New Sea of Thieves patch prevents Steam players from increasing FoV beyond 90° horizontal

[Conkerkid11]

In the patch notes for the big Pirates of the Caribbean update that released earlier today:

On Steam, players are no longer able to modify game files in order to exceed the maximum player field of view.

Click to shrink...

Basically, prior to this update, Steam players were able to add two extra lines to a .ini file in order to increase the FoV maximum from 90 to 120. This was always considered against either Rare or Microsoft's terms of service or something, but nobody was ever really punished for it.

Rare support currently responds to complaints regarding the FoV with this:

Ahoy there,

Thank you for your ticket.

The FOV modification for Steam players was never intentional and has been removed in order to restore the intended settings of Sea of Thieves.

There are no intentions to change this in future.

Best regards,
Sea of Thieves - Player Support

Click to shrink...

The game is an always-online, cross-platform experience, and this change was likely made in order to bring balance between the various platforms the game supports. The biggest issue here is that players weren't just using this in order to gain an advantage, but to reduce motion sickness, an accessibility issue with Sea of Thieves that Rare has yet to do anything about since the game originally released in 2018.

What's your guys' take on this? Ideally, Rare would just increase the FoV limit on all platforms in order to maintain balance, but this would likely introduce performance issues on the previous gen Xbox. Is there an issue with a cross-platform multiplayer game having different FoV limits on each platform? Rare certainly doesn't seem to think it's an issue that PC players can have a better view distance setting than console players.

 

[Tawpgun]

PC already has such big advantages its sorta silly but whatever

 

[AshenOne]

What is this this shit?

How about make Crossplay optional or introduce the option to increase FoV on console?

F*** restrictions like that.

 

[vixolus]

I play at 90 FOV in most games, but I don't see why someone can't play at higher FOVs.

 

[Igniz12]

This sucks. As some who struggled to play F4 recently without suffering headaches until after I was able to manually set the fov to 90 I know how much this stuff can affect ones enjoyment of games.

 

[Betelgeuse]

Sometimes the importance of certain QoL features - like the right not to be nauseous playing your game - exceeds the slight advantage that comes from said QoL features.

This is garbage.

 

[J75]

Adding limitations to PC games that weren't there originally is always some bullshit.

 

[.exe]

The competitive advantage in an arena shooter or something I could maybe understand. But it seems like it would be pretty marginal in SoT.

 

[Mukrab]

To be fair people need to understand that increasing the FOV so much wasn't an option in game. This was done through modifying game files , in a mp game. Regardless of if you agree with Rares decision or not, in a way this was cheating.

 

[Kyrios]

It makes the player go "ARGH".

Spoiler

*sails away*

 

[Deleted member 24907]

Oh no won't someone please think of the integrity of the Sea of Thieves online experience.

Just let people pick their FOV. Some have legitimate motion sickness issues.

 

[Deleted member 79058]

Hope they implement a FOV slider for Xbox One and Series so they can make it a feature on PC as well.

 

[Theorry]

Hope they implement a FOV slider for Xbox One and Series so they can make it a feature on PC as well.

Click to shrink...

There has been a FOV slider from day one

 

[Anatole]

The lack of accessibility for people who get motion sickness on this game remains a dealbreaker, especially when many of the other accessibility settings are so good. The main reason my closest group of friends doesn't play more is because one of us can't play the game for more than a few minutes without feeling sick.

 

[Deleted member 79058]

There has been a FOV slider from day one

Click to shrink...

uh
I think they don't wanna anyone playing beyond FOV 90, then.

 

[ash32121]

uh
I think they don't wanna anyone playing beyond FOV 90, then.

Click to shrink...

I wouldn't buy the game if I know that they will take out the ability to modify the FOV, will they refund me then?

 

[Randdalf]

Aha, that's funny that it worked by changing the meaning of the FOV to vertical rather than horizontal FOV.

So you could never actually modify the FOV directly beyond 90 anyway.

 

[Pryme]

What is this this shit?

How about make Crossplay optional or introduce the option to increase FoV on console?

F*** restrictions like that.

Click to shrink...

I guess folks can send feedback to Rare to get them to revert this change or come up with another way of handling this issue.

 

[elenarie]

Stupid decision. And going against accessibility.

 

[Randdalf]

Stupid decision. And going against accessibility.

Click to shrink...

I've actually not heard of high FOVs as an accessibility option before. How does it help?

 

[TheGhost]

They need to push it above 90 on console

 

[elenarie]

I've actually not heard of high FOVs as an accessibility option before. How does it help?

Click to shrink...

Helps reduce motion sickness. When someone says they feel sick when playing a first person game, 99% it is due to the terribly low FOV that game uses.

