Default FOV too zoomed in?

[zeep 3]

afaik the angle is in radians, 2PI radians = 360 degrees, so 90 degrees is ~1.57 radians, though testing it shows that this is not very accurate. You'll get pretty close to a 90deg FOV though with 1.57 as fovLeft (and the matching number for fovTop according to your aspect ratio, in our case 0.98125).

If anything, though, the default FOV is too zoomed out. Even with zooming in on default FOV it's very hard to see people at 300m and beyond, and that's with the zoomed-in default FOV being between 30 and 45 degrees. Default unzoomed seems somewhere between 60 and 90 degrees, and zoomed out between 90 and 120 degrees. It's not extremely close to either value (seems like zoomed in is 2X, zoomed out X2/3). Anyway remember it's not all about FOV, seeing distant enemies/friendlies is just as important as seeing close by ones.

Yes FOV 90 was a bit too much indeed. I started changing some numbers and settled with fovTop=0.85; fovLeft=1.3. This looks fairly natural and less claustrophobic. Mind you i haven't calculated these numbers, just changed them a bit and compared screenshots.

The only problem now is that when i use weapon sights i see a part of the soldier's right cheek. It looks really ackward. My guess is since i haven't calculated the above numbers the ratio is wrong.

My 3d resolution is 1344 x 840. What numbers would be right for me, straying not too far from fovTop=0.85 and fovLeft=1.3 ?

Thanks for the help so far.

[galzohar 31]

You use a 16:10 aspect ratio (I assume that is the ratio of your monitor's native resolution as well, or else you should change it to fit and things will look much better), and thus your FOV should have that ratio. That is, if your fovLeft is 16, your fovTop should be 10. 1.3/0.85=~1.53 while you want 1.6 (16/10), so should increase the fovTop to 1.3*10/16=0.8125 to keep the proper ratio.

With such a low resolution though I don't understand how you can see anything with the default FOV, not to mention a larger FOV...

Are you aware of the "zoom out" key? If walking around with default FOV is claustrophobic for you, you can simply zoom out, and keep a reasonable ability to see stuff at a distance when you need to. Of course the toggle is bugged on scoped weapons and vehicles, but that can probably be worked around with autohotkey... Now for the autohotkey people to post a script that works around that bug! :)

[WindsorGamer 10]

Agreed. I have zoom in toggle and zoom out toggle tied to thumb buttons on my mouse. I find I use the zoom out for patrols and general traversing as it helps with my situational awareness.

What bothers me is that the sticky zoom out does not work in aircaft where I need it most. I am forced to use an analog zoom which is great for targeting but I'd sure like to have a sticky zoom out for navigation / target tracking.

[zeep 3]

You use a 16:10 aspect ratio (I assume that is the ratio of your monitor's native resolution as well, or else you should change it to fit and things will look much better), and thus your FOV should have that ratio. That is, if your fovLeft is 16, your fovTop should be 10. 1.3/0.85=~1.53 while you want 1.6 (16/10), so should increase the fovTop to 1.3*10/16=0.8125 to keep the proper ratio.

Ok i've changed the values to: fovTop=0.8125 and fovLeft=1.3. Crossing fingers that i don't see cheeks anymore! Thanks.

With such a low resolution though I don't understand how you can see anything with the default FOV, not to mention a larger FOV...

My resolution is low for higher fps.. But do you mean a higher resolution gets more FOV in ARMA2? Or just that my resolution is too low for clarity's sake? :)

Are you aware of the "zoom out" key? If walking around with default FOV is claustrophobic for you, you can simply zoom out, and keep a reasonable ability to see stuff at a distance when you need to. Of course the toggle is bugged on scoped weapons and vehicles, but that can probably be worked around with autohotkey... Now for the autohotkey people to post a script that works around that bug! :)

Yes, i use the zoom out key. Feels unrealistic though :P

Funny that you mention that toggle bug, it happened to me last night while i was testing.

[galzohar 31]

The toggle bug happens with all scoped weapons and all vehicles, so it's not hard to notice ;)

Currently at 1680X1050 with defualt FOV and zooming in I still have a hard time seeing people standing up on an airfield at 300m. IRL I would easily see them at 1km. That's why it's more realistic to use the zoom in/out than not using it - even fully zoomed it you're still short-sighted compared to a real person.

