As of the April 15 patch there are still LOD issues on some of the walls in the Doctors' office, the displays over the Biobeds are still not working right, they are very faint and don't come on unless you are very close. The North and South ramps on the concourse still have an LOD issue with the dark bands disappearing with distance. Out in space it's getting far too busy, one of the Station's doors is stuck open, maybe because of the USS Sovereign being parked nearby. Although it's good to showcase some of our ships I'm not at all sure we really need all of that traffic flying around out there now, it's gone from a few ships to looking like an angry hornets nest, with ships just flying around randomly in ways that make no sense for starships operating in a controlled (air)space. I could imagine a present day air traffic controller going into convulsions trying to deal with hundreds of airline pilots flying any old way over an airport, besides, with a whole planet for these ships to orbit, do they all have to hang around ESD?
If nothing can be done about the blocky reflection mapping on Earths surface, then maybe it should be given a lot more cloud cover, in fact it needs it anyway, the planet looks extremely unnaturally clear skied.
And last but certainly not least the Starfield around Earth just looks barren, in sector space we have a nice panoramic view of the Milky Way and everyone who has ever looked at the sky on a clear cloudless night has seen decent vistas, yet in Earth space what we see looks more like a speckle of spilled paint than any night sky I've ever seen.
If something is not broken, don't fix it, if it is broken, don't leave it broken.
Just checked it out the new ESD. I love it. Nice work to all involved. Tho i do wish they remove the sparkle effect on the consoles and put the shimmer back on as before. It was more subtle.
I did notice outside ESD the earth had some squares as islands on the map. The clouds did move which were nice i think its had a slight update if it has then cool.
In ESD the clouds dont move as fast i noticed. Also its overlit i feel both out and inside ESD. I am more of the kinda person who likes shadows. Would love to see it more in the dark with some of it been lit by the sun but not all of it if you know what i mean. Something like the below images perhaps?
Basically some of it should be in complete darkness. I would like to see more depth to the texture map and perhaps more of a ozone effect also. Now i do know that there is a lit and dark side of Earth in the game but its not done that well i think.
Ok anyhow. Nice ESD and i like the exterior too a nice black sol system. Ok now cryptic its time to totally revamp with hd textures DS9 please. It sooooo needs to match the quality now of ESD. If a reviewer compared the places the reviewer would be like woah, esd is awesome but only there not ds9 wtf?
I am very concerned that ESD will become cluttered, since the argument is to address the emptiness of the map may I suggest the following;
Have a larger dock construction over San Fransisco to the far right of ESD for the San Fransisico Fleet Yards, have a small dock collection in various size TMP docks on the far left of ESD with a SMALL orbital outpost. The TMP docks would hold the NX Enterprise, Ent-A, Ent-B, the stolen B'rel from ST3, a TOS Constitution, (constellation when available) and other classic ships, this would act as the Starfleet Museum. Add these while having a small selection of docks outside the ESD window only.
This would hold the dual purpose of de-cluttering around ESD but having more assets in the map as well as having canon consistency. These assets already exist, it would merely be a matter of placing them appropriately.
I despise lens flare and disable the effect whenever it's an option. There is something though that looks very wrong with the view of the stars, it doesn't look like a view of the night sky, it's more like looking at a black mat with blobs of colored paint spilled on it, they don't look like stars, they're too big and too dim.
There should be a lot more to see up there than what we can see from the ground.
I noted two problems with the stars and I don't know if they've been corrected. The stars are out of focus, and the map is backwards. Last I checked Orion was a mirror image for instance.
I'm not sure if an active Federation Starbase would still have 23rd century technology in the 24th century. Maybe a part of the aesthetic but the actual consoles? That's what the time travel mission is for.
"Rise like Lions after slumber, In unvanquishable number, Shake your chains to earth like dew, Which in sleep had fallen on you-Ye are many they are few"
I noted two problems with the stars and I don't know if they've been corrected. The stars are out of focus, and the map is backwards. Last I checked Orion was a mirror image for instance.
If it is based on a photograph it may be an overexposed one, however we should be able to see the Milky Way in the skymap, if we can see it from the ground it should be much more visible in space, the stars are far too sparse and unreal looking as it is now, even Holodeck's rather generic made up starfield may be preferable.
If something is not broken, don't fix it, if it is broken, don't leave it broken.
