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Elite: Dangerous (Kickstarter)

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Does the background actually change as you move around the galaxy?

 

How do you get the search and rescue missions? The surface missions I've found have been so badly described that they are pretty much impossible to actually do. The game has a bunch of different mission types now but I'm wary of accepting most because I don't trust the game. Trying to do a new mission type is usually just confusing.

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Does the background actually change as you move around the galaxy?

 

How do you get the search and rescue missions? The surface missions I've found have been so badly described that they are pretty much impossible to actually do. The game has a bunch of different mission types now but I'm wary of accepting most because I don't trust the game. Trying to do a new mission type is usually just confusing.

 

The background is calculated for every star system you jump to; at one point it took account of every star in the Galaxy, but I'm not sure if it's still true... near the centre we can see sudden cut-offs in stars that might be due to the star distribution (possible), but more likely to be a rendering limit. As a really extreme example, here is what the sky was like when I got as far as I could out of the plane of the Galaxy, near the centre:

 

post-33997-0-92585900-1450694311_thumb.jpg

 

Search and rescue missions appear on the bulletin board with an icon of a ship and a Red Cross style cross. They can either be hostages inside the hold of a particular ship (this sounds hard!) or stranded on the surface (this will be under the available surface missions section). Everyone is in the same boat with the huge new array of mission types, but I try them out and see, and I can't complete them I abandon them. With over 10,000 inhabited systems, you can run away from failure pretty much forever :P! If you want to get friendly with a faction, it might be a good idea to try out different missions somewhere else. I did get burned one time, where I could do the first part of a multi-stage mission, but not the second stage as it required more cargo space than I had, and I couldn't buy more. 

 

For surface search and rescue, it looks like any occupied escape pod counts; these are found by travelling a few km above the surface of the plane in normal flight mode looking for blue circles that indicate points of interest (they disappear below altitudes of 1.5-2km). Some things you can see from the air, but you need to learn how to use the scanner thing on the buggy, and how to distinguish between rocks, secret bases, and crash sites (check out the youtube tutorial videos on the Elite Dangerous channel). Like many aspects of the game, this can take a few hours to figure out.

 

@Architecture, the minimum specs for Horizons (and 64 bit 1.5 to a somewhat lesser extent) are significantly higher than for the base game: 

 

Horizons:

OS: Windows 7/8/10 64-bit 
Processor: Quad Core CPU (4 x 2Ghz) 
Memory: 6 GB RAM 
Graphics: Nvidia GTX 470 / ATI 7240HD 
DirectX: Version 11 
Network: Broadband Internet connection 
Storage: 8 GB available space

 

Elite Dangerous

OS: Windows 7, Windows 8 
Processor: Quad Core CPU (4 x 2Ghz) 
Memory: 4 GB RAM 
Graphics: Nvidia GTX 260 / ATI 4870HD 
DirectX: Version 11 
Network: Broadband Internet connection 
Storage: 7 GB available space

 

The 64 bit version of 1.5 uses the same planet models as Horizons, and this can hit supercruise performance. You could try fiddling with graphics settings, but it might be worth seeing how the 32 bit version runs first.

 

By the way, Frontier have clarified their pricing structure: anyone paying *full price* can expect to pay $60 for their first season and $45 for each subsequent season; they will make the base game cheaper as time goes on to encourage new players. Of course, the base game has been available for as little as $15 during sales. This seems reasonable to me, but I can understand anyone who balks at full price; they can just wait until it's at a price they want to pay; it is also reasonable to wait to see how the future content is implemented (e.g. custom player avatars, loot and crafting, ship-launched fighters and muliti-crew ships for Horizons)

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i5 4670K OC'd to 4.4GHz

MSi R9 390

16GB DDR3 1600

 

GPU utilization drops to nil when the frame rate tanks--this is the game, not my system.

