Gold Road patch notes: New Environmental Sustainability Features... Can we turn these off?

Necrotech_Master

Jaraal wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

Jaraal wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

I've had my screen go dark numerous times due to being AFK or DAK (Distracted At Keyboard) for too long, and it hasn't had any negative impacts on me or my gaming. I honestly don't understand why this is as big of a deal as some of you are making it out to be. /shrug

i dont think it was a huge deal, i just found it annoying lol

so i just disabled it using the workaround presented in this thread lol

i still dont see why they didnt just include an option in the settings menu to more easily adjust to user preference instead of forcing it on everyone

Because if they gave an option to disable it, it wouldn't be "Doing my part to save the planet!"

However, nobody needs to know what players do with their own text files, now, do they?

well they can say that by saying "here, we provided an option to the players to do this, we have enabled it by default"

in reality this is what they did, they just provided no UI for the user to disable this and we have to manually change the setting ourselves

because if they really wanted to force everyone to have the setting enabled, they wouldnt have even included an option in the user settings to change it and just have it built into the game code

But if they say nothing about it, no intent can be proven one way or another. Did they know about players having the ability to disable it? We may never know.

as a user, my expectation is that if its in the user settings, it should have a setting we can change through the in game settings menu

if the intent was enforcement with no workarounds, they wouldnt have included it in the user settings at all

so right now i see it as basically a half implemented setting by including it in the user settings file, but not including an in game option to more easily change it

Soarora

Is anyone else experiencing blue screens of death? It seems to happen whenever I'm tabbed out during an eso loading screen and the load screen takes too long. Not sure if it's related to this or not.

Necrotech_Master

Soarora wrote: »

Is anyone else experiencing blue screens of death? It seems to happen whenever I'm tabbed out during an eso loading screen and the load screen takes too long. Not sure if it's related to this or not.

nothing here, but i also disabled these features as soon as it was posted how lol

so my game is still running the same as pre patch effectively if i alt-tab

davidtk

Soarora wrote: »

Is anyone else experiencing blue screens of death? It seems to happen whenever I'm tabbed out during an eso loading screen and the load screen takes too long. Not sure if it's related to this or not.

I have learned not to do this when loading screens. Because under the right circumstances at the right time, it can kill ESO.
F.e. before Necrom, doing an alt-tab at a certain second when starting the game resulted in a CTD with a crash report.

Anyway, during the loading screen after character login, addons are loaded on the PC, so if you alt-tab ESO stops responding with a Windows message.
So I believe U42 is playing with the OS a lot more than is appropriate.

Elsonso

AzuraFan wrote: »

Because if they gave an option to disable it, it wouldn't be "Doing my part to save the planet!"

However, nobody needs to know what players do with their own text files, now, do they?

The thought has entered my mind that if they had added an option, a few people would probably turn it off, but most people would leave it alone and not care at all. Don't offer an option and people start editing config files to give themselves the option. Suddenly, this thing starts to look interesting. Psychological reactance. People don't like being told what they can't do. I wonder if more people will turn it off because ZOS didn't provide the option to turn it off.

Necrotech_Master

Elsonso wrote: »

AzuraFan wrote: »

Because if they gave an option to disable it, it wouldn't be "Doing my part to save the planet!"

However, nobody needs to know what players do with their own text files, now, do they?

The thought has entered my mind that if they had added an option, a few people would probably turn it off, but most people would leave it alone and not care at all. Don't offer an option and people start editing config files to give themselves the option. Suddenly, this thing starts to look interesting. Psychological reactance. People don't like being told what they can't do. I wonder if more people will turn it off because ZOS didn't provide the option to turn it off.

editing the user settings txt file isnt "giving us more options" those are all options that are configurable with in game settings, and are saved to this file as they are "local" account settings

if a user added anything to the user settings file, if it was not valid it would be ignored or potentially cause issues, but this is a valid setting that just has no UI option from within the game to change

Tandor

Jaraal wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

Jaraal wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

I've had my screen go dark numerous times due to being AFK or DAK (Distracted At Keyboard) for too long, and it hasn't had any negative impacts on me or my gaming. I honestly don't understand why this is as big of a deal as some of you are making it out to be. /shrug

i dont think it was a huge deal, i just found it annoying lol

so i just disabled it using the workaround presented in this thread lol

i still dont see why they didnt just include an option in the settings menu to more easily adjust to user preference instead of forcing it on everyone

Because if they gave an option to disable it, it wouldn't be "Doing my part to save the planet!"

