Forza Horizon 2 on the horizon! [XO,X360]

My last thought is that the sky-box is actually a rotating hemisphere with dynamic cloud creation (just like what milk said) and the sun is moving on arc-shaped path (if you consider the shadow of the car that revolves around it, you may be agree with me). So at that specific moment the cloud and sun are rotating/moving alongside each other in the same direction, so shadows are going from right to left (compered to the clouds) and toward the car.

You can watch this video which the sun position is perpendicular to the clouds and the shadows are moving in the direction of the clouds (from 2:30 to 3:10).


Clouds move in a circular manner while shadows move on a straight line? The sky is completely filled with clouds while cloud shadows appear sporadic? Something doesnt add up
 
Clouds move in a circular manner while shadows move on a straight line? The sky is completely filled with clouds while cloud shadows appear sporadic? Something doesnt add up
The One is living in a dream world. :yep2:
 
Clouds move in a circular manner while shadows move on a straight line? The sky is completely filled with clouds while cloud shadows appear sporadic? Something doesnt add up

Yes, it does not add up because it is a hack. Those are, again, if my theory is correct, completely faked out cloud shadows. A very old trick, that even Zelda twilight princess did. When doing sun lighting, in adition to testing against their cascaded shadowmaps, they modulate their light against a generic cloud mask tiled and scrolled across the entire terrain. Crysis 3 also did its cloud shadows that way. Most people don't notice, yet the shadows add some extra life to the game.

The clouds grow and disappear. How does that fit in with a skybox?

Its a shader. Clouds are encoded as a smooth gradient with cloud-like pertubations, and the threshold is changed dynamically to thicken or dissipate them dynamically. A very old trick done enven on ps2 games, but we see a more sophisticated implementation here. Again, that's exactly what you'll see on GTAV or RedDead, and those have some of the most dynamic and yet beautyfull looking skyes and dynamic weather effects on real time games to date.

for reference:





 
This is a great a game, it looks stunning in parts has the best IQ of any next gen console game and has a large amount of content that works as advertised! The freedom this game offers is refreshing, yet we are dissecting the sky box and photomode!
 
Well, I thought that was what beyond3d was for... I like open-world racing games. But I also like rendering tech. That stuff is interesting to me, that´s all. In fact, I´m considering buying the game latter this year when I travel (better prices)
 
Yes just analysing the tech of games.
A 2d skybox and fake cloud shadows is not a flow, just design choice. We also said that the game had a better IQ and textures than DC.
They are doing things differently and that is why it's interesting to compare.
Both games are great amd have their strengths.
 
This is a great a game, it looks stunning in parts has the best IQ of any next gen console game and has a large amount of content that works as advertised! The freedom this game offers is refreshing, yet we are dissecting the sky box and photomode!

In 10 years you haven't figured out what B3D is about?
 
Yes just analysing the tech of games.
A 2d skybox and fake cloud shadows is not a flow, just design choice. We also said that the game had a better IQ and textures than DC.
They are doing things differently and that is why it's interesting to compare.
Both games are great amd have their strengths.

I'm not really interested in comparing the game with DC, Forza Horizon can stand on its own merits quite comfortably, and is a distant relative to DC anyway. I'm saying we seem to over analyzing details that in the main do not affect the gameplay mechanics in any form or fashion whilst ignoring the said gameplay.
 
This is a great a game, it looks stunning in parts has the best IQ of any next gen console game and has a large amount of content that works as advertised! The freedom this game offers is refreshing, yet we are dissecting the sky box and photomode!
Game threads both discuss the play of the game and its technical critique. Comparisons aren't usually necessary nor welcome, although a reference to a tech in a comparison to showcase what's being talked helps illustrate a point.

In this specific case, it was noted the cloud shadows were off to a enough viewers that it was worth discussing, whether the shadow tech was faulty or whether their perception was. And that discussion had basically run its course and fizzled out. The lack of any ongoing game discussion is simply because no-one is posting any!
 
Well yes, it won't be discussed as much because there are fewer XB1 owners on this board. But PS4 games get dissected too. It's the nature of this site.
 
Yeah, not saying they won't get dissected as well. But it should be noted that people don't tend to knock what they own, just what they don't. Sort of natural behavior to reinforce and validate their purchasing decisions. I have no beef with that at all.

Question was why was this game was not getting much attention here, which I would primarily attribute to the respective console ownership base. Driveclub, which is arguably not as good as FH2, has 53 pages in it's thread of mostly glowing remarks, while this thread is struggling to hit double digits. Pretty clear what people here are playing and mostly interested in.
 
Yeah, not saying they won't get dissected as well. But it should be noted that people don't tend to knock what they own, just what they don't. Sort of natural behavior to reinforce and validate their purchasing decisions. I have no beef with that at all.

Question was why was this game was not getting much attention here, which I would primarily attribute to the respective console ownership base. Driveclub, which is arguably not as good as FH2, has 53 pages in it's thread of mostly glowing remarks, while this thread is struggling to hit double digits. Pretty clear what people here are playing and mostly interested in.

DC has been an ongoing story since it was revealed a long time ago. It was a ps plus game, then it was delayed. And lots of new media has been steadily released, finally it was released with plenty to discuss.

Afaik FH2 simply hasn't had so much worth talking about, it's a sequel and it's younger than drive club.

Finally DC has incredible visuals that caught many here by surprise and also caused plenty to discuss.

Personally the FH2 demo made me a fan, I even asked in this thread if anyone had tips for a good deal, no response.

Now I am waiting for drive club to fix all the problems so they can release the ps plus version, then I can pick which one to buy :)
 
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