Newcomer / Intro Frustration with Launch Training Mission (stuck)

[TekDragon]

I've completed all the basic (up to Wingman) combat training missions and went to do the launch mission. The first time I entered the mission I had a menu on the bottom that I could interact with using S and Space. After selecting Return to Surface (or whatever it was) I was then told to complete the pre-flight checklist. I went through the items I could see, with the last being UI Mode. Unfortunately, it still wants me to do more and I'm assuming the list goes on, but I can't interact with it. I've tried activating UI mode but nothing works. Holding and pressing Left Shift does nothing. I tried switching to Mouse Button 4, nothing. I tried switching between hold and toggle, nothing. I then tried randomly pressing every key on my keyboard. Nothing.

Finally I got frustrated and decided to restart the training mission.

Now I don't even have the menu at the bottom. It starts me off with an overlay view of my ship in the bottom middle and no menu, and it's not telling me how to bring up the menu. I have no absolutely no idea what to do and the UI Mode buttons STILL do nothing.

I've 31 freaking years old and have been PC gaming for over 2 decades. This is one of the unintuitive and frustrating experiences I've had with a high-budget game. What the hell is going on?

 

[TekDragon]

I've completed all the basic (up to Wingman) combat training missions and went to do the launch mission. The first time I entered the mission I had a menu on the bottom that I could interact with using S and Space. After selecting Return to Surface (or whatever it was) I was then told to complete the pre-flight checklist. I went through the items I could see, with the last being UI Mode. Unfortunately, it still wants me to do more and I'm assuming the list goes on, but I can't interact with it. I've tried activating UI mode but nothing works. Holding and pressing Left Shift does nothing. I tried switching to Mouse Button 4, nothing. I tried switching between hold and toggle, nothing. I then tried randomly pressing every key on my keyboard. Nothing.

Finally I got frustrated and decided to restart the training mission.

Now I don't even have the menu at the bottom. It starts me off with an overlay view of my ship in the bottom middle and no menu, and it's not telling me how to bring up the menu. I have no absolutely no idea what to do and the UI Mode buttons STILL do nothing.

I've 31 freaking years old and have been PC gaming for over 2 decades. This is one of the unintuitive and frustrating experiences I've had with a high-budget game. What the hell is going on?

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

Ok, exiting out to the main menu and then going back into training got the menu to come up at the bottom and I noticed I was able to use UI Mode.

Unfortunately, after selecting "Return to Surface" and "Launch" to being the pre-flight checklist, the UI Mode got disabled again and I'm stuck with all the pre-flight checklist stuff that I can see (except all the movement stuff at the top which just gives me buzzers) and hitting the UI mode does nothing.

Oh, and - why do I have to enter a damned captcha every single time I post?

 

[TekDragon]

Holy I've had to do this captcha FIVE TIMES!

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Oh, wonderful. If you don't get the captcha right the first time, it automatically fills your post with the previous post's message even if you didn't select quote.

This whole thing is a mess.

 

[the100thmonkey]

Left shift + a, s or d is the default for the GUI.

You need to make two posts with security initially to prove you're not a spambot. After two succesful posts, it goes away.

 

[Leper Messiah]

Yeah I understand where you come from, I'm 43 and Have decades of gaming experience. Fair enough Elite is a complex game, but it NEEDS a proper manual not the y little console lite manual we get. I long for the Days when I bought a game and sat down with the nice and thick manual (mainly flight sims). Sadly games nowadays just have manual with 8 pages and half of that is the bumf at the start about epilepsy and the end is all the EULA crap.

I have to think back to the pre flight checklist as it's been a while (it can be turned off via the right ui panel (systems panel, use next tab key to select functions and scroll down to pre flight checklist and use select to toggle on and off) but the training may force it on I can't remember), all you have to do to get rid of it is press the corresponding key/control for a set period of time (you see a circular bar fill up, once filled its done), and once all the key presses are done you should be able to launch.

I'm using a HOTAS setup though, I have all the key commands for the UI mapped to my stick. It's important to be completely sure of where UIPANEL up, down, left, right, select, back, next tab and previous tab are. Pretty much knowing that is critical for the game.

 

[Bragash]

Yeah I understand where you come from, I'm 43 and Have decades of gaming experience. Fair enough Elite is a complex game, but it NEEDS a proper manual not the y little console lite manual we get. I long for the Days when I bought a game and sat down with the nice and thick manual (mainly flight sims). Sadly games nowadays just have manual with 8 pages and half of that is the bumf at the start about epilepsy and the end is all the EULA crap.