If it is based on a photograph it may be an overexposed one, however we should be able to see the Milky Way in the skymap, if we can see it from the ground it should be much more visible in space, the stars are far too sparse and unreal looking as it is now, even Holodeck's rather generic made up starfield may be preferable.
Erm, we're in the Milky Way galaxy.
Join date is wrong, I've actually been around since STO Beta.
True alters don't have a "main". Account wide unlocks for all unique event rewards!!
OK. After yesterday's patch I checked out ESD again. Didn't see any civilian type NPCs wandering around. The few that are there are mostly vendors. It would be nice to maybe have a couple civilians somewhere chatting or a couple walking around the station.
I also noticed you guys granted a wish by making most NPCs have the odyssey uniform. But I don't like the color scheme you got for it. Their uniforms are too dark. Looking at an NPC from a distance I just see a head, hands, and the rest all black. Even up close it's hard to to tell what department they are from. Maybe make the uniform gray or at least make the department color brighter.
The NPC sitting at the console in the infirmary waiting room was replaced with an engineer instead of a science officer. :rolleyes:
Another thing changed based on feedback was the market speculator in the exchange room is in the same spot but she is now facing the exchange consoles and has a PADD in her hand and is pushing buttons on it. I like that.
The NPC on the shuttlebay walkway, which is as far as we can go, is still in a generic uniform and so are the NPCs in the exchange room sitting at the consoles.
Nice addition of the ships seen (Challenger, Rhode Island, Odyssey etc.) on the interior ESD holographic display to the exterior map.
Also, I couldn't find E'genn on the interior map anywhere, I'm pretty sure we still have to talk to him at some point during the early levels don't we?
I also noticed you guys granted a wish by making most NPCs have the odyssey uniform. But I don't like the color scheme you got for it. Their uniforms are too dark. Looking at an NPC from a distance I just see a head, hands, and the rest all black. Even up close it's hard to to tell what department they are from. Maybe make the uniform gray or at least make the department color brighter.
I agree that the new uniforms look fantastic, but I also think the current colours are fine - I didn't have any trouble telling them apart.
The NPC sitting at the console in the infirmary waiting room was replaced with an engineer instead of a science officer. :rolleyes:
That NPC must be randomly generated, because he's A) not wearing an Odyssey uniform, and currently a Tactical officer at the moment.
Other differently-uniformed NPCs can be found in a few areas:
- The mezzanine seats
- The seats by the spacedock windows, to the left of the shipyard contacts
- The Bank and Exchange officers
- The NPCs in the shuttlebay
This might not be an issue for the NPCs who are just lounging around - they could be from visiting starships and thus be wearing different uniforms - but the Bank/Exchange officers should be in spacedock uniforms, as should (at least some of) the shuttlebay officers.
...talking to players is like being a mall Santa. Everyone immediately wants to tell you all of the things they want, and you are absolutely powerless to deliver 99% of them.
So true. They would have better put in a nice 2D photograph of Earth as background instead of this ugly low pixel 3D model.
Believe it or not guys this is the same planet that we are using on Holodeck, the different lighting is just bringing out the really bad bloom/reflection effect. If you get it at the right angle so there is no reflection the surface texture doesn't look that bad, it's the reflection map or whatever it's called that has the really low resolution quality to it, if they can't fix it, maybe they can just get rid of the reflections.
If something is not broken, don't fix it, if it is broken, don't leave it broken.
Nice addition of the ships seen (Challenger, Rhode Island, Odyssey etc.) on the interior ESD holographic display to the exterior map.
Also, I couldn't find E'genn on the interior map anywhere, I'm pretty sure we still have to talk to him at some point during the early levels don't we?
E'genn will be addressed in Season 9 from what I've heard from devs.
i have been out to sea on darkened military ships, you can easily make out the disk of our own galaxy in the night sky. frankly, it beggar's the mind and makes astronomers seem a heck of a lot more sane after you get a chance to see something like that for yourself.
heck, in that situation you can easily spot large satellites in orbit as they catch the sunlight using the big-eye's (very large pedestal mounted binoculars). the bigger ones, you can spot them with the naked eye.
i would imagine you can do it on land as well, but getting that far away from people would be more interesting than a military ship running dark out to sea.
i don't know if they could pull it off considering the longing we have for a more detailed earth model. maybe they could more clearly tell us what sort of limitations they have on the star fields and object maps for planets in the game? if its something fundamental, than anything short of altering the game to allow for higher resolution settings for those users that can handle it is going to do anything.
