force athmospherics/bloom ? (visible / not visible)

Joseppe

Please compare: (search the skulk)

EDIT - SORRY: (just noticed) topic is about ATHMOSPHERICS (not ambient occlusion, my fault, sry again!)







its a big difference for myself... i always play with athmospherics & bloom turned off.
especially in dark areas like mineshaft central drilling... a lerk cant really hide if he sits somewhere in the dark and shoots the powernodes.

in games like "armed assault (arma)" (military open landscape areas) you always have gras turned on in multiplayer (as i know),
so each player has the same visibility conditions.

btw: i know, the most players will turn this off to get higher fps and i guess the most competitive players turn this off to "see much more".
i guess the devs already thaught about that. its not a big deal, but always when i am watching ns2hd i see almost nothing in the videos in dark areas,
if athmospherics are turned on.

Do you have athmospherics & bloom enabled ?
Do you think its a advantage to disable it ?
Should all players forced to play with athmospherics enabled ?

you can really hide much more as a skulk with athmospherics enabled (for the enemy marine).
alien vision on alien side == athmospherics/bloom disabled on marine side

Desther

You have a choice at the moment. If you want the visuals then you turn it on, if you think its unfair then turn it off. Forcing it to be turned on is just going to prevent more people from playing because of performance reasons.

Chizzler

I have a fairly old computer. Still running on a Nvidia 9500GT. I'm lucky to get a solid 30fps with everything off/low and running in 800x600 resolution. Forcing Ambient Occlusion would make it practically impossible for me to play. Many others with rigs much more powerful than my own would also detest the FPS hit incurred from forcing this on as they expect a 60+fps minimum.

The last thing this game needs is more stuff bringing performance down.
Yes having it off helps you spot enemies easier, and I suspect competitive players turn it off for this reason (as well as performance). Gives an advantage? Yes, An unfair advantage? No. The other team has the same options.

YMICrazy

You seem to be confused. This is the difference between Ambient Occlusion on and off

AO ON:


AO Off:


Now what you are probably thinking of is Atmospherics:

With AO and Atmospherics


AO off and Atmospherics


In any case I keep Atmospherics off. I do not like the hazy blurry look. CS:GO had it and it's one of the reasons I stopped playing. Plus for some Atmospherics comes with a performance hit and forcing those will not help and everyone has the option to disable it. I keep bloom on though since NS2 is one of the few games I actually enjoy the look of the bloom effect. Ambient Occlusion seems to darken the visuals at a huge performance cost for some but is not that big of a deal visually. Bloom does not seem to impact sight that much either at least for me.

Chizzler

No, not confused at all.. I've played around with the settings A LOT to try to squeeze as much of the fancy visuals out of my graphics card as possible. Turning Ambient Occlusion on has a fair FPS drop (as is to be expected) and given my already borderline playable FPS it's just not an option.

Given the choice, I'd probably play with everything maxed out, but in a competitive match I'd knock things down such as Atmospherics,Ambient Occlusion & Infestation to give me the best chance of spotting and reacting to enemies possible. I wouldn't expect any less from my opponents either.

It's eye candy there for immersion and atmosphere. In competitive matches, your not admiring the view, your trying to win and your going to do anything you can in order to achieve that goal

Edit: I wouldn't object to servers being able to force it on/off, Much like it does in ARMA2, though it's pretty much essential that people play with the same grass settings on that given the type of game it is.

gnoarch

so.... where IS the skulk?

YMICrazy

Chizzler wrote: »

No, not confused at all.. I've played around with the settings A LOT to try to squeeze as much of the fancy visuals out of my graphics card as possible.

? I was talking to the OP I even mentioned that Ambient Occlusion decreases performance by a lot. The thing that makes the skulk harder to see is atmospherics not ambient occlusion.

Chizzler

YMICrazy502 wrote: »

Chizzler wrote: »

No, not confused at all.. I've played around with the settings A LOT to try to squeeze as much of the fancy visuals out of my graphics card as possible.

? I was talking to the OP I even mentioned that Ambient Occlusion decreases performance by a lot. The thing that makes the skulk harder to see is atmospherics not ambient occlusion.

Ahh, My mistake though Ambient Occlusion has the potential to make them more difficult to see too.

GORGEous

Joseppe wrote: »

Please compare: (search the skulk)
Do you have athmospherics & bloom enabled ?
Do you think its a advantage to disable it ?
Should all players forced to play with athmospherics enabled ?

No, both are disabled.
Yes, it is an advantage to disable it.
No, all players should not be forced to play with atmospherics.


