Lighting

My only gripe is that I would really like some more ambient light. I'd like to be able to see something other than pitch black on the dark side of anything.

Agreed. This universe is very X2'ish. Probably much more realistic but less enjoyable.

Agreed². Altough I'm the kind of guy who likes his space-sims realistic, I really wouldn't mind some ambient-lighting. Just some really dark blue or grey so I can watch my freighters getting loaded, if they are between me and the sun.

Well, if you really need more light, you could reach into the lightwave setup files (.lws) for each system and tweak the ambient light setting. It has been so long since I set those up that I can't give the exact location by hand. It would take a fair bit of editing though. If you did do it you could pack it all up and release it as a mini-mod for those who like 'brighter' space. I personally like the 'hard science' look, and the extreme contrasts of the current setting, which is why I made it that way. I wouldn't be against adjusting it in the future if there was a great vein of dislike for it though.

I also think the ambient lighting needs to be tweaked up a smidgeon -- either that, or a starfield needs to be reintegrated somehow so we can see occluded stars. I collide with people so often. (Partly because it's fun, but that's another story.)

If the other fellow isn't particularly interested in the effort, I'll see what I can do with regards to the tweaks.

I thought I saw someone else mention that he brought the starfield back, but absolutely no details on the method. I'm wondering if I should call shenanigans on him.

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"The art of flying is to throw yourself at the ground and miss." --Douglas Adams

One of the reasons I took the starfield out, (beside it making no-sense, and not really looking very good), was because it costs between 20 and 30 fps! It takes a heavy tool, so it was an easy decision to remove it. Additionally, for systems that are inside the nebula, it would be strange to have thousands of stars shiny through it. The light of the nebula obscures most of the stars of the sky, and if you look, that is what happens in game. However, in areas where the nebula thins out you can see the myriad stars of the milky way shining through. This kind of effect cannot be had with the starfield avatar.

Why can't you see occluded stars now? There is a massive starfield in the normal systems. That starfield is actually built from real star data, particularly in the vicinity of the milky way. I am going to build an even more detailed one soon though. With more stars, and better at higher resolutions.

Changing the ambient light, and the inclusion/exclusion of the starfield avatar is all handled from the lightwave scene file for each system. Just open it up and look through and you will see things pretty quick.