Oh you can see it from land as well but you need to get well away from city lights and pollution, out in the country the view of the sky on a clear night is simply amazing, the best views are when there's no moon.
If something is not broken, don't fix it, if it is broken, don't leave it broken.
I noticed that the shuttlebay is now blocked off. Will it be reopened at a later time so that we can take a shuttle ride to the Academy?
No, the shuttle bay was never made nor intended for you to be able to be in there at one time, the fact that you could was a mistake Taco has said. There might, and if so it'll be a ways down the line, be a cut scene, similar to the departing SFA one, that we get later on. For now you can go to the departing gate area and click the button, and you'll get the transporter effect down to SFA.
i have been out to sea on darkened military ships, you can easily make out the disk of our own galaxy in the night sky. frankly, it beggar's the mind and makes astronomers seem a heck of a lot more sane after you get a chance to see something like that for yourself.
heck, in that situation you can easily spot large satellites in orbit as they catch the sunlight using the big-eye's (very large pedestal mounted binoculars). the bigger ones, you can spot them with the naked eye.
i would imagine you can do it on land as well, but getting that far away from people would be more interesting than a military ship running dark out to sea.
i don't know if they could pull it off considering the longing we have for a more detailed earth model. maybe they could more clearly tell us what sort of limitations they have on the star fields and object maps for planets in the game? if its something fundamental, than anything short of altering the game to allow for higher resolution settings for those users that can handle it is going to do anything.
Yeah as I said, my confusion came from me thinking he meant seeing the entire galaxy haha.
Though it is worth remembering that things don't look the same in space as they do from the surface of Earth. Our sun for instance would be white when viewed from space, we only see it as yellow because of the way the light refracts through the atmosphere. The sheer temperature of our sun means it can't burn any colour other than white.
When we see 'photographs' taken from telescopes of galaxies and nebulae in the vastness of space, these photos have actually had colour added to them to represent the diversity of their make-up. They don't actually look like that though and if we ever visited them in a space craft they would look quite different.
That said, I do realise that in the Trek universe they don't usually hold true to this and they always depict our sun as yellow and the stars and nebulae have similar colouring to what we see from Earth so I guess it could work for STO haha.
Join date is wrong, I've actually been around since STO Beta.
True alters don't have a "main". Account wide unlocks for all unique event rewards!!
I had this thought last night after going to bed, and I think someone else mentioned it earlier (I lost the post).
In 'normal' operations of a space station you would regularly have people arriving and departing from both the transporter & the shuttle bays (as well as docked ships). Since we can now use these two to at least depart from. That would make the somewhat empty platform in the shuttle bay a sort of boarding area for shuttles.
So why not add a console there (like the one in the transporter) and a guy positioned behind it whom would act as sort of a gate-agent. When you shuttle down from there he'd be the one in the interact ui. You could give him some basic lines to say occasionally like:
"Shuttle 86 to Starfleet Academy is now boarding from Gate C."
"U.S.S. Danube will be departing to Deep Space 9 in 20 mins."
"The S.S. Gimmelwald will be arriving from Regulus VI shortly. People are reminded that cargo will be unloaded after all passengers have disembarked."
peter
honestly i think this is a great example of the use of transporter room and shuttle bay ..
a while ago i suggested a shuttle being seen with diplomates and officers standing near one or two simulating what would be seen in esd as if they were getting ready to load onto ,or as if they had just unloaded the shuttle ... as for the transporter if we on our ship npc beam in and out all the time on transporter pad so the tech is there
That is a Bellerophon class, an Intrepid C-Store variant. Remember the interior dock typically serves the advertising function for C-Store ships.
honestly those empty drydocks scattered around should also serve as advertising new c store ships get better view up front and close ..plus you can fly around them to get angles you couldnt see if in esd
If it is based on a photograph it may be an overexposed one, however we should be able to see the Milky Way in the skymap, if we can see it from the ground it should be much more visible in space, the stars are far too sparse and unreal looking as it is now, even Holodeck's rather generic made up starfield may be preferable.
Agreed, but even the overexposure doesn't address that Orion is backwards.
honestly those empty drydocks scattered around should also serve as advertising new c store ships get better view up front and close ..plus you can fly around them to get angles you couldnt see if in esd
That's actually an excellent idea as well.
