Brilliant - staggeringly informative response - thanks Stinja!Hey saw the pingi'm somewhat irregular on both the forums and playing ED lately (the September update didn't help), but have done a number of console Buckyball races in the past, so might as well chip in my 2 pence. This is a long 2p, tl;dr at the bottom
First up some context: I am also a PC ED player (well technically OSX at first, 1200 hours), and then moved to PS4 primarily (5400 hours, although multi-hundreds must be sat in Wollheim Vision waiting for Fuel Rat clients).
On PC I use a DualShock 4 controller + keyboard. When using PC VR I use a Thrustmaster T-Flight HOTAS 4 only. On PS4 I use a DualShock 4 generally.
Triple Elite on both accounts, most before the last couple of years which eroded the grind / significance.
I don't really feel the choice of control method disadvantages console players, until it comes to expanded inputs from keyboard / keypads, at least with the same potential disadvantages a PC player with KB&M does vs PC controller player. A HOTAS like a Warthog etc is clearly better (more inputs, accuracy) than the cheap T Flights.
Console (at least PS4) does has some disadvantages, which impact buckyballing to various degrees.
I mentioned some briefly in the Seven Sisters Speedway thread, but it was only in passing, so ones I can think of:
1/ hyperspace transition times
As a Fuel Rat (not for Buckyballing) I tested this when I moved to PS4, as the jump-to-jump times seemed noticeably longer. iirc it was something like 45s per jump on PC, vs 50s on PS4. Then after an update (I don't recall which one season 4 something?) they got worse again, with PS4 taking 55s per jump.
This is the time from say the announcing going "Friendship drive charging 4, 3, 2, 1" to the next "4, 3, 2, 1", with deep scooping per jump but engaging as soon as FSD cooldown finished (super cold DBX). I also tested the absolute time spent in the tunnel for Seven Sisters Speedway, which was again about 5s+ extra on PS4, ie start of "woosh!" to "zonk!" when you exit (not in star's gravity well).
2/ load times
Perhaps related to above, and why things take longer, but I actually suspect the data streaming is not the bottleneck, but rather the netcode and reinstancing.
I believe I've got a Western Digital 2TB in the PS4, SSD just didn't have the capacity / cost too much when I changed from the stock HDD.
Sure the option is there to potentially improve that, i'm guessing on balance a proper gaming-PC loads data faster than a PS4 Pro with an SSD still.
2b/ load times for Thargoid hyperdiction
The one thing where load times may given an advantage is Thargoid hyperdiction. I timed this on PS4, coming out at best 1:45 worse than a standard jump. PC iirc was faster by multiple seconds, as this is probably "unexpected" data loading.
3/ nav panel usage
Swapping and using the nav panel is slower on PS4. The actions are all manual presses or combinations of presses to use. So for me it's press-hold-square+left-d-pad to open the Nav panel, then shoulder buttons to swap tabs, then d-pad presses to say select docking.
I'm not sure on the exact timings, but even using the same DS4 on PC it's slower on PS4 by 1-2s at least.
4/ galaxy and system map usage
Definitely slower on console. Even more marked than the Nav Panel, there is a distinct laggy delay opening the galaxy map. Tabbing to bookmarks and selecting them is marginally slower than PC. Entering text is significantly slower: depending on how fast one can (touch)type on PC, but entering text via the PS4 on-screen keyboard is slow. Entering a system name, well you don't want to do it, and always have things pre-bookmarked. Even then (proper no timings) i'd guess 3-5s slower to manually select a bookmark for next destination.
Ditto the System map.
5/ macros
Obviously no macros on PS4, so any time advantage from shortening multiple key entry is a straight advantage to PC. I'm not sure what Buckyballers actually use, but requesting docking, selecting bookmarks, PiP reassignment are the usual ones I see in PC racers videos.
6/ voice attack
Related to above, but i'll add it separately as you get hands-free macros. I saw some videos from the Seven Sisters Race where people were using voice attack to select bookmarks, it looked pretty useful.
Anyone know how long it takes to use a macro / VA to select a bookmark? ie: total time from button press to complete.
