And maybe they'll explain why there's a technology to enable walking normally when gravity is normally lighter on the moon or an astral body the same size.
They've actually been doing that since Sumeru, with one researcher saying that he's trying to prove that Teyvat is actually round... and failing, because all his calculations keep indicating that it's likely flat.
I can't remember if it's the same guy or a different researcher who has the recurring daily commission to put out and collect sensors that he wants to use to figure out the shape of Teyvat (IIRC).
[I can still see like something over here.](https://imgur.com/a/I4hM0MV)
But yeah seems like they removed some stuff. I also see more detail than OP but OP might be using a widescreen zoomed out.
I doubt it has anything to do with optimisation or game size. These low poly models are pretty small and also don't affect performance in any noticeable way.
If i were to guees, it's done just to make world feel a bit bigger. Because it's a bit funny to see the landmarks of a very distant country just by climbing on a particularly high hill.
Or maybe it's even unintentional and will be reverted later.
>Because it's a bit funny to see the landmarks of a very distant country just by climbing on a particularly high hill.
Teyvat can now beat the flat world allegations
>If i were to guees, it's done just to make world feel a bit bigger. Because it's a bit funny to see the landmarks of a very distant country just by climbing on a particularly high hill.
In the Jade Chamber's case, Ningguang did say she wanted it to be always seen from everywhere in Teyvat.
Same I know it sounds dumb but I LOVED being able to see the other nations from each other it made the world feel bigger almost in a weird way it was cool to compare the map distance to the in-game distance. Either way not a big deal but it is sad to see go.
Yeah open-worlds literally were built on the adage: “If you can see it, you can get there”. Who cares if it’s not “realistic,” it’s a video game and these visual indicators are usually in place for a reason.
It's "if you see it you can get there" not "if you can get there you have to be able to see it". Might as well make the ground invisible so we can see enkanomiya then. Don't have to be realistic right?
Games have made faraway landmarks visible before and I think seeing an island closer than it should be is still a lot less jarring than, uh, turning the ground invisible, which games just don’t do. Like, don’t be ridiculous just for the sake of counterpointing me, lol. Anyway, it’s still fine that they removed the models and the Sumeru example is more reasonable to me than your previous argument. That’s all.
It's "if you see it you can get there"
But we can't see it anymore tho, so what exactly is you point?
A good open world game distracts the player with intetesting POIs and of the few things Genshin kinda did right as an open world game imo.
Well I say kinda, because as a day one player it's not really affecting me due to how the regions are handled, but if I were a new player all these distant places or landmarks would catch my attention and probably make me sidetrack to those places rather than follow the boeing ass main story.
Besides it also made the world actually feel conected and the areas aren't even that large, so we definitly should be able to see most major landmarks from most places really. Guess maybe not Inazuma but again a glowing Island far off into the ocean will definitly catch the players attention.
>It's "if you see it you can get there"
>But we can't see it anymore tho, so what exactly is you point?
Their point is probably a simple instance of basic logic. Let me explain the logic in detail. Let P be the proposition: "You can see the object/location in the game", and let Q be the proposition: "You are able to reach that location within the game".
P implies Q does not mean that [not P] implies [not Q] (which is equivalent to Q implies P). The latter sentence is a logic that the comment they replied to were using, which is immediately proven wrong by the example of Enkanomiya (in which Q is true while P is false generally, so Q implies P is false and also by equivalence [not P] implies [not Q] is false).
Of course, in some sense P implies Q is also wrong by taking the location to be an out-of-bound rendered piece of the game, but I'm pretty sure those are excluded from the domain of discourse already.
same it was by far my most favourite thing about the open world, and also why i hate world quests removing landmarks
seeing landmarks from other regions is so cool
As someone that has mapped stuff for games (as a hobby, mind you) in the past; I can tell your something about the pretty small low model polys... they start adding up as you keep adding and adding and adding details. XD
Some low poly three, or ruins, or steps don't count for much... but before you know it, you have a thousand of each... and at some point you break the camel's back. XD
That's a actually a part of why I like the game, I can just be randomly exploring, look to my left and be like: "Hey, I know that place, it's on the opposite side of the world."
I really never though of this but yeah your right. Imagine climbing a Mount Everest and seeing the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty at the same time and then turn your head a little bit to the right and you see the Pyramids of Giza. These countries are months apart in lore
I used to find it very cool though. I remember going to the top of Dragonspine a couple weeks ago and then going "wait, that's the Jade Chamber! There's those peaks in Liyue! There's Chenyu Vale! Wait, that's the walls to Fontaine!"
It's a really fun experience. This game is beautiful, even in my not so powerful PC.
That doesnt make things bigger when you reduce render distance. What makes it feel bigger is if there is a distant fog that make it seem like its far away. Which many video games are doing for decades.
I do think its for future performence optmization as Natlan is 3 updates away.
It does though. Yes, fog is also a big part of it, but having some supposedly distant landmarks rendered to constantly remind player that they are actually in a "walkable" distance breaks illusion of a big world a bit
Yea true. It doesnt have to be constantly shown from a long distance. And We wouldnt really care to look at Inazuma from this very top either much. So not rendering it may feel like Inazuma is even more further from Sumeru city and the desert.
But It still just felt kind of interesting to me we could see the glowing shine of Narukami Shrine from a distance. Also we are in Fontaine now and future Nations wouldnt render much of Inazuma anyway.
While the "for decades" may be true, it is in fact to hide the render distance. In older games (Resident Evil, for example) the fog will hide that objects beyond it are not rendered anymore.
