STOP it with.... (Community)

STOP it with.... // Community

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dennis13

Oct 22, 2000, 7:24pm
the Backdrop changing for crying out loud in AlphaWorld. For the past few
days you've been changing from fog to sunset to daylight to earth to etc.
STOP it please as I am tired of it when trying to build, ok? PLEASE!

lara

Oct 22, 2000, 7:51pm
Recommended reading for whoever is in charge of the very annoying bot timer scenery/lighting/fog changes in AlphaWorld:

http://www.lojyk.com/petition.htm

That page contains very well-reasoned suggestions from one of Active World's most creative builders - Dreme Lojyk.

Lara

[View Quote]

wing

Oct 22, 2000, 8:37pm
I myself enjoy it, as it makes it seem more real. I get sick and tired of
daylight all the time, and really, it doesn't make a whole helluva lot of a
deal when the backdrop changes, or even the fog settings. When your building
you are generally close enough to see objects anyway. True, fog makes it more
difficult to scout areas for potential problems, but really, how often do you
do that? Once a month at most? Also, it sets the tone for off-GZ
conversations (on-GZ conversations always suck no matter what). It makes for
photographic oppertunities if your the kind that likes to show off your
builds in JPG format (really, how eye-catching is a mansion where the wall
just suddenly stops? A mansion shrouded in fog looks much better.)



[View Quote] > the Backdrop changing for crying out loud in AlphaWorld. For the past few
> days you've been changing from fog to sunset to daylight to earth to etc.
> STOP it please as I am tired of it when trying to build, ok? PLEASE!

ox64

Oct 22, 2000, 9:28pm
"....(really, how eye-catching is a mansion where the wall
just suddenly stops? A mansion shrouded in fog looks much better.)...."

hmm....I don't have that problem, when I don't want a wall to suddenly
"stop" I set my visibility to 120 and take a pic, and then go back to low
visibility when roaming for better performance. I don't need fog to cover
up the imperfections and really don't think it is an excuse for Alphaworld
to go wild on the fog settings and off the wall colors of shade. I do feel
in some sceneries fog looks good in pictures, but with our current situation
with the fog in Alphaworld it is hard to find those scenarios because of the
density.

I agree with suggestions on the site that Lara mentioned in her previous
post. I don't think that the caretaker of Alphaworld should stop changing
backdrop changes, but rather use more graceful and natural gradual changes.
As an additional comment to it all, since a bot in the theory of things is
controlling these world features, it could be possible to make very very
small gradual changes throughout a day to the light settings as frequent as
every few minutes provided it wasn't a drastic change. If the caretaker
wants to base Alphaworld on real-life world conditions, think about how we
go from day to night....it is something we don't see change all at once, but
a very slow gradual change of the lighting every minute decreasing slowly
until we are in the dark of the night. I see no reason why a bot couldn't
simulate this based on the VRT time system and have a more pleasant change
for the citizens exploring/building in the world. Fog can follow the same
concept....we just don't blink our eyes and magically see fog in the real
world, nor is it always a frequent thing. It slowly sets in from the
distance and some nights/mornings our visibility is almost zero in a worst
case. For Alphaworld, this is some h***acious fog conditions all day and
night that we currently have!! A change in the backdrop could occur 2 to 3
times/day at the most for a nice effect in changing the scenery and the
day/night effect (not every hour).

I understand that some people are against the changes, and some people are
for it. I know it must be annoying for the caretaker of Alphaworld to have
to put up with criticisms all the time. People yelling "change the
background!" and others yelling "leave it alone!" That's why my opinion is
to compromise. Stop with the drastic and go with the gradual and more
realism to Alphaworld fog/light settings and maybe we can have some peace
for once. :) Comments, criticisms, and suggestions welcome.

Ox64

john viper

Oct 22, 2000, 9:42pm
Yes, I too enjoy the realism it presents, but sometimes its not too realistic. For example, I was
just standing there today and all of a sudden it went from the "night" Earth background all of a
sudden to the orangeish-fog background. Maybe they could have 10 diff backgrounds in use, 5 for the
sunrise and 5 for the sunset? Of course these would be displayed at like 1 hour interbvals in the
morning and the evening (nothing really goes on during the day and night -- we don't have clouds or
a sun yet) and it would be better than suddenly going from dark to light. Same should be done with
the fog-- except it COULD be changed more often, we could have the fog "roll in" (or out) rather
than just appear... maybe increase/decrease the fog every 5/10 minutes in the morning to add to the
effect

Also to add to the realism would be some cohearent backgrounds: All of a sudden going from a jpg of
the Earth (which by the way is obviously not the right size to use as a background anyway) to a jpg
of mountains -- did they grow overnight? Maybe a bad earthquake happened and shoved them up? I
would hate to live in a world with that mahny earthquakes! Anyway there should be a theme, and
stick with it. Make a simple image (the CORRECT SIZE) of mountains to use as a backdrop, then add
day/night/sunrise/sunset stuff to it as needed, only changing the color of the mountains
(light,dark, reddish, etc.) and of course maybe there could be a few extra backdrops for random
occurances like fog, etc., but still use the mountains

Or maybe an ocean in the distance? I don't care about that I was just using the mountains as an
example... put it in a desert if you want (actually that wouldn't work -- green grass in the
desert?)

Ooh ok now I am going crazy... in the summer the tall mountains would need just barely snowy peaks
while in the winter something more appropriate would be in order

OK OK I will stop now goodnight!!!!
_________________________
John Viper -> loves mountains (especially when they are covered with snow and you can ski on them)
http://www.jtsoft.net

[View Quote]

lara

Oct 22, 2000, 10:22pm
I know what you mean, wing, about enjoying changes and making things seem more real in AlphaWorld. My idea of enjoyable changes in AlphaWorld is simply an unexpected change *once a month* for several hours or several days...snowy ground and backdrop for a few days around Christmas time, fog and night background for a few days during Halloween, fireworks in the sky for New Year's and Fourth of July.

