Here you go. tl;dr = LODs are baked into the game data. Can't dynamically adjust
http://forums.reckoning.amalur.com/showthread.php?3511-LOD-distance-on-the-PC
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning |OT| An Enemy-Pounding Funfest
- Thread starter ReaperXL7
- Start date
Here you go. tl;dr = LODs are baked into the game data. Can't dynamically adjust
http://forums.reckoning.amalur.com/showthread.php?3511-LOD-distance-on-the-PC
Neuromancer
Member
Check it out
Here you go. tl;dr = LODs are baked into the game data. Can't dynamically adjust
http://forums.reckoning.amalur.com/showthread.php?3511-LOD-distance-on-the-PC
That's unfortunate. While I and others will deal with it, the performance is very much tuned to console specs over pc specs. While dynamic adjustment is out, you guys really need to look into extending it some, if possible, in a future patch because it looks really bad on the pc version.
Baconsammy
Banned
I'd be interested to know what their sales projections are for PC/Console. A decision like that about LOD leads me to believe PC sales aren't expect to approach console. I could be woefully wrong.
thetrin
Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
Here you go. tl;dr = LODs are baked into the game data. Can't dynamically adjust
http://forums.reckoning.amalur.com/showthread.php?3511-LOD-distance-on-the-PC
I appreciate you getting back to us on it. Is there possibility of a PC patch to lessen it? It's pretty bad on the PC version, and a little jarring for people with nice rigs.
I don't think they were trying to tear Skyrim down, just pointing out some of the areas they felt the series still lacked in, despite how great it is. At the same time, they simply described how they felt that Reckoning handled some of these things better, which shows that it may be worth your time if you love the genre.
As much as I love Skyrim and The Elder Scrolls in general, I can't disagree with what they said. Looks like they were just being honest to me, while even acknowledging that The Elder Scrolls is still the king of the genre. As great as it is, things like the combat still hold it back from being even greater.
Anyway, I just posted this for others who may be interested in Reckoning, but still need swaying. As it shows that in some areas, it can stand amongst the best in the genre and even out perform them in some aspects as well. I just think it deserves credit where credit is due is all, and am glad to see some are giving it to a game that needs the support.
The LOD issue is unfortunate for us with nice PC's in that it messes with what is an otherwise vibrant and beautiful game world. It's definitely not a deal breaker for me as I think the game is a blast to play but some further consideration given to PC folks in the future would be greatly appreciated.
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
That was definitely annoying in the demo. It wasn't horribly jarring for me, but definitely noticeable. Maybe it's not as apparent when the areas open up a little bit more.
sneakypete
Member
Preorder is paid off and told work I'm not coming in on tuesday..
Now we wait.
Now we wait.
I played the demo and was left impressed. I just started Dark Souls recently, but man, this game just feels better!
I got the impression that The Reckoning is more straight-forward and fast paced in that you can keep going forward, but in Dark Souls, it feels really slow and you have to tread carefully and fight enemies one at a time.
For those who played both, is that the major gameplay differences?
I got the impression that The Reckoning is more straight-forward and fast paced in that you can keep going forward, but in Dark Souls, it feels really slow and you have to tread carefully and fight enemies one at a time.
For those who played both, is that the major gameplay differences?
Mostly everything.
The only similarities is that there both quasi open world action RPGs. But there almost exactly the opposite in everything else.
Hawk269
Member
Here you go. tl;dr = LODs are baked into the game data. Can't dynamically adjust
http://forums.reckoning.amalur.com/showthread.php?3511-LOD-distance-on-the-PC
Wow. So it is confirmed the game was designed with consoles in mind first and foremost. This is unfortunate as the PC market is pretty big and giving PC gamers options for graphics settings is what we come to expect. It seems Reckoning has fallen to yet another console-centric game ported to PC. I wish you guys took the approach that CDProjek did with Witcher 2. Design the game for the PC then port to the console.
I appreciate the fact that you got an answer for us. I still have alot of respect for the way you guys handle yourselves and the fact that even with negative news like this, you still are upfront about it and give us an answer. For me the LOD/POP In is too severe to purchase the game now. I dont spend full price on PC games to have issues that are related to console's. Also, most developers take into account when working with an engine that the majority of PC gamers have more powerfull rigs than the average console, so some consideration in the design phase should have been given to PC gamers with an engine that would of allowed scalabilty with issues like the LOD issue. Most games that are on console and PC have options for PC gamers to adjust LOD/Draw distance etc.
