DirectX 10 Screenshot Contest - (Image heavy)

[Mrbloodworth]

DirectX 10 Screenshot Contest.



Thats rather impressive. This is the shot that one the first round. Just thought id put that out there.

[Bandit]

Impressive to say the least.  I wish they had shown all submitted shots.  I am still playing LOTRO (seem to be the only one) and these screenies just make my old comp cry.

[SnakeCharmer]

Wow.....

[Hutch]

I'm with Bandit. I have my graphics settings turned down so I don't plunge to single-digit framerates around water.

That said, niiiiice screenshot.

[Lt.Dan]

Wow.....

Surely.

Big whoop - people have been making fantastic looking scenery on computers for years.  As far as I'm concerned that might as well have been a screenshot from Myst.

Colour me impressed if:
- you could run a game at those settings at playable fps (ie min fps >24)
- the NPC models and animations didn't look like play-dough
- DX10 actually did anything to make that screenshot look better

[stray]

- DX10 actually did anything to make that screenshot look better

Actually, I believe DX10 is supposed to be pretty good at rendering the water-thing-a-majigs. Better geometry shaders? Whatever..

[SnakeCharmer]

Big whoop - people have been making fantastic looking scenery on computers for years.  As far as I'm concerned that might as well have been a screenshot from Myst.

Single player game, I wouldn't be impressed.

MMO, I'm impressed - especially since it's not studio created/taken.

[ahoythematey]

I don't mean to shit all over a dead horse, but Asheron's Call 2 had beautiful graphics.  Turbine can build a good looking engine, I'm not surprised that much.

[geldonyetich2]

I think the real question here is does this mean DirectX 10 is now worth it?  ("It" being the higher system requirements and compatibility issues that come with the substandard Windows XP replacement that is Windows Vista.)

Wish I had some specifics on what LOTRO does with DX10, exactly.  That's a nice screenshot, but shaders have been able to do that with water for awhile now.

[Bandit]

From da LOTRO Forums a while back...

For those that do have DX10 capable machines, this is what you should expect to see:

CONFIGURING GRAPHICS OPTIONS

    * If your machine is DX10 capable (meaning DX10 graphics card and Vista OS) you should be prompted once on your next client startup with a dialog offering to enable DX10 rendering.
    * You may also enable and disable DX10 rendering in the Graphics Options panel, but you will need to restart the client for that to take effect.
    * There are also two new DX10 specific options in the Advanced Graphics options panel: “DX10 Dynamic Shadows” and “Use DX10 distant landscape lighting”. Both of these are enabled by default if you are running in Very High or Ultra High overall quality settings.

DX10 ENHANCEMENTS
There are a handful of graphics features which will be available only to DX10 users. These are mostly minor visual upgrades with the exception of the dynamic shadows which are a pretty dramatic change. Specifically these are the features we’ve implemented:

Dynamic outdoor shadow maps: This is our big upgrade for DX10. Outdoor shadows will now use dynamically rendered shadow maps. Buildings will self-shadow. Trees cast shadows on players and scenery. The leaves move and it makes you happy. This feature is intended for users running in Very High or Ultra High.

Water improvements: the water now has soft shorelines and uses true depth calculations to determine the amount of fog visible.

Soft particles: Particle effects will now fade when they intersect with other geometry to avoid harsh lines.

Far terrain lighting: Far terrain lighting is improved for DX10 users. This effect may not be visible yet in all parts of the world. This is also only on by default in Very High or Ultra High.

[Mrbloodworth]

This was Fan submitted, so keep this in mind, no clue about his computer, other than dx10 capable.

[Lt.Dan]

Well it does make difference.  Sadly shadows are the most performance crushing of graphics enhancements and it'll be a long, long while before I can run any game on High or Ultra-high settings.

[Mrbloodworth]

The second weeks winner.

[Samwise]

That does look pretty.  It's a shame that the game itself bored me to tears.   

[Mrbloodworth]

That does look pretty.  It's a shame that the game itself bored me to tears.   

You played a hobbit?

I keep hearing people say what you said (Bored) but i have never really read a good explanation as to why.

I dunno, i'm enjoying the game... Sadly, my friends that started playing with me..went back to WoW (Because of a girl/mother of child, yeah, lols. They stoped Wow, she didn't.).

[cmlancas]

MBW, the game is a repetitive fest of the same quests. I played to 37 and quit because I began ubergrinding for levels.

 It doesn't matter what game I play, I can always find a way to grind after I get bored with quests for a little while. Suppose its because I was raised MUDding and then progressed to EQ1.

[Modern Angel]

It's the combat, for one. It's slow and feels clunky. The quests are another big part of it. You're doing pretty much the exact same quests throughout the entire game. By the time I was 30 I was sick of bringing boar asses to Villages X and Y.

