I just don't get it - baffled and on the verge of uninstall - Yes I said it!

babelfisch

babelfisch
Deareim said:
Some people are so eager to blindly defend FD they are ridiculous.

OP is totally right. Just one FACT. Look how amazing the game was in Gamma versus now.

Not only explorers are missing love. Traders, smugglers, and so on...
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It's getting hard to not blindly defend them when I have to talk to specialists like you. How exactly was Gamma better than what we have now?
 

-VR- Max Factor

-VR- Max Factor
Mengy said:
Certainly. I've showed these to you before, but here you go again.

Pre 2.2:

http://i.imgur.com/4oaeR14.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/BIr3pMK.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Y8dQQAL.jpg


After 2.2:

http://i.imgur.com/jjm9d8x.jpg

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

http://i.imgur.com/n1Fn1WQ.jpg



Same location, same planet. Now go on and tell me that the 2.2 planet is more detailed and colorful!
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The textures look far better in your after 2.2 pics. Sorry to disapoint you, they just are.
 

Mengy

Mengy
babelfisch said:
I'd say the textures post 2.2 look better.
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Agreed, 2.2 improved surface textures overall, however the loss in colors and terrain variety was far too high a price as it only served to make terribly boring yet wonderfully textured planets. Thankfully Frontier admits it was a mistake and plans to fix it someday, but it really should never, ever have gone live in the state it currently is in.

Making good looking planets is much, MUCH more than just impressive texture quality.
 

-VR- Max Factor

-VR- Max Factor
Mengy said:
Agreed, 2.2 improved surface textures overall, however the loss in colors and terrain variety was far too high a price as it only served to make terribly boring yet wonderfully textured planets. Thankfully Frontier admits it was a mistake and plans to fix it someday, but it really should never, ever have gone live in the state it currently is in.

Making good looking planets is much, MUCH more than just impressive texture quality.
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I really feel for QA in this game. It must be a nightmare with so many planets to check. I suppose they probably look for game killing issues and didn't really see the beigification issue before it was too late. It certainly wasn't obvious to me until about a month into the update. But once it was in and live I think it was too late to just pull it out of the live build (im no programmer so don't know how difficult it would be).
 

chemicalbeans

C
Mengy said:
The colors are gone due to the beigeficition of course,
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On a planetoid with no atmosphere, no molecular oxygen or water, what chemical compounds would exist in the soil to produce those vibrant reds, oranges and browns seen pre 2.2.?
I believe Michael Brookes response to beigeifcation was that the emission spectrum of chemical compounds would be different on these planets to those observed on Earth, despite the fact that this would defy the laws of physics. Any colour tweaking by FDEV, whilst still remaining true to the science, is still only going to create another shade of bland.

If you want vibrant colouration, then FDEV need to pull their finger out and introduce atmospheric planets which will have the conditions for these colourful compounds to exists.
 

Mengy

Mengy
Max Factor said:
I really feel for QA in this game. It must be a nightmare with so many planets to check. I suppose they probably look for game killing issues and didn't really see the beigification issue before it was too late. It certainly wasn't obvious to me until about a month into the update. But once it was in and live I think it was too late to just pull it out of the live build (im no programmer so don't know how difficult it would be).
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The real kicker is that ice worlds and rocky ice worlds don't suffer near as much from the issue. Plain rocky worlds do but it's not near as severe, you can still find interesting and colorful rocky worlds, they are just more rare than they used to be. But all (99%) of the HMC & MR worlds were absolutely clobbered by this material color bug/error. So if QA only checked a handful of worlds and they weren't HMC or MR's then they wouldn't have noticed most likely.

I just wish it could have been fixed much sooner than it will be.
 

-VR- Max Factor

-VR- Max Factor
Mengy said:
The real kicker is that ice worlds and rocky ice worlds don't suffer near as much from the issue. Plain rocky worlds do but it's not near as severe, you can still find interesting and colorful rocky worlds, they are just more rare than they used to be. But all (99%) of the HMC & MR worlds were absolutely clobbered by this material color bug/error. So if QA only checked a handful of worlds and they weren't HMC or MR's then they wouldn't have noticed most likely.

I just wish it could have been fixed much sooner than it will be.
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Yep, me too. I have to assume it's pretty tricky to just remove it. Hopefully 2.4 will have some improvements, but I think it's more likely to be 3.0.
 

TimWellens

TimWellens
Trafalgar Law said:
That depends on what you do with the probes. I agree that replacing the current scan mechanics with probes would be pointless, but it should be possible to provide additional levels of gameplay using probes.

