controls n such

[raazor]

This is my first post after playing the tech demo and all I can say is that it looks great.  The graphics work is exceptional, and the layout of the town is outstanding!  With this in mind, I have minimal complaints (read suggestions).
1. Too much lag - especially in the spawn area, I wondered if a clip plane would remedy this but someone mentioned that it was tried and the \"fog\" only slowed the game down.  I don\'t understand how this is true?   Also on this note, maybe making the underground and above-ground areas into two separate \"zones\" would be nicer to the processor?
2. The text box - it would be nice to only have to hit a key to switch to text entry mode, rather than reaching for the mouse every time you want to type something.  Plus, being able to resize the console text area vs. the messaging text area would be great in the future as well.  A command history would be cool too.
3. The updater - will we be able to use the included updater in the next release or will we all have to download the entire planeshift sources/binaries each time?

Beautiful game!
Keep up the GREAT work!

[acraig]

Originally posted by raazor
1. Too much lag - especially in the spawn area, I wondered if a clip plane would remedy this but someone mentioned that it was tried and the \"fog\" only slowed the game down.  I don\'t understand how this is true?   Also on this note, maybe making the underground and above-ground areas into two separate \"zones\" would be nicer to the processor?

The rendering speed is somewhat of a concern but it is steadly being worked on.  I\'m sure that we will try MANY methods of getting things working silky smooth.  It was more important to get things running.  Now that I think that we have achieved this ( and we are getting more interest ) we can start to take a look at optimizing.

2. The text box - it would be nice to only have to hit a key to switch to text entry mode, rather than reaching for the mouse every time you want to type something.  Plus, being able to resize the console text area vs. the messaging text area would be great in the future as well.  A command history would be cool too.

You would not believe the number of time Veng has requested the \'key to toggle chat window focus\' .  Hopefully can get that working soon.

History should be there with scroll bars ( you may need to run the updater to get those ).

3. The updater - will we be able to use the included updater in the next release or will we all have to download the entire planeshift sources/binaries each time?

The plan is that the updater will be able to update bits and pieces as we go.  So you should not have to download the entire monster package each time.  

[raazor]

thanks for the speedy reply.
I felt toolish for asking, for after I posted, noticed some of my questions had been answered in previous threads.

Thanks again.