KSP2 Hype Train Thread

[TLTay]

6 minutes ago, Missingno200 said:

 

I wish they'd use a bump map or something on the terrain to give the texture a bit more depth, but it isn't terrible.

 

These graphics are truly stellar. The terrain textures look very 3d to me! The footprints and rover tracks really add to the realism. The lighting and shadows are top notch stuff. I don't know if my GPU will be able to fit all the textures into VRAM. There's a lot of polygons in those terrain scatters, so I might have to turn the settings down, but BOY HOWDY is this gonna be a fun ride. Don't worry, they won't release it looking like this, right?

[Missingno200]

Just now, TLTay said:

Don't worry, they won't release it looking like this, right?

Well, they're certainly giving the EA demo those graphics. Time will tell whether or not the release actually has these graphics.

[GoldForest]

4 hours ago, Missingno200 said:

Since no one has posted it yet, might as well post it here.

 

I wish they'd use a bump map or something on the terrain to give the texture a bit more depth, but it isn't terrible.

I think this is the first post we've seen the polar ice caps in. I wonder why they're so small compared to KSP 1 Duna's ice caps.

Also, for anyone worried about the texturing: 

Edited February 7, 2023 by GoldForest

[The Aziz]

My guess is old ice caps were too big to exist.

[GoldForest]

8 minutes ago, The Aziz said:

My guess is old ice caps were too big to exist.

Not necessarily. Duna could have giant ice caps if it was still young or recently had its atmosphere stripped away. 

I know Mars has tiny ice caps, and Duna is an analog for Mars, but I liked the giant ice caps. Made Duna stand out.

[The Aziz]

Nothing in Kerbol system points at things being young in any way.

Besides, ice from Minmus was removed because it couldn't form at that distance from the star. So below certain latitudes the ice on Duna wouldn't stay. Science check.

[GoldForest]

28 minutes ago, The Aziz said:

Nothing in Kerbol system points at things being young in any way.

Besides, ice from Minmus was removed because it couldn't form at that distance from the star. So below certain latitudes the ice on Duna wouldn't stay. Science check.

Didn't say the Kerbol system is young, I said Duna could be a young-ish planet or recently had it's atmosphere stripped away. The latter would allow Duna to have it's polar ice caps be large.

[The Aziz]

I'd doubt any large event on the planet simply because of Ike being where it is. Close to the parent body, mutually tidally locked, in stable orbit. Any recent external event is out.

[Nirgal]

My favourite planet's looking goood, thic, solid, tight.

Can't wait to introduce myself

[tstein]

Duna should have  giant sandworms... just saying... (to the ones that do not know Duna is Dune in portuguese)

[obney kerman]

Can't wait for the resource update to add Spice to mine on Duna. Remember to walk without rhythm when you go on EVA!

[poopslayer78]

New screenshot from Discord

[Missingno200]

15 minutes ago, poopslayer78 said:

New screenshot from Discord

Thank you for posting it here.

What the hell's with the textures? Like the explosions look great(if a little flat for some reason,) but the ground textures are just... BLEGH.
And those trees!

[ArmchairGravy]

24 minutes ago, poopslayer78 said:

New screenshot from Discord

Looks like someone got stingy with struts.

[The Aziz]

Where's that official comment talking about the screenshots being just random grabs during work where ultra settings aren't a priority?

[t_v]

19 minutes ago, Missingno200 said:

And those trees!

yeah, it feels like the trees have two rough blobs, light and dark. What I actually think is that they aren't noisy enough - we need more noise to make it seem like there's leaves, instead of a solid color. However, too much noise can also produce a negative effect, like this (I remember this specific example, there's probably way better ones)

When panning the camera, these trees would sometimes create a really bad static effect usually at the edge of the screen. I think anything far away with enough noise will do that. But there needs to be some to make it look good in the first place. 

