Cover at long range

[Vesson 0]

Has anyone noticed the lack of cover you have when viewed/viewing at long range?

I can't help but think this game would be even more amazing if you could utilise grass at longer range -- but instead, due to performance coding issues the grass is removed..

So.. while you *think* you're safe, lying in long grass behind bushes & trees, all your adversary sees is you laying out in the open next to a tree trunk.

Is there a rule of thumb regarding what does and doesn't "pop out" at long range, so I can better conceal myself? Any thoughts or advice to conceal yourself better at long range?

[Nedak 10]

A buddy of mine had his life saved today by a tree as a guy with a m16 took pot shots at him.

Meanwhile, another buddy of ours flanked him with his silenced M4 and put him down.

Moral of the story:

Trees are your friends.

[Pallidum 33]

This is an issue in many games, due to LOD limitations.

LOD, or Level Of Detail, makes 3D objects further away less complex, thus easier to render. A tree 5m away will require more detail in order to look like a proper tree, whereas trees 500m away require very little detail. You are also able to see more trees at a longer range due to more trees fitting into your view.

Unfortunately, especially in games such as these, grass tend to be one of the victims in LoD optimizations. If you look closely, grass is rendered as a rectangle with a texture on it, parts of which is transparent. In order to make grass look realistic, hundreds of these rectangles need to be placed. At range, that would require tens of thousands of rectangles, if not hundreds of thousands. For various reasons, the ARMA2 engine does not render grass at long distance.

To answer your question, yes trees are good cover. Bushes may also be cover, but you may want to check that out for yourself. Buildings and rocks are obviously also good cover.

The best advice I have for you is to look around you when you travel around Chernarus, and try to make a note of which parts of the scenery renders at certain ranges. That way you'll be able to judge for yourself how useful various types of cover is.

[Vesson 0]

Would be nice if somehow a piece of code could keep track of the cover you're in, and then make you harder to see at range as a result... maybe making you slightly transparent or break up your profile slightly.

People running up the side of even HEAVILY wooded hills are still remarkably easy to see and (i imagine) snipe at.

[Pallidum 33]

I agree with you, but unfortunately effectively all game engines suffer from this, and ARMA2 is not excluded.

I've yet to see one game engine that handles this decently.

[Mutonizer 78]

Has anyone noticed the lack of cover you have when viewed/viewing at long range?

I can't help but think this game would be even more amazing if you could utilise grass at longer range -- but instead' date=' due to performance coding issues the grass is removed..

So.. while you *think* you're safe, lying in long grass behind bushes & trees, all your adversary sees is you laying out in the open next to a tree trunk.

Is there a rule of thumb regarding what does and doesn't "pop out" at long range, so I can better conceal myself? Any thoughts or advice to conceal yourself better at long range?

[/quote']

From what I understand, this is true though people do "sink" a bit into the ground to counteract this a bit.

That means if you lie prone at a long distance, even if the other players won't see the little grass hiding you, they won't see much of you and it'll be quite a bit harder to hit you.

Any other position however is still quite obvious since even if your legs/knees sink in, your entire body will still be an easy target.

[MR DELICIOUS 297]

I generally find brick walls the be the best physical cover, while breaking a shooters LOS on you is best due to him being unwilling to waste ammo on something he can't see. The only real rule I follow with engagements is to run if you take shots first. At long range I try and work out the shooters position and then run in a really awkward way (perpendicular diagonal) and then get out of his sight. Then I'll run until he starts to chase, then set up and nail him. People are often way too impatient.

[robertstuartmarshall 1]

Cover's for pussies .. as soon as the game loads, I drop everything but my tin'o'beans and run around with a flare in my hand. The open is your friend, I always say.

Reminds me of the old CS issues where people were dropping it down to DX7 (iirc?) to get an advantage as that helped with crates and other cover.

[SixPackAbs 13]

rocks, low walls, trees, shadows. some larger bushes.

[ratszo 2]

I generally find brick walls the be the best physical cover' date=' while breaking a shooters LOS on you is best due to him being unwilling to waste ammo on something he can't see. The only real rule I follow with engagements is to run if you take shots first. At long range I try and work out the shooters position and then run in a really awkward way (perpendicular diagonal) and then get out of his sight. Then I'll run until he starts to chase, then set up and nail him. People are often way too impatient.

[/quote']

Very good advice.

[Aerograt 0]

Wait a minute, I've been crawling everywhere for nothing? Why isn't freaking grass usable as cover? The only way to avoid snipers is to utilize cover and break line of sight, and we can't even use grass for cover in a game everyone is saying should be über realistic?

Are you shitting meh?

[Kogru 0]

Cover works at range, the grass might not be there but you will "sink" into the ground and be almost impossible to hit.

[FragMonkey 1]

Cover works at range' date=' the grass might not be there but you will "sink" into the ground and be almost impossible to hit.

[/quote']

Is this true?

Can someone post screenshots?

[Kogru 0]

yes its true, been playing arma for a long time now. Go into the editor, place an enemy soldier in the distance. Fire some shots at him to make him go prone and then observe the sinking effect.

[sirfluffkillington 1]

Anecdotal I know but yes - that's what it does. You see grass in front of you, through an enemy's scope (depending on how far away you are) you will appear to be sunk into the ground. As such only a sliver of your head may be visible to him. Imperfect - but if you are trying to land hits at extreme range it is effective enough.

In terms of the mod it helps, but grass is at best only concealment. It is wiser to observe from, and rely on, some form of solid cover e.g. trees. They're good enough to stop incoming rounds.

[reuter 120]

Cover works at range' date=' the grass might not be there but you will "sink" into the ground and be almost impossible to hit.

[/quote']

Is this true?

Can someone post screenshots?

[faceman (DayZ) 3]

Good stuff to know this. Long time since I played regular Arma :)