One of the main reasons that I never got into the private server scene was because, at the time I looked into it, they were all using artificially reduced draw distance/ rendering to reduce server load. I main a mage, so the idea of mobs phasing in closer than 35-40 yards is a non-blizzlike dealbreaker, for me. And maybe it has gotten better since then. I wouldn’t know.
Anyways, once I got to Westfall in the latest open stress test, the draw distance seemed off to me.
Nothing as drastic as what I read on the PS forums/reddit/etc, but there was one moment in particular… some kind of short wooden fence post structure, like what you would tie a horse to, near two defias mobs “melting” into existence as I got closer. I stopped moving forward, and this fence just hung there, half-existing.
I wish I had taken a screenshot. If my fireball has a range of 35 yards, then I am guessing this fence was within 105 yards of me. I could see the mobs at either end of it, but only half of the short fence itself. I just feel like the entire structure should have phased in at once, and at that distance should have already been wholly visible.
The reason I stopped was to fiddle around with the graphics settings, but I couldn’t find anything that seemed applicable in the graphics or advanced tabs.
Is there a way to increase draw distance/rendering distance on our end? A graphics setting, a cvar or console command?
Np. It’s still like trees, rocks, fences, lamposts, etc. Default “classic” mode puts it on like 4 or something, but it’s using the Legion version of environmental draw distance instead of the old one, where stuff “fade in” as you get closer.
The only things the server draws is the npc’s and clickable items such as chests, signs (that show a tooltip) and chairs and so on…
Everything else is completely client side, the graphics you see on private servers are exactly the same as the graphics that where in the original classic wow.
Of course now where using a different client that goes well beyond the max settings of the original game…
I saw those discussions. No changes quietly won me over a year ago. I’m not concerned with being able to see Blackrock Mountain from Westfall. This is more like standing in the endzone and seeing the base of the goalpost in the other endzone, then stepping onto the 1 yard line and a few feet of the goalpost uprights peel into reality.
I think Korvior probably nailed it as an environmental detail setting issue.