<!--quoteo(post=1981462:date=Sep 21 2012, 07:43 PM:name=ironhorse)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ironhorse @ Sep 21 2012, 07:43 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1981462"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Yup.. i definitely have upgraded my rigs everytime based on the game i wanted to play at the time. This is how things were before console porting to PC became widespread. (i.e. no need to upgrade because of games designed around hardware specs from 2004) So i can see how this notion can be a new concept for some, and potentially a bit jarring.
<b>Disclaimer:</b> Obviously not saying this game is fully optimized. But theres a grand canyon of difference between the source engine that has been refined for over a decade by hundreds of developers and can run on integrated graphics and an unreleased engine built by very few people. Saying this does not make someone a "brown noser" or a "fanboy" .. its just common knowledge.
Edit: and Tailor ^ is correct.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> You're either clueless or ignoring something. CPUs stopped becoming faster. You can overclock CPUs to 4-5 GHz but almost no one does that unless desperate or interested in adding water cooling.
Your disclaimer is simply incorrect, because current bottleneck has nothing to do with graphics. It has to do with the fact that client entities (200-400) all think each frame. They all update animation and update their state. It's a structural issue with how client per frame CPU time is spent and not about being written for old or new hardware.
<!--quoteo(post=1981475:date=Sep 21 2012, 01:59 PM:name=MOOtant)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MOOtant @ Sep 21 2012, 01:59 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1981475"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->You're either clueless or ignoring something. CPUs stopped becoming faster. You can overclock CPUs to 4-5 GHz but almost no one does that unless desperate or interested in adding water cooling.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I don't really want to join in the heated conversation, but I really need to say that you're wrong. That is all.
IronHorseDeveloper, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributorJoin Date: 2010-05-08Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
Last derailing post..
@Moo.. you missed the boat, by all accounts, bud. :)
Giving integrated graphics <i>as an example </i> of the level of work and optimization that has gone into the source engine does not mean my point was about GPU bottlenecking.. it was about unfair comparisons and unrealistic expectations when comparing an engine from Valve to an engine from an indie team made by one man.
Finally, there's so much more that goes into determining a chip's speed that simply using hertz as a reference is shortsighted. We have pushed semiconductor technology to its physical limits, including our ability to cool chips and the speed of light. As a result, chip manufacturers have turned to multicore processing technology rather than pure chip and bus speed. Moore's law is actually still valid and applicable today, if you measure more than just hertz. So no, CPUs have not "stopped becoming faster"
These semantics aside.. when's the last time you upgraded your rig for a game? (Best to leave this thread on topic, but you can PM me?)
<!--quoteo(post=1981475:date=Sep 21 2012, 10:59 AM:name=MOOtant)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MOOtant @ Sep 21 2012, 10:59 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1981475"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->You're either clueless or ignoring something. CPUs stopped becoming faster. You can overclock CPUs to 4-5 GHz but almost no one does that unless desperate or interested in adding water cooling.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Well, considering the fact that 4ghz on a 2500k or a 3570k is basically guaranteed , I would say you are clueless. Lets also consider the fact that like 90% of those same CPU's can easily run a 4.5ghz with just a $30 CPU cooler (Hyper 212) that makes you even more clueless. You only NEED watercooling when you start approaching 5ghz.
Hell, almost every single enthusiast motherboard now adays includes an auto-OC/CPU Level Up function.
So with CPU manufactures selling processors that are designed for overclocking (Intel K series and AMD Black Edition/FX series), plus motherboards that have automatic OC functions, you are quite frankly retarded if you are not overclocking.
