In-Game ARG Activity

Hmmm, I don’t think you have to upload zip to the Atlas to be listed as discovered by you… Goes with the landing.

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It will only appear as discovered on your own save file. If you don’t upload a discovery, no other players will be able to see it as discovered by you.

I could unplug my internet cable and play the game and everywhere I go would show as “discovered” but it would never be uploaded to Hello Games’ servers and no one would ever know it was discovered by me on my gaming system.

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As long as you don’t go online… But then, how do you share the comm-ball?

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Okay, never mind that example. I know for a fact that I am right about this, and here is why:

People who are part of the Galactic Hub Project systematically explore star systems and then name the stars AFTER they know what is on the planets so they can put abreviations in the star name so everyone knows what is in each system.

One day, I was exploring the Galactic Hub, and saw a star that was “undiscovered”. I went to it and saw that all the planets were discovered by DIFFERENT PLAYERS. I figured they must have explored the planets and forgot to upload the star’s name. So I uploaded a dumb name for the star: “3 men in a hub”.

A few hours later, I got an angry message from a guy on PSN, saying that he and some other guys were in the process of exploring that star system and had not yet uploaded a name for it. I had ruined their system by naming the planet before they did, and there is no way to re-name a discovery after you have uploaded it to the server.

So as you can see from this, a player can go to a star system first, and someone else can go that star system and it will appear as “undiscovered” if the first person who went there first hasn’t uploaded the discovery yet. The same goes for planets.

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Yeah you don’t need to name things to mark them as discovered. Happens soon as you land (as far as I am aware, anytime I boot up a game without naming a planet it wil lstill say “discovered by you” when i load in) They would have to add it to the servers database on their end.

Now the thing is, sonys secuty checks on the PSN has to approve anything like that.

I’m going to give the really dumbed down explanation cos I don’t know the technical ins and outs but basically…

Anythign done on the users end is sent through psn, scanned and confirmed, then added to the server it is trying to access.

Anything that comes back down that server into PSN is scanned, and compared to the last time the server was accessed through PSN, if there timecodes dont match up, PSN will block the server out, any changes need to be sent and approved by sony.

Its something like that, im probably getting some stuff mixed up or the way it works all wrong but its alog those lines, I remeber a dev a few years ago explaining why they couldnt do serverside hotfixes as quick for consoles as they could for PC etc. Don’t even get me started on how lengthy the certification process can be for a patch sometimes with Sony. Ever since the PSN hack all them years ago theyve been super tight.

Now, the quickest way to dispell ALL of this, would be to find the steam user with the name we find on the comm balls. If thats how theyre doing it, then the user would have to exist on steam, I think? Right? Probably not. I’m probably wrong about ALL of this, I just wish I knew for certain which I was XD

https://forums.etarc.org/t/illusion-of-participation-broken/645?u=duckduck

Man that guy just, he came in and read what we knew, then totally misconstrued it and wasted his own time on something that was CLEARLY not going to be a thing until the update drops, then complained as if it was HG’s fault…

Emily even tried, with all her diplomacy, to steer him in a healthy direction.

Curious now though, why did you link to that post? I NEED CONTEXT, GOOSE! (sorry, I think I mentioned this to you in discord but maybe i forgot, anytime I see your name, my mind automatically says “goose”)

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@MacForADay You can change the name once. My only explanation for the undiscovered star would be that, on your overlapping with those guys, you moved into the system first, or they were doing part of it offline, like you proposed…
One thing is clear, they were a bunch of douches.

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Sooo.
My PS4 if usually offline. My privacy settings are all set as tight as they get. I’ve got kids so safety first and I’m not interested in social media…(except for ETARC of course).
If I’m scooting about in NMS researching and naming things: how do I share all my finds?
Is it automatic when online is active or do I need to do something extra because of my security settings.
Be cool to know someone might stumble across my home zone one day.
Treat me like a noob, that way I’ll catch on and not have to ask 10 follow ups.

Go to options, discovery tab, then hover over the one you want to upload, it will show you the keys for 2 options:

  1. upload as is
  2. rename and upload.

Once that is done, all other players who ever visit that planet will see it with the name you gave it. (Similar for stars, animals, plants, etc.)
You indeed do need to be online for this.

