A potential fix for the Aircraft visibility problems?

[zapatista]

now that CoD has become playable for many of us in the last few months, it is clear there is a major problem in CoD with distant aircraft/ground-object (like tank/truck) spotting as there was in the il2 series. it is important to try and fix this because for a "ww2 pilot simulator" to be able to have correct visual spotting/identification/tracking distances for these distant objects (crucial in a dogfight or hunting for ground targets), otherwise you end up flying in a myopic mini-bubble of SA. for ex in il2 series you needed to fly at 300 m from the ground to try and spot a tank/truck, yet ww2 reports from pilots doing ground attack state they could spot enemy tanks in open fields or on roads from 1000 to 1250 meters, that difference is HUGE compared to our visibility problems in il2/CoD

note: to get a real sense of the degree of the visibility problem, you need to set your CoD/il2 monitor to the correct FoV setting for the size monitor you have and the distance you sit from it (which in CoD we cant directly adjust, but in il2 series we could). eg using a "zoomed" view is not an excuse/reason to pretend we have correct visibility, you never heard of a hurricane or typhoon pilot using a pair of binoculars while diving in on a ground target (or having one strapped to his helmet). there have been several threads over the years (including in this forum) discussing that in great detail, the facts are fairly simple. for ex the "normal" view we now have (70 FoV) is only normal (ie "correct") if you have a 30' monitor you sit at arms length from, if you use that on a 24' or 20' screen all distant objects will look MUCH smaller (by about 30 - 50%). using the zoomed 35 FoV migh partially overcome that (but will zoom in to much and hence magnify things) but gives a very tunnel vision perspective of the game and is not solution either for obvious reasons.
- the reason i mention this is because if you want to truly solve the distant LoD model visibility problem, for a start your FoV needs to be setup correctly for your monitor size, and only then will all ingame objects be represented 1:1 in their correct sizes

once FoV is set correctly, our problem is that :
- we are using a flat 2 dimensional monitor that tries to represent a small distant 3 dimensional object which moves (or is stationary) against a flat 2D scenery, and it blends in with the background scenery and there is no difference in "depth of focus" or 3D our eyes can work with (as the OP described int he first post of this thread)
- the distant LoD model is under ideal viewing conditions (for ex from directly above or in front) shaped as a coherent cluster of pixels that still represents the shape of the aircraft, BUT if you see it at a slightly different angle (since both you and it are moving) in most circumstances that little cluster of pixels will become jumbled and less coherent and will loose the shape of the aircraft it represents, making it MUCH harder to keep track of (it might have gone from 12 black pixels in the rough shape of an aircraft, to being 3 black pixels in one blob with a few grey ones around it and a couple of other "unattached" black pixels). easier to understand with a screenshot, will try and post one later
- some LoD models might stand out reasonably well against open blue sky, but the same LoD model usually becomes completely invisible against a terrain background (where in RL it would still be MUCH easier to spot). so what we need is instead a "visual representation" (modified LoD model concept) that stays visible against the terrain background more, but doesnt become to glaringly ugly and prominent when the same LoD model is seen against open blue sky

some possible solutions discussed in previous years:
- make all the smaller LoD models much darker (or a bright blue ?) so they stand out more (instead of sing a paint scheme that aims to represent the real color of the object it represents)
- give the smaller LoD models "3D volume" by using something like bump mapping, so they stand out more against the scenery background
- paint the smaller most distant LoD models in "non realistic" colors so they stand out more (or use some highlighting method around the edge of the shape, as the OP suggests)
- instead of focusing on having distant very small LoD models maintaining the shape of the aircraft they represent (which is done very poorly anyway because our smallest pixels arnt small enough to give that level of detail), use instead a "blob" or fixed larger number of black/grey pixels of some shape that makes the object stand out a bit more and overcome the problem we have of using a 2D screen. once you come closer to it, or use the zoom function, the larger LoD models would still keep the shape of the object of course.

note: there is one important variable in people reporting their degree of "distant object visibility" in CoD/il2. in the past, those that had the least problems identifying distant objects were those using the cheapest gaming monitors. these cheap gaming panels are usually TN technology and are 6 bit color (compared to most mid range and better quality panels being 8 bit color and using MVA/PVA or IPS technology).
- because these 6 bit panels are very poor at representing a large gradient in grey scales and color tones, a small moving distant object (which due to constant lighting changes on that object, is constantly slightly changing in tone/brightness/color) is very hard for these panels to recreate in great detail and display these subtle variations, so they have to constantly flip between different steps in the shades of grey (an 8 bit monitor has more "steps" and can display a greater range of shades of grey and color tones, so it is a much smoother transition). the more gross these "steps" in the 6 bit panels in trying to display the small cluster of pixels representing the distant little aircraft LoD model painted in grey/color, this results in a "flickering" that makes the moving object stand out much more against its background (for the same reason these 6 bit screens are bad at representing a uniform black/grey background in movies, where this flickering is very noticeable once you know what to look for)

i would suggest that people who claim not to have a significant visibility problem state
1) the field of view (FoV) they are using, and DONT use a zoomed view (because it is like using binoculars)
2) state the brand/model of screen they use
3) then compare object visibility to what it would be like as seen in a similar real life situation