******Official Star Citizen / Squadron 42 Thread******

[jonneymendoza]

No need for the ******* contest right with things. Note I actually think its good they trying to stabilise what we have and clearly they are still bringing features to the game, the new content, missions, features for 4.1 and 4.2 actually been pretty solid whilst the game is more stable and that compared to 3.17/3.18 for most people on live.

The AI blades are dumb but more because they are unique blades per ship and task and not just blades for the task that could be used at least based on ship size like components where you have S1 to S5 or whatever. That is the dumb part. The selling of, honestly couldn't care as long as they come into game to purchase/earn etc in game accordingly.

Out of interest you notice the scopes worked in 2.5 as expected using PiP which can't do now as too taxing, things like the main structure textures for airlocks aren't really any better. Again this 9yrs on. The skybox is deffo worse in the new version of SC compared to the black of space 2.5 had and it makes the lighting feel off in space compared to prior. Hopefully they get full RT working in the PU in future proper and that resolves some of that but it feels a little soft and not harsh in terms of lighting and that makes things look more cartoonish compared to the older 2.5.

There are deffo swings and roundabouts. Look at the video at 24min for that 4.1 one you linked and it looks like a 2012 game with its awful textures, ground clutter and such. There are games for a decade that been so much better but that does come to a point about me talking about scale before. Trying to do Horizons or similar in an MMO isn't going to happen. But I do hope that Genesis fixes the textures and look of planets compared to what we have now when it comes online in a few years.

I got triggered when @pete910 basically called me a shill/fanboy when in fact i have been critical of CIG over recent months.

In terms of CIG adding features in 4.1 and 4.2 . i am speaking more about core features/gameplay/professions like base building, crafting, Reputation system, Org/Social tools and engineering gameplay etc. Basically things that they listed out in the 1.0 presentation slide.

Could you name me some features that CIG have added in 4.1 and 4.2 that tick off things mentioned for 1.0? At a push, maybe the ability to scan and open doors based on what you wear? and rain/lighting affects?

In terms of the AI blades, it sets a dark path leaning more towards a p2w model.

CIG are soo stupid. If they wanna make lots of money, more then ship sales , get base building and crafting done and put limited editions/cool building interiors/designs on the pledge store for. afiver her,e a tenner there, a 30 there for a pack etc etc and watch the money train roll.

That would be perfectly fine as spending £10 on a Christ roberts in game Wall paper for your base in pyro is not p2w. However, buy a Attritions size 10 gun from pledge store is..

The lighting in Star Citizen looks very good, the materials are also very good, i don't think i have ever seen any game do materials better than Star Citizen.

But yes planet side expanses and foliage ecte can look very dated, a lot of it IS very dated, a lot of it is a decade old tech.

Planet tech V5 will improve it.

On a side note new locations in Pyro....

Excellent video. i need to rewatch that again.

I wont watch the pyro new locations though and wait till we experience it in live

Honestly the foliage is the same as we have now. It is just being spread about. That still looks super dated even compared to many older games. It is something when I spoke to Ali previous CitCon and on forums they basically said they are out of budget for them to get better though. Seems that isn't changing with Genesis updates. The foliage also very static and repetitive with a very low number of individual assets that don't appear to have any transform ability to provide variation.

Oddly enough games like Prehistoric Kingdom and Jurassic world evolution both do that extremely well where it is one asset with transform parameters that allow dozen if not hundreds of variation. Scaling parameters for their 9 rubber trees for instance would be good where they can be +/- 5% even. This means nothing is overstretched or gets broken but allows for greater variation. The trunk bases are all similar for scale of tree too so needing to have variation where modular could have been thought about. You get base trunk, mid trunk, top canopy as long as you conform to the shapes that can transform between one to another could have allowed much greater variation. To note for instance there is around 32 species of trees in UK forests alone. A lot of games do cover variation for such much better than SC does and really helps with the visuals of the environment.

Not saying not better with the new system they want with the spawning system, however it isn't greater asset coverage. Grass actually in SC is good, the ferns and such look really bad.

However one thing that will be excellent will be if they do genuinely get the seasons part in they showed. I am not sure how they are faking that data since we don't have orbital mechanic but I assume seasons are just done via a timing system instead of derived data from distance from sun. Also the fact that all planets rotate on a vertical axis at min unlike earth. So again assume planets will be fakes in that way. Not a bad thing just be interesting to see how it all goes and ties up in a couple of years from now when they get there with it.

The pop in and terrain detailing though yes looks much better for planets so that is a hope as that has been the headroom they have resolved there with the tiling. That will significantly improve how it feels at ground, the textures there though still don't look great but then they are using I believe Ali said only 480p ground textures to keep in that budget still and using it in other areas instead. Would like to see if they could at least use 1080p textures cause they do get muddy quick.

Sorry trying to keep replies short but there so much to all that and partially what I get involved in and why I end up writing so much. Oh and course again other games of scale still don't show the same LOD as SC, just SC can't compete with games that are 1km to 16km player spaces cause they have a much greater computational budget per m2 of player space you see.

by no means is it perfect but its by no means its final form.

plenty of mmo's in general have drastically improved there eye candy throughout its lifespan.

