Did they know the PI sphere was worthless at the time?

[Kyka]

myk said:

That's why it's probably wise to give an idea of what brightness levels the WAD was tested under by saying something like "set your gamma correction or brightness so that you can dimly see X from location Y".

Great suggestion. I am soooo gonna use this on future wads.

[GreyGhost]

myk said:

I think the problem with light amplification is not the goggles themselves but that it's hard to have a consistent visibility between systems. To one player it may make sense because some dim areas may cause him to get lost or waste ammo shooting at hard-to-see opponents, while to another it may be totally unnecessary.

That's why it's probably wise to give an idea of what brightness levels the WAD was tested under by saying something like "set your gamma correction or brightness so that you can dimly see X from location Y".

I've found light-amp goggles to be almost unneccessary when using GL ports since maps rarely get dark enough that I can't see where I'm going. I suspect my hardware's at least partially responsible. A side-by-side comparison between my old CRT and an LCD monitor might help answer that question.

[Gez]

GreyGhost said:

A side-by-side comparison between my old CRT and an LCD monitor might help answer that question.

There were many games where I had to increase the gamma ludicrously to be able to see anything on my old CRT. Ever since I bought a laptop, and so moved from CRT to LCD, it hasn't happened. I remember in Morrowind, for example, one of the first things I alway did was to get some constant effect light item -- but now they're absolutely useless and to the contrary I find many areas not dark enough.

[chungy]

It's more annoying when I'm switching between my CRT (high resolution) and LCD (built in laptop screen, low resolution). I'm always turning gamma correction off on the laptop display because it's just too bright; on the other hand, I always turn gamma correction far up on the CRT.

[LogicDeLuxe]

I once played a map where the light amp goggles are used against the player. There were hints written as sectors merely having different light levels than the surrounding sectors but all the same properties otherwise, and of course, they were invisible on the automap. So the text becomes invisible while the light amp goggles are active.
Don't ask me for the WAD, though. This was long time ago.

[40oz]

GreyGhost said:

I've found light-amp goggles to be almost unneccessary when using GL ports since maps rarely get dark enough that I can't see where I'm going. I suspect my hardware's at least partially responsible. A side-by-side comparison between my old CRT and an LCD monitor might help answer that question.

OpenGL does that on my computer too, Software rendering makes walls and flats get darker the further they are away from view, until it reaches some sort of a terminal darkness level determined by the amount of light in the sector.

Where as OpenGL, darkness is at the same level displayed on floors and walls regardless of the distance between player and the walls and floors. I prefer to play on software rendering for this reason.

[Richo Rosai]

JohnnyRancid said:

Where as OpenGL, darkness is at the same level displayed on floors and walls regardless of the distance between player and the walls and floors. I prefer to play on software rendering for this reason.

I feel the same way. I just played the Playstation Doom TC, which basically requires that you play in GL mode.

[RjY]

LogicDeLuxe said:

I once played a map where the light amp goggles are used against the player. There were hints written as sectors merely having different light levels than the surrounding sectors but all the same properties otherwise, and of course, they were invisible on the automap. So the text becomes invisible while the light amp goggles are active.

Might be Final Conflict, which has a maze at the start, the exit to which is signposted with bright arrows on the floor, but with a large number of light goggles scattered everywhere.

[DaniJ]

JohnnyRancid said:

OpenGL does that on my computer too, Software rendering makes walls and flats get darker the further they are away from view, until it reaches some sort of a terminal darkness level determined by the amount of light in the sector.

Where as OpenGL, darkness is at the same level displayed on floors and walls regardless of the distance between player and the walls and floors. I prefer to play on software rendering for this reason.

That isn't a trait of OpenGL, it happens with GL source ports that do not emulate that feature of DOOM.exe's software renderer. There ARE GL ports that do support it though; EDGE does and Doomsday has an effect approximate to this but the best I've seen so far is entryway's (in development) PrBoom+ which does lighting in a fragment shader.

[spank]

I find that the OpenGL ports give a good Doom feeling if you turn off texture filtering.

[Alboroto]

LogicDeLuxe said:

...So the text becomes invisible while the light amp goggles are active....

Clever idea. It really changes the way you'd normally play.

[printz]

I also find the PI useful against projectiles, under -fast mode. They fly too fast anyway, it's more of a comfort not to have to evade them, most of the time.

Against bullets, yeah, they're extraordinary. I was able to kill a spiderdemon at my leisure, with a SSG and megaarmour, at point-blank range, heh.