Well my LotRO kin has settled in Vanuard for a while. I see a lot of After Hours people on too. (People from this board.) I suspect Seradon may have a reasonable population for a while.

Call it the After Hours revival. It got me back into the game, and I'm having a fun time. I had forgotten how much fun this game can be.

i like this game , played in beta and beyond but the instability turned me off, so i left. some time later my son tried it because i told him that it was agood game and maybe it has improved since i tested it. Well he loged in and made a character and started (i was looking over his shoulder watching) . he got couple levels under his belt then asked a question in chat but the reply was and i quote "shut the fuck up" unquote , son asked whats the problem dude to which someone else says and i quote " you heard the man , shut the fuck up" . so my son looks at me and says i wont waste my time on this game. I dont blame my son for losing interest, pity because if he got into it i would have resubed. im sure these jerks were a minority but it still was a big turn off + i dont like soe's track record of butchering games(swg is a good example). On the up side Vanguard IS agood game , i loved it but i dont ever see me going back.

Originally posted by Sovrath

 

But then later that evening I found myself in an area where I would have a bit of a "stop" as I crossed a chunk. Infinitely better then when the game launched but if one is not used to this, doesn't know to expect this, or if this would drive them nuts then that is going to turn players off.

I wondering exactly how they're handling the "chunking" in the game, because my friend who's also playing was running behind me last night and, when I hit a chunk line, he said in Vent "Uhh... you just disappeared..." and then when the chunking stopped, he said "Oh, there you are".

Another thing I notice is that when I have mail, every time it finishes loading a new chunk I'll get the "you have new mail" update, my character is standing still, etc.

Yet.... I can still see into the chunk I just left, along with everything in it, and anything that might have been chasing me will still be chasing me.

So it makes me wonder if they're handling it in some hybrid of quasi streaming and loading the full map, where the chunk you're in at the moment is the only "active" one, and they only partially load surrounding chunks, enough to give the background, any creatures you might see, etc... Then when you enter it, the game basically loads the "full level", thus causing the hitch.

As it uses the Unreal 2.5 engine (though heavily modded), the core architecture is still based around separate levels, not large seamless worlds. Unreal 2 levels can be a beast to load even in limited size, so the size of a VG level (including all models that have to be loaded, etc) can be quite huge. The map files I've seen in the game's Maps folder go as high as about 18.7 megs... and that's just the map file. I dont' think they have the meshes saved as part of the map files themself, but load them on the fly from references contained within the map (Unreal tech uses a sort of mesh instancing system, so technically they only have to load each mesh into memory once... and then the engine does the work of instancing them across the map).. So you have the map file plus all the models, textures, etc to load.

In short... it's a lot to load on the fly. It seems that by pre-loading some of the meshes and such, they're mitigating some of it, because an Unreal 2 map can take, potentially a few moments to load (ever tried loading the maps in Unreal Tournament 2004, for example... there's a few moments of loading time).

In any case... It just seems to me that they did a less-than-good job of retro-fitting a streaming system into the Unreal Tech architecture for VG. By comparison, look at Lineage 2... it has some hitching at the chunk lines, but nothing nearly so pronounced as VG has. Also, in my time checking out Spellborn, also using Unreal 2 tech, I never noticed it either.

So... anyway... it seems that the chunking problem could be all but eliminated - at least reduced substantially - if they revisited the streaming system in place. It's not game breaking for me either, but it's certainly a notable distraction that doesn't have to be as present as it is.

Anyway... my two cents :-p

Its a false open world.  Those chunk lines are zone lines.  You can see across zones but when you pass through a chunk you are handed off to the other zone server.

Doesn't bug me, certainly not going to leave for that.  Some of the other QoL features though might do it.

Originally posted by Solude

Its a false open world.  Those chunk lines are zone lines.  You can see across zones but when you pass through a chunk you are handed off to the other zone server.

Doesn't bug me, certainly not going to leave for that.  Some of the other QoL features though might do it.

When i cross a chunk line i can see you on the other side, mobs can chase you across that chunk line as well. so i don't know where you get that idea from,you must have it mixed up with AOC.

Everyone is in the same world..

A Chunk is a term used to denote one of the regions of the world of Telon, called regions in some sources. These are respresented as squares on the game map, and delineate content to a certain extent, although they do not function as zones as in many other MMORPGs. Moving from one chunk to another is done continguously, and requires no load screen, although there is sometimes visible hitching when this occurs, known as "chunking".

Most content within a given chunk will be appropriate to a certain level range. This is not universally true, however, and it is unwise to assume absolute safety within a chunk of appropriate level.

I play VG, I know all that.  Doesn't change that you are 'zoning'.  MOBs in CoX can zone with you too, not new tech to allow MOBs to pass through zone lines.  If you actively look at the chunk design of VG you would have noticed it rarely if ever has content near chunk lines.  That said if you do the border dance going in and out of chunks it rather painfully obvious that despite no loading screen, you are zoning to another area.  Think its more accurate to call it a continuous world than an open world.

WoW I would say is an open world with true distinct zones despite the lack of zoning.  Bring the WoW tech to VG, make it seemless and hot digidy!

