How does finding black box work?

[alijons]

So, I started today and I am very confussed. I got myself a mission to find the black box and I don't know how to find it. I went to google to check what to actually do and people there say to scan nav beacon and then orbit whatever planet it gives you, and after a while you will get destination for the black box. Well, mission update after scanning nav beacon gave me the sun of the system I am in. So... should I just fly in circles and hope something will happen?

[Chibbity]

Switch to exploration mode, fire up your FSS scanner.

Use it to search for an Orange marker, that'll be your mission objective, set it as your target.

The FSS scanner is a bit confusing to use at first, Signal sources, including mission ones; are typically in the lower left hand side of the "tuning bar."

[ProLeetNoob]

i kept arriving at the signal sources, and after about 10 i gave up. there was never a black box, just random cargo. after you scan the nav beacon (drop out and scan it up close) pop back into supercruise, and you should have a new mission marker to go to.

[Chibbity]

Originally posted by ®ProLeetNoob™⭐:

i kept arriving at the signal sources, and after about 10 i gave up. there was never a black box, just random cargo. after you scan the nav beacon (drop out and scan it up close) pop back into supercruise, and you should have a new mission marker to go to.

It has to be orange, only mission signals are orange.

Also, you don't have to drop out and actually scan the nav beacon anymore; at least I've never had to do it yet.

[alijons]

So, what I am looking for? An orange thing in contacts? Or like... A mission marker? How does a mission marker look like and where to find it?

And I am aware those are probably dumb questions, but so far I spent less time playing and more time reading guides and I am just getting more and more confused. I mean, my very first attempt at docking ended up with a fine, so I am clearly struggling.

So, since FSS was mentioned, can I also ask what is the use of scanning planets? Like, what exactly can I do with that data?

[Chibbity]

Don't feel bad, every one has these same problems with ED at first.

I got so many fines the first time I played lol. It's like the Dark Souls of space games.

When you are in your FSS scanner looking for signals (the white circles) you want to keep an eye out for an orange one, that'll be your mission target. You'll want to be on the lower (left side) end of the spectrum.

As far as scanning planets, you can sell that data at most stations if you are far enough away from where you got it.

[Manwith Noname]

Something to note also, once the mission USS has been identified (either by nav beacon or FSS) it should show up in the navigation panel (the one on the left where you can see various system information). If you have not messed with your HUD colours, it will be listed in blue text.

I don't know if it has been fixed but these black box missions sometimes bugged out. You would find them, scoop them up and the game would not acknowledge that so you couldn't hand them in. I once had about 8 of them from the same mission. Ended up selling them on the black market.

[ExtremelyMift69]

Normally black boxes are found near to planets but if you're not close enough your sensors won't detect them. The suggestion to use the FSS is good advice, it will find them and tell you where. Be warned, sometimes you may be attacked by others (NPC's) interested in your objective. To speed things up I suggest you fit collector limpets and fire them off after you've dropped on the target but before you get close, they will follow you in and get to work straight away. Don't forget to open your cargo scoop. To mitigate damage from bandits or pirates put 3 pips in Sys & 3 pips in Eng, you won't be fighting you'll be running if you have too. You can always come back if there's still time on the mission clock. Hope this helps. Fly safe Cmdr. o7

[semidomestic]

Originally posted by Chibbity:

Originally posted by ®ProLeetNoob™⭐:

i kept arriving at the signal sources, and after about 10 i gave up. there was never a black box, just random cargo. after you scan the nav beacon (drop out and scan it up close) pop back into supercruise, and you should have a new mission marker to go to.

It has to be orange, only mission signals are orange.

Also, you don't have to drop out and actually scan the nav beacon anymore; at least I've never had to do it yet.

It's orange in the FSS scanner. it will still show up as a blue mission target signal in the nav panel, just like if you had scanned the nav beacon.

[Chibbity]

Originally posted by semidomestic:

Originally posted by Chibbity:

It has to be orange, only mission signals are orange.

Also, you don't have to drop out and actually scan the nav beacon anymore; at least I've never had to do it yet.

It's orange in the FSS scanner. it will still show up as a blue mission target signal in the nav panel, just like if you had scanned the nav beacon.

Yeah, like I said; the circle is orange.

Originally posted by Chibbity:

Use it to search for an Orange marker, that'll be your mission objective, set it as your target.

Originally posted by Chibbity:

When you are in your FSS scanner looking for signals (the white circles) you want to keep an eye out for an orange one, that'll be your mission target.

[alijons]

Thank you for all the tips, I figured it out!
Also, damn, this game is so satisfying. For example, I didn't watch any videos about planetary landing and didn't do training too. How worse can it be than docking at stations, I thought. And then it took me like a hour to land on my very first planet. But since then I worked it out and now going into the glide is soooo much fun.
In general I still don't really know what I am doing, but the feeling changed from mild-frustration of "wtf is going on?" to a patient content of "let's try this thing now"
Um, I don't know why I rambled all that here, I am just excited.

[SINNER]

hey body just seeing your post here and wanted to share my knowledge and i hope it helps you .
so salvaging black boxes is like salvaging a black box IRL , what you need to look for is a crash site where you can find debris of a ship including some random cargo and if lucky a sweet black box ... how ever finding the crash site could be a little tricky ... cause if you engage your FSS and set it's tuner for low frequencies you will see a lot of places to scan and when you scan them they are named as " degraded emission " , that signal source my friend .... is what you're looking for but the only problem is that there is too many of these emissions how ever once you find the emission that is your target you will know it because : 1. it reads " mission target " in both FSS and your ship navigational panel... and 2. all other emissions colors is orange while your mission target is in blue . after that you can easily navigate there and find the black box , return it to your mission giver and boom you are gold ....
i hope this helps you