[REPORTED] Model Visibility Issues

[Dave317]

The current model enlargement at the moment is not great in my opinion. The aircraft should be bigger and the ground units a lot smaller. You can spot a bus from miles and miles away but sometimes it's hard to see a plane you have merged with.

[BFBunny]

Labels does not help in multiplayer though and based on ai that can stay in the sky with ridiculous amounts of damage and maneuver perfectly in the sky then add the poor spotting I don't think the ww2 stuff is worth it and I've not even fought in my ww2 planes for over a year. I can't see myself ever playing them again in actual combat.

[SeaW0lf]

Labels does not help in multiplayer though and based on ai that can stay in the sky with ridiculous amounts of damage and maneuver perfectly in the sky then add the poor spotting I don't think the ww2 stuff is worth it and I've not even fought in my ww2 planes for over a year. I can't see myself ever playing them again in actual combat.

 

Yeah, multiplayer gets feisty and the game cannot skimp on combat / damage model / gun features. I went to check and DCS seems to be 8 years old (I have my modules shelved since 2014), and this makes me think that they won't work on these things? I also miss the tracers in the P-51D. Even at night, when I imagine the tracers would light up like a Christmas tree, they have a discrete random blink (it is more like an arcade effect that has nothing about the bullets) and do not light up all the way to the target. How do people aim without tracers?

[Retu81]

How do people aim without tracers?

 

With gun sight.

[SeaW0lf]

With gun sight.

 

 

Yeah, way of saying. The name says it all "tracers".

[Slazi]

OK so we need to zoom in and out constantly .

 

Yes, the zoom is not cheating. We're playing on tiny monitors with awful resolutions. Bind the zoom to your joystick (HOTAS) to be able to zoom in and out quickly. Track IR or similar also really helps.

[JustVisiting]

Maybe it's cheating, but I turn labels on. However, I have a modified Labels.lua file that makes all contacts the same color (so no difference between friend and foe), and they are only portrayed as a tiny symbol (for example: " * ") starting from a certain distance. You can also choose to apply labels to certain categories, like only aircrafts for example.

 

It sure saves my eyesight.

 

Thanks for calling this to my attention. Sometimes I turn on labels but I never liked the huge amount of text that labels put onscreen. Now I have labels simplified.

[SeaW0lf]

Yes, the zoom is not cheating. We're playing on tiny monitors with awful resolutions. Bind the zoom to your joystick (HOTAS) to be able to zoom in and out quickly. Track IR or similar also really helps.

 

I am also not finding where the zoom is. What I found was the "Cockpit View" / Zoom In - Zoom out, but it only works in one step -- normal cockpit view and super zoomed view. It is set to two buttons in my throttle handle (G940). Is there a place where can I set a smooth / gradual zoom in and out?

[Raven68]

I am also not finding where the zoom is. What I found was the "Cockpit View" / Zoom In - Zoom out, but it only works in one step -- normal cockpit view and super zoomed view. It is set to two buttons in my throttle handle (G940). Is there a place where can I set a smooth / gradual zoom in and out?

 

I have a G940 as well Seawolf. It may be a compromise for you, but I use my rotary knob for smooth zoom. It should be under axis settings.

 

[Eight Ball]

I am also not finding where the zoom is. What I found was the "Cockpit View" / Zoom In - Zoom out, but it only works in one step -- normal cockpit view and super zoomed view. It is set to two buttons in my throttle handle (G940). Is there a place where can I set a smooth / gradual zoom in and out?

It's called "zoom in slow"(default = Num*) and "zoom out slow"(default = Num/) usually at the very bottom of the settings window

[Raven68]

It's called "zoom in slow"(default = Num*) and "zoom out slow"(default = Num/) usually at the very bottom of the settings window

 

Nice option also Eight Ball. I forgot about that. :thumbup:

Can you control the amount of zoom also with this option?

[otto]

Set "Model enlargement" to "large", it will help a lot.

 

However, it's still very difficult to spot targets against the ground :/

 

I spot targets against the ground with ease. Should have seen how it was before 1.5. Or the way it was b4 lods got improved by a few forum members.

[CoBlue]

Why is it so hard too see air contacts that are right in front of you , there seems to be a very bad render issues or some thing really isn't right .

Dogfight with WWII is also bad . When is this going to get fixed .

Am i the only one seeing this .

+100

[SeaW0lf]

It's called "zoom in slow"(default = Num*) and "zoom out slow"(default = Num/) usually at the very bottom of the settings window

 

Awesome mate! Thanks! I'll check it out

 

I have a G940 as well Seawolf. It may be a compromise for you, but I use my rotary knob for smooth zoom. It should be under axis settings.