However, nobody needs to know what players do with their own text files, now, do they?

well they can say that by saying "here, we provided an option to the players to do this, we have enabled it by default"

in reality this is what they did, they just provided no UI for the user to disable this and we have to manually change the setting ourselves

because if they really wanted to force everyone to have the setting enabled, they wouldnt have even included an option in the user settings to change it and just have it built into the game code

But if they say nothing about it, no intent can be proven one way or another. Did they know about players having the ability to disable it? We may never know.

Console players don't have the ability to disable it.

Elsonso

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

Elsonso wrote: »

AzuraFan wrote: »

Because if they gave an option to disable it, it wouldn't be "Doing my part to save the planet!"

However, nobody needs to know what players do with their own text files, now, do they?

The thought has entered my mind that if they had added an option, a few people would probably turn it off, but most people would leave it alone and not care at all. Don't offer an option and people start editing config files to give themselves the option. Suddenly, this thing starts to look interesting. Psychological reactance. People don't like being told what they can't do. I wonder if more people will turn it off because ZOS didn't provide the option to turn it off.

editing the user settings txt file isnt "giving us more options" those are all options that are configurable with in game settings, and are saved to this file as they are "local" account settings

if a user added anything to the user settings file, if it was not valid it would be ignored or potentially cause issues, but this is a valid setting that just has no UI option from within the game to change

You missed my point. At least on PC, for most people, the option to turn this off is not there, so it does not exist. Discovering that there is a settings file that gives them the option to do what they always could do, but didn't know. Now they have the option to turn it off, where they didn't think they had one, before.

Some people, whether or not they really care if it is on or off, will edit that file and turn it off, just because they have discovered they can.

Now, on console, it will not be an option, if they even include it on console.

Soarora

davidtk wrote: »

Soarora wrote: »

Is anyone else experiencing blue screens of death? It seems to happen whenever I'm tabbed out during an eso loading screen and the load screen takes too long. Not sure if it's related to this or not.

I have learned not to do this when loading screens. Because under the right circumstances at the right time, it can kill ESO.
F.e. before Necrom, doing an alt-tab at a certain second when starting the game resulted in a CTD with a crash report.

Anyway, during the loading screen after character login, addons are loaded on the PC, so if you alt-tab ESO stops responding with a Windows message.
So I believe U42 is playing with the OS a lot more than is appropriate.

I see, ESO's loading screens are too long and my attention span too short unfortunately. I didn't have any issues before this update, maybe because I play windowed (fullscreen).

Necrotech_Master

Elsonso wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

Elsonso wrote: »

AzuraFan wrote: »

Because if they gave an option to disable it, it wouldn't be "Doing my part to save the planet!"

However, nobody needs to know what players do with their own text files, now, do they?

The thought has entered my mind that if they had added an option, a few people would probably turn it off, but most people would leave it alone and not care at all. Don't offer an option and people start editing config files to give themselves the option. Suddenly, this thing starts to look interesting. Psychological reactance. People don't like being told what they can't do. I wonder if more people will turn it off because ZOS didn't provide the option to turn it off.

editing the user settings txt file isnt "giving us more options" those are all options that are configurable with in game settings, and are saved to this file as they are "local" account settings

if a user added anything to the user settings file, if it was not valid it would be ignored or potentially cause issues, but this is a valid setting that just has no UI option from within the game to change

You missed my point. At least on PC, for most people, the option to turn this off is not there, so it does not exist. Discovering that there is a settings file that gives them the option to do what they always could do, but didn't know. Now they have the option to turn it off, where they didn't think they had one, before.

