Asteroids and Ring Systems. Is there any hope?

[Billexista]

We're still in early access game with paid dlc early access and blind purchase. I love mining, i play minecraft, factorio and all games where you can mine. They just don't care about us.

 

[Kapow]

I'm sorry, but for once I will join in with a bit of a rant... The reason I have this "rant" is because I really like/liked the game. I want it to succeed and manage to complete it's 10 year plan, but....

I think that the graphics in general have not been improving much. I've joined the game when it was vr1.3, so I can only look at the beta videos with sad face and compare it to the current sorry state of graphics now .......

When I bought the game I had GTX 760, so rightly only a mid range graphics card and I was expecting to run the game on High or medium only. To my surprise it run perfectly on 1.5 supersampling and everything on ultra... but the game was a bit ugly compared to some of the amazing videos from past and the AA just didn't work well excluding on FXAA which was just too blurry. So I've updated my graphics card to GTX 980ti and bought horizons. Well.... At this point I sadly regret my purchase of Horizons and the graphics look the same as with my GTX 760, so the benefit of me picking up a top of the range card is none excluding that I can run 4K DSR and I've stopped using the ingame supersampling and ingame AA (The AA in game still doesn't work properly). Instead I use NVIDIA's DSR and Sweet FX AA as that one actually works...

At this point I'm starting to loose hope a bit that the game will improve as with each patch/expansion the game is not improving enough to become what it should be even if I patiently wait for another year and that makes me sad. I love the realistic approach of Elite Dangerous. I love the community, but the graphics need to improve, the players need to have real place in their universe and be able to coop properly on larger scales, build stations, form organizations, movements ect .... Gosh the universe need to become alive. The NPC need to get some voice and at least some NPCs should be already persistent... Having only spawning NPCs makes this feel like a themepark instead of PU sandbox (we keep seeing voice pacts to talk to our ships by third parties which is all good, but what help is it when pirate lets me blow him up without begging for his life and all I get in space is the repeating text about wedding screens)... The Wings need fixing (miss instancing even after months and months since released and with dropping out 20km from each other as well being really difficult to help your friend if they are being interdicted? that makes Wings hit and miss??? ), the Powerplay is just a usual grind which feels like any other MMO time dump... I could go on, but let me say that there is a lot I love about the game. I loved seeing the youtube video with the capital ship asking for help and the pilot just accepting it and getting real Voiced response.... That looked awesome and sadly nothing like that is in the game...

On positives - the Flying simulation is Amazing and I can feel the weight and mass of the ship, the combat is fun and engaging as well as lots of exploration available, as a player I feel free to do what I want, but sadly not enough in game to do (I'm mostly spend time bounty hunting as missions were either buggy or too repetitive and doing anything for a faction just didn't feel like having impact... I couldn't even put their logo on my ship or go in some stations where there are open comms and start chatting to people over microphones or something like that to make the space feel alive.)

Rant Over and I can only hope that I didn't touch anybodies feelings as that is really not the case. I love the premise of the game, but not it's current state. I'll keep coming back and checking it, but at this point I don't expect to financially support this game in future expansions unless I see real changes, not just 2 or 3 more types of missions or character creation... I love the idea of making my character and designing his look, but it is pointless if I'm going to be the only one who sees it. Finally the game really needs to make it's mind up if it is Multiplayer or Solo. If it is Multiplayer then the Community Goals need to be impacted more by those who play in Open. The Solo guys can still earn the same money for their work, but they can't have the same impact if they are not taking the high risks.. It just makes no sense and destroys any competitive gaming at all. Right... Rant over... Finger Crossed

 

[tiger61378]

I have to fully agree with you here as well...watched your video this morning, and its amazing how much the asteroids have changed. I started playing back in June, during 1.3, and my laptop is far from a high end gaming computer (right now I'm waiting on another 4gig of RAM to be delivered so that I can even load back into the game...its so bad I had below min ram after Horizons dropped), but I was still able to run at high graphics (albeit with a rather poor framerate...not too noticeable to me in space though, so I was able to live with it). And despite those handicaps, even I see the downgrades in the asteroid belts (I spend a lot of time mining, so I'm in rings quite often...not to mention the RES farming). It would be nice to see some of the dust, different rocks, etc. come back in. Maybe in a few years when they decide to start putting bases out there?

 

[OnePercent]

Hence why I called shenanigans on Platform parity.

 

[Erimus Kamzel]

I fully agree with the sentiments here.

One of the most stunning gaming experiences I had was using the Oculus Rift and flying through the Wunjo 1 Furnace asteroid belt, back in Premium Beta.

I go there today and its a dire experience. Completely butchered because of "optimizations". And we all know why

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

Let me elucidate:

Your PC = Computer.

XBOX = Computer.

Elite Dangerous = 1 Cobra Engine Client installed on Computer.

Microsoft demands 60FPS constant on Computer - FD states 'yes sir right away sir' and dumbs down visual fidelity of asteroids to maintain said 60FPS.

Microsoft Computer wins. Your appreciation for visual fidelity suffers.

Microsoft wins. XBox's around the world are safe.

The only problem here is that the games looks far better on my PC then it does on the XBOX 1, so the argument doesn't stand.
The only thing I have seen that isn't right are the Rings, and I not totally sure that the XBOX 1 has anything to do with it.

 

[simonharrison]

Let's not get overly caught up in the XBox conspiracy (whether wholly true, partly, or not, who knows).

The important thing is simply that PC players should have the ability to dial up the graphics back up to 11. But currently we have very little control for ring systems.

 

[killborn]

I totally agree with this and feel the same bitter disappointment when looking at certain parts of the game. I'm still dreaming of self shadowing asteroid fields like back in the day, multiple light sources in space...and since the latest Horizons patch, I also wainting for the low res textures bug to be fixed. I just don't feel like playing the game with all these "immersion breakers" around... so I stoped and just follow the forums, waiting for THE patch to come.

