View Distance / Sight Range - What's the maximum ?

[BaseJumper 10]

Hi!

As per the title: View Distance / Sight Range - What's the maximum ?

(1) How far can you see in ARMA 2 ?

I'm asking these questions mainly for online multiplayer.

Let's just assume that the server configuration is set to maximum viewdistance.

(2) Which hardware upgrade gives an immediate effect on viewing distance ?

(Do I upgrade the CPU or the GPU first to get a drastic change in view distance ?)

(3) Ok lets also imagine that I have a shitty GPU and my graphics is set to the lowest detail. Would upgrading my CPU (instead of the GPU) greatly increase my viewdistance?

(graphics quality does not matter to me, only the distance!)

Need your informed responses please. BIS Developers are most welcome ! :D

Thank you!

Edited June 17, 2009 by BaseJumper

[.kju 3242]

50.000 meters probably as in A1.

[galzohar 31]

You can have the best hardware in the world and as high view distance as you want - you'll still not be able to spot players because they'll be pixelaetd when they're more than a couple hundred meters away. Spotting bigger objects like houses and tanks though is more viable at longer distances if your system can handle it.

[EvenLease 11]

i thought view distance in Arma 1 was 800 online?

[Wynthorpe 10]

You can have the best hardware in the world and as high view distance as you want - you'll still not be able to spot players because they'll be pixelaetd when they're more than a couple hundred meters away. Spotting bigger objects like houses and tanks though is more viable at longer distances if your system can handle it.

Hmmmm, ive been able to spot out to about 700m but thats it really.

[wipman 1]

Hi, i've no idea of the max view distance; but after like 700 to 800m the particle effects

like tracers and tank rounds dissapear, they only appear again if you're "on the wrong side"

and see it coming towards you. Let's C ya

[frederf 0]

50.000 meters probably as in A1.

Maximum view distance in ArmA1 was 10,000m.

i thought view distance in Arma 1 was 800 online?

Default multiplayer mission view distance in ArmA1 is 1,200m.

[Alex72 1]

Maximum view distance in ArmA1 was 10,000m.

In the options yes. But more was possible as Kju stated.

[GLeek 10]

i thought view distance in Arma 1 was 800 online?

1200... and you can change it from multiple location. mission itself, a mission's script, a local addon wich run a script etc ...

what a wast to fly a chopper without 4000m VD !

---------- Post added at 10:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:11 PM ----------

72;1314145']In the options yes. But more was possible as Kju stated.

with instant CTD in most case !

[raedor 8]

1200... and you can change it from multiple location. mission itself, a mission's script, a local addon wich run a script etc ...

Or in the server config.

[Skodz 10]

I am also curious about multiplayer view distance. I just hope people with lower end pc are not disadvantaged versus high end pc players. In other words, I hope its the same view distance for everyone online.

(Distance at wich we see units)

[frederf 0]

It's not a good system. Either the server forces all clients to run at X view distance or there's a script in it that lets each user select his own. If the server forces 3000m VD then slow PCs suffer. If the script lets you choose then selecting a high VD can give you an advantage.

[horror1 10]

ok i use 5000 viewdistance and everything on highest in sp but tanks and vehicles just disapear after 1000 meters , this is so annoying to have a tank locked but invisible and popping out of nowhere in the middle of the screen while everything else was visible around it.

more annying is when u zoom and out of nowhere a vehicle popps up and slighty zooming back it just disapears again :eek:

[zoog 18]

In ArmA 2 you can set the viewdistance to "10000" but it doesn't say meters. And I'm 95% confident it isn't 10km because I've been toying around with the max viewdistance and you simply cannot look that far. You can still see trees popping up over on the next or 2nd hill when you're flying a helicopter and even if you don't count those popups (maybe because they're rendered a different way) you are (as far as I can see) unable to see the terrain for 10km. Maybe I got it wrong and it is "10km" in the dimensions of the game, but it sure doesn't feels like it.

