Everspace 2 migrates to Unreal Engine 5:

The Path To Unreal Engine 5 Is Paved With Crushed Bugs

EVERSPACE 2 is updating to UE5 in our Spring Update

Migrating to Unreal Engine 5 has key quest locations shifted around.

The title says it all! TL;DR: The team is getting under the hood and giving EVERSPACE 2 an engine update as a maintainability upgrade. We’re taking this time to experiment with the tools and overcome growing pains while our creative team continues work on our future expansion.

Looking at our roadmap, there’s a sizable gap between our two free major updates, and there’s a good reason for that. The Armed & Dangerous update brought all kinds of set items, gameplay tweaks, and bugfixes to EVERSPACE 2, and our next one is going to be just as big. We’ve shared that the Incursions update coming later this spring will include more gameplay tweaks and bugfixes as well as new legendary items and a new game feature. If you tuned into our 2023 End of Year Stream, you may have caught a sneak peek at some of what will be contained.

One of the main reasons that this update is taking so long is that we’re bringing EVERSPACE 2 to Unreal Engine 5, which is no small task for our small team. As part of this update, we’re also looking at some of the community-requested features and fixes set aside as they were not viable on the Unreal 4 version we were sticking to during development. Very likely, we will only be able to include a few, and things like native Linux support are currently not in the plan.

Why are we doing this? We don’t plan to use many of the amazing features such as Nanite and Lumen in EVERSPACE 2 as tests we’ve performed in-studio have shown that current solutions in-game already have better optimization, but having them available does open doors for the future. Mainly we’re looking at this as a way to help future-proof the game so we have less difficulty bringing updates and expansion content down the road. We want to be able to support EVERSPACE 2 for a long time.

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Thanks Couchpotato!

Ye Old Entertainment reviewed EVERSPACE 2:

Everspace 2 Review. A space themed RPG that is not Starfield (ARPG, but still)

01:04 - Mint Mobile message
02:21 - End of Mint Mobile message
03:03 - Character Creation & Progression
09:50 - Gameplay
29:27 - Loot, Gear & Builds
35:23 - Secondary Mechanics & UX
38:48 - Story & Lore
41:08 - Sound Effects, Mix & Voice Acting
46:00 - Music
47:32 - Graphics
50:04 - Performance & Stability

Let's take a look at the new features of EVERSPACE 2:

EVERSPACE 2 | Armed & Dangerous Update Showcase

The best space RPG of 2023 - EVERSPACE 2 - will get a major free update on October 2:

EVERSPACE 2: Armed & Dangerous - Content Showcase

00:00 - Start
04:31 - Intro
05:15 - New Tier 4 Wings Collection
05:52 - Vanguard Tier 4 Wings
06:12 - Scout Tier 4 Wings
06:44 - Stinger Tier 4 Wings
07:15 - Striker Tier 4 Wings
08:36 - Interceptor Tier 4 Wings
09:44 - Gunship Tier 4 Wings
10:24 - Bomber Tier 4 Wings
11:03 - Vindicator Tier 4 Wings
11:53 - Sentinel Tier 4 Wings
13:51 - Ship Color Randomizer
16:52 - Commander set
21:42 - Vigilante set
25:50 - Rogue set
29:25 - Autonomous set
36:21 - Tides of Siren's Sea set
42:00 - Questions // Balancing, AI changes, difficulty, drones
58:48 - Bloodstar set changes
59:51 - Opulence set
1:06:15 - Blightmonger set
1:13:29 - Escort Duty set
1:21:17 - Stormchaser set
1:28:12 - Toggle "Toodles" to Elek perk!
1:29:32 - Questions // Modding, ship passives
1:35:23 - "Where can we find set items?"
1:38:45 - Questions // Legacy versions, drone colors, achievements
1:42:55 - Elek, Tareen, and Khala perk additions
1:47:02 - Barrage catalyst
1:49:55 - EMP Charges catalyst
1:52:18 - Repair Protocol catalyst
1:54:34 - Restore Protocol catalyst
1:56:20 - Quicksave, Quickload, Auto-Saves
1:57:25 - Khala Supra Vision perk
1:59:15 - Auto-Save improvements
2:00:32 - Ship Dealer improvements
2:01:42 - Item Modifiers, Re-Roll Bonus Attributes
2:03:04 - Conclusion with Armed & Dangerous release info
2:05:26 - After stream shenanigans

