Weather in Planetside

[Real Mulambo]

Right then people.

I was wondering what all you good peoples thoughts were on the practice of turning the weather effects off in planetside were.

I personally think that the DEVS should remove the option to turn it off.

why..WHY........why......I'll tell you.

By turning off the weather we are losing a whole aspect of the game whereby different tactics would have to be used.

Coordinating attacks on bases to coincide with the arrival of a sandstorm negates the effective use of long range snipers and AA.

I myself am both a nutter and a purist and never turn off the weather but get a bit peeved when I get pinged by a sniper that I would not be able to see for another 250m.

I do not believe that it should be an issue with the graphics performance as the actual render distances are reduced in heavy weather.

Polite request here therefore to DEVS to consider removing the turn off weather option.

Please let me see your thoughts people as I know that most of you turn weather off even if it is so that you are on a level playing field with everyone else. I am sure many of you would like to use the weather if you knew that everyone else was.

Comments people please.

Bring on the flame. :mad:

[VashTheStamped]

i like the idea, but my computer dies with flora, or rain

i dont think it is fair to people who CANT AFFORD A BETTER COMPUTER

[BigFreak]

Sandstorms are fun though. :(

[Real Mulambo]

OK that is a fair comment VASH if it is the case that the weather effect trashes your frame rate.

I still dont really see why this should be the case though as the render distances are reduced.

Maybe it is sloppy coding by the development team. AGAIN

Aquilla Non Capit Muscaria

(The Eagle doesn't chase flies)

[Majik]

Ok, when this game was first released I used to run it full bore video, everything turned on and up, got the full video experience. THEN they released CC, and unless I run PS at LOW video with almost any options I can turned off I get lagged to SH&T.
Now considering I am on a cable modem, with a 2ghz proc, 1gb ram, 128video and nothing else running on my computer in the background while I play, I don't think upgrading is the answer to fix my lag issues with this game. Until PS runs like it did on my computer before the introduction of CC, weather and flora stay off.

[Real Mulambo]

So why don't they sodding do something about it.
The game is losing a really good feature.
I also believe that there should be true day night cycles too.
They could then introduce a torch as a holster support item.

Just a thought

[dscytherulez]

Yeah, I've wanted this for a long time. Weather adds a great tactical situation to PlanetSide, well, it would if people left it on. I also think that there should be more weather added, but like it was said before, although it would be great, it's not very fair to people with shitty comps.

[Real Mulambo]

what about the thoughts on the true day/night cycles on all conts?

Could look pretty cool seeing a load of Reavers with port and starboard landing lights etc.

[321]

I keep it off, even though my computer can handle it no problem, because it keeps me equal with the other people that have it off and an advantage over thoes who have it on but, I agree that they should make it so you can't turn it off.

[CorDharel]

I could never turn it off! I just think PS is not PS without the weather, its so cool to see it!

I would rather say turn the option to turn the flora off!

But like it is: That would be bad for people with shitty computers... :(

[Madcow]

It is poor coding with the weather, before I upgraded the dust storms were an absolute bane. I leave the weather on now, but there's absolutely no way they could force people to leave it on. The Planetside slide show is less appealing than you might think.

[Queensidecastle]

What would have been cool is if when PS was released, the Minimum and Recommended specs were like 3x higher and Flora/Weather was locked in the on position

[BigFreak]

...or...OR they optimised the engine so it didn't run like crap for mostly everyone ever. Maybe.

[hazzer2007]

If i leave the "weather" option on, i get alot of lag. Alot of people proboly get this aswell.

[JakeLogan]

I use to have it on before CC and it ran fine in heavy fights I had an average of 40 FPS now If I have any weather on and I get into a skirmish my FPS drops to like 15 just pisses me off because I liked seeing the weather.

[Lartnev]

I think the weather has just been thrown in for minor effects. I'm sure it will get a nice upgrade when the devs get time and schedule for it:)

[Marsman]

As someone mentioned, I believe the visiable distance is reduced during weather effects and it doesn't matter if you have the graphic enabled or not. I agree the visual effects are very cool but I do understand the problems with FPS. I also would like to see more frequent weather and even extend it to have physical effects (like high winds affecting flying, or sand storms causing weapons to jam occationally) This would certainly add another tactical aspect to the game planning around weather.
Back in early beta, there was a prounced day/night cycle - night wasn't very dark, dim would be more accurate, but it was pronounced enough to see the change easily. I very much liked the effect - it certainly gave much more sense of passing time and the despite that is wasn't very dark, it was a bit more challanging to fight during the night cycle. I would love to see them bring this back in addition to more weather with physical effects.

[Nalar]

I thought that even when you turn weather off it only turns off the rain effects. Since when did it start turning off the sandstorms?

I personally love weather effects. The funnest time I ever had was while sneaking around in the desert in a sandstorm while cloaked and knifing ppl. Its hard to hear the buzzing knife while in secondary and you can run away and they can hardly see you after 5m anyway. Good times.

