No Man's Sky patch 4.0 official notes: Overhauls game modes, inventories, milestones, and more

No Man's Sky's well-known redemption arc has long since ended and Hello Games continues to introduce fresh new content for players to enjoy. In 2022 alone, the game received several major updates like Sentinel, Outlaws, Leviathan, and Endurance. Today marks the launch of the space-faring game on the Nintendo Switch as well as the arrival of patch 4.0: Waypoint.

Earlier today, Sean Murray tweeted that introducing a major update along with the launch on Switch "was just about silly enough to" make them want to try it. He mentioned that the developers were 'working their socks off' and the recent announcement is clear proof.

Patch 4.0 introduces several features that will delight both newcomers as well as long-time veterans. Auto-saving features, a revamped UI, a new milestone system, trade rocket mechanisms, visual effects overhauls, and game modes are among the many things that the latest update brings.

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No Man's Sky Patch 4.0 revamps a number of things

A seamless auto-saving system has been added, which is sure to be a relief with players not having to constantly worry about saving during their journey across the stars. The visual interfaces of multiple elements have been revamped, like that of Atlas, planetary structures, Space Anomaly, and inventory visuals.

Patch 4.0 introduces personal trade rockets for players to be able to sell their items on the Galactic Trade Network. This device can be called from anywhere on a planet's surface and then fired back to the local Space Station. Waypoint also brings a relaxed game mode for players to enjoy the title with reduced danger and less grind.

Dynamic difficulties and survival challenges will welcome interlopers, once they launch No Man's Sky after installing the latest update. Furthermore, there are plenty of quality-of-life upgrades to further enhance the players' experience.

The Nintendo Switch launch also brings unique rewards for players on the platform. They can claim a set of exclusive rewards from the Space Anomaly to get the Horizon Vector NX starship and Infinite Neon Mark XXII Multi-Tool by connecting to the No Man's Sky servers on the Switch before November 7.

Players will also be able to see the crafting of complex products in the form of a tree in No Man's Sky, that will likely help them collect and create the sub-components beforehand. Patch 4.0 also introduces a centralized hub for players to explore the Catalog, Guide, and Milestones pages.

Other major highlights for the Waypoint update include new faction milestones, technology packaging to stash away, ease of use that includes a cap on the number of Communication Stations icons displayed at once, and asteroid fields now having new rare and exotic variants.

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Diving into the official patch notes

INFORMATION PORTAL

• The Guide, Catalogue, and Milestones UI pages have been merged into one unified information portal and given a visual overhaul.
• The catalogue has been divided into more fine-grained categories, allowing quicker access to information.
• A dedicated catalogue has been added for gathering stories and information from planetary sites, such as monoliths, plaques, abandoned buildings, and more.
• A dedicated catalogue has been added that records the story of your own journey across the galaxy as you complete missions.
• Specific catalogue pages have been added to record language information gathered from various aliens met on your journey.
• Specific catalogue pages have been added to record refiner recipes learned via experimenting with the various sized refiners available.
• A specific catalogue page has been added to record any cooking recipes learnt from experimenting with the Nutrient Processor.
• Procedurally generated technology is now listed in the catalogue.
• Guide pages can now be manually scrolled.
• New Guide entries are now previewed on the main information portal.
• Key milestones are now previewed on the main information portal.
• The Milestones page has been given a visual overhaul.
• The Factions page has been given a visual overhaul.
• The medals awarded for faction and milestone progress have been improved.
• Milestones and medals can now be pinned as a mission, giving guidance on how to progress.
• A new range of faction medals have been added.
• The Extreme Survival journey milestone has been reworked so that it counts cumulative time spent in extreme environments rather than the longest continual time spent in an extreme environment without dying.

