Right what the hell is wrong with the controls?

[Memnoch]

You shouldn't need to. You should be able to skip them entirely, although I suggest that you don't as they will go some small way to teaching you how to play.

If it stays red there is some networking problem. Either at your end or with the servers. Some players in earlier Alphas had a lot of problems due to incompatible NAT configurations but we don't tend to see anything like that now.

I don't think it's meant to do that, maybe it's just taking a while to negotiate a connection with the server, and playing a mission allows the required time?

It should only take a second or so. I see very briefly a red border which turns to white inside of a second.

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

Does anyone know why I have to play a combat scenario before I can play Multi-player? The box has a red line round it and doesn't go away till I play one of the missions.

Weird. Usually it takes a few seconds for it to enable but no longer than that. How is your internet? Maybe it takes you a few mins to connect to the server and it happens whilst you are doing a single player thing?

 

[Slawkenbergius]

Does anyone know why I have to play a combat scenario before I can play Multi-player? The box has a red line round it and doesn't go away till I play one of the missions.

One thing you can try is just entering the missions screen, and then exiting it without playing one. That sometimes works for me, though I've never been able to tell whether that's really the solution, or whether it's just that sometimes it takes a bit longer for the red to disappear.

It's not intended behaviour though. You should be able to go to multiplayer almost straight away.

Glad to hear you're giving the game a second chance. Hopefully you'll come to love it, and convince a few people to stick with it who might have given up too soon.

 

[Corralis]

You are right, of course. But here's a question:

How many of the people who play the game for 5 minutes and then jump all over the forums to complain and moan about it being too hard, or the flight model is wrong etc. are actually going to bother to spend the time learning to fly?

Very few I expect. That's too much like hard work. They just want to jump in, fly around like they were borne to it and "pwn n00bs". They quickly find out that isn't going to happen, and since it cannot possibly be them that are at fault, "coz they are teh l33t", the game is simply broken.

Actually I think a good tutorial explaining the mechanics would be critical for a game like this. Sure I was the one that jumped on the forums after 5 minutes to complain but I don't think I would have done if there was a proper tutorial.

 

[Corralis]

Weird. Usually it takes a few seconds for it to enable but no longer than that. How is your internet? Maybe it takes you a few mins to connect to the server and it happens whilst you are doing a single player thing?

Oh I have Fibre-optic broadband at around 78Mb/sec. Pretty sure my internet connection is not the issue. Maybe something server-side.

 

[huwthomas]

Actually I think a good tutorial explaining the mechanics would be critical for a game like this. Sure I was the one that jumped on the forums after 5 minutes to complain but I don't think I would have done if there was a proper tutorial.

I hope there will be, in the final game. The current missions are essentially the single-player Alpha release.

 

[Togg]

i'm sure a tutorial will be in the works by the time Gamma is 1/2 way done.. or even before.. right now they are working on the gameplay and bug squashing

 

[Hydrino]

Actually I think a good tutorial explaining the mechanics would be critical for a game like this. Sure I was the one that jumped on the forums after 5 minutes to complain but I don't think I would have done if there was a proper tutorial.

Now this is a good point. Many games have a tutorial to teach the controls, since not all game controls work the same, custom actions, etc. Being early Beta it may be premature but FD should be working on just such a thing for full-on Beta.

 

[Tinman]

Oh I have Fibre-optic broadband at around 78Mb/sec. Pretty sure my internet connection is not the issue. Maybe something server-side.

Make sure you have allowed it through your firewall and that your antivirus isn't trying to block it for some reason. Restarting the router might be worth a shoot too...not saying you should need to do that, but you know...beta.

 

[Memnoch]

Actually I think a good tutorial explaining the mechanics would be critical for a game like this. Sure I was the one that jumped on the forums after 5 minutes to complain but I don't think I would have done if there was a proper tutorial.

Right. I don't think anyone would argue with that. The single player scenarios do help though. In Alpha 1.0 that was all we had so we had no choice but to play them. If you play them long enough you start to pick things up.

