Star Citizen: Chris Robert`s new space sim (the Wing Commander guy)

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Fallen Kell

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
6,100
467
126
Yeah, mine is currently downloading 23GB to go, not that I really care too much since I am going to bed. It will be done by morning. That said, I will need to tweak my voice attack profile to add commands for landing/takeoff. So much easier to say "request permission to land" (or some other phrase) than remember what key sequence you need to hit.
 

bbhaag

Diamond Member
Jul 2, 2011
6,914
2,290
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Jumping in! Only 13-16 hours to go.
sc1.1_zpsep41byx8.png
 

Pheran

Diamond Member
Apr 26, 2001
5,740
35
91
So I finally got a chance to play Arena Commander using the Logitech Extreme 3D Pro I got for Christmas. First I just used it with the computer, which was cool, but then I got the bright idea to connect a USB extension cable and use my 60" TV. WOW! Sitting back in the comfy chair with this joystick and playing on the big screen is fantastic. Also, I'm really impressed with the build quality of this stick considering that it's very inexpensive. It has a very nice weight and feel to it, and plenty of buttons. It also doesn't hurt that this stick is the image you see if you go into the joystick settings in Star Citizen.

The only really annoying thing I ran into is that Windows apparently doesn't consider joystick input activity, so it would kick in the screen saver in the middle of the game. I'll have to figure out how to fix that, or just disable the screensaver as a workaround.
 

rivethead

Platinum Member
Jan 16, 2005
2,635
106
106
Uninstalled Friday night. Re-downloaded the 25GB overnight. Got to grind about $4K of REC Saturday morning (mainly thanks to people dropping out of Old Vanderval races....I was using an Aurora....no way should I be coming in 2nd or 3rd place in that thing). I tried out MP Free Flight....got to practice then new landing mechanic (although all the idiots shooting at me as I was coming in for a landing was annoying...don't understand why they didn't just go play Battle Royale). Stopped for lunch......and wasn't able to get into another Spectrum match the rest of the weekend. Server issues.

Ahh.....life in the pre-alpha.

I will say this.....AC and my hangar did not run as well with then new patch as the old. Not sure if it's the switching to 64bit going on behind the scenes or what but everything ran noticeably rougher. In Spectrum there were a ton of lag and choppiness. In hangar, no lag but lot of choppiness and things just looked less polished.

Ahh.....life in the pre-alpha.
 

Pheran

Diamond Member
Apr 26, 2001
5,740
35
91
Now that you mentioned it I did notice some stuttering on the new version, especially as new drones joined the space. I'm not too concerned though since I'm sure the game will be more optimized later, plus I'll upgrade my PC to something better by the time the release version is out.
 

Worthington

Golden Member
Apr 29, 2005
1,432
17
81
Yeah, I'm holding off for as long as possible and then going to build an entire new rig for this. Still running strong on a i7 920 so I feel like I've gotten some good mileage out of it.

Skylake here we come! :p
 

Fallen Kell

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
6,100
467
126
Same thing on the new system. I just hope Skylake has 40 PCI-e lanes, but I am not holding my breath. Otherwise, it looks like Haswell-E platform will be what I build.
 

rivethead

Platinum Member
Jan 16, 2005
2,635
106
106
Question: Are you guys waiting for SC or SQ42 to upgrade? It sounds like the delivery between the two "games" could be a year or more (SQ42 in late 2015, SC in late 2016).....that's a lot of time for hardware evolution.

I fear, if I wait for SC then I'll miss out on some (likely) amazing eye candy within SQ42. But if I upgrade for SQ42, I may not be able to run SC as well as I'd like.

Can't really afford to upgrade for both....
 

Worthington

Golden Member
Apr 29, 2005
1,432
17
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I'm planning/hoping to upgrade at the end of 2015'ish when the new architectures land. If you build a PC around SQ42, I doubt you'll have an issue with the rest of SC.
 

Kev

Lifer
Dec 17, 2001
16,367
4
81
I have a 7970 and the hangar module still runs like complete shit for me. I don't think I'm going to even bother trying again till it's out of alpha.
 

Bubbleawsome

Diamond Member
Apr 14, 2013
4,834
1,204
146
You know, I'm going to say it. People say the game looks amazing, but I don't see it. The lines are super jaggy, framerate is very uneven, and nothing is special about it. Sure, the models are well done, and the ships have a lot of detail, but if the game backend can't use it what is the point?
 

rivethead

Platinum Member
Jan 16, 2005
2,635
106
106
You know, I'm going to say it. People say the game looks amazing, but I don't see it. The lines are super jaggy, framerate is very uneven, and nothing is special about it. Sure, the models are well done, and the ships have a lot of detail, but if the game backend can't use it what is the point?

