Have u guys tried to switch to DX9 / DX11 or tried other graphic options?? because someone said that switching to DX9 or DX11 fix it.
Actually it was stated as a known issue for the emergency patch notes and that this was a workaround for some. I have been trying various options, high and low: nothing works, and with my calendar for the next few weeks being full, I may well have trouble managing to get a ship for my toons without having played that mission.
As with one post above, I get mostly white-outs, not black-outs, that leads to ongoing problems when I leave the mission. This seems to be related to the graphics issue reported in the graphics section by some and it is extremely disappointing that it seems that Cryptic has ignored that issue to the detriment of so many now with this mission; which per a reply on Twitter, they indicate is down to "low-end graphics".
What I take that to mean is that they blame the issue on lower-spec graphics cards, which they couldn't be bothered to test with, despite apparently being good enough to play the game with, although people who had no such issues before are having the problem now.
The difference here is that it happens at a specific point, when it was occurring before after a varying period of time, depending on play, although usually at a map change, as with the space walk.
"After February 27, 2014, the Featured Episode will be available for maximum-rank characters."
1) So this means the Solenae gear is something I can earn later on? I don't have to turbo-power-level my alts to get it? Because that would be cool. Are they/will they be available as Mk XII gear, or Mk XI?
2) Speaking of, when is the Mk XII Breen set coming?
3) Where have Portraits gone in the Doff system? Only time I see portraits is in the right column, when Doffs are already assigned--portraits beforehand are stock images of their Department (Tac/Sec, Eng/Ops, Sci/Med, Civ)
4) Quick-Select Ships and Quick Inventory are both, OMG, straight glory. How long on saving Boff slots/Tray loadouts?
5) What's with all the clipping in animations the last six months? End of Romulan Rep, people's head animations clip their faces/ears through their envirosuits. This time, big Voth commander puts his hand to his chin... THROUGH his giant shoulder guards. Revamped KDF missions 1-20, Alexander's hair passes through his pauldrons, and Worf's big white fluffy shirt clips THROUGH his sash. Does no one actually watch the animations before OK'ing production? Does no one realize they might have to alter (or create new) animations to fit new content?
Same here. I cross the threshold to begin the space walk section of a step between stars and all od the models go black, including the sun, and the only light available is from the "sky dome". Ive seen a lot of people having the same issue. How about some info on whats going on there? Oh, and, shot in the dark here, but since you realeased an unplayable mission, how about extending the anniversary event by another day. That way people like me, who have tried playing the mission multiple times to get the qmendations, aren't getting shafted because you couldn't do proper Q&A Cryptic.
This.
I thought for sure I would see an apology to all the game players for the bugged game content that came out yesterday, and continues to persist today. So far, this has been the most disappointing STO anniversary yet.:(
Add to the fact that if this mission is ever playable, we do not receive the starship as we use to, as in previous STO anniversaries. Instead, we have to grind not one, but all of our characters to receive the ship per character. It was bad enough having to do one mission, per character, let alone the continual grind. Then, when all is said and done, you need to buy the C-Store pack to complete it off. Ugh.
What happened to the good old days of 1 playable mission, that rewarded a new ship for the STO anniversary, you know, for appreciation of the players?
I don't know if I'm having graphics problems or not, because the lag is so horrendous everywhere - my CPU looks to be maxed out on all cores - that I can't even get to the mission.
__________________________________
STO Forum member since before February 2010. STO Academy's excellent skill planner here: Link I actually avoid success entirely. It doesn't get me what I want, and the consequences for failure are slim. -- markhawman
Actually it was stated as a known issue for the emergency patch notes and that this was a workaround for some. I have been trying various options, high and low: nothing works, and with my calendar for the next few weeks being full, I may well have trouble managing to get a ship for my toons without having played that mission.
As with one post above, I get mostly white-outs, not black-outs, that leads to ongoing problems when I leave the mission. This seems to be related to the graphics issue reported in the graphics section by some and it is extremely disappointing that it seems that Cryptic has ignored that issue to the detriment of so many now with this mission; which per a reply on Twitter, they indicate is down to "low-end graphics".
What I take that to mean is that they blame the issue on lower-spec graphics cards, which they couldn't be bothered to test with, despite apparently being good enough to play the game with, although people who had no such issues before are having the problem now.
The difference here is that it happens at a specific point, when it was occurring before after a varying period of time, depending on play, although usually at a map change, as with the space walk.
