Elite Dangerous

It's beginning to feel like there is some sort of conspiracy to stop the players from solving this mystery - it has been brought up a few times over the years, but never gets much traction and always seems to fade into obscurity. Years ago I posted about this on the Thargoid Anomaly Coalition Discord server... but at some point that server (along with all my research) seems to have disappeared (presumably the server owner closed their account).

I posted it on the Elite Dangerous subreddit a couple of weeks ago after someone reminded me about it, which gained some traction and sparked several lines of investigation... But just over a week later the subreddit moderators deleted the post without providing any notice, explanation or removal reason, then deleted my attempts to direct anyone who appeared to be following any line of investigation to another place where they could continue the investigation, then proceeded to shadow ban me from the entire subreddit, again without providing any sort of notice or explanation (presumably in retaliation for me being critical of their actions, criticism which they have now only reaffirmed was warranted).

Let's see if posting it to lemmy.world fares any better! Here's the original post from Reddit:

I'm sure we've all seen that something appears slightly off in the loading screen (more noticeable in VR since it is pinned to your face Edit: and it seems low graphics quality and messing with gamma can make it easier to see), but most people have just dismissed this as some sort of graphics glitch - however it is very clear to me that it is indeed something hidden there that to the best of my knowledge no one has deciphered. A couple of years ago CMDR Glitterbeard posted this cleaned up version on Twitter (relatively spoiler free. Edit: Apologies to anyone who currently would like nothing to do with X, but consider this link as historical context only which predated all recent controversy):

https://x.com/o7_Glitterbeard/status/1567419597363761152

That perked some interest, but didn't get noticed by enough players and was quickly forgotten.

Some of you may know that I'm one of the main authors of 3DMigoto, a modding tool originally created for adding stereoscopic 3D (not VR) rendering to games, but which has since become a more generally useful DX11 graphics modding tool, and indeed a lot of you will already be using it since it forms the basis of EDHM and CPM. Using this tool I extracted the texture used for this pattern on the loading screen:

CLICK HERE TO REVEAL THE RAW TEXTURE EXTRACTED FROM THE GAME (Canonn members should be aware that using these may be against your player group rules, hence the spoiler tags)

Here's a cleaned up version with the black lines removed:

The raw dds file can also be found here: https://darkstarsword.net/files/elite-dangerous-loading-screen/

There is without any question something hidden there - this is not a glitch or an accident, that texture has been very intentionally crafted that way by Frontier. I've extracted the texture, now it's your turn to help decipher it!

Currently I want some materials or a ship to a friend of mine. Neither of us want to do the grind at the start, and she wants to at least START with the ability to laser mine or fight pirates. Is there a way to give a ship? Or if not, how can I give them minerals that they can then sell and be able to afford the ship?

So… this is news to me, because I don’t have a VR headset, but I can set my Viture Pro XR glasses into SBS (side by side) mode by pressing the small button longer. Some games, like EliteDangerous, can do this as well without fiddling around with Reshade. I didn’t really expect it but it just works. This way I even get 3D on foot, which is not supported for VR in Elite Dangerous Odyssey at all! Side by side Crosseye mode (right eye left, left eye right) though? Add some head tracking to the mix, which is totally possible, and I get a very nice VR-like experience even on foot in Elite Dangerous – and on Linux PC!

This is the SBS version that does REQUIRE VR/XR glasses and mebbe something like xr-video-player: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEtRijojBx8

This is the MONO version that does NOT require VR/XR glasses: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYPTk1vygM4

The FOV is somewhat cramped. No idea if this can be tweaked any further but I’ll fiddle with the settings on my next test. Mebbe this can be tweaked (or I use #Breezy Desktop to zoom in somewhat).

So I'm coming back to the game after a two year break. I didn't get too deep into the game before, mostly doing low level combat and trading.

I was wondering what resources people more familiar with the game would suggest I check out for getting into some of the other content like mining, exobiology, and exploration. I'd like to take a shot at the basics of the different gameplay loops/styles before I start trying to get into the deeper content like engineering.

Unfortunately a lot of guides I've found seem to focus on maximum optimization before you even try to get into the content. I don't want to do an engineering grind, or grind to get an FC, before I figure out if I even like the type of gameplay it's going to make easier.

There I was, cruising around massive pieces of shattered titan carapace, my attention divided between scanners and the view through my canopy. I had my heart set on a couple of new, pre-engineered SCO frame shift drives, each of which requires one of those rare treasures known as titan drive components. I had one already, and if there was another floating out here in the wreckage, I was determined to find it.

Preoccupied as I was, I neglected to check my immediate surroundings before applying a hard downward thrust to get around an obstacle, and smacked my ship right into another titan chunk. The impact knocked my shields offline, and damaged the hull as well. Not severely, though, and no enemies had shown up yet. I figured I would be fine continuing my scavenger hunt for the moment. I went back to my search, picking up whatever useful materials I found along the way.

Then, just as I had slowed to a crawl with my cargo hatch open to scoop up some thargoid bits, I noticed another ship getting a little too close for comfort. I hadn't seen any threats or demands on the comms, so I didn't expect a pirate, but it sure looked like it was moving deliberately in my direction. And then, another blip on the scanner. It was a single limpet, zipping along on a direct path to my ship.

I suddenly remembered that this was exactly what an incoming hatch breaker looks like just before it steals your precious cargo. Damn it. My first and only drive component took hours to find, so I didn't want to risk losing it in battle. Maybe I could outrun this thing. As I shut the cargo hatch and reached for my boost button, I noticed an identifying signature on that incoming blip:

Repair Limpet

What?? Was it possible that the would-be thief had hit the wrong limpet button? Surely my scanners wouldn't be wrong about what kind it was. Curiosity got the better of me, so (with my thumb still over the boost button) I checked the nearby contacts. The approaching ship was a Type-9 Heavy. Not quite the typical pirate wagon.

Identification: Rescue Ship

WHAT??

As I sat there in disbelief, the repair limpet diligently sealed up the cracks in my ship, and then... poof ...expired, its job complete. Hull integrity: 100%. The Lakon hulk that brought the little fix-it bot slowly turned toward a new heading, and peacefully lumbered away.

I must have laughed out loud for fifteen or twenty seconds. I have been playing this game for years. I knew it was risky to linger in the flotsam of a dead titan, where nobody ever shows up but pirates, AX teams, and thargoid interceptors. The last thing I would have expected was exactly the encounter I had: a kindly NPC mobile repair service.

Elite Dangerous dev team, I salute you. That was great.