Do you max out your graphics when playing multiplayer?

Do you play with all your settings at maximum?

  • Yes, that's what my uber rig is for!

    Votes: 145 69.0%

  • No, i don't want to bother with stuff like smoke

    Votes: 65 31.0%
  • Total voters
    210
S

Sly

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Aug 17, 2004
Messages
5,749
I used to play at max settings when playing single player FPS. Then when i got broadband, got to play multiplayer. The first thing i noticed was that i kept getting shot at first. I attributed it to being a novice for a while but i later got a screenshot from one of the other players. He had his settings at minimum so he ended up with no light/shadowmaps, no lens flares, and no terrain detail! Tried it and found that i can see through dark areas and detect people hiding near foliage before they can see me.

Since then i've been doing the same. I just raise the polygon count to be able to see as far as possible and turn off everything else.

I'm kinda wondering if other people here have also been doing the same.

Rather strange, i build the best gaming rig i can, then as online games become more popular i end up using less features. :eek:
 
turn that shit down. the more fps the better. thats one thing i learned from competitive gaming, all the eye candy doesn't mean shit because in the long run, you're gonna tone it down to get the most fps you can get. obviously you're still gonna need a decent comp to do it for the newer games though. i remember being able to see ppl thru walls when i was sniping in some maps in wolf et. i had a shitty vid card. you could prolly call it an advantage but i wasn't a sniper by trade. someone who was could prolly do a lot of damage. i was the engie which required close combat skills as well as being able to sneak in. i'm sure if i start playing it again i'll be turning down what i can. i used to have a config around somewhere too that i made myself. was usually able to lock in 90fps. and i guarantee you if anyone saw what i was playing, they would have said "goddamn that game looks like ass, why would you play that?"
 
I play it with all the eye candy enabled. If its too slow for my liking, I turn it down just long enough til I upgrade..
 
I play with as much eye candy as I can. Even if I'm playing online for competitive reasons, I don't care for turning down the features to make the game run better or for easier kills etc. It has to be about fun for me, otherwise it's not worth playing.
 
I max it up always...even if it gets lil bit laggy, i do it...love the beauty
 
LOL this thread is actually funny, because I'm certain most people I play with online, don't max their in-game settings.
I play FEAR Combat and as you know, FEAR has amazing particle and smoke effects, that can completely "blind" you, when in some intense battles.
Now, I usually get killed in those situations and those guys just come out of the smoke, with guns blazing toward me, while I can't see a damn thing. And it's not a "fire at the smoke and hope it hits someone" thing. It's really toward me, as if they were seeing me.

I usually max everything (if my computer handles it), in both SP and MP, because it helps my immersion in the game. FEAR's particle effects are a must and although it's boring to get killed all the time, in those situations (where I could easily do the same and lower my settings, to be able to see everyone through the "supposed" smoke), I prefer it that way, because it "feels" more realistic and it's also a challenge.
 
I run fairly low detail in multiplayer. A smooth frame rate is way more important than good looking stuff I never look at to begin with.
 
i run FEAR with all the extra "effects" turned off. but i run it at 1920x1200 with 8x AF and 2x AA. it still looks good. :)
 
The only multiplayer game I've ever gotten into for a long period of time is Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory. Needless to say, I can max out all the settings for that game and still have a high framerate.

So I guess my official answer is yes and no. :p
 
I put yes and thats exactly why I play with the effects turned up. I don't really mind losing a couple kills for the cost of the game looking like blump. I enjoy playing at high resolution and eye candy (especially FEAR).
 
I'll put settings as high as they can go until they start affecting the framerate. For competitive multiplayer, framerate is the most important non-player factor and as stupid as it sounds, even a small drop can make a big difference. Especially in multiplayer games where I'm more concerned with where my enemy is than whether the edge of that building has jaggies. For single player, I'll take a hit in performance because I do spend time admiring scenery, but that's what single player is for. Multiplayer is all about taking out enemies and if you're spending time looking at the game in MP instead of playing it, you're going to lose.
 
i pretty much have to max it out other wise im like why did i get this GFX... or, i lower it alittle so its playable (always has to be good fps though)
 
I max out my settings. If you need to turn down your settings to make you "better" then your still a newbie. If you need to turn them down to get playable frame rates thats a valid reason, but turning off shadows and stuff to gain an advantage is no different then cheating.
 
In competitive multiplayer FPS games you turn the eye candy down or off, and the graphics and textures low to gain and sustain the highest amount of frames per second, OR settings low enough that a heavy, intense firefight won't drop your frames. If you don't turn down effects and overall your graphics and textures, you aren't a serious competitive FPS gamer.