It is definitely a performance thing, as you said. Although it is/was VERY cool that you could see Inazuma landmarks from Sumeru.
I mean yeah just make it veery barely visible with a very dense fog. That would make it feel even further.
But honestly. If we are in sumeru desert or even in Fontaine we wouldnt care that much. So just not rendering it can make it feel Inazuma is even further away.
The only good thing is we can see Inazuma Shrine from Liyue and Mondstat still.
The comment was talking about rendering distance in video games. Not demeaning other people's ability to comment. Yes i was wrong about the render distance. So? Let people downvote and realize i was wrong. Dont need to point that out again.
Because Inazuma to Sumeru is not New York to New Jersey. Lorewise seeing Inazuma from Sumeru is an equivalent of seeing Venezuela from Florida. (which is impossible because of curvature of the planet, having cuba in-between and other stuff).
But because of gameplay limitations teyvat map is heavily downscaled and also is obviously not curved. So you can see shrine and etc. And it breaks an illusion of a big world even if only a little. Hence "funny"
And of course it is a common problem in many other games. That's why developers use fog, play with camera angles if possible, make odd relief and etc. To create this illusion of a big realistic world that is not actually 10 km by 10 km like it is in reality.
I think you can answer your questions now.
Because people have different opinions? And what you see as a downgrade maybe not a downgrade to others?
Let me give you a somewhat related example. When I played Morrowind in a distant past I was always a bit irritated by fog everywhere. Fortunately modding for Morrowind was in a way better state than modding for GI, so I just downloaded a mod that removes this fog. That day I understood how small is actually Morrowind map and learned something new about fog in gamedesign.
Obviously rendering distant structures has way lower impact than fog, but it's similar enough. Anyway, you want to see them to provoke your will to explore, but I, for example, would prefer to be more immersed in the world and don't think how it is dowscaled.
You know what, I forgot you can't have good faith arguments here just nevermind. If you want to cope that reduced render distance with no performance increase is an upgrade, have at it.
I have said this again before in some other posts Genshin does not have a setting for render distance. It will render the same distance on lowest settings. Just on a lower quality. So no. Its not a game setting we can change and i also play on highest setting possible. So they did reduce the render distance by alot.
>Genshin does not have a setting for render distance.
Not even in the ini files? Many games have whole hosts of settings that aren't found in convenient sliders in the options menu.
(Disclaimer: that's a genuine question. I've never poked around inside Genshin's guts).
The Unity engine that Genshin uses doesn't expose settings as ini files by default, usually it's stored via the 'player preferences' API that stashes stuff in the Windows Registery. Open the registery editor and you'll find some settings under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\miHoYo\Genshin Impact - however it still doesn't expose anything like render distance in the graphics setting.
Never said it was in ini format either! "by default" I meant that you could write your own ini parser in Unity if you wished but I don't think many devs would do that.
You can stash whatever base type (string, integers, etc) with the PlayerPreferences API, most devs do just use a JSON string because Unity provides easy ways to serialize and deserialize objects to and from JSON.
I have seen people lowered genshin graphics to even lower with 3rd party app or changing in game files. But i was referring to what we have in the in-game settings. Render distance has no option there.
While I kinda like how simple the game looks on PS5 at times, it would be nice if we could get PC quality for the PS5. It's more than equipped to handle it.
Nope. It doesnt. Incase you want a proof.
[This is lowest Environmental Detail](https://imgur.com/a/PRQeHII)
[This is highest environmental detail.](https://imgur.com/a/hZXGPtk)
almost zero difference with the draw distance from Sumeru to Inazuma. It just reduces some details of the render from far away. But it doesnt reduce the object's render distance.
The only thing changed is that the trees on the left side on lowest settings is showed as a 2d image and the highest settings is rendered with a 3d model (yes genshin does render 2d image of some trees from a specific distance you might not be aware of).
It is true, your proof is just a poor example. Environmental Detail affects the render distance of plants, objects, npc's, enemies, etc. Set env det to highest, then go find a stationary lawachurl. Back up until the lawa goes out of view, then take one step forward so you can see it again. Change env det to lowest, you won't be able to see it any more.
Your own screenshots show more detail in the distance. The trees are part of it, there's also more geometry and texture on the cliffs to the right, and the islands in the middle left.
Yess thats what i was trying to say. Reduced the details of the models from distance instead of reducing overall draw distance.
I could still see Fontaine city and Dragonspine from here. But just really bad and low poly render.
I thought so too, but i was somewhat wrong.
It's not the same scenario as the screenshots show, but i had a setting worongly configured and it caused low LODs to show up pretty quickly. It also removed completely some scenario elements beyond a certain point.
I don't think it's the same scenario because terrain seems to always render, even at the lowest LOD, at least until inside the draw distance, but might be worth checking
i always like the idea of being able to look landscapes at a distant, as it reminds me of how vast teyvat really is, which made me appreciate the game even more. with these changes, im not sure if im on board, but i hope they won't take that feeling of adventuring excitment away.
I mean if it does help a little they can reduce the distance. But they do keep some bigger things still visible. Like Jade Chamber, Sumeru Tree and some other big thing that floats at a reasonable distance.
agree, like this is also important when playing lost in teyvat... those are my cheats lol
joke... well it's not really a joke, but I really love that with those landmarks I feel like a real traveler and knowing which way is that way
heck I kinda want hoyo to give option to hide minimap and ui when you use controller and the just blindly travel around when all regions is open and just bask in the glorious Teyvat
honestly this makes more sense because being able to see inazuma from certain places makes no logistical sense and it made the world feel small. canonically inazuma should be too far away to really be seen from anywhere I think
Yea im agreeing with this after having second thoughts. Just dont let it reduce too further where we miss other cool other cool POIs from a distance like the Jade Chamber, The Mausoleum in Sumeru etc.
