Maybe they should have days on even instances and nights on odd ones.
I believe something similar was suggested....and shot down by the Devs already...somewhere.
I have followed those topics and haven't heard about that being shot down. Sure, they'd have to remake all Risa textures as night textures but it would at least be something to the Lighting 2.0 downgrade that obliterated Risa, Bajor, and all other hope for some dynamic anything in this game.
Since hardly anyone goes to classic Risa they could temporarily replace it with a night version of the Risa summer resort so people can choose between night and day.
Would two versions of the map be doable? One for day and one for night. It wouldn't be true cycles, but in a way it would be better since people could just choose which one they prefer.
It is much more viable to adjust the missions to not require specific timing, than it is to make a separate map just for those missions that take place at night. That would also be an option, but would take much more time and effort.
The only other solution I can come up with is: Half and half. If facing "west" you see darkened skies with the moons rising/setting....and if you look "east" you see skies with the sun rising/setting. The entire sky can be some sort of middle ground...with adjustments for sunsets or moon "auras".
That's an interesting idea. But we will have to wait till next year to see anything like this. I seriously doubt they have time to make major changes to the Risa map before the summer event starts.
For reference, here are some comments that TacoFangs made about the technical issues with restoring the day/night cycle:
Correct. We don't have Vertex lights really. What we have are called 'Diffuse Probes.' Those probes are placed all over, automatically or by hand. (By hand is better, but takes a LOT longer). Each probe gathers lighting information from around it. Both actual lights, and emissive materials. Then the geometry basically grabs that lighting info from the nearest probe.
So, while we can still move lights around on the fly, that probe data is only calculated once, on our end, so we can't change it throughout the day.
Shadows aren't the issue. We can move individual lights around a bit, we just can't do really drastic changes to the lighting of a map, like say, go from Noon, to Sunset, to Midnight.
The direct lighting can all change easily, the light from a torch, or from the sun. The shadows can move. The issue is the ambient light, the light that bounces around a scene and makes the shadows something other than pure black. That ambient light is now much, much more accurate to the scene. It used to be that we just set a single color for the ambient of a map. So something like Risa would be bluish in the ambient. Now the objects and lights in the world affect the ambient of objects around them. If we have a big, bright red ball, with the sun shining on it, a white wall right next to it will get some red bounced light off of that ball, just as it would in real life, rather than the white wall just appearing kind of bluish.
That ambient light is what's baked in, and can't change on the fly.
After looking up the technical terms, I'm not entirely convinced that it's impossible to restore the day/night cycles on Risa and Bajor, but perhaps the devs don't want to do it because they consider any possible solution to be too much of a kluge (or kludge). Unfortunately, TacoFangs never answered my follow-up questions on the technical issues.
Thanks for giving me more terms to look up. Some further questions:
1. Are you saying that only the probe data is pre-computed, or are you saying that both the probe data and its effect on the geometry are pre-computed?
2. Do the diffuse probes affect the appearance of our characters, NPCs, and other objects that don't occupy static positions on the map?
3. Do the diffuse probes still affect the appearance of the environment (as well as our characters, NPCs, etc.) even when Lighting 2.0 is turned off?
I still don't understand why it isn't possible to remove all light probes from a specific map. In our previous discussion, you said that some probes were placed by hand and others were automatically generated. Are you saying that the environment artists have no way of turning off the automatic probe generation on a specific map, even if they wanted to? Can you still light a map without using light probes? If light probes are mandatory on all maps, then how does this all work when Lighting 2.0 is turned off on the client-side?
For those of you wondering what exactly a "light probe" is, here are some further references:
I wasn't speaking of the cycles, I was speaking of making a permanent night version alternately to the day version (two separate versions), the lack of cycles doesn't stop them from making perma night locations regardless of whether it is set on Risa or someplace else. That mission involving Romulan's in a mine on a moon for an example kind of looks like it is set at night.
Fix the drooping wings problem on the Risan Luxury Cruiser, please.
The Risian Corvette's Subspace Wake Generator is also bugged since a very long time ago and still not fixed. That makes the Risian Luxury Cruiser bugged both visually and functionally since the consoles are meant to work together for set bonuses.
After gambling away considerable dilithium on phoenix boxes for the Corvette and the Luxury Cruiser, which are character bound, it was quite disappointing to see both of them in the half-broken state they are in, and that's after waiting a very long time since they were suddenly pulled from Risa with no notice before the last time they were offered to queue them in the reputation event tab and until the phoenix box's arrival.
