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[bomblord]

All the talk about the draw distance of X and how it compares to other games got me thinking.

What games can you think of that have impressive draw distance?

An impressive draw distance means it is rendering actual geometry not just a static background, also it need to be either active or interactive in some form ex. you either need to be able to visit the location or that location must have some form of nonstatic real geometry in it not just a flat background.

Also anything with very noticeable pop does not count, and the game must also be playable at that draw distance.

 

[k_trout]

project IGI
first one that popped into my head
i couldnt believe that sh*t

 

[Nibel]

Just draw distance in general or draw distances with showing places that you can actually visit?

 

[DieH@rd]

project IGI
first one that popped into my head
i couldnt believe that sh*t

Lol, I concur.

 

[SixStringPsycho]

Just draw distance in general or draw distances with showing places that you can actually visit?

I think the latter.
But to answer the OP question. Skyrim does pop into my mind.

 

[Terbinator]

Alan Wake.

 

[bomblord]

Just draw distance in general or draw distances with showing places that you can actually visit?

I'm going to say something that can be visited and if can't be it needs to be interactive or active in some form. (ex even though you can't go a lot of places in Halo 3 you can still see hornets and banshees dogfighting)

 

[Triggerhappytel]

Just Cause 2.

Amazing - if over-large and thus a little boring - environment.

 

[Akira_83]

draw distance means nothing if its just static background that you cant actually visit

 

[Dr. Kenneth Noisewater]

 

[k_trout]

Just Cause 2.

Amazing - if over-large and thus a little boring - environment.

got to be the winner

see for miles and miles and miles

 

[scar tissue]

Can't you manually set draw distance in some (many?) PC games? Thus the winner is every single PC game where you can do this.

Short draw distance is one of my pet peeves. Before making the poly count any better, I suggest making the draw distance large enough that pop-in and draw-in are no longer noticeable.

 

[EatChildren]

Twilight Princess. Impressive not necessarily for the distance, but (I think it was) Miyamoto's insistence that you see enemies in Hyrule Field no matter how far away they are. The game had very little enemy pop-in, and you could punt arrows at enemies over quite a long distance.

 

[lefantome]

Tests drive unlimited 1-2

 

[Onemic]

All the talk about the draw distance of X and how it compares to other games got me thinking.

What games can you think of that have impressive draw distance? Also, does anyone know what the current record is? Years ago I read that Halo 3 held the record with a draw distance of 10 miles has anything surpassed that?

Probably any PC game.

That and Halo 3's draw distance is probably based around places you can't even visit yet since it's not open world.

 

[strata8]

I think the latter.
But to answer the OP question. Skyrim does pop into my mind.

Skyrim (see: Gamebryo) is poop if you look at it from a technical level.

Thankfully it's somewhat saved by the art.

 

[asker]

It won't really make much sense comparing different games' draw distances. I'm sure there are 4X games that draw stars lightyears away that you can visit.

 

[CortexVortex]

Uncharted 2

 

[filopilo]

noyhing is impressive in itself about draw distance.
It's always about ratio distance/complexity.

flight sims ?
eve online ?

 

[BolognaSoup]

Space Engine

 

[Sethos]

Depending on your machine, ArmA 3 ( When the main island is implemented, it's going to be much more impressive. )

 

[thelatestmodel]

project IGI
first one that popped into my head
i couldnt believe that sh*t

IGI was ridiculous back in the day.

 

[Cesar]

Jak & Daxter. You could see things way off in the distance located in other levels. On the tower of the final bossfight you had a view over the entire world. I thought it was amazing back then.

 

[Screaming Meat]

Red Dead always impressed me.

 

[Aguirre]

Skyrim (see: Gamebryo) is poop if you look at it from a technical level.

Thankfully it's somewhat saved by the art.

these pictures blow my mind. im playing on pc 1080p@60fps with draw distance set to highest...

the x360 version is so bare and sparse... and full of jaggies! O.O

 

[Cyborg]

Can someone put the picture from MGSV trailer!

 

[RooMHM]

N64 games?

 

[Alien Bob]

Kerbal Space Program http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS9-7wJtUoA

 

[sixteen-bit]

Vanishing point on the Dreamcast.

It's a racing game without pop-up :O

 

[Drazgul]

Space Engine

Cheater.

 

[Rich!]

XENOBLADE.

 

[aRogue]

Killzone: Shadow Fall blew me away in terms of draw distance.

 

[k_trout]

Vanishing point on the Dreamcast.

It's a racing game without pop-up :O

is this based upon the movie?
any naked chicks on horses?

 

[Protome]

I remember finding the Majora's Mask draw distance incredibly impressive back on the N64. Especially coming off of Ocarina Of Time's awful one.

 

[tamaster92]

ARMA 2 lets you set the render distance to 1000Km

That's... Pretty far

 

[vareon]

Back in the days I was always impressed by Wind Waker. Gazing into the telescope to see the Dragon sitting in Dragon's Roost island from far, far away was mindblowing.

 

[Ace Harding]

I know its not great by any standards, but I remember being blown away by this in Fallout 3. That was the first game in the current gen I played. I was just amazed that you could see the Washington Monument or some other landmark from miles away and then just walk there.

Red Dead was the same way.

But games where "if you can see it you can get there" are a dime a dozen now. As others have said, fidelity at a distance and consistency at different distances are much more impressive than raw distance.

 

[astroturfing]

Red Dead always impressed me.

yeah RDR was crazy. i can't understand how they even got it running without slowing down to 10fps or something... sometimes there's a TON of detail on screen (cactuses all over, well animated animals, houses, fairly complex terrain, beautiful dynamic skybox etc) and yet you can see for miles in every direction and it runs pretty smoothly, AND it's using Euphoria physics which i imagine is more demanding than the average physics engines in most other games (Havoc or whatever).

really damn impressive game technically.

 

[rjc571]

Fuel has a draw distance of 24.8 miles/40km.

 

[ozfunghi]

x.gif

 

[strafer]

World of Warcraft wins everything.

 

[Xav]

 

[astroturfing]

^whats that? :O

Sleeping Dogs..?

 

[Metroid]

^whats that? :O

Sleeping Dogs..?

Crackdown I think.

 

[DrAndonuts]

^whats that? :O

Sleeping Dogs..?

I think it's Crackdown.

 

[nib95]

 

[Xav]

^whats that? :O

Sleeping Dogs..?

Crackdown, the game that secretly went on to become the Xbox 360's best exclusive game.

 

[astroturfing]

the Assassin's Creed games are also pretty impressive at times when it comes to draw distance.. for me it was always an amazing experience to climb to the highest point and just look at the whole city span around you, with mountains in the distance and a hawk circling above (and Jesper Kyd's perfect atmospheric music <3). really cool stuff. too bad about AC3.

Crackdown I think.

ok. hmm, is that an actual in-game screenshot? looks a bit too good for an early 360 game to me but i dunno.

 

[Aguirre]

Crackdown I think.

definitely crackdown. i can actually be on one island and see cars drive about on other islands...

pretty crazy.

 

[Red Chocobo]

Delta Force: Land Warrior.

Bear in mind this was 13 years ago.