Toggle smoke/dust

[Childress]

The dust and smoke effects are convincingly rendered but can be rather disorienting in the midst of battle. Is there a hotkey to turn them off?

[gibsonm]

Um sorry not meaning to be smart but isn’t that the whole idea?

Perhaps at the basic level they could be turned “on“ or “off“ but after that I think they should just be “on”.

To answer your question though, no there is no hotkey toggle for this.

[Melnibone]

Originally posted by gibsonm:

Um sorry not meaning to be smart but isn’t that the whole idea?

The previous games had such a toggle...for a reason.

[Cpl Steiner]

This is definitely needed. We actually could do with a three-way toggle:

1) Default - realistic smoke

2) None - smoke turned off

3) Transparent - makes opacity something like 50% so you can see what the hell's going on!

[missinginreality]

Ha. It's funny you should bring that up coz I was playing a small-action scenario last night, little village up in the mountains, predawn probe, no wind and 2 of my strykers popped of smoke under retreat and for minutes i couldn't see a thing unless i was locked to the units and even then couldn't see where they needed to go. Momentarily annoying then i realised just how intense and real this made it all; thick brown smoke, gunfire going off, guys running madly around not knowing which ways was up; best thing to do was sit tight and HIDE for a while until I got my bearings. yes it made things a lot harder to see and order but as gibsonm said, isn't that the whole idea?

[Melnibone]

Originally posted by missinginreality:

yes it made things a lot harder to see and order but as gibsonm said, isn't that the whole idea?

No it's not the idea. There is a toggle for tree display in this game for a reason. For similar reasons it would be great if there was one for smoke.

[Paper Tiger]

It certainly can't hurt to have it as you don't HAVE to use it. I know I wouldn't. I really like the look of it in the game.

[Melnibone]

Agreed - the smoke looks great. For ease of giving orders though it would be nice to turn it off for a short time.

[gibsonm]

Originally posted by Melnibone:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by missinginreality:

yes it made things a lot harder to see and order but as gibsonm said, isn't that the whole idea?

No it's not the idea. There is a toggle for tree display in this game for a reason. For similar reasons it would be great if there was one for smoke. </font>

[Melnibone]

Originally posted by gibsonm:

Well personally I don’t see the point of making the trees “go away” either. To me it gives a false amount of control and observation.

You could also turn off unit icons and stick to level one view if that floats your boat. Your choice. Options are optional.

[gibsonm]

Of course and to each their own.

Indeed I do play with those unit icons off as well (refer the AAR I’m doing on George’s “Armour Attacks!“ scenario).

I guess I find it interesting to have a whole bunch of people complain that the “immersion factor” needs work and then on the other side of the house there is a bunch of people who want to be able to turn it all off.

Anyway as I said to each their own.

[Code13]

I occaisionally toggle the trees just to make sure my infantry remains on the right side of a ridge line that I otherwise wouldnt be able to see, but that my men could.

Toggling smoke for the same reason would be handy.

Otherwise, dust clouds are actually damn useful for spotting enemy movements and so stay on

[Dennis50]

I would really like to have an option to turn off enemy bullits ...I keep running into the darn things.

Gunz

[Childress]

Slightly O/T: I was playing the devilish user made scenario The Curve when the combination of smoke and dust in the middle of the map essentially took me out of the battle as a commander for several turns. What was curious were the plumes of dust raised by the Strykers advancing over DAMP ground. IIRC, BFC disabled this effect in wet conditions when it was introduced in CMAK. Could be mistaken, tho....

[MarkEzra]

Originally posted by Paper Tiger:

It certainly can't hurt to have it as you don't HAVE to use it. I know I wouldn't. I really like the look of it in the game.

That's the way I see it...No reason not to have an option...

[Other Means]

IMHO this comes back to the same 3 roles the player is fulfilling on the battlefield; God, Company Commander and Squad leader. With the smoke issue, as the CC I’d have zero control but as the SL I’d still know where I was and where I should be heading – so as the player, I’d like the ability to turn the smoke off (or very translucent) to enable me to give the orders the SL should be able to give.

Of course, wearing my God hat I can have them act in an integrated way with the rest of the units which I think is unrealistic, which is why I’ve been lobbying for command movement and area fire delays, but that’s a separate tale.

[Paper Tiger]

Actually, if this threoretical toggle could switch off smoke from burning wrecks too, it might help maintain higher frames in some situations where there are a lot of vehicles. This morning, I was playing something with a LOT of vehicles and when I killed them, they turned to burning wrecks and my fps dropped drastically. Perhaps I would use this option if it turned off the smoke from burning vehicles too.