New Planet Tech is KILLER of Exploration (all terrain is tiling/repeating/not procedural/random)

[Amy Pendergast]

Yes, agreed, other than on the colours (the eye doesn't see much variation in colour, it's mostly the rods that are responding).

I'd take Horizons with the brightness turned down, and also adjusted to be appropriate for whatever else is present - e.g. with the illuminated console we won't be looking outside with dark-adjusted eyes. Now we can stand on planets and look up with nothing else present to light anything up (or reboot and repair )

I guess we just have different views on which inaccuracy bothers us more

There are some tricks to get near the lightning as it seems to be meant now. It is still broken then at various parts but for instance the "new" Milky Way is there.

It seems a bit darker than Horizons and a bit less "Comicstyle", so with less saturation at least. And the brightness now depends on other light sources like nearby stars etc.
But nowhere as dark as many see it at the moment.

 

[Valorin]

So far I didn't see a single post that said the shaders are totally fine.
I like when space is black and cold. The way Odyssey does it though is dimming down the whole skybox, which doesn't look right to me.
I mean, realistically we wouldn't be able to see those nebulas anyway and I could very well go without them.

I want an overhaul of the skybox. Neither Horizons nor Odyssey got it right in my opinion.
The milky way shouldn't be an orange slur, and nebulas shouldn't be too colourful and pronounced, but if they are visible at all, they should be visible in a good way and show off how well made they are.
Then there is the tinting... Don't get me started... Starlight tinting the skybox. That was... atrocious for me.

I simply love how Elite calculates the skybox itself from our location, but colouration and lighting could be redone to look more realistic and give the whole thing the glory it deserves.

 

[TiberiusDuval]

So far I didn't see a single post that said the shaders are totally fine.
I like when space is black and cold. The way Odyssey does it though is dimming down the whole skybox, which doesn't look right to me.
I mean, realistically we wouldn't be able to see those nebulas anyway and I could very well go without them.

I want an overhaul of the skybox. Neither Horizons nor Odyssey got it right in my opinion.
The milky way shouldn't be an orange slur, and nebulas shouldn't be too colourful and pronounced, but if they are visible at all, they should be visible in a good way and show off how well made they are.
Then there is the tinting... Don't get me started... Starlight tinting the skybox. That was... atrocious for me.

I simply love how Elite calculates the skybox itself from our location, but colouration and lighting could be redone to look more realistic and give the whole thing the glory it deserves.

It is not dim, in fact I think it has more contrast than before, you just need to be away from major light sources. Horizons on some point changed to model where skybox got very little dimmed even near star itself, and now when it is back to how it has been before, people are freaking out.

Light model has OTHER problems, like neutron stars being heavily oversaturated, but darkness is not one of those problems.

 

[Amy Pendergast]

It is not dim, in fact I think it has more contrast than before, you just need to be away from major light sources. Horizons on some point changed to model where skybox got very little dimmed even near star itself, and now when it is back to how it has been before, people are freaking out.

Light model has OTHER problems, like neutron stars being heavily oversaturated, but darkness is not one of those problems.

Actually it's both ends of the spectrum which are oversaturated.

 

[Valorin]

It is not dim, in fact I think it has more contrast than before, you just need to be away from major light sources. Horizons on some point changed to model where skybox got very little dimmed even near star itself, and now when it is back to how it has been before, people are freaking out.

Light model has OTHER problems, like neutron stars being heavily oversaturated, but darkness is not one of those problems.

I didn't notice it getting lighter when I'm away from the star actually.
Maybe because my gamma is pretty far down to not be blinded inside stations (also in Horizons, by the way.)

 

[Sakashiro]

Sure, you can see them. But nowhere near as brightly as they're all made out to be. And you'll do very well to see them at all if you're sat in front of an illuminated console in a cockpit with lights on.

Here's how it's supposed to work: You think it's too bright, you turn the gamma down. You think it's too dark, you turn the gamma up. Everyone's happy.

How it works now: You think it's too dark, you turn the gamma up, nothing happens! Do you understand the problem here? The low end of the brightness scale is clipped and cannot be restored via post-processing, even if you take a screenshot and turn the gamma up in Photoshop, because there is nothing there but black. This is a bug that needs to be fixed regardless of your personal preferences.

 

[Helvellyn]

Here's how it's supposed to work: You think it's too bright, you turn the gamma down. You think it's too dark, you turn the gamma up. Everyone's happy.

How it works now: You think it's too dark, you turn the gamma up, nothing happens! Do you understand the problem here? The low end of the brightness scale is clipped and cannot be restored via post-processing, even if you take a screenshot and turn the gamma up in Photoshop, because there is nothing there but black. This is a bug that needs to be fixed regardless of your personal preferences.

It's also a problem because even if it worked the gamma setting affects everything, not just how bright the Milky Way background is. It's not simply a matter of there being something there in the first place or not to adjust, it's about a fundamental design choice, which also has bugs on top of that.

 

[TiberiusDuval]

Does this look like totally black sky to you (from planet orbiting dim brown dwarf, under galactic plane):

 

[Valorin]

Does this look like totally black sky to you (from planet orbiting dim brown dwarf, under galactic plane):View attachment 234587

Ah! Just wanted to ask for a screenshot to see how it looks for you.
The main star is not a white dwarf here?

