Zooming? Why?

[bono_lv 10]

Hello!

Some words before main topic...

I'm new person to arma series. Some long time ago I played trough Operation Flashpoint campaign and despite it's bad graphics for that time it delivered the best FPS game experience i ever had. So accidentaly i watched Arma 2 trailer in Steam videos and dowlnoaded demo... No need to speak more - I bought a game before it was released. :)

Great game indeed. But some things bother me. First ir about fact, that something must be done with grass and foliage, because if I turn it on I can't see enemies, but they can see me. So I'm forced to turn terrain details to low.

But let's talk about zooming... Why is it in the game? Is human able to zoom in his view? I even catch myself into forcing to use ironsights. But mostly I just zoom in and shoot. (I'm newbie so I'm playing on Regular difficulty.)

[Gonzo89 10]

In response to your grass problem, I suggest you try this addon, Sap Clutter. I will decrease the grass size and remove unneeded foliage.

[dm 9]

But let's talk about zooming... Why is it in the game? Is human able to zoom in his view?

Look at your monitor, now look outside.

You will notice 2 things:

1. Outside is MUCH MUCH bigger than your monitor.

2. Outside is MUCH MUCH higher res than your monitor.

Zooming might not be "realistic" but it gives you more chance to see things in the game world that you would easily see in the real world.

[Muzza 0]

The human eye is better than any screen resolution, so you can zoom to simulate the level of detail a human eye can get anyway.

[Beagle 684]

Zoomimg is in for a very simple matter...PC screens are to small!

So you have three posibilities:

- 1:1 vision with narrow angle

- a realistic vision angle with small moving pixels that reprensent friends or foes

- or just as ArmA does, you can zoom in and out.

[topeira 10]

first - yeah. everyone is right by saying that the zooming allows u to get the details u need to get cuz i'd see them IRL.

second - zooming is almost like closing one eye. try that and u'd see that half of your field of vision disappears and your brain focuses on the remaining details. it's a lot like answer "1" by everyone else with conjunction of that fact.

[BoxiouS 10]

Look at your monitor, now look outside.

You will notice 2 things:

1. Outside is MUCH MUCH bigger than your monitor.

2. Outside is MUCH MUCH higher res than your monitor.

Zooming might not be "realistic" but it gives you more chance to see things in the game world that you would easily see in the real world.

I'm short sighted so my monitor is actually much much higher res than outisde;)

[EricM 0]

Though zooming is a bit slow in first person IMHO...

If its made to "compensate" for the monitor's lower resolution/size, it should be much quicker, not 3 seconds like you're actually adujsting the scope of a rifle.

[bono_lv 10]

Ok, I get it.

In that case something must be done with shooting accuracy without ironsights...

[Simon C 0]

Ok, I get it.

In that case something must be done with shooting accuracy without ironsights...

No soldier would realistically shoot without iron sights unless they were suddenly attacked and just happened to be pointing the gun in the right direction, or stood less than 5m away. I can hit a target in ArmA II from 5m without the iron sights, so it's realistic. You can't really expect to hit much without them.

[bono_lv 10]

On "regular" difficulty you have crosshair. I can just zoom in without ironsights and shoot with same accuracy as with ironsights. So why should i use ironsights? To block my view?

[Alex72 1]

There have been tests about the grass. Learn to search a forum please and read around before posting. Tests was made and AI did NOT see through grass. If they are within handgrenade range they will spot you if you shoot or make noises. Thats right - in ARMA2 the AI hear you when moving around (just like the previous games as well). Tests showed shooting a rifle at AI bit far away made them run around looking for you and supress/shoot at the general area the sound came from. Just like reality. They didnt see the player but sended showers of bullets towards your rifle sound wich also can ofcourse lead to that you get hit and die.

There are more to this, but there is already posts made for it even with links to tests.

About the zoom you already got it i see. No peripheral vision in games so it has to be zoomed out a lot to give us some. Zoomed in view is essentially the real FOV. So thats why we have it.

Dont play on REGULAR then... Its for beginners as you can see. You need to train yourself in ARMA2. Its not like CoD where you get pro with all gear after 15 minutes.

Alex

Edited June 30, 2009 by Alex72

[Simon C 0]

Because it's more accurate to use iron sights, the crosshair isn't placed in exactly the right point at some distances, which means you need to adjust the aim for targets that you could just aim at with the iron sights. Plus plenty of online servers force crosshairs off, for realism purposes. I don't recall ever seeing crosshairs implemented in my view in real life, so quite a lot of servers get rid of the things.

[bono_lv 10]

Dont play on REGULAR then... Its for beginners as you can see. You need to train yourself in ARMA2. Its not like CoD where you get pro with all gear after 15 minutes.

Alex

I am a beginer. The problem with higher difficulty levels is that I often lose my teammates from sight. But i definately will play at least on veteran. Btw my full game is still downloading. At 97% now... I'm still enjoy the demo.

[akd42 10]

On "regular" difficulty you have crosshair. I can just zoom in without ironsights and shoot with same accuracy as with ironsights. So why should i use ironsights? To block my view?

You should turn off crosshairs, which you can do by editing the "regular" setting (go to difficulty, select "regular" then click on "edit" at the bottom right) or increasing difficulty.

However, I have a small problem with no crosshairs, because some iron sights in the game are implemented very unrealistically. For example, the M203/GP25 iron sights are worthless and you can't really use the ACOG the way intended, so you kinda need the crosshairs for CQB.

Edited June 30, 2009 by akd42