 

[Oheck]

1 000 000 XBox's will implode the world over if the graphics fidelity is improved.

FD cannot and will not have that.

GUYS....please do not derail this thread with a console vs pc discussion. Lets stay on topic.

 

[EddyRockSteady]

The only problem here is that the games looks far better on my PC then it does on the XBOX 1, so the argument doesn't stand.
The only thing I have seen that isn't right are the Rings, and I not totally sure that the XBOX 1 has anything to do with it.

It's not an argument: It's a fact.

Hook your PC up to your TV and you'll see. The quality of your monitor and/or resolution has a lot to do with what you see. It will obviously look better on your PC due the reasons above.

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GUYS....please do not derail this thread with a console vs pc discussion. Lets stay on topic.

What derail?

It's precisely the reason for the graphics-fidelity, or lack thereof.

 

[Colonel Kenney]

There is a lot of concept to reality stuff that fell through. Thats generally how it goes though. Look at concept cars. They never end up looking like that realistically.

I do agree though .. the asteroids need a lot of work. Personally I think a careful eye should be able to spot what type of rock contains what.. Geologists have been doing it for centuries...

 

[Oheck]

Obsidian, thanks for continuing this conversation. It has bothered me immensely as well. If people want to see how it looked back on release in the ice roids, simply load up the combat trainer which I think is still running on 1.0. You can see how the volumetric fog, or distribution of the fog was much nicer. Its density increasing over distance. Asteroids close to you are in full contrast and look great, as those in the distance fade into the dust and the 2d assets in the background do what they were originally designed to do (create silhouettes of asteroids far in the distance).

Now of course those 2d assets are plain to see in stark contrast to the 3d roids in the forground. Their flat color stands out painfully. I've posted numerous screenshots and vids on this subject, and I find FD's dismissal of this environment bewildering.

Watch these two videos at the same time. They start at a similar position. It shows the stark contrast between the quality of the dust and roids that were downgraded some six months after the retail release.

Version 1.0 (release)
[video=youtube_share;QOW1GmAXeZ8]https://youtu.be/QOW1GmAXeZ8[/video]

After 1.3 to current
[video=youtube_share;Fzx2yp-H198]https://youtu.be/Fzx2yp-H198[/video]


I can't call this optimized. Settings don't affect this optimization. Fix this FD. Utilize your settings (low, medium, high, ultra).

Low settings



ULTRA settings

 

[OnePercent]

Also, Anyone remember when rings were SOOOO dense?

Like:

And when the LOD settings were brilliant?

Like:

And When Asteroids use to cast shadows onto one another (Beautiful)

Like:

#PClivesmatter

 

[Ixnatifual]

Would also like the transition feeling seamless. The transition from supercruise into real space when arriving at a planetary ring is quite jarring.

I really like the gameplay mechanics of mining in Elite, so any improvements to play around asteroids would be appreciated.

Performance is more important than looks though, in my opinion. But they could perhaps make sliders for asteroid details.

 

[Pomerlaw]

I don't think XBOX is to blame.

XBone is more powerful than most middle and low level PC players are using to play Elite.

They had a major stutter problem. I for one I'm glad it's gone. Graphics did suffer though, things look poor now compare to back then, a bit sad really.

 

[OnePercent]

Another INSANE LOD shot from the bloody beta!

 

[Acenoid]

Going to buy a new pc in the upcoming months.

To sum up all posts:
FD please remedy those gfx problems or please state why you can't / won't. Thank you in advance!

 

[Cmdr PeryplusErithrea]

I completely agree with obsidian.
During the beta days i spent days literally (12 hour) days of time mining in different rings, belts and clusters.
Always looking for palladium of course but also looking for those systems like Bunda which had breathtaking rings around her gas giant.
The lighting and atmosphere was superb, each time i found another roid to boil it felt like a new one. One model i hadn't seen yet or some textures and mapping i hadn't noticed

Now it still has some of that feel if i'm on the cusp of the dark side of the rings, some of the lighting shows through, some of the complexity and uniqueness that was there before

Its just a muted trombone now, still amazing in sound and depth but missing the pzaz and huspah of full volmune jazz

Heres to hoping they can implement some scaling elements for the xbone release so us pc users can still have all the pretties and shines we can run on our beastly rigs

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

It's not an argument: It's a fact.

Hook your PC up to your TV and you'll see. The quality of your monitor and/or resolution has a lot to do with what you see. It will obviously look better on your PC due the reasons above.

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What derail?

It's precisely the reason for the graphics-fidelity, or lack thereof.

Nope. That is your opinion and not based in fact.

 

[shadragon]

Granite, I know you use a lot of tweaks in your xml files and several shaders add-ons. Have you tried resetting these to a vanilla install with default settings as a standard test? Just wondering if the shaders you are using are muddling the waters, so to speak.

All this would take is a slider bar in graphics settings.

All the way to the right, lower quality, high FPS. (Default for consoles or really old PC's)

Middle, medium quality, medium FPS (Default for laptops and mid-range systems)

All the way to the left, high quality, atmospheric affects, dust, fog, all the ooo and aaaah stuff turned on. (Default for PC's)

I do feel additional controls are needed under graphics instead of the need to manually edit xml config files. Plus, I'm sure there are people out there with dated laptop systems running at ultra, getting crap FPS and complaining about it. That's why FD should have their own in-house test tool or system analyzer (Something like PassMark, CineBench or the old SiSofy Sandra) to give an E: D specific performance number for a system. Then everyone can have a discussion using the same standard.

Further, Frontier can make recommendations on what performance standards need to be had for VR, 4K, 1080, etc. by using that tool.