Aircraft Should Be Visible at Great Distances

[Baff1 0]

I'd like to see the same in reverse for vehicles from aircraft too. Even if it's just a Radar red and a target lock.

[knownspace 10]

I agree that a tiny low poly speck in the distance would be better than absolutely nothing.

[bushlurker 46]

This sounds like a great idea - especially with the generally lower viewdistances being forced upon us currently by performance issues...

I'm not entirely sure it's practical from an engine point of view - then again, I don't know the engine... but its a slightly different situation from the clutter having a different viewdistance - sure it does - variable too - but below the overall "umbrella" main rendering distance - I'm not sure if its as easy to have just certain models be an exception to the main render viewdistance - might be just as easy tho - any Dev could, and possibly will, tell us...

As far as when you're "up there".. there were several attempts at "dynamic viewdistance" with Arma 1 - basically proportionally increasing the main render distance the higher altitude your viewpoint was... the performance hit isn't so bad when you're up there since theres generally less to see - it was good for AA combat and also helped a bit with lower level lock on approach and even strafing...

Its fairly certain some sort of "dynamic viewdistance" addon will emerge that covers that aspect... as to the view from the ground - first step would be to find out if its possible...

B

[Uziyahu--IDF 0]

I brought up one of the dynamic view-distance addons over at the World War II Online forums (I'm not currently subscribed...trying to cut costs) and they thought it was a great idea. They're always trying to get more view-distance, too.

I tried out the same dynamic viewdistance addon and it worked beautiful. The change in view-distance was very gradual, even when flying straight up. I detected no performance hit.

[bushlurker 46]

Here's the standalone Arma1 addon thread...

I notice it uses Extended Eventhandlers... not sure if that's been ported to Arma2 yet though I've seen several people mention it...

Haven't time to try it right now but the worst that can happen is that it throws a tantrum and doesn't work...

B

[ahmedjbh 0]

I have to ask, what does the view distance seem to do?

I have put it on 1000, and then 5000, and i cant see any difference.

[cjsoques 0]

I agree with the original poster on this issue, it makes sense to limit ground units but how much strain would it put to have the few air assets displayed at larger draw distances, you can see aircraft for miles, even if they are at 30,000 feet some aircraft are still identifiable to the naked eye.

I also agree with the OP that some people on this form can really be self righteous pompous douchebags with nothing better to do than to prove why they are better than someone in an online forum. I just think that he reacted in an overly strong manner.

I've said it and I'll said it again, people on this forum should lighten up. Especially when another game is brought up, he clearly wasn't saying WW2 Online is better than ARMA just an observation....jeez, lets chill out.

---------- Post added at 11:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:07 PM ----------

Oh and apparently the one with the quick snoody comment of no value for some reason though the OP meant increasing draw distance of all objects to 10km....nope. Just the aircraft, should be minimal performance hit if the graphics engine would allow the modification.

[bushlurker 46]

@ahmedjbh....

You can see the effect best in an aircraft where you'll see what looks like a circle of fog all around you - beyond that circle you cant see anything, so no objects are drawn... the circle moves with you, so as you move towards something, it "appears" at the artificial "limit of your vision" (or - if you stay still but something moves towards you)

Its not too noticable at ground level - specially in a built up area - though you can see the effect on far mountains, etc... down at ground level, your attention will mostly be focused on badguys within your view range...

however - with approaching aircraft, and to a lesser extent, choppers - you can hear them coming miles away, but they just seem to "pop into view" - dangerously close - when you have a low viewdistance set...

You can see the effect yourself - set VD to 1000 and go try out a chopper in the editor or armoury - take it straight up about 500m and take a look around... - change VD to 5000m and do the same thing...

B

[galzohar 31]

It would be nice if the draw distance system would be modified so that units can be seen further out. It seems right now units get the same treatment as other objects, which doesn't make a lot of sense. I don't think it would be that big of a deal drawing aircraft that's above ground level and any obstacles, performance wise. Making it actually work with no bugs may be a different story though.

Globally increasing view distance is not a solution for the above reasons, but it doesn't mean that current view distance issues should be ignored. There are a lot of tweaks that can be made that will improve gameplay without hurting performance as bad as a straight draw distance increase would.

For example, I don't really care much about seeing terrain up to 4.5km if it means I can only see units up to 2km. Increasing unit draw distance at the cost of terrain draw distance would be a gameplay improvement while keeping performance the same, and the only possible downside is that things might be less pretty with lower terrain draw distance. And this is just one example. Another example is that view distance can be increased as the view is zoomed in, as after all you don't have to draw as much. We already have object/terrain detail increasing as we zoom, no reason to leave draw distance "stuck" on its base value.

[frederf 0]

I've tested visibility and I can't get Ural trucks to be visible beyond 1,800m or so with 10,000m view distance and object detail set to very high.

[vshadow 0]

I think that all unit types (infantry, ground vehicles, aircraft) should be viewable at longer distances, and through binoculars. ATM I don’t bother using the binoculars much as I feel that the current view distance is not very useful for them as I can happily see most of the stuff though the gun scope.

