Right click zooming, an alternative

[.kju 3245]

Gameplay wise the excessive RMB zoom is very negative.

In OFP the level was much lower and still had huge impact.

RMB zoom allows you to spot targets on vast distances and makes it very easy to identify

targets. Without it or at least OFP levels, you actually need to make use of binoculars or

magnifying optics. Without it you can also actually flank units as the effective range to

notice and identify targets otherwise is huge.

Realism is just once factor - especially as there are many factors that are not realistic at

all in the game, like flashing pixel, pixel colors bugs at long distances, a very sterile

environment that makes it very easy to spot any movement, and the lack of humans

getting exhausted, tried, not able to focus your view infinitely and the simplified visual

conditions.

One practical example is that infantry combat is said to happen for mostly up to 200-300m,

while in arma with any weapon you can easily go for 500m up to 800m - only the dispersion

is the limiting factor (and the little weapon sway).

While not being part of actual combat, what you can see from combat videos of Afghanistan

for example appears to be very different to how it works in arma.

All in all gameplay would be vastly better with less strong RMB zoom.

Edited February 17, 2011 by .kju [PvPscene]

[Gunter Severloh 4064]

Good replies guys.

I'm not really complaining about the game, I'm just looking for more options.

Objects in the game world are the same size as they are in real life (so it's not zoomed!)

That's a very good point, they are not zoomed but when your just looking at them and you then go to your iron sights and

hit the zoom button then those objects get closer and bigger as if your screen just magnified them a little, that is kinda of what I was trying to point out.

The screen moves that's my point, all I want is just my gun to move nothing else.

Either you get realistic combat ranges with a zoom function to overcome the fake zoomed-out view you need to walk

around (otherwise targets would be too small to see), or you get a game without zoom function where combat ranges are reduced

to allow you to see the targets.

I understand what your saying here. My question is couldn't it be made so that just the iron sights zoom instead of the whole screen,

or is having the whole screen plus the iron sights part of the spatial awareness?

Like when you look at your sights the outside of the sights (whole screen) are zoomed as well for awareness purposes correct?

Take a bit more time to review your text before posting it, adding more punctuation and structure to channel and

emphasize the information you're trying to convey. Right now it's just all over the place

Thanks for pointing that out, I have a habit of typing fast, and misspelling words too.

The thing with Red Orchestra sights is that most of them are brought closer to the player's eyes than would be natural.

It would be like trying to attach your face to the rear of the gun's barrel

Ya I agree, it does seem close, but if it were further away then the sights would be smaller, making it even harder to line up a shot.

Its already hard as it is for a new guy to the game to get used to iron sights alone, coming from games with nothing but painted cross hairs.

[maddogx 13]

The screen moves that's my point, all I want is just my gun to move nothing else.

(...)

My question is couldn't it be made so that just the iron sights zoom instead of the whole screen,

Do you mean something like this?

Not sure how else it could work.

[Gunter Severloh 4064]

Ya like the bottem picture, how did you do that?

[maddogx 13]

Ya like the bottem picture, how did you do that?

Manual post processing... two images overlayed with Gimp. ;)

Actually both pictures are similar, except that the normal iron sights in the top pic don't have a handy red dot "scope" thingy to frame the zoomed but, so I got a bit creative.

Anyway, how would you have such a zoom work on pure ironsight weapons?

[Gunter Severloh 4064]

Oh ok, I have the gimp2.

how would you have such a zoom work on pure ironsight weapons?

What I was thinking was the same thing like in your 2nd pic there, basically keeping the iron sights like normal when you

zoom but somehow only zooming that small area that the iron sights are at, where you would line the target up like your firs pic but without the stretch marks :D

It will probably showup better with optic sights then reg ironsights but thats the general idea.

[Gnome_AS 10]

Haha! It all makes sense now. I have a new appreciation for the zoom function, kinda felt like I was cheating before. Now I can continue on only feeling slightly guilty about the rabbits.

:D

[CarlGustaffa 4]

No, not on sights that have no magnification, like iron sights and red dots (assuming there is no magnifier mounted as well). For an ACOG however, or anything with a zoomed scope, the outside should still zoom like regular (zoomed in), just for the sake of consistency, while the inner part should be further zoomed to represent the actual optic zoom (4x, 10x, whatever).

However, without the tech to do it (I'm convinced the devs want it too), or rather, do it without significant cost, it won't happen and we'll be forced with a black overlay on zoomed scopes - just like we currently have.

* We can "zoom in" (or rather "cancel the zoomed out condition") even if we are not aiming.

* Iron sights and non zoomed optics have to be equal. Consider how a partially zoomed view would look on an AK. Even weirder stretchmarks.

[Daniel 0]

Exactly, you still need to be able to view distance objects at 1:1 even when not using a weapon. There's no point only including it for firearms.

Render to Texture would be nice for scopes, but the RMB zoom will still be necessary until there's a revolution in visual displays.

[Chill xl 10]

... That's a very good point, they are not zoomed but when your just looking at them and you then go to your iron sights and

hit the zoom button then those objects get closer and bigger as if your screen just magnified them a little, that is kinda of what I was trying to point out.

The screen moves that's my point, all I want is just my gun to move nothing else.

...

When not using the "zoom" function (which actually isnt a zoom but "de-zoom" lol) and you bring up the weapon / sights, the FOV becomes slightly smaller and thus objects / targets appear bigger. This doesnt happen though when already "zoomed" in and you bring up the sights.

I guess the above is to cater for the aiming, when aiming you focus on a target and while doing so you trade in sit awareness (FOV) and furthermore maybe to "mimick" bringing the avatars head closer to the weapon?

I thank all the gods twice that we have this "de-zoom" function to be able to see the virtual world in the same sort of scaling / proportions as we would normally see without using scopes or binos. Without it, we either have extreme difficulties in situational awareness or have extreme difficulties engaging targets at range (<300m). You either move around very clumsy because of the small FOV or i forsee a massive massive run on scoped weapons because you wouldnt stand a chance at any range without a scoped weapon. Resulting in a mass "sniper" fest with all the static gameplay that comes with that, leaving the non-scoped weapons suitable only for the city / extreme short ranges.

I believe theres currently a pretty good balance between sit. awareness and the effective viewing range. And also theres a pretty good balance between scoped and non-scoped weapons (assuming they are the same type of weps, ie assault rifles). A non-scoped weapon gives much more sit awareness and allows to pick up targets much quicker, on the other hand it becomes difficult to engage targets around or above 300m even with the "de-zoom" function because you can't see where the bullets are landing. The scoped weapons give that scoping punch, much easier to spot targets and to see where shots are landing, but the trade off is the sit awareness (when using the scope) and the ability to quickly pick up targets (switching from and to the scope).

Edited February 24, 2011 by Chill xl