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Player Features and Ideas Discussion

 
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[DELETE THIS THREAD] Light Client
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Amaroq Dricaldari
Ministry of War
Amarr Empire
#1 - 2012-01-27 03:37:38 UTC  |  Edited by: Amaroq Dricaldari
A Light Client is basically a client that is smaller and not as pretty, but well optimized for Low-End hardware or slow download speeds. It might also allow for plugins (only ones that are Authorized by CCP, that is). Examples of what will differ a toned down 'Light Client' from the 'Premium' Client.

Performance-Improving Ideas:
- DX8 Graphics
- Medium-Low Polygon Counts
- Medium-Low Resolution Textures
- Low Quality Shaders
- None of those fancy Post Processing effects (they can impact performance quite a bit in some cases)
- No Captain's Quarters (it requires ALOT of processing power, and also adds quite a bit to the game's size)
- Minimalistic Design (just the essentials)
- Dumbed-Down Character Creator Graphics (it also uses alot of processing power, and being able to skip the portrait-making section would be nice)
- Simple Login Screen
- Simple Graphics Options
- Imposter Techniques (for example, using Flash to create a 2D image of a far away object to reduce the impact on performance)
- Etc

Ideas that could also work on the Full Client:
- Cloud Acceleration (might also work with the Full Client, you guys will have to look into it)
- FXAA instead of MSAA (increased performance and image quality, will also work very well on the full client)

This shouldn't replace the full client, but instead be a little brother to the Full Client for those with inferior PCs such as basic laptops (like my Dell Inspiron).

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Valea Silpha
Sebiestor Tribe
Minmatar Republic
#2 - 2012-01-27 04:25:18 UTC
Making another full client means going through twice as much development and testing and twice as many issues make it into game. It takes double the resources to make a game the same amount of good. And thats not good for CCP.

I understand that it'd be nice to be able to play eve from laptops and tablets and stuff, but its just not realistic at this time, and is unlikely ever to be. S

Sorry dude.
Amaroq Dricaldari
Ministry of War
Amarr Empire
#3 - 2012-01-27 04:33:14 UTC
It wouldn't be THAT hard. Just strip down the code a bit, and find a way to easily modify the clients without having to completely rewrite them. Think of building the clients in parts and changing out those parts for newer ones as time goes on.

If you want, CCP could ask someone else to make the client for them. If I were able to make it, I would probably be making it right now.

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Pidgeon Saissore
Tyrant's
#4 - 2012-01-27 06:25:00 UTC
You do realize that there are lots of graphics settings that you can turn off. If that's not enough your computer is probably scrap anyway.

However there could be a mode for when you enter an area that would be extremely demanding, say a 50 on 50 pvp battle, to load the whole area in a lesser setting. If this wouldn't be quite instantaneous there would have to be a time when it automatically switches modes where you are invulnerable but no longer then a few seconds.
Mars Theran
Foreign Interloper
#5 - 2012-01-27 09:21:34 UTC
I was logged in a short while ago, and looking at my alts little velator, shortly after discoing on two different gates. It occured to me that those textures were actually really nice, and it wasn't just new shaders at work here. I usually don't fly Gallente, so I hadn't noticed how improved they were recently.

With that conclusion, I realized that the textures in the DDS files were probably rather bulky compared to how they used to be. That might explain the high resource requirement in RAM recently, though not specifically the latest patch increases. With that conclusion, I realized I had to come here and make a post supporting a lighter client, like the old Lowres client we used to have.

However, I also realize that all these settings, or a majority of them, are available through the client graphics options in the esc menu. So what I'm really supporting isn't a Lowres client, but a Lowres option on install.

The polygon count of all the ships in EVE is essentially the same as it has always been btw. There is a difference between a bump map and a polygon count on a model. Exceptions would be the new Tier 3 Battlecruisers and ships like the Noctis, Tech 3 Cruisers, and Maller. These are all still optimized low poly count models though.

So, in support of at least a part of this proposal, let me say that players need the ability to configure the client pre-startup or during install.

Their may be an additional need for an optimized slim-client for some players who are into multi-boxing. It makes sense that texture selction still pulls from the same DDS file, even for lowres textures. I'm not sure this is the case, but it is possible, so lighter dds files and optimized graphics and such may be appreciated by some.

I'll have to look at memory consumption with all settings on, and all settings off to see if it makes much difference. Also CPU and GPU load.

The only thing I don't like about this, is the botters and RMTs will have an easier time with a thinner client. It's not like they care about how the game looks anyway.

In conclusion, it isn't a bad idea to have this option available, and it would make a lot of players who complain here happy. I don't typically multibox myself, but I could see the benefits in a less memory intensive client.
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mxzf
Shovel Bros
#6 - 2012-01-27 14:54:35 UTC
Amaroq Dricaldari wrote:
It wouldn't be THAT hard. Just strip down the code a bit, and find a way to easily modify the clients without having to completely rewrite them. Think of building the clients in parts and changing out those parts for newer ones as time goes on.

If you want, CCP could ask someone else to make the client for them. If I were able to make it, I would probably be making it right now.


I really hate it when people who have never worked on a large-scale programming project (or likely done any programming at all) start talking about "It wouldn't be THAT hard". Yes, it really is that much of a pain. What you're suggesting would require making extremely large changes to many fundamental assumptions deep in the code. The two options would to mostly start over and redesign the client from the top down to be in two halves or to start a completely new dev branch with your proposed 'light client'. Either one of those would take immense amounts of time away from actual gameplay development (and it would only benefit a small group of players).

There are options to turn off/down most of the settings you were complaining about, how about if you just turn down the settings instead of asking for a whole new client. Any halfway decent comp from the last 5 years should be able to run Eve fine (which is more than can be said about many other MMOs), so please get over yourself and just turn down the graphics or deal with it.

And I loled at your "DX8 Graphics". Just because DX8 is older doesn't mean it would run quicker. It just means that it's older, likely has slower code, and can't support as many features as newer revisions can.
Nika Dekaia
#7 - 2012-01-27 15:55:33 UTC  |  Edited by: Nika Dekaia
Two years ago, we had a "classic" client alongside the "premium" client. The classic client got phased out for reasons you can read about here: I can totally run that on my amiga

Chance of CCP developing a light client: 0.
Amaroq Dricaldari
Ministry of War
Amarr Empire
#8 - 2012-01-28 23:12:22 UTC  |  Edited by: Amaroq Dricaldari
Look, it doesn't have to be THAT light. Just light enough for the really low-end PCs.

As far as I am aware of, they completely got rid of Premium Lite as well, not just Classic.

But nonetheless, I still want to see a Light Client. And note that unlike with 'Lite', I actually spelled it correctly: Light. That is how it is suppossed to be spelled.

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