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Elite Dangerous: Horizons |OT| Just scratching the surface

Easy_D

never left the stone age
They stated in their last video/ a forum post that AMD found the issue and are working on getting a fix sent out and it should be ready with their next driver update. Was an AMD issue the entire time that they just needed to find and fix.

That's not the entire truth. It's an issue with the game engine made worse by the current drivers. Everyone has massive slowdown in Supercruise, but if you're on Nvidia or the right driver it rarely drops under 60 FPS :p.

Also 15.12 out and no fix :(. Hope they get a beta driver out soon
 

Mengy

wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
Can't believe how little interest I have in playing Horizons at this point. Still hard to digest that I saw everything this expansion had to offer in 3 days of the beta. What an absurd thing to release with no content.

I'm the exact opposite of you, since Horizons I've been having more fun than ever with Elite. I've been doing more driving on surfaces than flying in ships though, lol.
 
I'm the exact opposite of you, since Horizons I've been having more fun than ever with Elite. I've been doing more driving on surfaces than flying in ships though, lol.

Yeah, I'm not ready to write off Horizons yet. Players are still finding new missions and lots of variation in Points of Interest.
 
Yeah, I'm not ready to write off Horizons yet. Players are still finding new missions and lots of variation in Points of Interest.
Well, it did only just come out this week. I imagine the various permutations of procedural content generation and assembly will be worked through pretty quickly by the community as a whole. That being said, the addition of planet landing does add a shitload of breadth to the canvas for missioning and other types of emergent content. Hopefully Frontier take advantage of this by putting in a lot more depth than what is currently available.

I'm just having a fuckload of fun bombin' around on the surface. I've played for days on a single world so far, and keep finding new and interesting things to do see and do. It's pretty great.
 
That's not the entire truth. It's an issue with the game engine made worse by the current drivers. Everyone has massive slowdown in Supercruise, but if you're on Nvidia or the right driver it rarely drops under 60 FPS :p.

Also 15.12 out and no fix :(. Hope they get a beta driver out soon

This has changed for me in Horizons (on Nvidia). Since the beta Supercruise has been rock solid framerate-wise. It is now the most consistent performing aspect of the game for me. Prior to this though, it did impact performance noticeably from 165fps -> 60-90fps depending on how long I was flying. Now this isn't in a heavily populated player area, so I'm not sure if the performance issues of having many other commanders in the same system has been addressed. To me it appears like they did what they could to optimize supercruise in hope that it would address the AMD issue but from reports it hasn't.
 

Reckheim

Member
This has changed for me in Horizons (on Nvidia). Since the beta Supercruise has been rock solid framerate-wise. It is now the most consistent performing aspect of the game for me. Prior to this though, it did impact performance noticeably from 165fps -> 60-90fps depending on how long I was flying. Now this isn't in a heavily populated player area, so I'm not sure if the performance issues of having many other commanders in the same system has been addressed. To me it appears like they did what they could to optimize supercruise in hope that it would address the AMD issue but from reports it hasn't.

My performance using GTX970 has definitely gone up as well. I was worried the planets would make the framrate dip below 60fps but its been rock solid.
 

TheTrain

Member
My performance using GTX970 has definitely gone up as well. I was worried the planets would make the framrate dip below 60fps but its been rock solid.

In Space right?
Because on a planet is really difficult to hold 60FPS at 1080p (970 w/ I7 6700K), with all the settings maxed out [Even the terrain work slider!].
I think also that is even normal, there is really no pop in (I mean, NONONONO pop in. Its really incredible) and the procedural textures are really good.
 

Reckheim

Member
In Space right?
Because on a planet is really difficult to hold 60FPS at 1080p (970 w/ I7 6700K), with all the settings maxed out [Even the terrain work slider!].
I think also that is even normal, there is really no pop in (I mean, NONONONO pop in. Its really incredible) and the procedural textures are really good.