 

Cool, I'll give it a try. I need to see if the "zoom in slow" only works in a slide. I used to have the zoom in the two lateral buttons and use the wheel for mixture (ROF).

[Why485]

Why is it so hard too see air contacts that are right in front of you , there seems to be a very bad render issues or some thing really isn't right .

Dogfight with WWII is also bad . When is this going to get fixed .

Am i the only one seeing this .

 

At the moment the best you can do is put model visibility to high. Model visibility is a big problem in DCS and has been for over 10 years. The model visibility system is a flawed band-aid in the right direction but that's unfortunately all it is at the moment.

[Nooch]

Model enlargement feature

 

I'm happy this feature has been introduced with DCS 1.5, it's definitely a move in the right direction. Before, spotting used to be atrociously difficult. There is just one thing that bugs me though: there is no reasonable distance threshold at which air and ground assets can't be seen anymore. We can see stuff at crazy distances. For example, when I take off from Mozdok in the ultimate argument campaign (that I really enjoyed by the way), I'm able to see SA-10 tube launchers deployed 40 Kilometers away! It's kind of an instant immersion killer.

 

To be extra clear I'm not talking about the enlargement size, it's perfectly fine and already selectable in the options menu anyway. I'm only talking about the distance we can see said enlarged objects from. IMO farther than something like say 20 Kilometers, stuff should not be visible anymore. Or even better, please give us the option to control this distance so that everyone can be happy.

Edited May 11, 2016 by Nooch

[iLOVEwindmills]

Yep it needs more work in nearly every regard, has anything official been said about this at all recently? It would be a major relieve to know it is still on the agenda at least.

[Why485]

Agree. I would really like to know ED's opinion on where it stands now, where they're planning to go with it, and in particular, what the intent of the system is.

[gamerman972]

hello ED, please respond. Visibility is broken. Multiplayer server are disabling imposters because they say that the functionality is broken.

[Talisman_VR]

Aircraft visual quality in the air

 

I fly WWII and Korea and would like to make an observation regarding the visual quality of aircraft in the air.

One of the things that I find slightly off-putting is that the aircraft in the air do not give the appearance of something really solid with mass and density. Rather, they are soft focus and give an almost lighter than air image like a feather or a fairy or a ghost (the imposter system makes this even worse at great distance). They do not seem to stand out as solid enough objects that are different from the lighter air atmosphere, but seem to blend in as part of the atmosphere and cloud system. When I look at real world aircraft flying in the air they give off a sense of something solid, more defined and mechanical with weight that stands out in the air environment; they appear in the air but definitely not of the air, whereas the DCS aircraft appear too much as part of the air, rather than a metallic intruder only present due to the ingenuity and interference of man.

I think this is part of the reason why gaining and maintaining reasonable aircraft air-to-air visual contact is so far from realistic on the PC screen. I am using V 1.5, so perhaps things are better in V 2, but from what I see from posted movie clips it would appear not. I wonder if there is a way for DCS to give us aircraft models that are more visually defined, solid and weighty in appearance.

 

Happy landings,

 

Talisman

[Jumbik]

Lightning/shadows, contrast, color representation, reflections, sense of depth... DCS developers are taking steps, small at a time but eventually each time we are closer to the reality but you will never get what you are asking for until we will have true VR engine with double precision lightning and shadowing.

 

This is something we can hope for in 20 years maybe.

 

The main problem with it is the computing power needed for true double precision computing.

[Knock-Knock]

Its the shading of the aircraft's, their material definition - reflections, how the light bounces off and scatters etc., or lack off. When it all has more or less the same definition, be it the given materials and the surroundings, then the plane/object wont separate itself enough from the 'background'.

 

In short, I think a bit of pixel pimping / beefed up shaders, could solve that.

 

Edit: Jumbik beat me to that :)

[CoBlue]

The spotting still sucks, even with large model visibility enabled! (1.5.4)

Have been flying online the past days & still the same problems, airplanes magically disappear in front of you when spotted & closing in.

You want to know why there's no Mig-15 vs Sabre servers anymore?....spotting! The same fate will come to F5e vs Mig-21.

When is this going to be fixed???

Edited July 28, 2016 by CoBlue

[hollywoodvillain]

Amen. I haven't fired up the saber since I bought it due exclusively to this issue.

[probad]

sometimes they do seem to disappear irl, maybe under different conditions but the criteria of expecting to "always be able to see your target within x miles" is not a valid argument here.

 

large impostors ruins f5 vs migs for me, marginalizes dealing with gci and onboard radar. there's too many things in flux with the engine to ask ed to be immediately implementing changes though, for all we know they might be already iterating on better solutions that aren't ready for public release.

 

please have some patience people