Turning effects off also give you an advantage over those who don't. Smoke and shadows are a huge annoyance in a multiplayer battle. High res textured character model against a low res environment helps single out players hiding using the environment, or vice versa. Also shells ejecting, light flashes, view bobbing ( the worst ), and visible gun models can all be turned off, as they are all just disractions in your immediate viewing area.

I think its important to go through all your graphic or video options and test all the settings on and off. Many times you may not know that one enabled video option is what is dragging your system's performance into the ground.
 
I didn't pay $3000 to make my games look like complete and utter crap.

Lighting, shadowing, smoke, fire, explosions, all make for a fun, IMMERSIVE experience. I don't play games solely to shoot moving targets, I play them because they make me feel like part of the battle, they suck me in to the environment and make me feel like I'm actually at war. It totally enhances the gameplay. If you want to do nothing but shoot targets in a completely unlit, shadowless, boring and bland environment, then go play Wolfenstein 3D... Seriously.

Having fun > Winning

But with modern computers, you can do both, crank the settings and have liquid smooth gameplay!
 
i have never changed my settings just because i was going to play online.....i think it's lame, if you need to turn off effects in order to have an edge, you aren't a serious gamer, turning off effects to get an edge is lame
 
If its a game on the source engine, definitely max everything, as source games like cs:s are cpu limited (unless you play at extreme insane resolutions).
I don't enable HDR though, as it makes some areas too dark.
 
ojax said:
In competitive multiplayer FPS games you turn the eye candy down or off, and the graphics and textures low to gain and sustain the highest amount of frames per second, OR settings low enough that a heavy, intense firefight won't drop your frames. If you don't turn down effects and overall your graphics and textures, you aren't a serious competitive FPS gamer.

Turning effects off also give you an advantage over those who don't. Smoke and shadows are a huge annoyance in a multiplayer battle. High res textured character model against a low res environment helps single out players hiding using the environment, or vice versa. Also shells ejecting, light flashes, view bobbing ( the worst ), and visible gun models can all be turned off, as they are all just disractions in your immediate viewing area.

I think its important to go through all your graphic or video options and test all the settings on and off. Many times you may not know that one enabled video option is what is dragging your system's performance into the ground.
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I dont need 500fps in a game so i turn all that stuff on. If you need to turn off your shadows, bullet ejecting(wtf why would that be a problem),and gun models off to win, that is a pathetic excuse to turn them off. I guess im not "serious" with gaming because I like games to look good. Unless im getting $250k for winning I will enjoy all of the eye candy on and fuck people up with it on.
 
WarriorX said:
I dont need 500fps in a game so i turn all that stuff on. If you need to turn off your shadows, bullet ejecting(wtf why would that be a problem),and gun models off to win, that is a pathetic excuse to turn them off. I guess im not "serious" with gaming because I like games to look good. Unless im getting $250k for winning I will enjoy all of the eye candy on and fuck people up with it on.
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Sigh. Look buddy, don't fucking flame me because you don't agree with what others do. If I'm not entitled to my opinion here, then why are you?? If you cannot honestly understand why turning things off can help you, then don't bother PC gaming anymore, seriously. This IS the PC Gaming forum is it not? If you think for a fucking second that turning off smoke and shell ejecting is no different than cheating, you should quit gaming entirely. Why allow for smoke to be turned off then ???? PERHAPS its because on many computers it drags your frames down to where you cannot move and perform?? Perhaps I like having fun too, but I don't like LAGGING OUT when I'm dueling someone.

Give me a break. lol. Do I need to point out your pathetic attempt to label me a cheater because I turn off graphic effects anymore? I like having fun. I like winning too. I find that a good fight and coming out on top to be the reason why I enjoy playing online FPS. I NEVER said I turn off eye candy in single player, almost always I try to max them out, However with my poor DSL bandwidth, enabling every single graphical option while playing online ISN'T fun because I don't enjoy playing FPS games with 3 frames per second. Call me a fucking idiot I guess... Oh wait, you basically have already. :rolleyes:

As far as serious competitive gamers are concerned, many of them DO turn off these effects, almost always when playing on the internet. I NEVER SAID I WAS ONE EITHER.... Apparently you all can act on assumptions really well.. grats on that. I didn't pull this fact outta thin air, as anyone who can read, and follows gaming would know that. I feel sad for those who feel winning cannot equal fun. Apparently if you always win or strive to win, you aren't having fun, and turning off that annoying shadow is cheating.... Why is everyone so ready to demonize a fellow PC gamer? :confused:

nobody_here said:
i have never changed my settings just because i was going to play online.....i think it's lame, if you need to turn off effects in order to have an edge, you aren't a serious gamer, turning off effects to get an edge is lame
Click to expand...

