How do we force darkness on people without shaders?

[The Resonte!]

so are you going to use dezcaban's methods or what

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[Lord Tony®]

so are you going to use dezcaban's methods or what

I already know what he's doing. He's playing on a dark map with anti-glow textures so the lines don't show up in the dark. Doesn't help me in my case.


I want my entire environment to be lighted in a sunlit area but on the inside of the castle I want it to be realistically dark with like what shaders does. With shaders on a castle in a sunny environment will be pitch black on the inside with enclosed walls but with shaders off a castle in a sunny environment is well lighted. It's completely unfair.

[Incinerate]

You could buy a less than 200 dollar modern computer these days and it could run Blockland with at least shaders on low.

I bought a 500 dollar computer a few years ago and it could only run minimum sometimes (I had the option to run max, but even on low the performance was not very good).  Anything above 30k bricks would screw my performance to a dramatic degree.  It should be noted that I cannot stand FPS lower than 35.  I somewhat recently upgraded from a GT 610 to a GTX 960 and I have no problems now obviously.

[Lord Tony®]

I somewhat recently upgraded from a GT 610 to a GTX 960 and I have no problems now obviously.

I have a GT 620 currently and I am about to upgrade to a GTX 960 myself.

I have small issues with shaders on high for builds over 50k but once I upgrade I'll even be able to run Fallout 4 on high.

[Shift Kitty]

Should Fallout 4 dumb their graphics down to 1990 graphics if everyone has a 10 dollar grandma email checker?

Terrible comparison.
Some people have been playing Blockland for years. Fallout 4 is new.
A more fair comparison: Fallout 4 removes lower graphics settings, so those running on minimum can no longer run it properly. Is this fair to people who already purchased it?

[Lord Tony®]

Is this fair to people who already purchased it?

I'll tell you this and then it's end of discussion with you.

My old Windows XP computer was so loving bad that not only it couldn't handle shaders on low but when I left my blockland server on overnight my computer heated up so badly the heat sink melted off when it was held together with thermal glue. That computer was at least over 10 years old. In order for me to start it up every day I hit the on button but it doesn't start you just hear the fan buzzing. I let the fan do that for about 10 minutes, turn it off. Turn it back on then I have to wait about 20 minutes for the computer to fully load at the start screen.

If your computer can't handle blockland then your computer can't handle most modern games. Blockland isn't even a modern game by today's standards.

[Jubel]

Running an i3 540 dual core, a 1GB radeon HD5450, and 4 gigs of ramioli, i can safely say that it could not run Blockland on minimum, unless you liked 15fps on slate.

intel hd graphics weren't even out, and when the 3000 series were released 2 years later, they were only about 35% or so better than that card I had.


a lot of people have computers that are that stuff and that old. blockland is a terribly optimized game, and there is way too much post-processing in minimum for some computers, (even with intel based graphics systems.)

Unless tony finds sub-30 fps acceptable for some reason? lol.

[Drydess]

snip

I can run Blockland with around 30fps at no shaders. Add minimum in, and it drops down to ten. On the other hand, I can run fallout 4, for instance, (at all graphics settings on max) at 20-30fps. So like Jubel said, BL is a terribly optimized game. It really doesn't have very much to do with my computer.
Plus, the only shaders in BL that I like is the lighting reflection n all.

[Rally]

I'm going to leave this here because it was an incredible idea that never came to consideration:
http://forum.blockland.us/index.php?topic=217670.0

i remember that dezcaban (i think) made attempted a server which did fancy stuff so it's dark for anyone, even without shaders enabled
http://forum.blockland.us/index.php?topic=240736.0

so are you going to use dezcaban's methods or what

Those methods only worked if your entire build was 100% submerged in darkness, and the only light came from brick lights. It was a terrible system that everybody hated and with the way the torque engine works it was incredibly not-flexible. This server basically crashed and burned like a week after it was created because I couldn't force shaders on people. Don't even get me started on maximum visible lights being capped at 8 for ??? reason.

I remember, I think it was D3ATH or someone, fell victim to the same stuff a while later. Made a server that revolved around hiding in the dark. Tried to make a system where players could only play with shaders and anyone who wasn't was considered 'cheating' and removed from the server. Impossible of course, but a noble concept.

Terrible comparison.
Some people have been playing Blockland for years. Fallout 4 is new.
A more fair comparison: Fallout 4 removes lower graphics settings, so those running on minimum can no longer run it properly. Is this fair to people who already purchased it?

