A potential fix for the Aircraft visibility problems?

[zapatista]

Originally Posted by SQB

Well, I think I've found the problem. There's a gap between the fade out range (where the model of the aircraft disappears) and where the dot comes in. This is why FOV appears to make a difference (which LOD to use is a product of distance and FOV). To change this... setting the LOD to run out to infinity (meshshowlod=1) will do the trick, but you'll kill your computer. If I knew what lines changed things I would make it so the dot appears on any aircraft at any distance, it's still to have it come in at a certain range.

interesting

why dont you try the same observation but with your monitor set to the correct FoV ? (without using the "meshshowlod" hack)

i strongly suspect that "gap" does not exist (but if it does exist, it obviously would be a coding error or absence of the smallest LoD models for ex)

[Wolf_Rider]

What you're missing though, is... when you change the FoV from the "default" setting, you are introducing the distortion you allayed to in your post above your last.
and crikey.. you're sitting 2 foot (60cm) off your screen??

[zapatista]

Originally Posted by Wolf_Rider

when you change the FoV from the "default" setting, you are introducing the distortion you allayed to in your post above your last.

no i am not

it is the exact opposite of what you are saying. if i would be using the 70 FoV as "normal default"(with my eyes 60 cm from my 27' screen as i stated earlier), all ingame objects size shrink around 30% for me, making them much harder to spot, track or identify, THAT is a distortion !

if in a flight simulator the purpose is presumably to see all in-game objects in their correct 1:1 sizes compared to what you would see in real life (ie the same as when looking out of a cockpit), in which case you then need to determine what this "normal" view is for your own monitor personal setup first (size monitor, and the distance you have you're eyes from it.

right now the "normal view" (by default 70 FoV right now in CoD), is only "normal" if you have a 30' screen and sit exactly 54.356 centimeter (21.4 inch ) from it. if that same person then briefly uses the zoomed 35 FoV to scan a distant airfield or road, all in-game objects are magnified by 2x (hence much easier to see), but it does so at the cost of introducing tunnel vision. having snap views setup that are more zoomed (35 FoV) or artificially increase peripheral vision (eg the 90 FoV) are useful to briefly use to overcome some of the limitations of sitting behind a monitor in your living room rather then being in a real aircraft, but both induce significant size and object-visibility distortions

just calculate it for your own setup, and see what should be your "normal FoV" for your current setup.

the purpose of raising this in this thread is because only if using a correct "normal" FoV can we determine if in-game "distant object" visibility is roughly correct (compared to similar real life situations), AND if the "invisible zone" (disappearing aircraft) some players complain of is a real problem or some less serious artifact introduced by not using the right FoV.

[SlipBall]

Originally Posted by zapatista

no i am not

it is the exact opposite of what you are saying. if i would be using the 70 FoV as "normal default"(with my eyes 60 cm from my 27' screen as i stated earlier), all ingame objects size shrink around 30% for me, making them much harder to spot, track or identify, THAT is a distortion !

if in a flight simulator the purpose is presumably to see all in-game objects in their correct 1:1 sizes compared to what you would see in real life (ie the same as when looking out of a cockpit), in which case you then need to determine what this "normal" view is for your own monitor personal setup first (size monitor, and the distance you have you're eyes from it.

right now the "normal view" (by default 70 FoV right now in CoD), is only "normal" if you have a 30' screen and sit exactly 54.356 centimeter (21.4 inch ) from it. if that same person then briefly uses the zoomed 35 FoV to scan a distant airfield or road, all in-game objects are magnified by 2x (hence much easier to see), but it does so at the cost of introducing tunnel vision. having snap views setup that are more zoomed (35 FoV) or artificially increase peripheral vision (eg the 90 FoV) are useful to briefly use to overcome some of the limitations of sitting behind a monitor in your living room rather then being in a real aircraft, but both induce significant size and object-visibility distortions

just calculate it for your own setup, and see what should be your "normal FoV" for your current setup.

the purpose of raising this in this thread is because only if using a correct "normal" FoV can we determine if in-game "distant object" visibility is roughly correct (compared to similar real life situations), AND if the "invisible zone" (disappearing aircraft) some players complain of is a real problem or some less serious artifact introduced by not using the right FoV.

zapatista
109 The view that I prefer is to have all of my gauges in view. Is it possible for me to lock that as my normal view?...maybe a config edit?

[zapatista]

Originally Posted by SlipBall

zapatista
109 The view that I prefer is to have all of my gauges in view. Is it possible for me to lock that as my normal view?...maybe a config edit?

hiya slipball,

you have several options to keep your instruments in view in the il2 series
1) if you use your "wide" (90 FoV) to achieve that, you have the major problem that everything in the "game world" has shrunk in size (including your cockpit instruments) and distant aircraft and ground objects will be much harder to spot
2) you could tilt your widescreen monitor to 90 degrees, making it taller then wide dont laugh, some people actually prefer that view. they have all instruments in view, and their mirror, and have a good visibility of the sky up in front of them. personally i find it disorienting, but it could work if you have 3 monitors setup side by side.
3) you could use a small 2e display to just have a small cluster of the most important instruments displayed, this was possible with a small addon program in the il2 series. eg you could use a tablet pc or similar 7' or 9' screen for that purpose. this is my preferred option, but untill the most recent patch still wasnt possible in CoD. several people requested this feature, but no idea if the last official patch made any changes to enable this (sadly i doubt they included it)
4) you could setup your correct" normal FoV" for your setup (calculated by above method). and use a track-IR to follow your head movement, small brief downward glances to the instruments become fairly intuitive after a while, and not to distracting. this is probably the best current option for most of us.

