*** The Official Elite: Dangerous Thread ***

[Dano]

Beta is excellent, massive graphical upgrade for planet surfaces and a lot of other stuff while also giving a significant performance boost too, my 760 can now run everything maxed out at 1080 and still get 30fps+ around planetside bases where it used to turn into a slideshow, first mission I took required recovering some trade data, it was in a USS above a planet and falling, made scooping it extremely challenging, bloody marvellous update so far

 

[atomic7431]

I must get on and try the beta, not been on for 3 months. Hope its got some substance now?

 

[Devrij]

I must say that the beta does look good. Planetside looks a lot more interesting. Might make exploring more fun too!

 

[Dano]

Couple of images I grabbed last night showing some of the differences, settings were all on max

Spoiler

 

[atomic7431]

Might have to get my X55 dusted off and see what it compares like now.

 

[atomic7431]

Beta 3 Incoming - Mayhem Phase

Hey guys,

We've got an update going live to the beta servers at approximately 11am BST. The servers will be down for up to a few hours but hopefully be back before then.

This will also start the Mayhem phase.

The change logs are below. This will not affect the normal game servers.

Stability Fixes

- Fix a crash when a proxy POI is killed before it gets to variables initialised
- Fix bad fog shape type
- Fix a crash if the Steam overlay is bound to a key that is named differently than in game
- Speculative fixes to a crash caused by cargo canisters in POIs not having an item set
- Speculative fix for non-Horizon's players being matchmade into inappropriate islands
- Crash fix in for when a weapon with the MalfunctionHit special effect hits a module that can't malfunction
- When a RingCell received a FOR shift, only transfer asteroids between physics worlds if they have already been added to a physics world
- When a POI is deactivated, make sure it kills all the levels it created
- Extra checks added a possible fix for a crash that occurs later in scaleform due to a null texture

General Fixes & Tweaks

- Fix a case of moon-ring intersection, this time it was due to a binary moon
- Fixed missing audio on Packhound missiles
- Added support for non-latin characters in Air Traffic Controller callsign generation
- Fixed planet port voice announcements not waiting for their current message to stop playing before counting down the next message
- Fixed missing description for Maia system
- Add game client support for 'tradelist' Community Goals
- Fix for missing audio when scrolling in shipyards
- No value up or down sounds for sliders in the graphics, controls and audio options fixed
- Various text fixes
- Spanish translations updated

Galaxy Map

- Fixed galaxy map camera initialisation and use default system position to avoid the camera to focus on last searched system
- Fixed scrollable areas on the galaxy map from jumping around seemingly at random when rolling over interactive elements with the mouse
- Reset bookmark route icon when clearing a nav route

Engineers

- Renamed advanced armour to be consistent with the hull reinforcement upgrades with the same effect
- Top level module selections listed as 'Other' for both module options at Qwent Research Base fixed
- Fixed modified jitter stat off-by-one problem
- Implemented blueprint sorting
- Removed special effect warning from 'view cost & generate' pop-up and fixed the non-localised string
- Refresh engineer data after discarding
- Add generic "You've learned some information about a new engineer, $#name;. Check your log for more details." message when unlocking a new engineer to notify players of a change
- Adjust timers for mass lock munitions and both Choke Canister (Ion disruption) and Shift-lock canister for making more sense of their buffs and a longer immunity period
- Fix misnamed parameter which was causing locked recipes to appear unlocked
- Change default class of module assumed for pinned recipes in commander log to take into account that we don't have class 1 engines
- Overhaul Feedback Cascade: Now rather than breaking the shields, will inhibit the shield cell to only heal 10% of what it otherwise would do, and will deal direct damage to the shield cell bank equal to half the weapon damage
- Fixes to the donation popup button
- Known Engineers 'Sort Results' options are not sorting 'By Access Level' correctly fixed
- When the recipe pinned for an engineer changes, the commander log does not update fixed
- Fixed incorrect string for long range recipe

Missions

- Fix missing timeout element on BLOPs missions
- When spawning a mission USS with a cargo override, only override the amount of cargo needed for the mission instead of all the cargo
- Added some more links in the deserter.chatter so that it will say a few more things when it is interdicted
- Make the planetary race wrinkles work in the same way as the space equivalents
- Fixed an issue where the timeout was set to a different timer compared to what the transaction panels were saying
- Fix some confusing naming on planetary disable missions
- Planetary Rescue Dynamic Scan missions should now be more explicit in its telling the player to go scan the nav beacon after receiving the mission
- Fixed discovery scanner use not updating the assassination missions correctly
- Fixed where the penalties link to in the assassination legal templates - reputations should now decrease properly
- Make sure that timeouts function for the in space assassination mission variants
- Mission no longer uses Tiny Settlement for initial POI
- Planetary Scan missions now send an inbox message after scanning NavBeacon
- Fix altruisms to use demanded cargo, not supplied
- Fixed truncated text on community goals page
- Pirate Lord should use the auto bounty system, not a fixed value across all ranks