Some people, whether they really care if it is on or off, will edit that file and turn it off, just because they have discovered they can.

Now, on console, it will not be an option, if they even include it on console.

im assuming it will be included on consoles, and thats the point ive been making is that this is an actual changeable setting, but they did not include any UI for it (and i believe they should have if its in the user settings file)

so being able to change it at all is good, not being able to change it from in game is bad

the user settings file has been available on PC since the game launch, and over the years there were several "hidden settings" in there (some of which were actually added to the in game settings to make them easier to configure), i know in the past i remember using the settings file itself to set a FPS cap before that setting existed in game

Elsonso

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

im assuming it will be included on consoles

Consoles already have a dim feature. At least, XBox dims my TV all the time if I don't have input for a bit. I can't see why they would need to add it to ESO on console (XBox).

Necrotech_Master

Elsonso wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

im assuming it will be included on consoles

Consoles already have a dim feature. At least, XBox dims my TV all the time if I don't have input for a bit. I can't see why they would need to add it to ESO on console (XBox).

the only console i have is a nintendo switch, which does something similar, it does a screen dim and then goes to a sleep mode with a lack of input (to compare to your experience)

i cant say for sure if this is something unique to the switch due to it being also a handheld, or if thats something all the consoles have built in (or if it is even built in on them, i dont have an xbox or PS to compare to lol)

if the console itself is already doing it, then they might not need to include the option, though while you cant see these files on a console, its probably just defaulted to "off" in the equivalent of the user settings file (i can guarantee that it probably does this on console, but because of the nature of console its effectively inaccessible)

KlauthWarthog

I am assuming the settings exist on the files as a safeguard, in case the feature starts causing game-breaking issues for players, then support can just instruct those players to disable it in there.

Jaraal

Elsonso wrote: »

The thought has entered my mind that if they had added an option, a few people would probably turn it off, but most people would leave it alone and not care at all. Don't offer an option and people start editing config files to give themselves the option. Suddenly, this thing starts to look interesting. Psychological reactance. People don't like being told what they can't do. I wonder if more people will turn it off because ZOS didn't provide the option to turn it off.

Would people really do that out of spite? Just to "stick it to the man?" I couldn't care less about how ZOS feels about it, or whether they actually think that saving a few KWh will make a difference in extending the life of a billions of years old planet. My only concern is how can I optimize my gameplay (within the rules) to make it a better experience for myself, with the minimal amount of forced intrusion.

Necrotech_Master

Jaraal wrote: »

Elsonso wrote: »

The thought has entered my mind that if they had added an option, a few people would probably turn it off, but most people would leave it alone and not care at all. Don't offer an option and people start editing config files to give themselves the option. Suddenly, this thing starts to look interesting. Psychological reactance. People don't like being told what they can't do. I wonder if more people will turn it off because ZOS didn't provide the option to turn it off.

Would people really do that out of spite? Just to "stick it to the man?" I couldn't care less about how ZOS feels about it, or whether they actually think that saving a few KWh will make a difference in extending the life of a billions of years old planet. My only concern is how can I optimize my gameplay (within the rules) to make it a better experience for myself, with the minimal amount of forced intrusion.

100% agree with this

i wanted to disable the setting because i hate screen dimming while i have an application running, it felt like this setting was causing the screen to dim after like 5 minutes, which was obnoxious to me

you can be sitting there doing nothing for 5 minutes waiting for a boss to spawn, screen dims and you could miss the boss because the screen was dimmed while you were paying attention to something else and couldnt actually see that the boss spawned

i also doubt that players would turn off the setting out of spite, but it does raise the annoyance factor considerably when theres no in game setting to choose for ourselves

the way i would compare this, is if everyone was "forced" to use the accessibility mode and the only way to disable it is through the user settings file

Elsonso

Jaraal wrote: »

Would people really do that out of spite? Just to "stick it to the man?"

I first encountered it in the context of taking down internet videos. Seems that when someone takes down a video and people find out that there was a video, but they can't see it, they want to see it. People who have it saved will post it. People will download it for no other reason than to see it. Perhaps the basis for the whole "internet never forgets" thing. Turns out that there is a whole topic about people just wanting to do things simply because they can't do that thing, or have been told not to.

