Clear unscratched canopies and/or the option to remove old baked in reflections.

[MoleUK]

Some older modules like the Huey and Mi-8 have some baked in reflections on the canopy that really don't look good. Particularly in VR as they are right in your face.

Other modules have some VERY scratched up canopies, and while this may or may not be realistic (it sometimes feels very overdone) it would be nice if this was also an optional cosmetic feature as opposed to the only option.

This mod that now fails IC went some way to correcting some of these problems previously:

 

Edited November 1, 2024 by MoleUK

[MAXsenna]

Yes, please!
What shadow settings are you using?

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk

[SharpeXB]

I think the bug or effect is caused by running the game with shadows off. Having better done reflection might be a worthy goal but the idea of having them controllable lends to making players run an ugly game in order to get some sort of advantage. That’s not good. 

[MAXsenna]

I think the bug or effect is caused by running the game with shadows off. Having better done reflection might be a worthy goal but the idea of having them controllable lends to making players run an ugly game in order to get some sort of advantage. That’s not good. 

Why should us SP players give a rat's ass about MP? Make it an MP option and everyone's happy!

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk

[MiG21bisFishbedL]

The baked in reflections just need to go, period.

[SharpeXB]

The solution is to give those modules some improved effects. Not to turn the canopy off. The new Spitfire cockpit and canopy looks gorgeous. Make ‘em like that. 

1 hour ago, MAXsenna said:

Why should us SP players give a rat's ass about MP?

MP is dull enough without also being ugly

[cfrag]

9 hours ago, SharpeXB said:

the idea of having them controllable lends to making players run an ugly game in order to get some sort of advantage. That’s not good. 

Let's be generous and say that 10% of the DCS population play online. Do you seriously suggest that 90%of the people should have a s*!##y experience playing every day so that you can sleep easier not having to obsess about the things other people might do to cheat you out of your oh-so-deserved win? If so, I think that says a lot more about you than anything else. 

7 hours ago, SharpeXB said:

The solution is to give those modules some improved effects.

A solution, perhaps. There are many, and I'm hopeful that the kind people at ED will look at this some time. The visuals right now (in VR) look cartoonishly 1990s, distract, and break immersion. It's a long-standing issue that was fixed by the community and now has re-surfaced - IMHO quite needlessly.

[MAXsenna]

1 hour ago, cfrag said:

Do you seriously suggest that 90%of the people should have a s*!##y experience playing every day so that you can sleep easier not having to obsess about the things other people might do to cheat you out of your oh-so-deserved win?

Knowing Sharpy, the answer is YES! Guys! This thread has one star. I think we can guess why. Please let's push it up to five! 

 

Edited November 11, 2023 by MAXsenna

[SharpeXB]

9 hours ago, cfrag said:

Let's be generous and say that 10% of the DCS population play online.

Ask why that is. A perception of widespread cheating and the belief that you need to lower your graphic settings in order to not be at a disadvantage doesn’t help.

9 hours ago, cfrag said:

The visuals right now (in VR) look cartoonishly 1990s

Having better canopy reflections is the solution (like the Spitfire). But really the focal length effect you would see IRL on a canopy is impossible to duplicate in VR. Plus again I think this problem is actually created by running the game with shadows turned off. I don’t see anything like this myself but I don’t own those modules mentioned above either.

Edited November 11, 2023 by SharpeXB

[cfrag]

25 minutes ago, SharpeXB said:

6 hours ago, cfrag said:

Let's be generous and say that 10% of the DCS population play online.

Ask why that is. A perception of widespread cheating and the belief that you need to lower your graphic settings in order to not be at a disadvantage doesn’t help.

I would love to see any facts backing up that assertion. Until then please excuse me for dismissing above as some self-serving tidbit manufactured out of thin air.

11 minutes ago, SharpeXB said:

But really the focal length effect you would see IRL on a canopy is impossible to duplicate in VR.

Again, apologies. I do not have your name in my book of go-to people for questions when I'm developing VR titles (and I do earn some money that way), so please point me to the source of your information, so I can educate myself. Please explain to me the 'focal length effect' I see IRL, and how it pertains to reflections on the cockpit that can't be duplicated in VR. Then please explain why that makes it ok to apply crappy lo-res bitmaps at high opacity instead. 

15 minutes ago, SharpeXB said:

Plus again I think this problem is actually created by running the game with shadows turned off.

It is exacerbated with shadows off or set to 1 (one) (i.e. not off). Again, please educate me how that in any way justifies not providing a better method, like for example allowing a frigging multiplicator to lessen the impact without unduly giving a performance boost (that was one of the shader fixes that I wrote myself for the glass material shader, so I do know what is involved, how simple it is to fix and what the performance impact is).  

[SharpeXB]

5 minutes ago, cfrag said:

so please point me to the source of your information, so I can educate myself.

Your real eye lenses have the ability to focus at different distances. VR headsets afaik are set with a fixed focal length since they can’t work like real eyes that way (yet?) So the way in which you can just look past the scratches in a real canopy can’t be replicated in VR. 

