Regarding inaccessible houses in map revamps

Feedback/Feature Requests
41

If that would happen, then it would be the end of the game. Since when there are no more machines to fight against, what GZ would be, is walking simulator. Due to that, i don’t think the game ends with FNIX’es fall and freedom from the machine overtake.

Boarded up houses, while apparent, aren’t actually the only “cuts” to the game, to improve the performance on consoles. I’ve discovered two more, one subtle and one obvious.

Subtle one:

Little bit North of Paskallaholm safehouse (Forest), there is a garage and in front of it, there was parked Volvo. Now, after Resistance update, that car is gone, for no apparent reason.

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There could be other assets on the map that have been magically disappeared. :thinking:

Obvious one:

Before, every tank that had rocket pod, did fire a good salvo to the player, consisting of 10 rockets.

Screens from one of my gameplays (Sept '20)

Advancing the video frame-by-frame, i counted 10 rockets.

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Now, after Resistance update, all tanks with rocket pods fire only 2 rockets at a player. :unamused:

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2 Likes
42

Hi Aesyle,
that i did’nt believe, there are three undiscovered islands around Östertörn. Imagine we retake a good part of Östertörn and push FNIX back to one of this island.
What do you think?

I went an hour before past the garage from Påskallaholm i couldn’t remeber that there was a Volvo in front. It’s to long ago that i was there before. But when you say this i believe that there was one. It is sad to see that some things dissapear or been blocked due to the requirements of the play stations.

On the other hand you have not so much houses to search through.

I can understand, that devs make only one version of the game what is portet to the different paltorms.
But that can be a pain for the user. I see this often with CAD Programms that been programmed for UNIX and then been portet for a PC. That results in many crashes.
But for the devs it is easyer to handle, when they make own versions for the different platforms then it is more work to handle the different version stats from this programms.

What you found out with the tanks is very interresting. I didn’t recognize it as i fought a tank a few days ago. I was to busy in that combat.

At the moment I be busy to find the message in a botlle south from Littorp but i couldn’t find it. As Thagen said it should be on a little hill south from Littorp. But there where three tanks. I think they’re guarding something in this place. maybe the message in a bottle.

43

Possibility? Yes.

However, imagine this: FNIX is pushed onto the islands, main island is free of machines. What is player supposed to do on main island? :thinking: Other than walking aimlessly around and looting loot containers.

All the gameplay would then take place only on those islands, while the 1st player base (in Forest) would be abandoned.

For the spots that i frequently visit, i remember the setting and if there is a change, i’ll notice it.

That garage with Volvo parked in front of it, was only for eyecandy since in the entire garage nor inside the car, there was no loot containers. That made this location unique, in it’s own right.
Now, after the update, garage has gotten some new furniture in it but it still doesn’t have any loot containers in it. And the car is gone.

Of course, loot containers have different seeds between player profiles and the fact that i don’t have any loot containers there doesn’t mean that everybody doesn’t have any there as well.

For me, the houses were never a good spot to search for a loot. Out of all assets, houses were the worst since they often had only handful of loot containers, while taking considerable amount of time to go through it. Barns, garages and cars are far better assets for looting. :slight_smile:

Though, what open house does provide, is the best cover in game :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:, since you can lock yourself into it, where machines can’t get to you, and you can shoot the machines through the windows. Only the gas attack could reach you in the house. Or when machine got lucky and hit you through the window.
And depending on a house type (best being e.g Rusksele safehouse farmhouse, in Marshlands), you can easily get to it’s roof, for great elevated spot to scope/snipe the surrounding area. :heart_eyes:

That could be both ways. On one hand, devs do have two versions of a game to handle at once. But on other hand, both versions would be fine-tuned for the specific platform, making it easier to update/fix issues in it.

I first spotted it in my Medium mode base defense, where i was expecting to get barrage of rockets out of a tank but i was surprised seeing only 2 rockets fired at me. At first, i thought it was due to the unique spawn tank (proto tank with Linear Accelerator and Rocket Pod) but later, battling random FNIX tank, i saw the very same thing. Again, only 2 rockets were fired against me at once. :astonished:

Here’s something to help you along: :slight_smile:

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For exact map loc + all other bottle locs, screens are in here: Message in a bottle? - #7 by Aesyle

1 Like
44

Many thanks Aesyle :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: i was walked ten times along this place without finding it. I was to busy with the robots. But i had the right nose. They guidet that place.

