Does turning your graphics down give you a multiplayer advantage?

[Incognito84 10]

I was talking to some people ingame the other day and they all told me that they had their games set to the lowest settings, with head bob off completely as well as blur and foilage (grass/bushes/trees). Apparently this gives them a huge advantage even though their system can handle so much more.

Sorry if this topic has been covered before (it probably has, just couldn't find it).

So, textures = low

Detail = low

View Distance = farthest

Blur/Head bob = off

=Win.

Is this true?

Edited June 29, 2009 by Incognito84

[Pirate Mayor 0]

Well setting your settings lower would make seeing enemies easier, but I don't think it's worth it.

[Shinobi575 10]

Defintily not worth it. you're just cheating your self out of quality graphics & gameplay.

[Incognito84 10]

Defintily not worth it. you're just cheating your self out of quality graphics & gameplay.

Yeah, I care more about enjoying myself than winning. Visuals are a part of that. The game sure is good looking!

I think servers should be able to force certain things, like blur, head bob and grass.

[nodunit 397]

Most servers I believe can force grass settings, only certain ones such as with evolution maps have it optional, third person is also optional but I can't imagine head bob being something forced.

Imagine the nightmare of it being cranked all the way up, granted the effect is neat and immerssive you only want as much as you can take.

[Maddmatt 1]

Only some crazy winning-obsessed PvP players would do that.

The advantage isn't huge anyway.

[remoteplayer1 10]

gives you the same advantage as buying a million dollar computer to run it at 500fps on max

[nodunit 397]

You know now that you mention it perhaps I should contract Lockheed to build me a super computer to run Arma II with no lag whatsoever..

[dvolk 10]

Turning down graphics gives you an advantage in most MP games.

We used to run MP with a software renderer in some games when this was still an option. It looked like crap but it was easier to detect enemies.

[sandzibar 0]

Whilst a good FPS is useful, arma2 is more slow paced than most online shooters. It requires more long range observation than twitchy mouse skills. The main thing that would give you a huge benefit over another player is if you can get the unit object draw range higher than someone else.. but this is seemingly fixed at around 1000m.

Most of the graphic settings are related to detail and clarity, and having stuff as high as possible would make the game sharper and more defined at distance. Thus making it easier to pick out stuff moving at range, or close up hiding in the grass.

Stuff like clutter height mods, and whether clutter is actually on/off can be controlled by server settings, as has been said.

[walker 0]

Hi all

Server/mission forces graphic settings such as grass and view distance. So no bg cheating problem. The server also takes a lot of the AI load which is why you see some performance increases for large numbers of AI.

Kind regards walker

[arma2mods 10]

Its bit odd but if you really are into PvP there would never be really actually equal settings. I am not liking any competition where you dont directly see the opponent and they are completely unvisible to you. If there would be like LAN system where every single PC unit is exatcly same and game run with same settings then I would only consider personal key/mouse settings being only thigns to being able to change to be fair. Some sport like 100m dash running I would think to be equal due everybody just have same change, but PC gaming is technical and so you are never having same system than somebody else and therefore its not 100% player skill, how much some people try to denied it.

[walker 0]

Hi all

As I said Server overrides client video settings making all clinets in game see the same quality and view distance.

So the concern is complete none issue.

As to varying view distance if you needed to, it is possible via scripts for a mission on the server to be given permission to vary this; but you would have to make a mission that ran the scripts and place it on the server.

There are missions where this is legitimate eg snipers on some missions may given an extra 500m view distance and pilots may be given the ability too if needed. It is all down to the mission maker and server admin to decide.

So your completely safe on this one. :)

Kind regards walker

[galzohar 31]

I don't like this whole view distance limitation. If someone designed a mission where engagements at ranges of 3000m are possible, then they should be possible at least for everyone that can run 3000m view distance. If you want people with 3000m view distance to not have an advantage, design a smaller mission (or place it in a different area) so that 3000m view distance won't give an advantage. Making it possible to engage targets that you cannot see can have some very odd results.

[walker 0]

Hi galzohar

What part of me saying

Server overrides client video settings

Do you not understand?

