Suit Environmental Protection Warnings

[oak]

Each suit part contributes to one of 4 environmental hazard protection stats.
There's some hidden stat in environments (and sometimes increased by temporary conditions) that bumps the planets number up over your protection numbers, I assume. When that happens your suit protection starts to fail.

I noticed that when it's starting to fail there is a very quiet countdown 'beeper' sound, with a diminishing period so that it gets faster and faster as it approaches the point your suit will stop protecting you and you'll get an environmental damage applied.
It's super quiet though!

Am I missing some part of the UI that's visual and shows environment protection levels?

I don't think I am, and this'll be one of those things added by a "StarUI" mod or whatever it'll end up being called, but the mechanic is really unfriendly to people with gaps or weaknesses in their hearing spectrum :(

[Faiza, Star Made Knight]

Originally posted by oak:

Each suit part contributes to one of 4 environmental hazard protection stats.
There's some hidden stat in environments (and sometimes increased by temporary conditions) that bumps the planets number up over your protection numbers, I assume. When that happens your suit protection starts to fail.

I noticed that when it's starting to fail there is a very quiet countdown 'beeper' sound, with a diminishing period so that it gets faster and faster as it approaches the point your suit will stop protecting you and you'll get an environmental damage applied.
It's super quiet though!

Am I missing some part of the UI that's visual and shows environment protection levels?

I don't think I am, and this'll be one of those things added by a "StarUI" mod or whatever it'll end up being called, but the mechanic is really unfriendly to people with gaps or weaknesses in their hearing spectrum :(

Yes, the face of the watch flashes with the hazard type. It flashes faster or slower the more exposed you become

When you begin taking hazard damage your health bar turns yellow and you can't heal further than where the yellow stops

there are also tiny static icons that show the hazard you're experiencing on the watch face as well, that remain after the initial warning bottoms out

[oak]

Originally posted by Faiza, Star Made Knight:

Originally posted by oak:

Each suit part contributes to one of 4 environmental hazard protection stats.
There's some hidden stat in environments (and sometimes increased by temporary conditions) that bumps the planets number up over your protection numbers, I assume. When that happens your suit protection starts to fail.

I noticed that when it's starting to fail there is a very quiet countdown 'beeper' sound, with a diminishing period so that it gets faster and faster as it approaches the point your suit will stop protecting you and you'll get an environmental damage applied.
It's super quiet though!

Am I missing some part of the UI that's visual and shows environment protection levels?

I don't think I am, and this'll be one of those things added by a "StarUI" mod or whatever it'll end up being called, but the mechanic is really unfriendly to people with gaps or weaknesses in their hearing spectrum :(

Yes, the face of the watch flashes with the hazard type. It flashes faster or slower the more exposed you become

When you begin taking hazard damage your health bar turns yellow and you can't heal further than where the yellow stops

Yeah, I'd forgotten about the small flashing icon. I manage to miss that as frequently as I miss the audio cue. I was kind of hoping I was missing something more obvious (though if it was obvious I probably wouldn't miss it, I'm aware of the paradox :D)

[Faiza, Star Made Knight]

Originally posted by oak:

Originally posted by Faiza, Star Made Knight:

Yes, the face of the watch flashes with the hazard type. It flashes faster or slower the more exposed you become

When you begin taking hazard damage your health bar turns yellow and you can't heal further than where the yellow stops

Yeah, I'd forgotten about the small flashing icon. I manage to miss that as frequently as I miss the audio cue. I was kind of hoping I was missing something more obvious (though if it was obvious I probably wouldn't miss it, I'm aware of the paradox :D)

it's fine. i run over toxic gas vents all day long bc i cannot see them on the ground, and don't know im choking on gas until i see my screen going dark lol

[The92Ghost]

Originally posted by oak:

Originally posted by Faiza, Star Made Knight:

Yes, the face of the watch flashes with the hazard type. It flashes faster or slower the more exposed you become

When you begin taking hazard damage your health bar turns yellow and you can't heal further than where the yellow stops

Yeah, I'd forgotten about the small flashing icon. I manage to miss that as frequently as I miss the audio cue. I was kind of hoping I was missing something more obvious (though if it was obvious I probably wouldn't miss it, I'm aware of the paradox :D)

You can notice the environmental changes. Example, Cydonia, Mars. There is a storm that happens every few days to a few hours with quite powerful winds and gust which completely breaks down protection. You can notice the environmental changes around you and as soon as you notice one you can check your watch face to see if anything changed.

Or for example, if we take a planet with chemical composition in the water, when rains starts pour down it depletes your protection. Kinda hard to miss it.

I do agree on the gas vents but they usually are unnoticeable when you have increased speed for example or running, since the engine can't manage to load fast enough the gas that comes out but if you move slow or as planned, they are quite noticeable as well. Not that I care that much but I ran straight through them get a stem if I get lungs damage or something among those lines.

[oak]

Yeah, I notice when there's a change telegraphed as that entire circle gets lit up to warn about the environment.

I just have trouble telling how close to being in trouble I am, because most of the time I can't hear (literally can't hear) the sound, maybe it's masked by others, maybe it's a different tone for different types, or maybe my hearing is just so stuffed that I can't always hear that frequency, and if my focus is elsewhere (combat, searching in a dark environment etc) I miss the small flashing icon and just take damage.

It's ok, the answer seems to be "there's no other indicators". It's a minor criticism, it doesn't detract too much from me enjoying it still, and a mod will probably resolve it at some point with more obvious status bars or something. Constructive criticism (and yes, supplied already via the correct channels) would just be that the alerts could have options to be more obvious :)

[The92Ghost]

Originally posted by oak:

Yeah, I notice when there's a change telegraphed as that entire circle gets lit up to warn about the environment.

