Wow. I say wow, FDEV you have done well. A quick explanation and an image.
Minor planets have up till now been badly represented in Elite Dangerous, physics tells us that very small minor planets can't form spherical shapes, there would have to be very unusual circumstances, quite rare circumstances, for that to happen. Once you get much under around 500klms radius the gravitational field isn't strong enough to force rock into a sphere. You can see this clearly in the following picture, Ceres at just under 500klm radius, spherical, the others not so much.
So what's changed with the new planetary tech? Here's an example from Horizons, this is Sadr Region Sector GW-W c1-25 A 1 at 177klm radius, the system map, you can just see a slight distortion, it's not quite spherical but nearly so. This is I have always assumed is a problem with the old tech planetary tech mesh and curvature, it's limited in the curvature radius it supports, so planets around this size down to the smallest radius get more spherical, not less;
The new planetary tech has made an astounding difference to these small planets, here is the same planet in the system map in Odyssey;
The lighting isn't good in the system map so it's hard to see, here's a before and after comparison from 30klms up, first Horizons then Odyssey, this shows the difference far better, and yes the exact same position, the exact same angle so no trickery, just swapped directly between Horizons and Odyssey without moving the ship;
This is a stunning change, it does make them harder to land on I will add, but it no longer feels like you are just driving around a very large beach ball, well done! It's very white because it's right next to the star, was quite a chase to catch it and surface temp well over 1,000k so I couldn't walk around, I might try the night side.
Have fun all!
Minor planets have up till now been badly represented in Elite Dangerous, physics tells us that very small minor planets can't form spherical shapes, there would have to be very unusual circumstances, quite rare circumstances, for that to happen. Once you get much under around 500klms radius the gravitational field isn't strong enough to force rock into a sphere. You can see this clearly in the following picture, Ceres at just under 500klm radius, spherical, the others not so much.
So what's changed with the new planetary tech? Here's an example from Horizons, this is Sadr Region Sector GW-W c1-25 A 1 at 177klm radius, the system map, you can just see a slight distortion, it's not quite spherical but nearly so. This is I have always assumed is a problem with the old tech planetary tech mesh and curvature, it's limited in the curvature radius it supports, so planets around this size down to the smallest radius get more spherical, not less;
The new planetary tech has made an astounding difference to these small planets, here is the same planet in the system map in Odyssey;
The lighting isn't good in the system map so it's hard to see, here's a before and after comparison from 30klms up, first Horizons then Odyssey, this shows the difference far better, and yes the exact same position, the exact same angle so no trickery, just swapped directly between Horizons and Odyssey without moving the ship;
This is a stunning change, it does make them harder to land on I will add, but it no longer feels like you are just driving around a very large beach ball, well done! It's very white because it's right next to the star, was quite a chase to catch it and surface temp well over 1,000k so I couldn't walk around, I might try the night side.
Have fun all!
Elite - Dangerous (CLIENT) 3_24_2021 10_17_34 PM
