This.

Never had an issue sniping on Xbox.

As many here, I haven't got problems on graphiccs with scopes either. I'm on pc with fairly good, even if not superb hardware. For the original poster, does the situation persist in other places? It might have more to do with some fuzzynes with how the sanctuary cells load for you instead of being a general scope issue.

Right. I can definitely snipe the Gunners on the overpass from the top of Corvega. This is with last year's 2nd best Asus ROG laptop, so not bleeding-edge hardware, but pretty good.

I've also seen videos on Youtube - presumably from consoles - where entire scenic blocks drop in and out as the camera moves around. I've never seen anything like that on the PC.

No issues with scopes either, altho I do wish for a scope for christmas which lets me have a two-step scope (scopes always being at max distance is irritating). I have tweaked one thing, that does make scoping easier, and game visibilty / looks, and that is turning depth of field off. When you go beyond a certain range (which is not far) the game assigns a blurryness to the background and everything there, so the things up front looks sharper.

You can see what I mean here (including PC instructions for removing it)

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=551069501&tscn=1447077828

That simple tweaking have made my experience with the game a whole lot better Hopefully the console people will have access to the console soon (kinda ironic sentence, lol) so they can tweak their game as well, because boy, it does need tweaking as the default settings are weird if not outright absurd (mouse accelaration without possibility for turning it off for example)

I'm on PS4 and have not encountered this problem.

My character build is stealth/sniping/energy weapons so I have low strength, no points in strong back or any other bump to carry weight so I hunt radstags frequently and they bolt if you miss or don't kill them in one shot. That said, I don't play the whole freakin' game looking through my scope, lol!

Also have had no trouble viewing terrain/sniping from really up high, like the BOS airship ( forgot what it's called).

Not sure if OP is on console or pc but might be, as some have mentioned, a hardware, install or settings issue depending on whichever they're playing on.

All that said, the usefulness of very long distance sniping in this game is pretty limited, especially since a lot of areas are indoor or in enclosed spaces. the overall range of combatant awareness, VATS (and therefore enemy) range, so forth, are very short compared to the range we're talking about. Sniping in Fallout is not really designed as a sniper sim- it's more to give you a tactical advantage to START a fight that will almost inevitably end at close range. So in combat I use it either to knock out priority targets unseen and then proceed to closer-range weapons against hostile enemies, or to snipe and move with cover and stealth until I clear an area. But all of this is done from much closer than the range OP is concerned with.

So my question is, why be concerned about a ruined experience doing something that is not particularly useful or common in the game? Unless you park in a tree stand in your settlement and spend all day picking off the odd wandering raider on the overworld map what does it matter ultimately? Especially if otherwise the game is functioning correctly?

I think this too. I'm on Ultra settings and haven't had any issues with ranged sniping. Other than I can't hit worth a damn, lol

With respect, that's not really correct with all builds. With super stealthy perks and armor - chameleon and muffle/light - and most importantly silenced weapons you can hide and snipe almost everything. The silencers are crucial to this scheme because they let you kill people with causing the whole encampment to aggro at the same time.

You don't need a mod on the PC as it's an ini file setting that can be altered. Before diving into finding the grid rendering setting and just changing it, keep in mind that if this setting is similar to how it worked in Skyrim, it is a one way deal in terms of save games. You cannot turn the rendering back down and still load any games that were saved with the grid rendering number turned up (you will CDT when trying to load the save). Again, this could be different with FO4 than Skyrim as I know they removed some scripting dependencies in save files that Skyrim had, but this rendering issue is not scripting related, so I doubt it.

Back OT, I use the short recon scope as it allows just about the right range from adjacent cells so it's non-issue for me.

Not sure how seeing a far distant cell re-render "ruins sniping" for someone, but thinking any game can render it's entire world-space with conventional hardware (and still have have the game in any way playable), is just flat out ignorant of how game engines have to work on the resources they have available.

You are right but the way this works on the ground does require close range (compared to the ranges OP is talking about). I do this myself- I take a long time to clear some locations by using stealth and sniping.

But you don't do this from miles away- you have to maneuver around an area to locate and aim at enemies around a location so you end up essentially circling the place.

But individual enemies you're right on. S**t, with stealth maxed, suppressed everything and light/muffled/chameleon I can walk into the middle of a room and headshot everything moving in a single VATS queue, and have a guy in the next room never stop muttering nonsense to himself. But again, the range is practically point blank compared to what OP is talking about, which is what I mean- not that sniping/stealth don't work, but that the game isn't designed to be played from a church steeple.

