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Height/Depth perception in FSX

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With all the add-ons and technology and displays these days, FSX is very immersive but there is one thing that still bothers me and I was curious if anyone else agreed or had a solution. The depth perception to me is what makes FSX the most unrealistic most specifically the height off the ground when on an approach. For those of you that have been in the cockpit during a landing on a real plane, you would likely agree with me that everything seems so much higher from the runway when on approach than in FSX. I feel this has a lot to do with the zoom. For instance if I zoom in to 80-90% on approach instead lf the normal 50% it feels "bigger" and higher from the surface as I should, but then I can not see anything besides straight out front. Thoughts or comments?

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With all the add-ons and technology and displays these days, FSX is very immersive but there is one thing that still bothers me and I was curious if anyone else agreed or had a solution. The depth perception to me is what makes FSX the most unrealistic most specifically the height off the ground when on an approach. For those of you that have been in the cockpit during a landing on a real plane, you would likely agree with me that everything seems so much higher from the runway when on approach than in FSX. I feel this has a lot to do with the zoom. For instance if I zoom in to 80-90% on approach instead lf the normal 50% it feels "bigger" and higher from the surface as I should, but then I can not see anything besides straight out front. Thoughts or comments?

I am now running most views between 80 and 100 with TrackIR and wow what a difference.

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I am now running most views between 80 and 100 with TrackIR and wow what a difference.

You are already starting to convince to to get Track IR. Can anyone with a multiple monitor setup comment does running a high zoom with 3 monitors give you a good "surround" field of view feel and is everything large?

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For those of you that have been in the cockpit during a landing on a real plane, you would likely agree with me that everything seems so much higher from the runway when on approach than in FSX.

 

When I'm sitting on the tarmac waiting to be fuelled up, I adjust my VC view to that of the 2D cockpit.   I find that the VC view is set a little too low in an airliner (i.e. you can see too much runway/taxiway ahead of you).    I can't give a specific setting, but when preparing the aircraft while on the tarmac, I take a point of reference (say, on a building) in 2D view and then go to VC and adjust the seat down to correspond to the 2D view.   The key command would be for Eyepoint (Move Up) and Eyepoint (Move Down), if you need it.

 

Chris

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Very difficult to get the views just right with FSX the only time I have felt high up in the cockpit is in the Aerosoft Airbus parked at UK 2000 Jersey it gives you a feeling of being high up due to the way the airport has been made..

 

Use to use Track IR which as all report is a great tool...I gave it though as I just do not like wearing headphones all the time which you need to attach it too....personal choice but a good bit of kit... Hope one day they improve the headset to a very small item you pin to yourself or something like that..

 

All the best

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I've started use my TrackIR again now that I have a better desk position for it. I love it, but I still feel like there are more things in the game that take away from the depth/size perception.

 

I was doing some VFR flying with stock scnery, and I found that scenery object still feel off scale compared to my Cessna 172. For flying 1000ft off the ground the trees seemed too big. House feel to small compared to the airplane.

 

Anyone else feel like the size of the aircraft or scenery is off? Is that taking away from the feel of the realism to the sim?

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The first basic step is adjusting your zoom depending on your screen format. 16:9 adjust to 85% and 15:9 adjust to 81%

Then adjust your eyepoint above ground. And,  finally how much runway is obscured (while on the ground) when looking directly ahead.

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I played X-Plane some time, and while landing the DC-9 it touched down way earlier than expected. My viewpoint felt more realistic.

 

I have only landed cessna's in real life, and the A2A Cessna feels somewhat relatable.

 

I use Ezdok Camera in FSX.

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Here is an interesting set of videos in which the author, who uses TrackIR,  addresses what zoom setting, for a particular monitor setup, provides the most realistic view outside the cockpit.

 

His conclusion is Zoom Factor =34 / [2xArctan(h/2d)]  where h is the height of your monitor screen and d the distance of your eyes from the screen. If using a calculator to determine Z, it should be in the degrees mode for angles.