Does not seem that far fetched to me, actually. Anyone who has a child, or who has ever been a child, has probably experienced this.

My point is that by making it so that people cannot easily turn it off, they may have made it something that people want to turn off. There needs to be no other reason besides ZOS did not offer an easy option to do so. They do it just because they can.

My wonder is whether more people will now turn it off than would have turned off if ZOS had an option to do so.

SickleCider

I've come to represent the small brigade that doubts this will do much for the environment in the long run but are also unbothered by the prospect of the screen dimming for a few moments while they go get more coffee.

We have been represented.

👋

davidtk

Soarora wrote: »

I see, ESO's loading screens are too long and my attention span too short unfortunately. I didn't have any issues before this update, maybe because I play windowed (fullscreen).

It can be, I playing it too because alt-tab but hate that fps cap. But sometimes it is almost minute to load char screen, this patch is really mess in some things

WhiteCoatSyndrome

Soarora wrote: »

Is anyone else experiencing blue screens of death? It seems to happen whenever I'm tabbed out during an eso loading screen and the load screen takes too long. Not sure if it's related to this or not.

I was getting those before the update, I don’t think it’s from this specifically. (I am also an alt-tabber with a short attention span thanks to the old comp having much longer load times, so I will have to try breaking myself of that habit and see if it helps.)

Elsonso wrote: »

AzuraFan wrote: »

Because if they gave an option to disable it, it wouldn't be "Doing my part to save the planet!"

However, nobody needs to know what players do with their own text files, now, do they?

The thought has entered my mind that if they had added an option, a few people would probably turn it off, but most people would leave it alone and not care at all. Don't offer an option and people start editing config files to give themselves the option. Suddenly, this thing starts to look interesting. Psychological reactance. People don't like being told what they can't do. I wonder if more people will turn it off because ZOS didn't provide the option to turn it off.

I did. If it had been a built in option I’d have probably left it, or at least given it more of a chance first. But as-is it’s like going to a restaurant that charges more for their food because ’we give x% of every bill to charity!’ …if I care about the cause in question, I will support it on my own time with my own dime. I’m not paying to be someone else’s marketing gimmick.

edward_frigidhands

Northwold wrote: »

edward_frigidhands wrote: »

Northwold wrote: »

edward_frigidhands wrote: »

Is there a way to turn this off?

I wish developer time would be spent solving real problems rather than this stuff.

Interesting that "real problems" here means *things in a video game* whereas "stuff" is the reality of what playing these games means for the real, physical, only planet we reside upon. I mean, seriously?

Interesting.

What problems do you think you will be solving through capping fps and implementing dimming in Elder Scrolls Online?

I am genuinely curious.

Capping FPS lowers GPU energy consumption when players are away from keyboards (less computation because fewer frames being generated -- you can measure this by looking at GPU consumption when you set an FPS cap of your own). Screen dimming, in screens with certain technologies, does the same.

No my question was how would this change in Elder Scrolls Online affect the climate.

wolfie1.0.

Syldras wrote: »

The game already checks that after 20 minutes of being inactive, our servers will kick players out to the main menu, where power consumption is minimal. Until that happens, though, it can be wasteful. The game client will now drop the resolution in half if it has not detected any input for 5 minutes.

What counts as "inactivity", btw? Not moving your character around? No typing? No mouse movements?

I see this might cause problems when roleplaying through chat?

Let alone for people who want to do a recording (scenery, soundtrack, bard songs,...).

You have to be actively using the screen. Ie moving character, mouse, commands, combat, etc. Using a persistent emote like dancing doesn't count.

Wolf_Eye

TheMajority wrote: »

@Wolf_Eye Get better soon Wolf, your forum buddies have your back.


About the new feature: I am not cool with the way this is panning out. I worry about the future if "features" get added with no consent to them. The invironment is important but so is treating mankind with fairness and dignity. The dignified way would be to offer a choice, and information. A lot of people said it better than me. But +1 support to you guys.

