Light render distance

[Influence_X 51]

Any word on when the devs plan on increasing the light source viewing distance? Like when we'll be able to see flares/campfires for kilometers? I remember the mod was like this. And it would do wonders for immersion. Just curious if it's been discussed at all. 

Thanks!

[ZomboWTF 527]

seeing flares from kilometers away in the mod? where did you experience that?

afaik the rendering of light sources in the mod was even more limited than in SA, just take chemlights for example, they rendered a few meters at best, and flares vanished after about 100 meters

the thing furthest visible were helicopter lights, but those were essentially just glowing sprites

[Influence_X 51]

I remember being able to see flares and campfires from very far distances in the mod. The stick for a chemlight (not the light circle radius around the player) was visible halfway down the NWAF. When flying a helicopter I could see red flares on the ground. 

[bad_mojo (DayZ) 1204]

That town in the distance is lit up by a flare.

 

[ZomboWTF 527]

14 hours ago, bad_mojo (DayZ) said:

That town in the distance is lit up by a flare.

 

must have been something in my settings then, i am 100% sure that flares were shown for me at a maximum of 200 meters, chemlights depending on color vanished after a few meters, blue first, red second, green was visible the furthest

[Irish. 4886]

Almost 500m away. Current .60 build (yesterday)

Edited May 14, 2016 by lrishjake

[St. Jimmy 1631]

2 hours ago, lrishjake said:

Almost 500m away. Current .60 build (yesterday)

 

Hmm interesting. They changed something in the recent patch then? Flares only showed around 150m away on Monday.

Edited May 14, 2016 by St. Jimmy

[Irish. 4886]

10 hours ago, St. Jimmy said:

Hmm interesting. They changed something in the recent patch then? Flares only showed around 150m away on Monday.

Vehicle lights. 

[Influence_X 51]

You can see vehicle lights from a fair distance on stable. I guess some things have a much farther render distance than others. 

[SMoss 2101]

Basically the rendering distance can be defined on an individual object basis for light sources, so kind of like with balancing passes for weapon damage output the designers will have a look at this later on as well.

[Influence_X 51]

"Basically the rendering distance can be defined on an individual object basis for light sources, so kind of like with balancing passes for weapon damage output the designers will have a look at this later on as well."

Thank you so much! I really look forward to it! 

Does it work the same way with smoke from campfires/chimneys? In that the render distance is per item?

Edited May 17, 2016 by Influence_X

[FlimFlamm 509]

On 5/17/2016 at 2:38 AM, SMoss said:

Basically the rendering distance can be defined on an individual object basis for light sources, so kind of like with balancing passes for weapon damage output the designers will have a look at this later on as well.

Would it be possible to give objects some sort of glowing sprite (like helicopter lights at a distance on the mod) so that even if we are out of the actual light rendering distance the object would still be identifiable as something emitting light?

[SMoss 2101]

On 17/7/2016 at 2:30 AM, FlimFlamm said:

Would it be possible to give objects some sort of glowing sprite (like helicopter lights at a distance on the mod) so that even if we are out of the actual light rendering distance the object would still be identifiable as something emitting light?

But wouldn't that essentially be the same as just increasing the light rendering distance for that specific object (I hope that I understood your question correctly)?

[FlimFlamm 509]

7 hours ago, SMoss said:

But wouldn't that essentially be the same as just increasing the light rendering distance for that specific object (I hope that I understood your question correctly)?

Well, maybe. I'm not sure :D. What I am suggesting is that when we are looking towards an object which emits light (and that object is further away than it is practical to render light sources) then instead of seeing nothing (no object and no light due to being too far away) we would see a simplified "glowing sprite".

Basically a lens flare/orb looking thing that is unaffected by darkness and shadow, so that it stands out against dark backdrops but generates no actual light of it's own. When you get close enough to the object for actual light to render the sprite would fade and vanish and things would render normally as they do now.

The point of this mechanic is to enable players to see light sources over long distances when in the dark as we can in the natural world; a fire in the distance, a lantern making it's way up the mountain, vehicle lights, flashlight Morse code!!! (When it is light out this mechanic perhaps should not function)

I only know a little bit about programming, but I do know that having things render over long distances can be distinctly resource heavy . Where light is a seemingly dynamic entity, it has always seemed to me that the reason it does not render as far as trees do is because it's not yet possible engine/resource wise. The utility in this solution comes from the fact that the "glowing sprite" could be a much more simple entity and easier to render over a distance and in large numbers than full blown light sources. (I might be totally wrong about this though as really I've no sweet clue how light actually works in DayZ)

So, If a way to have full blown light render over long distances can be figured out without needing to resort to this kind of duct tape solution I would be more than pleased, but if it turns out that light rendering distances would create too much of a graphical strain, then I'm sure we would all settle for fuzzy glowing orbs as indicators of light sources and light intensity. Intriguingly, human eyes often "render" distant light sources in a very similar way to that which I am proposing; something like this:

 

The actual lit surroundings of these light sources are highly obscured and would only be discernible with magnification (a telescope). This is the sort of effect that could possibly be at home on the enfusion engine.

