Never seen this before, what did I just find?

scadh

scadh
Embarrassed to say that, until today, I never knew that planets rotate on the system map. Presumably just a combination of how slowly they rotate and complete lack of observation acuity on my part. However, while out exploring today, I saw one planet rotating very quickly in the opposite direction that you'd expect. A quick Google search revealed that planets rotate on the system map at a speed relative to their orbital speed. It follows, then, that planets spinning in retrograde motion would move very quickly and be easy to spot. This was true in this case.

Since I had never noticed this before, I zoomed in to the planet to observe it more closely, and it zoomed in further in than I've ever seen. The planet was rendered very large with a series blue circles around it. I don't usually zoom in to close to planets on the system map so perhaps this is a common thing that I've just never noticed, but none of the other planets or moons in the system behaved in the same way. Could someone take a look at the screenshot (sorry, it's VR so sort of off-axis) and tell me what this is?
 

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Florenus

Florenus
I think it's just graphics effect that's visible at certain zoom level on system map (blue rotating rings), but it's usually not as pronounced - i've never seen it being so clear anyway.
I don't think it has any significance tbh and for me it's just visual flavor... thing.
 

Genar-Hofoen

Genar-Hofoen
scadh said:
Embarrassed to say that, until today, I never knew that planets rotate on the system map. Presumably just a combination of how slowly they rotate and complete lack of observation acuity on my part. However, while out exploring today, I saw one planet rotating very quickly in the opposite direction that you'd expect. A quick Google search revealed that planets rotate on the system map at a speed relative to their orbital speed. It follows, then, that planets spinning in retrograde motion would move very quickly and be easy to spot. This was true in this case.

Since I had never noticed this before, I zoomed in to the planet to observe it more closely, and it zoomed in further in than I've ever seen. The planet was rendered very large with a series blue circles around it. I don't usually zoom in to close to planets on the system map so perhaps this is a common thing that I've just never noticed, but none of the other planets or moons in the system behaved in the same way. Could someone take a look at the screenshot (sorry, it's VR so sort of off-axis) and tell me what this is?
Click to expand...


Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRpf3kxKMYs


You're welcome ;)
 

scadh

scadh
Florenus said:
I think it's just graphics effect that's visible at certain zoom level on system map (blue rotating rings), but it's usually not as pronounced - i've never seen it being so clear anyway.
I don't think it has any significance tbh and for me it's just visual flavor... thing.
Click to expand...

Maybe. The odd part to me is that as I was zooming in, it sort of stopped at the regular level, almost like a detent, then suddenly zoomed into to this extra level of zoom close-up that I've seen no where else.

For what it's worth, there was one settlement on the planet that had unfortunately rotated to the opposite side when I took that screenshot. I can't remember what it was called though, it was like Rexle or Raxxal or something, if that means anything to anyone.
 

Florenus

Florenus
scadh said:
Maybe. The odd part to me is that as I was zooming in, it sort of stopped at the regular level, almost like a detent, then suddenly zoomed into to this extra level of zoom close-up that I've seen no where else.
Click to expand...
Every landable planet has this effect when zoomed in, although it's usually more subtle. Unlandable planets don't allow you to zoom that close on system map and there's indeed slight stop between regular zoom and when you jump into this closer view.
EliteDangerous64 2021-01-17 09-17-20.jpg
 

varonica

varonica
You will notice the rotation more on bodies that have retrograde motion, that is they spin in the opposite direction to the other bodies in the system, I don't know why that's the case but often you will see them visibly spinning much faster than they actually do according to the stats.
 

scadh

scadh
Thanks for the clarification, all. I think I never noticed the rotation and extra zoom level before because I was mostly in System Map just to find a particular station to which I needed to plot a route and didn't spend much time. Recently, though, I got a VR headset, and everything looks so incredible that I decided to go on my first "real" exploration mission just to see the sights. It's the first time I've really bothered to do more than just honk on my way through and am giving things a much more careful look, using FSS and mapping extensively.

I do wish that the "default" system map view in VR was much further back, though. As-is, entering the map it's so zoomed in that the main star nearly completely fills your FOV and you have to zoom way out. Honestly, the maps are the only part of the VR experience that I'm not in totally love with. They still look spectacular compared to 2D, but cumbersome to navigate and, especially, blindly reach out for my keyboard to type some absurdly-cryptic system when necessary.
 

varonica

varonica
Jmanis said:
... planets spin on the system map? I just thought they were static icons.
Click to expand...

No they aren't icons, they are actually the planets themselves zoomed in. If you land on a planet and look in the system map zoomed in, then travel across the surface you can watch your location icon in real time as it moves across the planet, if the zoom was high enough you could probably see your SRV or ship itself as it moved.
 

Jmanis

Jmanis
varonica said:
No they aren't icons, they are actually the planets themselves zoomed in. If you land on a planet and look in the system map zoomed in, then travel across the surface you can watch your location icon in real time as it moves across the planet, if the zoom was high enough you could probably see your SRV or ship itself as it moved.
Click to expand...
Oh, I mean, I know they actually look like the planets, that doesn't forego them being static icons though, rather than actually moving bodies.

But I don't think I've ever seen a body spinning on the system map. I've seen the stars animate very slightly, but that's all. Maybe I'm just not looking close enough. (EDIT: And now I've looked at that video, I see they do... TIL)
 

varonica

varonica
Jmanis said:
Oh, I mean, I know they actually look like the planets, that doesn't forego them being static icons though, rather than actually moving bodies.

But I don't think I've ever seen a body spinning on the system map. I've seen the stars animate very slightly, but that's all. Maybe I'm just not looking close enough. (EDIT: And now I've looked at that video, I see they do... TIL)
Click to expand...

Took these the other day after a discussion in case the question came up again.

First, me planet side sitting on the edge of a crater in my ship;

olhrMAU.jpg

My ship location in the zoomed in view on the system map, sitting on the edge of the crater;

0tpCTVt.jpg

So the zoomed in images we see in the system map of the planets are actually zoomed in views of the planets. I mean they could create icons for the planets for the system map, but that would mean creating and storing icons for every body in the galaxy that has been visited because every body is different, but of course why not just use the body itself and skip the icon creation bit?
 

Helvellyn

Helvellyn
Jmanis said:
Oh, I mean, I know they actually look like the planets, that doesn't forego them being static icons though, rather than actually moving bodies.

But I don't think I've ever seen a body spinning on the system map. I've seen the stars animate very slightly, but that's all. Maybe I'm just not looking close enough. (EDIT: And now I've looked at that video, I see they do... TIL)
Click to expand...
You can look around them a bit in VR, it's pretty neat (although the map as a whole is a little clunky in VR). I'd noticed some rotating from time to time, it was always one of those things where I thought "must get around to looking up why (or trying to figure it out)", then promptly forgetting about it as soon as I've closed the map.
 
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