IFLOLS lighting in VR

[PhoenixRising]

I got a new computer, and for the most part the graphics on my Rift S look amazing compared to what I could drive with my 1070. However, I still can't discern the ball from 3/4 of a mile. I could be remembering wrong, but I thought I could on the Stennis. It feels like it is a lighting issue, not a clarity issue. Has anybody found any settings or mod that changes the lighting to make it easier to see in VR? All I see is a giant blob of light when turning final. 

 

Thanks!

[BMGZ06]

Yes it is the same in the G1 and G2. There is far too much glow or light bloom in VR. The ball gets lost between the datums at greater than a quarter mile away. Same goes for aircraft lights. Been this way for a long time. It has been brought up many many time and nothing has been done about it. Honestly VR is an afterthought for ED and just about every other game dev due to so few people using it still. I am sure it is not easy to calibrate lights for both pancake and 3D so they look equally correct. The other issue is not seeing tanker lights until within half a mile at night. Makes joining up a major pain unless you turn gamma up to max which is not realistic at all. 

[JayOneFox3]

Oh I thought it was just me!!!??

[Dr. Anti-Vehicle]

On 5/14/2021 at 7:22 PM, JayOneFox3 said:

Oh I thought it was just me!!!??

You are not alone. It's been like this since I started playing DCS more than a year ago. But in the last days of 2.5, the lighting in VR was better. However in 2.7, it gets worse imo. The IFLOLS is unreadable beyond 1/2 mile, and a jet with position light on appear to be as big as a giant lantern even at 10 miles out.

I gave screenshots of IFLOLs to Bignewy the other day on Discord, and he said he was going to look into it. But lighting is such a big part of game codes that I do not recommend getting your hopes up.

[nicka117]

Is anything ever going to be done about this?

[Jenson]

Rift S user too, 1920*1080 res with 1.2pd setting. 1 mile out, only able to see a glowing amber dot on the left side of the deck. 

 

You can assign the VR spyglass key to a HOTAS button, and use it will be able to discern the ball. 

 

Or frankly, I don't look at the ball, but rather place my VV symbol over the ship's bow while keeping it at 3.5 degree below horizontal bar line. that would make you on the correct glide path. 

[Dragon1-1]

VR rendering in DCS needs to be tuned, I think. There are strange issues with more than just lights, I think it's applying some effects (bloom, texture filtering) in a way that's not quite correct. I hope they'll take a look at it someday.

[TimRobertsen]

Have people been able to clearly discern the ball beyond 0.3 miles?

[Biggus]

I can't see it until around .3-.4 on a flat 3440x1440 screen.  I don't think it's just VR that this is a problem for.

[capthaltli]

I agree, this needs to be worked. The "ball" has a huge halo around it, and so do the datums, making it almost useless rolling into the groove. It is not until In the Middle to In Close that it is usable. 

[Harker]

Have people been able to clearly discern the ball beyond 0.3 miles?

In VR with a G2 (PD 1.0, SteamSS 100%), no. I can make it out at this distance, but not easily. It's impossible to clearly discern it at 0.75 NM.

It's also difficult to discern in 2D, because of the excessive bloom effect, but it's not nearly as bad as in VR.

[Jenson]

On 8/30/2021 at 5:21 PM, TimRobertsen said:

Have people been able to clearly discern the ball beyond 0.3 miles?

 

Maybe try this mode? (I haven't tried yet) 

 

https://forums.eagle.ru/topic/266701-new-universal-vr-shader/

[oldcrusty]

I guess I'm just looking for the straight blob with no 'bump' in the middle... or after countless traps, my brain is processing the total picture somehow, I don't know...

I've been bitching about it since SC release.

[TimRobertsen]

Are there any video-settings in DCS which can make the Ball more discernible?

 

6 hours ago, Gripes323 said:

after countless traps, my brain is processing the total picture somehow

 

Yeah, I got some practice with that after the 2.7-update. With the update the Overlay stopped working, so for a couple of weeks I did recoveries without it, just eyeballing the approach. It was interesting, definitely got a lot better at visually assessing the approach. Then, at some point, the Overlay started working again, and I just went back to my "old" ways  

 

6 hours ago, Jenson said:

 

Maybe try this mode? (I haven't tried yet) 

 

https://forums.eagle.ru/topic/266701-new-universal-vr-shader/

 

That seems to be for VR, I don't have that. I fly with monitor and TrackIR.

[Jenson]

On 9/2/2021 at 5:49 PM, TimRobertsen said:

That seems to be for VR, I don't have that. I fly with monitor and TrackIR.

 

It applies for 2D screen as well, making the view sharpener and better contrast. 

[oldcrusty]

36 minutes ago, Jenson said:

 

It applies for 2D screen as well, making the view sharpener and better contrast. 

 

Recently the daytime ball looks pretty sharp on pancake and in VR within a mile. That's with standard shaders. I haven't tried night time in a while, probably will tomorrow. I suspect it's still a glowing mess.

In the first part of this vid I made today (for a different discussion topic) the ball seems to have no glow from .7 nm down to deck. It actually looks too dim. If the pixel brightness was higher without increasing the glow, the ball would look perfect in my opinion. The VR looked similar. The vid was recorded from the track.

 

https://youtu.be/tjnJVlDxdgY

[Jenson]

1 hour ago, Gripes323 said:

 

Recently the daytime ball looks pretty sharp on pancake and in VR within a mile. That's with standard shaders. I haven't tried night time in a while, probably will tomorrow. I suspect it's still a glowing mess.

In the first part of this vid I made today (for a different discussion topic) the ball seems to have no glow from .7 nm down to deck. It actually looks too dim. If the pixel brightness was higher without increasing the glow, the ball would look perfect in my opinion. The VR looked similar. The vid was recorded from the track.

 

https://youtu.be/tjnJVlDxdgY

At night, ball looks good in VR, but position light and anti-collision light looks like big glowing lantern. 

[Dr. Anti-Vehicle]

Yep, it’s not a VR specific issue. Check out my observation here.

I don’t know how hard it is to model the light source based on its size. If the size of light source is equivalent to 1 pixel at 1 miles out, it would be more straightforward to just model it that way. Maybe a little bloom can be added with rain or fog, but definitely not in clear days.