RPG Jeuxvideo did an interview with Lee Guille from ROCKFISH Games for Everspace 2. The English version follows the French version:

INTERVIEW – Everspace 2

English version of this interview follows the French version

On the occasion of the release of Everspace 2 on consoles, we had the opportunity to speak with Lee Guille, Director of Communications and Public Relations at ROCKFISH Games. It was a good opportunity to find out a little more about the company, as well as about this space action-RPG, which we’ll be reviewing shortly.

Could you introduce yourself? (last name, first name, age, professional background, etc.). What is your role at ROCKFISH Games and on Everspace 2?

Hi, I’m Lee Guille, Communications & PR Director at ROCKFISH Games. I’ve been working in the video games industry for more than 10 years now, and I’m a huge fan of games of all kinds, especially RPGs.

We imagine that Everspace 2 is a sequel to the first one. So, how did the idea for the first game come about? What were your influences in developing the first installment?

EVERSPACE 2 is the big action RPG that the team who founded ROCKFISH Games originally wanted to make. Due to a smaller budget, our designers and storytellers embraced the roguelike mechanics and that really shines through in the story where a series of clones must set out into space to recover the DNA fragments that will make them whole. Much of the gameplay that our EVERSPACE fans enjoy comes from our team’s prior experience making the popular Galaxy on Fire space combat series. The roguelike genre was new to us though, so we did look around at many of the other popular titles of the time for inspiration. 

So, what did you want to bring to the second game that you couldn’t in the first one? What has changed between the two (it can be an evolution of the game as well as your company)? What is the lifespan of Everspace 2? How replayable is it?

The main storyline of EVERSPACE 2 takes about 30 hours to complete. If a player were to complete everything in the game, it can take more than 100 hours. While there are repeatable roguelike events in the endgame where players can find some of the best loot in the game, the story of EVERSPACE 2 is fixed and will remain the same each time someone plays it. How replayable you feel the game is, is very much up to the player. 

How did its development go, and how long did it last? How many people worked on it?

EVERSPACE 2 has been in development for six years now and we’re not done yet. Along with a future free update, we’re working on a major expansion for the game which we’ll be sharing more about in the future.
We’re a small team making a very big game. Our team in Germany is about 20 people and we have another dozen around the globe working remotely. 

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Wanderbots checked out the Space RPG EVERSPACE 2:

Everspace 2 Is Finally Out In 1.0, And It's Fantastic!

The Space RPG EVERSPACE 2 will be released today:

EVERSPACE 2 Launch Day Times

Greetings, Pilots!

Since we’ve had so many of you ask, this is a quick post to share that EVERSPACE 2 will release April 6 at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm BST / 7pm CEST.

We hope you’ll all join us for our Launch Day stream starting at 11am PT, but if you’re busy playing EVERSPACE 2, that’s alright too. ;)

Watch out for further communications including a 1.0 changelog at launch!

Back to it! See you in the skies!

Lee & your dedicated ROCKFISH Games Team

Henriquejr spotted two more reviews for EVERSPACE 2:

PC Gamer:

EVERSPACE 2

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Shooting, looting and RPGing in space has rarely been this good.

Score: 85/100

Rock Paper Shotgun:

Everspace 2 review: noughties but nice

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Approach Everspace 2 like a single-player arcade space shooter with a 30 hour shelf life, rather than a Loot-Spewing Space Diablo you will play forever, and it’s enormously entertaining stuff. It’s like playing Freelancer for the first time again, or Colony Wars: Red Sun on a chipped PlayStation with the lid propped open.

