On news about Procedural v4 for the 3.8 update. The system shown gets on 3.8 but simplify extreme wind effects and/or its physics.
One cool thing that perhaps wasn’t clear in the demo was that the wind speed varies depending on the local terrain, so exposed ridges which will have much stronger wind, and you can seek shelter in valleys. Trees also provide very effective shelter. The rate at which you cool down is heavily influences by the wind speed and so this should hopefully lead to interesting gameplay.
Also, while we don’t have clouds or a full whether simulation yet, the effects you saw in the demo were what we call ‘ground effects‘ which are basically just the equivalent of a sand storm (wind kicking up the ground). This is all spawned dynamically by a complex rule set based on the climate conditions, which were largely predetermined in the demo for the sake of showing the tech. But the ground effect system will be in 3.8, as it’s the replacement for all previous planet VFX. However the wind will likely not be as severe as the demo (as VFX haven’t had time to tune such extremes on all planets yet), and will either not vary or use a simple non-physically-based sim/animation.
The planet tech v4 was stated as the final version, as explained here:
"Hi, what I meant with the final version is that, during the evolution of planet tech - as explained during the initial slides - which may have been a bit difficult to follow due to the clicker not working properly - we have been working a balancing act between procedural vs artistic. It feels like that with V4 we have found the right workflow balance. That of course doesn't mean no more improvements, we always keep improving the tech."
"I think I’ve answered this elsewhere in the thread. All planet and VFX code from the demo will be in the release, so it’s very close to completion, however finely tuning the visuals takes time and the tech has only recently been finished so VFX haven’t had time to tune severe wind in all scenarios (beyond snowy mountains we have deserts, ice fields, Savannah, trash, etc). But it’s certainly a priority to get as much of this in your hands as possible in 3.8 and 3.9.
There is no global weather simulation at the moment, the demo used a fixed ‘wind map’ which rotated around the planet, though even this simple setup is surprisingly effective. I’d imagine we’ll release a simple setup such as this before introducing a full sim.
The visor and canopy effects are only set up on specific ships and helmets thus far, so won’t make it for 3.8 (at least not on all helmets and ships), but hopefully soon after (just a question of art resources).
The biome accumulation system has only just started work, and frost on the players suit was the first use of it. We hope this system to roll out in 3.9, thought this hasn’t been confirmed yet."
The new bit of info is about player trading, direct player to player trade and the expansion of the service beacon system potentially to be used to let players advertise buying/selling stuff.
One of the big things that we’re working out is exactly how to implement the ability for players to trade directly between themselves. There’s still UI work to get this ready, but when it comes online, it will have seismic effects on the Star Citizen Universe.
Player-to-player trading combined with the already existing Service Beacons can be used for things like Player Advertising for the sale of their goods or services. We expect to see players putting up Service Beacons to signify that they want almost anything, be it goods, transport, help in combat, etc. Players will get the assistance they request and be connected to players who can provide them these services…for a price.
CIG has invested in Turbulent, likely meaning this canadian studio is here to stay as the core outsourced studio working for SC, aka web & backend-wise.
The tool we've seen on the Citizencon the economy simulation backend is web-based on the same framework app they've built the starmap on.
Combined footage of the leaks that have been surfacing about the next 3.8 Patch featuring the new IcyPlanet Microtech, weather effects (snow/sand storms), melee fighting, new ship's info and some more..
That's a bit from the weather, the wind simulation driving the animation of objects as trees with it, gives some idea of all the work that is needed to fulfill that detail, that also has to be done in a way that won't kill performance
This stuff shows taking the time to achieve a higher quality standard is more important than trying to please the external never-ending whining about rushing a release.
