[Official High Resolution Textures Post] Can we get a clarification on this?

[CriDaDimon]

Everyone, after discussion with the client team I'd like this rampant speculation (and in some cases, scaremongering) to stop now, please. After this post I'll be locking this thread to prevent further confusion.

 

Let’s give you a few details gathered from discussion with the client team:

 

- We are not using any form of 'remote rendering' as has been suggested in this thread. Nothing is being pushed from 'server farms' or anything similar. The research paper linked to in the original post is not related in any way to any aspect of our game client.

 

- The game client uses two processes that talk to each other. They do not communicate outside of your PC.

 

- None of these processes are for copy protection of any kind.

 

- The size of the client dropped during Game Testing as we optimized the client size, removing files that were not being used by the game, but were still in the client. This is a completely normal process for a game in development. With many people needing to download the game, obviously it’s in our interest to reduce the client size where we can.

 

I’d also like to state, for the record, that none of what is being discussed here is related to our texture rendering in-game. While I understand the temptation to try to connect two different things, it doesn't apply here.

 

Thanks for your patience while we looked into this.

 

Thank you fro clearing that up, also please see the following and please get it done b4 subscription renewals.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by CriDaDimon

Honestly, just fix high res textures for my character and my companion and anybody within say 10-30 meters, then id shut up and go back to playing and waiting for the other fixes

 

anything greater then average attack distance is over kill anyway because thats when u cant see the detail

 

MY FINAL POST ON THIS MATTER and it better get done lol if they want my money at renewal

Quote:

Originally Posted by skepticck

If they even fixed it only for my char and my companion i would be satisfied, just 2 high rez characters to draw can't have that much impact in game performance, can it ?

 

maybe on a game this poorly optimized it can.

.....................

Ok agreed, if they just let my charcter and whichever companion im using have them since that is what i have to look at 100% the time, then id wait for the rest the fixes and keep my sub

 

Now i am going back to play like i tried to do last post lol

[kineticdamage]

So many people talking like they've been murdered in their inside ... You're so disconnected from reality it's depressing ... If we'd be talking about crimes, political fraud, or any REAL SAD problem, I'd understand. But here ... non-HD textures and people talking like Bioware murdered their family ? Seriously ?

 

If you're so stuck at this kind of detail, it just means you're bored already. HD textures won't change this.

Edited January 12, 2012 by kineticdamage

[Bolthus]

Petition for refund

 

Quote the line above

 

 

Thumbs up.

 

Seems like you have to make some noise to be "heard"

 

 

 

To BioWare/EA/LucasArts

 

 

Don't play fool, don't lie.

 

Maybe hi-res were causing trouble (I don't think so, if a player PC can't handle some setting, the player will turn off and keep playing)

 

Maybe you thought disable it will be good for us (but you CAN'T make that choice, it's ours)

 

 

What I don't buy is the explanationg about "low-medium-high is a bug".

 

I played BETA, and saw Beta even before that, and as you admit, you can play high-res.

 

You just took it UNDERCOVER in stealth mode... until test server players discovered that move. Then you had to made something up...

 

 

 

As I said before, this is false advertisement. We saw that hi-res not only in cut-scenes but in many "gameplay" videos, and during our betatesting (that lead us to buy the game).

 

 

TO be clear: I bought this game for many reasons, being one of them, and a very important one, "Man, this game looks awesome even without antialiasing"

 

So I was decieved.

 

I want my hi-res textures back.

 

And I want good performance too, because next months I'm running a 12gb RAM, i53,1ghz, 1gbGDDR5 GPU rig

 

An my girlfriend's computer is way better than mine...

[Ommm]

Agreed. I also work in IT, in many cases to fix situations with existing IT staff. If users have a 'conspiracy theory' feeling, it's because you're clearly not telling them the whole truth, or in simpler terms treating them like children. It's one of the worst (and most common) bad habits you can get in IT, holding back the truth to protect the subpar job you're doing.

 

Qft. Another reason why i wont subscribe anymore.

Edited January 12, 2012 by Ommm

[Beslley]

The large problem here is that while you're right game play is > graphics, TOR's game play is only just barely adequate in regards to the market standard anyways.

 

The only thing standing out and away from pretty much the rest of the same old crap in every other MMO is the cinematic story telling elements and thats it.

 

So you have subpar graphics. Relativistically average game play.

 

Put them together and you end up with a rather forgettable experience.

 

Yep. This exactly.

I mean, I'm having a blast with the story, but the graphics really bring the experience down. A lot.

[daemian]

The textures on armor are terrible on all of your examples. I'm not sure why you think our complaints are at all related to AA.

 

The settings were mentioned in the interest of full disclosure. I thought I'd post a few examples to compare, because the game looks much better to me than some of the other shots that have been posted, like this one:

 

http://img859.imageshack.us/img859/7371/swtor2012011110050596.jpg

 

I never implied the complaints aren't valid. The game looks good to me, but I'd love to see how good it could look with higher res textures.