Turning off many graphical options allow those with restricted internet bandwidth to smooth out gameplay. Many times it lowers the amount of traffic between the client and server. This is one of the main reasons you have " OPTIONS " in the main menu screen. Developers want as many people as possible to play their game, and therefore allow it to scale up and down for the variety of computers in the world.

You still wanna call those people and myself lame? Also, just because someone turns their textures into blur, doesn't mean they are cheating. Everyone has the option to play with ugly graphics or maxed out graphics, so there is no question of cheating or fairness there.

Jaguax says that turning on the effects adds to immersion, and I totally agree. However, when I reffered to serious competitive gamers that have seen every inch of the map they are playing on, and are beyond playing for an " immersive " experience, the desire to turn off these effects because they can be distracting from the enemy is the reason many players do this. They no longer care about the pretty water effects, heat haze, bloom effects, rather how to better focus on enemy placement and helping your team complete the objective. If you think that this is absurd, then.. oh wait, you already did say that...

After 8 hours of playing UT2004 at a LAN, at hour 9, do you really care about the pretty particle effects, or the guy that is 1 frag / flag capture from winning the new video card instead of you? Its like the hockey player that is down to seconds in the 3rd period, and is more concerned about how well the ice surface is and how pretty the advertisements along the boards are than his opponent with the puck near his goalie. What I DID imply is that every single competitive FPS gamer DOES or HAS turned down their graphic options. If you have NEVER done this, nor you don't know how, you are not a serious competitive gamer, thats arguably a fact.... No matter what you think, nor how much mommy and daddy think otherwise.

hey Jaguax, you think the players in Counterstrike play dust map every night to OOO and AWE over the graphical eye candy, or is it to sharpen their aim, improve team dynamics, learn the map routes, and provide support for teamates?? Oh wait, doing those things isn't fun because they effects aren't cranked? :rolleyes:
 
Pooky said:
I play with as much eye candy as I can. Even if I'm playing online for competitive reasons, I don't care for turning down the features to make the game run better or for easier kills etc. It has to be about fun for me, otherwise it's not worth playing.
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same :)
 
whats funny is that some of you felt threatened when you read what I posted, because you think of yourself as a " serious competitive gamer " and have never touched the graphic options.. lol... Also, questioning why someone would turn off particle effects, and then accusing that same person as a cheater, pretty much proves what I said. ;)

I apologize for not just going to sleep rather than spending this time tackling ignorance, but I feel the more people finally understand the faster we all can get along. :)

Cheers

EDIT: Also the thread is titled, " Do you max out your graphics when playing MULTIPLAYER ", yet the poll is, " Do you play with all your settings at maximum? " which doesn't define multiplayer or singleplayer... How I adjust my settings online and in single player are totally different. I cannot choose one of the options without explaining exceptions...
 
ojax said:
the thread is titled, " Do you max out your graphics when playing MULTIPLAYER ", yet the poll is, " Do you play with all your settings at maximum? " which doesn't define multiplayer or singleplayer... How I adjust my settings online and in single player are totally different. I cannot choose one of the options without explaining exceptions...
Click to expand...

The thread title should have hinted what the thread was about, afterall, it's the only thing you see before actually entering it, and there's no reference to single player. You seem to be the type of guy who likes to twist peoples words around. :eek:
 
I kill everything in multiplayer. I want to see the game, not smoke and tree branches floating in the wind. Just the target and my crosshair ;D
 
ojax said:
TL/DR
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wow kid...talk about being overly defensive. And please dont go on another rant about why your opinion is the only one that matters.

First let me say your hockey analogy doesnt work, the player doesnt turn off the effects on the stadium so he can make a better shot. He simply doesnt pay attention to them, as you can do with good graphics.

Second, nobody is attacking you so calm down. Your first post came off as very snobish, saying that you are not a serious gamer unelss you turn down the effects. I understand that what you ment to say was you are not a profesional gamer... Majority of people here play for fun, not prizes.

I for one enjoy the effects and graphics in multiplayer games. It truly adds to the game, with the ever improving graphics there comes new challenges to the game. When someone kills me because he utilized the terrain effects I actualy smile and applaud him for it. If I wanted to have plain backgrounds with no detail to make the enemy stand out I would play games from the 90s.
 