Indeed the problem is with low-end devices - specifically, DX9 devices. By my experience, such problems are shader-related - badly compiled shader, engine can't process DX9 format, etc. Of course Cryptic ignored such a problem, as most of the players have up-to-date hardware (as in, not six years old rigs like me :rolleyes: ), and a faulty shader slipped in.
If you can't switch DX modes, you can't really fix it, as playing around with other settings won't change the files that need to be changed. Hopefully a fix is on the way!
Indeed the problem is with low-end devices - specifically, DX9 devices. By my experience, such problems are shader-related - badly compiled shader, engine can't process DX9 format, etc. Of course Cryptic ignored such a problem, as most of the players have up-to-date hardware (as in, not six years old rigs like me :rolleyes: ), and a faulty shader slipped in.
If you can't switch DX modes, you can't really fix it, as playing around with other settings won't change the files that need to be changed. Hopefully a fix is on the way!
well i am running w7 an a dx 11 video card an nothing works . i get ether total blackout or total whiteout. then i get a crash report saying something to the fact a d3d dll quit working. an so i thought it was my vid card was going out. so went out an bought a new gtx 660 with 3gb of ddr5 memory. an im still getting the same problem that my gtx 650 ti video card did . :mad: i spent $250 for nothing. oh well i'll just keep my 650 as a back up.
STO : member since 2009 beta tested, pre-order, an bought the game.
OK....big problem with "into the void"....i got the dyson ev suit on and followed tuvok and crazy cooper out the forcefield and suddenly....DUN DUN DUUUUUUN.....everything is black....no lighting at all....all i see are black sillouhettes and the far away background is the only texture with lighting......*sigh*:eek:
Walk to the light Carol Anne..... all welcome! All Welcome!
Add to the fact that if this mission is ever playable, we do not receive the starship as we use to, as in previous STO anniversaries. Instead, we have to grind not one, but all of our characters to receive the ship per character. It was bad enough having to do one mission, per character, let alone the continual grind. Then, when all is said and done, you need to buy the C-Store pack to complete it off. Ugh.
What happened to the good old days of 1 playable mission, that rewarded a new ship for the STO anniversary, you know, for appreciation of the players?
It went the way of the almighty dollar. I won't be touching this, or anything to do with this, thanks to this blatant cash grab with one hand, and Cryptic's backhand with the other.
Lane Bjorn Jorgensson, Captain, ISS Voltaire
Here's a map to show how much they've screwed up the game map.
Same here. I cross the threshold to begin the space walk section of a step between stars and all od the models go black, including the sun, and the only light available is from the "sky dome". Ive seen a lot of people having the same issue. How about some info on whats going on there? Oh, and, shot in the dark here, but since you realeased an unplayable mission, how about extending the anniversary event by another day. That way people like me, who have tried playing the mission multiple times to get the qmendations, aren't getting shafted because you couldn't do proper Q&A Cryptic.
They are addressing it.
I had the same issue off and on. I had to log out then login and the graphics would appear.
I was fairly stubborn though and wanted to continue through the mission, so I targeted Tuvok and used him as my reference point.
well i am running w7 an a dx 11 video card an nothing works . i get ether total blackout or total whiteout. then i get a crash report saying something to the fact a d3d dll quit working. an so i thought it was my vid card was going out. so went out an bought a new gtx 660 with 3gb of ddr5 memory. an im still getting the same problem that my gtx 650 ti video card did . :mad: i spent $250 for nothing. oh well i'll just keep my 650 as a back up.
Where Im running a GTX 650ti and see it perfectly
One minor bit of hope for yall... if yer persistant, I know a guy in my fleet that has the black screen issue and still managed to complete the mission by paying attention to his minimap... took him forever but he did pull it off
I don't normally complain about things in this game, but who decided we needed to face less enemies in the lower levels to "speed up" progress? That blows. It's not an improvement at all, in my opinion. I started a new alt to see the lower level changes and I'm disappointed. Less enemies means less XP and loot. It also means kill accolades will take longer to complete. Thanks a lot.
Also, those "artwork changes" are tremendously helpful. Prior to 8.5, all of my characters talked to me from the Galaxy class bridge, instead of the bridge I chose. Now then talk to me from the Origin bridge, instead of the bridge I chose. Thanks a lot, that makes a huge difference. :rolleyes:
I've been playing this game since late season 4 and I have to say this is the most disappointing "big" release I've seen. I hope season 9 is offers better than this.
