Thinking of going ultrawide 21:9

[Bossco82]

HI Guys,

 

As the title says I am thinking of moving to an ultrawide monitor. I have moved my computer desk etc and my 4k TV is no longer going to practically fit. Thought an ultrawide monitor would be a smart move.

I use Track IR, does DCS have any issues with 21:9 and Track IR? 

Are there any settings or special setup I should be aware of before making a purchase.

My gpu is a 2080ti and I will be buying a DP 1.4 cable to take advantage of variable refresh rate.

 

Cheers

[Rudel_chw]

I’m a bit disenchanted with my ultrawide .. it is complex to configure DCS to really take advantage of its proportions, see here:

 

 

if I could go back in time, I should have purchased a 4K monitor instead: cheaper and fits DCS better.

 

[Raven (Elysian Angel)]

I'd say it also depends on what you plan to use it for. While I don't see any problem with DCS in ultrawide (I provided a screenshot in the thread Rudel linked to), I bought my 38" UltraWide monitor primarily for RPGs (gamechanger!), and some secondary photography work (it's much more colour accurate than my previous PC monitor, which used to force me to use my laptop).

[Mars Exulte]

I have an ultrawide curved 1440. The only ''advantage'' is it slightly increases peripheral vision, but sure does look nice. Imo 1440 is the ideal compromise between quality and performance. My 4k experience was a bit disappointing on the other hand (it's overkill for a normal size monitor, and if you're sitting very far back it doesn't look much better than 1440 does. Highly recommend for larger TVs)

 

Worked a helluva lot better than my 3x 27'' screens. That was interesting as a novelty, but way too much distortion, the screens didn't exactly match, etc

[Bossco82]

Cheers mars, that's exactly what I wanted to know. After a back injury I can't turn my head as much as I could before. So on my old 1440p monitor I can't comfortably check six. I thought an ultra wide might give me more horizontal viewing when using Track IR.

[Lange_666]

What if you use a more aggressive TrackIR profile?

It may take some time to get used to but once you do, it's great. And you can always play with it a bit.

Set it to 50 smooth to compesate if needed.

TIR_Aggressive.xml

Edited May 21, 2021 by Lange_666

[Burt]

I’ve been playing a lot more on my ultra wide 1440p and Tracker IR just because of the clouds and how crisp everything looks.

actually stunning at times but I do a lot of BFM and can’t just look around and soak the beauty up. Sorry I have no experience with 4K. 1440 ultra wide looks way better then my G2. My 34” UltraWide is a curve also. As always a change like this takes a few weeks to get use too.

Edited May 22, 2021 by Burt

[Bossco82]

I got mine setup last night. Really pleased with it, I prefer it to my 4k setup to be honest. Just for the aspect ratio. I just need to work out how to edit the config files to alter my default FOV for my regular aircraft. Right now its zoomed in a little too much, however a small zoom out and its perfect.

From first impressions I cant recommend 21:9 enough for flight sims. My FPS games look better too.

[Rudel_chw]

18 minutes ago, Bossco82 said:

...I just need to work out how to edit the config files to alter my default FOV for my regular aircraft...

 

+1

 

I still can't get mine to show up correctly 

[Bossco82]

Well I went straight from a regular 1440p monitor to ultrawide. Before setting up my 21:9 I took a photograph of my 1440p monitor with DCS running in cockpit. The problem I found is that the horizontal field of view is fixed in DCS. So when you fire up in 21:9 it first looks like the tops chopped off. When I zoomed out so that what I could see vertically matched the photograph I took with my 1440p regular monitor. It looked correct again and I had the extra viewing on either side.

 

I expected this to be honest. What DCS could probably do with is an option to select default FOV in the graphic options as well as aspect ratio. However it is easy to adjust for me as I have zoom binded to my Hotas. 

 

If I zoom out FOV increases if I zoom in it decreases. I know there will be config files somewhere that will allow me to change the default FOV. I just havn't found it yet.

[Rudel_chw]

11 minutes ago, Bossco82 said:

.. The problem I found is that the horizontal field of view is fixed in DCS. So when you fire up in 21:9 it first looks like the tops chopped off. ..