Now that I have that out of my system, please for the love of everything that is holy that you guys dont miss the boat on your MMO. If there are LOD issues in a MMO you guys will have a hard sell to PC gamers that play MMO's and regular PC games that have features like advanced graphic features.
NoSkillz187
Member
Really the two games combat systems are completely different. Reckoning decided to go a more arcadey feel but I think this makes the comabat more fun.
Dark Souls combat is great but way more realistic and you cant take many hits before you're dead. And of course if you get surrounded then thats a wrap for you.
I prefer arcade style gameplay for this type of genre (such as Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance, Diablo), that's probably why I like it more than Dark Souls. I think Dark Souls is fine too, but right now, I'm just in the mood of a faster-paced game, and The Reckoning seems to be more to my current liking
thetrin
Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
I prefer arcade style gameplay for this type of genre (such as Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance, Diablo), that's probably why I like it more than Dark Souls. I think Dark Souls is fine too, but right now, I'm just in the mood of a faster-paced game, and The Reckoning seems to be more to my current liking
I like Dark Souls a lot, but I also like faster paced, more arcade style combat for games like this, and Reckoning really resonates with me.
Here you go. tl;dr = LODs are baked into the game data. Can't dynamically adjust
http://forums.reckoning.amalur.com/showthread.php?3511-LOD-distance-on-the-PC
That is horrible. The LOD on the PC version is the biggest blemish on the entire game and it's otherwise great content. There needs to be a command or an .ini file setting somewhere to increase the amount of tiles/cells currently loaded. Th exact kind of command exists in, for example, Skyrim.
It is completely and utterly horrible to see a tree entirely change it's model 5m away from you when you take a step back and forth. It is even worse to see all the villagers in Gorhart suddenly materialize out of thin air. No one should have to see this in 2012.
I really can't believe you guys kept it like this.
I love this game, but that is poor, laughable and seriously just dumb.
Can't say they are wrong, based on my experience with the demo. I love ES, but if they were to make a 3rd person ES with this style of combat it would be awesome.
Hawk269
Member
Well said and yeah, moving towards a tree and seeing it populate so close to the player is annoying and then taking a few steps back and seeing it change is really bad.
I know that the game is huge, vast and there are tons of great things about it, but to design a engine that basically has this as part of it was shortsighted on the teams side. While Skyrim did have LOD issues, it is no where near this bad and it can be fixed to remove it completely.
I cant think of a game that has come out in the last 4 years that has LOD issues this close to view of the player and this bad. Yes, other games have LOD issues, but most hide it well and it is pushed back far enough to not be "in your face". It is really that bad and I was really expecting as many others that there would be an option for the PC version to fix it or reduce it.
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
I think LOD issues are just about my biggest graphical pet peeve. Personally, I'd vastly prefer having a lower detail game that didn't have various levels of detail depending on the camera's distance in relation to the object.
Nothing is more destructive to a sense of immersion than having shit materialize out of thin air, or seeing a gnarly model suddenly slip in an out of higher detail assets.
Nothing is more destructive to a sense of immersion than having shit materialize out of thin air, or seeing a gnarly model suddenly slip in an out of higher detail assets.
I've always been able to deal with it myself. The only thing that really can kill my enjoyment of a game with good systems is highly fluctuating framerate. Even low framerates (depending on the type of game/how drastic) aren't really an issue if they're a stable lower framerate.
It is frustrating when you have a rig that can handle it and it's just not being utilized though.
One thing really drove me nuts in the demo, if you attack in one direction and then attack in another direction it sometimes doesn't work properly. If the time between the attacks is of a certain length it registers as a launch combo and the second attack, the launch, automatically happens in the same direction as the first attack, regardless of where you're aiming the stick. Faster attacks work, slower attacks work. The inconsistency is really frustrating.
One of the reasons I kinda got bored of skyrim is that the loot got really damn boring
Honestly its times like this that I'm glad I very rarely notice tech related issues like this, ifthe frame rate is making the game a slide show then I notice and sometimes. Popin, but I'm not even really sure what LOD is so that does not bother me much. I can understand why people with expensive or high end rigs would have issues with it though. Quick question though, would the age of the engine itself have any effect on these ssues, asking because bhg made this engine before they were acuired by 38 so I could imagine that its probably alittle on the older side, I may not understand all of this type of stuff but its still interesting.
