Was graphics quality stealth-nerfed in the last update?

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It's not that they are steadily worse. They are being adjusted. Just because you have a high-end computer, doesn't mean everyone else does. The game is playable either way if you do, but causes problems for others if it's optimized at a higher level. Should the devs satisfy just your higher end tastes or maximize the game so that the majority doesn't have issues? Surely if you are any form of actual computer gamer, you would understand this, as it is only a basic principle. They will change and go up and down as new features are added and new ways of enhancing performance are tested. Just because it is optimized one way doesn't mean it will stay that way. And default settings are often changed. Check yours and improve them by hand where applicable. Don't whine about something that is a basic part of any game development.

Lower the settings if you want to play this on your potato. Dont whine about something that is a basic part of any game.
 
This is not 'proof' of anything

Correct - I didn't claim proof. It is evidence, but there's only enough to draw speculation, not conclusion.

Stop crossing your Xbox disapproval

I welcome the xbox players - I have stated that several times. They're an important revenue stream, and a chance for more people to enjoy Elite.

you continue to argue more about Xbox taking priority over PC?

I don't believe the xbox is taking priority. I do see the PC graphic qualities being reduced though. To quote myself:

If the change in the way the neutron field is displayed has not been done as a result of the limitations of the xbox, then why ? If its to assist with compatibility on lower spec PCs then surely they would have made this change only apply to the "low" and "medium" graphic settings in the game options....it should not be included in the "high" and "ultra" settings.

Xbox parity is only one possibility.

there really is no use continuing a conversation like this.

I agree.
 
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As has been posted above, Frontier have acknowledged there is an issue with the ring systems. However we don't know to what extent that is at the moment. For what it's worth here is a comparison shot anyway (using PC shots from CaptainKremmen).
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The dust is a known issue that is being looked into but I think the light source has changed in the demo. I swivelled around to look at the milky way and it looks somewhat better. This is in 1.3.06 for reference.

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Lower the settings if you want to play this on your potato. Dont whine about something that is a basic part of any game.

Did I ever say I play on a lower spec machine? People like you making posts without having read the full thread or even trying to grasp the meaning of a post give forums a bad name. Where in my post did I do any whining? I would love it if you would point it out to me. I made a statement based on the OP's statement and those of others within this post. I supported that statement with logical details that atest to that statement's validity. I explained a portion of game development in the most simplified format I could to appease the majority of readers. If you consider any of that whining then obviously you have no sense of what whining really is. And you most certainly have no sense as to what a logical person would post. Game optimization is a standard part of game development. Optimizing graphics in this game will undoubtedly change quality and performance for both ends of the spectrum. You are not the only gamer playing this game in case you didn't know. The development team does not exist to appease only you, or other top spec computer gamers. The game is optimized to be playable by everyone. This process improves and lowers graphics quality over time. The process attempts to find the best settings that will generate the best performance for the widest variety of machines. Once again, settings exist to be changed by those with any kind of machine, but it is unavoidable that the overall scale of graphics will change over time. If you have a better method for video game development, feel free to share; but once again, as I have described, this is considered the most effective method by the majority of development teams. If the development bothers you so much, don't play the game. But do not sit there and expect that changes will not occur. I bought the game for the upcoming features and endgame image, as did most people. It is for this reason I will accept the fluctuations in game content, bugs, and quality during these stages. This is by no means the final copy of this game, so there is no point in complaining about graphics which will undoubtedly be altered repeatedly throughout development. That was the purpose of my earlier post. Anyone with intelligence would understand that rather than seeing it as whining. Channel your energy into other more meaningful development things, like the content and bugs. Don't waste time posting about things that are bound to change. If you still consider this whining, then feel free to check yourself out of the forums, as everyone will be posting your dreaded whiny posts and it will save yourself the trouble.
 
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Then again, approaching planets in SC has never been smoother.