Aren't the models used inside Spacedock a higher resolution than even the ones we fly around?
"Rise like Lions after slumber, In unvanquishable number, Shake your chains to earth like dew, Which in sleep had fallen on you-Ye are many they are few"
Comments
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The Armada
Original join date: Feb 5, 2010
Twitter: @davejl_99, & @STO_BBArmada
Out in space it's getting far too busy, one of the Station's doors is stuck open, maybe because of the USS Sovereign being parked nearby. Although it's good to showcase some of our ships I'm not at all sure we really need all of that traffic flying around out there now, it's gone from a few ships to looking like an angry hornets nest, with ships just flying around randomly in ways that make no sense for starships operating in a controlled (air)space. I could imagine a present day air traffic controller going into convulsions trying to deal with hundreds of airline pilots flying any old way over an airport, besides, with a whole planet for these ships to orbit, do they all have to hang around ESD?
If nothing can be done about the blocky reflection mapping on Earths surface, then maybe it should be given a lot more cloud cover, in fact it needs it anyway, the planet looks extremely unnaturally clear skied.
And last but certainly not least the Starfield around Earth just looks barren, in sector space we have a nice panoramic view of the Milky Way and everyone who has ever looked at the sky on a clear cloudless night has seen decent vistas, yet in Earth space what we see looks more like a speckle of spilled paint than any night sky I've ever seen.
I did notice outside ESD the earth had some squares as islands on the map. The clouds did move which were nice i think its had a slight update if it has then cool.
In ESD the clouds dont move as fast i noticed. Also its overlit i feel both out and inside ESD. I am more of the kinda person who likes shadows. Would love to see it more in the dark with some of it been lit by the sun but not all of it if you know what i mean. Something like the below images perhaps?
http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/51016ec5ecad04803c000021/the-earth-is-getting-hotter-faster-than-it-ever-has-since-dawn-of-civilization.jpg
http://wallike.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Earth-Background-Wallpaper-640x400.jpg
http://ektophase.com/images/EktophaseEarthDesktop1.jpg
Basically some of it should be in complete darkness. I would like to see more depth to the texture map and perhaps more of a ozone effect also. Now i do know that there is a lit and dark side of Earth in the game but its not done that well i think.
Ok anyhow. Nice ESD and i like the exterior too a nice black sol system. Ok now cryptic its time to totally revamp with hd textures DS9 please.
The clouds don't even move at all, the interior earth is a flat 2D image.
http://www.hostthenpost.com/uploads/f3084fbc72796950980330166dab1e04.jpg
Earth is our home, we know very well what it looks like. I could see getting away with similar textures on a fictional world. But come on, it's Earth!
peter
Issues;
The chair for elsa mora the requisition officers contact has reverted to the old sovereign chair.
The Bussard Collectors for the Vesta Class are white.
The lighting strip at the top of the docks spire needs a fade between colours like holodeck.
Can spotlights be added to the dock to add scale.
The collision box preventing people running up the glass at the shipyard is missing.
The collision boxes around the Dry Docks prevent entry.
Patrol paths of NPCs make them go through barriers.
PADD on the floor under Quinns desk.
Lt. Cmdr Arut the Dil weapon contact is facing the wrong way and typing on a wall.
Turbolifts kick out out of the lift on arrival to the mezanine and the main level.
New ships in space are stationary.
Uniforms still need a pass to catch them all, some have kits on.
The pop up to enter sol system from sector space has an out of date image.
And this point still stands;
It was 2326, a very good year.
I noted two problems with the stars and I don't know if they've been corrected. The stars are out of focus, and the map is backwards. Last I checked Orion was a mirror image for instance.
I agree on the waitresses....a lot.
I'm not sure if an active Federation Starbase would still have 23rd century technology in the 24th century. Maybe a part of the aesthetic but the actual consoles? That's what the time travel mission is for.
Well in that case, I'll let you off. :P
Erm, we're in the Milky Way galaxy.
Uh, that is what hes saying, you can see the white cluster of stars from the ground.
Milky Way is the nickname for that, along with the galaxy itself.
Mmmmm Milky Way. *drools*
I also noticed you guys granted a wish by making most NPCs have the odyssey uniform. But I don't like the color scheme you got for it. Their uniforms are too dark. Looking at an NPC from a distance I just see a head, hands, and the rest all black. Even up close it's hard to to tell what department they are from. Maybe make the uniform gray or at least make the department color brighter.
