In December of last year, CCP introduced the V5 render system to EVE, also known as Physical Based Rendering (PBR). Under the new system, every ship in EVE was given a richer depth of texture and more vibrant materials. The new PBR system has enhanced the realism of the EVE visual experience, and given way to a far more immersive and beautiful game. However the artistic development team at CCP was not satisfied, and have announced a new system called V5++.
According to CCP Antiquarian in a new dev blog, V5++ is “a complete reworking and repacking of all ship texture maps into a new system which works with new shaders.” What this means for the people of EVE is a graphical leap forward. When PBR was introduced it added two new texture types, and V5++ will add two new texture maps on top of that.
One of the two new texture maps adds ambient occlusion, a texture map previously found only on capital ships. CCP Antiquarian says it will enhance “the realistic behavior of reflection on all ship hulls, reducing shine when a surface sits somewhere entirely lusterless. We’re still simulating the effect, but in a far more realistic manner than previously possible.” This added level of texture mapping will allow for certain surfaces to maintain more matte colors.
The second new texture map is the “dirt” map. This will allow ships to show their age, grime, wear, and tear. According to CCP Antiquarian “This map will ultimately enable the display of a variable range of space grime, filth, and unsightly buildup according to selected parameters which are currently under consideration”. For now the dirt and rust levels on ships will be static. In this new system however, the modification of individual dirt levels for each ship is possible. This could allow ships to show their unique and varying levels of damage, rust, and entropy in the future.
This is one massive graphical leap forward for EVE, with a complete rework of all ships yet again (with the exception of the T3 cruisers). Those interested in learning more on the leaps and bounds that went into this, as well as some of the history of EVEs rendering system should check out the highly detailed dev blog from CCP Antiquarian.
For those wishing to see them in action, V5++ is now available to try out on Singularity.
This article originally appeared on TheMittani.com, written by Wolf Merrik.
