The core looks a bit ropey

[rhiz]

Hi all,

Most of my exploration to date has been along the peripheries of the Galaxy, but I headed over to Colonia recently and I’m currently on my way to Sag A. I’m a little surprised by the extent of the graphical aberrations that I’m seeing in terms of star distribution (all these squares and weird, angular forms).

Has FD made any commitment to fix this, or at least expressed a desire to do so? It’s marred the journey for me a little, and the core should be the jewel at the heart of the game.

Can anyone explain the technical reasons for it?

 

[hems303]

Hi all,

Most of my exploration to date has been along the peripheries of the Galaxy, but I headed over to Colonia recently and I’m currently on my way to Sag A. I’m a little surprised by the extent of the graphical aberrations that I’m seeing in terms of star distribution (all these squares and weird, angular forms).

Has FD made any commitment to fix this, or at least expressed a desire to do so? It’s marred the journey for me a little, and the core should be the jewel at the heart of the game.

Can anyone explain the technical reasons for it?

Yes FDev have explained (somewhere) that the Stellar Forge and the astronomical data fed into it comes up with these square densities of stars (and long thin straight streaming paths of stars too) and there is absolutely nothing that they can do about the anomalies without a complete re-write of the Stellar Forge, and they said that wasn't on the cards.

There are numerous (old) posts from more technically gifted commanders concerning this phenomenon but I don't know if they are still available from the old forum.
o7

 

[Ian Doncaster]

There are two separate things as you approach the core.

Firstly, the cubes of bright blue stars.

The entire galaxy is generated as a set of cubes, with the higher the mass of the star, the larger the cube used to generate them. So brown dwarf stars are generated in cubes 10 LY a side, while the heaviest Wolf-Rayet stars are generated in cubes 1280 LY a side.

Unfortunately, the 'E' cubes (containing systems with the final letter in their name being 'E') contain mostly spectral class 'B' bright stars, which can be seen from a considerable distance. This means that differences in density between adjacent 'E' cubes can be seen from quite some way away relative to the size of the cube (160 LY a side).

There is no way to fix this other than completely starting over on the generation of the galaxy, which won't happen. It could be mitigated somewhat by significantly reducing the distance at which B-class stars are visible, but this would cause odd effects closer to the bubble as many familiar constellations would no longer be displayed correctly when viewed from Sol, and wouldn't be a complete fix in the busiest areas.

These, we'll just have to put up with.

Secondly, as you get closer to the core, many directions will have no stars at all.

This is caused by the number of stars in visible range vastly exceeding the maximum displayable background stars. Unfortunately, the way the game then generates the skybox seems to choose stars with preference for particular directions - likely an optimisation to speed up generation - so rather than seeing lots of stars all around you (though fewer than you strictly "should"), you instead see lots of stars in one area, and none elsewhere.

For the same reason as the first issue, the blocks of stars you do see are often in cubic formations.

This might be possible for Frontier to fix by adjusting how the skybox gets generated and which stars are considered 'first' for it ... though there are likely to still be some odd effects.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

I just had a similar experience - I did some exploration in the coreward direction and went to Colonia. The sky looked so weird out there that I ended up coming back to the bubble. I just didn't like it.

Previously most of my exploration was done out towards the edge and those trips were great and very enjoyable. But towards the core, the galmap/route planning/appearance was such that gameplay just wasn't any fun. Just selecting a specific system to jump to was a chore.

 

[dxm55]

Thanks for the heads up.
Not that I would ever attempt a tens of thousands LY journey of any sort.

But this post made me feel better that there is no point going to the galactic core just to be disappointed by bugs in the game.

 

[Nick Sticks]

I just accept it as how the ED Galaxy is and not worry about it.

 

[WR3ND]

I still hold out some small hope that this can eventually be at least somewhat mitigated on the generated background image side of things, running it through a location based secondary algorithm as you jump into a system or something along those lines.

A guy can dream.

 

[rhiz]

Yes FDev have explained (somewhere) that the Stellar Forge and the astronomical data fed into it comes up with these square densities of stars (and long thin straight streaming paths of stars too) and there is absolutely nothing that they can do about the anomalies without a complete re-write of the Stellar Forge, and they said that wasn't on the cards.

There are numerous (old) posts from more technically gifted commanders concerning this phenomenon but I don't know if they are still available from the old forum.
o7

There are two separate things as you approach the core.

Firstly, the cubes of bright blue stars.

The entire galaxy is generated as a set of cubes, with the higher the mass of the star, the larger the cube used to generate them. So brown dwarf stars are generated in cubes 10 LY a side, while the heaviest Wolf-Rayet stars are generated in cubes 1280 LY a side.

Unfortunately, the 'E' cubes (containing systems with the final letter in their name being 'E') contain mostly spectral class 'B' bright stars, which can be seen from a considerable distance. This means that differences in density between adjacent 'E' cubes can be seen from quite some way away relative to the size of the cube (160 LY a side).

