A simple and effective fix for night time gamma "cheating"

[ramatakahn 38]

The whole point is moot because everyone can use the gamma/brightness sliders, and only a very small minority like to play in the dark, why do you think night servers have always been empty or low populated? Nothing like this will be implemented.

[ryan__mc__@hotmail.co.uk 131]

The only workaround i see is something like this:

 

Adding an automated feature called blur.

 

Blur would work like this....when you increase gamma or brightness there is then an automated blur effect kicks in and the more you increase your gamma and brightness the blurrier your game gets.

 

The devs could do this by setting a universal preferred gamma / brightness that we should all be playing at during night ...and if you increase the gamma or brightness past that point then the blur takes effect.

 

This automated blur would then be disabled automatically during daytime ...allowing players to then adjust gamma and brightness freely to suit there needs.

 

This should be fair to all players as their still able to use gamma and brightness in daytime where these settings actually matter because of color fidelity and stuff ....and its also fair because they cant complain about not being able to use brightness and gamma at night because its in black and white and color fidelity doesn't matter.....and forcing them to use things such as torches ...chem lights or flares when there added.

Edited December 21, 2013 by Massicor

[ryan__mc__@hotmail.co.uk 131]

 

 

 

As I expect you guys talking about clouds brightening up the night is not true. The above screenshot was taken shortly before dawn, when the moon has already gone. Gamma jacked up to the max. And clouds at normal.

 

The only thing clouds do is when you turn them completely off, the terrain will not receive any lighting. But the above is with clouds on NORMAL, and no moon present, PROVING my idea that removing the moon lighting will fix gamma cheating and equalize night time for everyone.

 

Turn HDR quality to low ....not very low but low :)

[zachgibson22 14]

Or they could just have the moon f**kin always out and not pitch black. If it's pitch f*king black, I'm turning that shit up, sorry. I just want to be able to see when a f**king zombie is attacking me.

[Ducard 11]

One other game ruining abuse just like server hopping, it kills the objective of the game. i also suggest locking the gamma\brightness slider or make them settings forced by the server.

[ryan__mc__@hotmail.co.uk 131]

^^ A bit more detail please ? and make sure you cover all bases about making it fair for everyone at all times.

Edited December 21, 2013 by Massicor

[beardedcap 22]

So instead of fixing the PROBLEM: night time is too damn dark, way darker than real life. You want them to make it seriously pitch fucking black by removing moon light? You're a new breed.

[ryan__mc__@hotmail.co.uk 131]

In fact check these screenshots out ...turning clouds to disabled enables the moon....turning clouds to very low disables the moon.

 

 

 

This ones HDR quality low and clouds very low.

 

This ones HDR quality low and clouds disabled.

 

This ones the same as the first except showing that it is indeed HDR quality low

 

This one is HDR quality very low and clouds very low.

Edited December 21, 2013 by Massicor

[alleycat 135]

In fact check these screenshots out ...turning clouds to disabled enables the moon....turning clouds to very low disables the moon.

 

 

 

This ones HDR quality low and clouds very low.

 

This ones HDR quality low and clouds disabled.

 

This ones the same as the first except showing that it is indeed HDR quality low

 

This one is HDR quality very low and clouds very low.

 

 

 

Dude dont you get it? Your experiment does not work, because the moon is PRESENT ALL THE TIME in your attempt. therefore you can still use the gamma. The only thing in the gfx engine of the game that lights up terrain at night is moonlight and artificial light And no matter if the moon sprite is showing in the sky or not because you turned off a setting, the ambient lighting is still cast, because the date and daytime dictate if there is moon light. Clouds dont matter shit, and shadows dont even factor into lighting as light and shadow are 2 very different things in gfx programming.

 

 

Mine does work, because I took that screenshot during a time where the moon is not in the sky, which is only shortly before daybreak at the current mooncycle (it is near full moon in real life).

 

Let me phrase it again:

MOON PRESENT >>>> GAMMA CHEAT POSSIBLE

MOON NOT PRESENT >>>> GAMMA CHEAT NOT POSSIBLE because as far as the game lighting engine is concerned there is nothing shining on the terrain and therefore gamma (which acts as amplifier for existing light) has no effect.

 

 

Also HDR quality dont matter, Mine is on LOW.

 

 

 

Adding an automated feature called blur.