The 3.8's testing files lurking continues to give leaks on the stuff being worked
Pirate raids upcoming event
PirateRaids_ArcCorp_Title=Start Pirate Raids in ArcCorp (PH)
PirateRaids_Crusader_Title=Start Pirate Raids in Crusader (PH)
PirateRaids_Desc=Mission entry to kick off the Pirate Raids event. (PH)
PirateRaids_Destroy_Desc=Destroy the Idris! (PH)
PirateRaids_Destroy_Title=Pirates have appeared in ...! (PH)
PirateRaids_From=MissionGiver (PH)
PirateRaids_Hurston_Title=Start Pirate Raids in Hurston (PH)
PirateRaids_Mission_Title=Kickstart the mission in editor (PH)
PirateRaids_Search_Desc=Search the patrol points and destroy any pirates you find (PH)
PirateRaids_Search_Obj_Investigate=Investigate the relays (PH)
PirateRaids_Search_SubObj_Investigate_RelayN=Investigate Relay N (PH)
PirateRaids_Search_SubObj_KillPirates=Kill the pirates at Relay N(PH)
PirateRaids_Search_SubObj_Pirates_Relay01=Remaining Pirates: ~mission(Relay01_PirateCount) (PH)
PirateRaids_Search_SubObj_Pirates_Relay02=Remaining Pirates: ~mission(Relay02_PirateCount) (PH)
PirateRaids_Search_SubObj_Pirates_Relay03=Remaining Pirates: ~mission(Relay03_PirateCount) (PH)
PirateRaids_Search_SubObj_Pirates_Relay04=Remaining Pirates: ~mission(Relay04_PirateCount) (PH)
PirateRaids_Search_SubObj_Pirates_Relay05=Remaining Pirates: ~mission(Relay05_PirateCount) (PH)
PirateRaids_Search_SubObj_Pirates_Relay06=Remaining Pirates: ~mission(Relay06_PirateCount) (PH)
PirateRaids_Search_SubObj_Pirates_Relay07=Remaining Pirates: ~mission(Relay07_PirateCount) (PH)
PirateRaids_Search_SubObj_Pirates_Relay08=Remaining Pirates: ~mission(Relay08_PirateCount) (PH)
PirateRaids_Search_SubObj_Search_RelayN=Search Relay N (PH)
PirateRaids_Search_Title=Find the pirates (PH)
Other missions comes from cleaning up pirates from mining operation sites.
The mission giver Miles on a mission that ends with an AI flown Idris fight
mg_miles_capturegang_escape_title=Arlington Gang Escaped
mg_miles_capturegang_idris_marker_001=Stolen Idris
mg_miles_capturegang_idris_obj_long_001=Travel to the last known coordinates of the Arlington gang's stolen Idris.
mg_miles_capturegang_idris_obj_long_002=Neutralize all members of the Arlington gang.
mg_miles_capturegang_idris_obj_short_001=Locate Idris
mg_miles_capturegang_idris_obj_short_002=Neutralize Arlington Gang: %|s
mg_miles_capturegang_idris_subobj_long_002a=Neutralize Les Arlington.
mg_miles_capturegang_idris_subobj_long_002b=Neutralize Nicks Cantwell
mg_miles_capturegang_idris_subobj_long_002c=Neutralize Sam 'Weepy' Cantwell
mg_miles_capturegang_idris_subobj_long_002d=Neutralize Oslo Arlington
mg_miles_capturegang_idris_subobj_long_002e=Neutralize Kass Dent
mg_miles_capturegang_idris_subobj_long_002f=Neutralize Maltrox Arlington
Calling all devs with many technical questions and some other explanations summary:
Q1 - It seems SSOCS had a good impact on AI. However this impact seems to revert as servers stay online. Is this an SSOCS issue or something else?
Server-side issue - The servers still aren't performing at a level at which is desired. For this first release, which was already hurried, there wasn't as much of an improvement as we would've wanted. As we see more releases come by we should see more desirable performance. The purpose of putting this tech onto the servers now rather than later is to test out these features on a true live environment rather than our manufactured internal testing. This is being working on right now and is trying to be implemented as fast as possible. If not 3.8.1 then 3.9.
Q2 - How satisfied are you with SSOCS as currently implemented?
Half and half. Of course the improvements of SSOCS are welcome, but there's plenty more features that were either supposed to be included or are not yet finished which are going to increase performance further. As the tech matures, it'll improve but for what we have right now, it's satisfactory. There are still plenty of issues that we know need to be fixed, but having this large stepping stone past us is beneficial for further development.