I don't normally complain about things in this game, but who decided we needed to face less enemies in the lower levels to "speed up" progress? That blows. It's not an improvement at all, in my opinion. I started a new alt to see the lower level changes and I'm disappointed. Less enemies means less XP and loot. It also means kill accolades will take longer to complete. Thanks a lot.
I held off on playing some of my lower level characters to see the revamped content. However, the paragraph above makes me wonder if I didn't make a huge mistake. Fewer enemies and faster progress in an already speedy leveling process sounds awful. While the story missions are my favorite part of the game, I do still want some modicum of challenge and engagement in them.
Further to my earlier post about the nerfing of the asteroid mining event, I have now noted from the calendar that following this anniversary event weekend, there is going to be a mining event weekend next week, to make up for it.
OK, taking away with one hand and giving with the other, and possibly more, depending on how it is managed, and how you can manage it.
With the daily cap, I really didn't expect to see a dilithium weekend. I was expecting it to rotate around rep and fleet marks.
I was hoping that the daily would have greater rewards (as per the bonus hour that was just removed), and maybe the fleet mine rewards would have been upped to compensate for not having the bonus event. To me, that would have been simpler.
This is definitely going to mean a shift in game play and how dilithium is managed. Presumably these events are going to rotate with the likes of bonus marks, so players will have to manage their dilithium stocks better, and on a longer-term basis, in-between events, than they may have been doing.
To some players that will be something new, as we will presumably retain a daily cap, and the trick will be to stay well ahead of the game and use the event weekend to stock up in advance of the next occasion when you can do so.
I can also see some players having a problem managing to do that. Some people just can't think ahead, so whilst I feel a bit better about this issue now, there might be a few who don't - and more to the point, a few who are not going to even realise what they need to do to avoid having problems until it is too late.
I guess we'll just have to see how it pans out...
Addendum: Having now also noted that there will be a "Reputation Marks" event two weeks later, that implies that fleet marks are excluded, whilst the line that says, "Start building your fleet projects and reputations" implies that it will be included.
This would also indicate that these events will be every other week and that fleets will only be able to gain bonus fleet marks every four weeks.
I held off on playing some of my lower level characters to see the revamped content. However, the paragraph above makes me wonder if I didn't make a huge mistake. Fewer enemies and faster progress in an already speedy leveling process sounds awful. While the story missions are my favorite part of the game, I do still want some modicum of challenge and engagement in them.
Actually, his complaint seems to be that he's going through the missions faster, but not leveling as quickly. Personally, I count that as a bonus - maybe when I start a new toon to check this stuff out, I can manage to visit DS9 sometime before I hit Admiral...
cant play step between stars cant see anything when i space walk as a life time member from beta and paid my 299.00 all i can say is i want my money back !!! branflakes cant you please do something let us know what is going on
One minor bit of hope for yall... if yer persistant, I know a guy in my fleet that has the black screen issue and still managed to complete the mission by paying attention to his minimap... took him forever but he did pull it off
i can see now that i turned on underwater. i put my GTX 650ti back in. i'll just keep the GTX 660 for when the 650 go's out. at least with the 660 hanging around i can future proof my pc for awhile longer.
STO : member since 2009 beta tested, pre-order, an bought the game.
A temporary glitch in one mission, and you want your LTS refunded. Oy.
Look at the top of the forum display for the current workaround...
Temporary in one mission? Kindly read the graphics issues section. This issue has been ongoing for some people for months, well before 8.5 - and that workaround doesn't work for me and therefore won't work for all. It doesn't matter what my settings are, high or low, I can't see squat during that space walk, so I can't get by it. I keep getting hung up on something I can't see and I can't unlock the door, if I get that far.
EDIT: I've now found settings that work for the mission, with this workaround! It will be interesting to see if this works for the other white-out issues...
BTW, seeing as the events calendar seems to be telling us when and what the weekend events will be, I have some questions and queries.
It seems that we get 5 days out of 28 for bonus marks and then 5 again for bonus dilithium, as events are run fortnightly, one then the other.
According to the calendar pop-up for next week's dilithium event, "All dilithium rewards throughout the game have been boosted for this weekend..."
That looks nice but it is vague. It goes on...
"... Dilithium earned from the Ferengi Mine, Player Fleet Dilithium Mine and Ferengi Lock Box Dilithium Tickets are doubled for this event."