Does not work, blur can be turned on on the GFX card and some players might want to turn off certain post processing to save fps.

Just give up trying to discredit my idea, It is proven to work and will even out the night for everyone.

Edited December 21, 2013 by alleycat

[Grumpy Monkey 396]

Does not work, blur can be turned on on the GFX card and some players might want to turn off certain post processing to save fps.

 

That and blur makes me sick (literally, especially motion blur). I can't play games for 10 minutes with blur without the need for aspirin.

 

I don't adjust the gamma and brightness by the way. I like the creepiness of night.

Edited December 21, 2013 by Grumpy Monkey

[ryan__mc__@hotmail.co.uk 131]

Dude dont you get it? Your experiment does not work, because the moon is PRESENT ALL THE TIME in your attempt. therefore you can still use the gamma. The only thing in the gfx engine of the game that lights up terrain at night is moonlight and artificial light And no matter if the moon sprite is showing in the sky or not because you turned off a setting, the ambient lighting is still cast, because the date and daytime dictate if there is moon light. Clouds dont matter shit, and shadows dont even factor into lighting as light and shadow are 2 very different things in gfx programming.

 

 

Mine does work, because I took that screenshot during a time where the moon is not in the sky, which is only shortly before daybreak at the current mooncycle (it is near full moon in real life).

 

Let me phrase it again:

MOON PRESENT >>>> GAMMA CHEAT POSSIBLE

MOON NOT PRESENT >>>> GAMMA CHEAT NOT POSSIBLE because as far as the game lighting engine is concerned there is nothing shining on the terrain and therefore gamma (which acts as amplifier for existing light) has no effect.

 

 

Also HDR quality dont matter, Mine is on LOW.

 

 

Does not work, blur can be turned on on the GFX card and some players might want to turn off certain post processing to save fps.

Just give up trying to discredit my idea, It is proven to work and will even out the night for everyone.

 

The screenshots fucking show you that if the moonlit sky is present or even if its not then you can change other options to still make your game bright enough to see what your doing and shit ...it doesn't matter what time or if the server thinks there there's a moon there or not at a specific time...if its night these settings work and my screenshots clearly show that so stop banging on about HDR quality not working my screenshots show that HDR quality does work.

 

So your fix isnt actually a fix because its not actually fixing anything its just removing moonlit sky that makes no difference as there's still ways to change settings to see what your doing.

SO NO THE DEVS SHOULDNT REMOVE MOONLIT SKY GAMEPLAY AS IT WILL RUIN IT FOR PEOPLE THAT LIKE MOONLIT SKY GAMEPLAY.

 

And as for the blur ...your horribly wrong as the client wouldn't be able to control it nor would your graphics card it would be automated and the blur would be so strong to the point that you cant see a single thing that the only way to get rid of it is to decrease your gamma/brightness. Its not some simple stupid blur effect im talking about its full scale BLUR that not even a graphics card could change. It doesnt have to be blur it could be automated view distance or some shit like that ...such as increasing gamma/brightness will decrease your viewing distance to the point that you cant see past your own nose if your settings go too high.

Edited December 21, 2013 by Massicor

[ryan__mc__@hotmail.co.uk 131]

That and blur makes me sick (literally, especially motion blur). I can't play games for 10 minutes with blur without the need for aspirin.

 

I don't adjust the gamma and brightness by the way. I like the creepiness of night.

 

Its good that you play properly ...so this automated system wouldn't effect you it will help you as anyone that's not playing with proper gamma/brightness settings will not be able to see shit.

[alleycat 135]

The screenshots fucking show you that if the moonlit sky is present or even if its not then you can change other options to still make your game bright enough to see what your doing and shit ...it doesn't matter what time or if the server thinks there there's a moon there or not at a specific time...if its night these settings work and my screenshots clearly show that so stop banging on about HDR quality not working my screenshots show that HDR quality does work.

 

So your fix isnt actually a fix because its not actually fixing anything its just removing moonlit sky that makes no difference as there's still ways to change settings to see what your doing.

SO NO THE DEVS SHOULDNT REMOVE MOONLIT SKY GAMEPLAY AS IT WILL RUIN IT FOR PEOPLE THAT LIKE MOONLIT SKY GAMEPLAY.

