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Star Citizen Alpha 2.0 | The 'Verse Awakens

iHaunter

iHaunter

Member
petethepanda said:
Jumping back in for the first time in a while, didn't know star marine stuff was starting to come out. Dumb question, is there anything you can do about blood loss?

Edit: ...Man, this is pretty alright.
Click to expand...

Yep, you start with two healing injections.

Hit V to heal. You can also go to healing stations with the Health Cross symbol.

Let me know if you have any questions.
 
D

Dre_G_Writer

Member
Raticus79 said:
With the way they've been picking up ex-Crytek devs, that's getting closer to being the truth in a literal way.
Click to expand...

Man you aint lying. Heh

And i just heard about those crytek offices closing down too.

Good that CIG is picking some of them up.

CIG would be the perfect place for them to work on such an ambitious project like star citizen and work on a engine they are very familiar with since they came from the company that created it.

Seems like a blessing in disguise.

At least now ex-crytek employees can see how much bank the comoany is pulling in. With all that money CIG is steadily pulling in, They know for a fact they aint gonna have to deal with that "not getting paid for months" BS.

Good for them!!!
 
R

Renim

Neo Member
thinking of picking this up. i heard there was going to be a trial of the game so people could try it. is that true?
 
D

Danthrax

Batteries the CRISIS!
Renim said:
thinking of picking this up. i heard there was going to be a trial of the game so people could try it. is that true?
Click to expand...

Beaten by Zalus, but yeah, use the code WELCOME2SC on the registration page and get yourself an account. The actual free fly event begins, uh, Soon™.

When you're looking to buy, avoid all the crazy expensive add-on ships (they're for whales and you'll be able to earn them in the final game for free) and check out one of these packages, which will get you both the Squadron 42 single-player campaign as well as the Star Citizen MMO persistent universe as well as immediate access to everything playable now in the pre-alpha:

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/pledge/Packages/Aurora-MR-Star-Citizen-Squadron-42-Combo
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/pledge/Packages/Mustang-Alpha-Star-Citizen-Squadron-42-Combo

The only difference between them is which ship you always have access to in the pre-alpha, which you'll also start out with in the final release of the persistent universe — the more transport-oriented Aurora or combat-oriented Mustang.

If you don't care about Squadron 42 (the campaign) and just want the MMO persistent universe, you can pick up one of these on a discount:

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/pledge/Packages/Aurora-MR-SC-Starter-Holiday-Warbond-Edition
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/pledge/Packages/Mustang-Alpha-SC-Starter-Holiday-Warbond-Edition
 
U

UpDownLeftRight

Banned
For those in the PTU what's the chances of it going to release before the new year? I won't lie, I'm hugely disappointed in the lack of 3.0 this year so I'm hoping they at least make 2.6 in time.
 
C

~Cross~

Member
UpDownLeftRight said:
For those in the PTU what's the chances of it going to release before the new year? I won't lie, I'm hugely disappointed in the lack of 3.0 this year so I'm hoping they at least make 2.6 in time.
Click to expand...

They had it scheduled for yesterday and there is still no word on the live release. Each PTU patch seems to fix problems introduced by a previous patch and earlier they shelved wholesale the megamaps and now they've shelved leaderboards and scanning (Merely pressing the tab button to start a scan crashed the game) .

For all intents and purposes, they should hold off the patch till the next year once people start coming back from the holidays. Releasing it now would just cause more headaches for the skeleton crew that has to keep monitoring the servers. But somehow releasing the PTU has fucked over people playing on live, making it unplayable for them (constant crashes/invisible ships). So they probably dont have an option. They have to release it.
 
U

UpDownLeftRight

Banned
~Cross~ said:
They had it scheduled for yesterday and there is still no word on the live release. Each PTU patch seems to fix problems introduced by a previous patch and earlier they shelved wholesale the megamaps and now they've shelved leaderboards and scanning (Merely pressing the tab button to start a scan crashed the game) .

For all intents and purposes, they should hold off the patch till the next year once people start coming back from the holidays. Releasing it now would just cause more headaches for the skeleton crew that has to keep monitoring the servers. But somehow releasing the PTU has fucked over people playing on live, making it unplayable for them (constant crashes/invisible ships). So they probably dont have an option. They have to release it.
Click to expand...

Huh, well damn it sounds like absolute chaos over there. I wish they'd just be a bit more conservative with deadlines instead of putting so much pressure on the teams.
 
R

Raticus79

Seek victory, not fairness
Seems like they're making steady progress on it at least. Opening up advance registrations for that 2.6 free flight put them under more pressure. At least they didn't put a specific date on it.