I enjoy having a go at Buckyball racing, although lack many of the basic skills (orbital breaking for example), but each race I add another tool to the kit. I think i'm a decent enough pilot, but racing has some skills you just don't learn from usual play - which is not a "console scrubs am bad" thing - PC pilots run out of fuel just as much as console pilots for example.
I have no expectations to be competitive; no aspirations to get anywhere but near the bottom. The leaderboard is not why I enter, as I'm only really racing myself. For me it's to complete against myself: to improve, experience different aspects to the game, have fun.
If there really are untapped racers, only holding back because they feel penalised, then I can totally see there a separate leaderboard helping. I doubt it's the case though, and personally would rather be a little fish in a big pond; than getting a podium finish, when there's only 3 of us in the console division.
Overall i'm completely fine with a single leaderboard, with no indication of what platform or control scheme one uses. It's kinda like Formula 1: sure there's some limitations, but the cars are not equal; the drivers have different skills and genetic advantages; and ultimately if you're the fastest, you are the fastest - one leaderboard.
tl;dr Meh. Race for fun, one leaderboard.
Discussion on separate console/PC leaderboards for Buckyball race events.
- Thread starter Alec Turner
- Start date
Forgot to add:
7/ copy and pasting text
Even this is significantly slower on console. For the Kamikaze cup, pasting in "There's fast and then there's Buckballing" or whatever it was, wasn't so easy on PS4.
Compared to PC saving it in Notepad, and then ctrl-c to save for later, ctrl-v to paste, on PS4 you had to:
- open the in-game chat window, type in the text, find the special sub-menu with select text, then select to copy
This was now saved as your paste-object. Any quit to the main menu, say to get a drink, and you'd have to re-do the paste-object.
Then when needed:
When it worked it was 5-7s slower than PC, if you had to type it in using the pop-up keyboard, it would be 30s+.
This is ignoring the complete lack of ship control during this time, which is another whole time penalty. eg: on PC fly past the beacon and flick open the chat ctrl-v, job done. On PS4 you'd have to time things to come to a complete stop (or you'd overshoot), do the above to paste in the text, then speed off again.
Horrendous, please race organisers, never have copy&paste text needed in a race again!
8/ taking screenshots
A minor disadvantage, but even taking screen shots is slower. instead of F10 or F12 on PC, you need to press and hold the Share button (by default), during which you cannot control your ship, and have to wait approximately 3s for the action to take place.
it's small and you can learn to take screenshots during otherwise dead time (spooling FSD), but 7/ reminded me that in certain situations capturing evidence is a limitation too.
TBH i urge PS4 Buckyballers to just use the video capture, and at the end of a run use the Media Player to watch the 15min vids, and pull out the required evidence for the race.
7/ copy and pasting text
Even this is significantly slower on console. For the Kamikaze cup, pasting in "There's fast and then there's Buckballing" or whatever it was, wasn't so easy on PS4.
Compared to PC saving it in Notepad, and then ctrl-c to save for later, ctrl-v to paste, on PS4 you had to:
- open the in-game chat window, type in the text, find the special sub-menu with select text, then select to copy
This was now saved as your paste-object. Any quit to the main menu, say to get a drink, and you'd have to re-do the paste-object.
Then when needed:
- open chat window with hold-press-square + up-d-pad
- wait for it to open
- use d-pad to highlight text entry field
- x to select
- navigate to submenu
- navigate to paste option
- select paste
- select Enter to actually send
When it worked it was 5-7s slower than PC, if you had to type it in using the pop-up keyboard, it would be 30s+.
This is ignoring the complete lack of ship control during this time, which is another whole time penalty. eg: on PC fly past the beacon and flick open the chat ctrl-v, job done. On PS4 you'd have to time things to come to a complete stop (or you'd overshoot), do the above to paste in the text, then speed off again.
Horrendous, please race organisers, never have copy&paste text needed in a race again!
