Star Citizen Info Thread

Latest ATV looking at Derelict ships - and how they're using them to add points of interest on planets and in space.



Here's a little segment they made to integrate them into the lore:

New Screenshots and Details for Alpha 3.0 Unveiled


via | NeptuneGames

NewDArt said:

This game is very deliberately not holding back for the mainstream or inferior hardware.

From the beginning, it has been made clear that this is a PC-only game taking full advantage of all the latest technology, which is why it will not be made for consoles - and why it will push for the limit.

Click to expand...

Not much add to that.

Even if one wouldn't enjoy these kind of space sims / open world mmos, SC is a project which pushes the whole platform forward. Not to be limited by inferior hardware can lead to great innovations which can benefit the whole industry.

Dez said:

Not to be limited by inferior hardware can lead to great innovations which can benefit the whole industry.

Click to expand...

The greatest innovations were being made in the days when there were the least amount of resources. There's no other option when you're out of memory.

Great innovation isn't exclusively about doing as much as you can with very little. It's also about doing more than anyone ever did with all you have available.

There's a reason we're not sitting around watching C64 demos with optimal memory usage - all day long.

That's because we've evolved our preferences since the 80s.

Arguably the most impressive and the greatest innovations would be the combination of taking full advantage of modern technology - as well as optimal usage of whatever limitations still remain.

That's the vision of Star Citizen - and I think many will be surprised by how well optimised it ends up being. I think 3.0 might well be the most impressive usage of multiple cores and threads in modern PC gaming that I've seen or heard about.

What's more is that 3.0 is only the very first step towards serious optimisation they've taken - and it should be interesting to see what's coming after that.

NewDArt said:

There's a reason we're not sitting around watching C64 demos with optimal memory usage - all day long.

Click to expand...

Actually with raster tricks and unbelievable art of coding 6510 CPU.

But honestly, I don't think SC will push technology forward much. To do that, one has to develop an inhouse engine that won't use existing (optimization) solutions every single current engine uses.
For example, when was the last time you saw an engine where, once a camera switches to point on a character, lockets, earrings, cape and hair doesn't drop drown from some unnatural position in the air?

What I do expect from SC is being so hardware demanding there is no way it could possibly run on this brand new 4K upscaling oriented garbage.

joxer said:

Actually with raster tricks and unbelievable art of coding 6510 CPU.

But honestly, I don't think SC will push technology forward much. To do that, one has to develop an inhouse engine that won't use existing (optimization) solutions every single current engine uses.
For example, when was the last time you saw an engine where, once a camera switches to point on a character, lockets, earrings, cape and hair doesn't drop drown from some unnatural position in the air?

What I do expect from SC is being so hardware demanding there is no way it could possibly run on this brand new 4K upscaling oriented garbage.

Click to expand...

They've changed nearly everything from the original CryEngine - and what they're using now might as well be completely in-house. Well, except for the recent switch to Lumberyard - which is almost exclusively about efficient server and networking technology.

I'm sure they WOULD have used an in-house engine if they'd known how the scope would expand eventually.

I think just about the only thing left from CryEngine when the game is done would be the efficient rendering technology - though they've also made a TON of changes to that part of the engine as well.

There's no other PC game in history that has ever pushed technology as much as what Star Citizen is doing.

Of course, I can't guarentee that they will succeed - but I'm confident the vast majority of PC gamers who know what they're talking about WILL be very impressed by the results.

Already, the 64-bit precision for the Universe coordinates is pretty amazing. Also, the way they're doing multiple physics and gravity zones is pretty unprecedented - as far as I know.

NewDArt said:

Of course, I can't guarentee that they will succeed - but I'm confident the vast majority of PC gamers who know what they're talking about WILL be very impressed by the results.

Click to expand...

Even if they fail in the end, the game will be used as a future reference. At least for a while till another one pushes even more forward.

Just like Order1886, a consoles exclusive used to describe a visual candy yet rubbish (worthless) game.

Yeah, well, the Order is a very pretty game - but I wasn't terribly impressed by it.

It looked great for a PS4 game - but it didn't actually do much that was impressive beyond the visual fidelity.

The most impressive part of Star Citizen - to me - isn't really about polycount or texture resolution. It's about an uncompromising vision where CR and his team are pushing every single aspect of the game to the limit and beyond.

The amount of things that have to work together to make it not explode is beyond staggering.

Some of the most impressive things are already in the alpha, to some extent - but one of the most vital tests will be the first time I see multiple of the largest capital ships together - on screen - with dozens of people both inside and outside of them - as well as several ships docked and flying around, when orbiting a large planet.

To make that work is just so incredibly challenging - and I don't think very many people truly understand the achievement it would be to have the game perform reasonably at the same time.