[GoldForest]

 

21 minutes ago, The Aziz said:

Where's that official comment talking about the screenshots being just random grabs during work where ultra settings aren't a priority?

Edited February 7, 2023 by GoldForest

[Missingno200]

5 minutes ago, GoldForest said:

Okay but that defense doesn't work if they've done it twice in a row, and also they specified Monday memes.
Today is Tuesday, and they could've gotten a dev who actually HAD been working on graphics for this.

[GoldForest]

17 minutes ago, Missingno200 said:

Okay but that defense doesn't work if they've done it twice in a row, and also they specified Monday memes.
Today is Tuesday, and they could've gotten a dev who actually HAD been working on graphics for this.

They didn't use the excuse again,  Aziz asked for it and I provided it. It's the same comment as yesterday. 

And they could post the same reasoning, because it's not an excuse, it's what really is going on. The VFX explosion artist does not need trees or grass to ulrea settings, only particles and explosion physics. 

15 minutes ago, darthgently said:

What movie/series is that scene from?  Looks campy and worth a watch.  That sandworm is straight out of a carnivale parade.  Love it

Beetlejuice iirc.

[Kerbart]

1 minute ago, Missingno200 said:

Okay but that defense doesn't work if they've done it twice in a row, and also they specified Monday memes.
Today is Tuesday, and they could've gotten a dev who actually HAD been working on graphics for this.

That assumes a lot. For instance, that these screen grabs are all fresh, and that there is some kind of obligation for these pictures to be representative to... to... something. And there isn't.

Here's what my assumptions are

• Once the publication date (if I call it "launch" some people will yell at me) was set, a marketing plan for that event was created
• Part of that plan is the social media campaign we see now
• Likely a request "send us screenshots with what you're working on" was sent out in the past few months (multiple times, I bet).
• Marketing makes an initial selection of what is going to be published ("what looks good" from a visual appeal perspective)
• Selected content is reviewed and vetted, to ensure no material unfit for publication is selected
• Marketing makes a final selection with what gets published each day, ensuring we don't get airplanes five days in a row, no videos for a week, and so on
• Content is uploaded to social media

All of this is done way upfront. I doubt anyone at Intercept is insane enough to let Marketing decide on the spot what image they'll upload today. I know I wouldn't. Too much riding on it. It's not that they're stupid (many here will like to think that), it's just that their job is marketing, not detailed knowledge of in-house development. Don't show those volumetric clouds yet, we haven't decided on including that for now or not pending performance issues, those kind of things. Nate knows, they don't.

Primary criteria for selection will be: (1) Does it look cool and (2) Is it fit for publication. The rest is just a bonus. I don't think "lack of hi-res textures" is going to be a disqualifier (things can still look great for a publicity shot), but reveals too much of the final game is. The sneak peeks are teasers, notice that we consistently don't see anything that will tell us how the game will look on Feb 24 — that's not a coincidence but a deliberate choice.

[Missingno200]

2 minutes ago, GoldForest said:

They didn't use the excuse again,  Aziz asked for it and I provided it. It's the same comment as yesterday. 

I had a feeling Aziz was going to try to use it, so I decided to pre-empt it. Sorry for making it come off as like I was trying to talk to you specifically about it.

2 minutes ago, Kerbart said:

That assumes a lot. For instance, that these screen grabs are all fresh, and that there is some kind of obligation for these pictures to be representative to... to... something. And there isn't.

Here's what my assumptions are

• Once the publication date (if I call it "launch" some people will yell at me) was set, a marketing plan for that event was created
• Part of that plan is the social media campaign we see now
• Likely a request "send us screenshots with what you're working on" was sent out in the past few months (multiple times, I bet).
• Marketing makes an initial selection of what is going to be published ("what looks good" from a visual appeal perspective)
• Selected content is reviewed and vetted, to ensure no material unfit for publication is selected
• Marketing makes a final selection with what gets published each day, ensuring we don't get airplanes five days in a row, no videos for a week, and so on
• Content is uploaded to social media

All of this is done way upfront. I doubt anyone at Intercept is insane enough to let Marketing decide on the spot what image they'll upload today. I know I wouldn't. Too much riding on it. It's not that they're stupid (many here will like to think that), it's just that their job is marketing, not detailed knowledge of in-house development. Don't show those volumetric clouds yet, we haven't decided on including that for now or not pending performance issues, those kind of things. Nate knows, they don't.

