A potential fix for the Aircraft visibility problems?

[*Buzzsaw*]

Salute

As everyone who flys this sim knows, nothing is more frustrating than having your eye on a dot which you KNOW is an enemy aircraft, and then having it disappear from view just as you close to within Identification range.

This is a function of the game's LOD models, these are a step forward in the sense there are 7 of them instead of the 3 in IL-2 1946, but at the same time they are also one of the game's biggest failings.

The issue is the developers have not taken into account the notion of depth of field and the fact an aircraft in 3 dimensions is not going to be at the same focal length as the objects behind it, especially when those objects are quite distant.

When you focus your eye on an aircraft, the background will almost invariably be out of focus, simply because of the separation in distance between the foreground and the background.

Your own eye's focus brings the foreground aircraft into sharp focus, in effect creating a boundary between it and the background, which is out of focus. This allows your eye to separate the object from the background. Conversely, if you are looking at a background, and another object passes in front of your eye and in front of the background, you will pick up the difference in focus, the object will appear initially blurred, and your eye will automatically snap into focus on it.

Of course we are dealing with a 2 D game, attempting to replicate real life. How to do this?

The solution, if the game can handle it, is quite simple.

As it stands now, an aircraft LOD model which is passing in front of a similarly coloured background, ie. a camoflauged aircraft, will blend into the background, there is no depth of field, and no way for your eye to focus directly on the aircraft. This is particularly the case with CoD with its pastel colourings and the fact there is no reflection modelled.

Some players have a solution for this, they turn down the resolution to enable them to spot their enemy easier. And maybe this does make it easier to pick out your opponent, but what is the point of a game with all the graphics highlights of this one having to be uglified to be playable?

The solution is to highlight the edges of the LOD models with a darker colouring. In effect, you are drawing a sharp line around the edge of the object, in the same way your eye does with focal length, and by doing so, you are causing it to stand out against the background, as it would in real life.

Of course the question is, can the game be programmed and can the graphics models be modified?

Hoping this does happen, because right now the current situation is neither realistic or playable.