<!--quoteo(post=1981470:date=Sep 21 2012, 01:54 PM:name=MOOtant)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MOOtant @ Sep 21 2012, 01:54 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1981470"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Yes, but direct lighting that NS2 has highlights how few colors there are. Maps are usually tinted a bit blue because first NS2 textures were that way and/or maps had slightly blue lights. I'd rather have colorblind option in video settings than have to watch something that uses only 2 colors. Gorge, hive, harvester are orange as ######. Marines have their a bit blue a bit dark items/structures. The only thing that is even remotely green is infestation and there's only 1 shade. There are no blends between these colors.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Oh I'm not really arguing, it just doesn't seem to me as bad as you initially made it. I suppose most mappers are locked into the art set that is currently available to them, which makes it worse, though. I mean, eventually we will have more texture sets and mappers will go for a different look. Light colors are all adjustable of course, not everything has to be blue/white.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->To repeat: red - lights out white, slightly blue - lights on bright orange - aliens 1 shade of green - infestation<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Aliens kind of have a gray/blue/pink coloring with some green in there. It depends on which one. I think the orange color really dominates all the glowy parts and organic stuff for good reason. It most important for structures, I think. Kind of like how marine tech all looks very robotic and rugged. I just don't really believe the palette is NOT diverse.
I think the red color lighting is part of the programming unfortunately, and not a mapping thing. It would be neat for the mapper to have some control of environment variables specific to certain maps or map areas, depending on triggers in the game.
Infestation is still a WIP I hear as well (to my excitement). Charlie said Max may have a "trick up his sleeve" pertaining to dynamic infestation. I think the first iteration on Source used a mesh and phong shading -- I'm really curious to know what they are planning to do with it post v1.0. I hope it's like the original implementation, very seamless and naturally growing. I was sad when cysts had to be put it in (they seem to work though, I guess).
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->NS1 was far less boring. It had walls that somewhere between white, pink and yellow. It had diffuse lighting that didn't attack your eyes. It didn't hide having very few colors behind r_atmospherics.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I really think that was on texture artists, too, with the variety of style/color. I did a lot of Half-Life, TFC, and CS mapping in Worldcraft and I don't remember the Goldsrc/Quake engine having diffuse lighting...you either lit an area with a color or it was completely black...maybe on the ambient map lighting though...? Are you thinking of Source?
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I hope that 1.0 or 1.0+ will have Crysis 2-inspired lighting, at least 1 bounce.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Even the first Crysis looks nice to this day. It's a pretty engine. I've only played the demo for Crysis 2. I remember it being very bright/glowy. Getting jaded with all the neat stuff the new engines have, though. I missed the single player experience, which most of the pretty scenes are probably there.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Also, everything looks like made from plastic. Thing that should be matte are shiny. ns2_tram walls/floor often looks like cut out of plastic.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'm not an expert on shading or texture mapping. This could have something to do with the specular texture maps though, right? Once again, texture sets, then? *shrug* I believe there is a diffuse map and bump map too!
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Even Borderlands managed to get some colors in. First they added them to DLCs and now Borderlands 2 is a lot more than just shade of brown and yellow.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I thought Borderlands was pretty colorful. The enemies colors' were slightly muted, but still varied. Weapons were awful varied in color...hah. It also had that cel-shaded look with heavy black outlines. I guess it gave a gritty/grim look. The texture sets were pretty plain though. With that much landscape, I can understand why.
From my short time playing the new build I'd like to see shotguns get a slight damage buff. I've had several instances where I've hit a skulk point blank and not killed in 1 shot. I understand carapace is supposed to help but If I've got level 2/3 weapons I feel like shotguns should be 1-shotting at melee range regardless.
<!--quoteo(post=1981599:date=Sep 21 2012, 07:07 PM:name=NiL8r87)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (NiL8r87 @ Sep 21 2012, 07:07 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1981599"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->From my short time playing the new build I'd like to see shotguns get a slight damage buff. I've had several instances where I've hit a skulk point blank and not killed in 1 shot. I understand carapace is supposed to help but If I've got level 2/3 weapons I feel like shotguns should be 1-shotting at melee range regardless.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Run a test with a friend in a server with just the two of you? Measure the damage? Do it with and without carapace?
<!--quoteo(post=1981599:date=Sep 21 2012, 06:07 PM:name=NiL8r87)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (NiL8r87 @ Sep 21 2012, 06:07 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1981599"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->From my short time playing the new build I'd like to see shotguns get a slight damage buff. I've had several instances where I've hit a skulk point blank and not killed in 1 shot. I understand carapace is supposed to help but If I've got level 2/3 weapons I feel like shotguns should be 1-shotting at melee range regardless.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Shotty is plenty strong. 1 shots skulks with cara at lvl 0 weps. If you don't do it, it's blamed on your aim/hit reg/lag/spread.
