Line of changing details and shadows close to the aircraft

[Kreutzberg]

I've been noticing this issue for quite a while, but am having a hard time describing exactly what it is. When I fly at relatively low level, there is a line that travels slightly ahead of the aircraft where the details of terrain and shadows changes. The attached image "Syria split highlighted" shows what I'm talking about. 

I had quite a bit of difficulty capturing an image even that good, as it's tough to see in a still picture. But there is a clear discontinuity where I highlighted it. The way it projects across as a line (and the difficulty in getting a screenshot) made me think of screen tearing. However, running Vsync or setting a frame rate cap to well within my monitor's gsync range does not resolve the issue (I have a 4090 so have plenty of horsepower to avoid low FPS tearing in 2D). 

Most of my flying is in VR, but it also happens in 2D (and I got the screenshots in 2D). I've also tried every setting in DCS, none of which resolve the issue. Turning up details does mask the problem to some degree, but does not solve it totally. I tend to run fairly low settings to get 90 FPS in VR (normally in the multi thread client, but this does occur in single thread as well).

The issue is similar to how some details appear to just change up close. The two pictures labeled "Syria Fence 1 highlighted" and "Syria Fence 1 highlighted" were taken shortly apart. I've highlighted how the detail on the fence moves along with the aircraft in a similar way to the line, above. It might be the same issue, or not, but it presents similarly.

Is this something others are experiencing? I've tried to search for this issue, but may not be phrasing it well. Thanks, all.

Syria split highlighted.bmp

Edited December 13, 2023 by Kreutzberg

[Kreutzberg]

Here's another picture of the issue with a shadow. This one is from a VR headset. Interestingly, moving my head around (or the camera) moves the line, which may be a clue.

I'm surprised others aren't seeing this. Perhaps there is some sort of issue with my system?

[Flanker35M]

S!

This strange line has been there for ages. Very hard to get on screenshots and visible at low level.

[Kreutzberg]

On 12/15/2023 at 12:49 AM, Flanker35M said:

S!

This strange line has been there for ages. Very hard to get on screenshots and visible at low level.

Agreed. The pictures I posted took a fair bit of trial and error, and while not perfect, show it pretty well. I'm surprised we're not seeing more people noting this! I wonder if there might be some setting.

[silverdevil]

i get what you are saying. i posted another topic and got no responses. when i fly low and look at the terrain, i see textures of whatever be totally missing and kind of transport into the view as you get close. indeed it is hard to describe. not sure if what i am seeing is what you three are describing.

[Kreutzberg]

On 12/24/2023 at 8:44 AM, silverdevil said:

i get what you are saying. i posted another topic and got no responses. when i fly low and look at the terrain, i see textures of whatever be totally missing and kind of transport into the view as you get close. indeed it is hard to describe. not sure if what i am seeing is what you three are describing.

Interesting. Could you point to your topic? I'd like to compare notes!

[silverdevil]

3 hours ago, Kreutzberg said:

Interesting. Could you point to your topic? I'd like to compare notes!

Hello.

I can likely get a video.

 

I don't think it has anything to do with the AC. But the Dubai mission was in the F1.

PS by the way. Are you in the Rhone? There is a monastery there called Kreutzberg.

Edited December 27, 2023 by silverdevil

[Hiob]

 @Kreutzberg That is the LoD (Level of Detail) bubble around your POV that you are pushing across the ground. In simple terms - to keep the performance demands at bay, the game uses lower details for further away stuff. That is for shadows, textures, maybe even polygones. Every game does this, but it is especially noticeable in flight sims due to the speed you move with and the angle from high above the ground.

I'm with you in the wish, that this bubble would be larger (especially for helicopters), but that would probably cost some (a lot?) fps.

Edit:

I am mostly disturbed by the wave of sharp shadows moving in front of me. You can alleviate this by using flat terrain shadows. 

Edited December 27, 2023 by Hiob

[Kreutzberg]

4 hours ago, Hiob said:

 @Kreutzberg That is the LoD (Level of Detail) bubble around your POV that you are pushing across the ground. In simple terms - to keep the performance demands at bay, the game uses lower details for further away stuff. That is for shadows, textures, maybe even polygones. Every game does this, but it is especially noticeable in flight sims due to the speed you move with and the angle from high above the ground.

I'm with you in the wish, that this bubble would be larger (especially for helicopters), but that would probably cost some (a lot?) fps.

Edit:

I am mostly disturbed by the wave of sharp shadows moving in front of me. You can alleviate this by using flat terrain shadows. 

 

That was my first thought, as well. However, changing the visibility range (and the new LOD switch factor slider) doesn't seem to solve the issue. I suppose it's possible that it pushes it out a little further, but that's difficult to measure with how the issue presents.  For how close it is to the aircraft/camera (see my pictures), I suspect it might be something not behaving property.

4 hours ago, silverdevil said:

 

PS by the way. Are you in the Rhone? There is a monastery there called Kreutzberg.

 

I'm just an American with German heritage. I've been to Kreuzberg in Berlin but not the Rhone one.  

[Hiob]

8 minutes ago, Kreutzberg said:

That was my first thought, as well. However, changing the visibility range (and the new LOD switch factor slider) doesn't seem to solve the issue. I suppose it's possible that it pushes it out a little further, but that's difficult to measure with how the issue presents.  For how close it is to the aircraft/camera (see my pictures), I suspect it might be something not behaving property.

No, unfortunately it was like that for as long as I am playing DCS. I think it behaves as intended. The visibility range does only affect the draw distances that are far away. (for forrest and buildings). What you are seeing is a range that is much much closer and effects object details. You can see the same with the satellites dishes in cairo for example. (those values are set in a .lua file, but I have to search again to tell you exactly which one).

The new LoD-switch-slider is a mystery to me. So far I couldn’t find a scene where it made a visible difference or a difference in fps for that matter. Maybe it applies only to very certain maps or circumstances. No clue.

[Kreutzberg]

On 12/27/2023 at 5:37 PM, Hiob said:

No, unfortunately it was like that for as long as I am playing DCS. I think it behaves as intended. The visibility range does only affect the draw distances that are far away. (for forrest and buildings). What you are seeing is a range that is much much closer and effects object details. You can see the same with the satellites dishes in cairo for example. (those values are set in a .lua file, but I have to search again to tell you exactly which one).

The new LoD-switch-slider is a mystery to me. So far I couldn’t find a scene where it made a visible difference or a difference in fps for that matter. Maybe it applies only to very certain maps or circumstances. No clue.

Somehow, MSFS handles this better. Either the draw distances are much further out or it better smooths the transition, but there's nothing like this blatantly obvious line we see in DCS. That would be a really important improvement for low level CAS and helicopters.  

[Hiob]

11 hours ago, Kreutzberg said:

Somehow, MSFS handles this better. Either the draw distances are much further out or it better smooths the transition, but there's nothing like this blatantly obvious line we see in DCS. That would be a really important improvement for low level CAS and helicopters.  

Agreed!