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How's your hard drive speed? I've noticed on my own machine that certain games tank really hard when trying to load textures off of a drive on the fly instead of preloading them. I haven't noticed that for Elite specifically, but I haven't played much lately.

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i5 4670K OC'd to 4.4GHz

MSi R9 390

16GB DDR3 1600

GPU utilization drops to nil when the frame rate tanks--this is the game, not my system.

There's a new slider in the graphics options that balances the workload between cpu and gpu for planet stuff; left is cpu, right is gpu. It defaulted to the left for me, so maybe it did for you too, and sliding it all the way to the right might fix it. Then again, there is a known issue with ATI cards which requires a fix from ATI themselves; I don't know the details, and maybe this has already happened.

Your spec looks beefier than mine, though I don't know how a 390 compares with a 970, and I get 60 FPS on planet surfaces; there is definitely something going very wrong!

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The problem isn't AMD-specific, though it appears to be AMD-centric. Apparently this is another welcoming present from Windows 10. The game auto-detected hardware and set the Ultra preset.

 

Besides, the issue is very specific--it only happens in supercruise. It's not that my GPU can't handle the rendering, it's that it's not being told to render anything at all--like I said, the GPU utilization drops to sub-20%, according to MSi's Afterburner software.

 

Either way, this is horrendous and will prevent me from playing the game until it's fixed.

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How's your hard drive speed? I've noticed on my own machine that certain games tank really hard when trying to load textures off of a drive on the fly instead of preloading them. I haven't noticed that for Elite specifically, but I haven't played much lately.

Fast as fuck--all my games are installed on a 500GB Samsung 840 Evo SSD.

 

This is a known bug for Windows 10 ED players.

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So I just happened to get bitten by the bug to try Elite again, because someone mentioned playing it with a game pad and that was suddenly appealing to me. It seems like I've accidentally stumbled into the game in its most broken state in ~2 years. Congrats, me!

 

For reference - Windows 10, game appears to run fine, but only in 32 bit mode (64 will not launch anything), my copy is installed through Steam, and I do not have the expansion.

 

Ok so! I tried the controller in the training missions so I didn't throw a million credits into the garbage crashing my ship, and it's almost good. One control scheme has good buttons, one has good sticks, and I'll be honest I'll be fucked to spend the time going through every option and rebinding it EXCEPT Yaw, which I apparently cannot rebind but was my biggest issue. Then I saw people had downloads that you could install into the options folder. Does that work? I found a control scheme I'm interested to try and it seemed like I was following every instruction, but the only control scheme I could make show up was for a PS4 controller, and only once in let's call it 10 hard restarts of the game. I think that MIGHT be the only way to get me playing again, and either assigning sticks to yaw/roll is broken, or it's always like this and broken as intended.

 

Two questions -

 

How do I get 64 bit mode working?

How do I install custom control schemes?

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I can't make 32 bit mode working, so I couldn't tell ya. Whatever link Wooks posted last page about opening the launcher from the Steam folder in Explorer (as opposed to Steam itself) sort of kind of worked and let me fix the VC++ issue I was having.

 

But the supercruise thing is so crippling it makes the game unplayable for me. Upon entering supercruise, the frame rate just grinds to a halt from a locked 60 to 17 (17!) FPS. This has apparently been a known issue since August.

 

The only fix as of this moment is to roll back drivers--drivers so old, they don't support my GPU, that is.

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The control bindings are all in a folder, and are plain text files called something.binds. I imagine you could just copy whichever binding file you like to the folder and you should be fine. The folder for my steam install is Steam/SteamApps/common/EliteDangerous/Products/FORC-FDEV-D-1010/ControlSchemes although the FORC blah blah directory is likely different to yours since I've not updated steam. 

 

it really might be worth futzing around the control menu to see what works, as you can do some pretty sophisticated stuff, including using a button to switch between yaw and roll, and combining buttons to make more options (for example X + d-pad down lowers my gear, B + dpad down engages frameshift drive, Y + dpad down targets hostiles, and A + dpad down decreases radar range in my case. 

