Nighttime is NOT realistic

[lugaru 103]

I find that most claims of realism are real stretches... as said above, the starlight does not contribute any ambient light.

Personally I spent A LOT of time outdoors, only in one location though, so I know a good clear night vs a cloudy night, and in arma every night feels like a cloudy night.

[LeOverlord 150]

I thought Dayz was a game that strives for realism

Strives more for authenticity then realism brah...

[Dantrag 0]

I study in Moscow. there (55* 45' N) it's not pitch dark outside. To be honest, when i was getting into university, i wasn't able to sleep for two nights, because it was so bright i was able to read a book at 3 am.

However, sometimes i visit my native city, Rostov-on-don (47* 14' N). And there it IS pitch dark outside at night. 10 meters from a streen light and you are not able to see a road curb you're standing on.

As far as i noticed when playing DayZ, 'chernarus' is somewhere in similar latitude as Rostov, as our autumn is quite similar. Maybe it's 200-300kilometers to the north, but not more than that. And it should be that dark in the night.

To be honest, setting HDR to max (with default gamma and brightness) makes night way too bright. I can see crawling player from 100 meters for sure. IRL, in forest, i'd noticed him only when i'd stepped on him. However, last few days moon was close to it's full - so it's okay to be that bright.

Edited August 3, 2012 by Dantrag

[ivan keska 39]

Thing is I've gone camping in the mountains and have been away from lights at night before, DayZ darkness can easily happen in real life. Now could it be done better of course but as for now use a flash light, chem, or flare you pussys, I have and I made it through the night.

[jone4s 2]

i have been in forrests when i was in the army... it was pitch black.. you couldnt barely see the ground before your feet. it was hard not to stumble over something. but maybe i m nightblind..

[Mister Motivational 24]

Depending on the moon and clouds nights can be rather dark or quite bright.

[xTLRxPrototype (DayZ) 15]

I live on the country which is one of the reasons why i love this game, i live in the same kind of enviroments. But its NEVER that dark on an autumnnight. Never.

There is probably a city around or small town that produces some sort of light. In Chernarus, there is absolutely nowhere with light. That's what makes it pitch black. Don't even try to say you don't live near any towns or cities because even one that's 2 hours away will still make light.

[firefox (DayZ) 14]

When its new moon, or really cloudly and you're nowhere near a city, it is PITCH black.

So bad you could litterally walk into a white wall kind of dark.

I remember running my boat, at slower then walking speed, into a reed bed on a lake one night becuse there was ZERO light. and those "safety lights" are less then 1 candle power.

[F4ll3N 28]

Have any of you who make this game ever been outside in the country on an autumnnight? Becuse, its NOT that dark. When i play at night i cant even se a meter a head of me, hey, i cant even see at all. EVERYTHING is pitch black. I live on the country which is one of the reasons why i love this game, i live in the same kind of enviroments. But its NEVER that dark on an autumnnight. Never. Its too dark which is a huge turnoff since its unrealistic and almost impossible to play without nightvision.

Other then fixing the nighttime, it would be more realistic if you could fill watterbottles with water inside a resident at its faucet. Becuse that is realistic. But maybe that would make it all to easy. But still, its realistic.

yes it IS that dark you foolish city slicker, go get some man in you and live off the grid for a few months and BAM OMG ITSA SO DARK, yeah cities make a luminescent halo miles outside its limits and far into the sky blocking out many of the stars and leading ignorant yuppies to think that night time is not pitch black w/o the moon.

[Teo (DayZ) 6]

Actually the nights ARE realistic! As you have propably noticed, there are no road lights or anything on in zombie apocalypse. In modern cities the light pollution makes nights quite bright. If there are NO light pollution, nights can be REALLY dark.

[Forseti (DayZ) 5]

the second issue is your survivors damaged brain, that doesnt allows him to use pistol and flashlight at the same time, or attach it to primary weapon or your body(head, shoulder). which is all engines limitation.

if this issues werent exist, threads like this wouldnt exist

Made me actually lol. Which idiot at Bohemia gave arma 2 (A MILITARY SIMULATOR) the go ahead before realizing this? The other total pants-on-head aspect of the flashlight is that when your character sprints with the light on, he swings it around like a lightsaber instead of keeping it directly in front of him. Pretty sure using your arms for counter balance for running is outweighed by actually seeing where you are going and not alerting anyone nearby with the morse code flashing.

[zipper 69]

Have any of you who make this game ever been outside in the country on an autumnnight? Becuse, its NOT that dark. When i play at night i cant even se a meter a head of me, hey, i cant even see at all. EVERYTHING is pitch black. I live on the country which is one of the reasons why i love this game, i live in the same kind of enviroments. But its NEVER that dark on an autumnnight. Never. Its too dark which is a huge turnoff since its unrealistic and almost impossible to play without nightvision.

Other then fixing the nighttime, it would be more realistic if you could fill watterbottles with water inside a resident at its faucet. Becuse that is realistic. But maybe that would make it all to easy. But still, its realistic.

It isn't even that dark at night anymore. Not sure what you are complaining about. You should have tried to play a month ago.

