So I just watched as the TR attacked Ceres Hydroponics with an invisible army and captured it in 2mins despite the large defence it had simply because the infantry were not rendering until they got 20-25m from each other. It's not even prime time on the server. How does SOE think this is acceptable? (To make matters worse a hacker was also exploiting the situation and teleporting around insta-gibbing everyone during the 'counter attack'.)
Good question. I think the root cause is that they designed and built a game with such a big problem, and then went ahead and released the game anyway. Like we wouldn't notice it or something. Personally I think no game should ever go live with such a fundamental flaw... I see the effects of this problem every single time I play this game, and it drives me mad every time I line a guy up in my sights only to have him vanish (not die - vanish) right before me. Or to have a group of 5 enemies suddenly appear out of nowhere 10 meters in front of me. Or to get killed by snipers whose names don't show up on my death screen (because they never rendered for me). So I'm voting with my wallet, I don't think we can do anything else to make SOE pay attention to how much this issue matters to us. I've put $100 US into this game, but no more station cash purchases for me. In that interview they said that it wouldn't be fair to let newer computers render everything, and not let older computers do so. But the reality is, it's not fair as it is right now when all the things I described above can and do happen to you.
So the real question is, what can SOE do about it? I think they should lower the continent player limit from 2,000 to 500. The beneficial effects if this would be many: 1) should be few enough players that the rendering distance (culling) system can be simply removed 2) there should be action on ALL continents (not just Indar) 3) server populations would by default elevate above low-medium
i really wouldn't have seen this thread... i'm speechless, there is no hope for this problem to be addressed soon lol thanks quantummechanic for lifting the veil of truth
I'm one of those people who owns an older PC (i5 750, 6 GB Corsair XMS DD3, HD5850). Despite not being able to see people 50 m in front of me I still get horrid FPS in big battles and I have every setting on Low or completely turned off. I'm not very savvy when it comes to game engines and the like so excuse my ignorance, but isn't the point of lowering the rendering distance to lighten the load on your CPU? If it is then why is it that my FPS is still in the low to mid 30s in big battles? I can't see most of the people anyway. I am certain some idiot will jump in and say "Well, buy a new PC, yours is ancient. That will solve everything". Yes, it probably will. And I will upgrade once Haswell is out. I'm not limited financially in any way. But there are people that are. A lot of people that are. I'm no expert but making a game that runs in a decent manner only on high end computers (and even there it doesn't run very well) isn't the best way to make money. I could be wrong of course. Anyway, I've adjusted to the low FPS and it doesn't really bother me all that much. Take away more of my frames if you have to. I can probably still play O.K with 15-20. What I can't do is play with disappearing players 50m in front of me. I had that happen to me at Ti Alloys. The NC was attacking from Ceres. I was shooting from behind the tree right under the spawn room of Ti Alloys. I was getting killed by invisible people all the time. In the rare occasion that I got to see enemy infantry as soon as I started strafing slightly they would pop in and out of existence. I don't envy those poor infiltrators trying to snipe people. How are they supposed to function in such an environment? Hell, even friendly infantry was phasing in and out of existence.
Well, all I can say is that I hope all you guys and gals who are bothered by this problem vote with your voice, your conscience, and your wallet. As video game consumers, this issue is important to us. If BF3 or CoD had a rendering problem where enemies appeared and dissapeared only 10 to 30 meters in front of you, would you play the game? Do you think it would have been successful? Before you say,"HEY WAIT, THIS IS A MMOFPS MAN LAY OFF!" - SOE's goal with the release of this game was no different than that of BF3 and CoD - the only difference was the massive scale and persistence. And the massive scale is exactly what the problem is... Now I must sleep. I hope that some folks will keep this torch lit until tomorrow.
Lower the population! You CAN do it SOE! YOU CAN DO IT! Its still going to be a massive game, actually its going to be MORE massive if we can actually see players beyond the magic rendering bubble of ****.
Couldn't they have just made special servers with these reduced draw distances? The game can detect the quality of your hardware and recommend the server if needed.
Yesterday I got my sniper rifle for the first time in awhile....I sat an lined up on the head of an enemy NC sniper.......then he disappeared! I was like...WTF....so I switched to a heavy with a rocketlauncher. I lined up a shot...he disappeared. Further annoyed I see the sniper re appear next to him. I shift over and fire my bullet goes though the space he was just at with no hit...his model gone but the HA re-appeared. Figuring they were at the fringes of draw distance in this fight (since it really wasn't very far away) I get closer by about 40 meters and try again but everyone would start disappearing and reappearing and I just ended up giving up. I logged out....
