Atmospheric Territories extension now live

McGlaspieMcGlaspie www.team156.com Join Date: 2010-07-26 Member: 73044Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, Squad Five Gold, Reinforced - Onos, WC 2013 - Gold, Subnautica Playtester
edited March 2016 in NS2 General Discussion
Greetings all,

As any trello-savvy goers have noticed, I've had the Experimental Lighting card assigned to me and in the 'Doing' for a while now. Well, that work is completed to the point we're comfortable with enabling it as an Extension. Atmospheric Territories is now live. In hopes of answering some of the obvious questions, I've posted here. It is worth mentioning, this has been active on quite a few servers for several days now. And almost all feedback I've received has been very positive.

This extension aims to revise all environment lighting associated with power nodes. In addition to eliminating the red lighting, it takes things a few steps further.
The lighting for each location is now more dynamic and changes based on which team controls it (based on the number of built structures). Lighting now changes even when power nodes are Unsocketed. As aliens encroach into the map and spread infestation, the lighting for those areas will slowly "bleed" off until it is much darker than normal. The designed intent is to make the Territorial-Boundaries very clear and distinct, increasing the atmospheric qualities of NS2 and making it easier / more obvious for Rookies to realize they're in hostile territory. This effect creates clear delineations between Marine and Alien controlled territory.

Each location in a map now has its occupancy tracked. That is to say, all built and alive structures in a Location count towards a team's occupancy of said location. When alien's occupy a Location their presence has a diminishing effect on lighting, thus it becomes darker. And the opposite is true of Marines.

There are some minor additional particle FX but they are quite subtle and are affected by user settings (low/high). Proceed with caution Marines, grab an adventure-buddy and turn those flashlights on, you’ll want to use them. I'm quite looking forward to any and all constructive feedback (post any cool picture too!)
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Comments

  • simbasimba Join Date: 2012-05-06 Member: 151628Members
    edited March 2016
    What happens if there is a shade in the room, and all alien structures are "hidden". I imagine if the aliens are trying to hide the presence of structures in the room, they wouldn't want atmospheric lighting to give away that something's hidden in the room?

    EDIT: just tested. Marines are tipped off by presence of shaded structures cause the room gets a tiny bit darker.
  • mst3kldmst3kld Join Date: 2013-08-30 Member: 187233Members, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Gold
    This mod gives the aliens an unfair advantage by making rooms much darker. It also hurts some players FPS by around 10 FPS. Lighting was build into the game. If some players want it they can just turn it on. I do not want to be forced to play this way where I am at a disadvantage due to the game "looking cooler." Counter Strike looks terrible and yet everyone still plays it because of the quality of game play. "OH DUDE BUT THE GRAPHICS," I play this game because it is so different from every other generic FPS out there.
  • IronHorseIronHorse Developer, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributor Join Date: 2010-05-08 Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
    simba wrote: »
    What happens if there is a shade in the room, and all alien structures are "hidden". I imagine if the aliens are trying to hide the presence of structures in the room, they wouldn't want atmospheric lighting to give away that something's hidden in the room?

    It doesn't.
    The shade works as intended, cloaking the structures and lighting in the entire room / location remains unaffected.
  • NordicNordic Long term camping in Kodiak Join Date: 2012-05-13 Member: 151995Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
    mst3kld wrote: »
    It also hurts some players FPS by around 10 FPS.
    Are you getting that 10fps from here? http://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/140821/performance
    On the plus side I tested with the atmospheric territories mod and only noticed almost identical framerates easily within margin of error.
  • FrozenFrozen New York, NY Join Date: 2010-07-02 Member: 72228Members, Constellation
    edited March 2016
    I hate this. The dichotomy of light and dark in some rooms hurt my eyes. Pretty room dependent though

    Alright hate is harsh, it's pretty cool. But still
  • moultanomoultano Creator of ns_shiva. Join Date: 2002-12-14 Member: 10806Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Gold, NS2 Community Developer, Pistachionauts
    This needs a blog post!
  • WyzcrakWyzcrak Pot Pie Aficionado Join Date: 2002-12-04 Member: 10447Forum Moderators, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    Really enjoying this change. Can't wait to see what improvements come to it through feedback.
  • NordicNordic Long term camping in Kodiak Join Date: 2012-05-13 Member: 151995Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
    I think this is one of the best changes to come to Ns2 in a long time. This is an example of the old mod before Mcglaspie started on it, but it is still awesome.
    5KnYBXA.jpg
  • mst3kldmst3kld Join Date: 2013-08-30 Member: 187233Members, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Gold
    with more testing, my FPS drops by about 20 when in light light mode and then jumps back once the lights are "back on"
    Also look at this one cyst which is basically in flight control. This needs to be removed for comp play.

