Why do other player's armour look so bad in non combat areas?

It has the benefit of being better looking to the owner, based on the owner's own opinions. The only set of 15k armor I've bothered to buy so far is some for the mesmer. And I could care less what other people think of it. It looks pretty for me while I'm playing. I have several friends in the game with various expensive armors - they all have them because they like them and found them worth earning money for, not because they look cool in towns to random people.

Hmm, I did read the thread. While some people are suggesting it as an option, others seem to be suggesting it as a fixed setting. An option, off by default, that doesn't alter graphics lag at all when off ... is fine.

However, your complaint is about how others see your armor, not how you see theirs. That calls for a fixed setting - how is absolutely everyone in a town with you going to be forced to see your armor at high res unless this increased armor res is global? If I could turn the option off ... I'd still be thinking you look awful!!!

I hope that h stands for honest and not humble.

As for your question, would I do that? Well, if it's an armor I'm interested in, yeah! But usually, no, I won't. And I'm in the category of people that really aren't all that interested in fancy armors, especially in towns. Other people with priorities more like yours, might jump at the chance. Have you even tried?

Ok, I said "high res screenies, in a great setting with great lighting." I'm talking about planned, constructed images taken to highlight the beauty of your armor. Most of the images on wiki are taken from login screens, and a lot of them look fairly low res. See, you could change that. Take great pictures, all sides, with dye, without dye ... then make the wiki images for your favorite armor truly show it off ... and you'd get your name on the update and everything!

I'd bet cash money that the majority of people interested in the "elite" armor skins study the images on fansites (like wiki, and like the galleries here) a lot longer than any time they spend trying to catch glimpses of each art in outposts.

Ok, you think it's sad that my priorities in the game are not about seeing your armor in high res - that's your opinion and you're entitled to it.

And I would gladly not have kept reading it ... if it hadn't looked like the beginnings of a petition to ANet to for a change, a change that is in my opinion a terrible idea.


Has it occurred to you that no matter how high the resolution, "cool armor" is still just a matter of opinion? Even at high res, some people find the obsidian armors silly looking, some people find the 15k armors a lot worse looking than many of the 1.5k choices.

Whatever will you do if, even at high res, some people still hold the opinion that your armor is really fugly?

Honestly, many many grats on your snazzy new armor, and I hope you continue to enjoy looking at it. But Please!!! Enjoy your armor because you like it, and stop worrying so over what it looks like to everyone in towns - the vast majority of them aren't looking at you anyway.

Luny

[L . Luny said - I]Ok, you think it's sad that my priorities in the game are not about seeing your armor in high res - [/I]

*sigh*

You just dont listen do you - It just is not registering with you al all is it.
Ive said MULTIPLE times in this thread that I was not talking about or asking for high res armour - only for it to look PASSABLE as armour and not "pixelsoup" As a few armour suits I can mention do.

Take Vabbian for example - I DONT need it do be HIGH RESOLUTION all the time , what I'm asking for is for it and other armour suits which need it to be "cleaned up" a little at this resolution or for the resolution to be just high enough for it to be passable.

Dont put words into my mouth as youre seemingly doing alot - Its called an "Armour Crafter" not a "Pixel Crafter!. Many armour suits like I said are respectable at this resolution - others needs tidying up badly imo.

If you disagree then whatever - its your right to.

Alright, that's a misunderstanding I could have avoided, and for that I apologize. When I refer to "high res" in all my previous posts I'm referring to an increase in resolution. I should've said "higher res"

My point stands. Forcing others into higher graphics lag or hardware upgrades so that we will see your choice of armors less pixelated is not ok with me. The resolution is there for those that want to see their own armor. Others can see it out of towns. This isn't broken, it doesn't require fixing.

I do commend you on trying to warn people about the situation if they're concerned about looking good for other players. Appearance to others in towns isn't covered in the armor galleries I've seen, so images documenting the appearance differences would be a useful addition to further your warning.

I'm not going to argue this anymore, as it just keeps getting uglier. (No, I'm not talking about armor.)

Luny

I think you misunderstood here. It's not about forcing people to get a better video card so they can see your armor, it's about allowing people to. Giving them the opportunity to.

I for one thinks it's sad that I can't see stuff like the warrior Primeval at a decent resolution. I already have an excellent video card, and so I would like to be able to see the game at its best. I can understand that overcrowded areas gets a decreased resolution, but people with enough firepower should be able to bypass that.

Although I think the shininess would blind me

Forcing others into higher graphics lag or hardware upgrades so that we will see your choice of armors less pixelated is not ok with me. The resolution is there for those that want to see their own armor. Others can see it out of towns. This isn't broken, it doesn't require fixing.

