It's Impossible to See at Night! - Other threads will be locked/deleted!

[Daemon587 0]

I love night time. The game has a much more creepy vibe at night, especially when your only source of light is a torch or chem light. I tend to use chem lights more since I noticed the torch shows through walls. Anyone know if that's been fixed? I've mostly just been relying on chem lights so I haven't noticed.

[chrismgtis 55]

I have no problem with servers that are set for 100% dark night, but be real folks. Yes, you can't see yourself and no you wouldn't create a character on one of these servers: ever. The only people that would really play on them is players with a collection of flares or NV that they picked up on another server.

I don't care. Only reason I'm saying is because some of you are a little bit arrogant and asinine with your responses in this thread. Might want to just grow up a bit.

[FluffyM 0]

The game is completely different, and differently amazing, at night time.

I was playing with a group of friends, we were scavenging Cherno for gear, then set out into the woods. At this point, nighttime approached rapidly and we soon found ourselves surrounded by trees. It was pitch black in the forest when a rainstorm kicked off. The raindrops were falling so fast and thick, that I had trouble seeing my character's back in 3rd person, no less see where I was going. We finally made it to the airstrip near Cherno and were scouring the hangars, when a flashbang exploded above our heads. We screamed like little girls and ran off into the woods. At this point, it had gotten even darker, and it really was impossible to see anything but the horizon. Each one of us picked up a differently coloured chemlight (they're great, they illuminate your character model fully) so we wouldn't lose each other in the woods, and headed east. After an encounter with a crazed axe murderer who no doubt spotted us due to a flare used in a small town, we logged off for the night.

That was one of the most exhilarating sessions so far, the risk/reward of using light-sources and silent/noisy weaponry is very fun, the low range of vision makes it very challenging and it's just very, very fun overall.

[Saul Weinstein 0]

Does the game get really laggy at night for people? Servers that run fine during their daylight hours run very slow for me at night.

[Kustom Cactus 0]

had NVG'S Nek minnut dead.....

[wingzero890 0]

As long as the moon is out I stay connected. Playing by moonlight is much safer and much more fun for me than running around in the daylight trying to dodge snipers in tree stands. Once the moon goes behind the hills and it becomes pitch black I initiate an EMERGENCY TEMPORAL SHIFT and reappear in a new dimension.

[Albatros (DayZ) 40]

Daish said: "this is a video game for people to enjoy"

Actually it's a simulator.

[Irenicus (DayZ) 289]

Just read this thread and had to point something out. Op mentions turning gamma and bright up which is fine if he wants to do that, but turning up HDR (Lololol at this) will not make things brighter, it's only affecting the quality (in bits, 8, 16 or 32) of the HDR....lolz

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I have no problem with servers that are set for 100% dark night' date=' but be real folks. Yes, you can't see yourself and no you wouldn't create a character on one of these servers: ever. The only people that would really play on them is players with a collection of flares or NV that they picked up on another server.

[/quote']

Uh whaaaa? Clueless much? The character you create is independent of servers and so I really don't get your statement, but then you are probably like so many of these people who seem to know nothing but try and convince us they know everything? If I'm wrong I apologise.

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you can just turn your gamma and brightness on max and you can see just normal in the dark

ummmm sure, if you call horrible blue and white blotches everywhere "normal"

[hulkingunicorn 20]

I have no problem with servers that are set for 100% dark night' date=' but be real folks. Yes, you can't see yourself and no you wouldn't create a character on one of these servers: ever. The only people that would really play on them is players with a collection of flares or NV that they picked up on another server.

[/quote']

Uh whaaaa? Clueless much? The character you create is independent of servers and so I really don't get your statement, but then you are probably like so many of these people who seem to know nothing but try and convince us they know everything? If I'm wrong I apologise.

---

I figured he meant that one wouldn't start a new character on a nighttime server, but change to one with daylight if he died during nighttime, as you only have the flashlight when you create a new character.