If the servers sets view distance for all clients to 3000m, everyone sees that distance. No if buts or maybes. If the server sets it to 2m you see 2m even if you have an ubber machine and you set your personal view distance to 5000m all you see is 2m.

The only variation on that is a misson maker setting it up differently and the server admin running it. That is mission specific. Where the missionmaker has decided some one in a particular role gets their comensurate and legitimate advantage due to their weapon optics.

If server sets grass off all players have no grass, that one I do not think can be changed per client ditto all other detail settings for the length of the mission the servers sets your graphics. Once the mission completes your graphics return to your control.

Kind Regards walker

[galzohar 31]

My point was that if more than 3000 doesn't give an advantage (by mission design) then people should be able to have more for better graphical view, and if people really can't handle the 3000 they can choose whether they want to play with a disadvantage or play on another server. With server enforcing settings, you're forcing the higher end systems down to lesser graphics than they're capable of, and forcing the lower end systems into graphics their system can't handle, giving them more of a disadvantage than they would've had with lower view distance but keep the FPS sufficiently high.

My main point is that you can go with what most servers currently have with pre-set graphical settings for as even playing field as possible, but even that won't be even as unless you run very very low settings there will always be people unable to run them and be at a disadvantage. Therefore I'd prefer if servers would only enforce the settings that they really have to enforce, and nothing more.

They (BIS) should really separate "grass" from "terrain details" though, considering grass is a poorly implemented in a way that affects gameplay which makes it worth taking out, but even when grass is removed it would be nice if you would be allowed to keep stuff like better looking trees and bushes.

[oktane 0]

Lol, when you turn the graphics down, you can't even tell what's what sometimes. The model's lowest poly LOD* gets loaded and doesn't even look human. How does that give you an advantage?

Back in the OFP days, I absolutely had to have the detail up otherwise I couldn't make out enemies at a distance. They were all blocky or disappeared altogether. (Again, LOD's)

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Level_of_detail_(programming)

Walker is spot on. Although in certain missions, the client can change his grass independent of the server and other clients. But no CTF/PvP map maker in his right mind would allow that option, for fairness.

[CarlGustaffa 4]

@galzohar: Not only that, but if you set terrain details to the lowest value, you get terrain downsampled (or something) so that you see units floating over the terrain. In Arma1 I wanted grass off in certain areas due to performance, but this floating thing was just horrible :(

[walker 0]

Hi all

A mission can be made that allows a player to set their view distance independently. Obviously the mission maker of a PvP mission would be silly to include such a thing in the mission.

What a mission maker in PvP mission could do is allow the person with the sniper weapon to have increased view distance, as if you have view distance set to say 1800m to 1600m which is about how far the human eye can resolve another person. So giving a sniper with the biggest sniper rifles and scopes and extra 300m to 500m view distance is reasonable.

Ditto in a coop; and additionally one may wish to give a pilot 3000m view distance if their graphic card can cope so that they can dogfight better as well as see targets for longer than a few seconds.

BUT as I say it is all down to the mission maker.

There is a fuller explanation and discussion of view distance in this thread:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=72257

Kind Regards walker

Edited July 3, 2009 by walker

[RN Escobar 0]

i'm not convinced that the server scripting sets all your graphics options, certainly view distance and grass, but not AFAIK all the settings that are available under graphic options.

if i have a 2GB graphics card and i have my vid memmory set to very high the server will not change it to very low, same with terrain detail and shadow detail and post processing.

all these people making arguments about its not worth doing, your cheating yourself out of good graphics etc thats fine its your opinion, but don't shove it down peoples throats like its the only valid point of view. There are hundreds of people that play proper competitive PvP in leagues ladders and everything else, in these situations it is normal for a sweet spot to be found which gives you the most advantage you can find.

This might be lower quality foliage meaning it is easier to see the models of the enemies through said foliage, increased shadow detail so shadows of players are easier to spot etc etc

it is not just a case or turning it all down to low for the highest FPS but finding the setttings that work best for you

[whisper 0]

Terrain detail and view distance are server side

shadow, object detail, postprocessing, VRAM, texture quality, FSAA are client side

[RN Escobar 0]

Terrain detail and view distance are server side

shadow, object detail, postprocessing, VRAM, texture quality, FSAA are client side

i won't argue with that