ESO Contextual Fog Concept

Gidorick · March 2015

Here's a quick one.

When the weather is bad we should see the fog that we see now and possibly even MORE fog. When the weather is good, we should see much less fog, possibly even no fog. The maximum amount of fog relief be attached to a slider in the graphics menu and the amount of fog relief could be based on the percentage of that slider.

Allow those of us who are able to support no fog, experience no fog.

I have more Fog/No Fog screenshots here:
http://i.imgur.com/RAasVtQ.jpg?1

Please note, I have seen NO noticeable FPS drop since installing SweetFX.

I decided to take some comparison shots of inside a dungeon:

Thoughts?

Panda244 · March 2015

I'd be game for it, I don't use Sweet FX myself, the game is prettier enough without it. I wouldn't turn the Fog all the way off though, the background looks bad without it, there isn't a whole lot of depth of field in ESO so far away objects abruptly end and it looks funny, at least in my opinion. I would like to lighten up the fog though, currently, looks like ESO is constantly in the rainy season

Gidorick · March 2015

Panda244 wrote: »

I'd be game for it, I don't use Sweet FX myself, the game is prettier enough without it. I wouldn't turn the Fog all the way off though, the background looks bad without it, there isn't a whole lot of depth of field in ESO so far away objects abruptly end and it looks funny, at least in my opinion. I would like to lighten up the fog though, currently, looks like ESO is constantly in the rainy season

I HAD to turn depth of field off... everything in the distance was just a mass of blur. I wish there were a fog slider on SweetFX. I have actually logged out when it was raining to log back in without SweetFX. Since ESO has the fog ZOS didn't put much detail into the distant details so yea... some look pretty bad.

With Sweet FX, without fog, the world feels more like a "world" to me. It just FEELS larger and more expansive. it's interesting.

Gidorick · March 2015

A fog "slider" would also work here.

Gidorick · March 2015

A world without fog is stunning!
NYzbdHI.jpg?1

Heromofo · May 2015

Uuuum yes x100?

Gidorick · May 2015

ZOS would have to replace some of the distant textures... many places the distant mountains look TERRIBLE because they used the fog as a way to block our view of them.

Heromofo · May 2015

Gidorick wrote: »

ZOS would have to replace some of the distant textures... many places the distant mountains look TERRIBLE because they used the fog as a way to block our view of them.

I feel like a parent sometimes saying "Well ZOS you made a mess so you are responsible for cleaning it up".

lecarcajou_ESO · May 2015

I'm starting to feel a bit foggy meself after reading all this.

PKMN12 · May 2015

Heromofo wrote: »

Gidorick wrote: »

ZOS would have to replace some of the distant textures... many places the distant mountains look TERRIBLE because they used the fog as a way to block our view of them.

I feel like a parent sometimes saying "Well ZOS you made a mess so you are responsible for cleaning it up".

except not really, nor will they.

Gidorick · May 2015

Personally @PKMN12. I just enjoy dreaming and conceptualizing. I have no credentials to offer ZOS professionally, so this is my outlet. I have said many times that I don't think ZOS will listen to me. They have shown that they have their plans and they aren't looking for input from their players.

PKMN12 · May 2015

do not get me wrong, most of these ideas are GREAT, and would be amazing too add to this game to make it better, you guys are great at thinking of ideas for MMOs for teh most part.

But as someone who went through what happened with SWTOR, and now what happened with ESO, it gets harder and harder for us mmo players to believe a word that devs say and many of use have become VERY cynical about it.

IT is ALWAYS great to hope for the best, but honestly, when it comes to MMOs, expect the worse, and be happy when it comes out good.

Gidorick · May 2015

PKMN12 wrote: »

do not get me wrong, most of these ideas are GREAT, and would be amazing too add to this game to make it better, you guys are great at thinking of ideas for MMOs for teh most part.

But as someone who went through what happened with SWTOR, and now what happened with ESO, it gets harder and harder for us mmo players to believe a word that devs say and many of use have become VERY cynical about it.

IT is ALWAYS great to hope for the best, but honestly, when it comes to MMOs, expect the worse, and be happy when it comes out good.

LOL... in the end @PKMN12... You're probably right. Out of your case and mine, I'll end up much more disappointed in the end. hehe.

Nyghthowler · May 2015

@Gidorick ; I always say Hope for the best, expect the worst, and try not to be too surprised when you end up getting buggered.

Gidorick · August 2015

I was just running around Rivenspire and felt like the fog was particularly soupy, so I decided to turn it off and I was surprised by the results.