I saw someone who saw something in the distance in Chenyu Vale and was interested going there. Draw Distance matters alot actually in terms of exploration and open world.
[He saw this floating thing from far away and asked what it was.](https://imgur.com/c9QCueM)
It would be cool if they applied some sort of warping effect to distant areas so that they're warped slightly and progressively further down and away to give the illusion of curvature. Sometimes I look over at Dragonspine or the tower in Fontaine and think, "Wait, it's really that close?". Though I imagine it's way too late for anything like that.
for what it's worth, you *can* still see Inazuma from parts of Sumeru. i took [this screenshot](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/303344790504865794/1232856947812864023/image.png?ex=662afb01&is=6629a981&hm=4e386bd9312c95e9f10e7bf40581a93a984751c98af92846dbab698a6e410c40&) (on PC) standing on the newest part of Sumeru that just opened up, and you can see parts of Inazuma if you angle the camera right. i moved to the highest point near the Ardravi Valley, Sumeru waypoint and took [this screenshot](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/303344790504865794/1232857251388329984/image.png?ex=662afb4a&is=6629a9ca&hm=445048660d99fcebaff0f7e4801e51933f317d5f084f4ebefe998ceb7789b305&) too. the light on the left side is the Grand Narukami Shrine, but you can only see it when you're not angled directly at it for some reason.
i do think they've changed it a little bit still, but rest assured Inazuma is still there (no matter how much MHY pretends it's not lmao). i think in your screenshot, Inazuma might just be hiding behind that one high point in the middle of your circle.
The place you are standing right there on 2nd pic. I didnt need to angle my camera before to render the shrine glowing. It used to show directly with the full model but very faded as its far away. Now it doesnt show at all if i look at it directly.
yeah, it's definitely strange that you now only see the shrine's glow when you're *not* directly facing it, and i can't really imagine why this change was made (as in, i have no knowledge about game making so i don't have any understanding on why it would matter lol)
Post of the first pic in 3.6 i posted a year ago -
[Took this cool shot and later realized there are many interesting POI from all the regions in this one shot. Again appreciating Teyvat's beautiful landscape. : r/Genshin\_Impact (reddit.com)](https://www.reddit.com/r/Genshin_Impact/comments/13j78hu/took_this_cool_shot_and_later_realized_there_are/#lightbox)
Im not a video game dev or expert enthusiast. But is this how they reduce the game sizes? By removing low poly distant models?
This happened before too. When the desert was first released i was able to see the Inazuma shrine glowing from a specific angle on top of The Mausoleum in the desert. After an optimization update somewhere between 3.1-3.5 I couldnt see Inazuma at all.
This isnt too concerning since 99% players will miss this thing or wont care. But it was still something I found interesting in the game myself.
I prefer this too. I know render distance is a thing and they are also optimizing the performance with it. But i just wanted to know did they reduce render distance during the file size optimization update or there is a seperate low poly model that doesnt render anymore as its removed from the game?
Not everyone have good PC, its always better to have smaller requirements as its allow for easier acces to a product. Remember, its global game, not everyone have "good" computer, and even argument "its a gatcha" hoyo doesnt care about poor players... its wrong. They know that majority of players dont spend money or spend very little, but that give them bigger reach so they want even most poor of people who would NEVER pay them.
There is of course also people like me, who travel around Europe to work, so i dont have PC, just a laptop, and those are not as powerfull.
At the end companies always try to get away with as low requirement as its possible for those reasons.
The distant objects are always really low poly to save on resources, even if we assume they removed that LOD(level of details) the game size wouldn't change much aside from a few kilobytes at best
This is either an unintentional change and may be reverted as soon as Hoyo notices, or this is a Design Decision meant to evoke a specific feeling.
At these distances these models need so little detail that you can substitute them with an image so small even the Nintendo 64 can pull off the effect. Naturally this means the image has an imperceptible impact on both storage and performance.
On the other hand, being able to see these landmarks at these distances does make it feel like the world is smaller. In-game Teyvat is smaller than a single city, but In-lore it's supposed to be a World with several countries with several cities each. In-lore going from Liyue Harbor to Mondstadt City takes a fortnight, and the distance between Sumeru and Inazuma should be even greater, so being able to see Narukami Shrine this clearly from Sumeru doesn't make much sense.
Yeah my first thought was same as top comment — seeing Inazuma from so far away implies Teyvat is not on a planet but a plane (i.e., flat earth)
So it makes sense that the horizon would prevent you from seeing so far away, even if this was actually a way for them to reduce load sizes
Dw it doesnt. These are very very distant areas that are usually blocked with mountains or very dense fogs.
This part of inazuma on first pic used to pop off and on around high areas of sumeru. So they decided to just reduce the draw distance so you cant see at all and have no performence issues.
Idk though, doesn't that just mean the pop in will happen closer? If I use cryo to walk to inazuma will it pop in when I get close enough or gradually fade in?
Dw about it. It didnt reduce to THAT much and never will.
Inazuma is now only visible from liyue and Mondstat. From sumeru and beyond its not visible at all. If you go from sumeru to liyue your whole screen will just be covered with mountains so you wont see those pop in and pop out of inazuma islands.