Sounds great - except for that it doesn't make-up for the deficit of not having a bonus on the other 23 days out of 28, assuming that it will continue to run as the February calendar indicates.
I've made some calculations comparing my dilithium mining with the hourly event with what it will be with a weekend event for 5 days out of 28 - and I calculate that I will be significantly worse off.
On average, I will have to find 2286 dilithium per day more, in total. Generally speaking, I will have to run an extra dilithium mission/event each day, for each toon.
However, my calculations do not take into account the extra dilithium to be had from "boosted" events, as no figures have been provided for these.
I can appreciate that these figures may vary depending on the event, and how often you will be able to play such, but in not providing players with this kind of information until after season 8.5 has gone live, Cryptic is effectively behaving like unscrupulous politicians or employers, imposing change on us and spinning the positive elements of it to make it sound as though we are better off, when the actuality may be quite different, once all the information is available.
At this point, it very much looks to me that if I do nothing differently, I will be worse off, and that the only way I would be better off will be if I do more.
Actually, his complaint seems to be that he's going through the missions faster, but not leveling as quickly. Personally, I count that as a bonus - maybe when I start a new toon to check this stuff out, I can manage to visit DS9 sometime before I hit Admiral...
Give it a try. I just played the rescue the Azura mission and it was no longer a mission. You faced two Orions at a time with your full bridge crew. It was almost literally a walk-through mission. What's the point? It was basically walk in, grab the Azura crew, and leave. The Orions on the Azura didn't even amount to a speed bump.
I'm not a raider, pvper, or rep grinder. I like to play storyline missions. I like a mixture of action and activities that flesh out the story. That's my favorite part of STO. If all the revamps make them this simple, it will suck the fun out of the episodes.
I will delay judgement until I've played all the revamped missions. Perhaps they just want the very first missions to be simpler for new players (though if I were a new player, it be a turn off). I play normal mode; I want a modicum of challenge, not punishment. But if they strip down simple missions to nothing, that's not progress.
This revamp does seem odd in view of the new Federation tutorial. Those missions have more meat to them than the first post-tutorial mission.
Just played Diplomatic Orders. The ground portion on P'Jem was decimated. It was one of my favorite early combat maps. Now, the combat is nearly gone. There is one section where you might get two squads to fight. But on the way out, when the Undine supposedly rallied the KDF troops to stop you, you get two places with two Klingons (one of your BOs can take them out alone), and the one squad of five at the end.
It's no longer fighting your way chasing the Undine. It's just use a quick flyswatter and move on. A Fun mission is now eh. It is no longer engaging; it's just too fast.
If they want to slow down the leveling, reduce the mission XP, not the mission challenge.
Just started a new SF character a couple of weeks ago after a very long break, and it was already a very different (and much improved) experience! Can't wait to see what you guys have done now.
As far as the revamps, I really wish the Devidian missions specifically the first one on Drozana where you can pick up a flashlight was reworked. This is one of the most annoying quests in the game, at least it is for me. Even with the flashlight, it is a pain navigating the map.
I played through "Stranded In Space" last night. Didn't notice any diminution of foes; I'll be restarting it again later because I didn't notice until too late that there was a career optional mission for Tac officers (new guy's a Tac, because I want to fly the Saber now that I have one). I dunno, maybe there was a glitch on your playthrough, or maybe your tactics were a bit less "charge ahead and look for enemies" than mine, but my experience was almost exactly the same as the old classic - well, except that now, at least if you skip the tutorial, you get a starter pack of equipment (a concept I first encountered in CO, where it's also very handy in the beginning), so when I put the enhanced phasers and torpedo launcher on my NX replica, the space battle went faster than it had before.
I'll be checking out the other stuff later, of course.
I wish all the cutscenes were skippable ... I like to view them once or maybe twice, butt after that I just wanna skip them if I play through to level a new toon.
"Everything about the Jham'Hadar is lethal!" - Eris
Original Join Date: January 30th, 2010
I played through "Stranded In Space" last night. Didn't notice any diminution of foes; I'll be restarting it again later because I didn't notice until too late that there was a career optional mission for Tac officers (new guy's a Tac, because I want to fly the Saber now that I have one). I dunno, maybe there was a glitch on your playthrough, or maybe your tactics were a bit less "charge ahead and look for enemies" than mine, but my experience was almost exactly the same as the old classic - well, except that now, at least if you skip the tutorial, you get a starter pack of equipment (a concept I first encountered in CO, where it's also very handy in the beginning), so when I put the enhanced phasers and torpedo launcher on my NX replica, the space battle went faster than it had before.
