Motion Sickness

I just started playing again after almost 4 years of not being able to play because the game was giving me severe motion sickness/simulator sickness. I tried it...and ended up getting Path of Fire...I could PLAY AGAIN!!! YAY!! But...some of the new zones...holy crow, motion sickness from minor to major...especially when the screen distorts and generally when there is too much particle effects going on, the Branded areas are a great example. A few of the Path of Fire personal story (btw well done!) and Living World Season 4 were giving me massive issues. I can't even finish them, and I so want to. Very excited to be back! The mounts bothered me a tiny bit, but I got used to them fast. The camera distortion and massive particle effect areas, however, I just cannot do without getting very sick. If you could please take some time to try and make a setting to turn off the distortion and lessen the particle effects, that would be so helpful. Because I know that I'm not the only one with motion sickness. I am limited to very few games...and I took a huge chance trying to play your game again, which I have loved since Guild Wars the First. I just want to be able to experience all of the game without the fear of getting sick.

Question, have you fiddled with your camera settings to get max zoom and FoV? I also suffer motion sickness from games, and from whirling effects (and from RL ceiling fans, it's a constant battle with my husband about having them on/off). But GW2 doesn't get me at all, even the mount camera shifts, thanks to my camera settings. At least not when I'm controlling it. I can start to quease out very fast during a WP video where his character is randomly running around with the camera near the character, doing things unrelated to his topic ... but I digress.

Here are the settings that keep my insides stable: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/375715891280609285/638567417286754334/CameraSettings.JPG

Note that camera shake is OFF.

As Donari states, change your FOV and camera settings.I also recommend Dramamine or ginger.The dramamine can take 30 min. to be effective, whereas you only need to chew some ginger to help with the nausea. Make sure it's unprocessed ginger (raw root).

I would also suggest playing with graphics settings. I found that I can tolerate the game better if I use low settings since they reduce the sharpness and intensity of some visual effects. The lowest setting for character models helps to minimise the number of players in shiny/sparkly outfits.

Thanks for both your input. I have fiddled with my settings and I don't get motion sick anywhere but where the view gets distorted. And where there's too much particle effects going on. I don't do huge group events, too much going on. I have changed my settings, and for sure camera shake is off.

Dramamine makes me sick, as does Gravol, and all the other motion sick drugs. The Ginger Tea, I have and love, but it doesn't do anything for my motion sickness...and it kind of eases my stomach a bit, but by no means a fix. I make my own Ginger root tea, or I have a medicinal tea form pre-made. Neither works.

I am just requesting an option to turn the distortion off and the particle effects off. So players that get severe motion sickness have the option, while those that don't have any issues can go along their merry way.

I have fiddled with the FOV and I max zoom. Along with turning the effects down, everything that I know triggers me to keep me from getting sick and I adjust my settings accordingly. It's that distortion in game, in certain zones...even in the old world Orr area, some areas get me...so I avoid them. I remember Heart of Thorns getting me, in some spots, too. But since I'm doing Path of Fire, it's where I am really noticing areas. The cut scenes I skip...but there's areas you have to play in, that's like no way. An example where you have to go through the different zones and get research, the mushroom area when your character gets drugged. The Taimi comment was hilarious, but after that I had to log, and it took me hours to get feeling better. Sometimes it's quick, half hour, other times it can be 8 hours to feel better. My doctors (eye and family) have both told me I do have severe motion sickness, and I consider myself lucky that I can even play again. I've done everything I can...and I try and work-a-round it...I'm just saying an option would be very useful and nice to have.

Thanks your camera settings @Donari.5237 mine are slightly different but I have spent hours tweaking them to fit my needs. Bad thing about motion sickness, certain things can be fine for one person, another person, not so much. I've got my setting suited for me...I just don't have the options that I need to keep my insides from a full out revolution. LOL

Check with an ENT doc (ear, nose, throat) as well. Your motion sickness could be due to an inner ear problem.

