Low Res equal Hi Vis?

[BlitzPig_EL]

Well, I've been trying to get back into online flying, and predictably, failing utterly...

 

Doesn't matter which side I fly for, seeing other aircraft without the icon crutch is more difficult than in any sim I've flown before.

Might as well paint my canopy over with black paint for all the good I am out there.

 

I am left wondering how the Luftwaffe flyers up in low earth orbit can see targets to bounce?  Last night, for an experiment I took off and circled my field and waited for one of our Pe 2s to take off and tried to fly escort over it.  He stayed low, trying to be all sneaky, and I never went over 1000 meters.   The only time I saw him is when he crossed the Volga.  I could not keep a visual track on him at all.

 

I also went up in a Lagg 3 and got bounced, of course.  I was scanning the sky and trying not to fly straight, but it made little difference, I get hit from out of no where, and severely damaged.  Went low to try to evade further contact.  Scanning the sky I saw a teeny tiny spec that was my pursuer, and even though the speck was as stated small, I knew he was closer than he appeared.  By this time all he had to do was spot my trail of glycol from my perforated radiator.   I had no hope of getting home, but he wanted to "secure the kill", so he made another pass.  To my great amusement he over estimated my now dwindling speed and collided with me, thus killing himself as well as me.  Hehe.

 

Anyway...  I am desperately searching for a way to be able to see better.  So I am wondering if the old trick of lowering the resolution of the game, like was done in original IL2, will yield any benefit in BoS?

 

I used to be an OK pilot, but now I just feel like bait, and it's not helping me have good feelings about getting back into this again.

Edited March 16, 2016 by BlitzPig_EL

[Asgar]

i play on ultra settings and i have no problems spotting planes. I'm not the best at spotting but that's because of my eyes. it works well compared to other sims

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

Hang in there EL, practice makes perfect.

 

Alternatively, see if you can fly with someone on TeamSpeak (I can help whenever I'm available). If you have somebody to lead the pair and call contacts, all you have to do is listen and let the leader guide you.

 

For example, if the leader sees two contacts 9 o'clock they can take you there, suggest you a good position and when you do have eyes on the targets you will be ready to take them down. The leader can also be your eyes should you lose visual contact in the fight.

[von_Tom]

Likewise, at 3000 to 4000 I can spot aircraft at near ground level below me.  That said, although I can spot them doesn't mean I always will, especially when scanning all around the sky and not focusing on a small area for a great deal of time.  My main focus is usually behind or above me followed by scanning for targets. If I'm the one at ground level I'm almost only ever looking up, and that makes things easier.  Often I've sneaked by a patrolling enemy who has been well within spotting range but just hasn't seen me.

 

I won't suggest practice as that is a self evident need for all of us, but perhaps lower the gamma slightly or something.

 

von Tom

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

One thing that used to help me in the old Il-2 whenever I was feeling rusty: attack the targets from behind, and take the long way around to them. It makes flight time a little longer but since you are flying through less obvious routes and starting your attack from the enemy's rear, you are less likely to be detected. Fighters carrying bombs work best because they are fast.

[=EXPEND=Capt_Yorkshire]

My spotting is average at best so i fly high  over targets and wait for tracers  bomb explosions and anti air to give the enemy position away.

[Jade_Monkey]

I dont play to win (although getting a kill is very satisfying). To clarify that, i dont play for my own k/d ratio. I like playing for the team, bombing and resupplying as much as the fighter role.

 

Personally i would rather play with high res/settings and enjoy the beautiful atmosphere than play low res and get more kills. It woukd kill inmersion for me.

[216th_Jordan]

Last week i've calibrated my monitor using testpictures for contrast and lighting (also did others but those helped most) and it worked a little wonder: my cantrast was too high and swallowed some color nuances. Maybe give it a try! On top of that gamma to 0.8 or something lower than 1 can be quite helpful.

[JG13_opcode]

Turn gamma down to 0.8 ingame or down to some arbitrary value via your GPU drivers.

 

Turn off HDR.

 

Turn off SSAO (also helps frame rate).

 

All these things helped for me. Gamma in particular.

[BlitzPig_EL]

Thanks opcode...   Not sure about your new name... hehe.

 

I know I have SSAO off, I'll check the others later tonight.

