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Headache and dizzy when playing this game



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carbon

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Feb 3, 2019
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After about 20-30 mintues of playing KH 3, I get a horrible headache and I feel slighly dizzy. Last Saturday it was so bad this headache continued untill mondayevening!!



When I play the game I have the impression that everything is extremely bright, shiny and fast paced/flashy. I find it hard to keep an overview of the battles and sometimes feel like I'm just button bashing. The extremely small text size doesn't help either. The only thing I can adjust is the brightness, which helps (I think) but doesn't solve my issue.


Does anyone else experience this too? It can't be my eyes or the TV because I played through all the remakes (except DDD) and 0.2 on the same TV very recently without any issues.
 

Merilly

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As someone with chronic headaches and eye migraines, I can completely understand that reaction but it's not a surprise that KH3 in particular is causing problems. The other games were running on a different engine at different FPS for the remixes and for 0.2, most of the game was fairly dark and not on the same level of KH3 in terms of visuals.

KH3 has subjectively a rather high base saturation, the contrast is high and it's bright. If you use your usual settings and are a bit sensitive (maybe without knowing since a lot of people are suffering from the Sicca syndrome for example, which are basically dry eyes), you may be experiencing those symptoms.

My suggestion would be to note down your usual settings and play around a little with your TV settings, not the inherent configuration within the game. Turn down the brightness a little, the contrast and the color settings, maybe lean more toward a warm color scheme (that actually makes a huge difference for me if white isn't so glaring and blue anymore) and also reduce the sharpness a little. Make sure the game is not too dark though since that can also create discomfort for the eyes and therefore the head.

It's a bit of a hassle and not easy to find the one you're most comfortable with but different games often require different settings for a good experience.
Another thing you can try is setting your console to 720p and turn off options from the TV to automatically upscale the resolution if you have a fairly modern one that has that. Though that is something that depends on your TV so it may be helpful or not.

I'm not sure the dizziness comes from the fast movement, but you can also try to change the sensitivity of the camera in the configuration.

I'm not sure if you have history of migraines, but long-lasting headaches and dizziness might be a symptom for that or that your eyes are too dry, etc. If changing the setting doesn't work, I'd try going to see a doctor if the problem persists.
Some games can just make us dizzy or cause headaches without an objective reason, too. I've also had games do that, sometimes even from the music alone (Blackwell's Asylum's music made me experience a strange headache and dizziness for three days straight). But in most visual cases, I could reduce the symptoms by adjusting my TV and game settings to a more comfortable one when the TV itself has never caused discomfort before.

I can't and don't want to give you a diagnosis, especially not from afar, but even if it subjectively seems a little worse in terms of intended quality, I'd change the settings to something lower. I also had to do that for KH3 and diverge a lot from my normal TV and game settings because it's simply too bright for my sensitive eyes. Not all games are made for the same base settings.

Make sure your room is well-lit when playing, don't be hesitant to change the settings (both TV and game) if it's not ideal and maybe buy some eyedrops to prevent them becoming too dry as well as sleep and drink/eat enough.
Also look up a few settings which could be counterproductive for games. I read in a few articles that certain settings meant to enhance the picture are actually not that great for making a game run smoothly. You may be subconsciously seeing something of that.

Those are just suggestions from someone with similar problems. It's sometimes not explainable why something suddenly causes problems though if you have no other problems with computers/TVs or other games for the PS4 like I do, I think it may be a case of your base settings being too high/low for KH3 in particular rather than a general problem with your TV/the console or your health. Adjusting them should help in that case.
 

Oracle Spockanort

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The framerate is probably affecting you. In the Config menu, go down to Graphics and switch it from "Default Mode" to "Stable Mode" so it will stop trying to run at a higher framerate. See if that helps. Perhaps set your TV to a lower output (720p)?

You probably also want to tinker with the camera sensitivity when you move the camera around.
 

Raz

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I agree with you! I feel myself getting so nauseous. And I feel blind trying to read the font.
 

DanChaos1

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I was getting eye strain and headaches while playing as well, until I turned the brightness down to -13, which worked for me and felt like a good number to be on.
 

carbon

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Feb 3, 2019
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Thanks for the tips everyone! I'm going to replay 0.2 first to see what it gives, you never know something else is the cause...

And then I hope I can still enjoy this great game!
 
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