The Single Player/Offline Discussion Thread

[monkeyspunk]

single player offline?

Will the finished version have single player offline? I've not long been playing single player but today the nets gone down ... I hate games you got to be online to play single player

 

[MikeSnos]

Will the finished version have single player offline? I've not long been playing single player but today the nets gone down ... I hate games you got to be online to play single player

Hi yes... there will be several options

• Single Player Offline with a static galaxy with no changes
• Single Player Online with a dynamic changing galaxy impacted by player changes and injected events
• Multiplayer Online with a dynamic changing galaxy impacted by player changes and injected events

You can also choose to play Multiplayer and pick and choose who gets to take part in your instance - ie friend matching and ignore lists. The choices are many in effect.

 

[monkeyspunk]

Cheers thanks for that info.. that makes me feel a lot happier

 

[MikeSnos]

Cheers thanks for that info.. that makes me feel a lot happier

Happy to help

Enjoy the game

 

[gazzareth]

Those forced validity checks and post install activations for the singleplayer part of the game is totally unacceptable for me, but i am totally fine with tamper checks and validation when one attempts to log on for some multiplayer for obvious reasons.

Might be unacceptable for you, but you are in a tiny minority. Can't see that having to login to play is any sort of issue, except for pirate scumbags who want to get their hands on stuff for nothing.

G

 

[MikeSnos]

Media to install is not protected whether via DVD or Download. The protection is via authentication (your login) to the FD server. I would imagine that there will be protection in place for the Offline players so they can only 'activate' one offline instance at a time... If you move computers you'd need to logon again... There would only be one logged in instance per login at any one time.

 

[Dr Zachary Smith]

Greetings, and a first post from a Kickstarter backer and a Long time lurker

I have some questions i haven't been able to find answers to, and i hope that someone from frontier can shed some light on this.

I have been a little concerned about complete off-line functionality. I know that one will be able to play off-line according to the official statements, but since my main machine isn't (and not going to be) connected at all, the ability to install AND play the game without any mandatory initial login, validation, and activation is of great importance to me.
I certainly don't hope that the final game will get crippled in that manner?

Another question, - will the game be portable?
I reinstall my OS quite often - and i very much prefer to be able to archive the game and its future expansions, and move it back onto my main system (or a new system) without the need to re-download and authenticate it all over again.

Honestly man I am sympathetic, but really these days it is unreasonable to expect software developers to even consider that you may not have an internet connection, this is the kind of thing that I was bothered about 15 yrs ago when I had dialup. If there is an authentication process I'm sure you can take your laptop to Starbucks or ask for network key of a neighbour ? etc etc etc.

In my experience most every game is portable you just have to know what files it puts where and reg keys etc when it installs export the registry after an install and keep that file, then copy all the user data and associated folders, I don't see why it wouldn't work if done properly.

 

[Dr Wookie]

I can't remember where he said this, it's in some interview somewhere, but David Braben gives the impression of a rather relaxed attitude to piracy... he said something about hoping that people who pirate the single player game will be convinced to buy an account for multiplayer.

So maybe you don't need authentication for an offline account.

 

[monkeyspunk]

Happy to help

Enjoy the game

Finding it hard work but learning keyboard layout, ship layout and slowly getting there lol

 

[Bromley86]

Only thing to add is that you'll likely need to sign in once to verify the installation before playing SP offline.

 

[monkeyspunk]

Only thing to add is that you'll likely need to sign in once to verify the installation before playing SP offline.

That's cool..no problem.. i can live with that lol

 

[Dungeoncrawler]

Hi yes... there will be several options

• Single Player Offline with a static galaxy with no changes
• Single Player Online with a dynamic changing galaxy impacted by player changes and injected events
• Multiplayer Online with a dynamic changing galaxy impacted by player changes and injected events

You can also choose to play Multiplayer and pick and choose who gets to take part in your instance - ie friend matching and ignore lists. The choices are many in effect.

Are these modes available now? I was under the impression that single player offline and friends matching would be implemented in Beta 1? Thank you.

 

[themetalcrow]

offline singleplayer mode question

is there an offline singleplayer mode?

i thought originally that's all there was gonna be but now it seems far more multiplayer dependent?

will the background simulations still run in offline and will i still be able to influence the galaxy offline, even if alot less?

i know i will have to connect for any of the developer updates just like SC, but will the galaxy evolve or be influenced by just me at all offline?

also, what happened to procedural generation and random mission generation? if multiplayer dependent, can i still get a different galaxy on every fresh start i do in the game or what?

will my actions and allegiances with various factions still influence random mission generation in offline or what?

basically how will offline work now?

thanks garrett

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

is there an offline singleplayer mode?

i thought originally that's all there was gonna be but now it seems far more multiplayer dependent?

