My plane for a dot

[Uriah]

I know there has been lots of post on this but I must say this is killing my pleasure of the game. I see the plane - just a few pixels. I get closer, it disappears for three to five seconds and then roars by as a full image of a plane.

As I only play in the American central time in the evening the only server I find anybody on is the ATAG server. And of course it is full cockpit and no helps like labels.

So I wonder, can the TF modders can actually do something to fix that. And if not can labels be used but just changed to a period or some such thing?

[ATAG_Deacon]

Uriah,

Try what String recommended here:

http://theairtacticalassaultgroup.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3991

it worked wonders for me.

~S~

Deacon

[Uriah]

I did but the planes still disappear for those vital few seconds.

[92 Sqn. Philstyle (QJ-P)]

dots, dots, dots.. what to do about them dots..

When the object is just rendering as a dot, it's generally easy to see. However, it is possible to make the long-range dots difficult to see. All you have to do in order to make your dots disappear is to reduce the field of view (otherwise known as "zooming in").

Now, this phenomena, is, oddly, replicated in the reverse once the dot has rendered into the full object (polygons or 3d model or whatever it is made up of). At this point, the object disappears at the wide field of view (zoomed out) but is much easier to see at the narrow field of view (zoomed in).

So, what does this mean, I hear you ask;

When objects are still far away, and are only dots, keep the wide field of view/ zoom out in order to track them
Just as the dots change to objects (this takes experience to anticipate this point) then lick to the narrow field of view in order to maintain sight of them



Some additional tricks;

The default colour palette in CloD is remarkably bland. This lack of contrast makes it hard to see objects, specifically those objects with camouflage (blue/ grey paint jobs, for example).

You CAN, however, increase the contrast a number of ways,
1. Adjust the graphics card or monitor settings in windows - this will, however change all windows settings, not just CloD
2. Download and install a thirds party FXAA tool such as "sweetfx" or "injectfx". With these tools there are just one or two values you can adjust ("saturation") that will have a significant affect on the in-game colours, and will make it easier to see aircraft.

I think this is a link to the inject_fx tool:
http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=32255

[Mattias]

dots, dots, dots.. what to do about them dots..

When the object is just rendering as a dot, it's generally easy to see. However, it is possible to make the long-range dots difficult to see. All you have to do in order to make your dots disappear is to reduce the field of view (otherwise known as "zooming in").

Now, this phenomena, is, oddly, replicated in the reverse once the dot has rendered into the full object (polygons or 3d model or whatever it is made up of). At this point, the object disappears at the wide field of view (zoomed out) but is much easier to see at the narrow field of view (zoomed in).

So, what does this mean, I hear you ask;

When objects are still far away, and are only dots, keep the wide field of view/ zoom out in order to track them
Just as the dots change to objects (this takes experience to anticipate this point) then lick to the narrow field of view in order to maintain sight of them



Some additional tricks;

The default colour palette in CloD is remarkably bland. This lack of contrast makes it hard to see objects, specifically those objects with camouflage (blue/ grey paint jobs, for example).

You CAN, however, increase the contrast a number of ways,
1. Adjust the graphics card or monitor settings in windows - this will, however change all windows settings, not just CloD
2. Download and install a thirds party FXAA tool such as "sweetfx" or "injectfx". With these tools there are just one or two values you can adjust ("saturation") that will have a significant affect on the in-game colours, and will make it easier to see aircraft.

I think this is a link to the inject_fx tool:
http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=32255

:salute:

Good post Philstyle!

You are correct in that the dots are easy to spot and I claim they are "too big" when zoomed out, hence causing the impression of contacts suddenly disappearing when the dot is transferred into a 3D object.
An annoying phenomena that is still plaguing the sim, but the only solution to the problem would be to make distant dots harder to spot, and I do not think anyone would want that :thumbsup:

Cheers/m


Cheers/m

[Bear Pilot]

Uriah I had the same problem. What Philstyle references above does help but I found it annoying to have to find the right zoom just to keep an eye on the target that disappears otherwise. I also don't have TrackIR so for me that solution could never be a long term one. When I did the following, the problem was completely gone. Also, I run the game on the native, and highest resolution.

Simply go to your Il-2 Mod folder. In there find the conf.ini file. After that, find Visibility distance under the sub heading [core]. If you haven't already changed it, it should be 3. In the file it will look like this...VisibilityDistance=3....you want to change it to 5. I set mine to 8, some people say 5 is as good as it gets and anything above it does nothing but what the heck, why not.

Also under [core] and below VisibilityDistance you need to find MeshShowLod. I think it will say it =0. Change that to 1. This you can play with and see what you find. If you go to high planes will look like clay models from my experience. I'm no genius, I think it was Stormbat71 that gave me this tip.

All I know is I had the same aggravating problem you're experiencing and since doing the above I no longer lose planes in that disappearance zone. For me, it still requires a good amount of attention to keep an eye on the target (again, exaggerated by my lack of TrackIR with which I feel it would be infinitely easier) and there is a point where contacts change from dots to very faint silhouettes and get better as they come closer. But they don't completely up and disappear pre and post head-ons for example.

Hope it helps

Happy Hunting

Bear Pilot

[Kling]

You might want to check this thread as well!
:)
http://theairtacticalassaultgroup.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4428&p=44766

[Uriah]

i am here:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover

and in conf.ini

VisibilityDistance=64

MeshShowLod=1 it was a 0

report comes tomorrow.

[Foul Ole Ron]

Switching MeshShowLod to 1 will fix the medium distance planes disappearing problem more or less. However it does come at a price as it makes some hefty demands on your processor / graphics card. I've got a 3770k and a 7970 and I can hear the fans kick into a higher gear as I fly over Hawkinge and I can get stutters as well if I'm flying low to medium height. Flies totally fine everywhere else though - probably too many static models on the ground around Hawk that CLOD is trying to render all at once that's causing the problem. I can put up with it though and just avoid Hawk as the benefits of being actually able to track a plane in the sky far outweigh some stutter around vulcher land.