Let's Talk About Fog

SirIronclad

I'm sure that a considerable amount of ESO's playerbase has experienced the game without the "Wall of Fog" or seen screenshots of it. And although ESO's Tamriel has been designed with that fog in mind, there are still some places that look absolutely stunning without it - especially Stonefalls with its massive volcano!

Now, let's imagine what ESO could have looked like had this visual blocker never been thought of. I think it would look breath-taking as far as the eye can see, and that makes the game in its current state just a waste of potential.

ESO's beauty has always been one of the games strengths and is a major reason I'm playing it, combined with the more action-based combat system and voice acting. At the very least I don't see how making the eye candy way sweeter would be detrimental to the player numbers.

So here am I suggesting the dev team to reconsider this mechanic and try to make the game as beautiful as possible in the coming months.

My personal wishlist:

• remove the current fog mechanic
• build unfinished parts of the world (that you would then be able to see)
• add local/environmental weather effects (fog, snow, storm, rain where it fits!)
• create a specific vision distance mechanic for PvP if necessary to replace the fog

Tell me what you think!

RedRoomGaming

Not bothered by the fog tbh. Makes it look more old agely.

SirIronclad

Then imagine what Skyrim had looked like with the exact fog mechanic used in ESO and tell me it wouldn't look worse...

Preyfar

I think the fog is fine, but in certain areas. The fog can add a feeling of humidity and claustrophobia, but I'd much prefer the game to have weather cycles. Perhaps one day it's humid out, perhaps one day it's sunny. Clearly there will be fog when it's raining, or after rain.

I think the entire weather system needs a bit of a revamp for immersion.

Ra'Shtar

I completely agree! The game would look a lot more defined and polished with a better fog mechanic like actual winds carrying fog that its designed to be fog and not to restrain how far you can look.

phaneub17_ESO

Is this View Distance, mine is set at 100. I don't think I ever see any fog.

Elijah_Crow

I didn't understand this until I saw screenshots with and without. Without is pretty amazing.

Nestor

Yes, I agree that the less fog we have the better. You can remove most of it with setting the view distance out.

But, there is one thing to keep in mind, if you see something, the game is probably running a script on it or has to render it, so that can contribute to performance issues the farther out you set your view distance and or the more fog they remove. Your mileage may vary and each rig will have a comfort zone as to what you can set the view distance to and maintain performance.

SirIronclad

phaneub17_ESO wrote: »

Is this View Distance, mine is set at 100. I don't think I ever see any fog.

Have a taste:






Especially on the last one you realize that there already are environmental effects and the "Wall of Fog" is just arbitrary nonsense.

cjwilke_ESO

I have played without the fog using ESOLauncher. Looking at the environment from certain viewpoints does indeed look awesome but from others looks absolutely god awful. I couldn't stand it and stopped using it. The clouds in the sky look very weird and most distant landscapes look muddy. Zeni would have to do a lot of work to tweak that and that would only increase memory resources and make FPS and lag even worse.

Elijah_Crow

SirIronclad

Fog indoors is even more ridiculous, yeah.

Inarre

I think there was a similar thing in skyrim where you could get an addon that eliminated the fog and brought everything to look hyper realistic. It was breathtaking, but apparently latency was.... Impossible.

I myself wouldnt mind if it was possible to likewise get an addon to switch it on and off.... But hey, id rather have 60fps than no fog.

SirIronclad

The fog I'm talking about doesn't affect FPS at all, or at least not much. It acts like a filter.

Apothecy

These are a couple images I took two years back.




The issue with removing fog though is that some of the mountains in the distance have noticeable z-fighting until you get close enough. They would have to go through each zone to fix each individual mountain that does this.

And some fog is actually good. It gives the world an atmospheric feel and can give you a sense of depth to the environment. I think a better option for them to add would be a distance slider for the fog.

Inarre

SirIronclad wrote: »

The fog I'm talking about doesn't affect FPS at all, or at least not much. It acts like a filter.

I guess i would have to try it but id guess that anything that increases the amount of texture and detail that is being loaded at once has a chance to decrease fps.

SirIronclad

Apothecy wrote: »

And some fog is actually good. It gives the world an atmospheric feel and can give you a sense of depth to the environment.

YES! I do want more fog and other weather effects as a local, environmental feature. The arbitrary that surrounds you everywhere though doesn't add anything - it destroys atmosphere! Especially indoors.

Gidorick

I agree I made a post about that here: http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/156070/eso-contextual-fog-concept/p1

Gidorick wrote: »

A world without fog is stunning!

Gidorick

Here's a few more with Sweet FX enabled also

Seaclean wrote: »

Screenshots!

