Unable to Locate Bio/Geo Notable Signal Sources (ODYSSEY)

[CMDR CaptainScrotium]

Hey CMDRS

Is anyone else unable to find geological and biological notable signal sources on planet surfaces in Odyssey? Surface features such as fumaroles, geysers, and gas vents are not popping up on the in the navigation panel after scanning like usual.

Other surface features such as impact sites and wreckage appear as signals in the navigation panel as normal.

I understand the DSS heat map is now used to locate certain planet features but I have flown all around planets with listed geological features cycling through DSS heat map filters of things like "geyser" and "fumarole" and am unable to discern any changes in the heat map that might indicate this is how these features are located.

Are the Biological/Geological notable signal sources currently bugged in Odyssey or is there something I am missing?

Any assistance would be appreciated o7

 

[camenecius]

I think they have been removed, and I read elsewhere in the forums that the number of features represents different types rather than sites now. It's all pretty vague at this point.

I've had some success finding geological features in the bright(er) blue areas. There's more looking around, like finding meteorites, rather than finding a dense cluster of features.

So far when I've tried prospecting, it's all one grade 1 element in the area--even crystal fragments and needles. Picking up one of the latter causes a server transaction error and crashes me out to the main menu.

I have not seen any differences using any of the filters in the worlds I've surveyed. Of course there's no documentation or tutorial about this, like the FSS has. Hard to say what's a bug and what's WAI.

 

[Gut]

I found two so far , but only because they were next to wreckage sites . And who put Skimmers on all the planets i want to know lol

 

[varonica]

Hey CMDRS

Is anyone else unable to find geological and biological notable signal sources on planet surfaces in Odyssey? Surface features such as fumaroles, geysers, and gas vents are not popping up on the in the navigation panel after scanning like usual.

Other surface features such as impact sites and wreckage appear as signals in the navigation panel as normal.

I understand the DSS heat map is now used to locate certain planet features but I have flown all around planets with listed geological features cycling through DSS heat map filters of things like "geyser" and "fumarole" and am unable to discern any changes in the heat map that might indicate this is how these features are located.

Are the Biological/Geological notable signal sources currently bugged in Odyssey or is there something I am missing?

Any assistance would be appreciated o7

They don't show in the nav panels, you have to use the DSS and heat map filters. Fly down to the darkest colour area, launch your SRV and follow the radar lines to the nearest feature;

I suppose it's possible the filters are dodgy, but it's also possible that on many bodies fumaroles, geysers and gas vents all occur as a result of the same geological activities and all appear in the same areas.

 

[varonica]

I found two so far , but only because they were next to wreckage sites . And who put Skimmers on all the planets i want to know lol

Yeah the skimmers are a pain, I just tend to ignore them in areas where they shouldn't be, everywhere in the bubble yes that sort of makes sense, not far out in the black.

 

[CMDR CaptainScrotium]

They don't show in the nav panels, you have to use the DSS and heat map filters. Fly down to the darkest colour area, launch your SRV and follow the radar lines to the nearest feature;

I suppose it's possible the filters are dodgy, but it's also possible that on many bodies fumaroles, geysers and gas vents all occur as a result of the same geological activities and all appear in the same areas.

Thank you Veronica. I haven't tried this yet but by following radar lines do you mean the using the scanner on the SRV as you do in horizons to locate surface features? Or is this something new to Odyssey as well?

 

[CMDR CaptainScrotium]

Thank you Veronica. I haven't tried this yet but by following radar lines do you mean the using the scanner on the SRV as you do in horizons to locate surface features? Or is this something new to Odyssey as well?

****varonica

 

[varonica]

Thank you Veronica. I haven't tried this yet but by following radar lines do you mean the using the scanner on the SRV as you do in horizons to locate surface features? Or is this something new to Odyssey as well?

Yes that's right. I dropped into a darkish blue area, hopped in the SRV and looked for the radar lines that indicate mats, different lines indicate different things. A couple of times doing it I did find meteorites but that's mainly down to luck, but one set led me to the volcanic site, as I said they aren't everywhere, but they will be nearby, and it's almost impossible to spot them flying across the ground in your ship unless they have really outstanding plumes like the geyser I spotted!

 

[CMDR CaptainScrotium]

So upon trying this a tad, I'm really upset if this is the way this works now.

I have been flying over the galaxy completing my Codex and this seems to make doing that 10x harder. In addition, using the SRV wave scanner before to farm mats was silly and slow. Instead locating systems with surface features, (brain trees, bark mounds, crystalline shards, etc), and farming those planetary signal sources (which appeared in the nav panel) was the best way to go.