As Chizzler said, it gives an advantage but not an unfair advantage. Everyone has the same in game option to turn it off.

Res

.... I'm not seeing the skulk in any of those pictures.....


edit: I turned up the gamma on my computer and can see the skulk in 1 of them now... but can't see the skulk in the last one still...... i can't see the skulk at all when I use normal gamma.

YMICrazy

Res wrote: »

.... I'm not seeing the skulk in any of those pictures.....


edit: I turned up the gamma on my computer and can see the skulk in 1 of them now... but can't see the skulk in the last one still...... i can't see the skulk at all when I use normal gamma.

IeptBarakat

PC gaming is notorious for sacrificing graphics for the competitive edge anyways.

Like 800x600 dx 8.1 counterstrike.

Mestaritonttu

Threads like these make me think I'm alone thinking NS2 isn't a skill driven FPS game, but an RTS with FPS. Until I read the comments, and see everyone's chill about it. Way to go! :P

I keep occlusion and athmo off because athmo is way too foggy and occlusion is too heavy for my gpu. Bloom is nice, I think.

Just go play quake for a while, you'll get your tummy so full of uber optimized fps gameplay you'll be sick, and then just wanna relax in NS2. "Hey, look at that, I can stand still for 2 seconds and not die, look at that!"

Res

YMICrazyk, that picture you blew up looks pitch black on my computer using normal gamma. makes me wonder if most people play with their gamma way up in the game.

When I turn my gamma up, it... barely resembles a skulk... could be more like an outcropping of a rock.

ScardyBob

Picking the skulk out of a static picture is difficult (even for those with good eyes). I mostly distinguish skulks via their sound and watching for movement. As such, I don't see having atmospherics off being a significant advantage.

Mestaritonttu wrote: »

Threads like these make me think I'm alone thinking NS2 isn't a skill driven FPS game, but an RTS with FPS. Until I read the comments, and see everyone's chill about it. Way to go! :P

Its 75% a skill driven FPS game. Most of the players are in the FPS format each match and much of it is designed around the asymmetrical nature of melee v range.

Mestaritonttu

Yeah I know, but the bit that isn't allows you to relax and not go silly over optimizing your k/d experience. That's how I like to think, anyhow - not gonna take anything away from people who see it differently. Just that peeps might be able to get over some frustrations if they'd find their skillplay somewhere else. *COUGH*www.quakelive.com*COUGH*

DC_Darkling

hmm. I must check my graphics.
Im one who would sacrifice some easy way to see skulk for some pretty shiny.. but those pictures look, I think, a lot better without atmospherics. Not more realistic perhaps, but better. (less blurry indeed).
Deeper colours etc.

And as I like deeper colours, im so gona check. xD

Joseppe

GORGEous wrote: »

Joseppe wrote: »

As Chizzler said, it gives an advantage but not an unfair advantage. Everyone has the same in game option to turn it off.

Not really sure about that...
In this situation: (athmospherics: enabled)

if the skulk dont move, it (or he/she ?) is able to get a parasite marker
and maybe an easy kill. on the opposite with athmospherics disabled
the marine will see the skulk for sure before he enters the room and
he gets an easy kill.

if you enter a room with athmosperics enabled you need 1-2 more seconds
to get an overview about a scene in my opinion.

I would call myself an experienced player but with athmosperics enabled,
i would die much, much more in matches.

btw: if athmospherics would be forced to be enabled, the balance statistics (between the teams) would not be 50%/50%

another example is refinery the central area ("lava falls").
you cant see anything on the ceiling with athmospherics enabled.
disable it and not a single alien can hide if its in line of sight.

ScardyBob

Mestaritonttu wrote: »

Yeah I know, but the bit that isn't allows you to relax and not go silly over optimizing your k/d experience. That's how I like to think, anyhow - not gonna take anything away from people who see it differently. Just that peeps might be able to get over some frustrations if they'd find their skillplay somewhere else. *COUGH*www.quakelive.com*COUGH*

Only minimally. Its mostly just switched the relevant kdr from individual k/d to team k/d. There is very little you can do (besides hope your opponent makes a mistake) to win if your team is dying more than they are killing.

lwf

Off, of course. Not because it makes it easier too see which it does, neither because of the FPS boost which I do need but because I simply cannot stand it.

It looks to me like when waking up in the morning with tired, foggy eyes but now imagine you can't get them clear. If this looks normal to you then unless a degenerative eye disease is your idea of a good time then you should see a doctor if you'd like to keep seeing in the future.

I can't complain (but I still will!) because you can just turn it off, but I'll be damned if you try to force it on me!