[STALKERGB 6]

i placed a waypoint (in ARMA 1) 10000 meters from me and it seemed to be about on the edge of what was visible, so from that i would say it IS 10km but it was by no means conclusive.

[Yoma 0]

It's not a good system. Either the server forces all clients to run at X view distance or there's a script in it that lets each user select his own. If the server forces 3000m VD then slow PCs suffer. If the script lets you choose then selecting a high VD can give you an advantage.

What is a better system then?

It's really the only solution to the problem as long as we have differences between machine performance.

[galzohar 31]

Or you can just set view distance to player choice, and in mission description say what the recommended view distance is for that specific mission, so that people who can't handle it can stay out of the game, and people that can handle more can get better graphics. If you're designing a mission that's based around seeing things 3km away, limiting view distance to 2km will ruin the whole mission for everyone, while setting it to user choice will only ruin it for players with low end computers. If you want low end computers on your server, run missions that don't require high view distance for good gameplay.

[kegetys 2]

What is a better system then?

It's really the only solution to the problem as long as we have differences between machine performance.

A better system in my opinion would be that the server would enforce the maximum viewdistance, and clients would be allowed to use a lower one if they want. It would allow everyone to use a reasonable default viewdistance which works for majority of the players, but allow people with lower end system still play without having 5fps.

[walker 0]

Hi all

Variations in view distance are decided by the mission maker.

Kind Regards walker

[frederf 0]

A better system in my opinion would be that the server would enforce the maximum viewdistance, and clients would be allowed to use a lower one if they want. It would allow everyone to use a reasonable default viewdistance which works for majority of the players, but allow people with lower end system still play without having 5fps.

Yeah, I've suggested exactly this. The mission/server should have a max VD and your client will use your graphics setting VD or the server's max VD, which ever is lower.

[aussieterry84 10]

Or you can just set view distance to player choice, and in mission description say what the recommended view distance is for that specific mission, so that people who can't handle it can stay out of the game, and people that can handle more can get better graphics. If you're designing a mission that's based around seeing things 3km away, limiting view distance to 2km will ruin the whole mission for everyone, while setting it to user choice will only ruin it for players with low end computers. If you want low end computers on your server, run missions that don't require high view distance for good gameplay.

yeah because that'll really keep the community alive

[zoog 18]

i placed a waypoint (in ARMA 1) 10000 meters from me and it seemed to be about on the edge of what was visible, so from that i would say it IS 10km but it was by no means conclusive.

Have you tried something like that in ArmA 2? (if you have the German version?)

[galzohar 31]

yeah because that'll really keep the community alive

So you suggest limiting view distance to X ignoring the mission is better? If you want your mission to be played by low-end players, you have to design it to be playable by them. If you don't, limiting view distance will not only ruin it for the low-end players, but will ruin it for everyone. The method I was suggesting allows everyone to play missions that are designed for everyone, while still not limiting the high-end players from playing missions that require a high-end machine. If a mission is designed in a way that no more than 1500m view distances is needed, then the high-end players won't have a serious advantage by having 4000m view distance.

Making missions that depend on high view distance and then limiting the view distance as a server setting is just stupid.

[max power 21]

AFAIK, the view distance slider refers to the diameter of the area around the player that will potentially be rendered in total (given the player is looking in that direction). So, the terrain will fade to mist 5k from the player's eyes at 10k vd. In ArmA 1, the distance at which objects appeared was dependent on the 'object detail' slider. Object detail was a way of controlling what was being rendered and what LOD the rendered objects were using at any given distance.

[frederf 0]

That's correct Max Power. In ArmA1 it was patched to make the fog not kick in so soon or as strongly. Out of the box ArmA1 with 10,000m VD you could barely see past 6000m. After the patch they changed the fog curve so you could see 8000m+ pretty well. It's also correct that VD is all about terrain. Objects still go through their LODs and disappear at shorter ranges.