Pioneer Space Sim has been released in the new version 20260907.
Pioneer is an open-source space simulation in which you fly, trade, take on missions and explore a procedurally generated galaxy with realistic orbital mechanics - inspired by the classic Frontier: Elite II.
What started as a pure bugfix release has grown over several months into a large update: it brings a revamped flight HUD, a new Rayleigh-Mie lighting model for planetary atmospheres, visible thruster exhaust plumes and dust kicked up on surfaces, and a Smuggler’s Hold for hiding illegal cargo. There is also a new OpenAL audio backend with binaural rendering (HRTF) and Doppler effect.
What began life as a simple bugfix release to fix the occasional surface-to-orbit terrain spike has grown with each passing month until it became the autumnal harvest bounty we set before you today. In this veritable cornucopia of new features you’ll find major improvements to the flight HUD, new and improved Rayleigh-Mie terrain lighting for atmospheric planets, visible thruster exhaust trails and dust kicked up on planetary surfaces, smuggler’s holds to hide your ill-gotten cargo, and more!
Major changes and new features
- Add thrust-to-weight ratio display to flight UI and station screen (#6382)
- Shield heating effect when flying at high speed in atmosphere (#6408)
- Terrain lighting now uses the Rayleigh-Mie atmospheric model (#6285)
- System view frames the entire system at default zoom level (#6422)
- Improve flight reticle display, add orbit apoapsis/periapsis information (#6397)
- Thruster exhaust plumes (#6346)
- Add docking aid to flight reticle (#6373)
- Improved missile exhaust plumes and trails (#6411)
- Autopilot can now fly to the vicinity of a landed ship (#6379)
- OpenAL audio backend, allowing 3D audio (#6188)
- Findperson - New scenarios and greater linguistic variation in flavor strings (#6251)
- Implement Circular Thrust Indicator (#6387)
- Avast! Be ye knowin’ of the Smuggler’s Hold? (#6353)
- Save and recover Comms log (#6361)
- Add custom “Load cargo” button to cargo pickup missions (#6340)
Plus around 50 further bugfixes, tweaks and internal changes - see the full changelog.
Source: GitHub