Edited January 12, 2012 by daemian

[Wafflenator]

Question:

 

Can we tweak anything in the configuration files to force the display of high-res textures?

[AnotherJaggens]

Yeah, not gonna lie, I like to coordinate outfits in MMOs but what's the point if every piece is a blurry mess?

 

Gunny that Bounty Hunter tionese chest piece looks way better than columni one. Only because tionese is simply colored in metal-blueish and you can't see low res details, while columni got that awful looking in medrez red stripes on white armor. Thay are blurry and completely screw up looks.

[mArchangel]

A bit disappointing. But, who honestly plays an MMO for the graphics? The game looks fine (I play at 1080p, on a 42" display). I'm happy enough with the graphics, to be able to enjoy the rest of the game immensely.

 

Not to say that I wouldn't like to see high-res textures. It would certainly add to the game. But for me, the 2D sprite foliage takes away a lot more immersion than the textures do.

 

I for myself like looking at a flashy toon, that I spent hours on equipping, stuffing and styling.

And as for the 'who plays MMOs for the GFX....' lol - you cannot be real dude. Every girl with MMO experience I chatted with so far is disappointed and hate the way their characters look. The success of an MMO is MAINLY the community populating it. If 90% of the girls out there hate the looks it becomes a boy-nerd party here. I want quality and laughs and fun-not worrying about who drops their sub next due to lack of graphics that should be standard.

 

But.....as I said in another post. Knowing BioWare they WILL fix it. I think they are just not perfect and now realised their mistake but it's not easily fixed overnight. So what. We all make mistakes. Yes their mistakes affect millions, but we are all HUMAN!

 

Stephen, we all take your word in good faith. Now don't let us down and a periodic update on the progress-perhaps bi-weekly-would be fabulous.

 

 

Greetings

 

Mark

[CarverX]

The funny thing is the graphics in high rez aren't awesome or anything, they are pretty low end and plain by 2012 standards and we can't even get that, yet my companion is in full high rez, does not make much sense.

[skepticck]

Kay, I'm okay with waiting. So you are not going to take any more money for playing your "game" in unfinished state, right? Oh wait, you will. That bites.

 

Oh no they won't, not mine anyway, as i canceled my sub a few moments ago.

 

I had a 3 months recurring sub set up, so now i have 9 days left.

 

I am hoping this is just temporary and that after the changes promised by Mr Reid in 1.2

and if those changes are not just PR BS,

that i will again be able to enjoy this otherwise good game.

[nonforma]

I'm sorry, but I do not get you. Stephen Reid is talking about hi res textures for characters in a thread about that exact topic, and then states that they will be making changes to increase the fidelity of characters and the characters around you in the same post. How do you get that it he is therefore talking about AA or shaders or whatnot? If it was about AA or shaders or something, it is likely he would have specified that to avoid confusion, as the post is ABOUT hi res textures.

 

Can someone else tell me if I am missing something here? It seems more logical to assume he is talking about the topic at hand, and not some other random topic. We can't say for sure, but it seems logical.

 

I think sometimes you should give up when there's no hope. As in he'll never understand.

Edited January 12, 2012 by nonforma

[Harower]

This has been said before but the issue is in. The pre rendered video vs real time rendering.

 

The later is what bioware use and has people are upset about due to it shows real time rendering potential they are limited from.

 

The word cinematic is slapped on when someone like "wow, looks amazing, has qualities of a movie!, like a movie!"

 

This is not true of swtor, hence anyone who isn't a fanboy wouldn't try to call everything a cinematic because lets be honest, I wouldn't play this in a "CINEMA" Would you?

 

The closest thing to a cutscenes is the rendering scenes that don't involve dialogue.

 

I find it strange that while trying to progress visual gain for this game people get caught up on things like "it renders a scene 30fps as a motion picture, therefore cinematic! When in truth cinematic was brought into the industry as a marketing term that got picked up once people started to be amazed by computer graphics.

 

I am not amazing, are you?

 

It is weird that the fanboys can actively hinder progress for the game they love.

[Kashaan]

Honestly, just fix high res textures for my character and my companion and anybody within say 10-30 meters, then id shut up and go back to playing and waiting for the other fixes

 

anything greater then average attack distance is over kill anyway because thats when u cant see the detail

 

MY FINAL POST ON THIS MATTER and it better get done lol if they want my money at renewal

 

 

This is what I've been saying for pages and pages now.

 

Perhaps the OP can add this suggestion to the first page so it's more accessible to BW to see?

 

 

To Bioware: Please add one of the following two functions:

 

1) An option to use High-res textures for just your character and your party members/compaions

 

2) An option to use High-res textures for the first 20-ish character models rendered.

 

 

I think that would placate a lot of people and would be a great [temporary] fix. Not to mention it wouldn't take long to code and implement either.

Edited January 12, 2012 by Kashaan

[BeeblesTV]

The settings were mentioned in the interest of full disclosure. I thought I'd post a few examples to compare, because the game looks much better to me than some of the other shots that have been posted, like this one:

 

http://img859.imageshack.us/img859/7371/swtor2012011110050596.jpg

 

I never implied the complaints aren't valid. The game looks good to me, but I'd love to see how good it could look with higher res textures.

