Asteroids and Ring Systems. Is there any hope?

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Ah interesting, can you link to it? I'd love to read a bit more on this.

One example is here:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=151389

While the thread mainly deals with the game's poor route plotting algorithm, it is also often discussed that the game becomes unresponsive while the route plotter is plotting. In a multi-threaded environment, this wouldn't be the case as the thread(s) would run asynchronously from the main game thread and then just update the nav computer. But, as I said, everything that actually consumes significant CPU power, runs in one synchronized thread.

The plotting algorithm is also an example of a single threaded implementation, although reference algorithms exist that are designed to find the shortest path in weighted graphs. For CPU intensive work, Frontier have decided to use only a fraction of the available CPU power.
 
So, the developers came across a problem of stability and performance in the ongoing development of ED - adding new features, porting PC code to other platforms etc.
[]
Programmers:'Adding new features and the porting has created a problem of stability and performance in the ring systems for the PC, not to mention that the code is getting brittle too. We need to do something.'
PR guy:'What can you do?'
Programmers:'Well, we'll have to back track, need to back one or two steps to be able to refactor the design for all the new requirements of the ever changing development plan.'
PR guy: 'Eh?'
Programmers: 'Well, first off the hacky code for the asteroids will need to go, but that means a good deal of the original graphics quality will be removed from the PC and those buggers will notice.'
PR guy: 'But not the XBoners? Or the Mac brigade? Right?'
Programmers: 'Nope'
PR guy: 'OK that's good. We'll get your proposals actioned'
Programmers: 'It would be as well to tell those PC'ers what's going to happen to the quality of ...'
PR guy: 'What for? And I'm sure you're wrong that they or anybody else will notice.'
Programmers: 'But ...'
PR guy: 'Don't worry, if they do we'll hang it out in silence while any noise in the forums fades away'
.
.
 

I can well believe that the galactic map blocks the main UI thread while doing complex routing, but it's a very big leap to asserting that "Parallelism is very bad in the Cobra engine". It's a hideously complex topic, with many aspects out of Frontier's direct control and firmly within Microsoft, AMD and Nvidia's domain, so without knowing and understanding more, sweeping statements seem a little naive.
 
I can well believe that the galactic map blocks the main UI thread while doing complex routing, but it's a very big leap to asserting that "Parallelism is very bad in the Cobra engine".


That's wrong, because it is. Tell me one good reason why the UI handling and the route plotter algorithm should run in the SAME thread.

I don't know if you ever look at your CPU stats while gaming, but I do. Elite Dangerous NEVER puts significant load on more than ONE of the 16 available threads in my system. If you have contrary evidence, do post a screenshot.

It's a hideously complex topic, with many aspects out of Frontier's direct control and firmly within Microsoft, AMD and Nvidia's domain, so without knowing and understanding more, sweeping statements seem a little

That's just utter nonsense, because thread handling is done by the application. Software development 101. Clearly, the route plotter is not handled by a GPU and thus cannot be blamed on driver threading issues.

Seriously, have you ever programmed a sample threaded application?
 

Jex =TE=

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Quote Originally Posted by Jex =TE= View Post
You said it mate, not me. Of course, you'll be able to quote where I said that to prove yourself right.

The nonsense here is all on your shoulders.

Sorry, too busy carrying some of the existing nonsense from this thread. But its a good workout.

So that would be a "no", then.
 
A Bit harsh i thought, I,m assuming your an ultra hardware guy, PC hardware is always on the move and your current high end gear will be mid range within a couple of seasons, i don't think PC software developers can level peg with the constant hardware improvements, you maybe like me and upgrade your system every 2 years but not everybody can do that so a balance has to be struck somewhere which is what this is all about really, i set my game options to ultra looks good no lag no problems I,m content.
you have to feel for the X boxers (Dead end, no hardware upgrades ever so sad) then there is the Mac users no horizons for them Ive heard (not sure if its true but if so by Mac so sad) we Mid-high end PC users are the privileged ones so put a smile on your dial and cool your jets and show some integrity (not nice when someone questions your integrity is it) just out of curiosity what are you running triple GTX Titans.

Oh as a supplement, i also expect tiresome passive aggressive responses to my comments welcome to the forum, we can be both articulate and polite at the same time.

Well, we aren't privileged at all for being high-end users, because we are always bottom of the list to be appeased and catered for. Just because someone spends more money on something, that doesn't automatically mean that person is more wealthy than one who might choose to spend less on that same type of device.

No, I won't be changing my tune in three years time, when my high-end system becomes at best a midrange system-- I have this thing called integrity, despite what appears to be your opinion to the contrary. I'm not of my current view because it favours me; and then will ask FD to forget high-end in a few years time. No.

There are also a great many games where ultra settings are future proofing. 'Ultra' on FD is going backwards.

I don't think you can explain the issue at hand, which is graphics getting WORSE. I want the game to look better, because frankly in many respects the game is extremely wanting graphically. Only one star casts a light source, really, that a joke, right? In a game that simulates the galaxy with a heavy focus on exploration, surely not?

