3.0 Darkness in general

[Hybus]

I was wondering if anyone had issues with it being super dark in general and some solutions. I find it really annoying I can't see what is in the target markers and if you are using a slow weapon the shots tend not to land very well.

I get it, space is dark, and I'm actually very fond of it being pitch black on planets moving around with nothing but your tiny light source, it makes it fun, reminds me of night diving. But in your potentially multi-million cred ship or even military grade ship, it can't even wire frame render targets in your marks or the asteroids you are about to slam into. I mean your HUD can render a realistic model of your target including shield/damage states, why not something to drag your pips over.

Anyways, I'm just asking in case someone has some good tips on this, some of the streamers I'm watching never seem to have the problem.

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

GAMMA ALL THE THINGS.

 

[Bruce]

there are some gamma settings, but before we go into it ... In case you have SLI - PLEASE DISABLE

 

[Hybus]

there are some gamma settings, but before we go into it ... In case you have SLI - PLEASE DISABLE

Nope, using single card

 

[Radegast74]

GAMMA ALL THE THINGS.

Yes, if you hit Esc, go into options, and then the graphics tab (second from left) the first setting is gamma. I have it set smack in the middle, for most games, though, I have it set up at about 75%, since I can't stand wandering around dungeons and cities and running into things...I may just up the SC gamma right now, come to think of it...

 

[Carlos Spicyweiner]

Nothing happen when Hulk adjust gamma. Hulk still want to smash. Hulk sad...

 

[Hybus]

same, adjusted the gamma from the middle, up to about 90, honestly don't see any difference

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

Hmmm.

 

[Duhb]

It is rendering all those beautiful asteroids or if you prefer “floating space death rocks” then it plunged them all into darkness blacker then my wife’s heart(colder to). I can only imagine how the artist who spent months of their lives making beautiful rocks pouring his/her soul into it, now sitting at a bar crying into a beer mumbling about galactic injustice...

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

Hmmm.

Brightness all the things?

 

[Vavrik]

I don't think there is much wrong with the lighting model in SC, other than it should be more stark on bodies without a thick atmosphere to reflect and scatter light. Space is more than just dark like we experience it on earth, outside at night. We have a thick blanket of atmosphere that can scatter light for hundreds of miles. On the dark side of the moon, starlight wouldn't light up much more than a match would in your back yard.

The problem with adjusting gama in that situation is, it's just going to make the black a little more or less grey. This will impact wireframe too, since most game engines require a lighting model to render even in wireframe.

But. There is nothing yet that explains how a society can have fusion reactors, quantum drives, particle beam and plasma weapons, radar that sort of works, and not have infrared night vision.

 

[Takeiteasy]

Yeah i just did my first cargo run in the game(yay!) and i decided to go to one of the smaller hopefully less populated areas and can't remember the name now, Subin Mining Facilities i believe? and when i was a few thousand metres away from it and in pitch blackness I suddenly started somersaulting from an impact i could not see.

Like we do now in real life we should be flooding the planets with unnatural levels of light and our ships should have big powerful forward beams by default. I know they do have lights but they aren't very strong.

 

[Nightlane]

Nothing happen when Hulk adjust gamma. Hulk still want to smash. Hulk sad...

If Hulk don't adjust gamma, gamma will adjust Hulk

 

[Nightlane]

same, adjusted the gamma from the middle, up to about 90, honestly don't see any difference

Turn on the monitor!!

Sorry, I could not resist.

If the game is dark inside ships, then you must turn the ship up so the lights start to work.

 

[Printimus]

You can adjust the GPU gamma (not in game) by getting at the color settings from the Nvidia control settings (assuming you use an Nvidia GPU).

 

[Vavrik]

Yeah i just did my first cargo run in the game(yay!) and i decided to go to one of the smaller hopefully less populated areas and can't remember the name now, Subin Mining Facilities i believe? and when i was a few thousand metres away from it and in pitch blackness I suddenly started somersaulting from an impact i could not see..

I just want to point out, if you hit something on your way down in darkness, you are making far too shallow an approach. It's a common mistake, one that I've made on occasion too. It means you're thinking two-dimensionally, in a 3 dimensional game. You want your approach to a facility, especially in darkness, to be at a very high angle. I use often use 45-60 degrees, but occasionally up to 90. There are two reasons why, both are defensive.

