Dragon Rising has been released

[templargfx 10]

you need to learn what a particle is. they are particles. the claim by CM pre launch that they are 3d particles was complete bull. but there still particles.

and the standard FOV is 90 degrees (just look in your entitydatabase.xml file for all the fov settings)

[Deadfast 43]

and the standard FOV is 90 degrees (just look in your entitydatabase.xml file for all the fov settings)

No matter what the file says it isn't 90 degrees. There is a YT video some (a lot) pages back.

EDIT: Found it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EXb4oY8Yho

Edited November 17, 2009 by Deadfast

[Raptor13270 0]

you need to learn what a particle is. they are particles. the claim by CM pre launch that they are 3d particles was complete bull. but there still particles.

and the standard FOV is 90 degrees (just look in your entitydatabase.xml file for all the fov settings)

I don't think its 90 degrees. I played other games such as Half Life 2 and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and adjusted the FOV to 90 degrees via the console. . The FOV in both games when set to 90 looked much wider than DR's so-called "90 degrees". My friend also tweaked the FOV settings in his PC version of MW2 to 90 degrees and he could see the stock of the rifle on the character's shoulder

Edited November 17, 2009 by Raptor13270

[irR4tiOn4L 10]

you need to learn what a particle is. they are particles. the claim by CM pre launch that they are 3d particles was complete bull. but there still particles.

and the standard FOV is 90 degrees (just look in your entitydatabase.xml file for all the fov settings)

The best way for anyone to discern for themselves is to try it. And after trying it, i mostly agree with Luhgnut. And its definitely not a 90 degree FOV

[cjsoques 0]

Does anyone else feel the washed out color of the game makes it extremely hard to discern friend from foe...or even identify objects at all.

Everything looks the same color hue of grey/brown

Also when vehicles get more than 10m from me they turn extremely blocky and have worse models than Half-Life 1 but up close they are rather nice.

What gives?

[Stryker_1 10]

I'm not going to get into the technical lingo, but there is no doubt that DR lacks the technical capability that ARMA II has. What Luhgnut says is correct. DR is a console game and tricks have to be used in order to fit that package of pile for the console. You need a PC for ARMA II or for any real milsim for that matter. You get what you pay for. A decent PC does not cost 2K, what a pant load to make that statement. I believe in the PC for the best in class games and I have invested time and effort to be able build my own hardware. What you can get for your money these days is awesome, but it takes an investment of time to educate yourself. My last upgrade was less than 800 bones and ARMA II is running with flying colours. As Vilas said, a PC does more and the time I spent gaming on my PC is 50%. I do all the other stuff, internet, editing, school, work and well, the list goes on. I am not against consoles and I do own a PS3, but really it's not that much cheaper when you consider the costs of the games and short lived time you spend with those games. Sometimes its fun to play an FPS or sports game on a console, but it's not the same as a PC. ARMA II, well, there is so much you can do with that software and not enough time to devote to it....

[nodunit 397]

Does anyone else feel the washed out color of the game makes it extremely hard to discern friend from foe...or even identify objects at all.

Everything looks the same color hue of grey/brown

Also when vehicles get more than 10m from me they turn extremely blocky and have worse models than Half-Life 1 but up close they are rather nice.

What gives?

Just the way they went about the level of details, they probably decided to make the last LOD virtually undetailed in any way which can help in FPS but blocky blocky is still a mistake.

Ialso had the discerning problem too when trying out the demo. It kind of saddened me because the demo showed me just how ancient my PC really is, even with everything on low I still get the stutters Nvidia 7300 GT (cave man technology by todays standards)

I loved how we can't turn any of the visual options such as shadows and depth of field OFF, lowest is all we get for most, hell for some there isn't even an option DOF can be a fps murderer that is why they made it optional in Crysis via Shader and why it is optional in Arma II.

The menu music was good to a point, after awhile it sounded like someone straining their voice or something..it was a nice idea though but they should have gotten the "right people" for it.

To sum it up, the demo just feels very very unworked, it's like they just tossed in a mission rather then say "Hey, lets 'showcase' a bit of our editor, maybe add a vehicle class or two so players might be more drawn in".

Edited November 17, 2009 by NodUnit

[Richey79 10]

Luhgnut;1491495']

Fact: DR has only one tree model on the whole island. Repopulated thousands of times. They don't even rotate the tree. Every tree is indestructible and and is the same size. Clones maybe?