People questioning my integrity doesn't bother me, when I know it's an entirely baseless claim. It's hardly wrong of me to argue that perhaps FD should cater to all users, not just low-end and mid-range, and consoles.
 
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On the positive side, I was surprised to see a new phenomenon of rings whilst I was doing a little survey.

An gap between two rings of different colors, and the outer ring was moving quite fast while the inner not very much.

At least will still have different main type of roids. But the more I look around, the more I'm seeing it. What we lost that is.

Cheers to the Future mates..
 
Looking at our little GPU study, we can see that 47% run ED on mid range GPU's they all report good FPS values +30 FPS in the game.

24 % of the players have high end GPU's and report +60 FPS in the game. So to sum that up 69 % of the players are able to run ED on a very comfortable level.

We need more numbers to get a higher accuracy however I firmly believe this is a very representative picture of the GPU's in the ED community.

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=223630
 
Looking at our little GPU study, we can see that 47% run ED on mid range GPU's they all report good FPS values +30 FPS in the game.

24 % of the players have high end GPU's and report +60 FPS in the game. So to sum that up 69 % of the players are able to run ED on a very comfortable level.

We need more numbers to get a higher accuracy however I firmly believe this is a very representative picture of the GPU's in the ED community.

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=223630

What's considered mid at this point though. Cards in the $300-$400 range?
 
Kinda suprised no one has commented on the good news. Which is that Micheal Brookes today mentioned that Frontier are looking at the asteroids, the ring systems, the fog, lighting, shadows and other things and are looking to make improvements for patch 2.1. :)

From the desk of Michael Brookes:

Over the past year we’ve made a number of changes to some of the visuals (most notable are the asteroids) to improve performance – note that this had nothing to do with the Xbox One release as that uses a different profile. This has impacted the visual quality of the asteroids and we will be addressing some of the causes of that in the 2.1 release. Some of those changes were due to changes in other areas of the game (such as environment map capture) needing to be rebalanced. Whatever the cause we’re evaluating the lighting, fog, shadows and loading issues. Some of these fixes we may limit to certain graphics quality options to make sure all our players enjoy good performance and improved visuals with respect to their systems capabilities.

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=224025&p=3423079&viewfull=1#post3423079
 
Kinda suprised no one has commented on the good news. Which is that Micheal Brookes today mentioned that Frontier are looking at the asteroids, the ring systems, the fog, lighting, shadows and other things and are looking to make improvements for patch 2.1. :)



https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=224025&p=3423079&viewfull=1#post3423079

JUST now read the newsletter and came this way to post just that. ;) Very happy to see they are finally looking at this. Squeaky wheel gets the grease, as they say. ;)
 
Personally I think the rings need to be completely revamped. They're way too cluttered and really don't represent anything even close to what you'd see in reality.

It's nice to say that it's for gameplay reasons, but if the only way to fix the AI so that they'd stop ramming into the asteroids was to make them fly away from them, then the largest gameplay reason has been patched out.

Jumping into a ring system that just looks like a giant bowl of Cocoa puffs is not interesting or scenic. It's just a reminder of what was and what it could have been.
 
I just read Newsletter 107, awesome! It looks like they read this thread, are aware of the issues, are listening to us, and are working on it. Very cool Frontier, very cool.


Also, to all the people who make unsubstantiated claims that the reduction in quality has something to do with Xbox or Microsoft, Michael Brookes said in the newsletter the changes have nothing to do with Xbox, which uses a different profile.

So enough with the zero evidence conspiracy claims now, okay?
 
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Personally I think the rings need to be completely revamped. They're way too cluttered and really don't represent anything even close to what you'd see in reality.

It's nice to say that it's for gameplay reasons, but if the only way to fix the AI so that they'd stop ramming into the asteroids was to make them fly away from them, then the largest gameplay reason has been patched out.

Jumping into a ring system that just looks like a giant bowl of Cocoa puffs is not interesting or scenic. It's just a reminder of what was and what it could have been.

And this is based on what evidence you have of flying around ring systems in real life? Bit of a an absurd statement.
 
Personally I think the rings need to be completely revamped. They're way too cluttered and really don't represent anything even close to what you'd see in reality.

It's nice to say that it's for gameplay reasons, but if the only way to fix the AI so that they'd stop ramming into the asteroids was to make them fly away from them, then the largest gameplay reason has been patched out.

Jumping into a ring system that just looks like a giant bowl of Cocoa puffs is not interesting or scenic. It's just a reminder of what was and what it could have been.

Okay, my personal space ship are not ready yet.

11950042483_687128d16d_b.jpg

Because these people disturb me all the time -_-

empireoftheapes2.jpg

however, maybe you could post some pictures from some ring systems from space and then we can compare :)
 
Its good news for sure that FD will take a look at them again. As many of you have said already, there are so many issues.
But i must say that even if the asteroids don´t look as good as they used to, on a positive note i should add that they still can look quite amazing.
For example, a sunset in an asteroid field... one of the most amazingly beautiful things i have seen in Elite so far:

[video=youtube;QPyHSqDvURU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPyHSqDvURU[/video]
 
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