I apologize for the delay in my response. I wanted to come back and give my deepest and warmest regards to you, Majority!

Thank you for your well wishes.

Northwold

edward_frigidhands wrote: »

Northwold wrote: »

edward_frigidhands wrote: »

Northwold wrote: »

edward_frigidhands wrote: »

Is there a way to turn this off?

I wish developer time would be spent solving real problems rather than this stuff.

Interesting that "real problems" here means *things in a video game* whereas "stuff" is the reality of what playing these games means for the real, physical, only planet we reside upon. I mean, seriously?

Interesting.

What problems do you think you will be solving through capping fps and implementing dimming in Elder Scrolls Online?

I am genuinely curious.

Capping FPS lowers GPU energy consumption when players are away from keyboards (less computation because fewer frames being generated -- you can measure this by looking at GPU consumption when you set an FPS cap of your own). Screen dimming, in screens with certain technologies, does the same.

No my question was how would this change in Elder Scrolls Online affect the climate.

Because it reduces energy consumption. In many countries a substantial proportion of the energy mix is still coming from fossil fuel generation. And even if the specific electricity you use to play ESO isn't, the fact you are using it to play ESO, rather than for something else, means energy needs to come from other sources for other uses.

Am I misunderstanding the question? Isn't this rather obvious? Computing devices do not use a fixed amount of energy when on. They use however much energy is being demanded of them for the level of computation they are being asked to do or, in the case of certain screen technologies, for the amount of light etc they are being asked to put out.

Multiply by a lot of games and different types of software, multiply by a lot of users, and you have an appreciable and unnecessary impact from eg users just leaving everything on while they just head off to eat their lunch, etc, for no obvious reason.

edward_frigidhands

Northwold wrote: »

edward_frigidhands wrote: »

Northwold wrote: »

edward_frigidhands wrote: »

Northwold wrote: »

edward_frigidhands wrote: »

Is there a way to turn this off?

I wish developer time would be spent solving real problems rather than this stuff.

Interesting that "real problems" here means *things in a video game* whereas "stuff" is the reality of what playing these games means for the real, physical, only planet we reside upon. I mean, seriously?

Interesting.

What problems do you think you will be solving through capping fps and implementing dimming in Elder Scrolls Online?

I am genuinely curious.

Capping FPS lowers GPU energy consumption when players are away from keyboards (less computation because fewer frames being generated -- you can measure this by looking at GPU consumption when you set an FPS cap of your own). Screen dimming, in screens with certain technologies, does the same.

No my question was how would this change in Elder Scrolls Online affect the climate.

Because it reduces energy consumption. In many countries a substantial proportion of the energy mix is still coming from fossil fuel generation. And even if the specific electricity you use to play ESO isn't, the fact you are using it to play ESO, rather than for something else, means energy needs to come from other sources for other uses.

Am I misunderstanding the question? Isn't this rather obvious? Computing devices do not use a fixed amount of energy when on. They use however much energy is being demanded of them for the level of computation they are being asked to do or, in the case of certain screen technologies, for the amount of light etc they are being asked to put out.

Multiply by a lot of games and different types of software, multiply by a lot of users, and you have an appreciable and unnecessary impact from eg users just leaving everything on while they just head off to eat their lunch, etc, for no obvious reason.

You have said a lot and still not been able to say how monitor dimming and fps capping in Elder Scrolls Online would change the world's climate.

Northwold

edward_frigidhands wrote: »

Northwold wrote: »

edward_frigidhands wrote: »

Northwold wrote: »

edward_frigidhands wrote: »

Northwold wrote: »

edward_frigidhands wrote: »

Is there a way to turn this off?

I wish developer time would be spent solving real problems rather than this stuff.

Interesting that "real problems" here means *things in a video game* whereas "stuff" is the reality of what playing these games means for the real, physical, only planet we reside upon. I mean, seriously?

Interesting.

What problems do you think you will be solving through capping fps and implementing dimming in Elder Scrolls Online?

