Anyone experiencing invisible planets in SC until you get very close to it?

ferus

ferus
The planet is not visible until about 5-2 Ls.
Please add to the issue if you have the same problem.

Issue Tracker

issues.frontierstore.net issues.frontierstore.net

Invisible:
Invisible.jpg


And suddenly visible:
visible.jpg



The problem seems to be in different handling of planets in SC in Horizons vs Odyssey.

Here is the Horizons version:
Source: https://youtu.be/5U3Q0445poE


You can see that the planet is visible in SC all the time (represented as a nice white dot that resembles a star).


And here is what we have in Odyssey (same system, same planet, tried my best to use the same angle of approach):
Source: https://youtu.be/MkMFlxDunUI


The planet is invisible in SC until you get very close to it. Now I'm not sure if this is a bug or an intended "optimization" feature from FDev.
This happens in all systems.
Sometimes the planet is visible when you target it (it could be 3k ls away or 600 ls away) and then it disappears when you start your approach. It then reappears when you get 2-5 ls close to it.


And here you can clearly see the planet disappear (at around 00:13) even though it was perfectly visible when first targeted and then it reappeared later (at around 1:23) when I got close to it (again, between 2-5 ls).
If you experiencing something similar please add to the opened issue.

Source: https://youtu.be/7X0gNSPA-7Y


UPDATE: In some cases the planets actually teleport while you are approaching them in SC (around 0:08):

Source: https://youtu.be/glMsnMdzYyw
 
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Frop

Frop
It feels like the draw range as opposed to Horizons was smaller already and in the past few updates it seems to have gotten worse and worse. I'm going to assume they "optimised" it.
 

Arioch

Arioch
ferus said:
The planet is not visible until about 5-2 Ls.
Please add to the issue if you have the same problem.

Issue Tracker

issues.frontierstore.net issues.frontierstore.net

Invisible:
View attachment 297281

And suddenly visible:
View attachment 297282
Click to expand...
I think I saw this yesterday so I’ll have a closer look for it next session and add my confirmations to the issue report.

One thing for the author of the listed issue report: the word Planets is misspelled in the title as “Plasnets” - this won’t help anyone searching Issue Tracker and may lead to duplicate reports instead of the much needed extra confirmations. Perhaps take a moment to edit the report? 👍
 

varonica

varonica
Frop said:
There used to be at least a placeholder white dot representing a body.
Click to expand...

Nope, don't recall seeing that white dot, it must be some setting being used, once out of visual range I don't see planets, I wouldn't really expect to see a rocky planet around 2kly in radius at 65ls, only when close enough for the planet to be large enough radius to be seen by the eye.
 

Frop

Frop
varonica said:
Nope, don't recall seeing that white dot, it must be some setting being used, once out of visual range I don't see planets, I wouldn't really expect to see a rocky planet around 2kly in radius at 65ls, only when close enough for the planet to be large enough radius to be seen by the eye.
Click to expand...
Ah right, I didn't consider it could be a user error despite not changing any settings and an update having been released recently. I think I'll check the graphical options if they ninja'd some new draw distance slider in there.
 

varonica

varonica
Just took a few minutes out of jumping to test this, it appears to work exactly how I remember, if you are to far away to see the planet it won't be rendered and you won't see it, sometimes if you have orbit lines on you can just make it out against the orbit line from further away, but orbit lines off you will see nothing until you are close enough, this is how I have always remembered it working. Large planets like gas giants can be seen from a lot further away, 65ls would be fine for seeing a gas giant, but a small rocky planet I certainly wouldn't expect to see anything and I certainly don't ever recall seeing a white dot marking the planet.

Icy planets will often show a faint white mark due to higher albedo and are visible much further away, but it seems to be working as I expect it to work.
 

varonica

varonica
Frop said:
Ah right, I didn't consider it could be a user error despite not changing any settings and an update having been released recently. I think I'll check the graphical options if they ninja'd some new draw distance slider in there.
Click to expand...