30+ here as well and there IS a nice and 100+ pages thick manual for the game which is linked right there in the game launcher (rightmost symbol in the bar with the small orange links), you seem to have missed it.

 

[Derpster Frey]

I've never raged so much at a tutorial as when I tried the ED tutorial.
Sure, it tells me where to dock, but not HOW.

It doesn't tell you, you need to be facing the right way. Need to face the control tower. Or just look at where the number overhead is displayed, and face that. You don't want to know how much time I've spend spinning around on that platform, yelling profanities until it accepted me.

And the "cube" stations? Don't even get me started on how many times I've spend 15-20 minutes searching for the entrance before I figured out there is 4 blinking lights on the "top" and "bottom". Red is bottom, white is up (entrance).

But hey, it was part of the learning experience and I feel like I've accomplished something learning all this stuff in a week.

 

[mistohise]

With respect to the stations, if you target the station (default t) then arrows will appear on the target hologram pointing in the direction of the airlock.

With respect to the tutorials, I stuck a thread in the suggestions box during gamma suggesting that they should be more prescriptive, but I guess a design decision was to let people figure out all this stuff without too much in-game help.

I suppose, when you do figure these things out, there's some sense of achievement. Possibly accompanied by a sense of "I need to throw this computer out of the window" in the initial stages.

 

[Himmel Tropf]

haha docking is a mess imo. Cubic stations really need better signage to gates, and Outposts need a docking queue because there's only so many times you can hear 'docking request denied' and it's wearing down the life of my buttons too... Don't even get me started on the Red and Green lights at the entry slit... arrows only point in, and NPC's frequently fly in the red or dead smack in the middle. Heavies and Anacondas I can sympathise with, and maybe ATC should give a 'go around' direction if they're in there, but dear god they don't even follow the structure (unless i'm reading too much into this and red/green lights are purely for decoration).

Docking numbers don't always display (they occasionally flicker out) and there is zero guidance via ATC or HUD to your bay, which are generally haphazardly strewn across the bowels of the thing.
You'd think if they're employing monkeys with hairpin triggers and itchy fingers to watch your every move while approaching and inside the place, they'd at least make it easy for you to locate and dock at your bay... Maybe they've got some special racket with the Insurance mob that props up the cash for your ship...

 

[azdour]

Cubic stations really need better signage to gates

If you target the cubic station you will see the station appear left of your scanner - on this image you should see arrows pointing to the side that has the gate on. If you see a side with red lights that is the rear of the station.

zero guidance via ATC or HUD to your bay

Not true. The small compass top left of the scanner gives a rough direction to the pad. I sometimes use it when the pad light disappears or never appears. Never had a problem using it, have always landed without issues.

 

[Sapient6]

Docking numbers don't always display (they occasionally flicker out) and there is zero guidance via ATC or HUD to your bay, which are generally haphazardly strewn across the bowels of the thing.

That drives me nuts. I've taken to requesting docking at the last possible moment prior to trespass, but I bet that would be a tricky proposition in Open...

 

[the100thmonkey]

I'm not disagreeing with anyone per se, but I had no problems at all.

I've never crashed in a station. The most I've done is bump my shields against the spire at the back when lifting off. Docking has been a breeze - I've only overshot a couple of times, and never dangerously.

I did, however, spend about two hours setting up my joystick controls in the tutorial missions before even venturing into solo. That way, I owned the controls - I made them mine and made them work for me. Perhaps that's why.

 

[Kaare Willoch]

Come on... I had no prior experience with Elite or any kind of flight sim. I had NO problems with the tutorials, and landing was fun and easily done the first time around. I was really happy I made it because I had read about how "hard" it was. Well, it is not hard. Sorry, but I do not get all the whining...

 

[TekDragon]

Left shift + a, s or d is the default for the GUI.

You need to make two posts with security initially to prove you're not a spambot. After two succesful posts, it goes away.

That's the problem, though. As was verified over in NeoGAF, this DOESN'T WORK in the tutorial (or at least it doesn't work for many people). Pressing the UI Toggle button causes the tutorial to tell you "Hey, this is what UI Toggle does", while disabling the actual UI Mode functionality. However, you need the UI Mode functionality to proceed, so it's a game-breaking bug.

The advice I got over on NeoGAF was to abandon the tutorial, as its a buggy, worthless piece of junk, and just go into the main game.

