Request for fading HUD (Horde 2.0) in future update

[zergling]

Hello everyone!


Request:

I have a feature request that I'm sure many other Plasma TV owners like myself would appreciate:

I'm currently unable to play horde mode for any extended period of time because
of the persistent score HUD that remains on during every wave. Would it be possible to have the score
HUD fade when the fade HUD option is selected? It could operate similarly to the current fading HUD option in that
the score counter will only shortly appear when the player earns points or spends money. Another
option would be to make the score counter more transparent, or allow the player to adjust it manually.


I would love to continue to support and play this great game, but the COG and score box outline
are already burned into my screen (we played non-stop during the first few days).
I'm sure I'm not the only one experiencing this dilemma, so I hope the programmers will at least
consider my request.

To other players:

Please do not tell me I should get another TV. This is just a silly suggestion. I've owned my plasma for
over a year now and I couldn't be happier, this is the only game so far that has caused any severe image
retention and/or permanent burn-in (I'm still trying to fade the burn-in). My TV has built in features
that usually prevent severe image retention and burn-in, but those features haven't helped for Horde 2.0.


Conclusion:

Overall, I think the main issue relates to the fact the score box has such a high contrast. I don't see why it would be a serious
problem to simply make the score HUD fade when the fading HUD option is selected. This will prevent the issue
from affecting any other Plasma users. Alternatively the score HUD could simply be made more transparent, causing
a less severe burn-in effect.

Thanks again Epic for the time and dedication put into make such a great game!
I hope you will at least consider this idea, and I thank you for your time!

[Riyuko]

100% agreed i have this with my LG plasma seems to have a few issues with the burn in from the HUD top left (Horde Score) and top right (Weapon), its goes after a long period of time but is slowly getting worse

[LBXWOLF]

I also agree with this post. Only reason I made this account was to come on here and start mentioning problems I'm having with the static hud.

[zergling]

@LBXWOLF Same reason here. I have few other complaints with this game, and I really do want to play horde 2.0 and
multiplayer. But for now I can only play the campaign, since it's the only mode were the fading HUD option
actually makes the whole HUD fade.

Even if this is an issue affecting only a small percentage of the users, I can't imagine that it
would be hard to make the change we're suggesting. It's not like we're asking for re-balancing
or something that would drastically affect gameplay since it would be purely optional.

[Nezzumi]

does your tv not have an anti burn in feature? most plasmas do since about 5 years ago. I have a 46 inch Panasonic Viera plasma and never have a burn in problem. and i have played like.. 600 waves of horde lol.

[CyDetrakD]

The issue is there for me too especially with the weapons hud and the menu whether its waiting for players, horde, and arcade won't be played on my tv. The searching for players is getting worse for me by the day and so is the weapon hud. I've been forced to loop 16x9 movies every night before i got to bed to remedy the ir even though i have pixel orbiter turned on and fading hud only applies to campaign.

[Hixbot]

Great thread.

My samsung plasma anti-burn in features are disabled in 3D mode. 3D mode is also very bright so burn in is more likely.

I 100% agree that the fading hud should fade all on screen elements. If fading hud is selected it should fade everything, and it should apply to all games modes not just horde.

I'd like to direct people to my poll on this issue. It's in the Gears 3 issues section. Here it is:
http://forums.epicgames.com/threads/...screen-burn-in.

Also it's worth reading through my original burn-in thread, which a moderator decided to close after 7 pages of comments:
http://forums.epicgames.com/threads/...ghlight=plasma

[zergling]

does your tv not have an anti burn in feature? most plasmas do since about 5 years ago. I have a 46 inch Panasonic Viera plasma and never have a burn in problem. and i have played like.. 600 waves of horde lol.

Yes, my TV has anti-burn in features, but every TV is different. There is also the possibility that you may not have noticed the burn-in. What
other content have you tried on the TV since playing Horde?

And of the 600 waves how many did you play in a row? If you only did an
hour or so a day, then your probably ok, but any extended time in Horde just burns-in too badly on my screen.
Again every screen is different, but I see no reason not to have some sort of option to have the HUD fade so those
of us experiencing problems can continue playing.

[Nezzumi]

i do 1-50 alot with my friends. and i also watch hulu and netflix when im not playing gears 3. so i would definatly notice the burn in. there is none. i guess i am glad i picked up my viera instead of the samsung i was looking at!

[zergling]

i do 1-50 alot with my friends. and i also watch hulu and netflix when im not playing gears 3. so i would definatly notice the burn in. there is none. i guess i am glad i picked up my viera instead of the samsung i was looking at!

I find it strange that you've noticed no burn-in or image retention at all. Wave 1-50 can take a while, especially on the harder difficulties.
Even a little image retention comes with any plasma TV. It just comes with the territory, something to do with pixels heating unevenly
if I remember correctly.

Regardless, I think it still stands to reason that for those of us who are experiencing problems, we should have the option to fade the entire HUD
in multiplayer and Horde.