NPCs

- Fix for Pirates being stuck in IdleFlight/PirateThreaten at RESs
- Added missing transitions between Pirate Hunter Hostile Mission Cargo Attack and Idle

USSs/POIs

- Rebalance on data point drops: quality and quantity
- Balance pass on low level scenarios that can be found as USS in shipping lanes. More Threat 1 opportunities for low ranking combat ships
- Fixing under staffed skimmer zone
- Added signal descriptors to ship wrecks

Outfitting

- Added separate outfitting category for mining lasers
- Speculative fix for abrupt stop in audio transition when entering outfitting
- Added stats for vehicle bays
- The outfitting Values Min / Current / Max for jump distance seem to be inconsistent fixed
- Vehicle slots have 'fixed/gimbal/turret' options fixed
- Added a indication that a installed module on a ship is "modified" in outfitting
- Vehicle bay sub slots now check the stock properly, rather than defaulting to "no stock"

Avatars

- Adjusted avatar constraints for dictatorship and prison colony mission givers of Alliance and Independent mission givers
- Alliance/Independent Dictatorship and Prison Colony now use all of their accessories
- Male geometry and skinning refined to help prevent neck intersection
- Alliance/Independent Communism, Confederacy, Cooperative, Corporate and Democracy governments now have a chance to have a pair of glasses at Allied
- Added longer hairstyle onto the male portrait avatars
- Fixed hair intersecting with certain face shapes
- Adjusted some of the female hair styles
- Added hat for female engineers
- Alliance/Independent Dictatorship government now have a more varied set of accessories to choose from
- Empire Patronage now has a more varied accessory progression
- Corrected a typo so the indie theocracy uses the right kind of jacket
- Fixed inconsistent mission giver backgrounds
- Ensure we don't get odd FOVs for banner textures
- Fix to prevent Lei Cheung's eye deformation when posed

Ships

- Adjusted Imperial Cutter UI elements
- Fixed missing texture in Federal Gunship cockpit
- Micro resources will now trigger the cargo scoop acquired audio
- Make sure that only valid paintjobs can be applied to a ship
- Fix missing LOD geometry on Sidewinder
- Type 9 Squadron LOD paint job issue fixed
- Decals displaying wrong colour scheme when on a Tactical Paint Job fixed
- Decal fixing on Anaconda pirate paintjobs
- Decal colours rectified on Squadron paintjobs
- Decal colours balanced on Asp & Asp Scout Stripe paintjobs
- Decal pass to balance colours for 3 colour setup on various paintjob schemes
- Added new low poly external Imperial chair model and diffuse texture
- Swapped internal and external chair models from DeLacy to Imperial versions on all relevant ships
- Fixed chair blue emissive hue to match cockpits
- Loud element in sidewinder landing gear fixed
- Fixed odd sound effect when placing a bobblehead character, not letters, numbers, or symbols
- Make sure we clear any "Under Attack" notifications sent to the ship voice system, so they don't trigger after combat has ended
- Friendly fire from wing mates no longer triggers "Under Attack" voice line
- Make sure shield break sounds always trigger the aggressive version when requested to be on, and the lighter version when turned off manually
- Module malfunction buffs now both trigger the "Malfunction Attack" ship voice event so it's not confused with the "Module Malfunction" ship voice event
- Engine reboot buff now only triggers either "Thrusters Offline" or "Warning, Engine Reboot" voice events, not both
- Make sure that if a traffic controller is speaking when the player begins their frameshift that we halt anymore notifications and clear the queue, to stop the ship voice from talking over itself

Weapons

- Overhaul of mines for a mix of balance and fixes:
- All mines now use Proximity versions rather than the slightly unreliable homing variants, and now have much bigger shiny explosions that better telegraph how dangerous they are
- Mines now have the same module-stripping blast damage as missiles
- Mines are now targetable by point defences, and have a little more health
- Increased ammo on medium mine launcher (doubled)
- Synthesis damage boost now adds a multiple of the base weapon damage rather than the damage after engineers have run their magic. To avoid some nasty multiplicative stacking issues we've seen

Hyperspace

- Hyperspace is now much bigger to accommodate large ships
- Passing lens flares now fade in rather than 'pop'
- Added more distant stars to create a sense of depth
- Reduced the frequency of nebula models
- Added an extra light