1. You can make most of your approach with afterburner. Even in total darkness, because you are above the horizon for any obstacle in the way Depending on the ship I'm in, I stay at full afterburner down to between 22 and 32 Km, then just slow to full throttle. The idea is, you don't want to hit anything you can't see on approach, but you also want to be at full throttle around 10Km in altitude so you can detect whatever is down there that isn't stationery, and have time to react.

2. I have discovered that most players think two dimensionally, and have their ship very close to horizontal to the ground. That means too, it's only bad luck if they're pointed in your direction. If your angle of approach is high enough, you're out of his field of view. Your velocity and angle of approach give you the advantage in a hostile situation. You're also able to take evasive action if he fires a missile, because you don't need to throttle down from full throttle till about 2 Km to land safely.

I've have developed a shoot first policy now, for any manned single seat fighter hovering over a trade outpost. If it's on the ground, or unmanned, I might leave it alone. You only need to get caught once with your pants down though.

 

[Takeiteasy]

I just want to point out, if you hit something on your way down in darkness, you are making far too shallow an approach. It's a common mistake, one that I've made on occasion too. It means you're thinking two-dimensionally, in a 3 dimensional game. You want your approach to a facility, especially in darkness, to be at a very high angle. I use often use 45-60 degrees, but occasionally up to 90. There are two reasons why, both are defensive.

1. You can make most of your approach with afterburner. Even in total darkness, because you are above the horizon for any obstacle in the way Depending on the ship I'm in, I stay at full afterburner down to between 22 and 32 Km, then just slow to full throttle. The idea is, you don't want to hit anything you can't see on approach, but you also want to be at full throttle around 10Km in altitude so you can detect whatever is down there that isn't stationery, and have time to react.

2. I have discovered that most players think two dimensionally, and have their ship very close to horizontal to the ground. That means too, it's only bad luck if they're pointed in your direction. If your angle of approach is high enough, you're out of his field of view. Your velocity and angle of approach give you the advantage in a hostile situation. You're also able to take evasive action if he fires a missile, because you don't need to throttle down from full throttle till about 2 Km to land safely.

I've have developed a shoot first policy now, for any manned single seat fighter hovering over a trade outpost. If it's on the ground, or unmanned, I might leave it alone. You only need to get caught once with your pants down though.

The problem I had was as I approached it was pitch black for about 200 KM, and yes i was flying quite low at around altitude of 500 or so metres, when i got closer to the base about 2000 metres i went down thinking if there were any rocks or ridges now i'm slow enough and my lights will illuminate them, nope, i go bouncing around, however i think maybe i turned off my lights with the new controls, I was pressing everything just to find how the hell to get out my seat just before it. Once i get used to the control I will start worrying about little details like safety lol

 

[Vavrik]

I don't think that's a lighting problem. I think people aren't sure of the perspective here. You can expect good to poor illumination by a 1500 watt flood light here on earth, for about 180 feet (say, 60 meters), beyond that it becomes like like lighting a match in your back yard very quickly. Light falloff is relational to the square of the distance. If you're traveling ~200 meters/second at that altitude, that's 720 Km/h, about 450 miles/hour, your brain wouldn't even register what was illuminated by your lights before you hit it.

 

[Radegast74]

I've have developed a shoot first policy now, for any manned single seat fighter hovering over a trade outpost. If it's on the ground, or unmanned, I might leave it alone. You only need to get caught once with your pants down though.

Smart policy. Especially if it is a Sabre Raven, I will shoot that thing *immediately* !

 

[Hybus]

oh yeah, i don't trust anyone else at an objective or outpost. Particularly if you show up at one and there is 6 empty ships floating there, kinda like the old D&D equivalent of entering a hallway and there is 5 bodies piled on the floor. Something is up.

As for the vision, I do think in ship we need some sort of optics filter to account for this. I used to run night ops in a griffon 20 years ago, we had functional night vision then, see no reason we can't have something decent in the future. Heck, as a add on system that could get damaged, that would add in interesting level of "Oh SHIT!" if it crapped out while on the dark side of a planet's orbit in an asteroid field.