Even thought you stated it in the rules YOURSELF to not use ANYTHING outside of a game now you double down on the rule breaking. Yep, saw this comming... I mean nobody asked you to do a contest, or do anything, but when you DO something dont HALF ASS IT. Do it right. As to the rules, you stated if something changes (like ALLOWING contestants to use 3 SCREENSHOTS and FUSE them together in an EXTERNAL PROGRAM bypassing the 3 screenshots per post rule) youll do a NOTIFICATION. Nothing happened so yea, dont HALF ASS it next time (not like people will care anymore). Now it looks like it has been scripted, influenced by winners, cheated or manipulated in other way. Cheating is the way to go guys, when you look around yourself youll see it everywhere.


-(Fusing MANY screenshots can REALLY improve screenshots in a way that you can create panoramas etc.... YET nobody said it was allowed since it was clearly stated that you CANT USE EXTERNAL SOFTWARE thats not part of a game and that you CANT post more than 3 screenshots) Those are my 5 cents on this issue and yes, it looks like this contest has been in a favour to some people, but hey your site, your "rules". Breaking 2 rules and still winning, wow.

Dude you do realize that in the rules that you so quote as scripture, in the details it says not to use a program that GRAPHICLY enhances the image. It doesn't take a college degree to read in between the lines and realize that you can use a external program to merge images together as it doesn't GRAPHICLY enhances them, it's literally taking 3 photos that are already enhanced by the mods used within the game and literally taping them together. that's it. Now I advise you calm down, learn to use some common sense and critical thinking, maybe actually read into the situation instead of just spouting off whatever bullshit you happen to think off at the time and have yourself a fantastic day.

K. If you feel this is the right way, then go for it. Dont expect people to bother next time some shady "contest" comes up and somebody will go ahead and try to bypass the rules in their favor by going around asking admins "Is this alowed? How about this? Can I do this?". And feel free to ban everybody that feels cheated because they followed the rules to the POINT without twisting them.

Once again you list the rules and when you change them you dont bother to alert people (you said you WILL when something changes it is written there in your rules). Also you dont have to call me an "idiot" in a fancy way just because Iam listing what I feel like is wrong and Iam NOT the only one who feels cheated.

I do kind of agree with Stormer here. Fiddler may not have edited them in a graphical way but I think it should have taken more effort to create a wider fov shot. Its cheap.

I feel the screenshot you post must be captured by yourself and should not have been edited in any way after capturing it whatsoever.
External programs like, Ansel, Sweetfx, ENB, Freestyle, camera tool and ini tweaking is a means to aquire shots but I think using something to combine 3 screenshots into one in "Post" would be just as bad as lets say. this screenshot:

Spoiler:

This is a screenshot I didn't post in the Frostfall contest due to the fps cap being edited out.

Here's other argument taken from the definition of a screenshot:

Quote :

A screenshot is an image of what is currently on your screen. You can use a screenshot if you want to show exactly what is shown on your screen. The image of the screen can then be sent to your interlocutor to clarify a few things.15 Jul. 2013

-This is the definition when talking about tech support though.

I really don't care enough about the screenshot contests to go demand the disqualification of Fiddler's shot and I feel that even if he didn't combine the 3 screenshots its still a nice capture to show off his enb but I do think its a bit odd you can use the argument "Fiddler asked us if it was allowed and we said its okay" and don't admit its even slightly breaking the rules. Because yeah that tool he used did "Visually" improve the image by a long shot.

This is the first post edited screenshot (I know of) we've seen win the contest so I'm just gonna expect everyone now will need to use tools such as those to stand a chance in the future.
These belong in the artwork contests. Hell, put a cheap GUNETWORK in the corner and you can make it the banner.

@"stormer361" Ok so from what I gathered is that the rule is that you can use external software for taking a screenshot, as long as it's used before the screenshot is actually taken. An example of this would be Nvidia's Ansel tools which don't work for every game but im sure there are similar tools for other games aswell, which changes the way the GAME looks like and not the screenshot. While software used to change the screenshot after it's taken. Now this is in line with what I had asked the admins myself in a contest that was held earlier and I was allowed to use this type of software.

For example these 3 screenshots are taken in battlefront 2 from the exact same location with different settings in the Ansel tools and are not edited after they are taken.

Normal FOV:

max FOV:

360 Panorama:

Now the 360 Panorama shot would probably need several normal FOV screenshots to cover the entire are in the panorama shot so thats what im assuming what Fidller meant by saying that he merged 3 screenshots into one. If he did go into photoshop or something similar after taking 3 separate screenshots and merged them together then that would be different story however, but if it was allowed by admins then its fine.

While I do agree that the rules could probably be better worded I don't really understand the point of going on a rant about it.

Edit: Also congratulations to the winners.

Well this has gone on long enough. You've said your piece, we listened, we gave feedback but you don't agree which is fine. NOBODY needs to agree with everything we said. So stop accusing people and leave it as it is: the contest isn't rigged, nobody cheated. Should we have made the statement as soon as we agreed with Fiddler? Yes we should've have, we forgot about it ,people where busy. In short WE AREN'T PERFECT. This contest had a LOT of great entries, I was starring at 18 shots I liked and picking 5 was a pain enough. Each judge has their own way of thinking on what they like and these 5 where the unanimous decision.

If you don't want to enter next contest then that's your choice, we're not forcing you.
As DVAted basically said: If you think something is wrong or don't agree with something. Come help out and fix what you think is wrong. Rather than trying to tear down the entire system.