 

In my case, h = 13.5" and d= 30" so I end up with a Zoom of Z = 1.34 for the most realistic view outside the cockpit. If your calculated zoom is not the most conveninet for views inside the cockpit, however, you can always reduce the zoom factor until the approach and landing phase of the flight.

 

Al

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjbCFNSofpk 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikwToOzX_UA.  

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This is starting to get confusing when numbers are involved. Any recommendation on what zoom to set my 40" led tv for the best realism?

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This is starting to get confusing when numbers are involved. Any recommendation on what zoom to set my 40" led tv for the best realism?

The main takeaway is if you have WideView=True in the cfg, the best zoom is x1.00

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This is starting to get confusing when numbers are involved. Any recommendation on what zoom to set my 40" led tv for the best realism?

If you will tell me the vertical height of the screen and the distance from the screen to your eye when flying (in inches), I'll be glad to give you the zoom setting as recommended in the video for the most realistic view outside the cockpit. However, only you can decide what works or feels best for you.

 

It took me a little while to adjust to the zoom setting of 1.34 ( I had been using Zoom=1). Having TrackIR helped since I could look around the cockpit as needed, and I found that the "larger" gauges were easier to read.  On some a/c, like the PMDG 737NGX, I do back off the zoom setting a little bit. It is certainly a personal thing, but at least knowing what the setting should be for the most realistic outside view is useful when deciding what setting to use for a particular a/c. 

Al

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The main takeaway is if you have WideView=True in the cfg, the best zoom is x1.00

Funny how this comes up every now and then.  Any setting aside apart from the above is simply down to personal taste in my opinion.

 

What users see in the cockpit has nothing to do with zoom and realism, sure having a big screen (or lots of them) means you can still read the gauges at a zoom of 0.50, but as said in this thread already, zoom is about how far away things look outside.


Cheers

 

Paul Golding

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I agree with the topic starter. So far, I was also not able to change the inside-VC-view in a way that the feeling of the height is anything close to the real thing. But in contrast to the discussion about the zoom levels etc., I would simply say it is because of the limited graphics quality. I mean, in the real thing, you look out of the plane window and you see tons of reference objects upon which you can guess the distance or height: cars, bicycles, trucks, trees, bushes, roads, powerlines and -poles, animals and of course, you most definitely are aware about slight terrain changes due to little hills, slopes etc. This is ALL missing in FSX, only with top-notch OrbX sceneries you get a little bit better details. Or other top-notch airports. Simply fly once above such a scenery and you will instantly realize, that height immersion is much better there. Above default FSX landscape, you have a low resolution terrain texture with some autogen objects like big houses or trees. Maybe some cars. Thats it. No fences, no smaller or bigger animals, no paths, no little roads, no bushes, nothing. How would it be possible to properly judge your altitude like that? It is not. That's also why you do not have the height immersion problem when flying at e.g. 32'000ft. There, sights in FSX and in reality are similar and that's why it also looks ok within FSX. And that's why satellite photo sceneries give you that much immersion when flying high. In the end, FSX does not provide enough graphics quality for proper height immersion. Compare views in videos with other game engines showing far more details: there, you suddenly have the height immersion. Simply because you see enough details that your brain can do the calculations itself. That's also why some combat flight simulators like Il-2 Cliffs of Dover, Battle of Stalingrad, War Thunder, Rise of Flight and to a certain extend also the DCS series gives you a better height immersion. They all show a higher level of ground details compared to default FSX...


Greetings, Chris

Intel i5-13600K, 2x16GB 3200MHz CL14 RAM, MSI RTX 4080 Gaming X, Windows 11 Home, MSFS

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I run track ir and run 3 32 inch monitors at zoom 1.0 . Ezdok is the easiest way to adjust your camera position and zoom. Yes the monitors take up a rediculous amount of room, but it is only now that it feels like being in the real thing

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