reported MFDs are difficult to read in mid day conditions.

[Rhayvn]

With the new cloud shading, there are certain conditions and times of day (Especially mid day) where the MFDs are extremely dim even at max brightness.  Our entire group is experiencing this issue (F-18 and F-14 screens as well).

 

When starting in the early morning, you seem to have more brightness control on the MFDs and the issue doesn't wash them out as much.

 

Gamma can be turned up to help, but that does seems a poor fix for something that appears to be directly tied to the new clouds and how they affect in cockpit shading.

 

Is anyone else experiencing this?

Edited April 22, 2021 by Rhayvn

[BIGNEWY]

please include screenshots / video, your dcs settings and a track replay showing the issue. 

 

thanks

[Rhayvn]

I have changed nothing since the 2.7 patch and had no issues at any time of day prior to this.  Again, all of my group are having the same issues and we  are a mix of hardware, VR/Track IR and settings.  It's based entirely on time of day.

 

I realize my gamma is low, but every other aspect of the sim looks great and this was the setting I found helps the most with visually finding other aircraft.  I have to turn the gamma above 2 in order to read the MFD, which makes everything else in the game look overly bright and washed out.

 

Settings:

 

 

7AM local time.  MFD is easily readable.

 

 

1300 local time.  MFD is barely readable.

 

Gamma turned over 2.  MFD is still a bit hard to read and the rest of the sim looks overly white and not crisp on detail.

 

[Machalot]

1 hour ago, Rhayvn said:

I have changed nothing since the 2.7 patch and had no issues at any time of day prior to this.  Again, all of my group are having the same issues and we  are a mix of hardware, VR/Track IR and settings.  It's based entirely on time of day.

 

I realize my gamma is low, but every other aspect of the sim looks great and this was the setting I found helps the most with visually finding other aircraft.  I have to turn the gamma above 2 in order to read the MFD, which makes everything else in the game look overly bright and washed out.

 

Settings:

 

 

7AM local time.  MFD is easily readable.

 

 

1300 local time.  MFD is barely readable.

 

Gamma turned over 2.  MFD is still a bit hard to read and the rest of the sim looks overly white and not crisp on detail.

 

Why is your MFD text green? Are you using a mod? 

[BIGNEWY]

Hi

 

please remove all unofficial mods and run a cleanup and repair. 

 

You can also adjust the brightness with the rocker for your own preference 

 

the issue of brightness not saving between pages is reported

 

thanks

[Rhayvn]

They are at maximum brightness.  This only occurs with the new cloud settings and only mid day since the patch.

[Montrose]

Yes the VAF is seeing this as well. Removed all MODs and repaired DCS which made it worse - this only started with 2.7. You can't see the rings in the MFD or bandits on either the radar or HSD in certain lighting. The guys in our group who flew the F18 said they had the same issue a ways back and it was fixed. If we start in  low light times like early morning we have way more MFD adjustment than when we start in the day. Even zooming in on the MFD we can't see enemy tracks. We have 6 pilots in VR and 2 on 2k monitors all get the same thing as described and shown above. I tried it in the Hornet same mission and although the lighting does affected the visuals on the MFD it no where near as bad .

 

Edited April 23, 2021 by Montrose

[SCPanda]

Brightness rocker won't change a thing, because if you spawn in an F-16 during a daytime mission, the brightness is automatically set to max. I wish ED could make it brighter.

 

One tip: you could use the contrast rocker and change the contrast to maximum when flying a daytime mission, it won't make the screen brighter, but it will make the colors brighter (such as the rings in HSD and datalink tracks). 

[Rhayvn]

The contrast is set to max as well.  Does not seem to help. 

 

I am fairly surprised this isn't a more commonly reported problem.  Every single one of our F-16 members has it.  Especially the VR folks.

[=Panther=]

1 hour ago, Rhayvn said:

The contrast is set to max as well.  Does not seem to help. 

 

I am fairly surprised this isn't a more commonly reported problem.  Every single one of our F-16 members has it.  Especially the VR folks.