TBH, I feel that they need a bit of a dmg nerf. The combo of shotty/JP is very strong end game, especially once an alien is killed as a higher lifeform and can't re-evolve and is stuck as a skulk.
<!--quoteo(post=1981525:date=Sep 21 2012, 09:53 PM:name=Josh86)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Josh86 @ Sep 21 2012, 09:53 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1981525"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I really think that was on texture artists, too, with the variety of style/color. I did a lot of Half-Life, TFC, and CS mapping in Worldcraft and I don't remember the Goldsrc/Quake engine having diffuse lighting...you either lit an area with a color or it was completely black...maybe on the ambient map lighting though...? Are you thinking of Source?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Lightmaps for diffuse lighting start in Quake. They're computed using radiosity. Half-Life 2 simply has higher resolution of lightmaps and might have some bugs fixed in vrad. You can achieve bounced, diffuse lighting in various ways, lightmaps give best quality if you can spend texture memory and your lights don't change. Radiosity method allows estimating the error so it gets quite close to the real thing for diffuse lighting. There are various methods of achieving similar effect in real-time in less than 10 ms. Crysis 2 uses one on PC.
Yes, map authors used different colors and might have had more textures. The issue is that NS2 map makers are not forced by players to make maps look nice (not beatiful or anything like it), most people treat dynamic lights and few other gimmicks as everything that's needed. Veil is huge progress, it has walls that are shade of yellow and brown, thank god they're not blueish+plastic.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I thought Borderlands was pretty colorful. The enemies colors' were slightly muted, but still varied. Weapons were awful varied in color...hah. It also had that cel-shaded look with heavy black outlines. I guess it gave a gritty/grim look. The texture sets were pretty plain though. With that much landscape, I can understand why.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Ground textures were grey/yellow/brown. Addition of color started in DLCs. Weapons, yes, they were always colorful. I had same thing that I had after playing Quake 1 for longer than 30 minutes, dizziness from all the shades of brown and from the viewbob. It's gone for me in Borderlands 2.
<!--quoteo(post=1981049:date=Sep 20 2012, 07:16 PM:name=Onii-chan)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Onii-chan @ Sep 20 2012, 07:16 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1981049"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Then why did skulks, on average, have way better K/D ratios compared to marines pre-220 and now seem more normalized?
What's next? Asking for auto-aim?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
You don't think the lower performance had anything to do with how poorly marines did? Better performance means more players can hit as marines. Add that to a skulk that just got tougher to land hits with and that's a concern.
<!--quoteo(post=1981599:date=Sep 21 2012, 05:07 PM:name=NiL8r87)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (NiL8r87 @ Sep 21 2012, 05:07 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1981599"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->From my short time playing the new build I'd like to see shotguns get a slight damage buff. I've had several instances where I've hit a skulk point blank and not killed in 1 shot. I understand carapace is supposed to help but If I've got level 2/3 weapons I feel like shotguns should be 1-shotting at melee range regardless.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--quoteo(post=1981727:date=Sep 22 2012, 03:30 AM:name=TimMc)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (TimMc @ Sep 22 2012, 03:30 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1981727"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->It already does. You must be a bad shot.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Or bad hit registration on some servers/situations. (also 10 pellets - 170 damage is hard to achieve)
<!--quoteo(post=1981727:date=Sep 22 2012, 11:30 AM:name=TimMc)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (TimMc @ Sep 22 2012, 11:30 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1981727"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->It already does. You must be a bad shot.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
lol, i unload the entire thing 1vs1 on a skulk, pointblank, and the skulk never dies. Again, bad hit reg/performance
will there be a hotfix for the poor skulk performance before next patch?
I play 4 or 5 games in a row as skulk today. Everytime marines easily walked in our hive area and started spawn camping sooner or later. I tried to prolong this with crags (carapace) or Shade ( cloak / silence). But nothing really seemed to work.