I would say that draw distance approaching planets is now perfect so we really can't say it's all downhill with 1.3, but approaching planets for many players still stutters badly.
It was very smooth for me in 1.3 beta, now it just stutters smoothly. All in all, still an improvement for me.
 
jesus christ the xbox version looks like crap, I didn't realize the disparity was that big, I swear some console games are better looking than PC games, e.g Last of Us, Beyond Two Souls (PS3 Exclusives) , that really looks like a downgrade.
 
It's not that they are steadily worse. They are being adjusted. Just because you have a high-end computer, doesn't mean everyone else does. The game is playable either way if you do, but causes problems for others if it's optimized at a higher level. Should the devs satisfy just your higher end tastes or maximize the game so that the majority doesn't have issues? Surely if you are any form of actual computer gamer, you would understand this, as it is only a basic principle. They will change and go up and down as new features are added and new ways of enhancing performance are tested. Just because it is optimized one way doesn't mean it will stay that way. And default settings are often changed. Check yours and improve them by hand where applicable. Don't whine about something that is a basic part of any game development.

Make it possible to take the graphics higher if the machine can cope. Crysis achieved that many years ago and became a benchmark in the process. We have graphics quality settings so why hobble the top end?
 
Make it possible to take the graphics higher if the machine can cope. Crysis achieved that many years ago and became a benchmark in the process. We have graphics quality settings so why hobble the top end?

It's not on purpose usually and it's not an attempt to hurt the higher end of the spectrum. The changes are slight, but noticeable if you run the lowest settings all the time, or if you run the highest settings all the time. These two are generally the most effected by the slight changes in the game. Trying to fix one thing causes something else to suffer. Optimizing is a really rough part of game development, as it can easily make or break a game in terms of visuals and performance. This is why I said the FDevs are really good at it. They are constantly tweaking things to improve the overall standard. But it is a constant process in this case. Changes are unavoidable. I never stated that high spec players should settle for a lower standard. My only point is that complaining about it in the middle of a long term development process like Elite is unnecessary.
 
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There is no reason for the devs to take a crap on people who can actually support graphics like these. What gives FD?!

There is absolutely every reason: MS requires it so that it can claim the Xbone is a "next gen" platform.

Everyone PC knows that every game released in the last 5 years that had simultaneous dev on a console has suffered on the PC because of it. ED is no different. Money talks. And there's more money in console sales than PC. It's just pure numbers. And when those numbers cry about another platform being better... this is what happens. It's no secret. The moment FD decided to go console everyone should have expected it.

The only thing that will come as a surprise is if FD actually enables high end PC's to choose high end textures and high end graphics settings as the option. But it will never be the norm. Consoles are involved and they have more money than you or me.

I may have a $3k machine that makes the ps4 and xbone look like a short bus option, but kids, there are more short busses and that changes the landscape.

But there's a sliver of hope that this isn't the usual and FD is just rolling things back to figure out why/what is causing high end machines to stutter at shader and texture loads....
 
There is absolutely every reason: MS requires it so that it can claim the Xbone is a "next gen" platform.

Everyone PC knows that every game released in the last 5 years that had simultaneous dev on a console has suffered on the PC because of it. ED is no different. Money talks. And there's more money in console sales than PC. It's just pure numbers. And when those numbers cry about another platform being better... this is what happens. It's no secret. The moment FD decided to go console everyone should have expected it.

The only thing that will come as a surprise is if FD actually enables high end PC's to choose high end textures and high end graphics settings as the option. But it will never be the norm. Consoles are involved and they have more money than you or me.

I may have a $3k machine that makes the ps4 and xbone look like a short bus option, but kids, there are more short busses and that changes the landscape.

But there's a sliver of hope that this isn't the usual and FD is just rolling things back to figure out why/what is causing high end machines to stutter at shader and texture loads....


PC's have been sold out, much like the 80's metal bands were in the early 90's. :D I bought an XBox360 for 1 reason only and that was to play Red Dead Redemption because Rockstar wouldn't make it for PC. which is odd as it would have generated positive cash flow for the business, much like FD adding Elite to the Xbone is going to do.
 
i dont know where this FUD of consoles negatively affecting pc games comes from but it's not a rule. Every game i've ever played on both has always allowed the PC to have much more (both in visual effects and resolution) than their console counterpart.

