I miss the old community

[Starhammer]

It's very disheartening to tell a team I can't continue because the combination of some of the power FX are probably gonna trigger a seizure, only to be told things like "turn the graphics down" (graphics settings won't disable basic power effects), or "Just don't use them" (It's not my powers.) It's not everyone, but more and more, the prevailing opinions seems to be that I have an obligation not to have a disability that is incompatible with other people's characters.

Just venting. Ignore me and move along.

[Apogee]

I am sure some were just trying to be helpful, but in the end you have to do what is right for your health.  If they don't understand that it is on them.

[lemming]

I wonder if some sort of blanket mod could be produced and installed via citymod for such situations?

[Glacier Peak]

Particlecount in the graphics settings changes the FX displayed on a player's screen. 

 

There's also /visscale 1-20 for draw distance. 

 

Lots of stuff to tweak, I feel like I change my settings with each new character I make. 

[A Cat]

This game is very particle heavy at times. Fighting the Animus Arcana in Night Ward = can't see shit captain. 

[Solarverse]

7 hours ago, Starhammer said:

It's very disheartening to tell a team I can't continue because the combination of some of the power FX are probably gonna trigger a seizure, only to be told things like "turn the graphics down" (graphics settings won't disable basic power effects), or "Just don't use them" (It's not my powers.) It's not everyone, but more and more, the prevailing opinions seems to be that I have an obligation not to have a disability that is incompatible with other people's characters.

Just venting. Ignore me and move along.

 

I'm sure the Devs could add an option to turn down particle effects or any other option that makes powers fade depending on how high the slider is.

[Captain Fabulous]

There's at least one mod that significantly reduces the density of VFX, and when combined with lowering particle count they make most effects barely perceptible.

But yeah, I get it. I find myself occasionally on teams with people who thought making their powers neon green or pink was a good choice. It's a choice all right, but not a good one. Now stack two or three of them on top of one another (yes, it's happened) and even with particle count at minimum it was too much. I had to bail.

PSA: please don't do this. For the love of all that's holy pick colors that aren't going to burn out people's retinas.

[Sanguinesun]

7 hours ago, Starhammer said:

It's very disheartening to tell a team I can't continue because the combination of some of the power FX are probably gonna trigger a seizure, only to be told things like "turn the graphics down" (graphics settings won't disable basic power effects), or "Just don't use them" (It's not my powers.) It's not everyone, but more and more, the prevailing opinions seems to be that I have an obligation not to have a disability that is incompatible with other people's characters.

Just venting. Ignore me and move along.

 

Im not sure why there is a comparison to the "old community" being done regarding your disability.  HC has done more to have limiting effects features in game than was when it was live.   While there have been new sets that have come about with powers, the same sort of basis of occurences between them and any older sets powers are not different on that level of consideration.

 

We also have to factor that even if every one had very simplistic visuals attributed to each of their powers, that it doesnt factor that when you're in a group of 48 (ie any major league raids), then each individual attack placed by 48 people is going to have the potential to mimic the effects of common visual seizure triggering effects.  (48 simple effects every 1-3 seconds firing off in either unision or staggered in other words).

 

Understand this isn't being stated to diminish your disability.  It is to point out that your comparison of now to "old community" seems strange or misplaced.

 

However, I recognize your goal to be some way to essentially remove graphically any type graphical renderings that would be seizure triggering from a volunteer player developer team already limited and strapped of people and time resources to perhaps develop a system that would satisfy your specifics for seizure triggering(triggers can vary depending on the individual to varying degrees of course).  

 

So I empathize with your situation, but unless someone has other creative workarounds to offer or the dev team members who could enact a change to accomodate your disability speak up, Im not sure there is much that can be done otherwise.  Im sorry that that then may be the unfortunate case.  ☹️

[High_Beam]

As for the Old Community.  I don't know, Pierce Hawthorne was butt annoying and diminished several episodes.  The last season was pretty wretched to boot except for Keith David being added.

 

Still, a bad episode if Community is better than the best episode of Big Bang Theory.

Edited August 25, 2023 by High_Beam

[Techwright]

14 hours ago, lemming said:

I wonder if some sort of blanket mod could be produced and installed via citymod for such situations?

 

10 hours ago, Solarverse said:

 

I'm sure the Devs could add an option to turn down particle effects or any other option that makes powers fade depending on how high the slider is.

