Little trick to enable mirrors without a big fps loss

[Knock-Knock]

With a little graphics.lua editing, you can control how much you want rendered / shown in your mirrors, and there by limit the performance hit.

 

1. Locate your graphics.lua in your you DCS/Config folder, and make a backup.

2. Edit the file with notepad++ (not the regular notepad or wordpad).

3. Go to line 225, that is where the mirror section starts.

4. In my case, I edited for 'Low' View Distance setting, since that is what I use, and changed mine to the following:

- It was just a quick test to see if this actually worked, and if I could control want is rendered, so didnt go deep into what each value actually controls.

The LodMult I changed first without touching the other values, and it had good effect too, but gave a hole in the skybox behind me, and still rendered the cockpit/plane, so depending on the module, could give a good hit.

 

CameraMirrors =
{
   Low =
   {
       near_clip = 0.02;
       far_clip = 150000;

       structures = {0, 0};
       trees = {0, 0}; -- looks to be obsolete
       dynamic = {0, 0};
       dynamic2 = {0, 0,0.0};
       objects = {0, 0};
       mirage = {0, 0};
       surface = {2000, 800000};
       lights = {0, 0};
       districtobjects = {0, 0};
       districts = {0, 0};

       lodMult = 0.01;
       lodAdd = 0;

 

That gives me only terrain and sky / sun (maybe clouds?, didnt have any in my test), and a very little fps impact.

It doesnt show any objects either, so that includes your own plane/cockpit/pilot and other planes too. I just like something in the mirrors, instead of the dark things, or them being folded back.

 

This shouldnt impact IC. Ive been running with a custom terrain lod value for Low View distance, and have never been IC flagged.

 

Be aware, the file will be overwritten every time you update DCS.

 

I checked the A-10C Targeting Pod, if this effects its render port / view. It didnt.

[DerekSpeare]

Good job! :thumbup::smartass:

[Knock-Knock]

Can actually just zero it all out, just had a little more play with it.

- Left the lodMult at its default 1.0

 

CameraMirrors =
{
   Low =
   {
       near_clip = 0.02;
       far_clip = 150000;

       structures = {0, 0};
       trees = {0, 0}; -- looks to be obsolete
       dynamic = {0, 0};
       dynamic2 = {0, 0,0.0};
       objects = {0, 0};
       mirage = {0, 0};
       surface = {0, 0};
       lights = {0, 0};
       districtobjects = {0, 0};
       districts = {0, 0};

       lodMult = 1.0;
       lodAdd = 0;

[fitness88]

There's only 1 thing I look for using my mirrors, to see if there's another plane on my 6 o'clock.

[fitness88]

Is there a way to have a particular selective object like aircrafts be the only thing showing in the mirrors?

[kreisch]

Wait a second - you can edit the file in a way that your plane is not shown in the mirror but other planes are? Resulting this way you see more in the mirror than anyone else and the integrity check is not preventing this?

 

Is that correct or did I misunderstand the description?

 

Not nice, really not nice....

 

 

 

Gesendet von meinem F5121 mit Tapatalk

[Knock-Knock]

Wait a second - you can edit the file in a way that your plane is not shown in the mirror but other planes are? Resulting this way you see more in the mirror than anyone else and the integrity check is not preventing this?

 

Is that correct or did I misunderstand the description?

 

Not nice, really not nice....

 

 

 

Gesendet von meinem F5121 mit Tapatalk

 

I'll just quote myself..

 

It doesnt show any objects either, so that includes your own plane/cockpit/pilot and other planes too. I just like something in the mirrors, instead of the dark things, or them being folded back.

 

And even if you could, dont know what the fuzz is about. Can barely spot the buggers out the canopy, so actually spotting them in the mirror, that are pointing in every direction plus use FOV from like 30 to 140... well good luck.

Edited January 13, 2019 by Knock-Knock

[ram0506]

Great, I will try that in my next VR-flight. You are right, Knock-Knock, I never could really make good use of the mirrors and never spotted any planes in them in dogfight. But I like the idea of having the mirrors activated, just to have something moving and getting a bit more immersion. Until now I always turned them off to save performance.

[Fri13]

I use mirrors often for spotting. You can easily see enemy at the six that how is it positioning for a shot, or does the fight start as two circle or one circle. But mostly I use it for seeing missile launches from 10 km range and performing maneuvers as missiles approach from the rear, and of course to observe effects of attack to ground units that how many you got or how did they spread out.

 

​​​​​​The problem isn't really the mirrors quality but their narrow field of view. Example now in hornet there is great mirrors, but in A-10C II the mirrors are almost useless as they are so narrow. In L-39 the mirror is so wide that you can't see far, but you can follow an wingman at 1-2 km distance that what they do.

in Mi-8 it is great to see when someone is flying near you at your rear hemisphere.