E.g. You scan the system as normal and then proceed to do a detailed surface scan, this could flag up areas of interest (lifesigns detected, unususual reading, high mineral concentrations etc.) , you could then launch a probe to further refine that area of interest and tell you what is there (What type of lifeforms, vulcanism, what types of minerals and % etc.). Another additional level of gameplay would be recovering the probes, these things shouldn't just transmit the data but you should need to recover the probes, even if this just uses the cargo scoop mechanic it would still require you to fly the spaceship and do something more than press one button. Alternatively a specific mechanic could be used to recover the probe, although that could end up being just another minigame and not really adding much.

Probes could also be used to allow us to interact with planet types that we can't currently land on. These probes could again bring back specific data on what's on those planets, such as biological samples, soil samples or data on Alien activity (if present). This data could then be used to determine whether or not some planets could be suitable for colonisation. Ideally this type of data could then be used to trigger other activities within the game e.g. If the system you scanned is close enough you could receive missions (once you've turned in the data) to return and take more scans, missions to bring scientists to the system, a community goal could be triggered to build a colonisation ship, the minor faction could provide combat missions to prevent other factions jumping their claim, other factions could try to stop the coloisation process through pirating supplies and so on. With a bit of thought that one discovery could be used to create a wealth of gameplay that could potentially encompass the entire playerbase.
Click to expand...

Some very fine idea's there CMDR!!
 

Mengy

Mengy
picommander said:
And why do you think do I not have any problems as shown in the video above (post #278)?
There *must* be a reason that we could at least try to track down. It's probably something trivial like quality settings of the gal map...
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Pico, your video actually demonstrates the problem, you do have it, you are just looking at the wrong thing.

Open the galaxy map, move your mouse cursor, NOT the blue circle, but the mouse cursor, to anywhere far away from your current position. You will be unable to select any stars or bookmarks in the 2.2+ galmap. It simply does not work unless you physically move the blue selection circle around the map too. Previous to 2.2 this was not necessary, as simply mousing over far away stars or bookmarks was all you needed to select a star, or highlight another player's icon. The selection area moved with the mouse cursor, not the blue circle, pre 2.2.

This change effected everyone who plays Elite, not just certain people, as the galmap was physically changed by Frontier to behave this way now, and it makes using the galmap much more cumbersome, especially for deep space explorers who regularly travel great distances.
 

yodajedifishmaster

yodajedifishmaster
Ziljan said:
Well lets be fair. Combat mechanics of PVP have received probably the most attention of any aspect of the game to date. They've gotten the lion's share of the patch notes for every major release. That being said, yes the actual reasons and theatres for PVP activity are exceedingly shallow, and virtually invisible. Thus far, (apart from Salome) PVP events have been almost entirely of the community's making.

I would love to see real ship tracking mechanics for hunting down wanted/notorious players, less buggy instancing, consequences for clogging, and community law enforcement mechanics to keep malcontents in line and living in the shadows rather than dominating the scene. Also perhaps some kind of galaxy's most wanted list, and galaxy's hottest bounty hunters too. If they combine this with a more rich and varied Power Play that actually had human incentives in mind, and/or created a BGS sim were people could align to minor factions to fight off super powers, go to war with each other, and just generally organize a system of meaningful loyalties and conflicts, then maybe, just maybe we'd have the back drop necessary for meaningful PVP conflict.
Click to expand...
this yes! i still wont leave solo, because not interested in pvp; but im hoping this karma system thingy can be a base for this kind of stuff, because this will generate galnet articles which will add depth even to my game. plus there could be a real piracy career and real bounty hunter career with missions and contracts being generated on the mission board or a separate place - maybe contacts board. bounty hunters might take a contract on a player, travel to the last known location, maybe have to pay someone for information on the wake direction, gradually getting more clues until they get a hot tip the player is in x system.
 

Nutter

Nutter
You know what * me off the most? In the software I produce we make things like this configurable... Check this out ...

Galaxy map - Slow but accurate / Fast but S**T
SRV Scanner - Slow but accurate / Fast but S**T
Terrain Mapping - Slow but accurate / Fast but Beige and flat

etc..

Can't say anymore without a forum warning
 

Nutter

Nutter
picommander said:
Believe it or not, "exploring the software" was a huge part of the fun when I've started to play ELITE somewhere around 1984. Without a manual. :D

Did you try to fiddle with the GalMap quality settings and how did it go?
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Well my settings are on max because I invested in this game with backing and hardware. Are you suggesting I fire up the game and reduce the quality?
 

Mengy

Mengy
Nutter said:
Well my settings are on max because I invested in this game with backing and hardware. Are you suggesting I fire up the game and reduce the quality?
Click to expand...

It wouldn't matter, it's been very thoroughly tested by lots of people. The game's settings do not affect the galmap changes, there is no in game way to get it back to how it used to be. Only Frontier has the power to roll it back, but I don't believe they want to.
 
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