Broken and Beaten but I'm still Breathing

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See, that’s what the app is perfect for.

Sounds perfect Wahhhh, I don’t wanna
wonderweird
melonsap

Fun fact: We know the size of the Pokémon world because Scarlet and Violet has framerate issues

melonsap

Video games tend to do this thing called "culling," where they don't render things that aren't in use. In Breath of the Wild, there's no reason for Link to be able to see how many apples are on a tree in Hateno when he's all the way in Tarrey Town, or know how many Bokoblins are running around Hebra Mountain. Link has a radius around himself that spawns in people, enemies, items, etc, so that the player gets the full experience of a rendered world without the game having to keep track of 850 Hearty Radishes sparkling.

This is good.

Scarlet and Violet has really AGGRESSIVE culling. The devs knew the game was framey and did everything they could up until the last possible second to save on resources.

Image ID: A screenshot of Scarlet and Violet, zoomed so far out that you can see where things aren't rendered. Only a wedge of landscape is in view, alongside some very simplified rivers. End IDALT

The player has a single square that's always rendered around them, which takes about 10 seconds to run across. Besides that, all that's visible is whatever the camera is facing; if the camera can't see it, it does not exist.

You might think that this would be good for performance, since the game isn't calling as many assets constantly. And you would be right, if the things culled were ALL that the game was trying to render.

We all know at this point about the memory leak problem the game has, where it won't toss garbage data it's not using. This is supposed to account for the framerate drop; however, if it was ONLY the memory leak, it should start out smoothly, then decay over time until it's unplayable.

So what gives?

Image ID: The player riding Koraidon, swimming in the Paldean ocean. End IDALT

This is the ocean.

It's pretty. It's got a tiny bit of reflection, some gentle waves, a nice gradient. A beautifully made ocean without repetitive textures is always nice.

Image ID: A screenshot of Scarlet and Violet, so far zoomed out that you can see the edges of the ocean, which extend about 20 times the length of the entire game map across its diameter. The ocean is a huge pale blue circle labeled "OCEAN," and Paldea is a tiny dark blue dot labeled "Unrendered Paldea." It all sits on a dark blue background. End IDALT

THIS IS THE OCEAN.

IT IS NOT CULLED.

Look at the SIZE of this thing! Paldea is an ANT in the middle of this puddle. It's rendering ALL of this, ALL its sparkles and waves, ALL the time.

Now, this is usually the part of the post where I'm like "and because we know the size of the ocean, based on the coastlines and wind direction, we can figure out how big the rest of the planet is by comparison!" like I did with Breath of the Wild over a year ago.

No.

Another video game term you might not be familiar with is a "skybox." Basically, to give the illusion of faraway objects, clouds, mountains, etc, and to hide the black void most 3D games are built in, games will have a texture wrapped around either the level or where the player is standing. For example:

Image ID: The Sacred Grove level from Twilight Princess, a foresty area, zoomed out and taken out of bounds to see the skybox. It's a pale blue and yellow texture wrapped around the area. End IDALT

This is a level from Twilight Princess called Sacred Grove. You normally can't see the bottom parts of this, hence why it turns into a gray plane, but the parts you CAN theoretically see by looking through the trees are colored so you think you're looking at a sky. You can see the edge of the void down in the bottom right corner.

Image ID: A screenshot of Twilight Princess' Hyrule Field, taken so far out of bounds that the void and background composition is in full view. The blue part in the center, where the sky texture is, is labeled "Skybox," and the black it sits in is labeled "Void." End IDALT

Here's another one from Twilight Princess. You can see the different textures that stack on top of each other, as well as the blue skybox that's centered around Link when he's in the area. You, as the player, FEEL like you're in a small part of a larger world, because the devs cleverly structured together elements you CAN see in other areas into the background.

More complicated versions of skyboxes, typically semi-circular, are called skydomes.

Image ID: A drawing made in MS paint, with a semicurcular blue dome encompassing a green plane and a red dot. The red dot is labeled "Player," the green plane is labeled "Level," the blue dome is labeled "Skydome," and the black background is labeled "VOID." End IDALT

They tend to look kind of like snowglobes, because you do not need to render anything that can't be seen. There's no situation in which the player should be able to fall lower than the level, so there's no reason to render the dome into a sphere in the event that that happens.

In Scarlet and Violet, it would make sense for the skydome to end where the ocean does. There's no situation in which the player manages to go past or underneath the ocean, so even if you wanted a gigantic ocean size like they have, you don't need to use more sky to encompass that.

They did not get this memo.

Image ID: The edge of Scarlet and Violet's skydome, bright blue, with clouds above it and a night sky. End IDALT

You might be thinking to yourself "wow, that looks like the curvature of the Earth!"

Image ID: A tiny blue dot in a huge sphere of darker blue. The tiny dot is labeled "OCEAN," and the huge sphere is labeled "SKYSPHERE." It all sits on a black baground. End IDALT

AND YOU WOULD BE RIGHT!!!!!

Why is this here. Why is it so big. I can't even see Paldea anymore. What exactly was planned for this.

Clever readers might have noticed that I labeled this "Skysphere" and not "Skydome."