An occasional bizarre fun change for a day or so doesn't hurt either. E.g.,the "Great Flood" when all AlphaWorld ground turned to water, or the Martian landscape backdrop for a few days during the real life probe landing on Mars. A day of thunderstorms, a night of lava and meteors...I have no problem with the idea of adding spice to AlphaWorld's backdrops on an *occasional* (once a month is plenty!) fun basis.

However, frequent steady rotations of big earth, thick dark fog, peach/orange fog/lighting simply get tiresome - to me, anyway. Many builders do take special care in choosing colors for their buildings, signs, landscaping ... gearing their work to look best in "daylight", no fog, and with no strangely tinted lighting.

My personal preference is for pure daylight, no fog, in AlphaWorld except for rare special occasions when "fun stuff" is used for several hours or even for a few days surrounding holidays. Attempting to put AlphaWorld on a regular day/night schedule (or even randomly timed changes) several times each and every day just isn't very attractive to me. By the way, I count "night" as a "fun stuff" thing, to be enjoyed often in Real Life, but sparingly in AlphaWorld. ;-)

If AlphaWorld settings just *must* be fiddled with, Dreme Lojyk's ideas on the subject are the direction to go. :)

http://www.lojyk.com/petition.htm

Lara

[View Quote] <snipped>

nomad 1

Oct 22, 2000, 10:54pm
I rarely visit Alphaworld and have not noticed the problems expressed here.
However I can sympahize with those who find drastic and frequent backdrop
changes annoying. I have made several backdrops myself which many people.
seem to like. Check out http://members.home.com/lloydda/virtechs/ for some
examples, or visit Jynx's world "Jyngo" for another example. I would be
willing to create a series of subtly changing backdrops for Alphaworld if
enough people desire it and Activeworlds will accept them.

NoMad 1

[View Quote]

nornny

Oct 22, 2000, 11:29pm
The only problem with the day/night thing is that AW is used internationally
and other users might only be able to get on when AW is in night mode, which
can be challenging noetheless. But even so, I don't see the problem with
half a days worth of fog and lighting. Some people complain as if they were
blinded by it. :) Dreme's site however comes up with clever solutions to the
problem which I'd like to see some implemented. It's all just give and take
and how much reality or 3.0 features we want going around Alphaworld.

Nornny

[View Quote]

just in

Oct 23, 2000, 2:33am
I like the idea of changing backdrops... I'm just not excited by the
backdrops they change.

For starters, their width is way too short, resulting in a warping
wrap-around effect as you turn. 3000 pixel width is correct, but even 2400
would do.

Secondly... the Sun doesn't follow a logical path from sunrise to sunset.

Thirdly, what's with the Earth being in the nighttime sky? That vision
would place all us Alpha Worlders on the Moon. Personally - I'd much rather
stay on Earth!

Regards, Justin


[View Quote]

dennis13

Oct 23, 2000, 9:27am
If they feel like changing backdrops it should be by morning to night. Not
by the hour. I think changing by the hour gets annoying.
[View Quote]

wing

Oct 23, 2000, 6:00pm
These background images (varients on mountains) actually exist on the AW path already, but its quite
apparent that they can't decide whether we're on the ISS or another world. They used them at one point,
1-2 times each, then forgot about them.

[View Quote] > Yes, I too enjoy the realism it presents, but sometimes its not too realistic. For example, I was
> just standing there today and all of a sudden it went from the "night" Earth background all of a
> sudden to the orangeish-fog background. Maybe they could have 10 diff backgrounds in use, 5 for the
> sunrise and 5 for the sunset? Of course these would be displayed at like 1 hour interbvals in the
> morning and the evening (nothing really goes on during the day and night -- we don't have clouds or
> a sun yet) and it would be better than suddenly going from dark to light. Same should be done with
> the fog-- except it COULD be changed more often, we could have the fog "roll in" (or out) rather
> than just appear... maybe increase/decrease the fog every 5/10 minutes in the morning to add to the
> effect
>
> Also to add to the realism would be some cohearent backgrounds: All of a sudden going from a jpg of
> the Earth (which by the way is obviously not the right size to use as a background anyway) to a jpg
> of mountains -- did they grow overnight? Maybe a bad earthquake happened and shoved them up? I
> would hate to live in a world with that mahny earthquakes! Anyway there should be a theme, and
> stick with it. Make a simple image (the CORRECT SIZE) of mountains to use as a backdrop, then add
> day/night/sunrise/sunset stuff to it as needed, only changing the color of the mountains
> (light,dark, reddish, etc.) and of course maybe there could be a few extra backdrops for random
> occurances like fog, etc., but still use the mountains
>
> Or maybe an ocean in the distance? I don't care about that I was just using the mountains as an
> example... put it in a desert if you want (actually that wouldn't work -- green grass in the
> desert?)
>
> Ooh ok now I am going crazy... in the summer the tall mountains would need just barely snowy peaks
> while in the winter something more appropriate would be in order
>
> OK OK I will stop now goodnight!!!!
> _________________________
> John Viper -> loves mountains (especially when they are covered with snow and you can ski on them)
> http://www.jtsoft.net
>
[View Quote]

dennis13

Oct 23, 2000, 7:27pm
I especially hate the fog. Not because of less distance but only because I
have a Voodoo3 2000 PCI and with it it causes precision lag so that's why I
don't want to build with fog.

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