Orbital Cruise

- Fixed one aspect of the glide sequence sounding weird

Bases/Settlements

- Added Lights to the Bridge Lift Section and Bridge Lift Top meshes
- Added LODs to Breakers Yard
- Bridge section art resources updated
- Able to drive/fly through various giant drill parts in Pater's Memorial
- Structures not properly meeting the ground at Palin Research Centre
- Liz Ryder base - remove weapons range decals
- Dekker's Yard base building not flat with ground
- Flickering texture on side of building at MacCurdy Arsenal fixed
- Set up engineer garage reverb zone and prototype
- Fixed issue with Landing Pad 7 with clipping terrain
- Moved dock 6 slightly to stop the clipping between the interior of the hangar and the large tower
- Fix for settlement ambiences not being heard on Engineer Bases
- Fix missing textures and add LODs for Prospectors Rest
- Fix for settlement security voice events and problem with offset
- Navigation Panel indefinitely tries to scan Engineer Base for SubTargets
- Updated UVs on Pillars and Walls
- Fixed invisible ceiling
- Improve the depth blocking placement on the majority of hangers

Stations/Ports

- Added another indie flight controller variant
- Improvements to Alliance 02 flight controller
- Planet port voice factions now match their ATC counterparts
- ATC won't welcome you until you've taken off from terrain if landed on a planet and not docked
- ATC lines are suppressed whilst landed on a planet, apart from hostile messages, hostile hails and docking requests
- Docking request messages now stop welcome hails from playing after them
- Added detail pass and polish to medium neutral hangars
- Added detail pass to high tech medium hangars
- Polish of large rundown hangars
- Fix for flight controllers not being loaded on some rich stations
- If we don't let the player request boarding to a port from an srv because we're too close to our ship, make sure the ship voice tells them their request has been denied

SRV

- Prevent repeating handbrake line when stationary
- Fixed very loud Wavescanner inactive weapons sound when close
- Improved board ship icon sound, also mute sound when leaving ship
- SRV lights are not silent when switch-spammed fixed

Render

- Clear any pending terrain queries when we shut down or deactivate. Make sure we sample the terrain less often if we're on a ship

 

[NeilF]

I have to admit, 2.1 just isn't floating my boat... Just too much more of the same old same old...

Not even played Engineer Wheel Of Fortune...

 

[Dano]

I've been ignoring the engineer side of things, reset my beta save and started from scratch, missions are so much better, sadly I was reminded as to why open is a cesspit, interdicted by a FDL while in a basic Sidewinder and killed with no comms by another player, and they wonder why people don't fly open lol...

 

[NeilF]

I've been ignoring the engineer side of things, reset my beta save and started from scratch, missions are so much better, sadly I was reminded as to why open is a cesspit, interdicted by a FDL while in a basic Sidewinder and killed with no comms by another player, and they wonder why people don't fly open lol...

Crime and Punishment, and Piracy, all need uber attention, far more so that introducing Wheel of Fortune IMHO!


What do you think is so much better about missions now?

 

[Dano]

Well to be fair I was in an anarchy system so I was fair game, doesn't detract the fact that behaviour like that is what pushed people to solo/private groups, authority response is much faster in systems where it's available now, so that may have made enough of a difference for me to survive long enough to escape had I been in an applicable system.

Missions, the few I have tried just seem much more involved, updates come through and tell you drop off locations have changed, cargo scooping while the pods are falling (though that is tough for an experience pilot let alone a new one) and wings of pirates dropping in to grab the same stuff, USS scanning actually letting you know it's mission relevant so no more dropping in before you know, using the Nav beacon to get updated intel and specific places to look, it all just seems much more involved and far less hit and miss.

 

[atomic7431]

Well to be fair I was in an anarchy system so I was fair game, doesn't detract the fact that behaviour like that is what pushed people to solo/private groups, authority response is much faster in systems where it's available now, so that may have made enough of a difference for me to survive long enough to escape had I been in an applicable system.

Missions, the few I have tried just seem much more involved, updates come through and tell you drop off locations have changed, cargo scooping while the pods are falling (though that is tough for an experience pilot let alone a new one) and wings of pirates dropping in to grab the same stuff, USS scanning actually letting you know it's mission relevant so no more dropping in before you know, using the Nav beacon to get updated intel and specific places to look, it all just seems much more involved and far less hit and miss.

Thanks for that info, i like the idea of missions but they were not implemented very well at all pre 2.1 and so i must give these another shot.

 

[NeilF]

Well to be fair I was in an anarchy system so I was fair game, doesn't detract the fact that behaviour like that is what pushed people to solo/private groups, authority response is much faster in systems where it's available now, so that may have made enough of a difference for me to survive long enough to escape had I been in an applicable system.