Just read this thread and had to point something out. Op mentions turning gamma and bright up which is fine if he wants to do that' date=' but turning up HDR (Lololol at this) will not make things brighter, it's only affecting the quality (in bits, 8, 16 or 32) of the HDR....lolz[/quote']

You're right in what the setting changes, but at nighttime a higher HDR quality setting seems to tolerate higher gamma values. Take a look at

at 10:30 - 10:45; I call it a considerable improvement.

[combatvolcano 0]

with gamma/brightness up I can see decently well

not sure if it's my ATI card or that I have a display with really good contrast

it's extremely saturated but I can see

my friends and I like night better for the reduced visibility

the real problem in this game is the hackers

night cripples legit players greatly but for hackers it's a sniperfest

try getting sniped from literally a mile away at 2am in an absolute downpour where you can't see your hand in front of your face. that's a reason to complain.

even just now I was in a military tent at night getting sniped through the window in the rain

the difference between having NVG and a sniper rifle is extreme and it's extremely hard to get both when anyone on the server has them and hackers have everything that they want

arma2 is MAYBE a good engine for this... source would have been WAY better... but the hackers can see forever and ghost around the servers at 100mph and sniper anyone they want - a friend showed me - and it's fucked up

I just want to play the game but since there is little protection there are a zillion hackers

[Tigerhawk71 2]

Pitch black, can't see shit, is no fun. It's not even a case of "manning up". It's a case of you don't leave the lights off in a friends house for the thrill of the experience, you turn on the fucking lights or find a light source so you don't trip over absolutely fucking everything.

I love playing in the twilight, with the moon out... it's dark and hard to see, but you can make out basic shapes and movement.

When it hits pitch black, servers empty quickly. Most people do not like pitch black. At 11PM here, when the servers in my timezone get pitch black, you go from barely being able to log into a server because they're all full, to seeing them practically abandoned. You can either listen to the small handful of people who think it's fine that way because they either have NVG or are trying to see how tough they can sound, or you can look at the server stats. Servers go pitch black, most people leave.

And for the GENIUS who suggested flares and chemlights, yes, you can use those - if you want to get shot.

[Rhime 0]

:s

I have to agree...it's just too dark to do anything.

No fun in that.

[daish 11]

last night there was a full moon

it felt like i was wearing night vision goggles when i went outside

you could see clearly with no problems at all in all directions

the only issue with night time inside buildings can be dark but humans have no issues seeing at night outside if there is a moon up

[FluffyM 0]

When it hits pitch black' date=' servers empty quickly. Most people do not like pitch black.[/quote']

Yes, and most people also "like" Paris Hilton on facebook. Your point?

You are aware that there are daytime servers for most regions even at night? There is literally no reason for coming here to complain because something is not to your taste, when there is an option. You don't have to play at night time if it's too hard for you.

And for the GENIUS who suggested flares and chemlights' date=' yes, you can use those - if you want to get shot.[/quote']

Don't use them like an idiot and you won't get shot.

Just man the fuck up. Imo.

[dallas 5195]

The next week or two, you're not allowed to complane about nights, the moon is almost full and nights are bright.

-Most people leave the server when it gets dark.

-Most people leave the server when you shoot at them.

Doesn't mean they are right, just because they are most.

[RaoD_Guitar 0]

last night there was a full moon

it felt like i was wearing night vision goggles when i went outside

you could see clearly with no problems at all in all directions

the only issue with night time inside buildings can be dark but humans have no issues seeing at night outside if there is a moon up

crawled on such a night with broken legs. you can see everything, there only is more shadow and less contrast. so the nights distinguish with clouds and moon, and for some those pitch black nights are great too.. i think its some kind of challenge and brings the game to a more creepy level... imho

[Ylilordi 0]

Here's my two cents on the night visibility issue. As I see it people have been arguing about realism and playability, so I'll look into those separately.

On realism:

Some people have argued that the pitch black nights are realistic. This is in itself true, because when certain conditions are met it really gets that dark. The thing is this kind of darkness occurs extremely rarely in those latitudes(The amount of pine trees on the Chernarus map suggests the map can't be all that much south from the Northern Tropic).

