Aircraft against the terrain

[Dobs]

I find it very difficult to see/distinguish an aircraft when it is against the terrain.

They just disappear and I find myself shooting at the icon...

This gets exasperated by twilight...

Here are screen shots from me right behind a big ol' jug....

105 FOV
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-kwhapBgCtYbVY5QWl1VEptR2c/view?usp=sharing
Zoomed
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-kwhapBgCtYWG9XNFZ4WkFPeVk/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-kwhapBgCtYQ20tZmFMVTRJNmc/view?usp=sharing

Twilight is in effect.  My shadows are off, gamma is 1.6 in the pictures.  Not sure how to make the aircraft "more distinct"....but this adds to frustration with "twilight" feature..

[The Fugitive]

isnt that the idea of camouflage?

[thrila]

I also find it challenging to see cons against terrain since the switch to AH 3. I understand this may be due to monitor settings.

[Dobs]

So camouflage at 1200 feet....best seen to date next to the Romulans cloaking device (which this does a great job of mimicking).  Camo works at distance, and usually you pick up movement before color, so staring right at an aircraft 1200' in front of me means that I should not have any issues "seeing" them....  This is just a case of "dark on dark" in the graphics engine....without actual depth perception, it makes it unusually hard to distinguish a dark object against a dark background...toss in twilight "feature" and it is next to impossible.

Thrilla, Glad to see I'm not the only one who see's this as an issue...

[hitech]

It is extremely difficult to pick out a plane against terrain in real life also.

HiTech

[popeye]

I also find it challenging to see cons against terrain since the switch to AH 3.

+1

On the other hand, if I am 10,000 feet above a lone fighter on the deck at dusk, would I even see him without the neon icon?

Feature, or bug -- it's in the eye of the beholder.   

[Becinhu]

It's very difficult for the targeting computer to lock on to a target that small. I'm never gonna hit that thermal exhaust port....


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[thrila]

Is that the one right above the main port or that other one below it?

[Chilli]

Feature???  Not sure, but it does seem to be well documented in these screen shots.  What is even more puzzling is the size of the wingtip of the Ki84??? just above the cockpit in the unzoomed screenshot.  This is what I would assume would be visible from the cockpit.  That quickly fades away to very tiny and difficult to read directions past 600 - 800 yds (or there abouts).

Then even with these  eyes I can read the scoreboard at a football game, but can hardly see an entire wing at that same distance 

Regardless of the numbers' crunched, this is an area that could use some real attention. 

I will even go further and say, this should also apply to ground vehicles at some point.

One odd (maybe out of the box) idea, could be replacement of icon at gunner range with a thin highlight around the silhouette of a locked on target.
 

[Becinhu]

Is that the one right above the main port or that other one below it?

It would be the small port just below the main one...lol


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[thrila]

It would be the small port just below the main one...lol

I'm glad we cleared that up. There's nothing worse than one's torpedo not going in and just impacting on the surface.

[bustr]

I love all of Waffle's work but, part of your problem is the mask called the gunsight reflector plate glass is darker than real life for your L3 in that P38. Some number of reflector plates in the game are like that along with the a6m family the sun screen was never used because it darkened out the pilot's view. That is why you cannot see things through those gunsights in the game until you drive up your con's kester. It gets worse in low light. You should be seeing through your gunsight with the same clarity as your front quarter windscreen planes.

These photos show how clear WW2 reflector plates should be, back then they had to be because the pilot was betting his life on it.


L3 in a P38.




K14 in a P51D.

[Dawger]

It is extremely difficult to pick out a plane against terrain in real life also.

HiTech

Not if you are fairly close and know exactly where they are.

We know exactly where to look because of the icon yet they are invisible or nearly invisible.

They should not be invisible.



Even when filmed with poor quality, unfocused movie cameras you can see the aircraft when in gun range as is demonstrated in the gun camera footage below.



I have had the occasion to need to pick out aircraft (in real life) against terrain on many occasions and they are not hard to see when you look at them. They might be hard to FIND against the terrain but they are not hard to see once you know where they are and you are within a mile. Within guns range, they should not be invisible. Many times in game the only clue they are there above the icon is the hit sprites as I spray the area down from 300 yards.

[Dawger]

One odd (maybe out of the box) idea, could be replacement of icon at gunner range with a thin highlight around the silhouette of a locked on target.
 

A "halo" around the aircraft silhouette instead of the text icon when inside 400 yards would be an awesome improvement in the game.

I have been wishing for "halo" icons since Dobs came up with the idea 20 years ago in a galaxy far, far away.

[Dobs]

"One odd (maybe out of the box) idea, could be replacement of icon at gunner range with a thin highlight around the silhouette of a locked on target."  -Chili

Actually proposed this in lieu of icons "way back when" (different Sim though).... it went something like this:

If I look out a view and an aircraft is within 1000 then it gets a halo (highlight) indicating bandit in 1 sec.  If it is 1001 to 2000 it takes 2 secs, 2001 to 3000 3 seconds, etc........ If you keep looking long enough the icon appears so you know its a 190, P-51 etc... how long is long enough? Well you can double the time it takes to get a halo...so a con inside 1000 gets an icon in 2 seconds, etc...  Once you close within 600 then you get the icon to disappear and only the halo stays.

Gives a little more "realism" to obtaining Tally, getting an ID, and  having to "search" for those longer range cons....

The highlight would solve the "aircraft paint pixel matches the terrain paint pixel" issue and "highlight" the aircraft slightly...

Like the way you think Chili....