Should the default FOV (Field of view) be higher?

[CarlGustaffa 4]

I think the best option is to have a proper "zoom extra out" that is sticky for everything, where the user can adjust to his preference (as a factor). So:

(none) Normal View = Zoomed Out to allow spatial awareness.

(+ key, double to stick) Zoom In View = Narrower FOV that presents the real world perspective.

(- key, double to stick) Zoom Extra Out View = Wider FOV that may improve vehicle operations (although I have no need for this myself).

@Commander Jao: Use numpad 2 and 8 to adjust camera pitch, it doesn't even snap back to center for freelook (alt). Some of us prefer that the FOV remain consistent, no matter if we are in vehicles or not. But the above would fix it for you since you could just double-tap - key for a wider view if you want it.

It wouldn't be a cheat because you're just widening your FOV, similar to triplehead displays - the origin of the camera doesn't change. Maybe it gives them an advantage, but at least it's a realistic one. Compared to 3rd person.

But the whole zoom function has to be consistent. Not like now where it works differently for varies classes and parent classes.

[dmarkwick 261]

My biggest problem with the FOV right now is the fact that you can zoom your eyeballs. This exacerbates existing problems with spotting targets at unnatural ranges. The zoom ability is especially game breaking when viewing an object that is of higher detail than the surrounding terrain, objects like vehicles, personnel or placed equipment really stick out. You should not be able to have nearly the same visual acuity with you eyes as you get with a combat scope like the ACOG.

The term "zoom" is misapplied here: when you "zoom" with your eyeballs in ArmA, you are actually viewing at 1:1 FoV, so the "unzoom" is in fact an artificial wide view, done so that you're not playing the game with a tunnel on your face :)

[lozz08 10]

Great idea with the FOV slider. Right now it is difficult to setup an ideal FOV, and considering that FOV can be changed on the fly in-game (can be changed to 4:3, 16:9 etc.) I think this is definitely doable in the engine right now.

If you're listening BIS, maybe you could trial this in an ARMA 2 beta patch?

[falcon_565 11]

The term "zoom" is misapplied here: when you "zoom" with your eyeballs in ArmA, you are actually viewing at 1:1 FoV, so the "unzoom" is in fact an artificial wide view, done so that you're not playing the game with a tunnel on your face :)

I'm pretty sure that's not true. Regardless when you 'zoom' with your eyeballs you are enlarging the objects on your screen with respect to whatever they were 'unzoomed' so the effect is the same. When you can obtain a level of magnification that is nearly comparable to a combat optic without any actual optic I think there's a problem. Getting rid of this would certainty help mitigate problems that the engine already has with objects at range.

[dmarkwick 261]

I'm pretty sure that's not true. Regardless when you 'zoom' with your eyeballs you are enlarging the objects on your screen with respect to whatever they were 'unzoomed' so the effect is the same. When you can obtain a level of magnification that is nearly comparable to a combat optic without any actual optic I think there's a problem. Getting rid of this would certainty help mitigate problems that the engine already has with objects at range.

It is most definitely true, as relayed by a developer on these forums. Zoomed in view is actual 1:1 view. The Acog sights you're thinking of are the type that do not have any optical FoV effect, which is why the views are the same. So for "realism" sake, it's the wider default view that's the artificial one.

[st_dux 26]

@Falcon:

DMarkwick is correct. Ordinarily, the screen field of view is made artificially wide so as to make up for the fact that you are looking into the world through a tiny window (your monitor). This creates an unrealistically zoomed out view; the detail you see x meters away is less than what you would experience in reality. This has to be done, though, because the alternative is an unrealistically restricted view (in fact even zoomed out you have less field of view than is available in reality, but a compromise must be made somewhere). In order to allow you to aim with realistic clarity despite this compromise, you are able to "zoom your eyeballs," but as DMarkwick pointed out, this really only brings the zoom up to 1x. If you directly compare this zoom level with, say, an ACOG, you will see that the ACOG, a 4x optic in reality, is zoomed in exactly four times more.