While I do LOVE the atmosphere the fog creates...
PDEJYMr.jpg?1

The sheer feeling of scale and breadth without the fog surprised me.
ZHQ2kGW.jpg?1

I'm not saying we don't need the fog but surely there is room in the game for BOTH. I'm wanting CONTEXTUAL fog... not no fog.

apav · August 2015

I agree with this. I'm pretty sure I know what the devs were thinking and I think it's flawed. The fog (most likely) serves two purposes:

1.) To hide the horrid LOD textures they were either too lazy to work on or thought that it would be too much of a performance impact for an MMO. But that's what the view distance slider is for.. Look at this photo from the previous post. That reminded me of looking at distant mountains in Oblivion, a game from 2006.

2.) To make PvP more fair and suspenseful. That way you aren't able to stand somewhere high up and see where the enemies are going to attack next. Once again though, this can be circumvented by having spies.

Although it can be pretty with the lightning and create atmosphere, the fog certainly breaks immersion for me, especially on a clear day or if I go someplace high and I'm not able to see far away. That being said though, I choose to keep it on. Why? To me, that LOD looks much worse, so I am happier looking at the fog and forgetting about it.

Not that I think this game isn't beautiful or anything, but this is coming from someone with a beefy rig that made Skyrim as visually impressive as possible. I know I can't fully get that with ESO and I don't have a problem with that, but I don't think the fog or that horrible LOD hidden behind it is acceptable. To those that say it can't be done in an MMO: The graphics are great in every other aspect, so why hold back here? Ideally I'd like them to at least scale back some of that fog and give us some decent distant textures, but I realize that will probably never happen.

Merlight · August 2015

Gidorick wrote: »

I was just running around Rivenspire and felt like the fog was particularly soupy, so I decided to turn it off and I was surprised by the results.

IMO they both look terrible. Ignoring the low-res mountains in the background, the screenshot without fog just looks "unreal". I wonder if ESO could get a less uniform fog - some days thick, other days only low-lying tufts, with tall buildings and mountain peaks rising above it.

Gidorick · August 2015

@apav, the fog appears to only serve top hide the low rez textures. I see ZERO performance hit when I remove fog.

And that is what I'm asking for @Merlight. Contextual fog. There are places where the fog isn't the system fog, where it's part of the world. The fog should be used to create atmosphere, not just top obscure players views from unfinished graphical renderings.

I love the idea of low fog in the game. In the mornings when it just rained.

Mashille · August 2015

100% Agree. I mentioned this type of thing a short while ago in my 'Sloppiness' Thread.

Gidorick · August 2015

I remember that thread @keybaud. I wish it had longer legs than it did. It was a good thread.

Robbmrp · August 2015

What the fog are you talking about Gidorick!

The game looks awesome anyway it comes!

apav · August 2015

Gidorick wrote: »

@apav, the fog appears to only serve top hide the low rez textures. I see ZERO performance hit when I remove fog.

And that is what I'm asking for @Merlight. Contextual fog. There are places where the fog isn't the system fog, where it's part of the world. The fog should be used to create atmosphere, not just top obscure players views from unfinished graphical renderings.

I love the idea of low fog in the game. In the mornings when it just rained.

I'm saying that either they didn't have the time and/or money to actually do proper high res LOD, or they thought that if they did there'd be too much of a performance hit making the game perform poorly even on the lowest settings for people with low-mid range computers (which could dissuade them to keep playing). The fog itself does not have a performance hit at all.

Gidorick · August 2015

apav wrote: »

Gidorick wrote: »

@apav, the fog appears to only serve top hide the low rez textures. I see ZERO performance hit when I remove fog.

And that is what I'm asking for @Merlight. Contextual fog. There are places where the fog isn't the system fog, where it's part of the world. The fog should be used to create atmosphere, not just top obscure players views from unfinished graphical renderings.

I love the idea of low fog in the game. In the mornings when it just rained.

I'm saying that either they didn't have the time and/or money to actually do proper high res LOD, or they thought that if they did there'd be too much of a performance hit making the game perform poorly even on the lowest settings for people with low-mid range computers (which could dissuade them to keep playing). The fog itself does not have a performance hit at all.

I seriously doubt it had anything to do with performance concerns. Even if it did, they should give us the option to have less fog.

Mashille · August 2015

I really hope they look into stuff like this.

So many little things in ESO are sloppy or lazy and imporving on them would make the overall game feel so much better and more polished.

Reifnir · September 2015

The Eso addon destroy the function of eso launcher... so this F... terrible fog is back in game. Zenimax made an option where alle who want can disable the fog....

Gidorick · September 2015

Yep. Launcher no longer removes fog... shame. I wonder if that was a deliberate "fix".

Sneaky-Snurr · March 2017

Rise O' Mighty Thread.