Has anyone else noticed the FSD countdown...

[NeilF]

Geez, people are getting "confused" and bothered by this? Really? It's a countdown that the ship AI just happens to also announce. She says "Engage" and we engage, it hardly requires pin point, to the hundredth of a second accuracy on her announcements really does it...?

Fair point, but the interesting point of course is the whole countdown feels a second off... because it is. Any why is this the case? Because FD tried re-inventing the countdown when for decades folks had honed a simple "standard" and traditional format that works perfectly - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShRa2RG2KDI&t=9m46s

For some people - especially those new the the game - a launch countdown being basically a second off sort of stands out like a sore thumb. Hence why we get a thread like this regularly.


ps: I notice the trolls are now circling in on the thread, so probably best to leave it until the matter is raised again by the next confused CMDR.

Geez, people are getting "confused" and bothered by this? Really? It's a countdown that the ship AI just happens to also announce. She says "Engage" and we engage, it hardly requires pin point, to the hundredth of a second accuracy on her announcements really does it...?

That's the problem. FD decided to needless make it "pin point" by including the countdown to hundreds of a second. If they simply just lost the non-integer part of the countdown display, all would basically be solved... By leaving it in, they're making the countdown basically a second off.

 

[Rankaze]

The simple reason they did it this way:

If it were accurate, with the number spoken when that many seconds exactly remained, it would be this:

"Five, four, three, two, engage," (enter frameshift where zero would be).

And then we would have fifty billion forum threads: "ZOMG she skips one!!!!!11!!1!" from people who have never watched a real countdown where critical stages are announced in place of numbers.

I've just rationalized it as she is counting down to FSD engage, while the onscreen counter is counting down to frameshift/witchspace entry. It's easier for my OC-ish tendencies to accept than, "It's just wrong."

 

[Ydiss]

They should change it to "nine, thirteen, forty-two, bananas" just to mess with everyone's heads.

 

[TriumphANT]

But the issue of course is, FD taking the non-tradition approach of having 2 decimal places showing have thrown the whole countdown off by a second.

That doesn't really make sense, as "4.00" would be "four" in that case. The extra decimal places would be implied in any case, and voices aren't instantaneous. It takes about 100-300ms to say "four" for example depending on your accent/speed of speech. I'd put the "f" on the "4.00", and ED puts it on "5.00" effectively. The whole thing to me is neatly arranged so that "engage" falls exactly one second before the FSD kicks in. And... if we have "engage" at the point where the game switches instances (remembering that the "en" would be AT zero seconds, with "gage" afterwards, there will be audio glitches, so smile and imagine that it's 34th century turbo lag. Nothing to worry about.

 

[NeilF]

If it were accurate, with the number spoken when that many seconds exactly remained, it would be this:

"Five, four, three, two, engage," (enter frameshift where zero would be).

And then we would have fifty billion forum threads: "ZOMG she skips one!!!!!11!!1!" from people who have never watched a real countdown where critical stages are announced in place of numbers.

I'm afraid you're mistaken (IMHO).

Just as others have done in the past, here's me doing nothing more than removing the unnecessary non-integer element of the countdown display (with my epic CGI skills) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjtXvfTh6l4

[video=youtube;xjtXvfTh6l4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjtXvfTh6l4[/video]
Remember I've not changed the vocal or timer in any other way! But now we "engage" (liftoff) as expected perfectly on "0". [Personally I'd remove the display of 0 from the process]

You'll notice the end result is basically exactly as most folks would expect a countdown, because it's the way NASA do it for example - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShRa2RG2KDI&t=9m46s

Note: Of course you can discuss if the counter (visual & vocal) should be moved forwards/backwards together in relation to the physical jump, but that's an entirely different matter.

That doesn't really make sense, as "4.00" would be "four" in that case. The extra decimal places would be implied in any case, and voices aren't instantaneous. It takes about 100-300ms to say "four" for example depending on your accent/speed of speech. I'd put the "f" on the "4.00", and ED puts it on "5.00" effectively. The whole thing to me is neatly arranged so that "engage" falls exactly one second before the FSD kicks in. And... if we have "engage" at the point where the game switches instances (remembering that the "en" would be AT zero seconds, with "gage" afterwards, there will be audio glitches, so smile and imagine that it's 34th century turbo lag. Nothing to worry about.

Please watch my example video above... Then watch NASA's approach (also linked above)...

Remember I've not moved the vocals, the jump effect, the timing of the graphics, anything. Just removed the unnecessary (confusing) non-integer display. I believe this makes the whole thing appear "more correct". It no longer looks a second off like many people feel it is.

 

[TheThingIs]

if you split the numbers up then it works fine. 4 .999 so 4 are the seconds and the .999 is the timer until the next countdown

after 5000 jumps on a long exploration I was more worried about losing penelope pixel than the timer either being out or occasionally saying friendship drive just to taunt me

 

[Valethar]

ps: I notice the trolls are now circling in on the thread, so probably best to leave it until the matter is raised again by the next confused CMDR.

I thought I saw something moving in the shadows....

Spoiler

 

[Petersen]

...is off?

At 4.9 she says "Four"
At 3.9 she says "Three"
At 2.9 she says "Two"
At 1.9 she says "One"
then at 1 she says "Engage"

It's a small thing, and maybe I kinda understand why it's like that. Every now and then though I find myself muttering to her: "Get the numbers right, woman!"

It's the way countdowns are handled in pretty much all games. The count down shows Floor(seconds) instead of Cieling(Seconds). It provides me no end of irritation. When I see "one second" remaining on a timer, I expect my clock to tick once and the timer to end.