Video Settings (Immersion Vs Exploit)

[Sir.Grossi]

This is perhaps a little bit of a rant, but need to get it off my chest and ask
what you guys think.

I have been playing PR since just before 0.7 and consider myself
slightly above average as a player.
However, I seem to be experiencing more and more instances of
opponents that can pick me out at distance whilst I am hiding in the shadows
behind objects and in windows etc.
This tends to happen on small skirmish maps more often than the larger
combined arms maps.

I am aware that not everyone can afford or get access to high end PCs and GFX cards.
I always play on the highest settings that my hardware will allow.
But, in order to test my theory (and it is only an assumption on my part)
I turned all of my graphics down to minimum and shadows etc to off.
Low and behold I can see the silhouettes of enemies at distance against most
backgrounds and in dimly lit corners. However, the gaming experience is
rubbish and the graphics are reminiscent of escape from castle wolfenstein!

I play PR for the teamwork, the immersion and relish the detailed modelling
that the devs have put so much time an effort into. I like to do well as much as anyone else,
but I would hope that everyone is playing the game with the same spirit.

It troubles me to think (again only a theory) that some players may be playing
with their settings on low for the single purpose of (dare I say it) pwning others.

Does anyone else share this theory?

Does anyone adjust the GFX settings depending on the
type of mood the are in or if it is a competitive match?

I would welcome your thoughts or observations, or you can tell me
to man up and stop whinging

[Pesticide]

Come back with some screenshots of what you think are exploits and who knows, maybe the devs can fix it

Play on high setting and switch to low on spots you feel you have been previously spotted where in your mind you thought based on your high settings you where hard to detect or ask a buddy to help show the difference between high and low.

Im also curious but i wont judge untill im faced with some hard cold facts such as comparison screens. For now i feel i have the edge on low specs as I can set my maximum view distance to 100% and have higher terain view so i fire less at enemies who are hidden behind hilltops giving away that im shooting at them when in fact they are still behind the cover of the top of the hill that for some reason isnt rendering correctly and floating midair on low spec screens.

Also i see shadows of people thx to shadows on, another edge a low spec doesnt have ( to bad the shadows are silly like you see shadows of people on building floors above you lol like if they are standing next to you scaring the shit out of you. Or in the forest all the ghost shadows can drive you bonkers

Me personally, play on everything high even if i know it will crash on me sometimes on bigger maps like sands and silent eagly. I cant bare the though of having to play on low settings for a game 6 years old. Heck i even boost the gfx through ati control panel with better aliasing. I wish there where more config tweaks to make it even look better.

[mat552]

It's not a theory. You have, in essence, asked if some players are willing to sacrifice some graphical fidelity for an in game advantage. The answer to this question is always an overwhelming yes. There will always be players in every game who minmax, or stack the deck as far in their favor as they possibly can, and take advantage of every gray area tactic like dumping their settings down to the ideal combination. Some do it sheerly for FPS and get the added "bonus" of easier to spot enemies and much thinner grass, but most do so knowing less will be rendered and at less detail, allowing them to spot enemies with greater ease.

[Boris.T.Spider]

Would it not be possible for the PR.exe to ensure that the video.con file is set at a specific level? And either overwrite or deny game run if unable.

[Feriluce]

You could turn it the other way around as well. With high settings you can see shadows through buildings, and know exactly where your opponents are. You also get muzzle smoke easily revealing where they're firing from. There is advantages and disadvantages to both beyond the obvious case of looking better on high.

[splatters]

Yes this is a well known problem. By setting certain settings to low and leaving certain other settings on high you get the most advantage. Of course only ****** bags do this. You can't see shadows through walls btw with high settings if you are playing with all settings on high unless the building lightmaps aren't rendered correct (which is sadly rather common in PR, lazy devs grrrrr :cussing

But, there are other factors too contributing to your experiences, first of those are the LOD (levels of detail) of objects. Let's say you're in a bush: you see lots of leaves and branches and can barely see out of it and think you're completely concealed, but what the enemy at 400 meters sees is only the low detail LOD of the bush with three planes, two vertical and one horizontal and suddently you're not that well hidden at all.

The other one is that the 1st person camera doesn't show if your hands, legs, weapon or gear are sticking out of cover thus exposing you. I try to keep my distance of thin walls for that reason. Also, when you're prone the 1st person camera is at about where the belly of your 3rd person model is, not where the head is. Don't hug thin walls.

Which leads me to the last one: z-buffering limit. To keep it short, the old BF2 engine uses a relatively sucky z-buffering technique which leads to objects appearing to glitch through other objects that are close to them, another good reason to keep your distance off thin walls. This is more prominent the longer the distance gets

Hope these helps those that aren't so familiar with this nerd stuff

You could turn it the other way around as well. With high settings you can see shadows through buildings, and know exactly where your opponents are. You also get muzzle smoke easily revealing where they're firing from. There is advantages and disadvantages to both beyond the obvious case of looking better on high.

