je_saist
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*pulls out a bucket of soap*
Guess I gotta wash puppeh snout out... -
Quote:Originally Posted by Lobster
I'm looking at getting a new card (like, hopefully SOON). It looks like the ATI 5770 is a sweet spot price/performance wise. What I want to know is: is it worth the extra ~$50 for 5830 or $60/80 for a 768 or 1GB TGX460? How much of an improvement, just in CoX, will going to the various cards get me? I assume it will be noticeable.
My system:
XP
Intel Core 2 Dual Core 6400/2.13x2
2GB RAM
Nvidia GF 9600 GT
In CoX, not so much. The 5770 can basically run City of Heroes with all Ultra Mode features sans Ambient Occlusion cranked up at 1920*1200 and the maximum GUI selectable draw distance. On your system you'll actually be limited by the processor and system memory long before you are limited by the RadeonHD 5770.
Both vendors are equally competent in Single GPU rendering when using multi-monitors.Quote:It's old, I know. But it generally runs CoX "fine" (ultra mode at defaults). That being said, I'd like to run with Ultra mode turned up quite a bit higher and still have it be playable.
Eventually I'll move to W7 & upgrade the rest of the system, but no money for that at the moment, and upgrading the card seems the simplest fix...?
[edit: Also I would prefer to run in a dual monitor setup - game on one, junk on the other (running the game in windowed mode if necessary) - do either NVIDIA or ATI do this better than the other currently?]
ATi's Eyefinity and Hydravision modes are significantly more advanced than Nvidia's 3D Surround Vision modes, as Eyefinity and Hydravision can be run on a single 5x00 series graphics card, while Nvidia 3D Surround Vision requires leveraging their SLI technology, so you'll need 2 Nvidia GTX graphics cards to get the same feature set as a single RadeonHD 5x00 card. Even then, if you are running in a Windowed mode, you'll actually get less performance on the "off" monitors with Nvidia .
Unless you are planning on driving a game across 3 monitors at once, this high end feature disparity may not mean anything to you.
The GTX 465 is basically a binned GTX 480 or 470. Pop the heatsink off, and chances are it's one of the original GF100 chips that failed either thermal testing or clock-speed testing.Quote:[edit2: I just noticed the GTX465 is about the same price as the 1GB GTX460... it's older but appears to benchmark better? Can someone clarify, as I'm obviously way out of the vid card loop.]
Because the GTX 465 is a binned GF100 it carries all of the problems of the GF100, such as a power draw that will make 700watt power supplies whimper, and the ability to surpass an operating temperature of 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
Unless you have a case that is Fermi-Certified and a Fermi-Certified power supply, you probably will not be able to run a GTX 265 at all without either burning it out from overheating, or burning out the rest of the system from it's insane power draw.
The GTX 460 is the card you'd actually want if you were buying the Nvidia badge. It's the first respin of Fermi Nvidia has been able to get produced in volume. As a respin it fixes many of the original Fermi chip's problems. It uses much less power, puts off a lot less heat, and in 2x SLI rendering modes, can keep up with the RadeonHD 5870 in 2x Crossfire mode.
The problem with the GTX 460 is that is a part released nearly 10 months after the competitors High End flagship part. Now, if you drop by... say.... Techarp and check out their list of Desktop GPU's, you'll find something that's actually rather disturbing: http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=88&pgno=0
Every time there's been a 10 month separate between graphics cards, the next mid-range card generally out-powers the previous High End graphics card.
Quick case in point:RadeonHD 2900: May 2007: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2007/...on_hd_2900_xt/
Now, if you are buying right now... the GTX 460 is an amazing card. If you run it in 2x SLI, there isn't a single game either on the market, or one that we know is scheduled for release, that the 2x SLI GTX 460 can't run at full details in Triple-Screen Resolutions.. providing you have a more powerful processor than a Core 2 Duo.
