Alpha Update 0.224.0.28 — Starship Simulator Steam update #234142

GAME ENGINE / GENERAL The game has now been updated to Unreal Engine 5.3.2. Support for DirectX11 (Shader Model 5) has been discontinued, as the new UE5 features require DirectX12 (Shader Model 6). Shadows are now rendered using Virtual Shadow Maps, which are superior to the old Cascaded Shadow Maps. All world geometry is now rendered using Nanite, which practically gives us an unlimited poly count budget. Replaced the visible sun flare with a more dynamic and visually attractive version. Optimised and generally removed unnecessary bloat from the sun/starlight code. Reduced the opacity of the FTL magic space clouds so that the realtime star parallax can be seen more clearly. The initial entry into the game is now a lot smoother, with all of the laggy processes hidden behind the loading screen. Added a new ship selection/config menu when starting a new game. You can now turn NPC's on or o...