100% Proof Planets have lost their colour. [UPDATED with official Dev reason and plan to improve]

[Erimus Kamzel]

Please first watch this very short video before reading the rest of the post. This provides both proof and explanation on the situation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlhjYXlDubw

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As of Patch 2.2 many players noticed that vast numbers of the worlds throughout the galaxy had been changed. Where once the worlds had a variety of colours, from greys, to whites to greens - they are now all variations on the colour brown. Players have come to call this the beigeification of the galaxy.

It is true that Ice Worlds still have huge colour variation. Many rocky worlds also can be found in yellows and reds. This change primarily affects metal content worlds. However the moons in this video are rocky worlds, and so are proof the change is not just limited to metal worlds.

For further information and evidence please see the following forum threads:

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...-lost-their-colour-and-are-all-beige-or-brown
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...o-your-Planets-(Episode-2-Beige-Strikes-Back)
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/304905-Planets-in-2-2-50-shades-of-beige
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...rch-for-Color!-(sequel-to-The-Wrath-of-Beige)



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And to Frontier: The exploration community as a whole - (and I suspect much of the wider playerbase), would greatly appreciate an official response on this issue. It is something which has caused quite a lot of discussion both here on the forums, as well as in the general community.

A few words explaining what has happened, and if we could perhaps see a return to the original planetary colour variations (and if possible, what this means for the future of these landable planets) truly would mean a huge amount.

Again, I want to add something just as important to these threads regarding the beigification of High Metal Content worlds... that is the nerfing of the geological features some of these worlds once had. Asking for more colour to be added to the galaxy is all fine and well, but the effected worlds look like cut and pasted clones of one another on a geological level too now! - especially the cratering of HMCs. This should be highlighted too.

Worlds that once had geological character, now don't.

A few examples of what we lost...

Spoiler

- the level of nerfing speaks for itself.

Spoiler

- now featureless beige balls?

Spoiler

- cratering and textures like this no longer exist on HMCs.

 

[PyrateLV]

Before the ticket feedback, it was mentioned that it was changed to be more scientifically accurate. I do remember that for sure. Couldn't tell you exactly where I heard it from, but I thought it was on these forums as I'm not active on other social engineering type media.

So in 2.2 they change the planetary colours to be more "realistic", then in 2.3 they add Insta-Travel Tele-presence Space Magic because "gameplay trumps realism"
Completely contradictory.

Elite Dangerous: The most Visually Realistic Arcade Action Pew-Pew Game

*They nerfed the colours and other graphic intense features for 1 reason- Consoles.
You all know its true

 

[Martian Successor]

On this forum the response has been: we'll look into it. The other response is feedback from a ticket posted on OA's youtube comment section which he relayed to these forums.

Not really 'responded a couple of times'. And surely not an official response.

At least this issue got a support ticket response from a dev - that's more than my poor, filthy, plebian *cough* easily fixable *cough* FAS cockpit issue has gotten.

Spoiler

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/p__/images/4/45/_in_Boots_Eyes.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20131008123041&path-prefix=protagonist

*This thread-jack attempt was brought to you by Salty Martians Inc.*

 

[Obsidian Ant]

Before the ticket feedback, it was mentioned that it was changed to be more scientifically accurate. I do remember that for sure. Couldn't tell you exactly where I heard it from, but I thought it was on these forums as I'm not active on other social engineering type media.

I'm 99% certain we have had no response from Frontier on this aside from Michael Brookes saying he will "look into it", and the response on the Frontier support ticket.

 

[verminstar]

To be fair, Frontier have already responded a couple times about this...

On the flip side, this whole thread among others, are literally begging FD to respond...which you say they have already more than once. Dont suppose theres a link to those responses? I only ask because so far, it seems yer one of very few others who have so much as seen responses...seems odd that most the rest of us missed them dont ye think?

 

[WR3ND]

I'm 99% certain we have had no response from Frontier on this aside from Michael Brookes saying he will "look into it", and the response on the Frontier support ticket.

