Info: Screenshots of the updated Athene/Zephyrus area [WIP]

[Kim|MindArk]

Yea it really rocks

 

[Bemo]

Yea it really rocks

......please ..PLEASE don't mess Anthena up.

-Bemo-

 

[Magyar_Republic]

Yea it really rocks

Yes. Am enjoying the texture improvements on this new terrain. It's almost looking real.

 

[Ludvig|MindArk]

......please ..PLEASE don't mess Anthena up.

-Bemo-

What is there to mess up?

It's already a jumbled mess of pillars thrown over a cliff and semi-connected by some roads that often are too steep for any land vehicle (except maybe the pitbull which is instead too broad for it) and impossible to traverse... It is completely empty except for 2-3 people who stand around in the trade center now and then and some newbies on a sightseeing run once in a while.

 

[johan roadkill]

Bring me a city and I'll feel safe but bring me a desert and no animal will go safe!

 

[tamlin]

Just a comment about the rocks (the larger formations at the foot of the cliffs): Please do play-test with them in the terrain, so people can't get stuck in them and having to TP out. That sucks.

There used to be (and most likely still is) at least one place in the current Port Atlantis area where newcomers got/get stuck regularly.

 

[aia]

In that kind of landscape, I guess a dusty tractor track through (road) would fit in. And for the cliffs, don't forget some kind of simple path up. (I've looked around Jamesons Reach, but so far I haven't been able to find any way up besides T:ing - I don't mean there should be a motorway up, but just adjust one of the slopes somewhere slightly so it's possible to climb those missing 10 meters - I wouldn'd mind if it even would be on the W side of the hill it doesn't have to be on the front side).

As for mobs, for some reason I got in my head picture of one of the arkadia mobs (rhino looking), dunno why. (Not that I want it necessarily rather that it would fit in with the landscape.) Besides from that, the flat landscape makes it look like a place for occasional big event mobs.

 

[Menace]

Lookin' real good Kim... I understand people not wanting change and begging for Athena to remain the same but reality is... ATM Athena is useless and those begging to keep it rarely hang out there.

Good Job Kim!

Menace

 

[Etopia]

This is one of the reasons why flat terrain isn't really very good. If you add some variations in the heightmap you can get away with having a lower view distance ratio on the procedural vegetation which in turn improves performance.

Another way , would be to simply improve the setting system in game.
A lot more setting avaible to player , than just a bunch of general mix.

We could have setting for cloud,shadow,grass,water,mouse speed,LOD,wind....

Cry engine alow a very wide variety of setting and tweak , yet in entropia we have access to 6 things with 4 diferent LVL... this is way way to low.
If you want player enjoy the game let them manage setting how they wish depending on taste and computer power.

Or why not , simply allow us , to tweak the CFG file.its total harm less , player still have access to it(its even in public folder on computer) , and we are abel to spend hours to create tweak that bring the best ration power/eyecandy.Player would share setting and triks,making something else to the communauty to do.

 

[Jennson]

Lookin' real good Kim... I understand people not wanting change and begging for Athena to remain the same but reality is... ATM Athena is useless and those begging to keep it rarely hang out there.

Good Job Kim!

Menace

I am one of those who like Athena ( well the style not the actual city ). However when a good change occurs i'm definately open for it. I just hope 1 city int the style of Athena remains ( mybe with a more usable design lol )

And i hope Athena gets its purpose as spaceport finally.

 

[aia]

Lookin' real good Kim... I understand people not wanting change and begging for Athena to remain the same but reality is... ATM Athena is useless and those begging to keep it rarely hang out there.

In a way I have to agree, and there are tons of pillars around that doesn't have any real use. But the fact remains; it's named "space port", and it's (theoretically) the obvious place to take off for space (because of the altitude) - just bad it's not as convenient as Twin Peaks (larger open space (...) and outdoor terminals), and you arrive above PA and not at Athena.

Technically, I wouldn't mind moving the spaceport to another location. For instance, there is a hill a bit NE from Fort Argus, that currently has an outpost and it's pretty high up. Why not clear the hill from obstacles that prevent spawning of vehicles (small plants and such), and move one of the pillars there with the purpose of making it possible to get from the outpost to the small village just downhill (NE) (which practically was made impossible without vehicle since fall damage was implemented) (before fall damage you could reach that village simply by jumping off the cliff but it's not possible anymore). I also guess the house owners in that nearby village would get happy with a teleporter.
(Another suggestion for that place is to connect the road coming NE from the village leading into pvp1 with the road from the outpost on the top of the hill with fort argus, possibly with a tunnel - now instead of two more or less useless dead end roads you would get a road all the way from Arugs to Raven Valley(?).

 

[Magyar_Republic]

People think alot about elevation, but seem to disregard accessibility in all this spaceport discussion.

Being high altitude is great as long as vehicles that do shipping and receiving can actually drive up to the spot in question.

Otherwise lower altitude and flatter land is better. And of course stable weather. Florida and Texas have two real life spaceports for launch which are useful because of their generally mild weather. New Mexico has the first commercial spaceport, but the harsh winters may ground all flights there during cold months. California has a landing site only and its out in the desert. It turns out the winds from the desert kick up too much dust, which can gum up the launch mechanisms and cause problems.

Elevation isnt everything. Although it would be fun to see Athena built into the side of a cliff face, with a large landing strip on the top of a high mesa, and elevators built into the cliff itself to carry supplies from low to high elevation.