I am genuinely curious.

Capping FPS lowers GPU energy consumption when players are away from keyboards (less computation because fewer frames being generated -- you can measure this by looking at GPU consumption when you set an FPS cap of your own). Screen dimming, in screens with certain technologies, does the same.

No my question was how would this change in Elder Scrolls Online affect the climate.

Because it reduces energy consumption. In many countries a substantial proportion of the energy mix is still coming from fossil fuel generation. And even if the specific electricity you use to play ESO isn't, the fact you are using it to play ESO, rather than for something else, means energy needs to come from other sources for other uses.

Am I misunderstanding the question? Isn't this rather obvious? Computing devices do not use a fixed amount of energy when on. They use however much energy is being demanded of them for the level of computation they are being asked to do or, in the case of certain screen technologies, for the amount of light etc they are being asked to put out.

Multiply by a lot of games and different types of software, multiply by a lot of users, and you have an appreciable and unnecessary impact from eg users just leaving everything on while they just head off to eat their lunch, etc, for no obvious reason.

You have said a lot and still not been able to say how monitor dimming and fps capping in Elder Scrolls Online would change the world's climate.

Because energy generation, depending on type, produces emissions of carbon dioxide that linger in the atmosphere for upwards of a century and collectively have a warming effect on the atmosphere. Energy generation varies in amount to reflect consumption. If you don't think that's substantiated at this point, well, there's no further avenue for sensible discussion.

edward_frigidhands

Northwold wrote: »

edward_frigidhands wrote: »

Northwold wrote: »

edward_frigidhands wrote: »

Northwold wrote: »

edward_frigidhands wrote: »

Northwold wrote: »

edward_frigidhands wrote: »

Is there a way to turn this off?

I wish developer time would be spent solving real problems rather than this stuff.

Interesting that "real problems" here means *things in a video game* whereas "stuff" is the reality of what playing these games means for the real, physical, only planet we reside upon. I mean, seriously?

Interesting.

What problems do you think you will be solving through capping fps and implementing dimming in Elder Scrolls Online?

I am genuinely curious.

Capping FPS lowers GPU energy consumption when players are away from keyboards (less computation because fewer frames being generated -- you can measure this by looking at GPU consumption when you set an FPS cap of your own). Screen dimming, in screens with certain technologies, does the same.

No my question was how would this change in Elder Scrolls Online affect the climate.

Because it reduces energy consumption. In many countries a substantial proportion of the energy mix is still coming from fossil fuel generation. And even if the specific electricity you use to play ESO isn't, the fact you are using it to play ESO, rather than for something else, means energy needs to come from other sources for other uses.

Am I misunderstanding the question? Isn't this rather obvious? Computing devices do not use a fixed amount of energy when on. They use however much energy is being demanded of them for the level of computation they are being asked to do or, in the case of certain screen technologies, for the amount of light etc they are being asked to put out.

Multiply by a lot of games and different types of software, multiply by a lot of users, and you have an appreciable and unnecessary impact from eg users just leaving everything on while they just head off to eat their lunch, etc, for no obvious reason.

You have said a lot and still not been able to say how monitor dimming and fps capping in Elder Scrolls Online would change the world's climate.

Because energy generation, depending on type, produces emissions of carbon dioxide that linger in the planet for upwards of a century and collectively have a warming effect on the atmosphere. Energy generation varies in amount to reflect consumption. If you don't think that's substantiated at this point, well, there's no further avenue for sensible discussion.

You have still not been able to answer this question.

Maybe instead of trying to suggest that this feature will save the world we should go back to discussing how it should be an option instead.

You are not going to save the world or alter it's climate by dimming your computer screen.

Elsonso

.

edward_frigidhands wrote: »

Northwold wrote: »

edward_frigidhands wrote: »

Northwold wrote: »

edward_frigidhands wrote: »

Northwold wrote: »

edward_frigidhands wrote: »

Is there a way to turn this off?

I wish developer time would be spent solving real problems rather than this stuff.