As you can see, forcing a zoomed out view even when looking down your gun sights is actually less realistic than allowing for "eyeball zoom." It's true that cover and concealment are far less prevalent in ArmA than is generally the case in reality, and this makes it far easier to spot targets at long range than it should be, but this is a separate issue.

[NoRailgunner 0]

Make an option so everyone can select it for infantry and vehicle FOV. Imho default vehicle FOV could have a bit less "zoom". :)

[-NCF-Wolfgang 10]

FOV Slider is a good thing, when there are limits, otherwise you would see such ridiculous things like FOV 10 when zoomed in, FOV 75 as Default and 130(Or more) when zoomed out

[Haystack15 10]

Zoomed in compared to what? Compared to an actual 1:1 representation of what you would see in real life, ArmA II is quite zoomed out by default. Zooming all the way in with iron sights gives you mostly proper FoV; obviously, given the limitations of monitor size, it would be silly to attempt to play at this FoV constantly.

FPDR You do realize that I said "For Me" right? Meaning, It feels like it is zoomed in "To Me" a bit when I'm in a vehicle with an interior. Like the Humvee.

Here is my original statment:

for me, It did seem like the FOV in ARMA II was zoomed in a bit. Most of the time it seemed like it when I was in a vehicle. Like a Humvee or something with an interior.

Where as in ArmA, I was able to see the gauges without having shift my view downwards or zooming out.

But it was never really a bother for me, So I voted "It's fine".

Even Commander Jao feels the same way I do.....

Especially when in HMMWV the field of view isn't great. It seems like I'am driving with my noise to the windshield, with absolute no view of any dials. In Vehicles it needs to change, I don't mind it anywhere else though.

Edited September 2, 2011 by Haystack15

[CarlGustaffa 4]

Chill :) So my suggestion in #26 wouldn't help you anything? FOV should remain the same, but you should be able to reliably use double tap - (minus) to zoom extra out in a vehicle if you wanted to. This FOV could be user adjustable (within reason).

[Haystack15 10]

Chill :) So my suggestion in #26 wouldn't help you anything? FOV should remain the same, but you should be able to reliably use double tap - (minus) to zoom extra out in a vehicle if you wanted to. This FOV could be user adjustable (within reason).

Agree, Although I wouldn't mind having a slider to change my settings for in vehicle FOV. The Zoom out key can sometimes seem like a bit much to me.

[Beagle 684]

Chill :) So my suggestion in #26 wouldn't help you anything? FOV should remain the same, but you should be able to reliably use double tap - (minus) to zoom extra out in a vehicle if you wanted to. This FOV could be user adjustable (within reason).

Zoom is already adjustable...you just have to assign a controller to it in options When you do so you can adjust fov in game at any level at any time.

I have FOV on a slider...can adjust it with the thumb at any time.

Just use the options the game alrady delivers...a lot of functins are actually unasigned...just have a look into control options...you may find amazing and handy things without a assigned button to it.

In the same way you can asign things like "autorun" or even trim controls for Aircraft, pedals for gas and brake on cars or a analog throttle for boats...its all at hand...just use it.

And get rid of the default joystick setup..its really bad...set all ranges to 1 at least some work best at 2 (0.5 is default)

Edited September 3, 2011 by Beagle

[CarlGustaffa 4]

Rgr. Wasn't aware of it, probably because I'm content with digital controls. FOV never bothered me as well, just trying to put the suggestion on the "right track" rather than force it onto those who don't mind.

For me, it just have to be consistent. So in a tank, you get zoomed out view because you're in a vehicle? Turned out and turned in view then wouldn't be consistent. Ok, different for tanks alltogether? Then it wouldn't be consistent across vehicles.

But again thanks for the control tips, will keep it in mind when people ask.

[johanna 11]

Why does not double tapping your numpad - work in some missions, cars, etc..?

