Graphics requirements and 'pre-loading settings bugs'

[NirAntae]

I am sure the devs are quite aware of this, but thought I might provide a bit of 'outsider insight'.

I played here back about three, three and a half years ago or so.  I left due to time constraints and other obligations/interests, but I'm back to give it another go, and see how the development is getting along.

I must say I'm rather disappointed.  I have a basically brand-new computer now, and while not top of the line, it certainly isn't a super cut-rate one either.  Yet, I can barely get PlaneShift to play stably at all, and it took an all day battle with settings to be able to stay connected more than about 30 seconds - and still has at least one glitch that makes it very difficult to play even if it will stay connected when I do more than just run up and down Yliakum(which I haven't tested yet).  Yet, this computer is more than capable of playing the Sims 3, WoW, and other highly graphics-intensive games.  Not on the highest settings, sure, but not on "hunt around for any hidden settings I missed that I might be able to turn off", either.This extremely limited focus of what graphics cards can deal with it was a problem last time I was here, and helped to discourage about 6 people I wanted to introduce to it...  none of them could get it to run; which was among the top reasons I left myself.  It's fine to say that you can buy a computer able to run it for a few hundred dollars, but honestly, you expect new players who haven't even been able to get the game to run, to go out and buy a new computer for a single game? 

And hand in hand with that is my second point.  The settings page should not be stuffed full of options that crash the game for the majority of users (sound on (system), fullscreen mode, etc. etc.) which the users must then come to the forum, do a bunch of searching, find the problem, go back to the settings, uncheck the little box, then try again, only to repeat the process for the next problem.  If they cause problems for a majority of players (or I would go so far as to say even a good strong minority) then remove the option altogether, or at least note next to the setting itself, 'may cause instability' or whatever, as was done with the VBO.



And the biggest cause for my disappointment?  Things have progressed so much in the game itself, yet these problems still exist or are even worse than when I was here before!  Getting a maximum amount of players into/accessible to the game itself with a minimum of fuss should be one of the top priorities.  There was hardly anything but fighting introduced last time I played here, yet I loved it just the same.  It was not the lack of in-game goodies that drove me away these last three years; it was all my RP friends, who could not get into the game and so asked me to go play elsewhere, where they had no problems getting in (well, and some RL stuff as well, but still.  RL stuff=limited time=play game my friends can play too)

[weltall]

you should explain more what hardware we are talking about. plus you've done comparisons only with direct3d games which might work better than opengl but are not portable as is or require a lot of work to keep up two full graphic apis, things only a game with millions of dollars can do. Personally here I get no crash and my computer can handle games like portal2, dead space, assassin's creed well.
exactly because we don't have those money and resources we can't invest in hardware to test the game everywhere and i assure you that those games crash too. all the 3 I had listed crashed quite some times.

[LigH]

Riding the dead horse again ...

The game "PlaneShift" itself is as much in development as the underlying engine "CrystalSpace 3D". So our unpaid spare-time developers are twice busy: Developing PlaneShift, and adapting PlaneShift to the changing CrystalSpace engine.

The biggest change - the switch from T&L rendering in CrystalSpace up to version 1.4 to programmable shader based rendering in CrystalSpace from version 1.9 - just happened during these years of absence, and we still did not finish all required changes to use its features completely. And there are still many more changes in CrystalSpace ahead which we really need to be able to implement some of the planned features of PlaneShift.

And it is not like we would have now more developers than ever before; rather the opposite. The "Google Summer of Code 2011" is an important support for us.

[NirAntae]

I do understand all that.    Just trying to give my perspective/feedback.  I also wasn't trying to get my problem fixed here (I made a thread in tech support specifically for that, and didn't get far.)  Really, most of my post was merely background/supporting arguments to say, in essence, that it seems to me, especially because this is a project that doesn't have millions behind it, that getting the maximum number of players in and loyal to the game should be the top priority.  They should not just be told to go buy a new computer, or that they are beating a dead horse.

[LigH]

Well, I am quite certain that most players are loyal despite technical issues as much as their real life schedules permit. But those are getting tighter. So people who really wish to stay are not able anymore. There are many reasons for people to leave, and hardware requirements are only a rather small part of all reasons, I believe.

[Gillis Norone]

Hmm, are you sure, you're problems are graphic based?

I keep being told that I for sure have a crappy graphic card and it's a wonder the game is running at all. On top of that I'm on a mac. The game is running pretty fine without me having changed anything in the settings. The only change I did, was turning the weather of, as I was really annoyed of getting lost in the fog.  And I did have some minor lags in bad weather. That's all.

Graphic Card: Intel GMA 950

[NirAntae]

I was more referring to trying to get new blood into the game, rather than those being here remaining loyal.  After all, if they're already playing, obviously they aren't the ones having graphics issues.  If only 1 in 6 (from my own experience, it may be more or less) of people who would like to play and who have reasonably decent computers are able to, that seems to me that it is a major issue, much more important than adding fun tweaks and additions within the game itself.

Again, I'm not trying to attack anyone or to say that what has been accomplished isn't incredible.  It really is wonderful, and that it is mac-compatible makes it even better.  I just feel that trying to make it work with a (much) wider range of graphics cards should be a high priority, for the sake of getting new players.