[HagarTheHorrible]

I always find it is a bit of a struggle, prioritizing between

 

Situational awareness/ attitude/ orientation.

 

and

 

Target acquisition and keeping it acquired.

 

It's all a question of being handy with the zoom button. If I zoom in then I find I tend to get disorientated and loose track of the target quite quickly, especially if I have to maneuver from side to side, so it's always a fight for the perfect balance between knowing what my aircraft is doing and spotting a target without the help of peripheral vision, depth or relative movement cues.

 

It took me ages in RoF to figure out why someone could tell what I was, head on and shoot at me when all I could see of them was a just acquired small speck. Then I discovered that zoom and target spotting went hand in hand with fov.

 

I would love to spend more time escorting bombers, online, but I usually loose them half way to the target trying to balance separation, relative position, speed and contact searching, especially when combined with constantly changing the fov.

Edited March 16, 2016 by HagarTheHorrible

[Y-29.Silky]

This is a general problem. The render is horrible in the horizontal and decent in the vertical. Another thing, 109's jump you because aircraft render against the ground, but when you're looking up at them against that dark blue sky, well, they're pretty much invisible.

 

Lowering the gamma will help a little with the bright white bar on the horizon. Otherwise, the best thing to do is just climb higher.

[Dakpilot]

At full zoom you are getting a 'view' that is more or less correct compared to an abstract of normal vision, however field of view is very restricted, with this in mind a better use of the 'tools' available can help when looking for threats/targets

 

...as said above

 

until 3D vision and depth of field/FoV can be produced on a screen these limitations will be present, even VR (as of now) will not solve this

 

Cheers Dakpilot

[HagarTheHorrible]

Clouds don't help and not in a good way.

[6./ZG26_Emil]

Turn gamma down to 0.8 ingame or down to some arbitrary value via your GPU drivers.

 

Turn off HDR.

 

Turn off SSAO (also helps frame rate).

 

All these things helped for me. Gamma in particular.

 

You can edit the gamma in the startup.cfg Just open in notepad, edit and save and don't go back in to your video settings or you have to change it again.

 

I find 0.6 better but it will depend on monitor calibration/personal preference. 

[Dakpilot]

If you have to use 0.6, this would seem to indicate an incorrect monitor calibration/setting  just my personal thought, but,  if monitor is not correct there are many potential issues that just adjusting in game gamma will not solve, even when used as an 'effective' a workaround 

 

better to find the root of the problem first, and then fine tune

 

Cheers Dakpilot

[LLv24_Zami]

Bigger screen and higher resolution will help of course.

 

I changed from 24 inch 1080p to 34 inch 1440p and it helped me to spot and recognize targets.

[6./ZG26_Emil]

If you have to use 0.6, this would seem to indicate an incorrect monitor calibration/setting  just my personal thought, but,  if monitor is not correct there are many potential issues that just adjusting in game gamma will not solve, even when used as an 'effective' a workaround 

 

better to find the root of the problem first, and then fine tune

 

Cheers Dakpilot

 

I think it's just personal preference. The lower Gamma enhances ground detail and people find my videos look nice, similar to the effects of using sweetfx, the downside is the cockpit looks darker....something I can live with but shows my monitor calibration is probably fine.

[BlitzPig_EL]

I tried SweetFX last night...

 

It changes things, but, increasing ability to spot targets?  I don't really think so.   It does make the red knobs in the cockpit look more like the ones in original IL2. not that that is an improvement really, and it makes the cockpit look bluer.

 

I'll keep playing with it though.  

 

I kept trying back to back offline sessions against an MC 202 offline. 

 

From what I can see, all it is doing is increasing color saturation.

[Asgar]

well, it does what you tell it to do in the settings there are some good profiles available on the forum. I recommend stukas profile. I use it and I like the result

edit: fixed typo, stupid autocorrect

Edited March 17, 2016 by 6./ZG26_Asgar

[BlitzPig_Bill_Kelso]

well, it does what you tell it to do in the settings there are some good profiles available on the forum. I eprecommend stukas profile. I use it and I like the result

 

That is the profile he is currently using.

[Asgar]

That is the profile he is currently using.

 

 

I tried SweetFX last night...