(oh crap, i thought this was an arma 2 thread)

Edited July 8, 2012 by johanna

[NielsS 10]

Arma 2's FOV is not that bad. I believe it's around 90. Compare that with other games like CODMW3 (FOV=55!!!OMG!!) and Skyrim (FOV=65) and you can't really say it is that zoomed in.

[Bee8190 10]

I'd be really greatful if there was a slider to customize the FOV, as to be honest, after months and months of playing arma, I've never quite get used to the current FOV position and I always felt my situation awareness is at rock bottom :(

[pathetic_berserker 4]

I think the FOV issue is heightened in ArmA because it is so open ended, but at the end of the day I think its fine, I can survive with double tapping - ,gives me what I need, but I'm still looking forward to the day I can sneek two extra screens in without my wife knowing.

Edited July 10, 2012 by Pathetic_Berserker

[liquidpinky 11]

,gives me what I need, but I'm still looking forward to the day I can sneek two extra screens in without my wife knowing.

Tried that and ended up in the doghouse.

Still. she didn't speak to me for a while so it was all worth it. ;)

You will appreciate an FOV slider once you have three monitors as the standard FOV looks like a fish eye camera until you lower it down into the fifties or lower.

[On_Sabbatical 11]

BIS should make these kind of things configurable in some file,so everyone can use values he like .

Even further,and this is not related to this thread,sounds and textures should also be configurable to people's likings ... like in any other game out there !

[dsi24 12]

BIS should make these kind of things configurable in some file,so everyone can use values he like .

Even further,and this is not related to this thread,sounds and textures should also be configurable to people's likings ... like in any other game out there !

FoV is already configurable, it's just really obfuscated.

[lolipoyi 10]

I would like to see a slider too. I mainly have no problems with the "low ready" FOV, but when you turn your optics up, it feels like they are glued to your eye. I´m currently using a custom FOV but only when i`m aiming and it gives a nice overall feeling. I´m also a close friend of my ALT button in my keyboard xD

The custom FOV for aiming can be found in the "TrueMods" mod, aswell as some other changes. Other than that, you can always doubletap the minus key in your Numpad to make the FOV higher, though I think you have to be aiming the gun in orther to make it work

[mr. bravo 17]

Yes! A slider would be awesome. I always use at least 90 in games, or else I easily get all confused about my position. Luckily I can simply lean back a little with my TrackIR in A2 to get the effect, but it's a bit clumsy at times :p

[Angle 10]

Arma 2's FOV is not that bad. I believe it's around 90. Compare that with other games like CODMW3 (FOV=55!!!OMG!!) and Skyrim (FOV=65) and you can't really say it is that zoomed in.

What would you say if i told you that the Arma default FOV (for me) is 68 degrees? 1680:1050 monitor.

I have increased it to 91 degrees and it results in much smoother gameplay. While not being as useless as the Fov you get from double tapping -. As in i can still see things at 600m out clearly but i have much more awareness. Id probably go up to 100 deg if i had a 1080p monitor.

If you are hating on increasing the Fov and saying that those who want more should "double tap numpad -". Well all i can say is stfu and try it. I have done that and playing with a Fov of about 140 degrees you might as well be blind.

Fov Slider all the way!

And while we are at it, why not the ability to change all 3 values. min, default and max. So if i don't want all the "Zoom" i can dial it back a couple of degrees and set a default that feels good for me. (In this scenario get a max and minimum value to move the sliders within)

[iccarlos 1]

Sliders sound good to me. But why not have 2 default FOV's one for vehicle and one for on foot. In the heat of things I always forget to double tap -.

I use freetrack sometimes especially for flying... so not so much of a problem.

[AlexVestin 24]

Larger FOV, please.

I often find myself zooming out a little. The default value is great, but can sometimes still feel a little too zoomed in.

A slight increase as a default value wouldn't be a bad thing in my opinion.