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Star Wars: The Old Republic: Shadow Optimizations & Server Consolidation

SBFordSBFord Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129

The Star Wars: The Old Republic blog has been updated with a pair of posts detailing some significant incoming changes. First up is the shadow optimization coming in patch v1.4. Secondly, the team is preparing to further consolidate and stabilize high-population servers by transferring characters. As a result players may find their characters on a different server.

The shadow optimization will smooth out in-game shadows when the next large patch goes into effect. It's a great read for those who like to know and understand the behind the scenes details.

The new system provides full dynamic shadows. Simply stated, all characters, trees, and moving objects cast shadows onto the game world in Game Update 1.4. The previous system only generated dynamic shadows for characters. Moving through heavily treed planets such as Tython, the player will now see the subtle moving shadows cast by the leaves and trees.

With regard to the server consolidation issue: Players whose characters have been moved to a new high-density server may also have to consider renaming their characters after the move:


As a result, you may find that some of your characters are now located on a different server. If your characters have been moved, you can find their new location on the server selection screen by clicking on the “Characters” column. Please be aware that no characters have been deleted as part of this process – all of your characters are still available to you and are ready to play!

However, you may find a red exclamation point next to your character’s name on the character selection screen. This means that due to the consolidation, you will have to rename that character. Rest assured that we took a variety of factors into account when determining which characters needed to be renamed. For more information, please visit or Server Consolidation FAQ.

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¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 


Comments

  • AxiosImmortalAxiosImmortal Member UncommonPosts: 645
    pretty interesting. shows how rushed it was too in december :(

    Looking at: The Repopulation
    Preordering: None
    Playing: Random Games

  • RaijukinRaijukin Member Posts: 63
    lol wow i wonder how many will quit when they have to rename...
  • AxiosImmortalAxiosImmortal Member UncommonPosts: 645
    Originally posted by Raijukin
    lol wow i wonder how many will quit when they have to rename...

    maybe bioware shouldve followed the GW2 naming system. with the 4 digit numbers.

    Looking at: The Repopulation
    Preordering: None
    Playing: Random Games

  • UkiahUkiah Member Posts: 273
    Originally posted by Raijukin
    lol wow i wonder how many will quit when they have to rename...

    Given the general level of unrest over the 'free server moves' due to having to rename, probably a lot...

  • superniceguysuperniceguy Member UncommonPosts: 2,278

    The renaming is the not the only problem

    I had 8 characters on Origin servers, and 8 characters on destination servers. They were on 2 separate servers on purpose. Now they will all be merged into one, stuffing up everything I was doing. I am certainly not playing this game any more. A waste of time.

    A pity they did not make this known at the start of the transfer process, then would have saved a lot of time. I do not know why we could not transfer to 2 or 3 different destination servers, instead of being limited to one, otherwise would have transferred on Day One, and got transfer rewards

  • PurutzilPurutzil Member UncommonPosts: 3,048
    I always wondered what "High Density" means in numbers. Is it just like 5 more players so they can legitamently make that claim instead of saying server mergers or is it maybe actually a decent amount... granted I'm sure at most its not going over 10% more people on a single server.
  • erictlewiserictlewis Member UncommonPosts: 3,022

    Oh well there goes the rest of my character names,  How fracking nice.  Got to love they have no way to preserve the names of those who started in head start.

    Oh well it don't matter any more my account died back last month, and I will not resub for nothing now.

  • HrimnirHrimnir Member RarePosts: 2,415
    Originally posted by cahenderson
    Originally posted by Raijukin
    lol wow i wonder how many will quit when they have to rename...

    Given the general level of unrest over the 'free server moves' due to having to rename, probably a lot...

    LOL, only EA would try to spin server merges as "free server moves'

    "The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."

    - Friedrich Nietzsche

  • DeeweDeewe Member UncommonPosts: 1,980

    1.4 in short:

     

    The good:

    • A new Flashpoint
    • A new Operation
    • Nice shadows
    • Gear matching for companions
    • Head slot toggle for companions
    • Recall back to origin from instance, and choose when to travel to the instance
    • Shift + right click = equip an item to a companion
    • Trading items to eligible players 2h after pickup.
    • Trade BOP 2h cooldown
    • Setting character mood

     

    The bad:

    • Recolorizing the already lame 1.2 gear with even worse colors. (Not even new textures)
    • Increasing crowd control in PvP. Stun Wars FTW
    • Nerfing commandos and Consular skills due to "PvP" balance. (Commandos and Mercs will suck even more from now)
     
    The failed:
    • No new quickslot bar
    • No gear set bonuses transfer
    • No dual specs
    • No chat bubbles
     
     
  • niceguy3978niceguy3978 Member UncommonPosts: 2,047
    Originally posted by Hrimnir
    Originally posted by cahenderson
    Originally posted by Raijukin
    lol wow i wonder how many will quit when they have to rename...

    Given the general level of unrest over the 'free server moves' due to having to rename, probably a lot...

    LOL, only EA would try to spin server merges as "free server moves'

    Isn't that pretty much exactly what Trion said with Rift? 

  • NanfoodleNanfoodle Member LegendaryPosts: 10,610
    Well having a 4th pillar does nothing for you when you don't get the rest of the game done. Funny what people are upset about now were all listed in the beta forums over a year ago. Every round of beta testing we would ask again for the same things to be fix or added. F2P is not going to save this game.
  • DraronDraron Member Posts: 993
    Originally posted by Deewe

    1.4 in short:

     

    The good:

    • A new Flashpoint
    • A new Operation
    • Nice shadows
    • Gear matching for companions
    • Head slot toggle for companions
    • Recall back to origin from instance, and choose when to travel to the instance
    • Shift + right click = equip an item to a companion
    • Trading items to eligible players 2h after pickup.

