Aircraft viewing distance

[jj_pt]

I don't know if this has been discussed but I'm going crazy with this. :helpsmilie:

 

When flying online, I'm able to see the Ka-50s from a decent distance, but it's almost impossible to see any aircraft in the air, even at 5 miles!

I've read that some pilots are able to see fighter sized aircraft for quite some distance, specially the F-15s and Su-27s.

 

Is it possible to change the LOD distance ingame, so it becomes easier to check for other aircraft?

 

Thanks. :)

[Boberro]

Yes it's possible, however you won't enter to public server (mostly). Check modellod.txt file and change there values.

[jj_pt]

Too bad. I was hoping this could be changed in the graphic options and still be used in multiplayer servers. :sad_2:

Thanks.

[GGTharos]

Those are 'some pilots', aka not you :)

There are a few rare pilots who have super-eyesight, but in general, barring things like smoking engines and contrails, a big jet fighter starts becoming visible at 7nm, and the range only goes down from there as size decreases, down to about 3-4nm for some small fighters.

 

Now, this is for head-on IIRC, so you might be able to see a little farther if they show you a planform but I'm not sure FC2 models this well.

 

One of the biggest problems with LO/FC are the model transitions at about 2nm, which can cause a fighter to dissapear for a short time.

 

When flying online, I'm able to see the Ka-50s from a decent distance, but it's almost impossible to see any aircraft in the air, even at 5 miles!

I've read that some pilots are able to see fighter sized aircraft for quite some distance, specially the F-15s and Su-27s.

[G3]

GG, thank goodness you mentioned that,

whatever causes the model appear to change/vanish at around 2nm has been driving me crazy,

and it seems this is affected by the cockpit zoom too?

 

dogfight scenario

you get in close, and just as it gets interesting

it's like i see him, come here, hey where did he go, lost him

 

would be great to see this addressed if that is a possibilty in the future.

Edited August 23, 2010 by G3

[GGTharos]

Yep, unfortunately there is no real fix for it at this time :(

Best thing you can do is predict his movement and he'll reappear in your FOV.

[G3]

so modellod edits will make you fail integrity checks on most servers,

that is understandable but for interest sake it would be great to not have

the vanishing effect without compromising the integrity checks

 

i wonder does this not worry most people, or is it less prevelant on

single screen setups, it seems like an issue worthy of discussion.

 

using a th2go and a trackir, i am flatout remembering where my head is,

where the plane is, where the ground is and

now you want me to remember where the enemy is :megalol:

 

for offline/unrestricted servers can anyone suggest some edits to try

not so you can see planes at unrealistic distances and so on,

that rings a bell but is not the desired result here

Edited August 23, 2010 by G3

[3Sqn_TomAce]

G3 it sucks big time, one thing I've found in FC2 and it's not a new trick is to run my Anti Aliasing at 2x helps with keeping tally going to the merge.

[Kuky]

modellod.txt will not help with 3D models that are in LOM format as they have transition distance set in xxxxxx.skins file of that aircraft 3D model.

 

Reducing or turning off AA does help as TomAce said but trade off is ugly pixelated graphics which personally I don't like at all :music_whistling:

 

Fix for the disapearing aircraft is possible... you just need a new LOM model of it that doesn't have this bug (like current MiG-29 3D model have). There is a new (really great looking and detailed) 3D model of MiG-29 in works so little more wait and this will be fixed for good :thumbup:

 

For me the real issue with visibility is that light reflections are not done well and only work up close... as soon as aircraft is few 1-2 km away there is no more shadowing on the 3D model and the paint blends into background very easy and you loose tally.

[G3]

guys, thanks for the answers,

my brevity is pretty poor so i will assume "tally" means keeping a visual till the merge,

had not heard that one before.

 

Kuky, i think you described the issue in a better way than i had,

would be great if it can be resolved by a new model or whatever.

 

Tomace, will try the reduced AA option and see how that goes

sounds like a far compromise but visuals will obviously suffer.

i remember someone else suggesting this AA trick long ago but i guess

these days when you have the horsepower you want to rev it.:thumbup:

[104th_Crunch]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brevity_code

 

Tally

Sighting of a target, bandit, bogey, or enemy position; opposite of no joy.

 

No joy

Aircrew does not have visual contact with the target/bandit/landmark; opposite of tally.

 

Visual

Sighting of a friendly aircraft/ground position; opposite of blind.

 

Blind

No visual contact with friendly aircraft/ground position; opposite of visual.

 

:smartass:

[jj_pt]

Those are 'some pilots', aka not you :)

 

What do you mean?

[GGTharos]

I mean those guys have way above average eyesight, and they're very rare. The average pilot can't do that.

 

What do you mean?