The update includes a major visual overhaul for the aliens and starships.

The memory footprint of the game was simultaneously reduced thanks to new updates to Stardock’s Cider engine.



The v1.5 update makes significant improvements to the game’s rendering technology. Players will enjoy finer details and smoother framerates when talking to alien leaders, while also gaining boosts in performance thanks to reduced memory usage. Ships benefit from this visual overhaul with more detail and an overall better performance during battles.

In addition to the visual improvements, v1.5 reduces the game’s memory usage by about 40%, depending on the player’s graphics card and computer system.

To enable the patch, please do the following:

• Select Star Control: Origins in your Steam Library list
  
• Right-click and select Properties
  
• Select the BETAS tab
  
• From the drop-down, select "opt-in" and click Close (if you don't see this option, restart Steam)
  
• Steam should pull down the changed files; if you ever want to go back, do the same as above but select "default".
  

Please note: The opt-in is an early preview of the next update and you might experience bugs or other issues. We encourage players who try the opt-in to report any issues to the forums.

Changelog

• Major visual overhaul of the leader's conversation graphics. Not only you can see more detail but the framerate is much smoother.
  
• Ships also benefit from this visual overhaul. You'll see more detail and have a better performance during battles.
  
• Significant reduction in memory usage.