Here Let me fix this for you. Heres my Version.


Doing something which may not cause much more lag (only certain suits need it and the increase does not have to be great) or give others the others the choice to more fully utilise their hardware upgrades so that we will see NO ONES ARMOUR as TERRIBLY pixelated is a ok by me. The resolution is there for those that want to see their own armor, which sucks as its a blatant phalasy of thinking you look passable when you don't . Others can see it out of towns, but 99/100 times they wont as theyre focused not on you but the game itself. This is broken, it requires fixing.

There Fixed.

We have already said the reason armor is toned down in outposts is to decrease lag for those casual players who do not have a beast of a video card. This will never be changed so really theres not much point in it.

While an option to see other characters armor in full res would be good i just dont see this happening since it really has not been a problem to most players at all.

You also believe that everybody that buys expensive armor must be doing this just to show off to everbody in the town. Have you even stopped and thought maybe people buy ascended armor styles because they like how it looks?. Okay you bought your Vabbian armor to show off to everybody in town and then realised that others will see it differently to you. I understand you must be upset about this.

Maybe you should do like Luny suggested and post it in the Post Your Rangers thread .

Or

How about I don't.

1- I cannot be bothered.
2- I'm not doing extra work to cover for poor graphics. To show people who are not interested , and if they are ,can already access it elsewhere.
3- Most of you are against showing off of armour so live with it.

All of my points still stand. I dont thinkits a good thing that you look good to yourself , yet atrocious to your allies. Its nothing but a deception on more than one level imo.

No need to take that hostile tone

I was simply suggesting something. At least we can all go on with our deceptive armor

armor styles because they like how it looks?.

Yet who's to say what the true look of armour is? the pixellated mess or the highly detailed work of art - It comes down to opinion. Granted this "Trick" gives ,many Video Cards an Easier time , but I think The pixelsoup of some armour suits is too far. We live in 2006 not 1996 , surely most systems can handle a clean up of armour that really needs it or a slight base resolution increase. I do not accept excuses of "lag" as neither you or I have seen this in action. However you can argue theres a reason they keep it at low res - meh , I just hope with future expansions and more advanced programming technology the graphics here will be improved.

Certain suits of armour are really very ugly at low resolution due to their higher detail being turned into pixel squares. If you care about how you look to others , let me say that Ranger Vabbian / Warrior Primeval and Obsidian armour are to be avoided. There are others.

Well, of course the armor will look that way... hundreds of other people in one place.

Stop repeating whats been covered before.

What you said is only true for the most popular towns at prime times.

Well taking your style of not using quote tags.

Yet who's to say what the true look of armour is? the pixellated mess or the highly detailed work of art

The true look of the armour is what you want it to be.High res or low.

I do not accept excuses of "lag" as neither you or I have seen this in action.

I go into the GoA outpost. I have my armor set high res as you would with all other people in the area in, to my eyes low res armor. I have insane lag. Now imagine what would happen if everyone had high res armour around me?.

Now this may not effect you but i fail to see how me and probably hundreds of others should get our gameplay ruined just because you want to show off armour!

However you can argue theres a reason they keep it at low res - meh , I just hope with future expansions and more advanced programming technology the graphics here will be improved.

I'm all for the graphics improving in future chapters.As long as (i am repeating myself over and over with this) it allows me to play the game without it taking 7 seconds to move one step forward.

If you care about how you look to others , let me say that Ranger Vabbian / Warrior Primeval and Obsidian armour are to be avoided. There are others.

I was in Shing Jea yesterday talking to a warrior who was stood with Primeval armor on. Several people including myself complemented him on his armor. Wanna know what the difference between his armour in high res and his armor in low res? it was less shiney in most areas and looked much darker. Point is we did not go "Hey your armors ugly" or "lol you look like a clown noob". Nobody noticed a difference.

I am wondering. Have you been told your armour was bad looking by somebody?

A technical explaination from someone in the know wouldn't go amiss here, but in their absence I can take an educated guess that lag is the issue here.

Graphics cards process data in your machine, the data has to come from the guild wars servers, so yes, sending ALL the detail required to render everyone's armour in hi-res would slow the game down.

The determining factor would be the speed of your internet connection - Dial up users would have to wait an age for the data to download while for someone on a 8Mb connection it may well be playable.

The only solution would be for the game to detect the download speed being used and send the appropriate amount of data accordingly.

Haijiibirdhead, what graphics card do have installed. I only ask becasue I'd like to see your face when you enter a town or outpost only to find that it gives up and crashes your game due to the entire populace being rendered in the highest detail.

The reason for the lower res armour on other people, as stated here many, many times, is because not everyone can afford to go out and get the latest greatest graphics cards as soon as they are released.

