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Wolfenstein: The New Order is causing me headache and nausea

R

RustyNails

Member
I can't seem to play the game for more than 20 minutes (on PS4) before my eyes start to strain and I get a frontal headache. I get a nauseous feeling inside soon. At that point I have to close the game and walk away. Anyone had similar problems playing FPS games? Is it the 60 fps thing? I played Bioshock Infinite in 2013 on my PS3 without a single bout of nausea or headache.
 
Wolfenstein is a solid 60 FPS. I could understand getting sick with a game like Bioshock Infinite, where the FPS can fluctuate wildly, but not the other way around.
 
Some of the cutscenes gave me headache and nausea.

I'm a pansy.

no not the romance scenes

Seriously at some points I really felt like throwing up even with my eyes closed because of the screaming.
 
Sounds like a health issue. I've never had any motion sickness or nausea playing 60fps or 30fps games. 60fps by no means inherently causes motion sickness. I'd go see a professional, I don't think GAF is qualified to give you a diagnosis.
 
It might be a mix of 60 fps and small FOV. Your eyes might try to focus on the objects that quickly fly off screen, causing disorientation.
 
OnionPowder said:
Have you ever had issues with play games like Call of Duty on consoles? Seeing if other low FOV games make you sick
Click to expand...
I played the Modern Warfare 1 and 2 on the PC not on consoles, and dont recall any motion sickness. But my computer isn't a beast, and I probably played those in medium settings (if that helps).
 
Try sitting at an angle and not completely centered when playing this used to happen to me when I played Halo 2 back in the day.

I know it sounds weird but if it helped me it might help you. And yes FOV and fps drops can cause this.
 
One thing I noticed about Wolfenstein TNO was the insane amount of head/camera movement, I imagine anyone sensitive to this sort of thing will be vomiting very quickly. On the PC version it is possible to remove it.

All you can really do is try to change the way you view the game:
Sit closer / further away.
Change the background lighting.
Change field of view in the game option, if it exists.
Try a smaller/larger TV or scale settings etc.

Make sure you're not actually going blind and this is eye strain related; if it happens again with anything else you should probably get a check up at an optometrist if you haven't already.

People who experience this on a day to day basis might give better tips. As for me, TNO's head movement and noisy textures were pretty rough on my eyes, but never to the point of headaches or nausea.
 
unholyrevenger72 said:
I never understood how low FOV could induce nausea. For me it's the reverse, Fishbowling gives me a headache, not Nausea just a splitting headache.
Click to expand...

I was just reading up on FoV and happened upon this article which explains why very clearly.
Some people may actually experience motion sickness from playing games with a low field of view (This may be further impacted by a low frame rate as well, another trick game developers often use to increase graphics).

When your field of view is small it means player movements and looking around have more effect on the camera movement. Things like head bobbing from running become a lot more noticeable and jerky camera movements are more common. On top of this your brain expects to have peripheral vision to make sense of the surrounding environment which you no longer have. Your body doesnÂ’t like this which can make you feel nauseous after playing for a while.
Click to expand...
and
low fov:
deus_ex_human_revolution_75_fov.jpg


high fov
deus_ex_human_revolution_100_fov.jpg
Click to expand...
 
Havent played this yet..
Is there a headbob on/off option.
When its available I always turn it off. I get the same feeling you described in FPSs.
 
I don't know what tv and settings OP uses, but for me I sometimes have to disable Black Frame Insertion. Eventough this might lower visual fidelity, it did help me from getting eyestrain with certain games. I don't know why, but some games seem to make the flickering of BFI much more noticeable. Also, as a general rule, make sure the room is well lit, putting a small light behind the tv makes for some very soft indirect lighting.
 
I thought I was the only one...I noticed a bit of dizziness while currently playing this on my PC.

For the record, I've been playing FPS games over the years since the original Wolfenstein and they have never, ever had this kind of effect on me before. It isn't bad to the point of shutting it off, but I have certainly given my head a few shakes and paused it once or twice. Very bizarre. Back in the day, Super Mario 2 would make me nauseated when Bob-Omb blasts would go off and flicker red and white on the screen. Freaky as hell and I would have to close my eyes from that point when I would anticipate them.
 
Just ordered this game and now I am afraid. I usually don't suffer from motion sickness though there are some rare cases like the Call of Juarez games.