Then how did I know that was their response well before that ticket ever came up? I mean maybe even up to a couple months before. I guess it could have been on a livestream or something too.

- - - Updated - - -

On the flip side, this whole thread among others, are literally begging FD to respond...which you say they have already more than once. Dont suppose theres a link to those responses? I only ask because so far, it seems yer one of very few others who have so much as seen responses...seems odd that most the rest of us missed them dont ye think?

I could try poking around a bit, but not knowing who said it when and where exactly, nor exactly what they said isn't going to help me hunt it down very well... I'm just letting you guys know what I remember, and I would have said that well before the ticket info came out too. And in fact when it did, I said to myself: "Yeah, they've already said that."

Edit: I vaguely remember it having to do something with local star colors and light sources, so maybe it was on one of those "bright dark side of world" threads.

 

[CMDR Ofan]

On the flip side, this whole thread among others, are literally begging FD to respond...which you say they have already more than once. Dont suppose theres a link to those responses? I only ask because so far, it seems yer one of very few others who have so much as seen responses...seems odd that most the rest of us missed them dont ye think?

I think we don't help ourselves with things like this. We could all just ask en masse rather than try and guess for ourselves.

Often the forum will toss back and forth arguments for and against something but rarely do we ask "mum and dad". There was a barney on the threads recently about whether NPC ships have engineered weapons and all it takes is an email to them to find out and if we all do it, surely it will highlight it as an issue with support and be a better way to pass our concerns to the devs. I say it's a better way to tell them because if I were the devs I would not really want to read a 65 page thread which invariably will end up with something along the lines of "FD ate my hamster and all the devs worship the devil to reduce my life quality" or disparaging everything from their intent to ability and honesty (general comment on the forum not this thread of course) but may well take notice if a couple hundred tickets all turn up about the same thing. That has to be human nature 101, right?

 

[ArchEmperor]

True, it might be that white / grey rocky moons don't exist in reality.

I don't think anyone is asking for dayglow planets and moons. Changing a white rocky moon into a beige one though, doesn't seem to be a "making it real" issue - as well have all seen grey rocky moons actually do exist.

http://nineplanets.org/images/themoon.jpg

Nice moon!

Here is mine if it had just a little atmosphere:

 

[John Stoutbeard]

Again, I want to add something just as important to these threads regarding the beigification of High Metal Content worlds... that is the nerfing of the geological features some of these worlds once had. Asking for more colour to be added to the galaxy is all fine and well, but the effected worlds look like cut and pasted clones of one another on a geological level too! - especially the cratering of HMCs. This should be highlighted too.

Worlds that once had geological character, now don't.

A few examples of what we lost...

Spoiler

http://i.imgur.com/3VoxzHu.jpg

- the level of nerfing speaks for itself.

Spoiler

http://i.imgur.com/l12Uqzy.jpg

- now featureless beige balls?

Spoiler

http://i.imgur.com/pEjE2jl.jpg

-cratering and textures like this no longer exit on HMCs.

Wow. Just wow - I had the feeling it was more varied on planets previously, but I wasn't aware of the big change here either.
Tanks, it really illustrates the difference.
+1

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

At least this issue got a support ticket response from a dev - that's more than my poor, filthy, plebian *cough* easily fixable *cough* FAS cockpit issue has gotten.

Spoiler

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net...est?cb=20131008123041&path-prefix=protagonist

*This thread-jack attempt was brought to you by Salty Martians Inc.*

Come FD, git yer act together!

After you fix the beigebrownification bug of course.

 

[WR3ND]

Wow. Just wow - I had the feeling it was more varied on planets previously, but I wasn't aware of the big change here either.
Tanks, it really illustrates the difference.
+1

This has also been posted on the forums before too...

I get the beating a dead horse feel from this topic more and more...

Yes, hopefully these issues can be resolved to some extent. I personally would prefer more believable, realistic, and varied terrain – the high resolution images of Pluto are a great example – over some of the extremes we've seen in the past.

Spoiler

And again, hopefully we'll be able to see more of this if atmospheric worlds are ever developed and explorable too. That seems more significant and more of a big IF to me, considering the development directions this game seems to be taking.