I also played on the field. But hitting a marine as skulk really seems impossible to me. I also tried gorging and tried to help protect the main hive. But gorges are a bad joke in my opinion. They die way too fast !!! and hydras are just no real threat for marines. They easily take them down (or simply ignore them?). Even in the early game. I rarly see any marine dying to hydras.
Also I dont like the idea that aliens can do little without a 2nd hive! Atleast give fades their blink back, so aliens can save up for fades instead of getting a fade hive... etc. ( skulks without leap aren´t useless, but I d say fades with only shadow step are alwys useless, even when you would have them in the early game)
And I would really appreciate if there would be some fast lerks again ( 1 hive lerks) that really can do dmg...
<!--quoteo(post=1981818:date=Sep 22 2012, 08:15 PM:name=LUSITANER)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (LUSITANER @ Sep 22 2012, 08:15 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1981818"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->lol, i unload the entire thing 1vs1 on a skulk, pointblank, and the skulk never dies. Again, bad hit reg/performance<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
More likely just bad panic aiming. Skulks die horrifically easily to a shotty.
<!--quoteo(post=1981819:date=Sep 22 2012, 02:17 PM:name=vup)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (vup @ Sep 22 2012, 02:17 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1981819"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Also I dont like the idea that aliens can do little without a 2nd hive!<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I completely agree here. I don't know if giving fades blink as their starting ability would be good, but I do think that something needs to be done to allow aliens to be at least semi-viable on 1 hive. Mid to late game, if aliens get knocked back to 1 hive, there's not much they can do.
I think not losing abilities like blink until death with the second hive loss was a good enough move to give aliens a fighting chance even if they get knocked to 1 hive. It just requires clever and careful play from the remaining fades/onos/lerks to keep their team in the game. If they never manage to get a second hive in the first place then by all means the game shouldn't go on anyway.
One thing that does remain problematic though is the poor skulk scaling into the late game, if you lose a second hive (i.e no leap) and are facing at least A or W 2 marines, you don't stand a chance as a skulk. Certainly not versus jetpackers.
<!--quoteo(post=1981869:date=Sep 22 2012, 06:56 PM:name=Xarius)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Xarius @ Sep 22 2012, 06:56 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1981869"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->One thing that does remain problematic though is the poor skulk scaling into the late game, if you lose a second hive (i.e no leap) and are facing at least A or W 2 marines, you don't stand a chance as a skulk. Certainly not versus jetpackers.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yes, this is what I mainly meant.
Atm, I still feel like aliens have a hard time countering JPs. Since almost all of the hive/command center rooms have very high ceilings, they are a JPs paradise. Even with leap, skulks have a very hard time against a good JP and blink is useful, but I'm not sure if it will continue to be with the adrenaline change. Having to sit on the ground for a long time waiting for regen because you spent 50%+ of your energy just getting to the JP leaves the marine too much time to either shoot you or take out your base. I was looking forward the "webbing" that has been rumored, but in a Q&A a bit ago, charlie said that it might come, but only post 1.0. I think this is a huge mistake, but that's just me.
Just waiting for October 31st to see if NS2 version 1.0 will be as bad Diablo 3. In my opinion the reason why UW has been having so many problems is cause in alpha they worried about the way the game looked rather than played.
My idea the maps UW have out, get them right. Stop trying to add whole new sections to them, they by adding new bugs, stuck spots or glitches. Ask someone else how to balance things cause UW doesn’t have a clue, they tend to take a chainsaw and in a wide arc cut say they fixed the balance issue.
<!--quoteo(post=1981950:date=Sep 22 2012, 10:58 PM:name=Know pain)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Know pain @ Sep 22 2012, 10:58 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1981950"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Just waiting for October 31st to see if NS2 version 1.0 will be as bad Diablo 3. In my opinion the reason why UW has been having so many problems is cause in alpha they worried about the way the game looked rather than played.
My idea the maps UW have out, get them right. Stop trying to add whole new sections to them, they by adding new bugs, stuck spots or glitches. Ask someone else how to balance things cause UW doesn’t have a clue, they tend to take a chainsaw and in a wide arc cut say they fixed the balance issue.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Your posts are typically unhelpful, could you refrain from typing them?