8/ taking screenshots
A minor disadvantage, but even taking screen shots is slower. instead of F10 or F12 on PC, you need to press and hold the Share button (by default), during which you cannot control your ship, and have to wait approximately 3s for the action to take place.
it's small and you can learn to take screenshots during otherwise dead time (spooling FSD), but 7/ reminded me that in certain situations capturing evidence is a limitation too.
TBH i urge PS4 Buckyballers to just use the video capture, and at the end of a run use the Media Player to watch the 15min vids, and pull out the required evidence for the race.
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Really good points, but this one you can prevent by changing the screenshot settings in the PS4 menu. Then a short button press is enough to get a screenshot.
Another Tip for PS4 commanders: you can also disable the small screenshot symbol that appears on screen for a second or so when you make a screenshot. Sometimes distracting and visible on the next screenshot, if you do several after another.
Stinja, your detailed posts are amazing, thank you for your work!
I think anyone being competitive will be using video capture. It frees up your minds from another task to complete, and enables you to get launch and finish screenshots with sub-second accuracy, so that you don't lose any time due to reactions and don't lose screenshots or a run due to forgetfulness.
I understand that not everyone is able to do video recording because of potatoPCs, but all consoles should be able to, right?
I actually really loved this aspect of the race, I'd rather have it be optional for console commanders and be at a slight disadvantage on PC, becuase the flavor it adds is great.
I think anyone being competitive will be using video capture. It frees up your minds from another task to complete, and enables you to get launch and finish screenshots with sub-second accuracy, so that you don't lose any time due to reactions and don't lose screenshots or a run due to forgetfulness.
I understand that not everyone is able to do video recording because of potatoPCs, but all consoles should be able to, right?
How do you deal with the fact that time on PC are already spread by a far greater amount than a few seconds? How do you separate platform limitations from skill differences?
Cool! Are you familiar with gravity breaking, the cookiehole loop (or the loop of actually-speedy not-shame) and the death helix?
Yep, I'd love it if 70 console players showed up to the next race, but I'm not holding my breath.
This is true. Except for Sanderling's OSS beauty (two joysticks), I don't feel that a warthog or something fancy has been necessary to get the podium in our races so far. I did at least half of them with a HotasX, and not have a midrange FCS16000.
This would be great to get data on, since there is sever variability on PC during high load times (and right after patches), and it's probably the biggest impact thing, since it's entirely beyond players control or ability to adapt to.
Probably, but we don't have HDD vs SSD scoreboards for our PC players.
We can keep this in mind for races where thargoid interdictions are possible, but TBH if one happens, that run is probably already garbage.
This could be a factor when trying to get a good landing pad, but I think Full Throttle at Pareco showed us that landing pad roulette spinning doesn't actually help much, even in a race only about docking (source: Aken kicked my asp by just taking the pads he was given
)Comparison videos from our multiplatform players would be good to see.
As it is, if you're competitive you're already using bookmarks whenever possible.
Also console players don't have to deal with mouse mis selections or bugs, just sayin'.
Minimal advantage, but it might exist. Biggest might be a Sag A run with Autoneutron. The only possible pip settings I use buckyballing are 2-4-0 and 4-2-0, so gaining a one button press advantage seems... trivial. I don't bother to use macros for that.
Selecting bookmarks with macros during a race seems iffy, I don't do it.
I do bookmark selection while turning around in stations anyways, so there's no difference, a PC player just spends longer staring at the station waiting to launch.
This could affect runs where there isn't a dock in a system, just a jump.
Are you able to select a new system to jump to from the bookmarks menu before the FSD cooldown is over? (I usually can, but not always IIRC)
Was that from a podium run? I have abandoned voice attack while racing, the response is not fast enough or consistent enough for me.
Bookmark selection can usually be done
- during supercruise approaching a station
- while turning around at the pad in the station
- while waiting to get out of masslock from a station (usually if I forgot to do it earlier)
In most of these situations, doing the bookmark faster will not give you a significant advantage.
This is the core attitude of buckyballing, I would venture to say a majority of our regular participants are there to better themselves, and race mostly against their own times, frequently in sub-optimal ships. <3
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My test session went pretty well.
