Are the stars "real"?

[Don't Look At Me!]

You know like when you look up on the sky when you're planetside? Are those actual stars that you can fly to, or just a texture?

[48756d65]

Just a texture rotating around static planets. Even the Ptolemy system was more realistic.

[BigGrayGolem]

No, it's just a "skybox." Same for the stars during the loading screen, they are just random dots.

[Don't Look At Me!]

Originally posted by 48756d65:

Just a texture rotating around static planets. Even the Ptolemy system was more realistic.

[knighttemplar1960]

You can't even fly to the star in the system you are in.

[Mr. Bufferlow]

I have heard tales that, while a skybox, the stars shown are representative of the actual galactic sector you are in...but that sounds like way too much work for just a visual...likely a NMS myth.

[Don't Look At Me!]

Thank you everyone. I guess it was a little too much to expect really. But maybe one day in a sequel and/or clone........

[Krash Megiddo]

There is a game that achieves this: Elite Dangerous. We can warp to each star in the skybox. There can be a blob of gas in the sky. Look it up on the galaxy map, and you see its a famous nebula. Travel to it and each jump brings it closer in the skybox until it surrounds you. I don't expect NMS to ever get that level of precision

[Anga Hakuna]

*Pre*-launch, Sean said about visible stars that each star is one you can fly [really, "warp"] to. You have to warp to another star system, since pulsing there would require waaaay too much time (and fuel). Since there is no planned gameplay for a local star, the game doesn't let you "get there" or burn up in the star. While I'd like a more realistic-looking local star, it's not a biggie to me.

I have not seen any actual evidence (vs. opinion) about whether currently the displayed stars are "real" ones or cosmetic.

[dashiichi]

Once upon a time, back before HG changed the visible star field to the "fancy" look, the stars you would see from a planet were based on what would be visible from that sector. On gateway systems, where much of the sky faces the empty void around the galactic center, there would be a corresponding empty region of the sky when looking up from one of the planets.

The variation in star's apparent brightness in the current version does look more natural, though.