Option to turn mirrors off.

[dporter22]

The only option is low res mode, but that is useless and visually annoying. Please make an option to turn them off.

[eFirehawk]

Agreed, I would love to have a 'mirrorless' cockpit as well or have the ability to stow them away.

[Timghetta]

They do turn off, it starts as off.
There is fake mirrors and the regular mirrors.

The F-15E's Mirrors cannot fold/stow them so it the mirror is replaced with a fake texture, that doesn't cause any FPS loss.

[dporter22]

Incorrect. They start in full resolution which causes a significant FPS reduction (for me), if you click them they change to reduced resolution which is useless and annoying, and there is no option to turn them off.

[Timghetta]

1 hour ago, dporter22 said:

Incorrect. They start in full resolution which causes a significant FPS reduction (for me), if you click them they change to reduced resolution which is useless and annoying, and there is no option to turn them off.

 

They do not go to a lower resolution, they use this texture, F-15E_T15.



It has no more effect on your FPS as any other texture in the cockpit.
I made the model.

Edited July 1, 2023 by Timghetta

[clanitho]

1 hour ago, dporter22 said:

Incorrect. They start in full resolution which causes a significant FPS reduction (for me), if you click them they change to reduced resolution which is useless and annoying, and there is no option to turn them off.

I confirm, when I click them , I get a gain or 10-20 FPS.

[dporter22]

Not sure what you're seeing, but in my F-15E the mirrors start in full resolution and toggling switches them to a useless low resolution with a 15-20 FPS increase.

Regardless, the request is for an option to turn them off completely like is available in other modules to increase FPS.

[Timghetta]

The real mirrors can not fold outward like "other" aircraft, so they use a texture, no lower resolution, just a texture. That's why you get the FPS gain. This is like the M2000C, the AV8BNA, and F-14.

Even i removed the mirrors model all together you will not see any change in FPS.
 

Edited July 1, 2023 by Timghetta

[dporter22]

Not sure what your point is exactly.  

I don't care if they are textures or whatever they are, toggling them from the full res mode gives a 15-20 FPS increase but they are unuseable and annoying since you can't see anything except some gray smudges moving around the mirror. 

All I suggested was an option to turn them completely off. 

 

[GoodHope]

Agreed with the OP. I'd love to be able to stow them like we can in the A-10.

[MAXsenna]

On 7/1/2023 at 2:52 PM, Timghetta said:

They do turn off, it starts as off.
There is fake mirrors and the regular mirrors.

The F-15E's Mirrors cannot fold/stow them so it the mirror is replaced with a fake texture, that doesn't cause any FPS loss.

Should be completely off as the sun reflection gets really annoying in the low res mirrors.

[Joghurt]

23 hours ago, dporter22 said:

Not sure what your point is exactly.  

I don't care if they are textures or whatever they are, toggling them from the full res mode gives a 15-20 FPS increase but they are unuseable and annoying since you can't see anything except some gray smudges moving around the mirror. 

All I suggested was an option to turn them completely off.

His point is that if the mirrors are gray they are like stowed away for other planes, aka completely off, and won't use any performance.

@Timghetta I'm very sorry you have to endure this.

[eFirehawk]

On 7/1/2023 at 7:40 PM, Timghetta said:

The real mirrors can not fold outward like "other" aircraft, so they use a texture, no lower resolution, just a texture. That's why you get the FPS gain. This is like the M2000C, the AV8BNA, and F-14.

Even i removed the mirrors model all together you will not see any change in FPS.
 

 

@Timghetta In my case it's like you said. If mirrors disabled in settings, mission already starts with the 'low-res' mirrors which don't actually mirror anything, they just look like mirrors. I understand about the mirrors not being 'stowable'. Anyhow, maybe there's a chance that at least some F15s did not include the mirros themselves at some point?

Anyhow, a bit off topic but since you're here... are you the guy who modeled/textured the F15E cockpit? If so... I am a modeler myself currently working in the automotive industry but did game assets in the past, and just wanted to say that your work is absolutely incredible and I can't thank you enough. Really, the work you did is absolutely exemplary. I did mess around with F15E_T0 and T3 textures ( in order to make the UFC's horizontal displays and letters consistently red and all frames the same gray ), and sometimes I couldn't help but to find myself just checking out all the little details in all the texture maps, and all the individual treatment of every single bolt being unique. Admirable work. Many many thanks!

 

 

@ Everyone else: If enough of you guys show interest maybe I can try to make a mod, by assigning the parts of the texture maps which belong to the mirrors as transparent. I'm not sure of that will still make them reflective and shadow casting but I could give it a shot. This way, it could look like any objects related to the mirrors were never even installed in the cockpit. For realism, we could blame it on the virtual crew chief.

Edited July 2, 2023 by eFirehawk

[dporter22]

1 hour ago, Joghurt said:

His point is that if the mirrors are gray they are like stowed away for other planes, aka completely off, and won't use any performance.

@Timghetta I'm very sorry you have to endure this.

They are not completely off as you can see in the screenshots I posted. They toggle to a very low res option that is useless and distracting.

I simply requested there be an option to turn them completely off.  Not sure what the misunderstanding is.

[Nealius]

In standard ED modules with non-folding mirrors, mirrors off turns the texture totally black.