 

And as for the blur ...your horribly wrong as the client wouldn't be able to control it nor would your graphics card it would be automated and the blur would be so strong to the point that you cant see a single thing that the only way to get rid of it is to decrease your gamma/brightness. Its not some simple stupid blur effect im talking about its full scale BLUR that not even a graphics card could change. It doesnt have to be blur it could be automated view distance or some shit like that ...such as increasing gamma/brightness will decrease your viewing distance to the point that you cant see past your own nose if your settings go too high.

You took your screenshot at a time where moonlight was present. This means my fix still works and you simply confused a few things.

Edited December 21, 2013 by alleycat

[dgeesio 1034]

how about just make us all have predator vision ?

[ryan__mc__@hotmail.co.uk 131]

You took your screenshot at a time where moonlight was present. This means my fix still works and you simply confused a few things.

 

No your confused buddie . It doesn't matter if the moon is present or not ....you can go into several servers that have a mixture of full night or moonlit sky  and those settings will still work ...especially the HDR quality one. Go test it ...if it doesn't work for you then there's something fucked with your game or your not doing it right ...i dunno what else to say on the matter as it works for me no matter if the moon is present or not on a server.

Edited December 21, 2013 by Massicor

[JohnTheCynic (DayZ) 5]

How about something is done about the pitch black nights first? In the middle of the country with no lights on, both the moon and stars would provide some form of light. I would know because I live in the middle of the damn countryside where there's a collective 4 streetlights between 3 towns. If I go outside, even when the moon is a new moon, I can see pretty damn well. I can at least distinguish my car in the driveway, houses down the road, and anybody walking down the street. Last time I checked, Chernarus doesn't have power (or at least have very little energy, considering there are a few streetlights on in Elektro), so there would be very little light pollution tampering with the night sky.

 

Now then, this gamma fix by disabling moonlight illuminating the world won't work, in my opinion. People simply don't want to play at night without being able to see. Now, before you mention a flashlight or road flares or chemlights or whatever other means of light they want to put in the game, how many people actually use them and get shit done, like raiding Cherno/Elektro/NWAF? All throughout the mod version of DayZ, people rather turned up their gamma to see (and didn't use the flashlight because it revealed their location), or they simply didn't play. Your method will stop people using gamma, yes, but it will drop the playerbase drastically during night, which will bring about the "2pro4u 24/7 day M4 HALO spawn MaxLoot" servers that, in my opinion, ruined the DayZ experience.

 

Locking the gamma slider in-game will also not work, as some people suggested. People can turn up their monitor gamma, and nothing can be done about that. The game cannot tamper with computer settings, last time I checked, so people who turn up their gamma would have to work only slightly harder to see at night.

 

And please, for the love of god, stop talking about forcing shadows to be mandatory. Many low-end PCs cannot run shadows, considering shadows are probably a top cause of FPS strain. Yes, without shadows, you'll be able to see the sniper trying to hide in the shadows, or see the guy foolish enough to look around with a flashlight in a house, but honestly, snipers usually hang around in pine trees and people who are foolish enough to search with a flashlight can be seen through the windows of a building, or will be seen shortly after exiting the house.

 

In short, preventing moonlit nights is foolish. The better solution would just be improving nighttime visibility and add more items to help illuminate the area. If your idea actually is implemented, you might as well kiss the player base goodbye and welcome 24/7 daytime servers.

 

EDIT: Also, wouldn't disallowing the moonlight make NVGs useless, considering they also need light to amplify?

Edited December 21, 2013 by JohnTheCynic

[entoc 2]

if flash lights did not shine for miles i would use them as of now they are like a light house when they are used in a building you can see them from far away 

[ryan__mc__@hotmail.co.uk 131]

How about something is done about the pitch black nights first? In the middle of the country with no lights on, both the moon and stars would provide some form of light. I would know because I live in the middle of the damn countryside where there's a collective 4 streetlights between 3 towns. If I go outside, even when the moon is a new moon, I can see pretty damn well. I can at least distinguish my car in the driveway, houses down the road, and anybody walking down the street. Last time I checked, Chernarus doesn't have power (or at least have very little energy, considering there are a few streetlights on in Elektro), so there would be very little light pollution tampering with the night sky.