And right the tanks (that where two Tanks and a harvester) fired only two rounds. If you where fast enoug you can dodge them.

Yeah, the open houses where the best cover. In Lerberget you could only hint in two garages and one barn. I had a heavy Firefight with a pack of hunters. I hid myself in the garage in the mid of the City and won that fight.

Many thanks to you for your explanations. :+1:

1 Like
45

The old salvo, of 10 rockets, were dodge-able as well but since it was bigger salvo with more spread, it was harder to dodge.

If devs have kept the damage per salvo the same (haven’t tested it), then getting hit by one of the old rockets, results in a less damage to a player than getting hit by one of the new rockets.
(E.g 10 rockets could’ve done 150 damage, where 1 would do 15 damage; where’s 2 new rockets would do the same 150 damage, where 1 would do 75 damage.)

Just checked my gameplay footage and one new rocket, deals 59 damage to a Vanguard enabled build (+25% protection against explosives), on Guerilla difficulty. So, getting hit by two, will kill the player on Guerilla difficulty.

Also, it could be me, but the new rockets also look beefier. :thinking:

There is actually one house to hide in as well. The one just next to the garage that holds one of the bottled messages. The back door of that house is blocked off but front door is open and you can also fight from 2nd floor balcony (which i utilized when i was doing the “Good News” mission).

46

I do not like the direction that the latest update has taken to turn off access to the interior of houses. Would rather want to see that all buildings can be accessed. I’ve never had a problem with performance. hope you rethink and open it up again. Alpine rest update did exactly what i wanted and opened up access to almost every house on the island.

peace out!

4 Likes
47

Moved to the feedback thread regarding inaccessible houses.

//Mod

48

Honestly, hiding in houses isnt needed. You can use trees and rocks… Heck, even hiding behind a dead machine seems to work sometimes. lol Remember, you can go prone so it helps against hiding from the small stuff.

As for Rival sized beast, trees help a ton. If no trees you can just play daisy chain with the machines by running around the building or container.

The locked up building do add a sense that time is passing, people are moving on, going to more remote areas and leaving their old lives behind. Makes the world building and lore a little more interesting.

49

While other forms of cover (rocks, trees, dead machines) do provide cover as well, they only provide cover from one direction. Machines can still flank you and hit you from the sides or behind.

In this regard, open house (any enter-able building), is much better since it offers you protection from all 4 sides, without the worry of you getting ambushed from sides/behind.

Though, there is one form of cover that only buildings provide and that is above. When you are within a building, you also have a cover against any attacks coming in from above, including: mil hunter gas mortar, mil tank mortar, apo hunter cluster mortar, harv/tank rocket salvo and apo tank proximity mines.

Trees, rocks, dead machines and the like doesn’t offer any protection from above attacks. That’s why enter-able buildings are best form of cover. Sure, barn offers the same cover as house does but house has an advantage, in from of windows, that you can utilize and return fire from. Also, many houses are two story houses, giving you tactical high ground when fighting against machines. Higher elevation also offers better scouting and sniping range as well.

4 Likes
50

Oh, lighten up, Zesiir! It’s a passing reference, not a “name” :laughing: Remember Aesyle talking about the joy of working out a mission, and taking hours over it? Now it’s slapped on the HUD, 'cos people just want the XP. We started with terror and detective work, and now we’ve got “Waves”. Don’t get me wrong - I have become a reluctant fan of base-building, but it could have been inserted so much better!

Imagine one of two scenarios:

  1. The machines are trying to break through to the mainland. You have to build a defensive structure to keep them from getting past. The world is counting on you.

  2. Ever read The Day of the Triffids? At the end of the story, they clear the Isle of Wight off the south coast of Britain and keep it clear, as a start to ridding the world of Triffids. So you go with other survivors to one of the unmanned (so far) islands and build bases there and have to fight off attempts at invasion.