@ShadowGryphon.6257 said:Check with an ENT doc (ear, nose, throat) as well. Your motion sickness could be due to an inner ear problem.

There are a number of elements to the game that affect players differently. Setting, drugs and doctors visits are ok suggestions, but Anet is also factor in the equation.

Distortion in certain areas... Perhaps that has something to do with post-processing? Try turning it off completely in the graphics options.

Keep trying, your mind will become resistant to the sickness over time, it happens to me every time I take a long break from a motion intensive game, and each time it takes me several days to adjust before I stop feeling sick/dizzy.

I wonder how you can get motion sick in this game. But I used to play games since 30 years, so maybe it's that. Also, NEVER try a VR goggle lol. You're head's gonna explode.

@ProtoGunner.4953 said:I wonder how you can get motion sick in this game. But I used to play games since 30 years, so maybe it's that. Also, NEVER try a VR goggle lol. You're head's gonna explode.

It has nothing to do with how long you have been playing games, it's usually either something that will affect you always or caused by e.g. an inner ear problem. Like how some people get travel sickness very easily from being in a moving vehicle.

For some people constant exposure can lessen symptoms, but for some people it won't - it'll just make them feel crappy every time.

I'd recommend turning post-processing completely off, you can also limit player characters to the lowest, maybe turn player name plates off (so there are less things floating around on your screen, you can also turn off NPC and enemy nameplates, but I think you might want those :D), also lowest LoD distance...

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/comment/1078759#Comment_1078759

@Lottie.5370 said:

@ProtoGunner.4953 said:I wonder how you can get motion sick in this game. But I used to play games since 30 years, so maybe it's that. Also, NEVER try a VR goggle lol. You're head's gonna explode.

I don't know. I used to have travel sickness. Especially in airplanes and also in cars on the backseat when I was little. And I completely lost it when I was an adolescent or young adult.

guess old age has finally caught up with OP

i remember i used to play first person shooters 12-16 hours straight as a high school student, these days i cant even stand playing 15mins, felt like going to pass out every time

There's another way to massively increase the FoV on top of the FoV menu setting.

If you play in Windowed mode, and you narrow the window size (I have mine about 1inch narrower than my screens height, both top and bottom) it will zoom the camera 'out' even further. It essentially 'tricks' the game into thinking you are using a multi monitor wide screen set up and adjusts the FoV appropriately :P

Couldn't play the game without it :P

If you look at my post history, I have complained about the same things the OP is talking about for years. Environmental effects are what affect me the most. Snow, rain, blowing sand, yuck. The increase in particles with both expansions have certainly made things worse and I took extended breaks to try to figure out how to combat those.

In addition to the suggestions above, as far as medication goes, I prefer Bonine, doesn't make me drowsy or feel much different than normal, but helps with visually induced motion sickness. The downside is that it's about 1 USD per dose. Thankfully I have good days and bad days and only take it on bad days.

One thing that helps me, and I leave it on permanently, is a program called Custom Desktop Logo. I created a small bright green dot that I put in the center of the screen, and it overlays onto all games I play. That dot in the center of the screen tricks your brain a bit into focusing on the middle and helps you ignore the horizon or other visual effects around the edges of your screen. I never play without it.

I wish you the best of luck in trying to mitigate your sickness. It sucks and Anet doesn't seem to care much about it. Rubi apparently suffers from some of these issues and, as far as I know, is our only champion within Anet.

To give Anet credit, I couldn't use mounts at all until the patch where they fixed the ability to jump off of your mount to reach higher places, which was a bit of an exploit. Since then, mounting and demounting is much more smooth, as far as camera bounce goes, and I can actually use them, which is a huge plus.

@ProtoGunner.4953 said:

I don't know. I used to have travel sickness. Especially in airplanes and also in cars on the backseat when I was little. And I completely lost it when I was an adolescent or young adult.