15 minutes ago, cfrag said:

I would love to see any facts backing up that assertion. Until then please excuse me for dismissing above as some self-serving tidbit manufactured out of thin air.

Since that whole shader folder was unlocked just imagine the possibilities… your aircraft probably looked like a giant orange dot to someone else. That’s why it was added to the IC. 

17 minutes ago, cfrag said:

Again, please educate me how that in any way justifies not providing a better method

A separate setting for cockpit shadows would probably fix this effect. 
 

[Tippis]

10 minutes ago, SharpeXB said:

Your real eye lenses have the ability to focus at different distances. VR headsets afaik are set with a fixed focal length since they can’t work like real eyes that way (yet?) So the way in which you can just look past the scratches in a real canopy can’t be replicated in VR.

Of course it can: the simple way is that you don't render the scratches — done. The pointlessly complex way is to tie it to sight line and apply DoF smearing on anything that is not in focus. DCS already supports this.

13 minutes ago, SharpeXB said:

Since that whole shader folder was unlocked just imagine the possibilities… your aircraft probably looked like a giant orange dot to someone else. That’s why it was added to the IC. 

So nothing that actually supports your assertion, then? Just some personal paranoia that is nonsensically generalised to the entire population of DCS players.

14 minutes ago, SharpeXB said:

A separate setting for cockpit shadows would probably fix this effect. 

No, because it is there with or without shadows. Note the word “exacerbated” because it tells you everything you need to know, and also demonstrates why your simple and misaimed suggestion does not justify not creating a better solution to the actual problem.

[cfrag]

14 minutes ago, SharpeXB said:

31 minutes ago, cfrag said:

I would love to see any facts backing up that assertion. Until then please excuse me for dismissing above as some self-serving tidbit manufactured out of thin air.

Since that whole shader folder was unlocked just imagine the possibilities… your aircraft probably looked like a giant orange dot to someone else. That’s why it was added to the IC. 

You asserted that so few people play multiplayer because of rampant cheating. I wanted to know what facts you have to base that assertion on. Your "answer" does not provide any facts and tries to divert instead. That's fine. I merely had hoped that you had matured more in the past few years. 

[SharpeXB]

43 minutes ago, cfrag said:

You asserted that so few people play multiplayer because of rampant cheating. I wanted to know what facts you have to base that assertion on. Your "answer" does not provide any facts and tries to divert instead. That's fine. I merely had hoped that you had matured more in the past few years. 

It’s a speculation on my part. I don’t have proof people cheat but it’s sometimes easy to see how they can. Like the example here with the shaders and why that folder got locked. It’s funny to realize that had been uncontrolled all along. So just use your imagination…

Ask yourself why you don’t really see radar spikes from other players online? Answer; because they can drop their resolution and see you without using radar. That’s not necessarily cheating but it’s an exploit. That sort of thing discourages people from playing though. 

The other CFS game does a better job at regulating stuff like this and go figure it’s more focused on MP than DCS is. 

[Tippis]

21 minutes ago, SharpeXB said:

It’s a speculation on my part.

Then don't present it as anything else. And don't use your useless speculation as an argument as to why the game shouldn't be cater to the majority of its players rather than a vanishingly small and largely irrelevant subset.

21 minutes ago, SharpeXB said:

It’s funny to realize that had been uncontrolled all along. So just use your imagination…

Using your imagination is what keeps getting you into these situations where you make nonsensical claims based on nothing that is even remotely related to any known reality.

If it has been uncontrolled all along, what does this tell you? That the instances where it would matter in the slightest are very far and few between, so that generous assumption that 10% of DCS players are interested in online PvP is probably exaggerated to the point where you can safely remove the zero and be closer to the true number.

24 minutes ago, SharpeXB said:

Ask yourself why you don’t really see radar spikes from other players online?

Why should anyone ask themselves something that isn't really true? Have you considered that you might be operating your aircraft incorrectly? Or that you're just not paying attention? Or that you have no way of distinguishing player contacts from non-player ones? Or that they're using weapons that don't require radar to operate? Or that your assumption about what's going on goes counter to how DCS actually works?

27 minutes ago, SharpeXB said:

The other CFS game does a better job at regulating stuff like this and go figure it’s more focused on MP than DCS is. 

You're going to have to specify which game you're talking about because there are quite a few of them. And you're going to have explain why you put cause and effect in this particular order, because it's just as likely that it's the other way around…

[SharpeXB]

The problem may just be with those old modules too. The new Spitfire canopy for example has actual reflections and looks gorgeous. I can’t imagine any objections to having the other modules be like that. 