See? Bang on story and not a different game.

So why’s it gone to a shoot-em-up?

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51

Aesyle, your attention to detail is fantastical. If I were the CEO of a multi-national corporation, or British Prime Minister, I would want you as my personal assistant… :innocent:

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52

Well, when you do it, do it properly; as they say. :blush:

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53

A post was merged into an existing topic: Casual chat discussions

54

Aesyle, you’re sometimes a bit strange and continental, but I love you to bits… :heart_eyes:

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55

Wow. This is a good topic. I have no issues being locked out of houses (it is what it is and I breathe a sigh of relief knowing it’s one less place to search and find nothing but useless junk), but as someone fairly new to the game who’s a very big fan of visual storytelling, I have been a bid jarred by the timeline paradox stuff. Worse, I have all the DLC right there on the screen but I’m afraid to touch it until I finish the vanilla game.

Not sure how far-out/sci-fi this story is gonna get as I progress, but wouldn’t it be amazing if you could “timeshift” briefly throughout the game, changing the environment to suit the story or needs at that point? Meh. That’s probably too radical and best reserved a “Stranger Things” episode for another IP, but I would have no problem if a time lapse notification popped up on screen when you first enter a new territory for the first time. Thus the Archipelago region would be as the game first launched. Then when you go into the Farmlands you get a time lapse prompt on a black screen (which may or may not have affected Archipelago region’s appearance for a revisit later.)

I don’t know. Just brainstorming here. A constantly updating live map is a cool idea, but it kinda screws over players who are new to the game. Maybe give them a choice in the menu - “Which timeline of this epic tale do you want to load and play today?” I dunno. Good topic.

1 Like
56

As far as the closing off houses go, latest dev letter also touched on this subject:

There has also been feedback from the community about how these updates to the map have affected gameplay, mainly in relation to closing off houses. While we are aware of this, it was done to help address performance issues that were appearing in those affected areas. We are currently looking into different ways to be more strategic about this to avoid adverse effects in the future.

Link: News from the Team - May 21st | Generation Zero

I just hope, moving forwards, that devs don’t close off as many buildings as they have done thus far. Also, seeing time capsules from d-day (everything just abandoned) gives more life to the world, different than the current razed or boarded up buildings present.

Next in line, are more remote regions: Mountains, Marshlands and North Coast. It would make sense that machines haven’t reached everywhere and some of the houses (especially remote ones) are left just abandoned.

Amazing? Yes.
Loads of coding? Most definitely.

While it has been done in some of the games, i don’t know any game where entire game world is encompassed with such an interactive change. And world in GZ is big.
Another thing is, if Apex Engine is even capable of it.

57

I totally understand that some players use so called “last-gen consoles”, or barely-reaching-minimal-specs PC’s/laptops, but why are we all forced to see this?

…this by the way is on ULTRA settings.

I don’t mind locked up houses, but downgrading the entire game for everyone is taking it a little bit to far.

7 Likes
58

Tbh. I find the whole “performance fixes” a bit odd at this stage. The game has been out 2 years and only now they’re addressing it…

At a time when a large number of console owners will have updated to the Pro / XB1X if not the next generation of consoles?

Maybe they’ve seen a significant increase in base PS4 / XB1S users in the recent sales. Who knows.

It seems odd that they can’t scale it better by varying the settings more aggressively on a per format basis, like you see with the likes of Metro etc.

I may prefer to play on console but I don’t see why optimisations for lower tier hardware should impact the game on high end PC settings.

3 Likes
59

Yeah we saw this recently everywhere. E.g. missing FNIX installation on airport unless you are close, missing items, missing bodies when turning away from them, low details 10+ meters away, and unfortunately a significant FPS drop.

1 Like
60

Thanks for the vid - I reported that one some time ago, and wasn’t sure how much of it was due to my rig. I guess the ‘console performance baseline’ cited regularly by @Aesyle might be a part of it, but nevertheless, I’d love to see some adjustment to the general LOD settings for PC and possibly next-gen consoles. Rocks and various smaller items suffer from the same constraints, and pushing the cascade out for a few meters would fix most of that.