Minecraft Forums

I know perhaps I'm the only one who says this and most will disagree, but there's one thing I find horribly lacking in the Xbox version of Minecraft.

The ability to alter the fog distance. Now, I know the fog is barely visible as it is and you can see clear as day from a high point, from one chunk's ending to the other's beginning. As far as the (I'm thinking) "Far" render distance setting will let you. This is where things get odd though.

I'd like to make the fog generate closer to me.

For me, it's the immersion of the game. Sure, it's the most unrealistic game out there, what with the blocks lying all over the place, making it seem so blatantly generated, but give me a game that can keep immersion going and I'll get into it no matter how bad it looks. Minecraft makes me care, contemplate my decisions, and live with the choices I make. I even try to avoid making blatantly outlandish structures, such as pixel art or bridges that just float over a chasm. There's always something, even if it's a made up headcanon, that explains why my buildings and structures look the way they do. It's just the way I play. I don't hate anyone for playing otherwise and that's the beauty. There's no one way or another to play minecraft.

Except there's one thing that kills it for me; I can see, quite blatantly, the edges of the world. The edges of my render distance. On PC, I always alleviated this with setting Fog to generate at 0.4, so that it adds a layer of mystery to things. I can see in the distance, but I can't make out what it is till I get there. It adds an atmosphere that is, to me, unbeatable. Gives things a sense of discovery, something that many have said is lacking in MCX360.

So, what I'm asking is this: Should 4J take the time to add in variable distance fog to the game? It's in there, just barely, but allow you to pull it closer if you wanted? What do you think? Obviously I'd say have it as an "Option", because I know there are some people who disagree completely with the idea.

Which they should. Minecraft has always been about that. Playing the game the way you feel it should be played.

I second this. It would come as naturally as the "Render Clouds" option.

In addition, generating fog closer to the player might help with slowdowns that tend to pop up from time to time (usually in online play,) but are quite persistent when they do decide to rear their ugly heads.

I've been wanting a Render Distance setting for quite some time myself.
I would keep it up solo, but cut it to half or so in online play, especially if I'm buried in the earth.

I'd forgotten about it's applications as a block for Rendering, so that would actually help the console version. Kinda like how Bioshock had an "Unlock Framerate" setting. Minecraft can run with full rendering at "Far" setting and those who wish to get a bit of a better framerate can "Unlock Fog" and can bring it closer to bring their FPS up.

I'd have it close all the time. I just feel it adds more to the game in my opinion. Helps maintain that "Suspension of Belief" and keep the games immersion going.

Fog and (If they add) texture packs could then allow you to change the atmosphere of the game completely. I say it'd be perfect.