Graphics don't look so good

[Hoplite7]

http://www.shacknews.com/images/imag...c3b294bd3a.jpg

They look pretty terrible compared to M2:TW, even RTW. Does this mean they're putting gameplay over graphics, or is it just too early to get accurate screenshots?

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Hi Hoplite7,
Don't worry! I think that the problem may be that you are viewing the image scaled down to fit on your screen - this provides the effect of decreased quality. Simply click on the image, and everything should appear how it is supposed to.

Hope this helps, cheers!

[IrishArmenian]

That screen looks amazing! I think I'll have to upgrade my computer, though.

[Zenicetus]

Hmmm.... either that ship in the far distance and the one in the foreground are in irons (pointed dead upwind), or there isn't a realistic sailing model being shown here. Oh well, probably too early to start carping, eh?

Ooof... I'm going to need a new computer too. But the timing's about right, this time around.

[Csargo]

I'd rather good gameplay over graphics anyways, or maybe that's just because I have a crappy computer.

[IrishArmenian]

Ichigo, I think a lot of us are in the same... dare I say boat! (Ach! Wretched pun!)
I would much rather have gameplay, hopefully they both arrive as it looks like graphic upgrades abound.

[Husar]

I think the issue is that the image is so big that you see a lot more detail than you should, I know I said I like high-res screenshots, but this one is so big you have to adjust it to the screen. If you do that(and it doesn't look bad when you do it in Opera, it's much better and faster than IE in that regard), it looks very nice.

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Its only the first few images, why don't we just wait and see eh? All I see is amazing pictures, nothing bad at all

[alpaca]

Are you kidding me? This is at best an early beta screenshot and it already looks better than M2TW in my opinion (water, anyone?)

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

The dudes looks like M2 but my GPU is overheating at the water.

[Zenicetus]

The water won't be too bad if they code it well. Silent Hunter 4 has ocean effects that good, with dynamic wave action, and I can run it at 1024x768 on a 2-year old PC and GPU... a pretty hot setup for the time, but still that old. Might need some major horsepower to run it at really high res though.

Considering how the current AI handles pathfinding for wall assaults, and inside cities, it will be interesting to see how those guys get from one ship to another during a boarding action. I guess it helps that it can't be more than a fairly limited number of men at one time, compared to huge army assaults on cities.

[Daveybaby]

Daveybaby wonders what drugs hoplite7 is on, cos he's clearly hallucinated a completely different picture to the one i'm looking at.

[NagatsukaShumi]

Are you kidding me? This is at best an early beta screenshot and it already looks better than M2TW in my opinion (water, anyone?)

I agree alpaca, for an early release screenshot that is quite spectacular and is better than MTWII which is hardly poor in itself (with exception of some of the faces....they look like an omlet).

[sapi]

The texture size isn't huge, and the troops don't display shadows...but so what, it still looks fantastic

[Freedom Onanist]

Hoplite7 has obviously got those special Friday night beer goggles on back to front again!

[DisruptorX]

I can practically feel my framerate dropping.

Those are very nice graphics.

[Elmar Bijlsma]

I'm as critical as the next guy, provided that next guy is a grumpy old curmudgeon, but to say the GFX don't look good... sjeez! Hard to please, aren't we?
I don't think there are naval sims/games out there that look so nice. Okay, so shadows aren't on. It's an early development screenshot, for goodness sake! In any case, I turn shadows off in most games, to increase framerates. Shadows are a real framerate killer without adding all that much to the visual feast.

[Daveybaby]

Shadows seem to be on for the ships themselves, just not for the troops yet. @Sapi, one reason the textures look low res is the resolution of the screenshot itself - Scale the image down by a factor of 3 and the textures will look pretty good i expect.

What i want to know is what percentage of potential customers will have a rig capable of running the game at 3840x2820? And exactly what sort of uber-PC's do they have to play with at CA? Yeesh!

[Husar]

I think someone scaled the pic up, the pixels visible in the picture are bigger than they would be at a real resolution of 3.840 x 2.820.

[Hoplite7]

Are you kidding me? This is at best an early beta screenshot and it already looks better than M2TW in my opinion (water, anyone?)

The water looks good, but there's a lack of shadows, and the textures are very low res.

Very little anti-aliasing. Almost none actually. Look at the masts of the other ships, they look like stairs to the sky...

[Mailman653]

That picture is my new wallpapper :D

[pevergreen]

I had to wipe up the puddle of drool.

[Husar]

The water looks good, but there's a lack of shadows, and the textures are very low res.

The textures aren't necessarily finished and I have yet to see sails with high-res pictures in any game. It's just a piece of cloth.
The other textures are fine, if you zoom in close enough, even so-called high-res textures will show pixels.

Very little anti-aliasing. Almost none actually. Look at the masts of the other ships, they look like stairs to the sky...

Like I said before, it was most likely increased in size which is why the pixels look so big, I also noticed that Fraps for example doesn't seem to capture screenshots with anti aliasing even if I have it enabled, als AA is not a game feature so complaining about a game not having AA enabled is a bit weird, AA is a video card feature.
To make you happy, I sized the picture down to 1280*960, looks a lot better, doesn't it?

[Matty]

Does this mean there will be naval battles?

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Hi Matty,

Does this mean there will be naval battles?

Yep - naval battles are a confirmed feature.

[pevergreen]

Summary Thread - https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=90496

[Durallan]

I can't believe how critical some people are being considering how this game has barely passed the alpha stage, I would say that the game looks fantastic and considering this is the first time CA has devled into naval battle, good on them!

[Empirate]

Oh my, oh my, oh my. I bought a new dualcore PC with a Geforce 7950 last year, yes, just to accommodate M2:TW. I hope I can play Empires at the highest graphic settings, else I'll be very disappointed. It's such a nice feeling to have everything run smooth at high resolution, with RT Shadows and everything for once. Don't wanna lose this feeling just because CA decide it's time to push the limit!

[Pantsalot]

The troops in the screen shots have probably not completed, like
many other game creators, they make the units with good enough
graphics to like at the start for previews, then they l8er complete the
unit with new shading & effects. 1 note-able game this was done with
was Halo 3, in the beta then the graphics weren't complete either. nor
is quite alot of the screenies.

[Intrepid Sidekick]

I can safely say what you are looking at is very early work. Things have moved on since then.

Lighting is a bit broken, textures are an early pass and the men are "placeholders" and not "the full monty".

Some of the ships are stuck "in irons" as a result of turning through the wind and as a result the sails, which are also not using the full sail model, look a bit ropey.

The naval AI is still being written.

Things will move on. I'm glad you still think it looks good though.

When you see the sea "in action" you will realise that it really is better than almost any game you have seen before.