Fact: Island is void of any buildings larger than a couple of huts.

Fact: There is only one cluster model of rocks' date=' repopulated thousands of times on the island at different depths.

[/quote']

One of the things that annoys me the most about CM's approach is that they clearly are not prepared to allow any modding of the game. Yet, if someone released an island (that they'd worked on in their spare time) that was as bare and featureless, it would be very heavily criticised. If someone released cloned PLA units with the pathetic level of detail of theirs, the release would be mocked.

Goodness knows how they spent the last nine years.

There's been another balls-up in communicating with steam, too - Helios:

The demo was actually due to go live tomorrow at 2pm, along with an annoucement by myself. However it looks like it went live on Steam a day earlier than planned for some reason.

It will be available to everyone tomorrow from 2pm so not long to wait now.

(Sauce: http://community.codemasters.com/forum/showpost.php?p=5866106&postcount=24)

This is why the demo was released to no-fanfare-whatsoever. Do CM not bother even talking to their release partners?

Edited November 17, 2009 by Richey79

[Zipper5 74]

I think that people should stop saying "you can't compare MW2 to DR. They're two different games." No, they are not. DR is extremely archaic for a supposed "mil-sim", and all of it's design decisions are very similar to arcade games like MW2. The only difference I can see is a slightly less linear level design and more "realistic" (and I use that term lightly) damage. Even then, the damage calculations are still ridiculous for a "mil-sim".

So yes, you have every right to compare MW2 to DR in my opinion. And in that regards, MW2 blows DR out of the water. That's kind of been proven already since the release of MW2 causing the death of DR, anyways.

[-RIP- Luhgnut 10]

you need to learn what a particle is. they are particles. the claim by CM pre launch that they are 3d particles was complete bull. but there still particles.

and the standard FOV is 90 degrees (just look in your entitydatabase.xml file for all the fov settings)

no... they are not particles. (I mean the smoke). They start out as particles for the explosion, but the graphics to represent smoke are 2D animated graphics. The only particles you see is the initial spark as the explosion starts. Blow up two tanks. Watch the smoke as it rises and move in synchronization. Two fires, started at different times, are then synchronized. Now walk around the tanks as they burn, watch the smoke graphics rotate with you. Particles won't rotate with your movement. Also watch when the tanks pop, that there is no expanding air mass. You see about a dozen sparks for a second, then it's back to 2D graphics.

The FOV is not 90 degrees and is a serious bug which players have complained about day one.

Edited November 17, 2009 by [RIP] Luhgnut

[kernriver 4]

Luhgnut;1490969']Yeah I've got mine Pre-ordered. My point was Serious Sam is what' date=' 5+ years old now? Sometimes there had to be a couple hundred enemies running around and shooting at ya. Sure there wasn't any real AI but the AI in DR is as dumb as a box of rocks and can't hit you anyway. But I guess that "Award Winning" EGO Engine is so good, they don't even have to add any enemies. We just need to be so awe stricken with it's magnificent power and ability. Personally, for me, every game done on that engine looks kinda weird. All the colors are washed out. But it's Award Winning, so what do I know?[/quote']

I think I'll wait for boxed version, call me old fashioned ;) :p

But you certainly have a point.

Serious Sam is usualy very "crowded", more enemies on the screen than you can handle.

TBH, their AI is not supposed to flank you or perform any kind of special action, but that's what the game is all about...mindless fun.

And it does it very well, the way developers wanted it to, and what's more important, they didn't claim the game to be anything but simple arcade shooter.

I'm downloading DR demo right now, want to see what the hype is all about....

[RaXz 0]

Is there only a steam demo? I just want to see the crap for myself, but I don't want to bother with steam.

btw: Nice Cannon Fodder avatar Richey79.:D

I would almost say that even Cannon Fodder is better than Dragon Rising, but maybe I am going way to far. ;)

[bascule42 10]

I would almost say that even Cannon Fodder is better than Dragon Rising, but maybe I am going way to far. ;)

No. You're not.

[kernriver 4]

I've just tried DR demo. Errr, it's "polished" and "smooth".

@ RaXz

Don't bother....