[Cryptica]

I agree that weather should be a mandatory effect. I love turning everything on once-in-a-while just to see how cool everything looks. But when I actually plan on fighting I turn it all off and jack the visible distance to max. Yeah I love the effects but I don't wanna get my ass handed to me while I'm watching the pretty rainstorm.

Someone earlier mentioned jacking up the recommended specs. I think that's a good idea. That way people with low- to mid-performance machines won't feel like they wasted money on a game they thought their computers could handle. I don't know what the recommended specs are now, but I would suggest something like the following:

Intel P4 2.0 Ghz Processor
1024 MB RAM
128-bit Vid Card (Raedeon (sp?) or GForce)
Cable/DSL

That sound good to everyone?

[Queensidecastle]

Well, what they should have done is have weather and flora manditory and have built the game up to where this could be so on a medium PC. It seems like weather and flora were/are considered just graphical eye candy and not crucial for strategy or realism. We are starting to see games that want these things to be important to combat (Battlefield Vietnam, Far cry..etc) and are doing a good job at it

[Electrofreak]

I just wish there was more weather in GENERAL. As it is, I've only been in a few storms since I started playing the game in August.

[Rbstr]

I have never seen slowdown with Weather, even on my old RDram 1.3ghz Radeon 7000 machine


however i know that this is not the case with some people. For them they get a FORCED viewing distance change.

As in durring weather the effect cuase normal people with it on to see 300m, so the people with bad computers that have weather tuned off get a Viewing distance of only 300m acctualy giving them enhanced performance in weather(less stuff to render)

[dscytherulez]

I leave weather on and have no problem.

The day and night cycles were also talked about before and is also one thing I'd really love to see. I've wanted a full fledged night for months...

[Baneblade]

The flora is PS is total crap, I'd hate to have to turn it on...

[SilverLord]

Wheather in PS is definatly not very prominant so it wouldn't really matter now would it?

Why can't the devs just fix the FPS, it's terrible..

[Majik]

I don't know what the recommended specs are now, but I would suggest something like the following:

Intel P4 2.0 Ghz Processor
1024 MB RAM
128-bit Vid Card (Raedeon (sp?) or GForce)
Cable/DSL

That sound good to everyone?


Those are exactly the specs of my computer, and I can't handle large battles with anything more than LOW video options.

[Onizuka-GTO]

I have trouble too with low FPS and lag with all those you mentioned aboved turn on.
it's all very pretty, and really do :love: to have them on.
But unless they fix it, so that it's even playable during big battles i'm afraid i have to keep it off. :(

[scarpas]

I could never turn it off! I just think PS is not PS without the weather, its so cool to see it!

I would rather say turn the option to turn the flora off!

But like it is: That would be bad for people with shitty computers... :(


/agreed

[PhoenixTypeX]

Seriously though is there ANY way the devs could sort out the FPS issues? re-optimising the engine? Lol please don't say yes "if they made PS2" as thats not really constructive :p I think people would be prepared for a large download if it was 500mb I would definately take it gladly if it sorted out the FPS issues.

[FireWolf22]

I have seen all these threads about the weather and the fps. I really don't see the FPS issues. I have two PC's running on PS at the same time on the same cable modemn. MY girl plays one and I the other. I have the better machine, she the older. Hers is a P3 1.3 gig with 768 meg of ram, g force 4 128 meg video. Use to have lag with that PC in the big battles with everything on. Then the devs worked out the FPS. Then came CC. Both our machines crashed bad, the FPS was horable. Now it's not that bad. She has almost all the video options on and the view distance at about 90% or maybe all the way up. My machine runs great with video options set to max. The only times I show any lag is(before the new pop locks) two empires lock a cont and are fighting over two bases, and the surgile HA users come out. They jump around some. Other than that no real problems, unless the server is crashing.

edit: for grammer

[SilverLord]

I have serious problems with it. Maybe I am expecting more of PS but for a game WE the customers pay for, the devs should seriously be thinking of what the player base really wants. I think if a dev came into a forum and asked all of us what we wold most want fixed/optimized, it would be the FPS issues. Why when I look at a wall, i should get 60 frames in the middle of nowhere with nothing else going on, even on the continent. That right there is ridiculas.

FPS is a problem, and it needs to be resolved. That should be a priority right after the Surge fix/change.

[PhoenixTypeX]

I'll second that ! Bumpty bump bump!

[Rbstr]

PS uses ALOT of CPU power, few games acctualy are more demending on it, a 2.0ghz realy isn't enough

[Real Mulambo]

still don't think weather should make the framerate any worse with the render distances reduced.

[Spee]

I dunno about you, but the last time I played, I walked out into a sandstorm and watched my FPS go from a normal 17-25-area to a whopping 4. 4 FRAMES PER SECOND.




Since I dont play anymore, this isnt an issue.