Interesting that "real problems" here means *things in a video game* whereas "stuff" is the reality of what playing these games means for the real, physical, only planet we reside upon. I mean, seriously?

Interesting.

What problems do you think you will be solving through capping fps and implementing dimming in Elder Scrolls Online?

I am genuinely curious.

Capping FPS lowers GPU energy consumption when players are away from keyboards (less computation because fewer frames being generated -- you can measure this by looking at GPU consumption when you set an FPS cap of your own). Screen dimming, in screens with certain technologies, does the same.

No my question was how would this change in Elder Scrolls Online affect the climate.

Because it reduces energy consumption. In many countries a substantial proportion of the energy mix is still coming from fossil fuel generation. And even if the specific electricity you use to play ESO isn't, the fact you are using it to play ESO, rather than for something else, means energy needs to come from other sources for other uses.

Am I misunderstanding the question? Isn't this rather obvious? Computing devices do not use a fixed amount of energy when on. They use however much energy is being demanded of them for the level of computation they are being asked to do or, in the case of certain screen technologies, for the amount of light etc they are being asked to put out.

Multiply by a lot of games and different types of software, multiply by a lot of users, and you have an appreciable and unnecessary impact from eg users just leaving everything on while they just head off to eat their lunch, etc, for no obvious reason.

You have said a lot and still not been able to say how monitor dimming and fps capping in Elder Scrolls Online would change the world's climate.

Across all active ESO players, I am pretty confident that the environmental impact of this change is pretty small. I did some investigation, ran some numbers, and I am not impressed.

You will do more for the world's climate by reducing your ESO playtime by 1 hour per week and turning off your gaming computer or console during that hour.

ZOS should have included the option to disable this feature. The cumulative impact of the feature is not large enough where a few people turning it off will matter. I think they will get more positive response from the players with the option to turn it off than the positive response they will get from the headline that they released the feature.

Edit: words.

Necrotech_Master

Elsonso wrote: »

.

edward_frigidhands wrote: »

Northwold wrote: »

edward_frigidhands wrote: »

Northwold wrote: »

edward_frigidhands wrote: »

Northwold wrote: »

edward_frigidhands wrote: »

Is there a way to turn this off?

I wish developer time would be spent solving real problems rather than this stuff.

Interesting that "real problems" here means *things in a video game* whereas "stuff" is the reality of what playing these games means for the real, physical, only planet we reside upon. I mean, seriously?

Interesting.

What problems do you think you will be solving through capping fps and implementing dimming in Elder Scrolls Online?

I am genuinely curious.

Capping FPS lowers GPU energy consumption when players are away from keyboards (less computation because fewer frames being generated -- you can measure this by looking at GPU consumption when you set an FPS cap of your own). Screen dimming, in screens with certain technologies, does the same.

No my question was how would this change in Elder Scrolls Online affect the climate.

Because it reduces energy consumption. In many countries a substantial proportion of the energy mix is still coming from fossil fuel generation. And even if the specific electricity you use to play ESO isn't, the fact you are using it to play ESO, rather than for something else, means energy needs to come from other sources for other uses.

Am I misunderstanding the question? Isn't this rather obvious? Computing devices do not use a fixed amount of energy when on. They use however much energy is being demanded of them for the level of computation they are being asked to do or, in the case of certain screen technologies, for the amount of light etc they are being asked to put out.

Multiply by a lot of games and different types of software, multiply by a lot of users, and you have an appreciable and unnecessary impact from eg users just leaving everything on while they just head off to eat their lunch, etc, for no obvious reason.

You have said a lot and still not been able to say how monitor dimming and fps capping in Elder Scrolls Online would change the world's climate.

Across all active ESO players, I am pretty confident that the environmental impact of this change is pretty small. I did some investigation, ran some numbers, and I am not impressed.

You will do more for the world's climate by reducing your ESO playtime by 1 hour per week and turning off your gaming computer or console during that hour.

ZOS should have included the option to disable this feature. The cumulative impact of the feature is not large enough where a few people turning it off will matter. I think they will get more positive response from the players with the option to turn it off than the positive response they will get from the headline that they released the feature.