 

It changes things, but, increasing ability to spot targets?  I don't really think so.   It does make the red knobs in the cockpit look more like the ones in original IL2. not that that is an improvement really, and it makes the cockpit look bluer.

 

I'll keep playing with it though.  

 

I kept trying back to back offline sessions against an MC 202 offline. 

 

From what I can see, all it is doing is increasing color saturation.

i don't know how he gets this then, for me it removes the stupid blue tint. it doesn't make it worse

[BlitzPig_EL]

Nothing I said was about the blue tint in the atmosphere, I said it made the cockpit bluer.

 

I notice in the settings that Technicolor2 is on.  I suspect that is part of the overly saturated reds in the cockpit, and the change of the color of the seat/floor/fuselage interior to a more bluish tint, and the overall higher darkness of the interior of the aircraft.

 

Makes the gauges harder to see as well.

 

As in all things, this is very subjective, and a compromise between a different look and perhaps better external visibility.

 

I was trained as a photographer/graphic artist and worked in advertising for some time.  I now work with classic automobiles. Both of these career paths have made me acutely aware of color and texture.  Just some background.

 

I'll keep tinkering with it.

 

Oh,and thanks Targ for the setup help with SweetFX.

 

Edited March 17, 2016 by BlitzPig_EL

[Asgar]

nobody said anything about blue in the atmosphere...where are you getting that from? i quoted you and answered about the cockpit part^^

[BlitzPig_EL]

Ah... I see.   

 

Bit of a misunderstanding is all...   

 

It does cut through the "hazy" look of the atmosphere, but made the Yak 1 pit darker and shifted the gray color to the blue side.

At least that is what I am seeing.  Perhaps because the cockpit is significantly darker?

 

 

Anyway, more tonight, I hope.  Lots to do with real life this weekend.

[seafireliv]

Well, I've been trying to get back into online flying, and predictably, failing utterly...

 

Doesn't matter which side I fly for, seeing other aircraft without the icon crutch is more difficult than in any sim I've flown before.

Might as well paint my canopy over with black paint for all the good I am out there.

 

I am left wondering how the Luftwaffe flyers up in low earth orbit can see targets to bounce?  Last night, for an experiment I took off and circled my field and waited for one of our Pe 2s to take off and tried to fly escort over it.  He stayed low, trying to be all sneaky, and I never went over 1000 meters.   The only time I saw him is when he crossed the Volga.  I could not keep a visual track on him at all.

 

I also went up in a Lagg 3 and got bounced, of course.  I was scanning the sky and trying not to fly straight, but it made little difference, I get hit from out of no where, and severely damaged.  Went low to try to evade further contact.  Scanning the sky I saw a teeny tiny spec that was my pursuer, and even though the speck was as stated small, I knew he was closer than he appeared.  By this time all he had to do was spot my trail of glycol from my perforated radiator.   I had no hope of getting home, but he wanted to "secure the kill", so he made another pass.  To my great amusement he over estimated my now dwindling speed and collided with me, thus killing himself as well as me.  Hehe.

 

Anyway...  I am desperately searching for a way to be able to see better.  So I am wondering if the old trick of lowering the resolution of the game, like was done in original IL2, will yield any benefit in BoS?

 

I used to be an OK pilot, but now I just feel like bait, and it's not helping me have good feelings about getting back into this again.

 

I hate to sound like a whiner, but I think the OP`s right.

 

I have had many years flying IL2 1946 with no icons, first offline in campaign, then online regularly. I would often spot bogeys before some of my pals. Seeing planes at a distance was easy. Now admittedly i played 1024 by7 768 which was all my pc could handled smoothly in them days, but even when i went up slightly higher res, little problems.

 

But in BOS, wow. I feel like a blind man. My ingame pilot says it spots something and i`m like `Where?` I`ll scour and scour and scour the sky and the land, then suddenly, tracer is flying past my cockpit!

 

I`ve tried playing at 1024 by 768 (sad when you consider i have an R9 390), nope. I`m now down to basicall following my AI wingmen in the hope they`ll spot for me. I`ve flown about 6 missions now in Campaign and scractch one 109 only because my AI hit him causing him to smoke and so being easy to see. Every other mission I`ve bagged nothing or run away with a damaged plane because the AI hit me on a clear day and I simply couldn`t spot him.

