Asteroids and Ring Systems. Is there any hope?

[Im_Lost]

The graphics got a nerf sometime after alpha. The fogging and lighting definitely seemed to get a lot worse after that and everything stopped looking cinematic and started looking flat and a bit washed out, like it does now. I guess they did it to please the people crying that they couldn't run "ultra" on their potatoes. Or it's so it looks as good on XBone as on PC:/

Another thing people don't mention much is the horrendous colour banding, which didnt used to be there. Look how much better the colours blend together on the old screenshots.

 

[sensai25]

These are good screenshots. The thing is that ring systems like this one which you took a year ago, have always existed. However they were not all that common, but now almost all ring systems look like that.

I just put together a short video which shows one of the better current ring systems, along with some of the best previous ring systems. I also added in a few of the poor ring systems from a year+ ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgAEQbiFjOM&feature=youtu.be

Once again thx for your time !

 

[Jools]

""We're going through some wonderful effects internally that look truly beautiful, and we're saying, that slows the frame-rate a bit, doesn't it?" Braben said in an interview with Eurogamer. "And we say yes, but we don't mind, because it looks so beautiful. But what we're going to do is attach it to this part of the detail slider. Or we'll call it out as a tick box...Even if your PC of today can't run with all the features on, your PC of tomorrow might."

Braben said he loves the idea that this will future proof Elite: Dangerous. Theoretically, it could look great long after its initial release as players get better PC hardware. Of course, Elite: Dangerous graphics options will also scale to run and look great on a variety of current PC's when it launches."


See, you guys believed in functional options at one time. Where did that mind set go to?

a lot of what David says in interviews is pure marketing and completely irrelevant

i had a whole list of the things he said that turned out the opposite or never appeared as well... now i just don`t care

Tinman once told me to adjust my expectations better so i did....

I don`t expect anything impressive anymore other than cashgrabs, misinformation and buggy unfinished mess
a B tier product is b tier... its just an ok game from an underfunded low-mid tier children minigame focused company

 

[LameoveR]

I've just downloaded latest COMBAT TUTORIAL DEMO, dated 11/2014.
There is much differences in GraphicsConfiguration.xml file.
I mean only common strings and values that was in early alpha\beta versions and is in 2.0.3.

Also i've found differences in model file sizes for ice asteroids.
In demo it's ~1mb bigger.

 

[Cargobane]

such as asteroids crashing into each other and ebris from ships. or actual ships flying into them, impacting asteroid movement.

I will say that I find the current theory of a ring or asteroid field being in balance with generally stable but spinning bodies, to be pretty good. Especially rings. Where if the individual roids were moving enough to hit each other, I don't think the rink would maintain it's shape for very long. Asteroid Belts in ED have much bigger roids then the rings, and much fewer farther apart imxp.

I do see ships and their debris hitting them, and have had fights that go around them. Nothing is more epic then Beams and Guns strafing across a roid in the middle of a dog fight. So cool.
I once tricked an ship to turn towards me right when he was passing a roid a certain way, so that he smashed into it broadside, lost all his speed, and was truly in a pickle panic then.

I think a Capital ship should be able to move a Ring Roid, but if player ships could, I don't know how the space sim engine could handle that. Would be cool to see though.

I'm on the hunt for an Ice Blue ring now, want to see wazzup.

 

[Obsidian Ant]

I've just downloaded latest COMBAT TUTORIAL DEMO, dated 11/2014.
There is much differences in GraphicsConfiguration.xml file.
I mean only common strings and values that was in early alpha\beta versions and is in 2.0.3.

Also i've found differences in model file sizes for ice asteroids.
In demo it's ~1mb bigger.

I don't think the previous settings are compatible with the current ones. Might be worth a try though.

Very interesting to hear that the asteroid file sizes are so different...

 

[Im_Lost]

The old graphicsconfig file won't work with the current game. It's missing LOADS of stuff.

 

[Obsidian Ant]

The old graphicsconfig file won't work with the current game. It's missing LOADS of stuff.

I noticed that. Quite a lot of experimentation was done with the graphicsconfig file back in July, but I don't think anyone managed to achieve any changes in the ring systems with it.

 

[DavelKence]

I noticed that. Quite a lot of experimentation was done with the graphicsconfig file back in July, but I don't think anyone managed to achieve any changes in the ring systems with it.

I tried setting the quality from 256 to 512 in the EnvMap section, and I thought I saw a better asteroid texture. Wasn't looking specifically for it at the time though so may have been nothing, and obviously this wouldn't bring back fog, shadowing or change density etc.

 

[Jex =TE=]

An old article ... Somebody might remember the source.

www.gamespot.com/articles/space-game-elite-dangerous-to-launch-with-graphics/1100-6421221/

Oh really? So where are these graphic options that we can't handle then. Notice how they say things about the game to sell it and now they're taking away the things we paid for originally?

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

Oh please. I assume by 'inferior platform in the drivers seat' you mean XB1?

We don't have Horizons. We don't have paint jobs. We don't have public access to betas like 1.5. We don't even have private groups yet.

'In the Driver's seat' my ass.

If there's a reason why the GFX have been downgraded on PC, then perhaps, just perhaps, its because FD are trying to get the game running on low-end PCs. The one's which don't have the fixed hardware of a console.

