Request - Disabling ghost items by default

[MirceaKitsune]

I discussed this on IRC when the feature got implemented, and decided to make a vote about it now that it's been on the servers for a while.

In my opinion, ghosting items while they're not there is a feature that can bother players for many reasons. First of all, to me they look ugly and wrong the way they're currently done. Ghost items are also deceiving... I seen many players (including myself) often going for items which are not there before realizing what the low alpha means (I easily fragged someone in Stormkeep yesterday who laser-jumped for the ghosted superhealth). I also don't see why they are so needed... many maps mark item spawns, and if they don't it probably means the mapper wants players to learn item placement by exploring the map, which is actually more fun.

I spoke to people during online matches too, and so far everyone agrees the ghosted items should be turned off or done in another way. Some of the DCC servers have already disabled them.

Anyway, my suggestion is disabling g_ghost_items by default and returning items to how they used to be. To provide a better balance, I'll be posting a quick patch which adds ghosted items to the Create -> Advanced menu so they can be easily enabled if anyone wants them on their server... imo that seems fair.

[EDIT] Posted patch here.

[Flying Steel]

I think turning down the alpha so that they are barely visible would be better than outright removing them.

[Samual]

No... I instead think we should make a client side option to disable them, but keep them enabled by default. I'll code this in fact.

[parasti]

Client-side, please.

[MirceaKitsune]

Yeah, a client side option would be great. As for just lowering the alpha level, I disagree with that... it would make them almost impossible to see. My idea, if this feature is so wanted, would have been using effects other than just decreasing the alpha of the item, such as:

- Making them shadow items instead of ghost items. In other words, texturing them with a black texture too while they're ghosted, though I'm not sure if that would improve a lot.

- Turning them into particle markers, color / size indicating the item type. So for health, red particles would come out of the spawn spot, for armor green, weapons could be yellow, etc. That would actually look nice, unless the purpose is to show precisely which item that is, not only of which category.

- A small and discrete waypoint could be shown when the player gets close to the spawning point of an item, which could contain a small floating icon of the item. That might look prettier and make more sense than the low alpha system... it could even show the time left until respawn I actually did a mockup of that;

[Flying Steel]

- A small and discrete waypoint could be shown when the player gets close to the spawning point of an item, which could contain a small floating icon of the item. That might look prettier and make more sense than the low alpha system... it could even show the time left until respawn I actually did a mockup of that;

This looks like a very good idea. Especially with the timers.

[MirceaKitsune]

Yeah, I would actually love it if it were like that But sadly, I heard there's currently no way to make waypoints not show through walls, only show to a player under a certain distance or send the remaining spawn time to the client without exposing the server to being cheatable by hacking. Hope that can be fixed though... I would love to see something like that replacing the current ghost items

[Silica Gel: Do Not Eat]

No... I instead think we should make a client side option to disable them, but keep them enabled by default. I'll code this in fact.

I already asked for this a while back, unfortunately I was told it can't be done.

Is there a way to disable ghost items?

Cannot be done, sorry. Well, could be made a server option, but certainly no client option.

(Just making it a serverside option... will be called g_ghost_items)

[Flying Steel]

Yeah, I would actually love it if it were like that But sadly, I heard there's currently no way to make waypoints not show through walls, only show to a player under a certain distance or send the remaining spawn time to the client without exposing the server to being cheatable by hacking. Hope that can be fixed though... I would love to see something like that replacing the current ghost items

Actually, I think it'd look better if they weren't waypoints, because waypoint markers are the same size no matter how far away they are, which in an open area or open map would mean they'd clutter up your interface, even if they didn't show through walls.

What would be best is if they were a fixed size, so that at a distance you wouldn't see them, but once you got close to the spawn point, you'd see the symbols and timers telling you what and when will spawn there for you.

[morfar]

I'm against timers. What's next, aimbots?

A clientside options to enable/disable and adjust alpha on ghost items can be good.

Offtopic: And an options to enable/disable "simple items" like in Q3 would be nice too, for us with old computers.