Universe Evolution

The subject of this article is from the Worlds Part I update.
The information from this article is up-to-date as of 3 September, 2024.

Universe Evolution is a reference page.

Summary

Universe Evolution is a reference guide to help newcomers to the No Man's Sky Universe to understand a summary of the evolution of the simulation across major releases.

This article is intended to focus on high level natural elements of the simulation from the universe such as region, star system, planet/moons, biomes , discoveries, and naming.

This is not intended to catch all nuances and minor changes to simulation, or be a register of every possible change in the simulation across updates.

Pre-Release to Foundation

Regions:

• No identified changes could be determined between Pre-release to Foundation.

Star Systems:

• No identified changes could be determined.

Planets:

• Biome changes/resets: No identified changes could be determined.
• Fauna changes/resets: No identified changes could be determined.

Foundation to Pathfinder

Regions:

• No identified changes could be determined between Foundation to Pathfinder. ???

Star Systems:

• No identified changes could be determined.

Planets:

• Biome changes/resets: No identified changes could be determined.
• Fauna changes/resets: No identified changes could be determined.

Pathfinder to Atlas Rises

Galaxies:

• Full regeneration to remove differences between game modes (Creative, Normal, Survival)

Regions: Significant changes from Pathfinder to Atlas Rises

• A major reset occurred where region names were changed in all galaxies. Based on evidence collected, it is believed that all region names changed everywhere, although some changes were only minor or subtle variations. This means than all region name pages on the wiki from Pathfinder and earlier eras are obsolete, and there is a 1:1 replacement name to account for the region in future eras.
• Distance: The center distance of a region from the galactic center changed. It appears to be more or less a simple multiplier, although the error effect in the multiplier gets more pronounced for regions closer to the center. In general, distances in the Pathfinder eras are multiplied by an approximate factor of 4.007 for any regions (systems) that were more than 10K light years from the center before Pathfinder. The scaling factor has an increasing level of inaccuracy for regions/systems closer to the center, but it is still useful to give an approximation for comparison purposes.
• All star systems, planets and moons that existed in those regions continue to exist.

Star Systems:

• There is anecdotal evidence that, in some limited cases, star systems that were marked as discovered prior to Atlas Rises may have been reset to undiscovered status by the Atlas Rises update.

Planets:

• Biome changes/resets: Some resets were known to occur but specific details are unrecorded.
• Fauna changes/resets: All prior named fauna discoveries are reset and wiped.

Atlas Rises to NEXT

Galaxies:

• Galaxy 43 Ebyeloofdud was renamed to Ebyeloof.

Regions:

• No identified changes determined between Atlas Rises to NEXT.

Star Systems:

• All prior named star discoveries remain the same.
• Some star systems were changed to become Uncharted systems or Abandoned Systems.

Planets:

• Biome changes/resets: Some planets biomes were changed significantly, thus the discovery status is reset and the planet can be rediscovered and renamed.
• Biome changes: Some Dead planets were converted to the Exotic or rarely to Mega Exotic biome. Change in colors apparent on all biomes.
• Name Resets: If a dead planet converted to Exotic or Mega Exotic, then the discovery status is reset and it could be rediscovered and renamed.
• Planets and moons in uncharted systems lost most habitable structure types of Point of Interests sites.
• Planets and moons in abandoned systems had most habitable structure types changed to abandoned building variants.
• Fauna changes/resets: Abandoned systems lost all fauna that existed in them previously. (Any other fauna changes or resets???)

NEXT to Abyss

Regions:

• No identified changes determined between NEXT to Abyss.

Star Systems:

• No identified changes. All prior named star discoveries remain the same.

Planets:

• Biome changes/resets: No identified changes. All prior named planet discoveries remain the same.
• Fauna changes/resets: more aquatic life, and Abyssal Horrors. All prior named fauna discoveries remain the same.

Abyss to Visions

Regions:

• No identified changes determined between Abyss and Visions.

Star Systems:

• No identified changes. All prior named star discoveries remain the same.

Planets:

• Fauna changes/resets: Some color changes noted. All prior discoveries are retained.

Visions to Beyond

Regions:

• No identified changes determined between Visions and Beyond.

Star Systems:

• No identified changes. All prior named star discoveries remain the same.

Planets:

• Biome changes: No identified changes. All prior named planet discoveries remain the same.
• Fauna changes/resets: No identified changes. All prior named discoveries are retained.

Beyond to Origins

Regions:

• No identified changes determined between Beyond and Origins.

Star Systems:

• No identified changes. All prior named star discoveries remain the same.