On top of that, this game is not directly interacting with non-xbox instances. So it has no need to 1:1 match both in complexity of models or rendering distance of the PC ports.

I think people are thinking in terms of games that share an instance and the underlying complexity of the game then has to work with the lowest common denominator. Look at Vendetta-online, who's models and gameplay in general needs to work on phones, as well as computers across OS's. This is a game where complexity of the game is now anchored by the android/ios ports needing to run on mobile devices. However, even that game is not limited on PC to not implement higher resolution textures or special effects just because mobile wont support it.

I think the performance stipulations microsoft has for xbox games will be limited to affecting only the xbox port negatively in comparison to pc. Microsoft would not stipulate the pc has to do worse or the same. That's stupid. Microsoft doesn't pay publishers to release their game's for the Xbox , the publishers pay Microsoft. If they had to pay and tie their non-xbox ports to xbox rules they'd just release on the more powerful PS4 instead. This is all just FUD. The same fear mongering that happened when the mac port was being done and happened when it was made public about FD's roller coaster game. Lots of "the world is ending" talk on the forum with no real justification yet.
 
Hahaha, what? Are you for real? Oh man. Elite: Dangerous looked gorgeous and they're purposely dumbing the graphics for the Xbone release? Really?

its possible. planetside 2 totally ruined the controls for planes because of the ps4 at one point :p (They merged their code bases)
 
These threads are always so saddening. While I'm no longer an official voice, hopefully you'll take my word for it that the team sits more in the vein of believing all existing quality can be somehow brought intact to every new platform (and let that bite us in the behind when the time comes) than that a visual downgrade would be at all acceptable at any point.
That's not to say that the graphics won't occasionally change, or take a dip. The cockpits darkening a little, for instance, may be down to the dozens of external lights that were accidentally floodfilling the screen with tiny amounts of extra light each. The fog in the asteroid fields used to have a lot of problems and burned absurd amounts of fillrate, the new system has different problems in different places, but doesn't suddenly cut into the framerate on high-res screens. There's always the chance when a new system comes in that it'll have edge cases with other systems, or it'll "come in hot" and not get any balancing or integration time, and it'll be a mess, but you can always believe that it wasn't meant to.
Anything else - drops in mesh detail, texture quality, etc, really don't make sense. Resources are compiled for the platform that will use them, if the team wants to drop the top level of a bunch of textures for a specific platform (for example), they can just do that. If it looks like that's happened to PC, it's probably a mistake. Maybe someone fixed a legitimate mistake in the streaming system, but accidentally made it think it had less memory to work with, for instance.
If you think it's happened, your best bet is to find concrete examples of the specific places the quality has changed (with identical-as-possible circumstances and settings) and report them as bugs.
 
Considering that they even mention the new optimization fixes often in their changelogs and you can see the changes, especially some of the newer ones (shaders on main menu for instance was a big attempt at optimizing and while it didn't fix issues for everyone, it improved things for a great number of people) yeah, they are changing them constantly. And yes, settings exist. Increase yours but don't whine when they lower something for some reason or alter something. If they never change anything, there is no room for improvement. Like I said, it gets better and worse. You all seem to be of the opinion that FD is out to get you by lowering your standard of graphics. Grow up and let them optimize the game. God knows it needs it. Boo hoo if you don't get to see that render for a few more meters or your screen isn't that perfect image. Acting like a bunch of spoiled brats over your graphics. Have you even played an older Elite? Or an older computer game for that matter? You're all like the console fanboys who were so obsessed over their consoles having the highest end graphics. Look at them now, computers overtook them years ago. Elite has a reputation for high quality sound and graphics. You all are making it sound like the game is being reduced to some poor quality 2D arcade shooter when the changes are subtle attempts to improve your quality of gameplay. Stop overreacting to every little thing. This is just another thread whining about changes to the game that are done to benefit everyone playing but because they don't suit you right this second, it must make it a problem then eh? Once again, grow up. Do any of you actually see the stuff you are complaining about? Slight changes in visuals? Really?

