"...and if you look out of your right window, the last thing you will ever see is just dropping down now..."
Aint NEVER found a Geyser.
- Thread starter Gypsy12
- Start date
"...and if you look out of your right window, the last thing you will ever see is just dropping down now..."
Ty guys. I thought I was doing something wrong, I keep seeing the info that there are geysers on a moon/planet, but could never find them.
Odd that I can spot them when the ship is waaaay off in space, but not when I'm just 50km or less above the surface.
Odd that I can spot them when the ship is waaaay off in space, but not when I'm just 50km or less above the surface.
Well, you're one little ship, planets, even small planetoids, are huge places, so finding some randomly is a fairly difficult process. FDev's idea to not give us any tools to find them other than the mark I eyeball is preposterous, but hey, it's FDev, rocking like it's 1984 in many respects
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It is possible FDev have no way of finding them other than visual. Probable actually.
It's a big mathematical data set and nobody knows what's in it until the procedure runs to generate it.
The planets, geography and persistent POIs are not pre-generated. They are proceduraly generated on the fly, only when you are close enough to see them.
When you are in space, smaller surface features don't even exist because they haven't been generated yet.
Unless we can afford the CPU time pre generate the entire planetary surface in detail while scanning it, I don't think there is any way to locate them from orbit.
I think the best FDEV could do is improve the way they show up on ship scanners so that it's more obvious if one has been generated near you.
It's a big mathematical data set and nobody knows what's in it until the procedure runs to generate it.
The planets, geography and persistent POIs are not pre-generated. They are proceduraly generated on the fly, only when you are close enough to see them.
When you are in space, smaller surface features don't even exist because they haven't been generated yet.
Unless we can afford the CPU time pre generate the entire planetary surface in detail while scanning it, I don't think there is any way to locate them from orbit.
I think the best FDEV could do is improve the way they show up on ship scanners so that it's more obvious if one has been generated near you.
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Are we sure that's the way it works Klutz? With all their talk about plate tectonics, I'm fairly sure that volcanic activity is actually linked to those larger scale features on a planet. Take a look at this picture:
I remember seeing the planetary generation video, and in some explanatory picture or other they had actually marked out where the subduction zone was on a procedurally generated planet. It wasn't easy to see, but once you knew what to look for it was pretty obvious. However, translating that into just looking at a planet in E and from that determining a likely location isn't that easy. However, a scanner that shows you the subduction zones and from that areas of likely volcanic activity should not be that hard to implement.
I remember seeing the planetary generation video, and in some explanatory picture or other they had actually marked out where the subduction zone was on a procedurally generated planet. It wasn't easy to see, but once you knew what to look for it was pretty obvious. However, translating that into just looking at a planet in E
and from that determining a likely location isn't that easy. However, a scanner that shows you the subduction zones and from that areas of likely volcanic activity should not be that hard to implement.Not sure about those subduction zones. I've yet to land on a planet with any Continents.
In any case, that might only get you a (large) general area where one might be likely to occur.
And of course, geysers can occur in different areas without volcanic activity. Cyclic heating from sunlight could cause melting and outgassing.
The way procedural generation works is pretty much random chance but with the same random numbers every time you run it.
Large surface features are pre-generated on a surface map even before we get close enough to see the planet.
It might be possible that low detail surface map could be enough to know where the geysers or fumerols are but perhaps not.
I don't know if they are part of the terrain or if they are generated separately by some persistent POI generator.
In any case, they need to be in the same place every time for any user so the chance of one being generated has to, at least in part, depend on some mathematical feature of the terrain around it.
In any case, that might only get you a (large) general area where one might be likely to occur.
And of course, geysers can occur in different areas without volcanic activity. Cyclic heating from sunlight could cause melting and outgassing.
The way procedural generation works is pretty much random chance but with the same random numbers every time you run it.
Large surface features are pre-generated on a surface map even before we get close enough to see the planet.
It might be possible that low detail surface map could be enough to know where the geysers or fumerols are but perhaps not.
I don't know if they are part of the terrain or if they are generated separately by some persistent POI generator.
In any case, they need to be in the same place every time for any user so the chance of one being generated has to, at least in part, depend on some mathematical feature of the terrain around it.
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I've found....over 50 in total I think. It's all about putting time in really, like everything in E it's a lot of time input for little reward (though I somehow end up enjoying it)
it's a lot of time input for little reward (though I somehow end up enjoying it)
You make a good point but the solution is in your own explanation I think. Assuming the surface detail generation is based on distance (like LOD levels, or fractals) then a 'scanner' that allows the search area to be narrowed down based on probabilities, looking for matching criteria within the procedural tree would be a big help. Anything to narrow the search area would be good for me.
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I've found....over 50 in total I think. It's all about putting time in really, like everything in E
To find that many I guess you didn't just brute force it? Do you consistently choose certain topography to zone in on?