… and that is why you don't get motion sick in games... some of us though have suffered with it our whole lives.

mounts were bad for me except for skyscale! its hoovers quite stable i've had a blast ever since

anyone have any tips for underwater? this still makes me very dizzy regardless of settings

As I have said, I have seen doctors, done all the tweaking I can and some zones bother me. I have played games all my life Atari 2600 gal here...and it started happening about a decade ago. It is in my brain...which is where most motion sick is located. It has nothing to do with my inner ear. I appreciate all the suggestions. Windows mode makes it worse. I've turned the post processing off, I've done pretty much all the suggestions above. How you get motion sickness in this game, it's called a medical condition, as I have been playing games longer than 30 years and was fine...then I wasn't. I can desensitize to a point, but that distortion and massive particle effects, especially in groups...I have issues. And most of the MMO's I have played and I'm talking way back in the Ultima Online game days...had settings to turn them off. Not all of them, but the popular ones, did. And I did, and I was fine. I think I've always had motion sickness, as I cannot ride in the backseat of a car...and a few other things really get me. But I am not going to drug myself to play a game, and I know that it can be fixed with adding setting options. My husband told me they did it for the mount issue...why not do it for all the people that love the game, and can't play it because we get motion sickness. Oh and VR no way...not happening...ever. That would be a hard pass, LOL. I can't even imagine what that would do to me...I don't want to imagine it!

@ProtoGunner.4953 said:I wonder how you can get motion sick in this game. But I used to play games since 30 years, so maybe it's that. Also, NEVER try a VR goggle lol. You're head's gonna explode.

I get it from three things in this game. One of which ive eliminated with camera settings. Mounts(eliminated completely). The Spiral thorn mission in HOT(climbing that Tower) and the Mad Kings Clock Tower.

@manamoo.2670 said:As I have said, I have seen doctors, done all the tweaking I can and some zones bother me. I have played games all my life Atari 2600 gal here...and it started happening about a decade ago. It is in my brain...which is where most motion sick is located. It has nothing to do with my inner ear. I appreciate all the suggestions. Windows mode makes it worse. I've turned the post processing off, I've done pretty much all the suggestions above. How you get motion sickness in this game, it's called a medical condition, as I have been playing games longer than 30 years and was fine...then I wasn't. I can desensitize to a point, but that distortion and massive particle effects, especially in groups...I have issues. And most of the MMO's I have played and I'm talking way back in the Ultima Online game days...had settings to turn them off. Not all of them, but the popular ones, did. And I did, and I was fine. I think I've always had motion sickness, as I cannot ride in the backseat of a car...and a few other things really get me. But I am not going to drug myself to play a game, and I know that it can be fixed with adding setting options. My husband told me they did it for the mount issue...why not do it for all the people that love the game, and can't play it because we get motion sickness. Oh and VR no way...not happening...ever. That would be a hard pass, LOL. I can't even imagine what that would do to me...I don't want to imagine it!

One other thing you could try is getting a bigger monitor, as someone who also cannot sit in the back of a car due to the smaller windows and having my view blocked, a larger monitor works in a similar way to sitting in the front seat of a car, you get a much broader view and it helps greatly with keeping motion sickness at bay. I currently use a 40 inch monitor, I will never go back to anything smaller.

@Koen.1327 said:mounts were bad for me except for skyscale! its hoovers quite stable i've had a blast ever since

anyone have any tips for underwater? this still makes me very dizzy regardless of settings

Have you tried a small window for UW combat (so you can see the desktop and some static icons/pictures on it)? Depending on underlying reasons for your motion sickness this trick might help.

I had the same issue when POF was released.. whenver I used mounts skills I felt like puking due to the motion sickness.. I turned off the "Motion Blur Power" and it solved the issue. This option is at the bottom of the 2nd tab on Options Menu, scroll the bar all the way to the left and tadaa!! Lemme know if it helps :3

Is there an option to turn off camera shake i looked but cannot see one.. I did a quest yesterday that shook my camera so much i felt sick as.

@"Dante.1508" said:Is there an option to turn off camera shake i looked but cannot see one.. I did a quest yesterday that shook my camera so much i felt sick as.