Having a problem seeing aircraft more than a mile away.

[BSS_Vidar]

I've been having issues seeing other aircraft when others see them clearly. I'll fly with a squadron-mate that will see a target, call it out, and I don't see anything. A squadron-mate will join on me and see me clearly. He'll call out his position and where he's joining from, and I look in that direction and see nothing. All of a sudden his plane draws in graphically from within a mile out after he's been tracking me the whole time.

 

I've flown with other folks who are calling out aircraft from long range and even I.D.ing the type aircraft, and I don't even have a dot on my screen.

 

I've had aircraft run away from me while in a chase just to all of a sudden disappear as I'm looking right at them!. No Disco.

 

Yes, I have zoom mapped, doesn't matter.

 

I have a Radeon R9 8Gig video card and a Samsung 28" 4K monitor with settings set to almost max.

 

What am I missing here? I've adjusted manual brightness/contrast settings on the monitor, and the gamma in-game is all the way down to get rid of the brightness.

 

Help "Blind Baby" out!

 

S!

 

V

[4thFG_Cap_D_Gentile]

Same situation here.

 

All maxed out on a GTX 1080ti and an Asus 28" 4K screen.

[Tag777]

I have the same situation. Is really a mistery to me how people can see planes that I don't. I calibrated the monitor and also adjusted the gamma and contrast. I have a gaming monitor 144 Hz, resolution 1920 x 1080 and two GTX 970 in SLI mode.

[216th_Jordan]

Graphic settings have a big impact on A2A visibility.

 

Try these settings:

 

Ingame:

- HDR, SSAO off

- sharpen filter on (this really helps)

 

Game graphics profile: (example: nvidia control panel)

- all texture filtering settings off -> severely washes out small dots (trilinear optimization etc)

- gamma correction off

 

Monitor:

- properly calibrate it, most are way too bright by default and have color profiles that don't match reality.

 

With these settings I have no troubles spotting. Mind you spotting still is hard and you will not see every contact in every condition (that would be cheating ) ). So give it a try and report back.

[56RAF_Roblex]

I have a 1050 which is a budget card and a cheap 1920 x 1080 monitor.  I seem to see as far as my squadmates with much better cards.  I just use the standard 'High' settings with SSAO off and HDR & Sharpen on. AA=2.  

 

Not seeing a squadmate who says he is nearby is quite common but I don't think it is because they have not been drawn.  It is easy to keep overlooking an object when scanning the whole sky.

[19//Moach]

I had a suspicion this was happening.  Seeing others report it somewhat confirms it then.

 

 

There have been multiple occasions in which planes magically popped into existence well within the 10km "bubble".  Planes which were indeed not there before, and suddenly appear, sometimes in groups.  Materializing out of thin air at ranges of 5km or less.

 

This is not the same as not having spotted someone, and them suddenly finding them.  These were cases where an airplane suddenly popped up directly into view, and was observed appearing at a spot which a moment ago was empty sky. 

 

Such contacts were not mis-spotted. They were positively seen blinking their way into the observable universe at an alarmingly close distance. 

Very well closer than the supposed maximum 10km range. 

 

There are even videos which show magically appearing aircraft at distances of 7km and less.

 

 

Clouds seem to play a mysteriously duplicitous role as well, in some cases, a plane can be seen as if "through" them. In others instances, a plane might vanish into them even when patches of blue sky can be seen through half-opaque fringes at that same spot.

 

 

It is weird and erratic.  And it introduces a grievously unfair element of sheer dumb luck to fighter engagements.  The presence of clouds isn't necessary either, though it does seem more common around them.  It's nevertheless a very elusive phenomenon.

 

 

I strongly urge that this gets investigated.   It may well be a bug.

Edited November 15, 2017 by 19//Moach

[1PL-Husar-1Esk]

I never had that problems ,but I easy loose contact visibility looking at green camo Il2 on ground when I'm above not too high (highest ground lod level) on Stalingrad autumn map with clouds casting shadow. They just disappear. BTW ground object could disappear when view from less that 10km - have that on replays.

[216th_Jordan]

Moach I have in 1500 hours not once discovered what you describe there. I know that planes sometimes need time to load in track reviews but they were there before in the real flight. I do a lot of post flight track analysis and this is the first time I hear of something like that.

