Help for Colour-blind Gamers?

baratron

I did a quick search and haven't found much here.

One of the friends I've made on ESO but don't know outside of the game has severe problems with standing in red circles. He doesn't seem to see them, especially if they're large AoEs.

Today I realised that he must actually be colour-blind because we were fighting the Fanged Menace in Arx Corinium who emits vast quantities of poison, and he was apologising that he couldn't see the "blue" against the floor.

Are there any add-ons which change the colour of the attack cues in the game?

Syntse

Might be also some kind of client issue. I've heard from some guild mates that the circles simply do not draw to them for some reason.

Might require of course some more investigation if this is issue of using sweetfx or better graphics launcher or done some tweaks in the gfx card settings.

Kragorn

Interestingly Blizzard, who of course many here love to hate, are introducing a whole rendering enhancement for the problem of colour blindness:

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/17964863/new-colorblind-support-in-patch-61-2-16-2015

As for the 'red circle' problem, I've seen it dealt with in FFXIV where SE did change the hue of the 'red' but that wasn't an entire solution as, as noted in that announcement from Blizzard, there are several variations of this medical condition and there's no single solution that works for all sufferers.

mra4nii

Addons cannot change what you are asking. So far i know only one solution. Use SweetFX.
Check this link

ashlee17

I just want to pop in and lend my support to giving color blind players acess to specialized visual ques.
It would be great for developers to further aid colorblind gamers.
Also a big shout out to the awesome modding community for all their hard work helping gamers of all kinds.

brindemavieb16_ESO

I would really like to know if there are or have been any plans to address problems of colourblind players. I'm specifically talking about in-game effects like flame colours and visual cues in combat.

Personally, I am middlingly protanopic, meaning that I have trouble distinguishing reds, greens, and certain combination colours (especially those with certain shades of blue in them for some reason) from each other, while, potentially, I still am able to see all shades of red and green.

I normally don't encounter too many problems in ESO except

(1) there are at least two solo quests where you need to light braziers in the right colour and that I had a very hard time with due to two of them being indistinguishable for me;
(2) the preview in character creation and at dye stations are almost always yielding results that are different from what my eyes see in actuality, because the lighting is different;
(3) I often have to remind myself that the glow around targets can change to colours that I can't discern in any given visual context (but I guess I don't necessarily need to see a red glow when they are swinging theirs swords at me);
(4) ability effects in red are indiscernible to me most of the times, which makes being a nightblade tough sometimes; the poisoned status effect is almost always conveyed to me by the sounds played, although I have noticed that they apparently come with a darkish-green visual on the toon.

But then I never understood why the visual cues in combat are so inconsistent, e.g. for aoe effects, until I watched a friend play a few days ago and was asking myself what he was reacting to when he suddenly started backing away from an enemy target (questions I asked myself while watching many a gameplay video on youtube). Turns out, these effects are actually very consistent, I just don't see them at all most of the times, because the surface they appear on is not an ideal visual context. Here I genuinely thought people where being all too metaphoric about "red stuff on the ground" -- there actually seems to be red stuff on the ground apparently, not just for siege weapons, that one quest back in Khenarthi's Roost, and, like, Whirlwind.

Now, I am not a very good player (not being humble here, I'm a complete casual), and I cannot blame much of my failure to the game not being colourblind-friendly. But can you imagine just how awfully I suck at dungeons? I haven't done one since lvl 40 or so, because I am so annoyingly bad at them. I'm beginning to think that player's movements in these types of situations are almost entirely reactional instead of what I thought of as almost entirely random, like, "why do they keep running around, it makes me nervou- ... oh, I died. Again."

It seems to me that I am missing this totally vital part of group combat. And it is a strange feeling to not have noticed it earlier, because I do know exactly what that red stuff is supposed to look like; I do see it on flat and dark-blue surfaces sometimes. And the more I think about it, the one reason why I basically have never seen anyone nightblade use Refreshing Path might be because I genuinely don't see it.


I honestly don't know if there is an easy solution to it, or even if there are a lot of people out there with similar problems; maybe I am just bad at this game and bad at coping with my deficiency. But the idea to see combat-relevant effects the way they were intended to be seen is teasing me.