[cfrag]

50 minutes ago, SharpeXB said:

It’s a speculation on my part. I don’t have proof people cheat but it’s sometimes easy to see how they can. Like the example here with the shaders and why that folder got locked. It’s funny to realize that had been uncontrolled all along. So just use your imagination… [emphasis cfrag]

When I play ping-pong ("table tennis" as we call it here) with my godson, there is a strangely creative quirk to observe. Whenever he loses, he comes up with an explanation: the wind, a distracting insect, a glint that blinded him, the table was tilted, his paddle's padding, ... - no matter what, the entire world seemed to have conspired against him to deprive him of victory, and it was never his fault. Sometimes, he even accused me of cheating (I was unfairly levering my longer arms, was trying to distract him with talking to him, or by humming, or by not answering his questions). Although I love my godson, I find that particular streak in him unattractive.

Maybe you take winning at this game much too seriously. My experience is that I gain other people's respect not by how often I win, but how enjoyable the entire experience was. Now, granted, I usually don't play PvP, I usually play with others, seldom against them - unless it's a team effort. We all play to enjoy ourselves. That way we don't have to imagine what may have conspired to make us lose. Seeing a conspiracy behind every thing that goes wrong, a potential exploit behind every surprise and being a victim every time you lose is the way to flat earth society and frustration. Don't use your imagination to make yourself a victim. You are playing DCS, and that should always be a win.

[Tippis]

54 minutes ago, SharpeXB said:

The problem may just be with those old modules too.

Have you tried reading the OP?

[SharpeXB]

52 minutes ago, cfrag said:

Maybe you take winning at this game much too seriously.

I don’t think most people are so ultra competitive or are constantly looking for excuses. Everyone plays this just for fun. But nobody like playing a rigged game. The reasons ED chose to lock that folder are pretty obvious. 

[Tippis]

14 minutes ago, SharpeXB said:

The reasons ED chose to lock that folder are pretty obvious. 

It really isn't.

They've locked down all kinds of folders and data files for very spurious reasons, often when the only thing you could get out of the data is an understanding of how parts of DCS works (or, most commonly, doesn't work), making it seem like they were trying to hide shoddy programming more than anything. Was that the reason? Who knows — that was just the “obvious” one.

So whatever reason you consider obvious must be filtered through your obsession with imagined (largely irrelevant or non-existing) PvP advantages.

And guess what? Even if that was the case, that's still not an argument against what the OP is asking for so catering to the insignificant PvP player base would be the wrong way to go regardless.

[cfrag]

2 hours ago, SharpeXB said:

I don’t think most people are so ultra competitive or are constantly looking for excuses.

No, I think you are. You are openly advocating in this thread that a bug not be fixed for the sole reason that the fix could, maybe, be used by someone as an exploit against you. That was your sole justification. Maybe some introspection and reflection can help you relax and enjoy DCS more without suspecting to be cheated at every turn.

Edited November 11, 2023 by cfrag

[SharpeXB]

3 minutes ago, cfrag said:

No, I think you are. You are openly advocating in this thread that a bug not be fixed for the sole reason that the fix could, maybe, be used by someone as an exploit against you. That was your sole justification. Maybe some introspection and reflection can help you relax and enjoy DCS more without suspecting to be cheated at every turn.

 

No I’m all for fixing this. The better way to do that is to just improve those modules. An On Off option wouldn’t be needed then.

[Tippis]

21 minutes ago, SharpeXB said:

No I’m all for fixing this.

…and yet you are literally arguing against a bugfix.

[SMH]

No such thing as an unscratched canopy when the lighting angle is right (or rather, wrong) though I do agree some go a bit overboard. Also sometimes you can clearly see the repeating pattern which isn't so good. (The pattern overlaid twice at different angles and scaling could fix that, if it's not too costly to render.)

But yes, instead of an option to turn off the "painted on" canopy reflections, how about they just finish that work and do it for all aircraft? Also, they really need to check their geometry as I'm sure we're seeing reflections of things we shouldn't see reflected in particular parts of the canopy. Like the "ACHTUNG" on the seat armor in the FW's when you check six. Pretty sure the angle from the eye to the glass normal is too acute for the reflection on that part of the glass to point to that part of the cockpit. (It should probably point well behind the headrest armor, basically outside the cockpit.)

Also, HUD glass should have live reflections as well as the canopy and instrument glass. And that green glow from the projecting lens shouldn't be "painted on", it should appear to change its position on the glass as you move your head around, like the new canopy reflections do and like the HUD image does (though of course its projected out as if at infinity where the glow has a relatively close source point). 

Oh and does the back cockpit wall and floor of the Mi-8 really need to be waxed to a mirror shine? If we can afford reflections on all those surfaces, fine, but at least blur it up a lot more.

[MAXsenna]

38 minutes ago, SMH said:

But yes, instead of an option to turn off the "painted on" canopy reflections,

Seriously?! What's your hard on for not let us SP players turn it off? Does it affect you personally in any way? They can never be real, and never be perfect. Even SharpeXB admits that, because you can't focus your eyes beyond those damn reflections and scratches! ("Somewhere in Time" we might of course). It's nice that if you have the hardware, you can move heads and arms to block the sun. But that's only in VR AFAIK. What's wrong with choices in SP and options to enforce in MP?