Q4 - Do ship upgrades actually do anything?
Yes. Components are already built to have differences amongst themselves. The issue right now is having some way to compare these components in game.
Q5 - Can we get clarification about platform persistence?
Wipes will still happen. Depending on how players earn money for a patch or how items are obtained (Exploits, unbalanced methods, other issues) we would need to prioritize a wipe. Instead of needing to wipe every patch, we can now choose to wipe. We can use this platform persistence in order to test our longterm pricing balancing AKA a giant ship we'd want to see take 6 months to earn should take those 6 months and now we can see that.
Q6 - 30k errors who, what, where, why?
Can either be server crashes or the client disconnecting from the server. It's a catch-all for a bunch of disconnects. It's here to stay.
Q7 - Will we see QOL for 3.8? Or just ship content?
For 3.8.1 yes, but for further content patches from there we don't want to take too much time from our development teams. Feature lock dates are now far sooner (Mid-February for 3.9) to get patches out more consistently so they don't want to push those teams to create patches for an already released build, they'd rather have those fixes pushed to the following quarterly patch (A fix in 3.8 but it's end of February would be moved to 3.9 rather than a hotfix 3.8.X patch). There is some nuance to the strictness to the new cutoff dates, but they're trying to be far more strict than ever in deciding a feature needs to be moved. Example - The NFZ rework was basically finished, but was very buggy and there was no time to truly test the new feature, so it was cutoff to the next patch (3.9 not 3.8.1).
Q8 - Are you testing the economy right now?
Yes. We're reviewing the telemetry in order to properly balance the universe. Right now balancing has to be done by hand, but when the Quanta/Dynamic economy stuff comes in we can have far less intervention. Stuff feeling "grindy" is both the point of some things and against some others. How this stuff is balanced is not yet complete.
Q9 - Aaron Halo asteroid belt sucks. Can we have more asteroids to make it worth it for large scale mining?
Yes, our feature team is currently working on this. 3.9 will see a lot of improvements to the mining profession. We're still figuring out the look of these fields, whether to be accurate to movies (dense) or to life (very sparse) and where to lie in-between. Harvestables are looked at in a similar way. Feature teams are trying to use the very low-scale features they've built now and slowly expanding them. Mining head expansions being something coming from them.
Q11 - Will we get any anti-stuck systems?
Talks about this feature, but no movement in producing it.
Q13 - Parasite ship/internal vehicle spawning?
Planned for this year/Wanted for this year by Christopher Roberts. Docking is considered, but internal ships (Pisces in the ship rather than Merlin on the Constellation) is more likely.
Q14 - Why no Microtech spawning of vehicles/bases for missions?
Not enough time to place these. They will be in for 3.9
Q15 - Component comparison tool?
We don't have a function to compare two components yet, nor do we have a full plan of doing this yet.
Q16 - Will there be a hotfix before 3.8.1?
Probably not.
Q17 - How are you planning to improve cargo?
We're looking as disconnections and other interferences from flying around that could interrupt trading/mission progression. Any information you have from encountering these bugs please send them in. Aspects from trading currently, such as people looking at external apps for trading we want to get rid of its necessity and put those functions in-game. We want to expand the Star-Map with these functions to better inform the player of trading information. We're not looking at only the bugs, but every pillar that holds up the mission. Volatile cargo, cargo that needs to be managed will be apart of this expansion.
Q18 - Cargo
We're looking at expanding the features of cargo to make it better. We need i-cache first in order to expand these functionalities (Cargo loaders/Moving, etc.). I-Cache is scheduled for 4.0 - 4.1 internally.
Q19 - Reverse bounty hunting? Criminals to take them out?
Not looked at, but willing to look at it and bounty hunting as whole. As well as delivery missions to improve them.
Q20 - UEC Transfers?
We want it. It'll be a function in the mobi-glas as a part of the contract manager. Some backend aspects need to be worked on first but we know everyone wants it. Mobi-Glas is prioritized after the Visor rework.