I warmed up with 2 runs on PC with the regulation Viper to get a feel of the ship, setting a 15 stop in 20:34 time.
Then I moved to the PS4 Pro with the same ship. I use the Thrustmaster Hotas 4 stick on it and I have that mapped simmilarly to my PC stick. Even so, I don't have the muscle memory for the Hotas 4 as I don't play the PS4 account much at all just now.
First run was 14 stops 20:40 and it really showed up the performance difference between the systems. I followed that with a 15 stop 20:37 and was on course to take a few seconds off that before a missed mail slot put paid to that.
Went back to PC and had another go and popped in a 15 stop 20:09.
So, it might or might not prove anything, I dont' know how much better the PS4 Pro is over a standard PS4, but it felt like it was struggling to keep up. The VOD is still up on Twitch and I'll pull out the best runs and archive them to YouTube too.
I warmed up with 2 runs on PC with the regulation Viper to get a feel of the ship, setting a 15 stop in 20:34 time.
Then I moved to the PS4 Pro with the same ship. I use the Thrustmaster Hotas 4 stick on it and I have that mapped simmilarly to my PC stick. Even so, I don't have the muscle memory for the Hotas 4 as I don't play the PS4 account much at all just now.
First run was 14 stops 20:40 and it really showed up the performance difference between the systems. I followed that with a 15 stop 20:37 and was on course to take a few seconds off that before a missed mail slot put paid to that.
Went back to PC and had another go and popped in a 15 stop 20:09.
So, it might or might not prove anything, I dont' know how much better the PS4 Pro is over a standard PS4, but it felt like it was struggling to keep up. The VOD is still up on Twitch and I'll pull out the best runs and archive them to YouTube too.
Like this:
If I'm reading this right, it sounds like we're talking about a difference of 6 seconds and 3 seconds.
How this could be compensated - well as Sabathius pointed out, he isn't quite as adept with the Playstation controls, which illustrates, at least to some degree, your concerns about differing skill levels, but ultimately a couple of second handicap could easily be applied, once a proper value is calculated - though again, this does require more data. One person isn't a sample, just an example.
[/quote]
Gravity Breaking, yes, I use it too. I don't know quite how representative it is of actual physics, but it can have a reasonable effect. I'm also rather adept at loop deceleration, as I use to have a horrid habit of grossly overshooting my objectives. I've since gotten better, but there are times when the physical world distracts me and I find myself going "Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap" and pulling off a rather spectacular loop of slowing down. The Death Helix is something I've never heard of, so you'll have to enlighten me there.
I think it begins by giving them a reason to show up. Pretty sure there are far more than 70 console players out there.
I did testing for my own satisfaction on some of what I mentioned previously: using a stopwatch and logging some items, just gut-feeling or watching the in-game clock on others. But assuming things are working now / after the next patch, i'm happy to try and properly test things, although Brother Sabathius has probably just done a wealth of video.
With hardware potentially having huge variation is one reason why I think consoles should not be separate. A PS4 Pro or Xbox One X for example can be more powerful than a potato PC - I used to play ED on an 11" MacBook Air with an integrated HD4500 gfx chip I think it was. Absolute potato, but very portable, so great on business trips or holiday.
Mostly these are all minor with a few seconds potential variation, I was just highlighting things as I see them, especially for PC cmdrs who may not realise the differences. In reality some can be mitigated through muscle memory, or choosing to absorb the difference in dead-time (eg: choosing a bookmark while FSD on cooldown).
320,000 players. 12,000 monthly active users last month.
Other interesting stats: more Europeans play ED than yanks, and there's at least 600 PS4s with ED as their only game (earning trophies).
source = http://gamstat.com/games/Elite_Dangerous/
TL;DR racing is super niche.
I know we've said we can do better about advertising, but TBH we're mentioned frequently on Lave Radio, we've been in Sagitarrius Eye, the Forums, Frontier Livestreams, Galnet News, sometimes ObsidianAnt's news. Reddit is about the only place where our presence is limited.
Buckyballing just requires a special kind of crazy to enjoy.
