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MCPE-153784

Simulation distance description in the new UI is nonsensical and misleading

The text under the simulation distance selector in the new UI describes each simulation distance in terms of an "N x N block radius" (e.g. "64 x 64 block radius" for simulation distance 4). This wording is nonsense: a radius a one-dimensional measurement; "N x N" describes an area, not a radius.

Moreover, an N x N area is much smaller than an N-radius area:
64 x 64 = 4906
3.14159 * 64 ^ 2 = 12,868

Finally, assuming the intended meaning is "a N block radius", the full text is not strictly correct. "Loads and applies changes within a N block radius" is not how the game works and does not make explicit the connection to the simulation distance being chosen.

A more accurate description would be "loads and applies changes in chunks that come within a (simulation_distance x 16) block radius." However, if the mention of "chunks" and multiplying by the number of blocks in a chunk seems too technical, it could be phrased obliquely as "loads and applies changes based on a N block radius."

Linked issues

Comments 2

GoldenHelmet

In 1.19.80 Previews the "an N x N radius" was changed to "a range of N x N" and "blocks" was changed to "chunks", but this was no improvement--see MCPE-168049.

In 1.20 "chunks" has been changed back to "blocks", but the statement is still nonsenical and misleading in the ways I originally explained:

  • "range" is just as much a linear/one-dimensional quantity as "radius", while "N x N" describes a two dimensional area.

  • The simulation area is much larger than "N × N blocks"

A concise and accurate statement would be

The game loads and applies changes within a horizontal range N blocks from the player

Auldrick

I responded to this in MCPE-168049 before I realized you'd updated this ticket with a briefer summary of your comments there (and before I remembered that Mojang was tracking this ticket, not that one). I will briefly summarize my comments here as well.

  1. "Range" is not necessarily a linear quantity; it also has an areal meaning, as in "the range of African elephants". The formulation "N × N blocks" employs the latter meaning.

  2. The simulation area is neither rectangular nor circular. Thus, neither "a range of N × N blocks" nor "a horizontal range N blocks from the player" is accurate. But the true shape has no geometrical name and is too complex to describe in a hint, so I would agree that your suggestion is better than the current hint.

  3. In the other ticket, I suggested "within roughly [perhaps 'approximately' would translate better] N blocks of the player" to make it clear the description of the area wasn't meant to be precise.

  4. Crucially, even if we assume Mojang chooses to retain the "N × N blocks" formulation, the hint currently understates the true size of the simulation area by a factor of 4. The numbers would need to be doubled. (GoldenHelmet, I realize this is equivalent to your last bullet point above. You didn't mention it in the other ticket, but I did, so I'm reproducing my additional comments on it here.)


Since this ticket wasn't closed after the hint was updated and the other ticket was never submitted to Mojang, I intend to close MCPE-168049 at this time.

GoldenHelmet

(Unassigned)

821246

Confirmed

Multiple

OreUI

1.19.80.20 Preview, 1.19.10.20 Preview, 1.19.0.21 Preview, 1.20.0, 1.20.32 Hotfix, 1.21.2 Hotfix

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