Did you bother to read my post? It has absolutely nothing at all to do with graphics cards. The graphics card can only render what data is being sent from the guild wars servers and quite obviously only low res data is being sent, so as not to cause lag for those with low speed connections.

Only if all the high res data was being sent would the question of what graphics card you have in your machine become relevant.

The texture data isn't sent over the net, it's all on your PC already. The only thing you recieve is data packets instructing the game client that Mr.X is standing at point Y wearing 15K Glads and to render him as such, albeit in a lower res.

Good point- happy to admit I could well be wrong - in which case an option to display in high res REALLY should be available.

An option to display hi res for those that can would certainly help. But then what do you do.. if someone says "hey your armour looks bad" just respond with "hey toggle your textures on and you can see me nice and shiny"...

I guess it could break the ice at parties.

It's not just the base texture that's the issue anyway. There are several factors at play:

Are the textures all on one texture page.

Are the textures packed. ie; is there a data file with all available textures in it, that simply moves the uvs to the appropriate position

or...

If they are separate textures (such as tgas) the issue becomes: How many?

For every texture applied to a model it creates a draw call, so one way to relieve the pressure is to call the lo res version (downsampled or mip mapped, not entirely sure of the correct terminology).

But there's more... Almost all of the armour (aside from the cloth based ranger styles) has specular, probably a detail map, and possibly an environment map. Add to that all the eles with particle fx round / on their heads and you're looking at a huge amount of data.

I'm no expert, mind. And as I said, a toggle would be fine for the individual that has the system to handle it but it seems a little pointless unless you're willing to go around the town asking people to turn their texture res up so they can see your armour...

Jesus bloody Christ.....

*Sigh* Ill say it AGAIN then for those of you who either dont know how to listen or are simply being ignorant.

I AM NOT LOOKING FOR EVERYONE IN A TOWN TO HAVE HIGH RESOLUTION ARMOUR.

There , hopefully I wont have to REPEAT it a million times more to ppl who dont listen.

What I SAID REPEATEDLY, is that some suits of Armour with otherwise would be amongst the most detailed in the game , is hit PARTICULARLY hard at low resolution , and becomes a mass of terribly Pixillated trash (for lack of a better word). Other people's , in fact most people's armour ARE in fact passable at that resolution. Heck I'd be happy if they only cleaned up the Vabbian ranger's belt at that resolution , and gave some other suits of armour slightly cleaner textures. All to bring it up to the level of other less detailed suits at low resolution.

-Which Is only fair given the Amont that is being paid for them.

Its so that no one has TERRIBLY pixilated armour ,Some pixels here and there maybe can't be helped , but when almost the entire texture is blurry and only consists of black pixels - Then there IS a problem I think.

I KNOW GIVING THE HIGHTEST DETAIL TO EVERYONES ARMOUR WILL CAUSE SYSTEM FAILURE. I AM NOT STUPID.

so lets stop talking about high res. Its not going to happen , even though it is the ideal - but we dont live in the ideal world.

Generally in my opinion, At lower resolutions:

A degree of texture quality reduction = acceptable.

When that reduction is taken so far that sections of armour completely loses it's shape and form = unacceptable.

Jeez. Chill out, it's not exactly the end of the world is it?

I can only take a guess at this, as I don't work for A.net and am not familiar with the way they code but generally (speaking from experience) there are not different resolutions of textures. There is merely one, that is downsampled dependent on graphics settings - either built in or user controlled. So cleaning something up can only be done at the highest resolution. The exception being if something is a LOD version ie; distance controlled lower-poly object that has a single, replacement texture. But that wouldn't apply to armour in outposts.

So esentially, the more intricate the design at full resolution, the more pixellated it will get when it's downsampled. Shininess and dark patches may well have nothing to do with the base texture, but with the removal of a specular or environment map at the downsampled state. I've noticed myself that the spec / env map on capes gets removed at a low setting, so it could well be the same in outposts.

Spec maps are quite often used to control detail. So when they go.. boomf.. things can get ugly.

Very Ugly.At least we agree there.

Then why can't resolution be based on the amount of ppl actually in a non combat Area - It's sad that I can go to henge of denravi with only a guild member in the entire town and still have rubbish armour looking to each other.

I'm not a programming expert either , but those detailed suits stink up the town real bad.... I can't understand Armour that's only selling point to players is its looks , will actually look worse to everyone else , than if you bought the practical standard armour.

-One gets annoyed when one says something 4 times and it goes in one ear and out the other with ppl.

One also gets annoyed at spending large quantities of game gold on garbage.

Mmm well that would definitely be a code issue, which is waaay out of my league.

You should see the colour I turn the air when I accidentallly merch a perfect weapon cos I have lag.