It was reported before (Oct 19) and we are still fighting it. 

[spec10]

1 hour ago, Rhayvn said:

The contrast is set to max as well.  Does not seem to help. 

 

I am fairly surprised this isn't a more commonly reported problem.  Every single one of our F-16 members has it.  Especially the VR folks.

 

It is a big problem and I have been annoyed by it for years now - especially in VR. The forum unfortunately does not represent the severity of some of those problems we have.

[Falconeer]

I find them difficult to read aswell. Im not on VR, but i am using a dual screen to render the MFD's on the other screen. Both are identical 27" AOC screens with exactly the same color settings and still the screen i run the MFD's on are far darker than the cockpit itself (which is also to dark, compared to RL) Even when brightness set to full, its hard to make out.

 

In RL, the MFD's are far better to read than what we have in DCS. 

Edited April 24, 2021 by Falconeer

[Montrose]

Yes I don't understand why the settings are different based on time of day in the mission. Its like the brightness and contrast are set based on the outside light. I could be wrong but wouldn't these be set the same In RL regardless of outside lighting? Many of our missions start early morning and by 10am we can no longer see red contacts or the rings on the HSD - if we zoom its very faint. I tried maxing our contrast and brightness to find a good setting but they do nothing. I have chatted with a number of RL pilots who say yes lighting and shadows make it harder to see MFDs and screen type instruments like GPS they have anti glare and other features that make them readable. I do think their should be affect but currently it needs to be dialed down. I remember there was an adjustment for the Hornet to fix this . I checked yesterday and it seems the color red as an example is slightly orange and brighter than the red in the F16. I also recognize ED has a ton on their plate and need to start with issues/bugs that impact the largest number of pilots in the community. I am sure they will get to this. 2.7 is gorgeous in VR and 2D  

Edited April 24, 2021 by Montrose

[Machalot]

6 hours ago, Montrose said:

Yes I don't understand why the settings are different based on time of day in the mission. Its like the brightness and contrast are set based on the outside light. I could be wrong but wouldn't these be set the same In RL regardless of outside lighting?

It's possible they model an overall lighting scale that brings everything up or down to match the ability of your monitor to display the full dynamic range.  Broad daylight is something like 10,000 times brighter than indoor lighting or a typical CRT screen.

[spec10]

 

On 4/22/2021 at 11:58 PM, BIGNEWY said:

Hi

 

please remove all unofficial mods and run a cleanup and repair. 

 

You can also adjust the brightness with the rocker for your own preference 

 

the issue of brightness not saving between pages is reported

 

thanks

That is not the problem described here at all. Can you please have a closer look at the problem? I know you do sometimes and that's very appreciated, but here you did not.

 

MFDs are too dark in many lighting situations. Max brightness is still too dark. This is not "correct as is" by any means. Thanks.

Edited April 25, 2021 by spec10

[Tango3B]

3 hours ago, spec10 said:

 

That is not the problem described here at all. Can you please have a closer look at the problem? I know you do sometimes and that's very appreciated, but here you did not.

 

MFDs are too dark in many lighting situations. Max brightness is still too dark. This is not "correct as is" by any means. Thanks.

 

It starts getting a little frustrating to see things being labelled as "correct as is" or "working as intended" over and over again that are obviously completely off. We also had this with radar related stuff and those JHMCS issues. The MFD brightness is way too low and barely readable in certain lighting conditions. And this is a fact. Many people have this issue and we can't all be wrong, right? And this has been an issue since the release of the DCS F-16C module. This has been discussed many times here in this very bug section. And I actually cannot imagine that any SME would approve the current implementation of the MFD brightness settings. It would be very much appreciated if this issue could be discussed with the team again to reevaluate the current implementation. Thanks.

[BIGNEWY]

On 4/23/2021 at 11:07 AM, SCPanda said:

Well, just look at how short the patch notes were for the Viper. ED is basically not going to touch the Viper until they get the Hornet out of EA. This is just sad since I don't fly the Hornet (I do own it but I don't like that jet). I fly the Viper only. 