 

[Nobleone]

Oh look, eye candy! That'll be useful...

 

[Ludvig|MindArk]

Oh look, eye candy! That'll be useful...

... do you have any reason to be negative about a member of the Calypso design and arts team posting design and arts?

 

[Nobleone]

Well, instead of completely redesigning and tweeking an already established area they could be spending their time tweeking already established areas across the planet that have annoying features like vehicles taking damage when hitting small plants and not being able to spawn VTOL's because of small 'features'.

That would be more useful and more welcomed by the players than simply more 'eye candy'.

 

[Naithen]

Kim area looks great BUT i was thinking it would look really cool if it was possible when at night the space looked like that scene from the movie Contact? You know where everything in space is getting sucked back into the worm tunnel that Jody Fosters character travelled through to get there ? Now that would be a reason to go and hunt in that area

 

[Magyar_Republic]

Kim area looks great BUT i was thinking it would look really cool if it was possible when at night the space looked like that scene from the movie Contact? You know where everything in space is getting sucked back into the worm tunnel that Jody Fosters character travelled through to get there ? Now that would be a reason to go and hunt in that area

Haha that was the only thing good about that movie. WTF the aliens were her dad? Lame!

 

[RexDameon]

New screenshot:

i can forsee some great videos of people running off that ledge with cars.

 

[Ludvig|MindArk]

i can forsee some great videos of people running off that ledge with cars.

Before or after they add 1969 Dodge Chargers to the game?

 

[Magyar_Republic]

New screenshot:

I think in the future we will discover petroglyphs on these rocks. Then this guy will show up and tell us all how aliens an eon ago shaped civilization on Calypso and native Combibo left those stone drawings as evidence.

 

[Xander Catman]

I think in the future we will discover petroglyphs on these rocks. Then this guy will show up and tell us all how aliens an eon ago shaped civilization on Calypso and native Combibo left those stone drawings as evidence.

OMG I love that guy on Ancient Aliens....on some episodes his hair is even wilder.

XZC

 

[aia]

This is one of the reasons why flat terrain isn't really very good. If you add some variations in the heightmap you can get away with having a lower view distance ratio on the procedural vegetation which in turn improves performance.

Just remove the grass and it's fine performance

At VU 10.0, it was possible to get this kind of view from the hill at Miwak:

View image in gallery

As for details like grass; it's was a problem already in VU 9; I guess most people who did hunt around Segna Forest could tell. Also, at least for me, I have severe lag issues when trying to fly into calypso space station - there I think it's the "cloud" effects at the entrance, rather than viewing distance, that's the problem (which gives maybe 0.2 FPC when trying to hit that docking entrance and get stuck at invisible walls all the time).

And in space, if you turn down grapic item quality, you don't see planets/pirates/avatars whatever until you are very close, since viewing distance of dynamic objects seems to be connected to item quality rather than the general viewing distnce (which appears to apply to geographic objects like hills).

 

[goodgrief999]

(Deleting this post after it has been up for a while, as I have realised it could be seen as sarcastic and was not intended that way. just a joke.)

 

[Profit]

Hey, since you seem to know everything and think all the questions are pointed at YOU, how do I filter out your posts so I dont see them? Thx

Click ignore, though you still see quotes (which is how I saw Nighthawk's post; as a quote in your own post - he is on my ignore list thus I normally can't see his posts, thank god).

 

[Ludvig|MindArk]

Click ignore, though you still see quotes (which is how I saw Nighthawk's post; as a quote in your own post - he is on my ignore list thus I normally can't see his posts, thank god).

Ah, I am going to take that as a compliment in this case. After all, why would I want a someone that whines about every single thing all the time to want to read my posts after all, they could be positive (oh the horror) or even useful for the reader!

 

[Kim|MindArk]

Getting closer to being finished now...

 

[Butch C]

Getting closer to being finished now...

Looks good, is that an actual ingame screen or a 3D render? meaning does it get dumbed down for the game?

 

[Kim|MindArk]

The screens are taken in the sandbox editor, if anything it will get better in-game.

 

[tamlin]

Getting closer to being finished now...

I'm starting to wonder, if this goes on, could it ever run on CryEngine 2 for the majority of MindArk's customers?

It seems to me more like you are now (or very soon) in need of megatexturing (read: Carmack). As MindArk doesn't have neither the will nor the skill to implement that, any thought on how you will handle the way-too-large texture budget (for your/MindArk's average customer)?

I mean, I tried to visit the new island(s?) when they were released. I have never again set foot there, as I simply can't accept having to turn down everything to "Low" to prevent the client from crashing like crazy.

While I admit your screenies look good (maybe even very good), I am concerned for the majority of the potential users of it.

 

[Mega]

I'm starting to wonder, if this goes on, could it ever run on CryEngine 2 for the majority of MindArk's customers?

It seems to me more like you are now (or very soon) in need of megatexturing (read: Carmack). As MindArk doesn't have neither the will nor the skill to implement that, any thought on how you will handle the way-too-large texture budget (for your/MindArk's average customer)?

I mean, I tried to visit the new island(s?) when they were released. I have never again set foot there, as I simply can't accept having to turn down everything to "Low" to prevent the client from crashing like crazy.

While I admit your screenies look good (maybe even very good), I am concerned for the majority of the potential users of it.

I agree but lets summarise it.

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