Following the release of Endurance, Hello Games has released patch 3.97 and added the eighth community Expedition for No Man’s Sky – Polestar. As the commander of a heavy shipping freighter, players are tasked with repairing it. What led to the freighter’s current state? That’s for you to find out. Completing all milestones in the expedition allows players to end it early and convert progress into a Normal Mode save.
Any saves during the Expedition will also automatically convert to Normal Mode saves when it concludes in six weeks. As for the rewards, players can look forward to three posters for their base – Pilgrim, Polestar, and Heavy Shipping – along with a limited edition freighter trail. You can also add the Navigation Archive, Data Display Unit, and Flaming Barrel decorations to your base.
Finally, there’s a cool Fleet Commander’s Cape to commemorate your Polestar journey and a Child of Helios egg, which hatches a spectral creature to accompany you. For more details on patch 3.97, check out the full notes below. Though the developer is currently “taking time” to address various issues, it promises even more content and “surprises” for this year. Stay tuned in the meantime.
3.97 Patch Notes
- Fixed a number of memory-related crashes, particularly on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
- Fixed a crash related to base building.
- Fixed a crash related to freighter loading.
- Fixed a PSVR-exclusive crash.
- Fixed a crash related to the Fleet Command room.
- Fixed a crash related to ByteBeat.
- Fixed an issue that prevented teleporters from working correctly on derelict freighters.
- Fixed an issue that prevented players from claiming earned frigates from the list of past expedition rewards.
- Fixed an issue that prevented people from acquiring a living frigate if they changed their system clock.
- Fixed a number of mission and dialog issues that could prevent mission progress.
- Fixed an issue that caused ByteBeat music to play over the top of the intended settlement bar music.
- Fixed an issue that could prevent newly-purchased frigates from joining up with the fleet.
- Introduced a number of rendering optimisations for freighter bases.
- Fixed an issue that could prevent building within very tall freighter bases.
- Fixed an issue that allowed bases from blocked players to still be synced in some circumstances.
- Fixed an issue that caused too many wires to be removed when deleting a connected base part (such as a switch).
- Fixed an issue that left ladders behind when deleting their attached room on a freighter.
- Fixed an issue that caused multiplayer freighter bases to be missing on PlayStation 4.
- Fixed an issue that caused some posters to use the wrong texture.
- Players now always know the freighter bulkhead door, to prevent them from being trapped if they delete all exits to a room.
- Supporting scaffolds have been added to the underside of some elevated freighter base parts.
- Fixed a number of cases where base parts (and planters) were not being powered correctly in some freighter base configurations.
- Players may now harvest carbon from the plants growing on the walls of their agricultural freighter rooms.
- Fixed a number of visual glitches in freighter room parts.
- Fixed an issue that made it impossible to place objects on some shelves.
- Players can now place specific variants (straight/T-Junction/X-Junction) of freighter glass corridors.
- Fixed an issue that made the Galactic Trade Terminal UI appear in the wrong position while in VR and using the freighter trade room.
- Fixed an issue that prevented freighter doors and windows from being automatically deleted if the room they are attached to is deleted.
- The UI now displays additional feedback after feeding a living frigate and evolving new traits.
- Fixed a rare visual glitch caused by the Exosuit backpack being incorrectly scaled.
- The visual effects for harvest plants within freighter bio rooms have been improved.
- The Wormhole Brain and the Neural Shielding now have the correct Quick Menu icons.
- Fixed an issue that made Flight Assist Override less effective than intended during space combat.
- Fixed an issue that prevented the Wormhole Brain from being used to detect trade outposts.
- Infestation Nexus missions now correctly lead players to the target planet.
- Fixed a rare blocking issue that could prevent portals from working correctly when triggered on the Artemis path while very close to the centre of the galaxy.
- Fixed an issue that awarded players the resources gathered by NPC asteroid miners.
- Fixed an issue that prevented players from skipping cinematic black bars while in an Exocraft.
- Fixed an issue that could prevent fleet expeditions from displaying living frigate related story content.
- Fixed an issue that prevented the correct effects from playing as the starship exits warp.
- Fixed a visual issue that caused space colouring to leak into the freighter warp tunnel.
- Fixed an issue that could allow some Leviathan-exclusive missions to persist indefinitely after the end of the expedition.
- Fixed an issue that could prevent ship previews from appearing correctly in the Quick Menu.
- Fixed an issue that could cause incorrect icons to appear in the top-left notification after unlocking a new section of the guide.
- Fixed an issue that allowed players to interact with their ship while it was being salvaged for scrap.
- Fixed an issue that caused the freighter to appear in the warp tunnel while playing in VR.