I'd suggest making the launcher (and tools like Steam that connect to it) to represent the game as it currently is available, and when it's not... Currently launcher shows "SERVER STATUS: OK". Currently launcher shows game playable but if you go through the process of loading the game it tells...
Yep, I’m on a medicinal brandy (skinned my pinky knuckle this morning ) to calm my nerves, & have finished my salted cashew nuts.
The copawlot is giving me filthy looks as he thinks it’s tea time (actually, he’s been thinking that since 14:00; labradors!) but he’s got to wait another few minutes.
Getting ready to light the logburner...
Mmm, think I need another brandy, already!
I think it's worth addressing the "It doesn't fit with game lore to be in Witchspace" because that's an interesting mindset, let's examine that a bit:
Witchspace has been discussed as an "alternative dimension" where certain things can exist/get lost in for at least the lifetime of Elite Dangerous, if you include TDW Novella, then an even longer time (There's more than this, but I think this is OK to show the point?):
Galnet: "The first commercially available hyperspace system was known as the 'Faraway Jump'. The Faraway system was far from perfect, however,depending on a complex network of monitoring satellites, branch lines, stop points and rescue stations – which took hundreds of years to establish – to operate smoothly."
"It was around this time the phrase 'witch-space' first appeared, reflecting the inherent dangers of early hyperspace technology and the strange 'corridor' a ship travelled through during a hyperspace jump. Some even believed witch-space was haunted by 'ghosts of ships that went into Faraway and didn't come out again'. It is certainly true that a number of ships never reached their destinations."
TDW Novella: Faraway is a tunnel, like any other tunnel. Inside that tunnel is the realm called Witch-Space, a magic place, a place where the normal rules of the Universe don't necessarily work. And every few thousand parsecs along the Witch-Space tunnel there are monitoring satellites, and branch lines, and stop points, and rescue stations"
"They say that Witch-Space is haunted. Maybe that's why they call it 'witch'. Time turns all around, and atoms turn inside out, and gravity waves billow up, and things move there, lifeforms, or shadows, or atoms, or galaxies, who knows? No-one has ever stopped and gone outside to find out. Only robot remotes exist there, switching stations, monitors, rescue Droids and the like. Whatever lives in Witch-Space, in the Faraway tunnels, will remain a mystery always."
Galnet: “Other theories are more esoteric but worthy of exploration. We know that their vessels are capable of hovering in hyperspace, suggesting that witch-space is comfortable for them. Could living beings actually originate from hyperspace?”
“Alternatively, they may be using hyperspace as a conduit from a dimensional plane entirely separate from real space. The Thargoids may not just be extragalactic in origin, but extra-universal.”
Thargoid Codex: "Thargoid vessels are radically different from anything produced by humanity, and are able to navigate hyperspace in ways that are not fully understood. "
The below are a very silly little set of images I did a while back to try to visualise "Witchspace" and how it can be used for FTL based on the text in-game and from Devs.
Early FTL:
DJ: "This is something we often wornder about becaus they were sending probes through hyperspce [MB: Yep] quite soon after discovering it werent they? but it's a couple of hundred years before hyperspace use seems to become normal for human carrying craft"
MB: "Yeah think that's simply safety factors. Obvious there were a few crazy people that were happy to jump in and make a jump but they tended to disappear or there would be some unknown accident or some trace of them would be found, so it's like with any technology, when you're at the forefront of it there's a bit of risk involved, especially if you're trying to translate accross lightyears of space."
Galnet: "The first commercially available hyperspace system was known as the 'Faraway Jump'. The Faraway system was far from perfect, however,depending on a complex network of monitoring satellites, branch lines, stop points and rescue stations – which took hundreds of years to establish – to operate smoothly."
Galnet: "The original hyperdrives were powered by a fuel known as quirium, the formula for which was a closely guarded secret. When this formula was lost, the hyperspace industry suffered a major setback. A number of different drives strove to fill the void left by the quirium drives, but it was the Type 2b that proved most popular. Unfortunately, ships equipped with a 2b left behind a hyperspace 'cloud' at their entry and exit points, making it all too easy for malcontents to track and ambush these vessels."
