Increased view distance, quite stunning

[dslyecxi 23]

Ever wonder why changing your view distance from 5km to 10km resulted in no visible increase, and even 5km didn't look all that far or good? Apparently it was a bug... and, as you can see, it's being addressed.

This is going to be an incredible change for all pilots.

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I know that the question will come up about performance, so I'll address that now. My system is as follows:

Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz

Radeon X1950XTX (512MB)

2GB PC2-6400 RAM

Raptor HDD

10 kilometer view distances for me are playable but not ideal. This is with my default settings that I use on the ground. I think that lowering texture detail in this situation would result in smoother gameplay. With 10km view distance you can see all of South Sahrani and most of North Sahrani at the same time if you're flying between them. If I had to guess, I'd say that I was getting from 10-15fps at 10km view distances while flying around all over the island, with occasional hitches caused due to texture caching. All of the screens you see in this post were 10km view distance, and there are a few in the directory I link at the end that are 5km IIRC.

5 kilometer view distances are extremely playable for me. With a 5km view distance you can see all of South Sahrani when flying over it and can probably see a bit of North Sahrani as well. I was hitting 20-30fps at this view distance.

A 3 kilometer view distance gets great FPS and allows you to see a very long distance. This is easily playable for fixed-wing (jet) aircraft and makes bombing and strafing runs infinitely easier. I'm gusesing I was making 25-35fps at 3km view distances.

I have not tested at 1.2km or 2km view distances, but I believe they will look noticeably better than they do currently due to how the distance fog is rendered.

Long story short, this is one hell of a change and is going to make the air experience loads better. I can only imagine how cool this must be on dual 8800GTXs with a silky-smooth 10km view distance and with settings cranked.

This is a damn cool change. I had my doubts about jets in ArmA previously, but now that you can actually see so far, they're a blast to fly.

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More screens (11 more, to be precise) can be found in this directory.

edit: Added a video

Quote[/b] ]Here's a video of what it looks like flying a Harrier around with a 6km view distance.

http://ofp.umbr.net/videos/mar13_6km_vd.wmv

[sirex 0]

wow. :-) nice screenshots.

roll on 1.0.6 !

[Dwarden 1125]

i was messing with 10km viewdistance on x1950 with 7.2 Cats

and only outcome as infantry were visual bugs after short of time (texture losses etc)

yet there was was 250-300MB free VRAM ...

strange

[EricM 0]

Seems the engine still has some unleashed power under the hood... is that for 1.06 ?

[Blue_Flight 0]

so it seems that the fog rendering has changed quite a bit

Leaves me with the question as a 8800gtx user if my card was the cause for the actual fog rendering or ArmA´s graphic engine?

btw.: How about another cool video Dsly?

[dslyecxi 23]

Seems the engine still has some unleashed power under the hood... is that for 1.06 ?

I would imagine that it's for whatever the next patch ends up being. No ETA or anything like that, but it is something to look forward to.

[sickboy 13]

Nice information share again Dsly.. Nice Screens... Cool

Looks like a cool future for ArmA if this continues

[l mandrake 9]

one word: wow

[BroK3n 0]

Dsly....

... i love you.

Bringer of good news.

keep em coming!

[sergeant rock 3]

Quote[/b] ]I can only imagine how cool this must be on dual 8800GTXs with a silky-smooth 10km view distance and with settings cranked.

Performance of 8800GTX's in SLI is currently horrible.  I run mine in single card mode when playing ArmA. If I enable SLI in ArmA my framrates are actually lower than when using a single card and things get jerky.  Not sure if its a driver issue, and ArmA issue, or a combination of both.  

[malick 0]

Thanks Dslyecxi for giving us some news on the up coming patch. I don't know if this will correct some of the fps issue most of us had with 1.05, but it is very good news indeed !

All picture look really incredible. This game is getting better with time, no doubt !

Malick

[stevevcb 3]

Christ on a bike!

That looks fantastic!

[messiahua 0]

Massive...

I think, that would be unplayable for me, as I have (with Radeon X1900XTX) 15 fps at the starting screen at Rahmadi.

[mattxr 9]

Oh more more [Attack Cockpit Pictures]

That looks awesome, great job in finding the bug BIS.

[messiahua 0]

That looks awesome, great job in finding the bug BIS.

I think it was a feature.

[Blanco 0]

Quote[/b] ]Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz

Radeon X1950XTX (512MB)

2GB PC2-6400 RAM

Raptor HDD

Great news. My rig is exactly the same, the only difference is the HD. I have a WD 7200rpm

[Maddmatt 1]

That is very impressive .

@Dslyecxi: Is there any performance increase there? Currently, with my 7800GT I can handle a viewdistance of up to 4k - would there be any performance increase to allow me to turn it higher? I'm sure 4k will look great there, but more would be better of course .

I can't wait for the next patch, it's great to see this game just getting better. I'm hoping for some more AI improvements too .

[dmitri 0]

Looks great.

Oddly, my performance issues stem from being close to various objects. Shading detail on low should allow for an increase in viewdistance without much FPS loss.

[slingblade20000 0]

things must be really bad for alot out there performance wise, i allready run at this view distance with max settings with 1/3 of the rig most have. I didnt think this was such a big deal.

[max power 21]

We're almost within reach of having some actual realistic ranges for helicopter launched missiles!

[KeyCat 131]

This is going to be an incredible change for all pilots.

Very very welcomed! This may even make me try the planes

Keep it up BIS!

/KC

[dslyecxi 23]

@Dslyecxi: Is there any performance increase there? Currently, with my 7800GT I can handle a viewdistance of up to 4k - would there be any performance increase to allow me to turn it higher? I'm sure 4k will look great there, but more would be better of course .

I don't know, I didn't test it that extensively. I'd hate to say one way or the other and be wrong about it.

[Jack-UK 0]

Great! Thanks for the heads up Dsylexci and good job BIS

(Now fix the texture detail issues.. )

[Scrub 0]

Damn! Makes me feel naked just walking outside with a view distance like that. Especially if there is going to be a Predator or Global Hawk addon. Awesome and scary at the same time. BIS, your engine is starting to show its teeth in a formidable way.

[Mabes 0]

This is some great news, guess it means you can actually snipe at real distances now.