I noticed this for myself back in beta. It happened again the first time I played release. But it's been a bit better the other two times I've played so far since then. So after about an hour or so of playing, I've been getting a headache. It's dull and not severe or anything, but it's definitely noticeable. I'm posting this in the technical support thread because I'm thinking it has something to do with graphics. I posted a thread at the community (or clan, if you want to think of it that way) that I play with. And I found that I'm not the only one. http://www.tacticalgamer.com/planetside-2/189779-headache.html I'm not new to computer gaming or anything. I've been playing the Battlefield series and other FPS since I guess 2005 and can play them for several hours without experiencing this. And I guess I should note that I'm NOT prone to seizures or anything like that. Is anyone else experiencing the same thing?
Yeah, that kind of thing sucks. Might be on your own for a while with this one, as I think the developers have their hands full right now. It's not _necessarily_ a video issue, though. Remember, you're receiving two kinds of output from this game, and I wouldn't rule either one out immediately. Before I say any of that, the biggest causes of headaches are the simplest ones. Dehydration is #1, followed by simply not eating regularly. Keeping well hydrated during gaming might mitigate this problem. Also taking light, easily digestible snacks so you don't get hungry during long gaming sessions without realizing it. If you're that kind of "marathon" gamer, I'd try some behavior modification here first. Lets assume it's not that, though, for the sake of exploration. Do you spend of lot of time in vehicles? Some people react badly to looped background noise, and tanks and stuff have that built in (vehicle chatter). Or it might be a broader reaction an audio issue. I would actually try playing with sound completely disabled for a while. I know it's a big disadvantage in a competitive game (I love my surround sound during gaming), but it might be worth it to figure if this is the issue. If your headaches disappear, you may have isolated the issue. If this is the case, I'd try more specific stuff, like disabling or minimizing specific types of sound. I only have two ideas for graphics, off the top of my head. Some people report seeing really bad tearing in this game. You might be getting a headache if your eyes are struggling too much to adjust to it. Try enabling vsync, but make sure to turn on or allow triple buffering to help dampen the FPS loss, if you have that option on the GPU level. The second deal might be lighting. These issues may not appear in vibrantly colorful games because the inherent contrast means your eyes aren't working as hard. PS2, though, has both fairly dark times and many low contrast areas (like a ton of white and grayish infantry in the snow continent). If you're using a wled backlit laptop or anything similar, those displays are absurdly bright. I have to turn the brightness of mine down to minimum (30%) to be able to game without causing eye irritation or headaches. I wish I could run it even lower, actually. Or it might be room lighting. If your primary light fixture casts hard light which reflects directly into your eyes, it might not be helping. What you probably want is a light fixture which casts light up and outward above your eye level. It should be bright enough that it reflects a decent amount of light off all of the walls in the room, without causing direct glare on your screen. Yeah, I brought up a lot of stuff, but honestly, you've got a problem which could be caused by a million things. Hopefully one of these is the answer, or at least helps.
This is happening to me too. I played the beta for some hours and actually I'm playing the free to play game. I'm having some of the worst headheaches I've ever experienced... I wear glasses, if you would ask.
I might know what is causing a headache ... at least for me it's the mini map. It's too cluttered and in CQC especially (close quarters combat ) its way too cluttered to discern anything useful without focusing hard on the minimap. Additional zoom and clutter options are a must. In an fps as crowded as this the minimap needs to have better zoom options - It'll help my eye strain and strategically I can take in more information from my hud minimap. I hope this gets to the devs they NEED to fix the minimap zooms and clutter by adding more customization for settings.
Maybe it's because of the ridiculously low FoV? I have friends who suffer headaches from that. Might not be the issue though, not sure what Battlefields FoV is limited to.
Some FOV settings give a small number of players headaches while gaming. Try tweaking FOV in settings or in the .Ini files. Hit up google for more info. I don't get the headaches so I don't know more. I'm just aware it can be an issue for some gamers.
I bet its FXAA. Its the "shine" on edges that make you squint your eyes a bit. Yes, I too think its reduced, but I always turned if off in Beta. However they changed the files so now you cant do that anymore. Hopefully they will make an option. The only way to turn it off right now is using the nVidia control panel. A nice option if you are starting to get a headache. Just shut down the game and... How to remove PS2 shine effect. Its FXAA: (1) Right click the nVidia icon bottom right and choose control panel. (2) Click Adjust image setting and choose "Use advanced 3d image settings" ( You can just set this back to "Let the application decide" when you want to turn this feature off again. No reboot needed etc.) (3) Go to "Manage 3D settings". Click Global Settings and configure them to your liking just like a game. (4) Once done press "Program settings". You can check the list, but PS2 wont be there. Click add and browse to planetside2.exe. Add it. (5) Select that profile in the drop down menu. Turn off FXAA. Most others can use your "Global settings". Start the game and see that the image you see seems more sharper and a bit more relaxed on your eyes. Note: That doing this will turn some other PS2 engine effects off as well. Like the glow you see from lights. Thats not FXAA,but ambient occlusion which is supported, but the control panel says its not and the option is grayed out. You will not break your computer doing this or stuff like that. Worst case is just that the game crashes on launch. To put it back to "normal" just press the "Let the application decide" tick box and restart the game.
Its the illuminate, they are using mind controls techniques in this game like subliminal messaging which is overloading your unconscious mind which can cause headaches.
I think I found the problem(s). Basically the causes are 2: 1) low FPS video card 2) the minimap position in lower left corner ( <- will it be possible to move it in the upper left corner??? )
Its the LOW fps... Low FPS causes eye strain and motion sickness and thus causes headaches. Blame Direct X 9 and all the idiots who wont upgrade past windows xp for holding everyone else back.
the headaches are caused from playing in the nighttime where your eyes constantly have to adjust to the very bright lights you see on various things, such as vehicles, base lights, explosions, etc.
also i'd like to mention if you have the proper lights in your own room it won't be so bad on your eyes. as long as the light is away from your eyes that is. and the small minimap may cause you to focus on it so much that your eyes hurt from the strain. i think you can make it bigger? i can't remember.
