03-10-2002 08:03									#1
	Bhg Please Respond On Important Issue Increase the size of your Attachments

When a unit gets behind a building or a tree, the unit shows up as a filled in outline. This totally covers up the artwork for the building. I think there should be an option whether to leave the outline filled in, like in the screenshots, or not filled in, like in AOK. The option like in AOK was cool because it let the player see a unit behind something, but it didn't sacrifice the building and tree arteork while doing so. Please feature this option! So is BHG considering this feature?

Last edited by theponyguy1 on 03-10-2002 at 08:10

	03-10-2002 20:11									#2
	Inflate your Upload Space

It's great to hear that you like the building art enough to not want to glowing units showing through the way they do.

Some things to consider though: AOK is a 2D game while Rise of Nations has fully 3D units that need to be visible from a variety of zoom levels. There are also a great many more units to identify in our game, and having a filled in unit makes that a little easier than just outlines. Is that a couple of scouts behind those trees or a couple of special forces guys about to wreak some havoc? Making a mistake in that case can be very costly.

I'm sure there were some technical issues involved in the decision as well, but I hope I've given you an idea behind some of the reasoning why we have filled in units when buildings obscure them.

	04-10-2002 08:39									#3
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

Graham how does this work in the game? Does it seem to make sense that you can see units behind building or trees? Or is kind of silly like the glow puck?

	04-10-2002 11:24									#4
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

naw more like gummy bears i think

	17-10-2002 17:53									#5
	Support Apolyton

Yes Tassadar, I am also quite concerned. For example in Empire Earth there was a button allowing to turn-off units appearing over buildings. Although this didn't made game more easier, you were able to press it if you wanted just to watch great graphics. At start I didn't knew the button, so I even specially tried to move troops from buildings and that costed me aditional time, etc.

	19-10-2002 10:26									#6
	Increase the size of your Attachments

Graham, please give this another thought. this is an extremely important issue for me. can you have a button to make just an outline of the unit behind a building or a tree. i know people will have a hard time seeing enemy units from this mode but it would be our choice. the game is open for changes like it is also stated, so just please give it a second thought. other gamers and i would be heartbroken if we couldnt see our builsing and tree artwork go to waste. if a big army of tanks rolls up behind a city, the whole entire city will have "blobs"of the enemy's color. it would look very unatractive, and imp, the look of the game plays a big huge part. i dont feel that it would take a really long time to implement this featur in the game, and it would make my friends and i very, very happy. so please, BHG, feature an option that gives the player the ability to turn the filled in outline off.

I'M UKRANIAN!

Last edited by theponyguy1 on 19-10-2002 at 10:31

	19-10-2002 10:39									#7
	Browse Apolyton AD-FREE

P.S.- Maybe we could write an e-petition to BHG, and if we are really persistent, maybe it could be changed. Because this is bothering me. I am currently saving up for a new computer and i dont want to spend $4,000 on a computer to see little red blobs running behind my buildings. Plus, how will i be able to admire my empire, yet alone my cities?

	19-10-2002 22:39									#8
	Support Apolyton, buy GURPS/ Alpha Centauri

Not that your concern isn't a valid one, but I think you may be focused on a situation that, due to the scale of our units in relation to the buildings, isn't as pronounced as you might think. The "depth" of the buildings keeps units from having very much "behind" area on most buildings. I'm a huge fan of our building art and I've never encountered situations in normal gameplay where buildings begin to look poor, much less are obscured by units.

Believe me - the building guys spend hundreds and hundreds of hours making those buildings. They're not going to stand for any foolishness.

Paul

	20-10-2002 06:43									#9
	unit outlines Got spare money?

I agree. BHG has been doing a wonderful job so far and have a lot done. The game will be released in Spring which is a long way off. With a company as big and talented and well funded as BHG, I do not think this feature would take long to include in the game. It wouldnt change the whole entire mechanics or idea of the game, it would just offer an alternative to the blobs behind buildings and trees.

	20-10-2002 06:46									#10
	Increase the size of your Attachments

EVERYONE WHO AGREES WITH ME, PLEASE VOICE YOUR OPINION AT THE "WHEN A UNIT GETS BEHIND A BUILDING" POLL!

	20-10-2002 07:03									#11
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

Yes, for example EE did included such a button. I wouldn't be really happy if I will need to move my army just to be able to enjoy my cities...

	21-10-2002 01:27									#12
	Got spare money?

I'm with you all the way. I suppose it was certain then. If you don't understand. Remember your post at RoNH?
I really do not like the idea of huge colored blobs. It looks awful.

Last edited by Vushum on 22-10-2002 at 11:47

	21-10-2002 01:28									#13
	Support Apolyton, pre-order Civilization IV

PLEEEEEEEEAAAAAAASE?
I mean, look at the image here

Last edited by Vushum on 22-10-2002 at 11:44

	22-10-2002 05:18									#14
	Support Apolyton or Terrorists Win

PLEASE CHANGE IT BHG!

	22-10-2002 07:01									#15
	Increase Your PM Length

Or at least a button!

	23-10-2002 05:28									#16
	Full PM-box? Change here!

Or atleast. In one of the responses (which I am grateful to Graham for answering), Graham that we can change the unit outline by making a "small edit to an XML file ". Will this be easy to work with? Because I am not a computer wiz and have never edited software. Or atleast, will BHG post the directions on how to change it? Also, in the response, Graham said that there will probably not be enough time to adda a button, (which is understandable). But can BHG make that "small edit" and add a button that offers another alternative to the filled in outline? The button doesnt have to be in the UI, but somewhere in the settings box.

	23-10-2002 05:43									#17
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

theponyguy, I am not sure what type of file .xml is, but if it some kind of scripting than it should be fairly easy - you'd just have to open a file with editor like notepad and change a few lines. However, if a file is compressed program file with some code, it wouldn't be that easy - you'd need a special program to be able to run a file and see not some numbers.

However, as we seen demanding for such a button is huge. I am almost guaranted that patches for red outline will appear on internet possibly in the week after the official release.

	24-10-2002 06:59									#18
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

what would be the point of releasing a patch a week after the game is released for something they can fix now? Why not just put in the option now. BHG obviously has the time and talented team to do such a thing. I just do not see the harm in adding a button for the people who dislike the filled in outline. Really, why not just put something in the game that will be in a patch almost immediately (my guess) after the game is released. i looked at the beta shots (wonderful job BHG!), and it showed that the player had so many options in the game, going so far as to take away the unique units and unique benefits of a nation. It has so many options for people to customize their playing experience to their liking, then why not just add another? If a person has the choice to take away UU and Unique qualities of a nation, they should also have the option of what their unit will look like when behind a building. Plus, knowing my luck, if I try to modify the .xml files, the game will probably drastically change because I'd probably change something important in the game and it will be impossible for me to get it fixed. So please BHG? C'mon, give it another Third thought? Bhg has, how many?, like five or six WHOLE months to implement one little change in the game.

	25-10-2002 05:37									#19
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

thx

	30-10-2002 07:08									#20
	Support Apolyton, buy Alpha Centauri

In this new screen, http://www.bighugegames.com/riseofn...reen_07_01.jpg, it shows a calvery unit behind a watch tower, unit behind trees, and no filled in outline. I may be on to something...