I somehow knew that I was right on the money when I saved my money not buying this...no pun intended. Yeah, right :p

I'm just glad I have Steam account already, on account of downloading L4D demo sometime ago...come to think of it, maybe I'll try L4D2 demo now, it must be more fun than DR

[Colt45_GTO 10]

i just left my synphosis on the dr demo over at cm forum, and i think i was as fair as i could be. i gave the demo 2 hours of my time, basically got bored with it. so whoever it was that sent me in this direction i owe a drink to. i'm really glad my better half booked as early as she usually does when she bought me dr for my b'day, it gave me chance to read up on some forums to find out what its really like, but then in all honesty.... one mans hate could be another mans pleasure. but i have come to learn in my (almost)39 years on this planet...learn from others mistakes.

i took advice to take the game back and i did, this was a few days after i got the demo for A2 which swung it for me anyway. then lastnight i clock the demo link for dr, so i created an account with steam and downloaded it.

its at best a consol game, graphics are good it runs ultra smooth (due to it being consol) but it lacks soul and depth. not the sort of thing i would want taking room on my HDD i'm afraid.

overall rating? 5/10

if i had no choice and i had installed the game which makes it a little late to return or swap. i think i would still play A2 demo over the full dr game. tbh i'd play the demo over any other game these days.

Is there only a steam demo? I just want to see the crap for myself, but I don't want to bother with steam.

btw: Nice Cannon Fodder avatar Richey79.:D

I would almost say that even Cannon Fodder is better than Dragon Rising, but maybe I am going way to far. ;)

I've just tried DR demo. Errr, it's "polished" and "smooth".

@ RaXz

Don't bother....

I somehow knew that I was right on the money when I saved my money not buying this...no pun intended. Yeah, right :p

I'm just glad I have Steam account already, on account of downloading L4D demo sometime ago...come to think of it, maybe I'll try L4D2 demo now, it must be more fun than DR

if you had never played any of the BIS titles and only played the demo. i think it would look a little different to you. i think if the demo was out last week, it may have looked diferent to me, but after playing A2 then ofpdr looks bad.

[kavoven 4]

How do you turn the damn head movements off? I felt sick after just walking 10 meters :(

[STALKERGB 6]

Well i was silly enough to buy DR when it came out, more fool me I suppose.

But the "dedicated servers recommended" thing is bad and I have lodged my complaint with my local Trading Standards Agency. Have to go get my refund from GAME now...

[Colt45_GTO 10]

How do you turn the damn head movements off? I felt sick after just walking 10 meters :(

haha that got me too. dont use the num pad keys. if you want to free look hold 'alt' but dont double tap it.

[Stryker_1 10]

How do you turn the damn head movements off? I felt sick after just walking 10 meters :(

Easy, there is a slider in the options menu, I believe under game options, but it is there for sure. I got rid of that right away by setting the slider to complete left - this for the head bobbing, I was ready to yak after a few minutes, talk about motion sickness..this is for ARMA II.....

The easy solution for DR is exit to windows and not play it anymore, my sickness from it is not a motion sickness problem, It's a "I wasted my money problem"

Edited November 17, 2009 by Stryker_1

[EricM 0]

Got the demo... I'm glad I can finally see what it's like for free.

It's really smooth, but "floating on rail" smooth. You also feel a bit like a midget (FOV and speed-wise), I missed my body and whole focus/blur thing is a bit annoying at times.

The squad control is weird... Anything mildly complicated seems to take more time than the standard Arma drop down list the further down the decision tree you must go. I do like some options like "fire on my command" though...

AI felt scripted and not very agressive or smart at all... Though they provided lots of action by spreading lead all over the place. It felt like an episode of the A-Team where no one gets hurt though people splash dynamite everywhere...

As for the award winning ego engine, it doesn't appear to support any parallax or even simple normal mapping and few fancy shader effects at all... ?? (the ground is plain flat).

The deferred lighting is nice but the post processing is over the top (as in Michael Bay over-the-top) and many lights seem baked (indestructible lampposts at least).

The streaming technology feels smooth and the island landscape resolution is rather good (though it doesn't really feel much higher than Arma 2). You don't get too see nearly as many lod switching as in Arma but most things are lower polygons to start with and in rather sparse quantity, so that helps too.

Grass seems to extend a bit further than in Arma 2, but the density is clearly much lower and compensated by being taller, which is a pain at times as it cannot be flattened. You don't really get undergrowth, or other types of clutter (small rocks ?), but it does the job most of the time. There seems to be about 4 different trees all over the island.

The character models are nice (I don't like Arma 2 heads, except for Team Razor) but the rest of the models feel kinda low-poly and don't seem to use fancy shaders. Overall you understand why the game runs so smooth... there's not so much to render, and you only have to render it once.

