Grass

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Originally Posted by Shougun

Rofl :D

I'd love to see that too. There are some very simple techniques to get grass to bend when you are around it (its just a warp image effect). But a physics would be better (the warp effect while easy does look a bit "Indie".. lol). Would be amazing to see someone casting some kind of imploding spell all the grass leans in and then explodes and it all just gets blown hard back like a helicopter trying to land.

Or when the strong gust of wind whistles through the trees you can see the grass and limbs lean the way... That would be pretty cool.

(Grass and leaves already move, they just have no response to interaction).

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Exactly, or even have a firey explosion singe the grass for a time. I know NeverWinter Nights the grass bent when you walked through it and thats quite an old game now. The thing is, how much extra computing power would they need and how much more information would need to be packaged and sent via internet, how much would this slow things down, is creating better grass going to reduce the quality of other, more improtant areas of the game/gameplay. Those screenshots had lots of grass.

I am not against adding in a patch later that increases some visual aspects of the game (IIRC Direct X11 support and SLI support is coming?) at least they arent as focused on the grass as some people are. They need to get the core systems to a playable state before worrying about the fluff.

there's no reason to make PC version crappy, to fit PS3. they can just downsize textures for PS version, and reduce poly count.
You can usually do such things in graphic settings. So PS could run on mid settings, and PC users could crank up settings to max.
We'll just have to wait and see what settings beta has, or at release; and it's possible they didn't go overboard with graphics, cause they waiting for the DX 11 patch.
Otherwise hopefully there will be able to be graphic mods :)

Well if grass looks so pixely, then it will make much of the environment look pixely. Then you would need to use high Anti Aliasing settings...which lags the game a lot; or it will just look low quality.
But i think mostly they just need higher res textures, that don't look like lego-structures at close up.

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Originally Posted by ZakarnRosewood

Exactly, or even have a firey explosion singe the grass for a time. I know NeverWinter Nights the grass bent when you walked through it and thats quite an old game now. The thing is, how much extra computing power would they need and how much more information would need to be packaged and sent via internet, how much would this slow things down, is creating better grass going to reduce the quality of other, more improtant areas of the game/gameplay. Those screenshots had lots of grass.

I am not against adding in a patch later that increases some visual aspects of the game (IIRC Direct X11 support and SLI support is coming?) at least they arent as focused on the grass as some people are. They need to get the core systems to a playable state before worrying about the fluff.

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I think what they would do is package the data into the spell.

So you cast fire at X,Y,Z. The game sends that to the player and in the players computer the game decides how the grass will bend (if the player has environment physics on of course). They wont use any extra data over the internet for grass physics. Of course the computer itself will be working harder, but not the network - all the information needed is already being used (the game already asks "where did bob cast that??" and the server says "there", and then the players computer does the rest lilke playing the casting animation, the spell animation, and the grass physics).

Yeah DX11 (and 10 I believe) are coming in a patch planned a few months or so after release (I think it was like 4-6 months it was mentioned in the first roadmap).

And I agree they shouldn't be delaying the game for grass. But when they get a second to improve graphical features (more then just grass, I hope they visit grass as well).

Would you rather have pretty grass or more areas?

There's no pop-up (aka a clipping pane). If you want higher detail grass, you are going to need a clipping pane.

I wonder if this is about the lack of "greens" that the game's palate uses. Because the fauna looks fine. I have video from the alpha and it looks fine.

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Originally Posted by Laraul

Would you rather have pretty grass or more areas?

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Would you rather have good combat or one area?

This isnt an option you are using logical fallacies.

I think the grass looks fine, update your computer before crying the graphics suck. Oh what's that, you are playing on ps3? Then please shut up.

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Originally Posted by Shougun

I think what they would do is package the data into the spell.

So you cast fire at X,Y,Z. The game sends that to the player and in the players computer the game decides how the grass will bend. They wont use any extra data over the internet for grass physics. Of course the computer itself will be working harder, but not the network - all the information needed is already being used (the game already asks "where did bob cast that??" and the server says "there", and then the players computer does the rest lilke playing the casting animation, the spell animation, and the grass physics).

Yeah DX11 (and 10 I believe) are coming in a patch planned a few months or so after release (I think it was like 4-6 months it was mentioned in the first roadmap).

And I agree they shouldn't be delaying the game for grass. But when they get a second to improve graphical features (more then just grass, I hope they visit grass as well).

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Thats the beautiful thing about games now-a-days. Its so easy to upgrade and patch things that dont work. For an example, League of Legends has been having regular updates that increase the graphics of their chr models, maps, skills, UI etc. TBH I dont even know if we need to tell them to upgrade any graphical detail. Once they are happy with how things are going and they arent so overworked just trying to get a playable game, they will have time to sit back and say "oh... I see what they mean about the grass. Well Takamori dosent have much to do right now, lets get him to redesign the grass." It will come and if they havent heard there is a stink about the grass by now, then nothing will get through to them.

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Originally Posted by ZakarnRosewood

Thats the beautiful thing about games now-a-days. Its so easy to upgrade and patch things that dont work. For an example, League of Legends has been having regular updates that increase the graphics of their chr models, maps, skills, UI etc. TBH I dont even know if we need to tell them to upgrade any graphical detail. Once they are happy with how things are going and they arent to overworked just trying to get a playable game, they will ahve time to sit back and say "oh... I see what they mean about the grass. Well Takamori dosent have much to do right now, lets get him to redesign the grass." It will come and if they havent heard there is a stink about the grass by now, then nothing will get through to them.

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Indeed :D

Too bad I cant lock the thread at your post lol - its pretty much all I'm saying. "Hey Yoshida, when one of your graphic members gets a second take a look at this please - our computers are strong and your program is very efficient so we've got some resources to spare"

I wasn't here during 1.0 launch but did people complain about the grass then too? Because let's be honest, 1.0 wasn't exactly Crysis level of graphics and the grass, well I barely remember any grass in 1.0.

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Originally Posted by Lirion

I wasn't here during 1.0 launch but did people complain about the grass then too? Because let's be honest, 1.0 wasn't exactly Crysis level of graphics and the grass, well I barely remember any grass in 1.0.

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1.0's grass was horrible. well if you can call it grass it was more of a cluster of pixels on the ground for a sort of ground.. bush thing. Thanalan's was the worst, the greenness of the other territories helped it not look so bad. But the many colors of Thanalan's.. looked like tossed cookies imo. (If you compare 1.0 to 2.0 the change is astronomical, but 1.0 was in a really bad place lol its like comparing minecraft to crysis on ultra)

Some people did complain about 1.0's grass too, though of course you've got the normal people then who like to mock you for having different issues then themselves. Its quite like looking at that animation thread when it was revealed that the animation quality was going down for smoother experience on lower ends.