Force rendering option / parameters on client

UncleCrunch

I came to be thinking about the importance of forcing specific parameters on client side.

Art vs tactical : There is a clear gap between atmospheric on and off. It makes a huge difference concerning spoting targets in a room that use it. If the artist wanted to set atmospheric here, let it be ! Not to mention the respect to the peice of art (yes it is) the atmospheric is a tactical asset for mappers. If a player removes atmospheric, it ruins the desired tactical situation. Atmospheric allows mapper to create big rooms.

Others : Sometimes it would be useful to set some parameters to modify balance depending on field concerns. What i mean by balance isn't the whole thing. Just some parameters like; speed, speed of res income, gravity damage on hit etc... or even something like shadow skin is prefered over kodiak skin for that map.



It could be a special entity in which you can set the parameter with an "equal" declaration.
This can be an entity without volume consideration.
The usual X,Y,Z and the paramater box : "Force_atmospheric=1"

Joseppe

as alien: alien vision on = athmospherics not visible (even if activated) = no disadvantage
as marine: disadvantage

btw: i did mention this in a thread ago... conclusion: everybody is deactivating athmospherics & bloom. if you activate them = its your own problem (if you have a tactical disadvantage by this).

EDIT: but good advice! (for a "force athmospherics" parameter in the spot-light-entity)

Kouji_San

Atmospherics hiding and highlighting kinda reminds me of the advantage in Battlefield 1942 if bushes or trees are placed behind structures and people are walking around inside. From long range you can see their outline due to a render bug in the applied shadow and LoD foliage showing through that "inside building" shadow

This issue of being able to see them sniping from buildings was only visible when using a specific render setting... Atmospherics being forced as the mapper intended seems a good thing. But doesn't everyone have them turned off anyways :P

BeigeAlert

UncleCrunch wrote: »

I came to be thinking about the importance of forcing specific parameters on client side.

Art vs tactical : There is a clear gap between atmospheric on and off. It makes a huge difference concerning spoting targets in a room that use it. If the artist wanted to set atmospheric here, let it be ! Not to mention the respect to the peice of art (yes it is) the atmospheric is a tactical asset for mappers. If a player removes atmospheric, it ruins the desired tactical situation. Atmospheric allows mapper to create big rooms.

Others : Sometimes it would be useful to set some parameters to modify balance depending on field concerns. What i mean by balance isn't the whole thing. Just some parameters like; speed, speed of res income, gravity damage on hit etc... or even something like shadow skin is prefered over kodiak skin for that map.



It could be a special entity in which you can set the parameter with an "equal" declaration.
This can be an entity without volume consideration.
The usual X,Y,Z and the paramater box : "Force_atmospheric=1"

Good Lord no, please no. Atmospherics look great when used properly, but all too often I see them used way too liberally, even on some official maps. Word to the wise: if it's above 0.2, you're doing it wrong... unless your map is called ns2_fogMachineFactory. :P Bloom is especially annoying in some areas. Lava falls is darn near unplayable with bloom on, nearly blinds me.

Personally, I prioritize gameplay over graphics, and I certainly wouldn't want any mapper to say "hey quit shielding your eyes and look at how PRETTY MY SPOT LIGHTS ARE!". If you're relying on atmospherics and bloom to make your map pretty, you're doing it wrong.