refresh efficiency for inventory, assembly, upgrading, and dismantling features.

Improved Network Message Handling — Optimized network message compression and error handling to reduce data transfer and prevent a single malformed message from disrupting the processing of later messages.

Better Stability Over Long Sessions — Improved resource cleanup during extended play and frequent map changes to reduce the risk of effects, audio resources, and scene objects building up over time.

Actual performance improvements may vary depending on your PC, connection, and gameplay conditions.

All these improvements went live with our last sync and we’d love to hear your feedback about the changes. We will create a feedback thread where you can leave your comments.

Thank you very much for reading!

Your DarkOrbit Team