Once I manage to work around the toggle bug (using an autohotkey script) I will change my default FOV to lower so that zooming out will give me what currently is default (since with current default I never zoom out anyway). That way I'll spot targets at 1.5X further, meaning I can actually see people at 450m which is still not realistic but better than 300m.

Again, zooming in/out may be unrealistic but not being able to see far away people/objects or not having a FOV that allows you to walk in a straight line is much less realistic.

[zeep 3]

Can it be that the G36's reflex sight is off due to setting FOV?

With other weapons i'm not experiencing this but when i use the G36 with reflex sight it's way off past +/- 200 mtrs.

[Dead3yez 0]

To me the default FOV is way too zoomed it. I like a larger FOV for situational awareness, and driving without it being like I'm looking through a pair of binoculars at the same time.

[frederf 0]

Dead3yez, it is adjustable in your profile settings.

[odjob 0]

Does trackir mess with fov? I have been using it for some time, and now when starting arma2 without (trackir) it seems the fov is different, more zoomed in.

[maddogx 13]

Does trackir mess with fov? I have been using it for some time, and now when starting arma2 without (trackir) it seems the fov is different, more zoomed in.

Leaning back or forward with TrackIR will zoom out or in respectively. Normally TrackIR should not affect your FOV in any other way.

[Dead3yez 0]

Dead3yez, it is adjustable in your profile settings.

To me the default FOV is way too zoomed in.

& There should be GUI ingame options for this.

[galzohar 31]

While increasing FOV so you can see more stuff sounds great at first, the fact is it reduces your already-poor ability to spot enemies at distance. With default it's already near-impossible to spot a target at 300m, not to mention ID it - increase FOV more and it'll be totally impossible.

Zooming out with default FOV gives so much FOV that I never even use it, though I do agree they should fix the zoom in/out toggling with scoped weapons and vehicles.

[zeep 3]

Ok i'll ask it different :p

Does changin FOV settings make weapon sights / acog / reflex misalligned?

[galzohar 31]

Not that I have noticed (though G36 is known to be buggy at times, modified FOV or not - you may want to search for more details). Especially scopes completely ignore your FOV settings and use their fixed FOV instead.

[frederf 0]

& There should be GUI ingame options for this.

Probably

Ok i'll ask it different :p

Does changin FOV settings make weapon sights / acog / reflex misalligned?

The profile adjustment just affects your unsighted FOVs... anything scoped or whatnot has its own that are untouched. I.e. no.

[galzohar 31]

Non-magnifying sights are affected by your FOV settings.

[zeep 3]

Non-magnifying sights are affected by your FOV settings.

So this goes for all iron sights? Or do you mean a weapon that doesn't change the FOV when raised/aimed?

[mattxr 9]

i agree with this on vehicles, you feel like your head is up agsint the front windscreen lol..

[galzohar 31]

With non-scoped weapons, aimed has the exact same FOV as unaimed. For scoped weapons the aimed FOV is always the same regardless of your FOV setting.

[zeep 3]

With non-scoped weapons, aimed has the exact same FOV as unaimed. For scoped weapons the aimed FOV is always the same regardless of your FOV setting.

Sorry to keep asking but i want to really understand this. So i can possibly offset ironsight accuracy with custom FOV settings if they're not in the correct ratio? Or do shots always go where the sight is aimed at? :confused:

[scruffy 22]

Your virtual eye is still perfectly in line with the sights, no matter what FOV you have. You just zoom in or out, but the eye still looks at the same point. Everything that changes that (movement, that damned kneeling anim) have nothing to do with the FOV.

[galzohar 31]

Sorry to keep asking but i want to really understand this. So i can possibly offset ironsight accuracy with custom FOV settings if they're not in the correct ratio? Or do shots always go where the sight is aimed at? :confused:

At least I hadn't noticed any accuracy issues caused by changing the FOV. But either way you should keep the correct ratio (4:3, 16:10 or 16:9 according to your monitor and resolution) just so that your image doesn't look compressed/stretched. It's not that big of a deal - just choose your fovLeft and divide by your aspect ratio to set fovTop (aka 1.6 for 16:10 monitor/resolution).

Had a guy run 4:3 on a 16:10 monitor for a while... When I told him to properly set it to 16:10, he insisted that everything is "compressed" and that the circle of the aimpoint is an ellipse. He then took a measuring tape and realized that it was actually a circle, and it only looked like an ellipse because he was used to the stretched view of running 4:3 on a 16:10 monitor ;)

Edited September 25, 2009 by galzohar