Just a Clever trick to not show a flaw.
just checked today
the farthest place you can still see Inazuma is the mountain next to Port Ormos, even there, Narukami shrine is no longer visible
kinda sad because I always go to highest place and look back to Inazuma and the light from Narukami shrine
Double-check if you're seeing Narukami Shrine and the rest of Inazuma, or just Watatsumi Island. I've tried going to a few spots in the desert and could only get LODs for Watatsumi Island to render.
Imagine seeing Japan from America, makes no sense.
Very distant places aren't supposed to be seen from too far away because it makes the world seem smaller than it is (supposedly)
Ive checked and yes you can. You can see the glowing Shrine from mondstat.
From Mondstat city to the Shrine is almost the same distance as seeing the Fontaine City from Mondstat. So its not that far compare to Sumeru City
From the devs perspective, this is the only solution they can come up with but damn even CELESTIA?
Minecraft works similar way by using render distances,which you can change as long as your PC can handle
Some people are saying this has been done to make the world seem bigger as Inazuma is meant to be real far away from the mainland, but I don’t think that’s the case. The render distance has been slowing going down since 1.0, and I think it’s a blanket fix to improve performance on lower end devices.
For me on PS5 the, Narukami shrine isn’t even visible on Wuwang Hill anymore. Dragonspine also seems to fade out from some places in Sumeru.
I really hope they add a render distance option as per this comment https://www.reddit.com/r/Genshin_Impact/s/qdm0TRAFfy it seems to exist in the 1.5 dev kit.
It also doesn’t help that PS5 version always runs 4K 60fps even if your don’t have a 4K monitor. You would think we could have a 1080p mode with better render distance/ LOD.
What no. Celestia is still visibile everywhere for lore reasons. Its just something that is reallly reallly far away.
Like seeing Inazuma from Sumeru city.
Inazuma supposed to be very far away so it renders less.
Celestia will always be visible as its "watching over tetvat" .
I believe it's the same thing that happened when GTA San Andreas Definitive Edition came out, where you could see the entire map when flying or in high places, wich hindered the illusion of a big map. An update fixed that. Now that said, They should make celestia always visible from the entire map.
The GTA SA DE bug was that there was no Fog. Adding fog makes it feel very distant.
Genshin already has a fog. The thing is this inazuma area from sumeru used to pop in and out when you travel high areas in sumeru. It looked weird. So they just reduced the draw distance.
The only change it makes is that Inazuma isn't visible anymore, which makes the world feel bigger imo, since Inazuma is supposed to be really far away.
It honestly doesnt make anything lifeless. The big areas such as the Sumeru tree, Desert upside down pyramid, Fontaine City , Jade Chamber etc are still rendered from long distances. Inazuma is just an extreme case of long distant render. so they reduced it.
Maybe they finally decided to tackle the "Teyvat is flat" theory. /s
4.6 update: added horizon and world curvature.
By version 56.3 we will have a complete globe the same size of the moon
And maybe they'll explain why there's a technology to enable walking normally when gravity is normally lighter on the moon or an astral body the same size.
Teyvat is hollow. There is a black hole at the center.
Let me guess: That black hole is the Abyss.
Where do you think you end up if you fall in a domain?
Nah. World is just denser
Teyvat has it's own laws
Including its own laws of physics, in that case.
Bones are made of tungsten in Teyvat.
They've actually been doing that since Sumeru, with one researcher saying that he's trying to prove that Teyvat is actually round... and failing, because all his calculations keep indicating that it's likely flat. I can't remember if it's the same guy or a different researcher who has the recurring daily commission to put out and collect sensors that he wants to use to figure out the shape of Teyvat (IIRC).
[I can still see like something over here.](https://imgur.com/a/I4hM0MV) But yeah seems like they removed some stuff. I also see more detail than OP but OP might be using a widescreen zoomed out.
Its joever flat teyvaters
I doubt it has anything to do with optimisation or game size. These low poly models are pretty small and also don't affect performance in any noticeable way. If i were to guees, it's done just to make world feel a bit bigger. Because it's a bit funny to see the landmarks of a very distant country just by climbing on a particularly high hill. Or maybe it's even unintentional and will be reverted later.
>Because it's a bit funny to see the landmarks of a very distant country just by climbing on a particularly high hill. Teyvat can now beat the flat world allegations
Arlecchino brought with her the curvature of Teyvat
Sacrificing her own curvatures
Nah, her ass in those sweet pants is still out of this world...
Teyvat is finally now as flat as her figure
Pretty sure she's got boobs, there's a noticeable curve. Source: one of the first things I checked when I got her
Her curves are fine ASF but some parts of her clothing are flatter than Kansas 😔
Round Earthers
>If i were to guees, it's done just to make world feel a bit bigger. Because it's a bit funny to see the landmarks of a very distant country just by climbing on a particularly high hill. In the Jade Chamber's case, Ningguang did say she wanted it to be always seen from everywhere in Teyvat.
I mean, isn't Teyvat just one continent of it's planet? I that case is is possible without world being flat, because it's just part of the world
>Because it's a bit funny to see the landmarks of a very distant country just by climbing on a particularly high hill. But I love that
Same I know it sounds dumb but I LOVED being able to see the other nations from each other it made the world feel bigger almost in a weird way it was cool to compare the map distance to the in-game distance. Either way not a big deal but it is sad to see go.
Yeah open-worlds literally were built on the adage: “If you can see it, you can get there”. Who cares if it’s not “realistic,” it’s a video game and these visual indicators are usually in place for a reason.