I just have trouble telling how close to being in trouble I am, because most of the time I can't hear (literally can't hear) the sound, maybe it's masked by others, maybe it's a different tone for different types, or maybe my hearing is just so stuffed that I can't always hear that frequency, and if my focus is elsewhere (combat, searching in a dark environment etc) I miss the small flashing icon and just take damage.

It's ok, the answer seems to be "there's no other indicators". It's a minor criticism, it doesn't detract too much from me enjoying it still, and a mod will probably resolve it at some point with more obvious status bars or something. Constructive criticism (and yes, supplied already via the correct channels) would just be that the alerts could have options to be more obvious :)

This might be due to virtual surround, have you tried changing Audio settings, the warning sound is quite loud, it sounds more like the sound is concentrated on channel 6 and 7 when your headphones or soundbars or whatever you use for sound catches only the first 2 or 5 channels. I usually fix that issue by switching from 7.1 surround to 5.1 surround or even 2.1 surround if the hardware doesn't support it. It fixes greatly a lot of the sound issues.

Of course, there is this small bug that sometimes sound completely disappears, but it can easily be fixed with game restart. Just something you could try but I bet it is the surround system. Check your audio settings on the computer itself, not in-game. And if your hardware supports 5.1 surround, then place it on 5.1 surround not on 7.1, or if it supports only 2.1 surround, then place it on 2.1, you will notice a huge improvement in sound since you've amended the sound channels accordingly.

[oak]

Originally posted by The92Ghost:

Originally posted by oak:

Yeah, I notice when there's a change telegraphed as that entire circle gets lit up to warn about the environment.

I just have trouble telling how close to being in trouble I am, because most of the time I can't hear (literally can't hear) the sound, maybe it's masked by others, maybe it's a different tone for different types, or maybe my hearing is just so stuffed that I can't always hear that frequency, and if my focus is elsewhere (combat, searching in a dark environment etc) I miss the small flashing icon and just take damage.

It's ok, the answer seems to be "there's no other indicators". It's a minor criticism, it doesn't detract too much from me enjoying it still, and a mod will probably resolve it at some point with more obvious status bars or something. Constructive criticism (and yes, supplied already via the correct channels) would just be that the alerts could have options to be more obvious :)

This might be due to virtual surround, have you tried changing Audio settings, the warning sound is quite loud, it sounds more like the sound is concentrated on channel 6 and 7 when your headphones or soundbars or whatever you use for sound catches only the first 2 or 5 channels. I usually fix that issue by switching from 7.1 surround to 5.1 surround or even 2.1 surround if the hardware doesn't support it. It fixes greatly a lot of the sound issues.

Of course, there is this small bug that sometimes sound completely disappears, but it can easily be fixed with game restart. Just something you could try but I bet it is the surround system. Check your audio settings on the computer itself, not in-game. And if your hardware supports 5.1 surround, then place it on 5.1 surround not on 7.1, or if it supports only 2.1 surround, then place it on 2.1, you will notice a huge improvement in sound since you've amended the sound channels accordingly.

Oh I like the tip about the surround sound. When I use the 2.1 desktop speakers I hear less detail, and I expect that. I have decent headphones which I use most of the time, but I haven't tried enabling 7.1 on them with Starfield yet (it was really that good without it I never bothered).

I'll give 7.1 a go next session and see if that helps.

[The92Ghost]

Originally posted by oak:

Originally posted by The92Ghost:

This might be due to virtual surround, have you tried changing Audio settings, the warning sound is quite loud, it sounds more like the sound is concentrated on channel 6 and 7 when your headphones or soundbars or whatever you use for sound catches only the first 2 or 5 channels. I usually fix that issue by switching from 7.1 surround to 5.1 surround or even 2.1 surround if the hardware doesn't support it. It fixes greatly a lot of the sound issues.

Of course, there is this small bug that sometimes sound completely disappears, but it can easily be fixed with game restart. Just something you could try but I bet it is the surround system. Check your audio settings on the computer itself, not in-game. And if your hardware supports 5.1 surround, then place it on 5.1 surround not on 7.1, or if it supports only 2.1 surround, then place it on 2.1, you will notice a huge improvement in sound since you've amended the sound channels accordingly.

Oh I like the tip about the surround sound. When I use the 2.1 desktop speakers I hear less detail, and I expect that. I have decent headphones which I use most of the time, but I haven't tried enabling 7.1 on them with Starfield yet (it was really that good without it I never bothered).

I'll give 7.1 a go next session and see if that helps.

Great, let me know how it went.

[Ravnhood]

I'm convinced that there was a more hardcore survival system in place that got detuned or abandoned before launch and some aspect are still alive, but under baked,

[DANEDANGER]

Originally posted by Blackbird DK:

I'm convinced that there was a more hardcore survival system in place that got detuned or abandoned before launch and some aspect are still alive, but under baked,

This has been said by todd a while ago, the suit system was more punishing and we would have to carry multiple suits for the different planets and dangers they contain. But basically on the end of development they decided the system was to harsh and the nerfed it too oblivion to make a more easy and playable game

*edit* - https://www.pcgamer.com/todd-howard-says-starfields-planetary-survival-systems-were-originally-very-punitive-but-we-just-nerfed-the-hell-out-of-it/

[maeharaprojekt]

I am sure others have seen this as well, but I have found that I can "recharge" my environmental resistances by stepping under an survivalist's habitat awning, inside an open cargo container, or inside an open maintenance tunnel or cave (the small, short ones that don't need to load as an instance).

Once I leave that cover, the "recharge" only lasts a few seconds because the world's atmosphere is every DV offender on Earth, blended and turned into a abusive. hyper-toxic mist, but it has helped me during a fight or two.