Seizure wrote:That and ya know... We still dont even have the ability to change resolutions and time is wasted on this stuff.
With regards to whether "time is wasted" or not, I'd prefer if I got to decide myself on what constitutes a waste of my own time, thank you. ;)
With regards to changing the resolution of the client, it's not that I don't want it, honestly. I just don't know how to do it. Obviously, anyone who has used Pacho's client must have noted how objects suddenly pop up and disappear when walking over the map. Surely, you are not suggesting that I actually let the official client look like that? If it were "until I could solve it", I could agree, but I have no ideas whatsoever on how to "solve" that issue.
For the obvious retorts:
- "But you can still see more in Pacho's client." -- Yes, you can, because I'm currently sending "too many" objects from the server to the client just to cover every corner-case of suddenly appearing objects in the default resolution. If you increase the resolution of the client even slightly, you'll have cases where it happens. If anything, I should actually try to trim the viewport that the server cares about when deciding which objects to send so that people using larger resolutions than the default are less advantaged, but any way I do it, people will be advantaged by being able to view the area that is clipped.
- "But send more just for at least a slight increase in size, then." -- That still leaves all the basic problems in that the default client doesn't show all the objects that it actually knows about, so that people increasing the size even more will be "advantaged" by the trade-off of viewing popping-up objects; and it introduces more problems in that it uses more server bandwidth which, as you know by now, is kind of strained.
- "I don't care! Just send as many objects as will fit into the resolution that each client has chosen; those with small screens have but themselves to blame, anyway." -- I am almost considering this one. I don't really like the thought of people being gifted with larger screens being naturally advantaged (not least in combat), and mind you that there are still a lot of laptops in use that are capable of only 1024x768 or 1280x800 (in which case the maximum "normal" resolution for use in window mode is 800x600), but it's not as if I couldn't realign myself in that opinion. What I like even less is, of course, the extra drain on the server bandwidth. There's also the problem that any non-fixed resolution (or even just any change of resolution to any other fixed one) would require a lot of UI fixes as well, which is something that I consider a "waste of time".