 

Please dont go off topic in bug reports, this is absolute nonsense. The team is working on weapons currently, we have said the pace of work will increase once the hornet is out of early access.  

 

I am happy to look at this again, the team have said it is correct as is and I have marked it accordingly. 

 

I have asked for track replay examples but I am not seeing any yet in this thread. 

 

thanks

[Furiz]

I've noticed that MFDs are hard to read in mid day too,

 

around 11:00 server time

Edited April 25, 2021 by Furiz

[XCNuse]

9 hours ago, Furiz said:

I've noticed that MFDs are hard to read in mid day too,

 

around 11:00 server time

 

 

Gamma too low?

 

Tried to replicate your scene some; I wouldn't say the MFDs are the brightest things in the world when trying to beat out the sun but... mine seem perfectly legible.

Edited April 26, 2021 by XCNuse

[Furiz]

Everything is fine except the MFDs, it is not a gamma issue (my gamma is 1.6), I don't have whole cockpit dark, just MFDs that aren't readable. Cockpit was fine cause this was under the cloud shade so it is a little bit darker so under the shade of a cloud you cant see the MFDs, there is something wrong there.

 

But the problem is that, as you can see on your screenshot, the whole outside world is too bright they just wont recognize that:P

[Machalot]

14 hours ago, Furiz said:

I've noticed that MFDs are hard to read in mid day too,

 

around 11:00 server time

 

Is this screenshot an example that's hard to read on your display?  I don't find the MFDs in your screenshot particularly hard to read on my monitor.  I wonder if it has to do with local graphics or monitor settings?

[XCNuse]

9 hours ago, Furiz said:

(my gamma is 1.6),

 

 

That is exceedingly low....

[Rhayvn]

14 hours ago, XCNuse said:

 

Gamma too low?

 

Tried to replicate your scene some; I wouldn't say the MFDs are the brightest things in the world when trying to beat out the sun but... mine seem perfectly legible.

 

What you are not showing on your screenshots is DL tracks or threat rings with type numbers.  Those are faint and the altitude/numbers difficult to read.  The TGP isn't an issue because the adjustments on it have enough range to compensate for the different lighting conditions.

 

1.6 gamma is not exceedingly low.  I have used 1.5 or 1.4 for the entirety of my DCS experience and never had an issue until 2.7 with the new cloud shadows during mid day times.  We all have different visual preferences for eye comfort or spotting/reading small details.  It changed in 2.7. 

 

The Hornet used to have an issue with MFDs in certain lighting conditions, it was changed to make them easier to read because we don't have options real world pilots do to mitigate lighting problems.  As one of those real world pilots, with various aged avionics displays that I can easily read in all lighting conditions WITHOUT them being at maximum brightness, this simply isn't something that would persist in reality.  Forcing an overall graphics change (Gamma) to fix one small aspect of visibility is a poor alternative when allowing a greater range to the brightness controls would do the trick.

Edited April 26, 2021 by Rhayvn

[XCNuse]

I can't find very many sources of how bright the MFDs the Vipers are on a bright and sunny day, but from what I have found, they definitely do not appear to be anywhere near as bright as the green screens in the Hornet.

 

From the images and photos I can find in broad daylight, my screenshots don't look that far off in brightness.
Could brightness improve for the sake of the game? Yes a little more brightness wouldn't hurt.

 

But I wouldn't call it a problem; not like they were a bug in the Hornet at least.

[Furiz]

Well the outside world brightness is too high compared to cockpit brightness not just in the viper, I think it needs some tuning the world brightness could go down a notch,

 

At 08:00 server time (report was about mid day which is even worse) at 1.8 you still don't see MFD rings so well, or the lines, only contacts

 

 

 

At 2.2 you can see circles, but look at this brightness, I don't think this is comfortable setting

Outside world brightness is too high in my opinion.

Edited April 26, 2021 by Furiz