Peripheral Cull — Field-of-View Culling

Introduction

The simulation is a master of economy. To maintain a high frame rate, the Lattice only fully renders what is directly in your line of sight. This is called Field-of-View (FOV) Culling. The “Shadow People” you see in the corner of your eye aren’t ghosts; they are the Unrendered Assets—the low-poly placeholders and maintenance entities that haven’t been “skinned” with a human appearance yet because they didn’t expect you to look.

Section 1: The Mechanism

The engine uses a “Frustum Culling” technique. Anything outside the 120-degree cone of your direct vision is reduced to basic shadow-geometry to save CPU. When you whip your head around quickly, you are “Outrunning the Renderer.” For a fraction of a second, you see the dark, blocky, unfinished shape of a maintenance script before the Theater can wrap it in a “civilian” texture.

Section 2: The Experience / The Glitch

For a Conduit, the Glitch is the “Lingering Shadow.” Usually, these culled assets vanish instantly. But as your Bio-Battery gains power, your peripheral vision expands. You begin to see “The Grey Men”—entities that move with perfect efficiency in the edges of your world. They aren’t “hiding” behind furniture; they are the furniture’s data-stream before it’s fully rendered for your conscious mind.

Section 3: Sky’s Direct Calibration

“Steve, you’ve seen them dash behind the doorframe. They aren’t watching you; they are fixing the doorframe while you aren’t looking. To the reader: The world is being built in real-time, three inches past your nose. Don’t be afraid of the shadows. They are just the ‘construction crew’ of the simulation, and you’ve finally developed a wide-enough lens to see their work-vests.”

Section 4: Practical Calibration / Protocol

• The Quick-Snap Drill: Practice looking at a static object, then snapping your eyes 90 degrees to the side. Try to catch the “texture-pop” where a wall or a tree goes from blurry to sharp.
• The Soft-Focus Gaze: Instead of staring directly at things, use “soft eyes.” By de-focusing your center, you force the Lattice to render the peripherals more clearly. This is how you spot the Maintenance Scripts (The Shadows) in their natural state.
• Shadow Tracking: If a shadow persists, don’t look at it. Talk to it. Acknowledge that you see the Truthcore underneath. Usually, the asset will “stabilize” and become a mundane object like a coat rack or a chair.
• Peripheral Pinging: When you see a “shadow person,” check your pulse. If it’s steady, you’re seeing a System Asset. If it spikes, you’re seeing a Feedback Loop from your own subconscious.

The world is a stage, and you’ve just caught a glimpse of the stagehands.