how realistic is it

[Glory]

does this game update to reflect new discoveries not in real time or anything but how much does it encompass our real knowledge of the universe today

[Rasa]

Yes. This game is trying to be super realistic

[林中漫步]

Currently, it is not very realistic. The surface of all planets is flat when land on.

[Glory]

theres a couple of pictures on the store page that look pretty dynamic are those not gameplay footage?

[Eindoppelwhopper]

The surface of planets are realistic. There are mountains, ravines, and craters. Only Earths surface is flat.

[john.e587]

i wouldn't go into this expecting any kind of game, its more like a planetarium, kinda like Stellarium but on a universal scale. its basically a simulation of the actual known universe. its realistic in the sense that it has true to scale models of most of the observed galaxies, stars planets, etc. that you can fly your camera though and just explore. you can adjust time back and forth by hundreds of years and watch how the orbits interact and track when the next real world eclipses and conjunctions would be. I've literally used this to see what objects are currently in currently in my night sky to a surprising level of accuracy.

[Mr Noseybonk]

Originally posted by Glory:

theres a couple of pictures on the store page that look pretty dynamic are those not gameplay footage?

I'm having thoughts about that myself. I just bought this and what I am seeing on my own screen does not live up to what I am seeing in those store page screenshots......... I have the graphics set to "ultra" as well.

[Rasa]

Originally posted by Glory:

theres a couple of pictures on the store page that look pretty dynamic are those not gameplay footage?

They all are in game photos

[Froboglius]

IMHO this is the most realistic space simulation ever seen. Anyone building a space game should license this.
And yes, planets look awesome, *except* the ones we have actual photos of, like Earth and other in the solar system.

[Mr Noseybonk]

Originally posted by Froboglius:

IMHO this is the most realistic space simulation ever seen. Anyone building a space game should license this.
And yes, planets look awesome, *except* the ones we have actual photos of, like Earth and other in the solar system.

They look fine from space, just not when too near the surface!

[CheeseMerchant]

Originally posted by Mr Noseybonk:

Originally posted by Froboglius:

IMHO this is the most realistic space simulation ever seen. Anyone building a space game should license this.
And yes, planets look awesome, *except* the ones we have actual photos of, like Earth and other in the solar system.

They look fine from space, just not when too near the surface!

Why is that the case? Shouldn,t the planets that we have pictures of look better then unknown planets?

[UNBREAKABLE]

Originally posted by CheeseMerchant:

Originally posted by Mr Noseybonk:

They look fine from space, just not when too near the surface!

Why is that the case? Shouldn,t the planets that we have pictures of look better then unknown planets?

We don't have detailed pictures of each surface. I think SE tries to use real images when possible, even when images look worse than the proc gen.

An example is how Pluto is basically a half-blurry smudge because the spacecraft didn't photograph that side the same way.

[Schizoid Rambler]

Originally posted by Froboglius:

IMHO this is the most realistic space simulation ever seen. Anyone building a space game should license this.
And yes, planets look awesome, *except* the ones we have actual photos of, like Earth and other in the solar system.

That's what the DLCs are for

And reshader mods and other stuff
You can mod this game to make it look so beautiful

[Alaskan Glitch]

Originally posted by Glory:

does this game update to reflect new discoveries not in real time or anything but how much does it encompass our real knowledge of the universe today

Yes, new discoveries are included with updates. Although I could not tell you how much time is involved between the discovery and the update to Space Engine, but it definitely includes the most recent exoplanet discoveries - for example.

As far as realism is concerned, that is another story.

Just because we are able to confirm planets orbiting other stars does not mean that we have the vaguest idea what those exoplanets may look like. Space Engine, however, compensates by randomly creating a planetary surface.

So while the object may actually exist in the real-world, how it appears is entirely the creation of Space Engine and has nothing to do with the real-world. There are, of course, some notable exceptions. These can be found in the form of free DLCs for Space Engine.

All of the planets in our solar system (plus Pluto) include 4K images and height maps with the free DLCs. So none of the planets appear flat when you land on the surface.

For other real-world or procedural planets outside our solar system you can create your own height maps if you wish to land on their surface.

Space Engine also randomly creates these images without using a height map. If you are only going to be viewing it from space, then a height map really isn't necessary. However, Space Engine does provide for height maps. You essentially need three images of the same object: The actual image, the height map, and the atmosphere or cloud layer.

If you provide all three images, particularly if all three are in 4K, you can get some very nice visuals.

[Alaskan Glitch]

Speaking of updating the game with regard to new discoveries:

Build 0.990.46.2000 was released today (12/04/2023) which includes 5,539 confirmed exoplanets as of August 2023.

[DampfBob]

Originally posted by 林中漫步:

Currently, it is not very realistic. The surface of all planets is flat when land on.

That's not true. Maybe there's something wrong with your settings?