Night time should be toned down

[Jars (DayZ) 63]

I think the night is pretty well done , with no ambient light sources around from towns or streelights , and if there is clouds covering the stars and moon , it gets REALLY dark at night .

Clearly , the torch needs some work , but I am sure that will be sorted out .

I think it has to be said , people hiding behind the "don't force me into your play style" catch cry , don't really help the debate .

Edited January 21, 2013 by Jars

[sausagekingofchicago 4711]

I actually like the night and flashlight the way they are but only because they add to the tension (not that there isn't room for improvement). Knowing you have to slow down and walk to get a steady beam and trying your best to use it without letting everyone know your position is pretty fun. Improvements? Having the ability to hold at least a handgun and the flashlight at the same time would make things a little easier without ruining the experience. It would also be nice if direct light attracted zombies.

I prefer clear nights with no moon or overcast but there are nights when the moon lights up the world. The weather usually ruins that pretty quick but I just accept it. I use flares, chemlights, and flashlights like I just don't care about my character... because I don't. I've killed myself plenty of times just so I can respawn on the coast with nothing but a flashlight to combat the darkness.

And a big no to shorter nights and blinding flashlights. That just sounds awful.

[TIC 1050]

The thing I don't like is when you are carrying a flashlight, you are a bigger target from players with NVG's being able to spot you easier or anybody in plain sight(Military Flashlights help)

This makes it a real big struggle for fresh spawns.

[slivniku@gmail.com 93]

Interesting, you guys like the relistic night, but don't like the realistic flashlight blinding; a bit of conflict it seems

[guyver1 70]

Interesting, you guys like the relistic night, but don't like the realistic flashlight blinding; a bit of conflict it seems

No, I actually agree with you.

I want the authenticity that Rocket is going for and in that respect if its pitch black and you get a flash light shone in your face, you WILL be blinded temporarily. I would like to see this included.

any form of light at night should have a temporary effect on your eyes as they readjust to low light vision at night.

[terminal_boy 860]

The problem with NV in the game is that it gives you the same range as in daylight, i.e. as far as the draw distance allowed by the server.

In reality, the AN/PVS-7 NV goggles used in DayZ will only allow the user to see objects that aren't emitting white or IR light out to 300 metres under starlight (no cloud) conditions.

Half that distance on a cloudy night unless you run an IR illuminator at which point anyone within a 1,000 metres with NV can see you.

Fix this and make the gamma value server controlled would be a great improvement.

As would adding red lenses to the various flashlights/weaponlights so players can see where they're treading without the whole world being able to see them.

[bofs@bredband.net 0]

Deleted

Edited January 1, 2017 by bofs@bredband.net

[moron@sol.dk 1]

If the gamma and brightness level could be server controlled I would suggest making: "Natural Night vision"

This would slowly turn up the gamma and brightness when a player has stayed in the dark for some time. Like in real life, your eyes slowly gets used to the darkness.

This of course will reset if the flashlight or a flare is lid.

[disorder 344]

The game doesn't emulate moon light very well.

[enforcer1975 1111]

It's good enough. Only the lighting system is messed up. Some setting should not be toggable to give a good experience, if you play too much with the settings it gets really weird visual wise...

[dulix11 731]

Well I've finally realised what I was trying to put across, yes I probably should have called this 'Better Flashlights' or something because thats really my 1 problem when I'm playing at night. I think it would be cool to blind people with flashlights and headlights but only if you're right up in their face so people can't make videos of them doing 'cross map blind-age'...

[enforcer1975 1111]

Well you are already blinded by lights, and i kind of hurts already.

[hoik 415]

Some of the scariest and most atmospheric moments I have had in dayZ has been at night. Being chased through town by Z'ds and catching snapshots of zombies as my torch light madly strobes the screen is very fun and very scary.

As far as improvement go, I believe I read in a QA somewhere that the team who worked on improving aspects of night time in ArmA 3 are helping out the DayZ team.

My tip for night time: Try switching HDR (High Dynamic Range?) to high/very high, in your video settings, when playing night servers. It can provide a subtlety to the tones of darkness IMO - but during the day it can detract significantly from your frame rates when set to very high.