Primary criteria for selection will be: (1) Does it look cool and (2) Is it fit for publication. The rest is just a bonus. I don't think "lack of hi-res textures" is going to be a disqualifier (things can still look great for a publicity shot), but reveals too much of the final game is. The sneak peeks are teasers, notice that we consistently don't see anything that will tell us how the game will look on Feb 24 — that's not a coincidence but a deliberate choice.

Y'know what, fair enough. These are things I hadn't considered. Thank you for bringing them up.

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

Can't believe I missed this (from June '21).

 

Big colony extractors can be wheeled around? 

 

Fun! 

Everything on stilts, more or less. There are structural foundation parts that can be attached to the bottoms of colony parts - they work similarly to launch clamps in the original KSP, with height automatically adjusting to reach the ground. The player has full control over them - they come in a range of types and sizes.
 

    Keep in mind that resource extraction is a big part of colony gameplay, and once you're making stuff at colonies you're not limited to just landers. These are very heavy, but you can side-mount them on wheeled vehicles that you build close to an area of interest. Or, yes, some of the later engines do make the sort of thrust needed to fly these around. We did place a stack attach node at the top so that one of these could be suspended beneath the center of a stack.
  https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/202990-show-and-tell-creating-new-parts/&do=findComment&comment=3988531

The game is just going to keep getting better as we progress through the EA stages! 

[Vl3d]

1 hour ago, The Aziz said:

Where's that official comment talking about the screenshots being just random grabs during work where ultra settings aren't a priority?

I have not seen the ultra settings being a priority anywhere.

22 minutes ago, Kerbart said:

Here's what my assumptions are

• Once the publication date (if I call it "launch" some people will yell at me) was set, a marketing plan for that event was created
• Part of that plan is the social media campaign we see now
• Likely a request "send us screenshots with what you're working on" was sent out in the past few months (multiple times, I bet).
• Marketing makes an initial selection of what is going to be published ("what looks good" from a visual appeal perspective)
• Selected content is reviewed and vetted, to ensure no material unfit for publication is selected
• Marketing makes a final selection with what gets published each day, ensuring we don't get airplanes five days in a row, no videos for a week, and so on
• Content is uploaded to social media

All of this is done way upfront. I doubt anyone at Intercept is insane enough to let Marketing decide on the spot what image they'll upload today. I know I wouldn't. Too much riding on it.

What marketing? What campaign? They blew that budget in 2019. Now it's just random screenshots that don't look great and don't show anything new about the game. It's the most anti-hype pre-release sandbagging I've ever seen. I'm sure someone thought a lot about this strategy and invested a lot of money in not spending money.

[SolarAdmiral]

7 minutes ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

Big colony extractors can be wheeled around? 

Hey this is a great find! I also missed this. Though I got a little more excited at first thinking you meant the huge fuel refineries they showed off were confirmed to be able to be mounted and moved. Hopefully they are, I want to build an absolutely massive mobile base.

It will be interesting to see if anything is restricted to colonies or ships. Like, could we build a massive mobile space colony? Can ships be built at other bigger ships, can the orbital construction yard be put on a suitably massive ship? Can we build a version of the Homeworld Mothership or an Eldar Craftworld to explore other systems? What does the line between spaceship, spacestation, and orbital colony look like?

[darthgently]

Are there smaller versions?  Will one be able to start with a small ISRU set up and build a base in place over time, including the bigger converters?  Hope so.