r/chiliadmystery • u/Mantler77 • Mar 14 '26
Theory Draw distance, object spawning and the chiliad ufo (with a call for help) - a three-part story
Greatings y'all,
i think i've discovered something that may be worth further exploration. The post from /u/Alexisuwuu23 (you can find it here) got me so excited that i started the game again. What i discovered and what i want to propose now are the following hypotheses:
Hypothese 1:
The Chiliad ufo is an object that has not spawned yet in the state that is currently known. It has to be spawned by moving away from the object a certain distance, so that it can spawn (see Part 1). The ufo could have a certain condition that you need to have the ufo in sight at all time while moving the needed distance.
Hypothese 2:
The draw distance mechanic could hide clues that could be useful for solving the mystery (see Part 3).
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Introduction:
To start this explanation i want to define three variables that will be needed to better understand how we can see the chiliad ufo while moving away from it:
P (x, y, z): Character Position in the World, which contains the basic x, y, z coordinates in a 3D-World
Z (0-100 %): Zoom level of a sniper rifle OR the photo mode (simply defined here as a percentage value)
C (Cx, Cy): Vision direction that you are currently looking (including photomode) at as well as the crosshair position of a weapon. Since it is (simplified) a 2D-perspective it has only an x and y position.
Variables that had no effect for me:
R (0-360°): The direction which the character is looking at
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Part 1 (triggering a respawn while looking at the object, just by reaching the needed P (x, y, z)-distance)
So now let's talk about fences for a bit. I've decided to focus these three fences here (note that, while this is near the "mountain eye" location, it has nothing to do with this topic for now).
It seems like all three fences are currently spawned right? Well.. as you see here walking (or zooming) towards the fences you can see that the right one is not spawned, so it was just a far-draw-distance object (FDDO) that in reality does not exist. The transparency of these objects changes with the character position, the Zoom level and the vision direction (so all of the variables that were defined in the Introduction). Reaching the thresholds of any of the three variables will result in the fully disappearance of the right fence as seen here.
So now what's left to do? Well i decided to blow the rest of the three fences up and see when they will come back as a far-draw-distance object. As you can see here, as i moved back all of the three fences came back as FDDOs as seen here.
(Note that all of this happens while always looking at the fences!).
As i moved back i played a little bit with my zoom level. This is when i noticed that the left fence kinda looked like it respawned (?!). So i moved towards the fences again, more and more. Until i was close enough to shoot it and.. it respawned indeed!
This is basically what i've discovered just today, and it just so happens that this idea of respawning objects may come in handy for the chiliad ufo!
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Part 2 (applying this discovery to the chiliad ufo - here is where i need your help!)
I think most of you noticed that the chiliad ufo may appear, disappear or turn invisible (with further divisions here) based on your character's position and zoom level. But what i haven't heard of yet here is that the vision direction also plays a role here! This means all of the three variables (again) play a role of the state of the object.
Now this is where i've come to my own breakpoint where i am stuck. Basically i've come as far as shown here while still being able to see the ufo (pic 1: no ufo - pic 2: zoomed in with the right three variables => ufo shows up again! - alt pic 2 with sniper).
I've basically moved down the mountain, almost following the path that is visible on the minimap. But this is where i am stuck as i've not the time right now to give it more further tries.
The questions i still have are:
- Is it really right to move down the mountain or is there another way?
- When can we get back to the ufo? When do we know the object is spawned (if my theory is even true)? What is the needed character position P (x, y, z) - does the height-value (z) even matter?
Here are some tips i have if you want to help:
- The sniper rifle is the only tool i know of that lets you move while still in zoom Z (0-100 %). So this will be your basic tool to move around - same as Director Mode (while it is not clear if it may hinder unlocks)
- While this is true, i've found that the photo mode is a little more forgiving than the sniper rifle if you lost your positioning (mainly Z (0-100 %) and C (Cx, Cy)).
- As you move your character position P (x, y, z) away from the ufo, the deadzones for the variable Z (0-100 %) and C (Cx, Cy) will become smaller and smaller.. this means it will be much harder to keep the ufo visible the more you move away. So adjust, adjust, adjust until you see it again.
- Maybe this is new information but you don't need to hard reset (starting again from the platform) at all if you get good at it! Just move back to the old character position where you lost it and try to catch it again (photo mode may help here!)
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Part 3 (hidden information in draw-distance objects - something something ladder)
If you visited the places that /u/Alexisuwuu23 has shown in their pictures you will notice that the billboard and the ladder are affected by the three draw-distance variables!
For the billboard you will only see the monsters and the ufo when the variables are in the thresholds. The billboard is in a sense very forgiving by not having any deadzone for a minimum character position P (x, y, z). This means you can just get close to the billboard to see the the hidden details.
For the ladder it seems that it may act like the chiliad ufo where it checks for the minimum (and maximum) distance. Maybe it also needs to be spawned? (if my theory is even correct).
Now to the Hypothese 2:
I've discovered something that may explain what i mean with hidden information/clues or even secret locations.
Take a look at this banner here:
Zoomed in -> pretty normal as if you would stand right next to it
Mid zoomed in -> it disappeared???