I'll be checking out the other stuff later, of course.
In stranded in space, the Orions had been in groups of five. Now they are in groups of two. There are also fewer groups. I think the last group when you are leading the crew members out has five Orions.
In Diplomatic Orders, on P'Jem, the number of KDF soldiers on the landscape are cut down dramatically. During the chase sequence at the end, you run into two groups of two (instead of full squads) and one group of five at the end. Hardly an adventure. I enjoyed fighting my way down the hill after the Undine. Now, there is little to no fight to speak of.
I sincerely hope the rest of the revamped missions are dumbed down as far as these (on Normal difficulty). It seems to be primarily the group sequences that are affected, which is a shame because I like ground combat.
Replayed it. This time, I had to be a bit more tactical, because for some reason my bridge crew failed to beam over with me. There are fewer Orions on the way in; seem to be just as many on the way out, but the Tac mission involves setting off a controlled plasma leak to eliminate the first group, so it's hard for me to say.
The P'jem map is a lot shorter, so it's less illogical than it used to be (monastery schmonastery, it doesn't make any sense for the beam-in point to be so very far away when the place is under attack!). Easier for new players, too, which is really the primary consideration for these early missions. I'll be heading into the Paulson Nebula next, and will find out what that's like when I get there...
Replayed it. This time, I had to be a bit more tactical, because for some reason my bridge crew failed to beam over with me. There are fewer Orions on the way in; seem to be just as many on the way out, but the Tac mission involves setting off a controlled plasma leak to eliminate the first group, so it's hard for me to say.
The P'jem map is a lot shorter, so it's less illogical than it used to be (monastery schmonastery, it doesn't make any sense for the beam-in point to be so very far away when the place is under attack!). Easier for new players, too, which is really the primary consideration for these early missions. I'll be heading into the Paulson Nebula next, and will find out what that's like when I get there...
I think perhaps what feels off is the small squads. STO, Champions, CoH, and LOTRO (the MMOs I play) all had it right: Unless it's a boss mob, the number of enemy minions should never be fewer than your team. It doesn't feel heroic to have five players/boffs mow through two minions. It should feel like you are defeating greater odds (even if it's really not).
So even if the mission is going to be cupcake mode, you don't want it to *appear* to be cupcake mode. Even new players like to feel a sense of accomplishment, of heroism.
Bear in mind that I've been with STO since beta, and for the last couple of years, it's been my main game. I enjoy it immensely. But if it becomes too easy mode on Normal difficulty, that will be a let down.
Starfleet Academy tutorial - I am sure there used to be a fight scene in some sort of cave, not just a Klingon bridge - I would make this scene longer, as it doesn't give enough time to get used to combat from a new player perspective. Enemy ability I would say is a bit less than what "Advanced Phaser Training" implies.
Klingon raid tutorial - didn't seem to be any difference to gameplay - however, the Klingon bridge did not display during the relevant cinematic.
Borg tutorial bit - IMO, it should be a fair bit harder, this is the Borg we are dealing with, only one of the most dangerous Star Trek villains there are, famous for their adequately backed-up with strength line of "resistance is futile."
I'm not sure if I like the presence of more Starfleet ships or not - from an in-universe perspective it does make sense that Starfleet would chuck everyone nearby at it, but from a gaming perspective, it isn't beneficial.
SS Azura - less Orions space and on board for definite, and I'm sure there used to be a slavemaster battleship - not changes for the better IMO, but, given it is just a not particularly important freighter, just a few corvettes makes sense.
Diplomatic orders - I like the new (I presume Vulcan only) speech options referencing the spying operations as seen in Star Trek: Enterprise. Nice touch, definitely approved of.
Not keen on less Klingons on the ground, however, as the numbers sum to being not far off the crew of an entire Bird of Prey, it does make a bit more sense...
What I cant accept is the major demotion of the Undine ship/extra Fed vessels - it helped set the scene and feeling of the Undine as a powerful threat originally, but now it really doesn't. The aforementioned small group of Orion corvettes seems more dangerous now...
haven't started the listening post story arc yet, so cant comment on those.
broadnax's 2nd paragraph sums up what these start-off missions should be like, and as a set of starting missions they functioned better before.
Comments
Actually it was stated as a known issue for the emergency patch notes and that this was a workaround for some. I have been trying various options, high and low: nothing works, and with my calendar for the next few weeks being full, I may well have trouble managing to get a ship for my toons without having played that mission.