 

[Sakashiro]

It's also a problem because even if it worked the gamma setting affects everything, not just how bright the Milky Way background is. It's not simply a matter of there being something there in the first place or not to adjust, it's about a fundamental design choice, which also has bugs on top of that.

I doubt that these are design choices. The new render pipeline is simply broken, and the last thing we need now is people claiming that everything is fine.

 

[TiberiusDuval]

Ah! Just wanted to ask for a screenshot to see how it looks for you.
The main star is not a white dwarf here?

No. Main star was brown dwarf, Y class if I remember correctly. And no post processing or ultra for screenshots.

 

[Valorin]

I doubt that these are design choices. The new render pipeline is simply broken, and the last thing we need now is people claiming that everything is fine.
View attachment 234593
View attachment 234596
View attachment 234594

I think that's wrong.
We need people claiming everything is fine showing their screenshots and see what's different, and then tell Frontier their system specs.
Also, you're mixing up the topic with global lighting issues when it's about the skybox at the moment.

So here's my sky in a system with a not too bright main star and two brown dwarfs. I'm far, far away from the main star sitting on a planet orbiting a brown dwarf.

While it actually is a bit brighter than usually, it won't change even with brightness all the way up. What you see will go brighter, but the details, dust and all, will not.
Brightness on the picture is in the middle.

No. Main star was brown dwarf, Y class if I remember correctly. And no post processing or ultra for screenshots.

HDMI full range? That's what my monitor is set to. Also Ultra settings.

 

[Amy Pendergast]

I think that's wrong.
We need people claiming everything is fine showing their screenshots and see what's different, and then tell Frontier their system specs.
Also, you're mixing up the topic with global lighting issues when it's about the skybox at the moment.

So here's my sky in a system with a not too bright main star and two brown dwarfs. I'm far, far away from the main star sitting on a planet orbiting a brown dwarf.
View attachment 234599
While it actually is a bit brighter than usually, it won't change even with brightness all the way up. What you see will go brighter, but the details, dust and all, will not.
Brightness on the picture is in the middle.


HDMI full range? That's what my monitor is set to. Also Ultra settings.

Ah someone who saw the difference
Set the monitor to limited range and you can experience the darkness some people here see.

That was what fixed it on my end also (mostly)

 

[Valorin]

Ah someone who saw the difference
Set the monitor to limited range and you can experience the darkness some people here see.

That was what fixed it on my end also (mostly)

I will never ever set HDMI to limited range. I just can't!

I actually saw the difference just now. And it's not really big.
But it's interesting that it looks totally different on Tiberius' screen.

 

[Amy Pendergast]

I will never ever set HDMI to limited range. I just can't!

I had it accidently sitting on automatic - never trust a Sony with automatic

 

[MASA]

What are you even talking about? Theyre tons better and much more varied than in Horizons.

Your experience obviously differs (although most of the planets I've seen posted here have been mostly grey too apart from a close up of some blotchy purplish planet) but I've seen a couple of planets which had a hint of brown or yellow and the rest look like someone's turned the saturation down to zero.
Feel free to cherry pick some examples to "prove me wrong" but most planets in most systems seem to be grey now. I am only talking about planets you can land on.

 

[Valorin]

Your experience obviously differs (although most of the planets I've seen posted here have been mostly grey too apart from a close up of some blotchy purplish planet) but I've seen a couple of planets which had a hint of brown or yellow and the rest look like someone's turned the saturation down to zero.
Feel free to cherry pick some examples to "prove me wrong" but most planets in most systems seem to be grey now. I am only talking about planets you can land on.

Not what I am seeing. I really don't need to do any cherry picking to find interesting planets.
Apart from that, brown is not an uncommon colour for a rocky planet. Never saw a brown ice planet though.

The one I am on right now looks like this:

That what you mean?

Oh, wait, it also got a pole and looks like this:

 

[Fortyche]

Wow that is horrible. There is no reason at all to switch to a premade heightmap at this day and age, particularly when the previous version already showed it could be done, with this engine.
400 billion star systems and this seemed like a good idea? Normally I'm not very caustic but this just seems like a bad decision.
Could it be so that it facilitates easier settlement placement? Because it makes terrain more predictable.

 

[MASA]

Not what I am seeing. I really don't need to do any cherry picking to find interesting planets.
Apart from that, brown is not an uncommon colour for a rocky planet. Never saw a brown ice planet though.

The one I am on right now looks like this:View attachment 234604
That what you mean?

Oh, wait, it also got a pole and looks like this:
View attachment 234605

Cool (although that pinkish colour doesn't seem to be present in the area lit by the lights on your SRV where it looks kind of... grey).
Out of interest, does it also look pink in the system map and what colour are the other planets in that system (which is being illuminated by a magenta star)?

I do like the whiteness at the pole. That much is an improvement over Horizons.

 

[Amy Pendergast]

At the moment I'm wittnessing a breathtaking sunrise - but have to leave before the sun strickes me., as that hellhole will be about 1000K hot then..

I like how the temperatue slowly rises with the amount of illumination from the sun.