Aircraft Visibility

[McBlemmen]

Yeah they need to be more visible... i personally find it one of the least realistic aspects of DCS , and it stops me from playing fighters at all.

 

Way i see it , A real life pilot has great vision , and we may not have great vision AND are limited to screen resolution...

 

Put those 2 together and it makes for a very unrealistic experience ... please fix.

 

Its a simulator , and i feel like our pilot's vision should be simulated accordingly

 

Edit : like others have said rise of flight does it EXTREMELY well... but i'm not sure how they do it... falcon BMS does it good aswell but sometimes i feel like in falcon BMS its a bit "too" much.. especially with large aircraft like tankers

Edited August 30, 2014 by McBlemmen

[AndyHill]

I have played some RoF and yeah it's pretty good as far as visibility goes, but that's probably largely because the speeds are typically about 1/10 of what DCS planes have. You have vastly more time to scan the skies with the limited FoV, resolution and FPS on a computer screen. It's going to be interesting to see how well BoS with the same engine and many times the speed range handles the issue. Still, one of the best examples of all time is the ancient Sturmovik and here's the infallible formula for complete success:

 

- Add settings for dots that are rendered WHERE THE PLANE IS, as in NOT SEEN THROUGH COCKPIT AND CLOUDS. (DCS does not have this yet)

- Add very good settings for adjusting icons (DCS already has this, wohoo!) that are RENDERED WHERE THE PLANE IS etc. (DCS does not have this yet)

- Enforce the server settings to everyone (you can of course always opt for no icons also) (I don't think DCS does this yet)

[Prophet]

Yeah. Used to get real good at pit-bulling on the dots.

 

The sun is bright. It would be cool to see a brighter reflection.

[mjeh]

Edit : like others have said rise of flight does it EXTREMELY well... but i'm not sure how they do it... falcon BMS does it good aswell but sometimes i feel like in falcon BMS its a bit "too" much.. especially with large aircraft like tankers

 

Better "too good" visibility than too little (such as now), in my opinion.

[Tango]

Aircraft Visibility

 

Hi,

 

Is there a way to increase the range at which aircraft can be seen? They become far too small, far too early, and aircraft are not visible when they should be.

 

Even worse, the smoke can often be seen, but the aircraft not (this is backwards - you should see the aircraft before the smoke in most cases).

 

Does anyone know if the aircraft visibility can be altered? Right now I feel like I have defective eyesight. :(

 

Best regards,

Tango.

[Paradox]

I think this is something that people have been complaining about for years and years.

 

I think it's one of those "hopefully with EDGE" things but I expect to be disappointed.

[MauganRa84]

+1

[falcon_120]

+1

[Tango]

I voted:

 

* Increase dot size

* Increase distance dot size

* Increase glare

* Generally make the aircraft MUCH larger, much further out.

 

Best regards,

Tango.

[Wolf Rider]

 

~

 

Is there a way to increase the range at which aircraft can be seen? They

Even worse, the smoke can often be seen, but the aircraft not (this is backwards - you should see the aircraft before the smoke in most cases).

 

~

 

Best regards,

Tango.

 

 

 

 

no its not... quite often, in winter times, condensation trails can be seen from commercial airliners, but the actual plane isn't visible

[WinterH]

Condensation trail and engine smoke are quite different things though, with quite different visibility.

 

Currently in DCS, engine smoke indeed is visible from a further distance than aircraft itself.

 

I'm all for realism and if it's difficult to see, let it difficult to see, but currently it just doesn't feel right, aircraft gets lost from vision in a second, from being quite visible. Especially almost game breaking for warbirds.

[Wolf Rider]

Condensation trail and engine smoke are quite different things though, with quite different visibility.

 

no, not necessarily

 

Currently in DCS, engine smoke indeed is visible from a further distance than aircraft itself.

 

Similar happens in real life

 

 

I'm all for realism and if it's difficult to see, let it difficult to see, but currently it just doesn't feel right, aircraft gets lost from vision in a second, from being quite visible. Especially almost game breaking for warbirds.