Planets:

• Additional planets in some star systems if the system had less than a total of 6 planets and moons prior to Origins. Up to 2 extra planets potentially added in a system.
• Biome changes:
  • Some Lush planets were converted to the Marsh biome. Most Lush planets retained their discovery names and status
  • Some Scorched planets were converted to the new Volcanic biome. Many such planets had their discovery names and status reset, and they can be rediscovered.
• Name Resets: All prior named planet discoveries remain the same except for those occasionally changed to Marsh and Scorched. There was no apparent pattern to determine why some discoveries for biome changes reset and some did not.
• Fauna changes/resets: Major reset. No prior discoveries are retained. All prior fauna are extinct on all planets in all galaxies and new fauna exist everywhere.

Origins to Expeditions

Regions:

• No identified changes determined between Origins and Expeditions.

Star Systems:

• The discovery databases for the PC, PS and Xbox universe star records were all merged. This meant that, in general the earliest name/discovery status for a star were used for all discovered stars.

Planets:

• The discovery databases for the PC, PS and Xbox universe planet records were all merged. This meant that, in general the earliest name/discovery status for the earliest name/discovery status for a planet with the most recent biome reset is used for all discovered planets.
• No notable biome resets or changes
• The discovery databases for the PC, PS and Xbox universe fauna, mineral and flora records were all merged. This meant that, in general the earliest name/discovery status for the earliest name/discovery status for a planet with the most recent biome reset is used for all discovered planet items.

Expeditions to Frontiers

Regions:

• No identified changes determined between Expeditions and Frontiers.

Star Systems:

• No identified changes. All prior named star discoveries remain the same.

Planets:

• Some Minor Settlement Multi-tool classes changed.

Frontiers to Outlaws

Regions:

• No identified changes determined between Frontiers and Outlaws.

Star Systems:

• No identified system name changes. All prior named star discoveries remain the same.
• Some systems have changed to Pirate controlled. This can happen in any system previously inhabited by any of the races. These systems will have the Space Stations changed to a Outlaw Stations. The Trade Goods in the systems will change to smuggled goods, upgrades will change to Suspicious Modules and conflict level in the system will change to Pirate controlled (Outlaw System).
• Starship seeds have changed in systems, and minor variations will be noticeable.

Planets:

• No notable biome resets or changes

Outlaws to Endurance

Regions:

• No identified changes determined between Outlaws and Endurance.

Star Systems:

• No identified system name changes. All prior named star discoveries should remain the same.

Planets:

• No notable biome resets or changes.
• Sentinel activity level text description changed for some planets, mostly Low/no activity planets.

Endurance to Waypoint

Regions:

• No identified changes determined between Endurance and Waypoint.

Star Systems:

• No identified system name changes. All prior named star discoveries should remain the same.

Planets:

• No notable biome resets or changes.

Waypoint to Fractal

Regions:

• No identified changes determined between Waypoint and Fractal.

Star Systems:

• No identified system name changes. All prior named star discoveries should remain the same.

Planets:

• No notable biome resets or changes.

Fractal to Interceptor

Regions:

• No identified changes determined between Fractal and Interceptor.

Star Systems:

• No identified system name changes. All prior named star discoveries should remain the same.
• Dissonant Systems introduced. Reflected on Star navigation map.

Planets:

• No notable biome resets or changes.
• Dissonance introduced on at least one planet in any system that is now marked as dissonant.

Interceptor to Singularity

Regions:

• No identified changes determined between Interceptor and Singularity.

Star Systems:

• No identified system name changes. All prior named star discoveries should remain the same.

Planets:

• No notable biome resets or changes.

Singularity to Echoes

Regions:

• No identified changes determined between Singularity and Echoes.

Star Systems:

• No identified system name changes. All prior named star discoveries should remain the same.

Planets:

• No notable biome resets or changes.

Echoes to Omega

Regions:

• No identified changes determined between Echoes and Omega.

Star Systems:

• No identified system name changes. All prior named star discoveries should remain the same.

Planets:

• No notable biome resets or changes.

Omega to Orbital

Regions:

• No identified changes determined between Omega and Orbital.

Star Systems:

• No identified system name changes. All prior named star discoveries should remain the same.
• Major space station cosmetic appearance changes.

Planets:

• No notable biome resets or changes.

Orbital to Adrift

Regions:

• No identified changes determined between Orbital and Adrift.

Star Systems:

• No identified system name changes. All prior named star discoveries should remain the same.

Planets:

• No notable biome resets or changes.

Adrift to Worlds Part One

Regions:

• TBD changes determined between Adrift and Worlds Part One.

Star Systems:

• TBD

Planets:

• TBD Planet biome changes. Discoveries can now be renamed by the discoverer.