Replace Hyperspace Animation with a Locally Accurate Galaxy Map 'Warp' Animation

[Jon93]

Hi everyone! I apologize if this has already been suggested but I think it needs to gain some traction.


This has been at the back of my mind ever since I started exploring in Elite since last year. During a few months you may have made several hundreds or thousands of hyperspace jumps and it's always the same animation/loading screen. The first couple of times you see it you think it's cool. But it quickly becomes tedious to look at so often which I think everyone can agree with, especially those who are exploring.


Solution (TL;DR): Let the hyperspace animation / loading screen be an accurate visual effect in the galaxy map inbetween the two systems you're actually traveling. If you're jumping 50 light years from system A to system B you should see all the stars and any local nebulae whizzing by you. Let the actual loading screen be like the typical dropping out of supercruise animation.

This would not only make exploration so much more visually spectacular but it would also increase immersion in that you actually feel like you're traversing the galaxy and not just jumping between instances.



The only reason - if not technical issues - I can imagine anyone not liking the idea is for lore reasons. Well all I gotta say is gameplay is more important and we already know you can travel at several thousand times the speed of light in supercruise so this isn't really far fetched as you're otherwise able to reach a nearby star in just a few hours at maximum supercruise speed.

I hope most people share this idea and that we can hopefully get something like it implemented at some point in the near future.

Cheers

 

[yoda711]

While its not "accurate to your surroundings", I don't think it's the same animation each time. I have noticed differences. Not sure if there are a preset number of them or if it's procedurally generated though.

 

[Jon93]

Yes I forgot to mention this. There are perhaps a select 2-4 animations or something but the little differences really do nothing. The point remains that such repetitive timesinks really need to be replaced with something more intuitive.

If anyone is against the idea please tell me why because I can't think of any reason unless you just started playing the game and the novelty hasn't worn off already.

 

[Cmdr. Jägermeister]

Well, I guess it´d take quit some hours or programming. I like the idea, but considering that resources are limited I think they should be used on more pressing matters.

 

[avow555]

If the Thargoids start pulling us from hyperspace I'll be well chuffed, apart form that leave it alone more important issues ingame needing sorted.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

Hyperspace space animations are randomly placed moving layers. You should never see the same animation twice!
Admittedly, the difference can be subtle.
Not really a major issue though.

 

[Climberfx]

In this trailer you have a more likely jump effect.

[video=youtube_share;VE8B4KptyVI]https://youtu.be/VE8B4KptyVI[/video]

But more than that, it must happen without loadings...

 

[fuub]

This is a good idea that would engage gameplay, therefore it has no place in Eliteangerous. Thanks for your time bye

 

[Jon93]

Well, I guess it´d take quit some hours or programming. I like the idea, but considering that resources are limited I think they should be used on more pressing matters.

I understand that there are lots of things that need attention but given that this should be relatively easy to implement and that it could possibly make exploration look and feel a lot more unique I think it would be worth it. If done right with the visuals (perhaps some red-shifting as has been suggested for supercruise in other idea-sections) it could really bring out how large the galaxy really is as well as provide more intuitive visual feedback on where you are.

Hyperspace space animations are randomly placed moving layers. You should never see the same animation twice!
Admittedly, the difference can be subtle.
Not really a major issue though.

Sure, but for all practical purposes they pretty much always look the same and doesn't really provide anything to the player after the novelty wears off. It's not a major issue in terms of breaking gameplay but it could be a major gain in the sense of exploration -- making each jump feel a lot more unique as the galaxy backdrop changes more dynamically around you and as you pass by major star clusters or nebulae.

In this trailer you have a more likely jump effect.

https://youtu.be/VE8B4KptyVI

But more than that, it must happen without loadings...

Well hey there it is! Although greatly exaggerated for the trailer As for loading screens; they could do what they did for supercruise or during orbital cruise; just have that loading "animation" as you reach the destination and start dropping out.

This is a good idea that would engage gameplay, therefore it has no place in Eliteangerous. Thanks for your time bye

 

[Dragon Breathe]

+1
I am bored about this hyperjump screen too and I only played about 5 ingame days so far.
Your suggestion sounds good.

 

[Psycho Romeo]

I don't see this really being worth the weight. The last thing I'd want is a loading screen for my loading screen.

 

[crutonius]

I agree. The accuracy of the hyperspace animation has always irked me. Especially when you're travelling in a nebula, it becomes very apparent that the animation is pure fluff.

 

[Hydrino]

I've made the suggestion several times, even back before release of 1.0 I think. I don't know if it is in the long thread of common suggestions or not.

