Hello there,
I am a relatively new player in the planetside realm and I enjoy the game emensely. There's just one thing that really irritates me and maybe this will help correct it or answer some questions in my mind. As you may already know, there are people who abuse thier video cards settings in order to "see" transparent objects. For example, people wearing the Infiltration suit. I have an idea to help resolve this matter.
An infiltrator, often called a Cloaker, has the ability to not be seen while standing or crouching as long as they are not moving. The game just draws a transparent figure so that to the normal human eye, you can't see it. My questions and ideas are as follows:
If a cloaker is not moving, then why draw the transparency at all? This is probably due to how the figure is used by the game engine. The way I think about it is if a cloaker is not moving and is cloaked then the game should not draw a transparency. Then in my mind, I wonder how a person using the Darklight implant could ever see the cloaker, so I modify my statement. If a cloaker is not moving, is cloaked, and is not within the range of darklight from another player, then do not draw a transparency. So then I think about how a person who doesn't even have darklight could just walk around abusing this "gamma" bug and hoping to run into one. I suppose I'll have to be even more specific. If a cloaker is approached by someone and this person does not have the Darklight implant, then don't draw a transparency. Maybe my programming mind can simplify it for those who understand code and/or psuedocode. Please note that this is not real code, merely an idea.
Code:
if ( (cloaker.speed == 0) && (cloaker.is_cloaked) )
{
if ( (cloaker.distance_from_another <= Darklight_Range) && (approaching_player.has_implant_darklight == False) ) DrawTransparency = False;
else DrawTransparency = True;
}
Granted, I don't know the specifics of the game engine, but I would assume this would work. The cloaker would still have physical dimensions, weight, and all the other attributes given to them. They just would not have a transparent image drawn. Also, I know I'm looking at this from a first person point of view and I would assume the server would need code that is modified to work with it. This is merely an idea to help improve an already awesome game.
I could not find a direct way of reaching the developers of Planetside, so I decided to post it here in hopes of it reaching them...
Thank you,
Rapture2k4
2004-09-24, 03:25 PM
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