Note: We also know that travel times from various logs show weeks or months of travel (i.e. Dynasty missions took 5 months to reach 12kly with "enhanced drives").
FSD: We all know how this works, you zip through a weird place for a few seconds and see stars and clouds around you.
As you can from my silly drawings, it would be possible for anything to be in Witchspace if Hyperspace were a dimension that's "in between" ours, not higher or lower but literally sharing the same space. Similar ideas exist in the Babylon 5 universe (where they also didn't believe that anything could exist in their version of Witchspace, and... well... no spoilers for those that haven't had the pleasure, but they were wrong.) and the Warhammer 40k universe, only their Witchspace is much worse.
Raxxla Codex: "Several versions of the Raxxla story mention an alien artefact, the Omphalos Rift, described as a gateway or tunnel through which parallel universes can be accessed. "
Doesn't say that the Omphalos Rift is on Raxxla. It's quite specific in the wording. What if we're not looking for an alien gateway on Raxxla, what if Raxxla is in the alien gateway?
Hyperdrives access Witchspace. They could be "described as a gateway or tunnel through which parallel universes can be accessed." If we're assuming Witchspace, as detailed above by the game lore, is another dimension.
Questionable authenticity, but interesting things from TDW Novella, and we know that it was used as a reference source for parts of the Raxxla and DW Codex' and Hyperdrive lore.
Maybe not "galaxy" after all, maybe "universe"? That shares similar concepts with the Galnet post above speculating on whether Thargoids use Witchspace as a sort of gateway from another universe.
"Your father was chasing the mythical plant Raxxla. Does it exist, or does it not? If it does, then on Raxxla there's an alien construct that's a gateway to other Universes, and all that's in those Universes in the way of bounty, and treasures, and aliens, and life . . ."
What is Raxxla is in Witchspace and the alien construct (clearly similar/same as the Omphalos Rift) is a 'switch' that moves Raxxla between our universe and another via witchspace? Maybe at some point it got stuck in-between and that's why everyone (DW, elites, etc.) want it, whoever gets it first can control the switch.
Hopefully this is enough to show that it's not that weird, or game-breaking, to suggest Raxxla is a planet in witchspace. It actually does fit the known 'reality' of the game pretty well
I would like to kindly and gently remind everyone that this isn't Science Simulator 3308, this is a sci-fi space opera game where we travel FTL more easily than we travel to the supermarket IRL, and this thread is literally about an 8 year long quest to find a mystical alien planet that may be/contain an ancient alien transdimensional supertechnolgy that (somehow) is better than the alien transdimensional supertechnolgoy that we're currently using.
The words "mystical" and "mysterious" are used to describe Raxxla in the Codex...
Really? I just thought I turned up to make the occasional, obvious quip while everyone else ran around like headless chickens doing the real work. At least I'm in and around the bubble for a change, and might be able to check some stuff out. Not that I'm certain what to check out. I don't have any patience for messing around with the contents of Journal files, and I don't currently have a fleet carrier to check look for that planet.
I'm not getting an FC until after my tour of the Pegasus Arm. It's the last of the galactic arms that I'm yet to traverse the length of. Currently, I have no idea when I'll be setting off on that. Bubble stuff might end up being more of a priority soon. Just keeping an eye on the narrative for now.