I like being "immersed" in the game, even in multiplayer. Sometimes in Quake 3, I may turn up brightness a little, but it still looks like Quake 3, not Wolf 3D.

p.s. -Can't we all just get along? ;)
 
I play with as many effects as possible. I used to crank down the graphics when I played competitively, though. It's kind of funny, I was the first guy in my area to grab a TNT2 Ultra, and everyone was like "holy crap! 32 megs of video ram that's crazy!" Then when they saw how I tweaked out quake2 for fps they made fun of me for wasting money :D Of course, they eventually quit playing quake at lan parties when I came :D

Really, if you're not playing for anything more than e-penis enlargement, why turn the graphics down?
 
This is a question that I have heard since the Quake one tourney days. I remember playing GLQuake on my computer and I remembered seeing some guy in the tourney playing on WinQuake with everything turned down and he even had his screen shrunk down a lil bit. It looked like asci quake, a bunch of lil boxes running around shouting at other boxes. I saw it with Q3 alot also. I just dont see the point. I have my stuff turned on to whatever I play the game with normally and I still always came out ahead. It does have alot to do with your machine, thats obvious. I just dont see spending on that money on a nice video card and playing like I am looking at a dos game.
 
once u play a game for a while with the gfx turned up, it really doesnt matter after that...
isnt it all about gameplay anyway? who cares about the graphics!
 
General rule of thumb: 30FPS minimum for SP, 60FPS minimum for MP.

I crank the settings as high as I can without exceeding these parameters...where's the "I play with as much eye candy as I can spare" option?
 
ojax said:
Sigh. Look buddy, don't fucking flame me because you don't agree with what others do. If I'm not entitled to my opinion here, then why are you?? If you cannot honestly understand why turning things off can help you, then don't bother PC gaming anymore, seriously. This IS the PC Gaming forum is it not? If you think for a fucking second that turning off smoke and shell ejecting is no different than cheating, you should quit gaming entirely. Why allow for smoke to be turned off then ???? PERHAPS its because on many computers it drags your frames down to where you cannot move and perform?? Perhaps I like having fun too, but I don't like LAGGING OUT when I'm dueling someone.

Give me a break. lol. Do I need to point out your pathetic attempt to label me a cheater because I turn off graphic effects anymore? I like having fun. I like winning too. I find that a good fight and coming out on top to be the reason why I enjoy playing online FPS. I NEVER said I turn off eye candy in single player, almost always I try to max them out, However with my poor DSL bandwidth, enabling every single graphical option while playing online ISN'T fun because I don't enjoy playing FPS games with 3 frames per second. Call me a fucking idiot I guess... Oh wait, you basically have already. :rolleyes:

As far as serious competitive gamers are concerned, many of them DO turn off these effects, almost always when playing on the internet. I NEVER SAID I WAS ONE EITHER.... Apparently you all can act on assumptions really well.. grats on that. I didn't pull this fact outta thin air, as anyone who can read, and follows gaming would know that. I feel sad for those who feel winning cannot equal fun. Apparently if you always win or strive to win, you aren't having fun, and turning off that annoying shadow is cheating.... Why is everyone so ready to demonize a fellow PC gamer? :confused:



Turning off many graphical options allow those with restricted internet bandwidth to smooth out gameplay. Many times it lowers the amount of traffic between the client and server. This is one of the main reasons you have " OPTIONS " in the main menu screen. Developers want as many people as possible to play their game, and therefore allow it to scale up and down for the variety of computers in the world.

You still wanna call those people and myself lame? Also, just because someone turns their textures into blur, doesn't mean they are cheating. Everyone has the option to play with ugly graphics or maxed out graphics, so there is no question of cheating or fairness there.

Jaguax says that turning on the effects adds to immersion, and I totally agree. However, when I reffered to serious competitive gamers that have seen every inch of the map they are playing on, and are beyond playing for an " immersive " experience, the desire to turn off these effects because they can be distracting from the enemy is the reason many players do this. They no longer care about the pretty water effects, heat haze, bloom effects, rather how to better focus on enemy placement and helping your team complete the objective. If you think that this is absurd, then.. oh wait, you already did say that...

After 8 hours of playing UT2004 at a LAN, at hour 9, do you really care about the pretty particle effects, or the guy that is 1 frag / flag capture from winning the new video card instead of you? Its like the hockey player that is down to seconds in the 3rd period, and is more concerned about how well the ice surface is and how pretty the advertisements along the boards are than his opponent with the puck near his goalie. What I DID imply is that every single competitive FPS gamer DOES or HAS turned down their graphic options. If you have NEVER done this, nor you don't know how, you are not a serious competitive gamer, thats arguably a fact.... No matter what you think, nor how much mommy and daddy think otherwise.

