Water planets are broken, horizon line is jagged

[Vectif]

For some reason, water won't draw properly in the horizon of any planets. I've visited planets that are 90% water, and the horizon line won't be straight, it will instead show the heights of the terrain and mountains and not just the horizon. My character, when in water, will look whole - and not separated by some sort of layer of water, shores will move depending of how I move my camera and they'll make this sort of very canny-looking appearence. I've tried changing my graphic settings back and forth to no avail. Anyone else have this issue, or how can I fix this? It's really bad. The waterline is jagged.

[Bored Peon]

I had a similar issue when I made a base yesterday near the beach.

I used the terrain tool to build up a hill/island to place the computer on that was above the water line. However when I went like 100 feet to shore it showed as being below water.

[Gumsk]

These issues have been around for several months, maybe since Beyond. Don't count on it getting fixed soon.

[Leonhardt]

I'm glad its not just me that thinks the water looks like crap

[tkwoods]

Originally posted by Gumsk:

These issues have been around for several months, maybe since Beyond. Don't count on it getting fixed soon.

I second this observation. It has something to do with draw distance the the horizon.

[Lurk]

Good to know people are starting to notice this.
It's been around for almost two years.

Issue has been reported multiple times, myself included.

It's a visual disgrace and inexcusable for HG not to fix it, unless they are stuck with a faulty water shader they can't get rid of.

The jaggedness is simply underwater terrain creeping through even at great distances due to incorrect transparency of the water surface.

Other threads are ongoing, with pics and explanations included.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/275850/discussions/2/4300317773580139461/

https://steamcommunity.com/app/275850/discussions/2/3185654583875742100/

https://steamcommunity.com/app/275850/discussions/2/2850173019332152028/

[ninienielniels]

The water horizon bug has been around for over 13 months now (started at the first release of the Beyond update), the other water issues have been around for even way longer. At first I thought the broken water horizon was an issue with the Vulkan API, but it is not because I found Vulkan experimental gameplay where this bug was not yet present. It only started happening with the Beyond update.

[Masque]

I haven't ever had this happen. No idea why not, but I'm glad because that's ugly.

[billlcarr]

Yeah, the water took a serious downgrade with beyond. The jagged horizon looks bad, and the ever-present bright white disk above you when looking at the surface from below is ridiculous.

Take some screen shots underwater, then compare them to pics from the abyss promo pics. It's really gone downhill. The rest of the game's graphics, I think, look fantastic. Please HG, come up with a better water shader. There are games from over 10 years ago with better looking water...

[Lazarus Long]

Originally posted by Grid:

For some reason, water won't draw properly in the horizon of any planets. I've visited planets that are 90% water, and the horizon line won't be straight, it will instead show the heights of the terrain and mountains and not just the horizon...he waterline is jagged.

This is something that may never be fixed. It's been a limitation with ocean rendering in every procedural game engine I have ever seen. HG could try to hide it by increasing the ring of fog around the horizon but that would make it more noticeable because the jagged line would be closer. They can't really render to a realistic horizon distance without causing a massive FPS drop from everyone. Only the highest of the high end computers would be able to run the game if they did that.

[Vectif]

Originally posted by Lazarus Long:

Originally posted by Grid:

For some reason, water won't draw properly in the horizon of any planets. I've visited planets that are 90% water, and the horizon line won't be straight, it will instead show the heights of the terrain and mountains and not just the horizon...he waterline is jagged.

This is something that may never be fixed. It's been a limitation with ocean rendering in every procedural game engine I have ever seen. HG could try to hide it by increasing the ring of fog around the horizon but that would make it more noticeable because the jagged line would be closer. They can't really render to a realistic horizon distance without causing a massive FPS drop from everyone. Only the highest of the high end computers would be able to run the game if they did that.

well why did it use to work before then?

[Masque]

Originally posted by Grid:

Originally posted by Lazarus Long:

This is something that may never be fixed. It's been a limitation with ocean rendering in every procedural game engine I have ever seen. HG could try to hide it by increasing the ring of fog around the horizon but that would make it more noticeable because the jagged line would be closer. They can't really render to a realistic horizon distance without causing a massive FPS drop from everyone. Only the highest of the high end computers would be able to run the game if they did that.

well why did it use to work before then?

And why don't some peope (like me) ever see this bug, at all, and never have outside these screenshots? You can even go to the screenshots threads and see plenty of ocean shots that don't do this.

[Vectif]

Originally posted by N-95 Masque of Clavicus Vile:

Originally posted by Grid:

well why did it use to work before then?

And why don't some peope (like me) ever see this bug, at all, and never have outside these screenshots? You can even go to the screenshots threads and see plenty of ocean shots that don't do this.

Do you have some examples? This bug only occurs in certain conditions and in the past year.
There needs to be a visible horizon with water (not surrounded or covered entirely by other land or mountains above sea level), be above water (not underwater or submerged), standing on land / the ground. Any pictures that meet all of these conditiosn I saw uploaded recently have this issue. I couldn't find any with proper functioning water other than those that just clearly didn't have a horizon in sight, were underwater, or were uploaded before the update date.

[Starwight/ttv]

Originally posted by N-95 Masque of Clavicus Vile:

Originally posted by Grid:

well why did it use to work before then?

And why don't some peope (like me) ever see this bug, at all, and never have outside these screenshots? You can even go to the screenshots threads and see plenty of ocean shots that don't do this.

They are probably running the game on literal potatoes and then crying and blaming Hello Games with "It is INEXCUSEABLE REEEE" like a damn Karen asking for the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ manager.

[Masque]

Originally posted by Boop My Snoot:

Originally posted by N-95 Masque of Clavicus Vile:

And why don't some peope (like me) ever see this bug, at all, and never have outside these screenshots? You can even go to the screenshots threads and see plenty of ocean shots that don't do this.

They are probably running the game on literal potatoes and then crying and blaming Hello Games with "It is INEXCUSEABLE REEEE" like a damn Karen asking for the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ manager.

I doubt that's the case. This game is known for having strange bugs for every conceivable configuration, including maxxed-out super-gaming systems with all the latest, best gear. Bugs that affect really good systems but don't affect my 1080p 1660 TI with a i7 4790K, and bugs that affect mine but don't affect theirs. It's really a problem with the PC ecosystem being so diverse.

[Vectif]

Originally posted by Boop My Snoot:

Originally posted by N-95 Masque of Clavicus Vile:

And why don't some peope (like me) ever see this bug, at all, and never have outside these screenshots? You can even go to the screenshots threads and see plenty of ocean shots that don't do this.

They are probably running the game on literal potatoes and then crying and blaming Hello Games with "It is INEXCUSEABLE REEEE" like a damn Karen asking for the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ manager.

I have friends playing with 3080s, 1080s, and then me with a "potato computer" and we all have this same issue. Only difference is they are able to ignore it, I just can't. Bold statement, but thanks for your helpful and informative input! And not to mention absolutely comedical!

I made sure to test all of these hypotheticals to make sure it wasn't just me before making a pointless post.