NEW DIFFICULTY FRAMEWORK

• All the core difficulty and other differences between the game modes have been reworked into a new framework that players can adjust as they see fit.
• All existing game modes have been retained as quick and easy presets, and can be selected as before when starting a new game.
• Alternatively, players can now choose to create a Custom game where all settings are fully customizable.
• Expedition and Permadeath games will remain in their own pool for the purposes of matchmaking and base sharing. All other game modes have been unified, so that players can explore together, whatever their difficulty preferences.
• An additional game mode has been added to this list, Relaxed mode. Relaxed is the full Normal mode experience, but with significantly reduced need to manage survival systems and maintain technology and resources.
• Players wishing to make their existing games more challenging, or take advantage of the new Relaxed mode settings, can customise difficulty options from the pause menu at any time. The vast majority of difficulty settings can be tweaked at any time, in any mode.
• Some limited restrictions are imposed when wishing to play Permadeath.
• Customisable difficulty options include:

1. The ability to disable life support and / or hazard protection management.
2. The ability to customise the speed at which life support and hazard protection are depleted.
3. The amount of material yielded when mining and harvested.
4. If sprinting is limited by life support drain and/or stamina.
5. How fast the scanner recharges.
6. How much damage players take from combat or the environment.
7. If technology takes damage when taking damage from combat or the environment.
8. What consequences there are for death, from none to permadeath.
9. How much fuel various pieces of technology use, including in Relaxed mode, the ability to have free use of ammo, the mining laser, and the terrain editor while still retaining general fueling mechanics.
10. If crafting items is free.
11. If the game is started with most recipes and blueprints already known, or if they must be earned.
12. How much items and upgrades cost to buy or learn.
13. The range of items available in shops.
14. How large item stack sizes can be within the inventory.
15. How much health hostile ships / Sentinels / creatures have.
16. How frequently, if at all, ground combat takes place.
17. How frequently, if at all, space combat takes place.
18. How hostile various planetary creatures are in their behaviour.
19. If the tutorial missions take place or not.
20. If other inventories (such as the ship and freighter) are always in range or not.
21. If specialised warp drive upgrades are required to enter specific systems.
22. If bases and base equipment require power.
23. How fast standing is gained with various factions.
24. If the game starts with all squadron or companion slots pre-unlocked.

SAVING

• The autosave system has been reworked. Instead of saving when getting out the ship, the game now autosaves silently and automatically during regular play. A full save is still made at all times a save was made before, including getting out of the ship.
• Players may now rename their saves. The option is found in the main menu once the save has been loaded.
• The most recent player location is now displayed in the save summary.

VISUALS

• No Man’s Sky on PC now supports AMD FidelityFX™ Super Resolution 2, a cutting edge open source temporal upscaling solution, providing high image quality and improved framerates.
• The visual variety of NPCs found aboard freighters has been increased.
• The smoothness of third-person player movement on slopes has been significantly improved.
• The Fleet Command Room freighter component has been visually overhauled and given new visual effects.
• New rare asteroid variations have been added to systems across the galaxy.
• The freighter hangar entrance effects have been significantly improved.
• The space station docking bay entrance effects have been significantly improved.
• Atmospheric effects across the entire Space Anomaly have had a visual overhaul.
• Visual atmospherics throughout the Atlas Station have been significantly improved.
• The visual effects used when harvesting Sodium, Oxygen, and other small plants have been improved.
• The cave drip visual effects have been improved.
• The landing and ground hover effects for the living ship have been improved.
• The visual effects for plaques and word stones have been significantly improved.

