[Suggestion] Render distance

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by Skraggz, Apr 19, 2018.

  1. Skraggz

    One thing that has bothered me to no end is the render distance for air. How is it that air gets rendered 2-3 tiles over and ground doesn't. The fact that I catch flak rounds from an enemy that I can't even see seems broken. (No this has not killed me, as soon as flak hits I'm evading and leaving the scene). Infantry not being drawn is 100% fine. I'm okish with that, bursters kinda create the issue here. But lightening, harassers, sundy, and mbt... if it can shoot me I should be able to shoot back, or even better know where it is without having to fly through flak following tracers. Poor and unbalanced 1 sided decision here. I suggest upping vehicle draw distance or lower air.
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  2. Campagne

    Well to be fair air is extremely fast and could suddenly pop in and out of render range very quickly.

    But it's probably more likely the distance wasn't as great as it seemed, given the pathetically short range of most AA weapons.
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  3. Skraggz


    To be fair? Bahaha. Fair would be me being able to see where the flak is coming from even with a 2x scope. I fail to understand your arguement on speed or range when they can see me but I can't see them, that's ultimately what this boils down to. Render ranges are very different for ground to air vs air to ground.

    And you say short range but 2 bursters plinked from 2 lattice over from a biolab...

    Fun taking damage from people you can't even see.
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  4. Doc Jim

    I have experienced this becoming an issue for pure ground vehicle versus ground vehicle combat in very (very very) large battles too. Giving all vehicles the same render distance sounds fine to me, just keep it as long as it is for aircraft and don't shorten it to what ground vehicles get.
    And certainly prevent tanks from disappearing below their normal render range.
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  5. Skraggz


    All for equalizing rendering across the board, imo, one way or another but still.
  6. JibbaJabba

    I don't think I've experienced this. Ground and Air vehicles have the same render distance I believe. Maxes also get included in this for this exact reason.

    They are not always easy to see but they should indeed render.

    I know it's a burden, but do you have a video of shots/flak coming out of "nothing"?
  7. Skraggz


    I'll have to check I don't think I do atm, but it shouldn't be hard to get a video of that.

    Don't have any atm in my unedited, all I have in that isflak hitting me at ~633 meters, but I was in a retreat. I'll look through my edits, and again if not I'll try to get one today.
  8. JibbaJabba

    Hm, if you're flying away from a target it may be possible to leave render range while the projectiles are still traveling. Think that's it??
  9. Skraggz


    Possibly.

    Though I have had it where counter intel will not spot and nor can I que spot as I see nothing over there, it's more difficult to bait some one to do it then I thought it would be. I'll return to this topic when I have video proof.
  10. Doc Jim

    I thought projectiles disappear into thin air once they leave their "owner's" rendering radius?
  11. Campagne

    Fair would be you dying horribly to flak when both parties are in effective range, but this is PlanetSide 2 so we'll have to go without. :p

    Think of it like this maybe: The minimum time it takes for an aircraft to enter and exit a 300m radius around a player on the ground is significantly shorter than the time it would take for anyone on the ground. Air must become visible from a greater distance to maintain the same render time.

    No aircraft in this game will ever be deserving of much sympathy from me. It's even less fun to see and know exactly what is about to kill you and be able to do nothing about it.
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  12. adamts01

    I don't think that's the case. I was a few hundred meters behind another Reaver on Northern Indar and there was an AA nest on top of that ridge by the Palisade. He got lit up by flak and turned around, then a Striker flew past him and hit me, then after flying another 200m or so a Skyguard rendered. I went back and ranged things and that Striker seemed to hit me from 1300m+. This makes me wonder about flak explosions being server-side, as compared to bullets being client-side.


    If I quickly fly towards a base infantry often don't render till 100m or so. If I slowly approach they'll render much sooner, 300-400m. Maybe it's my internet speed, 8mbps? I rarely have this problem on the ground. It seems that slower units have time to render everything in their area, and a fast moving approaching aircraft is quick to render because it's not so much information at once, as is the case from the pilot's perspective.
  13. JibbaJabba


    For aircraft/vehicles infantry rendering is secondary. I believe they should render at 300m but the game engine won't even get around to trying to render them until vehicles are all done.
  14. adamts01

    I've heard snipers on here claim to routinely shoot at 700m. I've never seen anything like that, but I also don't pay much attention to infantry at that distance. Some A2G guys claim to LOLpod around 450-500m, but I'm lucky if infantry render at 300. I don't know.

    Since render distance is so variable, especially in the big fights they push us towards, I'd really like to see all weapon effective ranges dialed back and see the fighting get closer. Not super close, but 600-700m max. Flak, nose guns, and flight ceiling Libs are the only real offenders, and those 3 cause most of our vehicle/vehicle balance problems. I suppose flight ceiling Gals would need something from the ground to chase them off, but that big and easy target should be easily handled with Basilisks and Walkers.
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