I think night Risa doesn't exist any more. In lighting 2.0 the light you see is part of the object. So if I got this right, when you see the sun shine on the rooftops in 1.0 it was actual ambient light illuminating a object. In 2.0 the reflection is textured on the roof. If the sky would be night every object would still be lit as it's currently. That means someone (poor taco) had to rebuild ALL the textures for night Risa after just building them for day Risa...
Fix the drooping wings problem on the Risan Luxury Cruiser, please.
The Risian Corvette's Subspace Wake Generator is also bugged since a very long time ago and still not fixed. That makes the Risian Luxury Cruiser bugged both visually and functionally since the consoles are meant to work together for set bonuses.
After gambling away considerable dilithium on phoenix boxes for the Corvette and the Luxury Cruiser, which are character bound, it was quite disappointing to see both of them in the half-broken state they are in, and that's after waiting a very long time since they were suddenly pulled from Risa with no notice before the last time they were offered to queue them in the reputation event tab and until the phoenix box's arrival.
If *crosses fingers, hoping they do*/when they make the T6 versions of the Risian vessels, they'll fix those problems. With the different kinds/types of vessels that are available now, there's plenty of possibilities for new Risian vessels in the foreseeable future.
Maybe they should have a Risian Lockbox in honour of when the Federation honours the Klingon members of the Alliance and allow Klingons to finally visit the planet Risa outside the summer season? The lockbox can, of course, include T6 versions of current two Risan vessels (while the Lobi store has a new Risian vessel waiting for us).
I think night Risa doesn't exist any more. In lighting 2.0 the light you see is part of the object. So if I got this right, when you see the sun shine on the rooftops in 1.0 it was actual ambient light illuminating a object. In 2.0 the reflection is textured on the roof. If the sky would be night every object would still be lit as it's currently. That means someone (poor taco) had to rebuild ALL the textures for night Risa after just building them for day Risa...
I might be wrong about this, but my understanding is that the ambient lighting's effects aren't actually built into the textures. See the stuff about light probes in my previous post:
I wasn't speaking of the cycles, I was speaking of making a permanent night version alternately to the day version (two separate versions), the lack of cycles doesn't stop them from making perma night locations regardless of whether it is set on Risa or someplace else. That mission involving Romulan's in a mine on a moon for an example kind of looks like it is set at night.
TacoFangs specifically rejected that idea the last two times it was mentioned. Did you miss these two quotes in my previous post?
Would two versions of the map be doable? One for day and one for night. It wouldn't be true cycles, but in a way it would be better since people could just choose which one they prefer.
It is much more viable to adjust the missions to not require specific timing, than it is to make a separate map just for those missions that take place at night. That would also be an option, but would take much more time and effort.
I like that they added the aloha shirts and board shorts last year. The year before, the poor guys didn't get much to wear when they finally added swimsuits to the event. I always have fun seeing how people dress their characters up for holiday events.
When night approaches, NPCs gather on the landing platform area, hence you can get the Fireworks done. The Klingon and Trill appear in front of the Vendor, so that is taken care of. The Beach Bonfire still occurs. Pavyl is actually quicker to do as you don't have to wait until midnight to go to the Puzzle location, you can do so immediately after given it. You can come back immediately and do the next. No waiting or Instance jumping needed.
The only problem I have found, and that has nothing to do with Lighting, is the Klingon Hot Yoga, I mean Mok'Bara. According to others they show up at specific times and you must get to them very quickly. I have not seen them yet. The last remaining task for the Master Relaxer.
'But to be logical is not to be right', and 'nothing' on God's earth could ever 'make it' right!'
Judge Dan Haywood
'As l speak now, the words are forming in my head.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
Are the Specs for this Years Summer Event ship Coming before The event begins?
Usually ship stats are revealed 24 hours before it becomes availablem in this case I think tommorrow we'll see the stats blog.