INVENTORY

• Inventory pages have been given a visual overhaul, including new backgrounds and new item slot styles and backgrounds.
• Inventories such as the ship, exosuit, freighter, etc, are no longer subdivided into multiple pages. Technology and Cargo inventories are displayed together on one page.
• General inventories have been removed. Items and technology are now separated into their own inventories. All existing saves have been upgraded to combine their slots accordingly, so that no items or unlocked slots have been lost.
• The maximum number of slots per inventory has been significantly increased, with 120 item slots and 60 technology slots now available.
• Inventory sections are now able to scroll, to accommodate these increased sizes.
• Exocraft now make use of the technology inventory. Exocraft inventories have been generally expanded.
• Storage Container and Ingredient Storage inventories have been significantly increased, up to 50 slots each.
• The cost of purchasing new slots has been generally reduced.
• Players can now choose exactly which slot to unlock when purchasing new slots.
• Item inventories can now be filtered to highlight specific item types.
• Players can now adjust stack sizes and manually choose slots when arranging items inside storage or ingredient containers.
• When transferring items to another inventory via quick transfer, free space is now represented as the number of slots rather than item counts.
• When transferring items to storage containers via quick transfer, the item will be placed in a container that already contains other items of that type, rather than into the first available slot.
• Refunded items (such as fuel from refiners or frigate upgrades from cancelled expeditions) can now be refunded into inventory with space, rather than only into specific inventories.
• Oxygen and Pure Ferrite have had their icons updated.
• Salvaged Data has had its icon updated.
• Log Encryption Keys, Factory Override Units, and Salvaged Frigate Modules have had their icons updated.
• Starship Storage Augmentations, Cargo Bulkheads, Multi-Tool Expansion Slots, and Exosuit Expansion Units have had their icons updated.
• Drop-Pod Coordinate Data has been replaced with an Exosuit Upgrade Chart that leads players directly to Drop Pods without having to use the signal booster. The charts can be found while exploring or purchased from a cartographer aboard the space station.

USER INTERFACE AND QUALITY OF LIFE

• All menu and options screens have received a visual overhaul.
• The mode select and save select screens have received a visual overhaul.
• Players may now construct a Trade Rocket upgrade for their Exosuit. This allows the deployment of a personal rocket via the Quick Menu. Items loaded into the rocket and launched will be automatically sold.
• Players may now package up any installed technology into a deployable item, which can be archived in storage or redeployed to a new location.
• When crafting complex items, players can now view detailed interactive crafting steps, which will take them step-by-step through the entire tree of requirements and sub-requirements.
• The number of Communication Station icons displayed is now capped in areas that are dense with many messages.
• Interaction targeting has been improved, so that nearby objects are highlighted without the need to aim at them precisely.
• Cursor control in menus has been improved for pad users, making it easier to select small buttons.
• Crafting products and installing technologies now both use the same button.
• Repairing interactions, such as clearing out substances from blocked terminals in abandoned buildings, now have more bespoke text and instructions that more closely match that specific interaction.
• A number of instances where inventory animations would snap rather than flow smoothly have been fixed.
• Players can now disable first-person head bob effects from the main menu.
• A number of instances where the cursor was being reset to the centre of the screen during an interaction have been fixed.
• Item highlighting has improved during missions and pinned instructions, making it more clear which items need to be built, repaired or installed.
• Pinned technology instructions will now correctly guide players to learn the relevant blueprint if they do not already know it.
• Item highlighting hints have been extended to the repair screen and craftable item lists.
• Button prompts are now highlighted when a usable item (such as a chart, geode, or procedural technology package) is ready to use.
• The Quicksilver Companion Robot will now give advice on how to earn Quicksilver.
• The signal booster now uses a fast-style interaction, making it quicker to find nearby buildings.

MISSIONS

• The Base Computer Archives mission chain has been reworked to remove timers. The archives are now unlocked by decrypting its various passwords, achieved via learning new pieces of alien language.
• The rewards for the Base Computer Archive mission chain have been improved.
• Missions involving the player’s base now respond dynamically to the construction of new bases. When moving to a new system or building a new base, the mission system will attempt to locate the mission at the nearest appropriate base, rather than whichever was closest at the time the mission began.
• New Creative Mode games start with a short and non-mandatory guidance mission to help orientate new players.
• Mission details in the log page can now be manually scrolled.
• A procedurally generated mission is now activated when encountering a drop pod. This mission will mark the site and allow players to easily find their way back if they need to leave to gather repair materials.
• The auto-generated crashed freighter digsite mission now marks individual sites so they can be returned to with ease.
• The Vile Spawn dropped from the vessels spawned at Titan Worm burrows can now be collected.
• Collecting Vile Spawn may yield the secrets of the worm cult who worship them.
• Vile Spawn physics have been improved so they no longer roll away at high speeds.
• Vile Spawn are now highlighted by the Scanner and Analysis Visor.
• Building waypoint beacons are now shown in the Analysis Visor.
• Text tips when changing your active mission or when new missions become available have been improved for clarity.
• The mission restart button that becomes available when mission targets are very distant has been improved for clarity.
• Mission board rewards have been generally improved, so they are of higher value.
• Mission board rewards now more strongly correlate to the player’s standing with the commissioning faction, with higher ranks earning better rewards.
• Fixed an issue that could prevent mission boards from quickly presenting the mission hand-in page on their first interaction, if the player had missions to hand-in from another system.
• Fixed a number of rare blockers in the Armorer and Overseer mission chains.
• Fixed a number of instances where mission markers could be lost for core story objectives.
• Fixed a number of mission issues that could cause the target sweep to fail to locate a building correctly.
• The mission icons for the Living Ship missions have been improved.
• Fixed an icon inconsistency in the Armourer missions.
• Fixed a number of text formatting inconsistencies across base NPC missions generally.
• Improved the message box that appears when interacting with an NPC terminal that has no specialist working available.

