I *so* love it when the dark sides of planets are really DARK!!!!
- Thread starter Marc_Hicks
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Absolutely, totally, utterly agree with this. The rare instances where I was able to find a very dark night side of a planet with very limited view on the environment, it was an awesome, amazing and even creepy experience to drive around in the black.
Adam Woods once stated that having pitch black dark sides of planets wouldn't be fun to play in, but from what experience I made, I can say with confidence that he is very much mistaken with that assessment.
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Wait, how do you get dark planet sides?
I played for countless hours though i've never seen a dark planet like this.
How does this work?
I played for countless hours though i've never seen a dark planet like this.
How does this work?
Sheer luck, I'm afraid.
Personally - I would love to be enlightened by the science relating to how dark a planet's "non star" side would actually be.
Surely it would depend on a number of factors? Atmosphere could surely both ensure total darkness and, in certain types of atmosphere, help reflect and bounce light across the whole planet like radio waves?
Secondly, in at the edges of the galaxy, the amount of stars to provide any starlight will diminish rapidly, whereas at the centre of the galaxy, starlight will more or less prevent total darkness unless the planet has a thick atmosphere?
I have no idea what factors these would really play, although I have been suspicious as to how dark planets that we can currently land upon with their thin to non-existent atmospheres really should be.
I have a feeling we tend to think of starlight as incapable of creating much illumination because we are used to only seeing it through our relatively thick atmosphere? But that could be an error on my part.
Surely it would depend on a number of factors? Atmosphere could surely both ensure total darkness and, in certain types of atmosphere, help reflect and bounce light across the whole planet like radio waves?
Secondly, in at the edges of the galaxy, the amount of stars to provide any starlight will diminish rapidly, whereas at the centre of the galaxy, starlight will more or less prevent total darkness unless the planet has a thick atmosphere?
I have no idea what factors these would really play, although I have been suspicious as to how dark planets that we can currently land upon with their thin to non-existent atmospheres really should be.
I have a feeling we tend to think of starlight as incapable of creating much illumination because we are used to only seeing it through our relatively thick atmosphere? But that could be an error on my part.
Look for the dark side of planets that are also facing away from any other stars in the system, no nearby planets/moons in the sky and importantly, away from the milky way too.
On the edges of the galaxy, the dark side of planets can be very dark indeed. Here's a shot from the Distant Stars Expedition; it was pitch black, without our headlights...
There is a sort of "night vision" available. In graphic settings, increase Gamma to the max. I used it to navigate the Alien Ruins.
Yes, lets have some need of skills in this game other than pew-pew
I think generally it's the galactic core and/or dust clouds creating the brightness. If you go above the galaxy or to the edge around the Formidine Rift it's pretty dark. For a really eerie darkness head to the coalsack Nebula. I really think this place should be haunted.
I would love completely dark planets but it would have to be compensated with faar better ship lights.
We can string together flashlights today with 90K lumens.
https://petapixel.com/2015/11/24/th...hlight-can-light-the-world-with-90000-lumens/
So...doing the same on a huge space ship we should be able to get 900K lumen at least.
At most our current light reach what? 100 meters?
We can string together flashlights today with 90K lumens.
https://petapixel.com/2015/11/24/th...hlight-can-light-the-world-with-90000-lumens/
So...doing the same on a huge space ship we should be able to get 900K lumen at least.
At most our current light reach what? 100 meters?
Yeah, I've never seen it as "artificial" lighting. I live in a place where the skies are crystal clear, and if there's even a partial moon in the sky, it can light the landscape. On nights with a full moon, it's pretty bright! However, it's not as bright as what we see in ED. I think FDev augmented our night-vision a bit too much.
Then again, these are moons and planets without an atmosphere... Perhaps we underestimate how much starlight is attenuated by Earth's canopy of gasses IRL.
About 700m or so I think.
Did any of you commanders who got those very dark surface screen shots log out and log back after you had already landed on the planet/ or were in your SRV?
I have a feeling this why you some times get to see these very dark places. Eg, you land on a planet, finish playing and log out, you log back in later and the body you are on is in complete darkness. Like the dark side only gets illuminated when you approach it in your ship. If your already in a dark area when you in log in, it will stay very dark and not compensate.
Gameplay Proposal:
You could imagine that the way your ship suddenly illuminates a dark side of a world as a feature of the ship. Like it is automatically increasing the exposure and contrast / compensating for the darkness by using some technology built into the cockpit screen/ hud. Therefore this could then be a setting which you could toggle on or off in the "Functions" side panel in your ship and SRV.
You kill two birds with one stone; players can experience true darkness if they like, or they can use your ship's/SRV's "Auto Exposure Tech" to compensate when you are in a hurry/ need to get a job done and want to be able to see.
I have a feeling this why you some times get to see these very dark places. Eg, you land on a planet, finish playing and log out, you log back in later and the body you are on is in complete darkness. Like the dark side only gets illuminated when you approach it in your ship. If your already in a dark area when you in log in, it will stay very dark and not compensate.
Gameplay Proposal:
You could imagine that the way your ship suddenly illuminates a dark side of a world as a feature of the ship. Like it is automatically increasing the exposure and contrast / compensating for the darkness by using some technology built into the cockpit screen/ hud. Therefore this could then be a setting which you could toggle on or off in the "Functions" side panel in your ship and SRV.
You kill two birds with one stone; players can experience true darkness if they like, or they can use your ship's/SRV's "Auto Exposure Tech" to compensate when you are in a hurry/ need to get a job done and want to be able to see.
Nope. All the screenshots I posted come from a single session, no logging out between running random mission -> getting a tipoff -> flying there -> landing -> leaving.
I think one trick to find properly lighted (darked?) dark sides of planets is to find planets in the shadow of other planets. It's not fail safe, but it seems to "help" the game not to boost the gamma.
Here's one I got from the fringes a couple months ago.
Here's one I got from the fringes a couple months ago.
Nope, this is from one continuous session.
Some moons are lit up by any host bodies nearby, or does our moon not do that ?
If you like exploration, there are lots of "dark" nebulae that block the ambient light from the Milky way, so the only light source in a system is its star. At such places the dark side of the moon is REALLY dark.
Yeah! Finally something that i can agree!
This is amazing! much better than before!
Good work FDEV!
This is amazing! much better than before!
Good work FDEV!