^ Memory Alpha.org is not canon. It's a open wiki with arbitrary rules. Only what can be cited from an episode is. ^
"No. Men do not roar. Women roar. Then they hurl heavy objects... and claw at you." -Worf, son of Mogh
"A filthy, mangy beast, but in its bony breast beat the heart of a warrior" - "faithful" (...) "but ever-ready to follow the call of the wild." - Martok, about a Targ
"That pig smelled horrid. A sweet-sour, extremely pungent odor. I showered and showered, and it took me a week to get rid of it!" - Robert Justman, appreciating Emmy-Lou
Been on Risa for about 20 min, a second crash to desktop. I wasn't doing anything, just browsing the exchange for deals like any good ferengi should. Submitted the crash report. If this keeps up, it's gonna be fun trying to organize anything with your friends having to re-invite them to team, fly to their location, and pop someone CTDs and the fun begins again.
My STO is stable otherwise, have high end consumer PC custom built by myself minus the old GPU, the horrible Windows 10, all of which is rock stable since build date.
And CTD again, this time it lasted a whole minute just letting it load. Can't help but wonder if the crashes are related to my using it not in maximized window.
Was there for about an hour last night. No crashes.
There was talk upstream of clipping on Outfits. Ha!! I was at the arch where the Mok'Bara Klingons should be, waiting for them in vain and my Character clipped through the top of the arch. Just head and shoulders above the ground while flying with a Floater close to ground.
'But to be logical is not to be right', and 'nothing' on God's earth could ever 'make it' right!'
Judge Dan Haywood
'As l speak now, the words are forming in my head.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
Was there for about an hour last night. No crashes.
Likely a hardware specific crash (dyson sphere battle zone recently had one pop up, and also get fixed). For those affected make sure you report it in the relevant support forum (and/or in-game). Questionable that posts here are going to be forwarded to QA (can always hope but better to be sure.)
Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
Why do men have to wear these stupid swim shorts that have built-in identity crises so that they look like normal pants that are way too short or shorts that are way too long? I remember men wearing what they now call hotpants. Check Magnum P.I. and they all wore proper shorts. Check James Bond in the 60's and he wore proper shorts, including a belt.
I wouldn't be caught dead in these 'modern' shorts that make men look they are ashamed of their upper legs. Imagine walking around in the sun a long time, for a few days and get a tan. When they lift up the shorts they will appear to wear over-the-knee socks because from just above the knee its all white.
Why does one wear shorts anyway? Because it is bloody hot and you wanna feel the wind on your legs to cool them down. It is near impossible these days to get normal men's shorts. Even the shortest are too long.
Damn women can wear anything they like and then men can't wear it anymore because they get told they wear women's clothes! What is left for us to wear?
I cannot wait until this stupid TRIBBLE fashion is over and gone and men can wear normal short shorts again as we did for decades.
Vaipen, blame American prudery. In Europe it's common for men to wear... less xD
^ Memory Alpha.org is not canon. It's a open wiki with arbitrary rules. Only what can be cited from an episode is. ^
"No. Men do not roar. Women roar. Then they hurl heavy objects... and claw at you." -Worf, son of Mogh
"A filthy, mangy beast, but in its bony breast beat the heart of a warrior" - "faithful" (...) "but ever-ready to follow the call of the wild." - Martok, about a Targ
"That pig smelled horrid. A sweet-sour, extremely pungent odor. I showered and showered, and it took me a week to get rid of it!" - Robert Justman, appreciating Emmy-Lou
if risa crashes during the free ship event, like multiple days in a row, were gonna be sol the ship, despite how easy the event normally is. not funny! and i have crashed soo much since sunday i have no hope of completing the event for the ship which last year was completed with ease.
Hey, if Risa's crashing on you, can you send me your @handle? The team's going to look into seeing what happened.
This merits closer observation; the autopsy on this... phenomenon would be interesting to read.
On the subject of summer event offerings, I ran across an interesting suggestion over on Reddit: Risian-themed combat pets. Not sure about the manits shrimp, but I wouldn't find a falcon unwelcome.
Comments
See here:
That's an interesting idea. But we will have to wait till next year to see anything like this. I seriously doubt they have time to make major changes to the Risa map before the summer event starts.
For reference, here are some comments that TacoFangs made about the technical issues with restoring the day/night cycle:
After looking up the technical terms, I'm not entirely convinced that it's impossible to restore the day/night cycles on Risa and Bajor, but perhaps the devs don't want to do it because they consider any possible solution to be too much of a kluge (or kludge). Unfortunately, TacoFangs never answered my follow-up questions on the technical issues.