The obvious limited presence: in the game itself.
As I believe console players are less likely to use out-of-game tools and websites. I for example have not synced with EDSM, I know what it is, wouldn't call myself a completely casual console CMDR, but just can't be bothered with it.
One of the missed opportunities from Frontier, is use the game itself to promote events. Let player groups submit events, vet them (blah blah favouritism threads etc), and then have timed holo-screen station adverts, communication from NPCs, and station news promoting player news.
Imagine NPCs instead of talking about their wedding over and over instead said talked to each other like "i'm off to buy a Mamba to compete in the Buckyball race on the 9th of November" "me too, well a regulation Cobra". Holo-screens with specific race details and so on.
Certifiable?Buckyballing just requires a special kind of crazy to enjoy.
EDIT: to add a bit about in-game racing support.
Compare Hello Games introducing racing modules (start points, checkpoints, finish terminal - which shows results / race times, boost pads), so players can make their own race tracks. Maybe it wouldn't work for Buckyballing, but it shows how a small studio can support niche events if they wish to.
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Just to pull things together, more feedback over here ...
forums.frontier.co.uk
It seems that even on the forum splitting console and PC causes unnecessary separation!
Discussion on separate console/PC leaderboards for Buckyball race events.
Just alerting you folks to a wider discussion over on Dangerous Discussion which could use your input. discussion-on-separate-console-pc-leaderboards-for-buckyball-race-events
It seems that even on the forum splitting console and PC causes unnecessary separation!
Comparing my PC / PS4 runs directly today, the PS4 does take longer to drop from SC, commonly 1 - 2 seconds and is much less fluid to fly. I'll link the two videos below for comparison.
Yeah, that was definitely one of the things that stood out from watching your PS4 run. The other one was the side panel: I'm not sure it actually takes much longer to request/cancel docking, but the menu is definitely much less fluid than I'm used to - it seems to take much longer on the "doing triangle things" phase than (my) PC does. Not sure if that's primarily due to the frame rate or something taking longer to load on PS4.
The other other thing I noticed on the PS4 run were your very impressive landings.
The side panel is just as fast, you can still navigate while waiting for the triangle things (which you can't turn off on PS4). I was having to concentrate on pressing the right buttons instead of it being pretty automatic on PC. Even so that wasn't really costing time.Yeah, that was definitely one of the things that stood out from watching your PS4 run. The other one was the side panel: I'm not sure it actually takes much longer to request/cancel docking, but the menu is definitely much less fluid than I'm used to - it seems to take much longer on the "doing triangle things" phase than (my) PC does. Not sure if that's primarily due to the frame rate or something taking longer to load on PS4.
The other other thing I noticed on the PS4 run were your very impressive landings.
And thanks, the landings have been improving with so much practice at them this race
Hello there.
Stinja made an outstanding job describing all the problems you can encounter on PS4. Yes, you may call it insignificant but multiply those 2-3 seconds by 14 landing required for the last race and you'll get about 30-40 second loss in time. It may cost you few positions in leaderboard, especially when you mentioned that sometimes it's only a few seconds between 1st and 2nd place. And yes all of this events are made to have fun and friendly competition but tell me you're not desire to come first at all. And I know I'm not the racing guy but it makes me upset knowing I loose few positions only because of the PS4 issues. But I also understand that not everyone got a hi-end PC and some PC's could perform even worse than a consoles. And it's also need to be taken in account that we all live in different places with different internet providers, so we all have different pings and loading times. I was surprised how quick Brother Sabathius was dropping from SC to normal space. Here in Russia loading could take about 3-10 seconds. I'm not sure how much console players do you have, so making the separate leaderboard with only 2-3 entries may be useless, but I think you should add at least extra column to specify player's platform, so you can at least compare your results to other players from same platform.
And another thing: CMDR ultravi is trying to help you make buckyball races even better. And all he's trying to do is give you some feedback. He's also promoting your events to Russian community by translating and reposting info about this events on Russian social networks related to Elite Dangerous. And that's also requires a lot of time and work to do. Thanks to CMDR ultravi I got involved into the recent race and hopefully will join the future events. So let's make it peaceful and productive discussion.