RadeonHD 3870 / 3850: November 2007 :: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2007/...hd_3800_series
Time Difference: 5 months
Performance Difference: Huge
RadeonHD 3870: November 2007
RadeonHD 4870 / 4850: June 2008 :: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2008/...d_4800_series/
Time Difference: 8 months
Performance Difference: Huge
RadeonHD 4870: June 2008
RadeonHD 5870: September 2009: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2009/...o_card_review/
Time Difference: 13 months
Performance Difference: Huge
RadeonHD 5870: September 2009
Geforce GTX 460: July 2010
Time Difference: 10 months
Admittedly, those examples are mostly from ATi. They still largely hold up on the Nvidia side across the 6x00, 7x00, and then 8x00 series graphics cards. The example sort of breaks there on the Nvidia side since it wasn't until the GTS 250 and GTX 260 that mid-range priced parts from Nvidia actually had as much rendering power as the former high-end part, the 8800 GTX and Ultra parts.
Still, one would expect that with such a delay between products, one would expect the Geforce GTX 460 to perform significantly better than a binned part from it's competitor, specifically the RadeonHD 5830. The only reason the 5830 is on the market is because AMD just filled in a price-gap back in February rather than lowering the price on it's 5850 graphics card.
In single GPU modes, the base 768meg GTX 460 can't outrun a stock 5830. The more expensive 1gb GTX 460 performs between a 5830 and a 5850, parts that are from a chipset design that is significantly older and has not been tweaked or modified.
The panic inducing part of this is that AMD has said they won't be doing a product refresh on the 5x00 series parts. They'll be going to a new architecture with the RadeonHD 6x00 series. What's more, board partners are saying AMD will role out this new GPU series on the 1 year anniversary of the launch of the 5870. That's next month.
The GTX 460 is a good card. In multi-gpu modes, it's an outstanding card. It is, however, competing against a graphics card that AMD could pull from the market at any time and never notice, the 5830; and a graphics that was originally scheduled to be at $200 till AMD realized just how good it was under actual games, the 5850.
Which, incidentally, is why AMD's pretty ho-hum against the GTX 460's 2x SLI victories. With a 10 month product separation, they probably expected the GF104 to just blitz their older Evergreen architecture.
On your system, my recommendation would be: don't buy right now.
When you can afford to upgrade the rest of your computer, there will likely be much better offerings to be had in the $200 price bracket, at least from AMD/ATi.
Until you upgrade the rest of your computer, the computer itself is going to be a bottleneck on pretty much any game that will push the 5770 or any higher graphics card. -
There is a bug with the badges being awarded for respeccing while in the "countdown" phase.
Whether or not the devs are going to strip the badges from those who used the respec bug to gain them is unknown, since it's likely that more than a few players were respeccing anyways. -
Quote:yeah. that's what I was thinking too.Originally Posted by Zekiran_Immortal
Wait they already turned off transfers? .... >_> well crap, I was thinking it was going to be for longer than this.
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It's more likely it's disabled since the only "title" allowed in the Powers Division is Top Dog
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The Warden and Responsibility arcs can be started by cold contacting the zone first contact NPC for each arc, regardless of what side you are on.
The Power Arc can be started by cold contacting the zone First contact for each arc, but only if you are a loyalist.
The Crusader arc can be started by cold contacting the zone First contact for each arc, but only if you are a member of the resistance.
You do not have to be introduced to any particular zone first contact as long as you are within the starting and ending level ranges for each first contact NPC, and the correct alignment.
You will need to be introduced to any particular zone's second and third contacts providing you are still within the level range for each second and third contact NPC, as well as maintaining alignment for the second and third contacts.
Is it possible to go from 1 to 20 and only doing one single storyline, such as ONLY doing the Power Arc, or ONLY doing the Warden arc?
If you kill everything in every map, then yes.
If you do not kill everything and only complete mission objectives, then no. -
Quote:Steampunkette actually made the point I was going to make.Originally Posted by Steampunkette
Ever in the Practical Sense, referring to this genre, topic, and specific concept, then.
In 35 years computers will probably be vastly removed from what we think of them as, today, after all... And MMOs might be a literal plug and play scenario involving inserting a chip in your head!
-Rachel-
Okay. Yes. I did mis-speak on that. MMO's as we know them... probably won't ever have a true geometry modification. At least they won't on what we view as a modern computer system. There is a finite limit, even with data compression, on just how many 3-dimensional variables can be transmitted at a time. Maintaining, parsing, and disseminating this data in one to one enviroment requires loads of processing power and network throughput.