Let CIG concentrate on ticking off the checklist for 1.0 and then post 1.0, go add path tracing and single bladed grass physics

 

[jonneymendoza]

Texture resolution is a VRam budget, i don't know what that budget is but 512 X 512 is low, most games use 1024 X 1024 or 2048 X 2048 these days.

Is that the texture budget on SC right now?

Dont forget, this is a 64bit precision game, higher then any other. Has any game of the same sort of scale as SC use 1024 X 1024 or 2048 X 2048 ?

 

[humbug]

Is that the texture budget on SC right now?

Dont forget, this is a 64bit precision game, higher then any other. Has any game of the same sort of scale as SC use 1024 X 1024 or 2048 X 2048 ?

When developing a game one of the things you have is a VRam budget, textures are not the only thing that use VRam but you know how much you have when you know what you're working towards and that determins your texture allocation, be it texture variation and / or texture resolution.

One thing is clear is that game developers are no longer working for 8GB GPU's, consoles have 12 for GPU VRam and that's what they now work with, hence 8GB cards can have problems loading textures sometimes even at 1080P.

 

[Curlyriff]

I got triggered when @pete910 basically called me a shill/fanboy when in fact i have been critical of CIG over recent months.

In terms of CIG adding features in 4.1 and 4.2 . i am speaking more about core features/gameplay/professions like base building, crafting, Reputation system, Org/Social tools and engineering gameplay etc. Basically things that they listed out in the 1.0 presentation slide.

Could you name me some features that CIG have added in 4.1 and 4.2 that tick off things mentioned for 1.0? At a push, maybe the ability to scan and open doors based on what you wear? and rain/lighting affects?

In terms of the AI blades, it sets a dark path leaning more towards a p2w model.

CIG are soo stupid. If they wanna make lots of money, more then ship sales , get base building and crafting done and put limited editions/cool building interiors/designs on the pledge store for. afiver her,e a tenner there, a 30 there for a pack etc etc and watch the money train roll.

That would be perfectly fine as spending £10 on a Christ roberts in game Wall paper for your base in pyro is not p2w. However, buy a Attritions size 10 gun from pledge store is..

Excellent video. i need to rewatch that again.

I wont watch the pyro new locations though and wait till we experience it in live

by no means is it perfect but its by no means its final form.

plenty of mmo's in general have drastically improved there eye candy throughout its lifespan.

Let CIG concentrate on ticking off the checklist for 1.0 and then post 1.0, go add path tracing and single bladed grass physics

1.0 is 3-5 yrs away though. That is known that it was coming well after SQ42 and that those features you are suggesting were not going to be a 2025 thing and likely not a 2026 thing. However at least they are working on almost all of them, building, crafting, engineering has all been heavily discussed still. But Genesis elements and the features being introduced are still needed for 1.0 so not like that has changed anything there.

The blades give such little change right now and honestly it only would be truly pay to win if we couldn't earn them. Ships themselves have much more dramatic stats than these blades and so if you look at it like that we already way deep into P2W.

Crafting and Base building are by far the most complex features they are looking to put in and build out with the already existing features to tie it up. So it won't be anytime soon at all.

 

[Curlyriff]

Is that the texture budget on SC right now?

Dont forget, this is a 64bit precision game, higher then any other. Has any game of the same sort of scale as SC use 1024 X 1024 or 2048 X 2048 ?

The 64bit precision is irrelevant to the texture budget, two very different things there. You can have any level of texture you want in either precision as they are not linked, however the higher textures are much more VRAM heavy, that why games package 4k textures separate a lot. Am hoping one day SC will let us have such. Almost all in game textures are nothing close to 1080p even including those on ships and such. Having ability for 2k, 4k, 8k texture packs would be amazing. Also note going from say the current 480/512p textures to 1080p textures alone would add around 20GB of data and it would be more like 80GB data for 4k textures alone. So that also something else to consider.

 

[jonneymendoza]

The 64bit precision is irrelevant to the texture budget, two very different things there. You can have any level of texture you want in either precision as they are not linked, however the higher textures are much more VRAM heavy, that why games package 4k textures separate a lot. Am hoping one day SC will let us have such. Almost all in game textures are nothing close to 1080p even including those on ships and such. Having ability for 2k, 4k, 8k texture packs would be amazing. Also note going from say the current 480/512p textures to 1080p textures alone would add around 20GB of data and it would be more like 80GB data for 4k textures alone. So that also something else to consider.

Well my 5090 is ready for it!!

 

[Curlyriff]

When developing a game one of the things you have is a VRam budget, textures are not the only thing that use VRam but you know how much you have when you know what you're working towards and that determins your texture allocation, be it texture variation and / or texture resolution.

One thing is clear is that game developers are no longer working for 8GB GPU's, consoles have 12 for GPU VRam and that's what they now work with, hence 8GB cards can have problems loading textures sometimes even at 1080P.