 

[thevid]

I've actually not heard of high FOVs as an accessibility option before. How does it help?

Click to shrink...

Motion sickness, especially on PC when you are sitting closer to your monitor.

 

[Randdalf]

Helps reduce motion sickness. When someone says they feel sick when playing a first person game, 99% it is due to the terribly low FOV that game uses.

Click to shrink...

Oh okay, my general perception was that 90 is quite a high FOV, and it starts looking progressively more warped beyond that.

 

[Praedyth]

Just put a bigger FOV slider on PC and next-gen consoles like D2. I can't think of a scenario where this 90 FOV limitation is justified.

 

[Stacey]

Utter, utter bullshit. Sort it out please Rare.

 

[SteveWinwood]

i didnt even know sea of thieves was considered "competitive"

 

[Maffis]

Not surprised. Blizzard is just as strict when it comes to this

 

[Mesoian]

I wouldn't buy the game if I know that they will take out the ability to modify the FOV, will they refund me then?

Click to shrink...

You could try. Steam might uphold that.

Doubt anyone else would htough.

 

[centracore]

The Microsoft Store version of this game makes me so incredibly motion sick that I recently purchased the Steam version just to be able to increase the FoV which made a huge difference, guess I won't be playing Sea of Thieves anymore.

 

[DeoGame]

They made the right call in stopping the modification of game files. It can harm the integrity of the game.

They made the wrong call in not allowing adjustable FOV on all platforms, even on console too. It's an accessibility feature more than a competitive one. Should be standardized across the board. As someone who gets motion sick with some games, settings for Gamma, FOV and Motion Blur are a godsend. I've had no problems with SoT personally but have been in a position for many others where I have been.

 

[ghostcrew]

I wouldn't buy the game if I know that they will take out the ability to modify the FOV, will they refund me then?

Click to shrink...

I doubt you'll get far if your argument is that they've taken it out. Because it was never officially in. It was always a backend ini adjustment.

The game still has the same FOV slider settings that it's always had. Up to 90. Steam users (specifically) just had access to a way to trick it into changing the horizontal setting to the vertical setting, pushing it further than intended.

Could try your luck though? Steam are bloody good with their refunds and if you say it's an accessibility concern they might honour it.

 

[Winnie]

They made the right call in stopping the modification of game files. It can harm the integrity of the game.

They made the wrong call in not allowing adjustable FOV on all platforms, even on console too. It's an accessibility feature more than a competitive one. Should be standardized across the board. As someone who gets motion sick with some games, settings for Gamma, FOV and Motion Blur are a godsend. I've had no problems with SoT personally but have been in a position for many others where I have been.

Click to shrink...

The fov is adjustable on console and PC, the problem is that it's limited to 90 max.

 

[DeoGame]

The fov is adjustable on console and PC, the problem is that it's limited to 90 max.

Click to shrink...

Ah. So hopefully they can up the cap to 120 across the board.

 

[Sign My Guestbook!]

I guess fuck people who get motion sick then.

 

[Conkerkid11]

Just put a bigger FOV slider on PC and next-gen consoles like D2. I can't think of a scenario where this 90 FOV limitation is justified.

Click to shrink...

Oh wow, D2 has an FoV slider on consoles? That's awesome.

I'm really glad that console gamers are getting to experience how great having a high FoV is now.

Not surprised. Blizzard is just as strict when it comes to this

Click to shrink...

Funny enough, my go-to FoV for most FPS games became 103 horizontal due to that being the cap in Overwatch.

Can I ask; Why do people want to play a game against the unintended guidelines? Sure if the devs want 90 to be the intended rule why do people want more?

Click to shrink...

Because low FoV makes people motion sick.

i didnt even know sea of thieves was considered "competitive"

Click to shrink...

The PvP players in this game can take things very seriously.

 

[Iacomus]

Can I ask; Why do people want to play a game against the unintended guidelines? Sure if the devs want 90 to be the intended rule why do people want more?

 

[ghostcrew]

Can I ask; Why do people want to play a game against the unintended guidelines? Sure if the devs want 90 to be the intended rule why do people want more?

Click to shrink...

Because if people have large enough monitors close enough to their eyes they can feel motion sickness and increasing the FOV can help with that.

 

[AshenOne]

I guess folks can send feedback to Rare to get them to revert this change or come up with another way of handling this issue.

Click to shrink...

Yeah i'd appreciate that a lot. I play open world games at 90+ FoV so i know how much it feels good. Hope RARE do something about it.

 

[Ferrio]

PC SoT player here, I welcome the change. Console players already get dunked on hard, any extra advantage hurts even worse. People wanna talk about accessibility but don't really care about how the console players experience is? I'm sure there's plenty of people on console with accessibility needs that would like this change making their life a small bit easier on the seas, cause it's already a big uphill battle.