Q21 - Reselling loot?
Yes. We want players to loot dead players/NPCs.
Q22 - Turrets?
Turrets are a known struggle we want to mitigate. The Vehicle Experience team was created specifically for tasks like this. Combat distances, missiles, projectiles with explosive impacts are not working due to desync, and turrets are all things being looked at. We want turrets to finally be done, but we know we're not there yet.
Q23 - How can we expect to fly in low-vis areas?
We haven't talked about additional tools for flying in low-vis, but may be brought up later. If it services gameplay, then it'll definitely be looked at or added. Having these low-vis areas be impossible to fly in safely itself is a gameplay modifier that we like, so having something that works against it needs to encourage gameplay.
Q25 - Why can't we sell ore anywhere else?
Stations and other places will have expanded ore terminals in the future. This will work into Cargo.
Q26 - Why can't we reenter HABs?
Currently HABs are non-persistent, so there's some issues with having them be reenterable.
Q28 - Why are there no windows in HABs in space stations?
By the time this game releases, there will be players that have played it for years. The common casual will have no chance in a game like this, only the hardcore that have been in the alpha for the last few years.
By the time this game releases, there will be players that have played it for years. The common casual will have no chance in a game like this, only the hardcore that have been in the alpha for the last few years.
I have heard the same opinion about EVE for 14 years now.
And happily watch 3 month EVE newbies slaughter old veterans too.
And this is even more true for a joystick game like Star Citizen.
Does experience help? Absolutely !
Will it make you invincible ? Nooooooo..... (***Boom***)
*Harry, why did the server suddenly start to smoke ?" ;-)
Have fun
Yeah it's the type of stuff I like SC for, it simulates things on crazy outcomes but it's not a static linear mechanic that is how MMOs work, the more polished it gets the more impressive it looks
Comments
Also, while we don’t have clouds or a full whether simulation yet, the effects you saw in the demo were what we call ‘ground effects‘ which are basically just the equivalent of a sand storm (wind kicking up the ground). This is all spawned dynamically by a complex rule set based on the climate conditions, which were largely predetermined in the demo for the sake of showing the tech. But the ground effect system will be in 3.8, as it’s the replacement for all previous planet VFX. However the wind will likely not be as severe as the demo (as VFX haven’t had time to tune such extremes on all planets yet), and will either not vary or use a simple non-physically-based sim/animation.
Ali Brown
Director of Graphics Engineering
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/spectrum/community/SC/forum/3/thread/that-snow-storm-was-jaw/2541525
Yep quite interested to see this investment on this new version push on VFX and weather causing a better visual approach to the surfaces
"I think I’ve answered this elsewhere in the thread. All planet and VFX code from the demo will be in the release, so it’s very close to completion, however finely tuning the visuals takes time and the tech has only recently been finished so VFX haven’t had time to tune severe wind in all scenarios (beyond snowy mountains we have deserts, ice fields, Savannah, trash, etc). But it’s certainly a priority to get as much of this in your hands as possible in 3.8 and 3.9.
There is no global weather simulation at the moment, the demo used a fixed ‘wind map’ which rotated around the planet, though even this simple setup is surprisingly effective. I’d imagine we’ll release a simple setup such as this before introducing a full sim. The visor and canopy effects are only set up on specific ships and helmets thus far, so won’t make it for 3.8 (at least not on all helmets and ships), but hopefully soon after (just a question of art resources).
The biome accumulation system has only just started work, and frost on the players suit was the first use of it. We hope this system to roll out in 3.9, thought this hasn’t been confirmed yet."
https://massivelyop.com/2019/11/22/interview-cigs-jake-muehle-on-the-player-economy-and-doing-crimes-in-the-star-citizen-universe/
The new bit of info is about player trading, direct player to player trade and the expansion of the service beacon system potentially to be used to let players advertise buying/selling stuff.
CIG has invested in Turbulent, likely meaning this canadian studio is here to stay as the core outsourced studio working for SC, aka web & backend-wise.
