New patch?

[Forward Observer]

There is big argument going on about changes in graphic quality on both the official forum over at TW center. One guy was able post before and after shots by recreating screenies he had taken of the historical battle of Sekigahara prior to the patch. Based on those shots, the graphics have definitely taken a hit for the worse.

Anyway, several people are in a uproar about it. Now it could be that some of these changes were put in place to boost general performance and also to accomplish having 40 units on the battlefield, but a big contention is that none of this is mentioned in the patch notes

Previously, many had complained of the glossy plastic look of the units, which now appears to have been removed. Some argue that they like the change while others are saying that they want it back. However, the real crux of the matter is that it appears other graphic changes were also made in the process. CraigTW has posted that CA made a design decision to remove the gloss from the units, but he has not acknowledged any of the other perceived graphical changes which include:

1. Swords and spears no longer glint in the Sun.
2. The draw distance has been reduced. One can pan back from a unit and easily see each soldier's face disappear at a point that is a bit too obvious.
3. The special AA (I forget what it's called) that was added for ATI cards doesn't work any more. I have NVidia, and never used this setting.
4. Textures have been reduced to the point that black and red costume components look simply garrish with no depth or clarity. This may associated with the gloss removal, but The Mori particularly look bad now.
5. Blood effects (decals) on dead bodies are gone. (this has been confirmed by CA as a possible bug)
6. It is claimed that DOF and HDR are not working correctly also. I don't use these, so I can't comment for sure.

I'm sure there are another one or two complaints, but these are just off the top of my head. Some of this I might not have noticed if not mentioned. I never cared for the over glossy look of the units, but overall I am less pleased with the look of Shogun II after the patch.

It also could be my imagination, but too many of the battles now look like there is layer of dirty industrial smog everywhere. I just don't think the battle side of the game looks as good as it did, but I'll refrain from whining too much about it until the guys at CA formerly respond to the complaints.

Cheers

[Sp4]

I had not paid that much attention to it but yeah, now that you mention it. All reflection effects as well as sword glints are actually gone.

-E- One thing I seem to notice atm is that the game seems to randomly crash at time >_> Like just stop working. The process just ends, desktop, Shogun gone lol.

[HopAlongBunny]

I haven't played since the patch, although I have an on-going Mori long campaign.

I decided to take a look; graphics are darker and flatter (if that makes sense :p)
The reports logged here actually make me hesitant to play a turn; I don't like surprises in the middle of a game. I have no DLC at all so the question is: why am I subjected to the patch? If I get my nerve up I'll play a few turns tomorrow; thank you all for the information on the current state of the game.

[Gray_Lensman]

I haven't played since the patch, although I have an on-going Mori long campaign.

I decided to take a look; graphics are darker and flatter (if that makes sense :p)
The reports logged here actually make me hesitant to play a turn; I don't like surprises in the middle of a game. I have no DLC at all so the question is: why am I subjected to the patch? If I get my nerve up I'll play a few turns tomorrow; thank you all for the information on the current state of the game.

Going forward, if you can stand it, place and leave STEAM in OFFLINE mode until you finish a game. That'll prevent unwarranted updates. I too have a game going pre-patch and have kept STEAM in OFFLINE mode until I finish my current game. There's nothing on STEAM that's so important to ruin an ongoing game.

[frogbeastegg]

A hotfix is now available:

Hi all,

We've just released a patch for a couple of issues.

Fix for blood effect in blood pack
Fixed occasional crash when entering Avatar Conquest Map
Miscellaneous other crash fixes
Fixed an issue where trees could appear black
Fix for level 9 clan skill lockout


Enjoy!

The Creative Assembly

[Harleyquin12]

Feedback isn't that great for the hotfix, it seems the problems they fixed in the hotfix are only partial, not complete. There are complaints that the blood decals only cover half the body.

[frogbeastegg]

I've got problems with draw distances after the hotfix. Units use low detail models much sooner, and they visibly 'pop' between the various detail levels as my camera gets closer and further. Unless my camera is right up in their faces, they are so lacking in detail they look like plastic miniature soldiers. They used to transition seamlessly, and use higher detail for much longer. This with a geforce 560 ti 1GB, latest drivers. I do not have the blood pack.

Considering overall game performance took a big dive with the FotS patch/FotS installation, I'm not that happy. I had to turn a bunch of settings down in order to restore a smooth frame rate, and now the game won't even display properly at that reduced level. Add in the missing gloss and detail maps (e.g. chipped lacquer on helmet rims) and the game has taken a large visual hit on my machine. I'm not a graphics nutter but this texture popping business is distracting, and reducing both performance and fidelity is a losing combo.

I'm not trying to do anything crazily ambitious either. These aren't 40v40 battles - I haven't even fought a 20v20 since the patch! These are all medium-sized battles.