Draw Distance

tehDickMan · Post by **tehDickMan** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 5:49 am

This isn't specifically a HDTP problem, but it occurs while running HDTP as well as plain ol' DX so I thought I'd ask around here for help.

Is there somewhere I can go (in an .ini file or something) to increase the draw distance? What I'm having happen, is in the first level I notice that from the docks, I can't see the Statue of Liberty but as I walk closer it is gradually drawn. I can't see her from the docks, but once I get about half-way between the base of the statue and the docks I can see almost all of it.

I dropped down into safe mode and I could see her from all parts of Liberty Island without any draw distance wonkyness, so I would bet there's a value I can tweak somewhere or something.

Other things are noticable when they are drawn too as they just sort of "pop up," but the statue is the most obvious.

Any help wolud be appreciated because stuff like this bugs me in a game.

fox · Post by **fox** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 6:37 am

Sounds like a problem with the renderer. Have you tried the enhanced OpenGL for Deus Ex?
- http://cwdohnal.home.mindspring.com/utglr/

Try this settings with it:
- viewtopic.php?p=1730#1730

Post by **DDL** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 8:48 am

I don't think DX actually HAS a variable drawdistance: while it IS possible to make a map so large that it won't render the other side, it does so in such an ugly way that I can only assume this is an unintentional engine limitation rather than a deliberate feature.

In other words, if you can see the mesh, it will attempt render it, even if the mesh is tiny and miles away (thank god for mipmaps, eh?).

I have noticed the problem you describe ocasionally, generally when playtesting HDTP stuff: too many unbreakable crates in view at one time, and some of the additional details started getting 'cut off'...but yeah, try a new renderer. I know this shouldn't happen, so maybe using more modern rendering code'll fix it.

tehDickMan · Post by **tehDickMan** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 9:23 am

[boratVoice]Great Success![/boratVoice]

Thanks guys!

Mr_Cyberpunk · Post by **Mr_Cyberpunk** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 11:19 am

Fan2 does this on the blades when you walk away from it. I already brought the issue up with Metche ages ago, basically the cause is Deus Ex's engine is crap. I'd advise you bring this up on the DX:R forums as they will be the only people that I know of to fix this issue. Unless someone has a better idea?

justanotherfan · Post by **justanotherfan** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 11:53 pm

I'll submit a bug report to Ion Storm.

And yeah, I've seen the problem too. It's happened when I've misconfigured something, perhaps too high quality settings. DX is a really old game now.

Jetsetlemming · Post by **Jetsetlemming** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 12:56 am

These problems don't show for me in my Tower of Babel map, and that's literally a mile and change high.

Maximum height possible for a map in Unreal, 65536 units.

Hashi · Post by **Hashi** » Sun Aug 26, 2007 3:46 am

justanotherfan wrote:I'll submit a bug report to Ion Storm.

LOL

Fulgrymm · Post by **Fulgrymm** » Sun Aug 26, 2007 4:11 am

lol I didn't even realize the impossibility of his post until just now.

justanotherfan · Post by **justanotherfan** » Sun Aug 26, 2007 6:41 am

Yeah, it sucks when the only one that can save you didn't want to and is dead. Unless Eidos starts doing open-source work, deusex.exe stays closed until it's a link to UT2004+DXR.

I actually did submit a bug report once for DX, to Westlake. It was about terrible memory leaks in the OS9 DX. I don't think they patched it, I just got more RAM (256mb was a lot then, but another 512mb fixed it better). I also remember mentioning how some objects, like the broken car in Smuggler's, lacked object names. The eye-biomod said to report that as a bug, so I did in the same email, knowing it was a note for pre-release bugtesting.

Deus Ex really is old for a videogame. Seriously. 7 years is a long time for technology. The game of the year previous was Legend of Zelda 64. Clinton was still president. Y'all were still running Windows 98, and I had just started testing OS X DP4 on my 450mhz supercomputer (Win2k was being release-tested by admins). Consider it in terms of your personal life; where did you work, were you married then (and how many kids then), how much money did you have, was it even before your first kiss? I'm still talking about a videogame from that long ago, even though I've played thousands of them. The engine has a few limitations ;-)

ewanlaing · Post by **ewanlaing** » Sun Aug 26, 2007 10:55 pm

i always look at water for videogame age.
deus ex's water compared to bioshock's water.
it's a sad thing to see.

Post by **DDL** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 2:36 am

Jetsetlemming wrote:These problems don't show for me in my Tower of Babel map, and that's literally a mile and change high. Maximum height possible for a map in Unreal, 65536 units.

Sure they do! Or at least, they do for both my computers: walk inside the tower, look up. The top of the tower gets cut off by blackness, which recedes as you approach it.

Post by **Jonas** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 8:17 am

I used to get that, but try messing around with your rendering settings. I'm currently using the enhanced OpenGL renderer with the settings recommended somewhere on these forums, and I get none of this.

Usually when things start flickering in and out of view at a distance, it's because I've accidentally started using the Glide renderer instead

justanotherfan · Post by **justanotherfan** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 7:08 pm

ewanlaing wrote:i always look at water for videogame age.
deus ex's water compared to bioshock's water.

lol, or look at the glide renderer option ;-), thanks Jonas.

In DX, water is a dark haze, and a blue screen when you're in it. I can only compare it to FarCry. I still haven't looked into Bioshock other than a glance at the wiki. I probably should look into it. Maybe when they get the widescreen-fov and securom stuff cleaned up. HL2 was a great game, but I was burned as an early-adopter.

I've seen triangles flicker in and out in Deus Ex, like in the floor. Not sure why, but I max out all settings and get issues like that with the new OpenGL renderer at times. Probably comes down to forcing crazy rendering settings from the driver level.

Mr_Cyberpunk · Post by **Mr_Cyberpunk** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 6:37 am

i always look at water for videogame age.
deus ex's water compared to bioshock's water.
it's a sad thing to see.

That would be a very stupid way of judging a games age. Check the god damn read-me, it tells you

But I've seen games that look like they are from 1996 and yet are made recently 2006-2007 so yeah that'd be really bad.

Lets see what Bioshock looks like using Shader 2.0 then rest assured the game won't look so modern