IGN reviewed the upcoming EVERSPACE 2:

Everspace 2 Review

This sequel is pure, distilled video game, all about how its space combat action plays moment to moment rather than whether that makes sense in a game world or fits a complex and nuanced story. The story could be better written, more entertaining, and set in a more original universe, and the missions or enemies could have more variety. But those faults didn't take away from the main reason you're there: To play with cool spaceships, tweak weapons into fun and crazy-powerful new combos, and meet new people to blow up.

Splattercatgaming checked out EVERSPACE 2:

The Open World Sci Fi RPG I've Been Waiting Years For - EVERSPACE 2

GamingBolt checked out the upcoming Space-RPG EVERSPACE 2:

EVERSPACE 2 Review - The Final Verdict

Regardless of your taste in games, Everspace 2 will definitely have something to offer you, be it the loot-based progression of an action-RPG, a cool story to follow with interesting characters, fun plot twists, some great action that gives you a variety of different weapon types to play with, and even some peace and quiet as you live out your fantasies of being a space trucker ferrying goods between planets.
Everspace 2 is packed with content, and even once you’re done with its core story, there are several other ways to progress as well, such as end-game "dungeons", and even a faction system to mess around with.

The Space Sim EVERSPACE 2 will be released on April 6:

V1.0 Release Date | Price Increase | Full Release Content | Post-Launch Roadmap

EVERSPACE 2 Launches for PC April 6, 2023!

Greetings, pilots!

It’s official: EVERSPACE 2 will be released for PC on April 6, 2023! We’ve been in Early Access for a little over two years at this point, and in just a few short months, space pilots from around the globe will be able to experience the entirety of the biggest (space) game (that anyone at) the ROCKFISH Games team has ever worked on!

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Thanks Farflame!

Redglyph spotted some EVERSPACE 2 news:

VOD: Gamedev & Community Streams June Recap

Fresh Concept Art | Upcoming Challenges | New Consumables and Crafting | Ship Dealers | Drake System Reveal

Hey there, pilots!

Another busy month for our team has gone by with so much to talk about. Nonetheless, Erik did his best to keep the monthly recap under 4 minutes as we know you guys are busy playing tons of games, right?

The June recap starts off with a slew of fresh concept art of three(!) new factions and other NPCs that will have their debut in the Drake system of the upcoming summer update. Erik then talks about new challenges that will provide permanent bonuses throughout the entire game once you mastered them. Next are new consumables that have been added to the game as well as the possibility to craft consumables which was high on the community's wishlist. But that's not all! You can now craft components from resources, too, so you can build that much-desired Catalyst even though you might not have every single component in place but plenty of others — you're welcome!

Another community request has been to have more ship dealers, so we made the Flying Dutches sell space fighters, too, which should come in super handy, as you can call her in certain areas. It's just a first implementation, and we might extend that feature later on. The highlight of June was of course the reveal of both an icy and a fiery location in the all-new Drake star system.

ROCKFISH Games posted a new update. They've also held a stream to show their progress that you can watch on Twitch.

LIVE: New Crafting & Ship Dev Progression In-Game Demo

An in-depth presentation of the overhauled crafting system and how the new ship devices progression works.

Greetings, pilots!

We've made a lot of changes under the hood to some game mechanics, and it's time to show you our 2nd major overhaul of the crafting system, as well as the new ship device progression in our upcoming gamedev & community live stream on Twitch and YouTube, next Friday from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm CET / 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm ET / 11:00 am to 1:00 pm PT.

Erik, our Community Ambassador, already did some teasing in our most recent live stream while he was showing the overhauled resources mining gameplay and some dope High-Risk Area action in the Khaït Nebula mid-stream — he even used the Static Overload ULT, for a change.

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• 00:00 - Intro
• 05:30 - Start
• 07:00 - Continuing Last Save
• 10:30 - Ore Icons Getting Fixed
• 19:40 - Demo Updates
• 30:00 - How to Defeat a Destroyer
• 40:10 - Resources, Components & Commodities Explained
• 51:15 - Ship Modules & Progression
• 01:06:54 - Dance Break!
• 01:09:28 - Maverick Mode Engaged
• 01:17:10 - Talking about Ship's Class Design
• 01:22:40 - The Jellyfish Conflict
• 01:27:45 - Discussing Ultimates
• 01:36:40 - Community Showcase
• 02:05:00 - Outro

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ROCKFISH Games posted a new vlog talking about concept art, mining overhaul, level scaling, ...