We're talking absolutely beyond anything we would ever have seen with a publisher funding the project - at least for the next few decades.

We would have to wait for one bold developer after the other, pushing for tiny steps towards something like that for years and years.

It's not at all unrealistic to suggest that Star Citizen will push gaming several decades forward in terms of technology and game design.

Well, if they actually release it some day

NewDArt said:

I don't think very many people truly understand the achievement it would be to have the game perform reasonably at the same time

Click to expand...

If you're talking about ingame AI flying ships - then yes, making it so accidents outside of player being a bad pilot are improbable yet can happen is definetly challenging. NPC drivers being pros all the time and everywhere is in fact something I hated passionately in GTA5 and similar overhyped mediocrity titles.

If you're however talking about MMO, where AI doesn't exist but the game just displays whatever dozens of players are clicking, then no, it's a phonegame level of coding a 5 years old child can make, a thing that's dirt cheap and you can learn to make it yourself in one afternoon.

joxer said:

If you're talking about ingame AI flying ships - then yes, making it so accidents outside of player being a bad pilot are improbable yet can happen is definetly challenging. NPC drivers being pros all the time and everywhere is in fact something I hated passionately in GTA5 and similar overhyped mediocrity titles.

If you're however talking about MMO, where AI doesn't exist but the game just displays whatever dozens of players are clicking, then no, it's a phonegame level of coding a 5 years old child can make, a thing that's dirt cheap and you can learn to make it yourself in one afternoon.

Click to expand...

I'm afraid I don't have the stamina and energy it would take to educate you about the technical hurdles involved - but CIG have, again, been very open about what's required.

I don't know - do you want your ship banged up because some AI rolled a 1 and decided to accidentally kick on the emergency thrusters?

The AI is only one of many, many challenges.

I don't really want to get into too much detail about what it takes to have separate physics zones for every ship flying around and those docked within ships with their own zones, orbiting a planet with its own zone within a solar system with its own zone - and have each and every player - both inside capital ships, flying a regular ship, walking on the planet and EVA'ing outside see exactly what they're supposed to see in relation to what everone is doing, in terms of flying, driving, walking, interacting with ships, boarding, manning turrets - and so on.

Suffice to say that it's never been done on this scale and with this kind of simulation fidelity and accuracy - and it's incredibly hard to achieve.

Unlike games like Battlefield - which don't even have proper physics - let alone separate zones for entities - Star Citizen has do it all without cheating - and within a dynamically scaling universe that can hold hundreds of thousands of players - and that's ON TOP of one of the most sophisticated - if not THE most sophisticated AI simulations in gaming.

Now, I don't expect joxer to know what he's talking about - because when does he ever - but for people who're genuinely interested in the game, I think it's useful to be a little educated before speaking about it

So they implement n-body physics simulation (a waggling earth-moon orbit around the sun) I believe kerbal can only handle two celestial bodies at once.

I actually assume they don't do any of that. IMO it is also not needed. I'm also curious to see what comes out of the SC hype


Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk

They do what's required for the vision to be fulfilled.

As for Kerbal, it's a singleplayer game - which would eliminate 99.9% of the challenges involved.

NewDArt said:

Now, I don't expect joxer to know what he's talking about - because when does he ever - but for people who're genuinely interested in the game, I think it's useful to be a little educated before speaking about it

Click to expand...

I am this game's backer.
And I am working in IT industry.

If someone needs some education here, it's you.

Zloth said:

I don't know - do you want your ship banged up because some AI rolled a 1 and decided to accidentally kick on the emergency thrusters?

Click to expand...

Why your ship. That's the ship you're moving around. A ship you'll, if clumsy, hit somewhere or something.
AI driven ships. Ships that never ever get accidents. What's the percentage of drivers who had an accident in RL anyway. 50%? More?

joxer said:

AI driven ships. Ships that never ever get accidents. What's the percentage of drivers who had an accident in RL anyway. 50%? More?

Click to expand...

Have you ever played a space sims? AI ships collide with stuff all the time, especially your ship. Star Citizen included right now.

azarhal said:

Have you ever played a space sims?

Click to expand...

No. Sims, without space, I did.

joxer said:

I am this game's backer.
And I am working in IT industry.

If someone needs some education here, it's you.

Click to expand...

I'm afraid working in the industry doesn't change that you clearly have no clue what's required in this case. I also work in the industry - but that's irrelevant here.

But it's ok - not everyone can own up to having limitations as a human being. You don't feel comfortable admitting that you don't understand this - and I doubt anyone here is surprised

Not sure if alpha 3.0 trailer was linked to, so here it is:



Here's hope the game does not contain spaceship races.