The tool we've seen on the Citizencon the economy simulation backend is web-based on the same framework app they've built the starmap on.
The insider on the weather system, first release already on testing with 3.8.
It's quite impressive the work on so many details to make it happen and it's not yet the big scale weather system, it's just the surface storms.
That's a bit from the weather, the wind simulation driving the animation of objects as trees with it, gives some idea of all the work that is needed to fulfill that detail, that also has to be done in a way that won't kill performance
https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/comments/eaavcp/these_zoomouts_never_get_old/?sort=confidence
This stuff shows taking the time to achieve a higher quality standard is more important than trying to please the external never-ending whining about rushing a release.
The whole vid here
Pirate raids upcoming event
PirateRaids_ArcCorp_Title=Start Pirate Raids in ArcCorp (PH) PirateRaids_Crusader_Title=Start Pirate Raids in Crusader (PH) PirateRaids_Desc=Mission entry to kick off the Pirate Raids event. (PH) PirateRaids_Destroy_Desc=Destroy the Idris! (PH) PirateRaids_Destroy_Title=Pirates have appeared in ...! (PH) PirateRaids_From=MissionGiver (PH) PirateRaids_Hurston_Title=Start Pirate Raids in Hurston (PH) PirateRaids_Mission_Title=Kickstart the mission in editor (PH) PirateRaids_Search_Desc=Search the patrol points and destroy any pirates you find (PH) PirateRaids_Search_Obj_Investigate=Investigate the relays (PH) PirateRaids_Search_SubObj_Investigate_RelayN=Investigate Relay N (PH) PirateRaids_Search_SubObj_KillPirates=Kill the pirates at Relay N(PH) PirateRaids_Search_SubObj_Pirates_Relay01=Remaining Pirates: ~mission(Relay01_PirateCount) (PH) PirateRaids_Search_SubObj_Pirates_Relay02=Remaining Pirates: ~mission(Relay02_PirateCount) (PH) PirateRaids_Search_SubObj_Pirates_Relay03=Remaining Pirates: ~mission(Relay03_PirateCount) (PH) PirateRaids_Search_SubObj_Pirates_Relay04=Remaining Pirates: ~mission(Relay04_PirateCount) (PH) PirateRaids_Search_SubObj_Pirates_Relay05=Remaining Pirates: ~mission(Relay05_PirateCount) (PH) PirateRaids_Search_SubObj_Pirates_Relay06=Remaining Pirates: ~mission(Relay06_PirateCount) (PH) PirateRaids_Search_SubObj_Pirates_Relay07=Remaining Pirates: ~mission(Relay07_PirateCount) (PH) PirateRaids_Search_SubObj_Pirates_Relay08=Remaining Pirates: ~mission(Relay08_PirateCount) (PH) PirateRaids_Search_SubObj_Search_RelayN=Search Relay N (PH) PirateRaids_Search_Title=Find the pirates (PH)
The mission giver Miles on a mission that ends with an AI flown Idris fight
And the Argo Mole multi-crew mining now added
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/pledge/Socs-Socks/One-Size
Q1 - It seems SSOCS had a good impact on AI. However this impact seems to revert as servers stay online. Is this an SSOCS issue or something else?
Server-side issue - The servers still aren't performing at a level at which is desired. For this first release, which was already hurried, there wasn't as much of an improvement as we would've wanted. As we see more releases come by we should see more desirable performance. The purpose of putting this tech onto the servers now rather than later is to test out these features on a true live environment rather than our manufactured internal testing. This is being working on right now and is trying to be implemented as fast as possible. If not 3.8.1 then 3.9.
Half and half. Of course the improvements of SSOCS are welcome, but there's plenty more features that were either supposed to be included or are not yet finished which are going to increase performance further. As the tech matures, it'll improve but for what we have right now, it's satisfactory. There are still plenty of issues that we know need to be fixed, but having this large stepping stone past us is beneficial for further development.
Yes. Components are already built to have differences amongst themselves. The issue right now is having some way to compare these components in game.