 

[Saool]

I'm 99% certain we have had no response from Frontier on this aside from Michael Brookes saying he will "look into it", and the response on the Frontier support ticket.

Practically the head guy personally responded to one of your threads and said he will look at it. If that is not a response, what is? Are you expecting him to take out an advert on ITV?

I'm all for what you are campaigning for, but they have responded. Give them a chance.

 

[Deep Thought 42]

Again, I want to add something just as important to these threads regarding the beigification of High Metal Content worlds... that is the nerfing of the geological features some of these worlds once had. Asking for more colour to be added to the galaxy is all fine and well, but the effected worlds look like cut and pasted clones of one another on a geological level too! - especially the cratering of HMCs. This should be highlighted too.

Worlds that once had geological character, now don't.

A few examples of what we lost...

Spoiler

http://i.imgur.com/3VoxzHu.jpg

- the level of nerfing speaks for itself.

Spoiler

http://i.imgur.com/l12Uqzy.jpg

- now featureless beige balls?

Spoiler

http://i.imgur.com/pEjE2jl.jpg

-cratering and textures like this no longer exit on HMCs.

Man I started to play ED way too Late I got ED just before 2.0
+1 rep for showing me what I have missed

 

[JesusRocks1988]

That must be the solution to the Formidine Rift mystery. Somewhere in the Rift must be an interesting looking HMC world!

 

[Splosives]

The reason why so many planets are beige is because of the light their local star sends out. Most stars in the galaxy are red dwarfs. Every planet around a red dwarf is going to look red/orange ish.
Then we have the orange and yellow stars who also give a more beige/yellow/brown colour.

But if you go on a planet around a white star, you'll see the surface looks white.

Example: Alpha cygni 2. a planet around the blue white giant star Deneb.

 

[[VR] optimal_909]

As I mentiuoned a number of times, I think 2.2 was in general a vast improvement of surface textures, rocky & ice worlds. However, I do agree that HMCs and MRs have lost colors even though I don't miss the green algae planets.

What I am disappointed about is that there were no information about what graphical upgrades we'll get with 2.3. We are one week away from the beta, had it been that hard to allocate 5-10 minutes of the livestreams to drop info about some other tweaks and improvements?

 

[CMDR MadRaptor]

You might notice that this beige world video is actually unlisted (which means it won't go out to subscribers). It's not about getting an audience reaction...

Perhaps you should have mentioned something to do with hair in the cmdr creator and this would get some sort of response....

I can agree on all of this though. While I love geyser hunting and fumarole finding, in between finds these samey colored planets are starting to get to me.

 

[Bladefeather]

In this case, I really don't care about realism. I just want to see a cool looking planet, and decide to land. Even if realistically it is a boring beige. That color doesn't make you want to land and see what's down there. So I agree, bring back the old colors.

(edit) I just went to Sol and Mercury was beige. It is supposed to be dark grey...

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

The reason why so many planets are beige is because of the light their local star sends out. Most stars in the galaxy are red dwarfs. Every planet around a red dwarf is going to look red/orange ish.
Then we have the orange and yellow stars who also give a more beige/yellow/brown colour.

But if you go on a planet around a white star, you'll see the surface looks white.

Example: Alpha cygni 2. a planet around the blue white giant star Deneb.

View attachment 114753

What type of planet is that?

- - - Updated - - -

Perhaps you should have mentioned something to do with hair in the cmdr creator and this would get some sort of response....

Make all the hair one colour.
Watch forum explode.

 

[WR3ND]

In this case, I really don't care about realism. I just want to see a cool looking planet, and decide to land. Even if realistically it is a boring beige. That color doesn't make you want to land and see what's down there. So I agree, bring back the old colors.

I'm think perhaps there aren't enough variables in the mix. From our experience so far with our real solar system, at any rate, realistic doesn't mean boring.

- - - Updated - - -

...

Make all the hair one colour.
Watch forum explode.

Yeah... no joke. [downcast]