As for objects popping up why can they not be slowly introduced through the fog? This could also help with units as well by slowly introducing them onto the battlefield by emerging them out the mist.

Also just on the subject of how easily aircraft are identifiable. I have lived by a normal airport which took a lot of air show aircraft (military spec), and currently also living nearer a military air museum which sees a lot of military spec aircraft coming in.

I can say from my experience of this that depending on the weather (cloud cover, light) I could spot on a good day an aircraft at very high heights (don’t ask me how high) where you could usually just work out the size of the aircraft and type, and at slightly lower flight almost identify them. Helicopters are usually easier to spot due to the major difference in shape, and usually the rotor gives it away :rolleyes:

[bloodbomb 12]

Not sure why people are saying "just turn view distance up" as this is completely irrelevant. Objects will not appear after a few K no matter what the settings, thats just the game.

Its not a game breaking problem but its also quite disappointing. I notice as usual BIS are very quite about this and have nothing to say, but (for me) a key point to realism is view distance. In real life you can see very far, especially large vehicles. Its what should separate a game like Battlefield (with terrible draw distance) from a good milsim like ArmA2, but (though ArmA2 has waaaay better view distance than BF franchise) its just not happening. I hope BIS do something about this, looking out over a valley and not seeing the opfor patrol below is extremely unrealistic and frustrating, especially tactically.

[LJF 0]

I think that all unit types (infantry, ground vehicles, aircraft) should be viewable at longer distances, and through binoculars. ATM I don’t bother using the binoculars much as I feel that the current view distance is not very useful for them as I can happily see most of the stuff though the gun scope.

As for objects popping up why can they not be slowly introduced through the fog? This could also help with units as well by slowly introducing them onto the battlefield by emerging them out the mist.

Also just on the subject of how easily aircraft are identifiable. I have lived by a normal airport which took a lot of air show aircraft (military spec), and currently also living nearer a military air museum which sees a lot of military spec aircraft coming in.

I can say from my experience of this that depending on the weather (cloud cover, light) I could spot on a good day an aircraft at very high heights (don’t ask me how high) where you could usually just work out the size of the aircraft and type, and at slightly lower flight almost identify them. Helicopters are usually easier to spot due to the major difference in shape, and usually the rotor gives it away :rolleyes:

Agreed, especially with the fog. It would be awesome to blend in the objects instead of popping, it looks terrible atm.

[Alex72 1]

Not sure why people are saying "just turn view distance up" as this is completely irrelevant. Objects will not appear after a few K no matter what the settings, thats just the game.

Its not a game breaking problem but its also quite disappointing. I notice as usual BIS are very quite about this and have nothing to say, but (for me) a key point to realism is view distance.

I share some fear of this due to BIS not saying anything. However im used to it for years though and most often - things like this gets fixed. We could see further in ArmA1 - should the newer be worse? Nah. Ofcourse i think BIS will fix this. My fear isnt high yet. :)

Alex

[galzohar 31]

I still wonder why they make a view distance setting that only really has an effect on terrain. I couldn't care less if I can see terrain for 10km or 5km if units disappear after 2km. I'd rather have 3km view distance but also see units up to 3km...

It's not game breaking when it comes to infantry, but when it comes to tanks and other equipment that has a range of 4-8km IRL, it is game breaking. You need to both be able to see enemies at least out to your weapon's effective range, and also be able to actually see them (not pixelated) via implementing a more effective zoom feature (to help you toggle between "realistic visibility distance" to "realistic FOV").

[Steakslim 1]

I agree with above statement, though even as infantry, it does kill part of the immersion when planes and helos appear and vanish out of thin air like they do because of the draw distance. With enemy attack helos, sometimes that short draw distance gives you little time to react. The same issue can even be bad for spotting armor approaching your location from a distance. For those who have their view distances cranked up, it's even more unusual to watch, especially coming from ArmA1 where you can spot aircraft, and even ground patrols from great distances if you are sitting in the right place, and even in Chernarus there are places where this advantage can be taken if the draw distance was higher.

[Alex72 1]

And it makes the UAV useless - human controlled that is.

[arma2disapointed 10]

This thread is very important, almost as important as the one´s i have started.:mad:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=78221

:cool:

Edited July 19, 2009 by arma2disapointed

[chaplainDMK 10]

this thread is very important, almost as important as the one´s i have started.:mad:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=78221

:cool:

yes oh great guerilla against the evil bohemian interactive!!

We need the loader or else this game is below cod!!!

(damn the forum! i cant cap evreything for dramatic effect!)

[Jex =TE= 0]

Passenger jets fly 5 miles (8km) up in the sky and are easily visible so I think the OP is a reasonable request.

[Uziyahu--IDF 0]

This thread is very important, almost as important as the one´s i have started.:mad:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=78221

:cool:

My thread was started before your thread, nyah, nyah, nyah.