As with one post above, I get mostly white-outs, not black-outs, that leads to ongoing problems when I leave the mission. This seems to be related to the graphics issue reported in the graphics section by some and it is extremely disappointing that it seems that Cryptic has ignored that issue to the detriment of so many now with this mission; which per a reply on Twitter, they indicate is down to "low-end graphics".
What I take that to mean is that they blame the issue on lower-spec graphics cards, which they couldn't be bothered to test with, despite apparently being good enough to play the game with, although people who had no such issues before are having the problem now.
The difference here is that it happens at a specific point, when it was occurring before after a varying period of time, depending on play, although usually at a map change, as with the space walk.
1) So this means the Solenae gear is something I can earn later on? I don't have to turbo-power-level my alts to get it? Because that would be cool. Are they/will they be available as Mk XII gear, or Mk XI?
2) Speaking of, when is the Mk XII Breen set coming?
3) Where have Portraits gone in the Doff system? Only time I see portraits is in the right column, when Doffs are already assigned--portraits beforehand are stock images of their Department (Tac/Sec, Eng/Ops, Sci/Med, Civ)
4) Quick-Select Ships and Quick Inventory are both, OMG, straight glory. How long on saving Boff slots/Tray loadouts?
5) What's with all the clipping in animations the last six months? End of Romulan Rep, people's head animations clip their faces/ears through their envirosuits. This time, big Voth commander puts his hand to his chin... THROUGH his giant shoulder guards. Revamped KDF missions 1-20, Alexander's hair passes through his pauldrons, and Worf's big white fluffy shirt clips THROUGH his sash. Does no one actually watch the animations before OK'ing production? Does no one realize they might have to alter (or create new) animations to fit new content?
This.
I thought for sure I would see an apology to all the game players for the bugged game content that came out yesterday, and continues to persist today. So far, this has been the most disappointing STO anniversary yet.:(
Add to the fact that if this mission is ever playable, we do not receive the starship as we use to, as in previous STO anniversaries. Instead, we have to grind not one, but all of our characters to receive the ship per character. It was bad enough having to do one mission, per character, let alone the continual grind. Then, when all is said and done, you need to buy the C-Store pack to complete it off. Ugh.
What happened to the good old days of 1 playable mission, that rewarded a new ship for the STO anniversary, you know, for appreciation of the players?
STO Forum member since before February 2010.
STO Academy's excellent skill planner here: Link
I actually avoid success entirely. It doesn't get me what I want, and the consequences for failure are slim. -- markhawman
Indeed the problem is with low-end devices - specifically, DX9 devices. By my experience, such problems are shader-related - badly compiled shader, engine can't process DX9 format, etc. Of course Cryptic ignored such a problem, as most of the players have up-to-date hardware (as in, not six years old rigs like me :rolleyes: ), and a faulty shader slipped in.
If you can't switch DX modes, you can't really fix it, as playing around with other settings won't change the files that need to be changed. Hopefully a fix is on the way!
well i am running w7 an a dx 11 video card an nothing works . i get ether total blackout or total whiteout. then i get a crash report saying something to the fact a d3d dll quit working. an so i thought it was my vid card was going out. so went out an bought a new gtx 660 with 3gb of ddr5 memory. an im still getting the same problem that my gtx 650 ti video card did . :mad: i spent $250 for nothing. oh well i'll just keep my 650 as a back up.
Walk to the light Carol Anne..... all welcome! All Welcome!
"Oh Lord, Please don't let me F-up"
It went the way of the almighty dollar. I won't be touching this, or anything to do with this, thanks to this blatant cash grab with one hand, and Cryptic's backhand with the other.
Here's a map to show how much they've screwed up the game map.
They are addressing it.
I had the same issue off and on. I had to log out then login and the graphics would appear.
I was fairly stubborn though and wanted to continue through the mission, so I targeted Tuvok and used him as my reference point.
"Oh Lord, Please don't let me F-up"
One minor bit of hope for yall... if yer persistant, I know a guy in my fleet that has the black screen issue and still managed to complete the mission by paying attention to his minimap... took him forever but he did pull it off
Also, those "artwork changes" are tremendously helpful. Prior to 8.5, all of my characters talked to me from the Galaxy class bridge, instead of the bridge I chose. Now then talk to me from the Origin bridge, instead of the bridge I chose. Thanks a lot, that makes a huge difference. :rolleyes:
I've been playing this game since late season 4 and I have to say this is the most disappointing "big" release I've seen. I hope season 9 is offers better than this.
