Game Discussions Bethesda Softworks Starfield Space RPG

Without knowing most of the details, I admit, this sounds a bit weird. Procedural generation is precisely the opposite of random: procedural generation is deterministic and fixed; once a seed is given to generate a certain terrain (tiled or not) if you return you ll find the same terrain. Otherwise it’s not procedural, but just random generation.

Either way that does not seem to contradict the claim that you can explore a full planet, even if all locations are randomly generated every time you visit. Won’t be very immersive but hey, we have Elite for that.

Assuming that the same seed is used every time! FDEV certainly does that with their planets, but that's not strictly necessary, procedural generation is used for creating realistic looking terrain without spending the time hand crafting, or cities, or forests or etc, but just because you can use it to craft the exact same terrain every time you visit a particular locations doesn't mean you have to do it that way.

I mean many games that use mazes use procedural generation to create randomised rooms, it's a minor nitpick but an important one, procedural generation is in fact a special case of random generation, you can't predict what you will get until you run the seed. I mean you could use a completely random algorithm to generate the ground surface, which would be bad because your levels would be all over the place, but the moment you put in parameters to tell the algorithm that each edge pixel of a tile tiles should be the same level as the all the neighboring tiles around and each pixel should be no higher than a pixel above or below neighboring pixels you have a procedural process, sure a pretty basic one and it would probably be as boring as anything but it is procedural even though most of it is randomly generated, so procedural is in effect a special case of random generation.

Of course not everyone will agree, and I expect the SF devs will use the same seed for a given tile to give the same result, but I don't know, got to wait and see.
 

Viajero

Volunteer Moderator
but just because you can use it to craft the exact same terrain every time you visit a particular locations doesn't mean you have to do it that way.
Of course not, but as seen in the thread that seems to be a worst issue for some people than the opposite. What would be the cost (in terms of development complexity) of keeping those seeds so people returning to a site see the same site?

I mean, if that cost is not huge that would mean BGS has deliberately decided that completely random terrain every time is better for the player? I mean, maybe, that would still seem weird though.
 
I wonder if only the terrain is random/proc-gen or the skybox as well. More specificly, if I land on a moon that orbits a gas giant, will I see the gas giant only on the "correct side" of the moon or will the game just generate a skybox with the gas giant, even if I am on the other side of the moon?

Another thought: If I build a giant spaceship in the shipbuilder, will I still be able to land on planets smoothly or will I face clipping issues? Can I own and use multiple ships, so I can dock a smaller "shuttle" at my large ship and use the shuttle to land on planets?

Obviously, no one knows the answer yet. This weekend is going to be interesting :)
 
My merch has arrived! Will not get it until 2200 tonight, though. Will need to figure out how to download it in Steam; does anyone know? I am guessing to redeem it through the laser-etched code?
I bought the standard version from Steam on Sunday. Yesterday, Steam told me it was available for preloading.
 
Man, I can't wait to get the new Creation Kit and start opening up files. I wonder how long it will take this time.

I worked on a bunch of quest mods and faction stuff for their previous games and it was always such an enjoyable process. For all the abuse their engine gets, it's a dream to do some weekend tinkering with. Whereas some of the stuff I work on for the dayjob makes me want to vomit blood.

I wonder if their new animation system will be easier to come to grips with and not require the workarounds and weirdness of previous games. And what sort of access to the procedural stuff will we get without later add on scripting.

I mainly have some ideas and sound/texture assets for a random encounters series to add a jolt of spice here and there for longterm play. I just love the speed you can take an idea to kinda working in game with Creation. Its really designed well to suit their kinds of games.
 
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I mean, if that cost is not huge that would mean BGS has deliberately decided that completely random terrain every time is better for the player? I mean, maybe, that would still seem weird though.

Seems in line with the statement from one of the advertising videos where a lady said:
"My favorite part is every time you step out on a planet, it's a unique experience" 😂

Also, randomizing tiles can make up for the fact they surely dont generate millions of tiles for each of the thousand planets
 
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Robert Maynard

Volunteer Moderator
My AMD Rewards keys went through this morning.
You been buying several new toys? ;)

I managed to snag a 7900XT for the lowest price I'd seen in the UK, with a "free" copy of Premium Edition. My key also landed this morning, downloaded (took about 5 hours) and awaiting the "go" signal. :)
 
New Game + details

New Game + (NG+)
  • Finishing Main Quest “One Giant Leap” will finish the story. There is no “Point of no Return” warning. It’s recommended to make a Manual Save at this point. If you don’t, you can still go back by reloading the oldest Autosave immediately when starting New Game+.
  • New Game+ resets ALL your progress except level and skills (it resets all missions, side quests, inventory items, relationships, starships, outposts, exploration progress, discovered Systems/Planets, crewmates etc).
  • You get a new spaceship at the start of New Game+ and a new armor set that’s not available on the first playthrough.
  • In New Game+ you will be given dialogue options to completely skip some main missions.
  • Some dialogues are different, people will react differently to you than before (it’s as though they have never met you), especially while traveling in the NG+ spaceship and wearing the new spacesuit.
Read more: source.
 
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You been buying several new toys? ;)

I managed to snag a 7900XT for the lowest price I'd seen in the UK, with a "free" copy of Premium Edition. My key also landed this morning, downloaded (took about 5 hours) and awaiting the "go" signal. :)

I bought one of the cheapest GPUs that came with Starfield Premium as an emergency replacement for a failed GPU in my sister in-law's system and they accidentally sent me two rewards keys, which both seem to have worked.
 
Sorry for OT, but the elevator one is similar to how I would see boarding & loading/unloading passengers in ships in Elite after eliminating the blue circle, though not fading to invisibility but entering and walking off to the left or right into a dark veil where effectively they'd do the same thing as shown here. I was searching for something that would illustrate it and there it is pretty much exactly, though I think fading into darkness some way out of view would be better.

My son is eager to get Starfield, I'm really curious to see how it all plays out once he gets it.
 
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Sorry for OT, but the elevator one is similar to how I would see boarding & loading/unloading passengers in ships in Elite after eliminating the blue circle, though not fading to invisibility but entering and walking off to the left or right into a dark veil where effectively they'd do the same thing as shown here. I was searching for something that would illustrate it and there it is pretty much exactly, though I think fading into darkness some way out of view would be better.

They should've made it a hallway and have the NPCs walk till they're out of sight.
 
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