Also people prone to getting motion sickness should consider staying clear of this game regardless of FoV, the water physics are that good. I don't see how any extra FoV is going to help that much, this isn't your standard game motion sickness this is real sea sickness. Got a few friends that can't play period no matter what the settings are, and occassionaly I'll feel it even though I rarely get motion sickness.

 

[Deleted member 79058]

I wouldn't buy the game if I know that they will take out the ability to modify the FOV, will they refund me then?

Click to shrink...

I hope so. Did you buy it on Steam? I heard their refunding process is pretty good.

 

[ash32121]

I hope so. Did you buy it on Steam? I heard their refunding process is pretty good.

Click to shrink...

You could try. Steam might uphold that.

Doubt anyone else would though.

Click to shrink...

I doubt you'll get far if your argument is that they've taken it out. Because it was never officially in. It was always a backend ini adjustment.

The game still has the same FOV slider settings that it's always had. Up to 90. Steam users (specifically) just had access to a way to trick it into changing the horizontal setting to the vertical setting, pushing it further than intended.

Could try your luck though? Steam are bloody good with their refunds and if you say it's an accessibility concern they might honour it.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, bought it on Steam because I know I can change the .ini file. The version I got on gamepass makes me barf my guts out every time I play.

And I just try, and got denied because it been more than 14 days and more than 8 hours of gameplay.

 

[piratepwnsninja]

The complaint shouldn't be that they took something away. It was a hacky way to get it working, and it was on Steam only. 90 is the max you can set IN GAME on all platforms. Instead, the ask should be to officially allow FOVs above 90 on all platforms. And I do understand why higher FOVs are desirable for accessibility reasons, on top of the advantages higher FOVs can provide.

 

[elenarie]

To anyone thinking this is being done for competitive reasons.

That is an excuse that is full of crap. An invalid reasoning and decision made by someone with a lack of empathy towards their players. Competitive advantage is not a thing. Bad cultural and excluding mindset are.

The amount of times I've had to have these arguments especially with level artists and 3d artists because apparently their work would look bad or distorted at higher FOV is beyond belief.

 

[Iacomus]

Because low FoV makes people motion makes people sick

Click to shrink...

Because if people have large enough monitors close enough to their eyes they can feel motion sickness and increasing the FOV can help with that.

Click to shrink...

Right thanks for the responses. I assume that even though they they could fix the title itself to reduce motion sickness, it is more the position of where the camera is vs the players perspective that causes the motion sickness?

 

[TyrantGuardian]

To anyone thinking this is being done for competitive reasons.

That is an excuse that is full of crap. An invalid reasoning and decision made by someone with a lack of empathy towards their players. Competitive advantage is not a thing. Bad cultural and excluding mindset are.

The amount of times I've had to have these arguments especially with level artists and 3d artists because apparently their work would look bad or distorted at higher FOV is beyond belief.

Click to shrink...

A million times this.

SoT is really heavy on the motion sickness and the in-game slider is no where near enough for my monitor setup. It pretty much forces me to play with gamepad and sit further away from my screen if I enjoy not throwing up. Competitive advantage my ass.

 

[Deleted member 17184]

If the problem is performance, then they should find another way to make the option officially available for players on every platform.

If accessibility is what you have to sacrifice, something is wrong.

 

[piratepwnsninja]

To anyone thinking this is being done for competitive reasons.

That is an excuse that is full of crap. An invalid reasoning and decision made by someone with a lack of empathy towards their players. Competitive advantage is not a thing. Bad cultural and excluding mindset are.

The amount of times I've had to have these arguments especially with level artists and 3d artists because apparently their work would look bad or distorted at higher FOV is beyond belief.

Click to shrink...

But the fisheye! /s (except not because I've been in those exact same arguments)

Yes, accessibility should always win. And Rare has generally made great strides in terms of accessibility with SoT, so I'm interested to see what they do here. There are potentially reasons beyond just caring about the art that they may need to consider, especially in terms of performance. However, there are numerous ways to creatively solve this though...IF it is an issue.

 

[bushmonkey]

I play sea of thieves multiplayer with my son in the same room. I'm on the PC and he's on the OG XboxOne. Even with the default FOV settings, the difference in FOV between PC and Xbox is night and day. I find the Xbox one unplayable after getting accustomed to the PC settings. I don't understand why Rare would feel the nees to stop players from increasing it, it's not like the PC hasn't got a massive advantage already anyway.

 

[Deleted member 4494]

Hadn't really heard of people getting motion sick from games that support up to 90 FOV. Most games that seem to have to the issue are in the 60-70 range, sometimes less.