It's a gorgeous game and The Shire is an awesome noob zone. It just becomes repetitive.

[Mrbloodworth]

It's the combat, for one. It's slow and feels clunky. The quests are another big part of it. You're doing pretty much the exact same quests throughout the entire game. By the time I was 30 I was sick of bringing boar asses to Villages X and Y.

It's a gorgeous game and The Shire is an awesome noob zone. It just becomes repetitive.

I just stated playing WoW for the first time last night. I could say the same things, only LOTRO is compelling for me for some reason, and the quests are superior. Wow was insanely grindy...in fact on many occasions last night, i would turn in the quest and be asked to kill yet MORE (As in a higher number) of the same creatures.While the combat was faster, it is ver much less tactical than LOTRO (From a low level entry perspective, i have no idea bout higher levels) Now, i know your comment was in no way saying anything about Wow, i just wanted to share a Wow Noobs comparison.

As an aside, i am starting to think the reason why some of my friends cant seem to leave Wow is, well, they have spent so much time playing it, and suffered so much grind-head-shots, that they just cant...or else it will validate the feeling of so much time wasted, even if the game they try is , frankly, better.

EDIT: its a shame too...But LOTRO is just a better game in most every way IMO, my friends have been wanting me to play for years now, and i resisted... I will give it some more time..and possibly write something here, and also tell them i dont think ill be playing it past the 10 day trial.

[CmdrSlack]

I always liked the Shire. Sure, there was a crapload of FedExing, but The Shire is beautiful, and there's some real challenges for some of the quests. I also liked the pie and mail quests -- they were a fun way to introduce you to The Shire. Having to take off-road routes really shows you some neat stuff.

[geldonyetich2]

I really liked the worldly aspects of LOTRO, such as the musical instruments and the attention to Tolkien lore, but I couldn't get into the gameplay.  It's... underdeveloped in the core game mechanic.  Classes were poorly balanced at release and major features of some of them were dysfunctional (I seem to recall Loremasters were hit the hardest).  A little research shows that, as of last month, they're still adding core class functionality and putting out major balance fires.

Ah, but even if it was flawless, I'd still be driven off by the resemblance to WoW/EQ.  So sick of that game.

[Venkman]

Going from WoW to LoTRO, I feel like combat in the latter is like playing the former underwater.

Going from LoTRO to WoW, I feel like quests in the latter are rudimentary kiddy crap designed to get you more foozles only.

The DX10 graphics aren't going to change your overall enjoyment of either game. LoTRO looks awesome already, and looks better still under DX10. But that isn't going to solve its other issues.

It's kinda like the raft of other "cool stuff" features LoTRO has. Cool and all, and interesting for the players, but they don't solve some of the underlying issues the game has that prevents bunches of people trying it.

[Phred]

Going from WoW to LoTRO, I feel like combat in the latter is like playing the former underwater.

Going from LoTRO to WoW, I feel like quests in the latter are rudimentary kiddy crap designed to get you more foozles only.

The DX10 graphics aren't going to change your overall enjoyment of either game. LoTRO looks awesome already, and looks better still under DX10. But that isn't going to solve its other issues.

It's kinda like the raft of other "cool stuff" features LoTRO has. Cool and all, and interesting for the players, but they don't solve some of the underlying issues the game has that prevents bunches of people trying it.

A lot of people have mentioned some faults in LoTR but miss some of the bigger ones IMO. Encounter design is totally fucked up. Instances where you have to fight for an hour to get through the hordes of fast respawning signature mobs is one of the most retarded things I have ever encountered. And believe it or not, it gets worse at higher (and max) level. I found the completely unagressive behaviour of grey mobs a bit odd too, but that may just be because I'm used to games where if you stand too close to a hostile mob it attacks even if it is grey. Sure made farming  ez though.

[Chinchilla]

Where are there fast respawning signature mobs?  I only know of one place and that's DD which is crazy (but GREAT for farming).  Other zones I've been in don't do that.

[Mrbloodworth]

Where are there fast respawning signature mobs?  I only know of one place and that's DD which is crazy (but GREAT for farming).  Other zones I've been in don't do that.

Um, yeah, not sure what hes talking about as well.

[CmdrSlack]

Maybe the Great Barrows? I don't know if I'd count an instance that tells you it's group required as too much of a cockblock though.

[Chinchilla]

Maybe the Great Barrows? I don't know if I'd count an instance that tells you it's group required as too much of a cockblock though.

Maybe.  Even Great Barrows has slow respawn rate.  Not to mention its lowbie level ;).