So now impact sites and other POI's show up in the NAV panel but bio/geo surface features have been removed from the NAV panel? Are they no longer POI's?

I have to land on the planet and drive around with my SRV and 'luckily' find these? What do the signals look like on the Wave Scanner that indicate these features? I haven't noticed any new signals from before.

Wave Scanner

Wave Scanner is an SRV-specific module that is currently only available on the Scarab. It is a unidirectional, long-range, forward-facing scanner that detects a variety of objects and points of interest, including ships, Skimmers, Defence Turrets, data points, Raw Material deposits, and Cargo...

elite-dangerous.fandom.com

 

[Queex]

So upon trying this a tad, I'm really upset if this is the way this works now.

I have been flying over the galaxy completing my Codex and this seems to make doing that 10x harder. In addition, using the SRV wave scanner before to farm mats was silly and slow. Instead locating systems with surface features, (brain trees, bark mounds, crystalline shards, etc), and farming those planetary signal sources (which appeared in the nav panel) was the best way to go.

So now impact sites and other POI's show up in the NAV panel but bio/geo surface features have been removed from the NAV panel? Are they no longer POI's?

I have to land on the planet and drive around with my SRV and 'luckily' find these? What do the signals look like on the Wave Scanner that indicate these features? I haven't noticed any new signals from before.

Wave Scanner

Wave Scanner is an SRV-specific module that is currently only available on the Scarab. It is a unidirectional, long-range, forward-facing scanner that detects a variety of objects and points of interest, including ships, Skimmers, Defence Turrets, data points, Raw Material deposits, and Cargo...

elite-dangerous.fandom.com

Bio doesn't show up on the wave scanner at all.

I've tried and tried to get into finding bio things to sample, but at present it a pure waste of time. You can fly or drive for tens of minutes through areas that are supposed to have life signs and there's nothing there. Most of the time you don't even know what you're supposed to be looking for, and that's even before you get hot areas that are nothing but broken ground so even driving or flying is a chore. I'm out until they give us more to work with to find stuff. It's not even remotely enjoyable.

 

[iain666]

I have been flying over the galaxy completing my Codex and this seems to make doing that 10x harder. In addition, using the SRV wave scanner before to farm mats was silly and slow. Instead locating systems with surface features, (brain trees, bark mounds, crystalline shards, etc), and farming those planetary signal sources (which appeared in the nav panel) was the best way to go.

I still mostly do it the srv scanner way in Horizons, I just find it more fun driving around a big area chasing signals then pottering around a tiny site criss-crossing it trying to hit all the growths.

So making the geo/bio sites a lot more spread out seems like a win to me.

 

[Grumlop]

U need to use the vss scannner and switch between the bio signals.
The signals are mostly spread over the planet some are rarely found.

Its not a single Spot anymore... u need to watch the colors. in thes Planes u can find the bios u looking for.

 

[sandalle]

What are these heat map filters you speak of? I'm in DSS above a planet (100% scanned with one Biological Signal on Hyades Sector PI-K B8-2 A 6) and it's mostly white (black on the dark side) for tall points and then variations of blue into the valleys (if that's the heat map you mean). I see no options in DSS nor in Planet View from System Map to apply any kind of a filter. I even flew to many of the darker spots on the planet (as I got closer to some of the blue points, though most of the planet was "blue" shading, they resolved into more of a greenish color and looked like algae), but my ship, SRV, and suit say there is nothing to scan there. None of the colors seem to stand out and say "Here be something interesting!" All of the darker blue spots I see just turn out to be ravines with nothing in them.

 

[varonica]

What are these heat map filters you speak of? I'm in DSS above a planet (100% scanned with one Biological Signal on Hyades Sector PI-K B8-2 A 6) and it's mostly white (black on the dark side) for tall points and then variations of blue into the valleys (if that's the heat map you mean). I see no options in DSS nor in Planet View from System Map to apply any kind of a filter. I even flew to many of the darker spots on the planet (as I got closer to some of the blue points, though most of the planet was "blue" shading, they resolved into more of a greenish color and looked like algae), but my ship, SRV, and suit say there is nothing to scan there. None of the colors seem to stand out and say "Here be something interesting!" All of the darker blue spots I see just turn out to be ravines with nothing in them.

They disabled the heat map because some players were finding it confusing.