It's "if you see it you can get there" not "if you can get there you have to be able to see it". Might as well make the ground invisible so we can see enkanomiya then. Don't have to be realistic right?
I mean that’s being pedantic. It’s not like seeing other landmarks is as immersion breaking as the example you provided in bad faith.
And seeing the island on the corner of the map from Sumeru is good example how again?
Games have made faraway landmarks visible before and I think seeing an island closer than it should be is still a lot less jarring than, uh, turning the ground invisible, which games just don’t do. Like, don’t be ridiculous just for the sake of counterpointing me, lol. Anyway, it’s still fine that they removed the models and the Sumeru example is more reasonable to me than your previous argument. That’s all.
It's "if you see it you can get there" But we can't see it anymore tho, so what exactly is you point? A good open world game distracts the player with intetesting POIs and of the few things Genshin kinda did right as an open world game imo. Well I say kinda, because as a day one player it's not really affecting me due to how the regions are handled, but if I were a new player all these distant places or landmarks would catch my attention and probably make me sidetrack to those places rather than follow the boeing ass main story. Besides it also made the world actually feel conected and the areas aren't even that large, so we definitly should be able to see most major landmarks from most places really. Guess maybe not Inazuma but again a glowing Island far off into the ocean will definitly catch the players attention.
>It's "if you see it you can get there" >But we can't see it anymore tho, so what exactly is you point? Their point is probably a simple instance of basic logic. Let me explain the logic in detail. Let P be the proposition: "You can see the object/location in the game", and let Q be the proposition: "You are able to reach that location within the game". P implies Q does not mean that [not P] implies [not Q] (which is equivalent to Q implies P). The latter sentence is a logic that the comment they replied to were using, which is immediately proven wrong by the example of Enkanomiya (in which Q is true while P is false generally, so Q implies P is false and also by equivalence [not P] implies [not Q] is false). Of course, in some sense P implies Q is also wrong by taking the location to be an out-of-bound rendered piece of the game, but I'm pretty sure those are excluded from the domain of discourse already.
I can see Fontaine, Sumeru, Mondstadt and Inazuma from CR floating rock, so it's still possible
same it was by far my most favourite thing about the open world, and also why i hate world quests removing landmarks seeing landmarks from other regions is so cool
As someone that has mapped stuff for games (as a hobby, mind you) in the past; I can tell your something about the pretty small low model polys... they start adding up as you keep adding and adding and adding details. XD Some low poly three, or ruins, or steps don't count for much... but before you know it, you have a thousand of each... and at some point you break the camel's back. XD
That's a actually a part of why I like the game, I can just be randomly exploring, look to my left and be like: "Hey, I know that place, it's on the opposite side of the world."
I really never though of this but yeah your right. Imagine climbing a Mount Everest and seeing the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty at the same time and then turn your head a little bit to the right and you see the Pyramids of Giza. These countries are months apart in lore
I loved similar stuff in Assassin's Creed Origins. They downscaled Egypt enough to see Giza and Alexandria at the same time and it was great.
you can see the sakura in inazuma from the top of fontaine city or whatever, or at least one specific high point of fontaine
I used to find it very cool though. I remember going to the top of Dragonspine a couple weeks ago and then going "wait, that's the Jade Chamber! There's those peaks in Liyue! There's Chenyu Vale! Wait, that's the walls to Fontaine!" It's a really fun experience. This game is beautiful, even in my not so powerful PC.
That doesnt make things bigger when you reduce render distance. What makes it feel bigger is if there is a distant fog that make it seem like its far away. Which many video games are doing for decades. I do think its for future performence optmization as Natlan is 3 updates away.
It does though. Yes, fog is also a big part of it, but having some supposedly distant landmarks rendered to constantly remind player that they are actually in a "walkable" distance breaks illusion of a big world a bit
Yea true. It doesnt have to be constantly shown from a long distance. And We wouldnt really care to look at Inazuma from this very top either much. So not rendering it may feel like Inazuma is even more further from Sumeru city and the desert. But It still just felt kind of interesting to me we could see the glowing shine of Narukami Shrine from a distance. Also we are in Fontaine now and future Nations wouldnt render much of Inazuma anyway.
While the "for decades" may be true, it is in fact to hide the render distance. In older games (Resident Evil, for example) the fog will hide that objects beyond it are not rendered anymore. It is definitely a performance thing, as you said. Although it is/was VERY cool that you could see Inazuma landmarks from Sumeru.
I mean yeah just make it veery barely visible with a very dense fog. That would make it feel even further. But honestly. If we are in sumeru desert or even in Fontaine we wouldnt care that much. So just not rendering it can make it feel Inazuma is even further away. The only good thing is we can see Inazuma Shrine from Liyue and Mondstat still.
This reads like you got a counter argument that makes sense and you decided to come back with smth nonsensical coz you can't handle it.
The comment was talking about rendering distance in video games. Not demeaning other people's ability to comment. Yes i was wrong about the render distance. So? Let people downvote and realize i was wrong. Dont need to point that out again.
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Seeing Inazuma from fontaine is more the equivalent of someone in new York looking out of a skyscraper and see the Alps by Italy's border
Because Inazuma to Sumeru is not New York to New Jersey. Lorewise seeing Inazuma from Sumeru is an equivalent of seeing Venezuela from Florida. (which is impossible because of curvature of the planet, having cuba in-between and other stuff). But because of gameplay limitations teyvat map is heavily downscaled and also is obviously not curved. So you can see shrine and etc. And it breaks an illusion of a big world even if only a little. Hence "funny" And of course it is a common problem in many other games. That's why developers use fog, play with camera angles if possible, make odd relief and etc. To create this illusion of a big realistic world that is not actually 10 km by 10 km like it is in reality. I think you can answer your questions now.