BALANCE

• The Analysis Visor’s base scanning speed has been significantly increased, making it faster in discovering creatures, plants, and minerals.
• Damaged objects encountered in the world (such as cargo crates in the wrecks of freighters) are now far more likely to require a repair that can be resolved in place, rather than necessitating gathering additional materials.
• The amount of Quicksilver rewarded by standard Nexus missions, as well as special weekend event Nexus missions, has been increased.
• In addition to nanites and portal rune knowledge, the grave sites of fallen Travellers now offer Memory Fragments, containing valuable technology.
• Interactions with Travellers now generally give higher quality rewards and items.
• The list of additional substances that can be gathered from planetary rocks and flora after successfully analyzing them has been streamlined, to avoid polluting inventories with small numbers of a wide range of items.
• The range of items awarded as scrap when salvaging a starship has been decreased, to avoid unnecessarily polluting inventories and to make the salvaging process more streamlined.
• Deployable technology products of the same type now stack, reducing the inventory slots required while waiting for the right time to use them.
• The amount of Oxygen harvested from plants has been slightly increased.
• The amount of Sodium harvested from plants has been slightly decreased, but Sodium plants are now distributed more densely across planets.
• The sell price of storm crystals has been increased.
• The sell price of various raw materials gathered on planets has been decreased, to reward the creation of more complex trade items via crafting.
• The purchase price of key survival materials in space station trade terminals has been increased.
• Extremely large mineral extractor arrays are now affected by diminishing returns, reducing the effectiveness of each additional unit over the cap.
• The potency of the Oxygen Recycler has been increased.
• The amount of time that fuel asteroids stay marked after a space scan has been adjusted.
• Teleporters can no longer be used to avoid danger while smuggling illegal goods.
• Creative Mode games now start with a hyperdrive pre-installed.
• The time that Sentinels will continue to hunt wanted players now scales with general combat difficulty.
• More challenging game modes and difficulty settings now restrict the availability of key items at trade terminals, so that key survival items must be found or crafted instead of bought.
• When using higher difficulty settings, the starship is significantly more expensive to summon than it is to launch while piloted, making the decision to summon rather than walk a more complex equation.
• On higher difficulty settings, technology can be broken when taking damage. The chance scales with shield strength, so that more fully shielded Travellers are largely safe.
• On all but the harshest settings, the base probability of technology breaking is very low.
• The damaged technology is relevant to the type of damage received, so that (for example) extreme cold damage is more likely to break thermal hazard protection.

BASE BUILDING

• Power cables and other wire placement has been improved so that wires snap more easily, reducing fiddliness when building power grids.
• Power cables and other wires are now more easy to highlight when using delete to remove base building objects.
• Power cable visual effects have been improved.
• Fixed a number of visual issues with power cable snap points.
• Fixed an issue that prevented plug sockets from appearing at the end of power cables.
• The build menu UI now stays stable while placing power cables and other wires.
• In edit mode, the build menu now gives information about which part is currently being targeted.
• Hydroponic planters can now be placed freely without the need to snap to a structure.
• Fixed a snapping issue with the cuboid room frame.
• Fixed an issue that prevented players from picking up or editing already placed parts that happened to be near a landed starship.

The patch also brought a plethora of bug fixes that can be checked here.