I held off on playing some of my lower level characters to see the revamped content. However, the paragraph above makes me wonder if I didn't make a huge mistake. Fewer enemies and faster progress in an already speedy leveling process sounds awful. While the story missions are my favorite part of the game, I do still want some modicum of challenge and engagement in them.
OK, taking away with one hand and giving with the other, and possibly more, depending on how it is managed, and how you can manage it.
With the daily cap, I really didn't expect to see a dilithium weekend. I was expecting it to rotate around rep and fleet marks.
I was hoping that the daily would have greater rewards (as per the bonus hour that was just removed), and maybe the fleet mine rewards would have been upped to compensate for not having the bonus event. To me, that would have been simpler.
This is definitely going to mean a shift in game play and how dilithium is managed. Presumably these events are going to rotate with the likes of bonus marks, so players will have to manage their dilithium stocks better, and on a longer-term basis, in-between events, than they may have been doing.
To some players that will be something new, as we will presumably retain a daily cap, and the trick will be to stay well ahead of the game and use the event weekend to stock up in advance of the next occasion when you can do so.
I can also see some players having a problem managing to do that. Some people just can't think ahead, so whilst I feel a bit better about this issue now, there might be a few who don't - and more to the point, a few who are not going to even realise what they need to do to avoid having problems until it is too late.
I guess we'll just have to see how it pans out...
Addendum: Having now also noted that there will be a "Reputation Marks" event two weeks later, that implies that fleet marks are excluded, whilst the line that says, "Start building your fleet projects and reputations" implies that it will be included.
This would also indicate that these events will be every other week and that fleets will only be able to gain bonus fleet marks every four weeks.
Clarification, please.
Look at the top of the forum display for the current workaround...
Temporary in one mission? Kindly read the graphics issues section. This issue has been ongoing for some people for months, well before 8.5 - and that workaround doesn't work for me and therefore won't work for all. It doesn't matter what my settings are, high or low, I can't see squat during that space walk, so I can't get by it. I keep getting hung up on something I can't see and I can't unlock the door, if I get that far.
EDIT: I've now found settings that work for the mission, with this workaround! It will be interesting to see if this works for the other white-out issues...
BTW, seeing as the events calendar seems to be telling us when and what the weekend events will be, I have some questions and queries.
It seems that we get 5 days out of 28 for bonus marks and then 5 again for bonus dilithium, as events are run fortnightly, one then the other.
According to the calendar pop-up for next week's dilithium event, "All dilithium rewards throughout the game have been boosted for this weekend..."
That looks nice but it is vague. It goes on...
"... Dilithium earned from the Ferengi Mine, Player Fleet Dilithium Mine and Ferengi Lock Box Dilithium Tickets are doubled for this event."
Sounds great - except for that it doesn't make-up for the deficit of not having a bonus on the other 23 days out of 28, assuming that it will continue to run as the February calendar indicates.
I've made some calculations comparing my dilithium mining with the hourly event with what it will be with a weekend event for 5 days out of 28 - and I calculate that I will be significantly worse off.
On average, I will have to find 2286 dilithium per day more, in total. Generally speaking, I will have to run an extra dilithium mission/event each day, for each toon.
However, my calculations do not take into account the extra dilithium to be had from "boosted" events, as no figures have been provided for these.
I can appreciate that these figures may vary depending on the event, and how often you will be able to play such, but in not providing players with this kind of information until after season 8.5 has gone live, Cryptic is effectively behaving like unscrupulous politicians or employers, imposing change on us and spinning the positive elements of it to make it sound as though we are better off, when the actuality may be quite different, once all the information is available.
At this point, it very much looks to me that if I do nothing differently, I will be worse off, and that the only way I would be better off will be if I do more.
Now how is that better for the player?
Give it a try. I just played the rescue the Azura mission and it was no longer a mission. You faced two Orions at a time with your full bridge crew. It was almost literally a walk-through mission. What's the point? It was basically walk in, grab the Azura crew, and leave. The Orions on the Azura didn't even amount to a speed bump.
I'm not a raider, pvper, or rep grinder. I like to play storyline missions. I like a mixture of action and activities that flesh out the story. That's my favorite part of STO. If all the revamps make them this simple, it will suck the fun out of the episodes.
