Star Citizen Alpha 3.0 PTU - Turned a Corner

Two Pesky Patches

I sat out two patches due to CPU spikes and what seemed like rampant RAM consumption. It's testing of Alpha on the Private Test Universe, so it's not entirely unexpected to run into memory issues and unoptimized code. Both of which have been addressed EXCEPT my technical problems persisted, as it has for others. Partly, because they seem to have introduced something that doesn't play as nicely as it once did with NVidia. And current indications are that game appears to need more RAM than it's 2.x predecessor. Unfortunately, for me, my gaming desktop with an i970 only supports a maximum of 12 GB of RAM which I have. Configuring a larger virtual memory pool on the SSD did little to improve the situation overall, due to constant disk utilization. Memory at 98%, CPU at 60+ and Disk at 60+ didn't make for a stable gaming experience. 

Laptop to the Rescue

With the unexpected CPU spiking resolved, I decided to take apart my gaming setup in the bedroom. I moved my gaming laptop and its peripherals into the living room. I'm a sad panda about the necessity of doing that since I enjoy playing The Sims to empty my mind before going to sleep. And no, this isn't the type of laptop you want on your lap. It's too heavy, and I keep it on a sturdy cooling pad that has four fans. Configured with an i6700 and 32 GB of RAM, the game played much smoother so that sealed the deal. Back into the breach of Alpha 3.0 PTU testing.

Having moved to playing on my laptop, I had the best 3.0 PTU sessions so far! I server-hopped four times to find one with 25+ FPS. Once I landed there, I played a few hours of uninterrupted magnificence. It made me very hungry for the days where 30+ FPS is the minimum. I can't imagine how enjoyable it will be for 60+FPS which is CIG's target by release.

Amazing - Tip of the Iceberg

The ability to freely explore anywhere and everywhere, in a game with such high fidelity is spectacular. It's seamless. Yadda...yadda. 100% under your control. Yadda...yadda. We all know the sales speak well enough. It's the doing it yourself that's exciting and unprecedented. When I look at the gorgeous photos and video I captured today; it's hard to believe they're not just beautiful pictures. No, they're things I did! In a single gaming session no less. It's all just the tip of the iceberg and why my support stays grounded even when it's storming outside.

I've started the arduous task of organizing and cataloging my images and video before they get out of control. You can look through what I've uploaded so far here. I'm looking for a WordPress media widget that will optimize them as they're uploaded. I don't have the time to deal with resizing hundreds of images individually. For now, they're going up full size so it's not a pretty sight on a mobile device.

Comments

[Ardent Defender]

I’m certainly not panicking in the slightest. A game of the ambition CIG is aiming for is certainly not without lots of hurdles. They do need to fix and attend to the issues in front of them vs adding new features and new implementations into the universe. I’m excited to see 3.0 it’s less buggy day by day but even a set of bugs can sap your enthusiasm. I have a station door to launch pad that for some reason don’t really open for me. That makes I tough to get to ship. It’s certainly a beautiful game and long way to go. Allot of others waiting for the game is just not as patient.

[Alysianah aka Saylah]

Thanks for reading and commenting. I didn't always think it was as important to fix before implementing more but I think we're not at that juncture. Alpha or not the user experience is being evaluated. I get that CR is like "No shit, we know that..." however, it often does feel like they do. Station doors not working and you're pushing out to PTU Wave 1 seems neglectful and unnecessary. You want us there to stress test and catch the things you don't? The basics should be working.

I'm not panicked either but I do hope they get much better at setting expectations and communication in general. Many tears and complaints would disappear if they did.

[Ardent Defender]

Yeah, I’m very much expect them to know the majority of what’s working or not and be like “Yeah we know that” as well set expectations. Around the web and in reading other comments, many new people seemingly seeing the videos of game for first time, just thinking this is the finished game already and failing to realize this is very much Alpha in a very open development game.

I’d be a bit more excited though if the door for me to Launch Pad 00-04 would work. At least so I can go practice crashing my shop on launch pad to properly figure out flight mechanics. Thus just getting to landing on Planet at Daymar would be a huge accomplishment.

[Alysianah aka Saylah]

The first few days of playing only 1 door on the whole station opened. That really irked me at first. Like why put this to PTU with the doors not working!! If that continues to happen to you check pad 9. It seems to consistently open when others won't. *sigh* From there just use EVA to get to the right location of your ship.