I've worked for the Finnish military for 5 years, and in my experience there has been only one instance during a night op when it got so dark you couldn't see your own hand in front of your face. This occured, when:

1) It was late autumn, which is the darkest time of the year before the snow rains in

2) It was the middle of the night

3) There was no moon or starts, and it rained

4) We were moving trough a really dense thicket, the kind where you can't see the sky when you look up

Even in those conditions it was possible to barely distinguish basic shapes on the open after your eyes had adapted to the dark. It was still extremely dark. Even with 2G NVGs it was really hard to see shit, because there just wasn't all that much light to enhance. So it was really special to have that kind of darkness

In DayZ the kind of darkness I'm describing happens almost every night, at least for me. So I think the pitch black nights in themselves aren't unrealistic, just the massive frequency of them.

Also the NVG's in the game allow you to see extremely well during pitch black nights. I cannot say whether this is realistic because I have no user experience of 3G NVGs, as the ones in the game seem to be some type of AN/PVS-series. With 2G NVGs you wouldn't be able to see much more than with the bare eyes.

I understand complete realism isn't the goal of this mod, and that's fine. More important is the way the darkness affects playability.

I personally think the nights are a bit too dark. When it is pitch black and you don't have your gamma up it really is impossible to see anything without a set of NVGs or flares/chemlights/flashlight. I think this is not the best choice, because if you don't have NVGs(most don't) you will have to use flares or other light sources to do basically anything. Looting buildings is tough without light because you can't distinguish walls, doors, staircases and whatnot. Light draws zeds and also bandits, so light sources can't be used all the time.

Also at least in my games the zeds appear to be aggroed just as easily as during daytime, and when aggroed they will chase your shit with great accuracy even when you're running completely blind and shouting curses over TS. If you meet bandits with NVGs you're dead, simple as that(it's probably wise to avoid cherno/elektro and airstrips during nighttime though). So without NVGs or light sources you are completely blind during the darkest nights. The way I see it should be is that it gets really dark, but you can distinguish basic things like:

- Am I in a road/field/forest?

- Is there a building 3 meters from my face?

- The zombie 1 meter from me punching all of my shit, where is he?

- Am I in the ocean or not? etc.

This way you wouldn't be completely helpless without additional light. This would be good for players starting at night and people who'd like to do basic things without exposing themselves to bandits. You'd still have to use light sources if you wanted to actually scout some areas and do some proper looting etc. Also the frequency of the darkest kind of nights should be reduced, so they'd become more unique and scary. Currently the black nights are business as usual, so it takes a lot of the scariness away.

So that's what I think about the darkness issue. I understand the problems I'm having could have something to do with my video card(GTX 560), or my general unmanliness compared to the ITGs around here. Also I realize some of the issues have more to do with the ARMA II engine, rather than the mod.

I really like playing DayZ, both on day and night servers. They are a different experience, and both are exciting in their own way. I still think night playability could be improved with the changes mentioned. I really hope the conversation around this issue would revolve more around actual gameplay and development suggestions, rather than the insults and internet dick waggling contests it sometimes becomes. To quote rocket: "Chill out a bit and try and have some decent discussions. There has been some great ones, so lets all try and keep a level head ".

Have a good day and enjoy DayZ!

[Filthius 0]

When it hits pitch black' date=' servers empty quickly. Most people do not like pitch black.[/quote']

Yes, and most people also "like" Paris Hilton on facebook. Your point?

You are aware that there are daytime servers for most regions even at night? There is literally no reason for coming here to complain because something is not to your taste, when there is an option. You don't have to play at night time if it's too hard for you.

And for the GENIUS who suggested flares and chemlights' date=' yes, you can use those - if you want to get shot.[/quote']

Don't use them like an idiot and you won't get shot.

Just man the fuck up. Imo.

The pitch black is clearly a problem if the only people playing on any pitch black server are 3 people in a group looting the NW.

Also, popularity is important when it comes to game features that make or break gameplay.

Its not about hating the night, its about no one playing on night servers because of how the lighting works now.

This wasn't always the case.

[Achem101 8]

What I do is go into the visual options and bump the gamma and brightness up. It makes night time look like day without colors.

[FluffyM 0]

the only people playing on any pitch black server are 3 people in a group looting the NW.

