Myst Online: URU Live Forums :: View topic - Hoping City Re-write is something like...

Sudre

Joined: 13 May 2006

Posts: 1556

Location: Middle of USA

I think I've gone through most of the posts and I haven't seen any technical wishes like....

I don't now much about modern day coding for online content but...
In the original Live I was disappointed that I had to render everything (or at least it seemed that way) all the time. Even while in the Pub I had to lag when someone linked in at the Library.
I am kind of hoping that when the new Live arrives that when I enter a place like the Museum or pub, etc that the AGE list changes to the ppl in that building and when I leave it changes back to the ppl outside.
Plus I don't want to see the chat from someone that is 100 meters/yards away. I thought that's what the /shout was for. But it seemed to me that I was hearing everything from opposite ends of the city. I know we are in a cavern and sound travels but that was a little much. I think this had more to do with the amount of ppl in the area and not the distance.

And please anyone correct me if I got something wrong. I won't take it personally. And if something is not code possible I'd understand...

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Alahmnat

Uru Live Moderator

Joined: 09 May 2006

Posts: 1683

Location: Spokane, WA

Well, having the Age Players list change because you walked into a building in that Age seems a bit... counter-intuitive, if you ask me. That's mainly why the list sorts by distance right now, though, so that when you're in the building those closest to you are at the top of the list. Link-in lag in the City is an issue not because the client has to render where the person is, but because the client is trying too hard to track where they are and what they're doing, even if you can't see them. The Plasma engine is capable of backface culling and occlusion-based rendering AFAIK, so the engine isn't rendering what isn't in your line of sight, the link-in and physics code is just horribly inefficient at the moment, and that creates problems for everyone. You are still in the same Age, and in the same set of files within the game world, though, so regardless of your location, you do need to track, at least minimally, where people are (within a certain range, at least) so that if you leave an enclosed space people don't just pop out of nowhere.

Strictly speaking, text chat is also a bit of a weird half-voice half-text entity. Lacking an actually functional voice chat system that doesn't randomly crash people, text chat has become a sort of default "voice" communication system, but "realistically", it's more like having a portable IRC client strapped to your hand... what you're seeing is text communication from those in the same "channel" as you, regardless of their location. I do agree that text fall-off is nice, and when the City is more populated, /shout becomes more important to convey messages to everyone in the Age rather than those closest to you, but unfortunately, the effective range of text that isn't /shouted is extremely hard to determine, so there's probably a number of folks who use it regardless just to make sure people can hear them. What would be nice is an indicator, sort of like the voice chat range thing, to identify those within range of an un/shouted transmission.

Morningstar

Joined: 09 May 2006

Posts: 295

I heard that "unshouted" text is broadcasted to the eight people nearer to you... am I wrong? Embarassed

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hailahh

Joined: 11 May 2006

Posts: 87

all this time I didn't know but someone just clued me in, it has to do with distance, something set by the admins, and the people within "speaking range" are the ones with arrows around their names, e.g. >hailahh< means she can "hear" you (gets your chat messages).

Alahmnat

Uru Live Moderator

Joined: 09 May 2006

Posts: 1683

Location: Spokane, WA

Last I heard, that was for voice chat only. I've had conversations with people well out of range of the >username< indicators.

ToxicMoon

Joined: 09 May 2006

Posts: 464

Location: Alabama, USA

I hate the /shout command. I don't like having to type /shout before all my messages just to get heard, or retyping messages when I forget to use /shout.

I think it would be nice if you could select Age Players and it would automatically broadcast your message to everyone there (like an automatic /shout command), and then select something like Nearby Players to only talk to those near you.

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Tweek

Joined: 09 May 2006

Posts: 2307

Yeah I have always found that rather silly, you can talk to a person in another universe just fine but those in the surrounding area you cant.

If it was voice then yeah there would be a limit on who can hear you but not with text it just doesnt work.

The KI needs a big overhaul IMO theres alot of issues with it that needs sorting out.

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Tallonenx

Joined: 09 May 2006

Posts: 360

Location: U.S.|~|Reh Kotsah Ohk D'ni

Or maybe just having near by players as default and a /shout (to all the players in the age or a single player etc.) as an option?

But yeah. I've had conversations with people all over Aug'era (especially during the marker games that i've done on all those shards,,,ugghhh) and I didn't have to change anything.

And I don't think that the distance is set by the admins of the shard...'cuase I never ran into anything like that on mine....

But it was totally experimental and was from a long time ago so I could've forgotten.

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CAGrayWolf

Joined: 09 May 2006

Posts: 210

Location: Riverside CA USA

As I recall from the first beta ... the Ki was not set by distance, but by how many people are in the cavern (or neighborhood) at one time. As I recall, if the number of people was over 15 or 20, then you would have to use the /shout command to be heard by all.

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Sudre

Joined: 13 May 2006

Posts: 1556

Location: Middle of USA

The only point I was trying to make was how difficult it was sometimes to talk/type at someone. When the origonal live was going there were SO many ppl in the city that the chat would scroll off the screen before you even had a chance to read the paragraph your friend just typed at you. Then I'd try to scroll up but a second later someone else would say something and I'd get thrown back to the end of the chat. And you know if you left the city to chat you were not getting back in for many hours.
I can see the point that the chat is a channel for that age and everyone is on the same channel but maybe there could be a way without the /shout for example:

Nearest ppl
>john<
>fred<
>amy<
AGE
>john<
>fred<
>amy<
mary
Tom
Betty
Alice
Buddys
john
Betty
Hood
John
Betty
Alice

With the default chat group settable in the KI features. That you eliminate the need for a /shout command.
Maybe even have a second floating chat channel for conversations that you can choose who talks to you on it. Like hold the left mouse button on the BUDDIES title and drag it into the screen and it opens a channel to just that group or person of choice. THis chat box would be in addition to the main chat channel at the top.

Hope that makes sense.

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ToxicMoon

Joined: 09 May 2006

Posts: 464

Location: Alabama, USA

I'm also annoyed at how the chat goes straight to the end when you are trying to scroll up and read what you missed. I think there needs to be a way to scroll up without incoming chat causing it to go back to the end.

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Marten

Joined: 15 May 2006

Posts: 2169

Location: Washougal, WA

Tweek wrote:

The KI needs a big overhaul IMO theres alot of issues with it that needs sorting out.

That is why I made the KI upgrades one of my top five wishes...

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