on the hyperspace planet bug/mystery, I had this a couple of years ago where i got this same bug jumping from a system with no planets at all to a system with just a gas giant present with the sun, unfortunately no evidence (vids or screenys) but just putting it out there that this bug isnt just limited to in system planets thats if you believe me of course
on the hyperspace planet bug/mystery, I had this a couple of years ago where i got this same bug jumping from a system with no planets at all to a system with just a gas giant present with the sun, unfortunately no evidence (vids or screenys) but just putting it out there that this bug isnt just limited to in system planets thats if you believe me of course
That's good to know! I like to hear all these sorts of encounters because they help to add context, now we have two examples of someone confirming seeing a planet unrelated to a recent planetary mass-lock, and an account of seeing a planet unrelated to planets in the origin or destination system. We can't use it in our search for proof because there's no evidence that others can independely view, but this is very useful none-the-less
That's good info, thanks
Edit: Can you remember when it was more precisely? was it 2 years ago, more? less? Do you recall where you were jumping to/from at all? area of space? what ship, all that stuff is good to know if you can remember
That's good to know! I like to hear all these sorts of encounters because they help to add context, now we have two examples of someone confirming seeing a planet unrelated to a recent planetary mass-lock, and an account of seeing a planet unrelated to planets in the origin or destination system. We can't use it in our search for proof because there's no evidence that others can independely view, but this is very useful none-the-less
That's good info, thanks
Edit: Can you remember when it was more precisely? was it 2 years ago, more? less? Do you recall where you were jumping to/from at all? area of space? what ship, all that stuff is good to know if you can remember
it was around just after Horizons launch date which if i remember was around 2015? only details on location would be around the top of the bubble ( I frequented in that region for some time then both exploring and also doing runs with my Squadron) and I would have been in an Anaconda as that was my main and pretty much flushed out with best jump range per pew pew ship at the time
Really? I just thought I turned up to make the occasional, obvious quip while everyone else ran around like headless chickens doing the real work. At least I'm in and around the bubble for a change, and might be able to check some stuff out. Not that I'm certain what to check out. I don't have any patience for messing around with the contents of Journal files, and I don't currently have a fleet carrier to check look for that planet.
I'm not getting an FC until after my tour of the Pegasus Arm. It's the last of the galactic arms that I'm yet to traverse the length of. Currently, I have no idea when I'll be setting off on that. Bubble stuff might end up being more of a priority soon. Just keeping an eye on the narrative for now.
I would post a headless chicken emoji, but cant find one! Is this close enough?
Just watching an old episode of Death in Paradise and heard an interesting phrase:
“ my forensics training has highlighted that you need to test everything because you don’t know what you’re looking for until you find it”
Seems highly relevant!
Just watching an old episode of Death in Paradise and heard an interesting phrase:
“ my forensics training has highlighted that you need to test everything because you don’t know what you’re looking for until you find it”
Seems highly relevant!
Sorry, just my take on Death in Paradise. We binged a load of them a few years ago, and somebody says in just about every episode. Until some of the later ones, where the writers seem to have cottoned on.
on the hyperspace planet bug/mystery, I had this a couple of years ago where i got this same bug jumping from a system with no planets at all to a system with just a gas giant present with the sun, unfortunately no evidence (vids or screenys) but just putting it out there that this bug isnt just limited to in system planets thats if you believe me of course
Now that you mention it, I have a vague feeling something similar has happened to me, fairly recently (as in this year, but couldn't narrow it down beyond that), and I only barely registered it. Was it briefly and just after the countdown?
Problem with this is, if it isn't just a bug, how do we recreate this? Going on Jorki's last post, I now have in mind a different British TV program: Taskmaster. Specifically a task that asks the contestants to "get to 11 points as fast as possible".
Get to 11 points as fast as possible was a team task featured on Series 1 of Taskmaster, as the third task in Down an octave. The task was won by Josh Widdicombe, Roisin Conaty and Romesh Ranganathan in 11 minutes and 12 seconds. The task is presented in a squash court. The teams had to score 11...
Now that you mention it, I have a vague feeling something similar has happened to me, fairly recently (as in this year, but couldn't narrow it down beyond that), and I only barely registered it. Was it briefly and just after the countdown?
Problem with this is, if it isn't just a bug, how do we recreate this? Going on Jorki's last post, I now have in mind a different British TV program: Taskmaster. Specifically a task that asks the contestants to "get to 11 points as fast as possible".
Get to 11 points as fast as possible was a team task featured on Series 1 of Taskmaster, as the third task in Down an octave. The task was won by Josh Widdicombe, Roisin Conaty and Romesh Ranganathan in 11 minutes and 12 seconds. The task is presented in a squash court. The teams had to score 11...
Step 1 is to show whether it's a bug or not. We're just collecting info atm. Interesting to hear you saw a planet too, do you recall any details?