hey Jaguax, you think the players in Counterstrike play dust map every night to OOO and AWE over the graphical eye candy, or is it to sharpen their aim, improve team dynamics, learn the map routes, and provide support for teamates?? Oh wait, doing those things isn't fun because they effects aren't cranked? :rolleyes:
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I wasnt fucking flaming you. If I was I would have used your name in my post. I just said it was a bad excuse if you need to turn that shit off to win. maybe saying it was cheating was bad on my part but you didnt need to turn around and flame me since i never used your name in my post, i just quoted it for reference.
If you have a piece of crap computer then go and lower them. Telling me Im not a competivitve player because i want my 2grand computer investment worth something is insulting. Theres more then 1 type of competitive player. Theres those that make money/prizes. And those that do it in the smaller leagues. And finally, those that like to win with their friends. If you win money turn that shit off. If your playing with friends well I would hope fun that looks good would be the priority with winning. If your in CAL for example, I would hope you want to win but making a game look like quake 2 so you can win is ridiculous if you have a rig that can play with max settings.
I have lowered my settings, but I wont turn off shadows, lighting effects, etc, ill start with AA, and AF settings first. Then reduce shadow details, textures, and so on.
Hope I didnt hurt your feelings, this isnt a flame to you just the way I feel just like my last post. I am entitled to my opinion am I not.

On a side not, I dont see how reducing settings can make poor internet connections improve. Graphic settings are pc based not internet. The options are there so people with say 7800gtx can lower their settings as opposed to a 1900xtx. Once I again these are my thoughts, so plz don't flame me :rolleyes:
 
ojax said:
If you don't turn down effects and overall your graphics and textures, you aren't a serious competitive FPS gamer.
Click to expand...

Thats bullshit. Nuff' said.

I'm not judging you but that statement really pissed me off. Please keep opinions like that to yourself.

To me, turning off eye candy to take advantage of the situation is just plain silly. Like an above poster said, I'd rather not see through the smoke and get shot than see through it and kill them. Why? Because its more fun that way. I feel better knowing that I killed them not being able to see (see: flashbangs+ spray n' spray hehe).

My kill death ratio has always been great and thats with all the eye candy turned on.
 
I play games to have fun, bring on the eye candy! Just makes the experience better.
 
Occidio said:
This is a question that I have heard since the Quake one tourney days. I remember playing GLQuake on my computer and I remembered seeing some guy in the tourney playing on WinQuake with everything turned down and he even had his screen shrunk down a lil bit. It looked like asci quake, a bunch of lil boxes running around shouting at other boxes. I saw it with Q3 alot also. I just dont see the point. I have my stuff turned on to whatever I play the game with normally and I still always came out ahead. It does have alot to do with your machine, thats obvious. I just dont see spending on that money on a nice video card and playing like I am looking at a dos game.
Click to expand...
By capping your FPS at a certain value in Q3 you could move slightly faster, which is obviously an advantage. The point of it is, people who play games competitively do so for the competition and not the pretty graphics. They only care about the game play and competing with others.
 
WarriorX quotes me, yet wasn't flaming me... Got it.

Secondly, you're right, most graphic settings are client side, my point there was somewhat unspecific.

To the rest of you. I could care less what you think. The fact is exactly what I said, and if you interpreted my comments as hostile, then its YOUR problem.

IMO its you pussies that don't wanna hear the truth that are opposing me. Go ahead, make fun of someone who turns off shells ejecting, and shadows... Call them a cheater for it too, I can assure you, that you ARE a NOOB...

You pathetic ignorant fools attacked my first post like you know it all, well you don't. You play for fun, well so do I. However there are many gamers out there that play hardcore. Hours a day on the same game, everyday. They are the ones who diminish their options to nothing... IF YOU CANNOT understand that, NOR can you comprehend their reasons why, then you are not worth telling this too... Sadly its these people who feel the need to respond.

JEEVES you cannot read. I never said I was a pro gamer. Calling me a kid is pretty funny too... If you came across that assumption from my post, you must have the intellect of a 10 year old, so its normal to assume everyone else is a child.

Riddlinkidst whatever name.. stfu. You don't like my opinion, fuck off. Don't read it, skip past it. In fact, I don't like your stupid, disgusting name, but I would never make a point of telling you that.

Everyone head back into your land of assumptions, and denial. My post stated a fact. If you feel somehow dumb, stupid or embarrased that you have never thought of lowering your graphic options to improve your gameplay, then thats your fault.

[H]ardforum? More like oft..

p.s. Yes, from what I read, I was flamed by WarriorX... use whatever excuse you want. You didn't use my name, but quoted what I said, and then attacked it. Fuck you... I guess its a double standard, and the F word still scares you guys.
 
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