Transparency, underwater, renderer load, FPS, clumping, etc

[The Seeker]

There's a bunch of Myth prefs, some of these I can guess at, some of these I can't, but I've looked around, did some Googling too and can't find documentation on most of these items anywhere. Are these things Bungie put in the game or stuff added by Project Magma? Am I missing some great doc somewhere that explains all this stuff? Can anyone enlighten as to any of these? Are any of these popular to check-off (I'm guessing anti-clump is)?

Preferences:

• Interface transparency
• Hide underwater objects...I haven't even noticed underwater stuff that's visible yet Is this to make it run faster?
• Reduce renderer load...huh? Who wouldn't want to? What does this sacrifice?
• Use persistent ready (multiplayer)
• TFL style gesture arrows
• Disable persistent formations
• Use control bar inventory
• Max FPS...ok, I did find this one buried in the "Changes" section of the 1.6 ReadMe...I wish it were more easily find-able in the docs. Why does anyone want to cap FPS anyway?

When starting a game:

• TFL gameplay...huh? Changes physics maybe?
• Anti-clump...I think I remember ancient melee discussion about this back in 1999, I think I remember when this got added

[Avatara]

Ok, from the top of my head... (I'm at work, can't check this stuff)

- Interface transparency

Make the status and formation bar transparent (i could be wrong though)

- Hide underwater

No sure on this one, but i think It hides your own units when they are underwater... just like Myth 1.

- Persistent ready

When you are in a host's room (pregame), you have to check the ready button every time the host changes something... using this options eliminates this need.

- TFL arrow

Make the direction arrows like the TFL ones... just a graphical thing I think.

- Disable persistent formation

Make it like Myth 1, where the game wouldn't "remember" the formation you give your units.

- TFL gameplay

Use Myth TFL physics and gameplay... which are different from Myth 2. Automatically turns on anti-clumping.

- Anti-clumping

Units will not clump like they do in Myth 2 (almost occupying the same space). Instead, Myth TFL behavior will be used.

[Khadrelt]

You're right about the interface transparency and Hide Underwater options, Avatara.

It was actually a more recent addition for you to be able to see your own units underwater - you couldn't in the original Myth II. Enemy units are always invisible underwater, but this checkbox lets you decide if you want to see your own units.

Capping FPS is used to help avoid lag in some situations during netgames, I believe.

Control bar inventory lets you use a control bar at the bottom of the screen to select unit inventory rather than pressing 'I' and then a number. But last time I checked, it didn't seem to work very well...

[The Seeker]

>I'm at work, can't check this stuff

Oooh, you have a place to "check"? What's your resource? Secret documentation? Can I get a copy?

>Make the direction arrows like the TFL ones... just a graphical thing I think.

Hmmm, don't remember how they looked in TFL. They put an option in just for a tiny graphical tweak? Who would care?

>Use Myth TFL physics and gameplay

Is this popular? Do you know what the changes are? Is it documented anywhere?

>Units will not clump like they do in Myth 2 (almost occupying the same space).

I can't remember, was that undesirable because it prevented some of your melee from being effective?

>It was actually a more recent addition for you to be able to see your own units underwater

Why wouldn't you want to see them? Or is this to save CPU load?

[A-Red]

[>Make the direction arrows like the TFL ones... just a graphical thing I think.

Hmmm, don't remember how they looked in TFL. They put an option in just for a tiny graphical tweak? Who would care?

The point is that they weren't in M2 at all. I find them convenient for orienting units.

[Myrd]

Cap FPS is mostly for laptop users and/or multitasking. Basically, anything above a certain amount of FPS doesn't make a difference. Previously, Myth would take all available CPU time rendering at max FPS. For laptop users, this would go through your battery pretty fast, when it doesn't necessarily have to (if you're comfortable at playing at lower fps). Likewise, it would allow background stuff to have more % of your CPU while Myth is running.

[The Seeker]

The point is that they weren't in M2 at all. I find them convenient for orienting units.

I don't get it...I'm running Myth II, patched to 1.6, on a Mac, haven't checked that checkbox, yet I get gesture arrows just fine and think I always did in M2 (either by click & drag on highlighted units to adjust facing, or option-click when setting what orientation I want a formation to be). You're saying without checking that checkbox you're unable to get gesture arrows? Are you on p.c., or a different version than me, or are we not talking about the same thing in regards to "gesturing"?

[Khadrelt]

Myth II does have them.

The difference is that the TFL style arrows are just fat triangles, not actual arrows like they are in M2.

[The Seeker]

The difference is that the TFL style arrows are just fat triangles, not actual arrows like they are in M2.

Oh yeah, I think I remember that now from TFL! So someone really did spend the time to add this option just for such a minor graphical tweak. Hmmm.

[A-Red]

Apologies for the incorrect information. I could've sworn...

[Myrd]

Oh yeah, I think I remember that now from TFL! So someone really did spend the time to add this option just for such a minor graphical tweak. Hmmm.

At one point, there was a goal to make Myth II be able to mimic perfectly Myth:TFL. So some optional preferences were added to that extent, as well as the custom interface, fallen levels, and tfl multipack.

I'd say, besides needing to activate the fallen levels / tfl multipack plugins, the effort was mostly successful (ie: you can customize Myth II to be very similar to TFL).

I believe this was done at the time when the TFL source code was unavailable and thus could not be updated to run on modern systems.

[Avatara]

>Use Myth TFL physics and gameplay

Is this popular? Do you know what the changes are? Is it documented anywhere?

Ah, that's an interesting question.

I would say that vTFL is somewhat popular among old players. Lots of people (including myself) prefer TFL gameplay over M2's one and were sad to see that some things were changed.

As far as I know the changes are not documented... but since I'm a TFL fan I always knew them:

- In TFL units don't clump like they do in Myth 2.

- Archers in TFL are more innacurate then M2 ones.

- TFL dwarfs are more innacurate then m2 ones. Also bottles tend to bounce more and dud more.

- TFL fetches have higher range (just a little) then M2 ones (I could be wrong, but I swear to god tha I'm not seeing things).

- If you throw a dorf molotov in the air and use the fetch attack, it will not explode like in M2. Instead it will move the molotov farther away. This is used in a technique called CB (carpet bombing) where you (generally) use 3 hero dorfs and 3 fetch to launch molotovs to great distances.

Overall, I would say that Myth TFL is more meele oriented,has a slower pace and looks more "realistic". Myth 2 is much more artillery oriented and has a faster pace. Also, I always had the impression that TFL was more about macro and M2 about micro, though I don't know why.

I'm not sure if there are more differences, perhaps the guy who programmed vTFL could explain more.

[vinylrake]

- If you throw a dorf molotov in the air and use the fetch attack, it will not explode like in M2. Instead it will move the molotov farther away. This is used in a technique called CB (carpet bombing) where you (generally) use 3 hero dorfs and 3 fetch to launch molotovs to great distances.

Ah the sweet smell of intercontinental ballistic dorf bottles, aka "carpet bombing"....

For a real blast from the past, check out the website for The Society of Carpet Bombers. (mirrored at the mythgraveyard)

[William Wallet]

It was one of my most kick-arse Myth memories the first time I played 1.4 and I saw enemy thrall coming out of the water on Gimble... that transparency business was a canny move.

[Khadrelt]

The TFL Trow were nastier, too, or at least it sure seemed that way to me.

Also, TFL Dwarves were harder to control - they were more likely to blow up themselves and/or their own comerades if not watched carefully. A TFL Dwarf would throw a cocktail straight up into the air to target an oncoming Ghol, usually blowing both of them up.

The fir'Bolg also had more propensity for shooting each other than M2 archers, I recall.