[dev 1015] Adding Visual Identifiers for a Pyxis: "Pyxis Labels" and More

[Kimble]

I think the Devs actually want good/worthwhile suggestions/improvements is all.

[kingfury]

@ CrystalWeapon:

I'd love those commands to macro in man! It just would make things cleaner ^^

I would hope not in regards to the lag from the pyxis labels. Technically they wouldn't pop up until the pyxis content was "peered" at by a player so they wouldn't all just pop up once the chest dropped.

Yeah, I can see the challenge with programming the "Forced layout" thing with all the wonderful things that can get in the way. Just hoping the Devs continue testing ways to improve the outcome when lots of chest spawn. In any case it's good to let them know right?

[Selzak]

It'd be nice to have those labels, but I'm pretty sure it would create a tremendous amount of lag.

[kingfury]

I think the Devs actually want good/worthwhile suggestions/improvements is all.

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Oh boy, see now you're just baiting for a little slap fight lol I'll /pass this time, thanks ^^

Your opinion is noted Kimble, thanks for the feedback /

[kingfury]

It'd be nice to have those labels, but I'm pretty sure it would create a tremendous amount of lag.

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Again, I would hope not since they wouldn't appear until the player "peered" at the contents, or perhaps after choosing a "Display Pyxis Label" option after checking the contents. So you wouldn't just see a label instantly upon them dropping.

[kingfury]

i like the drawings. good job as always

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Thanks for the feedback and compliment Jovial ^^/

[kingfury]

**Edit to OP**

"Additions that could help streamline the process:

• Adding a way to quickly "Visually communicate" the contents of a checked pyxis to other party members. Possible "Pyxis Labels", or "Pyxis Auras" could allow a player to check a pyxis and instantly Visually display the contents to effectively communicate to all party members in range the value of that pyxis. This could be accomplished by either adding an additional option to the pyxis menu called "Display Pyxis Label" or just perhaps making it an automatic response to the player "Peering through the cracks" of a Pyxis."

[Kimble]

I fail to see how "I like your drawings" is considered feedback.

Aura would really be a bad idea because "aura" type stuff is what causes the most leg in the game. SMN avatars, Confluexes, Teleport crystals, etc.

The main problem I see with labels is that its not something currently in the game so its not as simple as "just turn this on to make it visible", it would be something totally new for the game and could cause the same kind of lag.

[Selzak]

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Again, I would hope not since they wouldn't appear until the player "peered" at the contents, or perhaps after choosing a "Display Pyxis Label" option after checking the contents. So you wouldn't just see a label instantly upon them dropping.

What would be the point then?

[RAIST]

What they need to do is work on where the chests drop in the first place. If they could somehow make them behave like they actually have some physical properties so they don't spawn on top/inside of each other, most of this would all be mute.

Adding the labels could create even more problems. Without the chests paying attention to collision/occlusion rules in any way shape or form, the labels would also get stacked on top of each other, in some cases rendering them useless as you wouldn't be able to read them. Also, doing so may negate the tweak they just made to increase the number of pyxis spawning. There is a limited amount of memory and address space to assign to NPC type items in a zone due to the PS2 hardware limitations--those same restrictions are built into the programming code as well, so they exist as a soft-cap on the other platforms as well. In short, this could reak a little havoc if implemented.

As I mentioned in the last thread on this idea, what really needs to be done is to streamline the menus. They need to change it so that we stay in the menus until we are done with the chest or exit out of the menus ourselves. This way we can check it ONE and ONLY one time:

/Check <t>
scroll down to peek inside the chest and we see the contents
--STAY IN THE MENU SYSTEM---
"Attempt to open chest" -->start the manual chest open sequence, staying in the menu system until we succeed, fail, or giveup.
"Open with a Forbidden Key"-->receive items and exit, or stay in the menu to add to lottable spoils, take items (again, staying in the menus system until we've taken all items or exited ourselves)
"Destroy the chest"-->chest is destroyed and get the cruor reward

As it is now, you have to check it multiple times to get through all the steps. This presents the bulk of the problem when the chests are spawning on top of each other.