[CyDetrakD]

If we just had some transparency options for the weapon hud and the menus (which includes the players found and horde) all the plasma owning Gearsheads would be in heaven. I spend more time running the scrolling bar and looping 16x9 blurays than i do enjoying the game because of issues which happens only after an hour or two. I stayed away from Gears3 for a day and it went away completely but the image retention seems to happen with less time every day and more time trying to take care of my tv so this won't end up being a permanent burn in.

[TonyDP]

I also would welcome an option to control the HUD's transparency; it would make playing Gears 3 a much more fun experience for me as well.

It should be noted that different plasmas have different tolerances when it comes to image retention. I have a Samsung 63" 3D plasma (model PN63C8000); I've owned it for over a year and it has several hundred hours on it already but with some game HUDs I can get image retention even after as little as 10 minutes of gaming.

Gears of War 3 has pretty much the best 3D implementation in a videogame yet; the sense of depth is excellent, ghosting is all but non-existent and the drop in resolution is very minor (especially if you set your console to 1080p); Epic did an outstanding job with 3D in this game and it puts most of the PS3 3D efforts to shame. Sadly, I don't dare try anything other than the campaign as the permanent HUD would wreak havok on my TV. Even with the fading HUD I still noticed some minor image retention. If faded away after a few hours but I'd never risk playing any of the other modes on my plasma until I had better control over the HUD.

Simply allowing the user to control the HUD's transparency would make this problem go away since a transparent HUD would be much lower contrast than the standard HUD. I can't believe it would be hard to program or cause any kind of a performance hit.

[BlkBullet23]

I agree as well. I play on both a normal and a high def tv. And that horde hud is in the way of the action. More so on my normal tv when we get bonus waves.
I love horde and beast but that score board is constantly blocking my view.

[zergling]

I can't believe I didn't even mention the players found menu, yes that thing is ridiculous in its current form. I guess
it's mostly since I've never really gotten into the competitive multiplayer of Gears. I've always focused on Horde, though
for right now my game is just gathering dust till I can find a safe way to play it.

Please Epic, we need menu transparency controls and/or a fading HUD option for things like Horde scores.

[zergling]

So no word on the next update of whether Epic will take this request seriously? I know there's
a new Horde and Campaign DLC coming out. I'd love to purchase the horde DLC, but at this point
I wouldn't even be able to play it.

If this problem doesn't get addressed you've lost at least one DLC sale. Please Epic consider
those in your fanbase that have plasma TVs we're not asking for anything game-changing.

[Seroczynski]

I would also greatly appreciate anything that will reduce the image retention I get from playing Gears. I have a Panasonic plasma and it's pretty scary seeing the retention after every time I play Horde (I can play for 6 hours straight but then I get paranoia). It goes away, but can take up a day, lol. I would love to play with an actual fading HUD.

[CyDetrakD]

Please some transparency option for us plasma owners soon just a request for a small patch if possible.

[zergling]

Well I sold my game a couple weeks back since I couldn't play Horde, but it looks like now I might have a reason to pick it up again. According to a recent article on IGN I just read, the next title update is adding the ability to disable the hud:

"Added an option to disable the HUD during multiplayer games for machinima and video creators"

Not exactly what we asked for, but I'd rather play without a HUD then go without playing at all. I still think
they should have given us the ability to tweak the HUDs transparency, rather than make it an on/off function.
They obviously weren't thinking about plasma owners when they made the tweak. Still a workaround is
a workaround, I'll see you all back on the battlefield this holiday season!

[CyDetrakD]

Well I sold my game a couple weeks back since I couldn't play Horde, but it looks like now I might have a reason to pick it up again. According to a recent article on IGN I just read, the next title update is adding the ability to disable the hud:

"Added an option to disable the HUD during multiplayer games for machinima and video creators"

Not exactly what we asked for, but I'd rather play without a HUD then go without playing at all. I still think
they should have given us the ability to tweak the HUDs transparency, rather than make it an on/off function.
They obviously weren't thinking about plasma owners when they made the tweak. Still a workaround is
a workaround, I'll see you all back on the battlefield this holiday season!

I had hope with the hud turn off option but its useless in the fight to avoiding image retention since you don't see the kills being made, most importantly how much ammo you have and the active isn't visible. I hope the devs hear us out on this one and give us options to have some transparency with the hud. I know Cliffy is enjoying Skyrim right now which has that same option but calls it like LastQuestion hud opacity.

[Rizilliant]

Not only for the burn in ( which would make me mad ruining such an expensive TV), but have you tried split screen play? The hud and then when you have weapon switch and your upgrades open fills the screen, making it impossible to see asanything..Gork forbid you switch weapons during a roadie run, and are stuck with weap select out for the dureation...I actually have to stop to let it switch and end the weap select just to be able to see any oncoming opponent! And were talking 50'' here!

[GearsFan360]

there should be an option where you can make the HUD fade, but it doesn't bother me cos i got a LCD tv, but you're right, its not worth playing an $80 game if its going to damage your $1000 tv, imagine watching a movie and all you can see i the corner is wave 30, $20,000, score: 121,200