I think there is a lot of validity to your point.

In my non-technical, non-programming point of view, I hope they now focus more on polish and performance and less on content. I don't need new ships, guns, stuff, maps....I need what HAS been released to run better.

I'm sure all those who pledged/purchased a MP ship (and are waiting patiently) would disagree!
 

Pheran

Diamond Member
Apr 26, 2001
5,740
35
91
You know, I'm going to say it. People say the game looks amazing, but I don't see it. The lines are super jaggy, framerate is very uneven, and nothing is special about it. Sure, the models are well done, and the ships have a lot of detail, but if the game backend can't use it what is the point?

I don't notice it much while flying, but the big problem in the hangar is that there's no anti-aliasing support yet. I think they are planning to have that before the real release, but I haven't been following it all that closely.
 

Bubbleawsome

Diamond Member
Apr 14, 2013
4,834
1,204
146
Fixed that for you.
I mean, I understand alpha. I've owned a few in the past few years. My idea is that when the engine (cryengine 3) supports things they don't use. Maybe my priorities are out of line but it seems like you would try to keep the core functions in place.
That said, I am SUPER excited for S42 and the full universe, just some thoughts floating around.
 

Worthington

Golden Member
Apr 29, 2005
1,432
17
81
1.1 added a lot of under-the-hood FP64 assets. Probably going to be some teething issues there. I know a lot of people complain about a massive fps drop when they walk by their Cutlass Red for example.
 

Stringjam

Golden Member
Jun 30, 2011
1,871
33
91
You know, I'm going to say it. People say the game looks amazing, but I don't see it. The lines are super jaggy, framerate is very uneven, and nothing is special about it. Sure, the models are well done, and the ships have a lot of detail, but if the game backend can't use it what is the point?


The lines are jaggy because AA is disabled.

I think for the most part the textures and modeling are very nice. As I walk around the Revel & York hanger, I'm amazed at the appearance (short of not having AA).

I love the clean look with minimal bloom and effects. I'm not worried about how it's going to run - - there will be a buttload more optimization before it gets out. That hangar full of ships is very hard on a system. I wish I could open this up in CryEngine and look at the draw-call numbers....I'm guessing they're very high.
 

bbhaag

Diamond Member
Jul 2, 2011
6,914
2,290
146
Has anyone noticed an exceptionally high rate of ram usage in the hanger with the release of 1.1? I've got 8gb and Windows is throwing warning messages at me that system ram is low.
When I check using the task manager it appears to be using close to 6gb. Sometimes the game crashes and takes Windows with it which results in a system restart.

I've got my virtual ram set at 1gb do you guys think that increasing it to 2gb will help?
 
Feb 4, 2009
35,286
16,772
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Yeah, I'm holding off for as long as possible and then going to build an entire new rig for this. Still running strong on a i7 920 so I feel like I've gotten some good mileage out of it.

Skylake here we come! :p

Same here. I hope skylake isn't astronomically priced. I'm running a Q9650 which surprisingly runs it kind of OK
 

Fallen Kell

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
6,100
467
126
Same here. I hope skylake isn't astronomically priced. I'm running a Q9650 which surprisingly runs it kind of OK

I'm not too surprised. Right now the only thing your CPU is really doing is the physics and only a little AI in the vandul swarm mode. The graphics card is the real bottleneck at this point still. Once a more features are added, CPU use will start taking off (multi-player ships, NPCs, etc.). Otherwise basic physics calculations if properly streamlined are not too complex, the rest is mostly memory management/loading/fetching, etc.
 

Fallen Kell

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
6,100
467
126
I mean, I understand alpha. I've owned a few in the past few years. My idea is that when the engine (cryengine 3) supports things they don't use. Maybe my priorities are out of line but it seems like you would try to keep the core functions in place.

Welcome to the world of programming and game making. Visuals like jaggies from no AA are some of the last things to even be thought about because the implementation to fix them depends on a lot on how other things are done in the game. So until you have everything else fleshed out and set in stone, you don't touch much with things that have dependencies on how those other things are designed (just like you don't start building a house by putting up the siding, even though that is what you see from the outside, it just doesn't work so well to start with the siding when you don't even know how large walls are going to be that the siding is meant to cover and protect).