The only problem with that, Temphage, is that some of the hardware issues that Homicide was discussing are punishing players with <i>good</i> equipment. For example, some of the ambient noises are much louder for people with good sound systems because cheaper speakers are barely able to produce high or low frequencies. There's nothing you can do to make the bad hardware perform better in this situation, so it's just a straight-up disadvantage to people with good sound quality.
I don't think you should be allowed to use rivatuner, powerstrip, or video card application that allows you to change settings. The maps should be dark so people can ambush better! You also should not able to use a widescreen aspect ratio/display because that gives you an advantage that not all of us have. I also think one should not be able to use custom models because then people can make their guns smaller on their screen, same with models because some people use pink skulk models.
Leon: Unfortunately there are just too many ways to alter gamma settings. It generally shouldn't be a major part of any game mechanic. I know Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory managed it nicely, but consider they also were using the "Starforce" copy protection which is often compared to a rootkit.
<!--quoteo(post=1738618:date=Nov 22 2009, 12:33 AM:name=Voyager I)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Voyager I @ Nov 22 2009, 12:33 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1738618"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->The only problem with that, Temphage, is that some of the hardware issues that Homicide was discussing are punishing players with <i>good</i> equipment. For example, some of the ambient noises are much louder for people with good sound systems because cheaper speakers are barely able to produce high or low frequencies.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> If you've got that kind of equipment odds are you already have some form of audio mixer in your driver settings. Hell, even my motherboard-based sound has 'em.
But seriously, what tends to happen is that things get balanced for people with good computers, and then people with mediocre ones have to deal with smoke-grenade effects which are cheaper but more opaque, 3D sounds with worse virtualization, lost horizontal space on their screen in 4:3 versus 16:9, etc. etc.
The point I'd like to leave is this: If you truly have a hardware/driver based problem, it's a bug. It's always good to have lots of configuration options for people to play with to try to fix issues, but at launch time only the obvious ones need to be unlocked for use in multiplayer games not hosted by the user. I'm making the assumption here that UWE will continue to support the game for a while and can make the appropriate decisions whether a deliberate fix is necessary versus more latitude for online game tweaking.
On the subject of material/model/sound-replacements, I'd disallow them all by default. If a specific model, sound, etc. causes problems, it is 99.9% of the time a bug that should be fixed via update/patch, rather than something the individual suffering user needs to be able to tweak.
Hence why I support the idea of a whitelist of approved mods. I personally had many sounds and models replaced in NS1, but they were all with higher quality versions, ie: BrigadierWolf's weapon replacements, better looking alien skins, there were even some for custom ambient sound effects that were particularly nice. Lock customizing except if, say, sv_cheats is on (so you can TEST your model) - submit it to customization database, someone just looks it over real quick. If it can't have any notable game impact (which should be most of them), throw it up on a list of approved mods. It's the best of both worlds with naught but the caveat in that it will take longer for your mod to be 'available'.
There are certain things you don't have to lock as well - HUD elements, for example.
Comments
<!--quoteo(post=1738618:date=Nov 22 2009, 12:33 AM:name=Voyager I)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Voyager I @ Nov 22 2009, 12:33 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1738618"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->The only problem with that, Temphage, is that some of the hardware issues that Homicide was discussing are punishing players with <i>good</i> equipment. For example, some of the ambient noises are much louder for people with good sound systems because cheaper speakers are barely able to produce high or low frequencies.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
If you've got that kind of equipment odds are you already have some form of audio mixer in your driver settings. Hell, even my motherboard-based sound has 'em.
But seriously, what tends to happen is that things get balanced for people with good computers, and then people with mediocre ones have to deal with smoke-grenade effects which are cheaper but more opaque, 3D sounds with worse virtualization, lost horizontal space on their screen in 4:3 versus 16:9, etc. etc.
The point I'd like to leave is this: If you truly have a hardware/driver based problem, it's a bug. It's always good to have lots of configuration options for people to play with to try to fix issues, but at launch time only the obvious ones need to be unlocked for use in multiplayer games not hosted by the user. I'm making the assumption here that UWE will continue to support the game for a while and can make the appropriate decisions whether a deliberate fix is necessary versus more latitude for online game tweaking.
On the subject of material/model/sound-replacements, I'd disallow them all by default. If a specific model, sound, etc. causes problems, it is 99.9% of the time a bug that should be fixed via update/patch, rather than something the individual suffering user needs to be able to tweak.
There are certain things you don't have to lock as well - HUD elements, for example.