Badspot removed maps and replaced it with un-optimized shaders that (apparently) not very many people can run because they refuse to spend more than 10 cents on a GPU. Many people loved maps and their servers, their gameplay, and their interests were centered around maps. Is it fair to those people who already purchased the game to remove maps? It wasn't fair, but it's pretty easy to go find a downloadable v20 for those people who really want maps. And for people who really want to play blockland on their grandma's $10 email checker, they can do the same.

Who gives a stuff about what is 'fair'? Being able to ban anybody for any amount of time for no reason at all is probably 'unfair' but it's the hosts decision at the end of the day. If the host wants you to play on minimum shaders, he should be able to force you to do so. If he wants you to play on max for the singular purpose of spiting people with stuff computers, I think he should be able to do so, even if it makes him a jerk. Maybe the idea isn't to remove the OFF setting for everyone who owns blockland, but to somehow put the power in the hands of the host, so he can use shaders to benefit the needs of his own server.

Here's the truth: If you are running blockland on a computer that cannot run minimum, you are holding back the gaming community.

[Ladle]

I want my entire environment to be lighted in a sunlit area but on the inside of the castle I want it to be realistically dark with like what shaders does. With shaders on a castle in a sunny environment will be pitch black on the inside with enclosed walls but with shaders off a castle in a sunny environment is well lighted. It's completely unfair.

That's pretty much what I want with my Bunker. The outside has this radiant white light, while the inside and shadows are very dark so you have to use your light. If you disable shaders there is no difference from inside and outside.

I'm going to leave this here because it was an incredible idea that never came to consideration:
http://forum.blockland.us/index.php?topic=217670.0

Lmao that's the same thread I took part in that never got anywhere.

[Zeblote]

I already know what he's doing. He's playing on a dark map with anti-glow textures so the lines don't show up in the dark. Doesn't help me in my case.


I want my entire environment to be lighted in a sunlit area but on the inside of the castle I want it to be realistically dark with like what shaders does. With shaders on a castle in a sunny environment will be pitch black on the inside with enclosed walls but with shaders off a castle in a sunny environment is well lighted. It's completely unfair.

For no reason at all (except lazyness) it's not even possible to change the environment per client. Otherwise you could change people env to dark when they enter the castle to get the same effect

[Shift Kitty]

Badspot removed maps and replaced it with un-optimized shaders that (apparently) not very many people can run because they refuse to spend more than 10 cents on a GPU. Many people loved maps and their servers, their gameplay, and their interests were centered around maps. Is it fair to those people who already purchased the game to remove maps? It wasn't fair, but it's pretty easy to go find a downloadable v20 for those people who really want maps. And for people who really want to play blockland on their grandma's $10 email checker, they can do the same.

The game was still playable after maps and honestly the only thing we lost was those TDMs where the bases were an ungodly distance from each other for no reason. Anything else has already been proven that they're doable with bricks.

Who gives a stuff about what is 'fair'? Being able to ban anybody for any amount of time for no reason at all is probably 'unfair' but it's the hosts decision at the end of the day. If the host wants you to play on minimum shaders, he should be able to force you to do so. If he wants you to play on max for the singular purpose of spiting people with stuff computers, I think he should be able to do so, even if it makes him a jerk.

And the hosts do feel free to ban anybody for any amount of time and that hasn't and will not change.

Maybe the idea isn't to remove the OFF setting for everyone who owns blockland, but to somehow put the power in the hands of the host, so he can use shaders to benefit the needs of his own server.

Actually it was the idea. It was the very idea that I was responding to.

Here's the truth: If you are running blockland on a computer that cannot run minimum, you are holding back the gaming community.

I don't understand how anything gaming related is being held back because some people are less fortunate than others.

For no reason at all (except lazyness) it's not even possible to change the environment per client. Otherwise you could change people env to dark when they enter the castle to get the same effect

I want this so bad. You could build multiple different areas with different climates and actually feel like it's different.

[Lord Tony®]

Here's the truth: If you are running blockland on a computer that cannot run minimum, you are holding back the gaming community.

Which is why I can't make builds that revolve around physics because people can't handle physics. I can't make builds that revolve around shaders because people with it off cannot see the dark.

I don't understand how anything gaming related is being held back because some people are less fortunate than others.

Really? I can't do anything darkness related or physics related if people can't support it. These people break my builds. So I am forced to not include it at all.

How can I make an intricate stealthy game if specific people can't afford anything higher than a $10 dollar grandma email checker?

[Lord Tony®]

If there is absolutely no way to force darkness we may have to develop a way to detect if people have shaders off so we can kick them out of the game. Which is not something I want to do but if there is no other way around it then there is no other way.

[Darth C3P0]

The shader "off" option needs to just be taken out

No, thats just a horrible idea. Many people will have FPS drop, causing many people to leave like tony said. I personally like them off anyways