Stellarium Mode?

[DjVortex]

Is there any way of pointing to a star in the skybox and identifying what it is?

Given that (AFAIK) the skybox is rendered using the actual positions of nearby systems (rather than being eg. randomly generated), it might theoretically be possible, if they implemented it. However, as pointed out by others, the systems may not be rendered pixel-accurately on the skybox and might deviate from their actual positions by some visible amount (if you were able to see their actual positions vs. where they have been rendered on the skybox). Still, I don't think this would stop it from it being theoretically possible to see the names of the systems when selecting a dot on the skybox (after all, the dot has been rendered using nearby system data, not just randomly).

Could actually be useful for targeting a nearby system without having to go to the galaxy map.

 

[varonica]

Given that (AFAIK) the skybox is rendered using the actual positions of nearby systems (rather than being eg. randomly generated), it might theoretically be possible, if they implemented it. However, as pointed out by others, the systems may not be rendered pixel-accurately on the skybox and might deviate from their actual positions by some visible amount (if you were able to see their actual positions vs. where they have been rendered on the skybox). Still, I don't think this would stop it from it being theoretically possible to see the names of the systems when selecting a dot on the skybox (after all, the dot has been rendered using nearby system data, not just randomly).

Could actually be useful for targeting a nearby system without having to go to the galaxy map.

Yeah, theoretically you could do that, but since the skybox is a wraparound bitmap "generated" from the data it doesn't actually contain any data itself, so it would be a major change to the way the background was rendered. Also since the bitmap doesn't change no matter how far you fly, try flying from entry point to Hutton Orbital, there's obviously no parallax data, so the minute you start flying anywhere the stars in the skybox no longer exactly represent the actual location of the stars in the galaxy (sure it's tiny but star get awful close together at the limit of view), you would need to change it to update on the fly as it were, a task that would increase the load on our PC's by a great deal. So you would need to change it from a rendered bitmap to an actual view of the stars, like we see when we look at planets as we fly around, extending the rendered area of the game out by around 6kly from our position, more if you include nebula, don't think that's going to be easy!

It's possible, but would require a lot of work or a really different approach to what they are doing at the moment.

 

[Cmdr Sharky]

Yeah, theoretically you could do that, but since the skybox is a wraparound bitmap "generated" from the data it doesn't actually contain any data itself, so it would be a major change to the way the background was rendered.

When you target a system, it draws a reticle on the skybox. Usually that reticle is dead on a star, sometimes it's probably too dim to render, but it's never a few pixels away from a star. Always dead on. So if it can calculate "system X is exactly HERE on the skybox", then it can calculate "exactly HERE on the skybox is sysyem X". It's the same maths but in reverse and with a search.

Also since the bitmap doesn't change no matter how far you fly, try flying from entry point to Hutton Orbital, there's obviously no parallax data, so the minute you start flying anywhere the stars in the skybox no longer exactly represent the actual location of the stars in the galaxy (sure it's tiny but star get awful close together at the limit of view), you would need to change it to update on the fly as it were, a task that would increase the load on our PC's by a great deal.

Why should it take into account the ship's position? Just calculate the star positions from the same reference point as the rendering was done. Much simpler than trying to take into account additional information that you yourself say would only make the calculation less accurate.