FOV settings

[FS~Phat]

I got this mouse emulation program to work with the saitek SST software.
I created a macro in the saitek SST software with 8 key presses as a macro which emulates moving the mouse. The more macro key presses the more it zooms in or out.

mapped num pad keys 8 & 5 (mouse up/down) to my x52 throttle mouse wheel and the mouse click button on the throttle for hold to zoom.
Can now zoom in and out to any FOV with 1 hand and dont have to take hands off HOTAS! Throttle Mouse wheel click resets to default zoom!
You could use this same approach with any joystick key and its mapping software to create the same macro and get the same effect.

You could even program in default custom FOV by running the macro for shorter or longer and have as many FOV's as you want mapped to as many of your HOTAS buttons as you want to use. (or multiple presses of only 2 button macros could achieve the same effect)

Again not perfect but i got used to it pretty quickly in testing this afternoon!

http://rhdesigns.browseto.org/mouseemulator.html

[skarden]

Yep this is almost exactly what I do, except I can do it all within the T.A.R.G.E.T software for my warthog controller, as said it does depends pretty heavily on what HOTAS software you use and what it can do but it does work quiet well, for me at least anyway.

I definitely recommend to try it if the normal 3 FOV set up doesn't work for you and your controller software can do it.

[zapatista]

Originally Posted by ATAG_Doc

You have to set it up using "Hold To Adjusts Field of View" in "Camera" tab then use your mouse to zoon in/out.

but you dont know what exact value you have set it to then, do you ?

what we need is a simple method, like in the old il2 preferences to set a specific FoV value for the screen size we have, and then assign it to our preferred keys or hotas buttons. eg right now for my 27' monitor i want "normal" to be set to 50 or 55 degrees, and keep a zoomed and a wide view on the other buttons, which afaik you still cant do (eg setting the 60 or 55 FoV assigned to a key or hotas control)

it is a quality control issue by luthier not to include features in CoD that previously worked well in the previous il2 series, while he is focusing instead on trying to reinvent the wheel on the big problem issues with little time to do so.

[ATAG_Snapper]

Originally Posted by skarden

Yep this is almost exactly what I do, except I can do it all within the T.A.R.G.E.T software for my warthog controller, as said it does depends pretty heavily on what HOTAS software you use and what it can do but it does work quiet well, for me at least anyway.

I definitely recommend to try it if the normal 3 FOV set up doesn't work for you and your controller software can do it.

I'll have to try that with my Warthog - sounds good. Thanks!

[Jatta Raso]

if you use JoyToKey you can have a progressive zoom in/out by assigning 2 Joystick buttons to those 2 tasks. then if you assign a third button to reset views, you can zoom in or out at will, and back to default view with a key press.

[_79_dev]

What I did with my X52 was:
1. I set one of pads on the yoke as a mouse, so any movement of mouse is controlled on the pad.
2. I set "ctrl" key as "hold to zoom" in il2 controls
3. Divided slider for 3 bands, and mapped "ctrl" key to lowest band

So basically if I have slider on the bottom position it's like having "ctrl" key pressed all the time, to control zoom fov I just use pad up and down. Whenever I don't need it just moving slider back up and I have my mouse back.

The only reason I did like that was because I mapped my controls from scratch, I can use ctrl key as another pinkle switch or mode so it gives me more options to use buttons on the yoke.

[zapatista]

but none of those work arounds you folks are describing allow you to assign a specific FoV to a kb-key or hotas control, do they ? and with the zooming in/out you are describing you never know what exact FoV value you are at and therefore you never know how far away a distant object is (other then when looking straigh ahead, and using the gunsight reticle to "frame" an object).

the purpose of being able to set a specific FoV as "normal" for your monitor size is because only then you can during normal flight see distant objects in their correct sizes and visibility for the distance they are from you (presuming CoD lod models are correctly modeled etc..). eg, a me-109 which normally has a wingspan of approx 10 m wide, will be displayed onscreen as 10 cm wide when you are 100 meters distance from him, and 1 cm wide when you are 1000 meters distance from it. ergo, while flying around in the il2/CoD virtual world the size of objects around you does matter a great deal because it relates to the distance they are from you (and implies there potential danger to you).

all you folks have described so far with these workarounds is to create a "magic zoom" so you can game-the-game and be more competitive online, but it doesnt represent or recreate a ww2 pilots experience

the zoom function in the il2 series is intended to briefly have some magnification while you aim for a particular part of an enemy aircraft (mimicking the increased concentration a pilot might have in a real life similar situation), and the wide view is intended to try and recreate some of the wider peripheral vision you have in real life (during a dog fight for ex) and have improved situational awareness. as such it is again a snap-view intended to briefly use so we can help to overcome some of the problems of sitting behind our small monitors in a living room, rather then being in a real life cockpit with something like 270 degree's visibility and a human peripheral vision which is roughly 180 degrees under normal conditions. and you cant permanently fly in that wider view because objects around you shrink in size, and therefore look further away from you etc..

[FS~Phat]

I guess you could work out the maths and setup a macro to give you the custom FOV you want. You'd have to work out the maths anyway even if there was a quick FOV setting. Id love to be able to switch to my preferred FOV like i could with IL2. But your right it is probably more about gaming the system than creating a simulation as most people dont have a monitor capable of a life size representation. So even "simulating" FOV for a given screen size and seating distance is not going to give you a simulation anyway because the screen sizes are too small. Thats why the zoom FOV exists.

Thats also why later this year Im attempting to build a 65-80" inch surround screen with a high enough resolution that you can create a lifesize cockpit view with good vertical and horizontal FOV. See my other 82" bezel-less thread to see what im talking about!

That's when you ultimately want a single fixed FOV appropriate for your screen and seating distance.

[Artist]

The Autohotkey solution (using the North/South of a POV hat), assuming that <Ctrl>+<Insert> ("Control Insert") is assigned to Camera, Keys, "Hold to adjust Field of View":

#Persistent
iIdStick = 1
SetTimer, watchPOV_Stick, 5

watchPOV_Stick:
    bFirst := true
    while(true){
        GetKeyState, iPOV, %iIdStick%JoyPOV  ; Get position of the POV control.

        ; Some joysticks might have a smooth/continous POV rather than one in fixed increments.
        ; To support them all, use a range:
        if iPOV < 0                                            ; No angle to report
            break
        else if (iPOV > 31500) OR (iPOV >= 0 AND iPOV < 4500){      ; 315 to 360 to 45 degrees: Forward
            zoomViewIn(bFirst)
            bFirst := false
        }
        else if (iPOV >= 13500) AND (iPOV <= 22500){           ; 135 to 180 to 225 degrees: Backward
            zoomViewOut(bFirst)
            bFirst := false
        }
        else
            break
    }
    return

zoomViewOut(bFirst){
    if(bFirst){
        MouseMove 0, 1200, 0
    }
    Send !{Insert down}
    MouseMove 0, -1, 0, R
    Send !{Insert up}
    return 0
}    
zoomViewIn(bFirst){
    if(bFirst){
        MouseMove 0, 0, 0
    }
    Send !{Insert down}
    MouseMove 0, 1, 0, R
    Send !{Insert up}
    return 0
}

Artist

Originally posted in the thread How is variable zoom done?

[_79_dev]

I know that not all of You can afford it but, having 110inch projected screen is a vast change to 24inch monitor, so perspective is changing whe You have 1:1 size cockpit in front of You. Still I agree that FOV is equivalent to distance perception, however it doesn't matter that much when You have big screen.