Hard Light Productions Forums
General FreeSpace => FreeSpace Discussion => Topic started by: Starman01 on October 11, 2006, 02:13:00 pm
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Hello People,
with our (WCS) release date closing up (no, we are not finished yet, so don't ask :) ), I'm getting a little concerned about this question. Obviously people's favourite settings are quite different from each other, and even with this setting quite easily changable I'm simply a little worried that we release the game with the wrong default setting (because we will hopefully reach a bigger group of people even outside of this community and they will not be so familiar with the game, SCP and it's settings, but we hope to lure them here :) ).
But this will not work if the majority of the new players will get a false first impression when they think it's too dark or unrealistic enlighted because they don't get it that it is so easily changable.
So, therefore I have created this poll inside this forum since I hope I can catch most of the active players in here, and I hope you will all vote. It's not necessary to tell big " I like/dislike it because..." stories or even post a comment (but you are free to do so :) ), simply vote in this poll. I just hope to get as much votes as possible to get a statistic view of the situation that helps me to make a decision.
I've always being a fan of more brighter settings to see the ship models, but I understand on the other side that darker settings will be much more effective for the glow and shinemapping features (but it's kinda odd when you can only see the glowmaps all the time, even if it's kinda realistic). On the other hand I noticed often in the recent past that screenshots are being posted showing off new stuff, and all I see are parts of a background blocked by a black object in the front with a few nice lights on it :wtf: It's really difficult promoting a game with just something like that. (O.K, you see I'm not really neutral in this issue, I prefer it being more visible, therefore 120% is my choice and the first vote in this poll. In that setting there are still nice glow- and shinemappings, but the ships and pretty models stay much more visible). (Besides that, now that I can finally play in OGL I have the impression that the values in OGL are a little darker as their equivalent in D3D)
Out of these thoughts I created the options above. For the values 80%, 100% and 120% I created example images below (in that line of order) to make you the decision easier (cklick them, bigger images behind it).
80 % (http://www.wcsaga.com/~team/Starman/pics/welli80-tn.jpg) (http://www.wcsaga.com/~team/Starman/pics/welli80.jpg) 100 % (http://www.wcsaga.com/~team/Starman/pics/welli100-tn.jpg) (http://www.wcsaga.com/~team/Starman/pics/welli100.jpg) 120 % (http://www.wcsaga.com/~team/Starman/pics/welli120-tn.jpg) (http://www.wcsaga.com/~team/Starman/pics/welli120.jpg)
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I believe, that HLP players will prefer lower ambient settings, while WC players will go with ambient factor settings above 100. :)
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I am torn between 80 and 100...so I say 90% ^_^
For the vote I would say 100% since I know I can still adjust it to my likeing.
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What this actually looks like depends on the brightness settings you're using in the game and on your monitor. I use 90 and it looks good to me, but that's with my specific setup.
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What this actually looks like depends on the brightness settings you're using in the game and on your monitor. I use 90 and it looks good to me, but that's with my specific setup.
You certainly have a point here, that must be taken into account too.
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Hell, maybe put in a set of pictures and ask which looks best. I remember in Riven, they said "buff the brightness on your screen until you can see this image. Barely."
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I don't normally bother with it at all, and probably won't until such time as it can be set by the mission rather than as an overall setting; such an atmospheric effect would be nice for fighting behind a planet or moon...
On the other hand, that's a bad idea. Everybody would make me play in the dark.
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"Alone in the dark with a Kilrathi" :nervous: *runs* ^__^
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I voted 80 but in actuality I use it somewhere around 75. That is.... when I did play.
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I voted under 80, but as I run the game on a laptop's LCD it is generally much brighter than if it was on a CRT :rolleyes:
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100% based off a dell Latitude D610, Its a good mix between atmosphere and detail visability in my opinion, Most people with WC3 experience will find it palateable. :D
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I prefer values between zero and twenty. Currently it is set on 18.3, but sometimes I do play on zero value too.
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I use ambient_factor values from 20 to 60 depending on mod ofcourse... I use 100 or above only for 'debugging'.