Well, this post is little bit rambling and I'm sorry for my poor English but I hope you got my idea.
With regards
CMDR Whirlwind113[PS4]
Stinja made an outstanding job describing all the problems you can encounter on PS4. Yes, you may call it insignificant but multiply those 2-3 seconds by 14 landing required for the last race and you'll get about 30-40 second loss in time. It may cost you few positions in leaderboard, especially when you mentioned that sometimes it's only a few seconds between 1st and 2nd place. And yes all of this events are made to have fun and friendly competition but tell me you're not desire to come first at all. And I know I'm not the racing guy but it makes me upset knowing I loose few positions only because of the PS4 issues. But I also understand that not everyone got a hi-end PC and some PC's could perform even worse than a consoles. And it's also need to be taken in account that we all live in different places with different internet providers, so we all have different pings and loading times. I was surprised how quick Brother Sabathius was dropping from SC to normal space. Here in Russia loading could take about 3-10 seconds. I'm not sure how much console players do you have, so making the separate leaderboard with only 2-3 entries may be useless, but I think you should add at least extra column to specify player's platform, so you can at least compare your results to other players from same platform.
And another thing: CMDR ultravi is trying to help you make buckyball races even better. And all he's trying to do is give you some feedback. He's also promoting your events to Russian community by translating and reposting info about this events on Russian social networks related to Elite Dangerous. And that's also requires a lot of time and work to do. Thanks to CMDR ultravi I got involved into the recent race and hopefully will join the future events. So let's make it peaceful and productive discussion.
Well, this post is little bit rambling and I'm sorry for my poor English but I hope you got my idea.
With regards
CMDR Whirlwind113[PS4]
Thanks for your input. Don't worry about the English, it's a million times better than my Russian! ... and yeah, @Ultravi has been great in bringing this issue to our attention (he's basically responsible for us having this enlightening discussion) and yes, we will definitely be including a "Platform" column on future scoreboards.
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I've just caught up on this thread - my wife has been in hospital for the last two days, so I've not had time to follow it. I'll have a peek at any comments on the console sub-forum crossposts as soon as I can. I've got to say say that the split in the forum is the most divisive thing of all - especially when our races are organised via the forums - as FD have accidentally split their community into three.
Thanks for everyone's contributions especially those who've played (and sometimes raced!) on consoles.
The console input to the thread so far appears to be entirely from PS4 players, I've had a quick go at getting my Xbox-one Cmdr (Cmdr RaikoSR4) started. I'm planning to get to Pareco in a "regulation Viper" over the weekend. My console is an Xbox One S, so I'm playing at 1080p and I don't have a HOTAS that compatible with the Xbox. I'm a complete newbie on Xbox though, so there's zero chance I'll match my regulation PC run at this stage.
Playing with the gamepad is a bit "clunky" - for example I don't think the side panels are slower on Xbox than on PC, certainly the Nav panel loads very quickly (maybe it's just a PS4 problem), but while navigating the panel you are using controls that would have been used to control your ship. So it's tricky to do that while also trying to dock.
Having said that, I did use an Xbox360 controller on PC at one time, and the HOTAS-X which is a popular choice for PC Buckyball racers is compatible with both consoles. I also think that I can set up keyboard controls on Xbox (but I'm not sure). I'll be changing my controller setup next time I play to be more like I remember having my Xbox controller settings on PC.
The GalMap is definitely much slower opening on Xbox than PC, I actually thought it wasn't going to open the first couple of times I tried. Once open it's just as quick selecting a bookmark as doing it on PC though - and simultaneous ship control isn't an issue in the GalMap. During a Buckyball Race it's normal to access the GalMap and select the next bookmark while the landing pad is turning after hitting "launch", so I'll have a go at doing that a few times - if you can easily plot the next waypoint via bookmarks and return to the cockpit before the pad rotate animation is finished, then the slow GalMap won't be an issue for the majority of Buckyball races.