There is no way to fix this other than completely starting over on the generation of the galaxy, which won't happen. It could be mitigated somewhat by significantly reducing the distance at which B-class stars are visible, but this would cause odd effects closer to the bubble as many familiar constellations would no longer be displayed correctly when viewed from Sol, and wouldn't be a complete fix in the busiest areas.

These, we'll just have to put up with.

Secondly, as you get closer to the core, many directions will have no stars at all.

This is caused by the number of stars in visible range vastly exceeding the maximum displayable background stars. Unfortunately, the way the game then generates the skybox seems to choose stars with preference for particular directions - likely an optimisation to speed up generation - so rather than seeing lots of stars all around you (though fewer than you strictly "should"), you instead see lots of stars in one area, and none elsewhere.

For the same reason as the first issue, the blocks of stars you do see are often in cubic formations.

This might be possible for Frontier to fix by adjusting how the skybox gets generated and which stars are considered 'first' for it ... though there are likely to still be some odd effects.

Thanks guys - that settles it then.

Ian - yes, I'm about half-way between Colonia and Sag A and I'm seeing vast regions without any stars at all. I knew that it was a known problem, but I'm just surprised by how widespread and consistent it is. I'd always assumed that it was an outlier case for some reason.

 

[rhiz]

I just had a similar experience - I did some exploration in the coreward direction and went to Colonia. The sky looked so weird out there that I ended up coming back to the bubble. I just didn't like it.

Previously most of my exploration was done out towards the edge and those trips were great and very enjoyable. But towards the core, the galmap/route planning/appearance was such that gameplay just wasn't any fun. Just selecting a specific system to jump to was a chore.

Hi Turd - yes, the sky in Colonia is much denser, but I don't recall seeing the really weird stuff until I started heading toward Sag A. I'm about half-way between Colonia and Sag A at the moment.

 

[rhiz]

Thanks for the heads up.
Not that I would ever attempt a tens of thousands LY journey of any sort.

But this post made me feel better that there is no point going to the galactic core just to be disappointed by bugs in the game.

It's about 48 jumps between Colonia and Sag A in my Phantom using the Neutron Highway - not a big deal.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

Is this question part of the exploration drinking game yet?

 

[WR3ND]

Is this question part of the exploration drinking game yet?

We need a new game to help me sober up.

 

[rhiz]

I still hold out some small hope that this can eventually be at least somewhat mitigated on the generated background image side of things, running it through a location based secondary algorithm as you jump into a system or something along those lines.

A guy can dream.

Yeah, I'm just really surprised that they were satisfied with it, given the emphasis on realism and the accuracy of Stellar Forge. It's very easy for a layman to underestimate the technical difficulties of course.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Hi Turd - yes, the sky in Colonia is much denser, but I don't recall seeing the really weird stuff until I started heading toward Sag A. I'm about half-way between Colonia and Sag A at the moment.

space around colonia itself isn't lumpy. it just looks weird and overly bright and kind of the antithesis of the empty black quiet sky that gives you a sense of being alone in empty space. however most of the way to colonia and in most of the exploration trips I did out of colonia space got lumpy.

 

[Crank Larson]

The sky looked so weird out there

But that's what I like about exploring. In different parts of the galaxy, the sky does look completely different. And when you are in a nebula, you can get some really interesting effects.

 

[BlackSpaceCowboy]

The moment the commander begins to suspect the universe is a simulation..

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

Yes FDev have explained (somewhere) that the Stellar Forge and the astronomical data fed into it comes up with these square densities of stars (and long thin straight streaming paths of stars too) and there is absolutely nothing that they can do about the anomalies without a complete re-write of the Stellar Forge, and they said that wasn't on the cards.

There are numerous (old) posts from more technically gifted commanders concerning this phenomenon but I don't know if they are still available from the old forum.
o7

I've wondered if they can do it via the skybox generation. Could they add an algorithm that doesn't show all of the stars to make it look better as it's only the skybox that's the real issue.

 

[Slowfiddler]

The reports in the issue tracker state that if you log out and then back in the skybox looks OK. If ED can generate the stars when starting up the game then why not do the same when in the hyperspace loading animation?

 

[Wobblin-Gobblin]

The reports in the issue tracker state that if you log out and then back in the skybox looks OK. If ED can generate the stars when starting up the game then why not do the same when in the hyperspace loading animation?

Good question. Why is this so?

The current state of colonia and the core is the reason why I would never move to any of these destinations to stay any longer I hate these boxes

 

[Riverside]

I still hold out some small hope that this can eventually be at least somewhat mitigated on the generated background image side of things, running it through a location based secondary algorithm as you jump into a system or something along those lines.

A guy can dream.

I've wondered if they can do it via the skybox generation. Could they add an algorithm that doesn't show all of the stars to make it look better as it's only the skybox that's the real issue.

I agree. The actual generation of the stars and the galaxy map are no big deal, only the aesthetics of the skybox stands out.

There are lots of oddities produced by the stellar forge but it's just part of it's charm imo.