Why are these advertised features not available in-game?

nanite2000

nanite2000
Frontier's own website and Steam Store page for Odyssey both have video footage and several screenshots marked as 'IN GAME FOOTAGE', showing the following visual features:
  • Coloured lighting from the star (0:18 and 0:55)
  • Lens flare (0:27)
  • Volumetric fog (0:28)
However, none of these features are actually available in-game, even on the highest graphics setting.

Considering these features were working in the Alpha release (although I did not participate in the Alpha phase personally, I saw footage from streamers who did) I can only assume that Frontier made a conscious decision to remove these feature from the game upon release.

The game's visuals were a major factor in my decision to purchase the game and understood the Steam Store was showing a realistic depiction of the game. However, having owned the game for a few months whilst waiting patiently for relevant updates/fixes, it's become clear that Frontier have no immediate plans to (re)introduce these features, and now too much time has passed for me to request a refund.

I note that atmospheric lighting issues were referenced by @sallymorganmoore in the Update 8 Release Notes (https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/elite-dangerous-odyssey-update-8-notes.592174/), but the issue still hasn't been acknowledged by Frontier on the issue tracker itself. Personally I find it hard to believe that Frontier didn't notice this was an issue on release and I find it even harder to believe that they have been unable to find the cause of the issue (let alone fix it) nearly 6 months later.

The video and screenshots on the store pages for the game are misleading, and feel like false advertising.

At a minimum, Frontier should replace the store videos and screenshots with ones that use actual in-game footage.

Furthermore, I don't think it's unreasonable for Frontier to tell us:
  1. Why these features were removed?
  2. When we can expect these features to be restored?
See also:
 

Andro

Andro
here_it_comes said:
FD is desperately trying to get EDO's performance up to decent levels so it can launch to console and avoid EDO being a net loss. You can most likely say goodbye to the graphics they rolled back. Yes, they lied about EDO to pump up presales. No, they aren't going to admit or even acknowledge it. For Stonks! 🤑

o7
Click to expand...
Yes, unfortunately we're still at the 'fix the terrain' stage of new graphics. Expecting Frontier's statement on that soon, maybe as part of the dev update tomorrow but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Honestly surprised I never noticed the lack of colored lighting. I thought the fog was the atmospheric tech not working properly during the alpha, and the lens flares would go a long way to bringing Odyssey's emissive materials up to par with Horizons.
 

Sublime

S
nanite2000 said:
Frontier's own website and Steam Store page for Odyssey both have video footage and several screenshots marked as 'IN GAME FOOTAGE', showing the following visual features:
  • Coloured lighting from the star (0:18 and 0:55)
  • Lens flare (0:27)
  • Volumetric fog (0:28)
However, none of these features are actually available in-game, even on the highest graphics setting.

Considering these features were working in the Alpha release (although I did not participate in the Alpha phase personally, I saw footage from streamers who did) I can only assume that Frontier made a conscious decision to remove these feature from the game upon release.

The game's visuals were a major factor in my decision to purchase the game and understood the Steam Store was showing a realistic depiction of the game. However, having owned the game for a few months whilst waiting patiently for relevant updates/fixes, it's become clear that Frontier have no immediate plans to (re)introduce these features, and now too much time has passed for me to request a refund.

I note that atmospheric lighting issues were referenced by @sallymorganmoore in the Update 8 Release Notes (https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/elite-dangerous-odyssey-update-8-notes.592174/), but the issue still hasn't been acknowledged by Frontier on the issue tracker itself. Personally I find it hard to believe that Frontier didn't notice this was an issue on release and I find it even harder to believe that they have been unable to find the cause of the issue (let alone fix it) nearly 6 months later.

The video and screenshots on the store pages for the game are misleading, and feel like false advertising.

At a minimum, Frontier should replace the store videos and screenshots with ones that use actual in-game footage.

Furthermore, I don't think it's unreasonable for Frontier to tell us:
  1. Why these features were removed?
  2. When we can expect these features to be restored?
See also:
Click to expand...

They are all lies to trick you into buying the product.
 

ꝁestrel

ꝁestrel
The atmospheric lighting issue is what tipped me into a grouchy and jaded member of the community. All of the other issues (and there are many!) weren't as blatant as this. What tipped me over was some combination of their silence on the issue, the false advertising on store pages, and the overall regression in visual style of Odyssey.