[...]

its about no one playing on night servers because of how the lighting works now.

I'd like to see some official stats on this thesis.

[oebus 0]

I think Ylilordi hit it right on the head.

It doesn't bother me that it's dark. It bothers me that it's so dark that it doesn't even attempt to emulate reality. In the middle of the night, miles away from any man-made light sources, your eyes adjust and you can see well enough to make out shapes and objects. Yeah, our eyes are OP like that. The moon and stars provide a lot of light naturally. Previously, turning up your gamma and HDR was enough to provide that. No more.

I would like to play during the night, but there's no way I would do so if I were actually living in the current world of Day Z. Knowing that zombies and bandits are attracted to light, I would sleep through the nights and scavenge during the day. Popping a flare or using a chemlight would be equivalent to suicide. The moon and stars should give enough light for me to be able to navigate and sneak around zombies. Then if I have to carefully and judiciously use my flashlight inside buildings to loot things, I would do so.

One of the problems I see with this is that there's really no upside to new players that would encourage playing at night right now. The zombies hear just as well and their eyesight has always been crappy. There aren't any less zombies, they aren't any less active, and they can't be shaken off your trail any easier. Right now the only incentive to play at night is given to established players with NVGs and tents full of backup gear, who are able to loot the high-value areas with less player competition.

I would like to play at night, but I'll be sticking to daylight servers until this hopefully gets some patch lovin'.

[wolfstriked 143]

last night there was a full moon

it felt like i was wearing night vision goggles when i went outside

you could see clearly with no problems at all in all directions

the only issue with night time inside buildings can be dark but humans have no issues seeing at night outside if there is a moon up

Is the background pic on this forum how it looks with a full moon?If so then nights would be a blast.

[Tigerhawk71 2]

When it hits pitch black' date=' servers empty quickly. Most people do not like pitch black.[/quote']

Yes, and most people also "like" Paris Hilton on facebook. Your point?

You are aware that there are daytime servers for most regions even at night? There is literally no reason for coming here to complain because something is not to your taste, when there is an option. You don't have to play at night time if it's too hard for you.

And for the GENIUS who suggested flares and chemlights' date=' yes, you can use those - if you want to get shot.[/quote']

Don't use them like an idiot and you won't get shot.

Just man the fuck up. Imo.

My point is that if nobody is playing it except for "REAL MEN™" Like yourself, then it's clearly a problem that needs to be addressed. Your post has something in common with a blowdryer in DayZ - it's totally fucking irrelevant.

[tilt (DayZ) 0]

You are aware that there are daytime servers for most regions even at night? There is literally no reason for coming here to complain because something is not to your taste' date=' when there is an option. You don't have to play at night time if it's [i']too hard for you.

I wouldn't mind swapping to a new server except that I play on hardcore servers, no 3rd person or crosshairs. Finding one of those off sync with a good ping sucks late at night.

What I do is go into the visual options and bump the gamma and brightness up. It makes night time look like day without colors.

You're still doing that? Must be playing on an un-updated server. They removed the benefits of doing this a while ago.

[FluffyM 0]

I wouldn't mind swapping to a new server except that I play on hardcore servers' date=' no 3rd person or crosshairs. Finding one of those off sync with a good ping sucks late at night.[/quote']

That is true, especially at the moment (loading screen of doom and all), but it's an alternative if you really hate it. Sometimes, though, the moon shines so bright that you can see colours and everything... >.>

My point is that if nobody is playing it except for "REAL MEN™" Like yourself' date=' then it's clearly a problem that needs to be addressed. Your post has something in common with a blowdryer in DayZ - it's totally fucking irrelevant.[/quote']

You keep stating your opinion as fact. Talk about irrelevant.

And stop perpetuating that real man, tryhard crap. Some of us simply like the challenges this purposely cruel game provides and we don't want it made easier for scrubs just because there are so many of them that their tears could flood North America.

Videogames used to be this challenging, you have been made soft by shitty games. I'm not trying to sound like a "real man" (my favourite colour is pink and I like cats, ok?), it's just the way it is imo.