(come to think of it, it sounds like it's just the same window for everyone after 2.6, rather than being staggered for different users, so I'm not sure why they would make it just 48 hours)

---

Looks like pcgames.de got some new material in an upcoming article about Squadron 42 and 3.0.

https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitize...dron_42_and_star_citizen_alpha_30_sneak_peek/

No full translation yet. From this page included in the preview, it sounds like things are presented reasonably.
Here's the bit on page 26 (given for free), translated by google:
It could be the most important year in the development process of Chris Roberts' space space, after all, major goals on the agenda are 2017.
By: Stefan Weiß

For 2017 we expect a lot of gameplayers, many of them trimmed on multiplatform marketing. But when it comes to exclusive PC games, we've been looking around the world for more than ever since 2014, or rather to Chris Roberts and his great science fiction dream star Citizen, which he announced four years ago. The swarm financing project is now able to record the extremely proud sum of more than 138 million US dollars, while benefiting from the financial support of more than 1.67 million bakers (as of 14 December 2016).

However, Star Citizen is not yet able to speak of a fully developed game. The madly ambitious project and its development process caused a lot of excitement as before. In particular the technical progress, which the developers showed at the CitizenCon during a longer live gameplay presentation, brought down the folds of the visitors. The so-called Homestead demo showed the incredibly high level of detail of planets, ships and objects. The seamless and smooth transition from space to the orbit of a procedurally generated planet, followed by a smooth approach with point landings in a realistic-looking environment - that was already great to see. Obendrein offered the demo insights into future mission scenarios with scripted events, exciting shooter battles and surprising events, such as the attack of a gigantic Sandwurms of the brand Dune.

On the other hand, it was the shift of the single-player campaign Squadron 42 to 2017 for fans and also for us probably the most serious wormwood drops, also without a specific publication date. In general, there was anger and doubts about the opaque shifting policy of the manufacturer Cloud Imperium Games, which could not be discussed in the big MMOG universe Star Citizen and the planned game modules throughout the year. For example, the first-person shooter part Star Marine should have been playable for months.

More transparency in the future
To offer as open an as possible look at the development of Star Citizen is for the developers nothing new. With regular video formats, the various studios in Los Angeles, Austin, Frankfurt and Manchester show what they are working on. In addition, they publish monthly studioreports. This includes specials on topics such as bugfixing and story-telling about the game universe as well as game features.

Yet this kind of information policy does not seem to satisfy all the doubters and critics. It is therefore all the more important to take Roberts' step towards presenting the project more transparently and openly to the community. Still in October 2016, in his open letter format "Letter from the Chairman", he communicated why it was so hard to schedule the gigantic project with all its features and modules exactly in time. It was therefore decided to make the team-internal planning for the individual game projects and their updates accessible to the interested parties in the form of regular reports. It was the beginning of an update on the latest version of 2.6, which is scheduled to be released in December, with many new content, such as the long awaited stargoer module, Star Marine, for the already-playable mini-universe in the Stanton system from Star Citizen. If you hold this issue in your hands, we know if the internal release date mentioned in the plan was actually fulfilled on 16 December 2016. The signs are good, so Roberts just published before the editorial deadline an update to the production plan for the extension 2.6, which showed among other things that most of the planned features are ready and ready for testing. What is gratifying is that, according to the report update, developers are currently removing bugs faster than new ones. In the coming year, we are looking for new content for Star Citizen according to our internal planning for the project.
Click to expand...

Some new images in there - album: http://imgur.com/a/JlNcu

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mzZwg7u.jpg


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ygXJmUX.jpg


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VweRDo8.jpg


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jivIo2l.jpg


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2MCztUL.jpg


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DIqjK0l.jpg


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http://i.imgur.com/3OURATd.jpg (just the same old concept image for the Endeavor)
 
staticneuron

staticneuron

Member
2.6 publish to live

https://forums.robertsspaceindustries.com/discussion/363299/upcoming-2-6-0-publish-to-live/p1

Hello everyone!

We've got great news to share with everyone as we are publishing 2.6.0 to Live!

- Patch Notes: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link//15653-Star-Citizen-Alpha-260
- Known Issues: Coming soon!
- Official 2.6.0 Feedback Thread: Coming soon!

Also later tonight we'll be opening up Spectrum on our PTU web environment for those that want to check out the first iteration of our new forums and chat system!

You'll need to Copy Account To PTU either in the Launcher or at https://robertsspaceindustries.com/account/copy/ptu then use the PTU password sent to you in email in order to access Spectrum at https://ptu.cloudimperiumgames.com/spectrum/community/SC.

Please note: Only Spectrum is available on the PTU environment. PTU Game Servers will not be available.

We've extremely excited to bring 2.6.0 and Spectrum to you and we hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season. :)

Thanks everyone and see you in the 'Verse!
- Will "Soulcrusher" Leverett
Click to expand...