 

 

I've been (occasionally) asking for this for a couple of years now.  While I don't have an underlying medical cause, I don't get much enjoyment in large events like the Mothership Raid or a Nemesis invasion because the close-quarter fighting overloads the visuals with all the effects.  In the end, due to the white-out (or perhaps light-out) conditions, I end up guessing where my opponents are.  Perhaps now that a medical need has been stated, something will be done.

 

9 hours ago, Captain Fabulous said:

PSA: please don't do this. For the love of all that's holy pick colors that aren't going to burn out people's retinas.

 

Anyone remember that is exactly what happened, in spades, when we were first given color options for powers?  It seemed most players went for high-intensity colors and didn't understand the concept that subtle is more.  The overload was such that it was making me nauseous, something that previously only happened if I played in 1st person perspective.  I nearly quit the game then, until somehow some sanity began to return to the population, and the intensities were changed. Mostly.

[Neiska]

People are free to color their powers whatever they like. It is a bit silly to expect an entire community to base their choices around what is a personal situation. And I say this as a deaf player.

 

My advice, would be to join a SG or form a group of friends to run content with, who know and understand your situation and circumstances. In my case, I simply tell my friends if I have ears on or ears off. (I have a Cochlear implant, but I don't wear it all the time.) They all know if it's off, I won't hear glowies and the like. But it's rarely proven to be a problem. Now if you are teaming with random people, it is a bit silly to expect complete random strangers to know, or even have a costume with different colored powers ready to be changed on the fly. You can ask people to not use powers, certainly. But understand that they are free to say no. And depending on the set or power, not using a certain power might be detrimental to the team.

 

I guess what I am saying is, "know the pool you are about to swim in." It is unfortunate to have your circumstances, but it is just as silly to expect everyone to adapt to your circumstance. Some people will, but just as many, possibly more, won't. 

 

As far as what you can do about it on your side, I am unsure. I am afraid I am not very tech savy. Possibly you might be able to change your monitor or computer settings outside the game so it's not an issue? Others have mentioned things you can do ingame already, but I am uncertain what else you can do personally.

 

As much as it sucks, it really is a sort of "them's the breaks" when gaming with a lot of random people through the internet.

[ZemX]

Normally, I just quit teams that are annoying me in some way.  Figure that's mine to deal with.  But there are exceptions.   I WILL tell someone who is pushing things around with a force bubble to stop, especially if the situation just doesn't call for it. 

 

And Sonic Repulsion might be my most hated power in this whole game ever.   Who thought of this abomination even?  It's straight up griefing to drop this on a melee teammate if not slotted for KD and even if it is... the looping sound FX should be considered a form of torture and banned by international law.

[Scarlet Shocker]

9 hours ago, Captain Fabulous said:

PSA: please don't do this. For the love of all that's holy pick colors that aren't going to burn out people's retinas.

 

 

You should have a word with your forum avatar! 🤣

 

Joking aside, the GFX on big teams and leagues does kill my enjoyment of the game. When I can't even see my mouse pointer it makes it hard to play. I don't have health issues relating to them but it's annoying for me. I can imagine it would completely frustrating to risk a bad episode

[UltraAlt]

19 hours ago, Starhammer said:

It's very disheartening to tell a team I can't continue because the combination of some of the power FX are probably gonna trigger a seizure, only to be told things like "turn the graphics down" (graphics settings won't disable basic power effects), or "Just don't use them" (It's not my powers.)

 

I understand.

Don't worry about changing the FX settings aka "turn the graphics down". Use the two macros below instead.

 

/macro fx0 "noparticles 1"

/macro fx1 "noparticles 0"

 

fx0 turns off particles

fx1 turns particles back on - in some cases you have to zone before the particles will completely reset.

 

This doesn't get rid of all the SFX but a huge amount of them.

It's even good if it is just a matter of too much SFX spam and you simply would like to be able to see what you are fighting. ( @Scarlet Shocker )

 

 

Edited August 25, 2023 by UltraAlt

[Grouchybeast]

2 hours ago, ZemX said:

And Sonic Repulsion might be my most hated power in this whole game ever.   Who thought of this abomination even?  It's straight up griefing to drop this on a melee teammate if not slotted for KD and even if it is... the looping sound FX should be considered a form of torture and banned by international law.

 

At least it's easy to get rid of the annoying sounds.  When the game came back from the dead, it took about as long as it took me to stop walking around Atlas and crying with happiness to start searching my old installation for the sound-killing files.

