Sprite Smoothing/Texture Filtering defaults

[HexenMapper]

Having to wade through the options is certainly something that should be avoided for first time players. the Graphic settings being spread over 3 different screens (Display options, Set Video mode, and OpenGL settings) All 3 of which require tinkering in order to get back to vanilla.

"Lets simply have filters turned off by default, since the majority of players think they look fugly"

It really is as simple as this.

[m8f]

Having to wade through the options is certainly something that should be avoided for first time players. the Graphic settings being spread over 3 different screens (Display options, Set Video mode, and OpenGL settings) All 3 of which require tinkering in order to get back to vanilla.

[Shortcut Menu] Vanilla Essence

[nazakomu]

ultimately, the question is: what are we to do in order to figure out what the default should be OTHER THAN more telemetry?
the idea of a whole first-time setup dialog box or whatever it is, already sounds more bothersome than things should be for a first-time player

[Rachael]

You can do an optional telemetry - i.e. "GZDoom would like to upload your configuration file. This is purely optional and only used for development purposes to fine-tune the defaults for a wider range of users, but you are not required to send this data. Send it? [Yes] [No]"

[Zenon]

Sounds good

[nazakomu]

You can do an optional telemetry - i.e. "GZDoom would like to upload your configuration file. This is purely optional and only used for development purposes to fine-tune the defaults for a wider range of users, but you are not required to send this data. Send it? [Yes] [No]"

Well, if that's the only way, then so be it.
I doubt there will really be any other alternatives to this.

[Graf Zahl]

the same brutal doom players that very likely use zandronum instead of gzdoom anyway

Then who are those 75000 people who downloaded GZDoom 3.2.5 in a mere 2.5 months?

[Shortcut Menu] Vanilla Essence

I've never seen that. Which makes me question again: Why do those with a clear vanilla-style preference immediately assume that this is what people are longing for?
I'd guess the majority are far more the type that says "max out my settings and enable all eye candy."

But to summarise, yes, I think the only way to get a clear picture to know what settings people like would be to add more invasive data-gathering to the survey code. Which not only does not help anyone develop the port but also gets into questionable territory because it no longer checks hardware capabilities but user preferences.

Sending the INI file? No, not as long as I have anything to say. That goes too far. I will also disable the survey with one of the upcoming releases. I'll let it gather data for one month at most, maybe and then make a new release to turn it off. We are already at the point where the newly added data does not add anything of value to the overall picture anymore.
We already know which features are no longer needed and which ones need continued support.

[Zenon]

We already know which features are no longer needed and which ones need continued support.

I am intrigued
Will you be letting us know in the near future?

[nazakomu]

Okay, I have something important to ask....
Would it be realistic to assume that a first-time player, that uses GZDoom for their very first time, gets irked seeing that texture filtering is off? I don't even think they would pay attention.
Actually, this brings me to making a follow-up question.. Why are Brutal Doom players even a concern at this point? We're trying to decide what the default should be, purely in favor of brand new players, are we not?

[Graf Zahl]

We already know which features are no longer needed and which ones need continued support.

I am intrigued
Will you be letting us know in the near future?

viewtopic.php?p=1047243#p1047243

[Graf Zahl]

We're trying to decide what the default should be, purely in favor of brand new players, are we not?

Correct, but we have no idea how they tick. One thing you should never forget is that most younger people have never seen a game with large blocky square texels clearly visible. I couldn't stand that look 20 years ago already.

[nazakomu]

One thing you should never forget is that most younger people have never seen a game with large blocky square texels clearly visible. I couldn't stand that look 20 years ago already.

Uhm.... Minecraft?

[Graf Zahl]

What makes you sure *most* people have seen that?

[nazakomu]

What makes you sure *most* people have seen that?

With a Google search of "most popular video games," Minecraft is one of the first results.
If that isn't enough, Wikipedia says that it has been sold 144 million times.

[Rachael]

Let's stop making assumptions here: We care about the preferences of GZDoom users. Not ZDoom forum users. Not Minecraft users. Not Pong users. Any extra data is fluff and irrelevant. If the first category happens to fall in one of the other three, they are but one of many, and yes they still count but that's not the point.

Anyway, @Graf: My idea with the ini file was to remove the aliases and string CVARs anyhow - and any other potentially identifiable data - and collect aggregates - but that's irrelevant and moot now.

What we can do, however, is invite people to take a survey online. We can use Qualtrics or something, or whatever may be cheaper if that costs (I don't know if it does) - and invite them to participate from GZDoom. If they click "Yes" at the prompt asking if they'd like to join said survey, all that's needed then is a call such as:

Code: Select all

system("https://link.to/survey");

and it loads in their default browser. (At least, it does in Windows - not sure about Mac/Linux) As far as I know, Qualtrics is pretty good about protecting users' privacy, but this all would require a bit more research to see if they'd be a usable platform for our needs.