Universe Sandbox 3 Feature idea - Detailed Planet Surfaces

[valentin123]

I would like to be able to see a view from the floor of a planet
like in universe sandbox 2 but more realistic

[smjjames]

That'd be the ground or sea level.

We definetly won't be seeing ultra high detail like in Space Engine though.

[blotz]

this is for space simulation not planet simulation

[tuto99]

Honestly I agree with this idea. I'd like to be able to visit a planet, land on it, see an atmosphere and possibly some detailed terrain. It would allow for a decent perspective imo. You know, add some freaking rendering to the game!!!

[FiahOwl]

I personally am against it because like smjjames said this is a space simulator, and I'd also have them adding more features to the simulating aspect rather than the planetary aspect, however I guess it may be a nice feature after Ubox 3 gets hammered out into perfection and an expansion pack or something rolls around.

[tuto99]

I personally am against it because like smjjames said this is a space simulator, and I'd also have them adding more features to the simulating aspect rather than the planetary aspect, however I guess it may be a nice feature after Ubox 3 gets hammered out into perfection and an expansion pack or something rolls around.

It's a universe simulator, so why not simulate planets???

I'd also have them adding more features to the simulating aspect rather than the planetary aspect

Meh, they could always do both, am I wrong?

[blotz]

It's a universe simulator, so why not simulate everything to the highest degree of perfection???

[Darvince]

Universe sandbox will eventually simulate universes to the same degree of accuracy necessary to represent this universe.^{Also it's a miracle that we haven't been destroyed by a huge star being hurtled towards the current sun because of some bored player}

[vh]

we're actually living in a universe sandbox 3029 simulation made by an advanced civilization.

[gabriel.dac]

That's a good idea. The bad thing about universe sandbox is that you can't interact much with celestial bodies - you just watch them orbit. I know you can land on it but it is not good enough.

I wish I could walk on it with the arrow keys, look up, look down, jump, etc. Something similar is ok too, as long as I get to interact with the planets. It gets kinda boring when  a thing called the UNIVERSE sandbox is, in fact, just a gravity simulator

[Breakfestbacon]

You all must know that having a solar system with all of the planets having terrain would impact the preformence of the game. Plus with the new graphics you would need a pretty good computer.

[Darvince]

With procedural generation you don't need to have insanely detailed textures for every planet, just if a texture is provided then you can work off of that, but that tends to be slightly more complex than just working off of nothing in procedural generation.

[JAW1002]

I think the sea level terrain eye candy should be left to space engine. US3 is gonna be full of amazing features that no game has ever attempted! Which is why I find myself coming back to the forum multiple times a day looking for news.

[gabriel.dac]

You all must know that having a solar system with all of the planets having terrain would impact the preformence of the game. Plus with the new graphics you would need a pretty good computer.

But the terrains would only be loaded when you land on the planet.

[smjjames]

You all must know that having a solar system with all of the planets having terrain would impact the preformence of the game. Plus with the new graphics you would need a pretty good computer.

But the terrains would only be loaded when you land on the planet.

Have you ever played SE? The terrain takes a lot of proccessing power.

I wouldn't mind somewhat improved appearance or even actual mountains where there should be, the eye candy should be left to SE.

[clockworks]

Honestly I agree with this idea. I'd like to be able to visit a planet, land on it, see an atmosphere and possibly some detailed terrain. It would allow for a decent perspective imo. You know, add some freaking rendering to the game!!!

That's not the point of this simulating game...

[gabriel.dac]

/\
The planets and stars are part of the universe, aren't they?

They should rename the game to gravity sandbox if the name really matches the content

[tuto99]

Honestly I agree with this idea. I'd like to be able to visit a planet, land on it, see an atmosphere and possibly some detailed terrain. It would allow for a decent perspective imo. You know, add some freaking rendering to the game!!!

That's not the point of this simulating game...

The visual aspect of viewing the surface of a planet is to provide information visually, and to give you a perspective of being on that planet, which I think would go PERFECTLY with Universe Sandbox 3. I am not asking for "eye candy" but rather visual information that I can see when visiting the surface of some planet. It would be spectacular, no?

[gabriel.dac]

Oh, another important detail:

When I land on Earth, I wanna see the sky blue as it is. Just like it would be red in mars.

I am aware that this is kinda hard to do, considering that we can change Earth's diameter and mass... that would affect the atmosphere. :/

[Dan Dixon]

I would like to be able to see a view from the floor of a planet

It's something that may be added in a future revisions to the new version, but won't be in the alpha, beta, or initial release. We've talked about it... and Georg had spend some time with it. That said... the visuals in the new version are so much better that we hope you won't be disappointed.

this is for space simulation not planet simulation

You might want to take that up with your climate scientist that's working on a climate model for planets.

Universe sandbox will eventually simulate universes to the same degree of accuracy necessary to represent this universe.^{Also it's a miracle that we haven't been destroyed by a huge star being hurtled towards the current sun because of some bored player}

Meta.

It's a universe simulator, so why not simulate everything to the highest degree of perfection???

In principle... exactly.

[valentin123]

yes universe sandbox is more like a gravity simulator than a virtual planetary  (like space engine, you can not interact with planets, just look,and that use many computer resources for ultra high textures and rendering of bitmap

[Breakfestbacon]

yes universe sandbox is more like a gravity simulator than a virtual planetary  (like space engine, you can not interact with planets, just look,and that use many computer resources for ultra high textures and rendering of bitmap

Yeah, I believe Dan said during Unite 2012 that it is basically a really cool gravity simulator.

[seanjenkinsjr]

good idea i will put that in the alpha form

[clockworks]

Honestly I agree with this idea. I'd like to be able to visit a planet, land on it, see an atmosphere and possibly some detailed terrain. It would allow for a decent perspective imo. You know, add some freaking rendering to the game!!!

I don't think it should be a priority although a potential update for the future as this is a physics sim imo and graphics are only there to enhance it, it isn't an rpg.