Camo acting strange now?
joederp
Join Date: 2012-11-02 Member: 165992Members
Has anyone else noticed camo is buggy / strange now? Here are some things I've noticed:
1.) As a marine, sometimes aliens are totally invisible and appear out of thin air - other times they give off an obvious shimmer even when standing still. Why so seemingly inconsistent?
2.) As a marine, I have had a few occasions watching a skulk running and jumping around and his body is phasing in and out of cloaking while he is moving at a very fast speed. I would say he stays about 75% cloaked while running around, making it difficult to track in darker rooms. Is this a bug / exploit?
3.) As marine, I have watched aliens try to run away and cloak around the corner - sometimes when they do this, the cloak takes a second to kick in once they stop moving - making it easy to spot them when I chase them. Other times, I have noticed they are instantly fully cloaked as soon as they stop moving, sometimes the camo even seems to be starting to take affect before they even come to a stop, and again I'm not talking about shift walking, this is an alien bouncing off walls trying to escape, so he's moving fast and then in a millisecond hes totally invisible.
4.) As alien, it seems inconsistent. Sometimes it seems like no matter how well I position myself, even with 3 veils and waiting a solid 5 seconds without moving, some marines still spot me instantly without a scan / obs nearby. It does seem to happen more in well lit rooms but it happens in dark rooms as well. I realize marines check corners but if I am fully cloaked and not moving he shouldn't see anything when he looks there.
I'm just noticing all this stuff since the recent changes to cloaking - before this I thought it worked pretty well, and it was very predictable. Now I feel like I never know what to expect as a marine or an alien. As marine, I can't trust that I will see a shimmer. As an alien, I can't ever trust that my camo is working properly.
1.) As a marine, sometimes aliens are totally invisible and appear out of thin air - other times they give off an obvious shimmer even when standing still. Why so seemingly inconsistent?
2.) As a marine, I have had a few occasions watching a skulk running and jumping around and his body is phasing in and out of cloaking while he is moving at a very fast speed. I would say he stays about 75% cloaked while running around, making it difficult to track in darker rooms. Is this a bug / exploit?
3.) As marine, I have watched aliens try to run away and cloak around the corner - sometimes when they do this, the cloak takes a second to kick in once they stop moving - making it easy to spot them when I chase them. Other times, I have noticed they are instantly fully cloaked as soon as they stop moving, sometimes the camo even seems to be starting to take affect before they even come to a stop, and again I'm not talking about shift walking, this is an alien bouncing off walls trying to escape, so he's moving fast and then in a millisecond hes totally invisible.
4.) As alien, it seems inconsistent. Sometimes it seems like no matter how well I position myself, even with 3 veils and waiting a solid 5 seconds without moving, some marines still spot me instantly without a scan / obs nearby. It does seem to happen more in well lit rooms but it happens in dark rooms as well. I realize marines check corners but if I am fully cloaked and not moving he shouldn't see anything when he looks there.
I'm just noticing all this stuff since the recent changes to cloaking - before this I thought it worked pretty well, and it was very predictable. Now I feel like I never know what to expect as a marine or an alien. As marine, I can't trust that I will see a shimmer. As an alien, I can't ever trust that my camo is working properly.
Comments
Haven't actually tested this myself.
hahah Gold!
I think the number of veils just effects how long it takes to cloak once you stop moving
Likely the ability will need a few more tweaks, but I think it's probably just about where the Devs want it
If anything I'd say phantom needs a 1-veil related nerf.
Aura>phantom.... Knowing where, how many and the health of all imidaiate threats is way OP... With aura you can hide in a vent where the marine physically can not see you and time attacks perfectly... Knowing who the week rines are means that you can reduce the numbers you face when they react (if you target the low health guys you can reduce the number of bullets flying in your direction)
In combat the combo of aura/phantom is unstoppable running around the map until you find a group of rines, hide in their path, wait for the last guy pick him off the run away and hide, rines give chase give up when they don't see you and move on, then pick off the last guy again and repeat... Went 42-4 as a skulk aginst 4 rines when I had two AFK and a green when they got scan and enough armor I went fade...