I really like the start and end of the current Hyperjump, but am not fond of the middle part. Think it would be fun to see zooming from current location to the target star, with the target always front and center and everything else warped around the ship (after the cool effect of light pulling inwards towards the ship at the start-as currently). There could even be a bit of 'space rubberbanding' effect since the FSD is supposed to be compressing space in front of the ship, it might experience a bit of snapping back into place/ jostling the ship at the end. It would take some work to get it to feel right and better than what is there today.

In any event, I feel the animation today is more reminiscent of witch-space and week-long hyper-jumps than the new tech we have in the 3300's.

 

[Psycho Romeo]

Everything about this thread is implying that hyper is just really really really fast supercruise. But it's not right? Hyper is going through witchspace, and based on my (feeble and limited) understanding of elite lore, that's not a reflection of physical reality, so why would we see anything other than what we currently see?

Someone's gonna need to correct me because I'm really not so versed in elite lore.

 

[TinyPwny]

Everything about this thread is implying that hyper is just really really really fast supercruise. But it's not right? Hyper is going through witchspace, and based on my (feeble and limited) understanding of elite lore, that's not a reflection of physical reality, so why would we see anything other than what we currently see?

Someone's gonna need to correct me because I'm really not so versed in elite lore.

This. Exactly why I voted "No". Hyperspace jumping does NOT take place in normal space so seeing normal space wouldn't make sense. Instead you enter and exit witchspace and apparently that's what we see.

 

[DocLooshkin]

Hello, Jon93.

I'm not really in favour of this idea, sadly - and only partly for the reasons others have given. I think no matter how much time and love FD gives to this, it will probably just get boring again after seeing it a few dozen times. I like the hyperspace visual, although it would be nice if it were more obviously diverse. I prefer the dual FTL capability we have, since it's something fairly rare in SF.

Our current Supercruise and Hyperspace jump systems are derived from two of the three FTL systems in the original Elite. According to the DDF archive, it is explicitly meant to be two different kinds of travel - although given that it says Supercruise was originally intended to be sub-light-only, I'm uncertain how much weight accords to this.

At some point, we're expecting the Thargoids (deadly enemies from the previous games) to reappear. One of their best tricks - along with the Tharglets - was ambushing players in hyperspace, dropping them into open space midway between stars and attacking. It was very effective and I'd like to see it return. If FD updates this mechanic and has the fight in hyperspace itself, we could see some visually unique environments. I doubt being ambushed during an interstellar Hypercruise would have anything like the same impact.

I would also caution against anything that results in the game's FTL systems looking any more like Star Trek's warp drive than is absolutely necessary. Trek's corporate owners - CBS Television - have been getting legally fractious lately, even going so far as to sue the makers of one of their more prominent fan projects. We really don't want them looking in Frontier's direction.

 

[who?]

Everything about this thread is implying that hyper is just really really really fast supercruise. But it's not right? Hyper is going through witchspace, and based on my (feeble and limited) understanding of elite lore, that's not a reflection of physical reality, so why would we see anything other than what we currently see?

Someone's gonna need to correct me because I'm really not so versed in elite lore.

I think a lot of handwavium is required here, as both supercruise and hyperspace are FSD drive means of travel; but while supercruise is consistent with a frame-shift (Alcubierre?) drive, hyperspace isn't.

 

[StiTch]

Just another PoV.

I am fairly sure that the hyperspace environment you watch is there to give the new system time to load. On my beefed up PC, I am in hyperspace a few seconds before I beam in next to the star I am heading towards. Playing around my mate's house though, they're in hyperspace for half a minute.

There's got to be either something performance related or another variable changing the hyperspace jump time. This means that if you want to display local scenery, you need the same animation for each jump. And this would mean for higher performers hardware wise you'd have to balance this by "speeding up" the animation, and for slower performers you'd have a slow/dragged out animation. Or do it at a single standard speed, and faster performers would only see part of it and slower performers would see it repeated.

Or maybe pick nearby "features" and display these at certain fraction of points in the journeys - but automating this, or any other workaround thinking about it, would still be a performance slower in its own right.

Assuming I am not just seeing a difference that isn't there due to strong levels of airborne drugs in the town my mate lives in...this is a messy idea to implement for a game that's still in baby stages. More randomisation would be nice, yes, but I would still have rathered news about new huge weapons than new hyperspace animations. Not to mention the above discussion on hyperspace not being perceived the same stands strong.

 

[Yaffle]

Much as I'd like the star field to shift to its new position, you won't get that much of a shift.

Look at the constellations from proxima centauri or barnard's star, and they are still pretty much recognisable. That's the jump range of many ships. Certainly not jumping through whole nebulae, it would be more of a parallax shift of a few degrees.

I'd think it cute if the stars went all wonky then snapped to the new skybox, but as others have said, low on the priority list.

 

[CMDR Byr Goefin]

I like the current graphic...

I start warbling the 80's Dr. Who themes when I get stuck jumping =)