VOD: January Gamedev & Community Streams Recap

A brief overview of game design changes and QoL improvements from January, plus new sub-faction concept art teasers.

Hey there, pilots!

Earlier this year, we introduced time stamps in our gamedev & community streams for pilots wanting to skip through VODs on our YouTube channel quickly, but we felt we could do even better. Therefore, we will now have short, monthly recaps of what we have covered so far.

Check out the January recap below! Ace pilots and Community Ambassador Erik summarizes design changes and QoL improvements we made recently, the upcoming changes in resources mining of the spring update as well as some concept art teasers of new sub-factions coming in the summer update.

Erik will also explain a bit more about our approach of Level Scaling, and why it makes sense in a looter shooter as we know that not everyone is a fan of the mechanic when looking at it from a pure RPG perspective.

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ROCKFISH Games posted the first update of 2022.

LIVE: Overhauled Crafting & Resources | Trading | New Concept Art | Cliffhanger

Happy New Year, pilots!

We bet all of you had a wonderful winter holiday with lots of sweet treats. Or, more likely, floated in a cozy space pilot seat, blasting away at Outlaws. Either way, we hope you had plenty of off-duty time to recharge your batteries for what lies ahead in 2022.

The entire ROCKFISH Games team has been back at work since January 3rd, and Erik, our beloved Community Ambassador and Ace pilot, has already revealed a few, new improvements and upcoming features, like overhauled crafting & mining, and basic trading in our first gamedev & community stream of 2022:

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• 00:00 - Intro Screen
• 02:00 - Stream Start
• 07:45 - Today's Plan, Overhauled Crafting & Resources
• 18:19 - How to Find the Leaks in Location Challenges
• 26:05 - Q&A Round
• 34:55 - Everspace 2 has a Demo
• 40:40 - New Resource
• 46:20 - Q&A Round
• 01:01:50 - Ship Style Quality of Life Fix
• 01:26:30 - Mod Support?
• 01:30:45 - Late Game Talk
• 01:33:55 - RFG News & Community Time

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ROCKFISH Games have posted the status and the roadmap of Everspace 2, an FAQ and a teaser. Yes, it's a long post!

2022 Roadmap | Hottest FAQs | Drake System Teaser

Greetings, pilots!

Where has this year gone? The end of December is nearly upon us! Holy scrap, what a journey so far! After over three years of hard work, we launched EVERSPACE 2 in Early Access with a rocket launch release in January. We sold three times as many copies as the predecessor within the first week and hit 91% positive reviews right out of the gate. This massive success was followed by the release of two major content packs, Zharkov: The Vortex and Khaït Nebula: Stranger Skies, both extremely well received, with the game currently sitting at 93% positive reviews. Last but not least, we also partnered with our friends at Microsoft, again, to bring EVERSPACE 2 to Xbox Game Pass for PC allowing us to make an even better space game for all pilots no matter what platform they’re playing on.

Thanks so much to every single pilot who has put their faith in us. Apart from all the glowing but also critical feedback to help us make a better game, the financial commitment from daring test pilots means a ton to us. This enables us to stay fully independent, allowing us to make a game that our team is super excited about. EVERSPACE 2 is probably one of the most expensive Early Access titles out there, so yeah, thanks again for your trust.

2022 Roadmap

Before we talk about what’s coming, let’s have a quick look at what’s already been added to EVERSPACE 2! We see the question about how complete the game is popping up quite a lot, which is very understandable.

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ROCKFISH Games has released the major update for Everspace 2 that they announced recently.

The Khait Nebula: Stranger Skies Update Is Out | Changelog 0.7.22328

Get ready for a new ship class, faction, gear, gameplay, alien lifeforms, story content, another companion, and more!

