Other players still orbs confirmed.

[Nightweaver20xx]

The last few nights I've been using portals to get to the Galactic Hub area, and last night landed on Coylee (that planet with the nice caves). Now, follow my logic here: I read that players who joined your game you should see as models, right? I met two of them who I saw as "xxxxx joined your game" in the chat window, and I found them, one on the planet and one in the space station, and they were still just orbs. They were in my game, not just randos. So what gives?

[flick]

If someone joins your game, you'll see their full character. If you run into a player randomly, like you did at the hub, you'll see an orb. Why? Probably because the joining lobby is limited to 4 for a reason, and it's possible to meet a lot more in the wild, especially at the hub. In community events I've seen 20 odd at once..

[Gatun]

The message NMS gives you "xxxxx joined your game" doesn't distinguish between bumping into someone in the same solar system (orb) or a Friend joining your game (full model) or someone joining through the join random game mechanic (full model). If you just see an orb then you both just happen to be in the same solar system at the same time, you can still chat (enter key) if both of you have that option turned on.

[bill]

lol - not confirmed. It's as Gatun said.
Here's a pic from 2 days ago
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1801790033

[Nightweaver20xx]

Originally posted by Gatun:

The message NMS gives you "xxxxx joined your game" doesn't distinguish between bumping into someone in the same solar system (orb) or a Friend joining your game (full model) or someone joining through the join random game mechanic (full model). If you just see an orb then you both just happen to be in the same solar system at the same time, you can still chat (enter key) if both of you have that option turned on.

Thanks, that's actually exactly what I needed to know. I didn't know the different between the different joining mechanics, but now I do.