Asherons_Call

Is it possible that you could alter the video settings of your TV ( color, contrast, etc) in order for a colorblind player to see the red circles? I'm trying to think of any other game situation where you absolutely need to see a specific color but I think the enemy AOE circles are the only ones

RAGUNAnoOne

We need sliders in the options menu to let you FREELY adjust various essential colored hues like the red target zones, charge attack and charge ability. I have a friend who can't distinguish blue from green so I know how hard it can be for games that 100% rely on set colors

brindemavieb16_ESO

Asherons_Call wrote: »

Is it possible that you could alter the video settings of your TV ( color, contrast, etc) in order for a colorblind player to see the red circles? I'm trying to think of any other game situation where you absolutely need to see a specific color but I think the enemy AOE circles are the only ones

There are SweetFX presets out there that are supposed to help; from what I have seen, they don't do much. (But bear in mind that there are several kinds of colourblindness, and people adapt to them differently, so I can only speak for myself.) And adjusting colour or contrast not only does little for colour contrasts, but it changes every other colour as well, mind you, so you end up with a completely different and at most times very unpleasant visual experience.

RAGUNAnoOne wrote: »

We need sliders in the options menu to let you FREELY adjust various essential colored hues like the red target zones, charge attack and charge ability.

That would be neat, actually. Or even if you could choose from a set of different and still appropriate signal colours. Or there could be a toggable option so the visual cue relie more on texture and/or motion ...

SedoUmbra

baratron wrote: »

I did a quick search and haven't found much here.

One of the friends I've made on ESO but don't know outside of the game has severe problems with standing in red circles. He doesn't seem to see them, especially if they're large AoEs.

Today I realised that he must actually be colour-blind because we were fighting the Fanged Menace in Arx Corinium who emits vast quantities of poison, and he was apologising that he couldn't see the "blue" against the floor.

Are there any add-ons which change the colour of the attack cues in the game?

I was wondering this too. Colour blind assist is becoming a common thing on a lot of current Gen consoles. I was really surprised to see that ESO was lacking 1. 1 thing I did hear was that the runes have different brightness (or something like that) to support colour blind people.

Justice31st

Well, the console version of this MMO game is probably the least accessible for players with disabilities. To name a couple examples, deaf players = an lonely, unsociable, confused in between story line game experience (voice chat only/no subtitles), color blind = death and booted from groups (the inability to see AOE circles.)

J.ROT

Those AOE circles bosses lay down are the worst. Fingers crossed a colorblind option will come one day!

Xendyn

Something that might help a bit is one of the combat addons that give you on-screen cues for dodge, block etc. They aren't 100% accurate because of lag or delay sometimes but it might be worth a shot. I think Combat Cloud may be the one I'm thinking of, perhaps someone else can confirm it.

It can't tell you which Way to dodge, but it would up your odds a little maybe?

J.ROT

Thats a great idea, but I myself am on ps4

Saddiq

Wow, that's rough. Never thought about that. good luck finding a solution. I like the sliders idea.

Xendyn

J.ROT wrote: »

Thats a great idea, but I myself am on ps4

well....pfft, jeez. Best I can do for you then...

Baraz

IMO : all games should consider color-blind options when making their game (as simple as allowing players to change the colors of various effects or visual cues).

Birdy_Reene

Im color blind to the Red spectrum and part of the Green scale. but I don't have this issue, Because even tho I cannot see the Red, it shows up as a very ugly brownish tan color. So as the AOE circle draws, I can still see the AOE form, and know to dodge it. It just requires me to actually have to look for it/expect it. Since I don't benefit from, "oh look red, time to dodge" XD Makes life alil difficult at times, but it hasn't ruined the game for me, I've adapted nicely to it.

Mitchblue

Baraz wrote: »

IMO : all games should consider color-blind options when making their game (as simple as allowing players to change the colors of various effects or visual cues).

Yes, unfortunately ZOS is unreceptive to the seeing/hearing impaired. It's 2015, games should have more options.

Alukit

honestly i wish enchroma glasses were more affordable for people whom deal with this issue since it can be a bit tough for devs to fix issues like this as fast as they should be. i mean its only now getting acknowledgement from blizzard as a issue i can only wonder how long it will take for others to follow suit

Winterpsy

One my guildies too is suffering from the same, he has a hard time spotting red circles.

Funkopotamus

Birdy_Reene wrote: »

Im color blind to the Red spectrum and part of the Green scale. .

Can I get a ride to the store I need to pick up a few beers and a pack of cigs.........

Brrrofski

I'm colour blind abs the AOEs in dungeons can be incredibly hard to see. If it's on a green/brown floor, no chance.

