FOV settings

[skarden]

Yep this is almost exactly what I do, except I can do it all within the T.A.R.G.E.T software for my warthog controller, as said it does depends pretty heavily on what HOTAS software you use and what it can do but it does work quiet well, for me at least anyway.

I definitely recommend to try it if the normal 3 FOV set up doesn't work for you and your controller software can do it.

[ATAG_Snapper]

Originally Posted by skarden

Yep this is almost exactly what I do, except I can do it all within the T.A.R.G.E.T software for my warthog controller, as said it does depends pretty heavily on what HOTAS software you use and what it can do but it does work quiet well, for me at least anyway.

I definitely recommend to try it if the normal 3 FOV set up doesn't work for you and your controller software can do it.

I'll have to try that with my Warthog - sounds good. Thanks!

[Jatta Raso]

if you use JoyToKey you can have a progressive zoom in/out by assigning 2 Joystick buttons to those 2 tasks. then if you assign a third button to reset views, you can zoom in or out at will, and back to default view with a key press.

[_79_dev]

What I did with my X52 was:
1. I set one of pads on the yoke as a mouse, so any movement of mouse is controlled on the pad.
2. I set "ctrl" key as "hold to zoom" in il2 controls
3. Divided slider for 3 bands, and mapped "ctrl" key to lowest band

So basically if I have slider on the bottom position it's like having "ctrl" key pressed all the time, to control zoom fov I just use pad up and down. Whenever I don't need it just moving slider back up and I have my mouse back.

The only reason I did like that was because I mapped my controls from scratch, I can use ctrl key as another pinkle switch or mode so it gives me more options to use buttons on the yoke.

[zapatista]

but none of those work arounds you folks are describing allow you to assign a specific FoV to a kb-key or hotas control, do they ? and with the zooming in/out you are describing you never know what exact FoV value you are at and therefore you never know how far away a distant object is (other then when looking straigh ahead, and using the gunsight reticle to "frame" an object).

the purpose of being able to set a specific FoV as "normal" for your monitor size is because only then you can during normal flight see distant objects in their correct sizes and visibility for the distance they are from you (presuming CoD lod models are correctly modeled etc..). eg, a me-109 which normally has a wingspan of approx 10 m wide, will be displayed onscreen as 10 cm wide when you are 100 meters distance from him, and 1 cm wide when you are 1000 meters distance from it. ergo, while flying around in the il2/CoD virtual world the size of objects around you does matter a great deal because it relates to the distance they are from you (and implies there potential danger to you).

all you folks have described so far with these workarounds is to create a "magic zoom" so you can game-the-game and be more competitive online, but it doesnt represent or recreate a ww2 pilots experience

the zoom function in the il2 series is intended to briefly have some magnification while you aim for a particular part of an enemy aircraft (mimicking the increased concentration a pilot might have in a real life similar situation), and the wide view is intended to try and recreate some of the wider peripheral vision you have in real life (during a dog fight for ex) and have improved situational awareness. as such it is again a snap-view intended to briefly use so we can help to overcome some of the problems of sitting behind our small monitors in a living room, rather then being in a real life cockpit with something like 270 degree's visibility and a human peripheral vision which is roughly 180 degrees under normal conditions. and you cant permanently fly in that wider view because objects around you shrink in size, and therefore look further away from you etc..

[FS~Phat]

I guess you could work out the maths and setup a macro to give you the custom FOV you want. You'd have to work out the maths anyway even if there was a quick FOV setting. Id love to be able to switch to my preferred FOV like i could with IL2. But your right it is probably more about gaming the system than creating a simulation as most people dont have a monitor capable of a life size representation. So even "simulating" FOV for a given screen size and seating distance is not going to give you a simulation anyway because the screen sizes are too small. Thats why the zoom FOV exists.

Thats also why later this year Im attempting to build a 65-80" inch surround screen with a high enough resolution that you can create a lifesize cockpit view with good vertical and horizontal FOV. See my other 82" bezel-less thread to see what im talking about!

That's when you ultimately want a single fixed FOV appropriate for your screen and seating distance.

[Artist]

The Autohotkey solution (using the North/South of a POV hat), assuming that <Ctrl>+<Insert> ("Control Insert") is assigned to Camera, Keys, "Hold to adjust Field of View":

#Persistent
iIdStick = 1
SetTimer, watchPOV_Stick, 5

watchPOV_Stick:
    bFirst := true
    while(true){
        GetKeyState, iPOV, %iIdStick%JoyPOV  ; Get position of the POV control.

        ; Some joysticks might have a smooth/continous POV rather than one in fixed increments.
        ; To support them all, use a range:
        if iPOV < 0                                            ; No angle to report
            break
        else if (iPOV > 31500) OR (iPOV >= 0 AND iPOV < 4500){      ; 315 to 360 to 45 degrees: Forward
            zoomViewIn(bFirst)
            bFirst := false
        }
        else if (iPOV >= 13500) AND (iPOV <= 22500){           ; 135 to 180 to 225 degrees: Backward
            zoomViewOut(bFirst)
            bFirst := false
        }
        else
            break
    }
    return

zoomViewOut(bFirst){
    if(bFirst){
        MouseMove 0, 1200, 0
    }
    Send !{Insert down}
    MouseMove 0, -1, 0, R
    Send !{Insert up}
    return 0
}    
zoomViewIn(bFirst){
    if(bFirst){
        MouseMove 0, 0, 0
    }
    Send !{Insert down}
    MouseMove 0, 1, 0, R
    Send !{Insert up}
    return 0
}

Artist

Originally posted in the thread How is variable zoom done?

[zapatista]

Originally Posted by FS~Phat

I guess you could work out the maths and setup a macro to give you the custom FOV you want. You'd have to work out the maths anyway even if there was a quick FOV setting.

there is no complex mathematics involved at all

for 95% of il2/CoD players they sit at roughly an arms length from their flat screen monitors. monitor size for them varies from 19 to 30' , and the viewing distance is determined by the monitor technology (lcd in this case). some sit a little closer then that, some a little further away, but it wont vary by much. hence it is pretty simple for each of those screen sizes (19, 20, 22, 24, 25, 27, and 30) to determine with a basic formula what the correct FoV is, and once set to this value the player can see all ingame objects in their correct sizes, and knowing the object they look at they will know from its size what the distance is. for my 27' pc screen that FoV is 50 or 55, and in il2 i had that set to my "normal" keyboard key, and was able to use quick snap views to 35 or 90 FoV to briefly overcome the limitations of sitting behind a pc monitor rather then look out of a real cockpit in ww2.

the fact a large number of il2/CoD players never made that mental leap results in them either playing in a dinky-toy world where all objects have shrunk (and hence it distorts distance perspective) when set to an artificially wide FoV, or they are playing superman flightsim by giving themselves "magic magnification" eyes to zoom in and spot minuscule objects on the ground no ww2 pilot would ever find.

its a very different experience flying around in the il2/CoD world with the correct FoV and limit yourself to that most of the time, its err well you know, more "real".

it absolutely boggles the mind that luthier has succeeded in leaving out simple well working features that existed in the il2 series, and right now for CoD as a result is PREVENTING people from seeing the CoD in-world objects (and scenery) correctly.