If you had no bounty on you head why should you be fair game? How does it server the game for mindless destruction to be ignored?

As I said, IMHO, crime and punishment, and piracy all need a huge lump of attention... But instead we get more grind and dice thrown mechanics

Missions, the few I have tried just seem much more involved, updates come through and tell you drop off locations have changed, cargo scooping while the pods are falling (though that is tough for an experience pilot let alone a new one) and wings of pirates dropping in to grab the same stuff, USS scanning actually letting you know it's mission relevant so no more dropping in before you know, using the Nav beacon to get updated intel and specific places to look, it all just seems much more involved and far less hit and miss.

I'll give some a go...

I must admit the simplicity of go to X and drop off Y. Or go to X and blow up Y has never floated my boat much. Especially as you still can't really even do these missions in Wings or the like. When will we get more interesting stuff like missions for a Wing of CMDRs to go and defend/attack a convoy? Or to go and dock at a platform/capital ship and do fighter defense for 30mins or so?

 

[Mr_Sukebe]

Wow, big hit list of updates and fixes, nice one FD.

Ref the crime and punishment, I'm very much hoping that it's been updated such that anarchy systems really are that, a complete free for all, with controlled systems being heavily patrolled. That'll feel far more like it to me.
It'll make plotting routes a real thing and you'll need to be genuinely careful in some zones, whilst actually having a police presence in "safe" areas.

I'm all for that.

 

[Dano]

If you had no bounty on you head why should you be fair game? How does it server the game for mindless destruction to be ignored?

Anarchy is just that, anybody and everything is fair game, though as I said, it is behaviour like that just makes players remove themselves from open, if I'd had cargo or had been even a close match to him combat wise it might have been different but lets be frank here, he saw an easy kill and took it, he gets nothing out of it apart from knowing it annoyed someone, which it didn't even do that as it's beta and a sidewinder, not exactly breaking the bank.

As I said, IMHO, crime and punishment, and piracy all need a huge lump of attention... But instead we get more grind and dice thrown mechanics

Things have changed I am sure, I just haven't played beta enough to see much of it, I know when I engaged some pirates in a patrolled system three authority vessels dropped in very quickly.

I'll give some a go...

I must admit the simplicity of go to X and drop off Y. Or go to X and blow up Y has never floated my boat much. Especially as you still can't really even do these missions in Wings or the like. When will we get more interesting stuff like missions for a Wing of CMDRs to go and defend/attack a convoy? Or to go and dock at a platform/capital ship and do fighter defense for 30mins or so?

I'm sure we will get them sooner or later, just have to be patient while they work through their list of stuff to add, Elite is very much a game in progress.

 

[Dano]

Temporary changes to help support testing modified modules balance

- Greatly accelerated the speed of progress through Engineer reputation when crafting recipes
- Changed recipes ingredients to fish
- All Engineers have been taught all recipes
- All Engineers have set up temporary commodity markets to help them sell fish

 

[freebooter]

my 760 can now run everything maxed out at 1080 and still get 30fps+ around planetside bases where it used to turn into a slideshow,

How much ram does your card have? I have a 660ti 2GB and it was a slideshow on planets on high settings. I have turned the terrain detail down to medium and it is playable now but could be better. Reading the forums about it suggested that the main problem with planetside performance was the graphics card ram rather than processor itself and that 4 GB was really needed.

If 2.1 now runs better on less gpu ram that would be great.

 

[Dano]

4gb on my card.

 

[Zefan]

If 2.1 now runs better on less gpu ram that would be great.

If someone with a 4GB card played with Afterburner monitoring VRAM usage you'd find out, apart from trying it out yourself that's one of the best ways IMO. I would do it myself but I haven't played in months so downloading the latest installer and setting up my HOTAS again isn't going to happen for a quick check I'm afraid!

 

[freebooter]

Thanks for the replies. I will just wait and see. I think it is unlikely that fd have managed to increase the pretties and reduce the hardware load too much at the same time. As I understand it it is simply the texture sizes needing higher ram amounts and there is probably little they can do.

I am probably stuck on medium settings until I can afford a better card.

 

[Dano]

Unless I've used the wrong memory usage chart (be gentle... I'm tired ) it's looking pretty good, only just peaked up to 2032mb used once, was well under 2048mb in the main, all settings at highest excepting AA stuff at 1080p, my system is a 2500k, 8GB DDR3 and an MSI GTX 760 4GB.

Spoiler

Edit:

That was me launching from an engineer base, orbiting the moon, landing and taking the SRV for a little spin, up to an orbital station, docking, launching, orbiting moon again and finally landing back at the engineers base.