The most immersion-breaking bugs that I've found
Merivo
United Kingdom Join Date: 2016-02-01 Member: 212466Members
United Kingdom Join Date: 2016-02-01 Member: 212466Members
Immersion is important to me. Three of my favourite games of all time are up there due to their immersive qualities. I'm talking Bioshock, Baldur's Gate and Half Life. I think Subnautica also has that potential, but there are a few niggling rendering bugs that make the experience a little less cool. Note these results are from the most recent dev build as of 27th Dec 2017.
1. When a base is partially in the water and partially above water level, and you enter a multipurpose room, you can see the water surface clip through it.
Suggestion: Ok so if this was a simple fix, it'd be fixed by now for sure, but even so. In my opinion it would be better if when entering rooms that are half in the water, you just turn off the water surface texture. At least this way the player has control, for example I can refrain from putting windows in rooms at this level; it would be better than what we've got right now.
Images: Flooded-looking.
2. While in a seamoth, my base is visible from any distance. Looks like the rendering distance of different parts is outta whack. I can understand why, if a base is huge you don't want it suddenly disappearing on you because it left the render distance. Suggestion: I'm sure at the very least you can find the bounding box of the base and check its corners for if it should be rendered in the first place, I think this would double as a performance optimisation too.
Images: Close, Close-ish, Far-ish, Far, Really Far and for reference, Actual Base.
Note life-pod 5 is also demonstrating this bug, according to @0x6A7232.
3. Luminescent flora in its natural habitat can create some beautiful light patterns, but when grown in a growbed, they create no ambient light and just look like the shading engine has forgotten about them (with the notable exception of the seeded creep vines). When I saw a well placed rouge cradle I instantly fell in love. Now imagine my disappointment when my own carefully grown cradle had no appealing light effect what-so-ever.
Suggestion: I presume this is because non-baked lighting is costly and bases are already rampant with ambient light, or because 'lets not break the lighting engine with disco lights'. So how about this as a compromise: Only one type of light per growbed. So if you grow a rouge cradle, you get the beautiful red pattern, if you grow creep vines you get the warm yellow glow, but if you grow both you get just one of those.
Images: Natural, Growbed.
That's all from me for now, but feel free to reply with what bugs you find immersion-breaking.
1. When a base is partially in the water and partially above water level, and you enter a multipurpose room, you can see the water surface clip through it.
Suggestion: Ok so if this was a simple fix, it'd be fixed by now for sure, but even so. In my opinion it would be better if when entering rooms that are half in the water, you just turn off the water surface texture. At least this way the player has control, for example I can refrain from putting windows in rooms at this level; it would be better than what we've got right now.
Images: Flooded-looking.
2. While in a seamoth, my base is visible from any distance. Looks like the rendering distance of different parts is outta whack. I can understand why, if a base is huge you don't want it suddenly disappearing on you because it left the render distance. Suggestion: I'm sure at the very least you can find the bounding box of the base and check its corners for if it should be rendered in the first place, I think this would double as a performance optimisation too.
Images: Close, Close-ish, Far-ish, Far, Really Far and for reference, Actual Base.
Note life-pod 5 is also demonstrating this bug, according to @0x6A7232.
3. Luminescent flora in its natural habitat can create some beautiful light patterns, but when grown in a growbed, they create no ambient light and just look like the shading engine has forgotten about them (with the notable exception of the seeded creep vines). When I saw a well placed rouge cradle I instantly fell in love. Now imagine my disappointment when my own carefully grown cradle had no appealing light effect what-so-ever.
Suggestion: I presume this is because non-baked lighting is costly and bases are already rampant with ambient light, or because 'lets not break the lighting engine with disco lights'. So how about this as a compromise: Only one type of light per growbed. So if you grow a rouge cradle, you get the beautiful red pattern, if you grow creep vines you get the warm yellow glow, but if you grow both you get just one of those.
Images: Natural, Growbed.
That's all from me for now, but feel free to reply with what bugs you find immersion-breaking.
Comments
@Belgarel Some good ones in here, and probably following as well.
#3 I have been grousing about for some time. I believe it has actually risen to the level of a bug now. (The following images are fully expandable to 1080p resolution here.)
This is how a Rouge Cradle looks normally. See how pretty? See how it illuminates the surrounding area, throwing shadows and whatnot? This is in a GP cave, but it's also during the day.
And it's not even the only plant that does that. But they are all sadly non-luminous when grown (or on a Reefback). (The Eyestalks look particularly sad.)
So far, that's just a complaint about how I would like things to look. However, when out in the wild (except on Reefbacks), they should all give off light. Here are a few locations in a Bloodkelp Forest where they do not.
Note that in the last one, the Bloodvine and Ghost Weed are faintly luminous, but the Rouge Cradle? Not at all.
The plants are very aesthetically pleasing to me, but I wish they were as pretty grown as they are in the wild.
For me most immersion-breaking thing was teleportation when entering different doors. Most of cases fixed but some still here: when entering another floor on base and when entering seamouth form another side. I guess it's better to enter Seamouth and PRAWN only by pressing on hatch.
Another thing is when entering from water to rooms and vehicles there is no water flow. It not looks like big problem to do: on cyclop flood-gates already present, seamouth and PRAWN can be flooded completly, on base player can make flood-gate himself using door.
Also absence of need and devices for sleep, toilet and shower. Bed and sleep already there so direction is right.
One big thing which breaks immersion for me constantly is teleportation of resources during mining and moving them to inventory and cabinet. PRAWN moves resources to trunk on it's back without animation. Hero takes resources without touching them and breakes stones with bare hands and carries them without backpack. Then puts them in cabinet without opening doors (and cabinets can be stacked door to door and still work). Then inside cabinets with glass doors resources not visible. And from cabinet hero takes resources without opening doors and touching them.
And one little thing i just discovered: stasis rifle do not stop yellow gas spheres from gas fishes from exploding. While in your pocket they do not explode. Strange.
...Algae?
Lots of games handle this in precisely this way. Just use your imagination.
Just assume a nonintrusive technological solution for this exists in the future.
You're basically objecting to what have been standard game mechanics since the '80s. Once again: Lots of games handle this in precisely this way. Just use your imagination. This is a game, not a perfect simulation of reality. The devs are doing the best they can with the time and resources they have, neither of which is infinite.
By the way i forgot immediate eating and drinking underwater what can be animated just fine.
None of these are bugs. These are your gripes. If you want to do that, you need to go to the other part of the forum. Over here, we discuss bugs. Also, the 1.0 of the game is coming out very soon, so none of what you want has a hope of getting implemented. You should've said something earlier, as it's definitely too late now, but I doubt it would've helped.
There are different types of bugs, all these are not critical or game-stopping, more like flaws of early implementation. Which supposed to be corrected according to user response.
Earlier i said most crytical things and they were fixed, now time for next layer. There are 2 main gameplay scenarios in Subnautica: resource gathering/building and story. Story have no issues for me but resource gathering has.
Well something will be implemented and something not, i don't care, i just give user response. But what is for sure money income will depend on how much user expirience will be fixed.
Fog should be covering it up though. Last I saw the lifepod was not in global root so that may be an unrelated problem.
Might be this: (but really, how far away is it supposed to render?)