Like the spider daedra boss that sucks people into the portal. She has a big aoe around her and one that moves around. I can see the moving one as it has a laser. Can't see the red, but follow the laser. The one around her.. Can't see it at all. Luckily, I'm tank so can take the hit.

Quite a few I can't see, just an example.

Not sure the answer. Whatever colour it is, it'll clash at some point.

Although the blue/purple and green/yellow quality of items could have been made a bit easier to tell the difference. Why choose. Colours so close?

LadyDestiny

I agree that they need to implement something to fix this issue. Eso is not a very disability friendly game unfortunately. Console being hit the worst. I know other games have options for color blind people. Even Destiny added these to the options menu recently which was a big plus for them.

J.ROT

Brrrofski wrote: »

I'm colour blind abs the AOEs in dungeons can be incredibly hard to see. If it's on a green/brown floor, no chance.

Like the spider daedra boss that sucks people into the portal. She has a big aoe around her and one that moves around. I can see the moving one as it has a laser. Can't see the red, but follow the laser. The one around her.. Can't see it at all. Luckily, I'm tank so can take the hit.

Quite a few I can't see, just an example.

Not sure the answer. Whatever colour it is, it'll clash at some point.

Although the blue/purple and green/yellow quality of items could have been made a bit easier to tell the difference. Why choose. Colours so close?

I couldn't agree more. At very least, tweak it for better alternative visuals on those really crucial AOEs.
I've just made my first legendary yesterday, can't tell the diffrence AT ALL from the green/Fine.. Darn. *I got to make sure I don't accidentally deconstruct that baby*
Overall nothing game breaking for me though, eventually I figured most of it out.
But I'm sure ZOS has a lot on their plate and are working hard. It'll come eventually, no worries.

ralonasan

Check his settings first. I had the same issue with one of my tank friends and it turns out you can actually "accidentally" turn off the ability to see aoe circles and such. I'm away from my game client, but maybe someone can help you find that option.

RAGUNAnoOne

there is no options other than turn the stupid circles on or off (consoles) not sure about PC though. At least they now have subtitles I am not deaf but some accents can be hard to understand or I am listening to friends at the same time.

Wolfshead

Well i want to show my support as well for colorblind player and honest it is shame that not more MMO company have feature that would help colorblind player to enjoy the there game it is almost little discriminate to be honest

wesly.backersb16_ESO

colour-blindness (actually it's not blindness but "disturbed color vision') is a real issue. I have the same problem: when a red circle is on a black or blue floor I can see it, but with a green background I can't or hardly see the circle. A lot of times I die of this 'blindness'. It's the combination of colors causing the blindness. I hope in the near futue there will be more solutions for this issue in games.
Btw: this does not mean 'we' do not see green, blue, red, .... We see all the colors correct separately. but if there is combination of certain colours in there is a disturbed view.

A good test is the Ishiharatest: colorvisiontesting.com/ishihara.htm#fourth test plate answer

Elloa

I've a colorblind guildie that do not see the red circles on the ground, but he is playing good. As group we warn him when he stand in the red, we understand his problem, and when I'm healing him, I'm always extra careful to protect him and watch where he puts his feet.
I wish there were some options in game to help those poeple, but meanwhile the best we can do is to help them and support them.

brindemavieb16_ESO

Pushing this thread, because, as far as I know, the issue has still not been addressed by ZOS in any way.

I just want to point out that people asked for help on several occasions here on the forums since April 2014, and that the difficulties for colourblind players are due to colours used in UI as well as colours used in the world, all kinds of very crucial visual information, cues, markers, indicators, really. Depending on your play style and the severity or kind of your colourblindness, this can be game-breaking. I've mentioned my frustrating difficulties in group dungeons here before, once you're squeamishly aware of the colour issues, you start to realise that the problems extend to quite a lot of other areas as well. And once you go through those threads (which, again, exist since April 2014, newest one is from last month however), you start to realise that a lot of other people do have the same problems.

I've had the chance to test the colourblind support WoW offers, it's a simple slider and a filter to adjust things to your needs. It does not do a perfect job, but at least for me, it does offer some major improvements. I do realise of course that that's not only a different engine, but that ESO has an entirely different graphical style and an entirely different way of conveying visual information altogether (a much less intrusive one, I may add, one of the many things that hooked me onto the game in the first place). But if it could be as simple as that -- could we maybe just have that?

Is there any chance that this will get addressed any time in the future? Are the developers or whomever this may concern aware of the issue? Could someone tell us whether or not this is something ZOS is considering, whether or not it would be even technically possible?

I'd really love to know. I really do.