I don't like the skybox

[grondilu]

Hello, first I have to say that Pioneer is an amazing software so thanks a lot to all developers for their outstanding work. Still, I have one criticism to make: the skybox looks terrible. I hope I'm not wrong about what I call skybox, though. I'm talking about the stars on the background with the milky way. I'll keep using that word here but please correct me if I'm wrong. So, I gave Pioneer a try after watching a gameplay video on YouTube and I was disappointed because on the video apparently there was no skybox and I thought it looked much better than what I got on my machine. I guess the video was made with an older version, before the skybox was added. The stars are way too bright. I mean, even when the Sun is in the field of view, they are still just as visible as when we're in the shadow of a planet. Their luminosity does not depend at all from what celestial bodies are visible around. Not only this makes the whole view look fake and unrealistic, it also looks terrible. I'd rather have a pitch black sky rather than this. Take planets for instance. Normally in the sky among the brightest objects are planets, Venus being the brightest one. Yet when I'm in the vicinity of Earth and I look at Venus or Jupiter I see nothing. Not even a bright point. I should see a light point at least as bright as any star, and usually much brighter. Either stars should not be shown at all, or there should be something like dynamic exposure. When a bright object is in the field of view (like the Sun or the illuminated face of Earth, then the luminosity of stars should be reduced, because it has to be consistent with the luminosity of Earth. And if the contrast capability of the screen is not sufficient to show both Earth and the stars, then the stars should be invisible). So here you go. This was my rant. But again, apart from this, Pioneer is an awesome free and open-source software and the dev team is doing a terrific job, so I don't want to sound like an ungrateful douchebag, but I just had to take this out of my chest.

[ollobrain]

Did u adjust youre graphics setting ? that can affect how the stars show up

[Vuzz]

Or try Genesia a little , it's more like what you've want, i think.

[grondilu]

Did u adjust youre graphics setting ? that can affect how the stars show up I tried but I could not see any relevant option. Also, I have to set everything to the bare minimal as my system is fairly limited.

[ollobrain]

ah there u go get a up to date rig and goto full graphics its much more fun or as suggested try genesia

[fluffyfreak]

Your best bet is to design your own and replace it using a mod, the file in question is "/data/textures/skybox/default.dds". You can share whatever you create of course.

[robn]

If its any help, I'm about to commit a settings option to not show the background at all (rather like the same feature in Frontier).

[ollobrain]

so turn off the background complelty, actually thats a good idea for those on low end systems

[robn]

Actually it won't make much difference, the background is pretty cheap to draw.

[grondilu]

If its any help, I'm about to commit a settings option to not show the background at all (rather like the same feature in Frontier). That'd be nice indeed. Thanks. Not related: I just bought a more powerful computer and although it does not help much with the issue discussed here (or I still have to find better settings), I do appreciate what this program can do with more muscle

[ollobrain]

just need to find more programming muscle, still enjoying the latest build keep the enhancements coming

[grondilu]

Just noticed that the change was pulled back and the skybox will stay. No hard feelings. Hopefully in the long term something like dynamic exposure will be implemented. Just have to be patient, I guess.

[ollobrain]

so was the skybox change not strong enough to hold up to change, what other chnages might be needed to make it work to make it through to the main ?

[fluffyfreak]

It wasn't that it wouldn't work it's that it was a step backwards.We implemented the texture mapped skybox so that we can replace the view more easily, and eventually even generate it procedurally depending on your location within the galaxy. It is not going away. If you don't like it, just change the texture used by modding it - I gave the filename earlier, it might even make it into the game if people like it.

[Vuzz]

Simply by editing an all black box to dds size can easily find a sky without nebulae. Although I think it may represent reality, by beautiful nights summer and away from city lights you can see the hallo of our galaxy.

[ollobrain]

Ok thanks fluffy for clearing that up, wondering how else it could be modded anyone got any ideas ( im thinking lurkers or those passing through) ideas always welcome

[pebblegarden]

...I have one criticism to make: the skybox looks terrible. I hope I'm not wrong about what I call skybox, though. I'm talking about the stars on the background with the milky way. I'll keep using that word here but please correct me if I'm wrong. I did some research and found out how to make skyboxes for Pioneer because I agree, the current skybox isn't great. Anyway these could be better but you might find them an improvement. Just unzip the files and copy them into your Pioneer folder called "datatexturesskybox". Every time you jump into a system you'll see one of these 10 skyboxes, and it'll be the same each time you go there (deterministic seed value, I'm guessing). I used Space Engine and picked some pretty locations, one of which is Earth's rough position in the Milky Way. Space Engine's license agreement says you can use images from Space Engine for personal use, so you can use them for your own install of Pioneer but they can NOT be included in a commercial release (I think that day is a LONG WAY OFF though). Here is the link for my skybox collection. Hope that works for you!

[Marcel]

Pebblegarden, I made a proper mod of your skybox collection a couple of weeks ago. It's about time I shared it.This works with Scout Plus 16 and is also compatible with the variant of Vuzz's skybox for Sol that I made for SP16. [attachment=2563:pebblegarden_skybox_SP16.zip]

[ollobrain]

good to hear

[pebblegarden]

Wow! Maybe I'll spend some time figuring out how to improve the skyboxes. Color banding, for one thing, and maybe versions where the galactic disk isn't perfectly aligned on the x axis.