LOD = Level of Detail
Basically, when creating the art assets the texture artists will create multiple sets of textures as well as different 3D models (let's call them Far, Middle and Near textures/models) for each asset. Each type of texture and model will be used for a particular asset based on distance from the player and that helps reduce the performance load since the engine doesn't have to place a call for the highest quality textures/models for all the assets all of the time. If the player is far away, they wouldn't be able to see the big, expensive, most detailed textures, so the engine would use the Middle or Far set of textures and far less detailed 3D models for certain assets. Does that make sense?
The age of the engine wouldn't really matter. There are games far older than 3-4 years that have LOD options. They made a conscious choice to have the LOD work this way on this engine and (not being versed in engine architecture) I can't say whether it was a good or a bad one. Nonetheless, it is creating an issue for PC users.
It didn't really bother me when I played the demo but it was quite prevalent. It's extremely jarring to see things change all of their textures and even their basic geometry right in front of you when it should be something that happens further away. I can't say how much the power of your computer will have an effect on this, but I played the demo on 2 different PCs, my desktop and my laptop. Suffice to say, I noticed about the same type of LOD issues on both and my laptop is nowhere near the beast my desktop is. Like I said, it can be quite jarring.
you took off work for a game?
Baconsammy
Banned
You ask that like it's an unusual occurrence. I've never done it, but I know lots of people that have. Personally, I've taken a day off in the past when a big movie or book came out that I wanted to watch/read. We love our hobbies for a reason.
By now I thought it was a common occurrence, not that I would ever do it.
Lots of people do this... I take vacation during E3 for example.
Obviously if you can afford it, if you are short of money that may not be the best option though.
I did. But I make well over 6 figures so it doesn't matter anyways. I make money when I am not at work.
Hawk269
Member
Ive done it before, but I mainly do it far in advance and I use my paid time off since I have a ton of time. It is pretty cool to have a day off theday a highly anticipated game comes out... While I think Reckoning is a fun game, with the LOD issues and no expectations that it will be fixed I will be passing on the game for now. I just tried it again on 360 and PC and it is just so much more apparent on the PC because I am able to run it a true 1080p at 60fps and it is just so much more pronounced...but damn I think the game looks so damn good at true 1080p. The 360 version just seems muddy, low res and the anti-aliasing is pretty horrid as well...especially when you run it back to back with the PC version.
Some folks were commenting earlier on Todd's influence.
If you have time and care see if you can find the video from Comic Con where we did a panel. Watch that, and watch Todd, and laugh.
First off all three guys are genuine, down to earth good people.
They have an intense desire to help people, approaching 'work'with a mentor mindset.
And ya, they'll both get tons of credit they would be the first to admit they don't deserve. Todd had and has influence on the artistic vision of the entire IP.
Bob drove the story as well.
But the art team, animation team, and design team are the true grunts here and those teams led by Tim Coman, Young Vo Joe Quaddara and Ian Frazier have done magic.
Many expected the game to try for that Spawn look and/or feel, and Todd was adamant that he did not want that to happen, he wanted to be a guide and mentor from a 50k foot level on the art, as well as get his hands dirty in animation, that seems to me to be his passion.
Both guys had moments in the past where they came to me with their hands up.
"I'm done! I can't help anymore, the stuff their doing has surpassed what I could do, it's better, I'm going to screw it up if I keep holding on!"
Funny at the time, but also a real testament to two things
1) Their team first mentality
2) The amazing talent of the team at 38
This franchise was founded on a philosophy that the IP was going to come alive and be able to live across any form of media, and any device, for many many years.
There is depth you can't imagine, from each race having it's own language, alphabet, music and color palette to every zone being hand crafted in BOTH games.
You can like/dislike the art style, but there will be no mistaking the time and passion involved in the creation and depth of the lore, story and world.
If you have time and care see if you can find the video from Comic Con where we did a panel. Watch that, and watch Todd, and laugh.
First off all three guys are genuine, down to earth good people.
They have an intense desire to help people, approaching 'work'with a mentor mindset.
And ya, they'll both get tons of credit they would be the first to admit they don't deserve. Todd had and has influence on the artistic vision of the entire IP.
Bob drove the story as well.
But the art team, animation team, and design team are the true grunts here and those teams led by Tim Coman, Young Vo Joe Quaddara and Ian Frazier have done magic.
Many expected the game to try for that Spawn look and/or feel, and Todd was adamant that he did not want that to happen, he wanted to be a guide and mentor from a 50k foot level on the art, as well as get his hands dirty in animation, that seems to me to be his passion.
Both guys had moments in the past where they came to me with their hands up.
"I'm done! I can't help anymore, the stuff their doing has surpassed what I could do, it's better, I'm going to screw it up if I keep holding on!"