 

Now then, this gamma fix by disabling moonlight illuminating the world won't work, in my opinion. People simply don't want to play at night without being able to see. Now, before you mention a flashlight or road flares or chemlights or whatever other means of light they want to put in the game, how many people actually use them and get shit done, like raiding Cherno/Elektro/NWAF? All throughout the mod version of DayZ, people rather turned up their gamma to see (and didn't use the flashlight because it revealed their location), or they simply didn't play. Your method will stop people using gamma, yes, but it will drop the playerbase drastically during night, which will bring about the "2pro4u 24/7 day M4 HALO spawn MaxLoot" servers that, in my opinion, ruined the DayZ experience.

 

Locking the gamma slider in-game will also not work, as some people suggested. People can turn up their monitor gamma, and nothing can be done about that. The game cannot tamper with computer settings, last time I checked, so people who turn up their gamma would have to work only slightly harder to see at night.

 

And please, for the love of god, stop talking about forcing shadows to be mandatory. Many low-end PCs cannot run shadows, considering shadows are probably a top cause of FPS strain. Yes, without shadows, you'll be able to see the sniper trying to hide in the shadows, or see the guy foolish enough to look around with a flashlight in a house, but honestly, snipers usually hang around in pine trees and people who are foolish enough to search with a flashlight can be seen through the windows of a building, or will be seen shortly after exiting the house.

 

In short, preventing moonlit nights is foolish. The better solution would just be improving nighttime visibility and add more items to help illuminate the area. If your idea actually is implemented, you might as well kiss the player base goodbye and welcome 24/7 daytime servers.

 

This is just part of the reason why alleycat's suggestion to remove moonlit skys all together is just plain fucking horrible.

[alleycat 135]

How about something is done about the pitch black nights first? In the middle of the country with no lights on, both the moon and stars would provide some form of light. I would know because I live in the middle of the damn countryside where there's a collective 4 streetlights between 3 towns. If I go outside, even when the moon is a new moon, I can see pretty damn well. I can at least distinguish my car in the driveway, houses down the road, and anybody walking down the street. Last time I checked, Chernarus doesn't have power (or at least have very little energy, considering there are a few streetlights on in Elektro), so there would be very little light pollution tampering with the night sky.

 

Now then, this gamma fix by disabling moonlight illuminating the world won't work, in my opinion. People simply don't want to play at night without being able to see. Now, before you mention a flashlight or road flares or chemlights or whatever other means of light they want to put in the game, how many people actually use them and get shit done, like raiding Cherno/Elektro/NWAF? All throughout the mod version of DayZ, people rather turned up their gamma to see (and didn't use the flashlight because it revealed their location), or they simply didn't play. Your method will stop people using gamma, yes, but it will drop the playerbase drastically during night, which will bring about the "2pro4u 24/7 day M4 HALO spawn MaxLoot" servers that, in my opinion, ruined the DayZ experience.

 

Locking the gamma slider in-game will also not work, as some people suggested. People can turn up their monitor gamma, and nothing can be done about that. The game cannot tamper with computer settings, last time I checked, so people who turn up their gamma would have to work only slightly harder to see at night.

 

And please, for the love of god, stop talking about forcing shadows to be mandatory. Many low-end PCs cannot run shadows, considering shadows are probably a top cause of FPS strain. Yes, without shadows, you'll be able to see the sniper trying to hide in the shadows, or see the guy foolish enough to look around with a flashlight in a house, but honestly, snipers usually hang around in pine trees and people who are foolish enough to search with a flashlight can be seen through the windows of a building, or will be seen shortly after exiting the house.

 

In short, preventing moonlit nights is foolish. The better solution would just be improving nighttime visibility and add more items to help illuminate the area. If your idea actually is implemented, you might as well kiss the player base goodbye and welcome 24/7 daytime servers.

Night time is already being avoided. Because there is no even playing field, not because it is not fun. Many players would like to have that extra scary night time sneaking around, dodging zombies. However since you can gamma cheat if there is some ambient light, those who dont gamma cheat are at a massive disadvantage.

 

And no, if there is no moon at all, visibility is very low in real life, and even worse with an overcast sky or when you are in a forest. Then it is so dark you wont see your own hand in front of you.

My fix would work and it is the only way to equalize the brightness for all players. So its either that or lose all your gear to a gamma cheater.

It is like in sports, if you dont enforce drug checking before competition, those who do take them will have the advantage.

[alleycat 135]

Are devs considering adressing night time? The game looks very nice during sunset and it really sucks that players avoid night time