Hey there, pilots!

BOOM shaka-laka-laka, dankeschön, auf wiedersehen! The 3rd major EVERSPACE 2 content update, Khaït Nebula: Stranger Skies has launched on Steam and GOG— WOOHOO! Check out the massive changelog of what's new, or just delve right into our strangest star system yet, featuring a new faction and gear, new gameplay mechanics, new alien lifeforms, new story content, another companion bringing freaking FaaaaaaST tRAveLlllll to your space map and more, as well as an all-new player ship class that will make you go "awww, look at those pretties…!"

This is me genuinely enjoying reaching out to 8K backers and 150K Early Access pilots directly, while also testing the limits of how goofy and entertaining we can go in our communication very similar to how Erik does in our weekly gamedev & community streams on Twitch and YouTube — you really should swing by if you haven't! It's always a ton of fun, especially when things go wrong while showing the very latest dev build. Also, if you have a burning question that has to be answered the heck right now, drop it in chat! I'm behind the keyboard and will answer everything Erik might not be able to cover.

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Rockfish Games showed the new fighter subclass Vindicator.

VOD: Reveal Of The New Heavy Fighter Subclass: The Vindicator

We took the Vindicator, the all-new heavy fighter subclass, for a spin and unleashed its deadly drones...

Hey there, pilots!

In yesterday's gamedev & community stream, we took the all-new heavy fighter subclass Vindicator for a spin. Check out the VOD below and watch Ace pilot and beloved Community Ambassador Erik Schrader unleash up to five combat drones and use the new vessel's ULT Phallanx to obliterate even the toughest enemies without breaking a sweat:

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The Vindicator subclass will be part of the imminent release of the Khaït Nebula: Stranger Skies content update. Stay tuned for our longest news update yet incl. the full changelog and a preview of our 2022 roadmap dropping at the official release on November 3rd.

Two updates to catch up with Everspace 2: general news related to the project and the experimental build released 2 days ago, and the next preview episode on its new content (quoted below).

VOD: New Khaït Nebula Location Preview | Fresh Concept Art | Experimental Drop

Hey there, pilots!

The VOD of yesterday's Khaït Nebula gameplay preview is up. Ace pilot and beloved Community Ambassador Erik Schrader showed fresh concept art of the new Redeemers faction as well as a brand-new location in the new star system, featuring new types of Ancient puzzles and more:

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TL;DW: Here are the Khaït Nebula: Stranger Skies update experimental release.

Rockfish Games announced that the full release of Everspace 2 was pushed back to early 2023.

EVERSPACE 2 coming to Game Pass for PC in October, Khait Nebula: Stranger Skies update on Steam in November, Full Release 2023

Hamburg, Germany – October 19, 2021 – Independent AA studio ROCKFISH Games is excited to announce they are partnering with Microsoft to bring EVERSPACE 2 to Game Preview on the Windows 10/11 Store through Xbox Game Pass for PC and pay per download for $39.99 / €37.99 / £31.99, available on October 21, 2021. 

[...]

While the third major EVERSPACE 2 content update, Khaït Nebula, is on track to be officially released on November 3rd with an experimental release on Steam scheduled for October 22, ROCKFISH Games has decided to push back the simultaneous full release on PC (Windows, Mac, Linux), Xbox, and PlayStation to early 2023. [...]

Tomorrow, ROCKFISH Games will stream a live gameplay preview of the upcoming EVERSPACE 2 Khait Nebula: Stranger Skies content update.

LIVE: Watch the devs play a snippet of the upcoming EVERSPACE 2 Khait Nebula!

Hey there, pilots!

Your 1st Communications Officer here with an important PSA: The upcoming EVERSPACE 2 Khait Nebula: Stranger Skies content update is ready for official live gameplay previews on our Twitch and YouTube channel and here on Steam, starting this Friday at 8:00 pm CSET / 2:00 pm EDT / 11:00 am PDT.

