Rare Graphical Oddity

[AnotherCommander]

This one comes from user Cody from the forums: Quoted here with some minor details removed or explained for reference:

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Seeing as a release is on its way, I'd best mention this: I've been trying to catch this oddity for weeks - a sudden, very brief, flash of light, usually associated with a planet in view and maneuvering. It's hard to describe - perhaps 'flash' is not the right word - and it is very rare. I suspect it's related to planet textures in some way - possibly akin to the delayed appearance of a planet's texture when I launched from a planet-facing rock hermit. I use Povray planets, but I'd swear I just caught a fleeting glimpse of it while testing your .exe [NB - refers to the deployment 32-bit test related to issue 132] without any OXPs. Unfortunately, I've not been able to grab a screenshot as yet[...]. I'll keep trying to grab one (testing of nightlies will now become intensive for me until release), if and when I see it again.
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[AnotherCommander]

Observation: Could the proposed lighting fix from #147 be also a possible fix for this?

[kanthoney]

I did wonder about that, but I haven't seen the effect. Shot in the dark: try approaching the planet from the x direction (with the fix disabled, of course), see if that triggers it.

[cim--]

I suspect this may be an issue with planetary atmospheres changing appearance at a certain distance. It can look a bit like a flash in certain contexts. Isinor without OXPs seems to have the right sort of cloud layer to exhibit this behaviour, which happens about half way down the spacelane (curve slightly sunwards on approach for a better view)

[User-Cody]

That's probably it, cim - the atmosphere. It is more a sudden wash of light over a planet rather than a flash (usually a half-lit or so planet). It seemed like a flash as I was seeing it peripherally. Mostly, it does appear at a certain distance - but I have seen it at the WP and within the aegis.

[cim--]

This particular one would only occur at exactly 500km, so if it's visible in the aegis, that's something else.