 

 

Sure there could be a bit of tweaking, that and less altering of FoV on players' part... but aircraft can be lost in an instant, if looked away from in real life, as much as aircraft can be difficult to spot in real life (yes, even big white commercial aircraft), even if the looker knows where to look

 

 

let's get a bit more accurate in the "can't spot the dot" cries of the protagonists

 

I'm all for "realism" too, but not at the expense of realism... current technology precludes "realism" on a grand scale

Edited September 25, 2014 by Wolf Rider

[Galwran]

This issues is not only about spotting airplanes or sub-pixel objects. I just noticed, that with a certain zoom level ships just jump out (and are at that resolution at least 50 pixels wide) but if I decrease the zoom just a little bit they disappear completely.

I'm running with high settings and a GTX 770.

[kripzoo]

Just make the aircraft dot visibility (and glare) similiar to like we have in il2 clod with TF.

 

Nothing less nothing more.

[9.JG27 DavidRed]

no please not like il2 clod TF

[kripzoo]

no please not like il2 clod TF

 

I mean only for aircrafts, not for ground units / ships. (wich is little exaggerated with the dot sizes)

 

I'm playing with 1920x1200 res. and the dots of fighters at far distance are just good with the one pixel size in monitor :thumbup:

Not too easy or too hard to spot.

[Essah]

IL46 had a really neat feature with the dots for aircraft at long range. the dits themself were really small but made sure that you could still detect object that were sub-pixel size.

 

Either way, despite all the naysayers the poll results clearly show the popular wish

[Vintovka]

Cannot visually acquire targets

 

I have a 27" 1080p monitor running at 1920x1080. I cannot visually acquire aircraft to save my life. I dont use labels and I have to be practically on top of my target to see them. Its frustrating and makes air to air engagements hell. I cant find targets on radar and they end up on top of me with a heatseeker.

 

Any tips or suggestions to help besides using labels?

 

Do you guys think occulus rift will make this less of a problem?

[Cobra847]

Using the minor "cheat" of making labels appear as tiny dots might work well for you. Have you tried that?

[YoYo]

Or change resolution to bigger. I never used labels, dont like it.

[Vintovka]

Using the minor "cheat" of making labels appear as tiny dots might work well for you. Have you tried that?

 

I may try this if I give up.

 

Or change resolution to bigger. I never used labels, dont like it.

 

I was under the impression that higher resolution would offer better viewing at distance. Do you mean texture res? I have all graphics to the highest as well.

[Vintovka]

Visibility in DCS is an ongoing (and slightly frustrating) issue.

 

Your situational awareness is NOTHING like actual visibility conditions flying.

 

 

Well I am glad I am not the only one. Would a bigger screen such as using Occulus Rift fix this issue? I don't have one yet but hopefully the consumer version will release soon with decent resolution.

[tusler]

I have a 27" 1080p monitor running at 1920x1080. I cannot visually acquire aircraft to save my life. I dont use labels and I have to be practically on top of my target to see them. Its frustrating and makes air to air engagements hell. I cant find targets on radar and they end up on top of me with a heatseeker.

 

Any tips or suggestions to help besides using labels?

 

Do you guys think occulus rift will make this less of a problem?

 

Hi,

I have a 42" monitor and have the same problem, check this post on how to put AWACs in the mission to direct you

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=130832

or put in a GCI to direct you .

[Vintovka]

Hi,

I have a 42" monitor and have the same problem, check this post on how to put AWACs in the mission to direct you

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=130832

or put in a GCI to direct you .

 

Wow that is a bummer. Maybe EDGE will fix this problem? I cannot add GCI to MP :(

 

I will add GCI for SP though thanks.

[leapingrodent]

I had this problem, too. I started using the labels as small dots as Cobra suggested until I got used to spotting aircraft then disabled them altogether. I find that it's best to look for movement rather than a specific shape. That being said, DCS itself could use some improvement in this matter, perhaps by making light reflect from aircraft or something. Yo-yo is probably right about higher resolution helping a lot, but higher resolution means a bigger impact on frame rate, so keep that in mind.

 

Edit: Also, be sure to keep your monitor screen clean... I've lost count of how many times I've been chasing a spec of dirt... :D

Edited September 25, 2014 by leapingrodent