41 replies to this topic

[DirePhoenix]

As the title states, on this patch I noticed that we are able to apply the PC Gamer colors from the PC Gamer skin to other patterns, as well as reapply them. However, when applied, I noticed that these colors were... "off". Like, way off. Much, much darker and muted. How far off? This is the PCGamer skin with the default colors that we know and have gotten used to:



There's a nice, bright red that we're familiar with from the PCGamer logo, a medium gray and a black for the tertiary pinstripe color.

HOWEVER, when you apply the PCGamer colors to this pattern, where you would expect to get these same colors, instead you get this:




WTF?!? This looks like that time in Superman 2 where Evil Superman dips himself into an oilspill!!! Are these colors going to get fixed, or is this what we're going to expect whenever we apply these colors anywhere?

Edited by DirePhoenix, 27 November 2012 - 03:03 PM.

[Minoxen]

Niko Snow, on 27 November 2012 - 01:44 PM, said:

Hi there!

The colours were dulled intentionally on this patch as they were too bright compared to other base colours being put in.

The PC Gamer Colors are only available to those who accessed the promotion correct?

Why change the vibrance or brightness of the pc colors if the PC gamer colors are promo exclusive? So what if they match some of the MC exclusive colors?

Why was the decision made not to leave them as is but to add the Dull Red, Dull Gray, Dull Black as a separate purchasable options if diversity is what was sought while maintaining the vibrant nature of the PC Gamer Promo colors?

These questions are not meant in a negative fashion, and I was quite pleased to find that using the PC Gamer Colors was free, but I was also very disappointed when I found out that I could not simply "Shuffle" the colors around but instead now require MC to purchase the colors that match my existing skins brightness.

Thank you.

Edited by Minoxen, 27 November 2012 - 02:46 PM.

[Robdillard]

Niko Snow, on 27 November 2012 - 01:44 PM, said:

Hi there!

The colours were dulled intentionally on this patch as they were too bright compared to other base colours being put in.

The colors are still there if the skin remains on touched the vividness of the colors is still present.

It is disappointing as well but par for the course of pgi changing preexisting content WITHOUT any warning or documentation. Those colors were unique before now they are dulled beyond recognition.

Worst of all you have matched the previous exactly to pay for colors. We already paid for the magazine to get the previous colors.

I have MC now after that is gone I do not think I will spend additional monies beyond my founders as this issue of constantly doing poor PR really does nothing but hurt the original CORE FANBASE that signed up early with funds in hand supporting this project.

PGI needs to keep in mind just about every undocumented change will come to light and it only looks bad when it detracts from the existing players enjoyment.

Sincerely,
Robdillard

[DirePhoenix]

Doing some more fiddling with the paintjobs, I believe I have come up with a solution:

First, I did some testing to compare the "Basic" red to the default PCGamer main body red:

Default PC Gamer colors (no changes):


Replacing the secondary "gray" stripe with "Basic Red":



You may see that you can see a difference in the colors: The "Basic Red" looks slightly darker and duller than the default PC Gamer red of the main body. However, I believe this is because the zone for the secondary color channel is already muting the color a bit. When changing the main body color to "Basic Red", you'd expect it to match the secondary stripe, but instead we get this:



While we can see that the main body is slightly different, the secondary band that is supposed to be the same color, is still darker than the main body.

Let's compare this "Basic Red" color (that has already been compared to the default PC Gamer colors) to "Phranken Red":



And here we see a very similar, although almost a more vibrant color than the "Basic Red"!

SOLUTION:

Switch "PC Gamer Red" with "Phranken Red"! This makes more sense in a couple ways: PC Gamer gets the more vibrant red that's closer to the color that PC Gamer actually uses in its logo, and the Phranken color set gets a darker "blood red" color that's more appropriate to its "Monster" theme!

Secondary issue:



Switching the secondary color to "Gray" shows that this premium color is indistinguishable from the color that was already being used in the PC Gamer skin. If this wasn't an issue, why is there such an issue with the Red colors?!? But there is an even bigger question:

What's this gray color doing in the PC Gamer set in the first place? PC Gamer doesn't use gray in it's logo, it uses white. I would've said something before, but we didn't really even have a choice before. Here, I've swapped the secondary color to white:



Now, I suppose we can't have different names (let alone prices) for the exact same color, they have to be unique and special. I would then suggest to change "PC Gamer Gray" with a color somewhere between "White" and "Light Urban Gray" (although closer to white), and then we have a better, PC Gamer color set that is closer to the colors PC Gamer actually uses.

[Robdillard]

Your missing the point DirePhoenix. IGP is taking away the look of the skin WITHOUT warning. In order to get that same look again you have to pay additional money to do so.

This should not be acceptable to anyone here. It should be reversed. This seems to be an overarching issue with IGP/PGI not documenting changes that adversely affect existing players. Something that really should not continue.

Robdillard

[warp103]

it call bait and switch. Paid for the issue to get the code and later pgi take it away to make you paid for it again.

[ChaosGrinder]

What rob and warp said is sad but true.

Pgi shouldn´t do so without a warning or better : A Poll.

[AlanEsh]

What irks me about this whole thing is how different the colors look from mech to mech. It's almost as if each mech has a different level of "mute" or "washout" applied to any given color. I can't make my K2's paint job look anything like it does (color-intensity-wise) on my Cent.

[Flapdrol]

Yeah, not really an elegant solution this. Ah well, at least it was free.

Anyway, you cant go back to original PC gamer camo if you do any color modification, it saves the washed out colors even if you go back to default.

Edited by Flapdrol, 28 November 2012 - 10:24 AM.

