OS X Anyone else geeked about Elite Dangerous?

[Janichsan]

I find it strange that there are people who've played hundreds of hours of the online-only alpha and beta versions over the last few months but are now saying they're no longer interested in the game because it's online-only.

Two reasons: those who have played the alpha and beta versions know that the online functions of the game currently are very problematic, although there is still are relatively small number of people connected to Frontier's server. Image what will happen when the game is released and a lot more people will try to play. (Hint: think Sim City.)

Secondly, the offline functionality has been a promised and repeatedly confirmed feature from the early days of the Kickstarter campaign on. What actually angers most people is that Frontier waited until one month before release to come out and say: "Oh, remember that offline mode we promised? Joke's on you, that will never happen."

 

[garnerx]

Two reasons: those who have played the alpha and beta versions know that the online functions of the game currently are very problematic, although there is still are relatively small number of people connected to Frontier's server. Image what will happen when the game is released and a lot more people will try to play. (Hint: think Sim City.)

Secondly, the offline functionality has been a promised and repeatedly confirmed feature from the early days of the Kickstarter campaign on. What actually angers most people is that Frontier waited until one month before release to come out and say: "Oh, remember that offline mode we promised? Joke's on you, that will never happen."

People don't like it when promises get broken, even if it's something that doesn't really affect them. Personally, I've never played a PC game without having an internet connection. My PC is always online.

I never experienced major problems with Sim City. I think I might have been unable to save at first, but the next time I logged in it was fine. Got bored of building tiny cities in the end, but I played over 50 hours with no issues.

Anyway, we don't know if Elite will have server problems on Day One. Everyone just seems to assume it will be completely broken and they'll go bankrupt and shut it down after Christmas.

The Star Citizen devs should be watching this with interest (and fear). Elite is a relatively small scale project that's getting savaged for overdelivering on most fronts but failing with a single game mode, whereas Star Citizen has taken $50m+ by promising the moon on a stick.

Yeah, me too...anybody have recommendations for a HOTAS?

...btw, have you ever used Little Snitch?

I've got the CH Products HOTAS, which is really good. Not massively expensive if you're in the US (I'm not, so I had to get it shipped from Amazon US, which was still much cheaper than buying it from an importer in the UK). They have the best throttle, and the joystick seems solid and accurate. It's all sold separately, so you could add the pedals later if need be.

(Surfer's Serials + Little Snitch... that takes me back!)

 

[tomvos]

I'm not a big fan of the always online features, too. Mostly because there is a high chance that the game becomes completely unusable once the proprietary servers are offline. I hope this will take some years to come, however I'm not blind to the fact that running servers costs money for hardware, traffic and power, maintenance people, etc. So it's quite unavoidable that there will be a point in time when Frontier Development will turn off their servers - simply because they are loosing money or at least don't make enough money.

As a sign of good faith, Frontier Development could make a statement that they release their server software as soon as they turn off their last Elite Dangerous servers. The release does not have to be open sourced, but it would be a nice gesture. (See http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/11/eff-asks-for-the-right-to-revive-abandoned-online-games/)

For the near future: I really don't bother. At home I have always internet, so what's the point? And I don't plan to play ED on the road with a MBA or MBP. Simply because any mobile Apple hardware sucks at gaming. The GPUs are anemic, the trackpad is a joke for gaming, and I'm quite sure I won't take my HOTAS with me on the road.
And I don't mind if the universe is no longer in the state in which I left it the last time I played the game. Because, out there the universe does not hold it breath while I have work to do.

 

[Janichsan]

Anyway, we don't know if Elite will have server problems on Day One.

Oh, rest assured: unless Frontier massively improves their infrastructure, there will be server problems. At best, the launch will be "rocky" and not a complete disaster.

I don't know if you are on the Frontier forums, but the first and foremost complaint about the state of the game at the moment are problems with the connection to the servers, no matter where they are located, no matter of what quality their internet connection normally is. These problems range from severe lagging to intermittent disconnects and exist at least since start of the standard beta. And if anything, they got worse with increasing size of the beta. In the current beta 3, I personally hadn't had a single session without at least two or three lost server connections.

This is a pretty clear sign that their server infrastructure is already buckling under the current load. It doesn't take a genius to see what will happen when the stress will increase by a couple of orders of magnitude.

Simply because any mobile Apple hardware sucks at gaming. The GPUs are anemic...

That's quite off-topic, but you are seriously underestimating the middle to upper MBP models. I have quite a few recent games running on my 2012 rMBP smoothly at high to maximum settings, including Borderlands 2, Bioshock Infinite, Tomb Raider 2013... and Elite Dangerous.

