Hard to see the aircraft

[Mr Greezy]

This all makes sense.

I figured my eyes were just used to the slightly cartoonish looks of other sims out there.


After a couple of hours flying around today I did get used to it.

The more I play this sim, the more I love it. The patches are making it better all the time. Comms, AI, performance...bam -- this thing is going to be a killer.

[corchard]

I didn't realize how much my ability to spot aircraft had improved until I was showing the sim to a friend who was visiting.

I kept telling him "there's a bogey" and he had no idea where until I pointed out each one on the screen... and even then he was amazed I could pick out such tiny dots.

I guess it's the sim equivalent of real-life pilots developing their ability to spot distant aircraft.

Charlo

[CardboardSword]

Yeah even barring the "ghost dot" problem, which is legitimately frustrating, it's very difficult to spot planes. Keep your eye on your opponent and it's often the difference between winning and losing. I don't think it needs much adjusting besides maybe a reflection tweak, not that I'm a pilot or anything, but it certainly shouldn't be easy and there are limits that technology presents. I think I'd rather it be too difficult than too easy. We don't play with icons on for a reason. I'm sure I mosey on past 3 or 4 planes for every one I spot and/or engage, but then I get lucky sometimes too, seeing planes from a significant distance.

I too have noticed I have a keener eye for this sort of thing now. My girlfriend occasionally watches me play and usually can't see them even after I point them out. Not until I'm almost on top of them can she spot them often-times (less than 1km-ish anyway).

[Damixu]

I have to concur also that I can't see on this sim quite close targets which shold be easy to spot. I think somehow the level-of-detail (LOD) thingy eats up the target dots at certain range.

[Sven]

I have a real hard time here with a hat-switch, I can only see them if they're really close, or when my nose is pressed against my monitor.

[FFCW_Urizen]

Originally Posted by Sven

I have a real hard time here with a hat-switch, I can only see them if they're really close, or when my nose is pressed against my monitor.

I use a hat switch too(no TrackIR, yet), spotting them is not so hard, keeping track of ´em is. the problem here is, you can only rotate in steps of 45° and sometimes that´s just too much.

I'd like it if there was an option for some manner of ROF style icon or something of the sort. Right now playing online is frustrating since people are so obsessed with everything being 100% real that they leave "tags" off because WWII pilots didn't have them, but fly 20 feet above the ground looking up . . . because WWII pilots knew having an altitude advantage was a bad thing?

I remember that famous scene from the Battle of Britain movie where the Brits and Huns were circling around the south of England, desperately trying to get under their opponents. It was so tense, watching those Spits and 109's getting lower and lower.

[sorak]

Originally Posted by FFCW_Urizen

I use a hat switch too(no TrackIR, yet), spotting them is not so hard, keeping track of ´em is. the problem here is, you can only rotate in steps of 45° and sometimes that´s just too much.

Ive allways wanted the option to be able to change that 45 degree to a lesser amount.. i wonder if there is a way to do that..

[Osmo]

Originally Posted by sorak

Ive allways wanted the option to be able to change that 45 degree to a lesser amount.. i wonder if there is a way to do that..

A program called NewView helps a lot.

It allows you to simulate TrackIR with your hatswitch. When you start pressing hatswitch right for example, it moves smoothly to the right. Initially slowly and then accelerates faster (the time, speeds and acceleration are fully adjustable). When you release the hat switch the view stays in that position. You can then set a button for centering the view quickly if needed. That makes it quite easy to keep eyes on target even without TrackIR.

I'm not sure if it works with Cliffs of Dover but I used it for a long time with IL-2 1946 before I bought TrackIR

http://war.by-airforce.com/downloads/newview.html