Here are some screenshots of a few locations I've taken with my current settings (I may add more of other locations):

(High-resolution (you have to click on the magnifying glass in the image twice): http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/SoRn/Screenshot128977_zps5df6ad9b.png~original )

(High-resolution: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/SoRn/Screenshot140448_zps8043359f.png~original )

(High-resolution: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/SoRn/Screenshot70121_zps6aaa3f05.png~original )

(High-resolution: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/SoRn/Screenshot128605_zps3b1b22d0.png~original )

(High-resolution: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/SoRn/Screenshot140772_zpsbeef9aed.png~original )

(High-resolution: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/SoRn/Screenshot14970_zps54e39c50.png~original )

from here: http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/96914/creating-the-most-beautiful-experience

AmakarGranaen

SirIronclad wrote: »

phaneub17_ESO wrote: »

Is this View Distance, mine is set at 100. I don't think I ever see any fog.

Have a taste:






Especially on the last one you realize that there already are environmental effects and the "Wall of Fog" is just arbitrary nonsense.

Gidorick

Here are some more:

I think it's crazy how much the removal of the fog makes the world feel LARGER...

RAGUNAnoOne

Gidorick wrote: »

Here's a few more with Sweet FX enabled also

Seaclean wrote: »

Screenshots!

Here are some screenshots of a few locations I've taken with my current settings (I may add more of other locations):

(High-resolution (you have to click on the magnifying glass in the image twice): http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/SoRn/Screenshot128977_zps5df6ad9b.png~original )

(High-resolution: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/SoRn/Screenshot140448_zps8043359f.png~original )

(High-resolution: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/SoRn/Screenshot70121_zps6aaa3f05.png~original )

(High-resolution: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/SoRn/Screenshot128605_zps3b1b22d0.png~original )

(High-resolution: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/SoRn/Screenshot140772_zpsbeef9aed.png~original )

(High-resolution: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/SoRn/Screenshot14970_zps54e39c50.png~original )

from here: http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/96914/creating-the-most-beautiful-experience

Nice wish consoles can do that I use sweet FX for skyrim and I am working on making my own preset it would be great to have it in ESO on PS4

Gidorick

Here are a couple of comparison shots










They look like different locations!

Gidorick

RAGUNAnoOne wrote: »

Gidorick wrote: »

Here's a few more with Sweet FX enabled also

Seaclean wrote: »

Screenshots!

Here are some screenshots of a few locations I've taken with my current settings (I may add more of other locations):

(High-resolution (you have to click on the magnifying glass in the image twice): http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/SoRn/Screenshot128977_zps5df6ad9b.png~original )

(High-resolution: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/SoRn/Screenshot140448_zps8043359f.png~original )

(High-resolution: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/SoRn/Screenshot70121_zps6aaa3f05.png~original )

(High-resolution: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/SoRn/Screenshot128605_zps3b1b22d0.png~original )

(High-resolution: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/SoRn/Screenshot140772_zpsbeef9aed.png~original )

(High-resolution: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/SoRn/Screenshot14970_zps54e39c50.png~original )

from here: http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/96914/creating-the-most-beautiful-experience

Nice wish consoles can do that I use sweet FX for skyrim and I am working on making my own preset it would be great to have it in ESO on PS4

I'm pretty sure Sweet FX and ESO Launcher (fog removal) don't work anymore. I haven't been able to get them to work for a while now.

AmakarGranaen

Gidorick wrote: »

Here are some more:

I think it's crazy how much the removal of the fog makes the world feel LARGER...

RAGUNAnoOne

Gidorick wrote: »

RAGUNAnoOne wrote: »

Gidorick wrote: »

Here's a few more with Sweet FX enabled also

Seaclean wrote: »

Screenshots!

Here are some screenshots of a few locations I've taken with my current settings (I may add more of other locations):

(High-resolution (you have to click on the magnifying glass in the image twice): http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/SoRn/Screenshot128977_zps5df6ad9b.png~original )

(High-resolution: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/SoRn/Screenshot140448_zps8043359f.png~original )

(High-resolution: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/SoRn/Screenshot70121_zps6aaa3f05.png~original )

(High-resolution: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/SoRn/Screenshot128605_zps3b1b22d0.png~original )

(High-resolution: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/SoRn/Screenshot140772_zpsbeef9aed.png~original )

(High-resolution: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/SoRn/Screenshot14970_zps54e39c50.png~original )

from here: http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/96914/creating-the-most-beautiful-experience

Nice wish consoles can do that I use sweet FX for skyrim and I am working on making my own preset it would be great to have it in ESO on PS4

I'm pretty sure Sweet FX and ESO Launcher (fog removal) don't work anymore. I haven't been able to get them to work for a while now.

Well I use ESO on PS4 so I can't even try I play skyrim on PC for the mods.

TheBrownWiener

Wasn't even aware the game had fog, thanks non-crappy computer!

SirIronclad

That's odd because the fog discussed in this thread has nothing to do with your system or settings.

xenowarrior92eb17_ESO

Damn...just damn the game looks so much more gorgeous without that god damn fog!... can any1 tell me how can I remove it step by step pls ? without the risk of getting my account banned ofc cuz this one is a little afraid

AzraelKrieg

Yet another necro'd thread.

JD2013

I actually like looking out over Glenumbra on a foggy day.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The fog, to me, certainly suits some of the zones like Glenumbra, for example. And the ash clouds suit Stonefalls really well too. That ash rain is lovely.