 

[garnerx]

There's an interview on Eurogamer where Braben says Frontier could release an archived version of the game / server to preserve it if they ever had to shut it down.

He also says they're using the Amazon cloud, so it's scalable. Perhaps the disconnection problems people have encountered are because they're constantly updating the code.

I didn't get many disconnects when I played it, but I stopped playing because there would be a big update every time I logged in, so I prefer to wait for the finished game.

 

[old-mac-man]

There's an interview on Eurogamer where Braben says Frontier could release an archived version of the game / server to preserve it if they ever had to shut it down.

He also said there was going to be an offline version of the game. Trust is hard won and easily lost.

 

[lewdvig]

I am expecting this game to release on Mac Feb 16, 2015. Hopefully they keep this 'three months after Windows release' promise.

 

[Janichsan]

I am expecting this game to release on Mac Feb 16, 2015.

That would be two months after the Windows version.

I think the three month timeline for the Mac version is quite optimistic, though, since they have to rewrite the whole DirectX 11 based engine for OpenGL. The good thing about this is, however, that a crappy Cider port is out of question.

 

[garnerx]

Well, it's currently a bit broken. I have a load of cargo that I can't sell and an expired contract that I can't get rid of.

Seems to be happening to a lot of people on the official forums, and it's all server related.

 

[Janichsan]

Well, regarding that Mac version: according to the latest newsletter, the only thing we can expect in three months is the Mac beta.

Regarding Elite: Dangerous on Mac, as you know we have been working on putting the native Mac version of the game together and, as expected, this should enter Beta in about three months time. As the specific Beta date for this is firmed up we’ll keep you updated.

 

[Huntn]

Moved from Steam thread...

Elite Dangerous and No Man's Sky coming later this year, seem to be getting the buzz for that kind of flight exploration/combat type game.

Interesting, I went to the Elite Dangerous Site, and the original elite can be downloaded for free. Anyone know how similiar these two games are? In other words can the Elite experience give me a good feel for how Elite Dangerous is before I plunk $60 on ED?

Edit: just reviewed the begining of this thread, and remember now- dogfighting. For myself this places some doubt on my purchase because of a dog-fighty Space game I recently played around with on Steam. Instead I prefer a more strategic outlook like Homeworld.

 

[Janichsan]

Interesting, I went to the Elite Dangerous Site, and the original elite can be downloaded for free. Anyone know how similiar these two games are? In other words can the Elite experience give me a good feel for how Elite Dangerous is before I plunk $60 on ED?

The basics are similar, but the original, 30 year old, 8-bit Elite is more limited. And - to be honest - it can't hide its age. When you want to play a more technically up-to-date remake of it, you should take a look at Oolite, which is also free.

 

[dbanderson1]

Well, regarding that Mac version: according to the latest newsletter, the only thing we can expect in three months is the Mac beta.

So is the beta planned for march then?? I'm really excited about this game. Also does purchasing the PC version get you access to the mac version?

 

[Janichsan]

Also does purchasing the PC version get you access to the mac version?

The final version: yes. How you get access to the beta has not been announced yet.

 

[Huntn]

The basics are similar, but the original, 30 year old, 8-bit Elite is more limited. And - to be honest - it can't hide its age. When you want to play a more technically up-to-date remake of it, you should take a look at Oolite, which is also free.

Obviously you know I went for the current version.

I'll mention for anyone thinking about this game, a huge advantage is no subscription. I've not noticed that many things to buy with real currency. A spiffy paint job is one of those items. This does not appear to be a pay to win game.

 

[tomvos]

From the Elite Dangerous newsletter #61

Mac Update

Work on Elite: Dangerous for Mac is progressing well and we’re still on track to enter beta by the end of March. This beta period will be longer than the short 1.1 Beta test and we’re anticipating a period of around six weeks for testing.

We still have a whole bunch of optimisation work to get through so we’re not ready to provide a minimum spec just yet, but we can confirm it will be available as a 64 bit build.

We’ll have more on the Mac release soon.

 

[Huntn]

Obviously you know I went for the current version.

I'll mention for anyone thinking about this game, a huge advantage is no subscription. I've not noticed that many things to buy with real currency. A spiffy paint job is one of those items. This does not appear to be a pay to win game.

Thinking about it, they need to get third person view in there. Would anyone really care about a paint job if you can't see themselves?

 

[Huntn]

After playing for a month, the game has potential. Right now the most fun to be had is bounty hunting at resorce extraction points, to find a consistent flow of combat against AI pirates, which early game is the best way to earn income, and btw has been threatened to be nerfed in a near future patch.