Is the FOV really that bad?
 
Low FoV and distance to the screen is usually the biggest offenders when you get headaches from playing certain games. Playing the demo of the XBLA version of Marathon was the worst thing ever. I had a headache within 10 minutes playing that.
 
Xyber said:
Playing the demo of the XBLA version of Marathon was the worst thing ever. I had a headache within 10 minutes playing that.
Click to expand...
Happened before my time, but yeah, that Marathon thread was hilarious. Aleph One at least has options to fix the FOV, though I'm sure it can only be done through manually altering the config file.
 
Graffgor said:
It's because you're running around looking at you feet all the time.

Picking up ammo/items in that game is the worst.
Click to expand...

While I enjoyed the game a LOT and will play through it again I agree with this statement. Got so tired of constantly looking down to pick up all items/ammo.
 
Probably the FoV (I played on PC though so I don't know how the console version is), which tend to be awful on console games. That's why FoV sliders are extra important on PC games since you sit even closer to the screen. No idea if 30 or 60 fps have any impact since I don't suffer from motion sickness by playing games.
 
It most likely is because of 60FPS. Lots of people are susceptible to nausea from high framerates in games where the viewpoint moves around quickly and wildly. My theory is that it's because the visual processing in the brain becomes overloaded with information that doesn't correlate with your inner ear. 30FPS looks less 'real' so there's probably less discord, and there's less visuals for brain to process.

My only suggestion would be to sit farther away from the screen, and try and make slower POV movements.
 
I have the exact same problem with Metro:Redux. apparently it's a combo of the FoV and 60fps.

the only other game i ever had that problem was HalfLife2

Lord Error said:
It most likely is because of 60FPS. Lots of people are susceptible to nausea from high framerates in games where the viewpoint moves around quickly and wildly. My theory is that it's because the visual processing in the brain becomes overloaded with information that doesn't correlate with your inner ear. 30FPS looks less 'real' so there's probably less discord, and there's less visuals for brain to process.

My only suggestion would be to sit farther away from the screen.
Click to expand...

naww, im fine with any other game that runs at 60.
 
Never had a headache playing Wolfenstein on PS4. but yeah OP see a doc yo.
 
I sometimes have this problem. Currently I'm playing TLOU and if I'm bumping into Ellie too much I start to feel a little sick. It seems the simple fact of expecting to go forward but not being able to is enough to cause my brain problems :(
 
Nothing will ever scramble my brain like the way the first Timesplitters did. After an hour I had to lay down on my bed because I felt so nauseated. And it wasn't just me, my two brothers has the same experience with the game. I liked it but I had to stop playing it after just a short time with the game.
 
Shadow of the Colossus is the only game to ever give me me headaches and nausea. 15 minutes in, and I would just want to lie on a sofa for 10 minutes til I felt better. I rarely suffer from either at all, so for a game to cause them was weird for me.

I tried the game about 10 times over the course of a year on PS2, and 15 was the most i could take.

Never tired the PS3 version though.
 
Hellsing321 said:
Low FoV is the number one cause of motion sickness in games. Having an FoV slider should be mandatory in games.
Click to expand...

Problem is that FoV affects performance and devs wants to push dem graphics. On PC though there's no excuse if your game doesn't have an option for that.
 
FOV slider didn't help much for me on PC. Bioshock Infinite is another recent one which has the same effect no matter where I put the FOV.

Wish I knew the secret. It's most certainly not just down to camera movement, can play twitch shooters like Quake, UT and Titanfall for hours on end without a hint of of nausea.
 
A friend of mine recently experienced this with Alien: Isolation. He plays a ton of other first-person perspective games with no issues, but couldn't handle that one for more than a few minutes without severe nausea. Very strange.
 
The low FOV and framerate of The Evil Within forced me to return the used copy I bought. Super bummed since I loved RE4 and was told this would scratch that itch.
 
Somewhat related:

On Guild Wars 2 I could only play with the large races, Norn or Charr, without getting motion sickness. Somehow related to how the movement feels slower (even though all races move at same speed) and the camera angle is a bit further away, even though it actually really isn't. Hard to explain, really.

I have had a bit of headaches this week (I bought Wolf PS4 this week) but I haven't made the connection. I'm gonna look into this.
 
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