Streaming and Island LODs

  • No improvement whatsoever after 1.0.3 patch.

  • @super-poopsy Pretty disheartening.

  • @super-poopsy I'm very disappointed with this issue. In terms of LOD, the game works considerably worse than it did at launch.

  • Looks like this weeks update somehow made things a bit worse? Now on Mythical settings i am seeing very low poly versions of islands at long and medium range whilst looking at them with your spyglass.

  • agreed things are worse and now experiencing game/server crashes after only being in for 1 hr. The issues are only getting worse.

  • I can confirm that after 1.0.3 ropes on the ship don't cast shadow anymore, only the round pulleys do.

    I haven't dug that much into this latest patch to see what else is changed, since i was looking for improvements on issues i'm aware of rather than even more sneaky downgrades. As far as i've seen, they lowered the shadows resolution aswell, although i'm not 100% sure and at this point i'm far from being motivated to test it further.

    Hopefully someone else has more patience than I do.

  • @super-poopsy said in Streaming and Island LODs:

    I can confirm that after 1.0.3 ropes on the ship don't cast shadow anymore. I haven't dug that much into this latest patch to see what else is changed, but we're getting even further away from improvements...

    Something is going on with super low poly models on mythical settings. I should take a picture next time im in game.
    Far and medium distance trees in game now look almost exactly like this

  • @super-poopsy sagte in Streaming and Island LODs:

    I can confirm that after 1.0.3 ropes on the ship don't cast shadow anymore, only the round pulleys do.

    I haven't dug that much into this latest patch to see what else is changed, since i was looking for improvements on issues i'm aware of rather than even more sneaky downgrades. I have a strong impression that they lowered the shadows resolution aswell, although i'm not 100% sure and at this point i'm far from being motivated to test it further.

    Hopefully someone else has more patience than I do.

    Yep, I can confirm that since patch 1.0.3, ropes on ships don't cast shadows anymore. This is getting ridiculous and needs to be fixed ASAP. There is an obvious and undeniable visual downgrade going on since patch 1.0.1 and it's enough now. You promised you treat PC players with respect! This is anything but respect... I wish, I could get my money back, since this is not the game I bought. This is so disapointing, RARE.

  • @mr-fellblade Are you suggesting the hardware target for balance, is sub xbox one capabilities? That seems insane.

  • For all i know, their plan could be as simple as wanting to achieve 60fps on xbox while (unintentionally?) screwing anything with more horsepower over in the process...

  • Rare please extend render distance, spy glass and sniper rifle is useless, this is causing for us alot of issues in realism. We need to keep this thread alive.

  • @dekeita said in Streaming and Island LODs:

    @mr-fellblade Are you suggesting the hardware target for balance, is sub xbox one capabilities? That seems insane.

    Not too insane when you consider they've gone on record saying they plan to support 540p/15fps modes.

    @Super-Poopsy said in Streaming and Island LODs:

    For all i know, their plan could be as simple as wanting to achieve 60fps on xbox

    Hahaha at this point I'd be happy if they could pull off a stable 30 fps on Xbox.

  • @inflickked supporting is one thing, and i'm all for limiting the high end of computers to keep some balance, but i'd think the vast majority of players are gonna be on xbox one or better computers, and maybe its not a good idea to make the experience worse for most players so that they don't have a minor benefit over a handful of players who probably arnt that serious about the competitive experience given their system.

  • I'm pretty sure that my PC specs just scraped in as I can't play other new games such as Horizon 3 on this system. Early access pass to Battalion 1994 is a little laggy even with everything set to low.

    However even I can see the difference in draw distance from the open beta and launch to the post launch upgrade.
    I had no problem prior to the upgrade and can't understand why it was done. If my system could see high level LOD then surely Xbox and high-end PCs could see it too.
    You guys had it right then tweaked it wrong.

    We have a saying, "if it ain't broke then don't fix it". I've cleaned that up a little but it means the same. :)

  • It is a problem on xbox as well. I posted earlier in the thread. Still no further reply to the questions I asked the developers. I guess we are all still just imagining things.

  • Still going on on xbox one x. 4k w/ HDR10 on but no improvement in the last week.

  • Im literally NEXT to an island with my boat, and some items like barrels and a rocks are faded out with a checkerboard texture, like a grainy ghost. If i move closer, they render fully.

    This is the WORST render distance i habe seen in a game thats all about "scouting" out situations. We cant even tell how many players are on a boat until we are engaged in combat.

  • Digital foundry did a video analysing SoT’s at launch. We had superior draw distance and a near locked frame rate so why have we had so many downgrades since then.