Technically, the only thing preventing FD from restoring the quality of the rings on PC are lack of resources to do so. Not XB1. You have the options for GFX quality settings, and PC hardware can handle better textures and has the power to do so - it did before.

Maybe its time for FD to switch the engine to DX12, you'll get more performance improvements from that on PC then would be the case on XB1.

Utter nonsense. As I was running a "low end PC" (actually a laptop with intel HD integrated graphics) I had no issues running the game apart from stuttering as I got close to space stations. I was surprised the game ran so well in fact and there's also the thing that's been going on for decades that's called "graphics options" - you may have heard of it. This is where developers put in options for graphics so you can run them across a spectrum of platforms.

So the game was running fine for low end PC's and then the xbox comes along and the game isn't looking as good. I'll also remind everyone that World of Tanks now have 2 versions of their game for low res and high res. So, can we have our high res back that we paid for please?

 

[Zac Antonaci]

Greetings all,

First of all I want to take a moment to thank Obsidian Ant, as always, for his highly constructive and positive way of addressing these points and seeking feedback.

I'm sorry for the delay. I wanted to wait until one of the senior members of the rendering team were available to discuss the thread in question. I know this has been raised before and we understand it's an important topic.

Some areas of the game, as mentioned previously, have been removed for optimisation. As an example, asteroid shadows were removed because they caused significant frame rate and stability issues.

Other changes have happened because they themselves rely on other things that have seen changes. For example envmpas/lighting. Some areas of the game have seen development (which is likely the areas you are mentioning) and some, such as asteroids are still awaiting some additional work.

The team are reviewing a number of ares such as fog, lighting, shadow and loading. It's not possible to give an exact answer as to when these areas will see fixes will be exactly or give more detail on those fixes but I can certainly assure you all that the development team are actively working on them.

Thanks,

Zac

 

[parablax]

Its nice to have a reply from Frontier on this one. At least it seems the Devs are aware of the issue, heres hoping they are given some time to address it.

 

[simonharrison]

As an example, asteroid shadows were removed because they caused significant frame rate and stability issues.

Many thanks Zac for the reply! Re: the sentence above, in premium beta I (and many others judging by posts on this thread) had absolutely zero problems with frame rate or stability when asteroid self shadows were activated. And this was way back in beta, when asteroid rings were much denser than they are now.

 

[Jezzah]

Thanks Zac for the reply. Honestly.

Don't take this he wrong way it's not your issue but this replying to this VERY narrow issue is a bit Smoke and Mirrors really. How about a real deep dive at some point soon where the dev's can perhaps lay out where they intend to add value and development to the sorely bare boned season one mechanics. I'm talking exploration, mining, trade, piracy etc the list is not exhaustive.

 

[Cargobane]

Thank you very much Zac

/Thread Complete/

 

[vermu]

Greetings all,

First of all I want to take a moment to thank Obsidian Ant, as always, for his highly constructive and positive way of addressing these points and seeking feedback.

I'm sorry for the delay. I wanted to wait until one of the senior members of the rendering team were available to discuss the thread in question. I know this has been raised before and we understand it's an important topic.

Some areas of the game, as mentioned previously, have been removed for optimisation. As an example, asteroid shadows were removed because they caused significant frame rate and stability issues.

Other changes have happened because they themselves rely on other things that have seen changes. For example envmpas/lighting. Some areas of the game have seen development (which is likely the areas you are mentioning) and some, such as asteroids are still awaiting some additional work.

The team are reviewing a number of ares such as fog, lighting, shadow and loading. It's not possible to give an exact answer as to when these areas will see fixes will be exactly or give more detail on those fixes but I can certainly assure you all that the development team are actively working on them.

Thanks,

Zac

It would be really nice to have that last super ultra setting for those who really want to push the eye candy. Like more fog, more effects, better shadowing etc. If our top end cards would give only 20 fps we would still have the alternative to go back to ultra. That super setting would be for screenshots and for next gen cards.

 

[Pomerlaw]

Another thing people don't mention much is the horrendous colour banding, which didnt used to be there. Look how much better the colours blend together on the old screenshots.

+1

Thanks to Zak for the reply. Fingers crossed guys!

 

[Myristyl]

It would be really nice to have that last super ultra setting for those who really want to push the eye candy. Like more fog, more effects, better shadowing etc. If our top end cards would give only 20 fps we would still have the alternative to go back to ultra. That super setting would be for screenshots and for next gen cards.

Exactly. I have never had any issues with Elite crashing or frame rates becoming unplayable. I remember when Quake at 20fps was amazing
Please give us gfx options so we can decide performance vs aesthetics..

 

[Kerrash]

... I (and many others judging by posts on this thread) had absolutely zero problems with frame rate or stability when asteroid self shadows were activated...

The question is, how many more players DID have problems?

It would be really nice to have that last super ultra setting for those who really want to push the eye candy...

Indeed it would. But adding those options takes time regardless, so would the time not be better spent on making those techniques more optimal?

 

[Dreams]

Thanks for the reply, i was worried when saw the asteroids belt from medium distance. At least now I know they will be fixed anytime in the future.

Indeed would be great to have the graphical options for us to tweak, I want the very best graphical experience, It's cheaper a new gfx card than a real spaceship