[High_Beam]

Demon Growl, Puppy Howl . . . all . . . day . . . long!  Squawk, squeek, chitter, hiss . . . its a freaking petting zoo of insanity.

 

The colors children, the colors!

[Rishidian]

Starhammer - I feel for ya. 

I think the answer must originate on your end.  It's too much to ask anyone to change their game play experience for another person.

I don't know if you can change your graphics card settings to lowed settings that may cut the amount of effects it processes, but it might be worth looking into.

I wish there were a setting in the game where the Opacity of Effects could be lowered so that instead of filling the screen with  multiple layers of opaque, flashing effects, they could be dropped to 10%, or even 0% opacity, so they are not so obnoxious.  This would affect your experience only - leaving everyone else unaffected. 

[biostem]

23 hours ago, Starhammer said:

the prevailing opinions seems to be that I have an obligation not to have a disability that is incompatible with other people's characters

No, but neither does everybody else have an obligation to adjust to your needs.  The only party that *does* have a direct ability to tailor the play experience at-will is YOU.  YOU can use the tools available to adjust the experience, or otherwise remove yourself from the instance that is causing an issue for you.  Note, I am not saying you shouldn't play at all - only that YOU are the only party that can directly and immediately alter the experience to suit your own needs...

[Crystal Dragon]

There are tools built into the game that can help with reducing the effects, and particles in the zone to help with visibility, without hitting on the appearance of the game overall. Under advanced settings for graphics, you can fine tune it there. However, given that it's a medical issue - you might wish to bind the commands to a hotkey for yourself to reduce the particle effects drastically to avoid them triggering a seizure. This way you have a more immediate solution for the cause with one button press. I do wish there was a way to change the settings for a lot less brightness, but if you tool around with the advanced settings, you might find a comfort zone with the settings there in adjusting to your liking while cutting back on the trigger effects for your health and safety.

 

Continuing on that note, gamma settings should help a lot with tuning out the overly bright effects that some people choose for their character skills. But I am uncertain if there's additional tools to help with this in the modding area. I'll have to search to see if there is anything that may help. Unless anyone else here might know of one that could assist the OP?

[PeregrineFalcon]

On 8/24/2023 at 11:47 AM, Starhammer said:

It's very disheartening to tell a team I can't continue because the combination of some of the power FX are probably gonna trigger a seizure, only to be told things like "turn the graphics down" (graphics settings won't disable basic power effects), or "Just don't use them" (It's not my powers.)

I know what you mean. HOW DARE other players try to offer you useful advice!

 

Look, I'm not trying to be a jerk here, but what exactly do you expect other players to do? They aren't developers. They can't reprogram the game to stop doing certain things that affect you. These people are TRYING to give you helpful advice. And your response is to get upset at those people? WHAT?!?

 

How arrogant and entitled are you that you get upset at people who are actually trying to help you?

[Captain Fabulous]

11 hours ago, Techwright said:

Anyone remember that is exactly what happened, in spades, when we were first given color options for powers?  It seemed most players went for high-intensity colors and didn't understand the concept that subtle is more.  The overload was such that it was making me nauseous, something that previously only happened if I played in 1st person perspective.  I nearly quit the game then, until somehow some sanity began to return to the population, and the intensities were changed. Mostly.

A reduced palette with muted colors would have been a far better way to go.

[JasperStone]

This became an issue for me for thethe first time last night.

I was running the "Stop the Circle of Thorns from contacting an alternate world"

 

The Mage powers nearly blinded me. 

 

Turned particle stuff way down. 

[Snarky]

13 hours ago, Captain Fabulous said:

A reduced palette with muted colors would have been a far better way to go.

In no shock to anyone I paint all my colors black, or that muted sickly green yellow common to undead effects.  I would love to get the "Domination" power for Dominators colored to look like something besides a Unicorn fart, but I think i am screwed there.

 

But getting an energy blaster to mute everything because of your needs?  never going to happen

[Mopery]

1 minute ago, Snarky said:

I would love to get the "Domination" power for Dominators colored to look like something besides a Unicorn fart, but I think i am screwed there.

Little known fact, but Unicorns are the only creature with farts that smell like roses.

[Glacier Peak]

I'm actually impressed how many threads I've seen lately where the original poster says something to the effect of "just came back after an x number of years away from HC." 

 

WELCOME BACK! THE LIGHTS ARE STILL ON!