 

I have been using the gamepad for 2 years now, and it works well with a bit of care.

 

Here's another pic from my fancy views tour :)

 

post-33997-0-77905000-1450915409_thumb.jpg

 

Ify you can't get the steam install to load, it might be worth downloading the launcher from the Frontier store; you only need your email and password to log in afer all.

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No the point was that I was purposefully downloading other peoples' control schemes and putting them in the bindings file and they weren't showing up.

 

But now they work, so that's one step forward. But the cool little compass rose that pops up for context sensitive stuff... that doesn't seem to be working? Does that only work with a default control scheme, because that's really sad. One step back.

 

I'm still running in 32 bit as well.

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Is there some sort of database I can use to find equipment? I'd like to get gimballed lasers but I don't really know where to look.

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Ships yes, equipment? Not sure.

 

Yep, looks like the Elite wiki has you covered.

 

http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Beam_Laser

 

So right before showering this morning, I got a notification saying there was a driver update. I got giddy--had AMD delivered a Chrismas miracle and released a new driver that fixed Elite? No, apparently it was them pushing live the current beta driver, which I've already got installed.

 

I still cannot play this game and it's frustrating. I turned every setting down to low, and the performance was not one iota better.

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Oh my fucking god there's ONE place to buy a gimballed laser? I just want lasers for my small hardpoints on my viper. Thank god it's under 150 ly

 

 

 

 

e: I feel like I'm always whining. The game IS gorgeous.

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Upgraded from Viper Mk 3 to Viper Mk 4. This is probably not the ideal hull for flying around resource nodes to bounty hunt, but it's by far the biggest ship I've owned and it's kinda fun to clunk around in a spacetank.

 

Honestly I'm probably better off with a Cobra, but hey.

 

 

e: and after saying that out loud to myself, that's what I did. Swapped to a Cobra. I have the money, it's a game, might as well try it!

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Hey Wookie, I've stumbled upon a bunch of systems you discovered if you go by the same name in game!

 

I've come back to the game with a few friends and we've had fun in a Wing. Man, they have made some major changes to $$ given for missions. I racked up $300k with just 2 or 3 bounties last night, which would have taken me ages in 1.0 . 

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I have been playing a lot of this recently, somehow!

 

Yes, bounties have either changed drastically or are much more accessible. I'm now in a fully decked Vulture (holy crap, what a good ship but geez the power profile on it SUCKS), and with some luck I can clear 1.5m an hour. I bought a Type 6 and put 100 tons of cargo space in there. It's possible to get above 6-700k/hr trading if you find a good loop route that way, but that's with literally optimizing button presses to get into and out of stations asap.

 

I'm trying to figure out what my next ship up from a Vulture would be where I can actually experiment with build paths instead of shutting off my cargo hatch during combat. It feels like a Fer-De-Lance is the next step up? Or probably a Python more realistically for me. Which is an entire magnitude more credits to make that investment. The Type 7 looks like the next big jump for a hauler. Moving from a Type 6 to an Asp or something feels like a mostly lateral change rather than an upgrade.

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Man, you are on a whole other level than I am, I am definitely slumming it.

 

Are you still playing with a gamepad?

 

I currently have a cheapo Logitech $30 special which is decent, but I really hate the paddle throttle it has. I found a used x52 locally for $60 and a light used x52 Pro for $100. I am very tempted to splurge a bit.

 

I am still undecided if I want to buy the Horizons expansion for $45, I am not sure how much it would extend the life of the game for me yet. It might be smarter to old off on the HOTAS setup and just buy the expansion though. 

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I keep on getting into Elite for one day, having a ton of fun, but then not coming back to it. Instead I feel guilty about my flight stick and have "I really should play that more" feelings.I wouldn't say that I regret the $250 I've spent on Elite + Horizons + X52 pro, but I maybe wouldn't make that decision again? I have weird feelings about it.