[Phred]

Where are there fast respawning signature mobs?  I only know of one place and that's DD which is crazy (but GREAT for farming).  Other zones I've been in don't do that.

Outside of most of the instances I visited from 30-50 it seemed. Other than the new ones they added after that first mini-expansion. I've forgotten all the place names, but there was that one in the swamp, then all the high 40-50 instances are surrounded by elite mobs. Signature is what LoTR calls elites right?

I remember thinking it ironic in a so called casual game how the easiest instance to reach was the raid instance. The surrounding mobs seemed to add an easy 30-40 minutes to any trip to an instance.

[Mrbloodworth]

Maybe the Great Barrows? I don't know if I'd count an instance that tells you it's group required as too much of a cockblock though.

Thats a great instance in my book, very cool story and encounters...with a script.

[cmlancas]

I never completed that instance because my group failed one of the encounters every time we went. 

Cockblock. Yes. 

[Dren]

My issue with LoTRO was that the combat was clunky and the animations really were subpar compared to WoW.  In fact, the animation was the killer for me.  It felt like SB, it was so bad.  Maybe it was my settings, maybe it was my hardware, but it is what it is.  I couldn't put my settings anywhere close to what those pictures are at, so the graphics were subpar for me too.

The quests were not better to me.  They were the same as WoW.  Only, now the quests were in larger quantities and didn't advance you as much.  I did more quests in LoTRO between 1-10 level than I did from 1-20 in WoW.  I spent most of my time managing what quest to do next in my log book than doing the quests themselves.  It felt tedious and grindy.

The items were also very bland and didn't do anything perceivable to the game experience.  I'd go from no armor to full armor and feel no difference in combat.

Crafting might have been nice, but I couldn't get into it due to constantly fighting over the resource spawns.

It just felt like to me, LoTRO was a WoW clone that didn't quite get it all right.  You can have the greatest graphical potential in the world, but if I can't actual play at that highest setting it all doesn't matter.  It also doesn't matter if the animation isn't done right.  If things don't move smoothly or look "right," you've lost me right away.

As such, I went back to WoW because I already had a vested interest there and it "felt right" and "looked right" to me.  It also felt like I was advancing quicker in WoW than LoTRO too.  That doesn't mean I was getting to the highest lvl quicker, it meant that I was advancing in a way that made me feel more "powerful" each time I spent a game session there.  I could go 2 levels in LoTRO and feel no perceivable power increase.  In WoW, 2 levels is a big deal.

[Mrbloodworth]

@Dren, i dissagree with just about all of our points.

Moving on, more screen shot winners

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Also, they have just won and

[schild]

That first one is completely gorgeous.

[Soukyan]

That first one is completely gorgeous.

/agree

That night shot is awesome as well. So immersive. I need a DX10 video card.

[Mrbloodworth]

That first one is completely gorgeous.

I agree, and its really more achievable than people think to play like that, the only catch is, you gotta have extra headroom hardware wise, becouse of the vista requirement.

Also note, those dynamic shadows, yeah...Moving.

I honestly think a llot of people that have reviewed (Not game sites, but gamers) this game may have come into it already biased.

Honestly, even if i'm not playing it (i would be), its is bar none the best MMO i have ever seen created to date (on many levels). I think "Vested interest" (AKA: Time and friends in other games") has somewhat jaded people.

Anyway, that my opinion, and i'm sticking to it. I have a feeling this game will is a sleeper ramping up in very measured ways as far as "success".

The engine is just wonderful, and i'm constantly impressed.

and with that.

I really liked the worldly aspects of LOTRO, such as the musical instruments and the attention to Tolkien lore, but I couldn't get into the gameplay.  It's... underdeveloped in the core game mechanic.  Classes were poorly balanced at release and major features of some of them were dysfunctional (I seem to recall Loremasters were hit the hardest).  A little research shows that, as of last month, they're still adding core class functionality and putting out major balance fires.

Ah, but even if it was flawless, I'd still be driven off by the resemblance to WoW/EQ.  So sick of that game.

I'm just going to say this, WoW to my knowledge didn't ship with battle grounds, now the game starts at 70. You guys do the math.

[Tarami]

I was about to write something about how much I like LotRO and why, but you guys probably already know that. So I'll just give a to Mrbloodworth and post a comparison DX9 screenshot with everything set to max quality, which, incidentally, is the way I play it, with a 6700 CPU and a 7900GTX. It works without a hitch, really. A friend with a DX10 card told me that a recent mini-patch had improved the performance of the dynamic shadows alot, so he was playing with them enabled nowadays.

I'll try to grab a few screens of the blizzards in Misty Mountains or the rain and fog effects in Trollshaws and post if I feel they are made justice on snapshots. They are just magnificent.