[DirePhoenix]

DirePhoenix, on 27 November 2012 - 04:04 PM, said:

SOLUTION:

Switch "PC Gamer Red" with "Phranken Red"! This makes more sense in a couple ways: PC Gamer gets the more vibrant red that's closer to the color that PC Gamer actually uses in its logo, and the Phranken color set gets a darker "blood red" color that's more appropriate to its "Monster" theme!

Just so there's no confusion, by Switch "PC Gamer Red" with "Phranken Red" I mean "PGI, you should switch the colors you're using for the new PC Gamer Red with the color you're using for Phranken Red", I'm not suggesting the players buy different colors to get the colors they're supposed to have with the PC Gamer skin unlock.

[ScrapIron Prime]

Personally, I'm enjoying the idea that the PCGamer colors are free to apply to ANY paint scheme. Take advantage of that before they "fix" it, folks!

[Elder Thorn]

Minoxen, on 27 November 2012 - 02:45 PM, said:

The PC Gamer Colors are only available to those who accessed the promotion correct?

Why change the vibrance or brightness of the pc colors if the PC gamer colors are promo exclusive? So what if they match some of the MC exclusive colors?

Why was the decision made not to leave them as is but to add the Dull Red, Dull Gray, Dull Black as a separate purchasable options if diversity is what was sought while maintaining the vibrant nature of the PC Gamer Promo colors?

These questions are not meant in a negative fashion, and I was quite pleased to find that using the PC Gamer Colors was free, but I was also very disappointed when I found out that I could not simply "Shuffle" the colors around but instead now require MC to purchase the colors that match my existing skins brightness.

Thank you.

because they can't rip you off into buying those colors 10 times per mech if they would do it different, that's why

[Henchman 24]

um, you clearly don't understand how color works do you.

when you take a colored pattern, and layer more solid colors on top of color...it gets darker, not brighter.

pay attention...these colors look just dandy and far brighter than you think when not stacked two deep.

to clarify, I believe the PC gamer 'skin' is inclusive, as in, the basic pattern isn't empty of color for switching(which makes sense for a free promo skin), so you are literally stacking a colored skin on top of a paint job or vice versa.....either way, it equals a darker result.

dazzle is a fully socketed pattern and shows the colors just fine.

Edited by Henchman 24, 28 November 2012 - 11:54 AM.

[DirePhoenix]

Henchman 24, on 28 November 2012 - 11:51 AM, said:

um, you clearly don't understand how color works do you.

when you take a colored pattern, and layer more solid colors on top of color...it gets darker, not brighter.

pay attention...these colors look just dandy and far brighter than you think when not stacked two deep.

to clarify, I believe the PC gamer 'skin' is inclusive, as in, the basic pattern isn't empty of color for switching(which makes sense for a free promo skin), so you are literally stacking a colored skin on top of a paint job or vice versa.....either way, it equals a darker result.

dazzle is a fully socketed pattern and shows the colors just fine.

This isn't merely an issue of the skins using the Photoshop "multiply" effect on the color channels. If it were, then the base color would still have a reddish hue on the PC Gamer pattern no matter what color you paint over it.

The actual colors are off. Even if you go back to the Dazzle pattern and swap out "PC Gamer Red" for "Phranken Red" or "Basic Red", you'll see that the PC Gamer Red is still a dark, dark, almost purple-charcoal red compared to the other reds, and is a far cry from the color that PC Gamer uses in its logo.

Edited by DirePhoenix, 28 November 2012 - 12:17 PM.

[Haniwa]

I suggest writing an email to PC-Gamer, since you bought their issue and I think they might be interested to see their colors correctly displayed ingame.

[Randodan]

I don't mind muted colors at all. After all, we're looking at machines of war and not candy-toys in primary colors.

[LaserAngel]

Anyone know how to return the PC Gamer skin back to default if you use it as the base pattern?

[White Bear 84]

Correct me if i am wrong, but for the PC Gamer skin you paid for the skin - 'the skin'. No where in that sentence do i read you paid to get access to thee color swathes on other mechs... ..the fact we actually do have access to the colour swathes for other patterns and designs seems like a bit of an added bonus to me...

[RacerX]

So, the simple solution is to lock the skin and give us our color back. I for one will not spend additional money to unmute my PC Gamer skin color? BTW, did Yen Lo Wang also get the mute treatment?

[Stradivarious]

Randodan, on 28 November 2012 - 12:50 PM, said:

I don't mind muted colors at all. After all, we're looking at machines of war and not candy-toys in primary colors.

That's just fine for house troops. For mercs, the paint job is a walking advertisement. Kell Hounds and Wolf's Dragoons, arguably the 2 most well known merc units in the entire innersphere, both use different patterns of gloss black and bright red.

Secondary point, your meticulous attention to detail in making your camo pattern match some terrain of your choosing, becomes 100% useless as soon as you move. Camos only good if you remain still, the human eye is drawn to movement, and oh yeah, motionless mechs....die...fast... Mobility is life. Do you really expect to hide your 40ft tall death machine that moves at a minimum of 30kph?

Lastly, I made a thread on this last night since the search function decided to not show the others and nothing was on the top 2 pages about it. At the same time, I copied and pasted it into a support ticket. The CSR response does not match what the PGI folks have been posting in this thread and the one mine was merged into. Specifically:

Quote

Nov 28 09:33 (PST)
Hello Stradivarious,
The problem you have encountered is a known issue and we hope to have it fixed soon.

I also side with those saying that PGI should not have changed it, I personally wouldn't have minded paying for the brighter red had it not been part of the PC Gamer set, but at the same time, you don't give somebody something then take it away just to charge them again for it(which we were charged, via buying a magazine). Give it back please, I don't care if it's the exact same color as Franken Red(which atm, it is on the original skin).

Edited by Stradivarious, 28 November 2012 - 05:34 PM.