This is an unstable release, containing big changes that may introduce new bugs. Major new changes include the following:

Breaking changes:

• The Hai Reveal storyline has been removed from the game. Only about a dozen missions were ever available, they conflict with the plot of other storylines, and no progress has been made on the storyline in several years, so we've opted to remove it for now.

Content and features:

• There are now three more starting scenarios, allowing you to start in the Deep, Paradise Worlds, or Syndicate space. These starting scenarios are available immediately and do not need to be unlocked.
• Added various difficult to locate culture conversations around the galaxy that give you insight into various alien races and historical events within the galaxy.
• The Graveyard has a new short standalone string of missions around investigating Ka'het and their behaviors.
• Human space now has "message buoys" that emit a hail message upon entering certain systems or traveling between regions.
• Heavily reworked bounty jobs. Changes include removing the previous aspect of bounty jobs where you had to locate the bounty, rebalancing the difficulty of the jobs and how often you unlock new ones, and more.
• Various QoL improvements to the UI, including updates to the outfitter and shipyard to have on-screen buttons for all possible actions, adding a "Player Info" button to the planet panel, replacing the "New Pilot" button with a "Reload Pilot" button on the main menu after you die, and more.
• Various performance improvements around pathfinding, VRAM usage, NPC AI movement calculations, and more.

Bug fixes:

• Fixed conditions in the Patir storyline not being set properly by events.
• The Carriers in "FW Pug 4: Escorts" now have enough fighters to fill their bays.
• Changing the main zoom factor no longer breaks the display of planet descriptions.
• Fixed a rare memory leak and a few rare crashes.
• If the "disabled fighters avoid projectiles" gamerule is active, projectiles with a trigger radius will no longer be set off by disabled fighters.

For a complete list of changes, as well as further detail about the summarized changes, see the changelog. Special thanks to everyone who contributed to this release: @AdrianBunk, @Amazinite, @Anarchist2, @Arachi-Lover, @a-random-lemurian, @Azure3141, @beccabunny, @bene-dictator, @Canned-Seagull, @CelestialHoney, @ciphell, @CrispySummers, @Daeridanii1, @danaris, @Hurleveur, @kaiboyjiang, @MauriceTaniel, @MereDecade, @nickshanks, @Nova1422, @oliv3r, @petervdmeer, @Quantumshark, @reticent-rem, @Saugia, @SomeTroglodyte, @TheGiraffe3, @thewierdnut, @ThrawnCA, @TomGoodIdea, @warp-core, @Wedge009, @xobes, and @ziproot

If you are using the high-dpi plugin, you should download and install the updated version that goes with this release.