I've only done a couple of courier jobs and a few minutes RES bounty hunting so far in my starter sidie (minus the stupid SA and ADC), but I didn't notice a difference particularly in hyperspace or supercruise transitions. I'll time it properly once I've got the hang of playing on Xbox.
If I can git good on Xbox I'm planning to enter a future race on both platforms.
All my future races will include a "platform" column on the leaderboards, and at least a "special mention" to the fastest console run - @Stinja got that at Seven Sisters Speedway, but it would have been nice if there had been one than one console player!
If there are at least 3 console players then I'll make that a "podium", but I don't plan to go as far as an actual separate leaderboard as I think it's important for our very niche corner of the ED community to be a single group.
Regarding some of the other things mentioned:
FA-On/Off - This is a choice you make, there's no way I'm including it as a distinction in my own leaderboards. We've had at least a couple a very competitive and skillful FA-Off racers (@furrycat and @Sanderling) and I've got tons of admiration for their skill, but the pros and cons of FA are for each player to decide for themselves.
The Russian ED community (on whatever platform) - I can't express just how grateful I actually am to @Ultravi for coming to chat with us and joining in our race. To the best of my knowledge he's the first Russian member of the Buckyball Racing Club. We'd love to have more, so please don't let language be a barrier. Even if just 3 or 4 of you joined in with Ultravi, you'd have tremendous fun competing against each other. Our races rarely have prizes and most of the fun really is competing against your own best time and the players who you actually meet in-game.
Thanks for everyone's contributions especially those who've played (and sometimes raced!) on consoles.
The console input to the thread so far appears to be entirely from PS4 players, I've had a quick go at getting my Xbox-one Cmdr (Cmdr RaikoSR4) started. I'm planning to get to Pareco in a "regulation Viper" over the weekend. My console is an Xbox One S, so I'm playing at 1080p and I don't have a HOTAS that compatible with the Xbox. I'm a complete newbie on Xbox though, so there's zero chance I'll match my regulation PC run at this stage.
Playing with the gamepad is a bit "clunky" - for example I don't think the side panels are slower on Xbox than on PC, certainly the Nav panel loads very quickly (maybe it's just a PS4 problem), but while navigating the panel you are using controls that would have been used to control your ship. So it's tricky to do that while also trying to dock.
Having said that, I did use an Xbox360 controller on PC at one time, and the HOTAS-X which is a popular choice for PC Buckyball racers is compatible with both consoles. I also think that I can set up keyboard controls on Xbox (but I'm not sure). I'll be changing my controller setup next time I play to be more like I remember having my Xbox controller settings on PC.
The GalMap is definitely much slower opening on Xbox than PC, I actually thought it wasn't going to open the first couple of times I tried. Once open it's just as quick selecting a bookmark as doing it on PC though - and simultaneous ship control isn't an issue in the GalMap. During a Buckyball Race it's normal to access the GalMap and select the next bookmark while the landing pad is turning after hitting "launch", so I'll have a go at doing that a few times - if you can easily plot the next waypoint via bookmarks and return to the cockpit before the pad rotate animation is finished, then the slow GalMap won't be an issue for the majority of Buckyball races.
I've only done a couple of courier jobs and a few minutes RES bounty hunting so far in my starter sidie (minus the stupid SA and ADC), but I didn't notice a difference particularly in hyperspace or supercruise transitions. I'll time it properly once I've got the hang of playing on Xbox.
If I can git good on Xbox I'm planning to enter a future race on both platforms.
All my future races will include a "platform" column on the leaderboards, and at least a "special mention" to the fastest console run - @Stinja got that at Seven Sisters Speedway, but it would have been nice if there had been one than one console player!
If there are at least 3 console players then I'll make that a "podium", but I don't plan to go as far as an actual separate leaderboard as I think it's important for our very niche corner of the ED community to be a single group.
Regarding some of the other things mentioned:
FA-On/Off - This is a choice you make, there's no way I'm including it as a distinction in my own leaderboards. We've had at least a couple a very competitive and skillful FA-Off racers (@furrycat and @Sanderling) and I've got tons of admiration for their skill, but the pros and cons of FA are for each player to decide for themselves.