Waiting to see if a game fails sounds like fun! Let's all join in!
I am worried about new players that are going to play the game. If they try out the alien side, they will be totally dissapointed. The skulk bite needs a lot of time to learn. They will be very frustrated. I dont really care, i got used to it. But in theory, the basic lifeform shouldnt be so hard to play with, when it comes to its basic attack. Marine/lmg is more or less pretty easy for new players, if they have played fps before. Alien/skulk not so easy at all and b220 made it even worse.
<!--quoteo(post=1981996:date=Sep 23 2012, 02:09 PM:name=Kasperle)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Kasperle @ Sep 23 2012, 02:09 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1981996"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I am worried about new players that are going to play the game. If they try out the alien side, they will be totally dissapointed. The skulk bite needs a lot of time to learn. They will be very frustrated. I dont really care, i got used to it. But in theory, the basic lifeform shouldnt be so hard to play with, when it comes to its basic attack. Marine/lmg is more or less pretty easy for new players, if they have played fps before. Alien/skulk not so easy at all and b220 made it even worse.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
They'll probably end up widening the bite cone and tweaking the hitboxes, especially on moving targets. Playing as alien in NS was always harder till you got the hang of it, it's always the case for FPS games that feature melee vs ranged.
Comments
This is how things were before console porting to PC became widespread. (i.e. no need to upgrade because of games designed around hardware specs from 2004)
So i can see how this notion can be a new concept for some, and potentially a bit jarring.
<b>Disclaimer:</b> Obviously not saying this game is fully optimized. But theres a grand canyon of difference between the source engine that has been refined for over a decade by hundreds of developers and can run on integrated graphics and an unreleased engine built by very few people. Saying this does not make someone a "brown noser" or a "fanboy" .. its just common knowledge.
Edit: and Tailor ^ is correct.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
You're either clueless or ignoring something. CPUs stopped becoming faster. You can overclock CPUs to 4-5 GHz but almost no one does that unless desperate or interested in adding water cooling.
Your disclaimer is simply incorrect, because current bottleneck has nothing to do with graphics. It has to do with the fact that client entities (200-400) all think each frame. They all update animation and update their state. It's a structural issue with how client per frame CPU time is spent and not about being written for old or new hardware.
I don't really want to join in the heated conversation, but I really need to say that you're wrong. That is all.
Now i would like to hear again all those wannabe pro that said everything was fine..
@Moo.. you missed the boat, by all accounts, bud. :)
Giving integrated graphics <i>as an example </i> of the level of work and optimization that has gone into the source engine does not mean my point was about GPU bottlenecking.. it was about unfair comparisons and unrealistic expectations when comparing an engine from Valve to an engine from an indie team made by one man.
Finally, there's so much more that goes into determining a chip's speed that simply using hertz as a reference is shortsighted. We have pushed semiconductor technology to its physical limits, including our ability to cool chips and the speed of light. As a result, chip manufacturers have turned to multicore processing technology rather than pure chip and bus speed. Moore's law is actually still valid and applicable today, if you measure more than just hertz.
So no, CPUs have not "stopped becoming faster"
These semantics aside.. when's the last time you upgraded your rig for a game? (Best to leave this thread on topic, but you can PM me?)
Well, considering the fact that 4ghz on a 2500k or a 3570k is basically guaranteed , I would say you are clueless.
Lets also consider the fact that like 90% of those same CPU's can easily run a 4.5ghz with just a $30 CPU cooler (Hyper 212) that makes you even more clueless.
You only NEED watercooling when you start approaching 5ghz.
Hell, almost every single enthusiast motherboard now adays includes an auto-OC/CPU Level Up function.
So with CPU manufactures selling processors that are designed for overclocking (Intel K series and AMD Black Edition/FX series), plus motherboards that have automatic OC functions, you are quite frankly retarded if you are not overclocking.
