Suggestion View distance slider?

[Spyaleatoire]

Hey there. I have a suggestion - a slider dedicated to viewing/render distance. Right now, it feels super short - and being able to adjust the rendering of, say, NPCs would be super helpful - for those with lower end rigs, they could draw back the distance to help, and for those with a bit more beef in their cases, they could max it out and get more of a full, fleshed out ocean.

 

[Ksmit799]

This doesn't have anything to do with the render distance of the client at all (At least for NPC's). The problem is the client only requests interest for its current XYZ grid location, therefore NPC's in other zones don't generate on the client. If the client were to request interest in all its surrounding zones then this might be possible, but because some places have many more networked objects it could cause horrible lag in some places.

 

[Spyaleatoire]

Hum. Interesting to know. The suggestion arose mostly at minor confusions of, say, on Port Royal, having Rose Seafellow (the shipmaster) disappearing as I walk onto the actual dock, which seemed a bit weird to me. I can understand if requesting interest in all the surrounding zones could cause some terrible lag, but I would be curious if there would be some way to add an option to do just that. If that simply wouldn't work, of course, I understand. Just a curiosity.

I'm not very well versed in coding, currently pursuing that interest in the most basic stages, but I would wonder if there is some way to increase the actual range of interest, depending on the xyz co-ordinates, to a lesser degree than loading another nearby zone. If nothing else, I'm curious to hear more. Thanks for responding!

 

[Ksmit799]

Zones are essentially cells in a grid and the player determines which zone to set its interest to based on which cell in the grid it is in (If that makes sense). Modifying the zone size (which would require engine changes) could have other adverse effects on the game. Having a slider to set your interest in all surrounding zones as well could be implemented, but to me it seems like a lot of work for little reward and you would have to be constantly moving the slider depending on where you are to prevent lag.