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Bugs/Crashes
Bugs from Playthrough v0.64
Re-posted from an earlier mass post, separated for easier following/planning/etc...
If they've been mentioned before, than just skip over that one XD
When I leave the habitat, the loading continues to flash until I get to a loading spot on the map and removes it.
Loading from a save, and I hit “v” for vitality or “I” for inventory, and I close out of it… it has my character pull up a pick-axe or hammer with claw thing, like I’m wielding it as a weapon. Hitting either of those will cause it to go away, but I won’t be able to click on anything with the mouse. Not until I hit “E” to bring up the main HUD and hit “E” again to close it. Once I do that, THEN I’ll be able to click on things.
The PRT is too loud, I cannot hear the exploration music (when it does play)
When it does play… Yes, the music doesn’t play all the time… I would be exploring in dead silence until whenever the music starts up again, only to stop playing after a certain amount of time.
Sun disappears well before it even reaches the horizon, cannot get a nice shot of the sunset… and the sun is kind of tiny. I know that Mars is further away from Earth, but do you think the sun would be that small in the sky?
Customer support service by UserEcho
The loading indicator and datapad/pickaxe issues are being addressed.
The PRT being a bit too loud was mentioned by others too as I recall, and I kind of agree. The volume could be reduced a bit but in general I like the sound and I think it enhances the driving experience a lot so it should remain well audible to still be a characteristic part of PRT use.
I prefer situational music that underscores certain in game events over a constantly playing "soundtrack". For me it works better with the theme of the game in general.
I'd have to dig some images up made by the various Mars rovers to see if there are some on which the Sun is visible (and my guess would be that the developer too did at least this much to get it more or less right), but as I recall the ones that I saw over the years, I think the apparent size of the Sun is about correct. As for it disappearing sooner than it should, while I never specifically paid attention to it, I didn't notice any major issues. I don't know if/how the game manages distant terrain, such as hills that exist as part of the terrain but masked by the "distance fog" so not directly visible, but that might also be an explanation why the Sun may disappear sooner than it should in some cases: it dropped behind terrain that itself is not visible, but still blocks the Sun.
Um... okay. I didn't think there was a need to for a rebuttal to my posting.
As I stated before, they were probably already addressed... I was leaving a generalized feedback on bugs I encountered.
It's good you like situational music, so does a lot of others. Equally to that are those that prefer constant music so it's not dead silence the majority of the time. Then, there are those that prefer the realism of just dead silence and no music at all...
I had figured that there could be potential blockers like a way distant mountain ridge blocking the sun... but it would be displayed differently and the cross bar on the PRT wouldn't indicate a light as if reflecting the sun's rays.
Also, my graphics are all the way up... and the sun is a square...
But thanks for replying back...
Mr. Fusion has been one of the most helpful contributors here on the feedback forums and he does his best to provide answers when I'm unable respond in a timely manner. His responses here are basically accurate, but I'll elaborate.
The pickaxe/datapad stuff is nearly fixed, but I'm not sure when I'll put the fix out. I might put out another quick patch, or just wait to include them with a feature update in a week or so.
Situational music is my artistic choice for the game, but I've provided a volume slider for the music alone so that you could turn that music off if you wish. Then you could play some other fitting soundtrack if you like.
There is indeed a distant terrain mask that will hide the sun. It is slightly visible depending on the brightness settings on your monitor, but Mr. Fusion is correct that the distance fog largely obscures it.
Could you provide me a screenshot of what your sun looks like? Your description of it being a square shape has me intrigued. I've tried to match the size of the sun to the images that NASA has provided.
