Terra Firma

EvE Online is a beautiful game. Picking through screenshots I am amazed at how subtle the lighting effects have become, the glare, the shadows, even the way the metal hulls reflect on our beloved ships. Stations and stargates are also incredibly detailed and are a marvel to look at. But there is one problem with the recent graphics enhancements. They have neglected to improve the most massive of objects in the game world - the planets.

Before the Trinity upgrade, ships, stations, star gates and planets had the same graphical resolution. Since Trinity almost everything has seen steady improvement, but with every upgrade the planetary bodies look even more out of place against crisply detailed heavenly objects.

Dominion, the next release from CCP due this winter is to address this issue by introducing remapped planetary surfaces complete with clouds, oceans, mountains and atmospheres. It will be a welcome addition and will help solidify the game world into consistency. It would also be nice to see some variation beyond a standard 8 models, so certain planets can be identified from appearance alone.

The upgrade is sure to make EvE Online the best looking MMORPG on the market today. I'm getting my camera drones ready as we speak. If you can't wait until the next expansion you can observe some work-in-progress on Singularity.



Related Links
Dominion (expansion)
Test Server (singularity installation guide)
Test Server (singularity patches)