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Well I was 30-40 hours in when I posted just after Christmas. Maybe 50. I was already in a basically fully decked Viper 3. If you individually sell all the parts and components, you get the full value back for them, and then if you sell the ship you've barely lost any money in the transaction. It has mostly Class 3 parts for the big stuff, so that was money I got back that went straight into the Cobra, which has then been transferred into the Vulture. The curve is pretty steep when you start up, and I didn't even get into bounty hunting at first because I had NO idea what was going on or how to do it. So I was using a Hauler, I was jamming cargo space into a Viper, etc when it turns out that pve bounty hunting is far and away the best way to make some money. Forget the bulletin board. I'm glad it's there, but so many of those quests are just flat broken right now.

 

Yep, I'm still using the gamepad. It's honestly great. I'm using these bindings. The biggest barrier with the HOTAS was that it felt like I was making a decision to play E:D. The gamepad is always connected so I can just play it like I choose to play any other game.

 

Not sure what you're using now, but if you can get into a Viper you're going to be set as far as PVE bounty hunting goes. It will open up a lot more combat options for not a lot of money more than an Eagle (purchase price).

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Yep, currently in an Viper, definitely a step up when it comes to combat! I see they've added mining drones as well, I might buy something to mine in and see how it changes the mining game. Not having to scoop up ore manually sounds great!

 

I keep on getting into Elite for one day, having a ton of fun, but then not coming back to it. Instead I feel guilty about my flight stick and have "I really should play that more" feelings.I wouldn't say that I regret the $250 I've spent on Elite + Horizons + X52 pro, but I maybe wouldn't make that decision again? I have weird feelings about it.

 

Yeah, I'm definitely a little wary of my excitement, I wonder if it will last long enough to justify the price of the used stick. I might just wait and see how the game sticks with my friends.

 

I did find a custom binding for my Logitech Extreme 3d pro which vastly improves my handling, I have been really fighting the throttle the last few days. I kept ending up in reverse, not meaning to when accidentally double tapping back on my throttle paddle in the middle of a dog fight. This should greatly improve my experience.

 

I also found this which I am going to play around with this weekend, it seems a little finicky, but the price is right!

 

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I got into this game over my holiday break. I really enjoy the feeling of heft that the ships in it have opposite the more shoot-ery stuff like Freespace that I used to play. My first instinct in the game was to move my mouse left and right to make my ship look in a diffferent direction, and instead I rolled in place like an idiot. I realize that you can change whether that axis controls pitch or yaw, but because of how slow ships turn that way it's still not really a feasible method. It took a while to wrap my head around this new system, but it felt pretty rewarding when I could finally control my ship with some degree of competence (I even bought a cheap flightstick for it).

 

As impressed as I am with the feeling of flying (and landing) and amount of simulated space there is in the game, now I'm kind of getting bored with it again. I upgraded to a Viper pretty early and then mostly spent my time flying from system to system in search of a way to make money reliably without dipping into the trading part of the game. The best way in my case seems to be flying to conflict zones and earning combat bonds for one of the two sides fighting there. The bounties are lower than those for criminals, but looking for those also seems much more intermittent than the constantly raging battles. Sometimes I get shot down when enemy ships gang up on me, but sometimes the battle tips in the favor of my side and I can be credited for destroyed ships by simply pointing my lasers at an enemy who is already taking heavy fire.

 

I'm kind of losing interest now though, because I don't necessarily want to spend my time grinding in these zones just to more effectively grind in these zones in the future. Is there something grander to do that I'm missing? The first time I joined sides in a conflict zone, I figured I might hang around to really push my favorite faction to success, but when I returned to the game the next day, the civil war had ended and both parties involved remained miniscule opposite the dominant force in that system. I guess this is the downside of making such a huge game: it is too big for me to influence in any meaningful way without devoting a lot more time to it than I actually have to spare.

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