One bio signal is one type of biology and it will scattered all over the blue, it will be bacteria, they are extremely difficult to find unless you use specific techniques I described earlier in the thread.

Bio doesn't show up on the wave scanner at all.

I've tried and tried to get into finding bio things to sample, but at present it a pure waste of time. You can fly or drive for tens of minutes through areas that are supposed to have life signs and there's nothing there. Most of the time you don't even know what you're supposed to be looking for, and that's even before you get hot areas that are nothing but broken ground so even driving or flying is a chore. I'm out until they give us more to work with to find stuff. It's not even remotely enjoyable.

No it doesn't, the mats on bio show up, so bio that has mats, Brain Trees for instance, show up, geo shows up because it has mats. If you are flying and driving for ten minutes looking for bio then as above you are probably on a body with one bio signal and it will be bacteria, look for bodies with 2 or more bio signals, it's much easier to find if it's not bacteria I can guarantee that.

 

[Alex_Fighter]

Seems a bit silly, when human signals like crash sites still are shown in the systems and you can select them from the ship. The added this to the game because a lot of them are being missed, and now they remove them, but leving the human ones?

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Seems a bit silly, when human signals like crash sites still are shown in the systems and you can select them from the ship. The added this to the game because a lot of them are being missed, and now they remove them, but leving the human ones?

The human ones are kept because there are literally only five (or whatever) human POIs on the entire planet. The biological / geological ones are scattered across and usually fairly common on half the planet - if every single cluster and site was marked there would be tens of thousands of them on the nav panel.

In a few tens of kilometres flying above an ice world earlier, I found seven or eight major clusters of one type of life, plus countless minor clusters and isolated plants all around, plus scattered examples of two other types. In the old system - just for one tiny segment of the planet - that would have been hundreds of POIs on the nav panel.

It takes a bit of getting used to but it's definitely one of the cases where the Odyssey planets do much better than the Horizons ones.

 

[sandalle]

The human ones are kept because there are literally only five (or whatever) human POIs on the entire planet. The biological / geological ones are scattered across and usually fairly common on half the planet - if every single cluster and site was marked there would be tens of thousands of them on the nav panel.

In a few tens of kilometres flying above an ice world earlier, I found seven or eight major clusters of one type of life, plus countless minor clusters and isolated plants all around, plus scattered examples of two other types. In the old system - just for one tiny segment of the planet - that would have been hundreds of POIs on the nav panel.

It takes a bit of getting used to but it's definitely one of the cases where the Odyssey planets do much better than the Horizons ones.

Except when you can't find them no matter where you search on the planet and a POI would be wonderful (see my, and others', posts above). Could do a POI for "center of mass" for each group with a maximum # of POIs (say 3?) per Biological type to keep the count low but also give us some clue as to where to look.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Except when you can't find them no matter where you search on the planet and a POI would be wonderful (see my, and others', posts above). Could do a POI for "center of mass" for each group with a maximum # of POIs (say 3?) per Biological type to keep the count low but also give us some clue as to where to look.

Oh, I've definitely had trouble finding them on occasion - though it seems better now, other than bacteria which can be tough to spot anyway, since the last hotfix I've always found what was claimed to be there.

I don't mind it taking a bit of effort to find some of them - means I'm actually doing some exploration rather than just flying to where the DSS tells me to, and is more of an incentive to fly low over the terrain rather than just hopping in orbital cruise from site to site.

 

[Queex]

Yeah, I'm definitely down with something a bit more engaging than 'set target and glide in'; it just seemed that some blue areas simply didn't have what was supposed to be there, and once you'd landed and found nothing in the vicinity all you could do was try again somewhere slightly different.

The old process of having to cruise up and glide down over and over again to make sure you'd found everything on a body, and mostly finding dupes of the first couple, was not great and I really wouldn't like that process to make a return except without the iterable list of places to check.

 

[Orvidius]

So far I prefer the new system, for exploration rather than for material collecting. There's no denying that collecting materials with those small POIs was a lot easier. But I do miss the days where collecting mats meant driving around for a bit. That was a lot more time consuming, certainly, but gave a reason to explore with the SRV. In contrast, the POIs took all of the gameplay out of it. But that was quick and convenient, so for gathering mats I loved it.

I just think giving up the quick and easy mats is a reasonable trade-off for making us hunt and explore a little bit to find biology/etc. And it's not too hard if you fly low and slow, and go where the DSS map shows you to go. We also still have the Bug Killer (I assume) for topping up on mats while in the bubble.