 

I even recorded and watched it and saw several 109s flying around me (with the icons showing) while I was wandering about like a blind fish.

 

All i`m saying is that something is wrong with how aircraft are rendered at a distance in this great looking sim.

 

Well, i don`t give up easily and will work harder until it gets better, but I daren`t go online while it`s this hard to see aircraft.

Edited April 1, 2016 by seafireliv

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

Seafireliv, I don't know how on Earth does the AI do spotting (always some 20km out, before the aircraft is even vaguely within human sight) but online everybody has roughly similar spotting skills which makes it far easier to attack. I also came from Il-2 FB/1946 recently and while it took some time to get used to not seeing the aircraft 50km away once I went online it felt kind of refreshing. I don't know what it is, but the air combat just feels more 'real' and intense, same for the ground attack. Watching Terra Firma rush past while a hail of fire rises to meet you, counting the seconds until dropping bombs with the finger on the 'release' button is something else.

[seafireliv]

Seafireliv, I don't know how on Earth does the AI do spotting (always some 20km out, before the aircraft is even vaguely within human sight) but online everybody has roughly similar spotting skills which makes it far easier to attack. I also came from Il-2 FB/1946 recently and while it took some time to get used to not seeing the aircraft 50km away once I went online it felt kind of refreshing. I don't know what it is, but the air combat just feels more 'real' and intense, same for the ground attack. Watching Terra Firma rush past while a hail of fire rises to meet you, counting the seconds until dropping bombs with the finger on the 'release' button is something else.

Ah, I see. Hmm. Food for thought.

[Dakpilot]

The one upside.... if there is one, is that people online get no benefit from purposefully using unreasonable low resolution to have better larger 'dot' visibility

 

At least as far at that, it is a more level playing field as everyone has similar visibility restrictions,

 

maybe 64bit will allow some change without performance hit in future

 

Cheers Dakpilot

[TheElf]

I flew the new patch for about 30 min last night and tallies were no problem.  64 bit performance made a huge difference, and I am falling in love all over again...

[SvAF/F19_Klunk]

Well, I've been trying to get back into online flying, and predictably, failing utterly...

......

 

Anyway... I am desperately searching for a way to be able to see better. So I am wondering if the old trick of lowering the resolution of the game, like was done in original IL2, will yield any benefit in BoS?

 

hmm well Blitz mate - maybe you suffer from the same issue as I am; getting old thus age related longsightedness. I too have noticed that I cannot ID planes as well as I used to (in other sims) and thought it was something wrong with BoS. I too am trying to get back into flying after a less than active 1,5 year period. What I neglected to realize was that for the past 2 years my longsightedness have sneaked up on me almost un-noticingly... after a visit to a optician I had to surrender to the fact that I have gone from almost no longsightedness to +1,5 in a very short time.

 

If you don't have considered this, buy a pair of cheap reading glasses +1 or something and the local petrol station and see if you notice any difference. I did indeed. IDing planes need a sharp sight to distinguish small details in the shape and forms of the contact and for that you just need to..well see good

 

it sux getting old... but after getting good glasses (not the cheaper reading glasses) for working/gaming with a computer, IDing is just a lot easier...

Edited April 2, 2016 by SvAF/F19_Klunk

[Nocke]

... and talking about getting old and longsighted: For me its not only that, but also increasing vitreous opacity, or floaters.

The problem is you get used to it, the brain does a lot of postprocessing, so you dont realize it much, but they they deteriorate your vision and the information is actually not there.

I have floaters in my eyeballs easily covering the dots as I see them at long distance, which means its just a matter of luck if I see them or not, in many occasions.

 

In the end we will need larger dots as feature for the elder ones, with the possibility to unlock if you can present a medical medical prescription to the developers

[BlitzPig_EL]

Klunk, I'm 62, and have been wearing glasses, now bifocals, for years. I do use a special set of readers for computer viewing too! Ah, the joys of growing older... cheers mate.

[SharpeXB]

I discovered multi-focal contact lenses as an alternative to bifocals. They're incredible. I don't know exactly how they work but I can see at distance and up close perfectly. With my normal (not presbyopia correcting) contacts I can't even see the PC screen.

[BlitzPig_EL]

Could never do contacts...

 

Just the thought of putting a piece of plastic in my eyes gives me the creeps.