Request To Add Cockpit Overhead Light On/Off Switch (EXTREMELY DISTRACTING FOR VR)

ECHO 12

E
If you are from Frontier and you are reading this, before you read this thread, I want you to imagine driving in the middle of the Mojave Desert at Midnight (There are no lights out there.) in your car, with ALL of your internal lights on. . . . . . . You would almost certainly and immediately turn them all off so you could see the road properly and maintain your night vision. The following post does not affect regular Elite users. This seems to only affect VR users, as their field of view is 100 degrees in all directions.

OLD WAY (SOOOOO MUCH BETTER for VR players! Combat/VR Presence/ Etc.) I can't say enough good things about the way the cockpits looked prior to 2.3!!
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New 2.3 "The Commanders" release (Added light to the cockpit seat so you can see your shiny new suit!)
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If you're wearing a white suit, it's even worse - https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/O...-JJol1wVw5VRR5-9CA16QdnKTFS4etRCK4=w1920-h947


This was a "Feature" that was added in version 2.3 Commanders Update. Specifically the line - "• Added cockpit chair based lighting (small amount of ambient to stop avatars being completely unlit in dark environments) to all ships where it was missing" (Note: It is not "Small amount of ambient light" . . . it's very much more than a small amount. It's very bright in a VR headset)

"Why would they add these bright lights to the pilot seat Echo?" you may ask. Welp, "The Commanders" was when they added "holo-me" which allowed users to customize their look. And the development team spent a ton of time developing this functionality within the game. They don't want it to go unnoticed in-game, so they lit the cockpit seat up SUPER BRIGHT so you can see your new suit. It is also when they added the new camera functionality. I'm told, (Though I never saw this) that the dark cockpits caused issues with this new camera as well. Unfortunately, it RUINS the contrast we use to have between our cockpit and space outside. Making it EXTREMELY distracting for VR users, and destroys combat in dark places. There are plenty of threads on this and they always get closed for unknown reasons (theory - They don't want to turn it off. It doesn't affect the majority of the users. Not gonna happen)

Here are three threads in particular that go over the exact same concern:
1. https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showth...light=Lighting
2. https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showth...light=Lighting
3. https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showth...cockpit-FD-now

There were also many posts on the actual "2.3 The Commanders Changelog" Thread that was posted by development
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showth...18#post5371918


This has been a complaint of many VR users ever since The Commanders update was released. Unfortunately, (Although, I hope it eventually gets reverted or at least a "Cockpit Light Switch" is implemented) it hasn't gotten very much attention. Why? 2 reasons.

1. VR users are few and far between (Not a big enough voice. also = not enough incoming revenue from VR users to validate developer time)
2. It doesn't effect the masses who don't use VR. If you don't use VR, you don't even see this. In fact, it looks no different.

In VR, however, it's extremely irritating because it's in your field of view in a vr headset.

I'm starting this thread in hopes that enough VR users will upvote it or comment on it to merit at least a small response from development. I am not asking that this be reverted back to the way it was. I understand the reason to want to be able to see your avatar's suit. I am asking that development add a "Pilot Seat Overhead Light On/Off Switch." That would be AWESSSSSSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOOMMMMMEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!! I would LOVE this! Imagine landing on the dark side of a moon, and flipping the cockpit lights on, looking through your missions, and then flipping them back off and flying off to do some bounty hunting!!! So cool! Just give us VR users the ability to maintain our night vision. I know there aren't a lot of us VR users complaining in order to get much visibility, and I'm not a game developer, so I don't know how much work it would take. But, I wouldn't think a toggle key would be too hard to integrate. Maybe I'm wrong. . . .

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::EDIT - 3.0 Beyond Update::
3.0 Beyond has been released! Unfortunately, we have not been granted an on/off switch... However, dev has dimmed the pilot illumination a bit. Below is a screenshot comparison of the original AWESOME DARK cockpits of pre-2.3 Elite Dangerous, and the progression to post-2.3 and the dimming in 3.0:
MehkHsn.jpg
 
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Van R Flyheight

Van R Flyheight
I'm not a VR user so not sure why actually read all that but it does sound annoying. I also don't normally put much stock into people's complaints because they always seem quite trivial but again that sounds really annoying. I wish you the best of luck. Have some rep and a bump from a non-VR user.
 

xondk

X
None VR user, and I had not realised this at all, but yes, option please. I can see the benefit for some people, but for me it detracts.
 

Tadeus72

T
I'm always for switches for everything possible. It's a simulator, the more switches, the better! And most cockpits are too bright anyway (the Python's cockipit somehow isn't?). So yeah, I'm with the OP here.

To be honest I would even pay for cosmetics that would let me modify the lights (color, brightness) inside cockpits.
 
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MBaldelli

MBaldelli
+1 on the idea and even if I don't own any VR equipment.

I get the distinct impression that the devs have never done beta testing on games before. If they did, they'd know -- first and foremost -- any light sources beyond the minimum is distracting from testing.
 

dogsolitude_uk

dogsolitude_uk
+1 Another non-VR user here, but I believe in options in principle, plus it sounds really bothersome and the kind of thing that would fill me with rage :)
 

Teh Smoo

T
I turn off: Bloom, Motion-Blur, and Depth-of-Field, ANYTIME THAT I HAVE THE CHANCE. Spending processing power to make the game look worse is stupid, and 95% of the games out there think bloom is cruise control for great graphics, and they are WRONG.

Then I got the Python glowy skin, and it did not work. Oh, have to turn on bloom. Damn.

It was at this point that I noticed the AspX side lights get MASSIVELY more annoying with bloom on.

That, and I finally got a Cutter. Blinky blue lights and glaring white panels everywhere. Ugh.
 

dunno

D
+1 for anything that decreases distracting cockpit lighting.

FD whilst you're at it please dim the Vulture canopy lights, they're way to bright, very distracting as they're right in the middle of the two mini panels which steals the focus from the contents of the two mini panels. These canopy lights also spoil the beautiful visuals in every aspect, combat, cruising, looking around etc.

Please please dim or remove the vulture canopy lights.
 

sandkid

S
+1 Pictures show it all.

I'm not a VR user (yet) - I do, however, hope to get a PSVR headset in the near future for several titles. ED is one of them - I use headlook mode quite a lot on PS4, so I can see the merits of VR...and the complications with lighting like this.
 

NW3

NW3
Rep++

As a future VR user*, I also want to be able to turn those lights off. FD, please consider this as a QoL issue. You have one of the best VR games currently available, please don't ruin it.

*My Pimax 8K will be arriving early next year, so you have until then to fix this! :)
 

dunno

D
+1 VR Cockpit light dimmer AND off switch, also for 2D play.

FD please note that play is executed from the Cockpit a 100% of the time, why make it unrealistic and annoying ?, PLEASE PLEASE make it more realistic and make cockpit lighting adjustable. I'm a future VR gamer as well but.....I sure as heck don't want the huge distraction of a bright cockpit annoying me during game play.

With a game that prides itself on being "realistic" surely a accurate rendition of cockpit lighting is MANDATORY and not a option ? especially so with VR. (where's Darth Vader when he's needed, he'd sort these Dev's out with one wave of the hand).
 
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