Oleg,
could you please comment on this issue ?
currently the biggest problem in the il2 sturmovik series is the poor "object visibility" at various distances they could be seen at in real life during ww2. (i am not speaking of "dot spotting", but seeing LoD models for planes, tanks, trucks against a terrain or water background as modeled on a pc)
for ex:
1) - right now we have already good looking models for trucks, tanks, etc... when you look at them close up (like 20 or 50 meters)
2) - the terrain textures and colors also look good for fields and forests etc.. for low and medium altitude flying up to 2000 meters this gives a nice sense of immersion ! (compared to other current flightsims)
but ....
1 + 2 described above does not give a realistic experience to simulate what real pilots could see from their cockpit in WW2 ! the main problem is that the 3 dimensional LoD models for trucks, trains, tanks or aircraft do not "stand out" enough against the terrain background, and this reduces their visibility distance by about 50 to 70% !
for ex from 1000 to 1500 meters altitude in real life you can spot a small collum of stationary trucks on the road, or a few tanks out in the open in a field.
in il2 currently you have to be down at about 400 or 500 meters to have a chance to spot a tank in a field, or to find 3 or 4 trucks standing on a road. so you have to fly much lower and slower, and you can only visually scan for a very small sector ! this is not caused by "camouflage" paint being used on those objects (which was also used in real life obviously), it is cause by 3D objects visually "blending" into the 3D terrain when represented on a flat 2 D monitor we look at. (most pc games have this problem, but for a flight simulator it is a big issue because we are constantly trying to see objects at those distances)
getting better looking objects in BoB is great for close up viewing, but will the problem of having a realistic "spotting distance" for those objects on a pc monitor at medium and farther distances be addressed so it is more realistic ?
note: using the zoom button is not a realistic solution, because you cant permanently fly with that setting. the size of a persons monitor, and the distance they sit from it, will determine the "correct FoV setting" for that individual. using that correct setting we should be able to locate, identify, and track both stationary and moving objects at the same distances as we do in real life, that is the challenge of "simulating" a ww2 pilot experience.
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