Online replication of particle effects.

[Zetsumei]

In Roost smoke looks different on every computer it can be of different density on every computer and blocks visibility less and more on every computer. In for instance local offline games the density of smoke is a lot thicker.

What I'm suggesting is to find a way that particle effects such as smoke can be replicatable online. So things like smokescreens block the same on every computer.

In competitive gaming the differences of smoke in ROOST has already led to many headaches in checking up on cheat accusations of people being shot through the smoke for instance.

 

[Xendance]

I think this is more related to HoS than Rising Storm, as TWI has the source code for the engine
I don't think something like network replication is completely exposed in unreal script.

Disclaimer: This level designer doesn't necessarily know the truth

 

[Zetsumei]

Well I don't know either but since you guys have a special person for particle effects and stuff. I wanted to stress this point a little. As particle effects can really help with the graphics and atmosphere of a game, but in general they can often be a horror for competitive on-line gaming. As visibility can vary from computer to computer.

 

[PsYcH0_Ch!cKeN]

Particle effects are always going to be purely client side. It would be waaaay too much overhead to try and replicate stuff like that. Besides which, you really can't enforce that all particles are drawn by the engine for every user. In the interests of performance scaling, you just can't do it - not unless you want to really upset a large chunk of your playerbase anyway.

I understand your concerns, but it just can't be done. Because even if you could replicate them all, those effects are almost exclusively 2 dimensional sprites. i.e. No matter which way you're facing, they always appear to face you. If you turn, they'll turn with you. By that simple fact alone, you can never have every person seeing the effects the same way. Not without using either meshes or volumetric effects instead and I can assure you that most people's video cards just can't handle either of those options.

I'm sorry, but we can't do what you're asking. I doubt that you'll find any fps game this generation where it's possible.

 

[Zetsumei]

I know that they are 2 dimensional sprites but if for instance the location of the centre of gravity of the sprites get replicated together with at what frame it should be running it would be a good start already.

Perfect replication is most likely not possible, but the imagery on multiple screens can be brought a lot closer than how it currently is in Roost.

Remember as well that the primary issue is of smoke is 2 people facing each other. Which means that theoretically the smoke for both players should be within pretty much the same plane but possibly in a mirrored orientation. With the design of the sprites can be made so that the mirrored orientation blocks as much of a view as the original.

 

[=RB=]

Well seeing that this game is on a new engine it might not be an issue.

 

[Nezzer]

Bear in mind that client-side smoke usually decrease FPS, and if they make smoke server-side it might increase the pings of all players in the server. It'd be the same issue as having server-side ragdolls, which has been already discussed a while ago. I'd really love to heavy such things server-side, but I think most servers wouldn't be able to support them. I might be mistaken, of course, as I don't know much about these things.

Edit: crap, only now I've noticed that this is an old thread that someone ressurected xD

 

[Zetsumei]

The strain from rag dolls come from inverse kinematics, aka calculations. The strain from transparent smoke comes from the rendering part.

Dedicated servers do not have to render so your example cannot really be compared.

 

[Slyk]

If you want to stir me up, talk about allowing grass to be turned off... that ruined DH for me on many maps. I'm in favor of forcing foliage at every turn, even if that means we reduce the 'fancy-ness' of the foliage like moving in the breeze, etc. Many time foliage is a cover element in a level and should not be willy-nilly on or off for users. Mostly a soapbox item, but one I'll argue about.

Smoke on the other hand is not or should not be so important as to impact gameplay...performance absolutely hurts so it should not be a design choice within the playability of a level.

 

[u-s-e-r]

If you want to stir me up, talk about allowing grass to be turned off... that ruined DH for me on many maps. I'm in favor of forcing foliage at every turn, even if that means we reduce the 'fancy-ness' of the foliage like moving in the breeze, etc. Many time foliage is a cover element in a level and should not be willy-nilly on or off for users. Mostly a soapbox item, but one I'll argue about.

Smoke on the other hand is not or should not be so important as to impact gameplay...performance absolutely hurts so it should not be a design choice within the playability of a level.

In my opinion anything that blocks the view should block the view the same amount on lower quality settings, otherwise you could easily gain an unfair advantage.

 

[Zetsumei]

If you want to stir me up, talk about allowing grass to be turned off... that ruined DH for me on many maps. I'm in favor of forcing foliage at every turn, even if that means we reduce the 'fancy-ness' of the foliage like moving in the breeze, etc. Many time foliage is a cover element in a level and should not be willy-nilly on or off for users. Mostly a soapbox item, but one I'll argue about.

Smoke on the other hand is not or should not be so important as to impact gameplay...performance absolutely hurts so it should not be a design choice within the playability of a level.

We're talking about smoke grenades here, not smoke coming from chimneys or exhausts so much. The sole purpose of smoke grenades is to block a players vision, so they are thrown right between the line of sight of players, where making sure it blocks the same thing for everybody matters the most.

Currently in Roost with a smoke grenade different objects are covered by smoke on every screen, and that does create a lot of issues.