I only wonder what would happen if the community didn't organize last month to bring this to their attention.
 

nanite2000

nanite2000
Peter Mannion said:
Lens flares do exist in Odyssey. Most light sources give lens flares for me. Might be an issue on your end?
Click to expand...
It's possible. Are you able to reproduce the same lens flare effect shown in the linked video at the timestamp I referenced?

For reference, it looks like this:



Can you post a video clip showing this effect on your setup, so I can try and recreate it myself?
 

Peter Mannion

P
nanite2000 said:
It's possible. Are you able to reproduce the same lens flare effect shown in the linked video at the timestamp I referenced?

For reference, it looks like this:



Can you post a video clip showing this effect on your setup, so I can try and recreate it myself?
Click to expand...
Screenshot_0324.jpg
Screenshot_0321.jpg

the settlement lights are the easiest way to showcase lens flairs, however im fairly sure you can get lens flares from stars also.
 

Brrokk

Brrokk
metatheurgist said:
Lens Flare isn't a feature. I lobbied to get that crap out of the game in original beta.
Click to expand...
I've never understood why simulating lens flare is a good idea, considering that people with real cameras are always trying to get rid of it.

A bit like Beethoven trying to make his orchestra sound like a point source of sound, but as soon as technology made that possible we came up with stereo.
 

Navigare Necesse Est

Navigare Necesse Est
Brrokk said:
I've never understood why simulating lens flare is a good idea, considering that people with real cameras are always trying to get rid of it.

A bit like Beethoven trying to make his orchestra sound like a point source of sound, but as soon as technology made that possible we came up with stereo.
Click to expand...
Beethoven went deaf. That's what his sound experiments got him and why we refuse to share his fate.
 

CMDR Ylion

C
i think the stars do have coloured lighting, but only for a very, very short distance.
when using the external cam, you can see how it changes to generic white light as soon as you move a couple km away from the star.
but orbiting it gives coloured light.
or is this something different?
 

Lyamecron

Lyamecron
nanite2000 said:
Frontier's own website and Steam Store page for Odyssey both have video footage and several screenshots marked as 'IN GAME FOOTAGE', showing the following visual features:
  • Coloured lighting from the star (0:18 and 0:55)
  • Lens flare (0:27)
  • Volumetric fog (0:28)
However, none of these features are actually available in-game, even on the highest graphics setting.

Considering these features were working in the Alpha release (although I did not participate in the Alpha phase personally, I saw footage from streamers who did) I can only assume that Frontier made a conscious decision to remove these feature from the game upon release.

The game's visuals were a major factor in my decision to purchase the game and understood the Steam Store was showing a realistic depiction of the game. However, having owned the game for a few months whilst waiting patiently for relevant updates/fixes, it's become clear that Frontier have no immediate plans to (re)introduce these features, and now too much time has passed for me to request a refund.

I note that atmospheric lighting issues were referenced by @sallymorganmoore in the Update 8 Release Notes (https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/elite-dangerous-odyssey-update-8-notes.592174/), but the issue still hasn't been acknowledged by Frontier on the issue tracker itself. Personally I find it hard to believe that Frontier didn't notice this was an issue on release and I find it even harder to believe that they have been unable to find the cause of the issue (let alone fix it) nearly 6 months later.

The video and screenshots on the store pages for the game are misleading, and feel like false advertising.

At a minimum, Frontier should replace the store videos and screenshots with ones that use actual in-game footage.

Furthermore, I don't think it's unreasonable for Frontier to tell us:
  1. Why these features were removed?
  2. When we can expect these features to be restored?
See also:
Click to expand...
As others have already said, all of this was probably a downgrade due to the bad performance and maybe if they get it to where it should be - these features will re-appear... or not... who knows. Most of them are reported as bugs (just to be sure), many of them acknowledged and a few under "internal investigation".
 

nanite2000

nanite2000
CMDR Ylion said:
i think the stars do have coloured lighting, but only for a very, very short distance.
when using the external cam, you can see how it changes to generic white light as soon as you move a couple km away from the star.
but orbiting it gives coloured light.
or is this something different?
Click to expand...
Yes, this is correct. Most atmospheric planets are in the 'generic white light' zone, hence why we rarely see coloured lighting being applied (although there are rare exceptions).
 
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