EL: Is there a full forward view with HUD only?

[XenonSurf]

Hi,
first let me say that I am very pleased with the lot of additions made in almost all parts of EL while still keeping the same general spirit. Congrats to the devs for this wonderful work

After getting started, my 2nd contract was to retrieve an item from a planet's surface.
I know from EM that I have to spot a purple icon in my radar to locate the item, but I was not able to set a reasonable forward view to explore my suroundings efficiently. The result is: I have to fly from high altitudes at low speed in order to spot things visually, but still the cockpit instruments negate me a larger view.
So my question is: can I configure or chose a view that still contains the HUD reticle, but WITHOUT the ship interior, without the MFDs ?

This would be very handy!

Thanks,
XenonS

[Marvin]

For lost pods planetside, I find it's much easier to switch the radar to overhead view (default NumPad plus key). If the trip is a long one, then you gotta keep in mind that the planet is rotating ... while the waypoint is not. Ergo, the lost pod will most likely not be underneath the waypoint marker. Instead, it will be in the direction of the planet's rotation ... which is the direction I usually search after reaching the marker ... all the while keeping one eye on the radar screen. Once the purple blip shows up, I target the pod and then tractor it.

[XenonSurf]

Hi Marvin,
your points are very interesting, I didn't realize the rotational effect on the waypoint
Unfortunately I didn't save my game at a station, so my mission is lost and I will have to pick it up again to try out your tips.

I think the 3rd person view with V should fit a better surrounding view, but else are there other forward views showing most of the outside ?

XenonS

[Kamiyami]

There's a 3D cockpit option in the basic options menu. Setting it to none will remove the entire ship interior but retain the important displays.

I've also found that disabling the 3D cockpit allows me to run the game at near-max settings with very good FPS on my 7-year-old potato laptop.

[Edited on 4-3-2016 by Kamiyami]

[pilotnewbextraordinaire]

Changing the setting as Kamiyami suggests is a great way to get more of a view. I'm also working on a small hud mod that, when combined with removing the 3d cockpit, will open things up just a bit more.

[XenonSurf]

Thank you all for your feedbacks It's great to hear about mods for this game!

XenonS

[matchbox2022]

once perch is working properly (works with file renaming, but textures are in wrong places), then should have the best of both worlds!
There'd be preformance hits though

[XenonSurf]

My problem with the 3rd person view (V) is: the engine's combustion covers a part of my radar making it unreadable.
If I could do a mod, I would mod this 3rd person view by removing the shown ship, making the 3 MFDs + radar appear at the 4 corners of the screen, maybe making them toggle on/off with a keystroke. And I would still keep the HUD in the center.

An idea for such a mod is to copy and work on the Left View or Right View and use these as a modified forward view.

EM had a 'Custom Kit' to do these things up to an extend.

XenonS


[Edited on 4-6-2016 by XenonSurf]

[DaveK]

I'm not sure but I think you can mod the engine flares

[XenonSurf]

Kamiyami's solution gives the best viewing results: chose 'Off' in the 3D Cockpit options, and you get transparent MFD's + full forward view

Just to say: the 'Purple dot' is almost invisible if you switch to 2D radar on the planet, and nicely visible on 3D radar.
You REALLY need radar to spot containers on planets !! I still don''t know why in EM I could spot everything with a white square around it, maybe my Cargo C5 scanner? In EL I don't see anything without radar, unless I'm really close to it, it's just a pixel in infinity .
An occasional hit on NUMPAD-1 can also help, it will chose the nearest object.
I will soon post my thoughts on Item Contract missions separately.

XenonS



[Edited on 4-8-2016 by XenonSurf]