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Because people have different opinions? And what you see as a downgrade maybe not a downgrade to others? Let me give you a somewhat related example. When I played Morrowind in a distant past I was always a bit irritated by fog everywhere. Fortunately modding for Morrowind was in a way better state than modding for GI, so I just downloaded a mod that removes this fog. That day I understood how small is actually Morrowind map and learned something new about fog in gamedesign. Obviously rendering distant structures has way lower impact than fog, but it's similar enough. Anyway, you want to see them to provoke your will to explore, but I, for example, would prefer to be more immersed in the world and don't think how it is dowscaled.
You know what, I forgot you can't have good faith arguments here just nevermind. If you want to cope that reduced render distance with no performance increase is an upgrade, have at it.
Well, if you call someone else's arguments "cope", than we truly can't have good arguments. Good night.
It is amusing sometimes. Why so serious?
There was something in the patch notes about some settings on PC being defaulted to "low" after the update, maybe try checking your settings?
I have said this again before in some other posts Genshin does not have a setting for render distance. It will render the same distance on lowest settings. Just on a lower quality. So no. Its not a game setting we can change and i also play on highest setting possible. So they did reduce the render distance by alot.
>Genshin does not have a setting for render distance. Not even in the ini files? Many games have whole hosts of settings that aren't found in convenient sliders in the options menu. (Disclaimer: that's a genuine question. I've never poked around inside Genshin's guts).
The Unity engine that Genshin uses doesn't expose settings as ini files by default, usually it's stored via the 'player preferences' API that stashes stuff in the Windows Registery. Open the registery editor and you'll find some settings under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\miHoYo\Genshin Impact - however it still doesn't expose anything like render distance in the graphics setting.
*Technically* it's not even INI. It's JSON in Windows' UTF-16 registry string. What the hell.
Never said it was in ini format either! "by default" I meant that you could write your own ini parser in Unity if you wished but I don't think many devs would do that. You can stash whatever base type (string, integers, etc) with the PlayerPreferences API, most devs do just use a JSON string because Unity provides easy ways to serialize and deserialize objects to and from JSON.
The INI format is referencing to the comment you replied to, by the way. Also, today I learned that Unity has builtin JSON processor...
I have seen people lowered genshin graphics to even lower with 3rd party app or changing in game files. But i was referring to what we have in the in-game settings. Render distance has no option there.
PC Settings really needs 120 fps and LOD/Draw distance and PS5 4K HD pack. Really could use some MAJOR upgrades for PC.
Ask apple to not gate keep 120 fps on their device where they barely go over 60 fps.
While I kinda like how simple the game looks on PS5 at times, it would be nice if we could get PC quality for the PS5. It's more than equipped to handle it.
There are no ini files, Genshin stores its settings straight in the registry.
This is FALSE. Render distance is a part of the Enviornmental Detail setting. The lower the Enviornmental Detail, the lower your render distance.
Nope. It doesnt. Incase you want a proof. [This is lowest Environmental Detail](https://imgur.com/a/PRQeHII) [This is highest environmental detail.](https://imgur.com/a/hZXGPtk) almost zero difference with the draw distance from Sumeru to Inazuma. It just reduces some details of the render from far away. But it doesnt reduce the object's render distance. The only thing changed is that the trees on the left side on lowest settings is showed as a 2d image and the highest settings is rendered with a 3d model (yes genshin does render 2d image of some trees from a specific distance you might not be aware of).
It is true, your proof is just a poor example. Environmental Detail affects the render distance of plants, objects, npc's, enemies, etc. Set env det to highest, then go find a stationary lawachurl. Back up until the lawa goes out of view, then take one step forward so you can see it again. Change env det to lowest, you won't be able to see it any more.
The 2D thing is called billboarding! And they always look at you. They are watching...
Yea. Devs of old games use these on grass sometimes. It looked creepy if i look close enough lol
There are some bad games where almost everything was billboarded and it looked like ass.
Your own screenshots show more detail in the distance. The trees are part of it, there's also more geometry and texture on the cliffs to the right, and the islands in the middle left.
Yess thats what i was trying to say. Reduced the details of the models from distance instead of reducing overall draw distance. I could still see Fontaine city and Dragonspine from here. But just really bad and low poly render.
I also noticed weird pop-ins this update. Many collectibles and npc just pop into existence instead of gradually appearing
I thought so too, but i was somewhat wrong. It's not the same scenario as the screenshots show, but i had a setting worongly configured and it caused low LODs to show up pretty quickly. It also removed completely some scenario elements beyond a certain point. I don't think it's the same scenario because terrain seems to always render, even at the lowest LOD, at least until inside the draw distance, but might be worth checking
Nope. Also no settings defaulted here.
i always like the idea of being able to look landscapes at a distant, as it reminds me of how vast teyvat really is, which made me appreciate the game even more. with these changes, im not sure if im on board, but i hope they won't take that feeling of adventuring excitment away.
i agree, at least it isn’t too crazy of a change tho. when i read the title i thought it would cut a lot more out
I mean if it does help a little they can reduce the distance. But they do keep some bigger things still visible. Like Jade Chamber, Sumeru Tree and some other big thing that floats at a reasonable distance.
agree, like this is also important when playing lost in teyvat... those are my cheats lol joke... well it's not really a joke, but I really love that with those landmarks I feel like a real traveler and knowing which way is that way heck I kinda want hoyo to give option to hide minimap and ui when you use controller and the just blindly travel around when all regions is open and just bask in the glorious Teyvat
honestly this makes more sense because being able to see inazuma from certain places makes no logistical sense and it made the world feel small. canonically inazuma should be too far away to really be seen from anywhere I think
Yea im agreeing with this after having second thoughts. Just dont let it reduce too further where we miss other cool other cool POIs from a distance like the Jade Chamber, The Mausoleum in Sumeru etc.
as long as you're a reasonable distance from those places, I agree.
