Starlight tints background skybox - Lighting issues

Whoever read the beta forum might remember my thread there.
This is actually my greatest, and almost the only, complain I have about Chapter 4. I can't look past it and it's everywhere. If you just play the game for a gamey fantasy space experience, you might not care about it in any way, but if you are only a little bit into the science of the game, you might hate it as much as I do.

That galaxy we live in is a beautiful thing, and the impression it makes on the night sky is absolutely impressive. Elite never really got that right, but it is there and it's basically our view on the Stellar Forge and the gameworld wie play in. So why treat it with that little respect? The new lighting and colour grading systems tint everything in a system, and in some cases that really looks impressive. Trouble is, that it also tints other light sources in the system and, which is the issue I am complaining about, it tints the background.

Our beautiful Milky Way is a red haze when around a red star. It is dipped in ink when around a blue one. The whole background, also containing the stars and nebulas are tinted in the star's colour.

Put simply: it's wrong. It looks wrong, feels wrong, is scientifically incorrect to an extend that I stopped making screenshots in space because it just looks horrible for me.
I mean, of course that red haze looks dramatic and atmospheric, and that's okay if we play a game like No Man's sky, which is very light hearted and set in a fantasy space. In Elite though it doesn't fit in at all.
It kinda insults all the effort the devs put into the science of the game. Sure, the game also compromises because it's a game, but it's about things like these:

- The star types.
- The gravity system.
- The sounds based on astronomical data when targetting planets in the FSS.
- The realistic textures of cracked asteroids.
- The vast galaxy simulation based on astronomic data.
- All the little things I forgot that make Elite unique and interesting simply by being closer to science than any other space game out there.

So why would treat the representation of all these things, the Milky Way and everything else in the background, in such a way? I really don't know.

And yeah, I know it's the post process effect and that it tints everything and that this seems to be intended and so on... Doesn't change that it's wrong. If you play Skyrim you know the beautiful auroras, and you know the beautiful sunrises. Imagine seeing the aurora instead of a sunrise. Still beautiful, but so wrong it's not enjoyable anymore. For me it's even on a higher level of wrong.

I'd love to see this issue killed. it's a bug. And if it's being kept in I'd love a toggle.

Milky Way in a system with a blue star
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Orange star - yes the red slur is actually the Milky Way
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Blue star with Smurfy Way and Heart and Soul nebulas in the background
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That's in Earth orbit...
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That's ships in supercruise tinted by an orange star
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A few of these pictures are from beta, but I didn't spot any difference in the live version. Otherwise I wouldn't have created this thread.
 
Can you provide facts, proofs ?

Well. If you are in a room with a red light bulb and you look outside, will all the lights outside also be red?

Most lights we see in the sky are stars, including the lights of the Milky Way of course. Now imagine every single star would tint the complete galaxy in a certain way...
The only way the background so far away can be tinted is if you are sitting in a gas or dust cloud scattering, reflecting the light so you are looking through a sheet of coloured particles. So well, if I am in scooping range of a star, I'd say okay, I give you the benefit of a doubt. When I am about 1 Astronomical unit away from a star, which is about 1.5 million kilometers, and also the distance from Earth to sun, I'd say no, I am not sitting in a gas cloud dense enough to tint the world around me like that.

The only other way light can tint something is, if light is being reflected by something, which is actually everything we see except strong light sources which directly shine light into our eyes if we are looking at them. Sure, if there's an object in the system, like a planet, the star's light is reflected from it and the planet will be tinted in the star's colour. Objects so far away, which are also light sources on their own? Not in this universe.
 
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Guest193293

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Well. If you are in a room with a red light bulb and you look outside, will all the lights outside also be red?

Most lights we see in the sky are stars, including the lights of the Milky Way of course. Now imagine every single star would tint the complete galaxy in a certain way...
The only way the background so far away can be tinted is if you are sitting in a gas or dust cloud scattering, reflecting the light so you are looking through a sheet of coloured particles. So well, if I am in scooping range of a star, I'd say okay, I give you the benefit of a doubt. When I am about 1 Astronomical unit away from a star, which is about 1.5 million kilometers, and also the distance from Earth to sun, I'd say no, I am not sitting in a gas cloud dense enough to tint the world around me like that.

The only other way light can tint something is, if light is being reflected by something, which is actually everything we see except strong light sources which directly shine light into our eyes if we are looking at them. Sure, if there's an object in the system, like a planet, the star's light is reflected from it and the planet will be tinted in the star's colour. Objects so far away, which are also light sources on their own? Not in this universe.

Yes..you are right, while the direct light should be tinted according to the star, the background and stars should not be affected.
 
A simple trick that makes different systems look different and the game overall feel much more varied. Well done FDEV.

Yeah, I don't see the point as well.

Particles within the system you are at will refract the light coming from the systems main light source and be responsible for the sun glass effect shown.
At day time our sky is blue and black at night. At noon our sun is yellow/white, at dawn orange/red, same thing.
 
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No idea what OP's talking about. The Milky Way is a healthy green, like it always has been.

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In all seriousness, this makes no sense and looks horrible. THis is not how lighting works in RL. The local star does not and never should tint background images (i.e. the skybox). Those are emissive lightsources that are lightyears away.
 
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Yeah, I don't see the point as well.

Particles within the system you are at will refract the light coming from the systems main light source and be responsible for the sun glass effect shown.
At day time our sky is blue and black at night. At noon our sun is yellow/white, at dawn orange red, same thing.

That might have something to do with a thing called atmosphere..

Not nearly enough particles in the vacuum of space to refract the light from the galaxy.
 

Guest193293

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@krautbernd Yes...artistic choice? but why? the game is supposed to be quite realistic, it's a shame. Honestly I hope they will address that and change it.
 
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