Is the Stellar Forge and ED becoming Outdated?

Cosmo

Cosmo
More than 5 years have passed since ED was released. ED looked cutting-edge in 2015. Now, it has inferior level of detail (less polygons for ships, objects, lower resolution textures, no ray-tracing or volumetric clouds). Old games like Minecraft and World of Warcraft support RTX ray-tracing, unfortunately not ED. Competitors such as the Unreal Engine add planet generation with wildlife and transition from the surface to space. It's not as ambitious as simulating the whole galaxy. However, the surface level of detail and life is far ahead of ED's lifeless worlds. The Stellar Forge simulates the galaxy via the Background Simulation, but it's barely visible for players in star systems.

A last-gen looking game won't attract a lot of new players. Next-gen games on the PlayStation 5 etc will graphically blow ED out of the water. So Frontier should keep on upgrading ED like CCP does with Eve Online. Is it too late for the Stellar Forge (Cobra Engine) or can Frontier improve it sufficiently?

People have high hopes for the Next Era expansion. Frontier could make many people happy with a free graphics update. Based on the underwhelming Fleet Carriers, I don't have much faith anymore.


Check this next-gen level of detail with Unreal Engine 5.

 
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Rat Catcher

Rat Catcher
I guess we shall just have to wait and see 🤷‍♂️
The Unreal Engine does appear to be going from strength to strength, but I'm not knowledgeable enough to hazard a guess if it could handle a galaxy as large as the ED one and not end up with Proc Gen along the lines of the other space game with atmospheric planets and flora/fauna.

Those are impressive graphics though!
 

Linnunrata

Linnunrata
JohnRoberts said:
Stellar Forge and Unreal Engine are quite different things - it would be more appropriate to compare Unreal to Cobra.
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Aye, and Unreal engine new features described in the video isn't really the same thing as galaxy generator.

Just because an engine is more advanced than what we have in ED, it really doesn't mean that there's a game that competes... before that, it's just theoretical.
 

Rat Catcher

Rat Catcher
Linnunrata said:
Aye, and Unreal engine new features described in the video isn't really the same thing as galaxy generator.

Just because an engine is more advanced than what we have in ED, it really doesn't mean that there's a game that competes... before that, it's just theoretical.
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...but, but...
Next Era moves ED into a FPS according to the sages on the forum, so we shall have UT with spaceships "real soon" :ROFLMAO:
 

CMDR Karrde Sun

CMDR Karrde Sun
Well graphics are something frontier seem to have a good command of.. so its just a matter of frontiers illuminati choosing to spend the development budget on doing so.

Its not worth speculating on that since most features are released unfinished by modern games industry standards don't get your hopes up.

Frontier are a kickstarter megapublisher right? Oh its all okay, leave them alone ;)
 

Rubbernuke

Rubbernuke
Wayland Pentonville said:
Interesting point. With the massively improved "horse power" of the next-gen consoles, perhaps ED might 'strut its stuff' a little more.
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Case in point: From memory Adam on a stream said god rays exist on high end PC settings, but do not on consoles- to my knowledge this is the only 'missing' feature across the formats and resolutions aside the graphics are quite consistent (shadows apart :D )

FD will face a problem that the discrepancy between PS4 and PS5, and high end PC- will they go the current route (like I think Witcher 3 does on Switch) where you have more GFX options to tweak, or will they strike a 'happy medium' for everyone?

It might explain the lack of ice planet shaders and rework- it could have been that consoles could not deal with it but PCs could, and were unwilling to have such a visual divide between platforms. My guess is the visuals will be better but not to that level (to keep parity).
 

Rat Catcher

Rat Catcher
Linnunrata said:
I'm guessing the main problem in doing this within existing game is that old-gen console owners can't just be dropped out.
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It is essentially the same with PC owners - I have a reasonably powerful PC that can play in VR or 4k flat with everything wound up to a level that I find pleasing, but a player on a less powerful PC might have to play with lower resolution and detail, the scaling exists, I'd hope that we'd see the same for consoles, still looking great, but with the option to go "Wow!" with the new ones. (I wasn't berating older, or any, console)
 

Crank Larson

Crank Larson
Cosmo said:
Now, it has a noticeable inferior level of detail (less polygons for ships, objects, lower resolution textures, no ray-tracing or volumetric clouds). Competitors such as the Unreal Engine will add planet generation with wildlife and transition from the surface to space.
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E: D supports textures up to at least 16k (though likely much higher). Low resolution textures are due to your settings and hardware.

What competitors? Show me a game made with the new Unreal Engine planetary tech?

I personally have no worries about FD being able to keep up with current tech.
 
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