We currently have 4 videos showing a similar-looking planet. We're looking for a similar video showing any other planet to debunk this. Really just need people to get googling and add more videos to the pile! Or find out from Fdev if it's a bug (that's the easier and less accessible option).
If it's not a bug, then we don't know it's related to Raxxla even, but we can cross that bridge when we get there.
Edit: We have video evidence of this "bug" existing for the last 4 years. Anecdotal evidence of it happening since the very early days of the game pre-horizons.
I've been playing since beta and whilst I've seen planets and stars do all kinds of weird stuff when entering a system or leaving that look like glitches, never seen one midway through a jump...
My view is just log a ticket with FD and ask... If it's a bug/defect or a feature and not if it's anything to do with Raxxla...
I've been playing since beta and whilst I've seen planets and stars do all kinds of weird stuff when entering a system or leaving that look like glitches, never seen one midway through a jump...
My view is just log a ticket with FD and ask... If it's a bug/defect or a feature and not if it's anything to do with Raxxla...
If I am remembering correctly, it was a rather monochrome planet and could well have been pretty much the same as the pictures. However, I could just have a minor memory fragment that my brain is putting together through influence of information I've read here (I'm not trusting my memory that much atm).
Anyway, I think it was probably around the bubble rather than during deep space exploration. I also think it might not have been the first time. From now on though, I'm going back to keeping Geforce experience on withthe instant record facility in case it happens again. Not too sure what I do if I see it VR though. But I don't play in VR that often anyway, particulaly if I'm going to do on foot gameplay.
I've been through the issue tracker (bug reporting) looking for all bugs related to hyperspace/witchspace.
The following are reported or confirmed bugs with multiple reports accessible on the issue tracker. I want to stress - this is what's in the official Fdev bug tracker. This isn't scraped from the internet at large, these are the ones reported to Fdev in the tracker. I've compiled the 150+ reports into the below categories:
Braben Tunnel (infinite blue tunnel BEFORE the jump to witchspace)
Infinite witchspace tunnel (essentially the tunnel never ends)
Often requires hard-stop on game to get out of
Occasionally resolves like a normal jump after an unusually long time
Jump Loop (jumping from a star, going through a normal withchspace tunnel only to arrive at the star you just left)
Jump exit error (on exiting the witchspace tunnel, you end up in a star or way too near one, often happens in close binaries, etc.).
Crash on exit (jump goes either normally or becomes Infinite tunnel, but does end, the instant the "whoomp" sounds the game crashes.)
I excluded ones relating to VR, or the Dethrottle glitch, or issues with multicrew strangeness and a few others that weren't related strictly to the actual hyperspace jump, one report of a lighting glitch, etc.
The above are all familiar to me and I'm sure anyone that's been playing for any length of time. Most of these are related to network errors, lag spikes, server-client communications, and the pattern is very familiar to most people that are used to playing MMOs, especially older or less stable ones.
Please, please read this before posting a reply:
I'm not saying this is conclusive at all All I'm showing here is the "common known bugs" with witchspace jumps, the bugs that have been reported (usually often) and Fdev has seen and aware of. Nothing more or less. As I said, I think most players experience these over time too.
So, when someone says "That's a known bug" in future, be aware that the above list is the "known bugs", anything else is NOT a currently known bug. If you do think you find a bug please doreport it here on the issue tracker
Obviously I may have missed some/lots. If any of you can show bug reports/patch notes that can add to this list of known witchspace bugs (even if they were fixed) please link your sources and I'll add to the list so we all have access to a collected list of known bugs for future investigations, thanks
I think the only one of those I've not experienced is the loop. That sounds like it'd be confusing.
I've also so far never had the specific permutation of the infinite tunnel where the colours shift as seen earlier in the thread.
Nice work, but ... Sorry to leave a discouraging comment; It doesn't help us much in this case.
I'm afraid it's hard to conclude "its not a bug" with the lack of FDev response - or lack of the correct issue in the issue-tracker.