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Is there an option for "can't be arsed to fiddle around with a command line, so leaves it at whatever the default value is"? :p
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Is there an option for "can't be arsed to fiddle around with a command line, so leaves it at whatever the default value is"? :p
sadly: no :(
I wish, that it would be possible to lock certain flags. The again, certain options should not be available. I s'pose we have to wait for the next-gen launcher ;)
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Is there an option for "can't be arsed to fiddle around with a command line, so leaves it at whatever the default value is"? :p
Vote 100% in that case. That's what the default is.
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80%; I suspect (but not sure) that I use 0.35 for my setting.
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I thought the default value was something like 128...
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waay lower than these, somthing like 20...
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75
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I personally like 100 best. Most of my stuff i think i put it at 120. Maybe it's my lcd and/or video card and/or eyes.
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I thought the default value was something like 128...
That will teach me to make assumptions instead of looking at the code. It is indeed 128.
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Yeah, well, it is obvious that the default is 100% in the poll... the absolute value can be something else altogether, like 128 in this case.
So, 1% = 128/100 = 1.28
And for example, ambient factor value 18.3 would in fact be
18.3 / 1.28 = 14,296875 % :lol:
Ambient value of 100 would, correspondingly, be 78.128 %
There's a difference between relative value (in the poll) and absolute value (to be fed into program). :p
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I think the entire question is silly and ambient light should be settable in FRED.
Having it as a CLI destroys the opportunity for varied lighting in missions.
Everyone is going to have their monitor settings set differently, it is the job of the video settings to make the image look uniform amongst players. The point of in-game light sources is to change the feeling of the mission.
Unless you're working from a standardized test that lets people set their monitor settings to a uniform level, the poll ends up being largely based on opinion and ignoring the real problem of differing monitor settings and monitor environments.
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I think the entire question is silly and ambient light should be settable in FRED.
Yes, it should :)
As a designer I would like to have full control over general appearance of the game :D
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I like actually being able to see what I'm shooting at, so %120 for me. I actually played at a much higher level (%170) for a long time, but I have since stopped doing that, as I saw that it really looked terrible. :ick:
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I think the entire question is silly and ambient light should be settable in FRED.
As I observed before, if that happens I end up playing in the friggin' dark all the time.
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I do not think so or the WC community will linch me :)
They are always complaining, that pictures done with ambient factor 85 are too dark ;)
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Yes, but that's you. And then there's everyone else making a campaign or TC.
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There's a difference between relative value (in the poll) and absolute value (to be fed into program)
Here is how it's calculated for OpenGL:
amb_user = (float)((Cmdline_ambient_factor * 2) - 255) / 255.0f;
// set the ambient light
GL_light_ambient[0] += amb_user;
GL_light_ambient[1] += amb_user;
GL_light_ambient[2] += amb_user;The default GL_light_ambient[] values being 0.8, 0.8, 0.8, unless it's set to something else by the mission.
So by that, an ambient factor setting of 127.5 will do nothing (ie, 100%). A setting of anything below 127.5 will scale the ambient light level down. A setting above 127.5 will scale the ambient light level up.
I think the entire question is silly and ambient light should be settable in FRED.
Having it as a CLI destroys the opportunity for varied lighting in missions.
Ambient light IS settable in FRED. The cmdline option just sets the user perference as to the scale of that light. And that should NOT be a FRED option, under any circumstances.
The user specified ambient factor is required to deal more appropriately with video card differences, monitor/environment settings, other cmdline options, models/maps in use, and general user preference. You can't FRED around that stuff and it's just silly to think otherwise.
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for me the best ambient_factor is 20, i agree about the space should be dark, but 18 is a little too much, some ships are completly black, in 20 at least tou can see comething thanx to the lights that ships have :P
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I am currently playing at ambient_factor 0
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Also remember that there is the -no_emissive_light cmdline option you can use if you want to make it really dark. This option removes all base light, so a model will only show up where it has light applied to it. Just be aware that this option can make a model 100% black if there isn't enough light shining on it.