What IS this signal on the wave scanner? You never arrive at it.

[Leadfoot]

Noted these "spurious" high-band signals on the wave scanner in Odyssey on my way to Beagle Point (about 60 jumps to go!!!). Since I've been landing on planets/moons with biological signals recently I thought they might be hints at where plants might be found but that doesn't seem to actually be the case. They seem "wavy" and sometimes appear at random locations on the scanner, fade in and out. You can point your SRV at them, drive at full speed and never get to them. Usually something like this is what I start to see for a life pod up ahead or a downed satellite or something along those lines.

Big "splotch" on the right side but you can see the straight top-to-bottom lines to the left of the splotch. I've learned to not bother with them. Just curious.

 

[Riverside]

The vertical lines represent the same thing in Odyssey they do in Horizons - a distant unresolved target.

However in Odyssey they only (usefully) resolve into rocks now (presumably they also indicate POIs in Odyssey, I haven't checked).

 

[nanite2000]

Noted these "spurious" high-band signals on the wave scanner in Odyssey on my way to Beagle Point (about 60 jumps to go!!!). Since I've been landing on planets/moons with biological signals recently I thought they might be hints at where plants might be found but that doesn't seem to actually be the case. They seem "wavy" and sometimes appear at random locations on the scanner, fade in and out. You can point your SRV at them, drive at full speed and never get to them. Usually something like this is what I start to see for a life pod up ahead or a downed satellite or something along those lines.

Big "splotch" on the right side but you can see the straight top-to-bottom lines to the left of the splotch. I've learned to not bother with them. Just curious.

It's supposed to represent 'background noise' (like background hiss on an analog radio).

Historically, in Horizons, they were supposed to make you think there was something there so you'd go looking for it, until a random signal actually showed up on the scanner, providing the illusion of the signal resolving to something more concrete.

On planets outside the bubble where the only things that will appear are rocks, then this illusion doesn't stand up quite so well.

 

[Leadfoot]

It's supposed to represent 'background noise' (like background hiss on an analog radio).

Historically, in Horizons, they were supposed to make you think there was something there so you'd go looking for it, until a random signal actually showed up on the scanner, providing the illusion of the signal resolving to something more concrete.

On planets outside the bubble where the only things that will appear are rocks, then this illusion doesn't stand up quite so well.

So it's a bug that's a feature. Or a bug anyway. No problem then.

FYI, there's a ton of planets out there that do have more than rocks. Lots of biological signals, all those odd "plants" and stuff.

I've found it odd that our wave scanner, as advanced as it is, cannot pick up life form readings; you still have to rely on the old "Mark One Eyeball" to find them.

 

[Bottom Hat]

Is it your own srv, and you keep chasing it around the planet, like a dog chasing a car?

 

[nanite2000]

So it's a bug that's a feature. Or a bug anyway. No problem then.

Mmm…more of a design limitation than a bug, but yea - working as intended.

FYI, there's a ton of planets out there that do have more than rocks. Lots of biological signals, all those odd "plants" and stuff.

I've found it odd that our wave scanner, as advanced as it is, cannot pick up life form readings; you still have to rely on the old "Mark One Eyeball" to find them.

Yea, I know. The SRV scanner’s inability to detect biological life introduced in Odyssey is a noticeable a gap.

 

[Leadfoot]

Yea, I know. The SRV scanner’s inability to detect biological life introduced in Odyssey is a noticeable a gap.

Well, there's always hope for a fix in an upcoming update, right?

HEY!!! Stop laughing!

 

[Darth Ender]

far away from the bubble since odyssey, there are also crashed probes on random planets. (lots of random planets).

doesn't matter how far away you are from anything, there is a decent chance of finding a crashed probe on a planet as an RNG poi.

so not just rocks.

 

[Lord Rak]

Noted these "spurious" high-band signals on the wave scanner in Odyssey on my way to Beagle Point (about 60 jumps to go!!!). Since I've been landing on planets/moons with biological signals recently I thought they might be hints at where plants might be found but that doesn't seem to actually be the case. They seem "wavy" and sometimes appear at random locations on the scanner, fade in and out. You can point your SRV at them, drive at full speed and never get to them. Usually something like this is what I start to see for a life pod up ahead or a downed satellite or something along those lines.

Big "splotch" on the right side but you can see the straight top-to-bottom lines to the left of the splotch. I've learned to not bother with them. Just curious.

useful to find raw mats and objects like cargo if you know how to use it. here is guide...

Wave Scanner

Not to be confused with Frame Shift Wake 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...

elite-dangerous.fandom.com

 

[SlickPBW]

They are bug splats on your wave scanner. You can clean them off by driving through a fumarole.

 

[hems303]

Well, there's always hope for a fix in an upcoming update, right?

HEY!!! Stop laughing!

laughing is good...it releases endorphins etc....

 

[nanite2000]

Well, there's always hope for a fix in an upcoming update, right?

HEY!!! Stop laughing!

Hahaha!

Not a chance.

 

[Andro]

However in Odyssey they only (usefully) resolve into rocks now (presumably they also indicate POIs in Odyssey, I haven't checked).

The ones that don't resolve into anything could be remnants of Horizons POIs that can no longer spawn. Since Odyssey's POIs are semi-persistent

 

[nanite2000]

The ones that don't resolve into anything could be remnants of Horizons POIs that can no longer spawn. Since Odyssey's POIs are semi-persistent

No.

you get the same pattern in Horizons too.

 

[Riverside]

The ones that don't resolve into anything could be remnants of Horizons POIs that can no longer spawn. Since Odyssey's POIs are semi-persistent

Could be a lot of things

I thought some non-persistent POI types might still exist but every one I've followed has only resolved into a rock, which as Nanite2000 suggest may be coincidental.

In Horizons it certainly was a reliable way to find POIs (and not rocks) before the Odd launch, I haven't tried since.

As a side note I also agree it would make sense and be helpful for the SRV wave scanner to track bio signs (as it did/does in Horizons) as an additional tool for harder to find lifeforms (ironically bark mounds seem unusually difficult to find now in Odyssey).

 

[Vardaugas]

I always assumed these splotches, which form grid lines when you move around and keep an eye on them, are artefacts of the way worlds are generated in the engine. The scanner is using the old code trying to interpret new worlds and those grid-spots are the result.

 

[Leadfoot]

useful to find raw mats and objects like cargo if you know how to use it. here is guide...

Oh yeah, very familiar with those and that's what I thought they were at first. However you never get to "them" in this case - they just come in and then stop after a while. Only seen this on Odyssey which is why I asked if it was some sort of bug.

 

[Dagwit]

My impression, on post-Odyssey rock-hunting trips, is that the probability of one of these signals resolving into a solid contact is noticeably lower than it used to be.