The NPC sitting at the console in the infirmary waiting room was replaced with an engineer instead of a science officer. :rolleyes:
Another thing changed based on feedback was the market speculator in the exchange room is in the same spot but she is now facing the exchange consoles and has a PADD in her hand and is pushing buttons on it. I like that.
The NPC on the shuttlebay walkway, which is as far as we can go, is still in a generic uniform and so are the NPCs in the exchange room sitting at the consoles.
Also, I couldn't find E'genn on the interior map anywhere, I'm pretty sure we still have to talk to him at some point during the early levels don't we?
Commanding Officer: Captain Pyotr Ramonovich Amosov
Dedication Plaque: "Nil Intentatum Reliquit"
So true. They would have better put in a nice 2D photograph of Earth as background instead of this ugly low pixel 3D model.
Oh I see what he means now. Sorry, I thought he was meaning we should be able to see the milky way galaxy, which didn't make sense to me.
I agree that the new uniforms look fantastic, but I also think the current colours are fine - I didn't have any trouble telling them apart.
That NPC must be randomly generated, because he's A) not wearing an Odyssey uniform, and
Other differently-uniformed NPCs can be found in a few areas:
- The mezzanine seats
- The seats by the spacedock windows, to the left of the shipyard contacts
- The Bank and Exchange officers
- The NPCs in the shuttlebay
This might not be an issue for the NPCs who are just lounging around - they could be from visiting starships and thus be wearing different uniforms - but the Bank/Exchange officers should be in spacedock uniforms, as should (at least some of) the shuttlebay officers.
Spacedock continues to look amazing, well done!
Be sure to do a close fly-by of the USS Sovereign outside ESD. The reg number should seem...familiar.
i have been out to sea on darkened military ships, you can easily make out the disk of our own galaxy in the night sky. frankly, it beggar's the mind and makes astronomers seem a heck of a lot more sane after you get a chance to see something like that for yourself.
heck, in that situation you can easily spot large satellites in orbit as they catch the sunlight using the big-eye's (very large pedestal mounted binoculars). the bigger ones, you can spot them with the naked eye.
i would imagine you can do it on land as well, but getting that far away from people would be more interesting than a military ship running dark out to sea.
i don't know if they could pull it off considering the longing we have for a more detailed earth model. maybe they could more clearly tell us what sort of limitations they have on the star fields and object maps for planets in the game? if its something fundamental, than anything short of altering the game to allow for higher resolution settings for those users that can handle it is going to do anything.
No, the shuttle bay was never made nor intended for you to be able to be in there at one time, the fact that you could was a mistake Taco has said. There might, and if so it'll be a ways down the line, be a cut scene, similar to the departing SFA one, that we get later on. For now you can go to the departing gate area and click the button, and you'll get the transporter effect down to SFA.
peter
Yeah as I said, my confusion came from me thinking he meant seeing the entire galaxy haha.
Though it is worth remembering that things don't look the same in space as they do from the surface of Earth. Our sun for instance would be white when viewed from space, we only see it as yellow because of the way the light refracts through the atmosphere. The sheer temperature of our sun means it can't burn any colour other than white.
When we see 'photographs' taken from telescopes of galaxies and nebulae in the vastness of space, these photos have actually had colour added to them to represent the diversity of their make-up. They don't actually look like that though and if we ever visited them in a space craft they would look quite different.
That said, I do realise that in the Trek universe they don't usually hold true to this and they always depict our sun as yellow and the stars and nebulae have similar colouring to what we see from Earth so I guess it could work for STO haha.
honestly i think this is a great example of the use of transporter room and shuttle bay ..
a while ago i suggested a shuttle being seen with diplomates and officers standing near one or two simulating what would be seen in esd as if they were getting ready to load onto ,or as if they had just unloaded the shuttle ... as for the transporter if we on our ship npc beam in and out all the time on transporter pad so the tech is there
honestly those empty drydocks scattered around should also serve as advertising new c store ships get better view up front and close ..plus you can fly around them to get angles you couldnt see if in esd
Agreed, but even the overexposure doesn't address that Orion is backwards.
That's actually an excellent idea as well.
Aren't the models used inside Spacedock a higher resolution than even the ones we fly around?