I don't know if it's actually working as intended but as a skulk you are basically trying to limit the backing light source (think Arnie from predator, when he uses mud to cover his heat signature, but in this case you don't want to be in front of a light source). Here are a few screen shots of mine you can check out to see what I mean:
1) http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/615022620913995798/68F4EA3D2F71CC5C3D7D9C38D788C64FB74C28E4/
2) http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/615022620914007984/69788739264B2C8832F80D96F2041F29AE8F8C56/
3) http://cloud-3.steampowered.com/ugc/615022620914302262/F21023B82A4FED1E3AE8B8CA0B1889FF3B55554C/
4) http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/615022620914316975/F1349583C137BB227314047FBC5BA9CEABD68A85/
There is a skulk in every one of these screenshots, yet only 1 is easily visible. Not 100% sure about in-game settings that may make phantom skulks easier to see, and I also think that skulks who are stationary but looking around with mouse movement are easier to spot.
This ^^^^, I never really even used Camo back in it's 100% form. The best thing about phantom is exactly what this guys says, not being heard so that you can get to places quickly without receiving 10 bullets to the noggin. I don't consider Aura bad at all, like the other guy says, you can pick off marines and know exactly when you should do it. I think listing good points is what people should focus on rather then pitting the faults.
If you can point out where the skulk is in the first three screenshots of my previous post I will be impressed.
I am starting to suspect different users with varying graphics settings are somehow influencing the perceived camo effects. This would explain why some people seem to have no problem spotting a camo alien, while others are reporting 100% invisibility from alien attackers. I personally have seen skulks appear completely out of thin air right at my feet, no warning or shimmer or anything. This is in well lit rooms where I am actively searching for cloaked skulks.
- V-Sync - OFF
- Texture Quality - LOW
- Particle Quality - LOW
- AA - OFF
- Bloom - OFF
- Atmospherics - OFF
- Antisotrophic Filtering - OFF
- Ambient Occlusion - OFF
- Reflections - OFF
- Shadows - OFF
It could easily be one of those.@joshhh : I take it you see most skulks like the 4th pick I posted? Also if you look at the first picture, slightly left of the yellow barrel there is the wall texture, but it has a slight curve in it? That is where the skulk is. But in the 2nd picture the skulk has not moved yet the wall texture is normal. Weird. Unsure if intentional?
And yes, I see them like the last picture. Ya the first through the third pics are virtually invis. That would suck
Here are my stats:
Computer:
AMD FX-8320 @4.1 ghz
8gb Gskill sniper 1600mhz
Radeon HD 6850 1gb
who cares about the rest honestly
With these settings I have an incredibly difficult time spotting camo aliens in almost all situations unless the alien is moving in my direct line of sight at just the right angle. Sometimes I can be looking right at a cloaked alien and not realize it until they bite or para.
Can you provide your PC stats / game settings so I can try to find what might be causing such a stark difference?
Intel i7 990x @4.6 ghz
12gb Corsair (something) 1600mhz
2x Nvidia GTX 580s SLI
Asus 144hz 27in monitor
Resolution - 1600*900 (yes I play on a lower res)
Display mode - full screen
V-Sync - OFF
Texture Quality - High
Particle Quality - High
Decal life - default? (1/3 the way up)
Infestatoin - minimal
AA - OFF
Bloom - OFF
Atmospherics - OFF
Antisotrophic Filtering - OFF
Ambient Occlusion - OFF
Reflections - OFF
Shadows - OFF
Texture streaming - OFF
Multicore rendering - ON
Even when I know skulks are in the next room, and crouch walk in with no flashlight, checking everywhere...I just get suprised from behind.
I've posted before that I think making phantom incorporate 'old 100% camo'/silence broke pubs, but if it's a bug or a work in progress or a simple fix it would be good to know about it. I've stopped scrimming since the BT mod cup so can't really comment on organised play.
It's very very frustrating because to me one of the bigger advantages a marine has is positioning and movement. (My aim isn't great either so I rely on this a bit). Having a silent/100% camoed skulk sitting around where I can't see it, but other people can is annoying.
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/578996305567030850/869AA7A2AA112650187A4A1B9989ADC22F40C267/
http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/578996305566628094/BE627A53AE6018AD903CCF8E7522E555D0B284D4/
http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/578996305567027733/70B4DE1E5DABA115B3F3D4A254347ABD2A917ECA/
In the above i guess i would the distortion on spot 3 if i was moving but probably not if i was stationary.
If theres light pointing directly at you, you're most likely to be shimmering, if you're in a dark spot, you're good as 100% Invis.
Flashlight ftw.