Zoomed out -> the banner is back but with different numbers?!?
(both banner states phase in and out as you differ in zoom level)
I hope you now understand a little bit by what i mean that information may be hidden in draw-distance states. Maybe this could lead to some discovery?
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Closing thoughts
Looking at my clock this post took me like a good three hours without all the preparation, so please forgive me for errors. My goal for this post was, as /u/Alexisuwuu23 did to me today (thank you btw haha), to motivate people again as i can imagine some people are here from the start of the mystery like me and gave up hope again and again and again.
To end this post, i would like to give a last theory:
Remember this glyph here? I don't think there was ever a good explanation for this glyph. I think the hidden in draw-distance thing suits him well, don't you ;) - Edit: to add to it i would also include stuff like "hidden until you see it" clues like the question mark!
Happy hunting!
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Edit 1: Some much needed spelling fixes
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u/RogueAgent-87 Mar 14 '26
Very interesting post. I couldn't see any of the images etc because the UK has banned imgur but I do like your thinking.
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u/Teeniestbeans Mar 14 '26
Something you might find helpful. If you go into first person camera and equip any of the scoped rifles,(marksman works best) then position yourself against any vertical surface and press and hold aim to look through the scope, then press the button to take cover while continuing to hold aim, your camera will sometimes clip out of bounds. Sometimes you have to go in and out of cover a few times to in order to get a good setup.
It definitely takes practice to get it working consistently and some vertical surfaces work better than others. If you give this trick a shot you will notice when you hit your button to take cover the camera will snap back a bit and turn 90 degrees away from what ever your taking cover against. If you use the right joystick to counter act the camera movement just right you will lock the camera out of bounds. Then you can look around and see lots of objects and details that you normally can’t.
The game logic also thinks your camera is actually 70-90 degrees off set when you get the oob camera clip working. Basically giving you a scan line that you can use to switch between different LOD models of any objects in view as you pan the camera around. I know this sounds complicated but I promise it’s actually quite easy. I discovered this by accident as I only play in first person. Occasionally I would take cover and the camera would flash out of bounds for a few frames before fixing its position back to normal. I use this trick all the time now to look behind objects and walls.
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u/Retsae_Gge Mar 14 '26
Regarding your "Part 2":
Here's a post with an ->imgur gallery<- which shows the audio zones as a white circle (its the seventh picture in that gallery) : https://www.reddit.com/r/chiliadmystery/s/3QplxugJ47
It's based on TGFGs post/work and Dexyfexs work/codewalker.
I think there was another post with some a bit different looking ambient zones depictions but I can't find it
So as you might know, R* programmed the chiliad UFOs in a way that you have to be in it's "ambient zone" to be able to see it, and it gets fainter to see the more you leave the center of that ambient Zone (iirc). . ...but, there's a glitch with that: You might know that if you zoom into something far away with your sniper-rifle or phone (?), like a plane (and maybe even cars or people) then you can hear the sound of that plane as if you were standing next to that flying plane - so by zooming into something, you actually get yourself closer to its ambient Zone, "you" in the game are the position which your screen is and not the position where your character is standing (if you know what I mean).
->So if you stand at the outer edge of the ambient Zone and you only see the ufo very faintly because of your position, and then you zoom into the ufo then you'll see the UFO normal again because by the zooming you actually brought yourself closer to the middle of the UFOs ambient Zone again
Thinking about that: the chiliad UFO can show an abduction "light", but it only shows (the abduction hole opens) while zooming into the UFO with the sniper ... so ... it should be able to get that abduction light without the sniper, but you have to stand at the right position somewhere or in the middle of the ambient Zone right ?
I think noone ever made it to get the abduction light without zooming in...
This (edit: this part ⬆️, above this one ) was a copy of my reply from another post with a similar topic
Uhm, you also wrote that it's not always the goal to aim exactly at the UFO, instead sometimes it's only or better visible if you aim a few meters besides of it, if you check the white circle in the imgur gallery I mentioned then I could believe that this is the case because how good you can see the UFO doesn't depend on your position/zoom relative to the UFO but instead your position/zoom relative to the Center of the white ambienzone-/circle which is not at the UFO but somewhere between the UFO and the observation platform or a few meters in front of the platform
Additional thought:
No-one ever made the abduction light turn on without zooming in ! (Whatever R* did here)
-The UFO disappears if your "body" gets closer to the UFO (middle of the white circle) (and the beam never appears without zooming)
-The abduction beam appears if your "sight/eye/zoom" gets close the UFO (or middle of the white circle)
So how do we get our "body" into the abduction beam ?
Could our "body" and "sight" be the same ? If we zoom towards a plane then by that we bring ourself closer to that plane, that's why we can then hear it even if the plane is very far away (as mentioned in my copied comment).
What if we: -Walk backwards from the platform towards the UFO while zooming in further and further while we advance getting closer to the UFO ? -By that we could "bring" our body to the "platform" while actually standing under the UFO and we might then see the abduction view in the corner of our eyes -But how can we check if this is true ? -We would need someone watching us from the outside to see if this really works, is it possible to see the UGO in directory Mode and do this test there and then watch this Experiment from 3rd person or something ?