Also, topic has been beaten to death, try using the search feature.

[Badjr 44]

To those of you who think this mod is suppposed to be realistic, you should start using the word "authentic" instead.

The most common response to asking for realism is that "its a zombie apocalypse", usually avoiding the argument altogether.

Rocket has stated that:

Just as an aside, I prefer the term "authentic". It's more relevant to talk about what is authentic, than what is real. Because you end up in this crazy philosophical loop talking about what is real or not when playing a computer game.

So perhaps, it might be best to consider replacing "realistic" with "authentic" whenever someone uses the term, because I think - generally speaking - that's what they mean. I.e. "I can't suspend my disbelief on this point because its not authentic enough." Everyone has a different tolerance for varying levels of authenticity.

A classic example, the Winchester is a shotgun in game. Which, of course, is complete bollocks. I haven't had the time to change and 99% of people don't give a shit. Those that notice don't seem to mind its lack of "authenticity" because it doesn't effect their suspension of disbelief.

http://dayzmod.com/forum/index.php?/topic/597-ai-death-squads-bullet-lethality-and-delayed-disconnect/#entry7140

[simonjames (DayZ) 10]

i agree ....if i join my server at night time im pretty sure anyone on has nvg etc as playing on a pitch black server and having to use flares is not a good idea at the best of times as you basically just make yourself a huge target for us to come find u

btw finding you does not always mean we will kill you .....as we have picked up a few people and geared them recently just to help em out and to make it actually fun for them to work at night and have 100% of the time been thanked for doing so .....not once has someone said no thx i would rather stay here and use flares ;/

Edited August 3, 2012 by simonjames

[Virfortis 111]

I have yet to see an INTELLIGENT rebuttal in favor of keeping nighttime the way it is. Those that like it currently either have NVGs or no working monitors. We also have to remember that trolls don't actually get outdoors, so they probably wouldn't know what nighttime is like anyways.

Check out Firefall's nighttime. Away from the cities, it's pretty freaking dark, but it's still possible to tell roadways from beach/grass etc. These things do not have a black tint, they have a dark blue tint. Often times, that's all it takes. ArmA2's nighttime is different, going from bright to black, instead of a very dark blue. This is ALL it takes, the ability to say "okay that kinda looks like a road."

Also, headlamps. We NEED headlamps. It would be an interesting dynamic especially against NVGs. By looking at someone with NVGs, it blinds them. People have said that flares counter NVG, but they don't. In fact, flares barely illuminate enough to see the grass directly under it, and don't blind NVGs at all. They're not a counter, they're just a beacon. It's a sad case of fantasy for the sake of favoring griefers, something all too common in rocket's anti-balance mentality.

[jskrill 3]

What people need to understand about night time is this:

You're not supposed to run around at night, looking for things.

If you do the above, guess what? You're in the dark. The night is supposed to be freaky and atmospheric, but really, not realistic? You got to be kidding me, where I live (Sweden) we have nigh pitchblack autumn evenings, and as Chernarus is according to the ArmAverse in the close proximity to Russia, you can bet that it's going to be dark.

[Quaby 93]

Yes it is. Zombie apocalypse survival sim you idiot.

Zombie apocalypse=unrealistic. It gives liberties to gameplay, the zombies being the most obvious ;)

[Badjr 44]

Zombie apocalypse=unrealistic. It gives liberties to gameplay, the zombies being the most obvious ;)

Actually there are many diseases that can cause zombie-like symptoms. The possibility of "zombies" is much higher than most people on these forums seem to think.

Edited August 4, 2012 by Badjr

[Frozen (DayZ) 144]

Zombie apocalypse=unrealistic. It gives liberties to gameplay, the zombies being the most obvious ;)

i just love arguments like that.. it sounds like:"lets add zombies in our game, as an excuse for lame physics. no one would care about laws of physics, because we have zombies in our game!"

[Yatagan 62]

Other then fixing the nighttime, it would be more realistic if you could fill watterbottles with water inside a resident at its faucet. Becuse that is realistic. But maybe that would make it all to easy. But still, its realistic.

Something tells me that if there's a zombie apocolypse, the infected exployees of your local water plant aren't going to keep things running...

[Badjr 44]

Something tells me that if there's a zombie apocolypse, the infected exployees of your local water plant aren't going to keep things running...

Why not, the zombified ground station employees are still keeping the satellites synced and running so we can use GPS.

[mokum 8]

Chemilights and flares are perfect made for the night.

Will be good if nvg are removed to make night time play more horror whit zombies and players.

[Badjr 44]

Chemilights and flares are perfect made for the night.

Will be good if nvg are removed to make night time play more horror whit zombies and players.

chemlights and flares are a beacon to anyone within a couple miles.

NVG wouldn't just disappear when the apocalypes happened, and they are rare enough for it not to matter.

[Ashnik 113]

The moonlight effect needs to be added really. Kinda wish that the town lights worked too, but it seems the power is knocked out everywhere.

[Bandit Hunter 29]

Kick up your gamma and brightness if you have to. My computer handles night just fine.