They are still developing for 4GB VRAM by way, that why it is minimum spec. And 8GB is only just at the recommended so if they adjusted to really give you proper budget (8GB Min) then we could at least see more a mix of 720p and 1080p textures.

 

[Curlyriff]

Well my 5090 is ready for it!!

Indeed but you are the smallest of small % they aiming for lol. They really should be giving better min spec though with honest truth being the min spec should be what is recommended currently and the recommended something with at least 12GB VRAM and newer CPUs which also stating Ryzen 5 doesn't help. 3000 series Ryzen 5 min and 500 series Ryzen 5 recommended would help.

 

[jonneymendoza]

Indeed but you are the smallest of small % they aiming for lol. They really should be giving better min spec though with honest truth being the min spec should be what is recommended currently and the recommended something with at least 12GB VRAM and newer CPUs which also stating Ryzen 5 doesn't help. 3000 series Ryzen 5 min and 500 series Ryzen 5 recommended would help.

Whats funny is that my 5090 FE was cheaper then a Javaline Ship lol

 

[Curlyriff]

Whats funny is that my 5090 FE was cheaper then a Javaline Ship lol

Lol that also a small % of the community with one they were what £1850 on release for the ship. so about same right as they were around £1939 at release?

 

[humbug]

I'm averaging over 11GB at 1440P and over 15GB at 4K.

 

[humbug]

This is interesting given that CIG - Turbulent has a lot of Ubisoft refugees....

I like it, like it like like it.....

 

[humbug]

Kinda cool.... but also doesn't seem to be doing much.

 

[pete910]

I got triggered when @pete910 basically called me a shill/fanboy

Never actually said that anywhere!

However, If i'm honest you are coming across as such. You seem to completely dismiss anyone that is critical.

I too have supported this venture from the start as have many others, I have played all the patches this project has gone through. I know the scope of this game is vastly larger than any other I can think of they have also had getting close to a $billion in funds!

So like others I too are getting a little miffed when I still can't even go up a flight of stairs without dropping out of the world. And yes that has happened in this current patch!

But to say there is no game that looks as good as SC is just plain wrong as curly has pointed out.

You don't need to feel triggered, step back and look at the bigger picture.
I sing it's praises when i feel it due. I did when they showed SQ42 at citcon last year.

It looked EPIC and as so sang it's praises to many.

 

[jonneymendoza]

Never actually said that anywhere!

However, If i'm honest you are coming across as such. You seem to completely dismiss anyone that is critical.

I too have supported this venture from the start as have many others, I have played all the patches this project has gone through. I know the scope of this game is vastly larger than any other I can think of they have also had getting close to a $billion in funds!

So like others I too are getting a little miffed when I still can't even go up a flight of stairs without dropping out of the world. And yes that has happened in this current patch!

But to say there is no game that looks as good as SC is just plain wrong as curly has pointed out.

You don't need to feel triggered, step back and look at the bigger picture.
I sing it's praises when i feel it due. I did when they showed SQ42 at citcon last year.

It looked EPIC and as so sang it's praises to many.

How am i dismissing anyone that is critical when i myself has been one of the most critcal of recent times this year on this project?

In my own eyes i feel SC is still the best looking video game out at the moment with the scale and detail and immersion of it.

Lets leave it as that as you feel this game looks dated already whilst i feel it one of the best visually stunning games out at the moment.

Yea you still fall from planets but listen,. i must be the luckliest player alive to only fell through the floor twice in this calendar year so far, yes twice only and one of those was actually on a PTU build.

This is practically my main game and so i have put in some solid hours this year alone on this game and the fact that have encountered falling through the floor once in LIVE and once in PTU has got me thinking i am the most luckliest player alive.

TO everyone else who has played extensively since 4.0, how many times have you falled through the planet/station?

Thats not me acting a fanboy and defending this game! I am asking a legit question regarding players falling through stations/planets

 

[pete910]

In my own eyes i feel SC is still the best looking video game

This is my point entirely , You feel so everyone else is wrong!

 

[jonneymendoza]

This is my point entirely , You feel so everyone else is wrong!

I think if you scroll up you will see people here share some of my views on how good sc looks.

Not one person has agreed with you in stating that the game looks outdated

 

[pete910]

Not one person has agreed with you in stating that the game looks outdated

Ain't looked hard have you..

top of this page, you even quoted it !

Look at the video at 24min for that 4.1 one you linked and it looks like a 2012 game with its awful textures, ground clutter and such

 

[Noxia]

I've got no skin in the game, but my opinion is that it is an excellent looking game generally. I don't think it's consistently the best looking, but in some situations I'd say it can be but that depends on the talent of whoever's doing the screenshot.

 

[jonneymendoza]

Ain't looked hard have you..

top of this page, you even quoted it !

Apoogise i did miss his post but others are in favour of the game looking good.

I did say " in my eyes" it looks really good. It seems you are hell bent on trying to change my opinion on how this game looks bad/outdated when IMO it doesnt.

Many people have responded to the claims that it looks bad.

Some saying the textures are low res due to the allowance budget and also the scale of it. For instance in that 24min mark, thats the texture being rendered on a whole planet vs otehr games that have a much much smaller game world