Spotting the enemy?

[VO101_Tom]

Originally Posted by Bonkin

Does anybody else find it extremely difficult to spot the enemy?
...

Hi. This question appears two weeks ago, when we flying on ATAG. My mates saw nothing, meantime I'm telling them the contacts. We take a closer look, and we found, that the problem was their MONITOR settings. Different monitor profiles, light and contrast, etc. I made a screenshot, you should see 5 contact (1 o clock, low):

(1680x1050 pixel, .bmp)
Contact test

Obvious, you have to see this picture in original size, without any zoom. Here is a little help if you don't find them.
If you see nothing, your monitor need adjust.

[Sokol1]

Originally Posted by VO101_Tom

I made a screenshot, you should see 5 contact (1 o clock, low):

(1680x1050 pixel, .bmp)
Contact test

I see six - one at ~2 o'clock - right, far.

Nice test, thank you.

Sokol1

[Matt255]

I see a formation of ~10 planes at 11 o'clock (to the right of the left canopy strut).

I also find it exceptionally hard to spot other planes and frequently lose wingmen or enemies after a few maneuvers. I guess it's just lack of practice.

Judging distances is also quite tough imho. Wether an enemy is 5 km or 2 km away, doesn't seem to make a huge difference.

I think overall, TrackIR might make this harder, because your head is moving around quite a bit. If the view would be steady most of the time (say you use a hatswitch or something), moving dots will most likely be easier to find. Unfortunately, i'm so used to TrackIR now that i'm not in the mood to test other view controls.

[VO101_Tom]

Originally Posted by Sokol1

I see six - one at ~2 o'clock - right, far.

Nice test, thank you.

Sokol1

Yes, you're right both of you
Anyway, the point is not the particular number, but it visible or not.

[MusseMus]

Originally Posted by VO101_Tom

Contact test

Thats a great "calibration template" Tom! It should be included in the official game manual

Cheers/m

[ATAG_Doc]

This photo shows a target rich environment.

[klem]

Originally Posted by VO101_Tom

Hi. This question appears two weeks ago, when we flying on ATAG. My mates saw nothing, meantime I'm telling them the contacts. We take a closer look, and we found, that the problem was their MONITOR settings. Different monitor profiles, light and contrast, etc. I made a screenshot, you should see 5 contact (1 o clock, low):

(1680x1050 pixel, .bmp)
Contact test

Obvious, you have to see this picture in original size, without any zoom. Here is a little help if you don't find them.
If you see nothing, your monitor need adjust.

I can just about see some of them but it depends on the angle of my eyes to the screen which may mean my eyes or my eyeglasses. I am sure I wouldn't detect them in flight looking like that yet I am sure I would see them at that range in-game as I estimate they are about 6km distant (only about half a sector) if on the deck. I tried the many different settings on my monitor without improvement over my current settings (I find dynamic contrast gives me the best result especially with the SMAA files). I wonder if one person's screen shot can truly carry across to someone elses screen.

Just how clear are they to you Tom and what is their appearance like?

[Bonkin]

Thanks for all your comments - very much appreciated. Yet to fly with squad mates so I can't verify if any of the changes I've made really work - so initial findings (flying around on my own) are somewhat subjective.

First off I tried Farber's suggestion and ensured that the stream cloud syncronisation checkbox was unchecked. At first it was enabled but greyed out so I couldn't change it - although I figured out that you have to set the generic settings (Downloads+Cloud) to enabled first. Only then can you change it for an individual game. Fired up the game and took off from Manston and headed for France. Managed to intercept a Staffel of He111's which I spotted from some distance... perhaps it's working?

Next tried out MusseMus suggestion and set AA to x8, native resolution, textures to "original" and model details "high". I did not try the MeshShowLod setting or the FXAA mod (can you apply this for online use?). Had a fly around and was able to track a few aircraft reasonably OK but still had difficulty with them against the ground. Very difficult to tell if there is actually any difference.

Klem suggested SweetFX rather than FXAA. Sorry didn't try that... still unsure it would be OK for online use.

Now we come to VO101 Tom and his "Contact test" calibration picture.

Originally Posted by VO101_Tom

Hi. This question appears two weeks ago, when we flying on ATAG. My mates saw nothing, meantime I'm telling them the contacts. We take a closer look, and we found, that the problem was their MONITOR settings. Different monitor profiles, light and contrast, etc. I made a screenshot, you should see 5 contact (1 o clock, low):

(1680x1050 pixel, .bmp)
Contact test

Obvious, you have to see this picture in original size, without any zoom. Here is a little help if you don't find them.
If you see nothing, your monitor need adjust.

Now this I thought was a good idea - but it is plane for me that I just couldn't see the dots (even with the help picture). So I set about changing my monitor settings and was able to tweak so I could see something. However, I'm absolutely certain that I wouldn't see them in game. The in game colours are now really rich and more life like - however outside of the game there is just too much contrast for normal windows applications.

I'll add more when I've been online with my squad. Initial findings would suggest that monitor settings and mode (mine has different ones for different uses), and disabling the steam cloud syncronisation, have the most effect.

[MusseMus]

Originally Posted by Bonkin

I'll add more when I've been online with my squad. Initial findings would suggest that monitor settings and mode (mine has different ones for different uses), and disabling the steam cloud syncronisation, have the most effect.

I'm glad your spotting has improved using some of the tricks mentioned in this thread!
I still highly recommend you to try the MeshShowLod setting and install FXAA or SweetFX since this is what made the biggest impact on my personal spotting. You can use it online without any trouble. It's not a cheat

Cheers/m

[VO101_Tom]

Hi guys.

I see the contacts as 2-3 pixel wide, small, grey dots. Not easy to see (as you read, I wrote 5 contacts, but there is another one, and a whole bomber squadron too), but it visible. I admit, from this distance this is a pixel-hunt.

The AA is an interesting thing. I don't use Anti Aliasing since IL-2, because when I turned on, I lost the contacts - mostly over ground). The game blurring the one pixel contacts into the background. Not good. Some of you wrote, that the CloD's FXAA improve his visibility... i will try it, but my experience, that every smoothing, blurring, etc effect only degrade the "one pixel contact" visibility.
Very important: The LCD monitors must be use in native resolution!
Increase monitor brightness and contrast helps*, but my mate said that he tried the dynamic contrast, but the screen flashed dimly. It is certainly not good.
Very important the ergonomy, sit an arm's length in front of the monitor.
* I'm tried to set the brightness-contrast 0-100. I saw the pixels all time, so if anyone simple don't see the pixels, that is an another problem then.

I don't know it helps or not, i write my monitor settings:
Samsung 226BW monitor, 1680x1050 native resolution.
Brightness 100
Contrast 75
Magicolor Off
Color Tone - normal
Color Control - 50-50-50
Gamma - mode3
Sharpness - 60
All other menu is indifferent, or "not available".

A small note at end: The contact visibility is the same, but the contact detection easier in the game, because the dots are moving. If you flying straight and don't move your head ("fixed the background"), you will see the contacts much easily than you see in a photo.