I will delay judgement until I've played all the revamped missions. Perhaps they just want the very first missions to be simpler for new players (though if I were a new player, it be a turn off). I play normal mode; I want a modicum of challenge, not punishment. But if they strip down simple missions to nothing, that's not progress.
This revamp does seem odd in view of the new Federation tutorial. Those missions have more meat to them than the first post-tutorial mission.
It's no longer fighting your way chasing the Undine. It's just use a quick flyswatter and move on. A Fun mission is now eh. It is no longer engaging; it's just too fast.
If they want to slow down the leveling, reduce the mission XP, not the mission challenge.
I'll be checking out the other stuff later, of course.
Original Join Date: January 30th, 2010
In stranded in space, the Orions had been in groups of five. Now they are in groups of two. There are also fewer groups. I think the last group when you are leading the crew members out has five Orions.
In Diplomatic Orders, on P'Jem, the number of KDF soldiers on the landscape are cut down dramatically. During the chase sequence at the end, you run into two groups of two (instead of full squads) and one group of five at the end. Hardly an adventure. I enjoyed fighting my way down the hill after the Undine. Now, there is little to no fight to speak of.
I sincerely hope the rest of the revamped missions are dumbed down as far as these (on Normal difficulty). It seems to be primarily the group sequences that are affected, which is a shame because I like ground combat.
The P'jem map is a lot shorter, so it's less illogical than it used to be (monastery schmonastery, it doesn't make any sense for the beam-in point to be so very far away when the place is under attack!). Easier for new players, too, which is really the primary consideration for these early missions. I'll be heading into the Paulson Nebula next, and will find out what that's like when I get there...
I think perhaps what feels off is the small squads. STO, Champions, CoH, and LOTRO (the MMOs I play) all had it right: Unless it's a boss mob, the number of enemy minions should never be fewer than your team. It doesn't feel heroic to have five players/boffs mow through two minions. It should feel like you are defeating greater odds (even if it's really not).
So even if the mission is going to be cupcake mode, you don't want it to *appear* to be cupcake mode. Even new players like to feel a sense of accomplishment, of heroism.
Bear in mind that I've been with STO since beta, and for the last couple of years, it's been my main game. I enjoy it immensely. But if it becomes too easy mode on Normal difficulty, that will be a let down.
Is it time for Mirror Event yet?
Elachi Alert, where'd it go?
Defense Contract, how about them drops?
Orion Contraband, fix that auto-fail yet?
paraphrasing...
DSTahl: "Our data-mining shows you're not making enough dilithium, so we're removing lots of dil rewarding missions"
D'Angelo: "Our data-mining shows nobody's playing calendar events, so we're hiding all bonuses under a rock."
fie on you all.
"Change is scary." -for good reasons.
Starfleet Academy tutorial - I am sure there used to be a fight scene in some sort of cave, not just a Klingon bridge - I would make this scene longer, as it doesn't give enough time to get used to combat from a new player perspective. Enemy ability I would say is a bit less than what "Advanced Phaser Training" implies.
Klingon raid tutorial - didn't seem to be any difference to gameplay - however, the Klingon bridge did not display during the relevant cinematic.
Borg tutorial bit - IMO, it should be a fair bit harder, this is the Borg we are dealing with, only one of the most dangerous Star Trek villains there are, famous for their adequately backed-up with strength line of "resistance is futile."
I'm not sure if I like the presence of more Starfleet ships or not - from an in-universe perspective it does make sense that Starfleet would chuck everyone nearby at it, but from a gaming perspective, it isn't beneficial.
SS Azura - less Orions space and on board for definite, and I'm sure there used to be a slavemaster battleship - not changes for the better IMO, but, given it is just a not particularly important freighter, just a few corvettes makes sense.
Diplomatic orders - I like the new (I presume Vulcan only) speech options referencing the spying operations as seen in Star Trek: Enterprise. Nice touch, definitely approved of.
Not keen on less Klingons on the ground, however, as the numbers sum to being not far off the crew of an entire Bird of Prey, it does make a bit more sense...
What I cant accept is the major demotion of the Undine ship/extra Fed vessels - it helped set the scene and feeling of the Undine as a powerful threat originally, but now it really doesn't. The aforementioned small group of Orion corvettes seems more dangerous now...
haven't started the listening post story arc yet, so cant comment on those.
broadnax's 2nd paragraph sums up what these start-off missions should be like, and as a set of starting missions they functioned better before.