 

The game looks great, I agree. Zoomed out, far away from my character. The environments are amazing, but sometimes when zoomed in, especially indoors, I see this muddy nasty mess in the foreground, with amazing high-res environment textures in the background.

 

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7162/6681045551_38ab752b7b_b.jpg

 

Example of this someone posted earlier. That character looks like it doesn't even belong in that environment, let alone the same game. Look at the walls, look how awesome those high textures look compared to the characters armor.

 

It looks HORRIBLE.

Edited January 12, 2012 by BeeblesTV

[Aisar]

I think sometimes you should give up when there's no hope. As in he'll never understand.

 

He does not live in the same reality we do lol.

[Zorvan]

This has been said before but the issue is in. The pre rendered video vs real time rendering.

 

The later is what bioware use and has people are upset about due to it shows real time rendering potential they are limited from.

 

The word cinematic is slapped on when someone like "wow, looks amazing, has qualities of a movie!, like a movie!"

 

This is not true of swtor, hence anyone who isn't a fanboy wouldn't try to call everything a cinematic because lets be honest, I wouldn't play this in a "CINEMA" Would you?

 

The closest thing to a cutscenes is the rendering scenes that don't involve dialogue.

 

I find it strange that while trying to progress visual gain for this game people get caught up on things like "it renders a scene 30fps as a motion picture, therefore cinematic! When in truth cinematic was brought into the industry as a marketing term that got picked up once people started to be amazed by computer graphics.

 

I am not amazing, are you?

 

It is weird that the fanboys can actively hinder progress for the game they love.

 

Agreed.

[Fellthar]

I think sometimes you should give up when there's no hope. As in he'll never understand.

 

Sometimes I need someone like you to tell me to step back. Thanks

[Angelshooter]

This is what I've been saying for pages and pages now.

 

Perhaps the OP can add this suggestion to the first page so it's more accessible to BW to see?

 

 

To Bioware: Please add one of the following two functions:

 

1) An option to use High-res textures for just your character and your party members/compaions

 

2) An option to use High-res textures for the first 20-ish character models rendered.

 

 

I think that would placate a lot of people and would be a great [temporary] fix. Not to mention it wouldn't take long to code and implement either.

 

I would be more than content with either of these (temporary) solutions

[Ryzerion]

The game looks great, I agree. Zoomed out, far away from my character. The environments are amazing, but sometimes when zoomed in, especially indoors, I see this muddy nasty mess in the foreground, with amazing high-res environment textures in the background.

 

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7162/6681045551_38ab752b7b_b.jpg

 

Example of this someone posted earlier. That character looks like it doesn't even belong in that environment. Look at the walls, look how awesome those high textures look compared to the characters armor.

 

It looks HORRIBLE.

 

So it's funny it's as if it's lie just like their fasle advertisement is with high res textures.

 

I also wonder about what the critics have seen now. It's possible they could have actually witnessed high res textures when we do not lol.

[Norbix]

So disappointing.. have to wait until 1.2 for SOME changes to take place.

[daemian]

The game looks great, I agree. Zoomed out, far away from my character. The environments are amazing, but sometimes when zoomed in, especially indoors, I see this muddy nasty mess in the foreground, with amazing high-res environment textures in the background.

 

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7162/6681045551_38ab752b7b_b.jpg

 

Example of this someone posted earlier. That character looks like it doesn't even belong in that environment, let alone the same game. Look at the walls, look how awesome those high textures look compared to the characters armor.

 

It looks HORRIBLE.

 

Yeah, can't argue with that. A few days back I posted about this in Customer Service, I thought it was my machine screwing up. It doesn't look nearly that bad in the shots I posted, but it must look pretty bad on lower end machines.

Edited January 12, 2012 by daemian

[Threefiddie]

unacceptable. plain and simple

[Aisar]

http://imgur.com/ZIxjS

 

opinions please.

[Ommm]

I recently just set my graphics driver to force negative LoDs to -3.000

What i found that made such a large difference to the environment (nothing to characters) was that guess what, the LoDs are more detailed, i.e. higher res textures on objects further away than would usually be used.

 

Also know this. pretty much every metal surface in the game is set to reflect. however, look at the reflection when negative LoD is set to default (0) they're either blurry or so blurred that it appears no reflections are present. Now after setting to -3.000 negative LoD, the reflections are changed, they appear crisp and to some people who seem to be blind, seem to show reflections on floors that couldn't possibly of had reflections before!! /sarcasm

 

So, basically, the reflections in this game are the LoDs. The floor is reflecting the Low detail textures and models of the surrounding environment. Thus, setting the negative LoD on the gfx driver to -3.000 which makes LoDs more detailed, will inevitably increase the sharpness and overall visibility of the reflections in lets say, the fleet's floor!

 

So now you know what LoD changes do to the environment.

 

Can you post a screenie with the nvidia inspector settings?