Visibility control and/or fog layers

[Ala12Rv-watermanpc]

In DCS, we always fly with an extremely good visibility range...the only way to decrease it is using the "fog" option in ME.

 

The problem is that this option is more like a "pollution fog" than a proper visibility control because the range of heights it can be used is very limited (about 3.000ft only).

 

Once you are out of the range of this low level fog, the visibility is basically perfect and to the "infinite",so you can see a perfectly defined and sharp horizon line all the time which, while possible, Im pretty sure its quite uncommon.

 

 

Also, once you are in a fog layer, the higher you get INSIDE it, the smoother the horizon line should look...however, once you are OUT of it, the look of the horizon line will depend of the visibility of the layer you are flying then and so on. In DCS, once you are out of the only fog layer we can configure, it looks like there is NO fog layer at all...why??...because no matter how high you fly, the horizon line will always look exactly the same (sharp and well defined). So, even if there is a nice visibility condition, there should be "any" fog in the atmosphere, which leads to some smoothing in the horizon line as you climb. So, the left side of the screen is how DCS look now at high altitude, and the right one is how I think it should look (at least if we had the ability to set up higher fog layers):

 

 

This means that its not possible to recreate certain conditions that can (and usually do) happen irl. In real life, what you will have most of the time at quite high altitude is something like this:

 

 

Of course, the higher you fly, the more visibility you will have (to the point of flying out of any haze and thus looking extremely far away independently of how foggy the ground looks)...the problem I see in DCS is that you can only get lower visibility at 3.000ft max which is way too low.

 

For example, this is a screen I made some time ago, with a nice fog in 1.5 (right now, in 2.1 the fog is not working correctly once you are INSIDE it so I couldnt take a picture in 2.1):

 

 

As you can see, Im not flying very high in that shot...well, thats basically the max altitude before leaving the fog layer, and thus, getting a perfect visibility again. I think this is a way too low max altitude for the fog layer looking at real life pictures, its perfectly possible to get haze much higher.

 

In the new 2.1 version, you can achieve a nice fog in the horizon that makes the horizon line to look more and more faded as you climb but only at dusk/dawn...anyway, I think its due to a different reason ( sky color?)...but the thing is that it looks great and realistic and I would love to be able to get also this at any other time of day:

 

 

So, what I would like to see implemented in DCS is:

 

1- Higher max altitude for the fog layer (I think it could go to 15.000ft no problem.

2- The ability to set up several fog layers.

EDIT: 3- The ability to control thickness of both gradients ends of each layer.

 

Making several layers where you can chose the thickness and how far the visibility goes in each one would be the perfect solution and would greatly increase the power of the weather system of DCS.

 

That would be a great addition to DCS and will "maybe" even increase FPS as some things could be masked by the fog so decreasing GPU work, but that would just be a possible side effect.

 

Many thanks!!

Edited June 22, 2017 by watermanpc

[terminator363]

+1

[MikeMikeJuliet]

I agree with the OP, but just to be clear: Haze and fog are not exactly the same and thus we should have a separate Haze-option for the effect you are looking for. Haze happens in the lower/mid atmosphere usually up to the level of 100% relative humidity. Depending on temperature and the amount if water in the air this can vary wildly. Fog (and the less dense version, mist) is defined as visible moisture that is close to or in contact with the ground or water... So a fog layer that is any higher is just called a cloud layer. Some cloud layers may only be very thin veils, quite fog-like, that span vertically for only a couple of meters.

 

 

So yes, more weather options please. I just wanted to clear some terms.

 

Regards,

MikeMikeJuliet

[Ala12Rv-watermanpc]

Nice clarification, thanks mate!:thumbup:

 

I agree that many times (most if flying at high altitude) the reason for having a limited visibility are very smooth clouds in the distance (what you defined as "fog")...the problem is I guess that recreate this with proper "clouds" would probably be very hard (of course, that would be the best and closest to reality solution and would allow for local fogs though), and you would probably get pretty much the same results just by using a "fog" layer which would be easier from a performance and/or programing perspective.

 

That's why I used the term "fog" to describe this phenomenon.

 

Btw, looks like we have a nice fog working correctly again in 2.1.1:

 

 

Although there are some issues remaining with the fog from older versions yet (1.5), like the interface between inside and outside the fog where suddenly there is an instant at which there is a perfect and far visibility, and when looking vertical to the fog layer, it becomes more and more clear as you climb which should not happen.

 

 

EDIT: Forgot to mention in the first post, that having also the ability to configure the thickness of one, or even better both, upper and lower gradients of the fog layers so we can control how fast/slow we get into/out the fog would be TOP NOTCH!!:thumbup:

Edited June 22, 2017 by watermanpc