That’s my assumption too … but if that is the case then the system is always going to favour those that always end up with a updated map for their usual log in time.
You’re probably right
For surface materials yes… but underground things. yeah i dunno… in my mining experience which i will admit is quite limited (only >T5) ive NEVER seen an underground base in locations i want to mine… and i generally dont mine right under someones city or where someone has modified the land to grab a tonn of silty soil/sand for example
but again ive never been to Serp and ive heard loads of people mine there so i could be wrong about that planet
I’ve pretty much given up using atlases apart from navigating around lava and water etc… as far as resources go I’ve generally had better luck just mining randomly and following seams.
1 Like
I’ve only really been using them to find an area that could be hot. In areas I know are hot for a certain resource I don’t even use it except to maintain that I’m in that area.
1 Like
The dev who created the system is currently on holiday.
I’m not fully sure but after a quick look the code I think the server updates the resource maps every 30 minutes, the planet maps every 60 minutes, but the client only requests (and then caches) them every 24 hours. So when you first open your atlas the information should be correct(ish). But it’ll then not update for 24 real world hours. So players will have different resource maps depending on when they were last requested.
We’ve discussed options for making the held resource maps update much more frequently - and we’ll hopefully be able to do something.
(But it’s worth adding them having them update more regularly will increase bandwidth and increase the client CPU cost of merging all the different resource maps together. So what? Well players are regularly complaining about networking and performance - without realising that the game is doing a huge amount of work in the background. The planet maps are ~400k, so just imaging what the game needs to do when you walk through a portal into a shop which is selling 40 atlases with multiple different resource maps on display. We’re trying to hide away all that bandwidth so the world continues to load and render smoothly.)
10 Likes
Smells like an opportunity for some sort of LOD type system: maybe only fetch the hourly regenerated map when you’re looking at the atlas, or while equipped
You know, on top of the oodles of other things on the backlog 
1 Like
Thanks @james … so does that mean that the heat map is an actual representation of the selected resource at one point or is it as suggested a map showing where the resources could potentially be based on the spawn parameters?
1 Like
The system already contains LOD. Planets in the sky and planets in the hand / HUD / inventory / world already use an LOD system based on the world block LOD 1 pixel = 2m x 2m, 4m x 4m and 8m x 8m. If you run up to an atlas on a plinth really quickly you’ll sometimes see the LOD pop. (You should see the maps at 1 pixel = 1m x 1m!! If only everyone had your Internet connection!)
The problem with fetching the maps hourly is that it’s a huge waste of bandwidth. You basically download an entire map when you only care about a tiny portion of it surrounding you. So much of it is wasted bandwidth. We’re looking at a system where the map gets adapted based on local date sent to you as you’re exploring. So the local environment would be perfectly accurate, where as the other side of the planet might be hours old.
The resource map contains the exact state of the resources now. (Which is very similar to the original state normally.) They represent live data.
4 Likes
Oh nice! “chunk metadata”?
Thanks @james for the explanation, especially at such a late time in the evening, I appreciate the time you’ve taken to explain things and I look forward to future updates especially with regards to this. It’s too easy for some of us to forget (namely myself) and not appreciate just what goes into what you guys are doing with this amazing game. I’ll have to keep reminding myself that this game is constantly running through the Internet and all its inherent problems and not just running locally on my computer and you always have to battle with it running smoothly on the worst case scenario as opposed to a top of the range computer with ultra fast and stable Internet connection.
1 Like
make a “Resync this atlas” button.
pressing it (maybe while actively viewing the atlas) will request an update for this very specific resource map.
if this causes a minor data lag (like sometimes walking through multiple portals)
i’m sure that the clients will understand.
It’s better than relying on 22h old information
But when is it that they actually update is what I’m trying to establish.
Do you really want everyone to know? It’ll cause a stampede at that one time of day.
If I were to store/destroy my atlas and attune a new one for the same planet would my new one use the cached map or download a new map?
Easy to test but I’m not near a client.
If that is the case then clearly it’s an issue that needs to be addressed.
Already answered.
“I’m not fully sure but after a quick look the code I think the server updates the resource maps every 30 minutes, the planet maps every 60 minutes, but the client only requests (and then caches) them every 24 hours. So when you first open your atlas the information should be correct(ish). But it’ll then not update for 24 real world hours. So players will have different resource maps depending on when they were last requested.”
1 Like
I guess it holds true for the very first atlas you opened if they are tied to us. I did some of my own rudimentary testing, and new atlas’ I opened for Alcyon and Cardass were the exact same as my original Atlas for those planets that are 3 weeks old. Same for some I purchased too.
I wonder, if you made a fresh Alt and used new Atlas on them, would it be “fresh” or still tied to your overall account update time?
I know this is slightly disjointed and I haven’t copied the full quote but there is a slight discrepancy here. You’d have to read the whole thread (which isn’t very long) to see my initial line of questioning.
1 Like
Simple
this means that your personal game client is the one that requests the update, therefore you can control the when.
For example:
- Don’t play for 24h
- Log in - pop up your atlas, that is guaranteed to be current.
Example 2: (not guaranteed)
- Buy an atlas, don’t use it for 24+ hours. (throw it in a storage and don’t visit that place for 24h)
- Pop it in your hands - should request an update
1 Like