Originally posted by Solude

 

WoW I would say is an open world with true distinct zones despite the lack of zoning.  Bring the WoW tech to VG, make it seemless and hot digidy!

Yeah, tell me about it. I keep thinking "what if they just changed all the tech behind the game, actually make it butter smooth.

Oh well.

Tested it yesterday for fun.  MOBs do cross lines but, one pop in at the chunk line, then continue to head the direction they were even if you stopped, lose their hate table and then go home.  So its zone lines and if you can get to a chunk line it will save you from dieing.

Originally posted by Solude

I play VG, I know all that.  Doesn't change that you are 'zoning'.

Doesn't seem like zoning to me. No-one disappears, you can see across, hear across, shoot across the lines. It's all one world to me.

What a joke.  So I trusted the OP to give Vanguard's free trial a shot.  Well, couldn't even download the freaking game -- kept getting an error.

There was a problem decompressing the file C:\Program Files (x86)\Sony\Vanguard\lp_temp\Assets\Characters\Animations\UEA_ettercap_M_advn.uea.gz. Please try again. If the problem persists use the Help menu above for more info and help.

Station launcher will try again after 30 seconds.

I have ZERO patience for this -- especially after Vanguards prior poor performance. And don't say it's 'my computer' because I've recently downloaded other MMO updates for re-trials and they all work fine.

And the fact that you have to enter CC info for a free trial (forcing me to cancel an autopay subscription) is just typical SOE bullshit.  If SOE really had faith in its games, they wouldn't resort to shady practices to earn cheap $.

I don't remember entering any CC info when trying the trial, but yeah that error seems to be from a recent patch or something.

Originally posted by Cerion

What a joke.  So I trusted the OP to give Vanguard's free trial a shot.  Well, couldn't even download the freaking game -- kept getting an error.

 

There was a problem decompressing the file C:\Program Files (x86)\Sony\Vanguard\lp_temp\Assets\Characters\Animations\UEA_ettercap_M_advn.uea.gz. Please try again. If the problem persists use the Help menu above for more info and help.

Station launcher will try again after 30 seconds.

 

 

I have ZERO patience for this -- especially after Vanguards prior poor performance. And don't say it's 'my computer' because I've recently downloaded other MMO updates for re-trials and they all work fine.

 

And the fact that you have to enter CC info for a free trial (forcing me to cancel an autopay subscription) is just typical SOE bullshit.  If SOE really had faith in its games, they wouldn't resort to shady practices to earn cheap $.

That problem has happened since latest patch. It can be fixed by downloading the (full) game from http://vanguard.station.sony.com/install/

but that problem shouldn't happen with trial so are you sure you're trying to download trial?

Also, you don't need to enter CC info for trial. You have done something wrong and bought the game maybe... but thats your fault.

I started playing few days ago, I didn't need to enter ANY CC info for trial, first CC info I had to give was when I decided to subscribe to game.

About  station launcher problems, I agree, it's really sloppy from SOE to break game with their stupid launcher, but thank god you can install game without launcher, so this shouldn't be such a big deal.

Originally posted by Jeger_Wulf

Originally posted by Solude

I play VG, I know all that.  Doesn't change that you are 'zoning'.

 

Doesn't seem like zoning to me. No-one disappears, you can see across, hear across, shoot across the lines. It's all one world to me.

Your right,it's not zoning but the haters will not be convinced no matter what the facts are.

Originally posted by Cerion

What a joke.  So I trusted the OP to give Vanguard's free trial a shot.  Well, couldn't even download the freaking game -- kept getting an error.

 

There was a problem decompressing the file C:\Program Files (x86)\Sony\Vanguard\lp_temp\Assets\Characters\Animations\UEA_ettercap_M_advn.uea.gz. Please try again. If the problem persists use the Help menu above for more info and help.

Station launcher will try again after 30 seconds.

 

 

I have ZERO patience for this -- especially after Vanguards prior poor performance. And don't say it's 'my computer' because I've recently downloaded other MMO updates for re-trials and they all work fine.

 

And the fact that you have to enter CC info for a free trial (forcing me to cancel an autopay subscription) is just typical SOE bullshit.  If SOE really had faith in its games, they wouldn't resort to shady practices to earn cheap $.

As someone who has downloaded, installed, and played the VG trial 3 times over the last year on 3 different machines, I just have to ask what on earth you did that you had to give CC info...this leads me to believe maybe an error occurred in how you tried to get into the game to begin with, i.e., trial vs purchase? I didn't have to enter CC info a single time for the trials.

Originally posted by Bannne

Originally posted by Jeger_Wulf

Originally posted by Solude

I play VG, I know all that.  Doesn't change that you are 'zoning'.

 

Doesn't seem like zoning to me. No-one disappears, you can see across, hear across, shoot across the lines. It's all one world to me.

Your right,it's not zoning but the haters will not be convinced no matter what the facts are.

Agreed, it wouldn't be Teh Interwebz if you didn't have your fair share of uninformed over-confident "fact"-spewers.

I downloaded trial and played before i moved, no problems( was not long ago). Never had to enter cc info either....... Cant wait to get internet back to play.