Yeh, in space. but even on the planets its not bad at all.
 

Burny

Member
[Even the terrain work slider!].
The way I understood the terrain work slider, it determines how much of the terrain computation is done by the CPU and how much by the GPU. Setting it to the center would balance the load on either iirc.
 

TheTrain

Member
The way I understood the terrain work slider, it determines how much of the terrain computation is done by the CPU and how much by the GPU. Setting it to the center would balance the load on either iirc.

Are you sure? Hell, I thought that it was a simple LoD factor regard the procedural generation.

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=205930

We're updating the text in the next release to make it clearer.

The basics are...

1) We set a budget to do terrain work per frame.
2) If we increase the terrain work done per frame then your terrain will update quicker but your fps will be lower as we're adding more cost to each frame.
3) Because we do this work per frame you may find that locking your fps to 30 if you can achieve 60 will mean we do half the work.

It's a bit of a balancing act and we'll be looking to simplify that when we have good data from everyone!

So in conclusion...

Problem: Terrain doesn't get generated fast enough: Increase your GPU work slider or lower the terrain detail.
Problem: Low FPS: decrease your GPU work, if your terrain is now too slow see the above point.

Sorry, just to be clear in terms of the terrain work slider differences the cpu is largely irrelevant, the slider slides between allocating a small amount of gpu time or a large amount of gpu time. The work the gpu does would be done 100 times slower on the cpu if we did use it, which we don't
 
Newsletter is out. It seems to me that they're positioning these as the four major episodes this season:

With each major expansion comes hundreds of changes big and small, each bringing a world of new gameplay possibilities. Still to come in the Horizons season we have:

Ship Launched Fighters
Allowing larger spacecraft to carry their own short-range fighter ships for attack and defense. Utilise small, agile and deadly combat fighters for attack or defence. Re-imagine every element of your Elite journey.
48f91eba-5c59-4075-9cc1-3a6eeffc5820.png


Multicrew
Experience and master up to four unique roles and work together to devastating effect bringing a new dimension to multi-play.
aa6a6292-e69f-4fd3-84ac-e8e93dce9ae9.jpg


Commander Creator
Create your own in-game avatar and customise every element of your look, with detailed tools that let you alter every facial feature. Check out an early video of it here.


Crafting and Loot
Unlock a world of customization options and add new value and meaning to every action you do with our crafting and loot mechanics.
1fbee0bc-dd15-4175-b4b7-8467928f4b7c.jpg

Crafting and Loot was confirmed to be 2.1, but I wouldn't be surprised if the others were 2.2, 2.3, and 2.4. Maybe:

2.1: Crafting and Loot
2.2: Ship-Launched Fighters
2.3: Commander Creator
2.4: Multi-Crew

I guess Ship-Launched Fighters could be the LAST update, but I figure given that they already have similar engineering in place for the SRV, this shouldn't be too much different/difficult. Can't see them adding Multi-Crew before Commander Creator, though :p
 
I can't help but feel fighters will be underwhelming. Does an Anaconda really need to launch a C63 Condor? Will it be able to do anything against a ship an Anaconda would need help against?

More likely the fighter will be accidentally taken out by turrets on opposing ships. That is, unless they buff the fuck out of them or make them invulnerable or on a timer or something. I don't know, just seems odd.
 
I can't help but feel fighters will be underwhelming. Does an Anaconda really need to launch a C63 Condor? Will it be able to do anything against a ship an Anaconda would need help against?

More likely the fighter will be accidentally taken out by turrets on opposing ships. That is, unless they buff the fuck out of them or make them invulnerable or on a timer or something. I don't know, just seems odd.

I imagine it will be cool for multi-crew stuff if your friends can pilot the ships.
 
I can't help but feel fighters will be underwhelming. Does an Anaconda really need to launch a C63 Condor? Will it be able to do anything against a ship an Anaconda would need help against?

