Silent Hill Fog Reference

SteveyConlan

I remember being told before that one of the reasons the fog in Silent Hill was used was because it limited the view of the player which meant less rendering, enhancing the performance of the game which was an issue.

However I have no way of knowing whether this was a cited source and was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction. I have tried google, it would just be a useful point to include in my dissertation that I am halfway through. I would be grateful of any help.

Thanks

Two Listen

You mean the first one? Tons of a games from back then used "fog" or had what was pretty much a thick fog all over the place, especially Playstation games where performance would've gotten a swift kick in the ass otherwise. Hell, just think of the first Tony Hawk.

Snader

Even nowadays similar techniques are used - stuff that's too far away from the camera just doesn't get rendered. Look at this:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=et0Mb1BWWWQ[/ame]
The flower and the shadow of it fade in and out of view with some sort of blend map. And the Unreal engine offers distance fog too. Beware: that's actually Unreal engine 2, not 3.

It's interesting to note though - whereas in the 90's distance fog was purely for optimization, currently it has two implementations:
-one that is aimed at optimization, and is used just to cull polygons.
-one that is aimed at realism, by simulating atmospherical effects, and can actually cost more resources because of complex effect and little culling.

SteveyConlan

Great stuff thanks a lot guys I think if I justify that engines can give that capability a reference might not be 100% necessary.

Jeff Parrott

I can't remember much about Silent Hill honestly. But the one I worked on (Silent Hill 0rigins) the fog was used not to hide technical limitations, but as an aesthetic choice since the fog is so closely tied to the game design. I can ask around though and see if anyone remembers anything about fog.

SteveyConlan

If you could that would be great, just the more reference I have to back things up the better.

Thank You!

Jeff Parrott

I asked the AD on the project and he said that my comment before was dead on. As far as how it was done technically "...other than essentially a clipping plane and some polys with a fog and alpha spinning close to the camera". Hope that helps with your dissertation.

SteveyConlan

Thanks a lot I think that may be of use. Cheers!

Rwolf

I drove through the rockies last week in the middle of the night, with dirty headlamps on snow covered roads. That was a Silent Hill Experience IRL if I ever had one.

I remember Carmageddon using something similar, but it was pure darkness.

SteveyConlan

If the road was missing to a huge drop would you stop or be like Pyramid Head?! and just drive off