My draw distance is at max, and I checked controls and can't see anything that should affect it if you did indeed see this previously. Maybe it's under controls and not graphics, I will have a look. Still can't see anything there, looking through old sceenshots now to see if I ever took any screenshots for any reason but it's not really something you take a screenshot of is it?
 

ferus

ferus
varonica said:
In the first image you are 65ls away, I'm not sure what you expect to see at that distance!
Click to expand...
A bright spot, just like a star.
The planet suddenly pops in at 2-5 ls which definitely is not normal.

The planet was actually visible at 3k when I first targeted it - it looked like a star (or any planet that is reflecting light).
Then it disappeared and was not visible until 2-5 ls.
 
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Frop

Frop
varonica said:
My draw distance is at max, and I checked controls and can't see anything that should affect it if you did indeed see this previously. Maybe it's under controls and not graphics, I will have a look. Still can't see anything there, looking through old sceenshots now to see if I ever took any screenshots for any reason but it's not really something you take a screenshot of is it?
Click to expand...
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I5_u6wZWvw
 

ferus

ferus
Arioch said:
I think I saw this yesterday so I’ll have a closer look for it next session and add my confirmations to the issue report.

One thing for the author of the listed issue report: the word Planets is misspelled in the title as “Plasnets” - this won’t help anyone searching Issue Tracker and may lead to duplicate reports instead of the much needed extra confirmations. Perhaps take a moment to edit the report? 👍
Click to expand...
The typo didn’t prevent me from searching for it.
The original issue is not mine but it did show as a search result.
 
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fennster

fennster
varonica said:
Nope, don't recall seeing that white dot, it must be some setting being used, once out of visual range I don't see planets, I wouldn't really expect to see a rocky planet around 2kly in radius at 65ls, only when close enough for the planet to be large enough radius to be seen by the eye.
Click to expand...
How far is Mars from Earth, my astronomy isn't that great, but Google is telling me 182ls at closest approach. That's easily visible with naked eye.
 

Arioch

Arioch
I’ve just been to Sol as it’s a system I’ve been in a lot since the game came out, and there is definitely a change in the planet view distances. Mercury was completely invisible until about 2.6Ls distance, as were the Jovian moons. The previous long distance white dot is no longer there. I used to be able to see the Jovian system as a cluster of white dots from hundreds of light seconds away.

Off to add my confirmations to the report 👍
 

varonica

varonica
ferus said:
A bright spot, just like a star.
The planet suddenly pops in at 2-5 ls which definitely is not normal
Click to expand...

It's not a star, you won't see a bright spot like a star unless it has very high albedo, an ice world for instance, this appears to be a metalic rocky world, low albedo, doesn't reflect much light, wouldn't expect it to be visible at that distance. It's also a long way from the star so won't get much light to reflect anyway.

I suppose it's possible they could have adjusted light reflection and stuff to make it more realistic, I am certainly seeing larger planets much further out than a couple of LS whch makes sense if all we are seeing now is the body once you get close enough.
 

ChipStar65

ChipStar65
I noticed this right away and assumed it's some sort of optimization compromise. My experience is that at very far distance I see a starlike dot that does not increase in size as I approach. At some distance it vanishes and there is then apparently nothing at the center of the objective reticule until close enough for an actual visible disk to form. At that point, a lit object appears and quickly grows to its usual size, fully lit.

Before U11, there was an object visible at all times on approach, either starlike or with a barely noticeable disk. If watching closely I could perceive the point where the object transitions from starlike to planetary disk, and it seemed the texture loading for the small disk was visible, hard to describe but the transition was not smooth. They seem to have eliminated that transition point but lost the object's visibility for a while. Surprising at first but for me easy enough to accommodate, although I would prefer having a visible dot for the full farther view.
 

Erei

Erei
Someone mentioned issue seeing planet to in Inara yesterday.
I don't have the issue myself, but I know planets are visible from afar as "stars". Like IRL. I was pondering how cool it was when I was travelling to a distance gas giant and its few moons in exploration a few days ago.
 
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