    I play on Xbox One X and was so happy with the game at a technical level on day one, server issues aside. Unfortunately now like everyone else here I’m complaining about the same stuff.

    Day one, me and my crew could spot messages in bottles and animals as we casually pass islands now we literally have to park the ship beside the island and watch everything pop in through our spyglass. When I’m swimming back to my ship I notice all the lanterns and pullies on my ship pop In from ten feet away.

    Also I’m not sure if it’s been mentioned but I also think shadow quality has dropped along with shadows of ropes disappearing.

    It’s coming up to two weeks since this topic was created and no follow up from the devs it seems? Really disappointing. Like I said, it looked great at launch and with a locked frame rate. Sort it out.

  • Glad to see this thread here - the rope shadows vanishing, the terrible pop-in, the low rez assets sticking around at mid-range, the water turning 'flat' when seen from the crow's nest, the low-rez islands making trees float, parts of the island seen a low-rez models from a different spot on the same damn island... I thought that somehow my Xbox One X has lost it's 'X' setting and had 'downgraded' to the Xbox One version somehow. The pop-in is now at terrible Xbox360-version-of-Oblivion level bad.

    So here's one more voice, worried about the general downgrading of so many visual assets to add weight to the general argument and roll their eyes at the one wacko who's "reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee"ing about there not being any real problem. There 100% is - I'd just assumed that it was specific to the Xbox One X.

  • Shadow issues everywhere, here too, especially if you look at your own and you aim, you will notice that your character will cast a shadow like is aiming up in the sky, nonsense at all, and yes also the fact that ropes dont cast shadows is quite annoying.

    RARE RENDERING WIZARDS DO SOMETHING.

  • @mr-fellblade said in Streaming and Island LODs:

    The screenshots on this thread are either far-off islands with their lower-fidelity LOD (level of detail) loaded or higher-LOD islands where the view is not close enough to display the highest-detail terrain..

    This happens regardless of distance on my system. I get the lowest LOD until I am literally right on top of the island. I am running a very high end gaming PC on Mythical settings with my fps capped at 120 (would be nice if 144hz was in the options to cap as well...)

    Correct me if i misunderstood, but your answer basically says my experience of the game will intentionally be reduced because of potential hardware limitations on xbox and in the name of "balance"

  • @mr-fellblade Hello?

  • @redspooder sagte in Streaming and Island LODs:

    @mr-fellblade said in Streaming and Island LODs:

    The screenshots on this thread are either far-off islands with their lower-fidelity LOD (level of detail) loaded or higher-LOD islands where the view is not close enough to display the highest-detail terrain..

    This happens regardless of distance on my system. I get the lowest LOD until I am literally right on top of the island. I am running a very high end gaming PC on Mythical settings with my fps capped at 120 (would be nice if 144hz was in the options to cap as well...)

    Correct me if i misunderstood, but your answer basically says my experience of the game will intentionally be reduced because of potential hardware limitations on xbox and in the name of "balance"

    Yes, that is correct! And don't expect any more answers from them on that matter, because they already answered everything to their full satisfaction. My tickets won't be answered, too. I will never ever buy any game from that developer or from the Microsoft store again. Because, they can cripple your gaming experience as they like, since the files are encrypted.

  • So we’re just gonna sit here and twiddle our thumbs I take it as it doesn’t look like we’ll hear an official response.

  • @hudson-rl said in Streaming and Island LODs:

    So we’re just gonna sit here and twiddle our thumbs I take it as it doesn’t look like we’ll hear an official response.

    No sir! We need to keep working to have everyone's voices heard and towards a positive resolution of this issue. So far from my experience Rare has not been very good at responding to any issue. I have reported several things to get my tickets closed with unverified resolutions, including contradicting statements when pressed, that do not work. I am not letting it stop me and everyone here should not give up either no matter what the reason.

    We were sold an incomplete game that the developers lured us in with a promise of an awesome looking game that looked to have great fun to be had playing with family and friends. When you take away the graphics we are left with a game way less that what it was and should be. It definitely should not cost the money that we all paid for it, not even half the cost for what we currently have.

    If the LOD and shadow changes were to improve performance issues, it has not worked. These issues seriously impact the gameplay and fun to be had. Sea of Thieves currently feels like an early access game going backwards. Unless Microsoft is going to give us all our money back, they need to truthfully acknowledge and correct these issues.

    Until the game truly becomes Mythical or they refund our money, we need to stand up for what is right. Everyone who finds this to be an issue needs to document the issues with screen shots and videos. The evidence needs to be reported through the support request process. However, do not just let your tickets just sit. Continue to follow up on them. Continue to add more evidence. Continue to ask for a resolution. Do not stop posting the same evidence in the forums. Keep the issues public, current, and relevant.