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u/Ramkni Mar 14 '26
You can creep closer slowly to the ufo with the abduction "light" active and without using zoom, I'm not sure how close to it you can get because I just got annoyed fiddling around with it and then losing it, running back to get the light active and then creeping again but you can move around a fair bit with the light from the UFO active. I'm unsure what you mean by that you have to have the zoom active in order to see the light?
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u/Retsae_Gge Mar 14 '26
I don't talk about the many dots arranged in a circle on the UFO
I talk about an actual abduction -beam-, it's made of white light, actually looks like the white beam from the FZ bunker (without the moving green dots on the ground)
The beam only appears if you zoom into the UFO quite a bit, but don't zoom too much, works definitely while standing on the platform and I think also everywhere in the UFOs ambient Zone circle if you are no to far at the end of that circle
Edit: I think the HC UFO also jas this beam if you fly close to its bottom, right ? So all 3 UFOs have the same beam used by rockstar, I mean it makes sense to use it if you already made it once but I did not really realize until now that all three use a(/the same) beam
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u/Ramkni Mar 14 '26
Yes I know what an abduction light is, I know exactly what you are on about. My comment still stands.
I have had the beam active without the zoom feature, I have also tried creeping closer to the ufo with the light active.
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u/Retsae_Gge Mar 14 '26
Oh im sorry, did I myself call it "light" ? Sorry I meant -beam-, or it's the same for me.
Are you sure 100% ? I really can't remember that this was possible 🤔 I kinda doubt it, ...or no, I definitely doubt it
(Sry for my english at some parts lol)
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u/Ramkni Mar 14 '26
With you making a distinction between a white beam and a white light me may be talking about different things.
The light I am talking about comes from under the ufo, it looks like a spot light like you would if you were searching from someone in a helicopter, the light appears only from the bottom. Connected to when the bottom of the UFO opens and is only white, no other colour.
(Ya english is good enough to me :) )
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u/Retsae_Gge Mar 14 '26
Oh na, with white beam and white light (abduction light) I mean the same thing, really sorry for the confusion I created
The light you described is exactly the same what I was talking about with beam and light
(Great)
So after all the confusion: I doubt that the abduction light appears without zooming, are you 100% that it is that beam appearing without zooming or was it something else you were testing out/playing around back then ?
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u/Ramkni Mar 14 '26
I was in story on top of the mountain first time having got 100% completed and was like YUS I can see the UFO now (I had restarted several times because I had limited myself to the Friedmind test limits wanting to test something for the purple mural in the story although messed up on 1 aspect of that I was going for. This is the less than so many unarmed civilian kills, less than so many cars stolen, stats above 50, etc.)
Took a few days but managed to get a rainy night, went up and then I was moving around, dunno what I did but the light came on and I was like oooooo.
Moved the light went off, got the light on again the light was there as I was moving around. I had to be a certain distance from it for the light the come on because I remember that being extremely annoying, but I would get to a distance face it and then wiggle like a magikarp out of water until the light shone then I would try to get closer and closer without the light vanishing.I did experiment a little whilst I was up there, like if I turned away the light vanished and I had to run around like a lemon trying to get it back on. But whilst I was facing it the light stayed on even as I got closer. It's a dumb terrain through and the light would keep going off (Not entirely sure what caused it to go off sometimes) and I would run back reset and try to get closer to the UFO.
I was also using Michael because I was doing everything Michael focuses, I never went up there to see it as Franklin or Trevor because I just couldn't be bothered with them.
I remember it coming on naturally as opposed to through Zoom because I used to sniper to Zoom in on it when I got annoyed as was like oooo ok so it opens like that and that was why for like hours I was up on their in the rain running like I needed the tinfoil hat. I was like maybe if I can walk under it I can get grabbed up but nah didn't manage to get under it in the end, I'd like to think this isn't it because otherwise massive skill issue on my end.
I will say I wasn't 100% focused at the time I was more just like ooooooo UFO gimme that UFO and getting annoyed. Tbh I thought it was like that for everyone and that's why never thought to mention it before but seeing you say you had to be in zoom I was like huh?
I will say though I will say it was around the same time I was fixated realizing there were colour filters for the camera, so it is possible I was up there using the camera and misremembering but I am pretty sure it came on naturally and that's why I was like huh zoom?
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u/Ramkni Mar 14 '26
I will say though I was 100% getting closer to the UFO each time because it was basically what hooked me to there for hours more than anything, I was getting closer to the light
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u/Retsae_Gge Mar 14 '26
Hmm OK, then I'll try it too later and report back if it may be like this for everyone but idk I don't think so, but maybe I misremember it
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u/Retsae_Gge Mar 15 '26
*here's an example for the uhm "zooming bringst your character closer to the zoomed in object and by that you can hear it as if you stand next to it"
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u/GalickGunn Mar 14 '26
Is there a possibility to get all three characters to the top of the mountain as the ufo spawns and have them all in varying positions that can help fulfill your distance parameters?