Your dynamic infantry rendering solution hit critical mass last night.

Bumping, because this absolutely needs to be fixed. Or all certs and StationCash spent on all infiltrator gear for EVERYONE needs to be refunded so we can spend out points and cash on something useful. Like shotguns.

One question that I'd have is why the algorithm seems to be circular. Why not have a narrowing cone so you can see people at any range, but the closer to your crosshair, the more likely they'll render?

And why is there no minimum draw distance?

And seeing as how unusual a problem this is, why is this algorithm still in the game? Surely players would be more welcoming to lag and packet drop than enemy players warping in and out at ranges of 10 meters?

And I agree that vehicles should have a fixed render distance. Not "always," but a sufficient distance like 1km.

It's a shame, though, cause I'm of the impression that this issue is due to bandwidth and the server's ability to send updates. If it's as simple a problem as SOE hasn't updated their hardware, then I'll be sorely disappointed. But otherwise, I can only imagine it'll require a huge overhaul of the netcode. I have only basic experience with programming and very little with networking, but I can understand how conventional code might be wholly insufficient.

A huge part of what I enjoy is the idea of sniping, but as things stand since launch it is an idea largely unrealized. I'll continue to play in hopes this game-breaking issue is resolved in the near future, but will spend no more $ until it is. I wish I was still excited to logon, but havent since the weekend, knowing what is waiting for me. I wish I could suggest to my friends that they should play PS2, instead of advising they stay away for the time being.

bump

What I saw, in the post, was that this isn't a top-priority issue. It needs to be.

First impression is everything. Any player mostly unfamiliar with what this game or the PS franchise has to offer in the long-run is going to see this player culling, say "**** this" and stop logging in.

Of course, if enough people do that, then the problem will correct itself, because there won't be enough players around to hit rendercap.

Bump:

This game has room for many amazing gameplay and tactical improvements. That said, this needs to be #1 on the list. Getting to the "can't be bothered to log in" point. Logged on an hour ago, was fighting in a battle (not even a massive one) ... scope in on a medic crouched and reviving his teammates -- poof invisible right before I could shoot.

Hit ESC and logged out. Fix this ****.

ITT: People using colours and large font to get their point across

Yep, this really does need serious attention, being attacked from "somewhere" in a tank and not being able to respond because you can't actually see who is engaging you is ridiculous in a game that sells itself on huge battles with thousands of players, I have to rely on following the rocket trails back to the invisible source and hope I hit something.

Smedley has stated that current render distance was perfectly fine and wont be touched.

This is the number 1 issue. The game is otherwise excellent apart from this rendering/draw distance issue. Needs to be fixed or improved considerable.

Yeah the game feels pretty bad right now. I don't usually play infiltrator but I am finding even my medium range style of play is severely impacted by the render distances in larger fights. I feel really sorry for people who enjoy sniping.

Maybe they have some poor chump whose job was to get the performance up and with the release date being what it was didn't know what else to do but cut down render distances.

Played yesterday, didn't notice any of these problems myself, but I heard a lot via comms from squad/platoon members. However that did impact my gameplay (indirectly) as there wasn't many people interested in joint operations, so I logged out after a while.

This infantry rendering system ruins the game and something absolutely has to be done, I can't in good conscience recommend this game to friends with something so amateurish in game right now.

Planetside 1 didn't have this, if the hardware isn't capable of handling the amount of people Planetside 2 has on a continent vs Planetside 1's then it is time to reduce the amount of people that can be on a continent at a single time. There is no point in touting that your continents can hold 2000 players simultaneously when you can't even see people 20 feet from your character in huge fights. That is like making a painting and bragging to a blind man about how it is better than anything DaVinci ever created. Your HUGE battles are pointless to the blind which is what we, the players, are in these huge fights.

Either fix the rendering to playable levels somehow or reduce the continent population however much it requires, I know this would be going back on your 2000 player number and would be a hit to your pride, but if nothing is done then clearly you don't care about your customers because the current situation is asinine.

Bought alpha squad and regret it ever since. First there was decent amount of passive certs, and then it got taken out, not long after due to community uproar it was put back with a troll face on - 10 certs per day. Now since the number of players increase the game has become unplayable. When things do render - the broken engine can't use my pc resources and I get 20 frames while 30% on cpu load and 40% on gpu, and when they don't... :

Still the game was fun and I would have bough 6 months sub but unless this is fixed I will leave, I already had enough of render distance.

lets hope they come to there senses and increase the render cap so snipers can make good use of there scopes and so infantry can see past 5yards.

up!

Exactly, they have this rendering issue because they bit off more than they can chew. Everyone screaming "FIX IT!!", do you realize the game would be unplayable with everything on screen at once? This isn't just something they did to make you mad, it had to happen for performance

Smedley actually responded to the Reddit thread. Basically said this is their top priority once they finish a few more stability fixes. That's at least more promising than that dev's "Yeah it'll always be an issue, we'll look at it sometime" response.

I would say this is the most crippling flaw with PS2 in it's current state. The fact you can't hit what isn't being drawn is a nightmare - as a foot soldier in large battles this causes you to be shot by people 10m away who aren't being drawn on your client, it also cripples liberators who want to hit infantry down to about 400m altitude, but what makes that unbearable is that infantry can see you over 1000m away - getting torn to shreds by invisible MAX's and Lock missiles is no fun!

Please SOE, make this you #1 priority above all else - it will drive people away from the game and hurt it's future if it's not resolved quickly!

The render distance being this utter rubbish on a FPS is a joke, It's a quick and dirty fix to the lag that plagued beta.