We can only disregard the whole idea if FDev gets a reproduction/clear cut issue in the tracker, they acknowledge it and declares it as a bug.
Personally I don't like to involve FDev at all in such questions, but that's just me. I'd like to figure it out on my/our own.
But, choices given I'll be keep following other leads, I got a gut feeling too that it may be a glitch somehow.
However, I'm really glad to see YOU take such an interest in this case though.
Same, and that's not on any bug report or bug tracker I've seen. Nor are 'planets in witchspace', sadly.
I've temporarily shelved any investigation other than the planet, but I have that "green tunnel" (3 different videos of it) and the "UFO" (which I now have 2 videos of - one of which is a report from Obsidiant Ant himself - and some screenshots/discussion of other UFO's seen in witchspace - not sure if related).
I am still actively looking for any other videos (or any reports at all) of planets in witchspace but I think we're dealing with a number of factors:
A rare event
People stop 'seeing' witchspace after a while
Many people (especially newer or casual players) may not really notice if it's a quick thing, or forget soon after
Many, Many people automatically assume it's a bug and ignore it
Of those that don't fall into the above, only a few will have the ability to record video
Of those that do record it, only some will share it publicly (if it's shared in private groups, facebook groups, on twitch, etc. it's hard to find)
Some of those that do share it will do so in languages I can't speak and my computer will automatically filter out of easy searches
Of those that do post in a findable way for me, they may not post it under a title or use words I'm looking for
Essentially finding 4 video examples, a couple of photos, and a handful of anecdotal memories fits with the above "great filter" Still, I feel like just one video of any other planet type will resolve this instantly. I'm expecting to find a gas giant since they're so common.
I'm reminded of a quote of questionable provenance (it comes from Dew Wager, so more than a pinch of salt needed here) about Braben saying something like "We know why people haven't found it" with relation to Raxxla. I keep thinking about that every time I've seen anyone mention anything in witchspace: The guaranteed replies will include "It's a bug" "witchspace is just a loading screen" "Networking error" "your computer is bad and loading things wrong" "The game is bad and loading things wrong".
Obvs that questionable quote could mean anything, and it's probably not true at all and all these things may well be bugs... but this thread (and countless other quests) have failed to find Raxxla or moved even one step forward (that we know of) for 8 years now, but many things have been eliminated from the possible candidates.
I just don't like the idea of arbitrarily dismissing anything - especially something that's been experienced repeatedly over potentially the last 8 years - without investigation
[Link goes to a thread I posted a while go detailing the encounter that several CMDRs and I had with the 'Maelstrom' a few months back when UIA#2 first appeared. While we were investigating (and involving Canonn discord etc) we were repeatedly told about how this "early discovery" style glitch happens a lot. We all remember things like the barancle discovery glitch, etc.]
This time thought we do have both start and end of the jump reported: "Jumping from Lave 2 to HIP 38225 a planet appeared inside the Witchspace so I started recording."
Screengrab of the "Witchspace Planet" in the video for comparison:
Lave 2 in Odyssey, I tried to match the viewpoint of the carrier:
To me this doesn't look like a match for the planet in the video. What do you guys reckon?
Next I went to the HIP 38225 system, planet A1 (the carrier's destination):
Very obviously the planet from the video I couldn't quite match the same geography because the planet is half in darkness, but it's very clearly the same planet. If you spin it round in the system map you can see that exact same surface feature:
Obviously this is just that one carrier video, but I'm going to try the same thing with the other carrier video we have, we know the destination of that carrier so should be easy to identify if that planet is the same as the one seen in witchspace there.
Doing this for the pre-odyssey ones will be harder, but I'll give it a go.
I'm personally happy that this is the solution to these two carrier videos. Thoughts?
Edit: I do just want to point out that ALL of the armchair tech support people in the reddit thread commenting on this were wrong. They ALL said it was the origin planet getting pulled along in the animation.
I wonder if it's pulling the destination planet from the system map of the destination and preloading that as some kind of placeholder that's meant to billboard on arrival to hide it popping in?
forums.frontier.co.uk
) to calm my nerves, & have finished my salted cashew nuts.
result in this case!
