Noob ish question: spotting things

[RagnarDa]

+1 for controlling zoom. I've assigned zoom to my Z-axis on TrackIR, otherwise I have it on my controller. I find this helps quite a lot. Also, If your troops are engaging the enemy, look for muzzle flashes, traces and smoke. If you can see the enemy on the F10-map, select SAT view on the map to more easily compare land features (cities mostly) with what you see outside your window to help you find the units. With MANPADS I havent found anything better than sending in your wingman and look for anything that shoots him down... :(

 

Im using a 32" TV that I sit half a meter from and I play with the lowest resolution/graphics possible so you could say I might have a unfair advantage (atleast til my new comp arrives).

 

Edit: From my experience flying low in i a fighter plane, its a lot easier to see stuff IRL. I do have pretty good eyesight though.

[ishtmail]

Im using a 32" TV that I sit half a meter from and I play with the lowest resolution/graphics possible so you could say I might have a unfair advantage

 

How does playing on a low resolution and graphics help you gain an unfair advantage? One would think that a low-res low-detail gaming would put you at a disadvantage...

[Bushmanni]

Big pixels are easier to spot. You might not see as well what it is but it easier to see that there it is.

[ishtmail]

Big pixels are easier to spot. You might not see as well what it is but it easier to see that there it is.

 

This is under the assumption that the graphic engine renders that particular pixel as a black spot. What if the thing you're looking for is smaller than 1/2 of a pixel? The graphic engine wouldn't show anything there. For example, you're looking for a black tank on a green surface. The tank, as viewed from a large distance on a low-res monitor, would be less than 1/2 pixel large, so all you would actually see on your monitor would be green.

 

In this regard, a monitor with a larger resolution would have smaller pixels, thus the tank would fill out an entire pixel and would show up on your monitor.

 

Clearly, the advantage would be on the side of the one with the larger resolution.

 

Of course, I'm simplifying here, graphic engine wise, but you get the general idea. If you're looking for an airplane from 8nm away, a monitor with low resolution wouldn't show you that airplane any better than a high-res monitor. You'd only see blue sky.

[RagnarDa]

How does playing on a low resolution and graphics help you gain an unfair advantage? One would think that a low-res low-detail gaming would put you at a disadvantage...

 

In DCS units/vehicles is rendered at a longer distance than everything else, at lowest settings at least. Sometimes you see vehicles on the ground before you see the actual ground they're on.

[Cali]

Sourcing on that, please... :P

 

My eyes aren't the best, roughly average, and my experience is that at 8nm I have a hard time even with airliners.

 

The topic is ancient and I don't think it'll be solved here either, but saying "no problems" on seeing a fighter at 8nm is something I definitely take issue with.

 

Do you wear glasses? Not making fun of you, I wear them at night when driving or if I want to see clear during the day. I don't have a hard time spotting airlines far away and even saw F-16's refueling from a 135 from on the ground when I was at Luke AFB. Not sure how high up they were or how far away, but I'd say at least 20,000 feet and over 6 miles easily.

[EtherealN]

I do wear glasses, but not for sight improvement - they don't improve my eyesight, they correct for an abberation that otherwise causes my eyes to squint instinctively, wearing out the eye muscles.

 

And I'm not saying it isn't possible. I am objecting simply to the "no problems". And there it's not just the eyes that are important, of equal importance is the visual cortex and the processing that happens there. It is, so to speak, not enough for the eyes to resolve the object - the visual cortex also needs to understand that it actually is a real object.

[Cali]

During my flight, the pilot saw a F-16 at 7 miles and I couldn't see crap. He also knew where to look (radar) and I was in the back seat making it a little harder. I didn't see it until much closer. Visually seeing aircraft has been a issue for a long time in lock on/FC. I remember the dot hunters online, that was a pita. Hopefully they found a way to fix the LOD changing around 5-6 miles. Maybe one day monitors will be more like our eyes, but until then, find a good size and it'll look nice. 15-17" is just way to small. I understand about laptops, I hate all of mine.

Edited December 9, 2012 by Cali

[falcon_120]

Sourcing on that, please... :P

 

My eyes aren't the best, roughly average, and my experience is that at 8nm I have a hard time even with airliners.

 

The biggest problem with the human eye in spotting aircraft is, however, not just resolution-based. The question of eye resolution is a huge subject that cannot be compared directly to screen resolutions, in part because the eye only has that good resolution in a very narrow FOV. To top it off there's also a lot of "processing" that goes on with our sight, meaning that we can see things that aren't there and also not se things that are there. (Visual cortex does a lot of anticipatory processing - this is why, when a magician fakes throwing an item between his hands, you actually see it move even when it didn't. Exactly the same thing that we subject dogs to when we fake throwing the ball, actually, as well; the dog does see the ball leave our hand even when it didn't.)

 

The topic is ancient and I don't think it'll be solved here either, but saying "no problems" on seeing a fighter at 8nm is something I definitely take issue with.

 

Well, I have not any particular source other than my experience as a human being with eyes :),though I recon that I have a particular good vision.Seriously,my main concern is the contrast(rather the lack of it) between the colors of the pixels that represents the aircraft and the background of the sky,they seem to be too similar.

But I do realize getting this perfect is almost impossible and we have a fairly good trade off,I was thinking is some very little adjusment but that's it.

[Witchking]

I guess practice also trains our brain to pick out aberrations and moving objects against the terrain.in dcs... I have a big issue with taking out choppers with guns as half the battle is picking them out in their camo against the terrain is hard until they are 1-2nm.