For those of you wondering what exactly a "light probe" is, here are some further references:
Star Trek Online: Graphical Tech Updates (18 May 2016)
Star Trek Online: Graphical Tech Updates (03 Jun 2016 )
Computer Graphics Stack Exchange: Answer to "How is a light probe different than an environmental cube map?"
Unity Manual: Light Probes
The Risian Corvette's Subspace Wake Generator is also bugged since a very long time ago and still not fixed. That makes the Risian Luxury Cruiser bugged both visually and functionally since the consoles are meant to work together for set bonuses.
After gambling away considerable dilithium on phoenix boxes for the Corvette and the Luxury Cruiser, which are character bound, it was quite disappointing to see both of them in the half-broken state they are in, and that's after waiting a very long time since they were suddenly pulled from Risa with no notice before the last time they were offered to queue them in the reputation event tab and until the phoenix box's arrival.
https://forum.arcgames.com/startrekonline/discussion/1122575/subspace-wake-generator-speed-is-bugged
Bad clipping or your character is just too strong for the shirt, it just can't handle the greatness of your character!
I've seen some clipping, but that's a lot of it.
Darkness 2.0 for next year?
If *crosses fingers, hoping they do*/when they make the T6 versions of the Risian vessels, they'll fix those problems. With the different kinds/types of vessels that are available now, there's plenty of possibilities for new Risian vessels in the foreseeable future.
Maybe they should have a Risian Lockbox in honour of when the Federation honours the Klingon members of the Alliance and allow Klingons to finally visit the planet Risa outside the summer season? The lockbox can, of course, include T6 versions of current two Risan vessels (while the Lobi store has a new Risian vessel waiting for us).
*Remembers horrors of previous Summer Events and shivers*
I might be wrong about this, but my understanding is that the ambient lighting's effects aren't actually built into the textures. See the stuff about light probes in my previous post:
http://forum.arcgames.com/startrekonline/discussion/comment/13221588/#Comment_13221588
TacoFangs specifically rejected that idea the last two times it was mentioned. Did you miss these two quotes in my previous post?
Yeah, I've noticed the clipping on my characters as well. Also with some other outfits, like the Mini-T top.
Even tried wiggling various sliders to see if it changed, but it was still there at 0 shoulder width/bulk, 0 chest depth/bulk, etc.
...anyone know which patch it showed up with? I don't think it was there pre-S13.
The only problem I have found, and that has nothing to do with Lighting, is the Klingon Hot Yoga, I mean Mok'Bara. According to others they show up at specific times and you must get to them very quickly. I have not seen them yet. The last remaining task for the Master Relaxer.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
Usually ship stats are revealed 24 hours before it becomes availablem in this case I think tommorrow we'll see the stats blog.
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
I had that too, but no warning box.
Let's HOPE this little issue will get fixed prior to Thursday, or the summer event is going to be rather frustrating...to sat the least. o.o
My STO is stable otherwise, have high end consumer PC custom built by myself minus the old GPU, the horrible Windows 10, all of which is rock stable since build date.
And CTD again, this time it lasted a whole minute just letting it load. Can't help but wonder if the crashes are related to my using it not in maximized window.
There was talk upstream of clipping on Outfits. Ha!! I was at the arch where the Mok'Bara Klingons should be, waiting for them in vain and my Character clipped through the top of the arch. Just head and shoulders above the ground while flying with a Floater close to ground.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
Likely a hardware specific crash (dyson sphere battle zone recently had one pop up, and also get fixed). For those affected make sure you report it in the relevant support forum (and/or in-game). Questionable that posts here are going to be forwarded to QA (can always hope but better to be sure.)
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
I wouldn't be caught dead in these 'modern' shorts that make men look they are ashamed of their upper legs. Imagine walking around in the sun a long time, for a few days and get a tan. When they lift up the shorts they will appear to wear over-the-knee socks because from just above the knee its all white.
Why does one wear shorts anyway? Because it is bloody hot and you wanna feel the wind on your legs to cool them down. It is near impossible these days to get normal men's shorts. Even the shortest are too long.
Damn women can wear anything they like and then men can't wear it anymore because they get told they wear women's clothes! What is left for us to wear?
I cannot wait until this stupid TRIBBLE fashion is over and gone and men can wear normal short shorts again as we did for decades.
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
On the subject of summer event offerings, I ran across an interesting suggestion over on Reddit: Risian-themed combat pets. Not sure about the manits shrimp, but I wouldn't find a falcon unwelcome.