On the good side, I liked the Javelin interface and "video ghosting effect", the reflective see, the dirt/blood splatter effects and other particle effects (artillely looks spectacular I have to admit). The sound felt sharp too and the art direction of the GUI is nice, though it screams "Console" (eg : Press Enter to enter the game) and the endless cascading menu can get tiring.

Overall, maybe Codemasters learned some interesting things and next time they don't cut 90% of the good features before release.... I understand why this may look refreshing on a Xbox though.

It's certainly not worth 60 euros... but when it drops in the bargain bin for 14,99... I may get it to see what the rest is like.

Edited November 17, 2009 by EricM

[max power 21]

Luhgnut;1491659']no... they are not particles. (I mean the smoke). They start out as particles for the explosion' date=' but the graphics to represent smoke are 2D animated graphics. The only particles you see is the initial spark as the explosion starts. Blow up two tanks. Watch the smoke as it rises and move in synchronization. Two fires, started at different times, are then synchronized. Now walk around the tanks as they burn, watch the smoke graphics rotate with you. Particles won't rotate with your movement. Also watch when the tanks pop, that there is no expanding air mass. You see about a dozen sparks for a second, then it's back to 2D graphics.[/quote']

I think there is a problem with the definition of particle effects, here. Particle effects are a simulation system that usually tries to represent certain 'fuzzy' phenomena from explosions to hair. This is not always the case, and particle simulations may be used in a wide variety of applications.

Particle effects are usually done in a couple of phases, the simulation phase and the rendering phase. For the simulation phase, you need an emitter, emitter rules, and particles and their behaviour rules. This will set up the frequency, density, and transformation animations of the particles. For the rendering phase, you have whatever the particles will look like- whether they are animated billboards, polygonal, voxels, or anything else. For a demonstration in University, a professor set up a particle emitter to do a crowd simulation, complete with animated characters. They milled about according to certain particle behaviour rules.

So you see, particles can be anything- volumetric or not. I have not played the game but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the smoke and other effects for 'fuzzy', animated phenomena in DR are particle based effects.

[dm 9]

You don't get too see nearly as many lod switching as in Arma but most things are lower polygons to start with and in rather sparse quantity

I can only assume that the demo doesnt have the editor. All of the codemasters produced missions are carefully crafted to avoid lod switching issues (red: they have practically nothing in them)

As soon as you place 6 or 7 vehicles in the editor, the lod switching becomes painfully apparent. There is a post in this thread somewhere with a youtube video of the lod switching. More than ~20m away and all you get is floating machineguns, the vehicles them selves are not even rendered :/

[Colt45_GTO 10]

just been in again to the demo and i noticed the smoke from burning cars or more like burning postman pat trucks kinda scroles round. if flows out in a swirl then back down into the object again like a looping track. not only that it doesn't entirely come from the object, its more like a mist around it.

vehicles are badly drawn even the wheels/hubs are more like a very sharp pentagon than a flowing cylinder. the keyboard controls a thrown together, why can't focus be near the left side of the keyboad rather than shoved on the 'end' key.

the map reminds me a little of Iwo Jimba from BF1942. an island with nothing on it.

no it looks fancy from a distance but extremely rough round the edges.

---------- Post added at 11:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:59 PM ----------

I can only assume that the demo doesnt have the editor. All of the codemasters produced missions are carefully crafted to avoid lod switching issues (red: they have practically nothing in them)

As soon as you place 6 or 7 vehicles in the editor, the lod switching becomes painfully apparent. There is a post in this thread somewhere with a youtube video of the lod switching. More than ~20m away and all you get is floating machineguns, the vehicles them selves are not even rendered :/

no editor in the demo. 1 short mission and an option to go online.

[kavoven 4]

Easy, there is a slider in the options menu, I believe under game options, but it is there for sure. I got rid of that right away by setting the slider to complete left - this for the head bobbing, I was ready to yak after a few minutes, talk about motion sickness..this is for ARMA II.....

The easy solution for DR is exit to windows and not play it anymore, my sickness from it is not a motion sickness problem, It's a "I wasted my money problem"

Either I'm blind or they removed that one in the demo...

[Colt45_GTO 10]

Either I'm blind or they removed that one in the demo...

no its in the game settings i think? lemme check

options/game options>head bob its the bottom slider

---------- Post added at 11:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:25 PM ----------

oh i'm only on demo atm so its there

Edited November 17, 2009 by Colt45_GTO