ArmA 2 Nightime Is Pitch Black?

[hungrytoheal 10]

Hi guys,

For some reason, nightime in my game is absolutely pitch black. It never used to be like this and I cannot work out why it is now. I used to be able to play without night vision goggles but that is now impossible.

Can anyone think of any reason why it is now so dark?

Cheers.

EDIT:

It is even worse if I remove all the fog and make it completely "sunny".

It also does not appear to happen on Utes.

I have also just realised it only happens after I load a particular mission. The problem persists until I reload the island.

Edited July 10, 2011 by hungrytoheal

[celery 8]

Nighttime darkness depends on whether there is a moon in the sky or not.

[Beagle 684]

Full moon nights with 1/8 clouds are so bright, you dont bother to use Night Vision. Change the date and nightime till it fits your needs.

[hungrytoheal 10]

Well why is there no moon? If I keep the same time/weather/date settings onto Utes or a different mission it's bright enough. See the edited part of my post..

[metalcraze 290]

Well why is there no moon?

Because it's such a time and date?

If I keep the same time/weather/date settings onto Utes or a different mission it's bright enough

Utes is central Europe, more to the North. Takistan is central Asia, more to the south and east. Obviously same date and time do not provide for the same conditions in both areas.

You can direct your complaints to Solar System.

[hungrytoheal 10]

I solved the issue by just remaking/merging the mission to a clean save.

Thanks for the input.

[Archosaurusrev 12]

"Operator, can I speak to the Solar System?"

"Yes sir, right away!"

"Hello, is this the Solar System`"

"Yes."

"All right, you better make the fucking moon move where I want it! I'm trying to make a mission! Do it asshole!"

"Hello, is anyone there?"

.......

"Well shit."

[JSj 12]

Nighttime in Arma 2 is much too dark. You only get absolutely pitch black indoors, if there are no windows. With no moon and a cloud cover you may not be able to see very far, but in spite of the expression, it never gets so dark outside that you "can't see your hand in front of you".

[Beagle 684]

Nighttime in Arma 2 is much too dark. You only get absolutely pitch black indoors, if there are no windows. With no moon and a cloud cover you may not be able to see very far, but in spite of the expression, it never gets so dark outside that you "can't see your hand in front of you".

It does, but not in sweden obviously? I stumbled across a lot of night where in could see nothing without flashlight, and I was even once trappen in such a night without flashlight ands stumbled a lot.

On a overcast Night at least 20km away from cities you still have it... the pitch black night... around cities these kind of night is a not known anymore due to artificial light polution.

Youre from Sweden, that's too far in the north for a black tropical night, you either have midsummer and the sun wont really do down, or you have snow...and that gives maximum light reflection. Even here in germany we do not have real night for more than 1 hours in July... it's more like 2 hours Dusk, 1 hour night and 2 hours Dawn.

Edited July 11, 2011 by Beagle

[hungrytoheal 10]

If you are referring to real life, then when there is no moon in the sky you do indeed get nights where you cannot see even your hand in front of you.

[max power 21]

Perhaps Johan lives in the city and has never been outside of it.

[JSj 12]

Youre from Sweden, that's too far in the north for a black tropical night,

So is Chernarus, which is supposed to be somewhere in eastern/central Europe, and I think even Takistan is not in the tropics, even though it's further south than Chernarus, right? So even if it does get really dark in the tropics, if there happens to be no moon and thick clouds, I think the total pitch black darkness in Arma 2 is still unrealistically dark.

[hungrytoheal 10]

If there is no moon, where does that little bit of light come from that makes it so?

[Tonci87 163]

The Arma darkness is realistic. Go to eastern europe in the countryside, away from big citys when there is no moon. You can´t see your hand without a torchlight

[max power 21]

So is Chernarus, which is supposed to be somewhere in eastern/central Europe, and I think even Takistan is not in the tropics, even though it's further south than Chernarus, right? So even if it does get really dark in the tropics, if there happens to be no moon and thick clouds, I think the total pitch black darkness in Arma 2 is still unrealistically dark.

I live on the 49th parallel and away from the city, night time is pretty effing dark. Near the poles, night time should be very dark in the winter time.

[metalcraze 290]

The Arma darkness is realistic. Go to eastern europe in the countryside, away from big citys when there is no moon. You can´t see your hand without a torchlight

I can confirm that.

In cities you get light pollution which makes everything lighter than it really is.

It's indeed next to pitch black in the country side. The best you can see are black silhouettes of trees against the starry sky. Just like in AA2.

When there is moon you can see some objects on the ground in barely visible black and white gradients - and it is so in AA2 as well.

I really like these details in BIS games - Earth rotates in ArmA2 too which is pretty cool - and you can see stars moving across the sky at night. The only thing that's missing is a relatively visible Milky Way - which should be much more noticeable in Takistani mountains.

Edited July 11, 2011 by metalcraze

[walker 0]

Hi all

I traveled many places around the world.

Once you get away from the light pollution of cities, pretty well near impossible here in England and probably any other industrialised nation; if the moon is new you can not see your hand in front of your face.

http://www.moonconnection.com/moon_phases.phtml

This because there is no light other than the stars. Hense why people invented torches!

It is possble to see silhouettes against the stars if you are observant, surprisingly this works in ArmA II as well.

Kind Regards walker

[kylania 568]

If only there were some kind of goggle which we could use to have vision at night.

Or some kind of flare we could shoot into the sky for illumination.

[JSj 12]

Well, they'd have to be thermal vision goggles then. Because standard night vision that amplifies small amounts of existing light will not work. As several people have pointed out here, nights are absolutely pitch black, with zero ambient light. That means night vision goggles not relying on thermal radiation or active IR should not work.

[metalcraze 290]

FYI with ACE mod during moonless nights NVGs are nearly useless.

[ryguy 10]

Nighttime in Arma 2 is much too dark. You only get absolutely pitch black indoors, if there are no windows. With no moon and a cloud cover you may not be able to see very far, but in spite of the expression, it never gets so dark outside that you "can't see your hand in front of you".

Lol, you don't get outdoors much, do you?

[Tonci87 163]

FYI with ACE mod during moonless nights NVGs are nearly useless.

Not really true,you need to raise the sensitivity.

[solidsnake2384 10]

Lol, you don't get outdoors much, do you?

Well actually it depends. If its cloudless then the stars are enough to provide a good amount of light, even without the moon. With clouds then its usually dark as a hell.

[kylania 568]

FYI with ACE mod during moonless nights NVGs are nearly useless.

Who doesn't play with ACE? :) It's seriously that much better that even trying to play vanilla anymore makes me cry.

[celery 8]

Who doesn't play with ACE? :)

Everyone who doesn't want it to break mission balance or doesn't like the all-in-one or none-at-all annoyance galore when it comes to its many, many features.