This is why the "big" army simulators have very low graphics capabilities compared to something like say, Unreal Tournament. Giving the graphics system less to draw enables the system to spend more time parsing the physics data accurately.
This finite data limitation is further constrained by the Internet Service providers.
Here's a quick shot of how the Internet actually works:
Your home computer system is attached to the ISP. The ISP's then are attached to each other by the Internet Backbone.
Here's a quick shot of how the internet actually works going to a single server:
Here, the black lines indicate a server path that is contracted too and agreed upon, a guaranteed path. The green lines indicate a server path that might be throttled or not always available. Here, using the contracted path, there's a minimum of 5 data hops to get to the server you want to talk to: Modem - ISP 1 - Backbone 1 - Backbone 2 - ISP 2 - Modem
If something were to go wrong though, and these lines were to break, you could have a minimum of 6 hops: Modem - ISP 1 - Backbone 3 - Backbone 1 - Backbone 2 - ISP 2 - Modem.
Or you could have a minimum of 4 hops: Modem - ISP 1 - Backbone 2 - ISP - Modem
This is why many MMO's have regional game servers:
With a regional server, your access to any one server can be kept to a minimum of required data transmission hops.
For the most part, consumers and MMO developer / publishers have no direct control over how the ISP's and Backbones behave. Comcast, for example, is routinely in the news for throttling bandwidth, limiting the amount of information that can be transmitted from one server to another.
This is what net neutrality is all about. It's about the ISP's and the Internet backbone guys making no difference to what kind of traffic goes through their servers. If you want to send 6 gigabytes of game traffic a day through an ISP server, it should go through just the same as if you were sending 6 gigabytes of office documents or emails.
Getting back to MMO's and MMO designs: since the publishers and developers of MMO's are largely constrained by the actions of both the ISP's and the Internet Backbones, as well as what their customers can afford, they have to plan their games based on the actual amount of realistic bandwidth that is likely to be available.
Unfortunately, because backbone's like AT&T are spending more money on supporting a phone instead of upgrading their network, the average download speed, as measured by the FCC, was less than a 3meg download on broadband connections. On average, a consumer gets less than 1/2 of the bandwidth they THINK they are paying their ISP for.
That's a problem when you look at say, the Steam Network survey, which incidentally confirms what the FCC said.
Most of the gamers on the Steam network have a 2meg or lower download speed... and that simply is not enough to drive the finite limit for an MMO style game to process Geometry Modification.
Will this change in the next 10 years? Maybe.
Will it change enough? Probably not enough.
I'm not going to claim I know what the finite data transmission amount is. I don't know just how much data can be compressed and still retain enough accuracy for a given number of players. I could work out a number based on the pixel count of the geometry modified as a raw memory basis, but that wouldn't exactly be accurate in a system where geometry models can be rendered at different resolutions in real time.
What I do know is that for a game that counts on having large number of players online consecutively, that data transmission amount is going to be huge, and it's going to rely on a lot of variables that neither the publisher / developer or actual consumer have any control over.
If the major ISP's and Backbone internet providers do forge agreements to base data transmission on data type and data origin, such as the Verizon / Google deal, gamers are essentially HOSED unless they can afford the megabucks to buy a "private" pipeline through their ISP and the Backbone.
That alone could kill the chance of any extensive innovative physics based gameplay concepts in an MMO market. -
Soulwind: you forgot the other primary reasons Geometry modification is largely limited and will likely "never" happen.
Network Bandwidth
Processing Power
Not everybody who plays the game has a AMD Phenom II or an Intel I7 coupled with a RadeonHD 5800 series or a Geforce GTX 400 series graphics card. Not everybody who plays the game has a 12meg synchronous internet connection with the CoH servers.
I realize that anytime the subject of geometry modification is brought up, somebody inevitably brings up Red Faction, which has done Geometry-modification in a multiplayer game. There's one key difference between Red Faction: Guerrilla and City of Heroes, other than the processing requirements. Red Faction: Guerrilla only supports up to 16 players on any single map instance.
That's it. Just 16 players.
Implementing Geometry Modification, any kind of geomeotry modification, is both computationally expensive and network intensive. There is a very good reason that Red Faction is the only video game series to make extensive use of Geometry Modification.