     

    The bad:

    • Recolorizing the already lame 1.2 gear with even worse colors. (Not even new textures)
    • Increasing crowd control in PvP. Stun Wars FTW
    • Nerfing commandos and Consular skills due to "PvP" balance. (Commandos and Mercs will suck even more from now)
     
    The failed:
    • No new quickslot bar
    • No gear set bonuses transfer
    • No dual specs
    • No chat bubbles
     
     

    Pretty much sums it up. Still sticking around only because I have a few more storylines to go through and I really think they're making advances to getting the foundation done. If they don't keep the 6 week update promise, though, I'd be hard pressed not to leave.

  • HrimnirHrimnir Member RarePosts: 2,415
    Originally posted by niceguy3978
    Originally posted by Hrimnir
    Originally posted by cahenderson
    Originally posted by Raijukin
    lol wow i wonder how many will quit when they have to rename...

    Given the general level of unrest over the 'free server moves' due to having to rename, probably a lot...

    LOL, only EA would try to spin server merges as "free server moves'

    Isn't that pretty much exactly what Trion said with Rift? 

    Nope. Trion released the ability to do free server moves months before they did the whole server merge/trial server thing.

    "The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."

    - Friedrich Nietzsche

  • zinger71zinger71 Member UncommonPosts: 68
    Renaming?! The least of this game's (ot its players) worries.....
  • JeroKaneJeroKane Member EpicPosts: 6,959

    Well what do you want? They have at least 100 empty servers they need to clean up lol.

    They should have done this back in April when they still had somewhat of a population. /shrug

  • tawesstawess Member EpicPosts: 4,227
    Well no matter how many leave now... a good chunk will come slinking back one the game goes F2P. That is how it always works... If they stay after that.. another question entierly.

    This have been a good conversation

  • MMOGamer71MMOGamer71 Member UncommonPosts: 1,988
    Originally posted by niceguy3978
    Originally posted by Hrimnir
    Originally posted by cahenderson
    Originally posted by Raijukin
    lol wow i wonder how many will quit when they have to rename...

    Given the general level of unrest over the 'free server moves' due to having to rename, probably a lot...

    LOL, only EA would try to spin server merges as "free server moves'

    Isn't that pretty much exactly what Trion said with Rift? 

    Fledgeling upstart company Trion > EA/Bioware.

     

    Comparing one of the largest IP + Developer/Publisher combinations to Trions first ever release is comical.

  • gaidin6gaidin6 Member Posts: 29
    If I have to rename, I'm done.  F2P means nothing to me.

    -=[ Gaidin ]=-

  • OzmodanOzmodan Member EpicPosts: 9,726
    I agree with the poster who said they should have sunk the money into the existing Mythic games.  DAoC 2, depending how the pvp was done, could be a run away hit.  What a huge waste.  I could have done a far better game with 1/3 of what they spent. 
  • sr7olsnipersr7olsniper Member UncommonPosts: 206

    I am one of those people that have quit and will never look back due to having my name taken. I was the person that was awake since 3am in the day in head star to get my names reserved.  I managed to get all of them and was extremely happy albeit the lack of sleep. I got my characters to the high 40s and then was forced to merge and lose all my names; guess what I logged off and uninstalled. For a company so "focused" on story and your personal adventure you would think they would pay more attention, not even aion did this kind of stupid move. That is why I can still play aion with my original names and have no issues? Needles to say I want a refund for the 150 trash box sitting on my shelf. 

    At least with a sub game they know that people won't tolerate bullshit and leave. With anet we have no recourse but to buy our own lube so our assholes don't get too stretched out from getting bent over a table at Anets will. - Hrimnir

  • AxiosImmortalAxiosImmortal Member UncommonPosts: 645
    Its EA making mmos so lets ragequit.

    Looking at: The Repopulation
    Preordering: None
    Playing: Random Games

  • daltaniousdaltanious Member UncommonPosts: 2,381
    Originally posted by superniceguy

    The renaming is the not the only problem

    I had 8 characters on Origin servers, and 8 characters on destination servers. They were on 2 separate servers on purpose. Now they will all be merged into one, stuffing up everything I was doing. I am certainly not playing this game any more. A waste of time.

    A pity they did not make this known at the start of the transfer process, then would have saved a lot of time. I do not know why we could not transfer to 2 or 3 different destination servers, instead of being limited to one, otherwise would have transferred on Day One, and got transfer rewards

    I agree only on problem of possibility to move to only 1 server. I have 16 alts in total, of course on 2 servers. So I have moved 8 from one and could not remaining 8. Response was completely unsatisfactory.

    For the rest, all the best. Best game ever. Never ever have played without interruptions for nearly 8 months any game in my life. Never had enough of leveling my alts. 8 maxed out, rest waiting.

    Interrupted for short to play again CO, purchsased TSW, of course my sub to Wow is already renewed too .... and purchased gw2 which is really great game, beyond all my expectations.

  • daltaniousdaltanious Member UncommonPosts: 2,381
    Originally posted by superniceguy

    The renaming is the not the only problem

    I had 8 characters on Origin servers, and 8 characters on destination servers. They were on 2 separate servers on purpose. Now they will all be merged into one, stuffing up everything I was doing. I am certainly not playing this game any more. A waste of time.

    A pity they did not make this known at the start of the transfer process, then would have saved a lot of time. I do not know why we could not transfer to 2 or 3 different destination servers, instead of being limited to one, otherwise would have transferred on Day One, and got transfer rewards

    Agree with you on all this, but for sure this will not stop me to play and enjoy my best game ever. Still have wow, rift, gw2, ... but swtor is still king for me.

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