Planetary distance graphic

[Ketran]

As can be seen in the image above, the planet circled in blue is closer to the player than the planet circled in green. This makes little sense as the details of the planet circled in green can be seen despite being further away, and the planet circled in blue is just a flat colour.

I don't think this needs any more explanation, switch the decals around.

 

[der_scheme]

As can be seen in the image above,

If there were an image… Server is returning a 403, you probably have to adjust the access restrictions.

 

[Ketran]

Balls. I'll try and fix that.

EDIT: Should be fixed now.

 

[Megacrafter127]

The issue you are describing is caused by "stray light". The the angle between the sun and you from the read planet's location is about 90°, thus the atmosphere doesn't really interfere during rendering.
From the other planet's view, the angle is much larger, thus on the "back" of the atmosphere the strayed light, which is rendered, is obstructing the view onto the planet.

 

[Ketran]

In scientific terms that could be used as an explanation but from any direction planets that are close to you have that texture. Whereas you can always see the landmass of planets that are far away. They're quite simply two overlays that should be switched around. When I observe Venus with my telescope I see a glowing yellow ball because of the distance, but anyone can observe the details of the moon.

 

[Megacrafter127]

In scientific terms that could be used as an explanation but from any direction planets that are close to you have that texture. Whereas you can always see the landmass of planets that are far away. They're quite simply two overlays that should be switched around. When I observe Venus with my telescope I see a glowing yellow ball because of the distance, but anyone can observe the details of the moon.

That is true, however, in relation to the planet, the atmosphere of venus is tiny compared to the atmosphere of a planet in SM. Thus it's effects increase drastically.(and my post was a mix of scientific reasoning and shader reasoning)

 

[Ketran]

The important thing to remember though is Star-Made is of course a video game. And chief among the features that make a video game successful is the ease of which users can get to grips with the universe they're in. When I first started playing this confused me greatly. Unless these planets are covered in chicken soup I don't see why displaying what type of planet it is at a closer range is an issue.

 

[DivineEvil]

The important thing to remember though is Star-Made is of course a video game. And chief among the features that make a video game successful is the ease of which users can get to grips with the universe they're in. When I first started playing this confused me greatly. Unless these planets are covered in chicken soup I don't see why displaying what type of planet it is at a closer range is an issue.

That is a light diffraction effect. Just like shadows has the opposite hue of the light source (warm red light gives the blue tint in the shadows) the same applies to atmosphere. The color of the back is exact opposite of the atmosphere diffuse color. The only problem here is that diffracted side has no black spot on the location that light doesn't reach.

 

[Ketran]

You are right, but that happens at any distance from sunlight. If I'm in orbit around the Earth I can see the seas and lands a whole lot better than I can see Mars from that point. With this system, it's essentially being in orbit around Earth (a pretty large orbit) and only being able to see a blue smog but being able to pick out details on Mars miles and miles away.