The problem goes beyond simply designing map objects that can be destroyed. Map objects have to be destroyed, then tracked, across all systems. So if somebody breaks through a wall and then connects two rooms, that new geometry state has to be communicated to everybody else in the map. Not only does the geometry state have to be communicated, but if anybody else is attacking or disrupting the object, that object state has to be transmitted as well. This is why the breakable objects in Mayhem Missions and the STF are largely static options with only a few animation effects before they disappear from the map are unloaded from the graphics and base processing systems.
This fundamental limit on how much information has to be tracked, transmitted, and then disseminated is why most games fudge things like Breakable walls and barriers. You can have breakable objects, or objects with different physical states pre-loaded, and thus give the perception that somebody has to break through a loose wall. Batman Arkham Asylum stands as a good example of this. At one point in the game you have to blow out the walls in order to rescue a hostage. Rather than a full-on geometry modification, the walls themselves are their own objects, thus saving on overall processing power and state tracking.
This type of destructible object barrier has been in City of Heroes for a long time; Eden trial with it's moss and rock walls; Orange Bagel with it's magical prison doors; council tunnels with their prisons; and Longbow bases with their prisons are all instances of these types of destructible object barriers. These limited target-able object barriers are the best way to implement a destroyable obstruction that requires as little processing power and network bandwidth as possible.
Implementing a full-scale break through that mission wall at any time geometry system would require not only drastically increasing the base processing requirements for City of Heroes, it would also require an extensive amount of more information to be transmitted across the network in order to keep all players systems update with the new state of the maps.
Such an update wouldn't just knock out players with older Radeon and Geforce graphics cards, it would also knock out players with older Athlon and Intel Pentium Processor. Such an update would also require significantly more powerful server processors, as well as significantly more server resources such as system memory and hard-drives for data storage. Such an update would also require a faster internet connection on the part of the players.
All of these technical factors mean that City of Heroes, and any MMO for that matter, won't ever see a geometry modification system, even in instanced missions. -
Quote:Can't. My eyeteeth were the price for the changes to Fiery Aura.Originally Posted by Forbin_Project
Yep. The only thing annoying about them is that they don't have cell phones. I'd give one of Je Saists eyeteeth to be able to call them and accept/decline a safeguard/mayhem mission.
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Quote:well. Here's the thing; It's only a chance. Well. it was a chance. With the beta server down I can't check the kin melee I had to see if Concentrated strike now always recharges Power Siphon.Originally Posted by Nightchill_EU
Well on the paper since the duration of the buff is 20 sec and Concentratred Strike recharging in 20 sec (easely hasted to very less) you could make it perma. Just wanted to check how real is this theory with those who actually brought Kin scrapper to lvl 32+
Meaning it's not 100%. Yes, you can sustain an average higher damage output with kin-melee, but no, you won't be sitting on the full power siphon buff 100% of the time. -
It really would be nice if the Newpaper and Radio contacts that clutter up the top of the Active Contact Tab and cannot be removed were placed in the Detective tab instead.
It also would be nice if all Detectives / Brokers showed up in the Detective tab as well, instead of cluttering up the Active Contact tab. -
it is possible if you are popping off Concentrated Strike on a regular basis to keep Kin Melee at it's super-buffed status a larger amount of time.
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Quote:*has a heart attack*Originally Posted by MunkiLord
Just did that mission last night myself. Turns out after defeating Black Swan all you have to do is defeat one more mob that spawns inside The Chantry after Black Swan goes down, you don't have to clear the entire Chantry. I got lucky and happened to be standing where the new mob spawned, that is the only reason I know this.
But I agree with je saist, it is annoying(or at least it would have been if I didn't get lucky with the spawn placement).
you... and... I... agreeing? What? Did hell freeze over??
anyways. I know it's Working as Intended... but I'm reminded of something I tried in AE a while back: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?p=2409165
Basically, my storyline basically involved having to descend into Loony the Mad's tunnel, wipe out the boss at the bottom, then move back up the tunnel and take out various devices that were now unveiled. In actual play I found that the fog mechanic of the map, even if you knew where you were going, was an incredible and painful distraction.
The over-fogging works in Loony's map on the Task Force since it's pretty much a one-way trip down the tunnel, and it's the end of the Task Force.
