Modes When FDev turn the servers off, will we get an offline mode patch?

[Stinja]

Have Frontier ever said if we will we get a patch to allow offline mode when the servers are turned off?

Given the doom and gloom, if the end is nigh, i'm hoping we do get such a patch. Sure developers like EA just pull the plug, sometimes barely announced, but other developers have been known to patch their game so it no longer checks for server requirements.

I'm guessing as a cheap 'n dirty method they could fix the BGS to be static, and then remove all the checks on updating system first discovered names and so on.

Maybe if we start discussing this now, it can be factored into their 10 year plan? If we wait until the game is dying, then there's much less chance for a patch if it requires extensive rework.

So Offline Mode, any takers? :S

 

[Jockey79]

I don't think this is something you'll have to worry about for a long time.

One of the reasons behind P2P was so they can use Amazon Web Services - which is cheap, and does very little work in the way it connects users to each other. And with Frontier getting a new shiny office building and the licence for Jurassic Park, I think they'll leave Elite: Dangerous running for a long time to come.

They are still actively developing the game, so I'm not going to worry until the team gets reduced to less than half the size and we just get bug fixes / maintenance patches. Then I'll start to ask about person offline BGS patch

 

[ALGOMATIC]

Its not just the bgs which is online, but the whole mission system. I guess the only thing that can be offline is exploration, basically just flying around the galaxy scanning.

 

[Stigbob]

From the man himself in answer to question about playing ED years in the future after the servers are taken down :

"We have no intention of taking the servers down, but I understand what you are getting at. We plan to archive the game from time to time (ie matching client and servers and game world state), and would release such an archive if the servers were to come down. That would also address the issue of how you preserve an online game for the future, from the whole 'retro' perspective."

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=60284&page=14&p=1024593&highlight=#post1024593

 

[Jockey79]

I guess the only thing that can be offline is exploration, basically just flying around the galaxy scanning.

Not quite.

New planets are generated by the BGS as you enter an unknown system.
And the server has to make sure we all get the same information once it has been generated.

 

[Stinja]

Awesome source.

So at least SirDB has pondered it (ie: servers coming down) and with a fix (release an archive). Although it's not an offline mode specifically, I guess if you ran your own version on your own server for only yourself, it's the same thing.

Now if there was a way to point your client to different archive copies, you could have PvE servers, PvP servers, etc

 

[Jockey79]

Awesome source.

So at least SirDB has pondered it (ie: servers coming down) and with a fix (release an archive). Although it's not an offline mode specifically, I guess if you ran your own version on your own server for only yourself, it's the same thing.

Now if there was a way to point your client to different archive copies, you could have PvE servers, PvP servers, etc

Shame they won't do that now and let PvP'ers have their own servers.

 

[Janichsan]

Not quite.

New planets are generated by the BGS as you enter an unknown system.
And the server has to make sure we all get the same information once it has been generated.

Small correction here: the systems are procedurally generated on your own computer, and since they are procedurally generated, i.e. based on a fixed ruleset, it's guaranteed that everyone gets the same system. What the BGS on the servers does, is providing the political and economic data for the system.