    ?interpolation=lanczos-none&output-format=jpeg&output-quality=95&fit=inside|2048:1152&composite-to=*,*|2048:1152&background-color=black[IMG][/img]?interpolation=lanczos-none&output-format=jpeg&output-quality=95&fit=inside|2048:1152&composite-to=*,*|2048:1152&background-color=black[IMG][/img]?interpolation=lanczos-none&output-format=jpeg&output-quality=95&fit=inside|2048:1152&composite-to=*,*|2048:1152&background-color=black[IMG][/img]?interpolation=lanczos-none&output-format=jpeg&output-quality=95&fit=inside|2048:1152&composite-to=*,*|2048:1152&background-color=black[IMG][/img]
  • CalegoCalego Join Date: 2013-01-24 Member: 181848Members, NS2 Map Tester
    I was skeptical of any such change at first but I'm very much a fan of this change, it might still need some tweaking, but as it is it adds to both gameplay, atmosphere, and pretty-ness. The Territorial nature of the game becomes much more apparent and on a more sub-concious level you feel more aware of the "front lines". Atmospherically, this change just makes sense, aliens dark to the marine light. And it's freakin bad*ss looking.

    My only suggestion is that the Darkest point of an unpowered room shouldn't be quite so dark, it feels like it's darker than a room that had power but lost it.

    As far as advantages go, each team now has a "home field advantage," with brighter lights on marine territory, and darker moods wherever infestation is, engagements (which really aren't affected a whole lot), handle slightly more in favor of the defenders.
  • mst3kldmst3kld Join Date: 2013-08-30 Member: 187233Members, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Gold
    Calego wrote: »
    As far as advantages go, each team now has a "home field advantage," with brighter lights on marine territory, and darker moods wherever infestation is, engagements (which really aren't affected a whole lot), handle slightly more in favor of the defenders.

    Aliens already have crags, shades, shifts, bone walls, whips, and ruptures on their "home field advantage" now limited sight for marines is added.

  • ZekZek Join Date: 2002-11-10 Member: 7962Members, NS1 Playtester, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow
    This is looking great - what would it take for this (or some version of it) to become the standard? An extension is a good way to build popular support but we shouldn't fracture the community for long IMO.
  • turtsmcgurtturtsmcgurt Join Date: 2012-11-01 Member: 165456Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    mst3kld wrote: »
    Calego wrote: »
    As far as advantages go, each team now has a "home field advantage," with brighter lights on marine territory, and darker moods wherever infestation is, engagements (which really aren't affected a whole lot), handle slightly more in favor of the defenders.

    Aliens already have crags, shades, shifts, bone walls, whips, and ruptures on their "home field advantage" now limited sight for marines is added.

    i got u
    lZOorEG.png
  • KasharicKasharic Hull, England Join Date: 2013-03-27 Member: 184473Members, Forum Admins, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, NS2 Community Developer
    mst3kld wrote: »
    Calego wrote: »
    As far as advantages go, each team now has a "home field advantage," with brighter lights on marine territory, and darker moods wherever infestation is, engagements (which really aren't affected a whole lot), handle slightly more in favor of the defenders.

    Aliens already have crags, shades, shifts, bone walls, whips, and ruptures on their "home field advantage" now limited sight for marines is added.

    For the people with lighting set to low and low lights set to "on" in NS2+ the impact on the game is barely noticeable, and i'm sure Dragon will disable the extension in comp mod to ensure balanced play. So please, unless you have constructive criticism... stop.

    Personally, I think this is a great step forward and hope this kind of thing continues to happen... it shows UWE is actually trying to make a difference to the game and I welcome changes like this with open arms.
  • IronHorseIronHorse Developer, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributor Join Date: 2010-05-08 Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
    Flashlights are wider and go farther btw. Oh and they don't blind nearly you as much anymore if you have the Atmospherics graphics setting turned on.
  • CCTEECCTEE Join Date: 2013-06-20 Member: 185634Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    Great concept and i am sure the little drawbacks can be tweaked out.
    Cant wait to try!
  • NordicNordic Long term camping in Kodiak Join Date: 2012-05-13 Member: 151995Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
    mst3kld wrote: »
    Calego wrote: »
    As far as advantages go, each team now has a "home field advantage," with brighter lights on marine territory, and darker moods wherever infestation is, engagements (which really aren't affected a whole lot), handle slightly more in favor of the defenders.

    Aliens already have crags, shades, shifts, bone walls, whips, and ruptures on their "home field advantage" now limited sight for marines is added.

    i got u
    lZOorEG.png

    Better yet, use the gamma settings in game.
  • turtsmcgurtturtsmcgurt Join Date: 2012-11-01 Member: 165456Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    edited March 2016
    doesn't go high enough. +1.3 gets rid of most if not all of the dark areas for my monitor in ns.

    edit: if you'd rather not tire your eyes out quickly with the even brighter bright colors, get a benq for the black equalizer.
  • Sgt_SassSgt_Sass Join Date: 2016-02-13 Member: 213004Members
    edited March 2016
    Anything that removes the campy 'competitive' atmosphere while improving immersion is a big plus in my eyes. Not all of us are into the MLG 360 Noscope Counterstrike scene, some of us just want to get immersed in a cool new universe. This change makes the game far more immersive. This isn't going to be a positive change for everyone, but for a casual gamer like myself it is much appreciated!

    +5 Retention Points!

