Maybe as Vendetta becomes more developed, I was wondering... can the backgrounds be a little simpler to reduce clutter and increase long distance visibility? Right now I'm playing with backgrounds off because they render horribly in 16-bit. But not only that, I also noticed that hidden wormholes are harder to locate, as well as players/bots, in the distance even when the quality is high and all the eye candy is turned up. This seems to give people with background off an unfair advantage IMO. The solution? Ever consider simplifying those backgrounds? Take a look at these Homeworld 2 images (sorry for the lengthy URLs):

http://mediaviewer.ign.com/ignMediaPage.jsp?media_id=1744154&object_id=16221&channel_id=59&page_title=Homeworld2&adString=network%3Dign%26site%3Dpchub%26pagetype%3Dmediaimgthin&return_url=http%3A%2F%2Fpc.ign.com%2Fobjects%2F016%2F016221.html

http://mediaviewer.ign.com/ignMediaPage.jsp?media_id=1744158&object_id=16221&channel_id=59&page_title=Homeworld2&adString=network%3Dign%26site%3Dpchub%26pagetype%3Dmediaimgthin&return_url=http%3A%2F%2Fpc.ign.com%2Fobjects%2F016%2F016221.html

http://mediaviewer.ign.com/ignMediaPage.jsp?media_id=1744157&object_id=16221&channel_id=59&page_title=Homeworld2&adString=network%3Dign%26site%3Dpchub%26pagetype%3Dmediaimgthin&return_url=http%3A%2F%2Fpc.ign.com%2Fobjects%2F016%2F016221.html

http://mediaviewer.ign.com/ignMediaPage.jsp?media_id=1744125&object_id=16221&channel_id=59&page_title=Homeworld2&adString=network%3Dign%26site%3Dpchub%26pagetype%3Dmediaimgthin&return_url=http%3A%2F%2Fpc.ign.com%2Fobjects%2F016%2F016221.html

http://mediaviewer.ign.com/ignMediaPage.jsp?media_id=1705199&object_id=16221&channel_id=59&page_title=Homeworld2&adString=network%3Dign%26site%3Dpchub%26pagetype%3Dmediaimgthin&return_url=http%3A%2F%2Fpc.ign.com%2Fobjects%2F016%2F016221.html

They all have smooth-flowing, sometimes glowing, nebula-filled backgrounds that looks absolutely beautiful... yet simple. Stars don't clutter up the screen to impede visibility. They're still there, but only the ones that are bright enough to shine through the blankets of nebulae. I especially like the last one, with a sort of atmospheric effect to it. Remember, sometimes simpler is better.

X-Wing Alliance had simple backgrounds that were amazing looking...and still are...the stars were dimmer, but the nebulas looked d**n good.


I agree...implement a simpler, less-cluttered set of backgrounds. The only thing they're good for is navigation...but they're not even needed for that if you bind /displayshippos to a key.

Simple skybox images would be nice, not everyone has the extra CPU speed to have planets rotate and stuff.

Also, please let us be able to use at the very least url tags, those links are HUGE!

Yeah, but Homeworld (especially the Original, not so much Cataclysm and 2), had a spectacular background that correponded with the story. Right now, if a planet is on your left in on sector, it doesn't even EXIST as little as one sector away. No continuity. Homeworld was beautiful, and if you can reach that standard of excellence, I commend you.

Yeah it would be cool to see that ringed planet from a distance in s10, and then get up closer in s7. But I got a feeling that the way wormholes work in Vendetta differs greatly than that of other space combat games--they supposedly take you out farther into completely different galaxies. It wouldn't correspond with the storyline if you were to do such a thing in Vendetta. In other words we probably wouldn't get as far as seeing Pluto in the Vendetta universe if it worked that way, assuming s1 is where the future version of Earth is. Although I personally think it would look cooler to see that progression in movement.

I'm not sure about that whole "different galaxies" thing. The sun for example. You see the same damn star in amost every sector. AND the ringed planet is visible is sector 8 (well, it's A ringed planet, may not be the same one, but when they added the spiffy backrounds back in 3.1.whatever, the ringed planet in that 8 was almost DEFFINITELY the one in 7). Some continuity would be cool, but this is a test, I prefer to use my imagination for such details.
I do agree with "simpler is better". I'll target a potential foe to see what I'm up against, the reading will say "645m" and I still can't make out what he's running. I need to zoom.

PS- A tad off topic, but this has been nagging me. Think back to 3.1. Is it me, or does 400m seem a lot further in 3.2 than in 3.1? I asked a1k0n about this and he gave me some cryptic response about the whole universe being bigger or something. He had prolly just finished watching The Matrix for the 367th time or something.

about the meter length, i think it just has to do with every single ship resized so the sockpit would be 6 meters, and resized so it would look correct for the ships role.

A six-meter sockpit? Wow. Too many jokes... Too much innuendo...

I hate it when the sun gets in my eyes.



-homestar runner

I don't mind the current bgs, just wish that in the low settings that it wasn't so hideous. I don't really care about
how percise the bg is, just as long it is there and it won't obstruct gaming. Ever since the new ones came out,
I have never played with the bgs on. I even forgot about the thing in s7, the planet. I just wish that on lower settings,
it would go back to the old really simplistic bgs, you know, the ones that didn't eat your processes alive?

PPS- The game is huge now, 400m is really long.

The bg's are pretty... but they could be better... /me looks for waylon...

Actually s1 is not earth... In fact if you wanted the sector that looks closer to where we would come out in the solar system, you would want s7, as the first wormhole was discovered there. that wormhole is closed now, and we have no way of getting home. Unless the dev's hide a wormhole somewhere that takes us to earth.

That would be really cool... But make it in the final, and only accessable to us testers... :P

oo oo! we could have teste flags!

hehehe

Naaah, keep the background like they're. The spinning planets are cool. Be nice to orbit someday, or land. Hang on... I'll stop before the suggestions get to heavy