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[ProblemChild]

I love this game due to its content and the feel of it. My problem has always been the fact that I have a huge problem spotting enemy planes on no HUD. I can't get myself to enjoy the game with markers, Its just cheating. I would love to be able to clearly see my foe, I don't have this problem in IL2 GB just 1946.

I understand that it is an old game, so my issue  may not be possible to overcome but is there something that can be done at all? I am 100% sure it is not my eyesight as well.

Its worse on Eastern front maps where there's a lot of greenery. A soviet fighter camouflaged with green livery. flying below me is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

I would also like to point that I am playing on 4K resolution, I would prefer a solution that doesn't require me to lower my graphical settings.

Thanks

[Frankiek]

I think we are all facing these problems, and unfortunately the higher the resolution the smaller the object becomes as everything is sized in pixels.

These days found myself better of with my old 19' display at 1280*1024 rather than my laptop 17' 1920*1280. It is a nightmare to track down enemy planes unless they are not within the famous 5,000 m radius possibly in front of you.

What to say I tend to use map and icons at least to get a general direction where to point. I am taking it as a guidance from friendlies and control.

Unfortunately we don't have the possibility to query friendly planes or to receive a message unless enemy is really close by differently from our AI colleagues that inevitably know much better than you. I really hate it when my flight suddenly abandons my to   to chase after enemy pane leaving me (their CO) totally unaware staying the course. Few mission maker use the AC functions and dedicated objects (spotter etc) that can provide guidance.

I suppose that my rant ends here as I don't really have a solution

Cheers you are not alone

[tomoose]

IL2 1946 can only simulate situational awareness up to a point so flying full realism is IMHO never going to be like real life with one of the reasons being what you mention here.  Peripheral vision is another aspect that match reality hence the various opinions on FOV settings etc.  Screen/game resolution obviously has its pros and cons too.  AI comms and AI reactions can also only do so much within the game.  Lots of players find workarounds or live with the imposed artificialities.

For what its worth, using F6 while considered cheating by some, IMHO compensates for that lack of visibility against the ground and Situational Awareness (i.e. hit F6 so you get a an idea of where the bad guy is then get back in the cockpit)

Ultimately it all boils down to what works for you and helps you enjoy the game in the best way possible.  What works for one won't work or is unacceptable to another.

[FL2070]

I have a huge problem spotting enemy planes on no HUD.

[...]

I would prefer a solution that doesn't require me to lower my graphical settings.

Unfortunately, the only solution that exists (as far as I'm aware) absolutely requires you to lower your graphical settings. As planes are rendered as a set number of pixels once past a certain range, the game must be run at a lower resolution if you want planes to be more visible at longer ranges. That's all there is to it.

[ProblemChild]

Thank you all for your input and for sharing your opinions and tips.

How exactly do I lower the resolution so that the game captures the whole screen instead of showing up in a small window?

If i want to go down from 4K to 2K my game's window becomes a small square instead of taking up the whole screen?

[FL2070]

How exactly do I lower the resolution so that the game captures the whole screen instead of showing up in a small window?

Either:
1) play the game in fullscreen mode, in which case it will usurp the native monitor resolution while running and in the foreground, or
2) change your monitor resolution at the OS level... but this is horrifically inconvenient, so even though it's possible and would "work", the first option is almost definitely better.

[Frankiek]

you need to ensure that the proper scaling is used by the program.
right click on Il2fb.exe choose properties then compatibility tab  in settings click on high DPI then finally click the two cases to use program DPI and to override the high DPI settings and ok apply ok and you are done. In this way the scaling is managed by the app according to your conf.ini and not by the overall windows scaling.

Other option would be to match overall windows resolution to the one used by IL-2 and use 100% scaling, but for sure this will create problems in other programmes so the first solution is to be preferred.   

In any case games runs better in full screen mode rather than window and if you set ChangeScreenRes=1 then when you launch resolution will be automatically changed however better to use the exe properties so you really don't have to change anything.

[ProblemChild]

Many thanks all.

Great community, always ready to help

[WxTech]

For plane icons, beyond a pretty near distance I have just a single character set for the identifying text, this vharacter being an asterisk. Furthermore, I use a quite tiny font for the HUD icon text. Finally, in the .mat file I set partial transparency, to make the icon a bit less intrusive still. This for me is a good compromise for playability which doesn't feel too much like cheating.

[ProblemChild]

For plane icons, beyond a pretty near distance I have just a single character set for the identifying text, this vharacter being an asterisk. Furthermore, I use a quite tiny font for the HUD icon text. Finally, in the .mat file I set partial transparency, to make the icon a bit less intrusive still. This for me is a good compromise for playability which doesn't feel too much like cheating.

I accidentally messaged you privately. I am not sure wether my reply to your message even went through. But I was asking if you could give me a tutorial how to make my icons appear like yours?

If you also wouldnt mind sharing some example pictures, I would really appreciate that.

[Draken]

A soviet fighter camouflaged with green livery. flying below me is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

The purpose of the camouflage is to hide the plane .
Your noticing proves that IL2 1946 is a realistic flight simulator .

[ProblemChild]

A soviet fighter camouflaged with green livery. flying below me is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

The purpose of the camouflage is to hide the plane .
Your noticing proves that IL2 1946 is a realistic flight simulator .

No it does not, Its clearly a rendering issue as the planes seamingly merge with the ground. It doesn't just need to be below me, spotting a plane from a distance of 500 - 1000m is also a big issue for me as the "dots" are abnormally tiny.

I don't have this issue with any other fighting sim at all, its only with IL2 1946. Also switching to DirectX fixes this issue, I can see every plane clearly and the game is actually fun to play, gameplay wise. Definately not worth for the graphical trade off tho.