In fact, Erik, our beloved Community Ambassador, already gave a little sneak peek during last week's ROCKFISH Games Show:

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The Steam exclusive experimental release of the 3rd EVERSPACE 2 content update is scheduled for October 22nd with the official release dropping on Steam and GOG on November 3rd.

Keep it civil on the forums, and see you in space!
Michael and your dedicated ROCKFISH Games Team

@TheGG Everspace 2 has received its first major update in Steam Early Access.

The update (“Union: Contracts/Heartland”) brings new mission types, ship classes, activities, challenges, improved game balancing, an Outlaw sub-faction introducing special gear with set bonuses, as well as an additional companion to join the adventure, and more.

The first major EVERSPACE 2 update adds three main and three side missions as well as several additional side activities, all taking place in the second star system, Ceto.

EVERSPACE fans will recall Elek, an Outlaw ally from the EVERSPACE: Encounters expansion. The new main mission rescuing Elek will take combat and exploration gameplay deep underground, and introduces a new corrosive damage dealing enemy, the Cave Crawlers. Once rescued, Elek provides clues on how to advance the main story. Later on, he can even be called to join in battles as wingman through a new perk tree.

EVERSPACE 2 Pilots might wonder how Elek ended up hanging upside down… trapped in a cocoon… in a dark, spooky cave deep underground at Cephas Downs… they’ll find out soon!

The first new ship class for EVERSPACE 2 is also being made available in this update. The Heavy-class Bomber allows secondary weapons to use energy instead of ammunition and regenerates hull when damaging enemies, perfect for pulverizing targets without breaking a sweat. The ship’s Ultimate ability unleashes the ARC-9000, a massive ball of destruction that damages all ships in its vicinity and explodes on impact. The team has also shared that they will be releasing a second ship in a post-update patch. The Light-class Vanguard offers players looking for faster, hit-and-run, type builds the chance to live out their starfighter dreams.

Veteran EVERSPACE pilots already know that the Ancient Warden is no push-over with its hyperbolic long-range attacks that can hit you even behind cover and its ability to teleport when receiving too much damage. Make sure you have weapons with high energy damage installed, dodge its attacks, and pay attention to the final combat phase that will be even more devastating in the confined space of a cave.

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Thanks Farflame!

An Early Access preview of Everspace 2 from Cultured Vultures.

The richly detailed environments of Everspace 2 are breathtaking. From extensive asteroid fields to abandoned research stations, Rockfish Games imparts beauty to an otherwise deadly void of space. Furthermore, most of the environment is interactive, either in the form of usable objects or damaging obstacles. Traveling between systems is another great interactive experience. After entering FTL (faster than light) travel, waypoints from your map appear around you. The autopilot can be changed from waypoint to waypoint or you can fly manually; furthermore, on occasion, distress beacons or unknown signals will pop up during fast travel that are not on your map. There are so many different areas to explore that it’s sometimes hard to stay on the main quest.

As I played through the storyline, I learned more about the galaxy and several of its factions, though it is early in development itself. Single frame cutscenes made me feel like I was reading a comic book and kept the plot interesting. Having died countless times during his service as a clone pilot, Adam now looks for a way out from the Colonial Fleet. Since clones are treated like property, they have no rights or freedom. Desertion becomes Adam’s only way of escaping his never ending servitude and with the fleet still after him, he fights to survive one last life.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

IGN India checked out the Early Access title Everspace 2:

Everspace 2 - Review

Space to grow.

Roguelikes might be enjoying their moment in the sun in recent years (just ask Hades, our Game of the Year for 2020), but Everspace 2 shows that procedural generation isn’t the only way forward. The original Everspace is a cool space fighter roguelike, but the sequel has changed course toward a more traditional action-RPG style, and its series of missions across an open region of space feel a lot more in the vein of Freelancer or Rebel Galaxy Outlaw as a result. But it holds onto its free movement system, which makes its combat stand out from other space shooters in style. There’s already a fair amount of it to explore at its early access launch, and it keeps things interesting by mixing in some puzzle-solving to break up the flashy dogfights.

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