[Timghetta]

17 hours ago, eFirehawk said:

@Timghetta In my case it's like you said. If mirrors disabled in settings, mission already starts with the 'low-res' mirrors which don't actually mirror anything, they just look like mirrors. I understand about the mirrors not being 'stowable'. Anyhow, maybe there's a chance that at least some F15s did not include the mirros themselves at some point?

Anyhow, a bit off topic but since you're here... are you the guy who modeled/textured the F15E cockpit? If so... I am a modeler myself currently working in the automotive industry but did game assets in the past, and just wanted to say that your work is absolutely incredible and I can't thank you enough. Really, the work you did is absolutely exemplary. I did mess around with F15E_T0 and T3 textures ( in order to make the UFC's horizontal displays and letters consistently red and all frames the same gray ), and sometimes I couldn't help but to find myself just checking out all the little details in all the texture maps, and all the individual treatment of every single bolt being unique. Admirable work. Many many thanks!

 

 

@ Everyone else: If enough of you guys show interest maybe I can try to make a mod, by assigning the parts of the texture maps which belong to the mirrors as transparent. I'm not sure of that will still make them reflective and shadow casting but I could give it a shot. This way, it could look like any objects related to the mirrors were never even installed in the cockpit. For realism, we could blame it on the virtual crew chief.

 

We go through a lot to make it, and in the end, comments like yours is rewarding. You are too kind, Thank you.

[Jive]

20 hours ago, dporter22 said:

They are not completely off as you can see in the screenshots I posted. They toggle to a very low res option that is useless and distracting.

I simply requested there be an option to turn them completely off.  Not sure what the misunderstanding is.

The mirrors in your second screenshot are 'off' they do not mirror anything. It's just a texture. If you're asking for the texture to be bare metal in appearance then it's being misunderstood in how you're asking for it at the moment.

Mirrors off by default is an setting in the DCS graphics options, if you don't want to have to click it or action it each time.

Hope that helps 

Edited July 3, 2023 by Jive

[dporter22]

4 minutes ago, Jive said:

The mirrors in your second screenshot are 'off' they do not mirror anything. It's just a texture. If you're asking for the texture to be bare metal in appearance then it's being misunderstood in how you're asking for it at the moment.

Mirrors off by default is an setting in the DCS graphics options, if you don't want to have to click it or action it each time.

Hope that helps 

 

Thanks, but as I've explained the mirrors are not off. They show a very low-resolution moving image. That's why I requested an option for them to be turned completely off.

tempMission.miz.trk

[SkateZilla]

Easiest fix for the guys that want no reflection (whether they are mirrors or just general environment color):
Open the Cockpit roughmet texture and make it so the Mirror is not polished / metal.

the "Low Resolution" Mirror Effect your seeing is the Roughness/Metallic Material settings in the texture, that's it, this effect maybe better/worse depending on SSLR enabled or not.

But it's not the normal Mirror viewport rendering, it's the same general lighting/reflection you'd see on the externals of some metallic aircraft.

General Environment reflection based on texture roughness/metallic setting doesnt effect Fr/PS, but still provide a visual representation that a mirror is there, instead of a black or dark plate of metal, which IMHO is preferred vs having mirrors that have no environment interaction, since there is no way to stow them.

So if you want it to be a simple "grey" texture, remove the metallic properties and make the material rough in the cockpit roughmet texture.
it would likely break IC though.

Edited July 4, 2023 by SkateZilla

[SkateZilla]

I'll do ya one better, if you want them off off,

I've attached the adjusted roughmet for you.
Just place in /Mods/aircraft/F-15E/textures/F-15E-CPT/

I recommend backing up original first, as I don't know if this will trip the Integrity Check.

Default On/Off:



Modded On/Off:

F-15E_T15_RoughMet.dds

[dporter22]

Perfect, thanks!

[Sly870]

8 hours ago, SkateZilla said:

I'll do ya one better, if you want them off off,

I've attached the adjusted roughmet for you.
Just place in /Mods/aircraft/F-15E/textures/F-15E-CPT/

I recommend backing up original first, as I don't know if this will trip the Integrity Check.

Default On/Off:



Modded On/Off:

F-15E_T15_RoughMet.dds 21.33 MB · 2 downloads

SZ to rescue

[MadKreator]

Awesome, I’ll take it! I don’t mind mirrors on, I actually wish they were higher res than they are when they’re on. But they’re not, so off it is. ( not an f-15 issue, all modules in general issue)

[draconus]

On 7/5/2023 at 4:05 AM, SkateZilla said:

Default On/Off:

Btw, OT, look how super cool sun reflection works from the mirror-off metal vs the mirror-on image. The scene, time and camera position is the same. Looks like mirror lacks some effect.

Imho the simple texture fix looks awful and will be even worse in the night. I don't understand this wish since it doesn't save any fps.

[SkateZilla]

8 hours ago, draconus said:

Btw, OT, look how super cool sun reflection works from the mirror-off metal vs the mirror-on image. The scene, time and camera position is the same. Looks like mirror lacks some effect.

Imho the simple texture fix looks awful and will be even worse in the night. I don't understand this wish since it doesn't save any fps.

Mirrors On is a 3D Viewport Rendered onto the mesh.

Mirrors Off is just PBR Materials.

If Someone wanted to, they can re-paint the mirror textures to make it look like they have a mirror cover over them.

I Personally fly with the default off, as it looks realistic and connects to the environment in VR, the only time I turn them on is in a dogfight.