A new Indar incoming?

As a PTS player who loves to test out all the fancy new stuff, I hopped on the PTS today and checked out the new gun models in the VR. They were pretty cool, besides the TAR which now looks like you're firing bullets from a misshapen rock that covers half your screen. The new tank turrets are pretty neat too, but I have a feeling they'll be smedbuck alternatives for the HEAT shells.

After exiting the VR for a quick fly around Indar to check if the flight controls were different or if I was imagining it, I noticed a very strange occurrence. As my character moved through Indar, the textures close to me changed completely. The north became an extremely white, sandy wasteland with the odd patch of green. The south east canyons lost their orange/brown colours and became white and brown. The grassland of the south west became brown earth with the odd splodges of grass, and the transitions between the Ocean Bed, Canyons and Grassland were filled with a strange black texture with red tinges here and there. It's pretty hard to explain as the changes are so vast, so I'd suggest you go and check it out yourself or watch the quick video I whipped up.


So what does this mean? Personally, I see an overhaul of Indar, merging the three separate biomes into one more consistent color scheme. The variation was still there, but it wasn't as noticeable as it currently is, and it made for some darker, more realistic landscapes. My one peeve is the green roads, which seem to stand out too much and make you feel like you're following the yellow brick road instead of roaming along the continent. Especially in the north, where the green stands out much more than anywhere else.

Here's the quick video clip, which doesn't really do justice to the experience. I'd recommend getting on to Indar and seeing it first hand. The squares only render close to the ESF, but it allows a comparison between the old colours and the new.

The texture changes look pretty good.

Looks more realistic, Indar was due to a revamp anyway.

But now onto the real topic, what the heck is up with the music choice lol

CH-CH-CH-CH-CHANGE

CH CH CH CHANGES. It's what was going through my head whilst looking at all the new colours. It was either that or the Safety Dance, because I'm reluctant to use good music on bad videos.

Your mosquito got terramorphing power!

But yeah, in one of their capsule, they said they will make another pass on Indar, but after Esamir and Amerish. And it'll be to lighten the objects on the map by using less objects but using more common ones differently and how they are placed on the world, thus, removing some workload from the client.

I guess they already worked on Esamir on the PTS then, because I distinctly remember a lack of buildings to hold the levitating turrets and terminals up.
I'm just kidding, the flying vehicle pads make great midair Mosquito repairing stations though.

That would be nice... floating bases high in the air...

I think it's a bug. It's as if the high-detail close-up textures got mixed around.

Small repeating tiles are being used over large areas and roads are covered in grass.

I thought that, but if you check out the northern areas of Indar, there are completely new desert patterns where there previously used to be nothing. While I see your point about small repeating tiles, this is the PTS, I'd say it's more likely just a prototype redesign that accidentally found its way into the server update.

Why does the roads become green? That looks just wrong.

I just hope they adjust the camos accordingly.

I think they did a pallet swap or something, because some roads now show up as green... which doesn't make a ton of sense.

I think they did a pallet swap or something, because some roads now show up as green... which doesn't make a ton of sense.

Looks nice except the roads.

I can only hope that's blending in the wrong channel.

Definitely. I'm glad I haven't got around to buying Indar camo yet.

Edit: On further consideration they need to be careful with this. If people purchased camo because they like how it looked rather than because it matched the terrain, and it gets changed, they're going to be upset if they don't like the change. Conversely, people that bought camo because it matched the terrain are going to be upset if it no longer does.

I agree!

Now that I look at it, I can see textures in 'New' Indar in which the newer batch of camouflages would work perfectly.

Cue .

Looks nice, makes more sense to be consistent across the continent.

When I first saw that the textures was changing, I thought it was creep spread happening around me with the dark grass overlaying the sand, but it's good to see Indar becoming more arid and less desert.

So with them being ground textures, you didn't think of getting out of your mossie and stepping foot on the, erm... ground?

I posted some actual infantry based screenshots in another thread https://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/new-indar-ground-textures-flora-on-pst.130398/

The road just outside quartz ridge camp looking up towards hvar

Below indar comm array looking towards west highlands checkpoint (the ground actually looks like an old seabed now!)

TI Alloys

Tawrich area

"Cobbled" roads in the southwest area vs the dirt roads we have now

Hills north of allatum. Smoother, lighter in colour and with patches of flora.



Looks much better IMO, the area around west highlands checkpoint looks like an old reef area from when it was a sea.

Oh and I don't know who's cover version of changes that is, but it's god awful. Please, next time use the original song.