That's because it for some reason is a sphere. Paldea is sitting in the middle of a fully rendered gigantic sphere in space. For some reason.

Image ID: A picture of Earth from space, with Spain surrounded by a red square. End IDALT

Look at Earth. Look at Spain, which Paldea is supposed to mimic.

Image ID: Earth with Spain surrounded by a rectangle, overlaid onto the ocean Paldea sits in. End IDALT

I overlaid Spain over Paldea and made them roughly the same size. Assuming the two to be 1:1, the OCEAN is bigger than Earth.

If I then take that size and apply it to the skysphere:

Image ID: A white circle and dot on a navy blue background. The circle is labeled "Paldean Sky Sphere," and the dot is labeled "THE EARTH!!!" End IDALT

HI. WHY IS THIS A THING.

The skysphere is bigger than the PROPORTION OF THE SUN TO THE EARTH:

Image ID: A picture of the sun with a little blue ball next to it labeled "Earth." End IDALT

I will be taking this as canon sizing until the Pokémon Company comes out and either CULLS this monstrosity and stops forcing our Switches to render THE SUN, or until the Pokémon Company comes out and gives us a canon planet size.

faeforge
enki2

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sinnahsaint

Which is why it’s important to not be mean.

Their cult teaches them that the world is full of scary monster people who hate them for being so good and loved by god. If you swear at them and call them names or get in their face you’re just doing the cults work for it.

I’m not saying you have to listen to their presentation or try to debate them (and really getting into a debate without thoroughly understanding what they’re being taught will just make things worse)… I am just saying to be polite and say no thank you like if they were trying to hand you a flyer for something you don’t care about.

It’s easier for them to see the world outside their bubble as less scary if they see everyday people just going about their business and being as nice to them as you are to everyone else. This goes doubly for anyone who happens to dress modestly, not swear, and not drink or smoke because whatever you believe, they’ll see you as a “good” person who happens to strangely have no interest in their “message”, and that might be enough to get some curious about the possibility of themselves living in the real world.

It’s sometimes hard to be nice to people who seem to represent something you dislike. Just remember these “elders” are sheltered young men, some of which are getting their first real contact with people of other/no faiths.

They are not your enemy. They are victims.

kazashiniwielder

So I’m from a country family. Part of what I was taught as a kid was guests, no matter if you wanted them are not, are treated to a drink and hospitality. So a few years ago a few of these guys came to my door. It was a really hot day out, like high 90’s. So I invited them in for a drink but I made it very clear, I will listen to their basic conversation while they have a drink but I absolutely have no intention of converting or changing my religion. We had a pleasant conversation for about twenty minutes, then they went on their way without leaving any pamphlets or anything and I figured that was the end of it.

About six months later, I had a new group come to my door. I invited them in for a drink and the two immediately jumped back and went to check my address. They then told me they were told about me in their missionary prep class (because they do that). That I was the only actual ‘good person’ on the route because I didn’t actually yell at them, slam doors in their face, or treat them how they were taught the world was. So we once again had a conversation over tea about how sometimes people just don’t appreciate it when someone shows up to their door trying to push a religion on them. I asked them how they would feel if someone who was Heathenistic appearing on their doorstep telling them how acknowledging Odin as the high god is the only way to save them. They admitted they would be really upset and uncomfortable about that.

Long story short after about two more times of this happening I later learned I was removed from the houses the missionaries were allowed to visit. Apparently I was causing a lot of the young missionaries to question what they were taught and was deemed a concern by the elders of their church because many were asking questions after visiting me. All it took was an offer of a drink and a few kind but intellectual questions to make them ask questions and actually listen to what I was saying.

I guess my overall point is, like the above says you are going to get a lot farther by being kind then being an asshole

mrhoneystreak
pipistrellus

I love that phenomenon where ur talking to another neurodivergent person for the first time and u haven’t quite grocked their flavor of brain yet and they haven’t grocked yours and you’re both using your Acceptable Friendly Person Getting To Know You Script on each other but of course those scripts have been calibrated mainly for use with, like, normal people, so you just end up being like two conversational roombas bonking gently off one another like “hello fellow human” “hello fellow ‘hello fellow human’” until you both at some point manage to adjust your programming and actually like, communicate

It’s like when I was a kid I had two furbies and when you put them next to each other they’d just natter nonsensically past one another for a bit and then at some point one would abruptly recognize the other with its furby sensor or w/e and it would shout “DANCE!” and the other one would flap its ears and reply “HEY, DANCE” and then, in perfect unison, they would begin to rock back and forth while chanting “doot doot doo doot doot doo”

It’s exactly like that. I love it. Crazy people are the best, we are super excellent, i love us, i love crazy ppl

pipistrellus

I wrote this post in my head while having a major dissociative episode in the bathroom and its the best and truest thing Ive ever said

me
wanderingwolfsbane
mickjustmademylist

image

fucking. what?

i-believe-in-u

I feel like this picture really gives it context

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evilscientist3

you know how it is with spaghetti

chthonicillness

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?????

i am from jersey and yeah peak jersey though im in the southern half of the state and the north half is like an alien planet to us. accoridng to one of the articles i read it was dumped there uncooked and softened due to rain the town is called old bridge if you want to look up more info