Edit: words.

this is how i would guess it would turn out

the difference between your system operating at "normal" (no dimming 120 fps) and "reduced" (dimmed with 30 fps) is probably measured in the 10s of watts of power consumption per person, and the total amount of time with the screen dimmed and lower fps during an entire play session of say 2 hours is probably measured in minutes, so your total wattage usage for the play session may have dipped by 1% if that

turning the entire computer off for those 2 hours would make a much larger difference

Jaraal

Elsonso wrote: »

.

edward_frigidhands wrote: »

Northwold wrote: »

edward_frigidhands wrote: »

Northwold wrote: »

edward_frigidhands wrote: »

Northwold wrote: »

edward_frigidhands wrote: »

Is there a way to turn this off?

I wish developer time would be spent solving real problems rather than this stuff.

Interesting that "real problems" here means *things in a video game* whereas "stuff" is the reality of what playing these games means for the real, physical, only planet we reside upon. I mean, seriously?

Interesting.

What problems do you think you will be solving through capping fps and implementing dimming in Elder Scrolls Online?

I am genuinely curious.

Capping FPS lowers GPU energy consumption when players are away from keyboards (less computation because fewer frames being generated -- you can measure this by looking at GPU consumption when you set an FPS cap of your own). Screen dimming, in screens with certain technologies, does the same.

No my question was how would this change in Elder Scrolls Online affect the climate.

Because it reduces energy consumption. In many countries a substantial proportion of the energy mix is still coming from fossil fuel generation. And even if the specific electricity you use to play ESO isn't, the fact you are using it to play ESO, rather than for something else, means energy needs to come from other sources for other uses.

Am I misunderstanding the question? Isn't this rather obvious? Computing devices do not use a fixed amount of energy when on. They use however much energy is being demanded of them for the level of computation they are being asked to do or, in the case of certain screen technologies, for the amount of light etc they are being asked to put out.

Multiply by a lot of games and different types of software, multiply by a lot of users, and you have an appreciable and unnecessary impact from eg users just leaving everything on while they just head off to eat their lunch, etc, for no obvious reason.

You have said a lot and still not been able to say how monitor dimming and fps capping in Elder Scrolls Online would change the world's climate.

Across all active ESO players, I am pretty confident that the environmental impact of this change is pretty small. I did some investigation, ran some numbers, and I am not impressed.

You will do more for the world's climate by reducing your ESO playtime by 1 hour per week and turning off your gaming computer or console during that hour.

ZOS should have included the option to disable this feature. The cumulative impact of the feature is not large enough where a few people turning it off will matter. I think they will get more positive response from the players with the option to turn it off than the positive response they will get from the headline that they released the feature.

Edit: words.

Perhaps the best option would have been:

"Submit a photograph of you planting one tree to reveal the option to disable screen dimming. Or, submit the photo AND leave screen dimming on for 1 week -- 260 Seals of Endeavor."

Northwold

Just to correct some not entirely accurate information on here, if you reduce a 120 FPS raster game to 30 FPS while away from keyboard, on an efficient current gen graphics card, you are going to see power savings. Taking the 4070 as an energy efficient example, the reduction in power consumption is likely to be of the order of 40W during the time the frame rate is reduced.

It's a little worrying that people think such reductions don't change anything. Every reduction in power consumption very obviously changes the total amount of energy consumed and therefore energy that needs to be generated. The effect, to state the obvious, is cumulative, from reducing energy consumption in lightbulbs, to hairdryers, to televisions.

And no, a single person playing ESO at a lower frame rate is not going to change the world. But reducing completely unnecessary energy consumption (by definition, you aren't doing anything in the game when this happens) throughout many games and many gamers does lead to important reductions in energy consumption. In exactly the same way as one person changing one lightbulb to LED doesn't achieve much. But the cumulative effect of everyone doing so is appreciable.

Honestly, I'm baffled that people can't see why this matters. We are not each our own island. The energy consumption of all of us on everything adds up. We can't simply look at it as what one person does with one thing. That's ridiculous.