 

Btw to the writer above: Try HDR of and maybe AAx4, sure that aliasing can in some special instances give you a flickering dot at long distance but everything else is also aliasing and making spotting generally hard, especially at medium to close distances.

 

I really spent days testing out different settings for visuals and the settings in my post above are always what I get back to.

[Willy__]

I've been playing since alpha and I also dont have those issues of planes popping out of nowhere inside of the 10km bubble. With that said, I can and see sometimes planes popping in/out of the 10km bubble, which is normal and expected.

 

BUT, I can confirm the part of the clouds thingy, sometimes I'm able to follow a plane through clouds since since its prop is still visible, and sometimes the plane just vanish. This happen in both cases where there are dense clouds layers AND thin clound layers.

 

-edit-

For the sake of info, I use a 1060 with a 29'' ultrawide monitor. Before that I used to have a GTX680 and a 24' FHD monitor, the size and resolution of the monitor really plays an important role on how easy you can "spot the dot".

Edited November 15, 2017 by 3./JG15_Staiger

[[APAF]VR_Spartan85]

I never had that problems ,but I easy loose contact visibility looking at green camo Il2 on ground when I'm above not too high (highest ground lod level) on Stalingrad autumn map with clouds casting shadow. They just disappear. BTW ground object could disappear when view from less that 10km - have that on replays.

OK buildings I can somewhat understand hitting performance displayed at far distance, but what I cannot stand is setting up a run at ground units only to have them PoP into existence finding out I have a lot more to deal with... just simple dots would help...even level bombing from a mere 3km sometimes you can't even see them until you're over top and already dropped your bombs on a path you hoped they would be on.

 

But improvements are always being made... looking to future...looking to futurent. ...

Clear horizons, greater object view distance, and bailout animation with 1st person...

Edited November 15, 2017 by spartan85

[=EXPEND=Tripwire]

Maybe some screenshots and tracks to demonstrate the issue?

 

I personally haven't noticed a fault. If I think a contact "appeared" out of nowhere, I put it down to my failure to spot the plane or scan that area of the sky and with 10km h2h the closure rate doesn't take long for the contact to be much closer when I actually do scan that area of the sky.

[56RAF_Roblex]

I have to admit that when people have posted videos showing aircraft popping into existence at 9K to argue that it needs fixing, there have been some where I have found it hard to believe that the aircraft was as far as 9K away.   Perhaps that is because they did actually appear at a closer distance?

[Lemon]

i got a radeon card too and got no problems to spot a plane in the 10 km limits,  i d say like Jordan for in-game setting with AA x4 , and for the crimson panel the best set up for me for visibility and less shimmering on land is

anti-aliasing to adaptive-multi sampling or super-sample if your card can handle it , surface optimization-off and v-sync on , texture filtering to standard or high and i let all other settings to application setting,

 

and in the crimson display tab: if you use virtual super resolution (dsr for nvidia i think), it may cause some blurry so less good visibility in some setup, it does for me, and i use pixel format RGB4:4:4 pixel format full rgb . i dont know for sure which settings make the difference,  but maybe it can help you .. and oh yes.. i always got a perfectly clean monitor now i play this sim !

[19//Moach]

I have to admit that when people have posted videos showing aircraft popping into existence at 9K to argue that it needs fixing, there have been some where I have found it hard to believe that the aircraft was as far as 9K away.   Perhaps that is because they did actually appear at a closer distance?

 

 

That's what I'm starting to find more and more believable.

 

Once you accept the possibility and start considering it, you'll find that in many cases it just may be truly the case that aircraft are popping in at ranges of ~5km or perhaps even less.

 

 

It's all very random and difficult to isolate.  I guess we should start recording our flights more often, and checking the distances at which contacts become visible.

[Willy__]

I dont know If its related or not but some time ago some people had problems with invisible planes, but i guess Han looked into it and was fixed ?

[216th_Jordan]

That's what I'm starting to find more and more believable.

 

Once you accept the possibility and start considering it, you'll find that in many cases it just may be truly the case that aircraft are popping in at ranges of ~5km or perhaps even less.

 

 

It's all very random and difficult to isolate.  I guess we should start recording our flights more often, and checking the distances at which contacts become visible.

 

 

If this is the case Moach please do track recordings of every flight so you can file a bug report when it happens.