Gotcha. Agreed.

In fact, when you DO try those long range shots such as Corvega to the Gunners on the overpass, you find that damage at very long range is (correctly) reduced significantly. I rarely bother anymore, but back when I was able to one-shot a Gunner conscript at "normal" ranges with a .50 Cal and the 3x Ninja ambush in effect, it would take me three or four hits at extreme distance to get him down.

I've had much the same experience. not to mention that it also kills the loot game- Dogmeat is not exactly a retriever...

By your screen name, btw, I'm guessing you might have a batch coming? I'm also a brewer- have a nice Amber bottle conditioning for Christmas Eve at the moment and either a wassail or a vanilla porter on deck to brew over the holidays! Nothing like spending a day brewing and playing Fallout!!!

If only. Last year I realized that I'm allergic to hops and always have been. That a lot of the effects that I just naturally assumed were from drinking were actually adverse allergic reactions to the hops. So I haven't really been brewing for a while. There are a few things I could make, but I've been discouraged about it.

As for the screen name, I've been brewing for so long - 12+ years - that my online identity is quite locked down in a brewing motif and I continue with it from nostalgia and habit.

Wow, that's crazy! I would probably die. But I'd die skinnier, lol!

I know one other brewer with an allergy- gluten- so they brew with sorghum mostly. But hops..... Maybe mead?

I know how it is getting locked in, though! Too weird to change it- I'm the same way!

Hmm, I haven't noticed any framerate problems with scopes, and my computer isn't terribly beastly (see sig). I'm on High settings with some of the view distances turned up and godrays turned down.

I only use a medium scope, though. It's enough for my purposes.

Happens on mine occasionally, can drop to 30 from 60. Depends on the environment and weather (I5-3570k, GTX 660).

Just a while ago happened in Thicket Excavations with foggy weather. Though my computer did have framerate drops in places with heavy particle effects in Skyrim too.

I haven't checked, but I don't think I have my draw distant maxed out. Yet, I can stand at the 2nd rim (there's a small green trailer, just below the place where you first meet the guy who asks you to fix the pipes, so he can pump out the water), at Thicket Excavation and snipe the guy at the bottom (the one you need to complete a radiant settlement quest for Sanctuary). I'm using a 50. cal silenced sniper rifle (ex-hunting rifle) with a long recon scope.

The Long recon scope really adds a nice distance to your weapon and everything appears pretty clear in that scope. Once you go recon, you will never go back!

I am playing on PS4. I think this is definitely on consoles even if people don't know it. The draw-distance and fade-in is poor so it's only natural objects/terrain/people aren't going to show up. I think people are scoping in on areas just far enough for them, that it's a far enough distance for their preference. I prefer the Medium Scope over the Long Scope myself, but the game should render the area around you better than what we have now. I don't want to have to walk forward 20 feet and zoom in just to see if terrain or a building has loaded. I understand how games work. It's just not greatly implemented.

OP, nothing is wrong with the engine. If you have problems, something is wrong with your system, not the game. I have sniped enemies on the ground from far up on the ruined expressway above/around Corvega, for example. I have also sniped from the same type of vantage point to the ground outside of Sunshine Co-op. These are very long distances yet even a Medium Scope shows things quite clearly, and a Long Scope simply brings the target even closer. More importantly, the bullets or beams actually hit their target unlike Skyrim's screwed up archery mechanics (they should have stayed with Morrowind/Oblivion archery which worked perfectly).

I have framerate issues too when using the scope, but only with the long range recon scope. FPS drop to 1/2 or 1/3 even in less dense areas.

edit: maybe it has to do with the monochrome effect, have to try it out once again with medium range scope...

I'm playing with everything on Ultra and I can easily snipe anyone with a Long-Range scope. Everything looks detailed at a distance too unless I'm looking off where the cells haven't loaded yet.

I use the recon scope with no fps drops, on PC. People with fps drops and issues should probably be bug reporting it, or at least let us see what their rigs are like just for fun

I agree that those who are having issues really should be bug reporting. Here is the link:

http://help.bethesda.net/app/fallout_feedback

Your expectations of how far away the game should render is simply unrealistic (in terms of acceptable game performance elsewhere with the current available resources). If you want to perform long term survalence of a location, get closer. If you cannot make a specific long range shot, each weapon DOES have a maximum range that you may be exceeding.

Again, I find your statements very odd.

You allude the problem to our PCs, when lesser items are rendered through a scope than when viewing the environment in full view. And the fact that the reverse is true for other games. Only in Fallout does fps drop when looking through a scope.