This is why BG2 water (2.0) is better than BG1 water (1.3).
Tresset
Member, Moderator Posts: 8,264
I recall that some of the rage against the new UI in 2.0 was due to the way the water now looks in BG1. The developers decided to use the BG2 water in both games instead of letting BG1 keep its BG1 water. Many people did not like this for some reason or other. Well, I took some screenshots that I hope will change some hearts and minds on this matter. It may be a bit late, but this is why BG2 water is vastly superior to BG1 water.
This is what BG1 water looks like. It truly looks like crap to me.
Now BEHOLD! The same scene with BG2 water!
Now I seriously ask: Who among you can say that this scene looks better with BG1 water? Who among you can still say that BG2 water is not better?
This is what BG1 water looks like. It truly looks like crap to me.
Now BEHOLD! The same scene with BG2 water!
Now I seriously ask: Who among you can say that this scene looks better with BG1 water? Who among you can still say that BG2 water is not better?
6
Comments
From the suggestion of waves to the clarity/detail of the terrain.
Perhaps it comes down to opinion?
So rather than use the words "better", "improved" it would be more honest to say "changed in view of how I/we see/think" .
One thing is for sure, the game budget and tech used to improve the game engine between BG1 and BG2 had a very noticable improvement to the infinity engine in almost every way.
If you actually view the screenshots at their full size by clicking on them, you will see that the water in the second screenshot looks much smoother and much more real. @SirBatince Believe me, I was around when 2.0 was first released to the public. There were quite a few people who complained about it. Whether they would still complain I do not know, but there at the very least certainly WAS opposition to this at some point. I am not going to name names or post links to quotes because I have better things to do with my time.
Yes I did look closely and I did zoom in.
Not sure why you are finding it so hard to accept that some people may prefer the first picture?
The sea never looks smooth, never, so for me smoother looks more unrealistic.
Have you considered that representing the sea, because of restrictions, needs a stylised approach in order to portray it's roughness?
Every single day we are presented with stylised images, because true to life rendering/art is only possible with photographs.
Consequently we have a learnt "vocabulary" of interpretating images.
There have been many, many studies about this trying to understand why CGI is being rejected as unrealistic. And the way viewers still prefer modeling.
Multi-portrait mod.
Speaking of visual effects, I really miss original BG1's fireball effect, BLAST!
@Yelocessej You could try out the following console commands:
C:SetWaterAlpha(0)orC:SetWaterAlpha(255)It sets water to fully opaque or transparent. Maybe it solves the performance issue (somewhat).
The slow frames aren't a deal breaker. The game doesn't crash (like it does on my first gen iPad). And it's not like I don't have other machines to play on (Windows). I just happen to love my old iMac.
Whenever I'm at a coastline and the sea sounds (gulls and crashing waves, etc.) are trying to play, my machine (an old Windows box, not a Mac) slows right down, but if I move far enough inland (on the same map) that the sea sounds stop trying to play, then normal framerate is restored. However, maps with a lot of water which isn't sea (e.g. the big rivers on the Wyrm's Crossing and Ankheg Farm maps) don't have this issue, which is why I think it's the sea sounds (rather than the amount of visible water) which is causing the issue.