Yes, but other advantages are actually exploits and other realism And by fiddling with the graphics settings you can get both advantages, not kewl

[Operator009]

omg YES, i purosely do that for almost every game. It really does give an edge. Plus the framerate is ridiculous. Also, its invaluable in CAS.

[Brainlaag]

One thing, which made me rage last week, was a sniper playing on low settings. He picked us off one by one because the smoke wasn't rendering for him correctly and he just shot us through it. Thats basically the only major exploit I've noticed in PR so far, except the LODs ofc when playing on low.

[maniac1031]

One thing, which made me rage last week, was a sniper playing on low settings. He picked us off one by one because the smoke wasn't rendering for him correctly and he just shot us through it. Thats basically the only major exploit I've noticed in PR so far, except the LODs ofc when playing on low.

hehhehhehehhehehheheheheh brain don't forget he was invisible.

[Rudd]

You could turn it the other way around as well. With high settings you can see shadows through buildings, and know exactly where your opponents are. You also get muzzle smoke easily revealing where they're firing from. There is advantages and disadvantages to both beyond the obvious case of looking better on high.

the high settings seeing shadows through buildings is incorrect

you'll only see shadows through buildings on low lighting and if the building has not been lightmapped afaik. E.g. on Asad kahl's mansion

[Brainlaag]

hehhehhehehhehehheheheheh brain don't forget he was invisible.

Oh right I forgot to say that he was using ninja hax too xD

[maniac1031]

Oh right I forgot to say that he was using ninja hax too xD

I even told you he was using that exploit but you were all like Noooo your just a noob medic I'll get you up. Throw smoke->epipen->dead dead . To be fair I play on almost all low because I have a **** computer and also get this glitch, wouldnt mind if it got fixed but plz god don't do what that other person said and have a minimum graphics level of something like medium or no more pr

[Feriluce]

One thing, which made me rage last week, was a sniper playing on low settings. He picked us off one by one because the smoke wasn't rendering for him correctly and he just shot us through it. Thats basically the only major exploit I've noticed in PR so far, except the LODs ofc when playing on low.

That very much depends on the range. Smoke wont render past something like 600m no matter your settings, and it goes see-through before that.

the high settings seeing shadows through buildings is incorrect

you'll only see shadows through buildings on low lighting and if the building has not been lightmapped afaik. E.g. on Asad kahl's mansion

Dont forget the compound on kozelsk with first flag on it, and various other places I cannot remember right now.

[Brainlaag]

That very much depends on the range. Smoke wont render past something like 600m no matter your settings, and it goes see-through before that.



Dont forget the compound on kozelsk with first flag on it, and various other places I cannot remember right now.

He was about 400m away and smoke only doesn't renders when you deoployed it, while the enemy is/was out of range and then comes into visual range.

[Wicca]

I run all my shit on low. Except the resolution.

And i dont have a very good FPS. 20 if im lucky.

Still, the shitty FPS, i can get kills cause i always have to flank the enemy.

[Feriluce]

He was about 400m away and smoke only doesn't renders when you deoployed it, while the enemy is/was out of range and then comes into visual range.

At 400m, the smoke might be clear enough to see silouettes without too much of a problem. Also you're very much wrong about that. STart up a local server with kashan on it. Set up a mortar and fire a smoke round and you'll be able to see how smoke looks at different distances.

[TheComedian]

the high settings seeing shadows through buildings is incorrect

you'll only see shadows through buildings on low lighting and if the building has not been lightmapped afaik. E.g. on Asad kahl's mansion

Your argument is invalid.

I have all on high and I can see shadows through walls on most maps and buildings. Especially fallujah west and T buildings.

[Feriluce]

Your argument is invalid.

I have all on high and I can see shadows through walls on most maps and buildings. Especially fallujah west and T buildings.

Oh yea T-buildings are generally bad at this. You look out the window and see your shadow on the ground.

[angellfall]

Your argument is invalid.

I have all on high and I can see shadows through walls on most maps and buildings. Especially fallujah west and T buildings.

What rudd said is indeed falce. If you have correct graph card settings you will see the shadows trought the walls.

It is not exploiting if you tweak ur setting to improve ur gameplay -.- to use the graph bug to get view distance away is exploiting... If someone says it's lame or only noobs or stupid ppl do it im sad to say you are wrong... It has been that way since like... forever...

[cyberzomby]

That is one thing that console gaming has over PC gaming. You know everyone has the same graphics and can rely on it! I love to play BC2 on my PS3.

First thing I did on COD 4 on PS3 was lie down in the high grass knowing I could use it as cover/concealment. On the pc I just turned it off

Dont think theres anything you can do about this really. Just happens. Play on consoles