 

[Tinman]

i'm sure a tutorial will be in the works by the time Gamma is 1/2 way done.. or even before.. right now they are working on the gameplay and bug squashing

Yeah, some sort of tutorial will probably be put in even if it might be integrated into the game rather than being it's own thing. Right now there might still be changes made so making it now is just a waste of resources. They need to lock everything down before making it so they don't end up having to redo it anyway further down the line.

 

[Corralis]

Make sure you have allowed it through your firewall and that your antivirus isn't trying to block it for some reason. Restarting the router might be worth a shoot too...not saying you should need to do that, but you know...beta.

It's working now, thanks.

Now if only I could figure out what to do.

 

[huwthomas]

It's working now, thanks.

Now if only I could figure out what to do.

There's a guide under development, the current version is here.

 

[Corralis]

Right for some reason the docking system isn't working for me. I have selected the station and requested to dock, flown in through the airlock, flown to the correct bay and now I can't get anything to work from here. The landing gear doesn't seem to want to deploy (I press Insert several times but nothing happens) and the docking assist screen doesn't appear so I just keep crashing into the bay I'm supposed to dock at. Clearly I must be doing something wrong but for the life of me I can't figure out what.

 

[sahib]

Right for some reason the docking system isn't working for me. I have selected the station and requested to dock, flown in through the airlock, flown to the correct bay and now I can't get anything to work from here. The landing gear doesn't seem to want to deploy (I press Insert several times but nothing happens) and the docking assist screen doesn't appear so I just keep crashing into the bay I'm supposed to dock at. Clearly I must be doing something wrong but for the life of me I can't figure out what.

Are you absolutely sure You're using the correct landing pad? Check the pad number on your dashboard with the one above the control tower on a given pad.

 

[Memnoch]

Also watch the little landing indicator. Sometimes your ship representation will enter from above rather than below because the pad is actually reversed and will not allow you to dock unless you do a 180.

 

[Lobstris]

Right for some reason the docking system isn't working for me. I have selected the station and requested to dock, flown in through the airlock, flown to the correct bay and now I can't get anything to work from here. The landing gear doesn't seem to want to deploy (I press Insert several times but nothing happens) and the docking assist screen doesn't appear so I just keep crashing into the bay I'm supposed to dock at. Clearly I must be doing something wrong but for the life of me I can't figure out what.

1. Docking can be a bit buggy at present - so always bear in mind that you can be at the 'right' pad by your thought process - not necessarily the game's
2. Occasionally pads can be bugged and stuck backwards - you have to rotate your ship 180 degrees and try to land in the direction of the exit.

3. There is no visible indication of your gear being down, other than going to the right-cockpit panel and skipping to the last menu at present - known issue. If the key bind is not working for you, you can also drop the gear from the right hand panel, but that's a tad fiddly.

4. If you do get to the pad without your gear you should get both a visible and an audible warning.

5. Watch your vertical descent (bar to the left of the docking graphic) - too hard with downwards thrust and you'll bounce.

 

[Corralis]

Are you absolutely sure You're using the correct landing pad? Check the pad number on your dashboard with the one above the control tower on a given pad.

Well the dashboard said landing pad 4 and the only pads that were highlighted inside we 42, 43, 44 and 04 so I assumed it was the 04 pad. I haven't tried turning 180 to face the exit so I'll give that a go.

 

[Memnoch]

I haven't tried turning 180 to face the exit so I'll give that a go.

If the pad you are going for is really reversed, and I have only seen this for pad immediately below the docking port and the far end of the station, you may notice two things.

1. The graphic that indicates your ship in relation to the pad will show you coming in from the top, not the bottom. You may also notice that as you thrust to left the graphic will show you going to the right i.e. reversed.
2. Even when dead centre over the pad you won't hear those beeps as you get closer. They will only start when you turn around.

 

[mattyboy1509]

Hmm well if that's the only way you can fly your ship then I think I'm gonna have to ask for a refund because it's stupid on every level. No other space flight sim does it this way.

Indeed thats why space combat in elite is so much fun and in others less so try star citizen I hear space combat is really boring in that !!


oops it would seem i replied to a really old post.