[ThesaurusRex]

Jump nodes have been there since the beginning of FS1 and have become an icon for the FS games, but I've always wondered what exactly they're constructed from. They seem to be made out of glowing poles that can be illuminated to the player's preference but you can fly through them. Then I figured that they must be some computer generated model placed into the player's ship computer. However, when you die they are still visible from the death screen. So what exactly are they?

[General Battuta]

It's a CG model projected on the HUD.

You can see them after you die for the same reason you can see anything after you die.

[colecampbell666]

It's just a placemarker to tell where the natural (invisible) phenomenon is.

[ThesaurusRex]

It's just a placemarker to tell where the natural (invisible) phenomenon is.

Oh yeah, talking about place markers, I was wondering the same thing about the Nav Buoys. They look like objects but the player can plow right through them.

PS: I should have not used the word "fly" in the initial post.

[Sololop]

Nav Buoys are actual buoys, deployed by ships. The fact you can go right through them is just a game problem.

[tinfoil]

Couldn't that be fixed?

[dragonsniper]

Why couldn't it?

[tinfoil]

Well it hasn't been over the course of ten years, which is a little odd. Lazyitis, mayhaps.

[Blue Lion]

This should be top priority stuff

[Goober5000]

Indeed.  Fixed.

[High Max]

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[eliex]

they probably didn't add it to make it so you can't destroy them. You wouldn't want to destroy them in "As Lightning Falls", for example, because you might lose your way.

You could just set the invulnerable flag on the buoys in FRED.

[Dragon]

I thought going through navs wasn't a problem but was intentional and just no collision detection was added to them. Now that I think about it, they probably didn't add it to make it so you can't destroy them. You wouldn't want to destroy them in "As Lightning Falls", for example, because you might lose your way. In Derelect, you collected them in the first few missions. If you add detection, how could you collect them in Derelect? Will it add problems?

Yes ,navbuoys lack of collision detection is intentional and even more ,it's in tables ("no collide" flag).
It may be a problem if they lack this flag (setting them invurnable may be some sort of idea ,but you may sill collide with the buoy ,lack of collisions make easier dogfighting close to them) .
Though nobody stops you to release a mod that adds "GTNB Pharos#Destroyable" ,which would be essentialy the same Pharos ,but without the flag that removes collision detection.
And it's Derelict ,not Derelect.

[Knight Templar]

I don't think it's that big of a deal. If they had collision detection, it'd be a ***** if you're trying to fly to one in a nebula and all the sudden - "crunch."

I'm pretty sure flying through them isn't ruining the game.

[Dilmah G]

Yeah, my thoughts as well. This isn't game stopping and I haven't really been bothered by it.

[Droid803]

Not to mention that some user-made campaigns do use them as HUD-generated nav point markers, and running into them may cause problems. (Mostly the "huh, I ran into something my HUD drew? WTF!?".)

[Dilmah G]

I do that as well.