Spotting the enemy?

Bonkin · #1 11-10-2012, 10:27 AM

Does anybody else find it extremely difficult to spot the enemy? I’ve been suffering for a while and last night on ATAG was no exception… my fellow squad mates are calling out targets left right and centre and I’m just not seeing them until I’m virtually on top of them. It’s got so bad that I’m wondering if it’s actually not just me being crap but something to do with my set up. I’ve tried changing resolution but that didn’t help, I’ve tried fiddling with anti-aliasing and that doesn’t help either. Could it be my monitor? I have a Dell 2208WFP Ultrasharp.

Whilst I applause the latest (final) patch it actually seems to make matters worse – especially if the sun is behind you and the target dips below the horizon. Everything just gets lost through the prop haze – which incidentally is not at all realistic.

On YouTube I’ve watched other people’s videos and I wonder how on earth they can spot and track a target against the ground from altitude. MK.Mr.X for example… tried running his at full screen and max resolution and I just don’t know how he does it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSIj6AfOh4M&hd=1&t=4m20s

Any thoughts or comments that could help me out?

5./JG27.Farber · #2 11-10-2012, 10:54 AM

goto my documents\1csoftclub\cliffs of dover. Find in this folder a file called, "conf.ini" rename it to "confbackup.ini" Close the folder.

Open steam, right click the game in library, go to properties. Disable steam cloud for this game under the updats tab, box should be unticked.

Now start cliffs of dover and steam should replace the file from the template in the steam folder...

Redo your video settings (in game only.)

Both I and a squad mate had this problem and this seems to fix it.

MusseMus · #3 11-10-2012, 11:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bonkin

Any thoughts or comments that could help me out?

Hi!

I’ve suffered from the same problem for some time but installing FXAA with “Les Neutral6” has greatly improved my spotting:
http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showpos...&postcount=141

It’s probably just be a placebo effect, but setting the in-game AA to “x8” seems to help too (but I’m quite sure the FXAA overrides this).

Always use the native resolution of your monitor, in your case 1680x1050.

Also, setting textures to “original” and model details to “high” helps me alot.

Almost forgot: Changing MeshShowLod to 1 (from 0) in conf.ini (in documents\1csoftclub\cliffs of dover) removed some of the problems with disappearing contacts at long and mid-range. Kills fremerate on some systems, but worth it

Good luck!
/m

klem · #4 11-10-2012, 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bonkin

Does anybody else find it extremely difficult to spot the enemy? I’ve been suffering for a while and last night on ATAG was no exception… my fellow squad mates are calling out targets left right and centre and I’m just not seeing them until I’m virtually on top of them. It’s got so bad that I’m wondering if it’s actually not just me being crap but something to do with my set up. I’ve tried changing resolution but that didn’t help, I’ve tried fiddling with anti-aliasing and that doesn’t help either. Could it be my monitor? I have a Dell 2208WFP Ultrasharp.

Whilst I applause the latest (final) patch it actually seems to make matters worse – especially if the sun is behind you and the target dips below the horizon. Everything just gets lost through the prop haze – which incidentally is not at all realistic.

On YouTube I’ve watched other people’s videos and I wonder how on earth they can spot and track a target against the ground from altitude. MK.Mr.X for example… tried running his at full screen and max resolution and I just don’t know how he does it.

.................................................

Any thoughts or comments that could help me out?

This may also help. Your setup is almost the same as mine but my monitor is a Samsung 226BW at 1680 x 1050.

It is hard to see aircraft against the ground. One tip is to watch for movement rather than an aircraft then focus on that area. Also get a sense of the direction and the way the target is flying to help pick it up again if it briefly becomes unseeable. Several times Mr X's target seems to disappear but by following on the target's apparent track and waiting it reappears against changing landscape or when it pops up above the horizon. It is also probably easier to see than appears in Mr X's video which was probably captured on FRAPS and doesn't have the resolution of the original so he may not have the super-eyeballs you may be attributing to him from the video.

The most distant dots are, to me, very vague pale blue/grey dots that grow in strength until they are clearly a dot. There is a transition between dot and aircraft shape which at the beginning causes the aircraft shape to flicker (when it is still very small, perhaps 10 pixels or about 2 mm on my screen). As it closes it becomes steady and more visible but at dot-to-shape range it can be difficult to see. Over terrain the camouflage seems to work well (whether this is clever graphics work or in fact lousy graphics rendering I am not sure). Again, the trick is to stay on the apparent target track, watching for movement against the background and remembering to glance either side of track in case he has turned.

It's easy to say, but it gets better with practice.

Mr X doesn't appear to use TrackIR so I am amazed at how he manages to switch those views around. If you are using a Hat switch you are probably at a disadvantage versus those with TrackIR.

I also strongly recommend the SweetFX file set (rather than the injFX or FXAA file set) which you can find here:-
http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showpos...&postcount=141

MusseMus · #5 11-10-2012, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by klem

I also strongly recommend the SweetFX file set (rather than the injFX or FXAA file set) which you can find here

I tried to switch from FXAA to SweetFX a couple of weeks ago but for me spotting became harder, especially against land. But since it seems to improve things on Klems system I suggest trying both to see which works best for your monitor, system and resolution.

Cheers/m

VO101_Tom · #6 11-10-2012, 12:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bonkin

Does anybody else find it extremely difficult to spot the enemy?
...

Hi. This question appears two weeks ago, when we flying on ATAG. My mates saw nothing, meantime I'm telling them the contacts. We take a closer look, and we found, that the problem was their MONITOR settings. Different monitor profiles, light and contrast, etc. I made a screenshot, you should see 5 contact (1 o clock, low):

(1680x1050 pixel, .bmp)
Contact test

Obvious, you have to see this picture in original size, without any zoom. Here is a little help if you don't find them.
If you see nothing, your monitor need adjust.

Sokol1 · #7 11-10-2012, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VO101_Tom

I made a screenshot, you should see 5 contact (1 o clock, low):

(1680x1050 pixel, .bmp)
Contact test

I see six - one at ~2 o'clock - right, far.

Nice test, thank you.

Sokol1

Matt255 · #8 11-10-2012, 02:36 PM

I see a formation of ~10 planes at 11 o'clock (to the right of the left canopy strut).

I also find it exceptionally hard to spot other planes and frequently lose wingmen or enemies after a few maneuvers. I guess it's just lack of practice.

Judging distances is also quite tough imho. Wether an enemy is 5 km or 2 km away, doesn't seem to make a huge difference.

I think overall, TrackIR might make this harder, because your head is moving around quite a bit. If the view would be steady most of the time (say you use a hatswitch or something), moving dots will most likely be easier to find. Unfortunately, i'm so used to TrackIR now that i'm not in the mood to test other view controls.