Graphics settings and kill ratio

[Yankee67]

Not sure where this belongs, but I've been meaning to mention this on the boards.  I stumbled upon something, and want to see if people have had a similar experience.  When I up a fighter, if I go to graphics settings and uncheck detailed terrain, it seems like I can't miss when I shoot.  I had one fight where I was at his high seven oclock turning left with him, went inverted to unload my wings for a nanosecond, and put the entire burst into his cockpit while inverted.  Most times I can actually methodically pick apart control surfaces with short bursts.  But while detailed terrain is checked, I have a hard time hitting anything.  Does detailed terrain do that much lag damage while in the air flying?

[FLS]

What is your usual frame rate? Does it change when you uncheck detailed terrain?

[Bizman]

It's hard to tell how much detailed terrain may affect flying without knowing both your hardware details and background processes, without forgetting phenomenons of the spirit world and position of sun spots. But simply put, yes, under certain circumstances detailed terrain can affect your aim.

[DmonSlyr]

It could simply be a placebo effect. Sometimes changing settings make you feel like you perform or fly better. I have been using low graphics on my laptop and my aiming is the worst it has ever been. I have a hard time shooting planes when we are riding along the deck because of the darkness of the terrain.

Although changing the water can sometimes effect your depth perception and that may make you auger haha.

I am hoping that with my new PC I'm about to build using the top notch graphics will help me aim better.

[Yankee67]

Frame rate typically hovers at 46 to 56 fps, solid 59 with detailed terrain unchecked.

[FLS]

Frame rate typically hovers at 46 to 56 fps, solid 59 with detailed terrain unchecked.

That FPS change seems to show that your system slows down from the terrain detail checked. If you temporarily turn off v synch in AH video settings you can see the actual difference.

[Gman]

As said, could be placebo, then again, may not be.

I know that resolution plays a huge part in the size of targets.  The first day I came back to really flying much at all in the MA, I had just bought a spanky new 27" 1440p monitor, and went up to 1440p from 1080p 24" resolution for my first few flights.  After one duel, and a few hops, I realized that my targets were all far, far smaller.  Thought it might just be in my head, so I actually broke out a set of calipers and measured from film on both monitors - nope, they were definitely smaller. 

I remember when Drex famously lowered his resolution to 800x600 for duels at a convention, back when most players used 1024x768 or even somewhat higher - there is method to that madness, and it = larger and easier to hit targets within the game.

Now, so far as detail level, that's definitely a frame rate or PC performance related issue - IMO at least.  If you get little burps/pauses/etc with contacts in the gunsight, and lowering detail levels fixes this....dunno, maybe something there, but it's hard to say without experiencing it oneself. 

This certainly isn't the first time I've heard that altering how the game is viewed on screen affects accuracy however way the cookie crumbles.

[Lazerr]

I have found that playing with the Field of View settings (FOV) will help make things a little bigger.  I think I use 104 on my setup? (You don't need to adjust this much, the settings that are playable seem to be 100 through 110.  You can change this in the video settings at the AH homescreen.

I believe it will slightly cut into the square footage of what you see from the cockpit in terms of the playing field, but will help make planes easier to see.

Maybe this is off topic, but thought it was useful to share to help maximize your gameplay.

I played for years on a crappy PC, and finally upgraded.  I couldn't figure out why my aim went to heck, and thought everything looked small.  This change got me a little closer to being able to shoot like I used to.

 

[Gman]

Agree, oh mouse aiming friend, that any changes at all in your system, especially monitor or screen settings, can really, really mess up your aim.  I know Skuzzy and others had given advice regarding changing FOV, and I did mess with it, but found just going back to 1080p on the 27" new monitor made things look close enough that my aim came back, or at least the kill rate and such did.  Maybe I'll mess with FOV and higher resolution some offline later and see, I made it bigger, not smaller, so maybe going in the other direction, and giving less FOV may make targets large enough that I can switch back to the higher res and look at the pretty lights as well as hit stuff.

I'm using one of the new "G Sync" monitors, tried it with both 970 SLI and 980 cards, and it works fantastically for removing little graphics issues, those little hiccups/problems in rendering, are completely gone in all games, including AH.  It really makes a difference, not sure it's worth the 200$ plus for the little piece of board/tech in the box, but it does actually have a positive effect. 

[BBP]

Why mess with any of that stuff? Why not just hit Z and use magnification. ?????
Kimo

[Scca]

Why mess with any of that stuff? Why not just hit Z and use magnification. ?????
Kimo

I found zooming in makes hitting planes harder...  To each his own...

[bustr]

Zooming in takes away your perception of induced G in your turn. It may look like you have your deflection allowance perfectly framed. And then because of your tunnel visioned zoom state, you really don't have a sense of how much you are pulling into your turn or state of your diving. The G builds on you and you watch your tracers falling behind or out to a side courtesy of zoom.

This argues in favor of using a dot to give you a clear view field through the gunsight reflector plate.

[Randy1]

I have found that playing with the Field of View settings (FOV) will help make things a little bigger.  I think I use 104 on my setup? . . .
 

I use 88 in the P-38 and P-47.  Trackir makes a low FOV more workable.

[BBP]

The way I use ZOOM is to get within firing distance (400) flip it on and you can't miss. All the items you guys mentioned don't need to be dealt with  because all that's left is to pull the trigger at a plane the size of a barnyard. You read about these guys firing into the cockpit and hitting the pilot in the head. Well? This is how they do it.

[The Fugitive]

The way I use ZOOM is to get within firing distance (400) flip it on and you can't miss. All the items you guys mentioned don't need to be dealt with  because all that's left is to pull the trigger at a plane the size of a barnyard. You read about these guys firing into the cockpit and hitting the pilot in the head. Well? This is how they do it.

Id like to see a film or two of you doing this. My aim is horrible and Im open to new ways of hitting things.