    Edit: For the competitive gamers that are probably complaining in this thread (I didn't read most of it) just adjust your Gamma to 1.3+ and you should still be able to retain your massive advantage over the casuals. Right click your desktop and press Graphics Properties. Fix't.
  • Tool8Tool8 Join Date: 2012-01-01 Member: 139405Members
    edited March 2016
    I haven't tried this yet but I love the idea, it's amazing.
    mst3kld wrote: »

    Aliens already have crags, shades, shifts, bone walls, whips, and ruptures on their "home field advantage" now limited sight for marines is added.

    I wonder why you are so sure this is strictly an Alien buff. Lowering the light when structures like a gorge tunnel are built in an area could alert skilled marines about the presence much more quickly.
    And even if it did give one team an advantage this can be balanced out again. Taking some risks regarding balance is exactly the way the team has to go with the current stale meta.

  • AsranielAsraniel Join Date: 2002-06-03 Member: 724Members, Playtest Lead, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow, Subnautica Playtester, Retired Community Developer
    Look, i was not a big fan in the beginning, probably for irrational reasons partially.

    Having played with it, tested it and seen it evolve, i must say i really really like it now.

    Its much clearer now when you are in alien territory for example. The mood of the maps is clearly different in both parts, which is a great thing, not only visually but also to help players. There is a dark room? Kill everything in it.

    Sure, it might some tweaking, specially for certain maps. But the feature has constantly been evolving and i would say in its current state its great. Wider testing will probably reveal some aspects to tweak, but its a great addition to the game.
  • DC_DarklingDC_Darkling Join Date: 2003-07-10 Member: 18068Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver
    want want want WAAAANT. :p

    As a side note.. I do hope with all my heart that the comp scene does NOT change this. Keep it with these new lights.
    I mean they are complaining about wanting new stuff and freshening stuff up almost daily. USE the change already.
    If this skews the balance well.. they have been 'fixing' balance in the mod for a long time, might as well balance for this new lightning.
  • moultanomoultano Creator of ns_shiva. Join Date: 2002-12-14 Member: 10806Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Gold, NS2 Community Developer, Pistachionauts
    edited March 2016
    Mostly loving it, but only one gripe. I don't like using alien vision because it's ugly. Marine flashlights were tweaked to compensate, could we tweak alien vision to interfere less as well? Specifically I'd like to remove the desaturation and vignetting.
  • hart4uhart4u Join Date: 2012-06-27 Member: 153717Members
    All what this lightning does is giving aliens a big advantage. It's hard enough for rookies to hit these tiny little skulks/lerks. Fighting in darker rooms will not make things easier. Also sneaking as a marine is now much harder as you are kinda forced to turn your flashlight on. I didnt try shadehive yet, but i can imagine that it's even more overpowered in vanilla as it used to be before.
  • IxianIxian Denmark Join Date: 2014-03-16 Member: 194783Members, Squad Five Blue
    Love it, although i feel like the lack of lighting somewhat removes the illusion of depth. I would love to know some of the mechanics and "levels" of lighting behind the scenes. IJt seems like even a cyst can make a big change now, maybe too big, cutting a room into several parts, could be a solution but its alot of work. The effects on competitive play are yet to be seen, but a new season is soon to start, and a few seeding matches should take place within the week - you are sure to get some more diverse feedback by then.

    Does the bio 9 ability contaminate have any effect on the lighting?

  • remiremi remedy [blu.knight] Join Date: 2003-11-18 Member: 23112Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester
    moultano wrote: »
    Mostly loving it, but only one gripe. I don't like using alien vision because it's ugly. Marine flashlights were tweaked to compensate, could we tweak alien vision to interfere less as well? Specifically I'd like to remove the desaturation and vignetting.
    I was thinking of taking a look a this.
  • joshhhjoshhh Milwaukee, WI Join Date: 2011-06-21 Member: 105717Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow, Subnautica Playtester
    edited March 2016
    Really cool effects. Like the atmosphere changes for pub games. #immersion

    Would like an off button in graphics settings to revert it back to the old style for competitive play.

    Edit: Since mendasp won't do it for ns2+, I have to ask here. He's too busy working on the next episode of DME. #5k+
  • MendaspMendasp I touch maps in inappropriate places Valencia, Spain Join Date: 2002-07-05 Member: 884Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Gold, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow, Retired Community Developer
    joshhh wrote: »
    Really cool effects. Like the atmosphere changes for pub games. #immersion

    Would like an off button in graphics settings to revert it back to the old style for competitive play.

    Edit: Since mendasp won't do it for ns2+, I have to ask here. He's too busy working on the next episode of DME. #5k+

    To be honest, I prefer this to the awful red lights. You couldn't see ANYTHING with the super plain lighting with zero contrast of the red lighting.
  • joshhhjoshhh Milwaukee, WI Join Date: 2011-06-21 Member: 105717Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow, Subnautica Playtester
    I was more referring to the fact that alien rooms are dark as sht now even with boosted gamma. Not to mention the random floating particles and fps drops.
  • Kouji_SanKouji_San Sr. Hινε Uρкεερεг - EUPT Deputy The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-05-13 Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
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