I found one, after noticing some things that help.
1. Look for a small planet, 500km is a good size.
2. Look for obvious signs of erosion that stand out on the planet map, like a deep valley or what looks like an empty lake bed.
3. When you've dropped out of supercruise above the planet, you'll see your heading in degrees (0-360). 0=N, 90=E, 180=S, 270=W. I used a topographic compass to make it a little easier, but you can make one on a piece of paper easily.
4. Once you figure out your heading toward the area you want to check, supercruise to a few spots that stand out on the planet map, and drop out of supercruise, staying at least 3.5km above the surface (if you're too low, the radar blips won't show up).
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If it takes too long, or the planet is packed full of crags and valleys, just move on and don't spend too much time.
1. Look for a small planet, 500km is a good size.
2. Look for obvious signs of erosion that stand out on the planet map, like a deep valley or what looks like an empty lake bed.
3. When you've dropped out of supercruise above the planet, you'll see your heading in degrees (0-360). 0=N, 90=E, 180=S, 270=W. I used a topographic compass to make it a little easier, but you can make one on a piece of paper easily.
4. Once you figure out your heading toward the area you want to check, supercruise to a few spots that stand out on the planet map, and drop out of supercruise, staying at least 3.5km above the surface (if you're too low, the radar blips won't show up).
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If it takes too long, or the planet is packed full of crags and valleys, just move on and don't spend too much time.
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I spent over 24 hours of flying one week trying to find them on the smallest planets at hand, and never found any.
I have noticed while visiting them during passenger missions that they are not closely associated with any obvious surface features. Just a variety of random locations.
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Does every planet/moon with a geological activity (found with a scanner) actually have geological features? I'm on my way to Sag-A and was thinking of devoting some time for searching some "fumes", but I really want to know whether they exist for sure or just possibly... If there is no certainty, I'll just fly for the sights and move on.
This is the video where I got all my tips from. Don't think I would have found any without em.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hai__Zd6YM
Good luck.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hai__Zd6YM
Good luck.
Cool, many thanks.
Today I accidentally found a cluster of fumeroles in a deep canyon. The canyon didn't show up on the map, though it was pretty darn deep (I likely couldn't have driven out with an SRV without sliding and skidding back down), and the radar didn't show any radar blips, no matter what my elevation was. The first time I found a geyser I followed a method, but this time neither the map nor the radar helped: a little inconsistent.
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I've spent the last couple of days looking for specifically Silicate Vapours on a small (~400km) body, looking for signs from the vid ThudPucker helpfully provided above.
No joy, but I did find a couple of the tiny blue POI circles (just rocks). I'm just over half way up the Carina arm (on my way to Beagle Point) & they were the first POIs I've seen in probably 20kLys or more.
If FDev make it easier to find these blasted things before I've managed to find one myself I'll be a little disappointed (in myself). It'd be nice to have some tools to make this task a bit easier, but the simple fact that they are definitely in the game & I just haven't found any gives me motivation to continue to explore. If it were easier I may have found more stuff but maybe my urge to explore would have faded.
So I press on, raging against the night but somehow finding peace in the search. I WILL find one
No joy, but I did find a couple of the tiny blue POI circles (just rocks). I'm just over half way up the Carina arm (on my way to Beagle Point) & they were the first POIs I've seen in probably 20kLys or more.
If FDev make it easier to find these blasted things before I've managed to find one myself I'll be a little disappointed (in myself). It'd be nice to have some tools to make this task a bit easier, but the simple fact that they are definitely in the game & I just haven't found any gives me motivation to continue to explore. If it were easier I may have found more stuff but maybe my urge to explore would have faded.
So I press on, raging against the night but somehow finding peace in the search. I WILL find one
I very much suspect the location of fixed POI's such as geysers and fumaroles are generated on system entry for all the bodies in the system, the graphics are almost certainly generated per instance, but the location isn't, given that we can often see the POI's in glide mode for fixed resources and the instance isn't actually generated until we exit glide mode.
I say this because of something that happened not in this beta but in the previous one. In the previous beta the first six beta releases had the detailed surface map appear with the advanced discovery scanner, in the last beta this was changed to appear with the detailed surface scanner. In other words these fixed details are loaded at system entry, it is just up to them to decide at what stage to display them to the player, and I expect the same applies to the fixed POI's, they could theoretically increase the range of the ship surface scanner so that we could spot them from much further away, this would help a lot on large planets, even if they made it an engineering option.
Congrats and well done.
And a big thanks to High Beyond for making that vid.
And a big thanks to High Beyond for making that vid.
To boldly go where many CMDRs have gone before.
Care to share some tips? What kind of planet, where to look on the planet?I've found....over 50 in total I think. It's all about putting time in really, like everything in E
Besides the novelty factor and some materials, is there anything to be gained from finding these? Are there rare materials in abundance or some such thing?