Umm....I think your mommy needs to give you a cookie and some warm milk and send you off to bed. You obviously are over tired!
 
These threads are always so saddening. While I'm no longer an official voice, hopefully you'll take my word for it that the team sits more in the vein of believing all existing quality can be somehow brought intact to every new platform (and let that bite us in the behind when the time comes) than that a visual downgrade would be at all acceptable at any point.
That's not to say that the graphics won't occasionally change, or take a dip. The cockpits darkening a little, for instance, may be down to the dozens of external lights that were accidentally floodfilling the screen with tiny amounts of extra light each. The fog in the asteroid fields used to have a lot of problems and burned absurd amounts of fillrate, the new system has different problems in different places, but doesn't suddenly cut into the framerate on high-res screens. There's always the chance when a new system comes in that it'll have edge cases with other systems, or it'll "come in hot" and not get any balancing or integration time, and it'll be a mess, but you can always believe that it wasn't meant to.
Anything else - drops in mesh detail, texture quality, etc, really don't make sense. Resources are compiled for the platform that will use them, if the team wants to drop the top level of a bunch of textures for a specific platform (for example), they can just do that. If it looks like that's happened to PC, it's probably a mistake. Maybe someone fixed a legitimate mistake in the streaming system, but accidentally made it think it had less memory to work with, for instance.
If you think it's happened, your best bet is to find concrete examples of the specific places the quality has changed (with identical-as-possible circumstances and settings) and report them as bugs.

What is sadder though is that no one from Frontier responds to such posts as these (very rarely if ever) in the fashion you just did, which would cut a lot of the console conspiracy theories and the like off at the knees. Instead, it just festers, and re-appears, and festers some more. Nor do they usually let us know when (if ever) such mistakes or unintended changes/side effects get corrected (other than sometimes in rather vague patch notes that are sometimes almost impossible to match to a specific issue or set of issues).
 
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These threads are always so saddening. While I'm no longer an official voice, hopefully you'll take my word for it that the team sits more in the vein of believing all existing quality can be somehow brought intact to every new platform (and let that bite us in the behind when the time comes) than that a visual downgrade would be at all acceptable at any point.
That's not to say that the graphics won't occasionally change, or take a dip. The cockpits darkening a little, for instance, may be down to the dozens of external lights that were accidentally floodfilling the screen with tiny amounts of extra light each. The fog in the asteroid fields used to have a lot of problems and burned absurd amounts of fillrate, the new system has different problems in different places, but doesn't suddenly cut into the framerate on high-res screens. There's always the chance when a new system comes in that it'll have edge cases with other systems, or it'll "come in hot" and not get any balancing or integration time, and it'll be a mess, but you can always believe that it wasn't meant to.
Anything else - drops in mesh detail, texture quality, etc, really don't make sense. Resources are compiled for the platform that will use them, if the team wants to drop the top level of a bunch of textures for a specific platform (for example), they can just do that. If it looks like that's happened to PC, it's probably a mistake. Maybe someone fixed a legitimate mistake in the streaming system, but accidentally made it think it had less memory to work with, for instance.
If you think it's happened, your best bet is to find concrete examples of the specific places the quality has changed (with identical-as-possible circumstances and settings) and report them as bugs.

Thanks very much for that! :)

We're trying to put up specific examples where possible. My little contribution was referenced here, when I had the bright idea of simply loading into the "toxic waste barrel" training mission in both the latest client and that spinoff standalone "Combat Training Demo v1.00" build we can download separately.

Hopefully, examples like that, and the "Zaonce 1 (1.2 vs. 1.3) will be seen, and will highlight the issue sufficiently to get it tracked down.


I hope it gets addressed soon, as I'm currently heading towards the "East" quadrant of the galaxy, and some of the holiday snaps aren't half as pretty as they should be... and I know for sure I'll never come exactly this way again.
 
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