More likely the fighter will be accidentally taken out by turrets on opposing ships. That is, unless they buff the fuck out of them or make them invulnerable or on a timer or something. I don't know, just seems odd.

I think the plan is to eventually have NPC (or multi crew) piloted fighters, so if say you get attacked and your by yourself it gives a good distraction/extra help.

Plus, it might be a way for a large ship to dock at an outpost that doesn't have large pads, etc...
 
I think the plan is to eventually have NPC (or multi crew) piloted fighters, so if say you get attacked and your by yourself it gives a good distraction/extra help.

Plus, it might be a way for a large ship to dock at an outpost that doesn't have large pads, etc...

That's the thing, fighters are just too squishy and weak to be a good asset in larger ship combat. And they're so easily killed you'd be signing the poor thing's death warrant every time you launched it.

That is unless they buff the heck out of them to spice it up, but that's kind of universe-breaking.

As a runabout for larger ships though? I like that idea.
 
I can't help but feel fighters will be underwhelming. Does an Anaconda really need to launch a C63 Condor? Will it be able to do anything against a ship an Anaconda would need help against?

More likely the fighter will be accidentally taken out by turrets on opposing ships. That is, unless they buff the fuck out of them or make them invulnerable or on a timer or something. I don't know, just seems odd.

I'm just underwhelmed if these are the actual expansion. I can't see any major gameplay coming out of the commander creator (great for immersion and groundwork for FPS) or ship-launched fighters (seems like just a nice perk for big ships).

Multi-crew COULD add depth, but of course, it's player only at first, so you better have a few friends. I don't see how the gameplay, for all players, will be enhanced by this.

That leaves looting and crafting...
 

Wreav

Banned
Horizons is quickly shaping up to be a bust, which is a real shame. Like I've said for a while, we need to be able to get out of our damn seat, which will be a real game changer (allowing for cool multicrew stuff around the ship/EVAS/docking and walking onto another ship/walking around stations).
 

Mengy

wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
Crafting and Loot was confirmed to be 2.1, but I wouldn't be surprised if the others were 2.2, 2.3, and 2.4. Maybe:

2.1: Crafting and Loot
2.2: Ship-Launched Fighters
2.3: Commander Creator
2.4: Multi-Crew

Honestly out of all of that the only thing that sounds interesting to me (and my playstyle) is the loot and crafting. The fighters, CMDR creator, and multi crew, well I could really care less about all of that. Commander creator won't really mean anything until we can walk around. Multi crew without AI crew is mostly meaningless to me. And I don't fly anything larger than an Asp so fighters don't mean much to me either.

I'm much more looking forward to the small things they'll add with each patch, stuff like more things to find on planet surfaces, other types of SRV's, volcanic planet landings, etc.
 

TheTrain

Member
Honestly out of all of that the only thing that sounds interesting to me (and my playstyle) is the loot and crafting. The fighters, CMDR creator, and multi crew, well I could really care less about all of that. Commander creator won't really mean anything until we can walk around. Multi crew without AI crew is mostly meaningless to me. And I don't fly anything larger than an Asp so fighters don't mean much to me either.

I'm much more looking forward to the small things they'll add with each patch, stuff like more things to find on planet surfaces, other types of SRV's, volcanic planet landings, etc.

Also powerplay revamp!
Yeah, i'm an optimist
 

Wreav

Banned
If Powerplay gets only one change, it needs to be the demise of the weekly reset timer. There's no point in grinding influence for such a short hold of power.
 

hepburn3d

Member
Encountered a money bug

Was handing in Exploration data when the last page wouldn't disappear. I could sell it infinitely. It was worth 800cr so I spammed it a few times (for test purposes) and made about 26k. If I'd set a macro going I could have left it going and made a tonne but I'm not too interested in that. Wanted to play the game. When I left the page and came back the data was gone. Only thing about it was it was 1 single item.