Outside of those play conditions, the fog is a bit too much. It's also really annoying on Black Swans's new Maria Jenkins map because of the natural shading color. The maps still seem to use the same light sources as a regular Shadow Shard map. Dark Astoria's lighting system isn't as aggressively dark, which makes leaping around Dark Astoria a tad bit easier.
Dark Astoria's lighting is also far more consistent. In the Black Swan map, if I was using superjump or fly I would get brightly oversaturated visuals combined with the deep undersaturated dark fog. Visually, Black Swan's map is a mess. -
yeah. I just did this mish, go to the death star, defeated everything inside, then found Black Swan OUTSIDE in the tunnel circling the death star.
Also, the entire map was fogged up like DA or Loony the Mad's tunnel. Incredibly annoying. -
I'm pretty sure Jack's account is unbanned by now. I don't honestly think our Dev team holds that big of a grudge against him.
(It is kind of hard to hold a grudge when you are on the floor laughing) -
Here's something that should be addressed by the UI team.
With GR/I18 a new color-coded search system has been implemented in the game to help players find and identify team-mates. According to a color-impaired poster over in the Suggestions forums, they can't actually make out a few of the colors: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=235627
Specifically the Yellow and Orange indicators, which mean two completely different things. The suggestion as been made to add in icons to indicate the status of the players eligibility for a team to complement the color-coded system, thus allowing color-blind players to leverage the system unhindered. -
Quote:ah.Originally Posted by Syntax42
I know about the color scheme. It is hard to see the difference between orange and yellow for the color-impaired like myself.
Hmm.
Well. That does kind of change things quite a bit. The developers demonstrated in the past that they were willing to make changes for players who are color blind. Maybe you might get more attention on your specific needs if you made it clear in your opening post that you do have a color impairment and the current color-coded system won't work for you.
Posted to Technical Issues and Bugs: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=235637 -
Quote:I think with Jack it would be more We thought about it over Red BullOriginally Posted by Peacemoon
I think it is more of an example of the Statesman BS.
"In Development" = "We thought about it over coffee and agreed it would be cool."
Also: in before threadlock! -
Quote:I added a bolded and italicized word to your statement.Originally Posted by Syntax42
If you don't have space, replace the origin column with alignment. I doubt anyone uses origin YET to determine who to invite to their teams, but alignment could be important.
As is, right now, there are missions in Going Rogue that give extra story options to players with various origins. It may be a while before we see this tech fully developed into the game, but the way things are going, having a certain origin on will mod future missions.
Second: what you want is already in the game: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...88&postcount=9
Quote:From the Developer working on it by way of BAB:
The color scheme came about along with other behind-the-scenes work to make searching more useful in Going Rogue. It used to be that heroes could see heroes and villains could see villains and that was that. With vigilantes going villainside and so on, we needed a more sophisticated approach. Now the people you see are people you could team with, and who are in the same part of the game world as you (eg. people in the Rogue Isles can't see people in Paragon City and vice versa, regardless of their alignment). While I was implementing that I added the coloring.
The new color scheme works like this:
Jade green: Same team as you
Red: They have 'not looking for group' set
Yellow: They can't be invited to team with you because they're on a mission map or in an arena match
Orange: They're the opposite faction to you and not on a mixed team, so you have to go to their map to team with them
Violet: They're the leader of a team with less than 8 people on it
Pale blue: They're not on a team and you can invite them
Green/grey: They're on a team but not the leader, so you can't invite them and they can't invite you -
Quote:That's why the Feline Foundation developed "Spide-Away!" for removing all those pesky spiders from the sides of buildings and atop Gargoyles.Originally Posted by DumpleBerry
Sorry, I thought you were posting a suggestion. Next time preface your statement with, "I didn't think about this and it's meant to be a petty snark," and we'll know not to comment on it.
Having said that, the idea of a giant spider-woman with reverse articulated legs and bug eyes flying around Paragon City is hilarious.
Spide-Away: Defend your Supergroup Base Today! -
Quote:spikes are hitting most servers.Originally Posted by Ullar
If this is one of the dead servers I'd hate to see what they are on Freedom...
I have a high speed connection, comparable to T1 speed. All my other online games are doing fine. Anyone else getting these?