 

Yes, the same happens to me, and I know that I can adjust it with the Zoom controls, but having to adjust this everytime I fly a mission gets tiresome quickly. I have tried to set the FOV manually on the Snapviews.lua file but I can't get the FOV that I want .. seems it is limited by the CameraAngleLimits parameter of the Server.Lua file, but I still have not learnt how to set this up right  

 

I have asked on the Forum, but while everyone agrees that this is a FOV issue, no one seems to know how to set it as a default value for all my aircrafts

 

[Bossco82]

Yeah Rudel I agree with you completely. The default FOV seems to be locked at a setting horizontally that is for 16:9. I cant find out how to alter it yet either.

 

I find altering the zoom a niggle more than a problem. Like I said I have it bound to a rotary on my hotas so I use it regularly anyway for spotting targets etc. 

 

I expected this before I bought an ultrawide monitor. Like I said a solution that Ed could maybe consider would be to add a FOV option/slider in the graphics options. Until then altering zoom is the only option. I have not properly searched the forum though. 

[pierre0000]

Hi guys !

I am hesitating to invest in an odyssey G9 and wondering how is it rendering in 2024 DCS? 

Thanks in advance for your answers ! 

[stampcrab]

On 6/29/2024 at 7:28 PM, pierre0000 said:

I am hesitating to invest in an odyssey G9 and wondering how is it rendering in 2024 DCS? 

Attaching screenshots from my G95NC. Image quality and performance on a 4090 is superb. However, as more evident in the side looks, there is noticeable FOV deformation at the edges.

[SharpeXB]

On 5/22/2021 at 4:18 PM, Bossco82 said:

What DCS could probably do with is an option to select default FOV in the graphic options as well as aspect ratio.

There is. Set the zoom as you like and then press Atl+Num0. You need Snap View Saving enabled in the options. Then the “zoom normal” command will reset this FOV

[stampcrab]

7 hours ago, SharpeXB said:

There is. Set the zoom as you like and then press Atl+Num0. You need Snap View Saving enabled in the options. Then the “zoom normal” command will reset this FOV

It's unfortunate that zoom behaves as a (simulated) focal length control. Since it's mostly used for a closer look at instruments, I'd rather have it act as a "crop zoom" on the viewport, without affecting the FOV/focal length.

[SharpeXB]

6 hours ago, stampcrab said:

It's unfortunate that zoom behaves as a (simulated) focal length control. Since it's mostly used for a closer look at instruments, I'd rather have it act as a "crop zoom" on the viewport, without affecting the FOV/focal length.

The zoom view feature in the game is functioning as intended. I can’t quite understand what you’re suggesting.

[stampcrab]

16 hours ago, SharpeXB said:

The zoom view feature in the game is functioning as intended. I can’t quite understand what you’re suggesting.

I haven't claimed it's functioning otherwise than as intended. What I said is that it behaves like an implementation of physical FOV, which relates to focal length (and sensor size):

  field of view = 2 * arctan(sensor size / (focal length * 2))

Have you noticed what digital cameras do when asked to zoom past the limits of their physical zoom range? They call it "digital zoom", but it is actually a crop of the wider image, with some post-processing to improve quality. What I suggested was to do something similar in DCS, instead of altering the simulated focal length. I understand this may not be an easy or even possible change, depending on the features and limitations of the graphics engine. I also understand this is only a noticeable issue on very wide screens, but the image deformation on those is real and quite obvious.

[SharpeXB]

6 hours ago, stampcrab said:

I haven't claimed it's functioning otherwise than as intended. What I said is that it behaves like an implementation of physical FOV, which relates to focal length (and sensor size):

  field of view = 2 * arctan(sensor size / (focal length * 2))

Have you noticed what digital cameras do when asked to zoom past the limits of their physical zoom range? They call it "digital zoom", but it is actually a crop of the wider image, with some post-processing to improve quality. What I suggested was to do something similar in DCS, instead of altering the simulated focal length. I understand this may not be an easy or even possible change, depending on the features and limitations of the graphics engine. I also understand this is only a noticeable issue on very wide screens, but the image deformation on those is real and quite obvious.

I’m not sure how that helps the problem above. It’s inevitable that there will be distortion at extremely wide FOVs. Such as with a 32:9 screen.