[19//Moach]

If this is the case Moach please do track recordings of every flight so you can file a bug report when it happens.

 

 

We should all start recording.    This is a very elusive issue, so we must get as much data as possible if we are ever to find it happening.

 

 

It's like looking for a small object in a large open field, if you try it alone it might take years.  But several people searching together are much more likely to succeed quickly.

 

 

So we should all record.  Mostly, record those moments when you're approaching an area you expect might be hot.  This is tricky because you gotta start before running into bad company, so you can catch the moment when they join you. 

 

 But we all know well enough what to expect out there,  we've flown these missions many times, haven't we?

[mga]

 

I have a Radeon R9 8Gig video card and a Samsung 28" 4K monitor with settings set to almost max.

I know this is not a real solution, but try lowering your resolution to 1920x1080. Everything will be extremely blocky but you will probably see contacts farther away.

[Wedgewood]

I took 216thJordan's advice as well as turn off all nvidia's AA and it made a huge improvement in overall image quality as well as aircraft spotting.  Something's telling me it has something to do with nvidia's AA making the distant planes disappear, there have been times where I can see an aircraft at a distance and when they start to bank the middle of the plane disappears and I can only see the wingtips until it levels out.

[19//Moach]

That's not the case really.  The problem suspected here is not that contacts are hard to spot, but that they're simply not there until they're right on top of you.

 

 

I've started recording my encounters and so far I have conclusive proof of aircraft appearing at ranges of 8.5km almost as often as not.  I haven't yet picked up anything closer, but I also haven't gone over all my recorded tracks yet.

 

 

I have a theory that this can be related to approach speed.  I suppose maybe the server distance checks don't happen continuously, but only once every few seconds.  (perhaps it depends on load?)

If so, it is possible for two fast-moving aircraft coming straight at each other to get very close (less than 10km) before the server realizes they're there and makes them visible. 

It is not known whether both aircraft are able to spot each other at the same time.  Perhaps one might get the contact before the other, can't say.

 

 

Anyways, there seems to be indeed something weird going on.  Most contacts seem to appear at a range of ~9km.  A number of them appear between 8~9km, so there is certainly some variation here.  I have had the impression at times of planes popping in at ranges of 7km or less, but I have yet to catch one of those on a track...

 

Let us keep recording.   

Edited November 16, 2017 by 19//Moach

[BSS_Vidar]

Thanx Jordan and mga!

 

I did both and I can see aircraft and be able to ID them very well now. I even made this change in DCS 2.1 and I can see aircraft a few miles away!

 

Its not too bad, but I do see a difference in display quality. Not as bad as I was expecting though.

 

Thanx again for the help Gents!

 

S!

 

V

[Legioneod]

Hopefully one day they can improve the range at which aircraft become visible that way this may not be as much of a problem.

[VeryOldMan]

I have the same situation. Is really a mistery to me how people can see planes that I don't. I calibrated the monitor and also adjusted the gamma and contrast. I have a gaming monitor 144 Hz, resolution 1920 x 1080 and two GTX 970 in SLI mode.

Do not use Full Scene Anti aliasing in any Super Sampling form.   Super sampling  is effectively  a filter that removed small irregularities  regardless of their  shape. And  tiny plane dots fall under category.

[[APAF]VR_Spartan85]

Do not use Full Scene Anti aliasing in any Super Sampling form. Super sampling is effectively a filter that removed small irregularities regardless of their shape. And tiny plane dots fall under category.

Without super sampling the terrain ends up all shimmery in the summer maps... is there anyway around this?

[=TBAS=Sshadow14]

its a very odd very selective bug.

as many(most)

of us can clearly see all planes pop into render at 9.95km or leave render at the same range.

[coconut]

Without super sampling the terrain ends up all shimmery in the summer maps... is there anyway around this?

 

That was fixed (at least for me) when they introduced filtering options for the terrain. Check your in-game graphics settings if you are unaware of that option.

[dburne]

That was fixed (at least for me) when they introduced filtering options for the terrain. Check your in-game graphics settings if you are unaware of that option.

 

Yep fixed it for me as well, very nice feature.

[Angus]

Hopefully one day they can improve the range at which aircraft become visible that way this may not be as much of a problem.