i think those are the main options i can see for now, other might have more suggestions

my personal ambition for the future is to add 2 smaller 20' monitors on either side of my 27', the amount of pixels they use is roughly similar to adding one extra widescreen (instead of 2, so easier on the GPU and CPU), and the vertical resolution and pixel count is the same as my monitor (1200) so it blends in fairly well. multi monitor setups in CoD are still not perfectly integrated, so still looking at cost effective options myself

it would be great to have a small tablet pc with a few instruments displayed, its resolution is relatively low so no major drain on the pc as a 2e display, and the gaming advantage is significant (compared to the limitations of 1 large screen with no instruments in view during dog-fighting for ex)

so with your current setup, what would be your personal "normal FoV" ? i think you'd be amazed at how low the FoV needs to be (and most people dont use that because it gives them a very narrow visual field). it will give you some idea as to how much distant objects and planes shrink in size when you set ti to 70 or 90, and hence why now suddenly they are so much harder to spot for most

[zapatista]

Originally Posted by SlipBall

zapatista
. Is it possible for me to lock that as my normal view?...maybe a config edit?

one forum member (ataros) suggested that the kegetis mod tool allows you to set a specific FoV (and "lock it"), but i havnt tried it myself yet (and might not be compatible online ?) (see ...http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthr...=multi+monitor ).

several people tried to edit the CoD files to alter the FoV setting directly, but no luck so far. being able to set specific FoV's at 5 degree steps (as was possible in the il2 series) is afaik not currently possible in CoD, it was a feature requested several times by many people, but i dont think it was included in the final patch.

knowing what your personal "normal" FoV should be in CoD is however important to determine the amount of distortion in object sizes you are creating as a result of using the "wrong FoV" (and for the purpose of this thread to determine game errors).

[SlipBall]

Thanks zapatista! I will experiment with your advice

[MadTommy]

** post removed while i retest this ***

[Wolf_Rider]

Originally Posted by zapatista

knowing what your personal "normal" FoV should be in CoD is however important to determine the amount of distortion in object sizes you are creating as a result of using the "wrong FoV" (and for the purpose of this thread to determine game errors).

The "distortion" isn't in sizes as such... it is in how the object/ background/ viewpoint (as in origin of view) relate to each other.

Originally Posted by zapatista

no i am not

it is the exact opposite of what you are saying. if i would be using the 70 FoV as "normal default"(with my eyes 60 cm from my 27' screen as i stated earlier), all ingame objects size shrink around 30% for me, making them much harder to spot, track or identify, THAT is a distortion !

Nooo, objects on the screen don't get bigger or smaller when you move your eyes closer to or further away from your screen

Originally Posted by zapatista

if in a flight simulator the purpose is presumably to see all in-game objects in their correct 1:1 sizes compared to what you would see in real life (ie the same as when looking out of a cockpit), in which case you then need to determine what this "normal" view is for your own monitor personal setup first (size monitor, and the distance you have you're eyes from it.

sounds great if everybody wanted to have their head and shoulders strapped down and locked in to one position... unfortunately people will sit at different distances from their screen. Sit too close and the peripheral (RL) vision gets affected, they may find themselves getting dizzy after a while at the screen... too far away and they might squint slightly causing headaches.

How would plan to achieve your desire and have it also suit everybody else?

Originally Posted by zapatista

right now the "normal view" (by default 70 FoV right now in CoD), is only "normal" if you have a 30' screen and sit exactly 54.356 centimeter (21.4 inch ) from it. if that same person then briefly uses the zoomed 35 FoV to scan a distant airfield or road, all in-game objects are magnified by 2x (hence much easier to see), but it does so at the cost of introducing tunnel vision. having snap views setup that are more zoomed (35 FoV) or artificially increase peripheral vision (eg the 90 FoV) are useful to briefly use to overcome some of the limitations of sitting behind a monitor in your living room rather then being in a real aircraft, but both induce significant size and object-visibility distortions

just calculate it for your own setup, and see what should be your "normal FoV" for your current setup.

Normal FoV is the default setting... change from this value and the distortion comes into play... objects aren't "magnified" by changing the FoV - "maginification" is a completely differtent occurence

Originally Posted by zapatista

the purpose of raising this in this thread is because only if using a correct "normal" FoV can we determine if in-game "distant object" visibility is roughly correct (compared to similar real life situations), AND if the "invisible zone" (disappearing aircraft) some players complain of is a real problem or some less serious artifact introduced by not using the right FoV.

and yes, the "disappearing dot" is a bug apparently... one which wasn't there in > il2: 1946

[David198502]

Originally Posted by SlipBall

zapatista
109 The view that I prefer is to have all of my gauges in view. Is it possible for me to lock that as my normal view?...maybe a config edit?

simple answer....no