Aye, I no doubt believe that Mr. Fusion has put forth great strides towards helping you advance the game with his own suggestions/feedback. As I've replied to him a few times regarding his tact in his response and I think because he's done a lot for the game, this has caused his response to be somewhat aggressive. His responses like "I prefer" and "I like" along with his arguments to my suggestions, makes it feel like he's shutting my suggestions or feedback down because it doesn't align to his preferences. And I'm sure he's a good guy, but we're all professionals here... Or at least, should be XD
If I wasn't in a medical bind these past couple of years, I'm sure I'd be in the same level of contribution as Mr. Fusion. Again, I only ask for a little tact and that others may have preferences that go against his own ideals. If anything, compare the flavor of your response to that of Mr. Fusions, and you'll see the difference. If I'm being to hyper sensitive in this matter... *shrug* I apologize, my background functions around tact, bearing, respect, and professionalism.
And... as I've stated before, if the bugs I've mention have already been addressed, that is fine. I was just doing an all encompassing post from the current version and my playthrough. And I did thank Mr. Fusion for his reply. Also, thank you for your response as well.
As far as the picture is concerned, I'll post that up to you in due time.
EDIT: For Update and Images...
Not sure what happened, but when I initially set up the game, I had changed the settings to "6 - Fantastic" but when I went to take the pictures you wanted, something told me to check the display settings. Turns out, it reverted back to "1 - Fastest"
Changing it once again to the better quality, it no longer shows the sun as a square in the distance. Again, not sure why... don't know if it is because I started a second playthrough... or... *shrugs* So I guess the sun is displayed as per the quality of your settings. It actually looks good on setting 6.
As for my other explanation on the sunbeams on the PRT...
Fig 1
Figure 1 shows the sun beams striking the upper portions of the PRT. The mountain in the back would obscure my view of the sunset, so I moved my PRT closer and to the left of it to at least get a longer distance of nothing blocking my view.
Fig 2
Figure 2 shows the same beams after the sun becomes blocked by whatever mountain in the distance. If the sun is blocked by a mountain in the distance, I'm not sure that those areas should be indicating reflections of sun. Perhaps they should be dull after losing those sunbeams? And no... the sun isn't behind the crossbar, I got out and made sure that the sun was in fact, behind something in the distance (as in the, the sun wasn't there).
If the fog is what is blocking the visual nature of the sun and not a distant mountain, shouldn't the sunbeams also be blocked or obscured to the point of it not reflecting off the PRT? And if it does cut through the fog to reflect off the PRT, because the lumens of the sun are so powerful... then wouldn't there at least be a hazy outline of the sun through the fog?
Maybe I'm just nit picking on the visuals... If so... nevermind.
Hmm, I think I also meant to mention those kinds of oddities with the sun reflection at some point (and even sun shadows, I think sometimes they also remain visible when the sun is already occluded and only ambient/scattered light should remain in the scene, but no shadow casting light) even when the sun is no longer visible. Actually, I think I did mention one instance of it, where the sun is still reflected on that small round window of the airlock doors even when it's no longer visible on the sky.
Are those reflections generated per model by a "fake sun", essentially a small localized light source that is part of the model instead of the game world, and is positioned around it so that it simulates the position of the real sun on the sky at that time of day and orientation? I believe that's one way of generating these local sun reflections (because it's cheaper than calculating it based on the actual distant light source), and also the reason why terrain occlusion does not affect the reflection as it shoud. If that's the case, I wonder if it'd be possible to turn that light source off when the sun is no longer locally visible, instead of at the time when the sun globally went below horizon by time of day.
That's an interesting analysis. Two variations, the real sun and a fake sun. So the presence of the fake sun is/could be causing the reflections, regardless of the real sun being obstructed. Might I suggest that if it is related to time, keep it as time, so that when/if the real sun is obstructed, the graphic that shows the reflection portion on anything that is shiny from the fake sun (e.g. PRT frame or hab door), will be a dull light versus a bright reflected beam? And maybe not a bright white color either, but a medium to dark sunset orange or yellow...
That way, nothing really has to change other than a particular graphic during specific times. It merely falls under aesthetics, and would be low on the priority for changes. But it's something to think about...