Funny at the time, but also a real testament to two things
1) Their team first mentality
2) The amazing talent of the team at 38
This franchise was founded on a philosophy that the IP was going to come alive and be able to live across any form of media, and any device, for many many years.
There is depth you can't imagine, from each race having it's own language, alphabet, music and color palette to every zone being hand crafted in BOTH games.
You can like/dislike the art style, but there will be no mistaking the time and passion involved in the creation and depth of the lore, story and world.
Hawk269
Member
Do you go to E3 or just stay home and stay on the net all day? I usually take vacation because I attend the show in person, but the one year I did not go, I did stay home the day of the press conferences, but not the whole week.
I love the art and I'm going to bombard your offices with my portfolio come Summer ^_^
As a 3D student, it really seems like a good place to learn more about modeling.
Hawk269
Member
Curt,
I just read the write up about the game and you over at ABCNews...they had some small clips of your interview and did you really have something in your Baseball contract that when you travel and stay in hotels that you had to have "high-bandwidth" so you could game on-line? If so, that is classic man. I had to travel alot for my work, about 16 months of being in a hottel 4 nights a week and hotel bandwidth is horrid and could not game much myself. I just think it is hilarious that you would have that in your contract.
Anyways, I think the art work in teh game is very good and you can see that there is alot of thought put into the enviroment.
sneakypete
Member
I've been working 6(and sometimes 7) days a week for the past few months because we can't find anyone else to hire. Usually my day off is Monday, so if I didn't take Tuesday instead I would have to wait a week to have a nice long gaming session with Reckoning.
The only other time I've specifically asked off for a game was with BF3 so I could stay up all night playing with my room mate after the midnight release.
Barack Lesnar
Banned
What did you expect, dude? I mean really. The console versions are gonna sell a lot more. The Witcher 2's situation isn't the norm... it was a sequel to a PC exclusive. This is completely different. The entitlement to expect devs to create for PC ground-up when the vast majority of sales are on on consoles is bizarre. It's time to accept that and move on. I'm a PC-only gamer and have done so.
Hawk269
Member
The difference here is that when games are ported from console to PC, devs usually do things to improve the PC version, things like advanced graphic options or things built into the game that due to larger memory makes things better due more memory.
I understand Witcher 2 is not the norm, but I play alot of games that started life on the console then ported to the PC and they dont suffer issues with LOD like this game does. Even when games did have LOD issues on console, it was pretty gone when ported to the PC version of the game.
You ask what I expect, well it's 2012 I expect that LOD issues as pronounced as these should not be happing on the PC. If they do exists, usually there is an option or .ini file to edit to improve the LOD issues. Is that too much to expect out of a game coming out on PC in 2012?
Baconsammy
Banned
Curt, give the guy that designed the Boggarts a raise. I stealthed and watched one chase a firefly around for a few minutes. Crazy little critters. Then I watched a bear f*** up a group of Brownies, and then roll around on the ground and finally take a nap. I can't wait to see how the creatures in the rest of the game behave.
I can't link to it from work but for anyone interested 1Up put up a preview for the game. Its actually a decent read the title makes the article appear alittle negative but its not. Can't wait for Tuesday, hopefully they will deliver my CE nice and early. Lookin forward to checkin out the guide too since futureworks does good work.
Nobody wants it built from the ground up, get that shit out of here. It is disappointing there is no way to change the LOD settings, that is all.
NoSkillz187
Member
Here is the preview from 1up, it is positive despite the title. The writer was basically saying stop throwing around the big names to sell the game and also do a better job at showing the game off to the press.
http://www.1up.com/previews/kingdoms-amalur-reckoning-namedropping?pager.offset=0
http://www.1up.com/previews/kingdoms-amalur-reckoning-namedropping?pager.offset=0
Wind's Howling
Member
5 days before the release and the game got leaked already. I know there is no control over this but the ease of this happening is just insane. I do hope people have the brains to support this developer and buy this masterpiece.
Well I think the problem is just a question of how do you really show a game like this off to the press without just giving them the full game. There is so much to do, so many different ways to build your character that It seems a difficult task to show it in a preview session. As for the big names I got interested years ago when I found out Todd Was involved, Then the other names drew me in further. It's going to be interesting to see the difference between this and the mmo.
The random placement. of your. periods makes this. hard. to read.
Are you on your phone?
the writer's mentioning of big names like Todd and Ken is just bad writing. He implies a lot based on nothing. "He probably just said this..."
...really?