Zones ... hmmm

[Gokulo]

ragnarok online would show artwork when zoning.

I think this would be cool if they were to make something like this.

In one interviews or live letter Yoshi mentioned they did want to do that, but the zoning was so fast you could barely see the picture so it seemed pointless.

[Dannythm]

In one interviews or live letter Yoshi mentioned they did want to do that, but the zoning was so fast you could barely see the picture so it seemed pointless.

They did their job too well for their own good!

[Lirion]

Loading between zones also depends on how fast your hdd is. If your playing on a ssd the loading from one zone to another will be faster than on a regular hdd.

[Joji]

Loading between zones also depends on how fast your hdd is. If your playing on a ssd the loading from one zone to another will be faster than on a regular hdd.

This is true, I think most people agree that from what we have seen in a video. The blue zone dots look good, it's purpose plays an important role. And I think we all just have to wait and see now. Alpha is around the corner and i'm excited

[Maxwell]

The benefits of zoning outweigh any kind of feelings of "grandeur", which you pretty much forget one week in. I always hated walkig through all the long ass buffer zones. The black shroud was the worst of all.

[RoninDarkchild]

Anyone who walked around the zones in 1.0 could see all the copy and paste, and how all the landscapes looks the same. Most apparent in Thanlan. The hills were the exact same at each spot. I didnt encounter the invisible mobs that much though. But I always noticed players vanishing and reappearing at the zone line. Or the annoyance of having to go to town center in Uldah to hear the shouts.

I dont get why anyone would like these things.

THe Aplha videos already show the variety in the zones in the Black Shroud. What is there not to like?
Invisible zones that require copy and paste, and vanishing pcs and mobs.... or a visible zone where they landscape in every zone is better.... no contest.

[Preypacer]

Anyone who walked around the zones in 1.0 could see all the copy and paste, and how all the landscapes looks the same. Most apparent in Thanlan. The hills were the exact same at each spot. I didnt encounter the invisible mobs that much though. But I always noticed players vanishing and reappearing at the zone line. Or the annoyance of having to go to town center in Uldah to hear the shouts.

I dont get why anyone would like these things.

THe Aplha videos already show the variety in the zones in the Black Shroud. What is there not to like?
Invisible zones that require copy and paste, and vanishing pcs and mobs.... or a visible zone where they landscape in every zone is better.... no contest.

Yeah, agreed. Smaller and more varied is always better, IMO.

It seems like what they've basically done is taken all data that would have been loaded into memory all at once with the old zones/areas, and squashed it down into a smaller area. So, if the areas required, say 100k of memory before (just an arbitrary number for the sake of example) but was all spread out over this huge area... they're still using 100k of memory for the new zones, but it's all used in a much smaller area, which gives them the ability to use that 100k to better effect.

Also, if they're using something like geometry instancing (something that's very common in 3D engines these days), then they can have a huge variety of different plants, trees, boulders, buildings, and other items that can be placed as often as they want, scaled, rotated and such as needed, without filling up RAM.

Instancing geometry (for those not familiar with it) basically means that you only have to load a given 3D model (like a tree) into memory once. Then you simply create references to that model anywhere in the zone/map you want them, giving each its own unique scale, position and rotation. Each reference displays the correct model with the appropriate adjustments made to its appearance. It cuts back immensely on RAM usage while allowing for very detailed environments.

Clever use of something like that could go a long way in a scenario like SE's dealing with.

[Starlord]

snip

Your sig is very disturbing everytime I look on this page for new posts -.- lol

[RoninDarkchild]

Your sig is very disturbing everytime I look on this page for new posts -.- lol

HAHA! I just choked on a burger! t actually came out waaaaay bigger than i wanted it to be,,, havnt fixed it yet.

[Starlord]

HAHA! I just choked on a burger! t actually came out waaaaay bigger than i wanted it to be,,, havnt fixed it yet.

Lol, it's cool bro, I just wanted to inform you is all! :P. It's like "All in your face" smaller I wouldn't care at all :P.