The Russian ED community (on whatever platform) - I can't express just how grateful I actually am to @Ultravi for coming to chat with us and joining in our race. To the best of my knowledge he's the first Russian member of the Buckyball Racing Club. We'd love to have more, so please don't let language be a barrier. Even if just 3 or 4 of you joined in with Ultravi, you'd have tremendous fun competing against each other. Our races rarely have prizes and most of the fun really is competing against your own best time and the players who you actually meet in-game.
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Hear hear - brilliant!I've just caught up on this thread - my wife has been in hospital for the last two days, so I've not had time to follow it. I'll have a peek at any comments on the console sub-forum crossposts as soon as I can. I've got to say say that the split in the forum is the most divisive thing of all - especially when our races are organised via the forums - as FD have accidentally split their community into three.
Thanks for everyone's contributions especially those who've played (and sometimes raced!) on consoles.
The console input to the thread so far appears to be entirely from PS4 players, I've had a quick go at getting my Xbox-one Cmdr (Cmdr RaikoSR4) started. I'm planning to get to Pareco in a "regulation Viper" over the weekend. My console is an Xbox One S, so I'm playing at 1080p and I don't have a HOTAS that compatible with the Xbox. I'm a complete newbie on Xbox though, so there's zero chance I'll match my regulation PC run at this stage.
Playing with the gamepad is a bit "clunky" - for example I don't think the side panels are slower on Xbox than on PC, certainly the Nav panel loads very quickly (maybe it's just a PS4 problem), but while navigating the panel you are using controls that would have been used to control your ship. So it's tricky to do that while also trying to dock.
Having said that, I did use an Xbox360 controller on PC at one time, and the HOTAS-X which is a popular choice for PC Buckyball racers is compatible with both consoles. I also think that I can set up keyboard controls on Xbox (but I'm not sure). I'll be changing my controller setup next time I play to be more like I remember having my Xbox controller settings on PC.
The GalMap is definitely much slower opening on Xbox than PC, I actually thought it wasn't going to open the first couple of times I tried. Once open it's just as quick selecting a bookmark as doing it on PC though - and simultaneous ship control isn't an issue in the GalMap. During a Buckyball Race it's normal to access the GalMap and select the next bookmark while the landing pad is turning after hitting "launch", so I'll have a go at doing that a few times - if you can easily plot the next waypoint via bookmarks and return to the cockpit before the pad rotate animation is finished, then the slow GalMap won't be an issue for the majority of Buckyball races.
I've only done a couple of courier jobs and a few minutes RES bounty hunting so far in my starter sidie (minus the stupid SA and ADC), but I didn't notice a difference particularly in hyperspace or supercruise transitions. I'll time it properly once I've got the hang of playing on Xbox.
If I can git good on Xbox I'm planning to enter a future race on both platforms.
All my future races will include a "platform" column on the leaderboards, and at least a "special mention" to the fastest console run - @Stinja got that at Seven Sisters Speedway, but it would have been nice if there had been one than one console player!
If there are at least 3 console players then I'll make that a "podium", but I don't plan to go as far as an actual separate leaderboard as I think it's important for our very niche corner of the ED community to be a single group.
Regarding some of the other things mentioned:
FA-On/Off - This is a choice you make, there's no way I'm including it as a distinction in my own leaderboards. We've had at least a couple a very competitive and skillful FA-Off racers (@furrycat and @Sanderling) and I've got tons of admiration for their skill, but the pros and cons of FA are for each player to decide for themselves.
The Russian ED community (on whatever platform) - I can't express just how grateful I actually am to @Ultravi for coming to chat with us and joining in our race. To the best of my knowledge he's the first Russian member of the Buckyball Racing Club. We'd love to have more, so please don't let language be a barrier. Even if just 3 or 4 of you joined in with Ultravi, you'd have tremendous fun competing against each other. Our races rarely have prizes and most of the fun really is competing against your own best time and the players who you actually meet in-game.