2.6 patch notes
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link//15653-Star-Citizen-Alpha-260
 
staticneuron

staticneuron

Member
Raticus79 said:
I'm thinking I'll just rework the OP for 2.6 rather than going for a new thread. Along with including some info on Star Marine I'm going to try to make it a better introduction for new folks.
Click to expand...

I would agree. The Alpha will not see a significant functionality change until 3.0. This release is more of an update to what was started in 2.0.
 
Eolz

Eolz

Member
Honestly, those videos, the new screenshots, and the lumberyard news, might be good for a news thread.
Not to replace the OT of course, this one should indeed just be updated until 3.0 :)
 
E

Evolution of Metal

Member
Raticus79 said:
They have an updated "getting started" page up now too:
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/getting-started

Tons of those $35 SC starter packages now. It'll be interesting to see how many of those go over the holidays.
Click to expand...

I don't like the fact that there are sales before the final game launches. Do previous backers/buyers get a partial refund because the item got discounted before they could fully use it? The earliest backers (and earlier) should get the best bang for the buck as far as value is concerned because of the crowdfunding. New backers shouldn't get better deals than the older ones.

I understand the basic economy that if the item doesn't sell, you discount it. I don't like that Steam allows for discounts on early access games, but some of the SC ships/packs aren't even playable, so it is worse.
 
E

epmode

Member
RK9039 said:
Whoa is this true?
Click to expand...
Er, yes, it seems like it's true. From the latest newsletter:

There is one other big announcement we would like to make with the release of 2.6. We are now basing Star Citizen and our custom technology development on Amazon’s Lumberyard Engine. Since the beginning of the project, we’ve had to make a huge number of changes to the CryENGINE code and tech to enable us to deliver Star Citizen. While the original CryENGINE had great strengths in many areas like rendering and cinematics the needs of our game were well beyond what came ‘out of the box’. So we have, over time, changed significant parts of the engine for our technology, such that only a baseline of the original engine truly remains. In the future we will continue to make significant changes to AI, Animation and Network code and systems.

When Amazon announced Lumberyard back in February 2016, we were immediately interested. While based on the same baseline technology as Star Citizen, Lumberyard is specifically designed for online games, utilizing the power of Amazon’s AWS Cloud Services and their Twitch streaming platform. Amazon’s focus aligns perfectly to ours as we’ve been making significant engineering investments into next generation online networking and cloud based servers. Making the transition to Lumberyard and AWS has been very easy and has not delayed any of our work, as broadly, the technology switch was a ‘like-for-like’ change, which is now complete.

As an added benefit Amazon AWS data centers are spread around the world from North America to South America, Europe to China to Asia Pacific, which will allow us to better support the many backers across the globe as we scale up Star Citizen.

Finally, Amazon has made Lumberyard freely available for anyone building their own game. That means that technically-inclined members of the community can have a better view 'under the hood' of our game than ever before. It's also a great path for anyone interested in game development professionally; I fully anticipate that in the coming year we will be hiring programmers who have taught themselves using Amazon's Lumberyard resources!

As we move forwards, we are confident you will see great benefits from our partnership. Amazon will bring new features to Lumberyard to assist in creating online persistent games, adding great support for their products like Twitch (which we use extensively) and of course investing heavily in engine research and development for years to come. We could not find a more stable and reliable engine partner than Amazon, so with this partnership we are sure we have secured the future development and continuing technical innovation for Star Citizen.

With that I would like encourage everyone to download and play Alpha 2.6. It is a lot of fun and I look forward to seeing you in the ‘verse!
Click to expand...
 
M

mercenar1e

Member
epmode said:
Er, yes, it seems like it's true. From the latest newsletter:
Click to expand...

maybe im wrong but i think they dropped the older version that they received from Crytek and ported over all the work to the newer version that Amazon purchased? and in doing so they have access to the Amazon servers (worldwide servers) + funding + future engine improvements?

if its true VR shouldn't be that far off.
 
Z

Zabojnik

Member
That is great news indeed. With any luck I'll be able to buy the Echo Dot through CIG's store before I can buy it from Amazon. CIG doesn't do territorial discrimination.
 
T

tuxfool

Banned
mercenar1e said:
maybe im wrong but i think they dropped the older version that they received from Crytek and ported over all the work to the newer version that Amazon purchased? and in doing so they have access to the Amazon servers + funding + future engine improvements?

if its true VR shouldn't be that far off.
Click to expand...

Amazon basically forked off cryengine on the same version that CIG did. Initially people were even just calling it Cryengine with Double Helix netcode.
 
R

Raticus79

Seek victory, not fairness
This one was actually one of the early stretch goals, lol:

"As an added benefit Amazon AWS data centers are spread around the world from North America to South America, Europe to China to Asia Pacific, which will allow us to better support the many backers across the globe as we scale up Star Citizen."

Good news for international players!
 