Some servers are not so bad if you try to stay out of high traffic zones, like Talos Train & Wentworths. -
Quote:mewit Fey. Now I've got this mental image of Dreck visiting Dominatrix for "special times"Originally Posted by FeyDuex
Dreck would be, yes, but the dog would need something more
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Quote:why not? Summon Arachno-bots is already available to other archtypes.Originally Posted by BBQ_Pork
I'd rather see the varius flavors of Arachno-bots as a MM Primary Set, perhaps with some sort of unlock required....or not.
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Quote:yeah... I've had a Robotics / Dark MM since CoV launched and I'm pretty sure that Dark Miasma always had lower values compared to the Corruptor / Defender variants.Originally Posted by Trickshooter
They've always been that way. Sorry.
Now granted, when CoV first came out, the Real Numbers didn't exist, and I stopped playing the Robo somewhere in the early 30's, so I never got to Dark Servant. I don't know if the launch version has always had an 8 minute timer, but it would make sense from a design standpoint. -
Quote:One of the problems with what you want is that it isn't likely to happen.Originally Posted by CaptainMoodswing
That's kinda beside the point. I'm not saying you MUST kill to be a vigilante, but most do, and it would be fun to have the option. And that still doesn't explain how taking the law into your own hands means working for a villain.
Having the Tech and actually USING the Tech are two different things.
One of the reasons the remove your contact from your city feature works in Praetoria in that the story lines can be directed in what-ever direction the developers want them to go, without any worries about long-term consequences. If you kill Cleopatra, let the Doctor escape the city, apprehend Hatchet, and so on, there's no long term story or game consequences. At level 20 you go to Paragon City and whatever you did in Praetoria no longer matters.
The bulk of the existing game content is written in a completely different manner. Again, the stories go where the developers want the stories to go.
Adding in the option to "eliminate or remove" existing CoV/CoH contacts would mean re-writing the story to give a reason on WHY you would eliminate them, or force them to leave Paragon City to begin with. From the tone of your opening post, I don't think you actually care about story related reasons. It does not read like you care whether or not you have the impetus, motive, drive, reason, or any other synonym when removing a contact. It sounds like you just want the "option" to remove them if you so desire.
Whether or not players care about the story driven reasons, the reasons that matter to the canon story of City of Heroes, does not mean the developers do not care. The developers opinions are the only ones that really matter in this circumstance.
One of the development aspects our developers have repeatedly talked about is how they don't want to revamp content for the sake of revamping content. The resources needed to update existing arcs are similar to the resources needed to create new story arcs. What the developers would rather do is create new content that is built to leverage new technology rather than revamping and shoving old content into new technology.
There are some cases where the developers have gone back and semi-revamped existing content. Positron Task Force for example. The old TF is still available in Ouroborus, and the new Task Force shares little in common with it's namesake.
There's also the "new" Maria Jenkins and Tina McIntyre arcs, which do leverage several of the content bits from their previous arcs. The stories are not exactly the same, but again, the old content is still in Ouroborus. It has been stated that the only reason these arcs were updated was to place their storylines in the context of the Praetorian world unveiled from the first arcs.
Getting back to the point: it's not likely that the developers are going to spend a significant amount of time on implementing new technology into older content. It's also not likely, that for the time being, that the developers will invest significant amounts of development resources into creating unique story arcs or experiences for the Rogue and Vigilante factions outside of Tip Missions and Morality Changes.
Whether or not Rogue and Vigilante factions will ever be developed as unique factions with their own content comprising of their own contacts, their own mission arcs, and their own Task Forces, I think largely depends on the sales of Going Rogue. Again, I've stated this before, I'll state it again. NCSoft is probably going to make the call on whether or not Paragon Studios works on a sequel title or continues with the current CoH game next year when Christmas sales of Going Rogue are all added up and the subscription base stabilizes.
If NCSoft decides that Paragon Studios should work on a sequel title, then, and only then will we see significant work done to make Rogue and Vigilante factions unique and independent of the Villain and Hero Factions.
If NCSoft decides that the sales of Going Rogue were fine, and that the subscription base is where they are comfortable with it being, Rogue and Vigilante factions will continue to remain "second-class" compared to Heros and Villains due to the sheer amount of content already existing for the two primary factions.