When you first start, there is a gee-wiz factor, but mostly I find missions and commodity trading to be boring. Go make a dozen round trips between systems and soon you might be asking why are you doing this?

However, when you watch the following video, they appear to have big plans for the game. The outcome remains to be seen.

 

[Stella]

ED is a great game. Its an updated version of the original - not Elite 2 or 3 - no navy missions, landing on planets ( yet ).

At the moment its quite barebones but Frontier will put the flesh on. You won't be joining corporations etc - its not that sort of game - play Eve.

The solo and group play is good addition, as well as the "open" mode.

While I'm glad there's going to be a Mac client - not sure if I'll play that for one reason - Voice Attack. It makes a lot of difference to the game.

 

[marksatt]

That would be two months after the Windows version.

I think the three month timeline for the Mac version is quite optimistic, though, since they have to rewrite the whole DirectX 11 based engine for OpenGL. The good thing about this is, however, that a crappy Cider port is out of question.

Further to the update from Frontier themselves, as a former employee of Frontier, with friends still there I thought I should say that most of the grunt work to port their engine to Mac was done long ago. They ported the core code of their engine to iOS for the LostWinds games & much of that work is directly relevant to the Mac. They'll no doubt run into lots of Mac specific bugs but Frontier already have a solid basis for a Mac OpenGL version of their tech.

Of course that's not to say that their public statements aren't wildly over ambitious. That is after all what I'll remember most about working @ Frontier for David B.

It will be particularly interesting to see which rendering features they'll keep/lose in the port. It hasn't been easy porting UE4's renderer to Apple's OpenGL 4.1 as we (Epic) are limited by the extensions Apple have elected to support (so far).

 

[JordanNZ]

Further to the update from Frontier themselves, as a former employee of Frontier, with friends still there I thought I should say that most of the grunt work to port their engine to Mac was done long ago. They ported the core code of their engine to iOS for the LostWinds games & much of that work is directly relevant to the Mac. They'll no doubt run into lots of Mac specific bugs but Frontier already have a solid basis for a Mac OpenGL version of their tech.

Of course that's not to say that their public statements aren't wildly over ambitious. That is after all what I'll remember most about working @ Frontier for David B.

It will be particularly interesting to see which rendering features they'll keep/lose in the port. It hasn't been easy porting UE4's renderer to Apple's OpenGL 4.1 as we (Epic) are limited by the extensions Apple have elected to support (so far).

It wouldn't surprise me to see OpenGL stay at 4.1 in the next version of OS X, and see Metal replace it. That or GL Next... But knowing Apple, it's only a matter of time before Metal hits desktop.

 

[Stella]

I'm curious - What was it like to work at Frontier? Did you enjoy your time? Did you work on the Elite Project?

Further to the update from Frontier themselves, as a former employee of Frontier, with friends still there I thought I should say that most of the grunt work to port their engine to Mac was done long ago.

 

[Huntn]

ED is a great game. Its an updated version of the original - not Elite 2 or 3 - no navy missions, landing on planets ( yet ).

At the moment its quite barebones but Frontier will put the flesh on. You won't be joining corporations etc - its not that sort of game - play Eve.

The solo and group play is good addition, as well as the "open" mode.

While I'm glad there's going to be a Mac client - not sure if I'll play that for one reason - Voice Attack. It makes a lot of difference to the game.

Voice Attack is pretty cool. Although there are profiles to be downloaded with all of the grunt work done, I've been educating myself on Conditional Commands programming. It's more complicated than I would have guessed, kind of like... programming!

 

[Huntn]

If you are a geeky science person or even if you are not check out: The Science of Elite Dangerous

 

[Janichsan]

Further to the update from Frontier themselves, as a former employee of Frontier, with friends still there I thought I should say that most of the grunt work to port their engine to Mac was done long ago. They ported the core code of their engine to iOS for the LostWinds games & much of that work is directly relevant to the Mac. They'll no doubt run into lots of Mac specific bugs but Frontier already have a solid basis for a Mac OpenGL version of their tech.

Good to hear. I didn't know that LostWinds uses the same engine.

It wouldn't surprise me to see OpenGL stay at 4.1 in the next version of OS X, and see Metal replace it. That or GL Next... But knowing Apple, it's only a matter of time before Metal hits desktop.

I wouldn't be surprised if Metal came to OS X, but that would require Apple to get the GPU manufacturers on board. And even then, I doubt it will completely replace OpenGL.