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@toddumptious I’m not on discord

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So security settings won’t block this? Cool.
Thanks.
Online obviously and signed in to PSN.
:slight_smile:

I don’t have a Play Station at hand here, but I’d basically ask “would security settings block any aspect of a multiplayer *1 game once you’ve allowed it to run in online mode?” The answer should be “no”, coz it makes no sense to play some game and only have half of the things works. It would be like being able to start a shooter game, but not being able to shoot anyone because the bullets are not being transferred.

*1 Defined as any game that has any online options of *any* kind. I know some people here do not consider this a multiplayer game, but that is a different discussion.

I kinda just keep the discord open, keep an eye on things, and share my opininons. It goes largely unnoticed and I tend to ramble mostly with anyone that will talk to me haha. But it is my favourite way to get info quickly or put a queery out, I prefer etarc for more lengthy in depth discussions, you dont get those on discord, and of course the atmosphere is a bit friendlier here.

Thats the Game Detectives discord. I’d recommend staying away from the NMS discord, it can get REALLY toxic and negative sometimes. Can happen in GD too but much rarer and usually brought under control quite quickly. My heart goes out to anyone modding the NMS discord.

My first and last ARG was in 2004, lasted all summer and was for Halo 2. Most if not all of the physical participation happened in the states and as I was still in school and nobody had smart phones or wifi out the buns, so by the time I’d get in everything had already happened the night before in america (i’m in ireland) and i’d just have to observe. But it was still sooo much fun! I think that helped going in to WT, I knew I’d basically be an observer for the most part, but then I found ETARC and, well I feel very much apart of EVERYTHING even though I havent helped solve much of anything :slight_smile:

Most importantly, while everyones out solving things and been vigilant as fuck, I get to chill out in here talking to all the other people who can’t help figure things out, discussing our theories, our hopes and dreams, our fears and passions, it’s been great. I havent had this much fun in an online community since before the dawn of social media, in my 56k dial up days. It’s like I rediscovered what the internet was, and the kind of communitys it can bring together.

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I’m telling you, its already been proven: if you don’t upload your discoveries, all other players will see the star, planet or creature as “undiscovered”. The discovery is not sent to the server until you choose to upload it. It will only appear as discovered to you unless you upload it.

You are talking about something you don’t understand and haven’t tested your self while I have. Please stop it.

I can easily go to a planet, place a comm station, not upload the planet discovery, and any other player will see an undiscovered planet and people like you will think I’m a magical wizard.

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Yep. I mentioned elsewhere that I primarily use internet as a tool not a play ground.
If i need info to fix something I do a search.
I live in a remote area so accessing info for fixing stuff is very useful. Other people chatting in forums is a useful way of gleaning how-to info (but you need to filter the wrong from right.)
I like playing offline in my downtime. Not interested in social media but I still access stuff if required.
This ETARC site has been a nice return to forum chats since trolls spawned in plaque proportions.
Just realised this is off topic for this thread.
Sorry.

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Something I don’t understand… :sob:
I’ll keep it classy and tell you that yeah, no worries, lost all interest.

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I know how you feel, I think I’d have to go back to the 90s to remember another internet community I actually wanted to be a part of!

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Don’t worry Mad Hatter your queerie was raised from a lil debate started within this thread regarding the nature of how the comm balls were added.

You were very much on topic and signing off in a polite and informative manner and I’m sure we both know I am with you on this being one of the friendliest places I’ve found on the internet since the lat 90’s, when nobody i knew had the internet, nor were they bothered with it.

Oh and not everyone suddenly claimed to be into nerd culture all of a sudden their whole lives.
No, sorry, all of my friends IRL, I grew up with you, I distinctly remember being bullied by you for the things I was in to with which you are now in to and claim you were always in to. God damn, why did our niches have to enter the public lexicon? Okay now I’M definitely veering off topic, i’ll just aim for that wall and end it - * * * skreeeeeeeee-KABLOOIE! * * *

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As someone who does all their internetting from their ps4 and can still create a pretty awesome youtube NMS channel, I will have to take your word for it, I consider you would be more confident on such matters, especially considering the group you are a part of in the no mans sky universe and the missions you undertake to cross great lengths on a platform where it is not an easy feat at all.

So, is it possible to go to a planet, discover all creatures and upload them, but never actually name or upload the planet. When someone else comes along they’ll arrive at an undiscovered planet where all the creatures have been discovered. Cos that would be a pretty cool surprise for someone… I might start doing that. Never name planets, but discover 100% creatures, give someone a lil freakout moment :slight_smile: