[Scale in Elite: Test] Elite screenshots vs high alt, non-fisheye lens Earth imagery

[VR andysonofbob]

Yo

There are always a bunch of threads debating scale in this game. At least it is an easy one to prove.

1. I have found a video showing both normal lens and fish eye lens at a height where you can just make out the Earth's curvature ~ 100,000 feet.
2. I found a planet with a similar(ish) radius to Earth's 6.4k km. Ori B 3 is 6.9k km. There should be slightly less curvature seen in the Ori B 3 screenshot compared to the GoPro.
3. I flew to a similar height
4. Took screenshot

See for yourself!

The two planet images superimposed:

• I did my best to align them.
• The pink lines are my best fits at where Earth's horizon line is. I only added the lines at locations where I was reasonably confident.
• One is taken from VR and the other is taken from GoPro cam; therefore not 100% like-for-like, but hopefully close enough!

Below are the raw image files:

GoPro non-fisheye lens captured ~ 100,000 ft (~30.5km)

In game screenshot (VR) taken at similar height to the GoPro - 30.5km

Details of Ori B 3

So, what do you think?


Personally I think the only issue ED has for scale are the 'windows' in the space stations. You can see plant pots which assist in scale and in VR they look too small. I think they are rendered half size.

Thanks!

 

[Nuoyn]

Nice comparison there!
AS far as I have seen, the scale in this game is pretty accurate.
What makes the game feel like it's scale is off, is that everything is insanely far away from planets.
Take the average flight height of the ISS of about 400km. The nearest station I have seen in E is about 4Mm above the surface of a planet. There might be closer ones, I did not invest too much time in measuring station heights.
So, at best the stations orbit in E are about 10x higher (if my math is correct, if not please correct me), some considerably more,than the ISS, from where a lot of the space images we are used to see, come from.
These huge distances are considerably minimizing the epic feeling when approaching a space station. There is one station which is relatively close to a gas giant (featured in one of Obsidian Ants videos) where approaching and leaving the station feels like a space game should feel like.

For planetary landings, I feel that it is a case of missing reference points, since we are not really familiar with the planet's landmarks. Also the missing atmosphere is making it harder to get a sense of height, like we are used to from earth.

There is the case, especially when playing on a monitor, the cockpits seem much smaller than they actually are. This is because they have used some textures that our eye is used to from our real world, and have blown them up to fit the cockpit of the ships. Have a look at the cables and screws in the Diamondback copckpits. The cable lettering and casing is mostly used in small electronics cables, but in the ship, they are as thick as a forearm. The screws used to support the angles on the ceiling are the size of a plate!
Thanks
Because of this contradictory information, the eye gets a bit confuse to what the actual size is.