As a side note, light render distance is one of those mechanics that seems like a small feature but ends up having a shockingly large impact on the overall experience of DayZ and how the game is actually played. For instance players would much more easily be able to find and signal one another (at night if they decide to risk creating light) given that a camp fire in a high place would be visible over a circle with a 2km diameter:

If you have any idea about the options we have with the enfusion engine that would be delightful!

On a side note, according to the lore, are our "zombies" attracted to light?

Edited July 18, 2016 by FlimFlamm

[SMoss 2101]

On 18/7/2016 at 10:58 PM, FlimFlamm said:

Well, maybe. I'm not sure :D. What I am suggesting is that when we are looking towards an object which emits light (and that object is further away than it is practical to render light sources) then instead of seeing nothing (no object and no light due to being too far away) we would see a simplified "glowing sprite".

Basically a lens flare/orb looking thing that is unaffected by darkness and shadow, so that it stands out against dark backdrops but generates no actual light of it's own. When you get close enough to the object for actual light to render the sprite would fade and vanish and things would render normally as they do now.

The point of this mechanic is to enable players to see light sources over long distances when in the dark as we can in the natural world; a fire in the distance, a lantern making it's way up the mountain, vehicle lights, flashlight Morse code!!! (When it is light out this mechanic perhaps should not function)

I only know a little bit about programming, but I do know that having things render over long distances can be distinctly resource heavy . Where light is a seemingly dynamic entity, it has always seemed to me that the reason it does not render as far as trees do is because it's not yet possible engine/resource wise. The utility in this solution comes from the fact that the "glowing sprite" could be a much more simple entity and easier to render over a distance and in large numbers than full blown light sources. (I might be totally wrong about this though as really I've no sweet clue how light actually works in DayZ)

So, If a way to have full blown light render over long distances can be figured out without needing to resort to this kind of duct tape solution I would be more than pleased, but if it turns out that light rendering distances would create too much of a graphical strain, then I'm sure we would all settle for fuzzy glowing orbs as indicators of light sources and light intensity. Intriguingly, human eyes often "render" distant light sources in a very similar way to that which I am proposing; something like this:

 

The actual lit surroundings of these light sources are highly obscured and would only be discernible with magnification (a telescope). This is the sort of effect that could possibly be at home on the enfusion engine.

As a side note, light render distance is one of those mechanics that seems like a small feature but ends up having a shockingly large impact on the overall experience of DayZ and how the game is actually played. For instance players would much more easily be able to find and signal one another (at night if they decide to risk creating light) given that a camp fire in a high place would be visible over a circle with a 2km diameter:

If you have any idea about the options we have with the enfusion engine that would be delightful!

On a side note, according to the lore, are our "zombies" attracted to light?

Ah, I think I know what you mean now. If such a solution would be more/less resource heavy, I wouldn't really know tbh since I don't do work on the renderer. 

[SMoss 2101]

As for the infected being attracted to light sources; then yes, that's the plan so far.

[sneakydude 480]

1 hour ago, SMoss said:

As for the infected being attracted to light sources; then yes, that's the plan so far.

Great throw flares in a building with a bunch of others running through....

Yummie!

[FlimFlamm 509]

6 hours ago, SMoss said:

Ah, I think I know what you mean now. If such a solution would be more/less resource heavy, I wouldn't really know tbh since I don't do work on the renderer. 

Hopefully they good men (and women?) working on the renderer are able to come up with a good implementation of long range light source rendering. It's one of those finishing touches that would really positively impact the DayZ experience, game-play, and aesthetic.

[HaseDesTodes 315]

i guess something simmilar is already working for tracers (or maybe even IR strobes and Laser Targets) in arma 3, not sure about the distances though. if its only working for 500m it wouldnt help much.

 

i can imagine so many nice things to build on this.

we realy need to be able to attach lights to our backpacks (likein the mod).

or arrows with a chemlight attached shot into some players butt, in order to track him down