- Joined
- Jun 27, 2013
- Messages
- 8
- Reaction score
- 13
I find it irksome that the only way to see anything far away is to increase draw distance, which can be a nuisance when near large ships and planets. Starmade could really use a method of viewing distant objects without causing lag.
What I'm thinking is this: When you select any non-player entity via navigation, be it ship, asteroid, planet, shop or station, a silhouette of it appears on your HUD in place of the object until it's close enough to render. Such silhouettes would, efficiency permitting, be loaded as soon as an object is close enough to be selected in the nav menu, and rendered only when an object is both selected and out of drawing distance. Blocks in unloaded segments of a partially loaded entity would (again, efficiency permitting) be replaced by a silhouette until loaded. Also, the color of a silhouette would match the objects color in the nav menu, so enemies would have red outlines, allies green, etc.
If implemented well, having a silhouette for selected objects would allow players to see and fight with more accuracy at greater distances, without sacrificing performance.
What I'm thinking is this: When you select any non-player entity via navigation, be it ship, asteroid, planet, shop or station, a silhouette of it appears on your HUD in place of the object until it's close enough to render. Such silhouettes would, efficiency permitting, be loaded as soon as an object is close enough to be selected in the nav menu, and rendered only when an object is both selected and out of drawing distance. Blocks in unloaded segments of a partially loaded entity would (again, efficiency permitting) be replaced by a silhouette until loaded. Also, the color of a silhouette would match the objects color in the nav menu, so enemies would have red outlines, allies green, etc.
If implemented well, having a silhouette for selected objects would allow players to see and fight with more accuracy at greater distances, without sacrificing performance.