M

mercenar1e

Member
tuxfool said:
Amazon basically forked off cryengine on the same version that CIG did. Initially people were even just calling it Cryengine with Double Helix netcode.
Click to expand...

if that's the case Amazon possibly payed CIG for engine improvements. the question here is did CIG approach them for funding?
 
T

tuxfool

Banned
mercenar1e said:
if that's the case Amazon possibly payed CIG for engine improvements. the question here is did CIG approach them for funding?
Click to expand...

Who knows. Amazon could gain some nice technology from the stuff CIG already developed.

That is if they could integrate it. Last time they were asked they said that they have rewritten around 50% of the codebase.
 
U

UpDownLeftRight

Banned
So did they actually switch engines or did they sign some deal with Amazon to use what was essentially the same engine they were already using under a different name? This is a little out of the blue to be honest so a bit confused how it happened so quickly and quietly.
 
T

tuxfool

Banned
UpDownLeftRight said:
So did they actually switch engines or did they sign some deal with Amazon to use what was essentially the same engine they were already using under a different name? This is a little out of the blue to be honest so a bit confused how it happened so quickly and quietly.
Click to expand...
Basically this.

In 2.6 You're playing with Lumberyard already.
 
C

Chumley

Banned
Performance is fucking god awful in 2.6, worse than I remember it being in a long time. Changing from very high to high doesn't even do anything, running on a 1080 and i7 6700
 
R

Raticus79

Seek victory, not fairness
The ship customization interface is a big improvement. Still need to pixel-hunt a bit if you're selecting it on the model, but the menus on the left work fine.

xX2VvhF.jpg
Click to expand...

By the way, it looks like the PyroBurst (shotgun) weapons from the Sabre Comet aren't working in online modes - collision is broken or something and the hits don't register. I though I was just lagging out or something but apparently it's a known bug.
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/...SMA_SCATTERGUN_Not_Registering_Damage_in_PvP?
I only really noticed it once I was running 4 of them.

Worked fine offline though.
 
T

tuxfool

Banned
Chumley said:
Performance is fucking god awful in 2.6, worse than I remember it being in a long time. Changing from very high to high doesn't even do anything, running on a 1080 and i7 6700
Click to expand...

Then you remember wrong. It has been pretty much the same since 2.3. Changing graphics settings hasn't made a difference since 2.0 came around, netcode is still the limiting factor.
 
D

Danthrax

Batteries the CRISIS!
Yeah, Lumberyard is basically Amazon's flavor of CryEngine. Star Citizen didn't really change engines, it just kinda changed forks of the same engine (or, like some of you speculated, CIG is giving its engine advancements to Amazon and taking on the Lumberyard name). It's a good thing if that means cheap access to Amazon servers, though.
 
B

Blackpanther25

Member
I'm glad star citizen is not vaporware. I've not played it myself but I periodically check up on its development. Enjoy guys, I'll meet you when the game is officially released.
 
R

Raticus79

Seek victory, not fairness
I did a solo run of Pirate Swarm to try out 4x pyroburst and made it to wave 16:
https://youtu.be/DY6xgq-jwFU

It's enough to one-shot the Auroras and M50s there too.

Getting my butt kicked by a group of cutlasses and vanguards was a nice change of pace. Time to get used to using countermeasures again now that the Sabre isn't outmaneuvering the missiles any more, heh
 
M

mnannola

Member
Star Marine is much better than I expected! It has some jank of course, but it's pretty fun floating around in zero g's. Can't tell how I feel about the sound yet, seems lacking even though it's in space.
 
T

trugc

Member
Finally, Amazon has made Lumberyard freely available for anyone building their own game. That means that technically-inclined members of the community can have a better view 'under the hood' of our game than ever before. It's also a great path for anyone interested in game development professionally; I fully anticipate that in the coming year we will be hiring programmers who have taught themselves using Amazon's Lumberyard resources!
Click to expand...

Does that mean CIG port some of their game code to Lumberyard as well? In Lumberyard Amazon refactored CE3.8's entity system with a new entity component framework.
 
C

CMDBob

Member
Wow, just finished downloading 2.6 and I've got to say, they've added a nice layer of polish to the experience. Movement on foot feels GREAT now. And the new interaction system is good too, I can actually get in my good ol' 300i super easily now. Before it was a ROYAL pain to get in. Framerates feel a tonne better, too, which is nice. Still can't manually shut the damned door, though. :|
 
W

WillyFive

Member
I wish the flight controls with a flight stick were as good as a 20+ year old game like X-Wing. Game seems made to be flown with a mouse.
 
E

epmode

Member
Olisar framerate is still absolute garbage when the server's been running for a bit. I was getting 20 or below regardless of graphics settings.

Has CIG talked about the way the framerate is tied to the netcode? Is this a permanent thing? Because it's going to ruin any VR implementation.
 
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