No ad hominem - you seem to be implying that Frontier are deliberately not doing a 100% offline mode (for some mysterious reason), and further more that an offline mode would be easy to do.
I don't believe that to be the case.
Elite Dangerous is not a Game you own, its a Service
- Thread starter DoppelGanger
- Start date
I don't believe that to be the case.
To be fair, that's the premise for this whole thread... You started with a fallacy, backed up by garbage, and wonder why people disagree?
Why is online required? This is why:
Or do you want to keep a epic huge database around on your own hard drive just to play ED offline?
It's to gauge Elite player's involvement, engagement and awareness for the future that will happen.
If majority of players don't care, then oh well, you reap what you sow.
Care to point which part was fallacy and what was backed by garbage?
This discussion is 4 years and 5 months late :-þ
Your original post. The fallacy is that E: D is being sold as a service. From there, all your arguments go downhill (which is impressive, as you started in a valley).
From the school of being very, very picky I'd like to point out that you don't actually own any of your software (unless you wrote it yourself) - you own a license.
The argument of Elite as service would hold more (or even some) weight if it were subject to a monthly (or annual) subscription fee.
It isn't though.
Thank you for posting, I think this clarifies that the game dies the day it dies.
@MOD - please lock/remove this thread, there no point for further discussion.
Which arguments? Name them. Keep in mind that previous comments gave the information I didn't know.
Other opinions are available - although what you wrote there is simply a truism, so ok.
Looks like it
You quoted the answer. There's no point in discussing issues with someone that can't read what is in front of them, so I'll leave you to it.
Thanks you for your epic contribution and ad hominem.
* rubs eyes * Look, yes Elite is an online game, and yes on the day they close the servers we'll be unable to play it. That's just the way it is. Your implication that they could do a 100% Offline mode fairly easily is baseless speculation.
However, they have said that they'll consider releasing the server code in the event that the servers have to close (and I'd have expected them to have streamlined it between now and then, if only to reduce their running costs in the present), and by that time we may well have PCs that are up to the job of running a full BGS in a VM. Or something. Who knows?
But it's all speculation, and worst comes to worst the game will go away and leave me at least with happy memories. But that won't be today. It won't be tomorrow. It won't be next week or next month.
It's actually very simple. Release the front end source and the back end source;
Compile and run the backend source on your own server. Set the relevant IP addresses and off you go. That is being somewhat basic I'll agree, but it really is only code and database at the end of the day. And, when modified to run standalone, it'd get even simpler.
I've build MUDs since the early 80s, both the client MudLibs and the backend server systems, so yes, I have an idea what I'm talking about.
But.. here's the fly in the ointment.. Elite is built on the COBRA engine, as are some other of the franchises. Does anyone believe Frontier are going to release the code to the corbra engine? Not a chance. And to be frank, the graphics are the most difficult part of Elite, followed by the flight models. The rest is basic menu'ing and DB activity.
And then look on while it takes your server 4 days to complete a single 24Hr BGS update.
The server infrastructure is, from what I can gather, quite complicated and involves lots of different database systems (include Microsoft SQL Server* and MongoDB). I strongly suspect that even high-end consumer hardware is not going to be up to it for a while yet.
* and I'd be quite willing to bet that the database sizes are in excess of 10GB, which means you'd need to buy a full copy of Microsoft SQL Server. The Free version, SQL Express, has a 10GB limit per database.
Also of note: Frontier, since making the decision not to have an offline mode, have shifted more things to be server based.
For example, in the original 1.0 release, adding new stations to the game required a client update.
When Horizons came out, they made surface bases be stored server side instead, so they could add them every Thursday if they needed to
In 2.3 they made orbital stations also be stored server side to allow weekly updates (or more frequent, if they paid the price of an extra server reboot)
This has generally been a good thing for the game - the Gnosis, the Thargoid war, quite a few other things simply wouldn't be possible if they had to release a new client version every time a station needed updating.
But it's one more thing that the servers would need to stop handling for an offline version.
The BGS Update; Should be coded so only the systems that have been visited need attention; from there the 'attention' they require would be set as (a)synchronous events on separate threads depending on requirement.
I'm willing to bet I could reduce the required architecture to a former of what they are using now, because, most of it would no longer be required. The net code would no longer be required. Most of the BGS could go in the bin. Being straight out frank, Elite would become an offline HazRez and Explorer.
I have no issues with Database sizes, I have full Gold Partner membership in MS
Ok, not everyone has that, but.. again, those DBs could hugely reduced as only one person would be using the data and they can only thread onto so much data in any given period of time.Add into that, the BGS would likely not be needed or only a portion of it, in any offline mode.
Remember this; The actual base of Elite is a galaxy (data) rendered in a 3D environment. This whole procedural thing is given far too much weight in today's world. Again, remember DB wrote this in '84 when, yes, it was a big deal. If you strip away the marketing hype, the actual bases of the game have been done many times.
Where Elite excels is in it's graphical renditions and it's ship flight models. Take those away and all you have left are Databases with some menus and basic math.
And finally, you only need one person/team to make the conversion and everyone could use it. Nothing Frontier do (code wise) is amazing in the least. There are many many others doing the same, for different reasons. The graphics are where it's at. And like I said elsewhere, Frontier are not going to release Cobra, so this entire thread is moot.