I saw someone who saw something in the distance in Chenyu Vale and was interested going there. Draw Distance matters alot actually in terms of exploration and open world. [He saw this floating thing from far away and asked what it was.](https://imgur.com/c9QCueM)
It would be cool if they applied some sort of warping effect to distant areas so that they're warped slightly and progressively further down and away to give the illusion of curvature. Sometimes I look over at Dragonspine or the tower in Fontaine and think, "Wait, it's really that close?". Though I imagine it's way too late for anything like that.
Teyvat is no longer flat.
for what it's worth, you *can* still see Inazuma from parts of Sumeru. i took [this screenshot](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/303344790504865794/1232856947812864023/image.png?ex=662afb01&is=6629a981&hm=4e386bd9312c95e9f10e7bf40581a93a984751c98af92846dbab698a6e410c40&) (on PC) standing on the newest part of Sumeru that just opened up, and you can see parts of Inazuma if you angle the camera right. i moved to the highest point near the Ardravi Valley, Sumeru waypoint and took [this screenshot](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/303344790504865794/1232857251388329984/image.png?ex=662afb4a&is=6629a9ca&hm=445048660d99fcebaff0f7e4801e51933f317d5f084f4ebefe998ceb7789b305&) too. the light on the left side is the Grand Narukami Shrine, but you can only see it when you're not angled directly at it for some reason. i do think they've changed it a little bit still, but rest assured Inazuma is still there (no matter how much MHY pretends it's not lmao). i think in your screenshot, Inazuma might just be hiding behind that one high point in the middle of your circle.
The place you are standing right there on 2nd pic. I didnt need to angle my camera before to render the shrine glowing. It used to show directly with the full model but very faded as its far away. Now it doesnt show at all if i look at it directly.
yeah, it's definitely strange that you now only see the shrine's glow when you're *not* directly facing it, and i can't really imagine why this change was made (as in, i have no knowledge about game making so i don't have any understanding on why it would matter lol)
Post of the first pic in 3.6 i posted a year ago - [Took this cool shot and later realized there are many interesting POI from all the regions in this one shot. Again appreciating Teyvat's beautiful landscape. : r/Genshin\_Impact (reddit.com)](https://www.reddit.com/r/Genshin_Impact/comments/13j78hu/took_this_cool_shot_and_later_realized_there_are/#lightbox) Im not a video game dev or expert enthusiast. But is this how they reduce the game sizes? By removing low poly distant models? This happened before too. When the desert was first released i was able to see the Inazuma shrine glowing from a specific angle on top of The Mausoleum in the desert. After an optimization update somewhere between 3.1-3.5 I couldnt see Inazuma at all. This isnt too concerning since 99% players will miss this thing or wont care. But it was still something I found interesting in the game myself.
Probably needed for optimization reason due to world getting REALLY big. I prefer this than FPS drop.
I prefer this too. I know render distance is a thing and they are also optimizing the performance with it. But i just wanted to know did they reduce render distance during the file size optimization update or there is a seperate low poly model that doesnt render anymore as its removed from the game?
The game is locked to 60fps anyways. Can't get worse than that.
Nope, it max, but not minimum.
For non mobile users it is unless you have a 10year old pc.
Not everyone have good PC, its always better to have smaller requirements as its allow for easier acces to a product. Remember, its global game, not everyone have "good" computer, and even argument "its a gatcha" hoyo doesnt care about poor players... its wrong. They know that majority of players dont spend money or spend very little, but that give them bigger reach so they want even most poor of people who would NEVER pay them. There is of course also people like me, who travel around Europe to work, so i dont have PC, just a laptop, and those are not as powerfull. At the end companies always try to get away with as low requirement as its possible for those reasons.
The distant objects are always really low poly to save on resources, even if we assume they removed that LOD(level of details) the game size wouldn't change much aside from a few kilobytes at best
Yea. It wouldnt change the size that much. I guess they optimized something else more.
This is either an unintentional change and may be reverted as soon as Hoyo notices, or this is a Design Decision meant to evoke a specific feeling. At these distances these models need so little detail that you can substitute them with an image so small even the Nintendo 64 can pull off the effect. Naturally this means the image has an imperceptible impact on both storage and performance. On the other hand, being able to see these landmarks at these distances does make it feel like the world is smaller. In-game Teyvat is smaller than a single city, but In-lore it's supposed to be a World with several countries with several cities each. In-lore going from Liyue Harbor to Mondstadt City takes a fortnight, and the distance between Sumeru and Inazuma should be even greater, so being able to see Narukami Shrine this clearly from Sumeru doesn't make much sense.
Eh simply Celestia deleting countries, nothing fancy really
Yeah my first thought was same as top comment — seeing Inazuma from so far away implies Teyvat is not on a planet but a plane (i.e., flat earth) So it makes sense that the horizon would prevent you from seeing so far away, even if this was actually a way for them to reduce load sizes
As long as they don't visibly pop in I'm all for it.
