v2026.10.25

🐳 Docker (dedicated server)

Run the dedicated server (game server + admin/portal/download UI, optional AI backend) on any OS with Docker:

docker pull ghcr.io/marceld23/blocks-beyond-the-stars-server:2026.10.25
# or the rolling tag:
docker pull ghcr.io/marceld23/blocks-beyond-the-stars-server:latest

Setup & configuration: SELF_HOSTING.md §10.

The housekeeping release. Lyxette's reports bring 64 Power Relays for the rim of a big spaceport, torch light that
no longer shows up as tiles, a sky ray that keeps its wings out of the walls, big animals that stop with their
head outside a wall, and crawlers that no longer climb tree crowns. The crafting card now counts the gear you
wear, prompts no longer stay over the main menu after you leave a world, the main-menu buttons show their
icons again, and long space flights no longer pile up memory. The portal handles account deletion, privacy and
large save uploads properly. Under the hood the whole game was tidied up — without changing how it plays.

ℹ️ Compatibility: nothing changes for saves. The save version stays 6, the terrain generation stays 29, the
network protocol stays at version 11, and there are no new blocks. As always, keep game and server on the same
version: the desktop game updates itself at start, and the browser is always current.

⚡ Power, light and animals — thanks to Lyxette (#2879–#2881, #2943–#2945)

• 64 Power Relays per base (#2879): Lyxette finished a 95 × 95 spaceport and wanted Sentry Posts on its rim,
  but 32 relays did not reach that far. A base now carries 64 relays. The chain is also only walked again when it
  changes, instead of every ten seconds — a big chain no longer costs a hitch, which mattered most in the browser.
• Torch light without tiles (#2881): a torch-lit floor looked like a grid of block-sized tiles, because each face
  had one light value for all four corners. Every corner now gets its own value, so the light falls off smoothly
  across the floor. Chunk building did not get slower.
• A sky ray's wings respect blocks (#2943): a sky ray slept next to a roof with its wings four blocks deep in the
  concrete. Its whole wing disc now counts: it rises over a roof beside it, turns at a wall, and never spawns with its
  wings in a wall.
• Big animals stop with their head outside a wall (#2944): a big land animal used to stop with its head inside a
  wall. It now checks the way to its head. Hills, stairs and walking along a wall still work.
• Tree crowns carry fliers only (#2945): a crawler could climb up a tree crown that reached the ground, and a
  land animal could be lifted onto a crown. Now only animals that fly use leaves as ground. Birds still perch in the
  crowns, and an animal already on a crown climbs down.
• The manual answers more (#2880): how fast hunger drops on each setting (a full bar lasts about 9 / 5½ / 3⅓
  minutes on Slow / Normal / Fast), what pauses the world (Esc, F1/F2, a report reply, cutscenes), and that a Sentry
  Post runs on base power.

🎒 Crafting, menus and building

• Worn gear counts for crafting (#2937): wearing oxygen tank I left the Oxygen Tank II card grey, although
  the server would have accepted the craft. The card now counts the gear you wear and tools changed in the bio lab,
  just like the server, and it checks the room for a ×N order the way the server does.
• Prompts go with the world (#2936, #2925): when you left a world, up to 14 screens stayed behind invisibly —
  launch and vendor prompts, the respawn prompt, an NPC dialog, the trade screen, an open star chart and others. An
  open launch prompt could even stay over the main menu. They are now cleared with the world.
• Main-menu icons are back (#2924): fifteen menu and system-check icons were imported in the wrong shape, so the
  buttons showed no icon. They show their icons again.
• Smaller menu fixes (#2926): after a "name taken" retry the name field shows the new name; in the browser the
  "New world?" question and the name prompt open on top of the other panels; the fleet notices wait while the world
  rules or a password prompt are open.
• Board hint and ping (#2926): the hint to board your parked vehicle now uses the real boarding reach, and the
  crosshair ping only hits what the other world rays hit.
• Building at the edges (#2927): the second half of a bed and the extra cells of a multi-cell form now refuse a
  doorway and water just like the first cell, and the "don't wall yourself in" check also works west of the world
  seam.

🚀 Space

• Long flights stay light (#2938): every drone, UFO, raider, pod or drop in space got its own materials and
  textures, and despawning freed neither until you returned to the menu. They are now freed with the object, so a
  long flight no longer grows memory. Everything looks the same.

🌐 Portal and reports (hosted worlds)

• "Not your world" instead of a server error (#2919): a signed-in player who is not a world's owner got a server
  error on the owner-only actions. They now get a clear refusal.
• Deleting your account deletes everything (#2920): your rescue codes are now erased with your account, and the
  privacy page lists them among the data we keep.
• Reply keys stay in the inbox (#2921): the report inbox's admin export and read API no longer carry the key that
  lets a reporter read their replies.
• Save uploads up to the full limit (#2922): a save upload between 30 and 50 MB was cut off before the portal
  could check it. Uploads up to the portal's limit go through now.

🔒 Security

• certifi 2026.10.23 for the AI backend drops the compromised emSign root certificates (#2940), and the asset
  tools use Pillow 13 (#2939).

🛠️ For tinkerers

• Code-health refactoring (#2883, #2884–#2915): GameServer is one core plus 14 *System subsystem classes
  behind facade partials (ADR 0019); admin commands, block placement, intent dispatch and the tick order are tables;
  PlayerSession bookkeeping is grouped into components; the big client classes (PlayerController, GameBootstrap,
  CraftingTechShipUI, SpaceView, HudUi, UiMainMenu) are partial files by concern; 13 in-world panels share the
  UiPanel base (Game.Context), 19 rig views live in RigViews (Game.Views); Messages.cs is 26 domain files; a
  code-health ratchet keeps long methods and files from growing.
• #2929 follow-ups: IServerHost has 15 members (#2931); the crafting rules (CraftGate, #2932), the story client
  state (StoryClientState, #2933) and the cruise E-key rule (CruiseInteractRules, #2934) are tested Client.Core
  classes; one ModelKit replaces the copied model helpers (#2935). The extractions that would not pay off are
  recorded with their reopen triggers on #2929.
• Contributions by ahmdkaml: one shared DrivenTransport for the protocol and hardening suites (#2781, #2917) and
  one builder for the palette-remap SQL of SQLite and PostgreSQL (#2782, #2918). Thank you!
• Story packs (#2927): the validator prints cutscene numbers culture-invariant, still warns about leads on a
  player pack with a bad lead type, and treats a numeric tutorial reward of 0 as set (C# and
  tools/validate_story_pack.py).
• Tests (#2923): the PlayMode join test waits for the server's ready line; tests that set BBS_* variables share
  one collection.
• Protocol: the unused WeatherForecastRequest is retired; its tag 200 stays reserved, no protocol bump (#2928).
• For hosters: the WorldHost and report host images were rebuilt with this release; the AI backend image was
  already rolled with the certifi update.

Full Changelog: v2026.10.24...v2026.10.25