    Do not keep the conversation limited to just here either. Post in Reddit and everywhere else the conversation is relevant. Post an honest review in the Microsoft store and anywhere else you can.

    Silence is acceptance. We should not accept what we ended up paying for. We should not accept being ignored. We should not be silent until we have a satisfactory response which would either be a truly Mythical Sea of Thieves to continue our voyages in or a full refund. I personally would prefer a Mythical game if Microsoft and Rare can truly make it happen by listening to us and making all the other improvements everyone has been bringing up. However, if they cannot do that, they need to do the right thing and start returning money from the chests we all filled up with our real life money.

  • Oh man, im making more and more gifs to show how the graphic got worse since the day 1..
    so people will open their eyes.

  • yup, just gonna add my voice to the "I'VE NOTICED, YOU SNEAKS!" Its messing with my immersion and my ability to scout things out with my spy glass

  • By the way, there's a maintenance planned for tomorrow, i don't know if there will be a patch aswell, but in case i'll make sure to check everything back again.

  • @crowlikedream said in Streaming and Island LODs:

    I have reported several things to get my tickets closed with unverified resolutions, including contradicting statements when pressed, that do not work.

    I've done the same, multiple times: the result was standard generic answer and subsequent closing as 'solved', which is even more ridiculous considering that -if anything- it's actually getting a little worse with every single patch.

  • @super-poopsy said in Streaming and Island LODs:

    By the way, there's a maintenance planned for tomorrow, i don't know if there will be a patch aswell, but in case i'll make sure to check everything back again.

    Great! All of us need to do the same. We need to check the status of the issues with each and every patch. We update the status and hopefully much sooner than later we can thank Rare for listening and giving us a great, and gorgeous game back.

  • in the patch notes "Increased quality of island rendering at a distance when using the spyglass on all quality settings on both platforms.
    This has no effect when the island is too far away to be loaded"

    oooooooooooh... will test it today.

  • Shadows are fixed, but i have to take more time for seeing the LOD updates, for sure they added now a 3d model when you change your clothes, which is good.

  • Update after 1.0.4
    First impression is honestly positive, aside from obvious fixes (rope shadows are back) i can clearly notice some improvements: relics/bottles/barrels are now visible from further away and there's noticeably less lod pop-ins when walking on big islands, which is good.
    Of course the catch here is that the main island LOD must be loaded first, so you still won't be able to see anything from far away, when islands are still imposters (that is: when they look like an N64 game), but at least things won't pop in and out of existence when you're on the island itself, which is something i guess...

    Shadows however still become immediately lowish res at mid distance (Mythical settings), but i could live with that.

    Honestly, i haven't seen a single player/ship in my 1hr of testing, so i don't know if player rendering distance is improved in any way, however it looks slightly improved for skeletons/animals -but then again- only once you're already walking on an island, so who knows. If anybody could test it with some friends (all of mine stopped playing...) it would be nice to know.

    Are we back to 1.0 quality? Not really, but it surely is an improvement compared to 1.0.1.

    It's now up to the players to decide if this change is enough, in terms of gameplay, or we're still at a point in which the spyglass is half useless.

    (My personal opinion is that it makes the game slightly prettier compared to 1.0.1, but once again it doesn't address any of the actual complaints that this thread wants the devs to solve)

  • @super-poopsy said in Streaming and Island LODs:

    Update after 1.0.4
    First impression is honestly positive, aside from obvious fixes (rope shadows are back) i can clearly notice the improvements: i can see relics/bottles/barrels from further away and there's noticeably less lod pop-ins when walking on big islands, which is good.

    Honestly, i haven't seen a single player/ship in my 1hr of testing, so i don't know if player rendering distance is improved in any way, however -as far as i've seen- it's surely improved for skeletons/animals. If anybody can test it with some friends (all mine stopped playing...) it would be nice to know.

    Are we back to 1.0 quality? I have no idea, but it's surely an improvement compared to 1.0.1. Shadows however are still lowish res at mid-far distance (Mythical settings), but if that's the price to pay i'm kinda ok with it.

    Awesome! Crew this looks like very positive changes to the issues. Looking forward to checking out the changes as well.

  • Ok, a little update after further testing. Eventually i found a nice guy at the skeleton fort that stood still for a while while i moved away to see how far i could see him.

    Although i still believe there's a noticeable details improvement when one is walking on a island, i'm afraid player rendering distance is still more or less the same as per 1.0.1. :(

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