That's the biggest problem for me.....just because I have something distanced to my wingman,I do not see the contacts.....Hardly am I in his position...PLÖP there they are

as soon as possible Improvement

Edited November 22, 2017 by III./ZG1_Angus

[JG7_X-Man]

I fly at 4096x2160 and I cant see anything until 2.0 km out. For this reason I stay offline until this is fixed

[=TBAS=Sshadow14]

Have you tried game files reset,
Driver reset,
clearing caches for shaders,
is this all on windows 10?

Like i said i can see planes pop in and out at the max 10km range.
1080P Ultra Preset.
No ingame anti A
SSAO and HDR off


Like in the pitcure above. (if you cant see the plane in that pic clearly then its ur monitor broken)

Have you gone into a quick mission.. Parked you plane on runway then goto external view PRess F11 to detach camera .
Then move camera up above your plane watching it and zoom up to 10,000M you should see you plane pop in and out of render.



 

Edited December 21, 2017 by =TBAS=Sshadow14

[VeryOldMan]

its a very odd very selective bug.

 

as many(most)

of us can clearly see all planes pop into render at 9.95km or leave render at the same range.

The 10 km range is a completely  different thing. There is a 10 km  render limit ( at leas used to be that range..  not up to date if they changed that).

[PatrickAWlson]

I had a suspicion this was happening.  Seeing others report it somewhat confirms it then.

 

 

There have been multiple occasions in which planes magically popped into existence well within the 10km "bubble".  Planes which were indeed not there before, and suddenly appear, sometimes in groups.  Materializing out of thin air at ranges of 5km or less.

 

This is not the same as not having spotted someone, and them suddenly finding them.  These were cases where an airplane suddenly popped up directly into view, and was observed appearing at a spot which a moment ago was empty sky. 

 

Such contacts were not mis-spotted. They were positively seen blinking their way into the observable universe at an alarmingly close distance. 

Very well closer than the supposed maximum 10km range. 

 

There are even videos which show magically appearing aircraft at distances of 7km and less.

 

 

Clouds seem to play a mysteriously duplicitous role as well, in some cases, a plane can be seen as if "through" them. In others instances, a plane might vanish into them even when patches of blue sky can be seen through half-opaque fringes at that same spot.

 

 

It is weird and erratic.  And it introduces a grievously unfair element of sheer dumb luck to fighter engagements.  The presence of clouds isn't necessary either, though it does seem more common around them.  It's nevertheless a very elusive phenomenon.

 

 

I strongly urge that this gets investigated.   It may well be a bug.

 

Two possible reasons for this.

1. The mission really does have a CZ around spawned planes that creates them too close.  In PWCG I had a 10km CZ for RoF and found that to be inadequate for BoS.  I increased it to 20km for BoS.

2. This is speculation, but ... performance?  I could see a scenario where too much is going on and the planes don't get around to spawning until you are on top of them.

[Jade_Monkey]

 

 

1. The mission really does have a CZ around spawned planes that creates them too close.  In PWCG I had a 10km CZ for RoF and found that to be inadequate for BoS.  I increased it to 20km for BoS.

 

 

Yeah, this is very possible. I know Quick Missions dont spawn ground units until you are really close.

 

Are people talking about SP?

[=TBAS=Sshadow14]

The 10 km range is a completely  different thing. There is a 10 km  render limit ( at leas used to be that range..  not up to date if they changed that).

well its the exact same thing

All planes are rendered upto 10km

All players should be able to spot these planes from 0-10km out.

 

If you cannot then something very broken with your

Game settings,

GPU Settings,

Monitor Settings.

 

Most likely Culprits

Windows 10 issues

Gsync Issues

Low quality 4K screens without true 4K pixel density

 

Edited December 21, 2017 by =TBAS=Sshadow14

[JG7_X-Man]

 =TBAS=Sshadow14 - In my case it's not related "Low quality 4K screens without true 4K pixel density" - you can Google the LG 55B7A. Nor is it a Win 10 issue as IL-2 FB, DCS and X-Plane do not have this issue with my exact same setup. Gsync is "off" by default and ignored is your monitor doesn't support it.

 

I think this is filtering issue and the way the graphics engine works.

Edited December 21, 2017 by JG7_X_Man

[sniperton]

Funny to see that people with large 4K monitors do not see sh.t  Come over to the dark side and use icons.

[LLv34_Temuri]

Come over to the dark side and use icons.

If only the game had reasonable icon system.