Graphic options-Unfair advantage?

[Beafy]

Ok say youre realy rich and you have all the latist gear for your PC so you can knock up all the settings, willl you have an unfair advantage over people with less good gear.

List of things:
Shadows
Sounds
Testures
Higher res

now say you have all these you could have a better advantage than somoine with less because they have no shadows, therefore if somone was coming around the corner you could see there shadow and be more aware.

but say you had lower settings you could turn ambient sound off or whatever and hear peoples footsteps better?

Discuss!

[Rudd]

Shadows- you don't have them = lose a major advantage of seeing movement
Res + anti aliasing need to be high if you want to spot/engage at range
but generally, need high FPS

FPS is the most important if you ask me, in which case a well speced computer wins.

[gazzthompson]

when i used to play competitively my team would put settings on LOW

[Cyrax-Sektor]

There are few things that help gameplay via Video settings. TweakGuides.com - Battlefield 2 Tweak Guide

Effects: gives tracers/trails more detail, so you can tell where that GL/HAT/LAT came from.
Geometry: Vehicles and characters render at longer distances.
Texture: helps ID targets, but mainly for prettiness.
Terrain: depends on the player. Can s/he see an enemy better against high quality ground or low quality ground?
Lighting: doesn't help much, but is needed for Dynamic Shadows. You could be hiding in shadows, while some low GFX can see an easy target clearly.
Dynamic Shadows: true, you can see the shadow coming. Advantage.
Dynamic Lighting: true, you can see muzzle flashes, lighting up their position. Advantage.
Texture filtering: helps ID the target.
View Distance: should be 100%. Anything less, and you're punishing yourself.

[mammikoura]

with low settings it's so much easier to spot enemies. Therefore actually having low settings is more usefull than having high.

[Beafy]

with low settings it's so much easier to spot enemies. Therefore actually having low settings is more usefull than having high.

also makes your system fater

[Sanke]

If you cant max bf2 then you need to upgrade no questions asked. The game is older than dirt

[unrealalex]

If you cant max bf2 then you need to upgrade no questions asked. The game is older than dirt

x2

[Fishbone]

PR is the only game I play and I see no reason to spend a couple of hundred euros to set everything on max, my geekness only goes so far. For any other application my system runs just fine.

Advantage or not, just the ability to play PR at its most beautiful form at the highest settings is far more important in my opinion. Just enjoy the game.

[Lorfah]

you might have a higher-end, speced comp than Bill Gates for all I care, but if you suck donkeyballs when it comes to aim, teamplay and tactics, I'll still shoot your *** before you shoot me.

[TonkaTruck]

x2

You may be able to max Bf2, heck I can max it and play, but you can't max PR and expect the same FPS you'd get on vanilla.

[Bob_Marley]

Indeed they are an unfair advantage. For those who run on low settings.

I still have traumatic memories of Mao Valley when the low settings turned the dense, lush jungle into 5m of short grass and an open plain.

[Vege]

Or you maybe able to run PR over 1K fps constantly with better than low settings on smaller maps and as supression effect is debendant on fps speed you go figure how fast the effect is (like little muzzle flash). I could but i won't.

[M_Striker]

As someone said before, Lower settings = more points. When you're playing against someone with lower graphics, let's say shadows are turned off for them. Dark places are not dark anymore, and therefore, you cannot hide in the shadows.

[Smegburt_funkledink]

Shadows are the only thing I have turned up high, it's saved my life a few times...

Just purchased some alienware that I'm hoping'll turn up before Bovington LAN fest, having a system that can't keep high FPS at all times is at a disadvantage. Especially with the supression filter effects etc...

[LithiumFox]

problem is that.... the unfair advantage isn't an unfair advantage. We're at a FAIR advantage. You just have bad disadvantage/advantages....

like you're lack of shadows make it easier to see us, but you get no dynamic shadows... which when running at 24fps really makes no difference ^_^ and when i get my new graphics card 1280x1024 8x AA MAXED here i come!!!

^_^ cause really an 8500GT Fatal1ty does no justice

but the point is, i used to play on a computer that was like that....

i actually did better on the low spec'd computer than i do now...

course then again my new computer only had a 15" screen..........

now i have an 18" screen.....

^_^ Big screens help. Higher resolutions make things bigger, allowing you to have more "DEPTH" and reallllly helps when sniping XD

PS: I still hate sniping... but god forbid i'm on Ghost Train and i had to look through the grass to the hill.. NOW I CAN ^_^

[youm0nt]

Shadows don't really give anyone an advantage. I mean, it's really impractical. Do you really think you're going to look down at the ground around the next corner if someone is coming? I mean, I wouldn't...

[Waaah_Wah]

Sound > Everything elce. Really.

[GR34]

Not true turn your settings all to low and look at tall grass it is really short thats how people mange to pop u in long grass and how supression affect can ware off faster

[Smegburt_funkledink]

Do you really think you're going to look down at the ground around the next corner if someone is coming? I mean, I wouldn't...

Of course not but I can remember seeing someones shadow before hearing their footseps in CQC, I wasn't looking for it but I noticed. It helped on that occasion for sure.

I've been on the ground floor of a building and seen shadows of people on the top, that can help.

Shadows can be very useful to a pilot for a few reasons...