Zoom Level Balance

[Priyamvada22]

Zoom level matters for aoe 2.

Take another similar game like dota where you’re supposed to micro and use mini-map.

• paid dota 2 zoom hacks exists and valve has to work hard banning them
• no matter what resolution you use the max and min zoom level or the rendered image is always the same in dota 2.
• I’ve used zoom hacks and they completely improve your gameplay level

I’ve played aoe with custom resolution. I get the idea that minimap is smaller but it’s not that bad.
A sweet spot exists where mini map is usable and the zoom level is much greater than 1080p.

This gives me an advantage in the game over someone who is using just 1080p.

@ fightmight is right.

Stop pretending this isn’t an issue.

FIRST PRIORITY OF GAME DEV. IS TO QUELL ANY OBVIOUS UNFAIRNESS.

And thus this should be prioritized and removed.

And being a software dev. with 15 years experience in C++ I say fightmight is probably right that the change may not be massive.

[WoodsierCorn696]

Sorry to say, but this isn’t really a big issue at all. If it even is an issue.

[Darkness01101]

I feel like this thread needs more context. A link to the relevant thread and info on what resolution you play at is appreciated; though, assume you play at greater than 1080p

[SugaryGraph1416]

@Priyamvada22

paid dota 2 zoom hacks exists and valve has to work hard banning them

can change one value in “client.dll” for free as software dev. with 1 year of experience i’m able to do it with notepad++.

fly away

[Priyamvada22]

@SugaryGraph1416 No thanks. Enjoy your vac ban though.

[Priyamvada22]

@Darkness01101
Here is the context.

Aoe2: Defective Edition Should be a test of Skill. Not of Who has a better resolution

Jesus christ… where even to begin? CSGO aspect ratio change is minor. What are you on about? You can literally see more of the map in 16:9… IN A GAME WHERE THE GOAL IS TO SEE ENEMIES IN ORDER TO SHOOT THEM. Also, yes it is not as drastic as it might sound, when first hearing it… just like the problem you have. I assume, fair balanced competition is not something people want. If they did, they would have supported me. it seems the community, the society really hate fair play and fair com…

[CutmanFS]

Ah yes, you’re forgetting the “increased minimap size” mods i just remembered haha. In all seriousness I use an old 27" tv as my monitor and it’s max res is only 1600x900 so I supersample using the regular windows resolution settings to get a larger view of the battlefield for the 300 pop lag fests i prefer playing. I do somewhat agree that no matter what your resolution is, you should be able to zoom in and out to the same limits, but I’m content doing it this way because I prefer the resolution overall on everything, even if i’m losing some performance and also some crispness, but this also has the hidden bonus of being anti aliasing for free and supersampling as it is called is actually often used by games for this purpose, and is also configurable in the nvidia control panel.

Oh and as a small challenge to you guys I suggest occasionally disabling ALL mods you are using and play the game the way it comes out of the box from time to time just as a way to humble and maybe cultivate some ideas-fixes-suggestions so the devs dont feel like they’re playing “5 dimensional chess with multiverse time travel” when trying to make the the “correct” changes everyone is asking for.

[Priyamvada22]

@WoodsierCorn696
Why isn’t it an issue? Most would consider a player playing at 480p zoom level vs 1080p zoom level an unfair fight. Why don’t we give same consideration to 1080p zoom level and 1440p(or something else) zoom level?

Other games where you have to micro units and see minimap don’t allow different levels of zoom for different resolution. Are they wrong?

[Priyamvada22]

@CutmanFS

you’re forgetting the “increased minimap size” mods

There was also a hack which allowed you to have a big minimap on another monitor.

I do somewhat agree that no matter what your resolution is, you should be able to zoom in and out to the same limits.

Thank you. You’re the first.

[CutmanFS]

This topic is about to become a problem…

What about people that paid more money for better monitors and hardware and such? Do they not DESERVE an advantage?

See ya later everybody! 11

[SugaryGraph1416]

Just buy a new good monitor, why u restricting people.

Dont be homeless, just buy a house(c)

TheLefty(aka TheViper) still top 5% of players. Should we ban all right handed players?
Or should u just learn how to play?

[WoodsierCorn696]

@Priyamvada22

@WoodsierCorn696
Why isn’t it an issue? Most would consider a player playing at 480p zoom level vs 1080p zoom level an unfair fight. Why don’t we give same consideration to 1080p zoom level and 1440p(or something else) zoom level?

Other games where you have to micro units and see minimap don’t allow different levels of zoom for different resolution. Are they wrong?

We have this feature for years in the game. It was already part of Voobly. I never really heard higher level players claiming that different zoom levels are really an issue. If it really was an issue, then i expect many higher rated players speaking about this issue. In reality i dont really see many complaints at all.

[MatCauthon3]

@Priyamvada22

Why isn’t it an issue? Most would consider a player playing at 480p zoom level vs 1080p zoom level an unfair fight.

if you’re playing at 480p i have to wonder if your computer is good enough to support multiplayer to begin with. a 1080 monitor IS NOT EXPENSIVE.

[UprightAtol98]

If what you are saying is true, why are most of the pro players still using 1080p and/or don’t play zoomed out?

… Because micro and minimap awareness are more important at the higher level!

When I was a noob about 9 years ago and switched from 1080p to 1440p (forgotten empires mod) it indeed did feel like a big advantage.

Now last year I switched from 1440p to 4k. I didn’t feel like it gave me any boost in my ELO or winrate at all…

[Darkness01101]

Imagine having an entire wall in your room with nine or sixteen 4K monitors showing the entire map of AoE in front of you! Now we’re talking

[breeminator]

Anyone can play at any zoom level they want, as I described here, with the same being possible with AMD cards, but obviously the exact steps will be different.

PSA: How to zoom out more with an Nvidia graphics card

There have been numerous threads where people have complained about not being able to zoom out enough with a 1080p monitor. I’ve got a fix working, but it wasn’t completely obvious how to do it, so I thought I’d share step by step instructions. Note that this is specific to Nvidia graphics cards, but you can do the same thing with AMD virtual resolution. Open Nvidia Control Panel, this should be accessible from an icon called Nvidia Settings on the right hand side of the Windows taskbar. In 3D…

[Darkness01101]

Yeah, that’s an awesome trick, breeminator! Thanks for sharing. Only down side is I only want it to be like that while playing AoE… so it’s a bit of manual work to switch between that and regular 1080HD that I want for everything else