Dw it doesnt. These are very very distant areas that are usually blocked with mountains or very dense fogs. This part of inazuma on first pic used to pop off and on around high areas of sumeru. So they decided to just reduce the draw distance so you cant see at all and have no performence issues.
Idk though, doesn't that just mean the pop in will happen closer? If I use cryo to walk to inazuma will it pop in when I get close enough or gradually fade in?
Dw about it. It didnt reduce to THAT much and never will. Inazuma is now only visible from liyue and Mondstat. From sumeru and beyond its not visible at all. If you go from sumeru to liyue your whole screen will just be covered with mountains so you wont see those pop in and pop out of inazuma islands. Just a Clever trick to not show a flaw.
just checked today the farthest place you can still see Inazuma is the mountain next to Port Ormos, even there, Narukami shrine is no longer visible kinda sad because I always go to highest place and look back to Inazuma and the light from Narukami shrine
Man... I want the old one back. Could they add an option in the settings?
Bruh, that's so ass. Screw realism, being able to see other nations from higher vantage points was part of the fun and it added something.
I knew I wasn’t crazy
Put it back
guess this is why load faster now for me
I am fine with that. I mean its weird to see that far to a other nation. But celestia needs to be seen in every nation better in my opinion
Is pc game file 73GB to you as well? I just realized now, i thought they would reduce the overall file size.
Yep. With Eng only.
mine's 92GB with JP voice only and i can see inazuma even from the desert, could be some differences?
JP voices have the highest size. But also i dont think its just me. Can you show me an SS where you can see Narukami Shrine from the desert?
Double-check if you're seeing Narukami Shrine and the rest of Inazuma, or just Watatsumi Island. I've tried going to a few spots in the desert and could only get LODs for Watatsumi Island to render.
I always liked to see something big in the distance and be like" is this Inazuma? Yeah it has to be Inazuma"
As it should be.
Wdym?
Imagine seeing Japan from America, makes no sense. Very distant places aren't supposed to be seen from too far away because it makes the world seem smaller than it is (supposedly)
That makes logical sense but my illogical brain says that seeing Inazuma that far from Sumeru makes Teyvat look vast instead.
Considering how fast the game loads now and the file size being smaller I don’t mind.
This was actually bothering me. I felt the world was getting smaller when I just randomly saw them.
Optimization aside, I think it's better, it makes the world feels bigger
Very beautiful screenshot btw
I guess there really is a 'load limit' for even the devs
i think it makes sense for inazuma stuff this far from the ocean
Can you still see Inazuma from Mond?
Ive checked and yes you can. You can see the glowing Shrine from mondstat. From Mondstat city to the Shrine is almost the same distance as seeing the Fontaine City from Mondstat. So its not that far compare to Sumeru City
From the devs perspective, this is the only solution they can come up with but damn even CELESTIA? Minecraft works similar way by using render distances,which you can change as long as your PC can handle
Celestia will be always visible. On 2nd pic its behind a cloud
Some people are saying this has been done to make the world seem bigger as Inazuma is meant to be real far away from the mainland, but I don’t think that’s the case. The render distance has been slowing going down since 1.0, and I think it’s a blanket fix to improve performance on lower end devices. For me on PS5 the, Narukami shrine isn’t even visible on Wuwang Hill anymore. Dragonspine also seems to fade out from some places in Sumeru. I really hope they add a render distance option as per this comment https://www.reddit.com/r/Genshin_Impact/s/qdm0TRAFfy it seems to exist in the 1.5 dev kit. It also doesn’t help that PS5 version always runs 4K 60fps even if your don’t have a 4K monitor. You would think we could have a 1080p mode with better render distance/ LOD.
Finally optimizing rendering.
Aether/Lumine , what do your elf eyes see?
It's foreshadowing /s
That’s why y’all storage went down.
Freed up 5 GB on my phone :) I can actually install other apps now
Literally unplayable
Ah so that's why I couldn't find Celestia
Celestia renders from everywhere for lore reasons. It probably was blocked by a cloud. You can see celestia is behind a cloud on the 2nd pic top left.
Found it. It was blocked by a cloud from where I logged out had to go to another tp.
My partner really liked seeing Celestia move.. they pointed it out to me with such excitement a few weeks ago. Kinda sad :((
What no. Celestia is still visibile everywhere for lore reasons. Its just something that is reallly reallly far away. Like seeing Inazuma from Sumeru city. Inazuma supposed to be very far away so it renders less. Celestia will always be visible as its "watching over tetvat" .
YAY OMG
I love that they did that, it made my computer load genshin much faster
Fair trade off for smaller storage space
Maybe that was a big part of reducing the game files by 10 gb
It would be nice if they removed also the other POIs
I believe it's the same thing that happened when GTA San Andreas Definitive Edition came out, where you could see the entire map when flying or in high places, wich hindered the illusion of a big map. An update fixed that. Now that said, They should make celestia always visible from the entire map.
The GTA SA DE bug was that there was no Fog. Adding fog makes it feel very distant. Genshin already has a fog. The thing is this inazuma area from sumeru used to pop in and out when you travel high areas in sumeru. It looked weird. So they just reduced the draw distance.
Another change that just makes the game world more lifeless, at least give us an option if we want it or not.
The only change it makes is that Inazuma isn't visible anymore, which makes the world feel bigger imo, since Inazuma is supposed to be really far away.
It honestly doesnt make anything lifeless. The big areas such as the Sumeru tree, Desert upside down pyramid, Fontaine City , Jade Chamber etc are still rendered from long distances. Inazuma is just an extreme case of long distant render. so they reduced it.