One to keep an eye on. If I can recreate it I'll send it in as an exploit.
 

Dizzy-4U

Member
So, a little offtopic question:

You know the type of music that Firefly and Cowboy Bebop have? Kinda like modern cowboy stuff? What's that genre called and any Spotify playlist recommendations?

PS: Sorry for my ignorance in music.

Edit: Blues-Rock apparently.
 

hepburn3d

Member
Also the Verity voice pack for VoiceAttack has now been released. Will be testing this in the morning. Excited to see how they've done :)
 
If Powerplay gets only one change, it needs to be the demise of the weekly reset timer. There's no point in grinding influence for such a short hold of power.

Honestly, the weekly reset timer acts more as a barrier for me to contribute now. I don't want to have to maintain a certain level. I'd rather have linear progression for something like that so I could progress at my own pace.
 

kvk1

Member
If Powerplay gets only one change, it needs to be the demise of the weekly reset timer. There's no point in grinding influence for such a short hold of power.

Honestly, the weekly reset timer acts more as a barrier for me to contribute now. I don't want to have to maintain a certain level. I'd rather have linear progression for something like that so I could progress at my own pace.

x2.
 
Hey guys, been a while since I've been really diving into the game and I'm in a bit of a predicament. I decided to head over to Merope since a lot of the ties to Thargoid stuff seems to lead in that direction, I figured it would make a nice place to spend my time while they work on whatever it is they're working on to do with them.

Only problem is it never really crossed my mind that it may not be a populated area of space and without noticing I managed to propel myself into the reaches of deep space. I have a fuel scoop so this isn't really an issue but since I'm covering a number of system that haven't been explored outside of a star or two I wouldn't mind gearing up with some scanning equipment.

But I'm well on my way to Merope now. Will I be able to encounter any way to buy scanning equipment or should I just head back to civilization and gear up? Options 2 is gonna be a bit harder since I've already came a long way and I don't exactly remember which way i came from.
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
If Powerplay gets only one change, it needs to be the demise of the weekly reset timer. There's no point in grinding influence for such a short hold of power.

Honestly, the weekly reset timer acts more as a barrier for me to contribute now. I don't want to have to maintain a certain level. I'd rather have linear progression for something like that so I could progress at my own pace.

This times infinity. I absolutely hate how powerplay turned out specifically because of this.
 
In less whiny news, distress beacons sound pretty cool: https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/3xck4m/distress_calls_are_epic/

The only ones I had seen were for shipwrecks that had cryopods. Didn't realize they have specific missions where you fight off waves of enemy ships--that's cool.


This times infinity. I absolutely hate how powerplay turned out specifically because of this.

It ends up feeling less like "I'm a part of a Power that is taking over the galaxy" and more "time to turn in my weekly poker chips for cash".
 
I'm looking forward to the commander creator more than maybe makes sense, because it will add some much needed humanity to the game. Hopefully, this will open the door for the secondary NPC characters that have been mentioned in the past. Recurring characters that aren't critical to the galactic political situation but an added face to some of the text along with some of the multi-step missions to allow for minor connected story lines to help motivate the player beyond making credits.
 

SmartBase

Member
The range at which all of the rocks pop in and the weird way they react to light and shadow don't really make for pretty screens, was really expecting more when they bumped the system requirements.


That said, anything 2km and up looks great. I just haven't found a planet in an interesting orbit without the poop brown and gray palette to take shots of yet.
 
I'm looking forward to the commander creator more than maybe makes sense, because it will add some much needed humanity to the game. Hopefully, this will open the door for the secondary NPC characters that have been mentioned in the past. Recurring characters that aren't critical to the galactic political situation but an added face to some of the text along with some of the multi-step missions to allow for minor connected story lines to help motivate the player beyond making credits.

100
 

abuC

Member
Honestly, no one I know enjoyed the Mako sections in Mass Effect but that was probably my favorite part of the game. ED is not perfect, but its a game I always wanted.