Edited January 22, 2013 by Hoik

[CreepySalad 108]

I agree with the flashlight thing.

Your guy all of a sudden gets noodle arms and flails them around like he's Kermit the Frog as soon as you press W.

They should fix that, moonlight, and the way flashlights work period.

Flashlights don't shine a single linear beam of light that makes things inside the 3 inch circle of light yellow.

Light bounces off of stuff, and a flashlight would allow you to see a whole room pretty much.

Not 3 inches of the room.

[St. Jimmy 1631]

I love nights! All the best experiences have happened in the night, like killing NVG, A50, L85 AWS fully geared guy with M14 only in a 20min battle. Just like many have said the flashlight needs to be more steady when jogging and same as it is now in full sprint.

[Bribase 251]

As would adding red lenses to the various flashlights/weaponlights so players can see where they're treading without the whole world being able to see them.

Excellent points. Military (as in red) flashlights are in game already though.

[Bribase 251]

There is an issue with the engine though, the textures don't reflect light (eg, you are in a room, with flashlight on, but can't see anything which is not in the beam of light) if they could fix that and introduce moon cycle it would be OK

PS: they could also introduce being blinded by a flashlight?

Great idea with the reflection thing. This would aid playing at night and be much more realistic. Seems like a lot of stress server side though.

[King Tubbs 224]

I'd like to point out that at night the sun does completely disappear, hence the darkness. Also, in the countryside it is incredibly dark at night, try going into the countryside at night. In an apocalypse there'd be no street or house lighting so it would be even darker.

I have been in an airsoft event on copehill down salisbury plain over 3 miles from the closest light source on a half moon and patchy cloud and i can tell you that you can see clearer than in dayz,

I live in the country side and have done over half my life and when i say county side i mean 3 miles from the closest street light in a hamlet with 22 houses in it and on a clear full mooned night you can see for miles

Edited January 23, 2013 by King Tubbs

[enforcer1975 1111]

Great idea with the reflection thing. This would aid playing at night and be much more realistic. Seems like a lot of stress server side though.

That's not the problem, most textures let light pass. If you watch from the outside when someone searches a house with a torch you will see the cone hitting the floor or another object beyond the wall he/she is pointing at.

[Bribase 251]

That's not the problem, most textures let light pass. If you watch from the outside when someone searches a house with a torch you will see the cone hitting the floor or another object beyond the wall he/she is pointing at.

That needs fixing ASAP and I would imagine is a serious overhall of the engine. It's amazing that the engine includes adjustment to glare and light levels but no one thought "perhaps torches shouldn't shine through walls?"

[Tigerbeetweenie 51]

I mean, it shouldn't be so dark that you need a flashlight in order to see 2 inches from your face. I would like to say, however, that NVGs and flashlights should still have a place in game. NVGs are a pain in the ass to find and should, at the very least, give the user a reasonable advantage.

[Lady Kyrah 1110]

THe game does simulate moon phases, full moon being considerably brighter than new moon

[airfell 179]

IMO nights, flashlights, NV goggles, flares, ect... are all fine currently.

The problem is the hours. I know it runs on a normal 24/hr clock, but due to that, you would literally have to play for 24 hours to get an entire cycle, and I have a life.

If they adjusted the in-game clock to be shorter, enough that someone could get a day/night cycle in an evenings gaming session, I think it would be a lot more fun. As it stands you can just pick your server and never have to deal with night. It shouldn't be an option like that.

[wolfstriked 143]

I am really hopeful that the TOH engine upgrades will fix all the light issues that A2 has.I suffer greatly from the look down/excessive bloom and look up/excessive darkening issue.Its very jarring and reduces immersion for me greatly.Then the cone flashlights is another one that is horrid.I have hopes for this though not high hopes.;(

[enforcer1975 1111]

Same engine, same problems...it's not like TOH is an entirely different engine. They could have made the helo tweaks for ArmA 2 as well but they wanted to make an extra buck...