567 replies to this topic

[Karyudo ds]

WayGroovy, on 08 March 2013 - 12:02 AM, said:

I perform thermal scans for work. One of the most annoying issues I have to deal with is thermal reflections. Mechs should reflect thermal signatures on metallic ambient surfaces, providing the potential for false positives. It happens in real life, and it's annoying as hell, but it would increase the realism exponentially.

Not only that but false positives could also help make a case for NV in certain situations. Though we seriously need night versions of every map and dark ones at that. Frozen City night seems like the brightest map in the game. I guess it's the atmosphere but it certainly doesn't make me want to hit N for much.

Sort of makes me hope we get a thermal armor later. Vehicles can already mount the stuff now and it low light situations you'd again give people a reason to use NV when thermal fails. Sadly right now the only downside to thermal is clearly being about to see a mechs orientation.

Ohari, on 08 March 2013 - 12:15 AM, said:

I only hope snipers out there read that part, otherwise we will see lots of whining.

Oh I'm sure you wont have to worry about missing that anyway. Is the internet an all.

[Lyrik]

Great changes :-) Our Thermal Vision addicted will be finally be able to enjoy the game in all of its CryTek glory and Night Vision will be usefull :-)

And depending on the new implentation it will be a buff to ECM. Scouting will be more rewarding :-)

[Lucky Noob]

There are other Methods than Thermal in this Game ?

Great work Guys, finaly we see the beauty of the Maps again.

[Dataman]

Finally a change in NV that makes nightvision good, I appreciate that. Good job, guys.

As for thermal, I'll see what good changes, especially thermal is a 'I see you from 1000 m' vision. And people could cheaply ppc rally

[nonplusultra]

Thermal vision looks like night vision 2.0. The original style of TV was more realistic....

[JuiceKeeper]

looks much better. cant wait to try them ingame

[elde]

The new vision modes are awesome. Being forced to use thermal vision on all maps but caustic to see where everything is was silly, and in there we lost all the graphic glory from the environment. Having to select the right vision mode for the right moment brings more tactic into gameplay, which is great.

I was wondering, if there could be a module to highlight mechs in thermal or night vision mode - combining the old and new mode. Something that scans the heat signatures and highlights targets in a certain heat range. The magnetic visions etc. mentioned in the dev blogs are probably something we'll be waiting for a long time still, but I'll be happy to wait for them.

[Demos]

Looks good so far.
I'm happy to enjoy the graphic of the game again...

[sarkun]

Any change that makes the heat vision an option instead of mandatory gameplay mode is very welcome.

[Elessar]

Interesting ...
this brings up another question, however:
Will these changes increase the usefulness of "real camo" that is adapted to the environment?

Especially for light coloured environments like the snowy landscapes of Frozen City and Alpine Peaks
this is IMHO an interesting question.

In the Alpine Peaks screenshots of the announcement the enemy mech is clearly visible against the snowy background.
What would his visibility be, if the Mech wore Winter Camo (i.e. white, light grey) and especially, what would be if the Mech wore winter camo and the sun would shine frontally at it (so that there are no parts of the mech that are in shadow of other parts of the mech)

[Kmieciu]

I don`l like using thermal all the time, but these changes seem like a big buff for an Atlas DC brawler.

Would you have noticed the mech on the left if it didn't have a red triangle over it? If it was standing still next to a tall building it would be almost invisible.

[DirePhoenix]

Sunoiki, on 07 March 2013 - 08:55 PM, said:

Everything inside the cockpit will look normal regardless of vision mode. It'll be nice to see bay door lights without having to go dark for a second.

Hrm.. seems kind of odd that the "vision modes" would be something projected onto the cockpit glass instead of incorporated into your neurohelmet visor...

[LordDante]

screenshots look great
my wang approves to this changes !

[Marineballer]

Thank you. I very enjoy this update.

[Chavette]

1, I hope people will see me through bushes now harder.
2, Now camo paints willl maybe have some use.
3, Is magnetometer coming?

[Asseri]

New thermal vision that doesn't give you huge advantage as sniper from far away? Yes please! Give my Advanced zoom module some work! So far there has been no situation where I've rathed used advanced zoom instead of thermal.

[Flusensieb]

Looks pretty useless, the example shows that thermal is not working anymore as intended, this is Alpine, if it's not working on a cold map, why implement or use it?
I liked the "predator" style of the old thermal vision and it had a use.

[Sephlock]

Revert both (especially night vision) back to the way they were before- they really let you see things, even (especially) at a distance.

[Peter von Danzig]

It looks much better and it is good to hear that thermal-win-vision (I only use thermal vision) will come to an end.

[bentron]

Just want to say I'm glad vision modes are finally getting addressed and that I'm liking the general direction they're heading. I dislike having to spend 90% of my time in thermal as much as the next guy.

That said, I do have a couple complaints about the proposed thermal mode. First, blurring the mechs (especially at ~250m) looks awful and isn't at all realistic or necessary. I'd be on board with the blurred outlines more toward the extreme end of thermal's effective range though.

Second, and somewhat related, contrast (and thus effective range) in thermal should be both a function of distance and the target's heat relative to ambient temperature. The arbitrary max of 700m is, well, arbitrary. If there's a mech sitting 1200m out on alpine or frozen city riding 80%+ heat, it should be lit up on thermal like a beacon. A small, blurry blob of a beacon maybe, but very clearly a heat source. Conversely, mechs 500m+ out on caustic might be able to completely blend in with the terrain while still running at 50% or less heat. This is a bit of a tanget,I know, but I wasn't a huge fan of the change to thermal mode on caustic valley in the last patch, even if it is logical that thermal sensors can be calibrated to ambient temperature.

Also, I know it's already been acknowledged, but wow is the thermal data for alpine borked in that screenshot. Snow covered terrain nearly the same temperature as a walking fusion reactor? Meanwhile, terrain and buildings on River City Night (a map with slightly above average ambient temperature) are black with very little contrast. I assume/hope the RCN shots are closer to the ideal.

All in all, I like the approach that NV is high contrast for terrain in low light conditions and thermal is high contrast for mechs on normal to low ambient temperature maps. I am curious how these redesigned vision modes play out both with the low visibility particles (blizzard, smog, etc) and what they look like in motion. More screenshots/video would be nice as development progresses. I'd also like to echo the request for a white hot/black hot toggle on thermal mode, assuming it's technically feasible and doesn't push thermal out of balance with respect to other vision modes.