Wipes will still happen. Depending on how players earn money for a patch or how items are obtained (Exploits, unbalanced methods, other issues) we would need to prioritize a wipe. Instead of needing to wipe every patch, we can now choose to wipe. We can use this platform persistence in order to test our longterm pricing balancing AKA a giant ship we'd want to see take 6 months to earn should take those 6 months and now we can see that.
Can either be server crashes or the client disconnecting from the server. It's a catch-all for a bunch of disconnects. It's here to stay.
For 3.8.1 yes, but for further content patches from there we don't want to take too much time from our development teams. Feature lock dates are now far sooner (Mid-February for 3.9) to get patches out more consistently so they don't want to push those teams to create patches for an already released build, they'd rather have those fixes pushed to the following quarterly patch (A fix in 3.8 but it's end of February would be moved to 3.9 rather than a hotfix 3.8.X patch). There is some nuance to the strictness to the new cutoff dates, but they're trying to be far more strict than ever in deciding a feature needs to be moved. Example - The NFZ rework was basically finished, but was very buggy and there was no time to truly test the new feature, so it was cutoff to the next patch (3.9 not 3.8.1).
Yes. We're reviewing the telemetry in order to properly balance the universe. Right now balancing has to be done by hand, but when the Quanta/Dynamic economy stuff comes in we can have far less intervention. Stuff feeling "grindy" is both the point of some things and against some others. How this stuff is balanced is not yet complete.
Yes, our feature team is currently working on this. 3.9 will see a lot of improvements to the mining profession. We're still figuring out the look of these fields, whether to be accurate to movies (dense) or to life (very sparse) and where to lie in-between. Harvestables are looked at in a similar way. Feature teams are trying to use the very low-scale features they've built now and slowly expanding them. Mining head expansions being something coming from them.
Talks about this feature, but no movement in producing it.
Planned for this year/Wanted for this year by Christopher Roberts. Docking is considered, but internal ships (Pisces in the ship rather than Merlin on the Constellation) is more likely.
Not enough time to place these. They will be in for 3.9
We don't have a function to compare two components yet, nor do we have a full plan of doing this yet.
Probably not.
We're looking as disconnections and other interferences from flying around that could interrupt trading/mission progression. Any information you have from encountering these bugs please send them in. Aspects from trading currently, such as people looking at external apps for trading we want to get rid of its necessity and put those functions in-game. We want to expand the Star-Map with these functions to better inform the player of trading information. We're not looking at only the bugs, but every pillar that holds up the mission. Volatile cargo, cargo that needs to be managed will be apart of this expansion.
We're looking at expanding the features of cargo to make it better. We need i-cache first in order to expand these functionalities (Cargo loaders/Moving, etc.). I-Cache is scheduled for 4.0 - 4.1 internally.
Not looked at, but willing to look at it and bounty hunting as whole. As well as delivery missions to improve them.
We want it. It'll be a function in the mobi-glas as a part of the contract manager. Some backend aspects need to be worked on first but we know everyone wants it. Mobi-Glas is prioritized after the Visor rework.
Yes. We want players to loot dead players/NPCs.
Turrets are a known struggle we want to mitigate. The Vehicle Experience team was created specifically for tasks like this. Combat distances, missiles, projectiles with explosive impacts are not working due to desync, and turrets are all things being looked at. We want turrets to finally be done, but we know we're not there yet.
We haven't talked about additional tools for flying in low-vis, but may be brought up later. If it services gameplay, then it'll definitely be looked at or added. Having these low-vis areas be impossible to fly in safely itself is a gameplay modifier that we like, so having something that works against it needs to encourage gameplay.
Stations and other places will have expanded ore terminals in the future. This will work into Cargo.
Q26 - Why can't we reenter HABs?
Currently HABs are non-persistent, so there's some issues with having them be reenterable.
Q28 - Why are there no windows in HABs in space stations?
Performance and development reasons.
https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/comments/hn7njj/now_this_is_an_explosion/
https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/comments/hstkk6/this_is_why_i_love_this_sim_310_lighting_check/
3.9
3.10