I loved the Mako parts, I must have spent hours on the surface of planets just driving around
 

Burny

Member
Are you sure? Hell, I thought that it was a simple LoD factor regard the procedural generation.

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=205930
Ah, thanks! That clears this up a bit. It was those quotes I was mis-remembering.

I'm looking forward to the commander creator more than maybe makes sense, because it will add some much needed humanity to the game. Hopefully, this will open the door for the secondary NPC characters that have been mentioned in the past. Recurring characters that aren't critical to the galactic political situation but an added face to some of the text along with some of the multi-step missions to allow for minor connected story lines to help motivate the player beyond making credits.
THIS! There is no arguing that the game's mission mechanics and some others are far too shallow to be engaging on their own for longer. However, one puzzle piece at a time and in the correct order. Aside from more human NPCs. the character creator is likely also a prerequisite for the first person mechanics, which I suspect to be season 3 for that reason - the characters will be in place then.

The range at which all of the rocks pop in and the weird way they react to light and shadow don't really make for pretty screens, was really expecting more when they bumped the system requirements.

That said, anything 2km and up looks great. I just haven't found a planet in an interesting orbit without the poop brown and gray palette to take shots of yet.

He, one more point for Outerra's detailed displacement for rocks. It looks less out of place.
 

Carcetti

Member
I'm about to jump in after a long, long pause and I was wondering how Horizons changed the economy. What's the most profitable way to get money now? I'm not a huge fan of trading which is why I think I stopped at some point in a Viper.
 

Vistrix

Member
I'm about to jump in after a long, long pause and I was wondering how Horizons changed the economy. What's the most profitable way to get money now? I'm not a huge fan of trading which is why I think I stopped at some point in a Viper.

The surface missions still aren't anywhere as lucrative as an RES or a CZ.

Bounty vouchers / combat bonds are still the way to go if you want to make credits.
 

Carcetti

Member
The surface missions still aren't anywhere as lucrative as an RES or a CZ.

Bounty vouchers / combat bonds are still the way to go if you want to make credits.

I can't even remember what these abbreviations mean or how the voucher bond things work. I guess it's been a while (player for 2 months at start)
 
I can't even remember what these abbreviations mean or how the voucher bond things work. I guess it's been a while (player for 2 months at start)

Resource extraction sites and combat zones.

Kill someone with a bounty (AI or player) and receive a voucher that can be redeemed for credits either within a system or within the territory of one of the three main factions.

In other words, the game's still pretty grindy and you have to be self-motivated.
 
I'm a bit lost here...

Bought the beta with lifetime updates long ago...

I need to play Horizons on Steam instead of using the original game?
But I do log into my Elite Account anyway so why?
Can I uninstall the original client?
Can I still play with my girlfriend who only has the base game (so far)?
How? With Horizons Client? With both?

Tried the original game:
- 64bit does not work. The game won't start
- everything is in - besides SRVs :(

All kinda weird :(
 
I'm a bit lost here...

Bought the beta with lifetime updates long ago...

I need to play Horizons on Steam instead of using the original game?
But I do log into my Elite Account anyway so why?
Can I uninstall the original client?
Can I still play with my girlfriend who only has the base game (so far)?
How? With Horizons Client? With both?

All kinda weird :(

I'm a bit lost here...

Bought the beta with lifetime updates long ago...

I need to play Horizons on Steam instead of using the original game?
No?

But I do log into my Elite Account anyway so why?
(

If you want to play the game, you'll need to log into your Elite account, yes.

Can I uninstall the original client?

If you want to install via Steam, you can uninstall the original client, claim your key from elitedangerous.com (log in and go to your account stuff). then plug the key into Steam. You don't need to play it with Steam, however. Your choice.

my account --> Partner Keys

I
Can I still play with my girlfriend who only has the base game (so far)?

Yes. You just can't land on planets with her.
 
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