will the background simulations still run in offline and will i still be able to influence the galaxy offline, even if alot less?

i know i will have to connect for any of the developer updates just like SC, but will the galaxy evolve or be influenced by just me at all offline?

also, what happened to procedural generation and random mission generation? if multiplayer dependent, can i still get a different galaxy on every fresh start i do in the game or what?

will my actions and allegiances with various factions still influence random mission generation in offline or what?

basically how will offline work now?

thanks garrett

There's single player offline mode, it will be separate game basically, with it's own universe with far limited dynamism comparing to online counterpart;
Currently we are testing online, so no offline mode available yet to test;
We don't know about level of impact player will have on galaxy in single player offline yet, however FD have said many times they will try to make it enjoyable as much as possible. We don't know anything more, sorry.

 

[Nagual]

is there an offline singleplayer mode?

i thought originally that's all there was gonna be but now it seems far more multiplayer dependent?

Solo offline will be available come the games release. Current testing is all online though.

will the background simulations still run in offline and will i still be able to influence the galaxy offline, even if alot less?

In offline the background will be simulated, but you'll miss out on injected events etc.

i know i will have to connect for any of the developer updates just like SC, but will the galaxy evolve or be influenced by just me at all offline?

You probably won't get the galaxy evolving from the MP side of things. Just what you do, which may be very little in the grand scheme of things.

also, what happened to procedural generation and random mission generation? if multiplayer dependent, can i still get a different galaxy on every fresh start i do in the game or what?

Procedural generations means the galaxy will always be the same at the start, it's not random at all. The game just uses very sophisticated algorithms to work out where everything has to be.

will my actions and allegiances with various factions still influence random mission generation in offline or what?

basically how will offline work now?

thanks garrett

Nothing for certain is known about the offline version, but I doubt that much will be different other than no other human players. Everything else should be the same.

 

[themetalcrow]

Procedural generations means the galaxy will always be the same at the start, it's not random at all. The game just uses very sophisticated algorithms to work out where everything has to be.


.

are you sure about that? maybe not random but i thought it mean content and the like are procedural generated each time based on algorithms. basically if a variable is changed within the algorithm then something different would be generated than with another variable? so it wouldn't be the same. so not random but not exactly them same every time right. the seed would change. is that not what procedural generation is?

like in limit theory that's what is does?
the difference being that limit theory is based completely on that

garrett

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

are you sure about that? maybe not random but i thought it mean content and the like are procedural generated each time based on algorithms. basically if a variable is changed within the algorithm then something different would be generated than with another variable? so it wouldn't be the same. so not random but not exactly them same every time right. the seed would change. is that not what procedural generation is?

like in limit theory that's what is does?
the difference being that limit theory is based completely on that

garrett

It's not random, it's Milky Way galaxy with lot of authored systems, including Sol and Earth, and lot of PG generated systems, but using proper values and is actually very complex system.

 

[Tinman]

I think you might be talking about different things to some degree.

PG can be "random" if that is what you want it to be or it can be very specific just giving the same result every time. All depending on the algorithem and seed that is used.

The environment in ED will always be the same. The "seed" will here be fixed and not something you can change. The stars, planets, asteroids, comets and everything else will always be identical at the same locations and orbits every time you start the game from the beginning.

The events and other type of activities within the world (missions, trade, politics...) can potentially be different depending on how these things are set up. So you will always get a new experience when playing the game.

 

[themetalcrow]

yeah, i would definately prefer the missions, trade, factions, skirmishes and the like at least somewhat different in offline every time i play than where the planets are.

to me, calling even a multiplayer dependent game dynamic is a joke. yes it's dynamic but anything with mostly to completely populated by humans will be. im hoping that especially without a scripted story that the game will be decently programed for dynamic play even for the offline solo player.

privateer 2 fit this bill pretty good for me and that was many years ago, so i hope elite dangerous will be at least that fun and dynamic a solo game now. especially considering the elite series was mostly for solo play.
garrett

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

yeah, i would definately prefer the missions, trade, factions, skirmishes and the like at least somewhat different in offline every time i play than where the planets are.

to me, calling even a multiplayer dependent game dynamic is a joke. yes it's dynamic but anything with mostly to completely populated by humans will be. im hoping that especially without a scripted story that the game will be decently programed for dynamic play even for the offline solo player.

privateer 2 fit this bill pretty good for me and that was many years ago, so i hope elite dangerous will be at least that fun and dynamic a solo game now. especially considering the elite series was mostly for solo play.
garrett

It's not that dynamic as you think. When FD talks about that, they mean background sim and persistent universe. With lot of players changing numbers and balance, they can create truly interesting scenarios.

However as I said FD have said they will try to make single player offline fun in it's own way. Most likely some of simulation will be done by computer itself. Let's just wait and see what they will offer to us