Oh I'm not really arguing, it just doesn't seem to me as bad as you initially made it. I suppose most mappers are locked into the art set that is currently available to them, which makes it worse, though. I mean, eventually we will have more texture sets and mappers will go for a different look. Light colors are all adjustable of course, not everything has to be blue/white.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->To repeat:
red - lights out
white, slightly blue - lights on
bright orange - aliens
1 shade of green - infestation<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Aliens kind of have a gray/blue/pink coloring with some green in there. It depends on which one. I think the orange color really dominates all the glowy parts and organic stuff for good reason. It most important for structures, I think. Kind of like how marine tech all looks very robotic and rugged. I just don't really believe the palette is NOT diverse.
I think the red color lighting is part of the programming unfortunately, and not a mapping thing. It would be neat for the mapper to have some control of environment variables specific to certain maps or map areas, depending on triggers in the game.
Infestation is still a WIP I hear as well (to my excitement). Charlie said Max may have a "trick up his sleeve" pertaining to dynamic infestation. I think the first iteration on Source used a mesh and phong shading -- I'm really curious to know what they are planning to do with it post v1.0. I hope it's like the original implementation, very seamless and naturally growing. I was sad when cysts had to be put it in (they seem to work though, I guess).
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->NS1 was far less boring. It had walls that somewhere between white, pink and yellow. It had diffuse lighting that didn't attack your eyes. It didn't hide having very few colors behind r_atmospherics.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I really think that was on texture artists, too, with the variety of style/color. I did a lot of Half-Life, TFC, and CS mapping in Worldcraft and I don't remember the Goldsrc/Quake engine having diffuse lighting...you either lit an area with a color or it was completely black...maybe on the ambient map lighting though...? Are you thinking of Source?
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I hope that 1.0 or 1.0+ will have Crysis 2-inspired lighting, at least 1 bounce.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Even the first Crysis looks nice to this day. It's a pretty engine. I've only played the demo for Crysis 2. I remember it being very bright/glowy. Getting jaded with all the neat stuff the new engines have, though. I missed the single player experience, which most of the pretty scenes are probably there.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Also, everything looks like made from plastic. Thing that should be matte are shiny. ns2_tram walls/floor often looks like cut out of plastic.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'm not an expert on shading or texture mapping. This could have something to do with the specular texture maps though, right? Once again, texture sets, then? *shrug* I believe there is a diffuse map and bump map too!
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Even Borderlands managed to get some colors in. First they added them to DLCs and now Borderlands 2 is a lot more than just shade of brown and yellow.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I thought Borderlands was pretty colorful. The enemies colors' were slightly muted, but still varied. Weapons were awful varied in color...hah. It also had that cel-shaded look with heavy black outlines. I guess it gave a gritty/grim look. The texture sets were pretty plain though. With that much landscape, I can understand why.
Run a test with a friend in a server with just the two of you?
Measure the damage? Do it with and without carapace?
Shotty is plenty strong. 1 shots skulks with cara at lvl 0 weps. If you don't do it, it's blamed on your aim/hit reg/lag/spread.
TBH, I feel that they need a bit of a dmg nerf. The combo of shotty/JP is very strong end game, especially once an alien is killed as a higher lifeform and can't re-evolve and is stuck as a skulk.
Lightmaps for diffuse lighting start in Quake. They're computed using radiosity. Half-Life 2 simply has higher resolution of lightmaps and might have some bugs fixed in vrad. You can achieve bounced, diffuse lighting in various ways, lightmaps give best quality if you can spend texture memory and your lights don't change. Radiosity method allows estimating the error so it gets quite close to the real thing for diffuse lighting. There are various methods of achieving similar effect in real-time in less than 10 ms. Crysis 2 uses one on PC.
Yes, map authors used different colors and might have had more textures. The issue is that NS2 map makers are not forced by players to make maps look nice (not beatiful or anything like it), most people treat dynamic lights and few other gimmicks as everything that's needed. Veil is huge progress, it has walls that are shade of yellow and brown, thank god they're not blueish+plastic.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I thought Borderlands was pretty colorful. The enemies colors' were slightly muted, but still varied. Weapons were awful varied in color...hah. It also had that cel-shaded look with heavy black outlines. I guess it gave a gritty/grim look. The texture sets were pretty plain though. With that much landscape, I can understand why.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Ground textures were grey/yellow/brown. Addition of color started in DLCs. Weapons, yes, they were always colorful. I had same thing that I had after playing Quake 1 for longer than 30 minutes, dizziness from all the shades of brown and from the viewbob. It's gone for me in Borderlands 2.
