10 Aug 2024 09:41
This is a completely incorrect formulation of the problem itself. 600 GB is not needed to create a nice looking Earth (and wouldn't help with that approach anyway). There is a project called Outerra, in which the entire Earth has long been made in fairly good graphics, with trees, shadows, clouds and waves. But it doesn't weigh 600 GB. The Earth shouldn't be stored in the game as a giant primitive set of PNGs, instead it should combine textures with procedural generation, in which case even without Ultra dlc it will look as detailed as fictional planets. Though the accuracy will not be ideal, because the program will come up with the details on its own. I think it will be most noticeable with the outlines of islands, but in any case it is much better than a glossy ball with no details like now. In addition, Ultra DLC will still be relevant - by connecting to procedural generation, it will increase the accuracy of geography.
Also we must not forget that in addition to Earth, we have the rest of the solar system, which requires the same amount of details. I honestly don’t understand why after so many years of development this hasn’t been done yet. This task seems to be a priority; without this visiting the solar system is meaningless.