So, noticed today, that when I look directly at a black hole, it now has a spot in the middle? but only when I look directly at it, when I do not, spot vanishes, which kinda makes sense angle of perspective would affect it?
This is a picture of a small 8 solar masses black hole.
Unless you're close enough to be in danger of spaghettification, the spatial distortion wouldn't vary when you turn your head or rotate your ship. The degree and direction of distortion should only vary with significant distance changes from the black hole. In real life the distortion is centered on the black hole and would not alter if you looked left or right at the same orbital radius. It would be a static distant background distortion.
However, in ED the distortion is centered on your helmet, so even slight changes in the viewing angle results in massive spatial distortion shifts. It's as if you were looking into a fun house mirror the size of a person and alternating from skinny to fat by bobbing your head. In reality the black hole's spatial distortion radius is huge and would be measured in Ls not cm, so bobbing your tiny head in front of it should have no impact whatever. But it does...
In other words, in Soviet ED the black hole distorts you.
Also, the distortion only affects the background... Stars in the same system are completely unaffected by it, you can see it if you find a black hole in a relatively close orbit to the main star.
Also, the distortion only affects the background... Stars in the same system are completely unaffected by it, you can see it if you find a black hole in a relatively close orbit to the main star.
Oddly, this oversight bugs me less than the fact the distortion is centered on your helmet. Most black holes are too far away from objects in their system to even notice the dot not being lensed. But the spatial distortion error is noticeable every time you move your head with trackir.
Oddly, this oversight bugs me less than the fact the distortion is centered on your helmet. Most black holes are too far away from objects in their system to even notice the dot not being lensed. But the spatial distortion error is noticeable every time you move your head with trackir.
Also, the distortion only affects the background... Stars in the same system are completely unaffected by it, you can see it if you find a black hole in a relatively close orbit to the main star.
Not only this, but the background seems to be in two different layers: stars in one and the milky way and distant galaxies in another. And they get warped by different amounts.
As an update to this I'm thinking we might be making a wrong assumption
Just been toying with a black hole in a system with a crazy number of stars and they DO get distorted - but only once you're very very close into the Km. If closer objects are simply lensed less then maybe it's our mistake not theirs.
It's 400,000ls from another star though so testing is limited to watching them slide out of the target reticule in the distance
Either way had to come back for another pass or two hehe
As an update to this I'm thinking we might be making a wrong assumption
Just been toying with a black hole in a system with a crazy number of stars and they DO get distorted - but only once you're very very close into the Km. If closer objects are simply lensed less then maybe it's our mistake not theirs.
It's 400,000ls from another star though so testing is limited to watching them slide out of the target reticule in the distance
Either way had to come back for another pass or two hehe
Well that's a positive sign if that is true. All things being equal, more distant objects should have a larger deflection (So ASC's concern actually points to something Frontier got right ), but even so, the nearness of an object like a planet should have more subtle effect than the angular closeness to a black hole. In fact, nearby objects can be EXTREMELY distorted even if the observer is not also right on top of a black hole. A clear example of this would the accretion disk in interstellar, which is very close but is also so distorted that the disk behind the black hole can be seen as an Einstein Ring both above and below the event horizon.
Distorted nearby object:
Which is similar to the distortion of more distant objects:
But if you want to test what I am talking about with angular distortion being erroneously dependent on viewing angle then you can do a simple test at home with a wine glass. The base of the glass is very similar to the lensing effect of a black hole This allows for all kind of testing shenanigans:
For more distant objects this is formalism for the angle of deflection of incoming light (aka lensing):
where:
As you can see, the deflection is dependent on the distances between the objects. However, the deflection angle alpha α is a dependent variable based on the angles θ and β and the distances between the observer, the lens (aka black hole) and the distant object. In reality, θ and β are static background sky angles depending on your position in the star system. But in ED the angles θ and β can vary when you turn your head inside your "tiny" ship. This can only mean that the lens is very close to your helmet and also quite small. Sgr A has a Schwarzchild radius of 12 million km! Humans in 3302 may be different, but I am pretty sure that we haven't evolved into solar system sized objects. In other words D[SUB]d[/SUB] and ξ are both roughly the size of your helmet!! And even Sgr A* is actually tiny???
Here fella, have a cup of tea and a sit down this has clearly shaken you! Hopefully they'll sort it in a future update, but it's pretty pleasing for just now
Here fella, have a cup of tea and a sit down this has clearly shaken you! Hopefully they'll sort it in a future update, but it's pretty pleasing for just now
Tbh, I was extremely disappointed when Black Holes turned out to be space ship sized objects even in the ED game-space. I am actually surprised that more people don't see this? It seems quite intuitively wrong even if you leave out the math.
Tbh, I was extremely disappointed when Black Holes turned out to be space ship sized objects even in the ED game-space. I am actually surprised that more people don't see this? It seems quite intuitively wrong even if you leave out the math.
I was very resistant to going close to them on the basis of this. There should be a ship enforced limit easily calculated by it's size/mass. I've not dropped out next to one to actually headbutt it - is there a limit?
I was very resistant to going close to them on the basis of this. There should be a ship enforced limit easily calculated by it's size/mass. I've not dropped out next to one to actually headbutt it - is there a limit?
Since 2.0 released I've flown straight through couple of them clear to the other side. Passing within a few meters of the "singularity". So I'd have to say no, they're is no current limit.
And yes for small black holes the distortion error isn't quite as noticeable unless you get so close that you would be feeling tidal forces. In which case, there might be a tiny extra distortion effect from rotating your ship. But not a huge one from merely rotating your head.
For bigger black holes like Sgr A* and the Great Annihilator, these rotation errors are visible from further away. Which is odd because larger black holes would have less tidal gravity outside the event horizon. Not more.
Also, the distortion only affects the background... Stars in the same system are completely unaffected by it, you can see it if you find a black hole in a relatively close orbit to the main star.
It really disappointed me when I found out same-system stars are unaffected...but it made for a cool screenshot, nonetheless. Only 12ls away from each other, too. I hope they add in-system distortion, eventually.
It really disappointed me when I found out same-system stars are unaffected...but it made for a cool screenshot, nonetheless. Only 12ls away from each other, too. I hope they add in-system distortion, eventually.
Yeah, that is a bit disappointing, but hopefully they are aware of it, and will be adding it, I mean I can't imagine proper distortion is 'too' difficult to add, the refraction models and such are well known, as others prove here
), but even so, the nearness of an object like a planet should have more subtle effect than the angular closeness to a black hole. In fact, nearby objects can be EXTREMELY distorted even if the observer is not also right on top of a black hole. A clear example of this would the accretion disk in interstellar, which is very close but is also so distorted that the disk behind the black hole can be seen as an Einstein Ring both above and below the event horizon. 