What's next? Asking for auto-aim?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
You don't think the lower performance had anything to do with how poorly marines did? Better performance means more players can hit as marines. Add that to a skulk that just got tougher to land hits with and that's a concern.
So you are telling me ns2 is free? well, if it is, i'll just delete it from steam, cuz IDGAF then. The problem is that it is not
It already does. You must be a bad shot.
Or bad hit registration on some servers/situations. (also 10 pellets - 170 damage is hard to achieve)
It's not the damage values for sure.
lol, i unload the entire thing 1vs1 on a skulk, pointblank, and the skulk never dies. Again, bad hit reg/performance
I play 4 or 5 games in a row as skulk today. Everytime marines easily walked in our hive area and started spawn camping sooner or later.
I tried to prolong this with crags (carapace) or Shade ( cloak / silence). But nothing really seemed to work.
I also played on the field. But hitting a marine as skulk really seems impossible to me. I also tried gorging and tried to help protect the main hive. But gorges are a bad joke in my opinion. They die way too fast !!! and hydras are just no real threat for marines. They easily take them down (or simply ignore them?). Even in the early game. I rarly see any marine dying to hydras.
Also I dont like the idea that aliens can do little without a 2nd hive! Atleast give fades their blink back, so aliens can save up for fades instead of getting a fade hive... etc. ( skulks without leap aren´t useless, but I d say fades with only shadow step are alwys useless, even when you would have them in the early game)
And I would really appreciate if there would be some fast lerks again ( 1 hive lerks) that really can do dmg...
just my 2 cents.
More likely just bad panic aiming. Skulks die horrifically easily to a shotty.
I completely agree here. I don't know if giving fades blink as their starting ability would be good, but I do think that something needs to be done to allow aliens to be at least semi-viable on 1 hive. Mid to late game, if aliens get knocked back to 1 hive, there's not much they can do.
One thing that does remain problematic though is the poor skulk scaling into the late game, if you lose a second hive (i.e no leap) and are facing at least A or W 2 marines, you don't stand a chance as a skulk. Certainly not versus jetpackers.
Yes, this is what I mainly meant.
Atm, I still feel like aliens have a hard time countering JPs. Since almost all of the hive/command center rooms have very high ceilings, they are a JPs paradise. Even with leap, skulks have a very hard time against a good JP and blink is useful, but I'm not sure if it will continue to be with the adrenaline change. Having to sit on the ground for a long time waiting for regen because you spent 50%+ of your energy just getting to the JP leaves the marine too much time to either shoot you or take out your base. I was looking forward the "webbing" that has been rumored, but in a Q&A a bit ago, charlie said that it might come, but only post 1.0. I think this is a huge mistake, but that's just me.
My idea the maps UW have out, get them right. Stop trying to add whole new sections to them, they by adding new bugs, stuck spots or glitches. Ask someone else how to balance things cause UW doesn’t have a clue, they tend to take a chainsaw and in a wide arc cut say they fixed the balance issue.
My idea the maps UW have out, get them right. Stop trying to add whole new sections to them, they by adding new bugs, stuck spots or glitches. Ask someone else how to balance things cause UW doesn’t have a clue, they tend to take a chainsaw and in a wide arc cut say they fixed the balance issue.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Your posts are typically unhelpful, could you refrain from typing them?
Waiting to see if a game fails sounds like fun! Let's all join in!
Marine/lmg is more or less pretty easy for new players, if they have played fps before.
Alien/skulk not so easy at all and b220 made it even worse.
Marine/lmg is more or less pretty easy for new players, if they have played fps before.
Alien/skulk not so easy at all and b220 made it even worse.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
They'll probably end up widening the bite cone and tweaking the hitboxes, especially on moving targets.
Playing as alien in NS was always harder till you got the hang of it, it's always the case for FPS games that feature melee vs ranged.