This is probably not so much a bug as an oversight. But when running at extremely high framerates, particle effects from spells and other effects happen far too quickly. When I started playing again a few years ago I thought maybe the spell effects were just diminished for design reasons as they didn't look quite as grand as I remembered. But I also noticed some effects on weapons looked off. Specifically the Wizard 1.0. It was hard to make out exactly what the orb part on top was supposed to be. But I noticed it looked normal in areas where framerates would drop such as large groups of players in PoK. Today I decided to test a theory and capped my framerate at 60. It fixed the issue. Spells looked great, weapon effects looked good, and environmental effects were more pronounced. Of course capping my framerate to 60hz on a 165hz monitor is less than ideal. I'm wondering if there is a means to decouple the playing of particle effects from the framerate of the game itself.
It runs on DirectX 9 and engine changes can be catastrophic, so best answer thats just how DX works, worst answer no ones going to touch it. EQ also doesn't work larger than 16:9 and that's not going to change either. We are talking about something created when refresh over 60 Hz and aspect ratio larger than 16:9 were not a thing. Are you changing your video card, or using the in game FPS limiter? You dont need to change your video, in game FPS is separate from your refresh rate.
Another fun side effect: try to minimize EQ while standing in front of something with particles, and watch all the particles go off at once, when you maximize the window again. Its like the particles are queuing up and waiting for you.... Actually, refresh-rates well above 60hz were quite common on CRT monitors. Most people I knew, were running 85hz-120hz back then...
I've been able to setup effects separate from Framerate in projects using DX9 and even earlier versions. So I know its possible, in theory. Whether its hard or not is irrelevant. This is 2022 and not 1999. The product isn't functioning as intended. That's the issue that is brought up. They can decide if they want to fix it or not.
Tying too much to framerate was also bad programming in 1999. I think even falling damage and levitation-descension is tied to framerate...