 

[Rutg3rO]

In flight sims and real life, landing is always the more difficult part of flying, so I didn't mind that it took some practice. Yes, I do miss some information in the tuturials as to me they are not tuturials, but practice missions in their current form. A tuturial explains each step, pausing automatically if needed etc.
But back to the docking:
Finding the mailslot/gate of the coriolis starport is easy peasy. I rarely ever use the hard to see arrows on the outside of the miniature in my hud.
You must know a couple of things:
1. The side with the gate is on one of the axis sides of the starport. Well this might be the one thing that everyone knows pretty fast.
2. The side with the gate is rotating counter-clockwise. So you can use the rotation to spot what side you need to go to.
3. the side with the gate is always facing celestial body it is circling. So when close to the starport, search for the planet, fly towards it, turn and you will be facing the gate.

And yes, I screwed up my first, second and third docking attempt, but to me that is part of the learning experience. During my third attempt, I managed to fly straight into the docking platform from the gate and was my nose pointed correctly for save docking. Then a thought entered my mind. In every space movie I saw, in every reallife landing lots of nautical docking situations, the dock has a layout, specifically designed for a specific direction of the spaceship, aircraft or ship. Dockinggates, doors (even bus doors) are always on the same side, so a docking platform in Elite will be just the same. Then I looked at my radar and noticed that the mini game (when you get close to the platform) showed me facing away (same direction as my cockpit) or towards me. So I thought "well,.. if it is pointing away, that must be pointing forward. And in the end, it made perfect sense.

 

[the100thmonkey]

That's the problem, though. As was verified over in NeoGAF, this DOESN'T WORK in the tutorial (or at least it doesn't work for many people). Pressing the UI Toggle button causes the tutorial to tell you "Hey, this is what UI Toggle does", while disabling the actual UI Mode functionality. However, you need the UI Mode functionality to proceed, so it's a game-breaking bug.

Didn't happen to me. Go figure.

The advice I got over on NeoGAF was to abandon the tutorial, as its a buggy, worthless piece of junk, and just go into the main game.

I've told you a million times, don't exaggerate.

 

[Himmel Tropf]

Come on... I had no prior experience with Elite or any kind of flight sim. I had NO problems with the tutorials, and landing was fun and easily done the first time around. I was really happy I made it because I had read about how "hard" it was. Well, it is not hard. Sorry, but I do not get all the whining...

Oh please. May be slightly heavy on the leaning but I'd say it's closer to venting or criticism than whining. Haha. I'm in the same boat as you and i haven't had any particular points of issue, but coming from multiple flight sims where the issue of difficulty comes from the complexity rather than the lack therof, this futuristic universe sure lacks certain structure when it comes to streamlining your movements within expensive infrastructure.

I'm just saying, we don't even have a TVV in here. Sure wouldn't be that useful, and you gotta balance HUD clutter with usefulness but lol...

 

[Toffa]

I've never raged so much at a tutorial as when I tried the ED tutorial.
Sure, it tells me where to dock, but not HOW.

It doesn't tell you, you need to be facing the right way. Need to face the control tower. Or just look at where the number overhead is displayed, and face that. You don't want to know how much time I've spend spinning around on that platform, yelling profanities until it accepted me.

And the "cube" stations? Don't even get me started on how many times I've spend 15-20 minutes searching for the entrance before I figured out there is 4 blinking lights on the "top" and "bottom". Red is bottom, white is up (entrance).

But hey, it was part of the learning experience and I feel like I've accomplished something learning all this stuff in a week.

Derp.

You should be able to tell where the entry to a station is from any angle. You need one peice of info. Here it comes... Ready...

When looking at the station entrance, the station all ALWAYS be turning anti-clockwise.

With that you should be able to look at a station from any angle and know where the entrance is.

Cheers

Toffs
( '-')7

 

[TekDragon]

Honestly, forget the tutorial bugs, what turns me off the most about this game now is the community. This thread is littered with illiterate chest-thumpers. The topic was on two bugs, one of which is game-breaking and can only be resolved by exiting to menu (tutorial starting without contextual launch menu), and the other is game-breaking and can't be fixed even by restarting (UI Mode disabling in the tutorial, preventing advancement).

But of course, instead of anyone bothering to help with work-arounds for these bugs, we get a bunch of children running in here talking about how pro they are because they got through the tutorial without problems.

 

[Leper Messiah]

30+ here as well and there IS a nice and 100+ pages thick manual for the game which is linked right there in the game launcher (rightmost symbol in the bar with the small orange links), you seem to have missed it.

Nope havn't missed it, yeah it's better than COD manuals but for a game as complex as Elite it's a Lite manual. There's masses of empty space on the pages and info is quite sparse and undetailed. TBH I've gleaned far more info from playing and online than from the manual!